>> The brilliant Ben Parker doesn't owe us a damn thing, of course, but jeepers it is hard to keep up with his various enterprises. Our admittedly weak recollection was Croydon, England-based Mr. Parker had lately been working within the band The Jonbarr Hinge [link] and having his plays produced in various theaters. So imagine our surprise to learn that the assumedly moth-balled Superman Revenge Squad project has over the past year been resuscitated once more, expanded, and rebranded The Superman Revenge Squad Band. The act, which features Parker's brother and former Nosferatu D2 bandmate Adam as well as a host of others, will release via Audio Antihero Oct. 14 a new collection titled There Is Nothing More Frightening Than The Passing Of Time. The eight-song set will be on offer in a limited edition of 140 compact discs, and a promotional track has already made its way to the Internerds. The song is "A Funny Thing You Said," and it is something of a Parker classic, as different versions of the tune were released on Superman Revenge Squad's self-titled 2007 EP (which, actually, we can't prove ever existed -- maybe these were just songs we got off MySpace?) and a bootleg, Live At The Green Dragon, released the same year. While those older iterations of the song were spare and raw, the arrangement of the new version practically bursts with melodic ideas thrumming off of tense accordions and wandering saxophones. In one way it sounds like Parker has gone off the deep end finally, but in another it is pure genius. You may recall we've done things like proclaim Parker England's greatest contemporary lyricist, or characterize him here as "startlingly talented," all of which still holds true. You can pre-order There Is Nothing More Frightening Than The Passing Of Time via SRS's Bandcamp wigwam right here. The official release date for the digital single is Sept. 16, but it is a pay-what-you-like download already at Bandcamp, so why delay? While you're listening, read the rest of this blog post, then read this interview we did with Parker five years ago.
>> In the early days of August we dropped knowledge about the forthcoming solo set coming from Philly indie rock lifer Joey Sweeney. To review, Mr. Sweeney's new collection is titled Long Hair and it will be released this fall by Delaware Water Gap, Penn.-based label La Société Expéditionnaire. We now can add to this knowledge base by sharing with you the first full preview track from Long Hair, a nostalgic, piano-punctuated, mid-tempo ballad called "Kate Moss Hologram." The tune -- which we know will be track two of nine, based on this Facebook post -- kicks off with a tossed-off, funny lift from Elton John (you won't miss it), and its rich reverbs and sway-inducing organ evoke memories of long-gone days at the dusty roller rink in the suburbs. But "Kate Moss Hologram" quickly catches up to a relatively more modern remembrance of watching MTV's "120 Minutes" and wanting to get out of town. The latter sentiment is a fairly universal one for kids, and the former for kids of a certain (approaching middle) age. Sentiment and sentimentality -- fortunately always far shy of schmaltz -- have always played a big role in helping Sweeney land emotional punches with his music. Long-time readers will recall our previous reportage indicating Sweeney previously helmed acts including Barnabys, The Joey Sweeney Rock Band, The Trouble With Sweeney and Arctic Splash. There has still been no release date announced for Long Hair, but we imagine that will be coming along soon. While you sit around waiting, stream the excellent "Kate Moss Hologram" early and often via the Soundcloud embed below. We would be remiss if we did not also mention here Sweeney's former The Trouble With Sweeney bandmate Heyward Howkins, who is preparing the release of a beautifully conceived sophomore set of baroque folk rock titled Be Frank, Furness. While a stream of the record was available for a short amount of time earlier this month, presently the only track publicly available is the gentle pop strummer "Nogales," which we highly recommend to your attention. Howkins' solo debut The Hale & Hearty was issued in June 2012 and we reviewed it right here. Stream the new winner "Nogales" via the second embed below.
>> Delaware Water Gap, Penn.-based label La Société Expéditionnaire disclosed late last month it will release new music from Philadelphia indie rock legend Joey Sweeney later this year. The label, home also to Clicky Clicky faves Arc In Round, will issue Mr. Sweeney's Long Hair, a collection that was recorded earlier this year with input from multiple producers; a video trailer for the album -- featuring what we suspect is the collection's title track -- is posted atop this item. There is a very nicely produced live video featuring another new song, "When You Say My Name," that you can watch right here. Over the last 20 years Sweeney fronted such notable concerns as Barnabys, The Trouble With Sweeney, The Joey Sweeney Rock Band and, most recently, the bar band Arctic Splash. A show celebrating Sweeney's two decades in rock was held in Philadelphia last fall, and a career-spanning digital compilation Joey Sweeney Your Life Is Calling was released around the same time. The comp is packed with classic jams aplenty, including "Losers From Rodman Street," "Tiny Ships," "My Name Is Rich" and "The Snitch," as well as some newer acoustic tracks recorded with Kurt Heasley on an island in 2010. While we bemoan the absence of brilliant tracks such as "Gargamel," "The Lever" and "Park Slope" from the set, we recommend you make time for the entire jawn, which you can stream via the Bandcamp embed below. No specific date for the release of Long Hair has been made public yet, nor is there a pre-order presently in place, but we'll certainly bring you that news in due time.
