MV/EE - Muskie & Manitou

Matt Valentine and Erika Elder should need no introduction. Starting off in the influential and unparalleled folk rock unit, The Tower Recordings, an odd-fellows network of musical mavericks from New York City who fearlessly dissected the lollipops and land mines of psychedelic revolutions past, Matt Valentine has been releasing monumental slabs of specialty medicine since the early 90s. Over the years MV & EE have taken the experiments of The Tower Recordings well beyond our referential imaginations and into the realm of very personal colors, away from the hip urban scene and towards an intimate campfire circle that only the locals would know about. Moving out to the countryside of Vermont has clearly had an effect on this pair, and their subsequent bands (such as The Bummer Road and the Golden Road) took fundamentals of the Delta Blues, Appalachian folk, Neil Young, Indian classical, and West Coast psychedelic sounds through their own special homespun haze of farm electricity and mountain air. The results were an elastic, deep-breathing yoga of musicianship, communing together and singing out into the night. Their music became influenced by the humors and seasons, sometimes the same song would manifest as a blaze and then sometimes only a flicker. As the pairs' craft and language deepened, there was always a distinctly pastoral and star-gazing Soul to every recording. Every so often the homesteading duo will pack up their instruments and their loyal canine friend Zuma, and hit the road as a rambling family medicine show . However, even in this small incarnation the music is as big and the vibes are as strong as ever, and after witnessing the MV&EE live duet now four times, it never ceases to amaze just what an eclectic and wild energy these two humans can raise in one evening, all by themselves. This tape presents the MV&EE tour of Summer 2009, fresh from the sweetest spot in the taper's pit. As last Summer was coming to a cool simmer, MV&EE strolled into the collegiate utopia of Madison, Wisconsin; to perform at a tiny art gallery for their faithful Midwestern brethren. The room was packed with flannel-clad friendlies and the atmosphere was thick and balmy, as Matt mumbled his way to the opening heatstroke of "Summer Magic", the micro-brewed smiles crept across all our faces, and we were all real gone for a change. This tape effortlessly captures the magic of that evening and and opens the portal, gazing back into the hypnotic waves of Matt and Erika's secret mountain bonfire.

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