Today's Hotness: Lilys, Frog, Happy You

>> Frontier Records announced late Friday that it will release on Halloween (!) the long- and hotly anticipated reissue of Lilys' mid-'90s classic Eccsame The Photon Band (!). Pre-orders for the record, whose original 1994 pressing is extraordinarily rare and has been out of print for 20 years, will begin Tuesday, according to a post on the Frontier Facebook page. Devoted Clicky Clicky readers are quite familiar with the import of Eccsame The Photon Band, in no small part because of Senior Writer Edward Charlton's incredible oral history piece published last December. According to the label, the new pressing of the record features an expanded dynamic range and will be available on "a ghostly shade of pale" vinyl; a "super-limited mail order version" will be pressed to "seafoam splatter" media. We expect we'll have a better idea of the number of pieces of each pressing Tuesday. The track sequence has also been altered in order to better balance the program on each side of the disc, which allowed for a more optimal cut of the master that resulted in the improved dynamic range. Eccsame The Photon Band is Lilys' second LP and last recorded for Spin-Art Records; it was preceded by the equally estimable debut In The Presence Of Nothing and EP A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns, as well as some singles. We reported here in March 2014 that Lilys mastermind Kurt Heasley intended to reissue those first three recordings; at the time Heasley said he was negotiating with Slumberland Records to release certain records, so the deal with Frontier is a bit of a surprise (although Slumberland *not* reissuing something is not without recent precedent: a very welcome planned reissue of Rocketship's sublime A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness, originally issued by Slumberland, was at one point said to be coming out via another prominent label, but Rocketship told Exclaim! in August that it will self-release via a Kickstarter campaign the reissue in late 2015 or early 2016). Lilys, in case you don't know, are slated to play selections from its earlier recordings at three amazing east coast shows this week, two at Brooklyn's Baby's All Right and one at Philly's Lithuanian Music Hall. The first two shows are already sold out, and we hope that show of support from fans convinces Heasley to plot additional shows. Los Angeles-based Frontier is a storied punk and indie rock label founded 35 years ago; its catalog includes releases by American Music Club, Circle Jerks and Young Fresh Fellows. Stream all of the original version of Eccsame The Photon Band via the squished YouTube embed below.



>> It's quite satisfying when challenging and worthy music gets rediscovered and reissued. Better still are the times when something is so good that its rise from the deep underground transpires in a matter of months or a few short years. It reinforces a music fan's belief in meritocracy, that something can be so special that no amount of bad luck or insufficient networking can keep it down. All of which calls to mind Audio Antihero's reissue last week of the eponymous debut EP by New York City-based duo Frog. Originally released in January 2013 by the Monkfish label, the EP is gaining exposure to new audiences via London-based (for a little while longer, anyway) Audio Antihero; the label previously released the group's terrific, sepia-toned Kind Of Blah LP in May [boing!]. Appraising the adventurous EP in the context of that long-player limns why the imprint signed them in the first place. Frog's raw and emotional music in places and spaces between seems to have no clear precedent. Indeed, Frog is singular in its presentation and production, having arrived seemingly fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus. The ringing guitar strings of second track "Arkansas" are like a siren's call, and the song glows with hissy reverb. Later, the tune's pounding stop-start dynamics hit so viscerally that one can nearly see the sound waves bouncing off of the concrete walls in the negative space. Dan Bateman's vocals hit at a base level, his croaks, yelps and shrieks echoing those of folk and blues musicians of a bygone era. Frog's music seems to draw from a shared universal subconsciousness, but touts a modern sense of humor and irony. Further, the looping, detuned acoustic guitar and Tom White's percussion place an avant-garde frame around the songs, suggesting a more manic, deranged millennial John Fahey. Taken all together, the appeal is perhaps hard to define, but that makes it perhaps even more appealing. And that, ultimately, is what makes Frog so important. The epic "Nancy Kerrigan" goes one step further in hammering straight to the heart. "Choked down a Claritin / thought back to Oregon / where she wore her cardigan / just like Nancy Kerrigan / when they broke her legs / over your frosted flakes," sings Bateman as sweetly as he can muster. Such observations, as devastating as they are surreal, provide a great glimpse into the shifting, magical world of Frog. There everything is blurry, and the range of human experiences accretes to some sum of elated confusion. Order the EP on cassette (a limited edition of 50 green cassettes) or as a digital download from the band right here, and stream the entire short set via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton



