March - April 2014
Setting out to craft a summery and poppy mix for this one given the impending seasonal glory, the end result is, in fact, perhaps the most morose statement of the music club to date. I think I realized the mix wasn’t going in the direction I’d intended sometime around an unrelated personal low: when I found myself eating marshmallows dipped in peanut butter, by myself, sober, in my apartment. With pulverized peanut mush still fresh on my face, I sat down in front of my computer and accepted fate’s designs for my mix — which were, in the words of one of its featured artists, to “feel like winter [in the] heart of the summer.” I, however, very much stand behind the mix and think it’s among my best, but do want to prepare you, the listener and consumer, for the experience you shall entertain. I sincerely apologize to anyone expecting to find the banger that would carry them through summer — and I promise to make a focused effort (which has already begun, might I add) on crafting the TRUE summer edition for the next one. Stay tuned. And I will try to get it out sooner.
…Yeah, right…
Cloud Nothings “I’m Not Part Of Me” (Carpark Records / Mom + Pop, 2014) Songwriting wunderkind Dylan Baldi is back with his band’s latest LP Here And Nowhere Else — and with a title like that, you can pretty much guess what you’re in for. The unfathomable existential dread of being, like, 22 and finding out there might be a purpose in life outside of trying to get laid. These ragged anthems, while none quite matching the grungy sugar-rush of 2012’s “Stay Useless” — which some of you original gangsters of the club might remember from the very first newsletter ever back in January 2012 (!!) —, will not disappoint fans of things like guitars, melody, and, you know, existential dread.
Dub Thompson “Dograces” (Dead Oceans, 2014) Haven’t heard of this cat (these cats?) before, but intrigued. Album 9 Songs drops in early June.
Son Lux “Easy (Switch Screens) [feat. Lorde]” (Joyful Noise, 2014) Yes, that is correct — that is the real Lorde, the popular singer, the one who sings that song about driving Cadillacs in our dreams and stuff. This song builds an excellent context around her voice and style. I love the jabs of horn and the broken percussion.
Future Islands “Back In The Tall Grass” (4AD, 2014) Future Islands’ latest LP, Singles, is most definitely a product of 4AD — slick, professional pop, quirked up here and there to fall within the indie lexicon. What separates this band from the pack, though, is vocalist Samuel T. Herring’s voice: it comes across distinct and familiar, as if it’s been beamed through the years from 90s radio-rock, and sounds nothing like anyone else in the indie world right now.
Fear of Men “Tephra” (Kanine, 2014) A lot of music emulates that of past eras, but Fear of Men’s critically-acclaimed album Loom seems to do so in a subtler way than others. There’s a classicism woven into the melodies and lyrics that, to this fascinated listener, dips deep back into the forgotten recesses of the 60s’ and 70s’ proggier moments. Even the production — noticeably quieter and airier against the overcompressed immediacy of the digitally-mastered music world today — seems crafted with turntables and vinyl, instead of iPhones and Spotify, in mind.
Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks “Little Fang” (Domino, 2014) The songwriters Avey Tare and Panda Bear, each half of the primary songwriting force of Animal Collective, continue to advance their careers in a fascinating and heartwarming success story. Like Lennon and McCartney without the drama, each progressive Animal Collective album has presented us with increasingly individualistic statements from each writer, while their concurrent solo efforts, loosed from the concessive environment of a four-piece, make more apparent the contributions of each within the AC-proper discography. Each writer has established his own distinct style and I imagine those differing styles appeal to different personalities. I’m more of an Avey Tare guy myself; his solo debut, 2010’s murky Down There, was certainly challenging at first, but it’s since grown on me to become one of my favorites of the past few years. He’s now assembled a band around his solo act — Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks — and has released an album that’s decidedly more “rock” than anything else in the Animal Collective universe at large. This one in particular — going back to the Beatles analogy — sounds like a Lennon ditty circa White Album, and earns my official “dangerously catchy” stamp.
