3/25/12

Apparently Look Mexico is into hunting, subject matter suitable for the video to their first track of their 2010 release, which is in my daily rotation. Illuminating the everyman, he who hangs with friends and kisses hounds, it makes the band seem pretty fun. But I think there's more to say for this song than the video says, though.

There's fed-up anger here, and it speaks to me in time signatures.

"When you live out your time/In hope of impossibility/We stripped down lies/We treated you like family/Credit where credit is due/Now the bureau is looking for me/So as you thank us for our patience/Expect something else, not a thing/and I thank you/I'll thank for/Thank you for absolutely nothing"
~You Stay. I Go. No Following
Look Mexico, To Bed, To Battle

Literary worlds are inflamed wtih income inequality tales, academic journals are quick to point out problems and debate each other's solutions. Everyone's talking. But where's the music on this? It's there in a pop track or two, an occasional reference to money or fame ("I Wanna be a Billioniare," that damn song) or escape (think Coldplay's "Paradise"). Fleet Foxes did a pretty good job capturing the feeling of it all on "Helplessness Blues," but commentarywise, the album speaks to the individual far more so than the whole of the culture or its direction.

One of the constant drawbacks of pop culture is it's always trying to define itself into what it wants to be, rather than be what it is. Underground, you find the antidote. Underground, you can call the spade a spade. But I've yet to come across a force inspired recent events in recent years, unless I'm forgetting somebody.

Essentially, where is my Guerilla Radio about derivatives?

3/24/12

You should really read this article from The Quietus by Taylor Parkes about Abbey Road studios. It's based of a talk from two historians, addressing the changes between recording of the 60s, and the recording of now, and how much gets lost on a laptop....



I love hearing "the room," in a recording, I love a rich sould full of natural unevenness, undiluted by too many mics, or too much equilibrium. I love sounds made louder and fuller from more instruments, not a knob. I read this story, and I want to be in a studio; I want to see it and learn it and feel it again.

To sum up:

“And Studio Two has something that modern recording studios can't offer,” adds Kevin. “Because in the early days the technology wasn't sophisticated enough to alter or enhance the sound after the fact, so you had to make sure the source material was as good as it could be. So they laboured over making the rooms as sonically pleasing as they could be, and that room is unique – everything sounds good in it.”

As for the article, it's a wonderful story, clear-eyed and detailed. Here's what The Beatles did, here's what Floyd did, here's how the engineers worked. Turns out, the studio wasn't top-of-the-line at its heyday, a style that aided, if not defined, its favor among artists. You're transported right there, in front of the four-track recorders and ordinary wall cupboards and gawky Britishisms highlighting the way. The story is deeply inspired, the way it should be, the way so many stories aren't.



I remember when I felt I could write about people and places and things that way. It's been some time. I start to fear, have I lost it? The ability altogether? Or just the inspiration? Last night, I considered this, while talking to old friends -- "At least then I'd have something to fucking write about again" -- I was half-joking, but in that way where the truth pulls the shades up from your eyes in an instant and all you see is what you've been missing.

"Once there was a way
To get back homeward
Once there was a way
To get back
Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby"
~Golden Slumbers
The Beatles, Abbey Road

3/18/12

Oh everything will really be just fine, won't it? It's kind of like a joke, the stomach-sinking pitfalls of petty socialization that plauge the mind for a day or two before you realize, oh, wait, this is a familiar place. It's dangerous territory, that familiarity that can comfort a frightened heart, but disappoint the eager mind.

On the one hand, you can find your footing when you know it's the same old, same old, day in, day out - on the other hand, what the hell do you have to lose by daring to live different?



"and she dealt with it
cause she could't ignore
the better world they left before"
~Time For You To Go Do Your Own Thing
Look Mexico, To Bed To Battle

This is some band, this Look Mexico, they are kind of groovy in a post-emo, pre-hardcore way, like Minus the Bear but a little spacier/angier. Fueled by punk sensibilities. I know I am a bit late on their discovery, but strumbling across their YouTube videos a couple days ago proves a pleasing discovery.