>> We last covered New York-based dream-pop septet Happy You about a year ago, noting that its debut Giggle delivered key tracks whose pitch-perfect melodies were "mainlined via breathy vocals, ample fuzz and ethereal feedback." The crafty, upbeat exuberance of the self-released collection was a welcome surprise, and we're pleased to see the band return so quickly with similarly appealing music on EP1; the short set was issued as a digital download early last month and is now available for any price via the act's Bandcamp. The three-song collection evidences Happy You readily embracing the more downbeat, melancholy aspects of its sound. On each track, the band establishes a singular melodic environment that plays host well-timed earworms that strike during the choruses. Middle track "Unlucky" commences with a nifty, jaunty Brit-pop chord progression chased by simple, string-bent falsettos that tug at listeners' heartstrings. "We Could Be Friends" lurches with distorted, chugging palm mutes and spare snare hits but is lifted up by the titular plea in the chorus; textured fuzz effects course through the stereo channels. Subtle standout "Not Worried" leads the EP and succeeds via soft whispers and spiraling, clean guitar arpeggios that find Happy You ably setting off mood and atmosphere in a manner consistent with slowcore masters Low (whose own new record is stirring) and Bedhead. Here, Happy You's quiet verses -- with vocals that recall Elliot Smith at his most starry-eyed -– precipitate a chorus so lilting and quick one can almost miss it. The ironic ache during the last word of the line "It's okay I'm not worried anymore," not only illuminates another dimension of the act's promising songwriting, but suggests a satisfying variety of output continues to be a calling card for the rock combo. Download EP1 for any price here, and stream the entire EP via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton

Today's Hotness: Crayon, Rocketship, Gretchen Lyme, Bare Pale

>> A dusty blue, early '90s Toyota Corolla: we can picture it in our head, we can smell it, we can see the cassette tapes it contained. And when we think of riding in the great Pete Torgo's car during our later college years, we think of Crayon's "The Snap-Tight Wars," a tremendous, hook-laden indie-pop classic we likely listened to often traveling north and south through New England lo those many years ago. In hindsight, the trio's song presents as a relic of its time: indeed, our (basically) middle-aged self is not as comfortable with the nakedly heartfelt lyric "I wore you as an emblem of, as a badge of my worth" -- delivered in bassist and fronter Sean Tollefson's distinctive, adenoidal vocal -- as our romantic and stupid 20-year-old self was, but such sentimentality at the time scanned as powerfully real. Now it seems representative of a sweet naïveté that perhaps hits a little too close to home when we honestly appraise our 20-year-old self. But of course, that is only one part of "The Snap-Tight Wars," whose cracking drumming, pulsing bass lines and squalling guitar in the chorus reveals a punk heart and renders the song a most-serviceable rocker. The production is lo-fi but clear and electric, and the song was perhaps the first major calling card for the little band from Bellingham, Washington. Or at least it was for us. "The Snap-Tight Wars" appeared on Crayon's terrific, sole full-length release Brick Factory, which is being reissued Tuesday by Athens, Georgia's Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records. HHBTM's reissue -- which at least roughly coincides, mathletes, with the record's 20th anniversary -- is actually Brick Factory's first release on vinyl; the 2014 issue has been pressed to yellow media in a limited edition of 500 pieces, and is also being released as a cassette. Purchase of the LP includes a digital download of 21 bonus tracks -- tracks from 7" singles, comps, 4-track demos and never-before-heard, unreleased songs -- and deluxe pre-orders include yellow vinyl, a cassette and button and apparently even more songs. The very fine people of Crashing Through Publicity have secured permission for us to offer a stream of "The Snap-Tight Wars," which is embedded below, and we highly recommend that if you have not yet gotten with the now sounds of 1994, get with them now and pre-order Brick Factory from HHBTM right here. Crayon did not survive 1994; Mr. Tollefson and drummer Jeff Fell not long after formed the consistently excellent indie-pop juggernaut Tulleycraft, which we wrote about here in these electronic pages as recently as April 2013, when the act released its wonderful sixth LP Lost In Light Rotation.



>> Well, what do you know? Like an old friend showing up at your front door, Sacramento-spawned dream-pop heroes Rocketship returned Oct. 31 with a new, surprisingly subtle tune. Released digitally on Nonstop Co-Op (an enterprise that appears to be connected to the band in some manner, and whose Bandcamp now contains what appears to be the entirety of Rocketship's catalogue), "That Old Black Magic" also was included on something called A. Kaffer's Halloween 2014 compilation, about which the Internet has basically nothing more to say. Though this reviewer was only previously familiar with the band's mid-'90s output -- most notably its titanic 1996 Slumberland Records set A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness -- new song "That Old Black Magic" hews close to Rocketship's tradition of technicolor melodies, unadulterated harmonies and pristine pop production flourishes. Incidentally, if you'll permit the tangent, Rocketship's web site contains this exciting nugget: A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness is to be reissued in the spring of 2015! [We will buy the shit out of that! -- Ed.] The lineup that made the aforementioned collection has long since disbanded, but the project led by pop savant Dustin Reske has been recording sporadically ever since. Now based in Portland, Oregon, Mr. Reske continues to map delicate pop case studies and the deceptively simple and almost overpoweringly sweet "Black Magic" is no exception. Downplaying the band's once-signature organ lines, the song instead complements the foregrounded vocals with rich strings and flutes and a spiraling harpsichord arpeggiation. The result is something more along the lines of a baroque-pop gem than the shoegaze- and noise-pop-indebted sounds of Rocketship's past. Which is in no way meant as a slight; there is a classic wartime vocal group charm and warmth to the new tune. Stream it via the embed below, and click through to download "That Old Black Magic" from Nonstop Co-op's Bandcamp. Rocketship was reconstituted as a live concern last spring, performing pop festival shows in New York and San Francisco, and we're hopeful that this new song (and Twitter chatter about a video) evidences that the act may yet be a going concern, that Reske still has more pop delights to reveal. -- Edward Charlton



