Davis, John

Davis, John

Pure Night Plus

Shrimper

John Davis’s earliest recordings on Shrimper are being reissued in conjunction with Davis’s Inundation label (which issued his instrumental record Gnawing On The Bone last year). This double CD includes his debut cassette (Stars & Songs, 1993), 7-inch EP (R.I.P., D.I.Y., 1993) and LP (Pure Night, 1994), along with a four song EP that was originally tucked into a split single with Sandra Bell, (Instress Vol. 1, 1995) and seven bonus tracks, six of them unreleased. New extensive liner notes by John Davis and Adam Green of The Moldy Peaches explore Davis’s beginnings in The Palace Brothers and the bridge that would lead him to The Folk Implosion. The original recordings have been remastered from the master tapes by engineer and producer Matt Pence. The original artwork by Davis and his sister Theo has been tracked down and lovingly rendered here, merging with unreleased photographs in a six page eco-pack with a sixteen page booklet. These fifty stark and intimate home recordings are out of place and out of time, as unable to date with carbon as those of Moondog, Harry Partch, Annette Peacock and other one person bands of gold. These timeless melodies would go on to influence a generation of songwriters, and are presented here in all of their minimal glory.

Davis, John

Spare Parts

Shrimper

Spare Parts is the first solo album from singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist John Davis since the release of Blue Mountains in 1997. In contrast to his collaborative work with The Folk Implosion, Davis’s solo work in the ’90s was about as solo as solo gets. He played all the instruments and did all of the cover art for records like Pure Night and Leave Home, as well as for assorted singles and compilation tracks. Having been there and done that, Davis charts a new course with Spare Parts, right down to the cover art, which was done by Boston-area painter and photographer Walter Crump. No less than eight musicians and three engineers lend their talents to the ten tracks and 65+ minutes of this double-LP. (Be warned: the songs are long.) Appearing most frequently are drummer and percussionist Jose Medeles (Breeders, 1939 Ensemble, Portland Ore’s Revival Drum Shop) and cellist and violin player Megan Siebe (Anniversaire, Simon Joyner and The Ghosts). Siebe also appears as a member of a trio of backing vocalists that includes Laura Burhenn (Mynabirds, Bright Eyes, The Postal Service) and Sarah Gleason. Simon Joyner produced the strings and backing vocals, and contributes backing vocals himself to the track “Blood Feud.” Mike Friedman plays lap steel on “You Won’t Cry” and “Southwest,” and Chris Deden plays drums on “Upon a Train.” The record was mixed by Brandon Eggleston (Mountain Goats, Swans, Scout Niblet, tUnE-yArDs, Modest Mouse). Spare Parts mines an acoustic singer-songwriter vein while avoiding a...

Davis, John

Ask The Dust

Students Of Decay

Hailing from Northern California, John Davis is a sound artist, composer and filmmaker who has released music on labels such as Root Strata and Digitalis. With Ask the Dust, he offers up a moving suite of compositions employing a plethora of instrumentation: guitar, piano, tape loops, Max / MSP, field recordings and the newest addition to his arsenal, a complex assortment of Blacet synthesizer modules. Davis uses the synth not as the crux of his recordings but as a tool among many in his kit, weaving oscillations and mangled or rhythmic tones through pastoral webs of processed guitar and field recordings. To this end, the richness of his palette cannot be denied, nor can his prowess as a masterful arranger of abstract sound.  Opener “Superpartner” is a jittery array of pure sound that refuses to sit still, developing slowly and accruing detail and a sparring partner in the form of delicately treated acoustic guitar. Perhaps the record’s defining movement, “Synecdoche,” begins with a contemplative, almost romantic piano arrangement, sparse and beautiful—a moving miniature abruptly broken apart and replaced by a bed of layered sine waves and guitar haze that somehow matches the radiance of what preceded it. Striking in its attention to detail and compositional deftness, Ask the Dust is Davis’s most refined set of recordings to date, a deep album that rewards focused and repeated listening.

Davis, John

Leave Home

Communion Label

***Homemade fragile sunlight shafting into the window when you least suspect it. . .constructed out of in-between lines of forgotten conversations and notebooks lost somewhere along the trip. You found them, though, and preserved them in a little glass case. The spot on your mantle will be a little warmer, thanks to Mr. Davis.--Sweet Portable You 

Davis, John

Blue Mountains

Shrimper

Folk Implosion bookworm makes good on first solo record in two years. Think '60's Elektra singer songwriter. In a good way, of course.

Davis, John

I'll Burn

Shrimper

***The taller half of the Folk Implosion embarks on fragile (but fleshy) flights of fantasy and fecund fare, from folk filigree to free verse to...well, you get the idea. contains songs not on "Blue Mountains," for which this is considered a "teaser" EP. Consider yourself teased.