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Useful Histories

by Steve Palmer

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Transparent violet

    Includes unlimited streaming of Useful Histories via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    edition of 200 

      $22 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Black

    Includes unlimited streaming of Useful Histories via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    edition of 100 

      $20 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD  or more

     

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Squalor 04:00
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Thirty 03:30
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about

Steve Palmer is a young guitar player from Minneapolis, and ‘Useful Histories’ is his second full-length release. The first, ‘Unblinking Sun’ (a 2014 CD on the Dying for Bad Music label) stood out with its wide-ranging instrumental mixture of American Primitive picking and psychedelic rock influences. As its title hints, on ‘Useful Histories’ those roots remain in spirit, reconfigured and developed due to time and circumstance; recorded over a two-year period as Palmer was required to adjust to a neurological condition that necessitated changes in his guitar technique, eventually catalyzing his larger musical approach in a more experimental and focused direction. The album divides roughly between extended “full-band” songs—alternately cruising down a straight-eight space highway into a full meltdown on the horizon, or avant-choogling their way into the air like some lost late-night ballroom jam—and layered guitar pieces that incorporate looping effects, fluid pensive picking, and the sound of pure electricity coursing through the power lines on a North Midwestern night.

Joining forces once again, Sunrise Ocean Bender records and Deep Water Acres are honored to present Palmer’s latest offering of cosmic American psychedelia—five immersive tracks spread across 37 minutes, with audio mastering by Eric Carbonara at Nada Sound Studio. Released on standard black vinyl and limited edition transparent violet vinyl, multi-format download included.

“‘Useful Histories’ is one of those records that answers the age-old question: “What if Sandy Bull made a record with Neu!?” Palmer wastes no time in getting things moving, kicking off with “Statesboro Day, a freewheeling 11-minute motorik choogler that soars straight into the sun. But that’s not all he’s got up his sleeve.” — Aquarium Drunkard

“ … Palmer blends the barren landscapes of Steven R. Smith and Evan Caminiti with a crumbling sense of American Primitive. Palmer’s version isn’t built on the pristine waters of the plains, but on the ash and ache of our current political climate. There’s less hope to his songs, but it’s there between the cosmic aspirations of “Statesboro” and the ambient numbness of “I Am John Titor.” — Raven Sings the Blues

“Astral fingerpicking weaves through rippling drones of sickened fuzz one minute, and cosmic blues licks are bouncing between walls of lo-fi motorik beats the next. This is the kind of album that just begs to be played as you’re cruising down an empty highway, heading towards the sun.” — Record Crates United

“Steve Palmer has managed to make an album which could have been too diverse and eclectic hold together very well indeed. Impressive arrangement and intelligent layering of sound are strong characteristics of this record which also shows off a fine guitar player doing things a little differently.” — The Terrascope

credits

released February 7, 2020

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Steve Palmer Minneapolis, Minnesota

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