(I’m really digging your ten song selection!)
I’m adding Ormonde’s album from late last year, Cartographer/Explorer. Ormonde is made up of Anna-Lynn Williams, ex- of Trespassers William and Robert Gomez a talented singer/songwriter in the mold of John Grant/Mark Kozelek’s miserablism.
Wow wow wow. That Gavin Clark. Just got to that this morning and was blown away. What a strong month. (One song into Frontier Ruckus and it also sounds really promising!)
The Gavin Clark album is really something- I also enjoyed the curated selection of Father John Misty songs. Great use of a forgotten rule in the initial post there- I think everyone’s more than happy if you want to post a couple of EPs or a small selection of songs from an artist if the album you want isn’t there.
Part-way into Frontier Ruckus and it’s growing on me. I wasn’t sure initially but I’m definitely enjoying it now.
Playlist: cleared.
Samba Toure: chosen.
Gauntlet: lain.
I’m not sure I’ve ever used this playlist to add a brand new album before, but I’m adding last week’s new Go Team album “The Scene Between” which is kind of blowing me away. They haven’t really crossed my consciousness since 2004’s admittedly awesome album Thunder Lightning Strike, though I gather they’ve put out other material in the last 10 years.
But honestly, is there anything better than 60’s psych, sunshine pop and breakbeats all mixed up together? I can answer for you: No, there isn’t.
Love the Go! Team addition. Someone played me a track from this over the weekend and I was thunderstruck. And you’re right about the mix of inputs here. Utterly winning.
OK. You knew I was bound to do it at some point…I’m adding the latest (it came out March 17) reissue in Omnivore’s deluxe reissuing of Game Theory records. I passed on the first two, but not this. It’s the album Real Nighttime, and it originally came out in 1984 or so. In my mind, it’s Scott Miller/Game Theory’s Rubber Soul, and it’ll be followed by his Revolver and Sgt. Pepper in quick order.
This is a Game Theory lineup that was disintegrating even as this record was being recorded. Joe Becker had to bow out to take up as the drummer for Thin White Rope and left. Nancy Becker–his sister and the keyboardist/backing vocalist here–left the band fairly acrimoniously. I don’t know what the exact circumstances were, but they weren’t good, I gather since apparently the song on the next Game Theory album, “Erica’s Word”, is about her. Guessing she was more than a bandmate.
In any event, it’s also the first real serious flowering of Scott Miller as a songwriter extraordinaire. Songs like “24” and “She’ll Be A Verb” are obvious, easy winners. But give a listen to “If And When It Falls Apart”, and realize that Scott Miller is singing everyone’s first year after college theme song: “Because I once thought ahead longer than when the rent was due.” Indeed.
Maybe my two favorite songs are the epic “Friend Of The Family”, which is almost proggy, and goes on for 5 minutes of gorgeously imagistic lyric work. (I mean: “Don’t give me phobias walking the cable/We’ll go when we’re willing and try when we’re able/I wish these cards on no one’s table”) for one of the best kiss-offs Miller ever wrote in the end, when he sings about a sunset so beautiful “I’ll capture your soul…AND SHOOT IT FULL OF HOLES”.
And then there’s maybe one of the most perfect songs the guy ever wrote, and one of the most perfect pop songs of the 1980s, “I Turned Her Away”. When Miller killed himself two years ago, this song felt like one of the clues he left behind about what darkness and sadness and longing lurked within, disguised by a beautiful melody (and contrapuntal harmony by the Three O’Clock’s Michael Quercio). His description of the beautiful, too airy for him girl is perfect: “Wide-eyed West Coast magic on her side…” But the real sadness is in the end when he turns her away, and reveals to the listener that she’ll get over him way easier than he ever possible could or would: “Restless from LA to Amsterdam, somewhere she’s forgetting who I am.”
It’s also got plenty of goodies on it. I left the live tracks off, but “Girl With A Guitar” is a song that Miller and Quercio wrote that appears on the third Three O’Clock album, but here he takes the vocal. “Any Other Hand” is kinda too haunting to listen to, given circumstances. “Faithless” is one of the few non-Scott Miller tracks, a song by bandmate Fred Juhos that actually kinda works and fits.
Great picks so far!
I’m adding the new solo album from Gaz Coombes (of Supergrass) called Matador. It’s got a low-key, contemplative vibe with skittering rhythms and subtle electronics under the surface. Really engaging to the point where I haven’t wanted to listen to anything but this for the last few days. One of the best of the year for sure.
Favorite track so far: Detroit
Oh, sweet. Just saw that MOJO put this in their best of the first half of 2015 and meant to give it a heavy listen.
That’s where I found it too, along with about 8 other albums I need to try.
Sometimes I post an old favorite, sometimes something new that I’m excited about and sometimes something that I want to spend more time with myself. This month it’s one of those latter cases. This is the new, self-titled album from Viet Cong. The first time I listened to it, I had it on in the background at work and wasn’t really thinking about it 'til the last two tracks which kind of blew me away. So now I’m coming back around for another listen and liking what I hear.
That new Go! Team album is just nailing the springtime mood for me, both at home and especially in the car. So good.
The new Viet Cong is also excellent. Still haven’t found time to spend with the other bitch albums of the month. And given how much Chris loves Game Theory, I really want to give that one a proper try.
I went ahead and cleared the playlist for April. Copy here: https://open.spotify.com/user/firestation_towers/playlist/3A0jDAyzvgAYK7TxX4pTIV
For May, I’m adding a recent album from an old favorite, Wolfhounds. It’s getting a lot of good press and praise from all over, which doesn’t often happen when bands in middle age come back. Very happy to see it 'cause it’s an excellent effort…it sounds very much like the eighties underground. A bunch of dudes with guitars bashing out some tunes.
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Perfect! Thank you charmtrap, I may have forgotten, and for remembering to keep the April playlist.
I’ve added, and I know this is horrible and cliched, the latest Sufjan Stevens album to the playlist. It’s a bit closer to his religious album, Seven Swans, but it’s far more bitter.
Actually, does everyone remember the song Casimir Pulaski Day from Illinois? It’s like an album of those songs, far more varied and intricate and delicate, but with the same quiet devastation wrought throughout. There are some wonderful moments throughout so I hope you all find something to enjoy.
Just you and me, then, charmtrap.
At least so far.
Actually, I have no right to be at all funny here, do I? Apologies guys.
Please add some music.
Please?
New Leisure Society added!
Woohoo!
I’m tardy because I’m still trying to decide what to add.
Meanwhile, I’ve been playing a ton of Bloodborne while listening to these three newly-released experimental/ambient/electronic works which make for some creepily effective background music:
Spotify on PS4 may be a bit clunky and stripped-down but it’s still just about the greatest thing ever.
I’ve also been trying to decide what to post this month but Summer has finally arrived in New England and with it, a new Best Coast album.
Sorry I’ve been gone - life’s been silly the last few months. I don’t have anything to add just yet, but I do want to perform a public service announcement for anyone in the greater Philadelphia area - Superchunk is opening for the Replacements on saturday night. Yes, that was the sound of my head exploding, all the way from Austin. I’m somewhat seriously considering spending about $700 to get to that show…
Really digging Akkord! Thanks for the tips!