Make You Sing

Holy shit, does this one take me back to 1992 but in oh-so many good ways. Many people fail to remember that concurrent to the rise here in the States of Nirvana and grunge in general, many of the early 90s greatest guitar records came out from bands on the other side of the Atlantic.

Think about it: Ride’s Nowhere was released in 1990 and the following year, 1991, saw the release of the mighty Swervedriver’s Raise, My Bloody Valentine’s immortal Loveless, Chapterhouse’s Whirlpool and Breathless’ Between Happiness & Heartache as well as Kitchen of Distinction’s phenomenal Strange Free World.

Things got even better in 1992 when we got Catherine Wheel’s “best-album-of-the-year” Ferment along with the Pale Saints’ In Ribbons followed in 1993 by Adorable’s terrific Against Perfection as well as another “best-album-of-the-year” for Swervedriver’s Mezcal Head. And, without mentioning the House of Love’s self-titled Butterfly album, Slowdive’s Just For A Day as well as Spooky by Lush, these are really just the tip of the iceberg as far as the U.K. is concerned.

Anyways, Fresno, California’s Sleepover Disaster and their most recent album, Hover, share qualities with each and every one of the records listed above as well as some others not named. While many albums nowadays that contain the “shoegaze” moniker in their descriptions name check many of the artists listed above, more often than not the same melodies that wash over the listener found in those above records are completely absent from today’s band of shoegaze artists who opt for feedback for the sake of generating feedback.

And while the Sleepover Disaster are able to produce high-volume decibel levels that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any of the genre’s heaviest hitters, they never lose site of those warm melodies and choruses that make songs like Adorable’s "Sunshine Smile" or Swervedriver’s "Duel" as special as they truly are.

Anyone that is a fan of any one of these albums needs to own this record as it easily sits admirably, head-held-high, alongside any one of them. If I had taken the advice of my musical brethren over at the Big Takeover, who did and always have championed all of the acts named above, then this album easily would have made my Top 10 of 2009.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

The Sleepover Disaster – Funnel Cloud (mp3)

(from the Devil In The Woods CD, Hover, 2009)

C'mon, Lets Do The Method

Treading the same “postpunk/powerpop/messthetics” water as our friends over at Hyped2Death Records, Washington D.C.’s Acute Records released earlier last month the 1980-81 recorded output of Athens, GA’s much loved and underappreciated Method Actors whom some guy named Peter Buck states as “a kind of secret history of the Athens’ scene.” This Is Still It compiles the band’s early singles as well as selected tracks from their full-length double LP, Little Figures.

No amount of accolades could properly lay tribute to the amount of influence David Gamble and Vic Varney had on future bands who chose, and still choose, to present their music via the simplistic setting of a guitar and drum-kit only.

That being said, the thing that really gets me is just how powerful the Method Actors sounded with hook-after-hook-after-hook-laden songs consisting of staccato-style guitar playing the occasional slashes and drums that came off like a hurricane, no doubt due to the size of David Gamble (pictured above) who probably towered over any size drum-kit put in front of him. But the band also had a funky side not unlike anything Gang of Four did, whom the Method Actors would probably compare the closest to should one be looking for immediate comparisons.

Go here to listen to arguably the Method Actors’s greatest song, the herky-jerky twist of “Do The Method,” a song that was my only impression of the band for many years before finally receiving This Is Still It in the mail last week. Words alone cannot say how HIGHLY RECOMMENDED this compilation truly is!!!

(from the Acute Records CD, This Is Still It, 2010)

All I Ever Wanted To See...

I went and saw Echo & the Bunnymen last night here in Chicago and afterwards I walked away kinda wishing I hadn’t. What’s the saying, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me? This was the second time I’d seen them play since they reformed in the late 90s and this gig was only slightly better than the last time. And while I didn’t start this site to slag anyone off (a task I consider far easier than writing about how or why you actually love something), let’s just say that while I’ll never stop playing my Echo & The Bunnymen records, I don’t foresee continuing to hand over my hard-earned cash to a group who permeate a noticeable disinterest towards performing live.

Better to spend that aforementioned hard earned cash on another thirty-plus year old group, namely The Church who, on a spur-of-the-moment decision, I went and saw last week with probably the same crowd as last night’s Bunnymen gig. This show was not only 180 degrees different and better that last night’s lackluster one, but the band themselves seemed one-hundred percent genuinely thankful for their fans who have and did come out to see them play as part of their 30th Anniversary An Intimate Space tour.

This is a band who not only are making some of the most creative and innovative (not to mention gorgeous) atmospheric guitar music of their long career, but who are also doing exactly what they want to be doing both musically and professionally. And for those of you whose only familiarity with The Church come from either 1988’s Starfish or any of the other equally wonderful albums that preceded it, I charge you to go and listen to any of the records they’ve released since 1998’s Hologram of Baal right up to last years incredible Untitled #23. And while the mold isn’t necessarily be broken and made anew with any of these releases, what you do find is a band artistically reinvested after having spent most of the 90s unsure of both themselves and their craft.

The Church – Anchorage (mp3)

(from the eMusic download, Untitled #23, Second Motion Records, 2009)

Currently Making Me Swoon...

...is the electro-jangle pop of Here We Go Magic's "Collector," the first pre-release track from the band's upcoming second album, Pigeons, which will see the light of day on June 8th via a release from Secretly Canadian.

This is a terrific song that more than adequately channels the glorious weather Chicago is currently experiencing on this fine April Fool's Day. It's as if someone like the Feelies or the Bongos or Speed The Plough found themselves locked in a recording studio with, say, Kraftwerk or LCD Soundsystem. Much better than "Drunk Girls," the pre-release from the upcoming album from aforementioned blogger-favorites, LCD Soundsystem.

It's amazing how an album that wasn't really on one's radar can subsequently skyrocket to "much anticiapted" after hearing one song; I had this same reaction several weeks ago when listening to Broken Social Scene's awesome, "World Sick," which will show up on the band's upcoming Forgiveness Rock Record out May 4th.

Here We Go Magic - Collector (mp3)

(from the upcoming Secretly Canadian LP, Pigoens, 2010)