Palebear Archives

Category : Shoegaze

Arctic Sleep
Mare Vaporum

Back in the day, KXLU used to occasionally play this insane, minimalist song by a band called Slug that consisted of a single sludgy distorted chord being played over and over some standard Velvet Underground drumbeat for about 15 minutes with no vocals. For some reason, instead of switching the radio station, I’d sit there mesmerized in the car while the beat quite literally went on.

Arctic Sleep ain’t exactly like that, but there are moments when I thought they were similar. Likewise, their EP Mare Vaporum wasn’t exactly the music I’d listen to everyday but held me oddly captivated. The music is extremely distorted space rock / shoe-gaze, but there are different stylistic and melodic elements here that make it stand out. It’s sort of like Pedro the Lion or early Sebadoh being played by Flying Saucer Attack. The deep ocean distortion doesn’t flay you alive, but instead caresses you with kindness. There’s another band who I saw a few times that they sort of remind me of called Ativin. The 5 atmospheric tracks on the EP have really made for some lovely listening in this sweltering heat of late - turn on the A.C., and turn up the Arctic Sleep.

Visit:
Arctic Sleep on Myspace

by Palebear | No Comments

Band of Horses
Cease To Begin

So how’s the new Band of Horses album Cease To Begin? Hm… here’s the thing. Band of Horses released Everything All The Time to a immense landslide of public acclaim, and it similarly blew my socks off from the moment I first heard it. There were the insta-hits “The Great Salt Lake” and “The Funeral” and nearly every other song on the album went into me like a shimmering tornado.

In other words, it was beautiful and try as I might, I couldn’t stop expecting something similar to happen with Cease to Begin. I think reviewing music, even as a part-time thing, tends to instill a bit of the jaded cynic in you. I expected rapid-fire, enthusiastic enjoyment immediately. I mean, I’m thrown so much music at once that it’s difficult to remember that some bands or albums take a little more time than others.

The thing is that there’s just no time - if I gave every band the time that I’m willing to give Band of Horses then I would be reviewing music 24 hours a day. And we all know where that leads…

Anyhow. Structurally, the music is intact - sweeping, dreamy and poignant rock. James Mercer meets My Morning Jacket meets Doug Martsch is still an apt comparison. Early on, the standouts for me were “Is There A Ghost”, “No Ones Gonna Love You”, and “Detlef Schrempf”. It’s not that the other songs are bad - I think they’re just going to need a little more time to percolate through my music-weary system. I also feel like this album seems a little too short - 10 songs clocking in at under 35 minutes.

But do I recommend it? Wholeheartedly. Beards and all.

Listen:
Is There A Ghost

On Itunes:
Everything All The Time (on Subpop)

Watch:
The Great Salt Lake (video)
The Funeral (video)

Visit:
Band of Horses website
Subpop website

by Palebear | No Comments

Celestial
Dream On

I keep messing up on Skipping Stones Records releases… for some reason we have reviewed very few of their albums, even though the majority are awesome releases. (I know we’ve missed talking about Dyrdin and The Charade, two great bands that they released stuff by). They’ve all spent some time on repeat in the playlist. So finally, here is one of their newest releases - Celestial’s “Dream On”.

It could be just coincidence, but this is another Swedish artist - Andreas Hagman is the brains behind this band. And you know how we like the Swedes. I don’t think it’d be going out on a limb to say that this album of great pop songs reminds me very much of The Field Mice, TBS, Galaxie 500, and East River Pipe… that’s for starters. Great swaths of dreamy pop melodies and reverbed, jangly electric guitars. The songs seem to neatly bridge the gap between shoegaze and twee - like a lot of the Sarah records which are said to be somewhat of an influence in the press bio.

There’s also a strange jangly undercurrent which reminds me of early REM at times. That feel doesn’t come up that often, but it’s there. Even after repeated listens, no one song on the album stands out as the best for me - all of them are keepers. If you liked your old school indie pop thick and dreamy, then you’ll like this album.

Listen:
Celestial on MySpace

Visit:
Celestial website
Skipping Stones Records website

by Palebear | 1 Comment

Charmparticles
A/O

Some beautiful atmospheric music from a band called Charmparticles bubbled up to the surface on Soma the other day. The song they played was called “A/O”. I immediately went to check the website to see what samples they had.

This quartet hails from Portland, Oregon and specializes in the reverb driven, billowing type of rock that makes me think of newer bands like Doves and The Delgados as well as pleasantly reminding me of older ones like MBV, Autumns, and The Church.

