Been waiting on this one for a while as twice I’ve tried to pick up a copy at their live show and both times learned that they sold-out of all their 7”s earlier in the tour (seems to be a trend…). Thankfully, Dean Spunt’s Post Present Medium label decided to do a limited re-pressing — 200 on orange, 300 on black vinyl — which I snagged as soon as I got word of the news.
The A-side features a duo of live favorites “Something In the Way” and “Wish He Was You”. Both tracks are upbeat, reverb-laden, infectious pop songs that Bethany Cosentino and Bob Bruno are known for. However, it’s the B-side “The Road” which I find the most intriguing of the bunch. A more heavy — and certainly more heady — song than anything else I’ve heard since Cosentino’s early Where the Boys Are Cassette, the track chronicles, what else, the hurt of lost love. (However, a more exotic interpretation could be “the son’s” later reflection of “his father” in Cormac McCarthy’s book of the same name. The lyrics, such as “I remember when I was younger / I used to sit around and think about you”, are certainly ripe for comparison).
You can listen to an mp3 of the “ballad” B-side as well as watch a live version of “Wish He Was You” that someone recorded at a Portland gig I went to:
Dostoevsky might have called it an act of Providence, I call it a good coincidence that I happened to finish Brothers Karamazov the same day that I was listening to NPR’s All Songs Considered pre-SXSW podcast where they showcased Seattle duo Ivan & Alyosha — the name of two of the three brothers from the Russian classic.
“Easy to Love”, the opener to their seven song debut LP The Verse, The Chorus, is a smooth ballad that, as the name would suggest, is “easy to love”. With simple chord strums, a whistle-filled bridge, and lyrics that could be transcribed on first listen — a rarity these days with reverb drenched chillwave tracks — the track is perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon listening to records on the porch with some lemonade at the ready.
You can check out the mp3 below as well as an acoustic rendition for another song of theirs called “Beautiful Lie”:
Although the ALL CAPS title might suggest it’s meant to be blasted out of your Alexandria X-2 speakers, The Letter Box Project’s “TOURDEFRANCE” is a quintessential headphone listen. With shimmering synths and woozy melodies effortlessly floating back and forth between your ears, the track is more than enough to put you into an intoxicating haze with only a single listen. Just when you are ready to float off into the atmosphere, LBP grounds you with a fast-paced rapid-fire percussion line that’s prominent enough to be noticeable, but not overwhelming. “TOURDEFRANCE” is from a recently released five-track EP entitled Lullabies For Those Who Cannot Sleep, which you can download for free from The Letter Box Project’s myspace page.
The last time we heard from UK-based Shells, he was brilliantly remixing fellow British electronic artist Seams’ track “Nightcycles” (which has since been pressed into vinyl). Well Shells is back with a great new original track called “Mulberry Parade” that, in my opinion, is one of his best pieces to date (although “Lunar Park” might give it a run for its money). Possessing more momentum than his “Nightcycles” mix, the track starts off from the gate moving with a driving bass drum line, knife-like synth cuts, and twinkling keyboard notes that fly in and out of focus. At the one-minute mark, garbled robotic sounds — whose harshness is a good counter to an otherwise ethereal song — enters the foreground, remaining there for most of the track. With elements being removed and reintroduced fluidly, “Mulberry Parade” shows how a composition can be radically changed with even minor additions and subtractions of layers.
Fortunately, both artists have a plethora of tracks available to stream/download on their soundcloud pages — here for The Letter Box Project and there for Shells. You can also listen to the two featured tracks below:
Although I normally save video finds for my weekly round-up, this one from PT Music favorite’sThe Sandwitches is too good not to share now! Although “Kiss Your Feet” is a middle-in-the-pack track from their wonderful debut How to Make Ambient Sadcake, the video is first rate — condensing a typical 90 minute horror movie into a four-minute flick. Directed by Joey Izzo and released a month ago without any fanfare, this video is proof positive that I have to start following more people on vimeo… [Via: GvB]
You can still snag the LP from Turn Up Records, but if you need more convincing before buying, here’s an mp3 of one of my favorites, “The Revisionist”:
Time for another installment of my favorite video finds of the past week:
Recorded by the talented Austrians at They Shoot Music, the first video is of Thao With The Get Down Stay Down playing “Body” in a hotel bathroom in Vienna. The band uses any and everything they could find in the small space (hairdryer including!), making for an interesting live rendition of the track:
The next amazing video is of Spanish electro-sampling extraordinaire El Guincho playing “Kalise” in the Los Angeles Natural History Museum rainforest exhibit. Recorded by the good folks at Dublab, Pablo Díaz-Reixa’s textured music matches perfectly with the dense foliage of his surroundings:
If I’m living in Portland, I feel the obligation to at least feature some local bands, right. Fortunately the music scene here is first rate, and Reporter is certainly one of those bands that have caught the attention of ears everywhere. Here is a cool video of them playing on top of the City of Portland Metro Department’s ecoroof
It’s no surprise to long-time readers that I like the country sounds of LA’s Dawes, and now, thanks to a recording by Tenth Row, you can experience a complete live set of theirs:
If you haven’t already done so, you need to check out the music site Salad Fork because they are posting some incredible stuff lately. Case in point this unearthed video of Real Estate playing acoustically in an abandoned building in Portugal:
Finally, a video of Bill Murray bartending at SXSW, giving everyone tequila shots regardless of what they ordered:
For those who haven’t heard any of Sonny Smith‘s prior material, this 7”, released on Future Stress Recordings, is a pretty good summary of a singer-songwriter who has been releasing material the better part of ten years. With charming lyrics and relaxed instrumentation, this record would make a good soundtrack to any chilled-out Sunday morning.
