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Second volume in SCG's "Carnival Folklore Resurrection" series, The Dreamy Draw is a vast improvement over the first. Similar to Vol. 1, it's a semi-improvised live performance (this time Seattle in May of 1998), but this is executed with a greater degree of savvy, on the level that one would expect from a group as seasoned as the Sun City Girls (rather than the pedestrian stoned-in-college basement "jam session" of volume one.) The performances here are soaked with meandering piano playing pseudo-East Asian pentatonic ditties along with the various parts and pieces of gamelan that the Girls have picked up in their travels.
So, we already put this on our special all-Torch Of The Mystics in-between list last week, because we just couldn't wait to list it, and here it is again, a no-shit, straight to the top Record Of The Week. An absolute must-buy, a record that DESPERATELY needed to be reissued (along with almost all 10,000 other Sun City Girls records, certain crazy people would argue). So here it is on both cd and vinyl! And here's the expanded, in-depth review we promised...
So what to say about this fuckin' record? Originally recorded in 1988 during a time when the Bishop brothers and Charles Gocher had been making much more overtly subversive work. 1987's Horse Cock Phepner (an album that could use this reissue treatment, by the way) experimented with drug-addled spoken word, hypno-percussive vulgarity-ridden tributes to Nancy Reagan, and Urinals-esque minimalist noise-punk. This makes sense given the Bishop brothers' musical upbringing in the early '80s Arizona punk and hardcore world. But the recordings sessions that would become Torch of the Mystics had such a different result. Like we mentioned last week, due in large part to the success of labels like Bishop's Sublime Frequencies, in making the SCG's third world influences more familiar to us, this record does get the "most accessible" label, maybe even more than it seemed originally. It's still fantastically out-there, but yeah, compared to other Sun City Girls output before and after this record, this is downright radio friendly.
It's hard to talk about records that are this fantastic, we don't really have words that can do it justice. Right from the first snare crack of opener "Blue Mamba", it's impossible not to get sucked into another world. The first notes of the bass line immediately floor us, then the whole band comes in, with droll vocals not even really saying coherent words over some sort of desert-scorched melody, part Sahara and part Sonoran. "Tarmac 23" is up next, a total outsider improvised psych freak-out, the guitar line an off-kilter loop, Gocher's drumming managing to keep the whole thing together. "Esoterica Of Abyssynia" and "Space Prophet Dogon" are, of course, the masterpieces of this record. "Esoterica" has a twisting and looping guitar line like something John Fahey would play if he studied under the tutelage of Ravi Shankar, and also owned a distortion pedal. "Space Prophet Dogon" is one of those instances that makes us all go full Andee and say "perhaps THEE greatest song EVER!" Seriously, without trying to sound too over-the-top hyperbolic, "Space Prophet Dogon" (later covered by the Grails) is one of those songs that should be played at funerals. A spiritual, otherworldly lick with its roots somewhere in Egypt or maybe a Moroccan hash cafe, but in true Sun City Girls fashion, twisted and warped to their liking. The longest song on the record (a scant 7 minutes) with the last 2 and a half completely improvised, and perhaps the most beautiful part, a bleary-eyed psych trip. This record would be totally worth it if it just played this song 11 times, trust us. But there's so much more! "Cafe Batik", "The Flower", "Papa Legba", and "Burial In The Sky" all follow in the footsteps of "Tarmac 23", improvised, warped, outsider-jazz-raga-middle eastern psych-folk numbers with Gocher's percussive mastery and Alan Bishop's sung/shouted vocals taking front row. "The Shining Path" could be a lost track off a Morricone soundtrack, a whistle-and-acoustic guitar number with that catchy and haunting melody line sung over it. "Radar 1941" is like the Ventures on thorazine, a slowed down, chewed up and spit-out attempt at surfy skronk. Like a foreshadowing of his solo career, "The Vinegar Stroke" is a classic Sir Richard Bishop piece, a masterfully played acoustic guitar track that feels like it's pulling inspiration from 5 different musical styles at once.
In short, (ha!) Torch Of The Mystics is an album that is from both everywhere and nowhere. It constantly plays with things you've maybe heard, but can't quite recall. It's at once high and low brow, mimicking some criminally underheard guitarist in the Sahal, or a drunkard trying to recite the Rigveda from memory. The babbling of Charles and Alan are in either some unknown foreign language or complete gibberish, perhaps playing with some sort of postmodern idea of Western cultural appropriation and our often naive and hamfisted takes on "world" music, or maybe they were just high and fucking around.
An utter masterpiece, a no-brainer must-have piece of every music collection.
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Reissued once again on cd, Torch... is most often referred to as the best SCG album; a good place to start.
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Finally a cd reissue of this excellent SCG improv-splatter elpee.
In recent months, we've seen several interestin' Sun City Girls reissues come out on cd via the Abduction label, like such previously vinyl-only rarities as the (supposed) soundtrack recordings to Piasa The Devourer Of Men, Dulce, and Juggernaut. Along with the shaggy dog hillbilly joke that is Jacks Creek. So fans of the now sadly defunct Sun City Girls, that cultish, psych-punk, faux-ethnic, WTF? trio, have had some welcome listening of late. However, this new disc, a collection (volume one!) of Sun City Girls singles, has us the most excited yet. That's cause these nine tracks, mostly released as singles on the Majora label back in the day, were actually all recorded during the same sessions that resulted in the acclaimed 1989 SCG album Torch Of The Mystics. That album, now out of print, is almost universally regarded as the band's best, and most popular. We'd agree, it's definitely the unanimous fave here at AQ (well, along with the equally long gone 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda). Too bad Torch Of The Mystics is out of print!! But of course that makes these tracks, cousins to those on Torch, all the more covetable!
Apparently, originally Torch was meant to be a double LP, and most of these tracks were instrumentals that would have been sequenced in amongst the songs that appeared on the final version of Torch. Plans for a double LP were eventually scrapped, and much of the extra material was then released by Majora on the You're Never Alone With A Cigarette 7" and Three Fake Female Orgasms 2x7". However, three of the tracks here are previously unreleased studio recordings, and another track, "The Fine-Tuned Machines Of Lemuria", is restored to its full 12 minute length for the first time (having been edited down for 7" release).
