transplanting life is never that simple. you can try to sever everything, blindfold it all up and drive it in circles ’till it loses directions, but somehow things manage to leave a breadcrumb trail. I said goodbye to jersey on saturday morning and fall asleep to Jay Z oscillating in different tones from cars speeding up and passing by my window at 1 am. But some things, like I said, stay the same. Right now there’s too much change for new music.

Monday, The first day I walked from the subway to my job, I put on a Mountain Goats song. It’s one of the few times I’ve done so since the absolutely painful Mountain Goats concert at my alma matter this past spring, where John Darnielle spent most of the show chastising the audience and trying to turn us against each other. I loved and deeply respected The Mountain Goats prior to the show, and was in the truest sense of the word, giddy with excitement about the concert. It was a letdown by the person you least suspect, and it hurt, and so I swore off the Mountain Goats for a while. But I was walking to work, and for some reason, I thought to myself, this is a Mountain Goats moment. And so I put on “Ethiopians.” The song is pretty typical for the ‘Goats, incisive, detailed verses, and a big, chant along chorus. only the chorus to this song is THE GOOD THINGS NEVER LAST. THE BAD THINGS NEVER DIE. It’s not that those are an especially weird Mountain Goats lyric or sentiment, but that the last thing I did before I started a new job, one where I’m going to be trying to turn around the lives of youth who for one reason or another, fell into a pretty nasty trap they’re now stuck it, was put on about the most pessimistic, hopeless song I could have.

“Ethiopians” is a Mountain Goats B-Side, available free on their Daytrotter sessions page.

Tuesday, the second time I walked from the subway to my job, I played Mice Parade, whose self titled album I’ve written about pretty extensively in the past on this site. It’s one of the albums I listen to most often, as I think it is one of the most beautiful albums I own, like putting together puzzle pieces which fit, but whose images don’t seem to line up with one another. The songs themselves and the album as a whole may or may not function as a coherent unit (more on that in a sec.) but the individual elements are beautiful enough that they cary everything. The songs that are most accessible are, obviously, the poppier, more upbeat ones, the one’s with bandleader Adam Peirce’s comforting monotone vocals, but I’ve been stopping myself from just skipping over to them, and instead listening to the album as a whole. And, for an album which in the past I’ve loved principally for musical reasons, I discovered some pretty interesting lyrical themes running through.

The album itself is concerned with storytelling and memory. You can see it in “Satchelaise,” which begins a simple fairytale that, but ultimately spirals out of it’s tightly wound as the details of the story change. It’s there in the evocatively titled “Tales of Las Negras” where two minutes of wintry, steam pipe atmosphere and dueling vocals from Peirce and Laetitia Sadier from Stereolab lead to pierce forlorn questioning; “And if the myths have gone away, will the stories ever stay?” It’s a line that might at first seem obvious, but I think it’s getting at an important distinction and a sad truth about both individual and collective memory. When something loses it’s mythlike status, the first mixtape from your second girlfriend discovered in a dresser drawer 5 years after the fact, will it even stay with you that much longer or will it simply fade. It’s there in the most immediate song on the album, “The Last Ten Homes” which has a unique plot of its own (I won’t give it away, just listen and see), but struggles when it’s actor “looks around, hoping to tell/his whole story beginning to end,” and finds that noone wants to hear. I would assume if I could understand what the lead singer of Mum was saying on “Double Dolphins on the Nickel,” that that would be about storytelling as well The ideas of these songs; of lost stories, or stories that have lost their luster, or stories we think we know, but we know them wrong, are just as compelling to me at this point as the beautiful music. You get two “difficult tracks” and one of the accessible ones. Listen to all three then go buy the album.

“Tales of Las Negras” “Double Dolphins on the Nickel” and “The Last Ten Homes” are from Mice Parade’s 2007 Self Titled album.

The band’s myspace say’s they’ve got a new album in the works which should be out early next year. That’s something to look forward to.

And hey Weakerthans fans (weakerfans?), here’s something to help stoke the anticipation for John’s soon to be released series of solo EPs; a really, really early version of Fallow’s “Letter of Resignation” complete with a poem crammed right in near the end.

