The year the dreaded € was institutionalised on mainland Europe, or that in which Glitter's glimmer faded further as he returned to the clink, or the twelve months during which partying would hit its peak if Prince's '82 single was to be believed: whatever anyone else was up to in 1999,
Joanna Newsom was seemingly yet to develop that unearthly purr of hers whilst penning sumptuous instrumentals and 'making waves in the greater Tahoe-area wedding-music circuit'. Dug out from
Drag City vaults, Instrumental 1999 was written in the run-up to the turning of the Millennium and, as one may similarly envisage, is entirely instrumental. Emerging in plucked flurry evocative of iPhone ringtone, as it sprawls over six minutes-plus it drifts into '81 were the Have One On Me masterpiece transposed to Toumani Diabaté's kora.
DOWNLOAD:
Joanna Newsom, Instrumental 1999.
