« September 2005 | Main | November 2005 »
October 31, 2005
razed Carthage to the ground.
Like with Kingsbury Manx, I was introduced to Starlet as a sort of substitute band for Belle & Sebastian (when B&S were between albums). Which isn't to say that Starlet don't have their own sound (they do), but if you listen to this song, it's easy to hear where they overlap with the masters of Scottish twee storycore-pop. The similarities might be due more to common influences though, i.e. the Smiths (which you can hear more on the second song here). Jonas Farm, the lead singer, definitely has that wispy, delicate way of singing, very much in the 'schoolboy pining for a lost love' vein (a good thing). Also, the band's from Malmo, Sweden, by the way (just thought you should know).
'Moving On' is from their second album, "Stay On My Side" (released in 2000), which is by far their best LP. Surprisingly enough, this song starts off with some deep, Jim Eno-ish bass drum hits, and riffs it up with some lightly distorted electric guitar and Farm's soft vocals, "yes, I'm moving on/I'm tired I won't be seeing you again". A break-up song through and through, there's an interesting lyric early on that mentions 'almost falling in love', which makes it seem like this relationship was more of a one-sided crush on the narrator's part (and makes the "moving on" part of this translate into something more like 'I will be transferring my quiet adoration elsewhere'). Notwithsatnding the slight and nagging similarity to the Friends theme song, this is a fantastic little pop jam (and not even the best one from this album).
'It Could Happen' is a hyper, brightly-colored tune, and it features not only janglier guitars than 'Moving On', but also Starlet's version of Stevie Jackson on back-up vocals (to further extend the lazy and forced B&S comparison). Jazzy organ on this one, and some rambunctious guitar lines while the non-Jonas singer pipes in during the chorus, sounding kind of like a resident of the American South trying to do a hard-ass Cockney accent (I know I'm making this sound hideous, but somehow it works wonderfully). The switch between the two vocalists is so annoying, but in a great way. 'It Could Happen' is from the band's debut album, which you can find over here at Parasol, along with "Stay On My Side", and the band's third (and 2nd best) album, "When Sun Falls On My Feet".
Starlet hasn't released anything since 2002, but there's some talk on the website of a new album coming out soon (with a possible title of "Songs for the Pathetically Hapless"- how sad-bastardly awesome is that??). Hopefully they'll be able to match the effortless, wistful pop of "Stay On My Side".
Posted by Kevin at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2005
spondees kept falling out of my mouth
This is something that I've been wanting to put up for the past couple days but keep forgetting about- it's a fantastic, pretty in-depth interview with the guys from Animal Collective, about how the met, what they did in school when they were kids, how the band came together finally, etc. It's right here, in the Baltimore City Paper (written by the always great Jess Harvell, whom some of you right recognize from P-fork).
Besides that though, I've got nothing, since work has been killing me lately. But hey, I think we all know that IRAs aren't going to roll themselves over, am I right?? Woo, retirement plans.
Posted by Kevin at 07:03 AM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2005
please don't accept apologies
Nadja - Absorbed In You (excerpt)
There's tension and release and then there's this. 'Absorbed in You' is graphed solely on the tension axis, working its way toward a limit that is ill-defined and poorly-lit. The piano parcels out chords that sound malnourished or misplaced; it's comforting and alienating simultaneously (say you were lost in a foreign land, directionless, anxious, etc. and you came upon someone who spoke your native tongue, but spoke it in the most wrenchingly ungrammatical way- that is the function that 'Absorbed in You's piano fulfills). Take succor, at the end, in the tugging undertow of static and oil-black drones (it's good).
Nadja is the duo of Aidan Baker and Leah B., who've got an album that was just released on Alien 8, "Truth Becomes Death". If you're familiar with Tim Hecker's "Mirages" (which I love), it's definitely got some of that thick, desolate feel to it, but Nadja's work is a bit more song-oriented. Definitely go listen to the mp3 of 'Breakpoint' that Alien 8's got up- for the first seven minutes or so it's just pummeling, colossal, tectonic- but then it just drops the front and turns into a cold, sweet lullaby.
______________________________________________________________________
Reruns
Panda Bear - O Please Bring Her Back
I figured today was as good as any to post something from Panda Bear's first (self-titled, out-of-print) solo album. Most of 'Panda Bear' is a mixture of acoustic guitar-accompanied, dark-beat inflected pop songs, and ruminative electro instrumentals. If you know any of the Animal Collective records well, Panda Bear's first solo has elements of 'Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished', and 'Sung Tongs'. The staggering fact about this album is that it was recorded when Noah Lennox was around, say, 18 years old. If memory serves me right, 18 was around the age I was listening heavily to Dave Matthews Band Can and writing bad poetry in French class being an absolute badass.
