This video itself is a masterpiece but also the song is powerful. Brent Knopf  better known from indie rock band Menomena stands behind Ramona Falls. The record Intuit (2009) hosted 35 other musicians.  Impressive.

Que vous soyez, ou pas, au fait du petit monde de la musique indé, le nom de Brian Knopf ne vous dit certainement pas grand chose. Vous avez par contre certainement entendu parler de Menomena (si vous lisez ces pages c’est forcément le cas), ce trio de Portland auteur il y à 2 ans de l’excellent “Friend and Foe“. En attendant un successeur, Knopf a décidé de voler de ses propres ailes sous l’appelation Ramona Falls, du nom des chutes d’eau auprès desquelles il aimait à se ballader étant enfant. Si l’on peut considérer “Intuit” comme un album solo, il faut tout de même souligner que pas moins de 35 musiciens et amis (dont certains de Dear Reader, The Helio Sequence, 31 Knots…) ont participé à l’enregistrement de l’album.

Vous le savez, la critique musicale aime classer les artistes et leurs albums dans des registres mais pour une fois on va vous épargner les formules toute faites car le propre de Ramona Falls (et de Menomena) est justement de faire de la musique inclassable. Qui dit inclassable ne dit pas forcément barré, psyché ou intello. “Intuit” est un album tout ce qu’il y a de plus abordable, à l’image du magnifique The Darkest Day sur lequel les chœurs féminins font merveille. Il est intéressant d’ailleurs de constater que les morceaux les plus accessibles, les moins « Menomenesques », se trouvent à la fin de l’album (The Darkest Day ; Bellyfulla ; Diamond Shovel).

Auparavant, de Melectric à Always Right, Brent Knopf nous propose peu ou prou la même recette qu’avec le trio de Portland, en plus mélodique et accessible que Menomena cependant. Le piano reste au centre des compositions (I Say Fever ; Melectric) mais les guitares ne sont pas en reste à l’image de Clover ; Going Once, Going Twice ou du superbe Russia avec ses cordes et sa ligne de basse groovy. Salt Sack et Always Right sont certainement les titres les plus perchés du lot, le premier avec ses cuivres psychés et le second avec son piano qui virevolte. La suite, vous la connaissez, une fin toute en douceur qui ponctue un superbe album que l’on a beaucoup de mal à délaisser après 2 ou 3 écoutes.

Loin d’être un pis-aller au troisième album de Menomena, “Intuit” est une franche réussite pour Brian Knopf qui, mine de rien, vient de placer la barre très haut pour la suite de sa carrière solo ou au sein du trio de Portland. On suivra tout ça avec encore plus d’attention.

Cette chronique a été écrite pour Indiepoprock. D’autres avis sur cet album chez  La Quenelle Culturelle et Discordance.

Ramona Falls on Myspace.

Ramona Falls – I Say Fever [MP3]

The Most Serene Republic with “Heavens to Purgatory.”  I’ve recently became a fan of MSR.  They’re able to keep their pop sensibilities and male/female vocals sounding fresh without getting to bubble gum pop like some of the other acts on Arts & Crafts. 

The other video is from Romona Falls with “I Say Fever.”  I picked up their record Intuit right when it came out and this is one of my favorite songs off the record.

Per Barsuk Records:

“I Say Fever” – the first video from the Ramona Falls debut album Intuit. Directed by the ridiculously talented Stefan Nadelman, winner of a 2003 Sundance prize for his 22 minute film ‘Terminal Bar’, a prolific animator in the commericial field and the mastermind behind the Menomena Evil Bee video.

Ramona Falls is Brent Knopf’s first solo venture, but he has an extensive musical resume as part of trio Menomena (an indie rock band from Portland, OR, that’s snagged plaudits from such tastemakers as Pitchfork Media and the New York Times.)

