Make Me One
I'll be away for a week or so; if you miss me just check the Muxtape! Don't ever come back here again if you're not feeling it.
So Much Silence's Muxtape is 180 degrees from mine, but killing it just the same!
You haven't heard The Explorers Club but they will blow your mind. Or grin like an idiot.
Oh look-- they've made you a Muxtape.
***
The Clientele show us a new one from their upcoming Acuarela EP, That Night, A Forest Grew. It's called "Share The Night" and it pretty much makes sense given the band's direction to this point. It's good, but I can't help holding it up to their haunting Ariadne EP, which was great.
Four Tet in San Francisco
All you within the Bay Area and its outlying villages:
Come to the CreativemindsSF art reception and stay for the Four Tet show on Saturday, May 31. It's being put on by an industrious friend and features many Bay Area artists, including the medical students involved with the Canvas of Hope Project at Tuoro University. The artists receive 100% of their sales, while all proceeds from Canvas of Hope are donated to the American Cancer Society's Breast Cancer Program.
As if the deal needed sweetening, Four Tet will be performing following the reception.
I was lucky enough to catch Four Tet a few years ago in Edinburgh, and remember how amazed I was at seeing him work absolute magic on stage, building songs from their most basic elements and surely creating one of the most enthusiastic atmospheres that building had ever seen. This show, trailing the release of the excellent Ringer mini album, could be even better.
See you there!
Taking The Farm
I realize that Music Go Music wasn't for everyone. You don't have to explain yourselves, but let me give you one more on the Secretly Canadian (/Jagjaguwar/Dead Oceans/oh my!) tip:
I realize there's an argument of pastiche vs. homage to be run through, but that would pretty obviously be a disservice to the musics. Instead I'd like to posit that while The War On Drugs quilt a more practical patchwork than MGM, that both absolutely own their designs is what gives them such immediate and lasting appeal.
Oh, and The War On Drugs' free EP gives them appeal, too:
The Rich Girls bring up a point of great concern-- where are the Summer Jamz?? You know?? And which is the worse sin: that there aren't any bona fide hits, or that I hadn't given the matter any thought until now?
You know what? Maybe my subconscious knew of the problem, and my buying a "Promiscuous" 12" last week was really more significant than I had thought. This is gonna send me headlong into something nasty.
Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura
Like anybody who has followed Pas/Cal since The Handbag Memoirs came out in 1976, endless delays on the LP saw hopes fade, along with the band, into obscurity.
Now it's coming out; the proof follows.
Wow, that's good.
Going To...
Say what you will of John Darnielle's voice, but concede perfection when you're lifted by the ears and thoroughly shaken.
Ah! As young and possessed as I've ever heard him. "Going to Bridlington" was never released.
Archery
A few years ago, you may remember, Page France caused considerable commotion in these pages through their stunning full-length, Hello, Dear Wind. The album showed true bravery in simple, memorable songs, examining an idiosyncratic view of Christian faith and love which contrasted nicely with another popular album which considered a nominally similar, yet very different faith. Page France's, or perhaps more accurately Michael Nau's, world was fantastic: dancing animals, windy days, kings, queens, and angels, all in a circus-- a wonderful amalgamation of a metaphor which served a very real purpose. In singing and dancing and stomping Nau embraced and overcame the inevitable mortal restrictions-- the ringleader's direction, if we're running with this-- through a beautiful and absolute faith in good. To say that this sophomore effort was accomplished would be an understatement.
Since then, and I can't really hold this against them, Page France has all but dissolved over the course of a few EPs and a full-length which never quite captured their successor's easy brilliance (Sean at Said the Gramophone voiced this well last year). And now we have Nau as the Cotton Jones Basket Ride, and I'm still not quite certain if the music is better, or I'm just more receptive after the name change. There's more soul and groove, though the sound is still small and comfortable-- give it a chance.
Brother Run Them Down
At first, as the synth wash gives way to staccato electric piano, it seems we're in for a mindless Big Moments 70s re-run, but then Music Go Music keep nailing it, and it becomes clear that this is no joke. The production, the perfectly thrumming guitar, the phased drums, the phased everything; it's all there, but it's the abandon the LA goof troop brings which sends "Light of Love" soaring.
***
Kensington Heights is a killer album by one of my absolute favorite bands, but why does it always feel like nobody's listening when it comes to the Constantines? Especially now, when everybody's so quick to draw Springsteen comparisons-- if honesty and fire and compassion are the basic tenets of a Boss sound, then why haven't we realized this truly worthy band as deserving of our highest praise? Damn.
***
I'm listening to Anywhere I Lay My Head right now, and it's much more listenable than I had expected.
Teen Creeps
I've made a Muxtape. Due to their restrictions it's a dumbed-down version of a longer mix, although maybe that's okay-- the real one's just too special.
***
I've begun purchasing vinyl instead of CDs, and Nouns came in the mail yesterday. There couldn't be anything more perfect than that.
This has got to be the most undeniable band in existence. In a way, everything I wanted punk to be when I was a teenager, to the point where I'm almost embarrassed at the optimism and empowerment I get from their perfect music/movement/aesthetic synergy.
Plus bands that skate are bulletproof.