Azul

1) Sufjan Stevens – Come on! Feel the Illinoise; 2) Moacir Santos – Coisa Nº 5; 3) Velvet Underground – What Goes On

Sam

1) Priestbird – Season of the Sun; 2) Badly Drawn Boy – Holy Grail; 3) Brendan Benson – Metarie

Filipe

1) Mice Parade – Satchelaise; 2) Mice Parade – Tales of Las Negras; 3) Air – Space Maker

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

Download:

Mice Parade (2007)

Bem-Vinda Vontade (2005)

Obrigado Saudade (2004)

Mokoondi (2001)

Ramda (1999)

The True Meaning of Boodleybaye (1998)

Web: Myspace Page

For this post I want to focus on a couple of very talented musicians who choose to walk away from promising music careers and as a result their music sunk into obscurity up until the last few years.  

It Hurts Me Too by Karen Dalton – In 2004 Bob Dylan wrote that Karen was his favorite singer when he first came to Greenwhich Village – in fact they even performed together a few times in those early days of the folk movement along with underrated folky Fred Neil.  Karen recorded two albums in the late 60s/early 70s before dropping out of the music scene all together.   Most music historians argue about what exactly became of her after she dropped out.  It seems the popular belief now is she split time between a desolate cabin in Colorado and staying with old friends in upstate New York.  She died in 1993 from complications of AIDS after spending 8 years living with the disease while fighting drug and alcohol problems.  Fun Fact (in an otherwise dreary post) – Karen’s mother was full Cherokee Indian.   

Tonight by Sibyelle Baier - the story goes German born Sibyelle recorded a handful of tunes in the early 70s when she was both a musician and actress.  She decided not to pursue those early careers and instead moved to America and concentrated on raising a family.  30 years later her son Robby compiled a CD to give as gifts to family after finding the original recordings his Mom had made.  One of those CDs ended up in the hands of J Mascis who in turn passed it on to some of his record label friends at Orange Twin who turned the CD into an official release.  Sibyelle is said to be working on a new album now.  

Diamond Day by Vashti Bunyan – In the mid 60s Vashti was discovered by Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham and released her first single – a Jagger/Richards tune- to little fan fare.  She then started writing her first album while on a commune with folk singer Donovan.  She finally released that album in 1970 but the album never found it’s audience and a frustrated Vashti retreated to live a rural life raising her 3 children and tending to animals.  In that time, her album had become a bit of a collectors item completely outside of her knowing it.  In 2000 the album was re-released and Vashti became a bit of an influence on the newer indie folk movement with Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Animal Collective, and members of Mice Parade working with her.  She now tours and is recording new material again.  

We’re totally screwed guys. According to KATU.com, this icicle was found on a local roof.

OLD MAN WINTER IS UNLEASHING HIS WRATH, YA’LL! He’s even cocky enough to look us in the eye while he does it. What a jerk. The result? This is the scene outside of the Air War compound.

Since none of us could get to work today. We spent the day with Tashi doing a bit of this:

Tip of the day: A Fender twin running through a 4×10 bass cab makes a pretty rad bass amp, especially if you get the tubes really cooking.

(b*t)

Alright, I’ve been trying to write this post for the last half hour and I just don’t know what I want to say. I thought I had a theme to write about to tie these two songs together, but fuck it, this is my blog, and I just DONT.

I didn’t mean to yell at you, guys, but I just bought this new sack of ganj, and its like the best weed I’ve ever smoked. It’s making it impossible to get anything done, including this post.

So I guess thats the common thread, because I’ve been smoking weed all day, and I’ve been enjoying these songs all day. So if thats the sort of thing you like to do, well click and listen. And if not, well, try it out anyway cuz theyre solid fucking tracks.

Múm – Marmalade Fires

Múm is the first band from Iceland I heard of after listening to Sigur Ros for years, and they make a good case for the overall music adeptness of the entire nordic island. They’ve got several albums under their belt, and I don’t think the smooth, slightly experimental indietronica is going to stop from these guys anytime soon. This release is my favorite track off of the Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy album, and you might also recognize their track “Oh, Mojave” off the recent Microsoft commercials they got play on. Go show your love at http://www.myspace.com/mumtheband.