On of the reasons we (and everybody) likes Torch so much is that the songs, sounding much like some sort of alien, Southeast Asian surf rock, were unhindered by the unhinged eccentric excesses that make so many other, more confusional SCG recordings something of an acquired taste. Their unique take on "world music" was at its most accessible on Torch, with some of their most memorable, melodic moments and evocative atmospheres. You're Never Alone..., while not quite Torch part II, is certainly in that ballpark, with the ringing, exotic electric guitar skree of Richard Bishop taking center stage on much of this, ably supported by the drums and percussion of Charles Gocher and the bass playing of Alan Bishop (with sundry other, often ethnic, instrumentation from all). There's glorious folky riffing and moody improvs and plenty of prime SCG wonderful weirdness. Definitely an essential disc for all SCG fans!!
Longtime aQ pal Chris Johanson (rad artist and Awesome Vistas label head) dropped by the store the other day with just a handful of this special edition release by his current band Sun Foot. As part of an ongoing series called Old News, where the label commissioned bands to make records based on current issues in the news (or rather, not in the news enough!) that are important to them, Sun Foot use their installment to highlight breakdowns in the justice system that inevitably send innocent people to death and for juveniles to be increasingly tried as adults, using the recent execution of Troy Davis as its central focus. Sun Foot, who also count among its members Brian Mumford from the tweaked Americana project, Dragging An Ox Through Water, bring a bluesy shambling dirge of grief and resilience through four tracks that are as ramshackle as they are urgent. Comes with three printed inserts of news clippings and information about the project. These are limited to 300 of which we have 5 and probably cannot get more so act fast if you want one.
After all these years, Mark Kozelek's music still fills us with chills and goosebumps like no one else can. His melancholic voice and restrained arrangements come together for songs that sink so deep into our veins and lead us into cloudy and dazed daydreams. Admiral Fell Promises is a new set of songs written by Kozelek (he was on a big covers kick for a while) and they rank right at the top of anything he has created. The formula is not all that different from past Sun Kil Moon releases but there is something in the stark immediacy of the songs that is pulling us in so deep to this carefully crafted album. Maybe it's all the years he's spent in San Francisco but the record is just so perfect for those fog filled grey days that hit us all throughout the year and make us forget what day/month/year it is. These songs are so perfect for that dazed and dislocating sensation, filled with such a bleak romanticism. If he didn't have such a tasteful sense of subtly he could easily wow a crowd with impeccable almost flamenco/Spanish sounding guitar playing. Kozelek is one of those people who has never rested on his laurels. After Red House Painters it would have been easy for him to just allow that to be his lasting legacy, but over the years under his own name and the Sun Kil Moon moniker he continues to create a body of work that will stand the test of time. A must have for Kozelek fans and if you have checked out on his releases for a while this would be a great time to check back in!
From the first few chords and softly warbled vocals of April's 10 minute opening track, "Lost Verses," it's clear that we are in familiar territory with Mark Kozelek's latest release under the Sun Kil Moon moniker -- his first collection of new songs since 2003's Ghosts Of The Great Highway; his incredibly distinctive, molasses-slow blend of roots, indie rock, doom and gloom folk, Neil Young-tinged guitar sprawl, and traditional American songsmithery is in full effect here. Kozelek has made a career out of continually refining a very particular and immediately recognizable aesthetic. It's a sound that is at once both sprawling and intimate, expansive and hushed, confident and reserved. April is marked with the same sense of haunted yearning and loneliness that has characterized all of his best work. In fact, this may be one of the finest collections of songs he's produced to date. It's easy to get lost in this record, as the delicate interplay between words and melody weave their way around one another and reveal a stark beauty that only Kozalek is able to produce.
This 2cd set includes a bonus disc with alternate versions of 4 songs from the album lovingly packaged in a digipak adorned with ethereal b&w photography that will be as familiar to fans as the sound of Kozalek's voice. Simply gorgeous.
Attention all Mark Kozelek and Red House Painters fans gather 'round! Here's something new for you from the gent himself! Not surprisingly his new band sounds very much in the same vein as his assorted past work. Heck, his stellar bandmates include Red House Painters' Anthony Koutsos, American Music Club's Tim Mooney and Geoff Stanfield (ex-Black Lab). Each song is steeped in Kozelek's usual yearning melancholia and lyrical eloquence, all warmed by ample reverb. The highlight is the expansive, haunting 14 minute long "Duk Koo Kim", although "Carry Me Ohio" and "Last Tide" aren't far behind. As well, they fire things up a bit on the comparatively rockin' "Lily And Parrots". Sure to please fans new and old.
Hurrah! This marvelous Sun Kil Moon album has been reissued by Mark Kozelek's own label Caldo Verde. Along with the original album comes a whole extra disc of a half dozen bonus tracks including an acoustic rendition of "Salvador Sanchez", two versions of "Somewhere" and a radio recording of "Gentle Moon".
Here's what we said about the 2003 release:
Attention all Mark Kozelek and Red House Painters fans gather 'round! Here's something new for you from the gent himself! Not surprisingly his new band sounds very much in the same vein as his assorted past work. Heck, his stellar bandmates include Red House Painters' Anthony Koutsos, American Music Club's Tim Mooney and Geoff Stanfield (ex-Black Lab). Each song is steeped in Kozelek's usual yearning melancholia and lyrical eloquence, all warmed by ample reverb. The highlight is the expansive, haunting 14 minute long "Duk Koo Kim", although "Carry Me Ohio" and "Last Tide" aren't far behind. As well, they fire things up a bit on the comparatively rockin' "Lily And Parrots". Sure to please fans new and old.
Such a remarkable songwriter who clearly appreciates other remarkable songwriters, Mark Kozelek seems to really loves covering other folks' music! You might recall his awesome cavalcade of AC/DC songs (found on three of his solo cds -- Rock & Roll Singer, What's Next To The Moon and the out-of-print White Christmas), not to mention a handful of John Denver, Kiss and Simon & Garfunkel tunes too. Well, in his post-Red House Painters band Sun Kil Moon he's strangely chosen to follow-up their acclaimed 2003 debut album Ghosts Of The Highway with a sophomore effort which is comprised completely of Modest Mouse covers. S'pose it was a pretty fun album to record considering the caliber of Isaac Brock's songs (not to mention a pretty shrewd business move on his part considering the current popularity of Brock & Co). Very odd, but it works! Kozelek fully inhabits Tiny Cities, making the songs warmly his own.
