Singer and guitarist Marcel Hulst of Amsterdam indie band Mountaineer is hitting all the right notes on the new single I Am Impeached, pleading guilty for undisclosed wrongdoings. Psychedelic pop mixed with English folk and Americana that will get him acquitted of all charges. It is a track from the new Lewis & Clark album, which will be released on Concerto Records (vinyl, CD) on January 20.
Back in 2017 Marcel Hulst of Amsterdam indie band Mountaineer already knew that Ohio would becomed the opener of the new album, Lewis & Clark. It is a tale about a trip that has not happened yet in real life, but someday they will visit it for sure. Great slide guitar on this piece of Dutch Americana that is tailor made for a late night drive anywhere in the world. The video was edited by Magieke Jansen. No buffalos were harmed.
Lewis & Clark will be released on vinyl via Concerto Records. Ohio is on all the usual digital outlets.
HCTF review of 1974.
2015 was a rather good year for music. In the next four days HCTF lists the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come.
Today: countdown from number 20 to 16. Go here for 5-1 | 10-6 | 15-11.
20 The Brighton Beat: Off We Go
The funky afrobeat big band thrives on stage. They managed to transfer the excitement of a live show to the studio on their sophomore release.
Joe DiGiorgi at Headline Studios, NY did an excellent job. He got a rock sound for Hit The Bricks, a widescreen cinematic feel for Summer Lullaby and put the percussion and brass up front for the two parts of Stand With The Herd. The bass gets a boost when the band goes funky, most notably in the title track.
19 Holly Bowling: Distillation of a Dream: The Music of Phish Reimagined For Solo Piano
A classically trained piano player transcribed the spontaneous jamming of the Vermont quartet. A sprawling double album that sparkles.
Bowling had to bottle the on stage spontaneity. (...) The instrumentals The Horse and The Inlaw Josie Wales were fairly easy by comparison, but she didn't shun the challenge of A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing and The Squirming Coil.
18 Kapok: Glass to Sand
The Dutch jazz trio Kapok invited some guests for their third album and a good time was had by all.
With the sound Morris Kliphuis' horn the trio stands out as colorful bird amidst a flock of squabbling pigeons. With drummer Remco Menting's command of complex rhythms and guitarist Timon Koomen's progressive tone they are a truly "unusual" jazz trio. Throw in their ability to find inspiration to write about subject like muscle spasms - the ambient/post-rock mashup Myoclonus or sing the praise of Cacti and extensive plains in Pediplen and you have a band with an open mind and sense of Zappa-esque humour.
17 Richard Lomax & The Tontine: Down There For Dancing
English multi-instrumentalist is a man of many moods. And also the sole guy on Earth who can rock out while wielding an Omnichord.
Even when Lomax gets mad at someone, like he does in Every Fucker Fucks You (so why not fuck them first?), he picks up a scalpel instead of an axe, wrapping his wrath in an aloof manner plus a some memorable guitar outbursts - efficiency superseding blind fury.
16 Mountaineer: 1974
Marcel Hulst made a wonderfully delicate solo album, even foregoing capitalizing the song titles.
(...) a great blend of indie, folk and Americana, a prime example of soft music that doesn't need to be played loud to make its mark. Highlights: the use of double tracked vocals adding urgency to the message of in Canada, the early Floyd-alike pastoral artificial light and the melancholic dirge all your armies.
Dutch indie musician Marcel Hulst has unveiled a video for Kowloon, a track from his new album 1974 by his solo project Mountaineer. The animation was made by Frederick Saunders.
1974 is released thru Off Amsterdam (vinyl CD, digital). Buy it from his website.
Live dates:HCTF review of 1974.
Dutch indie musician Marcel Hulst has made a video for submarine, a track from his new album 1974 by his solo project Mountaineer.
1974 is released thru Off Amsterdam (vinyl CD, digital). Buy it from his website. Release date: March 21.
Live dates:HCTF review of 1974.
Dutch musician Marcel Hulst has made a video for nineteenseventyfour, the lead single from his solo project Mountaineer. It's a dreamy, orchestrated pop song. Recommended if you like Nick Drake's Bryter Layter.
1974 is released thru Off Amsterdam (vinyl CD, digital). Buy it from his website. Release date: March 21.
Live dates:HCTF review of 1974.
Maggie Brown vocalist and guitar player Marcel Hulst goes solo on his new project Mountaineer. The seeds for his debut album 1974 were sown when he started demoing songs, playing his acoustic guitar at Solenoid Studio in Amsterdam. Studio owner Auke van der Wielen got up from his mixing desk to add keys and guitar. A few of Hulst's friends dropped by to help out and the sketches slowly evolved into carefully layered songs. Hulst's soft spoken delivery is on a par with fellow Dutch acts I am Oak and No Ninja Am I.
1974 is a great blend of indie, folk and Americana, a prime example of soft music that doesn't need to be played loud to make its mark. Highlights: the use of double tracked vocals adding urgency to the message of in Canada, the early Floyd-alike pastoral artificial light and the melancholic dirge all your armies.
Mountaineer:
Marcel Hulst: guitar, vocals
Guest musicians:
Auke van der Wielen: synths, beats, percussion, guitar
Daan de Bruyne: upright bass
Floor Stevens: additional drums
Randy Derkhof: lapsteel
1974 is released thru Off Amsterdam (vinyl CD, digital). Buy it from his website. Release date: March 21.
Tracks:HCTF review of Maggie Brown.
