Maniacal Mechanic
/// March 31, 2008 02:05 PM /// dispatch from Chris!
From the opening seconds of "Maniacal Mechanic", its clear that NYC's Dream Bitches have turned up the volume for their sophomore LP, Coke-and-Spiriters. Pounding drum beats and dirty guitars anchor this treasure of a song. As on their debut, lead Dream Bitches Yoko Kikuchi and Ann Zakaluk deliver pitch-perfect harmonies that cut through the band's new cacophonous sound. Though Coke-and-Spiriters is not all rock and bombast, over the course of the record's ten songs, the band proves that its a force to be reckoned with.
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That Song
/// October 25, 2007 11:36 AM /// dispatch from Chris!
The original version of Casey Holford's "That Song" was the penultimate track on his stellar 2005 release, All Young and Beautiful. It was one of the highlights of that album - lushly produced and beautifully performed. Here, Casey deconstructs the song, speeding the tempo and offering a more punky and playful performance. It shows Casey's range and offers a unique interpretation of a song so great it doesn't matter how its played! Download it here and find it on his 2007 split release with Yoko Kikuchi, the "This Song / That Song" EP.
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Lolita
/// May 17, 2007 04:41 PM /// dispatch from Chris!
Since I first heard Throw Me The Statue's "Lolita" a few months ago, I've been waiting with bated breath for Seattle's Baskerville Hill label to post an MP3 of it. Now, at long last, my desire has been fulfilled! This flawless pop-gem is the first single from TMTS's recently-released debut record, Moonbeams. It delivers everything you could want from a 3 1/2 minute pop song: An impeccable arrangement enthusiastically executed, eclectic but coherent instrumentation and the goddamn catchiest melody this side of Paul McCartney's house. Listen to those crazy guitar riffs! Listen to the spot-on drumming! The handclaps, tambourine, melodica and glockenspiel! How could you NOT fall in love with "Lolita"? What's more, the rest of Moonbeams lives up to the incredibly high standard that this song sets. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy RIGHT NOW!
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Last Buffalo
/// January 10, 2007 12:50 AM /// dispatch from Chris!
After a few months of silence, The Pathways are back and ready to release their second album, Gray Blaze, on the Athens, Georgia CDR-label Asaurus Records. The record was recorded just prior to second drummer Mike Dempsy's departure from the band and features many live favorites from the Boat of Confidence days. One of them is this, "Last Buffalo", a David Yourdon-helmed tune featuring an Evan Kindley-led middle-eight. Mike's steady backbeat keeps the song trotting along while Leo Goldsmith's twisting basslines suffiently jazz things up. Oh, and there's enough explosive guitar interplay to make any diehard Pathways fan happy. Once the record is released, we'll be sure to stock it in the RiYL Store. In the meantime, enjoy this preview!
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On the Map
/// August 27, 2006 08:13 PM /// dispatch from Chris!
It has been five years since the World Trade Center fell, five years since the Pentagon was attacked, five years since the ‘War on Terror’ was declared; Five confusing years that have gone by both quickly and slowly, five years that have made it hard to remember what waking up on September 10th, 2001 was like. And yet, with such a seismic shift in international politics and attitude, the lack of worthwhile and/or meaningful artistic responses to the events of September 11th, 2001 leaves me puzzled. Those in the ‘spotlight’ who’ve tried have generally failed: Green Day’s American Idiot? Naïve. Oliver Stones’ World Trade Center? Exploitative. (Admittedly, I haven’t read Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; The novel seems an appropriate place to explore the complexity of the event and its aftermath.) I suppose its easier to pick on the President and his cronies; Easier to critique the half of the populous willing to support them; Easier to condemn the war in Iraq and our nation’s bumbled foreign policy. But again, everybody’s talking but nobody’s saying anything. Maybe it’s because the 9/11 news coverage was so cinematically unbelievable or that the resulting political “spin” so loud. Or, perhaps, our culture’s fear of stagnation has made it impossible to react, without irony, to the events of ‘today’ without spoofing – or being criticized for co-opting – the political music of the 1960’s. Maybe in our cynical ‘modern’ climate it isn’t possible to write a contemporary equivalent to a song like Bob Dylan’s defiant “Let Me Die in My Footsteps.” Still, there remains one song that I look to as evidence that it can be done: Casey Holford’s modest “On the Map” from his 2003 self-released album Bad Spell, Good Spell. To date, “On the Map” is one of two songs explicitly about the events of September 11th that doesn't make me cringe (the other being Kimya Dawson’s “Anthrax”). The song succeeds because of its simplicity: It doesn’t preach, it doesn’t pander, it doesn’t push. Holford tells it as it was from the perspective of someone unwillingly thrust into the middle of the first significant global event of the New Millennium. It was an honest and immediate reaction to an event that, with time, has only grown more unbelievable and unapproachable. Now, five years on, maybe the opportunity to address 9/11 in song has passed, the appropriate sentiment no longer achievable, but at least Holford’s song will stand as proof that it could be done, and – at least once (or twice) – it was.
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