'Please Bring Her Back', as you might've guessed by the title, is about a girl lost, and the swirling despair that accompanies such an event. It's Panda Bear, sitting calmly in his bedroom 7 years ago, wishing for a 'reset' button on this relationship, more than anything. It's the kind of blind, irrational and overpowering sentiment that I'm sure everyone experiences at least once. The searing brand of heartbreak that keeps you up all night, playing and re-playing scenarios in your head about how, just how you might be able to win back your love. What you would say. What you would do differently this time.
This track starts off with heavily-strummed acoustic guitar, and Panda's soft voice enters with the lyrics 'Go to sleep, sweet child/push aside your cares/calm your beating heart/ease your furrowed brow', while a quick swarm of lightning-bug plucked acoustic notes flies through. Towards the end of the song, Panda sings 'She's as much of me as I am', trying to prove that, without her, he's a mere figurant- an empty, speechless prop, robbed of something integral.
This album was, apparently, the first and last release on Panda Bear and Deakin's label, Soccer Star Records. I don't think you could possibly find it anywhere, but as consolation, Insound has two other mp3s from the album, if you're interested.
(This song is new but the words are partly recycled)
Rusty Santos - Conspicuous Minimalist
Rusty Santos, who I've written about previously, has a knack for writing oddly-arranged but perfect little pop songs. So many of the tracks on "The Heavens", Rusty's most recent LP, have that tossed-off and effortless feel- as if Santos rented a practice space in the city for a day on a whim, brought in his friend Dave Portner to help with production, and sat down and just recorded a great album. No rehearsal, just some loose ideas bouncing around and caught on tape. But even though the songs feel spur-of-the-moment, this music is obviously very well thought-out and polished.
This version of 'Conspicuous Minimalist' was recorded live at an art exhibition in 2003, at the Coral Room. One quick interesting fact about Rusty Santos: he's produced the last few Animal Collective recordings (with the exception of "Feels"), including the unparalleled "Sung Tongs". Smart guy. Also word is that he's got a new album coming out soon on Uunited Acoustic Recordings. He just released a new 7" this summer, called "Up High:Beloved Below", which is available here. 'Conspicuous Minimalist' is originally from "Outside Versus In" (which is hard to find, apparently).
Posted by Kevin at 12:31 AM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2005
2nd place in the local 5k
If you haven't seen it yet: Dan StG has written a gorgeous entry about one of the new Wolf Parade songs that I mentioned the other day. That first new Spencer song that I referred to as 'Do You Believe in Ghosts', Dan has dubbed 'Bones Song' and has a v. nice live recording of it up on StG for your listening pleasure. It's even better than I remember it.
Right now the place I use to host the mp3 files is being broken and lame, so I'll have something up on Thursday (2 songs to make up for lost time. Maybe 3). Anyway, in the meantime, here are some passably interesting things to entertain you:
1. The high school where that girl got bitten by the copperhead snake (that was brought in by another student) is where 2 of my younger brothers currently go, and is the alma mater of another. Apparently the girl's OK, and just has to keep the arm semi-immobile over the next couple weeks. Also, unsurprisingly, the kid who brought the snake into school is, according to my brothers, a notorious and irredeemable douchebag.
2. If anyone is curious about how to play the Fiery Furnaces unreleased 'Police Sweater Blood Vow' on guitar, I may have a solution for you. It only took me, oh, 3-4 months to figure it out.
3. Some of you know I like to post recipes from time to time. Here is a very fine one for sweet potato fries (which, good god, are just intrinsically great):
INGREDIENTS
6 sweet potatoes, cut into French fries
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons taco seasoning mix
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
In a plastic bag, combine the sweet potatoes, canola oil, taco seasoning, and cayenne pepper. Close and shake the bag until the fries are evenly coated. Spread the fries out in a single layer on two large baking sheets. Bake for 30 minutes, or until crispy and brown on one side. Turn the fries over using a spatula, and cook for another 30 minutes, or until they are all crispy on the outside and tender inside. Thinner fries may not take as long.
