Audiopile Review: The early 00’s was what you might call the golden era for Mr. Kranky, with releases that would eventually become classics of not only the Chicago imprint, but of their respective genres. Stars of the Lid’s Tired Sounds, Low’s Things We Lost in the Fire, GYBE!’s Skinny Fists and Pan American’s 360 Business all come to mind. Among these unassuming masterpieces was Windy & Carl’s Consciousness, an ambient work that belonged right up there in the pack. This key piece of the band’s long-running history finally gets the reissue treatment it deserves, having slipped out of print years ago. Consciousness has everything that would come to define the W&C sound: lilting, reverb-soaked guitars, uplifting shimmery walls of sound, and Windy Weber’s hushed angelic vocals. There’s even a subterranean drone track that sounds like it could have been left over from the sessions for 1997’s Antarctica. So, if you missed this the first go around–as I’m sure many of you did–now’s your chance to grab it without forking over those crazy sums they’re asking for on the used market. Essential early 00’s ambient!

For the first time in almost 20 years, Windy & Carl’s second album for kranky will be available on the vinyl format once again. The fourth album from Michigan’s premier space duo, again delivers their shimmering trademark wall of sound, beautiful vocalization, and delicate songcraft. Six sweet and easy new tracks recorded in their home studio in Dearborn, that drift and dream with layered guitars, keyboards, bass and a love-arsenal of delicious effects and distortion.

“These two won’t be happy until they find a combination of sounds that encompasses all feeling, at which point they will then stretch that chord to the vanishing point.” —Pitchfork

“Perhaps it’s a prayer, perhaps a blessing, perhaps a poem full of questions—it hardly matters. Humble, moving, and brilliant.” —All Music

“The Windy & Carl listening experience is akin to the period of peace when one is about to succumb to slumbering; the body is hypnotized yet the mind becomes more and more lucid.” —Tape Op

“There is an airy shaft of light that extends straight through these six extended pieces, offsetting the density of sound with a breezy loveliness that’s almost impossible to articulate, towering on a floating sea of mesmerising, sub-level sounds.” —Boomkat

“Genre descriptions such as ‘ambient guitar soundscape’, ‘wall of sound’ and ‘drone’ fail miserably to capture the astonishing, magical emotional beauty of their pieces.” —Cyclic Defrost

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