>> Given the often isolated (isolating? -- Ed.] nature of ambient and drone music, a recent split-single featuring two particularly creative Glaswegian practitioners of same struck this reviewer as somewhat unusual. The pairing, however, is a great one, and together the mysterious synth artist Mosca and the fuzz-droner Gretchen Lyme proffer eight shifting, bending instrumentals that engage listeners with spooky, mindful zones. Mosca leads the charge with monochromatic yet expansive "Fire," a gorgeous and layered drone seemingly employs random application of pitch shifter to bend the piece in and out of focus. Panned, square-wave fuzz and gradually building volume ultimately overwhelm the aural space, but the piece carries such a cool, mid-range smoothness that it never becomes a chore for listeners. "Impulse" goes a more cinematic route, pitch-shifting an extract of an interview with a notorious serial killer and pairing it with a sad, slowly modulating synth melody that ultimately hones in on the discourse with laser precision, somehow coloring a strange, wistful beauty over a horrible dialogue. Gretchen Lyme's more dynamic tunes, however, steal the show, building upon Mosca's horrorshow blueprint and adding more movement and texture to the proceedings. "EggsEggsPeanutLegs," the absurdly titled standout, achieves this in spades. After a three-minute intro that transports the listener along creepy carnival alleyways, windblown streets and a distant, distorted rock guitar concert, a clattering electronic beat arrives. The rhythm establishes sufficient energy that allows the piece to gradually collapse upon itself in a schizophrenic cycle that shifts between a placid, icy calm and a free-jazz happening. "EggsEggsPeanutLegs" offers the sort of cerebral, unexpected musical twists that mark the best experimental music. Stream all of the self-released digital split via the embed below, and click through to grab the pay-what-you-like download, which was issued to the wilds of the Internerds Oct. 18. -- Edward Charlton



>> London shoegaze duo Bare Pale's twisting, turning rock couldn't be more dead-on, in terms of our tastes. The pair's latest effort, the brooding beauty "You Owe Me," lopes forward toward a mid-tempo buzz-kill, its clean and bent guitar strums sounding weighed down by a sense of grief, perhaps destroyed friendship. Down-tuned open chords and distant snare cracks lend the song an indistinct sense of menace and space, despite the relatively pared-down band set up. The three-minute number's strumming pattern and constantly warping notes recall The Swirlies and the legendary Boston act's classic 1993 BlonderTongueAudioBaton anti-anthem "His Love Just Washed Way," particularly in how the tune slowly bends and slides toward a slow-burn catharsis. There's a grittiness in the production, too, that gives "You Owe Me" youthful and homegrown vibes, touches of realism that increase the tune's emotional heft. "You owe me, everyday" the singer almost murmurs, right before the song erupts into a tangle of fuzzed-out guitar perfection. There is as yet no word on a follow-up to the tune -- hopefully a full-length set -- but if "You Owe Me" is any indication, we'll be writing about Bare Pale in these electronic pages again. The act self-released "You Owe Me" as a digital download Oct. 15. Stream it via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to score the download for a single pound sterling. Bare Pale previously issued a cassette EP titled If It Is in Nov. 2012 and an even earlier demos set, both of which can be still be heard at Bandcamp right here. Bare Pale's next live engagement appears to be a show at London's Sebright Arms Dec. 16. -- Edward Charlton

Today's Hotness: French Leisure, Dark Blue, Fury Things

>> Following great bands pays dividends in a number of ways, and one of these is getting turned on, by association, to excellent record labels or other bands. Case in point is the French label Beko, which we first encountered sometime in the past year because of its releases by Mooncreatures and The Bilinda Butchers [zing! pow!]. Indeed, the label has been mining some serious quality recently, and thanks to the almighty push notifications of the indispensable Bandcamp we know that one of its latest releases is among its most thrilling to date. We speak of the single #2 from French indie rock trio French Leisure. Band principals Laurent, Elsa and Gaël previously played in the long-running and influential Parisian indie rock concern Acetate Zero, which split in 2011. The trio rotate instruments on the regular, apparently, and hail from various cities -- or have together moved around quite a bit -- as their brief bio notes the act is from "Paris, Nice, Brest, Montpellier, wherever... whatever." The A-side of #2 is the mid-tempo, crisp guitar-driven ballad "Curtains," which calls to mind the patient and melodic indie rock masterpieces of Bettie Serveert or Karl Hendricks Trio. The flip side is the peppy, seemingly Versus-inspired rocker "Inner Shark." It's no stretch to surmise that French Leisure derives a fair amount of influence from classic American indie rock: in a recent interview, the trio reports that its favorite albums include Pedro The Lion's Control, Bedhead's Transaction De Novo and the epochal What's Up Matador? comp from 1997. It is little surprise that French Leisure's first single was titled #1, but what is more surprising is that it was released by Beko only a month ago. Although the band bemoaned in the interview linked supra the slow pace at which they are able to complete material (or at least we think they do -- our command of the French language is abominable), it would seem they are working pretty rapidly to bring the rock music to the people. Beko released #2 May 28; both of its singles for French Leisure are download-only and are available for free, meaning there is really no reason for them to not be in your life. Don't be a dumbass.