Posted by Kevin at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2005
who said the world is a wedding
I love that so many of the ex-Black Eyes dudes are involved in electronic/ambient/soundscape type projects now: Hugh's got Hand Fed Babies (think of a more melodic Excepter), Jacob's got his (very awesome) Earthen Sea, and Sean, who runs Ruffian Records with Hugh, has FFFFs. 'Kissed' is a fantastic little piece, reminiscent of some of the instrumental cuts that Sufjan sometimes does (compare this with 'Tahquamenon Falls'), very light and graceful. This is chimes and gurgling rain, condensed, sort of the audio version of one of those time-lapse nature films. 'Kissed' also features what sounds like a low, nasal hum buried in the background, and the occasional slow static dissolve (it's quite an elegant track). Definitely check out some of the other FFFFs songs- and if you dig 'Kissed', you can purchase the Audio Zine CDR from Sockets CDR right here.
Well. Since Molars has surpassed 200-entry mark, I'm now eligible for syndication, according to the rules and regulations of the MBANA (mp3-blogging association of north america). So here's a re-run of a Liars song from about a year ago. Dreams of Horses has the scoop on the band's new single, due out at the end of next month ('It Fit When I Was A Kid'). Also, don't forget that Liars and Blood Brothers are putting out that split EP of Doors covers soon, on Hand Held Heart.
Liars - Peel Session - Catchy Like Brains on Gangs
This song is from the halcyon days of early-era Liars, when Pat Noecker and Ron Albertson were still with the band. Both tracks are from a 4-song Peel Session that they did in April of 2002, and neither was ever studio-recorded and released. 'Catchy Like Brains on Gangs' was widely regarded, during the first nationwide tour Liars did (when they played it out), as the best thing they had ever done, so it's a shame that it'll never see a hi-fidelity release. Let me know if I'm crazy, but I swear that the initial bass harmonics that Pat (or maybe it's just regular old guitar harmonics, via Aaron) plays in this song bear a pretty strong resemblance to the main riff in the Cars' 'Let's Go'. Aaron Hemphill's guitar alternately whines like a ______ (screaming celtic ghost), and grinds as hard as an oilless engine. It has the sweet-and-heavy feel that so many of their early songs had, and features what is possibly the first instance of Angus and Aaron's irredeemable love for looped vocals (see also: Radiohead's 'Everything in its right place', or 'Scatterbrain'). Classic.
Posted by Kevin at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2005
second lowest odd prime [updated]
Wolf Parade at the Khyber, in Philly:
1. It's A Curse
2. Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
3. We Built Another World
4. New Spencer Song (w/lyrics "Do you believe in ghosts or do you believe in fate?")
5. You Are A Runner --> Fancy Claps
6. Secret Knives
7. Day in the Life
8. Shine A Light
9. I'll Believe in Anything
encore
1. New Spencer Song (w/lyrics "I Sing You in Songs")
2. Disco Sheets
3. This Heart's On Fire
Absolutely amazing show, all around. Songs were faster, tighter, more nuanced- Dante DeCaro singing third part on a lot of them really just pushed everything out to a point where it was overwhleming. More later...
I'd never been to the Khyber before, and it's a lot smaller than I expected. Maybe room for about 250-300, comfortably. So of course there were about 500 people packed into this place last night, all seemingly emitting about 30,000 BTUs per minute, which raised the ambient temperature in there to roughly 900 degrees. Which, fine, that's pretty much standard for most Philly venues, OK.
Dante DeCaro came on first, accompanied by Arlen and Hadji, and put on an awesome set. Holy shit. I mean, I had heard that DeCaro was playing some kind of bluegrass/rockabilly or protest/irongrass hybrid stuff, but this was totally unexpected. First of all, Arlen's drums sounded brutal- same beat pattern on a few of the songs, but such depth. And DeCaro's singing voice is fantastic- kind of reedy, rough, subtly emotive (think of a gentler version of the Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser). There was one song, with the phrase 'rocky road' in the chorus, that had the entire place dancing, and one at the end (DeCaro played banjo) that was so vibrant and joyful that I momentarily forgot about the sweat pouring into my eyes. Hopefully Dante will record some of this stuff soon...
Think About Life were next and I didn't know what to expect. I had heard good and bad things about their live show, and even though every recorded thing I had heard from them was great, there was of course no guarantee that they would deliver. But they did. This band has got so much goddamn energy, it's ridiculous. 3 dudes dressed in skin-tight green Underarmor (maybe?) rocked the abrasive keyboards meet Casio beats meet live drums schema, and danced harder and better than anyone has a right to on a Sunday night. Beaver (who was replacing Martin, apparently?) was an insanely entertaining frontman, singing the songs with his back to the audience at times, but then turning around to jog in place and bust out some wild aerobics moves (and illustrative hand gestures). Best moments were: the song where they sing 'all for the money' over and over again, the one where they all rap 'Stay in School', and when they played 'Paul Cries' at the end and just absolutely owned it. Cannot wait to see them again.
