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January 31, 2006
I remembered it in 37 pieces.
It's pretty clear that, as long as I work where I'm working now, things here will be intermittent at best. So the schedule here will have to be more like: Mondays and Fridays one week, then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday the next week. New stuff on Friday. Hopefully this will work out better.
Posted by Kevin at 06:24 AM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2006
offering small business services
Michael Lenzi was the singer for the Fire Show, a band whose work I've written about previously. To recap: "Saint the Fire Show", their last album, was one of three records I bought on a trip to Minneapolis in the summer of 2003 (the other two were Iron & Wine's "Creek Drank the Cradle", which I loved, and Daedelus' "Rethinking the Weather" which was the worst worst worst thing I ever put in my CD player)- I knew and had listened to a couple songs from StFS, specifically 'Magellan Was A Felon'- which I had fallen in love with. However, after hearing the whole album for the first time, I was disappointed about having bought (what I considered at the time) such a noisy, crazy, difficult album.
So I sold it to a record store when I got back home.
Recently I found some of Michael Lenzi's Resplendent work, and also dug earnestly (again) into the Fire Show's discography, and was surprsied, mirabile dictu, to find that I loved all of it- Lenzi's voice, the varied, wild, throw-it-all-in-a-pot instrumentation, the semi-elliptical lyrics, everything.
Point being, my opinion of the Fire Show and of Michael Lenzi has changed drastically- Lenzi took the name M. Resplendent while playing in the Fire Show, and he kept the last part of his pseudonym for his new project. Resplendent is similar to the Fire Show in form, but a bit different in sound, in the way the music seems calmer, less likely to strike out at the world, maybe. Resplendent songs are planned and patiently constructed, whereas I always got the feeling that Fire Show songs were composed of fits and muffs and accidents and band-aids and tantrums (that's a good thing though too). Recently (this past summer or so), Lenzi had remarked that he doesn't want to make music anymore, for many different reasons, primarily because he felt like he didn't have anything left to say- but just last month he put this up on his website:
I have been fantasizing about the songs I want to make...Removing myself from the process of making songs has been fruitful. When something is always there it is easy to take it for granted. I enjoy making songs in so many ways. Creating something from next to nothing. Following an idea or a feeling through to a finished thing. Listening to it afterwards and for years to come and imagining what it is all about for the second, third or fourth time.
So that's good news. Listen to 'Summer Breeze', cause it's great; I cannot resist the pull of this line in particular: "an ocean filled with roadside monuments/written in the palm of this land". Those heavy beats that end the song are perfectly placed, a little eroded too- all smooth corners.
'Summer Breeze' is taken from "Am I Free/I Am Free", which is available right here.
Posted by Kevin at 12:12 AM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2006
asset management
Contrail (who always has cool pictures) mentioned this the other day: The Cansecos have some new songs from their forthcoming "Juices!" LP up on their myspace page (which seems to be down for maintenance right now, but which should be back up soon).
Also, there are some new peeps over on the sidebar (which I re-organized). I still need to add some more sites, and also come up with a better, more rational order for everything, but it's looking better. I guess since Matt doesn't write anymore, I can probably take down those links to 'greenideas blogs'. Anyway, please stop in at:
Daughters of Invention
Underground Express
Psychosyndrosis
Are You Familiar?
All 4 have uniformly fantastic writing and impeccable taste in music. They're working hard to entertain you; so, you know, go visit.
upcoming (really): Resplendent, Disco Inferno (really I mean it), more Animal Collective.
Posted by Kevin at 06:25 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2006
something like a repeat
'Wheats' popped into my head randomly the other day, so I thought I'd put it up again. This is from one of my first posts ever (9/20/04, back when I was a stone rookie to the mp3blog racket), you can tell by the ridiculously horrible writing (not that it's much better now):
**...this (from their first album, Watch It Happen) is one of the best break-up songs ever, because the melody is catchy as hell, and but it starts out so rough, with the palm-muted guitar, then you listen to the lyrics and it's just the most excoriating stuff. Nicely done, Mazarin. Unfortunately, it seems like the band is looking for some distribution for their third album (their second, Tall-Tale Storyline, is amazing), and no one is willing to give them a spot on their roster.
