Microcultures shop, fair trade for your ears

"Joe O’Connell would probably hate to be called anything that reeks of teleology — say, “groundbreaking” or “forward-thinking” — so I’ll have to settle for “revelatory.” Revelation hopefully hints at something that’s already there, has already been there, refracted anew: a snug fit for O’Connell’s particular traditionalism. Having released a steady stream of scarcely-promoted material for the better part of 10 years as Elephant Micah, the southern Indianan is responsible for some of the past decade’s most bread-breakingly stirring music. And with over a dozen full-length releases in various formats, O’Connell sits exactly on the cusp of being too prolific for his own good. (His current label, Time-Lag, has released albums by Charalambides and MV & EE, but, you know, who hasn’t?) But his pair of new releases, Echoer’s Intent and Elephant Micah Plays the Songs of Bible Birds, still provide excellent entry points. Part of the reason for this is the artistic development the two demonstrate: Bible Birds was recorded and vaulted several years ago, soon after O’Connell’s incredibly fertile “And The” sessions, and it is communal and life-affirming; Echoer’s Intent is the secluded, ambivalent work of one man and his guitar. He’s always run the gamut from lo-fi and noise pop to bluegrass and folk, but the juxtaposition through time here is particularly riveting." TBC at Tiny Mixtapes
Time-Lag - 2010