Ceremony are old school punk rockers. They take pride in avoiding social media of any kind, emphatically stating on their website that they do not have Twitter, Facebook or Myspace. When preparing their new album Zoo, singer Ross Farrar chose to write a letter using traditional pen and paper to outline for fans what the music was going to be about and how things had changed since their last album. “There are songs on the record that sound fast, slow, eerie, full, or abrupt, each one different, but at the same time very similar,” he wrote. That’s a very accurate way of describing it, and for the band’s biggest fans, that’s probably not good news. Quick and dirty has been Ceremony’s ethos for their first three records, and that’s not quite the case anymore. Moving from underground punk label Bridge 9 Records and onto indie superlabel Matador certainly didn’t win them any cheers either. Yet punk band labelmates Fucked Up have done a nice job proving that you can have success without losing any of your edge. The same can be said of punk supergroup OFF! and young upstarts Iceage, both of whom have been doing great work in reviving a genre that once called Blink-182 a member. That said, it’s a little unfair to call Zoo a hardcore album. It lacks the sharp edge and white knuckle energy to earn such a descriptor. The easiest way to describe this record is to slap a post-hardcore tag on it, which is a fancier way of saying the music is heavy but not quite heavy enough to kick you in the teeth. This more tempered approach enables the band to experiment a bit without ever straying too far from their base. Only “Citizen” really sounds like classic Ceremony. Most of the time the band seems like they’re aiming for garage rock and using early 00’s bands for inspiration. At any given moment a track bears the markings of The Hives, The Vines or The White Stripes. “Quarantine” does a surprisingly good job of re-creating the sound of pre-Dookie Green Day, and the driving bass on “Hotel” gives it a very Joy Division feel (who, of course, they’re named after). There are also potions of Zoo that pay tribute to the godfathers of punk rock. You can absolutely hear the influence of Pink Flag-era Wire, This Nation’s Saving Grace-era The Fall, and even a little Metal Box-era Public Image Ltd. on bits like “World Blue” and “Community Service”. The worst part about the similarity is that Ceremony isn’t quite in the same league as those heavy-hitters. There are a lot more hooks on this album compared to the band’s older material, yet most of the songs are shockingly unmemorable. John Goodmanson produced it, and he turns out to be a positive influence on the overall sound of the record, adding depth and color to even the most plain-sounding songs. Unfortunately, there are quite a few of those plain songs on Zoo, and it causes 12 tracks and 36 minutes to sound like something much longer. Ceremony may have broken free from their hardcore punk habitat to try and explore other options available to them, but this record is evidence enough that some animals truly belong in cages.
Author: Faronheit Page 137 of 192
Happy International Women’s Day. It’s about 3x better than Talk Like A Pirate Day and about 10x better than International Pancake Day. How do we come up with these holidays? There really is something for every day of the year. In terms of International Women’s Day, I should comment that I prefer to celebrate women every single day. It’s upsetting to me that gender inequality is still an issue in today’s society, and that it takes a day like today to help push awareness of it. Treat everyone equally and we’ll be a better society for it. Please note I’m not talking about socialism’s idea of equality involving money, goods and services. Respect one another is what I mean, to perfectly clarify. Okay, Pick Your Poison for today is excellent, so let’s talk about that. Highlights today include tracks from Blue Foundation, Magical Mistakes, MUMBLS, Parallels, Stars in Coma, and Super Water Sympathy.