>> You will learn just how well your head is bolted on to your body after just the first 10 seconds of Louisville duo White Reaper's new A-side "Conspirator." Basically, if the head-bolting folks did a good job, you'll still have your head after the verse explodes into your ears. The tune's raucous guitar cacophony and infectious, classic UK-style punk energy charge out of the gates and never let up, an impressive feat as the song approaches four minutes in length. The guitar tracks are distorted to the point of crumbling, the spirited drumming bashes holes through the near white-out onslaught, and fronter Anthony Esposito guides the melody with shouty sloganeering. It's gut-level, immediate rock and roll, tougher and grittier than other popular pairs of the contemporary indie era such as Japandroids or England's Playlounge, but just as appealing to the senses. "Conspirator" is backed by the equally energetic, albeit mildly psychedelic B-side "The Cut;" both tunes were recorded in February at Louisville's Tree House Audio. The single is available Monday via Earthbound Records on black or limited-edition, translucent blue vinyl 7" vinyl (although Earthbound's Facebook indicates the single was available in late May if you knew where to look). White Reaper previously released an EP titled White Aura last October, and it is now available as a name-your-price download at Bandcamp right here. White Reaper is planning to release a forthcoming full-length via Karlsruhe, Germany's Red Lounge Records, but there are no other details about the release available presently. Stream "Conspirator" and "The Cut" via the Bandcamp embed below. And, while we're on the subject, we think you will find this video for "Conspirator" quite enjoyable, as it looks like it was both filmed and edited via a shoulder-mount S-VHS camcorder in 1991.
>> Big news last week out of Sky Larkin's camp, as the Leeds-based indie rock quartet announced it will release later this year a new long-layer titled Motto. Wichita Recordings will do the honors in the UK, and the release date is Sept. 16. The new record, Sky Larkin's third and first since 2010's fantastic Kaleide which we wrote about here, is being promoted with a cracking, but brief new single "Loom," which will be released a week prior to the full length. The title track to "Motto" was unveiled in late spring, and you can still hear the dense and tense rocker right here. Stream "Loom" via the Soundcloud embed below. Pre-orders for Motto -- which was recorded in Seattle with John Goodmanson -- are being taken now; the set is available as a clear vinyl LP in gatefold sleeve with CD, as a CD only, and of course digital download, which includes an as-yet unidentified bonus track. Sky Larkin will tour the UK for two weeks in late September, starting with a London date on the 17th; we advise North Americans to keep their fingers crossed for U.S. dates.
The tale of Haywood's sparkling and formerly final release We Are Amateurs, You And I -- which was issued 10 years ago today, a milestone somewhat overshadowed by some bullshit doo-dad called an "iPod" -- is so enmeshed with the Brooklyn-via-Philly quartet's demise it is hard to pull the two apart. The elements of the story, of course, are not unique (hope, anger, loss, a white knight in tight trousers, resolve, redemption, an A-Team montage where the "plan comes together"), but they don't occur in an order that accommodates a traditional story arc, as you will see. But against numerous if not all Collinsian odds, We Are Amateurs, You And I was issued by Self Starter Foundation Oct. 23, 2001. This piece marks the tin anniversary of that release, and pays homage to Haywood, not the first but perhaps the last great '90s American indie rock band.
If you know me, you know I love the music of Haywood with just about every fiber of my being (indeed, to such an extent we are uncharacteristically drafting this piece in the first person). Some 15 years before I became hopelessly fixated on the mighty Johnny Foreigner (not to mention all the other acts over the years), I was (and continue to be) embarrassingly fanatical about this band from my hometown. Fronter, guitarist and primary songwriter Ted Pauly was raised in a house blocks from my own, and seeing a proto-version of Haywood performing covers of Lemonheads, Camper Van Beethoven and Psychedelic Furs songs at a house show in late '90 or early '91 sold me completely on the configuration of alternately wry and down-in-the-mouth Mr. Pauly up front and truly gifted drummer and raconteur Rob Viola in the back (at the time of this particular show, I think bassist Jeff Paretchan had already gone off to college, and Haywood lead guitarist Ariel Serbin's future role was still being played by dear friend and veteran drinking buddy Luke Abruzzo).
"Rob, Ted, Ariel and I had played together in high school in [the band] Garden Party," Paretchan recounts. "Haywood started in the summer of 1992. I had finished my sophomore year [of college] and everyone else their freshman year. As I recall it was Rob and I who 'founded' Haywood during a conversation driving around the back streets of Radnor in Rob's blue Subaru station wagon. That summer we recorded four songs at American University with Rob Christiansen of Eggs. The sessions were a marathon 24 hours to record and mix. Two of the songs "Nerf Dreams" and "Trash Park" would appear on our first 7" and then later on [the full-length] Model For A Monument."
Trying to hit fast-forward from that humble, suburban beginning to the end of the band is difficult, because it's hard to determine when Haywood ends and the rest of our lives begin. Did Haywood stop sighing with the turn-of-the-century departure -- for personal reasons -- of Mr. Serbin? Did the quartet's heart stop beating when Pauly declined a long-hoped-for record-and-tour-support deal? Or when Mssrs. Viola and Paretchan quit the band in the wake of Pauly's decision? Did Haywood go the way of the Dodo when it played its final show in December 2000 at Brownie's in Manhattan? Or did Haywood give up the ghost only after the surprise self-release of its second post-humous set, 2006's As Long As There Is Track, I Will Not Go Back? Is Haywood undead? Actually dead?
We're fairly confident the answer to that last question is yes. But Amateurs for five years had the patina of finality in the minds of fans and band members alike, who assumed Haywood's 2001 break-up signaled the end of the band for good. The record was released by Chris Newmyer's delightful Self Starter Foundation label. That Amateurs garnered critical acclaim from chief Mountain Goat and music journalist John Darnielle [link] and even Pitchfork [link] was exciting to long-time fans, but probably a bit sad and frustrating for Haywood. That's because, although from the outside the band appeared to be just at the cusp, or, as Darnielle put it here, "like a magnolia just about to bloom," in fact the band had agreed to call it quits well before the album was even recorded. When the break-up was finally made public, it seemed like a capitulation to the powerfully poignant sense of loss and resignation that drove Haywood's best songs.