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It's easy to hear bits of No Neck Blues Band and Sun Burned Hand Of The Man And Avarus, and various other practitioners of that sort of rambling free folk stumble when first listening to this mysterious disc by some group called Sun Supreme. But listen closer for a minute and think about it. SUN Supreme, and where would any of those bands be without... Well, yeah, without the Sun City Girls, and while we can't really confirm it, this disc -was- recorded in Seattle, in 2004 and does pretty much sound like a late night, druggy ramble through some serious SCG territory.
The give away, is that it's not nearly as abstract as those other groups, it's way more melodic and musical, with a heavy emphasis on the guitar, and a distinctly Eastern bent, lots of strummed chords and kitchen sink percussion, bits of piano and other noisemakers, going from that sort of stumbling campfire improv to decidedly propulsive krautrocky groove, occasionally devolving into ramshackle chaos, but just as likely to coalesce into huge epic swells, before settling back down into more dreamy late night rambling. Really cool.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! Packaged in beautiful hand screened chipboard sleeves and pressed on ultra thick vinyl.
We're gonna say right up front, we LOVE this band. We only discovered them a few weeks ago, but have been listening to virtually nothing else. To the point where we were beginning to think we should slow down, to keep from getting sick of it. And yet, repeated plays every day, and still we seem to be no closer to wanting to stop. In fact, we continue to discover all sorts of new details, a cool little melody here, a turn of phrase there, we honestly can't remember when we were so blindsided by a record.
And now here we have ANOTHER Sun Valley Gun Club record, and while we're thrilled to death, we're also actually pretty torn. A whole new set of songs by what is fast becoming one of our new favorite bands! What's not to love? But then we really don't want to stop listening to the other record quite yet... These are the kind of problems we should always have!
So Into The Valley Sun is SVGC's previous record, and everything we love about the new one is already in full effect here, it's a bit scrappier, and maybe a bit more obviously beholden to the group's influences (that nineties sound we love love LOVE), and all those comparisons we made in our review of the other record are even more apt here: Ovens, Weed, Herzog etc. This is classic indie popsmithery for sure, with some of the catchiest songs we've heard in ages. And while the newer record is a bit darker, this record, at least on the surface, is more fun, more sunshiny, more jangly, the melodies, even the lyrics, but even so, there's some serious bittersweet melancholia lurking throughout. It took us a minute to warm up to it (but c'mon, really only like A MINUTE), we were still so immersed in the new record (and BTW, if you don't have that one yet, you might as well just toss that one in the cart with this one, you won't be sorry!), but now we're getting lost in this whole new set of songs, and wondering all over again how these guys have remained a secret, and why the fuck they're not huge.
Pop nerds, indie rock geeks, trust on this one, this is absolutely your new favorite band. It most certainly is ours. And even though that new record just came out, and we're listening to the shit out of this one too, we're somehow already wanting more!!!
Includes a download code as well.
Yeah, you know us, record store weirdos who love us the latest batch of blurry black metal, the newest glitched out electro noise, the fresh sound of gut rumbling, tectonic, cosmic dronemusic, BUT, we also love songs, and we love pop, and we love rock, and we particularly love a strain of said rock and pop that they don't really make so much anymore. We're all children of the nineties, so our later formative years were spent listening to Pavement and Polvo, Dinosaur Jr and My Bloody Valentine, Superchunk and Silver Jews and Soul Asylum (when they were great, and they WERE great), the Afghan Whigs and Uncle Tupelo, Codeine and Archers Of Loaf, we could go on, but you get the picture. So if any of that strikes a chord, you just might find yourself falling for Sun Valley Gun Club, who hail from right here right now in the Bay but sound like they could be from 1995 Chapel Hill, or 1998 Seattle, or Athens in 1992, but we definitely don't wanna push the retro angle to the exclusion of everything else, cuz while these guys are definitely rooted in that era, and owe a lot to the above bands, they also manage to craft some of the best songs we've heard in ages. In fact it only took one listen to the song "Hey Collapser", before we were hooked, which then lead to about a hundred more listens, and as seems to be our process, we literally listened to nothing else but that song, until once, when we weren't quick enough to cue it up again, and the record went right into "Nebraska", and goddamn if we didn't then become obsessed with THAT song. And you can guess where it went from there.
But seriously, "Hey Collapser" is a total stunner, with its smoldering slow build, the laconic, laid back vox, the chorus that kills, the bridge that kills EVEN MORE, big build ups, plenty of bombast, a little bit of broodiness, it sounds like Built To Spill crossed with Uncle Tupelo, and maybe a little Radar Bros., some Pavement too, but really just a sort of classic songsmithery, that for us never gets old. And the aforementioned "Nebraska", which takes all the same elements, and crafts them into a super dark, tense, brooder, that explodes into some epic math rockiness, getting totally anthemic throughout, with some killer guitar parts, and with some of the most irresistible hooks EVER. Goddamn, if this was a seven inch with just those two songs, we'd be talking potential pantheon placement for sure.
But lucky for us, and you, there's about three more double A-sided singles' worth on here of classic sounding indie rock crunch and twang flecked, noise pop brilliance. Fans of aQ faves like Herzog, Weed, Ovens, Swearin', Telekinesis, Iran, the Wrens and other modern indie rock revivalists will definitely lose their ever loving shit. Expect this to show up on some year end top ten lists for sure!! (Andee's already got a space reserved!)
Numbered, ltd. to 250
Any one lucky enough to visit hypnorockers Circle in Finland, besides being showered with hospitality and crazy adventures, hockey games, private concerts, lots of record shopping, reindeer dinners and Finnish pizza, also is quite likely to be invited to record with the band, as they seem to be in a constant state of ready-to-record-ness, as our very own Andee can attest to: just check http://www.tUMULt.net to hear Jaappollot, the results of several sessions he shared with the boys in Circle!
