Solar Motel, Chris Forsyth, LP

Named after a run-down lodge in New Jersey near where he grew up, Solar Motel was the first full-band project from Chris Forsyth. Originally released in 2013, it was considered his most ambitious and sublime work of "Cosmic Americana" to date, and the idea of the Motel also figured into a band where vacancies would open and close. "'Solar Motel' is the first record on which I overtly took rock tropes and twisted them into new shapes, incorporating so many of my interests and influences - the twin-guitar elegance of Television, the sprawl of West Coast psych, the boiled down Rock Minimalism of Rhys Chatham, the abstract tangles of free improv, an undercurrent of ecstatic jazz energy, and the studio textures of Eno/Cale/Roxy '70s art rock. 'Solar Motel' basically set the template for much of what I did for the remainder of that decade. Expanded 2xLP includes two studio outtakes from the original sessions, and a side-long live session recorded at WFMU.