For those of you looking for incredibly loud walls of melodious majestic sound with which to deafen yourselves The Sunshine Factory has confected a sugary short-list of songs. The band offers the Sugar EP at a name your price bargain on their website thesunshinefactory.bandcamp.com. The music is highly orchestrated power shoegaze replete with pedaled ambiance and seraphim vocals. They hail from Mobile, Alabama and will be driving northward in March to play Trash Bar, a local Williamsburg bar in Brooklyn. Trash Bar is located South of Metropolitan of Grand between Roebling and Driggs, and conveniently across the street from my apartment and my favorite restaurant, so I really have no reason to miss this one. Of course these guys have a heavy dose of My Bloody Valentine influence, and they’d do well to seek out the likes of Chicago’s Airiel, that is if they are still making music-I need to check in with them, or local NES shoegaze outfit Depreciation Guild. Here is a taste…
The millions of worthless demos circulating the interweb are deafening. It is not often I come across a singer songwriter whose demos make it to the 3 1/2 minute marker on my mp3 player. This morning I found Galapaghost, aka Casey Chandler, in my inbox and completely agree that he is worth a listen. So here he is….with music ranging from a rural Americana milkshake to the diffuse and excruciatingly tender tunes that are played in the minds of New York’s daydreaming romantics. Chandler is is unpolished, but he has a natural talent that will get him as far as he lets himself to go. He seems to have began his work on somewhat of a mainstream trajectory, but much of his work is pushing the melodies and song structures outside of the expected and outside of the mundane.
Good video for the season…although as I am sure everyone would agree, the whole concept of a band playing in a field, with the camera circling around is a bit played out. The cynics like me can’t help but think about how much they’re faking…I mean they are being filmed pretending to sing and play their instruments. It’s kinda weird….contrived…But the band is good and it’s seasonal so it plays on Foxtrott. I like the pumpkins…nice touch…
Here we have a great recording of a show that took place back in March. I was fortunate enough to get to see Cursive on their spring tour and it was beyond expectation. These guys have only gotten better with age. Mama, I’m Swollen is a masterpiece. Check out my show review Tim and Damien are a Spectrum.
On Sunday, October 27th I went to see a show that I have been anticipating for a very very long time. Sunny Day Real Estate is reunited and touring prompting well a founded rumor that they will record new material. I can confirm that they played a new song during the set that Jeremy Enigk said they wrote together for the tour. Now this is the full band folks. What It Feels Like to Be Something On and Rising Tide were recorded without Nate Mendel. They have not really functioned like this together in 14 years. The band was soulful and beautiful; energetic and monolithic in stature.
These guys are true heroes to some, including me, and they did not let their admirers down. I truly wish my good friend and musical partner Mike could have been there. This band was so influential on the music we made together. I wish that my little brother, Josh, who missed out on 2003′s Fire Theft show because the bouncer kicked him out for puking. Seeing Sunny Day with him would have made my conscience feel a little better for loading him up on dirty martinis and then ditching him…on his 21st birthday. I saw this band not simply as a reunion of great musicians, but as a collapsing of time. On Sunday, I stood in Terminal 5 with my wife, but also with my friends from home, my brother, and everyone else in my life who has ever been inspired by this excruciatingly unique and gracious band. It was perfection.
Now I am going to steal an idea from another online site called Prefixmag.com. I have no problem stealing from the blog because of their awful fucking writing as evidenced by this quote:
“The band performed “Seven” from its classic eponymous debut, Diary, which is now 15 years old.”
So this is a double knock on the online magazine. I steal from them, and then I say don’t use the word eponymous when you don’t know what it means. If the band’s name was Diary or the song was named Diary, then the debut would be eponymous. Prefix, stick to 15 cent words or less. If you want to hire someone to review music you have my email.