Directed and Animated by Stefan Nadelman
Produced by Tourist Pictures
www.touristpictures.com

Insidieusement, le premier album de Ramona Falls est en train de gagner des places dans mon classement virtuel des albums de l’année. Il faut dire que pour l’instant, malgré de jolies découvertes, quelques confirmations et pas mal de déceptions, l’année 2009 tarde à livrer le ou les albums incontournables, de ceux que l’on écoutera avec ferveur dans 10 ans. Il se pourrait donc bien que Brent Knopf s’invite au banquet dans moins de 2 mois, ce ne serait que justice en tout cas pour celui qui vient de signer avec “Intuit” un superbe premier album dont on parle bien trop peu (j’y reviendrais dans une chronique dédiée). Membre à part entière du trio Menomena, Brent Knopf s’est autorisé une petite incartade depuis Portland afin d’enregistrer les 11 titres de “Intuit” en compagnie d’une ribambelle de musiciens et amis dont les Sud-Africains de Dear Reader dont il est le producteur. En échange ces derniers assurent le backing band de Ramona Falls sur la tournée européenne conjointe des 2 groupes. Parmi les nombreux petits bijoux inclassables qui garnissent cet album, I Say Fever est un des plus addictifs. Il profite en plus d’une des plus belles vidéos d’animation vues cette année.

Ramona Falls on Myspace.

Sometimes, I could just hit myself in the nuts, that is, if I had nuts. We had Ramona Falls at the radio station since weeks and because it was inbetween shitty bands, I didn’t really pay attention but alas! It’s Brent Knopf, my favourite Menomena voice and apparently the man behind the haunting piano tunes. His solo stuff is a bit softer but just as Menomena so much more interesting than 99% of the present music scene AND it is beautiful beyond comparison. It’s actually quite sickening how talented Danny, Brent and Justin are, together and solo. Brent worked with dozens of people on this project which got its name from a waterfall of Brent’s childhood memories. Because there are so many people involved, I won’t name them, Wikipedia and probably the album cover will take care of that. Let me just say that I am in awe of Mr Knopf and his musical ideas and that I already cherish every single note of Ramona Falls. This is the kind of music that is so good that you actually feel as if you’ve just fallen in love when you listen to it. His album “Intuit” is out, so get it because it won’t get better than this.

Here’s some stuff with him and his Digital Loop Recorder making it look as if what you see and hear is totally easy and not awesomly brilliant

And here’s the first single “I Say Fever” (I get excited even thinking about it)

Here is a poorly written BEST OF of my favourite songs used in Horror movies, plus one that is not used in any horror movie but is just awesome and kinda fits the theme.

Ode to the 80s – Gerald McMahon – Cry Little Sister

Because The Lost Boys is the best Vampire Movie for teens and Twilight sucks pumpkins in comparison.

(I did the big mistake to fall into the great Sisters of Mercy mix-up that circulates around the internet, of course, it’s the multitalented Mr McMahon who performed this song for “The Lost Boys”)

Artie Shaw – Jeepers Creepers

I love the first 60 minutes of the movie. However, when you see the “monster” it goes downhill from then (it’s the good old “let’s completely overdo it”-mistake) and please,
never ever watch “Jeepers Creepers 2″, I died because I wasn’t drunk enough to laugh off the bad acting and the horrible script.

Muse – Newborn

If you haven’t watched “High Tension”, I dare you to, it’s so well acted and horrific that it is already a classic of the French cinema.
Also, I always thought that many Muse songs are perfect for depicting a mental breakdown.

PS: If you haven’t seen the movie but want to, rather wait with this music video as it may contain spoilers

Grandaddy – A.M. 180

Not only are they used for the intro of Charlie Brooker’s Screenburn (and we all know how brilliant Mr Brooker is), no, they made “28 days later” even more edgy. Apart from that, you all should have their albums at home because they rule.

The Andrew Sisters & Glenn Miller – Mr Sandman

To be quite honest, the first Halloween movie is creepy but I hate the ending because somehow, it doesn’t really have an ending. It’s as if the editor had enough of it and quit before assembling the last 5 minutes. However, the soundtrack is one of the best horror movie soundtracks ever made.

This is the one without the movie, but it’s about ghosts and stuff, you know…

Menomena – Ghostship

I can’t praise this band enough, they are inventive, weird and manage to really make you think about their music. I take it as a compliment that my superior once told me off for putting “The Pelican” into the day-playlist of our radio station because he thought it was too disturbing and weird for the common radio listener. Well, they breed emotions, whether you like them or not, which essentially is the main goal of music, isn’t it?