Animal Heart – UN-Extraordinary Man
Bassnectar – Ugly (ft. Amp Live)
Blue Foundation – Lost (ft. Sara Savery)
Gift of Gab – Wack But Good People (Wavves + Kynan Williams Remix)
Magical Mistakes – Don’t Need Much
Nneka – God Knows Why (ft. Black Thought)
Noah and the MegaFauna – Moan All Night
Salli Lunn – 50 Kisses (TV Baby Remix) (ZIP)
The Steel Wheels – Rain in the Valley
Super Water Sympathy – Cherokee
SOUNDCLOUD
Have you been following this Bradford Cox saga? It’s fascinating stuff, and just a little comforting to know he’s not completely off his rocker. The story goes as follows: Cox was playing a show in Minneapolis under his solo moniker Atlas Sound. He played pretty much his full set, and at some point during it a heckler decided it’d be funny to request “My Sharona” over and over again between songs. Tiring of such antics, Cox finally obliged and played “My Sharona”…for an hour straight. He recruited the opening band to assist him in such a task, and things only got weirder from there. According to reports, Cox asked the requester/heckler to come on stage and strip for the crowd. He also asked the crowd to lift their chairs above their heads. Eventually the whole crowd was invited to come up on stage, though by that point many had already left out of sheer boredom/disgust. It was a very punk rock thing to do, and Cox is not at all apologetic about doing it. He was simply having a little fun on stage and seeing how far he could take it. Consider him the Andy Kaufman of indie rock. Many probably won’t understand, but for those that do, it’s a good laugh. Sometimes you just need to go nuts in a room full of people. Okay, let’s do today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll advise you to download tracks from Free Energy, The Hussy, Mirror Talk, Spencer Tweedy (son of Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy), The Young Evils and Zammuto. In the Soundcloud section be sure to stream tracks from First Love, Last Rites and The Pale Corners.
The 21st Century – We Are Waiters
The Hunted Hunting the Hunter – Three Colours
The Hussy – Undefined
The Hussy – Stab Me
Jim From the Moon – Thanksgiving Day
Spencer Tweedy – Rushmore (Demo)
Tape Runs Out – Flowers in the Bin
The Young Evils – When Sally Walked in the Rain
Zammuto – Too Late to Topologize
SOUNDCLOUD
Andrew Bird hasn’t changed. At least not on the surface. If you’ve spent at least a little bit of time with any of his last couple albums, you pretty much know what to expect from the guy and the genuine surprise comes from the fact that he does it so damn well. Every arrangement is delicate, effortlessly and intricately blending ukulele, acoustic guitar, violin both played and plucked, staid percussion and that unmistakable whistle. The combinations may vary, and sometimes there’s an electric guitar or two, but the end product is often beautiful, naturalistic and anchored by Bird’s lilting vocals. His sonic adventures show up less on his albums and more in his extracurricular activities, which include a collaborative art installation piece called Sonic Arboretum and heavy work on the soundtrack to the indie film Norman. He’s also the sort of guy that is busy all the time, and when he’s not writing and recording music or preparing some art project he’s typically touring. Last year a documentary called Andrew Bird: Fever Year made its way around film festivals. It captured the final months of Bird’s extremely long 2010 tour in support of his last album Noble Beast and the physical/mental toll it took on him. He had fevers every single day and wound up on crutches due to an on-stage injury. He had worked so hard his body was headed for a full breakdown. It seems fitting then that he took time off in early 2011, settled down in New York, and became a father for the first time. Yet despite his rather massive life changes, his music still comes from the same place. Last fall Bird gathered up his core band of Martin Dosh, Jeremy Ylvisaker and Mike Lewis and returned to the Western Illinois barn where they recorded bits of the last couple long players in preparation for the next one. Break It Yourself is the result, an unflinching yet instantly familiar collection of songs that seeks to impress less with innovation and more with pure songcraft.
Though he’s still working with the same tools and environment as before, Bird tried something a little different when putting together songs for Break It Yourself. Instead of entering his home studio with a bunch of songs that just needed to be set to tape, he instead recorded a series of jam sessions with the band in the hopes something great would emerge. The lack of preparation brought a looseness to much of the album that’s a bit more refreshing than some of the more staid and perfectionist moments on his last couple efforts. Nowhere else will you get such a sprightly and inspired song like “Danse Carribe”, which builds into a blissful African rhythm set against Bird playing his violin with a vigor more reserved for the time the Devil went down to Georgia. There’s something very DeVotchKa-esque about it too, though that may have more to do with Bird’s vocals taking on Nick Urata’s familiar emotional yearn. Almost equally compelling is the shuffle of “Near Death Experience Experience”, the subtle pinpricks of electric guitar causing slight ripples in the track’s otherwise smooth demeanor, like a drop of water falling into a placid lake. A similar punchiness comes through on the bridge to “Give It Away”, which sounds like a slice of an entirely different song before a switch is flipped and it regains its composure in the final 90 seconds. Quick changes like that or protracted intros to songs like “Desperation Breeds” and “Hole in the Ocean Floor” serve well at keeping fans on their toes by breaking with expectation in engaging ways.
