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![]() Ten Dollar Recording Co. Presents
SPLIT EP by Thomas Mudrick & Mariya May |
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Thomas Mudrick Abiqua October 16, 2014 1. Over The Hills 2. Strange 3. Particles of Gold 4. Two Strings 5. Take it Cheesy 6. Shania 7. Earth Nipple Ripple 8. Keep On Keepin On 9. Bipolar Bear 10. Winds of Change 11. Ballad of Richie Download/CD/Stream: i-Tunes, Amazon, Spotify |
Just in time to cap up your 2014 all in style-like, Silverton, Oregon’s own Thomas Mudrick is back once again with Abiqua, his fourth record since 2013, and another fantastic full-length release out now on Portland’s Ten Dollar Recording Company. Forget any of that claptrap about tradeoffs between quality and quantity - Abiqua is yet another example demonstrating that when you got it, you just got it, and so you might as well pull it out and trot it around a bit. And there’s a good bit to trot around, for sure, with Mudrick’s flirtation with different styles, moods, and tones, strong overall song craft, and zany tongue in cheek lyrics interspersed with more introspective moments that strike a zen balance of goofiness and world-weary wisdom. To suggest that Mudrick refuses to be boxed in to any rote and well-trod genres or categories should be pretty well established at this point for anyone paying attention, but new listener be warned: the musical temperature can change pretty quick ‘round these here parts, so keep yer listening ears on and enjoy the ride.
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"Over The Hills" Single August 29, 2014
Not content to sit on his proverbial laurels for long, Oregon’s frequently prolific prodigal son Thomas Mudrick is back with his new single "Over the Hills", a meandering rural swirl of a tune that’s one part whimsy and one part sand in your walking shoes. Forerunning another full-length set for October 2014 release (Abiqua, for Portland’s Ten Dollar Recording Co.), "Over the Hills" follows up the three previous full-length releases Mudrick has managed to put to wax over the past year or so, all stellar, as well as releases from group project Nodding Tree Remedies. Ever the musical chameleon, Mudrick is never content to linger too long on any one sound, idea, or aesthetic, instead choosing to effortlessly cull together frayed musical ends and dog-eared stylistics with all the ease and intent of, say, Mellow Gold-era Beck, though with a decidedly Cascadian deep woods freak slant. "Over the Hills" shouldn’t disappoint fans of Mudrick’s previous work, and will surely be part and parcel to another great album from a musical tune-bender sui generis.
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(((boing))) October 22, 2013 Download/CD/Stream: i-Tunes, Amazon, Spotify |
(((boing))) is the latest release from Silverton, Oregon’s Thomas Mudrick, out October 22, 2013 on Portland’s Ten Dollar Recording Company. 2013 has been a busy year indeed for Mudrick, with a full-length release from his side project Nodding Tree Remedies (The 45th Parallel), as well as a second full length solo effort Mongoose Thompson and the Kalapuya Spirit. Not one to be content with staying too long in the same place, all three records are all over the stylistic map, and (((boing))) stands to be perhaps Mudrick’s strongest effort to date.
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Mongoose Thompson and The Kalapuya Spirit August 9, 2013 Download/CD/Stream: i-Tunes, Amazon, Spotify |
Mongoose Thompson And The Kalapuya Spirit offers a comprehensive view of Thomas Mudrick’s love for all things psychedelic.
Echoes Of The Kalapuya opens the album with a solo Native American flute piece acting as an invocation, its calming tones filling the atmosphere like the scent of incense after it’s just been lit. It prepares the listener for every selection that follows, which makes "Let It Flow" the perfect counterpart. Easing through the speakers on a cushion of gentle guitars, tambourine shakes, and tranquil whispers ('let it flow, let it go'), it is the quintessential soundtrack to centering the spirit, the embodiment of yoga in aural form.
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![]() "Moonbeam" Single Download/Stream: i-Tunes, Amazon, Spotify
Coming on like the bubbly tidal shifts of some slow celestial ocean, Thomas Mudrick’s new single "Moonbeam" might be favorably compared to the lingering strains of one of those dreamy, swirling, melodic earworms that one has in the seconds and moments after waking from a haze-ridden dreamstate. And like that slow ascent from the subconscious to the conscious plane, as the arcs and angles and shafts of morning sunlight come further and clearer into view, "Moonbeam" spends its three and a half minutes of runtime bleeding slowly more and more coherent. Blending one part psych neo-romanticism (think the cool, continental landscapes of Air), one part wistful ambience courtesy of late-era Robin Guthrie and the like, and one part bleary-eyed West Coast seafoam hues and palates, Mudrick’s skyfall sojourn is both intermittent soundtrack fodder as well as totally encapsulated inner voyage replete with its own array of compasses and sextants. An accomplished musician of the most eclectic of orders, Mudrick’s work is nothing if not all across the psych map, and his ear for all things space is reiterated here, presaging a 2013 solo full-length on Portland-based Ten Dollar Recording Company – all right!
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