Power pop hasn't sounded this good and fresh since Regretfully Yours came about in 1996. Auto Interiors second album, Let's Agree To Deceive Our Best Friends, is a tome to the great 3-minute song. The 11 tracks that fill this album are filled with huge drums, even larger guitars, and heavenly vocals that easily could pass for early Kinks meets the hey-day of Jawbox.
The center piece of this power pop pie is actually the album's closing number, "Green Arrow." The anthemic guitars that start the song off are soon joined by a driving force of a beat as the vocals of Eric Waxwood attempts of fighting with fire are drowned out by the molten rock and lava of instrumentation. AI's drummer, Bruce Corporal, feels that "Green Arrow" is the best song in their canon of songs, one that was re-recorded from their 2001 debut, No Frill Halo Flight, because it is a song that only gets better with age. And it is definitely a song that will be stuck in your heads for the rest of the day, I mean, the first time I spun the album I kept spinning "Arrow" so much that it's now almost the song post frequently played in my iTunes on my office computer. That's the power of power pop.
So I've spent the last 16 hours with No Shouts No Calls, the 4th studio album from Brighton quartet Electrelane. It's dark sounding quality of production goes back to Seachange's 2004 opus, Lay Of The Land, the only difference this time around is it's the near-angelic vocals of Verity Susman. The album's 11 songs present a duel between her earthly delivery with the rest of the band's performance on a number of instrumental tracks.
Whereas "Tram 21" is built around a pulsating bass line and a tight farisfa jam that meshes with the harmonies of Susman her other femme fatales Emma Gaze and Mia Clarke, "To The East" starts off with more of Ros Murray's infectious bass hooks and the . The highlight where it all comes together is the penultimate "Cut And Run." The joyous occasion of the ukelele painting the visions of being on the Hawiian shores of sunset get rained down on by the heart wrenching tale of love lost. Even the vocals sound as bright as the music when Susman laments 'Do do do we're like fish in the sea / And I thought you were the one for me.' What's the word I'm looking for here, irony?
No Shouts No Calls is out Tuesday on Too Pure and the band will play a handful of headlining dates in the U.S. with The Blow (that band that sings about holding me like the parenthesis that this last sentence is being held in.)
Tour Dates: 05/14 - Bard College - Annandale 05/15 - Irving Plaza - New York 05/16 - Paradise - Boston 05/18 - Lee’s Palace - Toronto 05/19 - Chicago Theatre - Chicago 05/20 - Chicago Theatre - Chicago 05/22 - Empty Bottle - Chicago 05/23 - Triple Rock - Minneapolis 05/26 - Sasquatch - George 05/27 - Schnitzer Hall - Portland 05/29 - Greek Theatre - Los Angeles 05/30 - Greek Theatre - Los Angeles 05/31 - Troubador - Los Angeles 06/01 - Greek Theatre - Berkeley 06/02 - Greek Theatre - Berkeley 06/05 - The Parish - Austin 06/07 - Creepy Crawl - St. Louis 06/08 - Andy Warhol Museum - Pittsburgh 06/09 - Johnny Brenda’s - Philadelphia 06/10 - Black Cat - Washington DC
Download: "To The East" [mp3] /// "Cut And Run" [mp3] /// [Buy Here]
This week, Rusty picks up where the inaugural My Formative Years post left off, looking at the second of what he uncommonly refers to as the "Trifecta" of albums that came out in that magical year now a decade ago.
The summer of 1997 brought to me a lot of great things that I still enjoy today. One of them was The Kids In The Hall; thanks to weekday reruns on Comedy Central, I was introduced to this Canadian sketch comedy show and such memorable characters as The Chicken Lady, Gavin, and Bellini. That, and I was able to go, "Hey Dad, look, it's Dave from Newsradio!" Needless to say, he wasn't impressed by my findings. The other thing I discovered was again, thanks to MTV surprisingly enough, some great music. Every Sunday night, I found myself glued to the TV set to catch the newest installment of 120 Minutes, the only show that mattered on MTV. Started in the late 1980s, the show was a haven for new and undiscovered bands. Think of it as college radio's equivalent to TV basically. I remember Matt Pinfield starting off the show, and saying they had a new video to show from Portland, Oregon's The Dandy Warhols. The name alone intrigued me, and I knew that I would like them, I just did.