Wolf Parade took about 30 minutes to set up, which drew the wrath of a few assholes in the audience ("quit fucking around"), but didn't seem to phase the band- they launched straight into It's A Curse with such violent urgency that you could almost see some heads snap back in the first few rows. Like I said above, all the songs were more vicious, more bloodthirsty and desperate than when I had seen them before, back in June. The difference now is that they've got Hadji back and have Dante on guitar/percussion/etc., and have been touring with the "Apologies to the Queen Mary" songs now for a while- they've twisted them, shaped them, lived in them until the music's as worn and comfortable as they need it to be. And everything they played was just so full and ornamented and powerful. The two new Spencer songs, in particular, were wonderful- the first one was something he had played at the Believer showcase in June, a kind of jaunty, climbing number that features his usual sort of spare narrative ("you said you saw him on the hillside/I swear I saw him in the meadow", and "do you believe in ghosts/or do you believe in fate?"), and some heavy tambourine. The second one, with the silvery ascending scale intro by DeCaro and Boeckner, described by Rose as Medieval prog-blues (true), featured some fantastic, sinewy guitar work by Dan and Dante (they jammed out hard at the end, with thin, sharp solos falling out all over the place). Spencer's piano work on this one ('I'll Sing You In Songs") definitely sounds sort of Motown, and his lyrics on this one achieve the same kind of surreal beauty as on 'You Are a Runner' or 'I'll Believe in Anything'- the way he talks about singing someone in songs, it's almost as if it's a concrete thing, as if he's actually stitching this person, bodily, into a song, note by note (sort of 'Cask of Amontillado'-esque).
Long story short- if you get the chance, definitely go see this band. They're only getting better, and they won't be playing shows in places this tiny for very long.
Posted by Kevin at 01:21 AM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2005
just incalculably dreadful
Huh: I didn't realize until about 4:30 Friday afternoon that my Ungdomskulen post overlapped with Nick Sylvester's write-up and mp3-offering of same over on Pitchfork (bastards).
I'm seeing Wolf Parade on Sunday night at the Khyber in Philly, so, uh, expect to hear about that on Monday. Andrew Rose's review of their recent Montreal show makes me think it'll be just unbelievably great.
Posted by Kevin at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
some organs are just beat-beat [updated]
Some might recognize this from P-fork's Norwegian music round-up and in fact the only reason I have this track is because Nick S. was kind enough to put up a YSI link online to a two-disc mix that he had compiled. So, I sharked this from him, but I'm still gonna write about it.
The intro to 'I'm On Top' sounds so innocent, like a Tim Hecker static slab taken out for a walk in the park, but that's a false beginning. Can I say that the song really earnestly starts when you hear the lyrics, "And I go for the mouth/but I come in your face/and I love how you smile/and you like how it tastes"? Ungdomskulen work in the Mclusky/Shellac vein, their music transmitted in bursts and packets (sort of lumbering, definitely pleasantly abrasive), but keep things from getting too monotonous or riff-obsessed (see the end of the song, where they kick off into a quick disco beat and slinky guitar jam). Explicit, sure, but the lyrics really remind me of the kind of jokes I would hear when I was 13 years old and caddying for a bunch of old, rich jackasses at the local country club. Or the kind of language I would hear in church, on the weekend, when I was still rocking the whole altar boy gig (kidding). Plus, the song is pretty goddamn amazing (the guitars especially are pretty, you know, slick).
'I'm On Top' is the B-side off of the "Foursome and Then Some" 7" (which is one part of Ungdomskulen's 7" trilogy), which is available right here. If you're curious about some of the band's less salacious music, they've got an mp3 of another song, 'Surf's Up', up on their website. ***Also, Sylvia was nice enough to pass along this link (in the comments) to a website where you can grab a few more mp3s from their 7" set***.
p.s. Sorry about the no-show yesterday; had a small incident at home involving a foot going through a wall (long story).
Posted by Kevin at 12:45 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2005
this town and Salamanca
Wind-Up Bird - Brainbowsstereo
This is something new from Joseph Grimm. Phased in such a way so that his(?) voice seems to be rotating very quickly around the more central drone, it gives the track the feel of a zoetrope- you only get a few quick glances at the deeper, heart-hollowed center of it. Coincidentally, I was listening to this song right before a Slowdive track ('Souvlaki Space Station' which was up on Stypod a little while ago), and it struck me that 'Brainbowsstereo' is like really tightly-packed shoegaze (white dwarf-gaze?)- but where Slowdive or MBV let their arcs and flares spiral out and away, Wind-Up Bird concentrates everything in a small space, loop upon loop, into a very involuted shape.
