I've never eaten red quinoa in my life except on this day. And what a day it was to branch out into a decidedly hippier breakfast fare (as opposed to my normal six eggs and bacon). As I sat down with a bowl of the grain topped with steam milk, I put on this new Plankton Wat track, “Empire Mines” and was thrilled to find it takes great pains to ease you into whatever it is you're currently doing—if that happens to be eating a vegan breakfast, you've come to the right place. The track will sound familiar when you hear it in context of Date Palms or Neil Young or your most recent sojourn into the desert/redwood forests. The acoustic jam starts out slowly and stripped back, but it builds to the ethereal, ambient, psychedelic height that it begs for, especially close to its end, where the guitar is so shimmery and drenched in effects that it feels practically unreal. It's hefty and is best listened to on a full stomach—or well on your way to one.
Plankton Wat (aka Dewey Mahood) has a new album coming through September 17 called Drifter's Temple. You can preorder that through Thrill Jockey here, and see the live show at the dates below.
September
11 Brooklyn, NY – Union Pool w/ Date Palms, Mountains, Good Willsmith
13 Mainz, Germany – Walpodenakademie
14 Groningen, Netherlands – Vera
16 Skive, Denmarl – Artschool
19 Hamburg, Germany – Golem
20 Tilburg, The Netherlands – Incubate Festival
21 Antwerp, Belgium – Scheldap´en
22 Gent, Belgium – Kinky Star
23 London, UK – Cafe OTO w/ Date Palms
26 Glasgow, UK – Stereo
27 Liverpool, UK – Liverpool Psych Fest
28 Hastings, UK – The Kave Gallery
October
10 Portland, OR – Valentine's w/ Grapefruit, Planets Around The Sun