Todd Terje “Johnny and Mary (feat. Bryan Ferry)” (Olsen Records, 2014) Hey, kids, it’s Bryan Ferry! That’s right — we managed to pull him away from sucking dry martinis down in Soho (the London one) to come record a Robert Palmer cover with electro-pop alchemist du jour Todd Terje. I’ll be fucked if this frankenstorm of camp isn’t the hippest thing this side of Zooey Deschanel covering Christmas carols! (see A Very She & Him Christmas)
Var “Motionless Duties” (Sacred Bones, 2013) 2013 joint! I rarely do this, but The Quietus’ (thequietus.com) review of Var’s album Nobody Dances Quite Like My Brothers was so spot-on, I’ll let them take the mic for this one: Pale young man, I can read your dreams. Flags of red, black and gold glowing in the light of enormous bonfires, a fraternity of youth doomed to wilt under the frost of age's ever encroaching winter, horns echoing through mountain forests and hawks circling through steel grey skies. You dream of a nation without boundaries, united only through the language of a thousand broken hearts, tears glistening on the cheeks of marble statues, drum rolls and epic poems, the glint of daggers and the swearing of blood oaths. Pale young man, have I got a record for you.
Sd Laika “I Don’t” (Tri Angle, 2014) This is what happens, people, when you go too far down the music rabbit hole. This is where you find yourself. Be careful down there.
Nmesh “Climbing the Corporate Ladder” (AMDISCS, 2014) Love corporate ladders
Magic Touch “Shine Baby Shine (feat. The Horses)” (100% Silk, 2014) 100% Silk can do no wrong by me these days. Sure, it’s stylized; sure, it’s manufactured — but you can be damn sure it gets heads bobbing and bodies moving. Probably safe to expect at least one appearance from this label in each of these mixes.
Beverly “Honey Do” (Kanine, 2014) Okay, so technically this was released as a single in January of this year — but when I heard it for the first time recently on Newtown Radio (newtownradio.com — check it out!) I was hooked and knew I had to include it in the next music club mix.
Angel Olsen “Lights Out” (Jagjaguwar, 2014) Angel Olsen’s latest album Burn Your Fire for No Witness is rockier than I remember her prior stuff being — and I am glad for that because it kicks ass. Her voice is absolute gold and the range of songwriting territory covered on the album makes it an engaging and rewarding listen.
Heterotic “Rain (feat. Vezelay)” (Planet Mu, 2014) I have to be honest here: I have no idea what this song is about, what Heterotic are about, or anything. All I know is the production here is so glorious I was moved to procure the album in .WAV format. Not trying to mess with compression on this one. Stereophiles unite!
Metronomy “Resevoir” (Because Music, 2014) Metronomy strike me as the oddball cousin to, say, a Hot Chip or someone — a little too niche, a little too minimalist, a little too cheeky for the average listener. I imagine their fanbase, dedicated and defensive, clamor the band’s praises in the face of moderate critical reception and broad-public indifference. I’m not sure I’d ever be moved to purchase a whole Metronomy album, but their sexy twee grooves are wonderful in small doses.
Chet Faker “Talk Is Cheap” (Downtown Records, 2014) With a name like Chet Faker I was expecting some strain of sloppy, sneering punk — how surprised I was when my my speakers were graced instead with a soft, jazzy electro-groove and this smoky-smooth voice. The irony stops at Nick Murphy’s recording alias, and what he presents beyond that is simply beautiful, sincere music.
Amen Dunes “Lilac In Hand” (Sacred Bones, 2014) …And on the other hand, sincere is hardly a word I’d use to describe Sacred Bones’ output. You can never be too sure exactly what the intentions might be. Something like Amen Dunes might sound straightforward enough, but beware — you’re probably being fucked with.
Built To Spill “Terrible/Perfect” (K Records, 1996) I wonder what it says about me that my favorite Built To Spill album is The Normal Years, a collection of early-career b-sides and such. I suspect there are the requisite stories behind each song and why it didn’t make it as an a-side — especially ones with lyrics like “I screwed her and she screwed me but we never once had sex”, “actually I’ve never even been to a railroad station/even though I used to live near one”, “love’s just a joyride/drink a lot of beer and climb inside”. Still, for every goofy Doug Martsch moment there’s an equally beautiful Doug Martsch moment: look no further than the post-vocal bridge of second track “Terrible/Perfect”, where Martsch’s clean, bright guitar delicately trades melodramatic chords with a meandering bass riff, invariably drawing listeners into a heightened emotive state, until the tension mounts and the whole thing explodes into an uptempo vamp to fadeout. Martsch is a master of wielding guitar distortion and destruction as an implement of beauty — I guess The Normal Years, to me, represents the peak of his ability to craft such terrible sounds into such perfect songs.
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