Archive for the ‘2006’ Category

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Silversun Pickups- Carnavas

September 21, 2007

silversun-pickups.jpg

Silversun Pickups
Carnavas
July 26th 2006
Dangerbird Records

This Silver Lake district LA band has the rare luxury of thriving betwixt and between. They have originality, yet they remind me of some great bands. I’ve read many reviews and can’t imagine why most hear a similarity between Silversun and Smashing Pumpkins. No disrespect toward Billy intended, but I just don’t hear it. Perhaps they share a feedback note here or there, but only a note. They have much more in common with fellow up-and-comers Airiel out of Chicago. Mr. Aubert’s vocals seem much more akin to Jeremy Enigk and Elliot vocalist Chris Higdon. They produce such familiar music, leading me to point out their sound-a-likes, yet I won’t attempt to pigeon hole them into any category or faddish type. My Bloody Valentine is clearly an ancestor to Silversun Pickups‘ noise, while Sunny Day Real Estate shares their pop impulses and guitar supplications.

It is not an album that I obsess over or repeat every moment of my free time, but I must say this band has a gut, such a visceral vocal force that it deserves a salute of some sort. Lazy Eye and Melatonin lay it out for us. I’ll put this record on my play list for many gatherings. It whets my nostalgia for dark exploration coupled with beautiful and melodic rhythms. I don’t know if I’d rave to a friend about this record, but I’d make sure they knew I had listened to it once or twice.

If you have an interest in an up beat Sunny Day, without any real comparison, or an infatuation with Elliot’s Song in the Air, than I’d expect you’d enjoy this display. It takes a lot of creativity to achieve this level of layered intensity and noise conglomeration, but to imbue it with the pop sensibilities of Silversun Pickups requires a sober understanding of the musical soundscape from which a clean execution can be drawn. More than that, it takes the confidence that your wall of noise is worth listening to. This one most certainly is.

6/9

http://www.silversunpickups.com
http://www.myspace.com/silversunpickups

Related Sounds
My Bloody Valentine
Sunny Day Real Estate
Airiel
Elliot
(All as if 1991 wanted its day in court)

Other Records
Pikul EP 2005

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Posted in 2006, 6 Points, Airiel, Bands, California, Chicago, Dangerbird Records, Elliot, Indie, Jeremy Enigk, Los Angeles, Music, Music Review, My Bloody Valentine, Silversun Pickups, Smashing Pumpkins, Sunny Day Real Estate | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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Crush The Clown- Extra Sensitive

September 12, 2007

JerickNickGreg

Crush The Clown
Crush the Clown Box Set
Extra Sensitive: super thin for more feeling
Disc 1 Potato Pop EP/BMG Demo
Disc 2 Self Titled
Disc 3 So We’re Going to Hell
Disc 4 Sick Love- Songs of Heartache and Despair
November 27th, 2006
Unsigned

The Renfields
Misconceptual Art Rock
2005
Unsigned

As this blog descends upon a quiet Midwest town in the heart of America, the clouds part barley revealing the stop lights changing colors on the streets of 14th and O, green, yellow, red and then red to green. Around the corner an establishment of some repute, both blessed and otherwise, collects $3 as cover charge for the musicians about to take stage. Tall-boys of Old Style are cracked and foam slides down pint glasses griped by the hippest of bar flies. This bar, or tavern as it is called, is home to a banquette of barely known bands. Featured this night is a musical troop quite twisted and psychedelic. This band has played this stage since its infancy. An orgiastic love child of The Beatles, The Who, The Sex Pistols, Pavement, and David Bowie circa 1971, Crush the Clown knows how to write a good pop tune. Songs whose accessibility shuttles somewhere between Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or Eleanor Rigby and Cracked Actor or The Bewlay Brothers. More than simply a stylistic revival, Crush The Clown has made psychedelia relevant again.

The band, comprised of Nick Westra, Jerick Olivetti, and Greg Joyce, has been a local favorite of the Lincoln music scene for nearly a decade. Their production is the very definition of independent, most of the music having been recorded and mixed by the band themselves. Live performances reveal Crush The Clown at their purest and best. Here in Brooklyn, I often tell myself, if only these people could hear Crush The Clown. Tracks such as Neverbuzz, Her Lovely Brainwaves, and Sunshine define for me their incredible talent. They rock their audiences while singing melodious ballads about forest creatures and the emotional ineptitude of blood suckers. If there has ever been a band that needed a right time or a right place, it is Crush The Clown. For those of you who’d like to take a listen, visit their Myspace page. I believe they only have a single song posted, which I hope will someday change. They have a wealth of recorded material to offer up. Given in a purple Durex 24 pack, these records are a true testament to what talent, creativity, and patience can accumulate.

Nick Westra, Crush The Clown’s singer and guitarist, is very active in the Midwest music scene. Not only has he recorded bands in his basement laboratory, he has produced his own records. One such record is titled Misconceptual Art Rock under the name The Renfields, for which he played nearly all the primary instruments. The songs are brilliant orchestrations and stand apart from Crush The Clown in style and aesthetics. This record was very ambitious. I can’t say enough about the creative force invested in Misconceptual Art Rock. With The Renfields, it seems as if instead of band members, Westra’s different manic and depressed personalities feed off one another. I hope that this creative interplay continues to be productive. It is with an exercised relationship with the imaginary and a deep sense of romanticism that both projects succeed.

