German Shepherd - Alpine Melodies (Sunrise Acoustics, 2009)

German Shepherd - Brutalist Chalet


Last I heard from German Shepherd, he was putting out a 4 way split with MOTH, Millipede, Brian Grainger, and himself. Now he's got a full length of his own out and another split (this time it's free & digital) with the same 4 dudes, plus one Bog Man. Clearly he wasn't using these past 5 months to dick around. He's getting shit done.

Alpine Melodies takes the 3 tracks Shepherd had on Traveling and BAMBAMBAM enhances the shit outta them. Except in not such an enthusiastic way. More like a super chill sleepy way. You know what I mean.

The half hour's worth of guitar drone on this record is exquisite. Hazy melodies that glide face up across the tree tops, grazing on the low hanging clouds. I can totally imagine something on Alpine being used in a Miyazaki film, like when an innocent but imaginative child finally stumbles upon some magical nook in the forest. These are the sounds that kid would hear while glowing dust floated around in the bright sun rays filtering through the canopy.

If that doesn't sound appealing to you, then you have a heart of stone and are probably too "mature" to be bothered with such dreamy gorgeous drone to begin with. Otherwise, hop on this. Only 100 copies, sweet & cheap ($6!) from Sunrise Acoustics, each one with a different cover made from cut-up Childcraft Encyclopedia pages.

P.S. I'm moving, bitches! I'm going to be really busy for a little while so no posts until I get shit in order.