I'm
writing this a little earlier than usual due to the upcoming visitation of
my SF, uh, lady friend. So if I miss out on anything big that drops
between Tuesday and Friday, don't judge, I had more pressing matters to take
care of.
If you don't know, this is Brain Notes, my bi-weekly surface level
excavation of the blogosphere. I'm looking to give love to the tracks that
deserve it, spew vitriol on those tracks bloated with the salty brine of
hype, and to shed a little light on a cut or two I think deserves a bit more
love.
As always, thanks for reading.
THE GOOD
Who/What:
Lotus Plaza - Red Oak Way
Where'd I Find It:
BBQ Chicken Robot
Why
Do I Like It:
Lets be frank: this music will be listened to by tight-jeaned
hipsters and I'm okay with that. Lotus Plaza is the side
project of Deerhunter guitarist and multi-instrumentalist
Lockett Pundt. It's less fuzzy psych rock and more spacey
surf electronica. An almost droned out homage to Panda Bear
and El Guincho, but infused with a set of at times somber
vocals that inject sadness in to the sort of sunshiny sonic
landscapes.
Lotus Plaza is about four seconds from scaling the tip-top
heights of the blogosphere. If you move quickly you might
be able to catch the tail end of the "I listened to them
when they were still small" train. You know you want that.
:Lotus
Plaza - Red Oak Way:
Who/What:
France Has The Bomb - Invisible Angle
Where'd I Find It:
Raven Sings The Blues
Why
Do I Like It:
Listen to that gritty little bass line. Listen to those
guitars kicking you in the back of the head, telling you to
put down the pipe and get to yelling. Listen, my stodgy
friends, to the way that this song makes you want to turn
the volume down on your mope-soundtrack, throw on a torn
leather jacket, and go kick some windows in. This is one of
my favorite tracks of the year so far and I thank Raven
Sings The Blues for giving me the heads up.
:France
Has The Bomb - Invisible Angle:
THE BAD
Who/What:
The Thermals - Now We Can See
Why
Don't I Like It:
I saw The Thermals just two weeks ago at an absolutely
PACKED venue in Seattle and was ninety-percent blown away by
their loud, lyrical pop-punk. Yet, the other ten percent,
which I could only believe was off their new Kill Rock Stars
album, did almost nothing for me. They need to do dirty
guitars and fire and brimstone lyrics, not overly poppy,
blandly indie stuff.
Now, the first single has dropped and I'm even less
impressed. What is this shit? When did The Thermals start
sounding like Blink-182 trying to be tough? I'd heard
murmurs of anger from true Thermal fans about how even
The Body, The Blood, The Machine was a drastic slide
down the pop hill for the band, but this, this is just
silly.
Sorry Johnny Boy Laird, I will not get behind this.
:The
Thermals - Now We Can See:
THE MISUNDERSTOOD
Who/What:
: Nodzz - I Don't Wanna (Smoke Marijuana)
Why
Everyone Should Be Listening To It:
It's Jonathan Richman, reverted to his adolescence, railed
on Ritalin and fucking around with his brother's broken
guitar. If that doesn't get your mouth watering, please
return your "music fan" identification card and leave the
building.
:Nodzz
- I Don't Wanna (Smoke Marijuana):
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and
the KEXP blog. He also has his own
Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.
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
-
Unless
otherwise expressly stated, all text in this blog and any
related pages, including the blog's archives, is licensed by
John Laird under a
Creative Commons License.