On the A-side, “The Hypnotist” makes good use of a tried-and-true folk guitar lick (you know the type: bobbing up and down on every beat). Equipped with Andy Griffin-like whistling and harmonizing hums, an uninitiated Sonny listener could very easily place the track as being recorded in the 1930s rather than the 2010s. A pleasant enough song, “Mondrian” strips life down into easily distinguishable elements (“spare and square and simple” ) and colors (“red and yellow and blue”) with its lyrics while echoing the simplistic sentiment with its guitar accompaniment.
As great as the A-side is, the B-side is where Sonny shines. “Stranded” — the only full band arrangement in the bunch — gives a great taste of Sonny & Co. for people who have yet to hear his recent amazing full length Tomorrow Is Alright. Recorded with fellow San Franciscans Tahlia Harbour (The Dry Spells), Shayde Sartin (The Fresh & Onlys/Ty Segall), and Raphi Gottismen (The Fisherman Three), the song sounds like a casual impromptu jam session which happened to get recorded. This sort of intimate aspect of Sonny’s recordings boosts its sing-along appeal, making you feel like you’re part of the chorus when you belt out the lyrics with him. The second song on the A-side is the slightly off-kilter “Girl of the Streets”. Similar to what Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson does in tracks like “Buriedfed”, the song teeters on the edge of collapsing on itself by using misaligned vocal harmonies (kind of like the audio version of stereopsis). This effect gives the track much more weight, allowing the listener to think there is a lot more instrumentation than just a guy and his guitar.
I’ve got a copy of the 7” on black vinyl to give away complete with a digital download code for the record as well as a small comic flip-book illustrated by Sonny himself. If you want to win this, all you have to do is retweet this or, for those non-tweeters, leave a comment below (be sure to include a valid address in the e-mail field) and I’ll pick a winner at random in the coming days (sorry, US residents only). And if you’re not the lucky one chosen, you can also buy the record from the Future Stress Recordings shop here. [EDIT: Contest is closed]
To whet your appetite, here is an mp3 of the track “Girl of the Streets” as well as a live video of Sonny with The Sunsets performing “Stranded”:
Made a nice find in the record store the other day as I saved a Suckers‘ 7” from being relegated to the sub-$1 bargain bin. I remember hearing about this record a while back, but I thought at the time that the $7 Insound was wanting for it was a bit high (however, it seems my standards have changed). Anyways, after spinning the record a couple of times the past few days I’ve come to the realization that it would have been a good buy originally and was a great buy for the two bucks I was able to cop it for.
The A-side is a synth-driven pop jam, something that Suckers have a knack for doing. I don’t know if it’s just the low fidelity of my audio system or what, but lead singer Quinn Walker has a tinged of Spencer Krug in his subdued vocals — you know the strained quivering and the knack for inflecting just the right syllable just the right way. The six minute track (a genuine surprise nowadays on a seven inch) is a prety epic affair. Crescendos and decrescendos are abound throughout the song, ultimately leading up to a grandiose falsetto-featuring climax, à la The Darkness, before tapering off at the end.
The B-side is a pleasant enough remix of their hit song “It Gets Your Body Movin’” by Yeasayer‘s Chris Keating. Although there is pretty much nothing added that makes you turn and cock your head and think “that’s interesting”, the remixed track certainly is true to its name and would be sure to get some people off the wall and onto the dance floor if it was played during a party.
Concerning mp3s of the tracks, it seems that it’s one of the few times where the internet failed me. You can stream the A-side from Pitchfork but when it comes to the B-side remix, it looks like you’ll just have to suck it up and buy the record. Sorry =( To hopefully placate you, here is the a Daytrotter recording of the original track “It Get’s Your Body Movin’” off of Suckers’ self-titled EP as well as a recent cover they did of The Raveonettes‘ stellar “Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)”:
