Saturday, February 11, 2012

SHEP AND ME - "Cloudy Chowder" - Tape - 2007

   Matt Himes is the man behind SHEP AND ME, which incorporates the sounds of experimental folk, outsider noise, tape loops, and acoustic balladry to create a sound that is wholly his own. He bumped his way onto a show that I set up in Bloomington a few years back. He set up simply with a small guitar and light accompaniment and captivated the room for the next 20-30 minutes. His sound, for me, evokes the images of punks living on homemade boats in the river, simple living, rotting Midwestern porches, and long, cold winter days that feel endless.
   This tape compiles a few years of analog recordings in New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Evanston, IL and Whitesburg, KY and is one of my favorite things that he has put out. It's the perfect thing to listen to on a cold day with nothing ahead of you besides hot tea and unfinished projects.


This tape is also available as a beautifully packaged LP that was pressed in an edition of 500. If you like this, I highly suggest that you buy the record, because there aren't too many left. You can get it straight from Matt at Lighten Up Sounds
This tape was originally released on Friends and Relatives.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2012 at 11:13 AM

    "His sound, for me, evokes the images of punks living on homemade boats in the river, simple living, rotting Midwestern porches, and long, cold winter days that feel endless."

    Maybe I wasn't in the right loops fully, but I did meet some folks at a party who lived on boats docked on the Misisippi River. They let my drunk, homeless ass see their boats and I crashed on a sandy beach.

    Also, some guy (with a British name) who lived with Ski and Stella was building a boat to sail to New Orleans or somewhere.

    There is something romantic about sailing the major rivers around in the U.S.

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  2. HarvesterFebruary 11, 2012 at 12:18 PM

    Maybe it was Gerty? Anyway, I lived on a homemade boat on the Tennessee River for almost a year and it was pretty great. Not always romantic, but usually simple, calm and exactly what I wanted out of life at that time. I've also drunkenly passed out on a sandy beach when the boat was 15 feet away in the water. I didn't trust myself to actually make it there without drowning.

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  3. smoke assFebruary 11, 2012 at 2:34 PM

    man, i'd love to live on a boat for a solid year, it's a dream for me. i need to get away to something new so badly.

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