Here is a quote from Brian McTear (guitarist of Mazarin, main guy in Bitter, Bitter Weeks, and producer extraordinaire), courtesy of an interview with ShinyGun: "[I'm excited about] Mazarin's third album (which was finished about a year ago, but there's still no release scheduled). This is Quentin [Stoltzfus]'s best record, in my opinion. I hope to god it finds its way to the public soon. When we did our first record together, Quentin, Sean and I barely knew one another, and we were pretty innocent to the music world. Nonetheless, it was the first record from Philadelphia that I can remember making an impact outside the city. ... The newest one was an excellent return to the old days. It was back to the original threesome, plus bassist Mike Walker. I think we felt a lot older and wiser (only four years later) and made it with very little care for what would come of it. It also has appearances by Kurt from the Lilys, Don from Icarus Line and Walt from the Walkmen. Now I just want people to hear what we did."**
Well that had a happy ending, didn't it? I and Ear Records released Mazarin's 3rd full-length, "We're Already There", this past fall. The band's touring with the Walkmen through the end of this month, and you can buy any of their albums right here (except for "Watch It Happen", cause that baby's out of print).
Posted by Kevin at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2006
frozen green birds
So during this past Sunday's roadtrip with my little brothers to Yocco's Hot Dogs, we stopped in a record store in Kutztown called Young Ones . I'm sure the preceding sentence means very little to anyone living outside of southeastern Pennsylvania, so: point being- I found a used copy of Orthrelm's "OV" there, for like $8, and snatched it up.
I had heard good things about the record, and hey, turns out they were all true. "OV" operates in such a way that it's like a series of continuous, barely restrained explosions; physiologically, this piece would be like a person who was constantly on the adrenaline fight-or-flight threshold. The patterns that Barr and Blair create are deceptive, technically amazing (awe-inspiring, really) and protean (some of the phrases they play are so, so difficult to parse, after a while it's like you have no concept of what you're listening to, like the sounds are too quick to register in your mind). This album is fantastic- repitition is the main operator of "OV" and so it's easy, at times, to kind of zone out, but because Orthrelm have stitched these riffs together (quilt-style), there's always something- an abrupt change, a break in the percussion, a guitar note that's held for more than a millisecond- to bring you back into it. I like to think of "OV" as like a really ornate and well-wrought chain-mail blanket, with each hand-crafted link varying in size, texture, and metallurgical purity.
Orthrelm are going on tour soon (playing Norfolk VA's Relative Theory Records on 2/8) so catch them live if you can. You can buy "OV" right here.
Posted by Kevin at 09:11 AM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2006
trailer full of sparklers
This is one of my favorite Built to Spill songs, so you'll have to forgive me if I wax emo about it a little:
Listening to the new song from "You In Reverse" that Built to Spill put up on their myspace page (which seems to be down right now) reminded me of the first exposure I had to the band; it was via the cover of 'Twinfalls' that Ben Folds Five put on their B-sides/live disc "Naked Baby Photos", which I obsessed over during my freshman year in college. Soon after I sought out the original, and I remember thinking that it was one of the most remarkably moving songs I had heard up to that point, and it was, to my 18 yr. old mind, totally apropos- having just moved away from a small town that I had nothing but contempt for, I was filled with happiness at the prospect of being separated from it for as long as possible. As that fall wore on though, I was struck periodically by an almost crippling nostalgia: for my home, for my family (of course), but also for the town itself, the crumbling, industrial library, the strange mixture of gas stations and dilapidated department stores that seemed to be the sole constituents of our main street area, the city parks that were constantly pocked with stagnant & larvae-filled puddles, etc. The town itself was composed of buildings and open places that seemed mysterious and powerful to me when I was younger (grade school); these were landmarks that had been figurants in some of my best memories, but it was like they didn't quite fully arrange themselves in my head in a comprehensive way until I was older. Probably a common living-away-from-home experience, but mine just happens to be closely tied to this song. Built to Spill just have a real knack for capturing the qualia of a whole spectrum of fuzzy, gentle melancholy, failure, disappointment, etc. and 'Twinfalls' is one of the best examples of that.
'Twinfalls' is from the classic "There's Nothing Wrong With Love", which you can buy here.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
FFFFs debut album, "Cracked" is out now(!). I wrote about Sean's awesome song 'Kissed' right here, and now you can check out a bunch of the other tracks from the album over at the FFFFs website. If you dig what you hear and you want to buy the album, you can do so through the Sockets CDR page.