I think there was a time when if a band-member had a side-project it was unusual. I might be imagining that, but either way its no longer the case, as there seems to be more musicians with a side-project than without these days. Singers have side projects. Guitarists have side projects. Drummers have side projects. Even bassists have side projects! There are so many side projects that it can be difficult to keep up, and I have to say that Ramona Falls, offshoot of Menomena’s Brent Knopf,  passed me by completely at first. It’s a  poor excuse. Menomena are a great band, and there’s absolutely no reason that Ramona Falls couldn’t have written the fantastic debut album that Intuit clearly is, but it’s easy to get bogged down by the volume of (insert indie band) spin offs that crop up on a seemingly regular basis.

Anyway, all that aside, Knopf, and the gang of musician friends that helped  to create Ramona Falls, have released a video to accompany Intuit standout track, I Say Fever. Directed and animated by Stefan Nadelman, it’s a bit of a belter too. In fact, alongside the previously blogged about Raekwon effort, it’s probably the best video I’ve seen this year. I’m a sucker for well made animation as it is, but when it’s as haunting and freakishly brilliant as this I get completely swept off my feet. Check out the video in all its glory below;

Another brilliantly crafted video from Menomena’s Brent Knopf’s side project, Ramona Falls!
check out YATM’s previous post on this artist/album here

myspace

Bon bon, arrivée de nulle part, personne ne s’attendait à voir surgir ce groupe post-punk/pop du sud de Londres. Arrivée dans ce monde où tout le monde veulent remplir leur son d’instrument synthétique ou de million de bruits provenant de centaines d’instruments (en cherchant à être le plus innovateur possible), The xx arrive avec leur pop froide et vide mais tout aussi innovateur a nous offrir un album profond et foutrement bien foutu (Désolé pour l’expression). Plusieurs les considèrent comme les Kubrick de la musique.

En Effet, il nous tranporte dans un monde de suspense qui nous met mal à l’aise à la première écoute mais, qui, à force de découvrir les petits détails de cet opus, nous apparaît beaucoup plus familier et finit par nous envouter complètement.Tout flotte sur cette album, des voix qui nous transperce de pureté, des guitares qui laissent nous submergé de son, un vrai environnement monochrome.

The xx nous offre ce fabuleux premier album, sans prétention et sans frou frou. Titre à surveillez: Crystalized, Shelter et Infinity. Un dernier mot, TROUBLANT.

(8,2/10)

Killer video for a killer song from a killer record. I scoured Wellington last Christmas to find Friend and Foe to scratch the itch this track and a couple of others had set off in my head… well worth the effort.

Me included, of course. I’m as strange as it gets. But in particular, what I’m talking about is what goes into making up a human. We’re different from those around us based on our actions and choices (and our physical mumbo-jumbo), but I wonder what causes us to make those decisions. What makes us decide to go right at a fork in the road, what makes us say those awkward things to those we interact with, and what makes us decide that those things we hear are awkward in the first place? Ah, lot’s of deep-meta thinking here, with no real answers in sight. Ah, it’s a Monday. Bleh. 8′oclock classes.
I know personally, a lot of the guidance in choices I make from day to day comes from the music I listen to. The lyrics, the crescendos in volume, the loopy choruses that fill a lot of the music I listen to, and the nice raspy harmonies that compliment the main singing quite nicely; all of that reflects how I act on a day to day basis. Sure, it’s not the only thing, of course. A lot of my actions also stem from copying what I deem to be “successful” traits I find in another person or influence, or from nature (the best teacher there is!). By listening to what I call “good” music, I tend to have a better outlook on life, as opposed to when I listen to “angry” music or music with unsettling lyrics, which usually puts me in a darker mood. Perhaps I’m more susceptible to the subtler influences of music, and perhaps that’s because I listen to so gosh darn much of it, but I have this deep feeling that everyone is affected by what music they listen to. We all tend to listen to our favorite music a lot, thus memorizing the lyrics and usually the tone by which the artist sings it. We get a nice feel for what emotion the artist is trying to create, and then we absorb that feeling and let it color what we see in our everday waking lives. Our favorite music becomes our personal gospel temporarily, what with our habit towards memorizing and chanting lyrics and taking the lessons we’ve learned from the music. Perhaps we just listen to music that reflects how we feel a lot of the time, but I like to think that it works the other way around and that music listens to us. But then that would probably mean we’re in Mother Russia or something, cause, as we all know, everything happens backwards there.
So, listen to this music, absorb it’s wholesome goodness and let the playlist play you.