>> There's a side of Philly that's never been kinder and gentler, that prides itself on never having been kinder and gentler. And although it is important to note that it is not its only side, perhaps nothing embodied that in the music scene of the City of Brotherly Love in the last decade more than provocative punks Clockcleaner. Confrontational, loved and loathed equally, the band -- which Wikipedia claims was named after a nasty batch of heroin -- nevertheless blazed a wide path over the course of a relatively prolific, six-year career that ended with mercurial fronter John Sharkey reportedly splitting for Australia unexpectedly in 2008. All of that feels long ago and far away, even more so now that Mr. Sharkey has returned with a thrilling new trio called Dark Blue, which appears to have sprung from the ashes of another project called Puerto Rico Flowers. Dark Blue is set to release via Jade Tree July 15 a terrific, sophomore single that is surprisingly reverent to certain postpunk sounds. The waste-of-breath shorthand we've seen on the band so far focuses on Sharkey's baritone and lazily compares it to that of Ian Curtis. But if we're going to make lazy comparisons, folks, let's at least come correct: Dark Blue sounds a hell of a lot like a tougher version of the excellent, Morrissey-approved but sadly defunct UK guitar pop combo The Boyfriends (ploing!), which released its only full-length in 2006. Dark Blue's Jade Tree single features the anthemic, midtempo basher "Just Another Night With The Boys" on the A-side, and a riveting cover of John Cale's "Hungry For Love" on the flip. Both tunes were recorded by Philadelphia's Jeff Zeigler, who seems to have touched every excellent sound recording that has come out of the city for the last few years; a full-length Dark Blue LP is planned, and we're hopeful that Mr. Zeigler's name will appear on the back of that one as well. You can stream both cuts from the single below; we highly recommend that you do. Pre-order "Just Another Night With The Boys" b/w "Hungry For Love" from Jade Tree as a 7" vinyl single or digital download right here. Dark Blue's debut single was issued by the Brooklyn-based label Katorga Works and it can be downloaded gratis right here.



>> Minneapolis-based fuzz-pop dynamos Fury Things have a gift for crafting big, glossy melodies (and also, apparently, covering Hole songs). On its new, three-song release simply titled 7", Fury Things make a dense and gloriously glossy racket. Shoegazy guitars on opener "Leave Winter Behind" shimmer and bend along the crest of a sturdy, tambourine-studded beat. The tune is equal parts sugar and crunch, and it gentle vocal harmonies -- which recall the cracking melodicism of Scottish indie heroes Teenage Fanclub -- work to accent the former. The tempo and energy level steadily increase across Fury Things' three tracks, such that closer "Follow" feels almost out of control, given its peppy pace. Despite the short set's title, we can find no information about a pending vinyl release of the three songs, which are all new. With hooks this sharp, a vinyl issue would certainly seem to be a solid idea, but presently the music is on offer only as a digital download. The aforementioned 7" is not Fury Things' first release: the threesome issued a demo EP in late 2012, and followed it up quickly with a second, self-recorded short stack several months later simply titled EP 2. We'll keep our eyes open for additional information about 7", but don't let the question of its availability keep you from its glorious bash 'n' dazzle: stream the entire deal via the Bandcamp embed below. Fury Things play St. Paul's Amsterdam Bar and Hall June 15 before heading across the border to Calgary for a few dates surrounding the 2014 Sled Island music festival.

Even When You're Bent Like A Swan: The A Weather Interview

Portland, Ore.-based A Weather are presently waist-deep into their second U.S. tour, which is supporting the release of the slow-core revivalists superlative sophomore set Everyday Balloons [review here]. Everyday Balloons seems mildly obsessed with sleep, and the narratives all seem as if they could have been written solely about what can be seen from a bed by a window. The new collection is lusher, denser and even relatively kaleidoscopic compared to the stunning, quieter debut album Cove, which we named one of the best of the last decade right here. A Weather plays P.A.'s Lounge this coming Monday, and so we thought we'd check in with fronter Aaron Gerber for insight into the new record and the band's prior experience touring. Mr. Gerber very graciously met our cascade of questions, and our exchange appears in lightly edited form below.

CC: You mentioned that growing up as a young person in Maine you'd travel down to Boston for rock shows. What was the first show you saw here? See any heroes?

AG: I believe the first show I saw in Boston was Ida and Low playing at the Middle East. I was probably 16 or so at the time and there was some difficulty in actually getting into the show as it was 18 and over. The owner drew huge x's on my hands with permanent marker and made me stand by the door the whole performance. After the show we took a big group picture with both the bands. Somewhere there still exists a black and white photo of myself as a 16 year old posing with the members of Low and Ida. Other memorable [shows] include: Sunny Day Real Estate, Arab Strap, Wheat and of course Bedhead.

CC: You must have been terribly excited to do those 2008 tour dates with The New Year after having been a fan of Bedhead. As I think that was the first A Weather tour, did you learn anything from the Kadanes about life on the road?