Yet there’s also a fair bit of Break It Yourself that stays tried and true to the Andrew Bird way of doing things. The second half of the album feels remarkably familiar, and not necessarily in a good way. St. Vincent makes a positively lovely appearance on “Lusitania”, though it’s a shame she didn’t bring her favorite guitar along for the ride because everything else about the song feels whitewashed and plain. “Orpheo Looks Back” begins with so much promise and energy before running out of steam halfway through. It only fares a little better than “Sifters” and “Fatal Shore”, two languid numbers that have nothing to offer except for their relatively smart lyrical content. If those don’t completely put you to sleep, there’s a singular late album surprise that turns out to be one of the finest pieces of music Bird has ever composed. “Hole in the Ocean Floor” measures itself out across 8+ minutes that may be serene, but are jaw-droppingly beautiful and exquisitely measured. The violins interweave with one another, the ukulele is the gooey center of the track, and that impressive whistle knows just the right moments to make its presence felt. There are barely any vocals, but there’s little need for them given so much is said with the track’s mournful tone anyways. A song like this goes a long way towards making an artistic statement beyond mere convention, and in some ways makes you wish Bird had used the song as a template for the entire album. Instead, it shows up at the end, followed only by the 3 minute instrumental “Belles”, which functions more as time to meditate on the track that came before it rather than something important or essential.
Clocking in at just about an hour, Break It Yourself can feel just a little overlong and downright boring at times. Bird could have cut a couple of songs on the second half of the album and it would have made for a much tighter and brighter experience. Of course when your lyrics are about the decline in bee population (“Desperation Breeds”), death (“Near Death Experience Experience”) and failed relationships (“Give It Away”), even a “brighter” experience may not be as sunny as you’d hoped. Bird has never been the most positive and upbeat songwriter anyways, and has six other solo efforts to prove it. He does continue to grow as a musician and lyricist after all that time, and there’s plenty of evidence on this new record that will grab and hold your attention out of interest for where it will head next. His niche is firmly established and not easily copied which is part of the draw, but it’s his drive to explore those sounds and how they’re used through art and film that makes him the sort of artist you root for even if he comes up short on occasion. Break It Yourself may not be the evolutionary breakthrough Andrew Bird undoubtedly hoped it would be, but its littered with a host of excellent moments and the implied promise that he won’t stop pushing himself so long as we keep listening with eager ears.
Happy New Album Tuesday, in which things arrive on store shelves both physically and digitally for your purchasing pleasure. Here’s a list of artists with new stuff out for your consideration, keeping in mind I give no official endorsement to these albums unless you specifically read a review of it. There’s new records this week from Andrew Bird, Ava Luna, Baby Eagle and the Proud Mothers, Balkan Beat Box, Bowerbirds, Bruce Springsteen, Ceremony, Dinowalrus, Eric Chenaux, Julia Holter, Kaiser Chiefs, Lovedrug, The Magnetic Fields, The Men, Miniature Tigers, Nite Jewel, Now, Now, Nu Sensae, Pond, Said the Whale, Tim Fite, White Rabbits, Xiu Xiu and Yellow Ostrich. There’s a handful of great ones in that bunch, and I’ll tell you about them at a later date. For now, let’s get to the Pick Your Poison business at hand. Today I’ll recommend tracks from Bear in Heaven, The Dandy Warhols, Kid A, The Lonesone Savages, Retribution Gospel Choir, Sandy Bull, Tanlines, THEESatisfaction and Theresa Andersson. There’s a new song from Rufus Wainwright in the Soundcloud section as well, and that’s pretty damn good.
