As I continue to play through all of my favorite releases of the year, trying to put together some sort of end of year compilation, the release that I come back to almost every day is Twin Peaks’ debut LP “Sunken.” I think that I’m going to have to say definitively that that is my favorite release of the year. My one complaint about “Sunken,” though, is that it’s way too short, but I guess that this tiny little single can tide me over until 2014 with its expansive 4 minutes and 17 seconds of material. I’m just going to consider these two songs as “Sunken” bonus tracks.
Both “Flavor” and “Come Bother Me” are considerably more poppy, and considerably less washy/reverbed out. You can take a quick listen to both the tracks above, and then you can head over to the bandcamp page to drop $1 on a download, or send it as a last minute gift.
According to the bandcamp site the single was released on cassette via Tripp Tapes this past Friday, December 20th with a 7″ via Jeffery Drag Records coming soon.
You can buy “Sunken” over here on CD, vinyl, or as a digital download. Check out the video for “Stand In the Sand” off of that album below.
It’s still so strange to me to have to write, or even think, the phrase “formerly of Sonic Youth” or “ex-Sonig Youth,” but I think that we are all just going to have to somehow learn to get through it. We can do this. Together.
I’m not sure what makes it more disapointing: that we will not (most likely, but hopefully maybe there is still a possibility of a shred of hope that maybe we will?) hear another note by Sonic Youth, or that the ex-members have really not been making the kinds of albums that I can really get behind.
Ranaldo’s last album (what everyone seemed to refer to as his “first solo album” or, when people that should know better finally realized that it wasn’t his first solo album, his “first song-based solo album” as if what he had done before couldn’t be called songs for some reason?) “Between the Times & The Tides” was something that I could just never get into. I tried, oh how I tried. It just sort of fell flat. I know that that is unfortunate and unfair, in that on its own its actually a decent album. But, there is no way that I (or probably anyone) can listen to it (or anything that he does) without inadvertently (or maybe overtly) comparing it to Sonic Youth’s material.
On October 8 Matador will release Ranaldo’s latest, “Last Night on Earth,” with band The Dust that includes drummer Steve Shelley (Lee Ranaldo: now with 25% Sonic Youth!), Alan Licht and Tim Lüntzel. Listen to the track “Lecce Leaving” below. It immediately sounds richer and fuller than most of the material on “Times and Tides.” The band works well together to create a dynamic sound that is considerably more dense and contrapuntal. Shelley’s drumming adds the perfect touch, as does the slide guitar, steel string acoustic and keys. It’s a 7 minute tune that I almost wish would go on for 20. Though the lyrical content is admittedly darker, I can’t help but think that the arrangement is joyful in parts, or excitable at the very least, until the coda where things resolve in an unsettling, dark manner.
The album is available for pre-order on CD or LP from the Matador store, and as a download from iTunes. And check out Lee’s site here.
Tour dates for Lee Ranaldo & The Dust:
North America :
Tue-Oct-08 Hudson, NY Club Helsinki
Wed-Oct-09 Buffalo, NY Tralf Music Hall
Fri-Oct-11 Toronto, ONT Horseshoe Tavern
Sat-Oct-12 Detroit, MI Trinosophes Sun-Oct-13 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
Mon-Oct-14 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon
Tue-Oct-15 Minneapolis, MN The Triple Rock
Thu-Oct-17 Iowa City, IA Gabe’s
Fri-Oct-18 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room
Sat-Oct-19 Lawrence, KS The Bottleneck
Sun-Oct-20 St. Louis, MO The Firebird
Tue-Oct-22 Nashville, TN Exit/In
Wed-Oct-23 Asheville, NC The Grey Eagle
Fri-Oct-25 Brooklyn, NY The Bell House
Europe :
sun 10-Nov-2013 NL GRONINGEN – VERA
Mon 11-Nov-2013 DE HAMBURG – KAMPNAGEL
Wed 13-Nov-2013 DE COLOGNE – GEBAUDE 9
Thu 14-Nov-2013 FR METZ – acoustic show at le musée de la cour d’or
Fri 15-Nov-2013 FR METZ – CAVEAU DES TRINITAIRES – MUSIQUE VOLANTE FESTIVAL
sun 17-Nov-2013 CH LAUSANNE – LE ROMANDIE
Mon 18-Nov-2013 FR FEYZIN – Epicerie Moderne
Wed 20-Nov-2013 FR VILLENEUVE D’ASQ – FESTIVAL TOUR DE CHAUFFE AT LA FERME D’EN HAUT
Thu 21-Nov-2013 UK LONDON – THE GARAGE
Fri 22-Nov-2013 UK CAMBER SANDS – ATP FESTIVAL at Camber Sands
Sat 23-Nov-2013 FR PARIS – Boulogne Billancourt BB MIX FESTIVAL
Mon 25-Nov-2013 FR POITIERS – CONFORT MODERNE
Tue 26-Nov-2013 FR TOURS – TEMPS MACHINE
North America again:
Fri-Dec-06 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
Sat-Dec-07 Vancouver, BC Biltmore Cabaret
Sun-Dec-08 Seattle, WA Barboza
Wed-Dec-11 San Francisco, CA The Chapel
Fri-Dec-13 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
I have loved Man or Astro-man? since the first time that I heard them. The album was “Is it Man or Astro-man?” and unfortunately I hadn’t heard it until after the band had put themselves into cryogenic freeze. It was several years before they thawed themselves out and made another appearance, though they had trained some clones to serve as them around the country, but that’s a whole other story.