Low and behold, I was right with my intuition based on a band's tribute to the artist Warhol and the whole factory scene of the late 1960s. The video was for their single, "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth" and it just floored me. It was insatiable pop that I couldn't just shake. For the next several days, I was humming the song in my head, it's infectious moog in the second verse, and daydreaming about key bassist/percussionist Zia McCabe. Now, I was 13 at the time, and I honestly didn't know what in the world Courtney Taylor meant when he sang 'Heroin is so passe.' Was he praising the drug, or was he lashing out against it? Thanks to the 2005's Dig!, an amazing documentary based on the tumultuous friendship between the Dandys and their comrades the Brian Jonestown Massacre, I learned that Taylor had written the song for BJM leader Anton Newcombe. The look on Anton's face when he first hears the song blaring from the tape deck was priceless: the guy was in shock, he didn't know what to do or say.
I've noticed over time that you grow to love songs instantaneously, but as the years pass by those songs lose their meaning. Upon my initial owning of ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down, their second album and first for Capitol, it was songs like "Junkie" and "Hard On For Jesus" that were the front runners as favorites. "Cool As Kim Deal" was something I noted in an unpublished 1997 review for my junior high school's paper, The Thunder, as a song about their love for a member of The Breeders who had died (I obviously have been schooled since then, and know that Kim Deal is alive and well. I met her once.) But today, it's more of the A-side that still sticks with me, "Orange" specifically. It was such a simple song and infatuated me with its production. The same, hollow drum beat, simple guitar and three bass notes trudged along for almost six minutes. None of my friends dug it, but I did. The beautiful lament "Green" was my 'I have a crush on you, let me scribble the lyrics to you in a note during 5th period' song in high school. Let me tell you how successful that was.
But I digress. I don't know if they've made an album that has topped this. Maybe it's follow-up, 2000's Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia might top it, but that's up for discussion. What some may not know is that when the band was signed to Capitol in 1996, the album they handed over was rejected by the label. They were told to return to the studio and record some hits, and "Junkie" and "Everyday Should Be A Holiday" were born. Songs like "Good Morning" and "Boys Better" went through some drastic changes, but the band still acknowledges their beginnings. You can get the appropriately titled The Black Album at their official webstore. Compare and contrast and see which one holds up better. Their near 10 minute rendition of "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" is rather amazing.
As mentioned in weeks past, the late '90s were sort of a renaissance in the DC scene -- there just seemed to be so many great bands forming, playing out and sharing ideas that every night out at a show would most likely be a memorable one. Formed from the ashes of Jury Rig, Lincoln and Fine Day was The Most Secret Method, a power trio in every sense. They were a band that were almost too good, yet they never really got their due as they were often overshadowed by bands that didn't deserve the attention, at least not as much as they did. The band came together in the summer of '96, playing at the center of the DC scene, the Black Cat. They supported and were supported by all of the DC greats of the last half of the last decade, going on hiatus in 2000 and finally playing their last show in 2002 at the same place they started, at the Black Cat, with Black Eyes and the Gena Rowlands Band. The band released two albums while they together -- Our Success and the unforgettable Get Lovely.
Almost as memorable as the band's music is the artwork of drummer Ryan Nelson, which adorned all of their releases and many of their show flyers. When I lived in DC, my room was covered with show flyers, but the ones that people always noticed featured Ryan's artwork.
Currently, Ryan Nelson is playing in Dischord band Soccer Team, as well as previously doing time with The Beauty Pill, Oswego and Routineers. Johanna has played with all star group The Gena Rowlands Band, and as for Marc, I have no idea what he's up to. Acting, maybe?
Download: "Louise Lake" [mp3] /// "Spill More Blood" [mp3] /// Buy here
Last weekend I caught a set from Movers & Shakers and they instantly reminded me of The Replacements although their Myspace descirbes their sound as “a whiskey-soaked cigarette cooking the heroin you’re about to shoot up while Tom Waits plays on the jukebox through the walls of the dive-bar bathroom. Plus some reggae.”
Tomorrow you can check them out at the Abbey Lounge in Cambridge with Bread and Roses, Tomorrow the Gallows and Serious Geniuses. This July they are on the road with Boston’s Lock and Key.
They officially formed just shy of a year ago when Dan Wallace (bass/vocals) and Matt Price (guitar/vocals) moved down south to Austin, TX. After mastering their sound, they moved back to Boston and joined up with one of the best damn drummers I’ve seen in a while (Mikey Holland).
Read on to see Matt from Movers & Shakers answer the same five questions Stranded In Stereo always asks.
Hailing from Boston, makes us better than all those non-Boston bands because We have to lock ourselves into a practice space all winter long just to stay warm. Huddled together in a tiny room like that with a couple guitars laying around, you can really bang out some powerful stuff.
