Category Archives: songs

2012, music, songs, tympanogram, video

Video: Sharon Van Etten – "Leonard"

March 12, 2012 quartertonality Leave a comment

(Post originally appeared on Tympanogram on March 9, 2012)

I’m still beating myself up over the fact that I wasn’t able to turn out a review for the newest, and stunningly beautiful, Sharon Van Etten LP Tramp. She’s currently on tour, and the album has been getting deservedly rave reviews. If you have not checked it out yet here is the latest video for the song “Leonard.” Don’t let the seemingly upbeat guitar strumming fool you, this song is about heartbreak. Van Etten sings “he’s smart, he leaves me wanting more, knowing that I gave less and knowing why” and it becomes clear that nobody is the bad guy here, or perhaps they both are. She sings with a longing in her voice, delicately calling out “I love you,” and one could easily imagine her reaching out, hoping for him to turn around and reconsider. That the song ends melodically and harmonically unresolved gives us a sense that she’s still holding out hope.

It’s a beautiful song, and the video’s kaleidoscopic, mirrored imagery perhaps hints at the confusion felt on her part as she re-examines the entire relationship from every possible angle, which only results in more unresolved confusion.

Her tour will likely come to a city near you, as she has dates booked clear through the summer, though there appears to be a few gaps that will likely get filled in so check her tour page here. Tramp is out now on Jagjaguwar.

Connect with Sharon Van Etten // Web | Twitter | Facebook

2012, music, news, songs

New track: Lightning Bolt – "I Found a Ring in my Ear

March 8, 2012 quartertonality Leave a comment

As you may or may not know, Lightning Bolt is one of my all time favorite bands. It’s the reason why they are affixed to the banner atop this blog (I took that picture the first time I saw them, in Buffalo, NY) I have spent many days listening to their entire output in one sitting, and I’ve been fortunate enough to see them live twice. If they ever came to Portland or Eugene, I would definitely drop everything and see them, and I would highly encourage you to do the same when they come to your town.

This track, appearing out of nowhere, doesn’t seem to be promoting any new releases or a tour. This is just a 20 minute free-wheeling jam that sounds similar to work from the band’s first album. Of course all of the typical Lightning Bolt characteristics are in place: frantic, non-stop drumming, a bass line that explores one chromatic, melodic, minimalist riff for an extended period of time before moving on to the next idea and of course everything is played at full volume throughout.

If you listen through the track in its entirety you’ll hear a few magical moments when the Brians lock into an intense groove, even if it only lasts for a few seconds. From the bandcamp page:

A 20 minute Jam recorded in the Hillarious Attic, Lair of the Lightning Bolt on 1.31.11. Straight to our trusty Tascam 420 cassette 4 track. No edits, No worries. The track might start a little discombobulated, but it congeals, soars. Swallows itself. Please download for free or send a little cash to help patch the leaks in the boat. thanks

The lyrics are beyond us now.

And then the tape just ran out.

It would be worthwhile to bookmark their bandcamp site:

This is the home of the official Lightning Bolt Practice of the Month club. Probably more like Practice of the Every 6 Months Club, but the plan is to post some of our best home recorded jams for your listening pleasure, or displeasure.

So check back there from time to time.

Or find them (mostly Chippendale) on the Web | Twitter | Blogger | Bandcamp |

And head to Load Records to purchase Lightning Bolt albums.

2012, albums, music, news, songs, tympanogram, video

Video: Scout – "So Close"

March 7, 2012 quartertonality Leave a comment

(Originally posted to Tympanogram.com on March 6, 2012)

Scout’s Ashen Keilyn has a voice that is instantly recognizable. It’s earnest and inviting despite that, in this track, it’s singing of heartache and pain. Of “So Close” Ashen says, “It’s a song I wrote after one of many arguments. The line ‘So I’m stuck down here with my heart in a splint / getting so close to calling it quits’…well that’s exactly how I felt at the time.”

Ashen, and Scout, are preparing to release their first album since 2003, and much like last time it will include guitarist Steve Schiltz. Though some things have changed since 2003, obviously, as at that time Schiltz was just starting to get things going with his band Longwave. Now Longwave is gone, but Schiltz has remained busy on the scene with his solo project, Hurricane Bells, and a new label imprint in Invisible Brigades, which will be releasing the new Scout effort.