Posted by Kevin at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2006
orange grange
Guest contributors today: my younger brothers Steve (22 yrs. old) and Sean (18 yrs. old) (the one who plays guitar in the Do-Nots), who both listen to a lot of different music and who delve into genres/discographies that I personally have little interest in exploring, i.e. System of A Down. Sean heard this song for the first time at a friend's house and bought it, motivated by the fact that it was, in his words, "the most disgusting thing I had ever heard".
System of a Down - Vicinity of Obscenity (mp4)
**due to extreme ignorance/negligence on my part, the file posted was protected, and therefore unplayable. However, you can still enjoy Sean and Steve's salient commentary, and kind of imagine what the song sounds like**
Sean: The first time I heard this, I didn't think they were serious. Then I heard the other songs on the CD ("Hypnotize") and they were just as ridiculous as this one.
Steve: It's almost like they set out to make the most annoying song possible.
Sean: That part in the chorus when they talk about a 'milky seat' really creeps me out. It kind of sounds like they're perverts. Musically it's not that bad, but it just doesn't make any sense.
Steve: Does it remind you of anything?
Sean: It reminds me of an angry fever dream. And it makes me want to laugh.
______________________________________________________________________
Back to the usual on Tuesday.
Posted by Kevin at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006
praeteritio
On snooze till Friday. Work is disgustingly stressful, I'll spare you the details. Until Vendredi:
KRS has an mp3 of 'Dawn Patrol' from Excepter's forthcoming "Sunbomber" EP up here, and the band has just put up a new stream (#3X) on their website. 'Dawn Patrol' is hotter, harder beats than customary, definitely bracing up the static towards the tail end. JFR (or new member Jon Nicholson) speak-sings a sleepy voicemail story through the first 40% of the song, vocals are actually pretty crystal clear (for them). As much as I want them to return to the tundra'd beauty of "KA", I really like the direction they've been pursuing lately (judging from this and the recent live streams)...can't wait to hear the rest of the EP.
Upcoming: special guest writer (my brother, Steve) on Friday, Disco Inferno (soon) and tape decks, and Blue Pine (maybe).
Posted by Kevin at 12:48 AM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2006
DFA thanks you, personally, effusively
Neglected to mention this before, partially because I forgot to check: DFA has made 3 FANTASTIC radio mixes available for DOWNLOAD on their website- two by JAMES MURPHY, one by John JUAN Maclean (manic caps-lock emphasis is mine).
I was lucky enough to snag these off of ILM pre-XMAS, and listened to them all the way down to VA on the train ride; actually I only got a chance to listen to the James Murphy mixes- forgot to burn the John Maclean. But yeah, all 3 are (as one would expect) filled with great songs- there are some highlights I would like to address though. All throughout the first disc (with maybe one or two light occurrences in the second disc), Murphy mixes in what I think is Venom's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusic" live album, and drops a full section of it during the Bee Gees segue (about the 15 minute mark), wherein a raspy voice says: "We've heard some rumors out here. Venom have packed in, yes? Venom was supposed to have finished. [long, tension-filled pause] WELL WE'RE RECORDING A FUCKING NEW ALBUM NOW! [crowd cheers wildly]" (all said, keep in mind, with 'You Should Be Dancing' pulsing underneath). It's an amazing moment, and I love it to a degree that I can't really articulate. Also, the Alternative TV track ("Facing Up to the Facts") that Murphy uses to kick off the first mix is so heartbreaking; it's one of those songs that went from being ridiculously annoying to absolutely essential in the space of a few listens (I mean, just that first line, "I kissed her on the station", kills me).
Not that you needed any encouragement from me, but I think the mixes are only going to be up for a little while, so might as well get them while you still can.
Posted by Kevin at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2006
Shere Khan and his (implied) monocle
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Trust In Me (Jungle Book cover)
Kaa's persuasive and sibilant con song (addressed to Mowgli) rendered perfectly by Siouxsie. Listen to how faithfully she and the band are able to replicate the kind of slick, creepy confidence of the original (keep an ear out for the tongue-rolls on the 'r's all throughout the song). "Jungle Book" is by far my favorite of the old animation school Disney films: the story's amazing (even though it kind of, hmm, lightens up Kipling's original), the voice actors were top-notch, and the songs are undeniably classic ("I Wanna Be Like You" has rarely been topped in Disney movies since then).
