Listening Too Long to One Song: The Pastels/Tenniscoats "Vivid Youth"

I like the summer. I like long days, a seemingly endless supply of outdoor activities to engage in, and those rare occasions when it is warm enough in Southern California to swim in the ocean. And those are just to name a few of the things that I enjoy so much about the season. However there isn't much that I enjoy more than feeling the summer end, those precious weeks where the heat seems to silently retreat usually in a far more subtle manner than the one in which it appeared. When the days are noticeably shorter, but not so short as to become depressing.

The song "Vivid Youth" from the Pastels/Tenniscoats collaboration record Two Sunsets is, to my mind, a perfect sonic representation of that end of summer feeling. I'm not sure if this was their intent, but the video certainly helps to enhance that image. The song itself though, with it's relaxed jazz informed chords, and minimal accents do everything to create the feeling of a warm late summer afternoon, probably just around dusk. This song also has even further cemented Katrina Mitchell's place as one of my favorite female vocalists.

Two Sunsets will be released here in the States via the Domino record label on September 22.

I've posted the video below, and I challenge anyone to watch it without letting a nice, lazy grin completely overtake your face.

And then tell me about some of your favorite songs that bring a certain season to mind.

New Music from A Sunny Day in Glasgow

A Sunny Day in Glasgow's second full length Ashes Grammar is set to be released by the label Mis Ojos Discos on September 15th. You can pre-order the ultra-limited, colored vinyl, double LP (or the CD ) here. I strongly recommend that you do.

I've been in something of a holding pattern with this record since it came in to my possession a few weeks ago. Most of my time these days is spent between searching for songs new and old that satisfy my addiction to catchy/straightforward pop, and re-learning how to have a genuine appreciation for certain types of straightforward rock and roll. A deepening love for soul sounds from various points scattered around the globe, and continuing to learn how to have a genuine appreciation for reggae take up most of the rest of my listening time. Still, there is a lot to be said for artists who are able to bypass those things completely (perhaps by slyly using certain elements of all of them), and create something of an alternate sonic universe that has the ability to pull a listener into it's fold, and keep that listener there until it's conclusion has been reached. This is exactly what A Sunny Day in Glasgow have done with Ashes Grammar. The songs have been expertly constructed to ensure that each one unfolds from or into each song that it follows or proceeds. Expert mixing further contributes to the likelihood that one might find oneself rather lost (in a good way) within the confines of this dreamy aural landscape. Most of the lyrics are somewhat inconsequential, instead the voices, and the words or sounds that they sing seem to be more another element in a larger overall construction of sound.

And true to the the records ability to draw you in so completely, coming out of the record is like gradually waking up after a very deep sleep. The type of waking up that tends to take until some time late in the morning (or even the afternoon) to fully occur. And yet, there are several songs on the record that can just as easily be taken out of context, and blended into another song belonging to almost any genre.

The Drums

I love the composite sketches of songs that stay with me after a radio show. When my mind runs the "Boy girl revolutionaries... YOU AND ME!" segment from "Her Jazz" over and over on a loop until it suddenly somewhat (but somewhat not) inexplicably fades into the chorus of the Magic Bullets song "The Upstairs Flight," and then the whistled intro to the Drums "Let's Go Surfing."

Oh the Drums.

I saw them play at NYC Popfest. I didn't have the best view as Cake Shop is not configured to offer the best view to those not immediately in front. The sound was quite good though, and from what I heard I knew that the Drums were something special. It's just that... they played late Sunday afternoon. I'm fairly certain it was before I went to find my first meal of the day, and I'm also fairly certain that I was still anxiously wondering whether or not someone that I used to know a lot better than I do now was going to walk through the door at any minute. I did not give the Drums the level of my attention that they deserved. This sub par level of attention was in fact so severe that despite several friends referring to them as a highlight over the next few days, somewhere in the ensuing haze that took over my memories of both New York and San Francisco Popfests the Drums were lost completely. It wasn't until checking my Radio Free Silver Lake email account last week that they were rightfully pushed into the front of my mind. There were plenty of quotes in this email from various blogs citing them as a major Popfest highlight of course, and the memories started flooding back. However, it was a different quote in the email, this one from the band itself that really grabbed my attention:

"We just wanted to start a band that sounded like The Wake." say The Drums, "We heard their song 'Pale Spectre' and went crazy! Maybe our music didn't turn out sounding too much like The Wake but we're really just like everybody else, chasing that perfect pop song. And that's not so bad right?"

