michael hurley: armchair boogie (mississippi records)
woo-hoo. mississippi records number eighteen. they never disappoint. another vinyl reissue, another (kindof) lost classic. michael hurley’s bedroom masterpiece, armchair boogie.
one of those who’re hipsterly covered and namedropped (by everyone from cat power to espers to violent femmes) but rarely listened to.
recorded his first album for folkways back in 1965 (re-released by locust with new hurley art and title ‘blueberry wine’). followed it up four years later with this.
he’s continued to record. andy cabic & devendra banhart’s gnomonsong label released his most recent record ‘ancestral swamp’ a few years back, musically aided by david reisch and tara jane o’neil.
armchair boogie remains his ageless beauty and established him as an almost outsider diy folk legend. it’s a fitting title, given the decidedly horizontal swoon to most of it. see: light green fellow. a thing of woozy beauty.
the whole album’s composed with sweeping semiacoustic brushstrokes of folk, blues, jazz, country, rock and an entirely sleepy, almost but not quite serious, blissfully ramshackle hootenany but certainly not half-assed vibe to the whole affair. and the bedroom taping (nothing like lo-fi either but still with dogs wandering in during recording) gives it a real intimate atmosphere, reminding me occasionally of fahey or cooder or dylan’s basement tapes. with hank williams’ yowling. a bit odd, a bit raggedy, but all genius.
tales of werewolves or english noblemen (besmirched with pies) abound. or what i can only assume (maybe this says more about me…) is the yearning for some great sexual apocalypse to suck us all into willing oblivion on open up. all with liquid vocals tumbling words effortlessly from mouth to ear. throw in some instrumentals, some lovely guitar work on ravagers reel, and ending with the sparkly diamond of penguins and you hold in yr hands (and heart) a little taste of porchlight brilliance.
yr life will be empty without a copy.
snockonews / gnomonsong / mississippi records
18/08/2009 at 10:12 pm
i’m looingfor an album ofhis but i don’t knowwhichone it is…i remember a song about a protien monster and red eyes and wigglin asses. its a gift for a friend help me out if you can
19/08/2009 at 8:04 pm
the song eyes eyes has the line:
protein monster ate a sack of poison sugar
and makes reference to eyes (rolling) and asses (wiggling) i believe.
cd-r’s available from the snockomeister himself HERE