San Francisco's John Vanderslice has worked his subtle, unique, elegant, and memorable musical magic for about eight full-lengths' worth of material. But like many excellent writers who fill lit journals and staff picks sections of bookstores, I have always walked away from his releases craving a little more, I don't know, danger. Vision. More happy accidents. Less concern to detail, a greater chance things might fall apart.

White Wilderness is his collaboration with Minna Choi and the Magik*Magik Orchestra, and just what he needed to do after hitting his singer-songwriter peak with 2009's Romanian Names (his last album for Barsuk). I wasn't able to hear his self-released Green Grow the Rushes EP before this debut on Dead Oceans, but the modern classical elements and instruments used to unpack or bundle up the nine songs on White Wilderness really help to make it more compelling to me than any of his earlier releases.

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Did anyone just hear that Nurses song on KEXP, "Lita" from their new Dead Ocean album Apple's Acre? I'm not super-familiar with the band, but my ears perked up at this tidy little track.

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According to the press release, this new JV album, Romanian Names, is "the best record he's made to date." Apparently he recorded the album demos in his basement, giving the process a lot more time to breathe and grow organically.

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Cross country for now, and Seattle in May!

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There is an almost sacred resonance evoked by the hymn-like quality of the vocals on Pride.

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THRILLS! CHILLS! GILLS! GHOSTS AND GHOULS! MONSTERS FROM BEYOND TIME!

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Call it the Red House Painters effect. Far too many artists are taking it upon themselves to “pay honor” to their forebears by rendering their versions virtually unidentifiable from the originals.

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It doesn't make me jump and skip in circles around my room (cause, you know, that's what I do when I'm super excited about a record).

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