Know Your Amulets

I have a lot of exterior noise around me lately - work, aspirations, neighbours, finances, dreams, all crowded in on me like a leaning tower of shit, ready to tumble at the slightest movement. And while the name Know Your America doesn't apply to my existential state of mind, the music across this ambient stunner by the artist Amulets does. It comes from the mind of Randall Taylor, an Austin, Texas sound collagist who took a series of vintage 70s children's history booklets and crafted an oscillating, pastoral dream state to mirror the nostalgia inherent within. Amulets often deals with darker drone terrain (head over to his site to see the depth of his excellence), but here Taylor taps into the base emotional heft that instrumental titans like Explosions In The Sky carve out of the air - and it's honestly breathtaking.

Finding Musical Nuggets In This Denver Goldrush

This is an incredibly exciting notion - a festival run by three ace of base blogs! Pity its in Denver...too far away! The rad dudes from Tome To The Weather Machine, Magic Teepee and Speaker Snacks have united to present the first annual GOLDRUSH Music Festival, in two weeks' time, September 16th and 17th at the Hi-Dive Rock Club and Sputnik in Denver, Colorado. This two-day event will cover a wide, varied selection of musical styles from across North America, featuring rock, electronic, pop, and ambient from over 30 nationally renowned artists, headlined by Tennis, CVLTS and How To Dress Well. The Tome's Crawf and Ryan H., Magic Teepee's Ryan P., and Speaker Snacks' Jake Martin are all longtime friends and avid supporters of all things music. Each site has had a careful hand in picking out the artists performing this year, making the artist invitations/acceptances and pending performances extremely personal and sacred. These musicians have been obsessively listened to, worshipped, and then subsequently written about—and for good reason. Its a veritable who's who od SM-endorsed artists like Vitamins, Junior Low, Tjutjana, School Knights, Candy Claws, Seven Feathers Rainwater, Slow Magic, StaG, the Kevin Costner Suicide Pact, Steffaloo and Teen Daze, plus a shedload more, GOLDRUSH promises to be something special.

The guys put together this compilation to showcase the event, and its pretty spectacular. You can get tix for the event here! Its uber cheap and will be an amazing weekend, so get on board!!