"We did keep [the break-up] a bit of a secret," at least from folks who had no need to know, confesses Mr. Newmyer, who we caught by phone in between his scheduled stints managing the current Ra Ra Riot tour. Newmyer is quick to point out that the hush wasn't from any inflated sense of importance of the news, but rather because the band wanted, if possible, to keep album reviews focused on the music.
"It's an excellent work of catchy indie-pop, reminiscent of Built to Spill, with a profoundly personal and sentimental side," observed Pitchfork's Brad Haywood. Really, that was his name.
"What terrible timing," summed up critic Eric Herboth in his review of the record for Lost At Sea.
Over the course of its career, Haywood found incredibly stirring ways to synthesize the desperate power of Midwestern, second-wave emo and the grace of the most genteel indie pop. But as Pitchfork's scribe astutely recognized, Haywood's greatest strength was not necessarily in writing and performing the songs, but in conveying the emotions driving them. I've listened to the song "Plow" from Amateurs about 400 times in the last two years; I still find the lyric "I was hoping I'd catch you out of luck" devastating. Pauly's voice breaking at the end of the line "your words get caught in your throat" from his ode to Viola "Tough Hero" on paper seems calculated, but the recording is terrifically affecting. The tragic finality of "Paper Shirt," the album's denouement, is like a sublime slap across the face. And "Come On Tell The Truth," we could go on and on about how it almost hurts to hear it. The record's not all sad stuff, though: album openers "The Last Days of Baronov" and "Button Up, Buttercup" both soar with exuberance, and "Don't Go Breaking (My Heart)" earns the band all of the Superchunk comparisons. All of We Are Amateurs, You And I is embedded at the foot of this piece; you can stream or download all of the tracks.
When I saw the 10th anniversary of the release approaching, I got in touch with Pauly, Viola, Paretchan, late-period lead guitarist Danny Barria (formerly of Philadelphia's Clock Strikes 13, now of deservedly hyped The Big Sleep, which is about to release its long-awaited sophomore set Nature Experiments on French Kiss Jan. 31), producer Adam "Red" Lasus and Newmyer to see if anyone was willing to talk about the record. Happily, everyone was eager to take some time to think about how the record was made and what it meant in the scheme of Haywood things.
"The record holds up to any indie rock coming out now and is more fully realized than a lot of current indie action," says Mr. Lasus, who -- in addition to recording much of the Haywood catalogue -- also recorded classic indie rock albums including the self-titled Clap Your Hands Say Yeah record, Versus' peerless The Stars Are Insane, Helium's The Dirt Of Luck and Lilys' towering A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns. "In many ways [Amateurs] was the last real indie rock record I made."
Newmyer is similarly effusive. "I got to put out a bunch of good records, but to this day the second Haywood record [released on Self Starter Foundation] is not only one of my favorite Self Starter records, but one of my own favorite records."
Had the band committed to significant touring to support Amateurs, the recording sessions would have been paid for and the album released by a label, although somewhat comically the band members aren't quite certain which one; it may have been Southern Records. Instead, faced with the departure of founding lead guitarist Serbin and dogged by concerns about the practicality of pursuing the rock and roll dream, Haywood disbanded.
"I think it was somewhere around December of 1999 that we had played a couple of shows in New Jersey with Ariel," Paretchan says, "after which he decided to quit the band. Rob, Ted and I met at [the restaurant] Veselka to talk about the deal we were being offered. I don't remember which label [it was], but I thought it was someone other than Southern. It was a cold rainy night -- maybe in February of 2000? Ted expressed a lot of hesitation."
"I remember [Ariel's departure] making me even less hopeful for the future," Pauly concurs.
"I do remember that Ariel quitting the band was a big issue," Paretchan agrees. "We had the offer of money for recording and tour support, but we would have to do real touring. Ted wanted to do other things -- settle down, [and] focus on his work."
"Somehow I felt like it was time for me to do grown-up things, whatever I thought those were at the time," recalls Pauly. "My rationalization was that I thought even Superchunk must've been having a hard time making a living, in Chapel Hill, where the cost of living was probably silly cheap, right? Of course I never called them, so how could I have known? I didn't know Superchunk."
"Yes, we broke up in Veselka," Viola agrees, "...great borscht."
"Rob and I were pretty surprised/disappointed, angry," Paretchan continues. "We had been playing together for a long time and finally were getting a good break after lots of work, and Ted wasn't interested. Rob and I went across the street after we finished at Veselka to some dive bar, ordered some drinks and basically decided to quit Haywood and start another band."
But then something very interesting happened: after being unwilling or unable to accept the record deal, the remaining members of Haywood decided to make a new record anyway. And, ironically, the guys attribute the quality of the performances and recording sessions at least in part to the fact that there was nothing on the line.
"We decided to record album anyway because we all loved the music," according to Viola. "I remember feeling that we could do whatever we wanted when we made this album. The band was a bust and we had nothing to prove."
"There was a total sense of freedom," Paretchan emphasizes. "Nothing to prove, and we could really do whatever we liked, without having to think about what people would think."