Seems a similar thing happened to abstract free rock collective Sunburned Hand Of The Man when they were in Finland, and it's hard to imagine a better match. Sunburned seems to have lured Circle back into the murky woods, for long languorous stretches of slow burning psychedelia. The metallic sheen of recent releases has been rusted and caked with mud and old dried branches, the result a trancelike folk flecked tribal krautrock, the perfect mix of what we like best about both bands.�
The sound on first listen is like some sort of�alien world music, with dense, but laid back�tribal drumming, swirling serpentine guitar lines,�whispered chanted vocals, all wrapped in a cavernous production, making the tracks sound warm and wide open, expansive and endless, there is clatter and clang, but for the most part it's smeared and blurred, buried in sonic murk, wrapped around abstract krautrock rhythms and chunks of angular guitar riffage. Some of the tracks get wild and chaotic, but even then, the sound is still restrained, not jagged or harsh, more swirling and washed out.�
One of our favorite tracks ever, by maybe either band, is the super hypnotic�"Heinavelho", another growling ambient sprawl, but strangely rhythmic and musical, still�murky and muddy and super hypnotic, but with ultra subtle�repetitively strummed guitars, held in check by martial drum rolls and little squalls of brushed snares, eventually building to an FX drenched gothy cabaret crawl, all moody and drunken, lurching and downtuned, staggering through a thick cloud of chirping bleeps and bloops and dense swells of rumble and shimmer.�
Fans of either band will definitely dig, and a good gateway for anyone into one, but not yet so into the other...
Getting tough to know what to say about these guys. For no reason other than the constant flow of new releases, cd's, lp's, double lp's and so many cd-r's!! But what the hell! They're all pretty fantastic so who's to complain. We managed to get about twenty of these from the band when they were here, therfore there's a darn good chance we won't be able to get any more, so if you want one act fast. Packaged in that by now immediately recognizable brown paper sleeve, pasted-on art on one side, hand written text on the other, Anatomy was recorded from 2002-2004, and features a much more 'rock' SHOTM, which seems to be the direction the band has been headed lately. Shuffling spaced out psychedelic grooves, sort of Grateful Dead meets Acid Mothers Temple meets No Neck Blues Band. Plenty of processed vocals, heavily affected guitars, and shuffling Krautrock rhythms, simple and hypnotic. There are brief song fragments that harken back to their more hippy pagan free folk drum circle daze, but for the most part Anatomy is chock full of amazing head nodding, dreamy and druggy space psych grooves!
Finally! Some new music from our favorite space-drone-free-rock-hippy-drum-circle-caveman-stomp-folk-clatter ensemble Sunburned Hand Of The Man. And once again, these are extremely limted and we don't know how long we'll be able to keep these in stock. Probably not very long at all. This double cd-r is volumes 9 and 10 in SHotM's proposed series of 50 and some of their best so far. As a whole, these two discs are much quiter and ambient than any of the other releases, focusing on space and the sound AROUND the sounds. Disc one is a spare creaky framework of mumbly, lo-fi space jams, distant melodies, ghostly and ethereal, reverbed vocals, minimal wah guitar, rhythms all clattery and loose, stumbling and barely there, almost marking out the beat like the occasional stone thrown into a still pool. All wrapped in spidery cobwebs of murk and mire and hiss and stutter. Truly gorgeous. Disc two continues on in the same vein with shuffling rhythms and vaguely Eastern melodies, chanting and mumbly vocalising. There are moments on disc two that change things up a bit, most notably a strange bastard funk jam that sounds like Starfuckers chanelling James Brown, and then as the disc progresses some No Neck Blues Band meets Sun Ra free jazz clatter with saxophone bleats, space-y rhytmic abstracts, and splattery percussion.
A visit from Sunburned Hand Of The Man always means a bunch of new releases, this time it's two lps, and a handful of cd-r's they've been lugging around on tour. We'll get to as many as we can, but let's start with Complexion. Like all of their releases, this lp, recorded live in 2004, is a gorgeous and stumbling tribal and primal mess, psychedelic and tripped out, space-y and rhythmic. There are multiple tracks listed but this plays like one massive track, two sides of loping campfire dirges, detuned guitars, simple shuffling rhythms, warbly organ melodies, super freaked out vocals all wrapped in reverb and delay, distant distorted wah guitar, and even some tape drop out that sounds as intentional as any of the other sounds present. Occasionally everything coalesces into super dense, perfectly concise passage of abstract rhythm and propulsive skitter that definitely reminds us of the legendary This Heat. This is druggy and dreamy bliss! All woozy and seasick and completely mesmerizing. At its most psychedelic it sounds a bit like Santana's little brother, high on tequila and peyote, sneaking into his big brother's practice space with his drug buddies and proceeding to get even higher and jam out all night long. Side two is a little more mellow and abstract, super minimal and trippy, a simple shuffling rhythm and all sorts of vocal and instrumental weirdness drenched in effects and splattered with little bits of random percussion, ghostlike vocals, and hazy drifting melodies.
If you've kept up with the prolific and often very limited and hard to track down back catalog of Sunburned Hand Of The Man you'll know that they're always eager to explore new territory and widen their musical horizons. But even so, we still think you'll be thrown for a loop, in the best possible way. In fact this disc has even won over a few of us here who had always been on the fence with these Sunburned fellas in the past.
What's important to know about Fire Escape is that it's just as much of a Four Tet record as it is a Sunburned Hand Of The Man record. Four Tet and Sunburned!? Huh! What?! Sometimes the seemingly oddest pairings produce the most creative and unexpected results. And wow, we've totally been swept away by the magic these two forces have created, each contributing the best of of their respected, yet disparate qualities.
Sunburned got to do what they do, improvising and travelling in all their drugged out and mystifying glory, while Four Tet then collected hours upon hours of their recordings and worked his own magic on them to create a final product that might be the most realized, colorful and immediate Sunburned record yet.
From the opening track, which had us all thinking of 23 Skiddo in all the best ways, and throughout the entire album, you get to hear a band who pride themselves on their improv abilities but with the much more careful and deliberate and musically astute filter of Four Tet's Kieran Hebden, who has proven over the years that he not only makes really great music, but that he understands and appreciates great music in so many shapes and varieties. It's almost as if his recent collaborations with free jazz legend Steve Reid opened him up to the possibility and power of improvisation while still allowing him to retain the great sensitivity to sound that his made him one of the most compelling musicians to emerge out of the electronic scene in the last decade.