Sunny Day Real Estate, Seven on Jimmy Fallon 2009
Sunny Day Real Estate, Seven on The Jon Stewart Show 1994
Go to Brooklyn Vegan for an amazing collection of photos and live footage like this:
1. Friday
2. Seven
3. Shadows
4. Song About An Angel
5. Grendel
6. Guitars & Video Games
7. Iscarabaid
8. Theo B
9. New Song
10. 47
11. J’Nuh
12. Sometimes
Encore:
13. In Circles
14. Spade And Parade
15. 48
Music As Sunny Day Real Estate
Diary- 1994
LP2- 1995
How It Feels to Be Something On- 1998
Rising Tide- 2000
As The Fire Theft
The Fire Theft- 2003
As Jeremy Enigk
Return of the Frog Queen- 1996
The End Sessions- 1996
World Waits- 2006
The Missing Link- 2007
OK Bear- 2009
Tour
09/30/09 7:00 Washington, DC 930 Club
10/01/09 7:00 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
10/03/09 9:00 Atlanta, GA Center Stage Theater
10/05/09 7:00 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
10/06/09 7:00 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
10/07/09 8:00 Austin, TX La Zona Rosa
10/09/09 7:00 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theatre
10/10/09 7:00 Anaheim, CA House of Blues
10/11/09 8:00 Hollywood, CA Music Box
10/13/09 8:00 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
10/15/09 8:30 Spokane, WA The Knitting Factory
10/16/09 8:00 Seattle, WA The Paramount Theater
02/20/10 Brisbane, Australia
02/21/10 Sydney, Australia
02/26/10 Melbourne, Australia
02/27/10 Adelaide, Australia
03/01/10 Perth, Australia
A review of Hollands first EP Faces simply does not require the verbiage of the common critique. If that’s what you want visit their web-site. Granted, a review drenched in metaphor and simile has its purpose—to convey a description of an artistic aesthetic that cannot be truly experienced without an encounter, a close approximation by deference to a literary and poetic image. My first thoughts on Hollands are uncomplicated and antique in their creativity. I believe that by deferring the experience of Hollands’ music to memories of our bucolic summer evenings, and self reflective and still mornings we are missing an opportunity to tell it like it is. Save the gobbledygook; save the bullshit.
Hollands is a wide ranging band that draws heavily from early 70’s classic rock and country. The band has the pop sensibility of Rick Springfield, the poeticism of The National, and the sincerity of Wilco. The band is simply excellent. John-Paul Norpoth plays guitar and sings, sometimes with the awesome discipline of CSN&Y, and sometimes with the raucous croon of Uncle Sticky. In this respect they’d get on exceedingly well with the likes of the Whiskey Go Gos. The energy is strong and the music well written. Though Faces is a mere 5 songs long, it covers a lot of ground. Hollands release their 2nd EP this fall. Having begun from such a sturdy, straightforward debut, Hollands is destined for good things, great times, and increased attention.
Tour
Sat Sep 12 2009 – 6:00 PM Boulder Coffee Company – B…Rochester, NY
Sat Sep 12 2009 – 8:00 PM Lovin’ Cup Rochester, NY Age
Fri Sep 25 2009 – 9:00 PM Nines Ithaca, NY
Sat Sep 26 2009 – 8:00 PM Lovin’ Cup Rochester, NY
Tue Oct 13 2009 – 8:00 PM Mother EP Drop Drop! New York, NY
My first instinct would be to say screw AOL’s spinner.com. But they are distributing Darla Farmer’s live Mercury Lounge album for free, so suppose I can’t disrespect them too much. The show is a product of a collaboration between the band, Magic Hat Brewing Company, and vancar.tv. Below is some video of the show and a link to download the music.
“The burlesque attitude of Darla Farmer is delicious. The bright eccentricities sound as if they were lifted out of a carnival sideshow. Rather than overcompensating for the inherent problems that come with recording horn sections, the loose and live feel of the horns was captured and exploited very tastefully. Too often these types of recordings come off sounding like metronomed midi files, but the dirt is left on and the atmosphere is kept thick.”
Upcoming Tour Dates
9/11 – Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom (Rabbit Release Party)
10/1 – Montreal, QB @ Syndrome (Paper Garden Records music & art party)
11/14 – New York, NY @ 3rd Ward (Paper Garden Records presents: Multiverse Playground)
Russel Fong has an introspective conversation with one of the neighborhood’s most vocal residents. For those of you who don’t know who this guy is, hang out on North 7th and Bedford to catch an earful. Thanks to TJ Broockerd for pointing this thing out.
