Dietrich Gosser
City of Windows
(hear it, or whatever DG has on his myspace page)

I remember when Dietrich, Zach Parker, and I would play open mics at the Cafe Assisi in Madison - 1998 or so. This guy named Chris Parsley (as I remember) hosted them. He played songs like Tiny Tim singing to a little boy with a puppy; I really dug his stuff. Those were the greatest open mics. Everyone came with great new stuff all the time, there was a huge audience (like 30 people as I remember it), the place was cool and there was a hallway to go tune up in.

They went out of business.

Sometime between then and now, Dietrich Gosser made this record. It's a great album. It has all the features that I want in a songs record: lyrics, singing, great musical sounds, and strange noises. It really sounds so good I can't understand why I bother making music.

He uses a classic Smog/Cat Power songwriting style, at least they are the beacons of this style to my experience. A single chord progression repeats throughout a song, and structure is provided by tonal, textural, and melodic changes. It's so effective, and I never write songs like this. Why? It really makes me wonder.

Also, all of the instrumental flourishes and puzzling sonic intrusions sound really natural and just. In that way it reminds me of OP8 feat. Lisa Germano's album Slush, which is still in my "top five albums" ten years after its release.

I really couldn't tell you what Dietrich's songs are about - I'm not sure where the credit for that lies.

bb, 21 apr 08