The mix of emotions regarding the band's break-up colored the recording sessions, Paretchan suggests. "There may have been some 'anger' about the ending of the band that translated into the rock numbers 'Baronov,' 'Buttercup,' 'Moscow,' [and] 'Don't Go.'"
Of course, at the moment, Haywood had no lead guitarist. This hurdle was soon overcome, however. Mr. Barria -- like the members of Haywood -- had migrated to New York from Philadelphia with hopes of a career in music taking off. He had crossed paths with the Haywood guys while everyone still resided in the City of Brotherly Love, and that early connection proved crucial.
"[W]e found Danny, who tamed his huge guitar enough to sit in the mix, and wrote his own parts for [the songs]," Pauly remembers. "He was a goddamn gift and is largely responsible for the existence of the record and any optimistic notes on [Amateurs]."
"My Haywood memories are always going to start from the fan perspective, because I loved them," says Barria. "Still have my Great Cats Give Chase tape [an early self-release. -- Ed.] somewhere. I saw them [play] at Upstairs At Nick's in '97 (may have been a show with Zumpano), and my very first impression of them, before they'd even played, wasn't a good one. They all wore suits that night (which I subsequently learned isn't really the Haywood way) and seemed a little nerdy to me. I saw Rob making out with a girl and I remember saying to myself 'Alright, Romeo, take it easy.' Anyway, I was [too] quick to judge because once they started playing I also said to myself, "these are really good songs, and dude is an amazing drummer.' I got the Great Cats tape that night, and that was that, hooked."
"I know Ted and I had a bit of an email correspondence going on," Barria continues, "and I remember exactly where I was sitting, sometime around February of '00, when he sent me a message asking if I knew any guitarists because they had just lost theirs. I jumped on it because starting/joining a band was the only reason I'd moved to New York. The deal was that Ariel had just quit but they had written an album's worth of material and they wanted to play some shows and record before calling it a day. Ted was planning to get married and Rob and Jeff were going to continue playing, but [the demise of Haywood] was definitely a done deal going into it, that they'd decided not to continue after the next record. That was kind of sad and weird, but I was just really happy to be playing their songs with them."
"Danny was very important in the different sound of this record," Paretchan offers. "Big hooky guitar parts. [At a] critical moment, when we lost one of our founding members, Danny really stepped in and made a big difference. Ariel and Danny are different types of players. At the time I think that Haywood needed a confidence boost -- and Danny's playing gave it to us. I didn't really realize how great it was to have Danny around until we finished the mixes and I thought 'Wow, this record sounds huge!'"
Barria found his entrée into the band to be a little disconcerting. "I remember taking my Gibson 335 and my Peavey Bandit 65 and my pedals on the subway from the East Village to Rob's (and Ariel's?) place on Grand and Marcy. I had no idea where I was going, and it sucked carrying all that, and I got there and they had a fucking Peavey Bandit 65 in the basement. And then after being nervous about trying out, Ted mentioned he didn't really like my Gibson."
"I remember Ted suggesting Danny to step in as lead guitar for a few remaining shows and to record Amateurs," says Paretchan. "The first practice was at Rob's place in Brooklyn. Danny came in with the Peavey Bandit, a black strat copy and some sort of rackmount echo/delay thingy. My first impression was 'Whoa what is up with all this space guitar stuff?'"
"Anyway," Barria goes on, "my first show with them was at the Continental and I fucked up the first note of the first song I played with them. We played more shows throughout the year and went on a little tour, too, I think Wesleyan and two other spots. My favorite moment was breaking down in Herkimer, NY, on the way to a show in Buffalo and Rob somehow lining up a white limousine to take us the rest of the way."
Haywood then turned its attention to recording its swan song. After a disappointing recording session with Kramer in New York in 1994, Haywood placed a lot of importance on working with a producer it trusted; Lasus had helmed early recordings as well as the sessions for Haywood's brilliant second full-length, 1999's Men Called Him Mister, and choosing him again to record Amateurs was a slam-dunk decision.
"We recorded for the first time with Adam [in 1993]," Paretchan recalls. "We did five songs together [which ended up circulating on a tape fans called Red's House Sessions and included an alternate take of "Nothing Happens" with Barnabys' Joey Sweeney doing backing vocals; the music was eventually compiled onto Model For A Monument]. So the connection with Adam goes back a long time before we ever did Amateurs."
"We had a super comfortable and fun studio dynamic [recording the record]," adds Lasus. "The ideas and concepts were falling into place without really having to talk about them. The sounds were big, but not too big, and the songs were really all brought to their peak."
"Red was a huge part of this album," Paretchan states, "and so was recording at Fireproof [then in Brooklyn, now based in Los Angeles -- Ed.]. Working with Red was so easy, he always understood what we were looking for, we were familiar with the space and the equipment. I remember recording to tape and all of us at the board for mixing which was a big part of the fun."
"There were two nerve-wracking moments for me," Barria remembers, "when the parts I'd come up with didn't work for whatever reason (we hadn't played some of the songs live a lot, think I was just working off of demos on those, might be wrong about that), the intro on 'Tough Hero' and the mid-section on 'Paper Shirt,'and I had to rethink and come up with something else on the spot, which is weird to think about when I hear the songs now, they just seem like the songs they've always been, kind of assured, which I think is more of a testament to how good [Haywood's] songwriting had gotten than anything else."
"Incidentally," Pauly says, "all the songs [for Amateurs] were all written in the Ariel-era, 'Paper Shirt' being the last, written in the last, waning daylight of the last days of Ariel."
