I recently read of an old classic rocker who described how wide-open the possibilities once were, like an empty room you could walk into and do anything in...I guess this was around Age Two of The Seven Ages of Rock...maybe 1965? I bet the Past was cool. They ain't making the Past anymore, that's for sure. Not the way they used to anyway.

So what will people in the future look back on? I hope the sublime and subtle music of Matt LaTour, formerly of Echobase and currently percussionist and occasional flautist of Austin's Fiction. His Instrumental Sampler features at it's best a number of thoughtful, dreamy, ambient compositions in which he plays all the instruments, and most tunes hit the mark. LaTour is an unusually good musician who has no need to prove anything technically, typically using understated layers of evolving melody over genuinely artistic drumming. Eschewing flash for nuance, he sculpts compositions out of some texturally dense sonic media. Fans of Tortoise should immediately grok his moody, rather cinematic offerings, and if you wish the cryptic intros to certain late-period Radiohead songs kept going, this is also for you. Fiction succeeds by balancing technique with songwriting, but here LaTour is free to explore, dabble, and play with acoustic architectures. I have spent many hours letting this wash over me.