This is just an excerpt from a longer live vocal improv that was performed in Providence. Wind-Up Bird has a few more tracks for download (and some amazing videos) on the website, right here. Definitely go check it out. Hopefully a new record is on its way, soon. And if 'Brainbowsstereo' is any indication of the direction that Grimm is pursuing, the next LP is bound to be even more heartbreakingly pretty than "Whips".
Posted by Kevin at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2005
you all thought it was just a joke, but no. oh no.
Well, the contest has come to a close. What's that? Some of you didn't even know there was a contest, huh? That much was evident, since only one person entered. Maybe my expectations were just too high, too ridiculous. Anyway, the person who was able to cut through the Gordian knot of my rules and regulations was none other than Sean from Said the Gramophone, with his excellent entry of the song 'If I Gave You a Party', by the band (check this out) Sexual Harassment. Here it is, courtesy of Sean:
Sexual Harassment - If I Gave You a Party
Enjoy this (very good) song. The next contest will be running some time around Christmas (hopefully), and will be far easier (I've learned my lesson). Congrats to Sean for winning.
Posted by Kevin at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2005
Slick Purple Pipes
Kelley Polar Quartet - Here in the Night
Kelley Polar starts this song off with a pretty smooth quasi-syllogism, which he coos sweetly to the object of desire, "here in the night are all the wonders of the world/here in the night, there's you". Nice, romantic logic. There is something about this song that makes me want to say that it has emergent properties- i.e. even if all its constituent parts were listed and catalogued in the most excruciating detail, you could never cognitively guess what the song would sound like beforehand- but maybe that's just because it's so very good, and somewhat difficult (for me) to describe. In any case, temptation seems to be the tone that Kelley Polar's going for on 'Here in the Night', and in the final 30 seconds or so, after the caterpillar bass drive cuts out, it's unclear whether or not his ghostly moans are ecstatic or tortured. Polar and Geist have both outdone themselves with the production on this track though, everything is immaculate and so well-placed.
KP himself recently made a few remarks (on ILM) about the album, saying that he had started working on it around last November, and that Morgan Geist's (who helped with the production) high quality control had resulted in "the bleached bones of many an attempt littering the morose grey bit-dunes of my audio drive" [a sentence that strikes me as being almost Aleksander Hemon-esque]. Also, regarding the increased presence of his vocals on the LP, Polar said, "singing is way more possible for me at soft volumes, I can kind of twist my body into some kind of shape where the notes will come out". On 'Here in the Night', his vocals perfectly match the pace and atmosphere of the music- his tone is sly without seeming at all malicious, and he sounds confident in a way that's not overbearing or smug.
This song is from the Kelley Polar Quartet's debut album, "Love Songs of the Haging Gardens", which is released on Environ Records on November 15th. If this song and KPQ's preceding EPs and singles are any indication, the album is sure to be just ridiculously gorgeous and very much worthy of your attention (and, you know, disposable income). Also, according to Environ, a 12" sampler is coming out some time before the LP. [buy both here, soon]
P.S. For fans of Spencer Krug, Global Symphonic just recently announced that a new Sunset Rubdown release is on the way soon. A 5-song EP, possibly recorded with the full band configuration. Anyway, they're making plans to tour this spring, which is good news indeed.
Posted by Kevin at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2005
just because it's cold doesn't mean it's not fun
Around this time last year, Drew Daniel (Matmos, Soft Pink Truth) remarked somewhere that one of his recent favorite records was the album "October", by Wasteland. Said it was all skeletal grooves and loose, hanging synth threads. Stitched together with dessicated (or maybe freeze-dried) rave progressions. Then, a couple months later, Drew went and wrote a track review for P-fork about 'In Your Sleep', which is the closing song on "October". What he says is true: 'In Your Sleep' is both cinematic and epic, and quite ornate, actually. It is also deeply satisfying in a visceral way- like coming out of the cold and finding a perfectly cream-and-sugared (styrofoam) cup of coffee sitting on the table, steaming intermittently. Either that, or it's like sitting on a patch of wet grass and watching a meteor shower. Don't let the lameness of those similes put you off though- it's really an amazing song.
"October" is available right here, along with some of Wasteland's other fine records. Keep a look out for a new record soon (and a new mixtape by I-Sound, half of Wasteland).