It's so exciting and exhilarating to see this kind of creative energy exchanged and brought together by folks from two seemingly different scenes, sharing the common thread of aiming to make transcendental music that transports you to different dimensions and offers up all kinds of unexpected twists and turns. After their recent collaboration with Circle and this totally successful meeting of musical minds with Four Tet we have to say we are loving the collaborative spirit of Sunburned Hand Of The Man more than ever, and while there was all kinds of hype surrounding SHOTM a few years ago, we are happy to report that they just might be only just reaching their most realized moment right now!
Wouldn't really be an AQ list without a little gushing from Andee. So that said. SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN is my new favorite band!! Which is pretty amazing seeing as they have kept a pretty low profile. And I eventually had to get in touch directly with the band to get a hold of their stuff, but I WAS NOT disappointed. This lp is their first official release, although they have released 8 cd-r's (of a proposed series of FIFTY!!!) six of which we will have in stock and list in the near future. But what the hell does it sound like?!?!?! Well, the easiest comparison is the No Neck Blues Band, especially since they supposedly share a member or two. But unlike NNBB's free form hippy drum circle drug rock neanderthal clatter, Sunburned Hand take their hippy psych folk and mix in all sorts of disparate elements, motorik krautrock, droning ambient soundscapes, ROCK, free jazz, ESP style caveman thud, and delicate melodies and hints of seventies British folk. Also unlike NNBB, Sunburned Hand forego primitivism for primitivism's sake and weave all those elements together seamlessly, and musically, and most importantly, with a lush and rich and surprisingly full production. With a lineup eleven members strong, and instrumentation consisting of guitar, flutes, drums, keyboards, congas, blades of grass, whistles, djembe, shakers, trumpet, stunts, spirit, organ, horns, 'mountain top leads', 'the jazz', 'breath' and of course 'the looking glass', how can you go wrong? Well, you can't. So for now, this lp is the only way you'll be able to sample Sunburned Hand's otherworldly psych/kraut/rock/folk/drone/thrum/hum/skree until we eventually get some of the cd-r's. And there may be a release on tUMULt eventually as well!!!
It's pretty amazing that one of the most talked about underground bands in the world, one that has graced the cover of the Wire, as well as the inside of numerous other hipster music bibles, has no actual cd releases, and in fact, has nothing currently in print. EXCEPT for this 7". And that won't last long either as we're fairly sure we won't be able to get more of these. It's also too bad that these two tracks don't do much to demonstrate what SHOTM are capable of. Side one is a fairly tepid free percussion jam / hippy drum circle, sort of stumbling and meandering. Fairly pleasant but nothing to knock your improv socks off. Side two fares a little better, a little wilder and more focused, but the track doesn't really get going until about 20 seconds before it's over, when a wicked Can-ish groove kicks in only to be snuffed out moment later. Leaves you wanting more definitely. Not sure a 7" is the ideal medium for a sprawling, wandering, free form inprov outfit, but since this is all they got right now, if it sounds like your cup of tea, don't dawdle or you'll be out of luck.
It's been ages since we've heard from these guys, maybe the second most referenced band on the aQ list when we're trying to describe stumbling tribal avant free rock, after the the No Neck Blues Band, both bands pretty much rule that world, each an ever shifting collective with a few core members, able to conjure up super epic clattery free folk, and droned out abstract minimalism, dipping liberally into noise rock, free jazz, 20th century classical, infusing their lo-fi chaos with a sense of art.
No Neck definitely drifted in the artier direction, releasing super limited editions, deluxe lps, performing in art spaces, playing with dancers, mysterious vocalists, while Sunburned Hand stayed more sort of punk rock, releasing an endless series of home made cd-r's, their sound remaining relatively consistent, a gorgeous, cracked, grimy and gritty anti rock, as much about noise as jazz, the players connected on some other level, their performances amazing, their recordings equally so, slipping from buzzing ragas, to strange clattery soundscapes, to full bore free rock roar, to hushed and contemplative drift, to spidery post rock minimalism, to skronky almost free jazz, to foresty free folk all detuned guitars and fluttery horns and stumbling drums, to a sort of avant Appalachia, all of that and more are touched on here, a killer recording from way back in 1998, only now seeing the light of day, packaged in a cool hand stamped origami style sleeve, with pasted on front cover art, and a printed poster / insert. LIMITED to 999 COPIES... (hmm, that's a lot for a cd-r!)
We've all been waiting for this one for a while. After tons of cd-r's and limited lps comes the first official, actual cd release from the poster boys of New Weird America (ugh), Sunburned Hand Of The Man. Right off the bat, we had to wonder, with at least a dozen cd-r's, and 3 or 4 full length lps and supposedly dozens more unreleased recordings, why for their debut cd would they release just 40 minutes of music, mostly recorded live on the radio? Weird. Happy to report though that this stuff is pretty darn good. A lot more aggressive and fucked up sounding than past efforts. A throbbing miasma of squelchy synth, noodly bass, wild clapping, clattery percussion and processed unintelligable vocals that pretty much take over the whole show, getting more and more strident and more and more gutteral veering into decidedly cookie monster territory at times. And it sort of works. The vocals seemed to be SHOTM's weak link in the past, but this new growling aggressive proselytizing turns this stuff into some sort of super aggro, backwoods pagan nightmare. Think Tom Waits meets Capt Beefheart with a tracheaotomy! Flutes, echo guitar, simple propusive drumming, delay pedals set to stun and reverb off the charts, skronky horns, as well as all sorts of droning industrial hums and grinding noise add to the chaos. Maybe not what we were expecting or even hoping for, bu cool nonetheless.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Finally reissued on cd! Another missive from this massive (seven or eight or who knows how many members) free rock/folk ensemble from Massachussetts who recently graced the cover of the Wire, representing "weird America". Which as far as we can tell is this current crop of hippy folk revivalists channelling the spirit of sixties' ESP and seventies British folk through their appropriately eclectic record collections. By now you know, we here at AQ can't get enough of the Sunburned Hand, and neither can anyone else, judging from the scarcity of their cdrs and LPs. But finally the cd reissues have started to surface! Trickle Down Theory... is about the free-est bit of scattered improv we've heard from SHOTM, and it's also maybe the most chaotic. A sort of murky, stumbling, shambling rhythm, with chantlike vocals and the occasional casio sputter. Tinkling chimes, rattling clatter and squealing sax all make brief appearances, and towards the middle of side two, things get slightly more propulsive (but only slightly) with a warbly, seasick Eastern raga that devolves into an outer space, free jazz battle of the bands, noisy and damaged and almost spiritual. With FLUTES! This is some prime, otherworldly, drugged out, folky and fucked up, primordial ooze.
