Tender Forever - The Soft and the Hardcore (K Records)

I have no idea how Karl Blau had time to release an album. He puts out, literally, an album a month through his "Kelp!" monthly subscription service. Though, while that focuses on various musical experiments, this album is afar more accessible slice of singer/songwriter indie-rock.

Karl lives in Anacortes, WA. Phil Elvrum, of the Microphones/Mount Eerie, lives there as well. They have worked together on a couple of things. This is important, because both artists are coming from the same, beautiful, isolated island section of the Pacific Northwest. The woodsy, placid nature of the area permeates both songwriters. But, while Mr. Elvrum's nature-infused-music sounds like he is recording in the middle of the woods at night looking up at the stars with a campfire, Karl Blau, on the other hand, would be situated a couple of miles away, in a really comfortable, warm, log cabin that has all kinds of cool quilts and such.

It's the kind of cabin you'd rent with your friends for a weekend. While you're in the Karl Blau cabin, you sit around drinking wine, reading on the couch while people played Uno at the kitchen table, and playing records on the beat-up old turntable the cabin had. You and your friends could take turns picking selections from the small LP library available. You listen to Miles Davis' "Birth of the Cool", the Grateful Dead's "American Beauty", the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds", and the Pixies "Come On Pilgrim". When the weekend is over, and you drive home, having relaxed in the warm, rustic atmosphere of the Karl Blau cabin, with all of those great tunes, the invidual records themselves won't be a memory. But, the weekend wouldn't have been the same without them. KnowwhatI'msaying?

In the end, you have warm, friendly singer-songwriter tunes that owe their sound to all types of music, while plagiarizing none of them. He writes inviting, well-arranged chunks of folksy indie-rock that contains elements of home-brewed bedroom indie, and tiny tastes of all his favorite records. His songs are reminiscent of other albums in the K oeuvre, focusing on earnest, from-the-heart songwriting. He makes his mark, though, by having a Neutral Milk Hotel-ian tendency to add multiple instruments, unusual to rock, to spice up a track, and isn't afraid to throw down a eight-minute song, if that's what the song requires. In true K Records fashion, I'm sure Karl recorded this album surrounded by his fellow musicians/friends, and that communal warmth comes through.

– Kyle Olson