This video comes from director Bill Moldt, recorded live in Olé Recording studios in Queens and caputres Keilyn and Schiltz on guitars, with Schiltz singing falsetto backing vocals (and manning the omnichord/drum machine). The new Scout album, All Those Relays, also partially produced by drummer/producer of Spoon Jim Eno, will be released March 27 via Invisible Brigades.

Find Scout: Facebook | web

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Scout-So-Close.mp3|titles=So Close]

2012, albums, music, news, songs, tympanogram, video

New track: Lee Ranaldo – "Off the Wall"

March 6, 2012 quartertonality 1 Comment

(Originally posted on Tympanogram.com on March 5, 2012)

: Lee Ranaldo

Watching your favorite band break up is tough to do. It’s like being a kid and having to decide if you are going to live with your mom or your dad after your parents get divorced. I’m still in the phase where I’m holding out hope that Sonic Youth isn’t going to disband, but rumors of this coming Summer’s Lollapalooza performance being the bands last are going around, and sooner or later we are all going to have to face the inevitable together.

In the meantime, Thurston Moore has released an album of genteel, somnolence-inspiring arrangements that function essentially as ruminations on open guitar tunings; Steve Shelley is drumming with Disappears (a band that nobody would be paying attention to if Steve Shelley wasn’t drumming for them); and Lee Ranaldo is making his debut as a solo songwriter with his album “Between the Tides and the Times” on Matador Records.

This isn’t his debut album by any means, as he has released a handful of highly experimental albums including East Jesus, From Here to Infinity, and Amarillo Ramp (for Robert Smithson) that would test the fidelity of any true Sonic Youth fan. These albums are in addition to other free jazz albums that he has collaborated on.

So far we only have one song from the new album, set for release on March 20. “Off the Wall” is structured in typical verse/chorus/verse fashion with a free-wheeling easiness in the melody that sounds like it would fit perfectly on Rather Ripped. This is, oddly, quite a departure considering Ranaldo’s other works. Leave it to someone so completely left-of-center as Lee Ranaldo to release a straight ahead rock track and have it seem like a departure. The truth is that this track does sound like one of the songs that would appear on a Sonic Youth album, where Ranaldo is typically woefully underrepresented.

He’s also got some solo performances coming up, including a spot at Primavera. Check him out live if you can, as his band includes not only Steve Shelley (you know, the guy from Disappears), Nels Cline, Alan Licht and John Medeski. His tour, with M. Ward and Disappears, mostly hits up the East Coast and parts of the South and Midwest. You can check the dates here, and pre-order Between The Times and The Tides at Matador.

Lee Ranaldo on: Facebook | web | Twitter

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Lee-Ranaldo-Off-The-Wall.mp3|titles=Off the Wall]

ETA (March 13, 2012): Lee’s album, “Between the Times and the Tides” is now streaming in its entirety on Rolling Stone.com.

Lee Ranaldo OFF THE WALL Official Video from Lee Ranaldo on Vimeo.

2012, miscellaneous, music, news, songs, tympanogram

New track: Churches – "Feel Alright"

March 2, 2012 quartertonality Leave a comment

(Originally published on Tympanogram.com on February 20, 2012)

Out here, on the West Coast that is, the weather is always sunny. No matter what anyone tells you. There is no rain, no clouds, no smog, just sunshine and music festivals. As for music festivals, I’m positive that you, dear reader, have already taken the time to get excited about the Coachella lineup. As the hours went by and the publicity grew, so did others’ resentment at ticket prices and how the lineup seems to be the same every year. That all seems like eons ago, in internet time.

Coachella is not the only festival the West Coast has to offer, for there’s also Sasquatch and Noise Pop, the latter of which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. From Tuesday, February 21st through the 26th, San Francisco hosted tons of bands including The Flaming Lips, Cursive, Atlas Sound, Disappears (that boasts Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley), Fresh and Onlys, as well as Churches.

