Category Archives: Animal Collective

Jul 08 0 comments
Animal Collective, Beach Boys, Belle And Sebastian, Grandaddy, Indie Music, Pedro The Lion, Rock/Pop, Throwing Muses

Summer Songs

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Here are some summer songs to chronicle the warm night on my back deck as I contemplate blogging, creating, and living under the bright sun.

Grandaddy: Summer Here Kids

Grandaddy’s take on summer is an understandable bristling against the commercialism of the boardwalks and beach spots, compelling us to stay at home and listen to our favorite records. OK, I can see that, to a point, but I do want to get out there with like-minded celebrators. While I’m home, though, it’s not a bad idea to put on some records…

Pedro The Lion: Indian Summer

Moving gently from the cyncial starting point, we begin with Pedro The Lion’s nod to “ultra-violet rays” spreading over a bleak, commercial suburbia bloated with “corporate cum.” The announcement that “it will never rain again” is classic indie-rock sardonicism. Well, whatever, I can’t really deny the truthfulness herein. But I’m still in search of some light-hearted fun…

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Belle & Sebastian: I Know Where The Summer Goes

Stuart Murdoch takes us into lighter territory, if not altogether fun, but he helps us reconcile the humid, laconic wistfulness with the unspoken hopes of triumph. “The boy came from nowhere to steal the hearts from lassies in the lavvies of the club tonight.” What could be a more satisfying Cinderella story than that?

Throwing Muses: Summer St.

Let me state right off that, as usual, I’m not entirely sure what Kristin Hersh is on about here, but the feeling is right. In the haze of summer, the body is lonesome, and yet not. This, I think, is a song of solitary, gentle hope. I will take the exhortation to “drink to the sun” literally.

Animal Collective: Summertime Clothes

Ah, this is getting closer. Sweat everywhere. Mosquitos too, probably. And then the call of a summer girl. “I want to walk around with you.” Yes, let’s.

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The Beach Boys: All Summer Long

Could I have ended this post with any other song? Absolutely not. It starts and ends with Brian Wilson’s majestic celebration.

Mar 05 1 comments
Akron/Family, Animal Collective, Indie Music, Soon Clyde

Soon Clyde

In the Great Unadulterated Outdoors

In the Great Unadulterated Outdoors

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting two young people that exhibited both the clarity and strength to hold an aesthetic opinion, and the humility to defer to another one. In short, my kind of people. Mary and Greg are their names.

We were all at the Ottobar tonight, having received the Surprise! email announcing a “secret” show by the media darlings Animal Collective. I knew the group was hyped, but even I was surprised by how quickly they sold out. With tickets being sold only in person, it is remarkable how quickly Indie nation mobilized this evening. I got there within 10 minutes of the announced time, but even so I got shut out. No tickets for you! I shed no tears, though, and I decided instead to take joy in my surroundings. I met a good number of amiable folks tonight, and had that many beers and then some. There was a mind-reading DJ who played the Pains of Being Pure at Heart only moments after I had thought about how much I’d like to hear them. There was a charming and attractive young woman who was studying sculpture and who gave me pleasant conversation but no name, only a number (#99, it was my loss; if you read this, email me … be seeing you). There were fellow cold-suffererers who stuck with the fools’ errand of standing in line after the first official cut-off (there were a few more, but the final one ended about 5 people in front of me).

When it was all over I went up for one last beer (which turned into three) and met Greg and Mary. They were more fortunate than me; they got tickets. That was thanks to Mary, who dragged Greg’s ass out early. That proved to me that being single isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and goes some way toward explaining why I am still ticketless. Anyway, it turns out we had a lot in common, including the whole music-making thing. We traded myspaces, and I’m listening to Greg’s as I type. (pause) … (another pause) …               I say!

It’s rather good. Lo-fi country swagger over a rambling, almost shambolic linear structure of starts, stops, and dissonant sparks. Wow. Lots of crazy stuff going on here. It’s almost an Akron/Family take on free jazz. A Kingsbury Manx with 10 ideas per track instead of two. Dark horses and flying fish. Stutters and stops. I truly like this.

I don’t download tracks off myspace, because it asks you to log in and I am too old and crotchety for that. But please click on the links to his site and listen for yourself. The group is called Soon Clyde.

Yikes! Check out the bits starting at 4:10 of the song “Sun Damage.” That sounds like weirdness I would try to pull off, were I that clever. Cheers Greg, and cheers Mary, and good luck with those hedges. If you get an extra 100K in the marketing budget, call me.

Feb 24 2 comments
Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes, Friends, Indie Music, The Annuals, The Apples In Stereo

For a Friend #004

“Brian” (not his real name) is a business contact in search of new music. He has a history of being in bands and chilling in dorm rooms and what not, but life’s path has led him down the more conventional route, where wives and kids lie, with mortgages and real stuff like that. Musos like me stay single. But Brian loves music all the same and I am happy if I can help enrich his life.

I have little to go on but I know Brian loves a good melody, a Beatle-ish (or better, Wilsonian) “hard” melody and a solid song structure (he like Fountains of Wayne). He also likes a tinge of Americana in the mix (he likes Wilco and R.E.M.). I would say the primary emotion driving Brian’s music would be glee, or better stated, just “feeling good.” He likes a little aggro, provided it’s couched in a glorious, giddy cacophony (he likes the ‘Mats and the Pixies). These are all things I like, and Brian is a blank slate these days, so this post was easy. (Gentle reader, please keep in mind Brian has not kept abreast of the deluge of indie buzz and nonsense that you so undoubtedly have been immersed in, so forgive us for treading the ad nauseum waters here, and hey, maybe we can both back up and listen with fresh ears.)

First, three songs from last year, one a critical landslide, one a sleeper, and one in between. Fleet Foxes topped almost every critic’s best-of list last year, and with good reason. It’s stunning stuff. The Annuals flew a bit more under the radar. No Age might give you some of the grit and gravel you’re looking for.

Fleet Foxes: Ragged Wood
The Annuals: Confessor
No Age: Teen Creeps

Then we have two songs from this year. First, a corker from an old stand-by, the Apples In Stereo. They’ve been around for years now but never misstep when it comes to a melody. Finally, there’s this year’s can’t-miss (the usual review reads “It can’t be as good as everyone says, but… it’s as good as everyone says.”), Animal Collective. I resisted at first, but then I got over myself.

The Apples In Stereo: Go
Animal Collective: Summertime Clothes