I think I stopped just short of smacking myself on the forehead with the palm of my hand like people do in sitcoms. Brian told me about this band a few Hungry Beat!'s ago, only he thought that the Wake song they were inspired by was "Crush the Flowers." I do remember really wanting to hear any band that formed because they wanted to sound like the Wake. Their influence is definitely apparent, but that influence does somehow filter out into a sound that sounds rather current and exciting. They are releasing their Summertime E.P. on September 15th through the New York based Twenty Seven Records label, but you can pre-order it from Insound. Insound says the release date is August 4th so I suppose that if it shows up sometime that week, it's just an added bonus. Not too mention a whole extra month of the summer to enjoy an E.P. with the title of Summertime.

St. Christopher

I can't remember if they played "All of a Tremble," at either St. Christopher show that I experienced this past weekend. It's the song that I've been most consumed by since purchasing the CD collection of all of the singles from the Sarah years at the show, but I just can't remember if we heard it at either show. I feel like we must have, but I just can't be sure. I know that we heard "You Deserve More Than a Maybe," at both shows. Yvonne was finally able to encourage a small group of us to dance to that one in the awkward (and curiously underpopulated room) in Ventura, and we danced again at the reassuringly fuller Echo the next night. I stood still during "Say Yes to Everything" in Ventura, even though that single is the only St. Christopher single that I've ever owned, and one of my absolute favorite songs to soundtrack any dance party. The stillness was made up for the next night at the Echo when I apologized to Mary for the spoiler, but continued on in telling her that the next song was going to be "Say Yes to Everything," and that we were going to have to dance. We did, and were eventually able to draft Yvonne, and perhaps even John and Eric into dancing with us as well.

This is all presented as a way to examine the idea of what it really is that constitutes a great show. Does one have to recognize every song? Because I didn't, I vaguely recognized more than I thought that I would, but I did thoroughly enjoy pretty much every song that I heard nonetheless. And must each song have to contain every element from the recorded version? This is a particularly important point to address it seems, when you are dealing with songs that have meant so much to so many over the years. As it turns out, the songs can still sound pretty great with simply drums, bass, guitar, and vocals. Glenn's voice was in top form, and his excellent lyrics did come across. The lack of timpani in "Say Yes to Everything" was jarring, sure, as was the absence of the intricate keyboard on "Antoinette." That last one was according to Yvonne, of course, although having heard the song now I know what she means. Still hearing it played live at all was so lovely, and the way they bled it into it's B-side "Salvation" was just cool. Watching Brian having what looked to be amazing fun with these bass lines that he'd only learned a week before, and only had the occasion to practice with the band for seven hours on the previous Friday was undeniably cool as well. And Jesse's comment that in Ventura it looked like Michael Jackson was playing bass for St. Christopher because of Brian's small white hand cast that was the last remainder of a recent bike injury just added another level of surreality to the whole thing. And St. Christopher will now perpetually remain in my mind, "The band that played two of my favorite shows during one of the most fun weekends of my life."


You can (and should) pick up a copy of the St. Christopher compilation Lost at Sea: The Sarah Recordings right here.

Sky Saxon

He died Thursday as well, as I'm sure that most of you who are reading this already know. I've never heard any of his solo material, and I'm not exorbitantly familiar with the Seeds save for a few songs. I haven't listened to the Seeds in at least a year and a half. Still, the news of his death made me a bit sad. He was a very talented Los Angeles based artist, and I had really hoped to see a live performance from the Seeds one of these days. Anyway, I really don't much to offer in the way of a comment. I just thought that it deserved a mention. I heard "Pushing Too Hard" twice this weekend at dance nights, and it was greeted with a mild response of gratitude. Hearing Michael Jackson on Friday night garnered serious cheering. Although, when a DJ played "Rock With You" on Saturday night one of our friends came up with an impromtu "Sky Jaxon" mash-up by singing "Pushing Too Hard" over the Michael Jackson song. It seems that the entire group of friends I was with determined this to be an extraordinary display of splitting the difference.