Now before you start thinking that I'm breaking ground on new, scary nerd territory, let me just disclaim here that my younger brothers, when they were pre-school to kindergarten-age, used to watch Jungle Book, Peter Pan, Sword in the Stone, Sleeping Beauty, and Little Mermaid in tight succession over the course of any week- there is in fact a year of my life (1991) when I think I saw Peter Pan a good 250 days out of the 365 possible (and that's a low estimate). It's like the perfect inverse of that scene in A Clockwork Orange when Alex's eyes are being force-apertured and he's bombarded with violence and carnage...
Anyway. 'Trust In Me' is from Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Through the Looking Glass" album (which is composed entirely of covers), and you can buy that right here (for cheap).
Posted by Kevin at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2006
we've got movie sign...[updated w/ more comments]
Big A little a. Or, maybe 'ah'? I think the band prefers the former, but I think it'd be more fun (and confounding) to say to someone, "have you heard the new AAAH?". Aa are percussion-centric, with 3 or 4 drummers (I think) going at once; they make the kind of music that I imagined (and wanted to hear) when I first heard the title of the new Liars album, "Drum's Not Dead". More similar to Excepter though in execution, Aa gets their kicks not through flu-infected synths (which JFR and co. seem to dig), but via heavy, unpredictable beats, and gravity-warped vocals. I think I love this band already, and I've only heard a few of their songs.
'Thumper' is a burner, a weird jar of noises put in a windowsill and let to steep in the sun. It's the kind of song that you would play if you were getting pumped up to go out and hunt woolly mammoths (a good thing, all around). 'Thumper' is actually one of the band's newest songs, and is as of now unreleased (but it should be on the new album, whenever that comes out). You can hear one of the band's other newish tracks over on their myspace page here, and watch a live video from their last concert of 2005 here (which, trust me on this one, is amazing. If you do nothing else, even if you don't download 'Thumper' go and watch the video, cause it's impressive).
If you're in NYC, you can catch Aa playing at Northsix on February 3rd. Also, their website is chock full of very cool Marcel Dzama/Odilon Redon(the early charcoals only)-esque artwork, populated mostly by spectrally thin tribal women wearing lion and bear pelts on their heads (how has that not caught on as a fashion trend?).
One more thing: the band has an LP (in the strictest sense) out now on Narnack Records, which you can buy right here.
**Notes about the band's name, from readers much more worldly and intelligent than I am**
Species says: Here in Denmark, the A with a little circle above it (the symbol doesn't work on this blog) used to be spelled 'aa', or 'Aa' as in 'Arhus' (imagine the cap A with a little circle at the top!)/'Aarhus', where I live. It's pronounced a bit like 'oar', as in the things you row a boat with.
Figment says: I don't think this is where the band took its name, but one of the two types of lava flows is aa. Pronounced "ah-ah." It's the very chunky kind. As opposed to pahoehoe, the flowy sort.
Thank you, Species and Figment, for your great comments.
Just recently, Dan Selzer shared this hit of info about Aa:
"I actually think the band name came from there being two guys in the band whose name starts with A, maybe both Aaron? I know one of them is Aaron, whose a super nice guy I run into at the corner bodega sometimes, and I seem to remember one of them is really tall the other not so, thus Big A and Little A. Maybe I'm making this up."
This last one seems the most likely, although I'm still kind of rooting for the lava explanation.
Posted by Kevin at 12:30 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2006
squashlings
Of course in the weeks after I had already compiled the tracklisting for the mixes, I realized that there were a few songs I had forgotten about that definitely deserved spots on the list:
Rusty Santos - This Direction (archives: 1, 2)
the Joggers - Night of the Horsepills
Benji Cossa - This Party (archives)
Great Lake Swimmers - I Will Never See the Sun
I would put up mp3s for these and write (lovingly, glowingly) about them, but I think everyone's tired of that whole process. Plus I'm lazy.
So now that that's all wrapped up, Molars will be returning to the usual glacial pace of the one-song-per-day format. On Wednesday: the all-vowel band that I mentioned previously...
