I've been staring at my computer screen for hours
over the course of the last week. As many of you
know, I work for Light In The Attic, and our most
recent release is a pretty bizarre one (Stephen John
Kalinich, spoken word poet produced by Brian Wilson
of The Beach Boys) and I've been slogging about in
the lowest of places to try and get the word out.
What places? you might ask: Beach Boys fansites.
These garishly colored, severely outdated sites are
world unto themselves, filled with nerds of a
ridiculous variety who spend hours upon hours
dissecting the various lyrics, themes, and what not
you can derive from the many albums released by The
Beach Boys (yes, including the large multitude of
side projects).
Today, nearly all of today, was spent sifting
through these, sigh, fansites, dropping hints about
this new reissue. And let me say this, my brain is
spent. Faded tracers of palm trees, bermuda shorts,
and the wrinkled mug of Brian Wilson keep floating
in front of my eyes and lord if it isn't painful as
anything.
If you haven't realized yet, this is just a weak
excuse as to why my triumphant return this week will
not be a full on expose about the generic state of
rap music, or a cynical peek at the back catalog of
your favorite band. Nope, unfortunately, this week
is going to be an EP (one of my favorite forms of
column to write) that collects some of my rambling
musical tastes from the last few weeks.
Enjoy, and please, don't hate.
:Portugal
The Man - Lay Me Back Down:
Seattle, Washington's local music scene is absolutely
churning with bands like these right now. Solidly talented
performers who's musical influence stems from the early to
mid-70s. Call it a Fleet Foxes influence, but I think
Seattle is just on the cusp of the new sound. Portugal.
The Man, has honestly put out like ten albums, but this
track of their newest, unreleased album Censored is
mind-blowing. It's a long, multi-stage song, and the way
they work the build, the fall off, and then the explosion
back in to the body of the song, gets me every time. It
rocks, it seduces, it's a fucking great song.
:Miles
Benjamin Anthony Robinson - The Debtor:
I love myself a singer-songwriter, and these days solo
musicians are pushing their music farther and farther away
from the closed doors definitions we've lived with for so
long. Goodbye Jack Johnson, hello Miles Benjamin Anthony
Robinson. There is a real emotional sincerity that sits in
Mr. Robinson's voice, and it's only improved upon by the
layer cake of backing noise he surrounds himself in. You
can hear a lot in it, a tinkling of glass, an organ, the
soft twang of the acoustic guitar - but it's the voice that
cuts through it all.
:Cold
War Kids - Something Is Not Right With Me:
The new album by one-time favorites Cold War Kids is, well,
something to discuss. I was planning on writing an entire
piece on the new albums by Kings of Leon and Cold War Kids,
but that'll just have to wait until next week. For now,
I'll give you this, a great single from the new album
Loyalty To Loyalty, and just say this: it is one of only
about five on the album. But enjoy it, 'cause it's great.
:Chad
VanGaalen - Willow Tree:
If you've ever had the chance to see Mr. VanGaalen perform
live, you'll know that he's a pretty strange character. You
can tell this by his albums and their weird allusions to
dead animals and rifts in reality, but live it's a different
matter. When I saw him open for Of Montreal a long while
ago, he told a story that included these three elements: his
birthday, his girlfriend, and poop. Not saying that they
went together in the way that I'm sure you're all assuming,
but nonetheless it was very odd. Luckily, this oddness
always seeps in to the folksier of his songs, and Willow
Tree is a real doozy of a twanger.
That's all I got this week. And what a weak week
what it was. Next week though, not weak at all,
indeed it'll be strong and full of vigor and verve.
You just wait.
Thanks for reading.
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor over at Sound On The Sound.
If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his
writings here at Side One: Track One then please do
so
here.
- Noah Sanders
-
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