Oh, and Sky Saxon was also name checked in the classic Pooh Sticks song, "On Tape." You really can't get much cooler than that, now can you?

Listening Too Long to One Song: Pocketbooks "Footsteps"

How is it that certain songs can be so sincere, and so convincing that they not only change your general mood, but almost make you believe that whatever is detailed within the song is absolutely possible no matter how implausible the concept? I've had to stop myself several times to give this some serious thought. Do I believe that there is anyone out there whose footsteps I could imagine in perfect sync with mine, forever? Absolutely not. Do I believe that it's possible when the Pocketbooks sing about it? Absolutely.

The song is like a perfectly crafted miniature film in that regard. The type whereupon going in you know that suspension of disbelief will be inevitable, but you just don't care because the story unfolds in such a way that you're simply thrilled to escape into it for it's entire duration. Surely you can imagine how that precise concept just gets better when compressed into a perfect, three and a half minute, "feel good hit of the summer" ready pop song. The cheery keyboard line, and tambourine punctuate this sweet love story flawlessly. The melodica solo that emerges halfway through to play over the aforementioned through line is a pleasant surprise until you realize that of course this song would be somewhat incomplete without such a thing. It would be no less good without it, but it's the little details like that one that elevate this single from great song, to amazing song.

The single is available as a free download from the band's Myspace page, but I would also strongly urge you to pick up a copy of the full length, Flight Paths, to which it belongs. The CD will not be officially released until July 13, but the How Does it Feel to be Loved Record Label is selling advance copies here. I've had mine for about a week now, and it's already shaping up to be the official soundtrack to a good portion of my summer.

With the Clip of an I.V. Drip

I've had the most recent EP from Swedish band Suburban Kids With Biblical Names in my posession for just under a week and a half now. I'm fairly certain that within that relatively short time span I've listened to the for songs contained on that EP more than I've listened to anything else all year. There is even a pretty good chance that I've listened to each one of these songs more times than probably half of the songs that were on my top twenty list from last year.

While I was driving to work the other day (listening to #4 for what was probably the 75th time) my mind began to wander, and it was to my horror that I could no longer remember any of the words to the song that Suburban Kids With Biblical Names took their band name from. The song is "People," and the band that wrote that song is Silver Jews, and when I discovered SKWBN I was probably most inclined to listen to them based on that title. I'm pretty certain that the obsession with American Water (the album that contains that song) that I was coincidentally so deep into at the time of the American release of the SKWBN record that put them on my radar was actually due to repeat listens to "People," and then letting the brilliance of the rest of the record inevitably unfold around me. Needless to say, I used to know every word of that song. When I tried to remember this past Friday I could not get any further than "Moments can be monuments to you." I've pieced together most of the song from memory (which was way more fun than reading the lyrics online), and once I have my computer back then I will likely be spending a few days with American Water, and absolutely nothing else on my headphones. In the meantime, it's given me a nice topic to explore for my next "Not Quite Punk" column on Web in Front.

I'll also be typing many more glowing words of praise about Suburban Kids With Biblical Names when I finally publish my top ten highlights from New York and San Francisco Popfests. They were my number one highlight at both festivals. For now though, I really just wanted an excuse to share this video for one of the songs on the new EP, "Europa." I do greatly wish that there was a video for "1999" which in my mind is THE dance party single for the summer of 2009. Whether or not the rest of the world catches on sadly remains to be seen. "Europa" is quite interesting though. It's probably the most melodic, and reflective song on the EP, and it contains one of my favorite examples of word play to date: "You said that you wanted some more bass and drum machine in your mon-i-tor (No money, no tour...)" And it's lines like that make me realize that while sonically they are in quite a different part of the pop music spectrum than the space within that spectrum that's inhabitted by Silver Jews, David Berman's dry wit has likely had more of an influence on this band than merely their name.



It appears that you can (and should) purchase the #4 EP as an MP3 download here.

You'd also be smart to pick up a copy of the band's sole full length #3 if you don't already own that record. You can do that here

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Europa from Bo Mikael Hall on Vimeo.