Bear in Heaven – Sinful Nature
The Dandy Warhols – Well They’re Gone
Kaskade ft. Skylar Grey – Room for Happiness (Feature Cuts Remix)
The Lonesome Savages – All Outta Love
Mairi Morrison & Alasdair Roberts – Mile Marbhphaisg air a’ Ghaol
Marthas & Arthurs – Shoot You Down (Stone Roses cover)
Retribution Gospel Choir – The Stone (Revolution!)
THEESatisfaction – Enchantruss
Theresa Andersson – Hold On to Me
SOUNDCLOUD
Bernholz – Austerity Boy (Single Edit)
Lana Del Rey – Blue Jeans (Kris Menace Remix)
Those that have caught onto Bowerbirds in the last few years, whether it was through their 2007 debut album Hymns for a Dark Horse or its 2009 follow-up Upper Air, probably have a pretty good grasp on what the band is all about. The word “rustic” gets thrown around a lot when talking about a band like this, presumably because they’ve got a down home charm that transcends all the way into their lyrics. So you get a lot of acoustic guitars and graceful pianos, maybe some violins and glockenspiel for good measure. Imagine a less inventive version of Fleet Foxes without more muted vocal harmonies, and Bowerbirds is a band that should come to mind. Perhaps it’s better to simply say they’re peers with Iron & Wine and Midlake in their pastoralism. Navigating an urban jungle while listening to their songs never feels quite as good as it does when it soundtracks your trip into the woods or through an open field. That was the case with the band before, and with their third long player The Clearing it’s essentially more of the same. The changes made to their sound are largely cosmetic, with the instruments a little less buzzy and the vocals a little more up-front in the mix. Bowerbirds have also grown a little in their compositional abilities. That’s clear from the opening track “Tuck the Darkness In”, starting with just an acoustic guitar and vibraphone but slowly building and adding more instruments until it explodes in a cacophony of noise for the final 90 seconds. Following that up is “In the Yard”, which invites a whole other collection of instruments into the fold paired next to Beth Tacular’s sweet vocal, also essentially a paradox to Philip Moore’s from the track before. This pair of songs is evidence of growth not because of how far apart they are sonically, but rather how close. They compliment one another to help form a fully functional portrait of the band. It’s a shame that can’t be said of every track on The Clearing, but there are definitely more winners than losers thanks to moments like “Stitch the Hem”, “Hush” and “Sweet Moment”. Most follow the same slow burn beauty pattern established at the very beginning, though it’s consistently fascinating to keep track of the many instrumental layers that are placed atop one another. Sometimes it doesn’t work, as is the case with “This Year” and “Overcome With Light”, both of which are burdened with the curse of being too conventional for their own good. Lyrically speaking the band continues on the path of their prior albums, using nature imagery as metaphors for our personal lives. Great as it all sounds when it comes together, so much of The Clearing feels like a musical safety net. There’s so much beauty in these songs, yet they often feel like things we’ve heard before in their catalogue and the catalogues of similar bands. Bowerbirds may have grown some on this record, but they’ve only moved a foot when a yard was needed.
I hope you had a grand weekend. Welcome to Monday, the stuff of workplace nightmares. To help you prepare for the five day battle, let’s jump right in and talk about today’s Pick Your Poison. Be sure to get your download on for tracks by Amanda Mair, Big Baby Gandhi, Dot Hacker, Mr. Gnome, Diplo’s remix of PO PO, Prevrat, Tortelsen, Tyburn Saints and The Voyeurist. That’s all the effort I can muster up for you on a day like today. We’ll talk more tomorrow.