Mice Parade – Waterslide

I couldn’t decide for a while which track to post off of Mice Parades album Bem-Vinda Vontade, mostly because its an album hard to divide by tracks; one great, sweeping movement of post rock. I think this sufficiently explains what is so great about this band in a succint 5 minutes and 15 seconds.

Jeff Martin
Spoons: A Collection of Remixes, Collaborations & Interpretations
May 23rd 2008 (Eire)
June 2008 (US & Eur)
Casino Gravity Records

Jeff Martin- Shuttlecock (Minotaur Shock Remix)

Update- Spoons: A Collection of… has recently been released state-side in limited quantity by Carrot Top Records in Chicago. Request it at your local specialty shop, or buy it off iTunes or the Goidelic online indie record shop Road Records.

Remix albums are rarely if ever any good. However, Jeff Martin out of Dublin Ireland has assembled a collection of songs that defy this conventional wisdom and common knowledge. Since the release of Spoons, Jeff Martin has had the pleasure of touring with some great indie acts. He has shared the stage with New York’s The National and Chicago’s Archer Prewitt, as well as Lambchop, David Grubbs, and The American Analog Set. Martin says that this remix record was not initially intended to be released. He asked some friends and fellow musicians to give their take on some of his material. What resulted was more than compelling enough to be released internationally. A wish-list cast of contributors colluded with Martin for the finished product. The record itself serves as a showcase of talent, exhibiting the style of collaborative musicians while remaining focused on the vision that Jeff Martin initiated with Spoons. Contributors to Jeff Martin’s project are listed below. Click on their names for their My Space or web page.

Minotaur Shock 4AD- Bristol
Isan Morr Music- UK
Stephen Shannon Casino Gravity/ Halfset- Dublin
John McEntire Thrill Jockey/ Tortoise/ The Sea & Cake- Chicago
David Pajo Slint/ Papa M/ Tortoise/ Zwan- Louisville
The High Llamas V2/ Duophonic- London
Mice Parade Fat Cat/ Bubblecore- New York
Decal Planet Mu / Rotters Golf Club- Dublin
Jeniferever Drowned in Sound- Sweden
Chequerboard Lazybird- Dublin
Dublin Guitar Quartet Greyslate- Dublin
John Parish Thrill Jockey / PJ Harvey- UK

Given the breadth of contributors, it is difficult to describe the myriad of styles that reform Martin’s work. What makes this record so excellent is the consistency provided by the base that Jeff Martin has constructed. While nearly every track is laden with electronic beats and celestial atmospherics, the meat of the music is rooted in the organic, natural sounds of the acoustic guitar, banjo, piano, mandolin, violin, and cello. Indeed, most of the tracks are instrumental, flowing into the limbo that is post-rock. A few songs include Jeff Martin’s voice which has a surprising smoky quality that contrasts sharply with the velour texture of the music.

The most outstanding track off the Spoons remix record is its first. Shuttlecock is energetic, voluminous, and expansive. It comes to us remixed by Bristol’s Minotaur Shock from 4AD. The song begins with a beautiful interplay of strings and xylophone, which is then mixed with a syncopated acoustic guitar riff, a clarinet, and brass. As Shuttlecock accelerates and builds, it perfectly exemplifies the beauty that electronic/organic fusion achieves; the fast paced beats layer the spaces between the chimes of a dozen other rhythms; it increases in velocity, but remains measured and deliberate. This track is simply ridiculous.

Spoons: RCI has many other gems as well. Strange for a Tuner by Chequerboard is sequenced perfectly. Balancing Act by Decal has a latent retro 80s structure that becomes fully born as the track concludes. Some tracks lack many of the electronic elements that are so prevalent throughout the record. Plays Music by Mice Parade and the impassioned Augustine by the Dublin Guitar Quartet are both gorgeous instrumentals. For those of you who love multi-instrumentalists like Sufjan Stevens and Tortoise, the beats of the Album Leaf, or even if you are a listener of the more ambient songs from God Speed You Black Emperor, Spoons: A Collection of Remixes, Collaborations, and Interpretations is a perfect addition to an ever growing and diversifying, nameless genre that flees moment to moment and movement to movement, renegotiating our expectations of complexity and simplicity, tonal dialectics and the subtlety of repetition.