To download files, click the song title with your middle mouse button to go to the MP3 hosting site, then follow directions to download. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezie. If for some odd reason, you don’t have a middle mouse button and you find yourself quite perplexed, just right click the song titles and click the option that says “Open Link in New Tab/Window”. Also, welcome to the internet.

Animal Collective- Chores
Devandra Banhart- Baby
Crystal Castles- Knights
Bloc Party- One More Chance
Dr. Dog- The Old Days
Passion Pit- I’ve Got Your Number
Menomena- Running
Kings Of Convience- Boat Behind
Iron & Wine- Naked As We Come
High Places- The Storm
Animal Collective- Winter’s Love
The Beatles- Mother Nature’s Son

Happy Fun Time Monday Bonus MP3!!!

Here’s the covers for Alchemy 08 & 09 mix CDs I made:

The latter, titled “We’re All in This Mess Together*, is fairly self-explanatory,

Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

The one from this year:

Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

There is nothing I do not love about this picture.

The back covers are from my old friend CrimeThinc:

Beyond the life you live, you have no “true” self—you are precisely what you do and think and feel. To create a community in which each of us can live life to the fullest, we must make it possible for all of us to pursue our dreams and be free and creative. Otherwise we’re cheating ourselves of each other’s potential, as well as our own. We must make our freedom by cutting holes in the fabric of this reality, by forging new realities which will, in turn, fashion us. Putting yourself in new situations constantly is the only way to ensure that you make your decisions unencumbered by the inertia of habit, custom, law, or prejudice — and it is up to you to create these situations.

 Freedom only exists in the moment of revolution.

(radical self-expression)

For the lover speaks a different moral and emotional language than the typical bourgeois man does. The average bourgeois man has no overwhelming, smoldering desires. Sadly, all he knows is the silent despair that comes of spending his life pursuing goals set for him by his family, his educators, his employers, his nation, and his culture, without ever being able to even consider what needs and wants he might have of his own. Without the burning fire of desire to guide him, he has no criteria upon which to choose what is right and wrong for himself. Consequently he is forced to adopt some dogma or doctrine to direct him through his life. There are a wide variety of moralities to choose from in the marketplace of ideas, but which morality a man buys into is immaterial so long as he chooses one because he is at a loss otherwise as to what he should do with himself and his life. How many men and women, having never realized that they had the option to choose their own destinies, wander through life in a dull haze thinking and acting in accordance with the laws that have been taught to them, merely because they no longer have any other idea of what to do? But the lover needs no prefabricated principles to direct her; her desires identify what is right and wrong for her, for her heart guides her through life. She sees beauty and meaning in the world, because her desires paint the world in these colors. She has no need for dogmas, for moral systems, for commandments and imperatives, for she knows what to do without instructions.

(Decommodifaction)

I hadn’t intentionally set out to do a series of 10, it just fell out that way, and I like it.

Alchemy 2008: “Decommodify…or perish” setlist:

“We find we can do without immense quantities of goods…”

Placebo – protect me from what I want

Camper Van Beethoven – When I win the lottery

Bow Wow Wow – W.O.R.K.

 - _

World Inferno Friendship Society – Tattoos Fade

L7 – American Society

The Partisans – Blind Ambition

Fischerspooner – Sick of TV

the Dresden Dolls – War Pigs

Circle Jerks – Live Fast, Die Young

Ryan Adams – To Be Young…

Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers – Affection

Gary Wilson – 6.4 = Makeout

Lords of Acid – Heaven is an Orgasm

“…we attempt tonight to present you with a picture of the era…drawn by those who revolt against some of the aspects of the hidden revolution.”

Mad Happy – Renegade Geeks

Menomena – Rotten Hell

I’ll try to work on this year’s playlist tonight .

*

Alchemy 2009: “Shlock and Awww…” setlist:

“Do you ever get the feeling that everything in America is completely fucked up?”