I am focusing my mind on a soft-volume rendition from the built-in speakers on my work computer, hoping that a little bit of something new but familiar enough will assure me that yes, settled isn't so bad sometimes. I am hoping this day goes by fast. I am hoping for other things, too.

3/13/12

So, Lovedrug released "Wild Blood" last week. There's little chance I will do this album justice, should I attempt to write a review. Maybe because I already love it so much, because it's warm outside and "Wild Blood" sounds so damn good blasted loud with the windows down and true connections with records can be so hard to find.

I love this album, and I love this band. With an ambitious sound and a live show to die for, Lovedrug has long stood out among indie bands as a group with true mastery of their craft. The type of band you could call on to write any type of song, and they'd give it to you - a theory proven in a cover album released this past winter in the run-up to the full-length release.

"Wild Blood" has just enough of a point to prove, just enough swagger propelling the sentiment.

"we'll fight the hipster hell/we'll soak it all in gasoline/got matches/we are a fire/we're cryin' out/honestly/this wild blood will set us all free/we're crying out/do you follow me/this wild blood/will set us all free" ~Wild Blood

Unafraid of tradition in an age where indie music too often relies on ones-and-zeroes, "Wild Blood" counters with a full-fledged offensive of chromatic and delayed guitar parts, heavy hooks and locked-down rhythms, singing the songs in the hearts of the tired and worn and willing to fight. It's a rallying cry for the wrecked looking for more. Though they may waltz down the road of nostalgia at times, a fervent desperation to get out, get up and get on makes for a fearless onward trek of life and love.

"sure shot/you were always my sure shot/kicking up dirt in the wrong bars/hey good lookin'/you are bad news following bad news/drunk and beautiful born to lose/and if you're wanting the truth honey/i'm falling harder and harder for you" -Pink Champagne

Words full of passion and fire glint like steel held in defense against the shadows of aging. Lovedrug doesn't shy from embracing the darker side, letting it creep into low-end driving, occasional piano chords and hazy synth tones.

Slower moments unveil heartfelt sentiment, the type of honesty often cast aside in favor of mysterious, unearned gravitas and armchair pontificating in today's lyrical catalog.

"you crawl in the fire when you're feeling down/when you feel it hurting/these ghosts have been a chasing you so/if you could violently swim to the opposite shoes/i'd be there reaching out so/i'll be your drug if you need it, i'll be the one that'll chase you so hard/i'll be the one your drug if you need it so" ~Anodyne

The album hits a steady groove with the yearning, pace-jumping "Ladders" followed by "Great Divide," with an undeniably stadium-sized bridge. Here, on this album, we have a Lovedrug that embraces the hook like never before and it is Satisfying, although they were already pretty good at it before.

"nothing good comes easy/nothing good is free" ~Great Divide

Well-toned, well-polished and luminescent, "Wild Blood" shines under what is easily the best production from Lovedrug (which is incredibly fascinating and wonderful, to me, given "Wild Blood" was funded by fans through PledgeMusic when previous releases were label-supported). Backing vocals are sprinkled carefully, with a hint of choir harmony, and barely-there auxiliary tones fill the space between.

Well, at least I can say I tried. In any case, they're on and long, windy tour and they're coming to Rochester. April 11 can't come fast enough.

3/6/12

There is new Lovedrug, and it is beautiful. It is real, and sad and hopeful, and made for live performance.

It is Wild Blood.

Here's a softer cut:


Words that come to mind: Realized. Focused. Satisfying. Heartfelt. Heartbreaking. Joining. Sentimental. Nostalgic.

This is the album for wondering if where you've been will follow where you go.

I have much to say about this record - the songs themselves, and the band's approach - but I am getting picked up for drinks. Meanwhile, the title track chorus will be running through my head.

Meanwhile, I will be running 'round the world.

April 11 will be a show in Rochester, at the Bug Jar, which is small and grungy and dirty and freeing. I hope I will be here to see it. I hope I leave shortly after, resolving to run, propelled by momentum of knowing there's much more in this world than me and these corners.