Big Baby Gandhi – Blue Magic (ft. Das Racist)
Bonfire Nights – Own Worst Enemy
PO PO – Let’s Get Away (Diplo Remix)
Power Brothers – A Friend Amongst the Clouds
Prevrat – With Our Eyes Closed
Talibam! – Step Into the Marina
Tyburn Saints – Broken Bottles
Whitehorse – Killing Time Is Murder
SOUNDCLOUD
Fanfarlo’s 2009 debut album Reservoir was quite a bombastic and enthralling indie pop record that earned them comparisons to early Arcade Fire. The melodies were big and often incorporated violin and horns into their vast soundscape. Singer Simon Balthazar can quite easily channel Zach Condon of Beirut on any given song, so it’s no wonder there were a few mentions of that band as well when making reference points. But no band wants to be pigeonholed, and bearing the status as a second-rate Arcade Fire or Beirut can be a little frustrating. Of course there are worse bands to be compared to. Still, Fanfarlo were conscious of this when putting together their sophmore effort, Rooms Filled With Light. They’ve expanded their sound and instrumental arsenal to work in more synths and samples, among other things. The results are still very indie pop-inspired, but with a heavier 80’s touch. It’s not so impactful you’ll think the band has gone new wave, but a few tracks might bring to mind some great Talking Heads moments. Have a listen to tracks like “Lenslife” and “Feathers” to see if you can hear some of that bleeding through. What’s utterly fascinating about the whole record is that in spite of its broadened influences and instruments, there’s nothing on it that feels retro or dated. The band’s ability to make older elements sound new again goes a long way towards proving they’re more than just a flash in the pan. Still, that pan has so much flash in it, as almost every song on Rooms Filled With Light is extremely well structured to maximize enjoyability and memorability. The band has already technically released 3 singles (or at least 3 music videos) for “Replicate”, “Deconstruction” and “Shiny Things”. Don’t be surprised if additional videos emerge for “Tunguska”, “Tightrope” and “Dig”, as they’re worthy of that sort of attention as well. Delightful as it all is, there are moments like on their debut where the band goes a little too cutesy or twee. They tread into the waters of Noah and the Whale, who are by no means a bad band, just a slightly misguided one. When you’re always looking to that next chorus repetition to hammer that hook home sometimes you forget that the road off the beaten path can sometimes be even more rewarding. For all the satisfaction that comes from broadening your influences, it means less if you play it safe anyways. Fanfarlo have made one of the more addictive records so far in 2012, but it satisfies with all the grace of a summer movie blockbuster. It’s big, loud, brash and will send a little thrill up your spine, just don’t expect to hear it talked about during awards season.
I try to keep things light and fun on Fridays, so I want to point you in the direction of two how new music videos. The first comes from Chairlift for their song “Met Before”. You can watch the video by clicking here. It’s a Choose Your Own Adventure video, which means using your arrow keys at various points will take you in different directions. It’s really cool and I’m kind of addicted to finding out how many different paths I can take. The second video comes from Grimes for the song “Genesis”. Claire Boucher hangs out at places you might not expect her to hang out at – a men’s locker room, a dirtbike race and a football game. The paradox of course is that she wears her headphones and dances around there with a smile on her face. It’s a great video, and you can watch it at my Tumblr. All that cleared up, let’s talk Friday Pick Your Poison. I’ll recommend tracks from Brendan Benson, Child Bite, Chocolate Robots, CSLSX & I Break Horses, PS I Love You and Young Hines.
Canyons – When I See You Again (Duke Dumont Rain on Kilimanjaro Remix)
CSLSX & I Break Horses – Violent Sea
Lina Horner – Back on Your Feet
Modern Time Machines – Rocketship
PS I Love You – Sentimental Dishes
SOUNDCLOUD
The Penelopes – Sally In The Galaxy
Portico Quartet – City of Glass (LV Remix)
As I was very distracted yesterday by Leap Day, I neglected to mention the death of Davy Jones, which was absolutely the music news of the day/week. The Monkees are not a band I love, but I did have a solid amount of respect for what they tried to do. To go from a fictional TV band, in which all your songs and instruments were created for you and then making an honest effort to do it on their own, it takes some guts. Talent, too. No disrespect to Mike Nesmith, but Davy Jones was my favorite of The Monkees, and that’s mostly because I knew a guy in high school named Dave Jones. One of my teachers made good use of it by singing “Daydream Believer” every time he called on him in class. That was really what I thought of when hearing of Davy Jones’ passing. One of my favorite Monkees stories was when Nesmith stopped by Abbey Road studios when The Beatles were recording. Nesmith reportedly asked Lennon “Do you think we’re a cheap imitation of the Beatles, your movies and your records?” to which John Lennon assuredly replied, “I think you’re the greatest comic talent since the Marx Brothers. I’ve never missed one of your programs.” While Jones wasn’t present for that meeting, it was nice for that moment to know that at least one of the Beatles had some sort of respect for those guys. So R.I.P. Davy Jones, you’ll certainly be missed. Onto today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll place my yellow highlighter on tracks from The D.A., Dope Body, England in 1819, Gemma Ray, Gold Beach, Moonlight Bride and Vanbot. In the Soundcloud section you’re not going to want to miss streaming tracks from Bryan Scary, Dent May, Michael Kiwanuka with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, and Sean Bones.