Another missive from this massive (seven or eight or who knows how many members) free rock/folk ensemble from Massachussetts who are currently gracing the cover of the Wire, representing "weird America". Which as far as we can tell is this current crop of hippy folk revivalists channelling the spirit of sixties' ESP and seventies British folk through their appropriately eclectic record collections. By now you know, we here at AQ can't get enough of the Sunburned Hand, and neither can anyone else, judging from the scarcity of their cdrs. But at least the vinyl keeps coming. Too bad for those of you who remain turntableless. That'll teach ya! Trickle Down Theory... is about the free-est bit of scattered improv we've heard from SHOTM, and it's also maybe the most thrown together sounding. A sort of murky, stumbling, shambling rhythm, with chantlike vocals and the occasional casio sputter. Tinkling chimes, rattling clatter and squealing sax all make brief appearances, and towards the middle of side two, things pick up considerably with a warbly, seasick Eastern raga that devolves into an outer space, free jazz battle of the bands, noisy and damaged and almost spiritual. With FLUTES! While not their best effort, keep in mind that the worst SHOTM is better than the best lots of bands have to offer. This is still some prime, otherworldly, drugged out, folky and fucked up, promordial ooze.
There are prolific bands, and then there are PROLIFIC bands. Take Acid Mothers Temple. Not a month, or even a week goes by sometimes without a new record by those Japanese psych rock freaks. Then there's Guided By Voices' Bob Pollard who has supposedly written over 3000 songs. Or what about Wolf Eyes with their insanely extensive back catalog of cd-r's? None of em can touch Sunburned Hand Of The Man. Every time they swing through town not only are they pushing a handful of lps or proper cd releases, they also always seem to have boxes and suitcases and pockets full of all new super limited cd-r's. This time was no different: An lp (listed last time), a cd-r (listed elsewhere on this list), a handful of super limited tour only cd-r's that sold out before we could even list them (there are benefits to visiting the store in person!) and now this epic two years in the works double lp. Entitled Wedlock, the music on these 2lps was compiled from a weeks worth of recording in 2003, on the way to, and in, Alaska, where the band were playing at a friend's wedding. Recorded live to two video cameras and then cobbled together using two cd decks and a mixer, this is definitely SHOTM at their most jubilant. And maybe most funky! C'mon, it was a wedding after all! The record starts off with haunting maudlin piano beneath damaged snippets of conversation, before it's cut off abruptly by rambunctious bluegrass steel guitar, recorded in a lo-fi haze and surrounded by random conversations, whooping sirens in the distance, and all manner of animal calls and ambient sounds. That's before the whole thing twists itself into a full on white boy groove, drunken reverbed vocals over a wildly sloppy shuffle, reckless and whooping and drunk and delirious. The rest of side two and three don't deviate too much from that sound. Imagine Funkadelic playing German Oak and you'll get an idea of the sort of Kraut-flecked folk funk we're talking about. A confusing swirl of tripped out effects, manic percussion, tweaked vocals, wah guitar and a throbbing simple rhythm beneath it all. At some points it sounds almost like a much more tribal, much more groovy Eagles, but with WAY more beer and WAY better drugs. Pulsing and throbbing through the murk of an all night party, liquid guitar lines slither endlessly around slippery slow burning rhythms. There's a brief spurt of spastic blown out free form pagan tribalism at the end of side three that hints at what is to come on side four, a side long, classic SHOTM-sounding blast of drug addled drum circle freak out, all hands on some sort of drum or cymbal or noisemaker, whipping up a wild squall of rhythmic chaos. Wow. The whole thing comes packaged in a thick gatefold sleeve, with a full color insert, featuring photos from the wedding and the Alaska trip and a reproduction of the original invitation.
More scattered, primal free folk pagan minimalism from this Massachussets ensemble who have quickly humbled the mighty No Neck Blues Band in terms of hipster mystique but also in terms of recorded output. It seems like everytime a Sunburned Hand gets up to take a piss, it's documented on tape, and then released as a cd-r or limited lp. But as with the weekly Acid Mothers releases, the quality remains high enough that all you connoisseurs of "weird America" and all things free folk tribalism, at least for now, still have to pick up every last artifact. This lp is the latest document of SHOTM's not so expanding sonic universe. Krautrock hippy jams, wah guitars, chaotic ramshackle percussion, wild whoops and shouts, all occasionally slipping into some seriously propulsive grooves, but just as quickly falling apart, into space-is-the-place jazz skronk and Crash Worship / Wicker Man stumbling tribal rhythmic workouts.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Remember how the first Sundowners single sounded like Palace's Will Oldham had taken some hallucinogens and someone stole the tape and released it? The new Sundowners single plays the same prank on Bill Callahan of Smog. Cathy loves the synthesizer-drenched b-side. Whose bedroom will Drag City sneak into next? Hint: they'll find the duo in the kitchen.
Somehow, even after releasing THREE full length Guided By Voices albums last year (or was it four) on top of the hundred or so that came before, and having recorded about a million more under his own name, apparently Robert Pollard still needs homes for some of his songs, so thus, The Sunflower Logic was born. And as you might imagine, the sound won't be at all unfamiliar to fans of GBV and all the various related offshoots. But then us GBV fans are indeed a voracious lot, and thus won't (and probably shouldn't) think twice about picking up another batch of Pollard-y pop perfection. The Sunflower Logic though is definitely a slightly noisier proposition, just give "UFO Nights" a listen, it's a fantastically loose-limbed droned out psychedelic noise pop, lots of buzz, and weird warbly melodies, some weird paranoid lyrics, and yeah, the sort of tossed off hook most other bands would trade their firstborn for.