Posted by Kevin at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2006
When the electricity talks to the house [done - updated]
Soooo. Besides the fact that I'm putting up the final portion of this 'favorites of 2005' mix in the first week (some time) of 2006, I think this was a pretty successful operation. Little bit time-consuming, but good nonetheless. Why did it take so long? Maybe it was the holiday-induced laziness, the hours of travel, the paucity of vacation time? Mostly it's due to the fact that I like to put mixes together the old-fashioned way: by hand. That's right. All of these songs were converted to tape, then spliced (using common household tools) together, then pressed to vinyl, then converted back to mp3. Whole process has actually cost me over $25K. Totally worth it though. This little vanity project raised the employment level in my hometown by an impressive 2%. 16 college students earned internship credit just by helping to label the files.
Here are the constituents of pt.4:
40 Black Dice - Street Dude (Broken Ear Record) [BUY]
41 Page France - Chariot (Hello Dear Wind) [BUY]
42 Childballads - Cheekbones (Cheekbones EP) [BUY]
43 Out Hud - It's For You (Let Us Never Speak Of It Again) [BUY]
44 Final Fantasy - Furniture (Has A Good Home) [BUY]
45 Jackie-O-Motherfucker - Hey! Mr. Sky (Flags of the Sacred Harp) [BUY]
46 Wooden Spoon - Untitled 3 (Wooden Spoon) [BUY]
47 Birds of America - The Eyes of Our Youth Are Evil (Current Carry) [BUY]
48 Fiery Furnaces - Police Sweater Blood Vow (KEXP session) [INFO]
49 Electric Six Organs of Admittance - Close to the Sky (Bread, Beard, Bear's Prayers) [BUY]
50 Despistado - Broken (The People Of And Their Verses) [BUY]
51 Jan Jelinek - Lithiummelodie 1 (Kosmischer Pitch) [BUY]
52 LCD Soundsystem - Slowdive (XFM session/Disco Infiltrator single) [BUY]
53 Avey Tare - Judy Biworker (Esopus Magazine, issue 4) [BUY]
40 Black Dice - Street Dude
I love "Broken Ear Record" for the higher profile vocals, for the fact that the rhythmic intensity did not disappear when Hisham left the band, and for the fact that it's a much less, I don't know, restrained record than "Creature Comforts" or "Miles of Smiles", more along the lines of "Beaches and Canyons". The sounds on "Creature Comforts" seemed so clean (likewise with "Miles of Smiles", which is my favorite recording of theirs by far), but just about everything on BER is dirty, roughed up, weathered- which you can especially hear on 'Street Dude', with its quicksand pits of static and tangled-root guitars.
41 Page France - Chariot
(archives) Okay, okay, if you pressed me and I was absolutely forced to pick, this is my song of the year. It hits me as hard today as it did when I first heard it, back in the beginning of October- much like with the Broken Social Scene song I wrote about ('Major Label Debut (Fast)'), 'Chariot' will torque you out of a foul mood, no sweat. As Sean mentioned, it's about the Rapture ("at the trumpet call when we're all unsafe", "dance like elephants as he comes to us through a fiery golden ring", etc.) and is, I think I can say unequivocally, one of the most joyful, exuberant songs ever written about the end of the world; Michael Lau's eschatology just sounds so damn fun. Plus, I think it'd take a stone-hearted fool to deny the emboldening force of that line: "we will become a happy ending". (As I mentioned before, Lau's animistic/religious lyrics make for some compelling, vivid imagery- "Hello Dear Wind" is full of subtle and multivalent phrases).
42 Childballads - Cheekbones (aka Onion Domes of Tallahassee, White Chocolate Tea)
(archives) The return of Stewart Lupton. 'Cheekbones' sees the former Jonathan Fire*Eater lead singer working similar lyrical themes, or at the very least, constructing songs around narratives filled to the brim with poetic imagery viz. "Circle round a fort made of animal bones", "I bought a painting off the street of a haunted lake", "a shadow that's caught in the hollow of your cheekbone", "when you walk into the room, all the wallpaper comes in bloom" (that last one's my favorite). Musically though, this song reminds me a lot of the Rolling Stones- and while Lupton has been compared to Jagger before, it's really just a perfectly apt reference for 'The Onion Domes...', and if you want to get really fine-grained about it, start talking about "Beggars Banquet"-era Stones, specifically 'Street Fighting Man'- 'Onion Domes...' is the dense and bright-shining binary of that song. When Lupton harmonizes with Betsy Wright though, it rivals or even surpasses the best moments of Jonathan Fire*Eater- the wonderful theatricality is still there, the urgency and passion, but everything's rendered so much more delicately.