Black Box Recorder: Child Psychology

-

Les Sans Culottes – Allô Allô

the Damned – Jet Boy Jet Girl

Rasputina – Howard Hughes

Frank Harris – Masculine Women & Feminine Men

Suburban Lawns – Janitor

Rene Bloch – Raunchy

How Long Are You Staying – Bill Joy

the Dresden Dolls – Shores of California

Army of Lovers* –

Esthero – If tha mood

KOMPRESSOR

Noel Coward – What’s going to happen to the tots?

the Tiger Lillies – Gin

Quintron – Swamp Buggy Bad Ass

Gene Marshall: Green Fingernails

vic manteloy – dial-up lottery blues

Panic! at the Disco – Nine  in the afternoon

*I loved this song and video in high school. Looking for that link sent me on a lovely little tour of nostalgia. Looking up eurotrash videos from my youth is a standard drunk and bored youtube exercise.

I still listen to their two hits:

and torture people with this one:

Can I just TELL you how much I wanted that blue hair? I sing this one:

I honestly, leading worship music on youth group mission trips to Africa and applying to Bible colleges, didn’t know what “gay” was, or “club kids,” or anything except I loved that garter belt, and shiny fabrics, and fast music and bright hair.

Det var ett fasligt spring i korridoren imorse, diverse erövringar som hade hamnat i fel rum och applåderer för de som hittade rätt på morgonkvisten. Givetvis skyller jag på förfesten här igår om jag inte klarar tentan, det var ett fasligt spring då med.

Det gick sådär ändå, kändes helt okej när jag gick från gimo. Känns inte lika okej nu när jag läste igenom pluggsammanfattningen.

Men! Helg och ledigt nu! Black Note Club på ÖG ikväll?

Annars är det mycket Menomena och dagens tips

Wednesdays sometimes require a certain kind of disciple and dedication. It’s the farthest day you can be from the weekend, and I know that as soon as I wake up, that fact stares me straight in the face. Realizing that I have the option, if I really wanted to, to just stay in bed and sleep for ever and ever, I am almost defeated. It doesn’t help that I have a mattress pad that feels like a cloud filled with pure happiness, or that my comforter knows exactly just what temperature I’m most comfortable in, or that my pillow is one of those memory foam ones that conforms to the shapes of my head. It sure as hell doesn’t help that I didn’t get to sleep till four in the morning and my time of waking was supposed to be just three hours later. At that point, I allow myself the luxury that is Americanized sleep for just five more minutes (okay, maybe another hour…), but I don’t really sleep. I use this time to try my best to remember my dreams, to give myself a little guidance in the upcoming unknown day, and I use that time to reflect on all of the wonderful places and things I did in the day that came before this horrid Wednesday morning. I remember the friends I met, the souls I warmed, the ideas I encouraged, the lovers I made, the music I created, and the time I spent. None of this happened to anyone else on the Earth on that day; all of that happened because I made  conscious decisions that no one else could make, and because of that, I really enjoyed my day. Now, I get to thinking- what makes this day, Wednesday, any different from any other day? Is there anything really different about today then yesterday? Sure it may be a bit colder, sure it may be a different named day according to us silly humans, but all in all, it’s a day that holds just as much possibility as the one that came before it. It’s up to us to do something, take advantage of that fact that we are alive yet another day, and do what we think is good. And with this knowledge, and this playlist, I got up today, ready to spin some more destiny to more unsuspecting souls.

I’m up for the challenge- are you guys?
PS: First new vampire weekend track is in! Check it!

HumpDay Playlist:

1) Animal Collective- Taste
2) Grizzly Bear- Two Weeks
3) Led Zeppelin- Tangerine
4) Modest Mouse- Gravity Rides Everything
5) Menomena- Wet And Rustling
6) Volcano Choir- Island, IS
7) Blitzen Trapper- Wild Mountain Nation
8 ) Deerhunter- Game of Diamonds
9) Vampire Weekend- White Sky
10) Edward Sharp & The Magnetic Zeros- Home
11) Animal Collective- For Reverend Green
12) Animal Collective- Fireworks

One of my co-workers, who used to run marketing for a few different record labels, recently took me to see Ramona Falls at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle.