Churches’ music hearkens back to the days of 120 Minutes, when MTV used to actually play videos. Big fuzzed out guitars and heartfelt vocals that are deeply moving while being alternately sad or celebratory, and sometimes even a seemingly incongruous mix of the two. In their own words Churches is “loud, melodic power-pop, rooted in teen angst nostalgia and heavily reflecting its influences – Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., the Pixies. Churches is salvation through distortion for the disaffected small-town weirdo in everyone – a sonic cathedral of symbols and guitars for the modern outcast.” They have made available a new single, “Feel Alright,” ahead of their Noise Pop Fest debut on their soundcloud and bandcamp pages, and it is certainly worth checking out and downloading. Additionally, Churches is recording a special Noise Pop Daytrotter session.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/CHURCHES-Feel-Alright.mp3]

Churches // Bandcamp | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud

2011, music, songs, tympanogram, Uncategorized

new track: Coat Hooks – "Popcorn Blues"

February 28, 2012 quartertonality Leave a comment

(Originally appeard on Tympanogram.com on December 27, 2011)

Back in May I introduced you to a band out of Scotland that goes by the name Andrew Lindsay and the Coat Hooks. They had just released their fantastic The Whittling EP, that would easily end up on my year end list for Favorite EPs of 2011 had I made one. Well they are back with a truncated name (now they are simply known as Coat Hooks) and a new track, “Popcorn Blues.”

This track is right in line with those found on The Whittling EP with perfect sounding acoustic guitars this time with the added ethereal effect of overdriven and e-bowed guitar adding a perfect background layer. If you haven’t checked out The Whittling EP now would be the perfect time to do so. Also, you can download this track for free on their Bandcamp page. They also have a new EP that’s coming out soon, To the Waters and the Wild, so keep an eye on their internets for that.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Coat-Hooks-Popcorn-Blues.mp3|titles=Coat Hooks – Popcorn Blues]

2011, albums, music, news, songs, tympanogram

album preview: of Montreal – Paralytic Stalks

December 23, 2011 quartertonality Leave a comment

(post originally appeared on December 19, 2011 on Tympanogram.com)

I’ve been a fan of of Montreal since hearing the Icons Abstract Thee EP that came out following their amazing, pace-setting album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?They also hold the honor of putting on, by far, the best live shows I have ever been lucky enough to witness. They change directions pretty wildly with each new album and I have stuck with them through it all. Nothing can quite compare to what I think of as their classics, but I’m always excited by an artist that puts out consistently challenging, new sounding material that follows no path but its own. No other band out there today sounds quite like of Montreal.

In 2011 they released an EP entitled The Controllersphere that was to False Priest what the Icons Abstract Thee EP was to Hissing Fauna… It was a collection of loud, boisterous noise funk jams that picked up where the previous album had left off. Now Kevin Barnes and Co. are doing another 180 with forthcoming album Paralytic Stalks on Polyvinyl. One song, “Wintered Debts,” has been released so far to let us know what to expect. It’s an extended jam that clocks in at over 7 minutes and sounds, to me, like the band is heading back to the direction of Skeletal Lamping – songs that are extended, chopped up, free-form and as far out there as one could possibly hope for, while still retaining the sound of the band.

Polyvinyl, in their infinite wisdom, is prepping us for the new album with a sampler “video” on youtube. It’s not as much a video as it is just the cover art with a sample from each of the songs played underneath. It sounds like it could be the most varied, introspective and wild album of the of Montreal opus with the usual literate lyrics, meticulously orchestrated, and for lack of a better term weirdness. The album is available for pre-order now and will be released on February 7th on limited edition colored 2xlp vinyl from polyvinyl. Don’t miss out.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/07-of-Montreal-Wintered-Debts.mp3|titles=of Montreal – Wintered Debts]

2011, music, reviews, songs, tympanogram

Rah Rah – "Parkade"

November 21, 2011 quartertonality Leave a comment

(This post originally appeared on Tympanogram.com on November 18, 2011)

It’s only been 2 and a half months and I’m already realizing all of the things I miss about living in Western New York. One of them is that Toronto was only a short 2 hour drive away. I could move from rural backwater to bustling metropolis in no time, and that was exciting. I spent a good portion of my life in Toronto for a few years and began to get really familiar with a lot of the music that the city and country has to offer. The Canadian music scene is at once all encompassing, displaying an infinite amount of variety, yet very familial. From my outsiders perspective it seems that even every band from Vancouver to Halifax knows each other or has worked together at some point.