P.S. Just heard a track from the forthcoming Kelley Polar Quartet album, "Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens", and it's unsurprisingly great. More on that later.
Posted by Kevin at 12:24 AM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2005
every wheel is a weapon
Cerberus Shoal - Pie for the President (live)
A couple of my good friends went to see Cerberus Shoal play a concert in Charlottesville, VA some time last year, and one had this to say about them afterwards: "seemed like they had never actually heard recorded music before, as if they'd only read about it in books or something, or remembered snippets of campfire weirdness from early childhood". If that's not an enticing description, then I don't know what is (it definitely piqued my interest).
'Pie for the President' features at least 2 or 3 distinct vocalists, and some intense intra-song detours (complete with broken slabs of asphalt, orange cones, construction workers waving flags around, and commuters emitting thick clouds of profanity); at 1:41 though, it becomes clear that the preceding little bursts of noise and dirt were necessary- otherwise you wouldn't quite appreciate the smoothness of the vocal breakdown, the pleasant familiarity of it.
Cerberus Shoal have a new record out now (or soon), "The Land We All Believe In", which you can order here. Also, if you want to check some more of their songs, the band has a bunch of live recordings available on their site here, all of which are excellent (I especially recommend checking out 'Wyrm', an accordian and beat-heavy jam).
Posted by Kevin at 12:45 AM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2005
That chair on the side of the road was calling your name
Animal Collective - Sleeper Factory and Doggy (Live on the Breezeblock)
Left off of "Sung Tongs" because, as the band has mentioned, it didn't really fit in with the rest of the album (although I will respectfully disagree), 'Sleeper Factory' has one of the sweetest, most relaxed melodies that Avey Tare's ever written. It's driven by the same sunlight-burnished engine of acoustic guitars and sinuous vocals (Noah and Dave's phototropic harmonies) that made both "Sung Tongs" and "Campfire Songs" so monstrously gorgeous. One of the best things, I think, about both of those records (and the "Prospect Hummer" EP) was the way the guitars sound so tactile- the chords are thick and buoyant and very immediate (viz. that transition between 'Queen in My Pictures' and 'Doggy' on "Campfire Songs").
Nice aspect of this Breezeblock recording: you can really hear Avey's lyrics quite well; I like the way he progresses through the primary verbs of be, go, and do within the first three verses, e.g. "Should I tell you what I want to do/find a bed and sleep with you/cause two can sleep much more than one/and sleeping with another's so much fun." (try to drop that one into the conversation, with feigned casualness, when you're on a first date). 'Doggy', in this recording, becomes less of an inscrutable hymn (the lyrics are printed in the liner notes for "Campfire Songs", but are sort of painted in there) and more of a sweet and charmingly sad ode to a dead pet (the line where Dave namechecks himself is pretty heartbreaking).
Anyway, as you all probably know, Animal Collective's new album, "Feels" comes out next Tuesday, but you can pre-order it right now (pretty cheaply too). Also, I put up that new Panda Bear track, 'Search for Delicious', back in the post I originally wrote for it, right here.
Posted by Kevin at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
excuses are really just my raison d'etre
Paw Tracks has just recently announced that Panda Bear will be releasing some 12" single(s?) and assorted other items in the near future ('06), on the AC boys' label, on UUAR, and on Fat Cat (also coming soon on Paw Tracks: a new Terrestrial Tones record, which should be very interesting, given the different directions they've pursued on the first two albums). Noah/Panda has said in the past that most of his new stuff will be based more around just samples and his own vocals, and whatever he can put together on his sequencers (e.g. 'Search For Delicious', which I can put back up if anyone's interested).
______________________________________________________________________
No music today because this new job I have bears a frightening similarity to certain aspects of late existentialist literature, and/or badly done sophomore-year-creative-writing imitations of Kafka, ("they said go to Room 227-Z and when the Accountant got there it was just a blank room, filled with nothingness and the empty echo of hope's last dying breath", etc.), and as such leaves me feeling both bored and very, very tired. Tomorrow: an unreleased Animal Collective song from the Sung Tongs era.