I was pretty psyched for the offer for a few reasons. I hadn’t really had an opportunity to catch much live music, yet, since I’d moved to Seattle. Also, the Crocodile Cafe is one of those well-known venues that I’d always wanted to get to.

In fact, my friend Eric had used my mini-disc recorder to capture Robyn Hitchcock solo a few years back and the sound was phenomenal.

The only problem was that I hadn’t heard of Ramona Falls, so he lent me the disc.

Ramona Falls is the solo project of Brent Knopf, who’s best known for his work with Menomena, a band out of Portland.

It only took one listen to see this record didn’t sound much like anything else I’d heard of late. I was intrigued, and excited to see the show.

If you have a chance to see them, it’s an absolute must. And I certainly recommend  picking up the album – Intuit.

While listening to them, I was thinking about how people in Madison seem to think that they have some great music scene comparable to Austin. But I’ve never seen a show like this in Madison… OR Milwaukee, for that matter. Not from a local band.

Wisconsin seemed to serve up that same driving guitar punk-ish sound. Otherwise, it was a lot of semi-serious alternative bands with the requisite guitar, bass and over-enthusiastic drummer.

Ramona Falls has a real sound all to itself. The instrumentation is very layered, and the mix is such that you can hear all of it. It’s at once sparse, but full and powerful. Brent uses a semi-distortion on his vocals at just the right moments.

Check out this live clip of my current favorite song by them – “I Say Fever.” It’s very dynamic – both creepy and powerful. And if you can, pick up the disc. You’ll be glad you did.

And here’s “Bellyfulla,” my second favorite song on the album…

Alright, I have stumbled upon something amazing. Ramona Falls is probably one of the best composed music project I have heard of late. It abandons all electronic sounds and turns to the natural grace that is strings and vocals. If you love Menomena as much as I do, you will love Ramona Falls. RF is the pianist/guitarist/vocalist Brent Knopf’s project who wrote Menomena hits such as “Evil Bee” and “Wet and Rusting”. You can only imagine what his album, Intuit, sounds like. Enjoy this single and please download the album, you owe it to yourself.

Ramona Falls – Russia

Ramona Falls comes from a childhood memory. Apparently, as a younger man, Brent Knopf (the mastermind behind the project and one third of Menomena) used to take hikes to the majestic falls found in Northern Oregon to which the project’s namesake alludes.

Like the dutiful blogger I am, I google imaged that crap and I do not kid when I say it was a sight to behold. When you look at the falls themselves, you immediately understand  why they may have been a source of inspiration for Mr. Knopf. The water falls from the tiered rocks in glittering, translucent white sheets like some sort of angelic curtain, and bright green moss clings to outcroppings of slick black stones. It’s one of those places where you see the picture and you think to yourself, “My God. That cannot be real. Places that beautiful just don’t exist.”

But I guess it has to be real, I mean Brent remembered it… But in general, childhood memories are funny things. I don’t know if it’s just me, but when I try to remember my formative years I’m always struck by the surreality of understanding yourself separate from your current identity. Everything always seems so much brighter and more colorful and amazing, the composites of fragmented recall and stories told by your family. On some level you understand the existence of your memory, but at the same time you can’t help but be struck by the abstract, intangible qualities that charaterize them.

And then amidst all of this, comes Ramona Falls, more immediate than a memory, but still colored with warm nostalgia. The first single off of Ramona Fall’s debut album “Intuit”, Russia, is the epitome of this sound. It starts off rather subdued, with Brent’s ethereal and calming vocals accompanied only by soft acoustic guitar. With the first invocation of the almost chant like chorus of “she said, too little too late” there is a burst synthetic strings, as if the music itself is exhaling before the exertion of the following arrangement. The song builds to mellifluous climax before concluding almost exactly as it began, gently and unobtrotrusively.

I love this song because it creates immediate atmosphere, as if somehow you’ve fallen into an amazing dream or memory of exploration of the east; of Siberia and Komodo Dragons. You’re struck by the nostalgia and beauty of it, and when it’s over you want to experience it again.

This track is, in my humble opinion, the most well produced song I’ve heard all year. The musical arrangements work perfectly with the vocals to create a stunning soundscape the likes of which has not been rivaled yet. Please, download this, turn off the lights and let the beauty of it wash over you. This is one memory you won’t want to forget, I promise.

