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Edmund Frost Booth
Edmund Frost Booth
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Best Album (of the first part) of 2008

Posted about 1 year ago
  • Artist:
    Matthew Loiacono
  • Album:
    Kentucky
  • Track:
    Infinitely Red
I miss the land. I'm in a city, and cities have little land. I often find myself driving around, staring absently. My eyes wandering from building to building and only briefly I watch glimpses of sky broken between the barriers, flashing, reminding me of the potentials found in empty spaces. At night, I'll concern myself with one star in the sky, its light winking, and I'm waiting for it to be gone, to suddenly disappear from sight because I expect nothing else and as I wait I look away only to bring myself back to the star again but it is never the same. I can never find it again. But I've found it once.That is how I feel about Matthew Loiacono's latest album __Kentucky__. It reminds me of the greatness in simplicity and that nothing so small and beautiful can be left unnoticed for long. Built upon sparse stringed instrumentation (banjo and mandolin), the occasional single pounding percussion (a la Tom Waits), and sonorous harmonies that float in and out of one another flawlessly married to lyrics that read more like William Carlos Williams poems, his work is fresh and pure. It rejects common sentimentality and instead relies on emotional restraint. All of the songs on __Kentucky__ heighten the sensory experience with articulated common speech, flawless melodies, and the simple notion that lost joys are never lost for long.Please check out the website below and pick yourself up a CD (limited edition - only 100 copies available) by this truly independent artist. http://heartstack.org/kentucky/
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Comments (11)

  1. runobodyii
    runobodyii says This (the track I'm streaming now) isn't at all what I expected from reading your lovely pastoral-yearnings ridden review. If this track is representative, without the stream I would have gone out and bought this album and been very miffed at you. So where are those banjos and mandolins?
    Permalink posted 04/03/2008
  2. Edmund Frost Booth
    Edmund Frost Booth says I've posted another song to show off Mr. Loiacono's (pronounced Loy-ock-an-ohh) abilities. More harmonies and traditional strings. But what sounds like keys on this track may actually be a mando plugged into an amp and played electric. He has been known to do that. It is pretty impressive. Enjoy.
    Permalink posted 04/03/2008
  3. etothemcg
    etothemcg says i love everything about this post.
    Permalink posted 04/03/2008
  4. laura27
    laura27 says that's a great tune. i'll be checking this guy out :)
    Permalink posted 04/04/2008
  5. Nella Mia Anima
    Nella Mia Anima says First of all, the fact that he's from Round Lake, which is practically my childhood stomping ground, is fulfilling. I'll admit I was a bit reluctant to push the little red button on this one after I read runobodyii's post, but I'm glad that it didn't stop me from doing so. I thought this was a clever song choice with what you posted. The incessant, industrial sounding rhythm goes right along with those flashes of the sky you described popping through from behind the buildings. It also made me think of those times you hit certain areas of ongoing concrete road beneath you that, for some reason, seems to be made in x by x sections and creates an evely spaced "dudump, dudump" beat as you journey along... Thanks for the post, the music and the touch of home.
    Permalink posted 04/04/2008
  6. matt cleveland
    matt cleveland says Thanks for the great post! I went to the site downed the album and haven't stopped listening to it since. Great stuff. I think I will refer my friends.
    Permalink posted 04/04/2008
  7. matt cleveland
    matt cleveland says ...I think I will even spend a week on it with The Program.
    Permalink posted 04/04/2008
  8. Spike
    Spike says Lolacono sounds like an original. The track is relatively simple, but makes me realize that music is and will always be a wide open field with an infinite number of exciting ideas that have yet to be discovered.
    Permalink posted 04/05/2008
  9. loganlenz
    loganlenz says Where can I find this CD?
    Permalink posted 04/06/2008
  10. Edmund Frost Booth
    Edmund Frost Booth says Loganlenz (or anyone else interested in this CD), You can download a zip file containing the album for free at http://heartstack.org/kentucky at a lower quality (160kbps mp3 format). But for those who do download it for free, remember that Matthew Loiacono is not NIN or Radiohead; he is just a regular guy. So if you can cough up the $10 to buy the CD (that $10 includes shipping) I'd go that route. The pre-order link is near the bottom of the page. It is a limited edition (only 100 copies), the art work is amazing, and sometimes it just feels better to support day-laboring artists. I hope this didn't sound preachy. Did it? I'm sorry if it did.
    Permalink posted 04/06/2008
  11. breathmint
    breathmint says :]
    Permalink posted 04/21/2008

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