Insider Monthly #8
This month’s Insider features Sparklehorse, Phoebe Bridgers, Flaming Lips, L’Rain, Protomartyr and more!
Welcome to the August edition of Insider Monthly, our supporters-only newsletter. As ever, we’re talking about:
💿 A classic record we can’t stop playing
🎧 Our favourite album of the month
💔 Our biggest disappointment
🔜 The album we’re most excited for next
📝 Plus some personal notes and behind-the-scenes reflections from running the site
The opening section is free to read. Supporters receive the full edition each month.
💿 Old Favourites
Juan:
One curious thing I have noticed about the recent crop of younger indie musicians is how inspired they seem to be by the indie-folk scene of the 2000s, which also dabbled in alt-country by extension, with artists like Will Sheff and Jason Molina serving as notable examples. Another artist from that period, and one I’ve been doing a deep dive on, is Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, whose freewheeling ethos to making music lives on through artists such as Alex and Nate Amos. Linkous released numerous gems, but his 2006 LP Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain is a great start.
David:
I’m currently working on a ranking of the Flaming Lips discography. This has led me into some dark corners of their extensive back catalogue—records I haven’t listened to for well over 2o years. One of the albums I’ve enjoyed revisiting the most has been 1990’s In A Priest Driven Ambulance, which of course featured Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue (on guitar) and Dave Fridmann (producing the Lips for the first time). I think it’s the band’s first truly impressive record. You can already hear their classic sound taking shape.
