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Andy Fenstermaker

Andy Fenstermaker is a music lover, writer, marketing professional, and entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to sharing his passion for music with others. He is the founder of FensePost, a renowned music blog that has been sharing the latest and greatest in indie music since 2006. Andy has always been fascinated by the power of music to connect people, and he started FensePost with the aim of sharing his love of music with others. Andy developed a passion for music at a young age. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Andy grew up surrounded by a vibrant music scene that left an indelible mark on him. He attended Washington State University, where he studied Communication and Business. He holds a BA in Communication and a Masters in Business Administration.  After graduating, Andy started writing about music and created FensePost as the outlet. The blog has a strong focus on indie music, but also covers a range of other genres including folk, indie pop, psychedelic, garage rock, and experimental.  Andy and the blog relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in 2020.

Collider: Time Concerns [mp3]

collider

“Time Concerns” is filled with echoing guitars that swirl and ring through the atmosphere while dreamy vocals create an aura-like melody. Not quite pop, not quite rock, but some concoction containing incremental elements of both, Collider‘s first single off their upcoming Big Bang Machine (slated for release the last day of 2009) is, on one hand, a throwback to the shoegaze of the 90s, and on the other a portrayal to the post-shoegaze of today. Closing in on dream-pop, Collider finds many of the sub-genre’s sensibilities but expands on them with louder, more ferocious volume. Read More »Collider: Time Concerns [mp3]

Polka Dot Dot Dot: Syzygy [Album Review]

polka_dot_dot_dot

Of all the timeless folk and folk-pop musicians that scour the earth, none are more true to the roots than those that possess the lo-fi nature of artists came before… long before. Polka Dot Dot Dot is one such band that follows this particular path, though their subject matter may not be that of an early Western era, nor may the harmonies and melodies. Yet they have a certain efficacious manner about them that bridges the then with the now. Read More »Polka Dot Dot Dot: Syzygy [Album Review]

A Retrospective Top 15: Best Albums Of 2002

The third installment of A Retrospective, this time the focus is on 2002. The year of rebuilding, so to speak. It was the year I discovered Cider Jack (and did so plentifully) at the local Pullman bar Rico’s, and we all would rehearse Bill Brasky skits (from the SNL spots, and made up on the spot) as twenty feet away the university jazz combo performed excellent renditions of Van Morrison’s “Moondance” and various Motown favorites. As we see every year, 2002 saw several real great releases. Here are my favorites.

Read More »A Retrospective Top 15: Best Albums Of 2002

The Middle Ones: Young Explorer [mp3]

The Middle Ones

Lovely and light acoustic guitar with matching dual harmony vocals would be an adequate description for, say, a band like Kings of Convenience. Along the same folk-pop lines is The Middle Ones, though the similarities between the two bands are few. The Middle Ones, instead, creates in “Young Explorer” a sound that is so lo-fi and entirely acoustic that it finds a home somewhere between K and Bicycle Records. Definitely Olympia-based, a throwback to the acoustic-twee era with an injection of pop and, no surprise, total greatness. Read More »The Middle Ones: Young Explorer [mp3]

Ólafur Arnalds: Ljósið [Video]

olafur-arnalds

In “Ljósið”, Ólafur Arnalds takes classical music in a new direction, giving the song visual treatment – color that swirls like smoke. It moves in a representation between volume and composition. Part of Arnald’s Found Songs collection, in which the composer wrote and recorded one song per day for seven days, “Ljósið” is borderline transcendental; it has the capability to lift you up to a new plane of existence while soothing the mind and body. Arnalds has proved here that he is at the forefront of becoming one of the greatest modern composers, and his willingness to think outside the box with videos like that of “Ljósið” makes him more than worthy of the title. Read More »Ã“lafur Arnalds: Ljósið [Video]

Tramplini: Pärgäjiens [mp3]

tramplini

Opening track “Pärgäjiens” off Tramplini‘s new LP, Tumba Rumba sees the Latvian band combining the indie pop of their origins while channeling a sound somewhere along the lines of Sigur Rós minus the vast orchestration. It’s a sound that suits them well; their Latvian tongue is romantic and soft, and when backed by delicate percussion and faint synths everything just comes together. As found occasionally throughout Tumba Rumba, Tramplini features a brief trumpet as the song concludes, even going so far as to finish it with a mute. “Pärgäjiens” is an excellent track, worthy of praise from one of Latvia’s best pop bands. Read More »Tramplini: Pärgäjiens [mp3]

CJ Boyd

CJ Boyd: Aerial Roots [Album Review]

Three songs totaling three-quarter hours. That’s a scenario you’d expect from masterful instrumental acts like Godspeed You! Black Emperor or early electronic geniuses like Klaus Schulze. In a way, on Aerial Roots CJ Boyd channels both artists. He has the instrumental aspects of the former and the minimalist drone of the later. “Everytime I Don The Ski Mask” mixes various loops and, for the most part, maintains a delicate balance between complex minimalism and meditative consistency. Aerial Roots is an expansive aural state of being on par with the metaphysical experience.

Read More »CJ Boyd: Aerial Roots [Album Review]
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