-FF

7/9

http://www.myspace.com/jeffmartindublin
http://www.jeffmartinmusic.com/

Other Music
Still
Spoons

There seems to be a huge amount of great Irish stuff at the moment. This year, we’ve already had terrific releases from Halves, Enemies, Weakling & King, Chequerboard and Michael Knight. But in the last few weeks, I’ve got my hands on some exciting new Irish albums. Of course, one of the most anticipated Irish releases this year is the forthcoming Jape album, ‘Ritual’. It includes a bunch of songs you’ll recognise if you’ve seen Jape over the last few years but the sound is less dancey and more guitar-based than I would have expected. In fact, my favourite song on the record is the quietest one, ‘At The Heart Of All This Strangeness’ – it’s pretty much just Richie and an acoustic guitar and it’s quite a lovely tender moment. You can watch a recording of it here that he recorded for Popmat.

So Cow has just released his second album, ‘I’m Siding With My Captors’ which packs 11 songs into 28 minutes. There are some cracking songs on it, like ‘Commuting’, ‘Halcyon Days’ and ‘Off Out’ but it feels a little slight. I would have liked it to be a little longer and I think his previous album, ‘These Truly Are End Times’  is probably a stronger piece of work on the whole (but I may well change my mind about that). I think Mr. Cow has improved his popsongwriting skills and this is a tighter and better-recorded record and I have a feeling his third album will be rather special.

The Jimmy Cake’s third album, ‘Spectre & Crown’ is another one that doesn’t quite stand up to their previous release for me but that’s probably because ‘Dublin Gone, Everybody Dead’ is one of my favourite Irish albums of all time. The track ‘Jetta’s Palace’ is one of the best things they’ve ever done and there are some beautiful moments on the record but it doesn’t quite hold together in quite the same way as ‘Dublin Gone, Everybody Dead’. It does, however, have a beautiful cover and is a superbly-produced record what with all of it’s chiming pianos. From The Jimmy Cake to The Vinny Club, who release their/his tribute album to Rocky IV (‘The Rocky IV Reckyrd’) at the end of the month. The album is another short one, coming in at just over 25 minutes but realistically recreates the world of 1983 and is full of songs that make your head feel like a robot and cause uncontrollable movements of the arms. This is a good thing. 

Jeff Martin (also of Halfset) released his album, ‘Spoons’ a couple of years ago but is just about to release an album of remixes, collaborations and interpretations by a host of other artists such as Isan, John McEntire, David Pajo, The High Llamas, Mice Parade, John Parish and many others. The guests I’ve mentioned will give you a good idea of what the record sounds like – it’s mostly rather laidback and very endearing. I have a feeling this is one that will grow in stature with each listen.

The Irish album that has impressed me most, however, is Crayonsmith’s ‘White Wonder’. The album is packed full of top-notch pop songs, and the production is spot-on. Hopefully, this will gather word of mouth acclaim as it, unfortunately, seems to have not received the attention it deserves. Crayonsmith is the brainchild of Ciaran Smith who is joined by Ruadhan O’Meara and Ronan Jackson. You can watch my favourite song from the record below – ‘Bad Days Move On’.

And to end this Irish music round-up, here’s a link to hear a deadly remix of Cap Pas Cap’s ‘Said Say It’ by Problums.

Ex-Swirlie Adam Pierce is on to album number seven with the eponymous Mice Parade. Like his previous efforts, it’s a set of vaguely post-rock tunes built on a base of acoustic guitars. And also like his previous efforts, it’s a mixed bag. At its best the record clomps along amiably, but there are moments of total anonymity when you could be listening to any neo-Sebadoh, lo-fi indie rock outfit.

Pierce doesn’t have the most engaging voice, more a stereotypical low key indie croon with all the soul of a call centre worker reading out their grocery list. He’s helped out here by two guest singers. Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier brings some welcome passion to the excellent “Tales Of Las Negras”, the best song on the record. Ex-Múm singer Kristin Anna Valtýsdóttir does her usual irritating ‘ickle girl’ routine on “Double Dolphins On The Nickel”. Is it just me that finds her ’shy three-year-old’ schtick really, really annoying?

The thing is, there are some well crafted passages on this record. But the combination of the ubiquitous strummed acoustic guitars and Pierce’s bored vocals gets tiresome pretty quickly.