"My favorite part of the whole recording, though, was the very last bit of tracking, the end of 'Paper Shirt,'" Barria recalls. "Rob kept telling me to lay down some kind of 'sweet lead' or whatever, and it just wasn't happening, we tried for a while. So Ted said 'Well, let me try,' he sat down with the guitar, and it was the perfect moment, for the song and just as a recording experience, as a witness. It was one take, and it was perfect, it's what's on the album. And it seemed really appropriate that the last guitar part on the last song was recorded by Ted, and the last bit of the song as it winds down is just the four of us keeping it quiet."
"I had forgotten about Ted's solo at the end, but Danny totally has it right." Paretchan agrees. "That's exactly what happened."
Is it the band's greatest album? Sure, what the hell. There are various arguments against the primacy of Haywood's other releases, anyway, although they are fine releases all. The band's full-length debut, Model For A Monument, was actually a comp of a bunch of early material that some fans had had for months if not years. Men Called Him Mister, released in 1999, was the last record to include the founding quartet and it was released once the band had immigrated from Philly to Brooklyn. But while the record is amazing on a lot of levels, it could have been a bit more succinct; a couple songs could have been relegated to b-sides, and the criminally omitted "Empty Car" and "Alpenland" should have been included, in my opinion. Haywood's doubly post-humous surprise 2006 collection As Long As There Is Track, I Will Not Go Back is blindingly brilliant and shockingly ignored, but as it was a studio project only and came so long after the band's original dissolution, it doesn't feel like a perfect fit for top dog status, either.
The rhythm section, anyway, certainly believes Amateurs captures the band at its peak.
"This LP captures the band at the heights of [its] tightness and instrumental powers," Viola agrees. "One could argue that Men Called Him Mister had better hooks [and] writing, but the the playing on Amateurs is confident and massive."
"I agree that Amateurs is more confident and epic," add Paretchan. "Although Amateurs couldn't have happened without Men Called Him Mister, which was where we cut our teeth on various production techniques and sounds which would later show up on Amateurs. We were already familiar with Adam's guitars, amps, pedals, etc. and how Adam worked. This all helped on Amateurs."
"All the Haywood sessions were super important to me," says Lasus, "but this one was one of those 'Wow, this is a great album from top to bottom.'"
"The recording of this record is very much tied for me to the final NYC show at Brownies," Paretchan says. "Both were bittersweet -- pinnacles of recording or live performance, and both signified the end of the band in very real ways. I know that the day after the final NYC show at Brownies, I woke up and listened to Born To Run start to finish sitting in my room. I found out later that Rob had done exactly the same thing."
Viola sums up my feelings, exactly, every time we put on one of Haywood's records: "Fuck, man, I miss this band!"
"We had no idea at the time that we would later record As Long as There is Track... so it was a sad time," Paretchan remembers. "Especially given the strength of the album and the response in the press. There was a sense that we had really hit our stride and were about to get somewhere after so many years of effort. Dashed hopes... Even to this day, nothing has ever been as much fun as writing songs, playing shows and recording with Haywood, because it was always about a group of friends making music that they liked together. Even though Rob and I were pretty pissed about having to bail on the record label offer -- we just couldn't help ourselves from wanting to record those songs. Which is probably why we joined up together to work on As Long As There Is Track, even though we had no future as a band anymore. Just can't resist those songs!"
THE SONGS, IN THE BAND'S OWN WORDS
LAST DAYS OF BARONOV
Pauly: "This song is about my brother and my grandfather's dead Saint Bernard."
BUTTON UP, BUTTERCUP
Pauly: "I felt like there was a lot of sad, impressionistic emo coming out, and I just wanted everyone to look on the bright side."
SIX STARS
Pauly: "I wrote a sad, impressionistic emo song about the lack of stars with all the damn city light pollution. This was a slow dance about my then-future wife. I tried to play it at Rob and Emily's wedding years later, but I always struggled through the solo beginning with the full band; why should it be any different on my own." Paretchan: "Danny and I played the a "four hand" organ part on 'Six Stars' together on a Hammond C-3 in the studio. The falseto vocals... were a tip of the hat to Ariel's vocals on 'Keystone Rag' from Men Called Him Mister."
TOUGH HERO
Pauly: "This song viscerally recalls the feel of an early-'90s night at Fergie's Pub [in Philly] with Rob. Drinking with Rob in Philly in the '90s remains unrivalled for overall end-of-night satisfaction. I also remember that the flangey guitar sound on this one made me feel, every time we played this live, like I was playing "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel.
PLOW
Pauly: "This was about my friend Brian [McGrath], who was in Wendyfix, and then co-wrote a song on our second record ("Little Black Dress Club") and then went to Maine and then played in Mantissa and then once we walked around Ground Zero and then he disappeared." Paretchan: "Keyboard parts were usually something we saved for the studio, as we could never do them live. This meant that most of the parts got written/worked out in the studio. I think Rob played the keyboard flute sound on 'Plow' -- this was also our first tune to use drum machine, no? Using a Roland MC 303. And I played the keyboards on the bridge. I remember playing the keyboard part on 'Plow' while Rob was turning the dials on the Korg Toneworks delay pedal."
HOTEL BAR IN MOSCOW
Pauly: "I have never been to Moscow. I think this one was tangentially about breaking up with someone. I liked to steal '80s lyrics for my songs. Here, Aretha Franklin's "Freeway Of Love," except we get off it in a pink hatchback with no one driving. Somehow I thought that was a metaphor for my love life at one time."
