The Doldrums

The Doldrums Are Noted For Calms, Periods When The Winds Disappear, Trapping Sailing Vessels ForDays Or Weeks other collaborations with Mar, Leaving the Tribe, Tae Meyulks, Jesse Aycock, Like, I Know Rights Mar. Tae Meyulks.
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Boomkat-(Mirth & Songs) Initially this was formatted exclusively to a run of 75 CDs, but thanks to the wonders of the digital realm, this Make Mine Music emission is now well and truly out there. The Doldrums is the recording alias of multi-instrumentalist Dylan Golden Aycock, a resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma. These productions are incredibly difficult to summarise in any concise fashion, but there's much fun to be had getting lost in them: the skronked-out percussion and found sound weirdness that characterises 'The Softer Side Of Velcro' is beautifully put together, even if it is all a bit rhythmically unstable. 'All My Friends Are Pencil Tappers' is another triumph of samplng and percussive programming, sounding a bit like something you'd hear on Hefty, while dropping in swells of slide guitar and synthetic warmth. There's more lap steel-style goodness to be found on 'I Don't Mean To Annoy You', which gets a bit of a shuffling at the hands of delay plugins. You could situate Aycock's music in the same creative school as producers like Dosh, or perhaps Pedro and Four Tet, layering computer treatments and live instruments together with a finely crafted, very natural sounding approach.
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Leonards Lair-(Mirth & Songs) This EP, or sampler, is a preview of a full album but there's enough here in thirty minutes of music to suggest that Aycock is a real talented maverick, cleverly combining folk, hip-hop, samples, electronic and acoustic music in to a self-produced concoction of strange but very listenable ideas.
First track 'All My Friends Are Pencil Tappers' seems to be an attempt to capture the childish experimentalism of Icelandic group Múm. In truth it's a bit of a false start as the remainder of the record sounds like the work of a genuine individual. The more fully-formed 'Softer Side Of Velcro' pushes the boundaries a bit further with field recordings and loops and a well-defined sense of rhythm that makes the music a tad more robust. Of the more uncompromising tracks, 'Watershed' throws in accordion and train noises to create a dissonant chill. Yet 'Your Beautiful Selves' contains a more approachable melody; its Latin rhythms will be familiar to those who have listened to Mice Parade, whilst the beats and warm electronica employed on 'Spirit Elevates Brain' similarly impress. Lastly, 'Flatten' is gorgeously atmospheric and tuneful. With such an abundance of ideas in half an hour, the full album should definitely be worth the wait.
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Norman Records UK- (Mirth And Songs) This EP is quite a diversion from previous Make Mine Music releases. It has similarities in the fact it's instrumental and largely atmospheric but the music here is comprised of wierd rhythms, guitars, harmonicas (I think?). It's really quite unusual if I'm honest. The percussion in the 1st couple of tracks really threw me, layers of syncopated rhythms it's almost like a more electro acoustic Proem or something. Unusual stuff but very good. I guess an easy comparison is it's a bit like Northstation of a less poppy Four Tet.Limited to 75 copies and it's only available from us or Make Mine Music in the UK
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Dylan Contributed Pedal Steel to Mar's second release 'The Sound'. Mar recorded this album in a beautiful cabin just outside of Eureka Springs, Arkansas throughout the month of July with Axel Arnnason. Bright Eyes' violinist Anton Patzner and cellist Zoe Keating of Imogen Heap (formerly of Rasputina)
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RRR02
RRR03MMM38MMM50(compilation)



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VIDEO by James Avery
MUSIC by The Doldrums



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video by Mark Kuykendall music by Dylan Aycock
"Flatten"