Follow Me – A Mission Nocturnal
SOUNDCLOUD
Black Strobe – Italian Fireflies
Bryan Scary – Ziegfield Station
Michael Kiwanuka & Dan Auerbach – Lasan
After a criminally ignored debut album “Learning” in 2010, Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas) is back with a graceful sophmore effort titled Put Your Back N 2 It. Kitschy and fun as that title may be, the music contained within is anything but. Those familiar with his first record will find many of the same or similar painful topics tackled once again with serene grace and aplomb. Physical and mental abuse, drug addiction and sexual trauma are all parts of Hadreas’ world, as they are parts of so many others’ as well. On “Learning” he fully embraced that darkness, which often made the record difficult to listen to. It was the warmth of his sparse, lo-fi piano arrangements that helped to turn these ugly moments into bearable ones. He’s cleaned up his sound quite a bit, expanded his instrumental palette just a little, and injected a touch of positivity to his lyrics to help make Put Your Back N 2 It feel like a good cry and a warm hug. On “Dark Waters” he comforts a victim of molestation with the quavering words, “I will take the dark part of your heart into my heart.” Hadreas also pushes for strength in sad times on “No Tears” by singing, “I will carry on with grace/Zero tears on my face.” Songs such as “All Waters” and “Hood” deal with love in all its forms, the former a meditation on the acceptance (or in some cases non-acceptance) of homosexuality in our world today. A 16-second promotional video for the album, which featured Hadreas being cradled like a baby in the arms of gay porn star Arpad Miklos, wound up being pulled from YouTube under the controversial excuse that it was promoting mature sexual themes (there was no nudity in the video). That’s more tragic than the song itself. Instrumentally speaking, Hadreas keeps things pretty simple: almost every track is either a piano ballad, a quiet acoustic guitar number, or a murky synth soundscape. Only moments like the title track and “17” dare to incorporate some violins and cello to flesh out arrangements for dramatic effect. So much of the emotion on this record is contained within Hadreas’s vocal performances, which at times quake in the precious style of Antony Hegarty and Stephin Merritt or gently whisper with the heft of “Seven Swans” era Sufjan Stevens. Few people have dared to make an album so brave, honest and topical, and that’s a big reason why Put Your Back N 2 It is such a success. With two excellent albums now under his belt, it appears that Perfume Genius is certainly living up to the second part of his name.
Perfume Genius – Dark Parts
Perfume Genius – All Waters
Perfume Genius – Hood
Happy Leap Day! Happy Hump Day! Happy Lump Day! Yes, today is that magical one day every four years we get an extension to February and get the chance to do whatever we want. Okay, so pretty much everyone probably did what they would normally do on a Wednesday. The world doesn’t stop simply because we have an extra day. I hope you had some fun though and maybe indulged in a little bit of folklore about Leap Day William. For this special edition of Pick Your Poison, there’s a couple extra tracks in there for you to enjoy. I’ll recommend songs from Autumn Owls, Brave Chandeliers, Grave Babies, Royal Headache, The Valery Trails and Variety Lights. In the remix pile be sure to download Diplo’s remix of Katy B as well as Elite Gymnastics’ remix of Korallreven. And hey, there’s a new Regina Spektor song available for streaming in the Soundcloud section! It’s a Leap Day miracle!