AG: Yeah, that was our first tour outside of the Northwest. We were so fortunate to be asked to join them. It was a little surreal at first. We quickly discovered that, aside from making really great music, they were also really great people. You're always hoping that your heros will be decent people and it makes everything that much nicer when they are. All of the guys in that band were unbelievably supportive of A Weather and actually seemed to be legitimately into our songs as well. I remember after one particularly difficult show we had in Arizona Matt Kadane gave Sarah and I an encouraging back stage pep talk. They all kind of took us under their collective wing. As you are probably aware, in one song off of Cove we mention Bedhead. On Everyday Balloons I managed to sneak "the new year" into a lyric. The Kadane brothers better start another band before we record our third album.

CC: Moreso than with Cove, we continue to grapple with what certain of the new songs are communicating. Compositionally and musically, Everyday Balloons is a little more accessible and less stylistically restricted than the quiet music of Cove. But lyrically things seem even more open to interpretation. When you were writing these songs, did you think you were taking a new or different approach to the lyrics than you had previously?

AG: As a songwriter I'm never quite sure what will stick and what will sort of slide down the wall. One of the more interesting aspects of reading reviews of the record is seeing how listeners interpret the lyrics and attempt to summarize a given song. A lot of people think I'm writing exclusively relationship or break-up songs, and though I can see why they might say that, I do think Everyday Balloons covers more diverse thematic ground. I don't intentionally try to obscure my lyrics; if they are perceived as cryptic it might be due to my disinterest in linear narrative and my inability to stay with one idea or theme for more than a few lines. My favorite writing always hints at rather than completely reveals. I find it more fun to leave some of the work to the listener to draw his or her own connections between images and statements. That said, I do strangely feel like Everyday Balloons is more coherent and planned in terms of themes and motifs than Cove was.

CC: So what about all the guitars on Everyday Balloons, anyway? Not that it is like a Metallica record, or anything (far from it!). But was there a specific revelation or occurrence that made you think, "this next record is going to have more guitars, it's going to be louder."

AG: I made the switch from electric to acoustic a couple years ago before our tour with The New Year. Since our other guitar player Aaron Krenkel wasn't able to accompany us on most of the trip, we adapted the arrangements to play as a three piece. It made sense to play an electric guitar if there was only to be one guitar in the band (a bit fuller sounding with more dynamic possibilities). I also never had a really good pick-up for the acoustic and it was always a pain to get it loud enough without feeding back. It just seemed easier to play through an amp and have more control of the sound. When we started working on the songs for Everyday Balloons it was a progression of how we'd been performing live for the past six months or so. A lot of the songs came out of that slightly dirty guitar tone (that spot between clean and distorted) where there is the potential to go both quiet and loud. I've always been a fan of melodic feedback and ebows too, so playing electric allowed me to indulge in those sounds and explore some new textures that aren't on Cove. But also a lot of the songs on Everyday Balloons are based around the piano, too.

CC: So what is the touring line-up for A Weather this go-around? Will Mr. Krenkel be making all the dates?

AG: Unfortunately not. Aaron K. has some real life commitments to attend to, namely a new baby. It will just be Sarah, Lou and I again on this tour.

CC: What was the process like writing arrangements for this tour? Was it frustrating to have less at your disposal, or perhaps liberating because of the opportunities few moving parts may present? Were there some things that you tried to make work that just wouldn't?

AG: It has been fun to reinterpret these songs for a more minimal set up. The songs on Everyday Balloons have more layers to them than then ones on Cove, so it's been interesting to strip away the layers and see how little we can get away with while still maintaining the essence of the songs. At some points I'm trying to approximate the parts of two guitars with one and that has been challenging, trying to play both the chords and the melody simultaneously, but at other points you just have to embrace the limitations, go with the sparseness and not worry about trying to fill in all the negative space. Often the negative space is pretty useful as a gradation of the dynamics.

CC: What can we expect to hear in your live set? Will you will be doing material from Cove as well as Everyday Balloons? Are you hauling around a piano so Sarah can do "Midday Moon?"

AG: We are playing mostly songs from Everyday Balloons, but maybe one or two from Cove. No piano and not even bringing the Rhodes this time around. It's just electric guitar, bass and drums. It's funny you mention "Midday Moon," as earlier today we worked out an arrangement for guitar and bass. Though it would be cool to ride into a city with an upright piano strapped to the roof of our mini-van we decided to travel light this tour. A toy piano will make some appearances as well.

A Weather play P.A.'s Lounge in Somerville, Mass. Monday April 19; they are joined by Drew O'Doherty, The Acre and Bell And The Bees. All remaining tour dates are listed below.

