Goosebumps!

Wow. Indeed! This text is lifted from NPR's music section. I go here ever so often to find out about new acts, and, music I've been missing. They have a lot of great live sessions and excerpts from KEXP, the World Cafe, and whatever other NPR music pipelines they've got. I was checking the site today for something to listen to, and saw that Neil Halstead had a live session posted. I'm yet to get his newest album, but, have everything else he's ever done...Slowdive, Mojave 3, and, his first solo album. I first discovered Mojave 3 via my buddy Mark Johnson's radio show on the ever-eclectic WXDU. I heard the track "Bluebird of Happiness" off of the at-the-time new album "Spoon and Rafter" and was completely hooked. So, naturally I gravitated towards the other Mojave 3 stuff, and just love it all...especially the album Puzzles Like You. All of the music has a country-ish quality, but, is very close to the droning shoegaze of his first band Slowdive. The music is ALWAYS soft ,just plain great, and perfect for any weather. However, I find it stands out the most on a crappy cold day while inside cooking on a Sunday afternoon!

So, if you don't have anything by him/them, start getting some. Here's the summary, and, the link to the audio. The host that wrote the piece below, and, is on the audio clip is just spot-on with her assessment of him!
KEXP, October 28, 2008 - Listening to Neil Halstead, I always run through a gamut of emotions: No matter what's going on in my life, his music puts me into a blissful dream state, and I'm happy. Yet at the same time, his breathtaking voice and guitar work are beautiful enough to make me want to weep. When he performed this session at KEXP, I was eager to see what emotions he'd put me through this time.

I've been a fan of Halstead's work since he was essentially a kid making fuzzy, distorted noise in the influential shoegazer band Slowdive. But now he's all grown up, and after drifting through the dusty fields of Mojave 3, he's settled into a stunning yet carefree style. As I listened to him in this session, I couldn't help but think that this was the music he was meant to play — warm, inviting and pastoral.

While he played songs from his latest album, Oh! Mighty Engine, I caught myself smiling at times and tearing up at others, and at the end found myself rendered speechless. "Wow," was I all could say to one of the most satisfying in-studio performances I've ever heard.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96194028