That being said, those elements of vast and far-reaching yet close and intimate are at work in this track off of Regina, Saskatchewan’s Rah Rah. Their sophomore effort, Breaking Hearts, was released on Hidden Pony Records last week in the U.S. Album closer “Parkade” begins gently, slowly growing and expanding throughout with gorgeous melodies blooming over top of the echoed expanses that the piano occupies. The drums enter as the song builds to a close that is dramatic and explosive, while still managing to hold back. The sound depicts a feeling of wanting to break free and escape, while the lyrics tell us in a sleepy voice “you’re going home…” much like the woman in the video, trapped by her neuroses. Note to the band: you could have saved a lot of money on this video and gotten the same result by simply following me around for a day.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/13-Parkade.mp3|titles=Rah Rah – “Parkade”]

Go to their website to listen to the entire album and for other downloads and tour dates. Also the obligatory twitter and facebook links.

2011, miscellaneous, music, personal, songs

Joel Plaskett – "Lying on a Beach"

July 12, 2011 quartertonality Leave a comment

Joel Plaskett is easily one of the best songwriters working today, but truly under (almost un-) appreciated in the United States. He’s a lanky Haligonian formerly of Thrush Hermit that releases a fairly steady stream of albums under his name, or with his band The Joel Plaskett Emergency. His sound varies quite a bit from country infused gems to Led Zeppelin inspired rockers.

This song appears on his 2005 solo release “La De Da” and is one of my favorites of his.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/04-Lying-on-a-Beach.mp3|titles=Lying on a Beach]

Somebody introduced me
To a member of the club
I think that they confused me
With some other rub-a-dub-a-dub
Now, I work on the fifth floor
And nothing is my fault
I take advice like margueritas
With a heavy grain of salt
I always wake up in the night
Wondering if I’m doing it right
And if I had my way
I’d be getting on this flight tonight
And in the morning I’d be
Lying on a beach in the sun
Lying to my family and friends
Telling them that I have begun
Trying to find the means to an end
Lying on a beach in the sun
Lying just to cover my ass
Lying in the sun on the beach
Burning like the girls in the grass

I should be working on my manners
But I’m working on my website
All you star-spangled scanners
Trying to photocopy moonlight
Staring at the computer screen
Feeling so alone and obscene
Getting restless
Getting randy
Getting mean
Lying on a beach in the sun
Looking for a little romance
The temperature’s a hundred and one
Everybody take off your pants
Lying on a beach in the sun
Trying to figure out what to do
Lying in the sun on the beach
I realized I did not have a clue

I’m full of hocus pocus
And I’m slower than molasses
I’m coming in and out of focus
Like a magic pair of glasses
I go down to the staff room at lunchtime
I’m like a joke but there’s never a punch line
And if you step on my toes I’ll blow up just like a landmine
Give me a reason I’ll be
Lying on a beach in the sun
Nobody but my money and me
Is this your definition of fun
I’m bored it’s only twenty past three (You should go for a swim)
I’ll still be clinging to the company line
There’s sharks out there I think I saw a fin
Or maybe I’m just losing my mind

Somebody take a memo
We’re all on automatic
When I get it back together
We’re gonna need a little static
Somebody check my pulse
Slap me in the face
Show me what I’m made of
Get me out of this place
It’s like a weird technological dream
Watching buddies turn into machines
We never get our hands dirty
But paradise is never this clean
Come on
Lying on a beach in the sun
Don’t want to get burned to a crisp
You want something to remember me by
You can save it on a floppy disk
So long
Farewell
You can kiss my ass goodbye
If I don’t jump ship right now
I’ll never figure out how to fly

2011, miscellaneous, music, songs

Songs: Ohia – "Almost was Good Enough"

May 25, 2011 quartertonality Leave a comment

Songs: Ohia - "Magnolia Electric Company"

It’s been hard doin’ anything, the winter’s stuck around so long
I kept tryin’ anyhow, and I’m still tryin’ now, just to keep workin’.
I remember when it didn’t used to be so hard, it used to be impossible
A new season has to begin, I can feel it leanin’ in, whisperin’, “Nothing’s lonely now”
Nothing anymore in pain
A tall shadow dressed how the secrets always dress when they want everyone to know that they’re around, leanin’ in whisperin’ “my friend over there don’t know what he’s talking about”.
Did you really believe that everyone makes it out?
Almost no one makes it out.
I’m going to use that street to hide from that human doubt, to hide from what was shining and has finally burned us out.
But if no one makes it out how come you’re talking to one right now?
for once almost was good enough.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/04-Almost-Was-Good-Enough.mp3|titles=Songs: Ohia – “Almost Was Good Enough”]

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