43 Out Hud - It's For You
It's either Molly or Phyllis that sings (with the intimacy of a whisper) in the beginning of 'It's For You': "He's up to something/she's up to something/and I can't breathe", and finishes the song by panting softly and deeply- a nice touch. Out Hud's second album is about a hundred times more likeable (and even danceable) than !!!'s "Louden Up Now", maybe due to Justin Vandervolgen's fantastic production work, or the amazing beats (maybe the best part of 'It's For You'), or the fact that Molly and Phyllis' warm, gentle voices complement Out Hud's music so well, and make each song just that much more tempting.
44 Final Fantasy - Furniture
I'm going to defer to Ryan Catbirdseat's relayed exchange with Carl (Zoilus) on this one, because this quote is what made me listen to Final Fantasy in the first place: "I did have one tiny problem with Has A Good Home, but Carl was kind enough to help me work through it. (My problem is at about the 1:24 mark on "Furniture", btw). I had said to Carl that it was "like a crispy black ink stain on the breast pocket of an otherwise immaculate white suit." Carl pointed out, "An immaculate white suit is fashion. An immaculate white suit with a black ink stain on the breast pocket is art."
45 Jackie-O-Motherfucker - Hey! Mr. Sky
(not at all what I had expected) JOMF was one of those bands that I had always heard a lot about, sometimes (and oddly) in relation to Godpssed You! Black Emperor (I guess it's the whole 'collective' thing)- but had never listened to, until I heard this song. What's the surprising part of it? The fact that it is such a well-tempered, laidback and structured song; I had imagined JOMF sounded like whatever free-jazz + slide guitar equaled. 'Hey! Mr. Sky' is gorgeous, flowing, and clear (actually reminds me a lot of Bark Psychosis- the more gentle ideas are teased out over the course of the song, and strengthened by contrasting noises/rough patches).
46 Wooden Spoon - Untitled 3
(archives) Owen Hills' songs are lambent, flowing, unexpected, and downright sneaky. "Untitled 3" (all the songs are unnamed) begins with the slow, tenuous fingering of a piano note, pierced soon after by a few tight packets of chords. Then, incongruously, brilliantly, a flurry of acoustic guitar rises up and weaves itself in through the stark air of the piano, like a group of kids playing tag, running suddenly and unwittingly through a house in the midst of a dour wake. Underneath it too, there's a slight harmonium drone, tugging gently at the rest of the song.
47 Birds of America - The Eyes of Our Youth Are Evil
Without delving into it too much, it's easy to sit back and hear just how pretty this song is (and what it is: a lakeside beach in the winter). There's that up-and-down guitar (one eyebrow raised), those dusty, cold handclaps, and (oh yes) the flurry-filled saxophone. Then listen to Nathaniel Russell's lyrics: "I can't feel my heart anymore/set me free", and a phrase I've always found particularly heartbreaking, "When I was just a boy/I dreamt/I dreamt all this life" (that would be a kind of weird curse). Birds of America have a 9 minute live version of this song (more sax, slower pace, very good) up on their website here, if you're interested.
48 Fiery Furnaces - Police Sweater Blood Vow
First posted by Matt Fluxblog, back in the day (April). Best thing they've ever written (I think). If you don't know it, listen to it now. Should be on the record after Bitter Tea (maybe?). Eleanor could not possibly be cuter (love the way she says "this is our new, new, new song"). Great lyrics, as usual: "On Christmas Eve, dizzy escalator malls", "chain-smoking ashes all over himself", "I'm an ice-skater's bruised knees". Although it's taken from a radio session and probably won't be released until late this year or early '07, I'm including it since I listened to it more than just about any other song in '05.