COME ON TELL THE TRUTH
Pauly: "I think-- think-- this one had been kicking around for a long time. I feel like I remember playing this fairly early, at a show with Pee Shy? and The Joey Sweeney at Under Acme." Paretchan: "the lyrics 'I wanna be just like my dad / and marry the first real thing I ever had / Everyones busy slipping it into conversation / and I'm patient / but not that patient' always struck me as a painfully personal and honest lyrics. I played the Roland MC303 through a MicroSynth pedal that Rob was messing around with to get the sound -- this part was written in the studio, and really filled in a lot of what I thought was missing with my bass part on this song."
DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART
Pauly: "I just hoped to get a little of the shine from Elton John and Kiki Dee on this one. This felt like our most Rainer Maria song. It was up at the top of my range and felt my most emotive, and I loved to play it and it was also, (duh) about breaking up, very clearly about my college girlfriend. It also features our dubbiest bridge." Paretchan: "Recording 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' was challenging; it was hard to capture the energy and volume of the live performance in the studio."
PAPER SHIRT
Pauly: "I think Ariel gave me paper pajamas from a trip somewhere, or maybe just to Pearl River. This was about being 90 and deciding to go outside for the first time in a long time, and deciding to dress up in my finest paper shirt, which of course would be a bad idea in the rain." Paretchan: "'Paper Shirt' was an after-thought in a way. One of the reasons I think the record sounds better than Men Called Him Mister was simply that we had fewer songs to record. If I'm not mistaken, one of the other issues the band was facing was not only having to decline the offer for recording and tour support - but also that Ted seemed to be having writers block and we weren't able to put together any more songs. 'Paper Shirt' got on because we needed an album's worth of material. I recall doubts about the strength of the tune. Somehow it is a nice post script to the album in the way that it gently disappears at the end."
And so here we have the August Muxtape. We pondered a couple days ago doing a blog post called "Where We're From" or something to that effect, and discussing therein some of the bands that really fired our imaginations and relationship with music when we were a high schooler, and even young college student. As you'll see below we name a number of acts from Philadelphia and its suburbs that inspired us to play and generally cultivate a fathomless interest in indie rock as a younger man. Some of these bands were our peers, some friends of friends... of friends. You'll even hear some of our inebriated hollering in the first track. Of course, there are a couple tunes we've thrown in from later years and even contemporary releases just because they are great. Happy August.
1. Kam Fong -- "Get Behind Me (Satan)" -- Unreleased (Is there anything more satisfying than an open E major chord that just hangs there and sustains? Well, yeah, there's the rest of this song, the first verse of which describes salvaging major appliances from the trash. We can say from firsthand experience that the vocals were tracked on a very hot day around an open mic in a small stuffy living room while pulling off a milk jug of moonshine; hence the last verse. We're always happy to have an excuse to proselytize The Fong, so here's a download of the track above || Kam Fong -- "Get Behind Me (Satan)"; right click and save as || and here is an early, raw and extremely red-lined mixdown of the basic tracks in case you want to, we dunno, cut your own vocal || Kam Fong -- "Satan (Instrumental)"; right click and save as||.)
2. Lost -- "After The War" -- Do You Have A Problem? (Opening track from a cassette release from the first iteration of this band. This tape and Haywood's first 7" affected us a great deal, not only because each is great, but because prior to their release it didn't seem within the realm of possibility that people like us could write their own material and release it. We recall being shocked to see the cassette on the shelf with the rest of the merchandise at our beloved and much-missed first location of Repo Records in North Wayne, and we purchased it immediately (much to the amusement of the guys, some of whom we later befriended). We love the lo-fi production on the Lost cassette, because it packs each track with the sense that they are under some volatile pressure and could burst at any second.)
3. Latimer -- "Start With Me" -- Live From Sour City (Another heart-felt tip of the hat to the late Geoff Doring. We thought this song stuck out a little bit from the rest of the tracks on this set because of the acoustic guitars. And we swear there's whistling in there around the three-minute mark. So it took us a long time to come to terms with "Start With Me." But it is easily among the best tracks on this ridiculously under-rated record, released on Dave Allen's World Domination label in 1997 or so. It's near impossible to follow what Doring is singing, but the song is an incredibly affecting strand of hooks. What the hell, how about an MP3? || Latimer -- "Start With Me"; right click and save as.)
4. Halogen -- "Graph" -- This Is Harrisburg, Not Topeka (Had the pleasure of seeing these guys live, and they were really impressive. "Graph" has a little bit of everything and channels Slint in a very effective manner. We love the little hi-hat fill in the first section. But the most gripping thing is the coda, where the singer repeats "summers brown, winters green" like a protective spell.)
5. The Differences -- "The Door To Your Heart" -- Cassette (So another track like the Lost cut above that made an impression on us because it was another local -- that is, suburban Philadelphia -- band writing and recording their own material during a time when we equated the ability to write music with the ability to saw women in half and pull rabbits from hats. This is not the band's best cut, but it is the only one that remains in our cassette collection. Our memories are almost always of questionable veracity at this point, but compared to the other Differences tracks we recall ("11th Grade English," "Stay") this track is particularly dark. We seem to recall it came from a later set of recordings that would seem to indicate the band had dug back into The Cure's back catalog.)
6. Barnabys -- "Nunas" -- Augustus Loop (A nice mid-tempo track from a pretty overblown record released on Spin-Art. Superfluous hockey rink organ. Certainly not the first track we think of when we consider the band, but for some reason the opening line was in our head this morning as we ground coffee beans.)