The rest of the ep is just as off kilter. "I Wanna Marry Your Sister" begins with a creepy voice mail message, before the song unfolds as a super raw lo-fi home recorded acoustic dirge, Pollard's vocals weirdly processed, the guitar angular, all over a weird filed of glitchy static. "I Was A Boy" is classic GBV pop, doused in weird noises, muted and murky, laced with shards of squelch, and some near metallic chug. "Felt Stars" is a twisted bit of piano cabaret, Pollard's vocalizing over pounded piano, sounding like an unrealized GBV outtake, and finally, "Fuck You Mr. Smith", which starts off dirgey and near metallic, but instead of exploding into something heavy, it transforms into a loping droned out jangle, again, all over a weird drone, this time a churning processed guitar swirl, looped and layered, the song devolving occasionally into twisted little catchy choruses, the whole thing seriously druggy and damaged.
In fact, to some ears, this might sound like a tossed off odds and ends cash grab, which who knows, it could be, but GBV/Pollard obsessives will find lots to love amidst all the noise and deconstructed anti pop weirdness. Reservedly recommended, and only for the GBV faithful!
Somewhere between The Free Design, The Incredible String Band and The Buggaloos lies Sunforest. Sunforest were a mysterious British female trio that recorded this sole 1969 gem of acid-folk prog-tinged popsike that has been a holy grail of sorts for sample-searching record heads. Even our own Antaeus (Lazer Sword) admitted to sampling the opening track "Overture To The Sun" to make a beat. That song along with another track, "Lighthouse Keeper" are also famous for their inclusion in the film "A Clockwork Orange". Medieval and baroque at times with harpsichord, piano and pump organ flourishes, lilting horns and sublime triple harmonies, Sound of Sunforest also features some of the best British session players around including Herbie Flowers (bassist on Lou Reed's "Walk on The Wild Side, Bowie's Space Oddity and Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire Du Melody Nelson), and Big Jim Sullivan (Lord Sitar) on guitar. Like most British records of the era, whimsy and zaniness can gain the upper hand at times with songs about candy shops, insect weddings, and eccentric old hippy ladies taking us back to the Sid and Marty Kroft days of our youth, but there is plenty of insanely beautiful songs of the likes we've never heard making this an odd but highly satisfying listen.
One of six new tapes from the always awesome Holodeck label out of Austin, Texas features a new release by Texas psych-heavies, Sungod. We raved about them awhile back for their debut release, Crash Galactic, now sadly out of print. On Contakt, these cosmic explorers are setting foot on a new and strange alien landscape, starting with a More-era Pink Floyd desert soundtrack vibe before breaking out with full kraut-inflected heaviness of lysergic guitar washes and pummeling poly-rhythmic momentum. A heady mix of gaseous electronics and acid guitar shred is nicely tempered by Blade Runner-like ambient passages of forlorn piano and slow burn synth-scapes. The final track, "Third Reichel" brings in layered acoustic guitar treatments in sequenced repetitions that evolves into full deep space rock take off. Limited!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Whoa, an Earth tribute band! Y'know, Earth, the slower than slow, heavier than heavy Sub Pop combo from a few years back, the band that took the Melvins molasses drone riffing over the edge. They're not around anymore (and weren't that great toward the end anyway) but this project (featuring members of Burning Witch/Goatsnake/Engine Kid) revisits Earth's genius genesis (back when Kurt Cobain used to play with 'em), for some long long tracks of primordial dirge. One track is even named after Earth leader Dylan Carlson. And of course the band name Sunn is derived from the amps of choice for both outfits, appropriately so 'cause it's the amps more than the guitars that you hear here. They're not covering Earth tunes, but are essentially following the same formula towards drone metal godhead. Essential for all devotees of the ultra-heavy! Each disc, with a handsome paper sleeve cover, comes sealed in its own spray painted hefty bag!
Killer collaboration, another one of those team ups you might not have ever necessarily imagined happening, and even if you did, you probably didn't think it would sound this good. The core SUNNO))) duo do their thing, thick roiling riffage, warm and lush, surprisingly propulsive, and weirdly catchy, Steve Moore from Earth contributes some gorgeous gauzy organ drones and Joe Preston handles the vocals, deep growl, part intoned, part almost crooned, and of course Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, offering up little flurries of industrial hiss, and bits of subtle glitch, taking voices and sounds and lopping them back on themselves, Vainio's contribution subtle, but practically perfect. Easily one of the coolest SUNNO))) tracks ever, maybe better than anything on the recent Monoliths And Dimensions.
The flipside features a live jam from Suicide mainman Alan Vega, recorded last year, live and lo-fi, lots of glitch and skitter, a sort of fractured electronica, Vega's vocals super effected, looped and chopped, dense and stuttery and seriously tripped out.
And the closing track on the B side is a stripped down, very Angels Of Light sounding acoustic number from Stephen Burroughs, former frontman for industrial icons Head Of David, his first recording in a decade, his voice rough and raw and simple, the guitar playing fantastic, the song dark and mysterious and haunting.
LIMITED TO 3000 COPIES, half on white vinyl, half on clear, we have the clear, housed in plain white hand stamped covers, but open the cover up (you might have to tear it open) and inside is some gorgeous original artwork.
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Diary, originally released back in 1994, is another one of those records that is so front loaded, you could be forgiven for owning this record and nor making it to the end. Even now, we have to fight the urge to play the first few tracks over and over and over. But fight on, cuz the second half is just as kick ass.
"Seven" and "In Circles" are probably SDRE's best known songs and for good reason, two of THEE most perfect indie rock jams ever. The guitars lines are tangled melodic, the riffs crunchy, the drums complex and pounding, the arrangements complex, with plenty of starts and stops, little bursts of manic chug, streaks of chiming shimmer, the vocals so anguished and passionate, high and reedy, but still a little rough and ragged, keening and on the verge of breaking, slipping from whisper to howl and back again, really, if you've never heard these guys, just listen to the sound samples, and if you're not immediately smitten / obsessed, then heck, we're not sure what else to do for you.