Name at least three bands that are still around and touring that you’d love to be on a bill with, and think it fits well Tom Petty, I doubt we could gather the courage to even leave the dressing room, but if we could, it'd be the best night of my life. Against Me. The energy at their shows is unlike anything I've seen, I'd like to get a taste of that. And I have to say Green Day. What of it?
Your favorite Boston venue to perform in is My heart still aches for the Reel Bar, which didn't have a long run. Playing there was the most fun I've had in Boston, and the capacity couldn't have been more than 50. The cover was $2 and the beer just as cheap, and every single person in the bar was there to have a big night. The Middle East ain't too bad either.
Are there any genres that influence your music conceptually, rather than sonically? (In that you can’t hear from simply listening to the music, but from getting into the structure or mathematics of the song-writing, etc.) I think a very wide spectrum of music (and art in general) influences all of us profoundly. I often find myself impressed and inspired by somebody creating something that I would never dream of attempting, but that's what they do and I do what I do. Seeing anybody perform something that they truly believe in, even if it is the last thing I'd want to put on the stereo, is always an inspiration.
Your favorite local bar to hit up when not doing the whole band deal is I've recently fell for Bukowski's in Inman Square. Mikey (drums) and I just moved to the neighborhood and it reflects exactly what I dig about the area. I have spent more nights than I'd like to say at the Model in Allston, sometimes aware of it, sometimes not. Their staff deserves a medal for the nonsense they have to put up with. Sorry!
You might've read about them on every other blog, but I've finally caught on to the excellence that is Vampire Weekend. Don't be afraid of their name or think they're some scary goth band, they're the exact opposite. They make sunny, happy beach music is what I'm gonna call it. With the amount of hype this New York quartet is grabbing up recently, I'm gonna peg them as this year's Cold War Kids. They've got a string of songs floating around the interweb, and we'll be releasing a 3 song single later this month.
Equal parts Walkmen and Remain In Light-era Talking Heads, the band blends the atypical indie sense to more Worldly beats and grooves. The music and lyrics are perfect songs to listen to at sea: "Wolcott" sounds like the song left on the cutting room floor from The Life Aquatic. "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" puts you there on the shores of the beach; with bongo drums and jittery guitars its the perfect song to drink a Corona to at the beach this summer. What's even better, though, is the super addicting "Oxford Comma" (I've listened to it 10 times today and there's no end in sight.) With it's simple repetitive drum beat and wurlitzer taking command, it's the catchiest song I've heard all year. It's breaks pace for a moment but comes back to the source. And that guitar solo, ah I can feel the summer breeze approaching.
Leslie Feist is a fox. 'Nuff said. Back when I was in college, me and all of my guy friends didn't just go ga ga over her hot bod and, depending on the picture, adorable face, but man what a set of pipes she has. I first saw her open up for Broken Social Scene in the Fall of '05, and she just had the sold out crowd captivated. Where her second album, Let It Die, featured a handful of originals interspersed with covers (Ron Sexsmith's "Secret Heart" taking the cake,) The Reminder is a collection of soaring originals. The album has a feeling and sound all its own that I am still at a loss for words to describe. At times, the record comes off sounding like its just a bunch of mics strategically placed in a big empty room and catches what he can here and there. The vocals of "How My Heart Behaves" sounds like she has the woes in the hallway while the piano is trickling from the ballroom on the opposite end. "My Moon, My Man," the album's first single, is classic Feist: the catchy beat, and her signature voice that just goes to show she's going to be around for awhile.
In a more non-traditional album release, the UK outfit The Crimeahave decided to give their second album, Secrets Of The Witching Hour, away as a free download on their website. At my old job, I would spend my days listening to satellie radio and that's how I got introduced to this band. Warner Bros. had signed them in the states and released an EP ahead of the album, Tragedy Rocks, but I don't even think it saw the light of day over here. Now the band has an idea to market themselves by letting you have their album at no charge (you can buy it on CD via their website June 4.) The band figures this will introduce them to new listeners, and will make money via touring, and maybe it's working: as of this post, I was downloader 5,327 since midnight. At least "Bombay Sapphire Coma" is finally getting a proper release.
Download Audio/Video Tracklisting
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Power pop hasn't sounded this good and fresh since Regretfully Yours came about in 1996. Auto Interiors second album, Let's Agree To Deceive Our Best Friends, is a tome to the great 3-minute song. The 11 tracks that fill this album are filled with huge drums, even larger guitars, and heavenly vocals that easily could pass for early Kinks meets the hey-day of Jawbox. 