Autumn Owls – Acrobatics of a Patchwork Heart
Dale Murray – The Wind Is Trying to Kill Me
Emma Grace – Outlier
Emma Grace – Stuck in the Air
Katy B – Witches Brew (Diplo Remix)
Korallreven – Sa Sa Samoa (Elite Gymnastics Remix)
Ladyhawke – Black, White and Blue (Nile Delta Remix)
My Toys Like Me – Lost (Ink Project Remix)
Shawn Magill – All Fancies Are Motions Within Us
The Valery Trails – On the Perfume River
Variety Lights – Silent Too Long
SOUNDCLOUD
Emergency Bible Study – Birthday Girl
Luise Pop – Fast And Frightening (L7 cover)
One of the first things you’ll hear mentioned in any press about School of Seven Bells surrounding their new album Ghostory is that they’re down a member. After two albums as a trio of Benjamin Curtis (ex-Secret Machines), Alejandra Deheza and Claudia Deheza (ex-On!Air!Library!), Claudia abruptly left the band in the middle of a 2010 tour suporting their last full length Disconnect From Desire. There was no official explanation given for her exit, but it’s very possible that the romantic relationship between Benjamin and Alejandra left Claudia feeling like a third wheel both personally and professionally. Soldiering on without her certainly leaves a twin-sized hole in the band’s sound, as the intertwining vocal harmonies of the two sisters were one of SVIIB’s defining characteristics. As a means of offsetting such changes, the duo uses vocal overdubs and multitracking to keep things stable, even as the overall style of their music continues to evolve as well.
Ghostory is at its core a concept album, though you might be wise to simply take it at face value rather than closely analyze plot and characters. As the album’s title suggests, there are plenty of ghosts floating around in these songs, and they haunt the main character of Lafaye in both a positive and negative way. They aren’t literal ghosts but figurative ones, as our memories of people and places and strong emotional events can stay with us and haunt us for much of our lives. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that many of the songs are thematically dark, about predators and toxic people that we’ve all mistakenly become friends or lovers with at times. Our judgments are not always perfect. “Low Times” feels fitting as the album’s 6.5 minute centerpiece, an insistent and rather bitter track that pushes back against a particularly bad break-up. Similar themes permeate much of the record, though none perhaps moreso than “Scavenger”, where Deheza angrily criticizes her ex with lines like, “I made you feel something because you could feel nothing.” And though it is never officially spelled out for you, a couple tracks are informed or at least partly influenced by Claudia’s departure from the band. Listening to opening track and first single “The Night”, lyrics such as “The light of day gives me no relief/because I see you in everything” and “You have my arms, you have my legs” seem to reference the physical and mental connections that twins share. Press materials for the album mention that Ghostory is as much about Lafaye’s journey as it is the band’s, so of course making such connections are about as obvious as they can get without somebody spelling it out for you.
As much as SVIIB’s journey the last couple years has been about loss, listening to Ghostory you understand it has also been about growth and strengthening perceived weaknesses. Somehow they seem to have gotten better in spite of everything, as the new album is their most cohesive and exploratory to date. Their first two records Alpinisms and Disconnect From Desire took on gothic synth-pop with the sort of vigor reserved for a band like Depeche Mode in their heyday while also drawing accurate references to shoegaze and My Bloody Valentine. There’s still a lot of that on the new album, but they’re also bringing in a heavier electronica influence to make their songs more beat-heavy and dancefloor ready. The choruses and hooks are better than ever too. If you thought SVIIB’s music was ripe for clubs before, don’t be surprised if they recruit some friends and unleash a remix record several months or a year down the road. Tracks like “White Wind” and “Lafaye” are just two standout moments of a handful best experienced in a dark room with a pulsating light show and bodies writhing up against one another. But in case all of that wasn’t enough, Ghostory wraps up with “When You Sing”, an 8.5 minute thrill ride that stands right next to the even longer “Sempiternal-Amaranth” from Alpinisms as a band-defining moment. Whether their songs are 3 minutes or 10, School of Seven Bells are always careful to not let a melody go beyond its expiration date.
