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Sounds like: The Books, Four Tet, Radiohead

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What’s so good?
I’ve noticed a trend in recent Indie Shuffle posts: something about the gray and snow and seemingly never ending days of cold have got us covering the type of electronic material that makes us both comfortable, yet keeps us awake while inside for long days. Recently we’ve written about Four Tet and Emancipator, and in this same vein, I bring you Vistas. Bear with me, while I recount backwards, about how and why I bring you Vistas.

Last August, I made my now-annual pilgrimage north to coastal Maine. While en route to the island of Islesboro, I stopped to visit some college friends in Camden. One day they told me they were going to be busy making music. It was a hot, humid day, the kind when bees buzz around incessantly and mosquitoes take over their flight paths at sundown. While the music boys bopped around inside, mixing, turning and clicking their machines, I sat outside amid the blooming flowers, looking over the rolling hills of Maine from the top of my preferred picnic bench. As I listened to their noise in the background, it became clear that the music they were making together would one day garner them well-deserved attention. Now, merely months later, those same two music boys, calling themselves Vistas, have produced their first album, Mute.

Vista is comprised of Josh Nagle and Owen Cartwright (or œ). Josh plays the analog sampler (KORG ELECTRIBE), laptop computer, and keyboard and Owen plays guitars, a laptop live station and an APC40. While most bands move to the big city, these two are holding strong to their Maine roots.

Most of the songs on Mute are interesting, inventive takes on making electronic music. While there is the occasional song that might sound a little bit like a beginner’s attempt at mixing, most songs on Muteare mature and inspired. Some songs have a found sounds element, which remind me of the books; others have a darker mood, like the song Everything, that brings together Radiohead samples; and others borrow from the acoustic world. While listening to Vistas, sometimes I want to meditate and relax, other times it feels like I should be dancing.

Here we’re featuring two songs, “Bloop” and “Vistas.” These two songs show the range in music these two guys have created. I encourage you all to listen to their whole album, as it is best appreciated as a whole, rather than parts of. The album builds on itself, hits its peak with Bloop, rides the electronic plateau for a bit (Lucky), and then starts to tapers out beautifully to let us down easy (Pancake(s)).

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From that first show I saw in August, to their album release now, they have come a long way. Vistas should appeal to anyone looking for something to keep you going, moving, thinking, dancing, loving.

You can download their album free at their website (http://vistas.bandcamp.com).

Elsewhere on the web:
myspace | vistas.bandcamp