Music to drink tea by
Archive for November, 2009
My First Earthquake
12 years ago
in MP3s
My First Earthquake are an indie pop band from San Francisco (where else?). Listening to them for the first time when Last.fm radio played me Sack Lunch was an interesting experience. It went something along the lines of:
Well, this is bombing along at a decent little clip. Some nice little unhinged vocal deliveries here. This is all rather fun. Did she just say “how can I be in love with a 12 year old boy?”. What the fuck? No, no, I must have misheard. Oh, she really did. Oh boy. Hang on a minute, this is a whole bloody song about a married woman and her relationship with a child.
You know what though? It really doesn’t matter. I still like the song just as much now. It’s just as catchy as it was, and somehow it’s all pulled off in a why that makes it mildly amusing rather than horrifying. Maybe it’s the fact it’s sung by a female voice as any man singing this song would likely find themselves on any number of lists very quickly.
Tremors is out now directly from the band’s own website for all of $4. Since I’m so far behind the times, they’ve since released another album that can be had from here.
Matt Wilson and John Munson emerge from the dark night as The Twilight Hours
32 years ago
in MP3s
It’s an odd journey that has led to The Twilight Hours. Long time readers will be aware of my love for late 80s / early 90s Minnesota band Trip Shakespeare. When that band dissolved, bassist John Munson went on to join Semisonic, while front man Matt Wilson seemingly wandered around in the abyss, releasing only one solo album in ten years. In 2001, Munson and Wilson formed The Flops, a two-man band that played a mixture of old Trip songs, some of Wilson’s solo work and some other bits and pieces. They released a grand total of one live CD, disappearing again in 2005. Sometime after that they started billing themselves as The Dark Nights, which has now morphed in to The Twilight Hours. Only now, seventeen years after the breakup of Trip Shakespeare, do we actually get some new material from two incredibly talented individuals.
And you know what? It’s slightly disappointing. I suspect this is because of how much I’ve built this up in my mind over the years. I adore those Trip Shakespeare records, as well as virtually everything Semisonic and Matt Wilson have put out in between. What I’m struggling with here is that this whole album feels just a little too MOR. There’s nothing strictly wrong with it, and Wilson’s vocal remains compelling throughout. It can’t seem to help remaining a little flat though.
That said, it has it’s moments too. The new arrangements for older Wilson songs Forgot Me Now and Queen of Tomorrow are largely successful. The song below, My Return, is the closest the record ever gets to the Trip sound of old. Vocals play off of each other, guitars rev into life and harmonies pop in at just the right time. It still feels like it’s being held back a little, but after this amount of time, I’ll take what I can get.
Stereo Night is out now in “Good enough for me” mp3 quality (160kbps) for absolutely nothing from the band’s website. Also available in “When it comes to music, I don’t like to compromise too much” mp3 quality (320kbps / $7) or “I’m a person of high quality, I’ll need your best music” CD for $10. More bands should be adopting this system.
Website / Myspace / Twitter
New Go Away Birds EP is out!
02 years ago
in MP3s
I’m not sure there’s a voice I like more right now than Catherine Ireton’s. Between the God Help the Girl record (which is still growing on me with every play) and The Go Away Birds, she’s a pivotal part of two my favourite bands of the year.
The Go Away Birds are a rather simple proposition. Most of these songs aren’t overly complex or flashy. Most are just a guitar and Ireton’s voice, but that’s more than enough when you’re dealing with a voice like this. It also feels a little like the aforementioned God Help the Girl project is rubbing off here. The songs on this third EP seem a little more theatrical than before, complete with backing vocals and little flourishes. Of course, I could be entirely wrong and these songs could have been recorded years ago.
Best of all is that the band seem to be continuing to release material purely out of the goodness of their hearts. This is the third EP released, and the third one that is free. It seems almost criminal that records this good can be obtained for absolutely nothing, but who are we to argue?
Heart Thump Heart Thump is available for free download from the band’s website. Throw a bit of money into the donation box if you like it though.
Live: The Young Republic // Cargo, London
02 years ago
in Live Reports, MP3s
Assuming that bands progress in the same way people do, the last time I saw The Young Republic, they were going through their awkward teenage years. Having just split from a bunch of their original members, the band were starting to find a new sound, one rather more rooted in Americana as opposed to the upbeat folk pop of the early years. They were good and put on a decent show, but there was still a sense that the band didn’t really have a clear direction.
In the little over a year in between, so much has changed. The Young Republic that takes the stage in Cargo on a Monday night aren’t here to play songs. They are here to rock. The fact the venue isn’t exactly full isn’t going to stop the crowd going right along with them, and the band are happy to reward their enthusiasm. Launching into a set made up mostly from their latest album Balletesque, we get a solid hour of rock and roll that only scratches the surface of their potential.
Much of this confidence comes through front man Julian Saporiti. He’s no longer the slightly awkward (but hugely talented) personality on stage he appeared to be a year ago. A new charisma seems to have appeared about him as he throws himself completely into every song as if his life depended on it. To his right, violinist Kristin Weber is a subtler presence, adding layering to each song. That is until The Alchemist, with it’s full-on violin solo halfway through. The rest of the band utterly still and silent throughout, her violin alone commanding the entire room. Not something you see at gigs everyday.
Then of course there’s the occasional treat thrown in for the older fans. “This is the point where we play a couple of old ones” notes Saporiti, before we realise these aren’t the old songs at all. Sure, at their core they are still Excuses To See You and the wonderful Girl From The Northern States, but they’ve been given the same overhaul the band had. What was folk pop is now Americana, and it’s still just as good.
After an hour, the band say goodnight and head off the stage. The crowd aren’t letting them off so easily though, and the band return for an encore seemingly at a loss for what to play seemingly having used everything in the main set. Shouts for their cover of Dylan’s Isis are shot down by Saporiti pointing out their lack of harmonicas. Eventually they settle on a couple of Beatles covers and most surprisingly of all, the Ghostbusters theme song. Complete with dance moves. It’s a hell of a way to end a gig, but by this point the audience would have let them get away with anything.
