Palebear Archives

July, 2007

Beulah
Silver Lining

The Target Commercial indie music parade continues with the band Beulah, one of my all time E6 faves. I always get so distracted by the music that I forget what the actual commercial features… in this case, I just remember in the beginning it’s a teacher drawing a bunch of things in crayon or chalk on a wall that he then walks through as a classroom.

But anyhow, the important thing is that it’s them all right - the song being played is “Silver Lining” off The Coast Is Never Clear. It’s got the trademark trumpet indie pop lines, simple guitar groove and splashing drums that make them such a great band.

You know - the crazy thing is that earlier I’d heard an Apples In Stereo track for Target too, but I completely forgot about it until I heard the Beulah one! I’ll have to post about that one later…

by Palebear | No Comments

Eulogies
S/T

Man, before I begin: do NOT go about making the U.S. Post Office workers angry at you if you care about receiving your mail. I dunno what happened, but it turns out they were “holding up” all my incoming mail. I didn’t issue a hold on it or anything. They just didn’t want to give it to me!

So today, when I went in, some kind soul at the Post Office probably realized the error made and I was literally swamped with packages dating back two months ago. Not that I was complaining about having the flood of CDs reduced to a trickle lately - it’s been difficult with the shoulder/back injuries to do much computering and reviewering. But anyway, whew glad they finally decided to give me my mail. OK- back to the review:

I have to admit that I didn’t care so much for Peter Walker’s solo stuff. I’d gotten his Young Gravity CD earlier and just never got into it. The songs on that album seemed to have a lot of promise but just didn’t seem to grab me. I didn’t really feel the Wilco/Neil Young comparisons either.

However, Walker has a new band called Eulogies that DOES seem to add the missing musical puzzle pieces in the form of bandmates Chris Reynolds and Tim Hutton. With the addition of those guys, the songs sound nice and full and Walker’s voice nestles itself nicely into the music. At times, the songs remind me a little bit of labelmates Sea Wolf (minus the strings, of course).

Even though I know Walker is a sometimes folksy/mellow singer-songwriter, some of the best songs by Eulogies are the ones that have a driving beat like “Suicide” and “Under The Knife”. The bass on that latter song is pretty cool and reminds me of indie instrumental bands like El Ten Eleven and Scenic. Other tracks like the excellent “Can’t Relate” have hints of Grandaddy and Sparklehorse embedded deliciously in the mix. There is some serious goodness here - I’m going to have to go back and revisit Young Gravity just to make sure I wasn’t napping when that particular CD was dropped in my player.

Visit:
Eulogies website
Dangerbird

by Palebear | No Comments

Fionn Regan
The End Of History

Beautiful, clear fingerpicking is what originally drew me to Fionn Regan’s The End of History release. Added arrangements with strings and sparse, brushed drums kept me going starting with “Hunters Map”, a sort of spaghetti western style song meeting up with Iron and Wine. Great vocals and melodies rounded out the arrangements and continued throughout the album making this a very good folksy alt-country offering.

On tracks like “Hey Rabbit”, Fionn reminds me of James Booth a little bit - there’s a definite dramatic tinge in his voice. Other songs like “Put A Penny In The Slot” remind me of a super indie folk band I like called Ponies In The Surf. Overall, the songs are extremely strong, not watered down like some of the folk and country stuff that passes through the doors, and it’s been spending a considerable amount of time in the stereo over here. I think Fionn is Irish… this debut record is out on the Lost Highway label in the U.S, but on Bella Union elsewhere.

Listen:
Fionn Regan Myspace

On Itunes:
The End Of History

Watch:
Be Good or Be Gone

Visit:
Fionn Regan’s website

by Palebear | No Comments

Hey. Given the following “bands”, which would you be the most inclined not to end up clawing your eyes out from experiencing hideous auditory pain:

1. Pat Benatar
2. Kool & The Gang
3. John Kay & Steppenwolf
4. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
5. Teena Marie
6. KC & The Sunshine Band

I only ask because this is the “Plethora of Entertainment” lineup coming to my home town’s super spectacularrrr Summer Jubilee where they block off the street and have free, Yes, FREE ENTERTAINMENT hooray hooray break out the beery cowbell, every Saturday from July 7 to August 11. Ugh ugh ugh.

I guess, if you pointed a loaded banana at my head, I would vote for 4, 1, 2, 6, 3, 5 in that order. Or better yet, I’ll just have self-actuating crapola music earplugs installed in my head for when I roll anywhere near Main St.

Boy do I live in a shitty music town suburb.

Added: Ah, I forgot to mention another interesting thing about where I live - it just happens to be the city of residence of Phil Spector. In fact, the Pyrenees Castle is about 3-4 minutes away…

by Palebear | 5 Comments