As a final note, Nick Westra is also the bassist for the well known Chicago rock outfit Head of Femur who are set to release an EP in October followed by a full length next year.

8/9

http://www.myspace.com/crushtheclown

Related Sounds
David Bowie
The Beatles
Pavement

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Posted in 2005, 2006, 8 Points, Bands, Box Set, Chicago, Crush The Clown, Duffy's Tavern, Head Of Femur, Indie, Lincoln, Music, Music Review, Nebraska, Nick Westra, Psychedelia, The Renfields, Unsigned | Leave a Comment »

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Eagle Seagull- Eagle Seagull

September 7, 2007

eagle-seagull.jpg

Eagle Seagull
Eagle Seagull
October 3rd, 2006- Lado
2005- Paper Garden Records

Marquis de Sade would have liked Eagle Seagull. I say this quite afraid that readers will believe that I am implying that Eagle Seagull’s music is lecherous, debauchery laden, sexually perverse, and morally deviant. Well…what can I say? Until now most of the “buzz” concerning Eagle Seagull’s self titled debut mainly deals with…the “buzz” around Eagle Seagull’s self titled debut. Much that has been written speaks of the dark yet poetic mood of the record or the epic vocals of Eli Mardock. Interviews often feature questions asking the band how they feel about comparisons to Clap Your Hands and Arcade Fire. Indeed, Eagle Seagull might be more aptly compared to The Cure, Pulp, or the dim and ethereal Blonde Redhead, but what does this really say about the band? Eagle Seagull will have a long time to define who they are as subsequent albums say more about their longevity and integrity, but their first one was quite a start.

The lyrical mood of Eagle Seagull is not simply dark. It is sinister, morose, morbid, and irreverent. I’ve listened to this record over a hundred times and I still think to myself, “Did he just say that?” The poetics of Lock And Key describe hearts “filled with doom,” and phrases like, “Won’t you just crucify me. Just kiss me and deny me. Drink my blood and eat my body. Come on babe just deify me.” from Hello Never demonstrate the noir themes pervasive in every tune. Holy sings the mantra that we’d all love to believe, that we are holy, that we are all angels. But hidden in short breaths and beautiful bells, Eli says, “You make me want to be a saint…who kills people.” Some tracks aren’t so reclusive in their violence. Your Beauty Is A Knife I Turn On My Throat has simply one of the loveliest choruses of all time. “Your beauty it is a knife…” This record is stunning in its romance with regret. Eagle Seagull’s debut contains love songs written from the recesses of the mind, narrating the human heart at its worst, while detailing its obsessive desire to be new again. This album is a rare feat. It is beautiful.

Also pervasive throughout Eagle Seagull’s basement ballads are deep and visceral melodies. They are heavy, contemplative and gorgeous, pulling the lyrical message out of the gothic darkness. Not since Boys For Pele have such delicate and desperate words been so easy to identify with. It is possible to treat these tunes as if they were buzz worthy pop songs only because the lyrics are matted within such a pleasing context. The guitars imbue the songs with subsurface tension, while the percussions abandon the post-punk model, seeking to add to the musicality rather than operate as a metronome. The intimacy felt in the songs reveal thoughts that we don’t and won’t admit we think. I greatly admire this band.

Eagle Seagull has two shows in New York City. In Brooklyn they’ll be down at Union Hall on Wednesday September 12th. On Friday September 14th they’ll grace the stage of The Mercury Lounge. I’ll be at both shows. I encourage all to attend. The last time my fiancée Hillary and I saw Eagle Seagull was at The Memories Bar in Chicago. As I recall, they followed a series of hard-core acts that blurted trite pleas to “Fuck the Government.” It was a little bizarre to see them play after a toothless 75 year old punk, bobbing up and down with his middle finger flopping around. Aside from Memories, I have not seen them perform away from their home turf. I wish them the best of luck in NYC and I hope that they get all the attention they deserve. Their upcoming record The Year Of The How-To Book, due out early next year, promises to be as phenomenal as their debut. I am not sure that there will be as much tenderness or vulnerability expressed, but I am sure it will not disappoint.

Read Review of NYC Shows Here

8/9

http://www.eagleseagull.com
http://www.myspace.com/eagleseagull
http://www.papergardenrecords.com

Related Sounds
Pulp
The Cure
Blonde Redhead
Wilco

Show Alert:
Union Hall- Wednesday September 12th, 2007
The Mercury Lounge- Friday September 14th, 2007

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Posted in 2005, 2006, 8 Points, Bands, Brooklyn, Duffy's Tavern, Eagle Seagull, Indie, Lado, Lincoln, Manhattan, Marquis de Sade, Music, Music Review, Nebraska, Paper Garden Records, Show Alert, The Mercury Lounge, Union Hall | 1 Comment »

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