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October 12, 2006
confuzzed
Another inexplicable absence. Well, not quite true; I could explain it, but no one wants that. Let's just settle out of court instead.
1) The new Blood Brothers album, "Young Machetes". Drove like a maniac to sweatily purchase it late yesterday. Not quite up to the level of "Crimes". It feels disconnected, fragmentary. I think it has to do with the sequencing- where "Crimes" was expertly balanced between the ear-shredders ('Trash Flavored Trash', 'Beautiful Horses') and the abrasively pretty ballads ('Crimes', 'Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck'), "Young Machetes" kind of swings between those two extremes intra-song, which takes some adjustment. "Crimes" definitely took a good amount of listening work at first, some delicate parsing, but I feel like (at least right now) "Young Machetes" will take more, demand more. Where "Crimes" was an album that I got into, I think "Young Machetes" is just an album that I'll get used to. (Oh shit how's that for an awkward, meaningless phrase-turn). I have to say though, I still love Johnny Whitney and Jordan Blilie's voices.
2) Let's hear it for the persuasive power of secondary recommendations. Just recently, I listened to a track ('Young Bride') by Midlake (to whom I had never paid even the slightest attention), and fell head-over-heels, so to speak, with the song. Also previously neglected and now lukewarmly beloved: Voxtrot. A band which I actively disliked without having ever heard a single note of their music (due to the interesting phenomenon of the band being pushed SO GODDAMN HARD by every single mp3blog on earth, particularly by the ones I consider the least worthwhile and most willing to kowtow to publicists, to which I naturally responded with irrational hatred) has written a beautiful and strange song, 'Soft and Warm' (which I'm sure 98% of you have heard already). Both recommendations came from people I trust (a co-worker and my younger brother, respectively), and I had kind of forgotten how nice it was to be surprised by someone else's taste (not so much my younger bro, I already knew he had good taste).
3) PAS/CAL are finally releasing something! And it's not the full-length! The band is putting out a new EP on November 7th (I think), called "Dear Sir". Some of you may remember that I very un-lucidly discussed the title track way back in November '05, and compared the song to a piece by Marcel Duchamp (I still think that's pretty valid). Anyway, the EP's like 5 or 6 tracks, should be a nice preview of the direction they're taking with the LP (tentative early 2007 release).
4) A Sunny Day In Glasgow are going to release their debut album, possibly titled "SCRIBBLE MURAL COMIC JOURNAL", in February 2007 on Notenuf Records. 13 songs. 3 of which are on the "Sunniest Day Ever" EP. If you know nothing about the band, simply scroll a few entries down and read to your heart's content. The LP will no doubt be jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Check out Merry Swankster's recent interview with Ben Daniels (main songwriter for ASDIG).
I was originally going to post this song way back in July. Can't remember at all what I was going to say about it. Probably something like (joke about living in a house of cats/"Gray Gardens"), the enjoyment I derived from listening to this song on a tape player in my car, the way the track is spiked with an intense, enviable energy, and the way it reminds me somewhat of Despistado (crazy, sunbright guitars, just the right kind of voice-cracking).
6) P.S. If you are from Philly, or even if you aren't, go do yourself a favor and read everything on The Publications Office. Insightful and hilarious. When I lived there (or near there) I couldn't write about the city as well and as entertainingly as the T.P.O. guys do (esp. check out the Adam Moerder/Junior Boys post; it's laugh-out-loud funny).
Posted by Kevin at October 12, 2006 12:52 AM