49 Electric Six Organs of Admittance - Close to the Sky
(archives) Ethan Miller (from Comets on Fire) writes in his liner notes to "Bread, Beard, and Bear's Prayers", that this track comes from a period in 2002 when Ben Chasny (= Six Organs) asked Comets to serve as his backing band, for a sort of free/noisy/groove version of Six Organs. Eventually, Chasny decided to break-up the project (sorta) and the Electric LP remains in limbo. 'Close to the Sky' though was chosen by Ethan Miller for inclusion on the compilation that he curated for Arthur Magazine's Bastet imprint. As Miller himself says, "the vocals were muddy as hell but great grooves and solos". And it's true- despite Chasny's voice sounding subterranean, it still shines through clearly, and the guitars on 'Close to the Sky' are alternately abrasive, scrambling, decorative, and absolutely searing. Listen to it- you won't be disappointed. I have to say though, if there's a whole album of this kind of stuff out there somewhere, Chasny and Comets on Fire should think seriously about releasing it, cause it's just jaw-droppingly pretty. The sounds they get are inspired, in the literal sense- everything seems so 'breathed into'.
50 Despistado - Broken
(archives) 'Broken' has all the traits of a standard Despistado burner: warm, frantic energy, the intriguing/baffling lyrics, and a certain rhythmic intensity. Everything that anyone could have come to expect from the amazing "Emergency Response" EP. But it's leaner, in a way, and more focused. At the start, there's a discreet, whispering guitar just sort of mindlessly stuck on a phrase- contrast that with the less polite, more confident guitar that emerges (with chunky chords) right before Dagan's ranting in the first verse (his voice is like Robert Smith's in a way- especially how it sounds like any and all anguish in his life and attendant disappointments live right in the back of his throat, like his words are filtered through something thick and intractable). After the first chorus, there's a beautiful little guitar noise that floats down every few seconds- it sounds more like a glass harmonica than anything. Dagan sings the chorus with unimpeachable passion, "This city is energy on the verge of collapse/and we're not feeling/like angels/despite the way that we look/we're all broken". At this point, there's really nothing that could convince me that this band wouldn't have been huge, had they stayed together (just listen to the ending of this song if you need proof).
51 Jan Jelinek - Lithiummelodie 1
Almost everything Jan Jelinek does is great, and I think it's because he's so very skilled at parceling out certain sounds; like he knows when he's gotten something that's gold, but he shows a lot of self-restraint (he's not stingy, and he doesn't over-indulge either). But I also love it when he uses some element consistently through the track, and in 'Lithiummelodie 1' it's that bough of pine needles brushing along against the trunk of a dead tree (or, if you prefer, the sound of a broom on a tiled floor). The loops on this one move so well, and the forest sounds make the song so mossy, humid, healthy, etc. Jelinek never disappoints.
52 LCD Soundsystem - Slowdive
Siouxsie and the Banshees cover. LCD Soundsystem. There was no way this wasn't ending up as a favorite. At 2:31 when the bass switches into 4th gear for a few seconds, it will make your knees buckle. Sometimes (like during this song) I think James Murphy is basically infallible.
53 Avey Tare - Judy Biworker
(archives) 'Judy Biworker' is from the great Esopus Magazine #4 compilation, which was constructed from readers' descriptions of their childhood imaginary friends. The musicians then took the vignettes and wrote songs based on these figments. Here's Judy Biworker's origin:
I had an imaginary friend-two, actually, but one was my best friend. Judy Biworker. We only spoke on the phone; it was a red plastic dial-up phone. She lived in Buffalo, New York, and that was due to all of the candy manufacturers being located there. [from Mary Ellen Carroll - New York, NY]
'Judy Biworker' is soft, meowing ambience. It sounds like a guitar being slowly massaged and tapped, with the resulting notes distended into something sweet and ropy, like brightly colored saltwater taffy. And this melody is one of Avey Tare's absolute most heartbreaking (next to maybe 'Winter's Love', and the forthcoming 'Banshee Beat' and 'Turn into Something'), especially when he's singing lines that are naturally (because of the subject matter) wrought in hard nostalgia, like "Judy, Judy/I call to you today/I hope that Buffalo's not gray", and "and I hope/and I pray/that I can meet you there someday". The few parts of this song when Avey Tare harmonizes with himself are just jawdropping- I think after hearing this, it's not really fair to refer to Noah (Panda Bear) as 'the pop one'. 'Judy Biworker' is easy on the ears.
Posted by Kevin at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2006
candied medicine
Mixes 1 + 2 are gone, 3's still up, pt. 4 the last one is on its way.
Been listening to Destroyer's Rubies for the past 5 days, nothing else. Fits well. The title track is like riding a roller coaster designed by a sheltered playwright (wind in your hair, screaming, but also lots of savory drama).
Posted by Kevin at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)