Joel Pickard: Songs of The Nightlife Foxglove Records (2005)
or Rhapsody
The pedal steel is an underused instrument in experimental and psychedelic music (current and former members of Charalambides being the exception). Oakland resident Joel Pickard does a lot to change that on his fantastic debut, Songs of The Nightlife. Having studied with the likes of Alvin Curan and Fred Frith, Pickard's approach to the pedal steel is wholly his own. From raucous, skronk jamborees to pastoral ambient promenades, there's endless possibilities during the album's 36 minutes. Hypnotic and beautiful, Songs Of The Nightlife will make sure you reach dawn safe and sound. This is the pedal steel like you've never heard it.
Foxglove.com
While others have strived to push the envelope by finding new roles for a very characteristic voice, Pickard is the envelope. With an explorer's fearlessness, he's been busily mapping out a most non-traditional language for his instrument - making it speak in avant-garde tongues, coaxing out sound like never before heard. Songs Of The Nightlife is the resultant swirl of a headtrip. To add an edge of danger, its 36 unaccompanied minutes are of complete spontaneous invention in the studio. So let's be clear: there are absolutely zero cowboy overtones here. Or, for that matter, zero familiar tones outside of windstorms, clockworks, or dreams. Don't plan on readily humming along, but instead to be transported.
Dennis Rozanski - Baltimore Blues Rag, April 2007 (excerpt)
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