Posted by Kevin at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2005
pumice and obsidian
Steven R. Smith - Crown of Marches (excerpt)
There's a way to explain the intense appeal of this track, but it involves talking about an Indian movie from 1955 (bear with me). "Pather Panchali", set in the early part of the 20th century, is concerned with a Bengali family that lives in extreme poverty on the outskirts of a village. Filmed in black and white, the narrative of the movie concentrates on the relationships between the children (a daughter and a son) and the parents (husband, wife, older-than-old aunt) and the way they cope with different hardships. The most impressive part of the movie though comes when Apu and Durga (the brother and sister) are trying to find the family's calf, which has wandered off into an expansive field of long grass. They encounter a line of electricity towers (or poles, really) and stand stock still in awe of the size and noise of these totally alien constructions. The only sounds during this sequence are the hum of static in the wires and the wind blowing through the dense Kash flowers (right after that, a train comes roaring through, on tracks that plow through the field). In fact, listening to this movie is probably one of the best ways to experience it- the sounds are emphasized so heavily that it's almost overwhelming (especially when there's also long stretches of silence in the film).
Steven R. Smith's (Hala Strana, Thuja) "Crown of Marches" inspires the same kind of frightened wonderment; this 40 min. drone moves through empty, wasted stretches- sometimes via monsoon-like passages of feedback, sometimes delicately tiptoeing with quick gusts of chimes. "Crown of Marches" is sublime in the traditionally aesthetic way (e.g. in the Kant sense): it is vast, dynamic, and overpowering. It's frightening in the way that it sounds just so ruined and isolated; it's like discovering some kind of dark, complex machine that's been left running, miraculously and strangely, inside an abandoned factory for the past 50 years.
"Crown of Marches" was released recently on (the amazing) Catsup Plate Records. Let me just say a word about the packaging and artwork, because Rob Carmichael (who runs Catsup Plate) has really outdone himself with this one. The CD comes in a hand assembled digipak, with black on black (and some white) silkscreened cover that features a very Japanese art-influenced (and very pretty) rendering of a cloudy mountain range. Looks kind of like a woodcut, actually. Anyway, you can get it for a mere $10 from the label.
Posted by Kevin at 12:54 AM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2005
pebbles and rocks in your mouth for elocution
Excepter have just put up two new streams on their website, numbers 25 and 26. Recorded at recent live performances, these both feature the band's new line-up of John Fell Ryan, Dan Hougland, Nathan Corbin, and Jon Nicholson (Caitlin Cook and Calder Martin have apparently left Excepter). Go check those out if you get the chance, they're both uniformly excellent and feature a lot of seasick beats and the usual haunted vocal work of JFR.
I'm working on putting up something from Steven Smith's "Crown of Marches" album soon, just need to write about it a bit more.
Posted by Kevin at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2005
Money rabbits hide under hedge funds
Page France has been getting a lot of attention recently, and rightfully so. Sean StG wrote (eloquently as usual) about them only a couple weeks ago, and Matt from You Ain't No Picasso wrote a great post about the album, and included an interview he did with Michael Lau, the band's singer and main songwriter. "Hello, Dear Wind" is indeed an outstanding album, and probably one of the best I've heard all year. Here are some reasons why:
1)Michael Lau's songs are built on lyrics, driven by beautiful and delicate invocations of types and tokens. Kings and queens, chariots, windy days, dogs, elephants, cherubim, trampolines, beasts, snakes, angels, arms, hands, blue eyes, feathers, stomping feet, and wrecking balls. In certain songs, it's almost as if Lau is handling the objects themselves, taking them carefully out of his pocket and arranging them on a table into a kind of physical formula, like a sentence that can only be expressed in such a concrete grammar.
2)There's an interesting religious element to the album that's sort of difficult to grasp. As Sean mentioned in his post, the song 'Jesus' is not really about the historical or religious Jesus, but about a magical Jesus, who drinks wine and dances and rises from the earth to just basically cut loose and party. There aren't really any explicit mentions of God (except for maybe in the beginning of 'Chariot', when Lau sings about God's heart), but there are a lot of references and ambiguous pronouns that pop up in the songs, a la Sufjan Stevens. But unlike Sufjan, Lau's songs don't hint at just straight-up Christianity- they point more towards a complex and fascinating mixture of Christianity and animism (the aforementioned objects in item #1). Let me muddle this point some more: it's almost as if these things in reality serve as the in-the-world instantiations of God (Jesus, etc.), sort of along the same lines (maybe) as the Romans and their lares and penates.
3)The entire album, from beginning to end, is packed with just ridiculous melodies. Sometimes Lau will be singing, in his airy and slightly nasal voice (a good reference point is the Castanets' Ray Raposa, except Lau has a slightly broader range), and then, as in the middle of 'Chariot', Whitney McGraw will join in with her high, silk-spun vocals, and the whole song just sounds like it could light up a room. At first blush, the instrumentation and arrangements seem simple, but after a couple listens it becomes clear that there are more than a few surprises tucked into the corners of each song (e.g. the wooden thump of a foot-stomped stage, unexpected handclaps, or willowy guitar lines).
