We continue our "Best of NYC Countdown", covering every day one of the artists that made our Year End Best of NYC list (a chart compiled by a jury comprised of local bloggers, music writers, promoters, record store personnel, DJs, and our writers and readers).
We liked solo Luke Temple just fine. His high pitched vocals on banjo layered records like Hold a Match for a Gasoline World and Snowbeast recalled Sufjan Stevens. Then came side project Here We Go Magic, and the sound of Temple fleshing out his potential. The voice was still considerably frail, but the psychedelic guitars and progressive arrangements beefed up his sound to unrecognizable heights. Still, we never twigged Temple as someone capable of dropping ‘Collector’, the first single off Here We Go Magic’s sophomore album Pigeons. The revolving guitar swirls and muted drums are so hypnotic one can forget what good fun the whole thing is. And that hook!? “I’ve got a mild fascination / for collectors”. It’s basically the only understandable lyric on the whole track, but one that rattles around your head for days. – By Dean Van Nguyen