Russia – Ramona Falls

Ramona Falls

adica Menomena+cativa artisti foarte tari=Ramona Falls

Ramona Falls – Melectricity

I began thinking about this a bit ago when I created the playlist that I spoke of a few posts ago. There is a lot of music that my interest in has been highly influenced by others. Not just in the Susie Q gave me this album and I really liked it so she influenced my music taste. No, I’m talking about something a little bit different, more along the lines of how music and memory are so wonderfully interconnected. There is something in that relationship that can make or break a song/album/artist no matter how much I should like or dislike an album (and don’t try and tell me that there are albums that you know that you should like that you cannot stand and vise versa).
Take for example Arcade Fire. Due to the fact that I seem to live in a cocoon, I had never heard of these folks until their second album was released. My coworkers played that album, the fabulous Neon Bible, over and over in every single room of the building for about two weeks. Like it or not, I wanted nothing to do with Arcade Fire for the next year and a half. At some point I was finally able to really give the album a listen, away from the praise of everybody around me and I discovered that I really liked the album and Arcade Fire.
This process, however, can work in reverse as well. In college a roommate brought home a copy of Menomena’s I Am the Fun Blame Monster. It was love at first listen. My roommates and I wore the hell out of the borrowed CD until it was too scratched to use as a coaster. For almost any mood, I knew that I could turn to that wonderful album and it would take care of me. Then I brought a copy to work. One coworker liked it and started to play it on occasion. Then a couple more began to play it. Next thing I knew I was listening to it every single day. And I was listening to folks sing, hum, and drum along. They ruined my album, it wasn’t something I savored but something I despised. So I stopped listening to it for almost two and a half years. It was so bad that I wanted nothing to do with the band and put of purchasing or even listening to the second album (the amazing Friend or Foe that I have written of in the past) until it was almost a year old. Now I can listen to it again, but it has been a long journey back and I fell that much has been lost in our once intimate relationship.

Now there is a third type of way that other have influenced the music I listen to, but I think I’ll hold off on sharing it for a while. It is a little bit harder to talk about for a host of reasons. But fear not, I will share.

Ramona Falls is a local Portland natural landmark to which comes the band name of Menomena’s Brent Knopf as it was his favorite childhood hiking spot. His first album, Intuit, features over 35 performers including members of fellow Portlanders The Helio Sequence, Mirah, Loch Lomond, and many others. Obviously the touring lineup is much simpler and consists of Knopf along with Menomena bandmate Danny Seim, Paul Alcott, and Matt Sheehy (The Menders).

Tracks

1. Melectric
2. I Say Fever
3. Clover
4. Russia
5. Going Once, Going Twice
6. Salt Sack
7. Boy Ant
8. Always Right
9. The Darkest Day
10. Bellyfulla
11. Diamond Shovel

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With all of the collaboration, solo experimentation and side projects in indie rock these days, it’s hard to know how to approach the music scene’s outer fringe. When I was a kid, “going solo” meant imminent doom for any artist and the band he or she broke away from (actually, I think the women did alright, I mean, Natalie Merchant had a good run), but, nowadays, the bands don’t necessarily break up. In fact, sometimes, the bands never even existed in the first place, and we are dragged through the fractured artistic psyche of guys like Phil Elverum and Justin Vernon. Check out a slice of Vernon’s new project right here.

Every member of Portland’s Menomena has a side project now, thanks to the upcoming release of intuit Ramona Falls. Here’s the review:

Brent Knopf has found a delightfully mellow musicianship, far away from the quirky, hybrid-pop, computer-generated tunes he’s crafted as a member of Menomena, in his first solo project, Ramona Falls, and the debut album, intuit, which is a result of collaboration with thirty-five friends in the Portland and New York scenes. Complex blends of instrumentation and vocals create an expansive atmosphere of sound in which almost anything can happen. [Read on at Kevchino.com]

Perhaps there aren’t any videos from this album up on YouTube, but here’s a great one from Menomena. Remember that time you and all your friends with really cool hair started that awesome food fight that no teachers tried to stop, and the whole thing ended in an extremely timely allegory about the futility of war? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Everyone at my school was too fat to throw their food.

Check out my other Music Reviews here.

Happy trails.