2008 was the year School of Seven Bells toured with M83. The two bands shared something of a sonic bond then, and now a few years later they have even more in common. There are moments on Ghostory that would be right at home on M83’s highly acclaimed 2011 double album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, and vice versa. That says something about the evolution of both bands. Heavy reliance on shoegaze textures and hazy vocal performances/lyrics have given way to extremely clean production, up-front and clear vocals, along with a greater openness and warmth to the lyrics than ever before. The fog is gone and we’re now left with the realization there was an even greater band being obscured by it. In spite of all they’ve been through the last couple years, SVIIB are blossoming rather than retreating. They’ve always been meticulous in crafting their songs, but Ghostory is the first time that Benjamin and Alejandra have truly collaborated in the writing and composition of a record – something they used to do separately. The results are right there across 9 beautiful and darkly fun tracks that function best as a defining statement of what this band is all about. Hopefully working their magic and putting out this excellent third record won’t come back to haunt them when they try to settle in and make a fourth.
School of Seven Bells – The Night
School of Seven Bells – Lafaye
Okay, as it is Tuesday, allow me to give you a rundown of some of the new albums being released this week. As usual, keep in mind I’m not recommending all these, but rather simply informing you of their existence on store shelves or at your favorite digital music retailer. That said, you may be interested to hear this week sees fresh full lengths from The Cranberries, Cuff the Duke, Dirty Three, Elliott Brood, Erin Passmore, Eux Autres, Fanfarlo, Geographer, Hunx, the 4 man supergroup of Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Yim Yames, Jim O’Rourke, Memoryhouse, Mind Spiders, Mouse on Mars, Plants and Animals, Prince Rama, School of Seven Bells, Softoft Techech, Sophia Knapp, Stars in Coma, TRUST, and The Wooden Sky. A very healthy and long list there. Now let’s get to the list of mp3s in today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll affix gold stars to tracks from Cultfever, Death Grips, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Hollis Brown, Radiation City, and White Woods. In the Soundcloud section please be sure to stream songs from Craft Spells, Django Django and Peelander-Z.
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat – When I’m In A Car (ft. Randy Randall of No Age)
Hollis Brown – Spoonful
Hollis Brown – Gypsy Black Cat
Radiation City – Find It of Use
Silver Medallion – The Young and the Reckless
Summer Camp – Losing My Mind (Dawn Golden & Rosy Cross Remix)
White Woods – Where Did You Go?
SOUNDCLOUD
Craft Spells – Still Left With Me
I realize that many of you visit this site for the mp3s. It’s the reality of the world we’re living in these days. But did you know there’s more, genuine content on this site? Like, I write album reviews and show reviews and do the occasional artist interview? Believe it, friends. Anyways, I’ve made mention of it already in a non-Pick Your Poison post, but wanted to bring it up again for those nosediving straight to this page, that I’ve started a new little thing called Snapshot Review. Unlike the very in-depth analysis of albums I’ve been doing a couple times a week since the site began, the Snapshot Review is a much quicker and broader take on an album. I’ll still be doing the longer reviews like normal, but the Snapshot Reviews will enable me to generate more overall writing pieces without sacrificing too much more of my time. Believe it or not, my days are pretty packed, which is why I manage this site the best I can. Okay, that business is done, let’s get to the mp3s. Today I’ll advise you to give a fair shake to tracks from Coast Jumper, Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands, Flosstradamus, Hunx, Work Drugs and Yellow Ostrich. Oh, and Cuff the Duke’s John Lennon cover isn’t half bad either. In the Soundcloud section you may want to stream the song from New Multitudes, which is the supergroup of Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Yim Yames. They worked together on this tribute album to Woody Guthrie that will be out tomorrow.
All Will Be Quiet – Wide Eyes and Space Flights
Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands – Drowned Out
Cuff the Duke – Instant Karma (John Lennon cover)
Rags and Ribbons – Even Matter
Tigercats – Full Moon Reggae Party
Vato Gonzalez and Aldair Silva – Digital Lies (Birdee Remix)
Yellow Ostrich – The Shakedown
SOUNDCLOUD
Eyes On Film – Something Wicked (This Way Comes)
I Am the Avalanche – Brooklyn Dodgers
Mike Delinquent Project – Evacuate (Instrumental)