7. Johnny Foreigner -- "I Heard, He Ties Up Cats" -- Eyes Wide Terrified single (We like this band so much it is embarrassing. We even told them as much when we met them in New York last fall. Right now they are flying to Japan for a string of dates. When we were scouring Ebay recently we found that some of the band's singles had been issued to radio as CDs, so of course we had to have those. The result of which is we can offer you this b-side. We're very hopeful that the physical release of the band's debut Waited Up Til It Was Light, which will occur on an unspecified Tuesday in October, will contain all the various b-sides and maybe even some radio sessions as bonus tracks. But since we can't bank on that, we continue to fuel the British economy by buying all the imports we can get our hands on.)
8. Haywood -- "You Talk Twice" -- Men Called Him Mister (Wonderful album opener from defunct band's second CD. Would have made much more sense to post a Garden Party track, as that is this band's precursor and it fits better within the theme of the mix. But we love this one, and it's the one we're feeling this morning. We think this would make an awesome cover for Frightened Rabbit to do (get on that boys). Men Called Him Mister has more than its share of amazing lines, but one of the best may be when Mr. Pauly here confides "so sure that we lost it, while I've got my hands in your pockets.")
9. The Grifters -- "Just Passing Out" -- One Sock Missing (As an adult we're conflicted now about songs that deal with drug abuse and addiction with any sort of favorable stance. Sorry (at least we didn't complain that music is too loud, right?). But even so this track is a beautiful tangle of bass and guitar melodies. And we're very fond of its linear composition, which we blatantly stole for a song many, many years ago. The final seconds where the mix goes kaleidoscopic is so awesome.)
10. The War On Drugs -- "Show Me The Coast" -- Wagonwheel Blues (Our recent writing doesn't come close to reflecting just how much we like this new record from Philly's The War On Drugs. There's some magical alchemy that occurs when the atmospheric production of the music is paired with singer Adam Granduciel's mix-slicing Petty-doing-Dylan vocals. This track is particularly dense and droning. If we knew more about music theory we might be able to make some assertion about how drone in particular keys works for us. Layered guitar leads create most of the action here, and the overall effect is dreamy. Mr. Granduciel was recently featured in Stereogum's Quit Your Day Job right here, and we recommend reading it.)
11. Ric Dube -- "The Cavanaugh Tree" -- MySpace track (Friend and mentor Ric Dube is the kind of guy who is into a lot of things, including parenting and Yo La Tengo, but during the last few years he has found time to lay down some tracks, and we are constantly surprised when this comes up in the shuffle to see that the song that just made us think "damn!" is by our pal. We particularly like the cello at the end, it's very George Martin-ish. This fits very nicely alongside the track above, no?)
12. Christopher O'Riley -- "Motion Picture Soundtrack" -- True Love Waits: O'Riley Plays Radiohead (This song is so sad we often can't bear to listen to it, and O'Riley's version is somehow even sadder.)
>> So that third single from Johnny Foreigner's amazing full-length Waited Up Til It Was Light? For "Salt, Peppa and Spinderella?" That we previously told you would be out Sept. 1 on Best Before in the UK? Now it is coming out on Sept. 8. The Birmingham, England-based trio will push the single (and the album) with still more in an endless line of tour dates, this time a short strand from Sept. 21 to Oct. 5 with newly minted labelmates Dananananaykroyd. We don't know what the b-side to the single will contain, perhaps a cut from a radio session? Incidentally, have any of you Johnny Foreigner fans out there been catching those UK radio sessions and turning them into MP3s? If so, please send them along. With the difference in time zones it is just too difficult for us to keep track of. We reviewed Waited Up Til It Was Lightright here.
>> NYCTaper has the second set of The Feelies' recent show at Maxwell's. We've only listened to the first two tracks, but it seems like a nice recording, albeit a little quiet. Snatch it here.
>> It is with a heavy heart that we note the passing of the excellent music blog You Shall Know Our Discography, which posted this goodbye June 30. The blog posted many rare and many more excellent songs from superlative '90s records and compilations. Most recently it posted about Jiffy Boy Records' thoroughly excellent Ten Cent Fix compilation CD, which features great tracks from Barnabys, Poole, Grifters, Lilys and many others. A tip of the hat to you, Mr. Discography. Your blog will be missed. Here are two of our favorite tracks from Ten Cent Fix:
Barnabys -- "Gargamel" -- Ten Cent Fix: A Jiffy Boy Records Compilation Slow Children Playing -- "Thirteen" -- Ten Cent Fix: A Jiffy Boy Records Compilation [right click and save as] [search the Internerdz for a copy; we couldn't find one for sale anywhere]
>> If we had money to hire a correspondent to cover shows, and he was interested, we would first ask Keith from The Dead Part Of You. His colorful but blunt assessments are a pleasure to read, and we particularly enjoyed his take on the recent Ladytron show at Boston's Paradise Rock Club. Check it out here.
>> New Muxtape "STEADY NOW DON'T FALL APART" up tonight here. Again, we were hugely frustrated by the amount of our digital collection that we ripped in AAC. We had really intended to start this mix off with "Cadali" by The Coctails, which is a truly unparalleled beauty of a pop song. But we didn't feel like re-ripping it. Well, now we're changing our mind, because it's really that good. Hold on. Sorry Bikini Kill's "For Tammy Rae," you just got bumped. Anyway, our notes are below.