A Weather -- "Giant Stairs" -- Everyday Balloons
A Weather -- "Third Of Life" -- Everyday Balloons
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[buy Everyday Balloons from Team Love right here]

04.15 -- Vaudeville Mews -- Des Moines, IA
04.16 -- 400 Bar -- Minneapolis, MN
04.19 -- P.A.'s Lounge -- Somerville, MA
04.20 -- Apohadion -- Portland, ME
04.21 -- The Lamb Abbey -- Montpelier, VT
04.22 -- AS220 -- Providence, RI
04.23 -- Union Hall -- Brooklyn, NY
04.25 -- Galaxy Hut -- Washington DC
04.26 -- Joe Squared -- Baltimore, MD
04.28 -- Off Broadway -- St. Louis, MO
04.29 -- The Czar Bar -- Kansas City, MO
04.30 -- Jackpot -- Lawrence, KS

A Weather: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Previous A Weather Coverage:
Today's Hotness: Calories, William, Lali Puna, A Weather
Be Prepared: A Weather | Everyday Balloons | 2 March
Clicky Clicky Music Blog's Top Albums 2000-2009
Clicky Clicky's Top Albums Of 2008
Review: A Weather | Cove [MP3]

That Was The Show That Was: Bottomless Pit, Kadane Brothers

The Kadane Brothers, perhaps better known as principal members of sublime flagship slow-core act Bedhead and its successor The New Year, have written so many great songs but released records so infrequently that last night's performance was something of a constant surprise. Several songs into a quiet set during which Matt and Bubba Kadane played guitars and sang sans rhythm section the brothers reached deep back into its catalog to unearth the frankly sublime track "Crushing," released on Bedhead's 1994 stunning full-length debut WhatFunLifeWas. We had hoped against hope that the duo would perform the title track to 1996's The Dark Ages EP, but this treat definitely sufficed. Mssrs. Kadane and Kadane did open their set accompanied by journeyman guitarist Chris Brokaw on the track "The End's Not Near" [for which a video was recently released; watch it here]. The penultimate song of the set was "18," our favorite New Year track -- except for perhaps "Gasoline," which was also performed. The New Year will issue its third full-length, and first since 2004's The End Is Near, September 9. The set features drumming by Mr. Brokaw and bass courtesy of Saturnine's Mike Donofrio; a fellow named Peter Schmidt, whose name is not familiar to us, also plays guitar on the album. It appears the new set is self-titled; you can review the track listing at Touch And Go's web site right here.

Bottomless Pit's set, which sprung directly out of a well-choreographed musical segue that closed The Kadanes' set, was powerful. We hadn't seen the band fronters Tim Midgett and Andy Cohen perform since a Silkworm show in Philadelphia in 1995 or so. Mr. Cohen's guitar work floored us, and fortunately we were standing directly in front of him for the entire set as he let loose with tense, taut, slashing leads and flourishes with his Telecaster. More than anything else, the artfulness of the veteran musicians' performance impressed us -- the lion's share of the live bands we see each year are up-and-coming, and may never develop the poise and chops possessed by the chaps in Bottomless Pit. If they do, they are usually playing rooms that are so large that we can't enjoy the spectacle of their excellent playing. And while we certainly believe Bottomless Pit deserves to be playing arenas and theaters -- we were actually surprised when we realized last night's performance was in the 200-capacity Middle East Upstairs and not in the larger downstairs room -- we felt very grateful to be awash in the blare at a range of a half-dozen feet. The band played much, if not all of the excellent full-length Hammer Of The Gods, then delivered some of the goods from the recently issued Congress EP, and then thrilled the crowd with a new song during what was apparently a very rare encore.

Mr. Brokaw, whose guitar work has been a huge influence on our own playing (despite our relative ineptitude), opened the show last night with a set of his own tunes, including a mile-wide instrumental and a number of tracks from his recently released set Incredible Love. I And Ear Records, which you may recall issued Mazarin's excellent final record We're Already There, issued June 30 fat vinyl version of Incredible Love which you can purchase at his web site here. He also played guitar on the forthcoming Lemonheads record that is due this fall. Located at his web site, Brokaw's touring schedule reads like a Who's Who in indie rock: he'll tour with The New Year in the US in early October and in Europe in November; in August he'll be playing guitar alongside Matador [thanks Jon!] artist Jennifer O'Connor; and like everyone else in North America besides us he will be at All Tomorrow's Parties NY, playing with Thurston Moore.

Bottomless Pit and The Kadane Brothers continue their tour through the 19th of July, and we've posted the remaining dates below; the band's play Montreal tonight. We shot our usual battery of lackluster photos last night and you can check them out here. We stood next to Mr. 'Nac as he recorded the show, and we expect once he gets through his substantial backlog he will post recordings of the excellent show. In the meantime, here's an MP3 from Bottomless Pit's Congress EP, which has been released digitally by Comedy Minus One.

Bottomless Pit -- "Fish Eyes" -- Congress EP
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[buy Bottomless Pit music from Comedy Minus One right here]

Bottomless Pit: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

The New Year: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

07.13 -- Divan Orange -- Montreal, Quebec
07.14 -- Sneaky Dee’s -- Toronto, Ontario
07.17 -- Schuba’s -- Chicago, Illinois
07.18 -- High Noon Saloon -- Madison, Wisconsin
07.19 -- 7th Street Entry -- Minneapolis, Minnesota

Muxtape No. 9: Tired Of All The Largesse

Welcome to the weekly Muxtape. More auditory spelunking into the '90s, and into things that sound like they came from the '90s. You can stream all the tracks at this link, and we've jotted some thoughts about each track below, as is our wont.

