Reed Burnam - Universal Axis TDRCO-143
1.Y’all Ready 2 Party 01:28
2.Sound in Dream 02:38
3.Song for John Prine 03:05
4.The Light Comes and Goes 03:14
5.Culture War((zzz)) 00:57
6.Night Hike 01:14
7.Heat Death of the Universe 01:36
8.Truck Stop Coffee 03:05
9.Lined Up 01:53
10.Your Phone / Your God 01:42
11.Sunlight Gonna Shine in My Window 04:14
12.Nobody Cares About Your Sportscar 01:14
13.Golden Afternoon 01:39
14.Climate Change Will Kill Us All 02:10
15.Little Baby 02:52
16.Pat Robertson in the Bardo 02:08
17.The Depths 02:40
18.The Ghost of John Fahey 02:51
19.It’s Only Raining 03:05
20.Hey, Dude 01:42
21.Long Emergency 03:26
22.Ballad of for Small Things 01:58
23.I Bought a New Rug Today 02:10
24.Universal Axis 01:59
25.Astral Travel on Layaway 02:54
26.My Life in Pictures 03:39
Reed Burnam's most recent solo album Universal Axis (out August 2020 on Portland's Ten Dollar Recording Company) is his 22nd solo record since the year 2000, and his second for TDRCO - the first being 2016's understated and minimalist Another Switchback. Home recorded and hand produced like most of his other material over the last two decades, Universal Axis is decidedly more upbeat, taking a strong cue from irreverent 90's outfits such as Smog, early Ween, Guided By Voices, Mountain Goats, and the Frogs. From the country roadhouse rock of "Truck Stop Coffee" and the DMT shimmer of "Sunlight Gonna Shine in My Window" and "The Ghost of John Fahey", to the cut and paste afro-futurism of "Lined Up" and late night ravers like "Y'all Ready 2 Party" and "I Bought a New Rug Today", Universal Axis just might have something in there that you can dig, if you can dig it, dig? As a rule, Reed's solo output generally barn burns through a patchwork stylistic mobius strip bridging mescaline folk, refracted world music, machine noise, ambient soundscapes, classic video game music, tongue-in-cheek EDM, blackened metal, bubblegum pop, country zen, and whatever else sounds good in the moment, all run through a fiercely do-it-yourself psychedelic blender.
Houston born and raised, long-time denizen of Central Texas, and with some residential stints in Southern California and Northern India over the years, Reed continues to use breaks in between traveling to record profusely in his bedroom studio hidden somewhere in the suburban sprawl of Austin. In July 2020 he released the Deconstructing Expectations in an Era of Boredom EP (available exclusively via www.reedburnam.bandcamp.com), with select tracks being featured on the recent TDRCO compilation Ten Dollar Friday Night. He is currently working on an LP of new material tentatively titled Killing Time in the Eternal Now, along with a reimagining of his first solo record, 2000's country-laden Gathering Places and Watering Holes. Both are slated for early 2021.
A collection of short songs about lost cats, bad coffee, acute depression, summer heatwaves, deceased songwriters, and my complete disdain for conspicuous consumption. All events depicted herein are true to the best of my ability to recall, unless they aren’t.
Many thanks to Ryan and Mariya at Ten Dollar Recording Company and all the good music folk out there in Ore-gone, Redirection Records, the Immersion Composition Society and all my compadres in the ICS Black Lodge especially for all the support and encouragement over many years now, and of course gardens and dogs everywhere.
All instruments and voice by Reed
All songs by Reed
Production by Reed
Mastering by Tom Nunes at Atomic Disc in Salem, OR
Recorded at Redirection Studios, Austin, TX
Summer 2018 - Spring 2020