1. The Coctails -- "Cadali" -- The Coctails (makes us think of walking past the library and to WESU on a cold winter's day and realizing there's only so long you can ignore the elephant in the room)
2. California Snow Story -- "Suddenly Everything Happens" -- single (immediately gripping, powerfully melancholy)
3. Barnabys -- "Gargamel" -- Jiffy Boy Records' 10 Cent Fix comp (so many guitars, so much sitting with legs crossed knowing there's no real reason etc. etc. etc.)
4. Chapterhouse -- "Breather" -- Whirlpool (sleeper track for us from one of the most important mix tapes we ever received, given to us by a guy who now owns sheep and doesn't really follow music anymore)
5. Daylight's For The Birds -- "To No One" -- Trouble Everyday (pretty, cinematic, captivating singer)
6. Mobius Band -- "Frozen Lake In Unison" -- Three EP (those early self-released EPs from Mobius Band are no joke. this song always makes our ears perk up when it shuffles into the mix)
7. Happy Mondays -- "Bob's Yer Uncle" -- Thrills, Pills and Bellyaches (another classic mix tape cut from a tape received from a different guy who now lives in the middle of nowhere and doesn't really follow music anymore. this song distinguishes itself as being the only Happy Mondays track we enjoy. it occurs to us that the secret theme of this mix might be flute)
8. Jawbreaker -- "Rich" -- Hardcore Breakout USA (we came to this band late, despite everyone raving in the '90s. we came to this song even later, but it is certainly one of Jawbreaker's best, right up there with "Chesterfield Kings")
9. Finger -- "Ship Full Of Holes" -- Jettison 18 single (North Carolina act whose single we bought probably because of an ad in the back of Spin or maybe in a hard copy catalog from Alias or Merge or Jettison or Antenna or one of those Carolina labels. All of which reminds us we don't have any Connells in CD or digital form. We'll have to remedy that. This one's a pretty straight rocker, enjoyable nonetheless)
10. Portastatic -- "Look, Honey, Peaches" -- A Day In The Park compilation (the epitome of sad, lovestruck Mac, in our opinion. Portastatic is too band-y and glossy for us nowadays, and whenever a new set comes out we long for more numbers like this and the stuff on Slow Note From A Sinking Ship)
>> Example of the commutative property of mathematics: we love Babar the Elephant; the cover of the forthcoming Silver Jews record has Babar on it; therefore we love the cover of the forthcoming Silver Jews record, which is titled Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. Pantsfork has all the details here.
>> This Wired.com piece contains all the details about the planned MySpace Music service. And you know what? It all sounds boring. Perhaps if MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe offered more than the sort of boasts that a more critical reporter would not accept at face value. Wired touts the interview as "in-depth," but the piece reads more like an email interview conducted by an inexperienced blogger without the chutzpah to challenge DeWolfe's marketing-speak.
A friend and digital music veteran recently left one of the most successful digital music enterprises to take a position with social music play Imeem, so we thought we'd best give it more than the cursory once-over we'd made earlier this year. While we don't think the user interface has achieved perfection yet, it is hard to beat the functionality it provides, at least for music bloggers. The embeddable player is not terrible to look at, seems to buffer streams exceptionally well and has very nice sound quality for audio playback. So earlier today we uploaded a bunch of odds and sods from the '90s, many taken from Purderous Magina Records first cassette compilation La Affection / Affection. Many of the bands featured include the same players, which is one thread that ties things together. And then there are a couple random tracks. And since we went to the trouble of creating the playlist for the purposes of feeling out the Imeem service a little more, here it is.
"Rob, Ted, Ariel and I had played together in high school in [the band] Garden Party," Paretchan recounts. "Haywood started in the summer of 1992. I had finished my sophomore year [of college] and everyone else their freshman year. As I recall it was Rob and I who 'founded' Haywood during a conversation driving around the back streets of Radnor in Rob's blue Subaru station wagon. That summer we recorded four songs at American University with Rob Christiansen of Eggs. The sessions were a marathon 24 hours to record and mix. Two of the songs "Nerf Dreams" and "Trash Park" would appear on our first 7" and then later on [the full-length] Model For A Monument."
"We did keep [the break-up] a bit of a secret," at least from folks who had no need to know, confesses Mr. Newmyer, who we caught by phone in between his scheduled stints managing the current Ra Ra Riot tour. Newmyer is quick to point out that the hush wasn't from any inflated sense of importance of the news, but rather because the band wanted, if possible, to keep album reviews focused on the music.
Had the band committed to significant touring to support Amateurs, the recording sessions would have been paid for and the album released by a label, although somewhat comically the band members aren't quite certain which one; it may have been Southern Records. Instead, faced with the departure of founding lead guitarist Serbin and dogged by concerns about the practicality of pursuing the rock and roll dream, Haywood disbanded.
"There was a total sense of freedom," Paretchan emphasizes. "Nothing to prove, and we could really do whatever we liked, without having to think about what people would think."
Haywood then turned its attention to recording its swan song. After a disappointing recording session with Kramer in New York in 1994, Haywood placed a lot of importance on working with a producer it trusted; Lasus had helmed early recordings as well as the sessions for Haywood's brilliant second full-length, 1999's Men Called Him Mister, and choosing him again to record Amateurs was a slam-dunk decision.
"This LP captures the band at the heights of [its] tightness and instrumental powers," Viola agrees. "One could argue that Men Called Him Mister had better hooks [and] writing, but the the playing on Amateurs is confident and massive."
