10. GrouperDragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
I have everything she’s ever put out. I’ve been listening to her stuff since 2005, probably. Again, totally unique, totally transportive, totally singular. Gorgeous, just gorgeous. ‘Hold The Way’ [from Roy Montgomery / Grouper] is just one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. I’ve played shows with Liz Harris and she’s just an awesome, awesome human, which is great because sometimes that really doesn’t happen. She has this way of quietly devastating a room. She makes it look really easy and it’s just not. People will say, "Oh Beatles songs are really easy – I can write a Beatles song." Um, no you can’t. Her melodies are absolutely unforgettable and she has this unique style where she buries everything and it’s super dreamy. I like also that she has this punk-rock aesthetic, which is very cool. She puts out her own records, she makes her own art, she’s selling it through her own website. She’s on a label now, but for a long time she did it herself and I’ve been a believer from the very beginning. Do we get lumped together a little bit? Sure, but that’s fine. Someone once wrote that Grouper was the black witch of ambient music and I was the white witch, and I thought that that was kinda kick-ass.
