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LP
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MEX 104LP
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"Dispossession is the second full length from Brooklyn's Mike Wexler, and his debut for Mexican Summer. An artist who defies easy categorization--a songwriter/guitarist without a traditionalist bone in his body, with an ear for far flung sound-worlds and sonic atmospheres both high & low, Wexler brings all of his manifold interests to bear in carving out a space for a singular vision uniquely attuned to the present moment. Dispossession is the product of over two years of intermittent recording. It features players from the worlds of underground rock (ex members of White Magic and The Occasion), free improvisation (Ryan Sawyer, Nate Wooley, Jessica Pavone), synth and string textures inspired by the likes of Eliane Radigue and the Spectralists, a vocal and lyrical presence of unsettling, near-subliminal depth, and the omnipresent backbone of fingerstyle guitar, without a trace of 'Americana' to be heard. The basic band tracks were recorded live, at more or less the moment when the arrangements first crystallized, so there's a bedrock of spontaneity and a free feeling to the proceedings, complicated by the highly mapped-out nature of the subsequent orchestration, synth washes and overdubs. It's a record that fits the broken mold of auteurist songwriters who nod to the ideas of forward looking writers and artists in their work, a loose lineage that could include musicians like Robert Wyatt, Scott Walker, or Richard Youngs." Includes download card.
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7"
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SEA 002EP
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"The Caspian label is proud to present Mike Wexler. A Brooklyn musician whose name will no doubt be revered and uttered in hushed tones by those lucky to hear Wexler's music, for years to come. A virtuoso of sorts, without a scene or history to explain or contextualize his talent, Wexler seems to have arrived from nowhere to hypnotize us with quietly exotic songs that caress and unsettle in equal measure. Wexler seeks and finds unusual spaces within his songs, creating moments of lyrical and sonic tension that evoke Scott Walker's late work, arrangements that now include drums, piano and keyboards, two and three part harmonies and long, linear, labyrinthine instrumental passages. Wexler's lyrics avoid the confessional and favor instead the deep image, the mythic talisman. His voice functions on an instrumental level in the tradition of Annette Peacock or Elizabeth Fraser, though employed to different, more understated ends. Exaggerating the spaces between notes and between words, Wexler keeps the listener engaged but always once removed. 'Axis, Road of Awe' plumbs Bert Jansch-territory; but where Jansch's vocals are fragile and delicate, Mike's remain enigmatic. 'Axis, Road of Awe' was recorded at Exile, along with the rest of the album from which it is taken (Sun Wheel -- out now in the US on Amish Records)."
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LP
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OUE 002LP
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"Nearly two years after the release of a strikingly unique debut EP, Brooklyn-based artist Mike Wexler presents his debut album, Sun Wheel. Wexler's primary influences on Sun Wheel seem to draw from the Canterbury scene of the late '60s and early '70s and the psychedelic acid-folk era. Amidst a flurry of instrumental virtuosity, Sun Wheel investigates space, experimentation and restraint, striking a sonic mode between Soft Machine and Simon Finn. Arrangements from Wexler's cadre of friends (including Jordi Wheeler and Charles Burst of the Occasion and Brian Tamborello of the Psychic Ills) range from progressive rock's acute instrumental modulations to forays into atmospheric and hypnotic passages. Above the piano and guitar-led gallop of 'Southern Cross' and 'Cipher' or the subtly plucked promenades on 'Axis, Road of Awe' and 'Ecliptic,' Wexler's distinct vocals and lyrics narrate a beguiling journey. As a nod to the past and a glimpse of an exciting new future, Sun Wheel is an ethereal and radiant debut."
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CD
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AMI 027CD
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"Sun Wheel is Mike Wexler's debut full-length and marks the arrival of an important new voice poised to be one of the stars of tomorrow's underground. Crafted slowly over more than a year, this recording evidences Wexler's careful attention to detail and his affinities for progressive rock and the Canterbury scene of the late '60s and early '70s. Wexler is joined on Sun Wheel by Jordi Wheeler and Charles Burst of The Occasion and Brian Tamborello of Psychic Ills, all of whom also contribute to the arrangement and instrumentation throughout this recording. Though there are hints of The Soft Machine (Robert Wyatt is a professed and revered influence), Quiet Sun, and Meddle-era Pink Floyd, Wexler's voice is completely contemporary and completely his own."
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