1. Coco B's -- "Give Up The Money/1982" -- RCRDLBL download
(After learning of the whole Retriever/Coco B's connection last week we dove into the latter band's stuff and have been enjoying it. After our third or fourth run through this track it finally occurred to us why we dug it so much. Put simply, Coco B's 2008 = Haywood 1994. Even one of the Haywood guys think so. This one is a rocker with lots of guitars; it even has a slight hint of something Walter Schreifels-ish in the vocal.)

2. Versus -- "Glitter Of Love" -- Secret Swingers
(A song filled with many guitar lines we stole at one point or another. After re-ripping our Versus records it was hard to pick which track to include. We thought pulling something off The Stars Are Insane would be a little obvious, so here is a superlative mid-period track from the band's 1996 set. Tons of interlaced guitars and gratuitous movie star references. This one has a big lyrical payoff at the end when Richard Baluyut shouts "we can try to pretend that we're still in love.")

3. Clown Down -- "Living Alone" -- Living Alone
(Before the guys in Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!! who are not Alec Ounsworth were in The Clap, they lived in Boston and had a band called Clown Down. We never saw them live but a friend of ours who is a friend of theirs gave us a CD-R of what were purported to be the band's demos. Turns out the demos were this record, the title track of which you can hear here is one hot bummer. Some nice "oohs" in here; it's surprisingly hard to get those right.)

4. Bedhead -- "Bedside Table" -- What Fun Life Was
(Two band names in a row with an internal rhyme scheme. We also recently re-ripped all of our Bedhead and have had a nice time rediscovering certain tracks. This one is amazingly peaceful at first with its smiling little ride cymbal-enabled trudge around the corners of your mind. Of course, the track has a tumultuous ending, but you didn't just think they were going to stand around with all of those Telecasters and not rock out eventually, did you?)

5. Joey Sweeney -- "Largesse" -- Heartache Baseball
(More ride cymbal in here, that must be why we sequenced things this way. We almost went with "My Name Is Rich," which we think about when we're waiting at a bar alone, or "Fixing Coffee," which we think about when, well, that one's kind of obvious. But this quiet number has a nice feeling of resignation to it, and it seems to go nicely with a morning in the middle of a heat wave. We really like the talking in the background toward the end that stretches the space. One of Sweeney's best lines is in here, namely "Why do you want a disease when you know we could get by on a cold?")

6. Sebadoh -- "Happily Divided (Demo)" -- Bubble And Scrape [Expanded Reissue]
(This has always been our favorite Sebadoh jam. The new expanded reissue of Bubble And Scrape is almost out in the U.S. and it is chock full of interesting extras, but perhaps the best is this demo. Although the demo of "Soul And Fire" is nice as well. We had high hopes for Bakesale after hearing "Skull" on the Hotel Massachusetts compilation, but that record never was able to eclipse our affection for Bubble And Scrape.)

7. Come -- "Shoot Me First" -- Near Life Experience
(Relatively rare instance of journeyman musician Chris Brokaw taking the lead vocal on a Come track, which is understandable: Brokaw's voice is adequate, but Zedek's has always been singularly emotive and powerful. And maybe that's why Mr. Brokaw has so many great lines in this song, as at the time he may have had fewer outlets for them. "When you laugh I can see everything I think you used to see in me.")

8. The Sea And Cake -- "The Sporting Life" -- The Fawn
(Bit of a hard contrast here. This track is as light as "Shoot Me First" is dark. It's sort of got the "Thriller" bass line going. In our opinion this song epitomizes the best of the more electronic efforts from the veteran Chicago foursome. The song has especially strong impact in the context of all of the amazing guitar-based tracks on the band's prior set The Biz, a copy of which should exist in every household in America.)

9. Tricky -- "The Lovecats" -- Vulnerable
(A nice cover and an attempt at an appropriate segue to the Willie Williams jam.)

10. Willie Williams -- "Armagideon Time" -- Version Dread Dub Specialist
(The original version of the track made more popular -- at least to us -- by The Clash.)

11. The Remote Viewer -- "It's So Funny How We Don't Talk Anymore" -- Let Your Heart Draw A Line
(Nice emo electronic jam. We should buy this record; can't recall where this MP3 came from.)

12. Seam -- "Autopilot" -- The Problem With Me
(Very purposeful and well-crafted devlopment in this track. Persistent layering. Hypnotic. The soundtrack to the blizzard of 1995.)

Review: A Weather | Cove [MP3]

>> To quote Wikipedia, "Lovers rock is a style of reggae music noted for its romantic sound and content. The style originated in South London in the mid 1970s." But if the tag hadn't already been bestowed some 35 years ago, it would certainly be a ready characterization of the understated sounds of Portland, Ore.-based A Weather. The band's beautiful full-length debut has a persistent but slippery allure. Populated almost entirely with murmured bedroom ballads driven by brushed drums, guitar and electric piano, the set somehow succeeds in not repeating the same tricks over and over again. Team Love releases Cove March 4. It's the first big surprise of 2008.