"In Circles" is the prettier half of the opening one-two punch, with that immediately recognizable looped guitar intro, before slipping into some shimmery stripped down almost slowcore, but with a fantastically soaring, epic, majestic, hands in the air, heartbreak chorus, which ranks up there as one of those all time goosebumps, hair on the back of your neck, tearjerker, air guitar, indie rock musical moments, and a testament to its power is that it has that affect EVERY time, and still does 15 years later.
So after listening to those two songs 20 or 30 times, force yourself to continue on, you won't be disappointed. "Song About An Angel" is another slow brooding drift, that has one of the coolest stop start staccato bridges ever, as catchy as any other song's chorus. "47" had it been pushed forward a little in the playing order, might have been part of that irresistible replay opening salvo, with an incredible main melody, and verses that somehow manage to be even catchier than the catchy chorus. And don't let all this poppiness and catchiness ward off you heavy music folks, all that pop is tangled up and intertwined with some serious heaviness, plenty of heft and crunch, some incredible guitar playing, wild mathy, almost metallic drumming, and again, all wound up into highly unconventional song structures.
We could go on and on and on, the rest of the record is just as awesome, there are a handful of brooding slow burners, but even those are peppered with some seriously emo blowouts, not a bad one in the bunch, it's not hard to see why we all freaked out about this band when this record first appeared, and none of its power or emotion or energy has been blunted by the passing of time. Not in the least.
The reissue features two bonus tracks, from the awesome and long gone Thief, Steal Me A Peach 7", which predated Diary by about a year, and if anything is even heavier and more dense, the perfect sort of bonus track, melding seamlessly with the album proper (and one thing we notice listening to the 7"s tracks is how much SDRE sometimes sounded like a WAY heavier, way more rocking Decemberists!). New fancy gatefold digipak packaging, with that iconic Fisher Price Little People parody artwork, featuring those conical people shaped toys, set in depressing environments, like in a kitchen with the toast burning, amidst a not so happy family, a couple sleeping far apart in their bed, in surgery, at the scene of a car accident, etc. Also includes all new liner notes and interviews with the various band members.
One complaint about the cd packaging though, the digipak comes in a slipcover, which is always cool, but the slipcover has the record title, band name, and some random text about bonus tracks and the producer, stuff that should obviously have been on a sticker but is printed over that super cool artwork, and unfortunately, you can't toss the slipcover, cuz it's the ONLY place where the track listing is printed, thankfully, the lp version does not make the same mistake...
It's a good thing that Jeremy Enigk's Sunny Day Real Estate got back together or else we would be without this lovely album. The desolate emo epics build and collapse much like the more recent pop masterpieces from Built to Spill. Highly recommended.
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Sunny Day Real Estate's second record, self titled, often referred to as 'the pink album' due to its simple all pink cover, as well as being known now as LP2, was released in 1995, mere months before the band broke up (for the first time), and it's easy to hear in the music, the sound is much less immediately catchy than Diary, a bit darker, a grower for sure, all the sonic elements are still present, the same spidery chiming guitars, dense complex arrangements, soaring chug heavy choruses, Jeremy Enigk's plaintive emotional wail, and hooks, they're there all right, but they sink in slowly, over repeated listens. Over the years, LP2 has become just as powerful as Diary, in some ways even more so, with its overall sound more wrought with tension and emotion, the songs more minor key and somehow more sad sounding. And thus even, maybe a bit more emo.
There are some 'hits' here too. "Theo B" is frantic, with a cool lurching tempo, weirdly angular guitars, and some seriously intense vocals. "Red Elephant", is a slow burning post rocker, with a soaring chorus, rife with chiming guitars and dense drum pound, but with a weary, worn vibe, like much of the record, a strange undercurrent of impending doom. Definitely darker than Diary, but instead of that being a weakness, it's most definitely the record's strength. "Waffle" might be our favorite track here, a meandering low end slither, all woozy bass and Slint-y guitars, a sing songy tempo, a gorgeous main melody, and some truly beautiful voice-about-to-crack vocals. Then there's "8", which sounds like it could have been plucked right off of Diary, and like the single bonus tracks on Diary, reminds us again how much SDRE sometimes sound like a super heavy emo Decemberists. The strange thing about LP2, is that it's really back heavy, with some of the best SDRE songs EVER, tucked way near the end of the record, which makes sense in a way if you consider LP2 to be a sort of continuation of Diary...
The thing is, as long as we've had these records, they seemed more like 2 halves of the same record, a sprawling concept record, one side lighter, one darker, perfectly complimenting each other, both on their own practically perfect, but combined, pretty much one of the greatest song suites in second wave emo for sure, but maybe even in indie rock history all together.
After this record, frontman Jeremy Enigk would discover Jesus and go on to record some awesome solo records, 1/2 the band would go on to play in the Foo Fighters, and the band would get back together 4 or 5 years later, and record two more SDRE records, both pretty great, but nothing really compared to the magic of this one, and Diary.
LP2 features two bonus tracks, each single B-sides, and both again, pretty kick ass, and both surprisingly dark and heavy and EPIC.
All new deluxe packaging, gatefold digipak, printed inner sleeve, and a massive booklet with all new liner notes, and an interview with the band members.
For a band whose successes on their albums has been made through the emotional strain of each of their songs, this live album is remarkably tame. Its quite surprising that Sunny Day Real Estate live, choose not to take the emo approach of draining one's soul into the every song (especially on the vocals, reaching for notes unreachable), rather, the band merely performs the songs from their albums... devoid of the emotive content.
Brand new album from Jeremy Enigk and company. Though shedding their Sub Pop skin for the more modest Time Bomb, the production on this album is quite similar to the last Sunny Day record and although I adored that record, I have yet to warm up to this one. And yes, Jeremy has gone completely falsetto. It was bound to happen. It seems as though Enigk is steadily separating himself from the emo of his earlier days. If "Diary" represented quintiscential, undiluted emo, and "How It Feels Like To Be Something" was an almost top forty radio friendly version of emo, then maybe consider this adult contemporary emo, since all us emo kids are pushing 30.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