Since they have been re-animated, my favorite sci-fi obsessed surf-rock band from another planet has been touring pretty regularly and on May 21st of this year they released a new album entitled “Defcon 5…4…3…2…1” through Chunklet. There is one track up on Communicating Vessels. That song is “Disintegrate” and it can be heard below.
I managed to see Man or Astro-man? twice in Chicago last summer when they played the West Fest street festival and later that same night when played a nearly completely different set at The Empty Bottle. Though the songs were different the shows still involved fire, a theremin and a Tesla Coil. So get out there and see them if you can, they are a lot of fun live.
The album can be purchased in a variety of forms and combo-packs. Follow these links for your preference:
They are currently on tour throughout Europe. Catch up with them on Facebook for all the latest tour updates. If you want to hear more Man or Astro-man? check the video below of their live set for KEXP in Seattle:
Please somebody, tell me what they are putting in the water supply in Chicago. I have always been a fan of the Chicago rock scene since I was in high school and loved Hum and The Smashing Pumpkins like it was my job, but now – between Smith Westerns and Twin Peaks – there is a whole generation of bands that grew up after those bands were out of commission (I know, I know. Hum still plays semi-regularly, or at least sometimes and don’t even get me started on the Pumpkins. The pumpkins died after Machina II. What is touring now is not the Smashing Pumpkins, but rather Billy Corgan trying to convince everyone that he is still relevant and then crying like a baby when people scream for him to play the hits.) But I digress…
Maybe rather than questioning what they are putting in the water supply in Chicago, I should ask what they are putting in the school lunches in Chicago. Smith Westerns were playing the Pitchfork Music Festival the same weekend as their senior ball, and that was right around the time that their 2nd album came out. Now we have Twin Peaks, who are barely old enough to drive, and they’ve released easily one of the best things that I have heard this year so far.
Twin Peaks
“Sunken” is a guitar heavy, echo laden, mass of jangle and energy. It’s an infectious cross between pop and some of the grittier rock that I have heard lately. Though the album is barely 20 minutes long (they are apparently playing the Japandroids’ game of “how short can we make an album while still calling it an album?”) but despite that short length it packs quite a punch. “Fast Eddie” could easily be a radio hit with a guitar line that I just can’t get enough of (though I have always been a sucker for the tasteful use of echo). The chorus really opens up, and even though I can’t figure out what the words are, I want to sing along.
“Ocean Blue” sounds like something that could have been on the first Beach Fossils release. Or Real Estate. Its swirl of reverb is hypnotizing. Normally I would say that nobody should use a crash cymbal that much, but here it really does add to the sound, it’s a necessary component. And “Stand in the Sand” is another stand out track on an album full of stand out tracks. I could go on about the catchiness, but I think that by this point you get the picture. Oh, and you are in luck because you can listen to that track below.
For kids this young to be able to tie an album together this well is astonishing. If you are 35 and still picking up guitars off the wall at your local guitar center hoping one day that you’ll “make it,” just know that you are going to end up playing Molly Hatchet covers in a dive bar on the outskirts of town while these guys are doing it right. It’s great to hear players so young that are able to capture something, and have it down so well and know their sound inside and out. Perfect summer album. It’s out now and you can purchase it on vinyl or as a digital download by clicking here.
They do have a couple tour dates left on the west coast in the coming week, so if you live out here then you should try to catch them.
8/6: Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex!
8/7: Fullerton, CA @ Burger Records
9/13-15: Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest & Carnival 2013 (Exact Date TBA)
9/18 Dallas, TX @ Three Links+
9/19 Austin, TX @ Mohawk+
9/20 Houston, TX @ Fitzgeralds+
9/21 Baton Rouge @ Mud & Water+
(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.
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.
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.
(This post originally appeared on Tympanogram.com on November 18, 2011)
Rah Rah - "Breaking Hearts"
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.
![Scout - "All Those Relays"](http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/scout-all-those-relays-cover.jpeg "Scout - "All Those Relays"")
![Rah Rah - "Breaking Hearts"](http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/breakingheartscover-300x256.jpg "Rah Rah - "Breaking Hearts"")