Is there a voyeuristic attraction inherent in pretty songs delivered in hushed tones simultaneously by male and female singers? Or is there something universal -- an inverse of voyeurism, in a way -- conveyed by these intimate, poignant tracks that make them so arresting. What we are certain of is that sping-tingling moments are frequent on Cove: when the ride cymbal pulses louder and louder during "Shirley Road Shirley" as fronter Aaron Gerber and drummer Sarah Winchester desperately assure "I swear, you won't even know I'm there;" when the duo stingingly confesses during "Oh My Stars" that "sometimes it's hard thinking about how the plans we make won't happen;" when the pair utters during "Spiders, Snakes" the unfathomably sweet sentiment (for those of us of a certain age, anyway) "I want to have you again, listening to Bedhead." According to A Weather's MySpace fort the band is slated to perform six times between now and the first week of May, and we've posted the dates below (we can't imagine a full tour is not forthcoming later in the year). We previously posted the excellent tracks "Spiders, Snakes" and "Oh My Stars" here last month, so we're offering "Screw Up Your Courage" below, although it is our least favorite song on a record filled with great numbers.

A Weather -- "Screw Up Your Courage" -- Cove
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[pre-order Cove via Saddle Creek right here for shipment Feb. 19]

A Weather: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

03/04 -- Douglas Fir Lounge -- Portland, Ore.
03/14 -- SXSW -- Austin, Texas
04/12 -- Mississippi Studios -- Portland, Ore.
05/01 -- Boone's Treasure -- Salem, Ore.
05/02 -- Grand Lodge -- Forest Grove, Ore.
05/03 -- White Eagle -- Portland, Ore.

Today's Hotness: Shellac, Bedhead, Dinosaur Jr., Assembly Now

>> Venerable label Touch + Go has launched a digital music storefront selling 256Kbps MP3s of albums from its impressive catalog. Fine. But the big news is that Touch + Go is selling the wares of storied grind trio Shellac as well -- we just never thought fronter and renowned recording engineer Steve Albini would ever agree to release the stuff digitally, given his anti-CD stance over the years. Since MP3s are even more of an aural abomination than CDs, who would have thought the Shellac catalog would ever get sold digitally? It turns out Touch + Go is honoring Albini's audiophiliac (even a word?) beliefs, as the new Shellac set (out today) Excellent Italian Greyhound is being sold digitally as CD-quality 16-bit and above-CD quality 24-bit WAV files. Apparently, the 24-bit WAV format available for purchase at touchandgorecords.com does not play and/or burn with certain Mac and PC software. So there you go.

>> Incidentally, we got Excellent Italian Greyhound on vinyl in today's mail (with the label-less CD version of the album inserted in it, natch) and we are about 80% of the way through the opening track "The End Of Radio." We love the tune, in part because we have a soft spot for all songs that talk about radio. As a greyhound owner, we're obviously completely nutty for the gatefold album art and slip cover (pictured) for Excellent Italian Greyhound. If you haven't seen it, it's worth walking into your local indie rock store and checking it out.

>> But wait, there's more: according to the web site for the Touch + Go MP3 shoppe, the label is the first place to present the digital-only reissue of two stunningly good Bedhead EPs first released in the mid-'90s by Trance Syndicate. The slow-core heavyweights' two titles are 4Song19:10CDEP and The Dark Ages. The former includes one of the best covers of Joy Division's "Disorder" ever recorded. The title track to the latter may be the best Bedhead song ever written. In short, these are crucial records. Get them now, or when they arrive at other digital storefronts July 10.

>> Speaking of new things, we watched the just-released Dinosaur Jr. DVD Live From The Middle East Saturday night after a day of painting, and here are our very brief notes from the screening: "Very good. Very trebly. Holy Crap -- "The Wagon." Holy Crap! "Raisins." Soloing is complete mayhem. Murph looks like [old time pro wrestler] George "The Animal" Steel when the shirt comes off and the light is just wrong."

>> Remember a couple of weeks ago when we said here that one of the new Spoon numbers sounded a bit like Thin Lizzy? Well, the veteran quartet's tune "The Underdog" has been made an official promo track and now you can judge for yourselves by downloading the MP3 linked below. This is the sole track on the new record recorded in LA with producer extraordinaire and former Jellyfish / Greys guy Jon Brion (of whom we are a big fan -- have you heard the Jon Brion solo record from 2000? Hot.); the rest was recorded in Austin with a fellow named Mike McCarthy. Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga will be released July 10 on Merge, and you can pre-order the set here and stream it at the Merge site. We've heard the whole leak and can say Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is our favorite Spoon record to date.

Spoon -- "The Underdog" -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
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>> London-based indie rockers Assembly Now, previous featured here in Show Us Yours #6, will release a new single in July. Few details are available currently, but the platter will be issued on Kids Records, which, in addition to releasing (or at least selling) two earlier Ass Now singles, has also issued recordings by The Wombats and Band Of Horses. Assembly Now has a broad slate of dates schedule from June 14 through the end of July in the UK. Check them out at the band's MySpace yert here.