Anyway. I'm sure I'm articulating this poorly, so it's probably better if I just point out that you can listen to the whole album right here. "Hello, Dear Wind" is now available for pre-order (and immediate delivery) over on Fall Records. It is a very good album, and if you at all dig 'Junkyard', you should definitely just go ahead and get it ('cause the rest of the album is made up of tracks just as catchy and wonderful).
Posted by Kevin at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2005
squeeze blood from a sternum
Sometimes it's not a good idea to smoke 10 cigarettes before playing a 40 minute indoor soccer game, especially after recovering from a crippling chest cold only a few days prior. That's some solid advice from me to you, for free.
Anyway, do yourself a favor and check out Jace/DJ Rupture's fantastically entertaining and articulate essay on selling out (featuring references to M.I.A.'s recent Civic-Galang mix, and Rupture's own experience with being wooed by the commercial world). Sorta like Albini's 'Some of Your Friends may already be this fucked' article. But, hmm, better (in a certain way).
Posted by Kevin at 12:10 AM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2005
it's like Gattaca but with Roth IRAs instead of space ships
A Day in the Life of Everyone - Spring Break 2000
Unrelated: Liars and Blood Brothers are due to release a split EP of Doors covers (yes, Doors covers) on Hand Held Heart records, some time in the near future, as soon as the (reportedly splendid and lavish) artwork is completed. Although my dislike for the Doors is both long-lived and immutable (stemming from a childhood incident involving a weekend of fever, televised golf, and my dad's then-penchant for blasting "Best of the Doors" on repeat on our 9 cubic feet of stereo equipment), if any bands can make their songs not only palatable but good, it's Liars and Blood Brothers.
Semi-related: The band that made this song was also known simply as Dave Young, a guy from Fredericksburg, VA. Any other information about him was lost when my negotiations with the people of Fredericksburg went sour (I was going to buy their monstrosity of a mall, Central Park), and I was given a lifetime ban from the town.
Diagram:
Pt. 1: pinprickly notes
............|
Dave's hard-teen lyrics---//(slight caesura)
...................................\
....................................\
______________[wounded harmonies] (unknown co-singer)
Pt. 2: (at 1:00 it snaps into the sweetest high school acoustic mush ever) The progression is nothing to write home about, but the guitar and mandolin (I think) and quasi-skillful harmonizing elevate the super-earnest break-up lyrics from mere 'your eyes are like pools of pain stabbing into my love cortex' melodrama into something that's more than a little charming. Plus how can you hate on a line like, "insomnia is back/again/I wish that you came with it". You can't. I've tried, it's really too much work.
Posted by Kevin at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2005
so corporate that even my neckties have smaller, remora-like neckties on them...
You could try to replicate this track, with a choir of painstakingly tuned grandfather clocks and a girl who sings like a caryatid brought to life, but it just wouldn't sound quite the same. Part of their "Songs of Hurt and Healing" ('Day'--'Twilight'--'Night') suite, White Magic don't so much articulate the feeling of a day as much as they create what seems like a late afternoon in a very pleasant sitting room; full of dust, long sunbeams, and fancy, slightly uncomfortable furniture. Mira Billotte's voice is the centerpiece of this track (and indeed the entire suite), and unlike on some of her songs from "Through the Sun Door" where her vocals are clear and forceful, 'Day' is beautifully cluttered enough so that her voice is, at most, stretched and nebulous (there are lyrics, but it's difficult to pick them out). If you imagined Mira's voice as the view of a long, feathery cirrus cloud through high leafless branches or as a small green ribbon tied into a girl's hair (brunette) sloppily, then this music is definitely made for you.
'Day' is from the "Songs of Hurt and Healing" split EP (with American Analog Set), which was put out by Tylenol's Ouch campaign (one of the weirdest things ever), and which is available here, and probably a bunch of other places too. White Magic are now a two-piece: Mira Billotte and Sleepy Doug Shaw (who was also supposedly in Hisham Bharoocha and Abby Portner's band Among Natives). Apparently the new line-up is pretty amazing, and they're working on new material that's similar to 'Day', according to Simple Mission.
P.S. No one has entered the contest yet (which you can read about over on the sidebar under 'contestation'), so I guess I'll just keep it running indefinitely. Is it too hard? Should I just make it something lamer? Let me know. This shit keeps me up at night.
Posted by Kevin at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)