Continue reading “Charmparticles - A/O” …

by Palebear | Comments Off

Citified
The Meeting After The Meeting

Lately, I have been really digging the album from Citified. Listening to “The Meeting After The Meeting” is like being in a shoegazer timewarp. Definitely channeling some good old Cure, Echo and the Bunnyman and The Church, this is one the best albums I’ve heard lately in this genre. Hey, the neu 80s are back with a vengeance so it’s no surprise that bands that sound like this are popping up left and right. Still, I think Citified does it really well - they get in a few more modern music knocks as well - I hear some Autumns in the mix, Mark Kozelek, maybe some Kingsbury Manx (interesting that the album was engineered by Jerry Kee). Swirling and nostalgically beautiful, this album is definitely a keeper.

Visit:
Citified Myspace
Eskimo Kiss website

by Palebear | No Comments

Citizens Here And Abroad
Appearances

After hearing several tracks from Citizens Here And Abroad off of internet radio, I decided to write them up here. The group’s debut album is called Ghosts Of Tables And Chairs and the track I heard off the radio was Appearances.

The group mixes dream rock urgency with more playful indie rock along the lines of Rilo Kiley. I get good doses of Kim Deal coming through the speakers as well. I especially liked the guitar lines which are mostly clean repeated notes and the stepup in energy of the chorus which swims with delicious distortion.

Continue reading “Citizens Here And Abroad - Appearances” …

by Tyranosaur | Comments Off

Cyanotype
Versus The World

The Shmat can’t quite decide if Cyanotype reminds him more of the Swirlies or of My Bloody Valentine or Yo La Tengo. Or all three mixed together in a blender-o-matic. Cyanotype is actually a pen name for Isaac Bear (which in itself sounds almost like a pen name).

Bear’s singing is somewhat monotonic, but that really seems to fit the music. His voice is at times similar to Lou Reed. The Shmat is not sure if that is a compliment, but he thinks it should be.

Continue reading “Cyanotype - Versus The World” …

by Shmat | Comments Off

Frankel
Chatterbox

I nearly missed talking about the great Frankel EP out on Three Ring Records. I got this album late last year and had been listening to it for quite awhile. But the disc started to skip on me a bit so I got distracted and accidentally filed it away in the “done” pile.

Anyhow, when I found it the other day and put it on, I was reminded of the very first thing that I noticed on listening to the first track “Pass Out”. There is a “phone-off-the-hook” noise in the beginning of the song that ALWAYS gets me to look at my phone to see if I’ve left it off the cradle. This happened to me no less than 3 times. Funny how something like that sound is so universal that it affects everyone the same way.

Now, I was going to segue that thought into something about how this album is “universal” and “timeless” but I can’t quite seem to find the right transitions. Well, I DO think that a lot of people who dig quieter and mellow pop in the vein of Elliott Smith and Pedro the Lion will definitely like this album. Frankel mixes mostly quiet acoustic guitar with wonderful folk melodies, but there is an orchestration that reminds you of Smith and maybe also Wilco or Lambchop.

That first track as well as the next one,”Don’t Leave”, definitely does remind you of Elliott Smith filtered through The Field Mice and Tahiti 80.

“The Antidote” is my favorite track and sort of sounds like Ken Stringfellow singing on a Fountains of Wayne song. There’s that buzzy middle keyboard section in here that picks the mood up a bit and makes everything more bouncy. “Method Actor” starts off with much stranger background music, like one of the Sparklehorse B-Sides songs merged with an Air song.

“The Great Unknown”, while a bit cliched in its evoking of a”Kashmir-like” feeling in the strings at the beginning of the track, actually reminds me a lot of a Bill Santen track at times. “All Satellites” starts out as a dreamy quiet tune but quickly makes its shoegazing powers known with a requisite dreamy and droning guitar. This is just a 6 song EP, but the initial taste test is definitely a positive one. Looking forward to hearing any of Frankel’s new stuff…

Albums on Itunes

Chatterbox EP

Artist Website:

www.frankelmusic.com

by Palebear | Comments Off

Ghost of the Russian Empire
With Fiercest Demolition

This is a stunning debut EP that immediately made me sit up and take notice. Your gut reaction may be to peg Ghost of the Russian Empire as a federation of Muscovites who love playing Radiohead-influenced music. Instead, the quartet hails from the “frigid tundra of central Texas” and I’d say that their music reminds me more of several 80s shoegazer bands like MBV, Ride, and Lush with vocals that sound like Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart. Doves and The Delgados might be other touchpoint comparisons.

Certain songs like “Nov 2070″ have the sort of thumping darkness and distant chill that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and the Dandy Warhols love to traffic in. There is a deep enveloping haze that permeates their music, with a driving beat behind all of it. A futuristic indie-rock soundtrack to Philip K. Dick or William Gibson. This is much better than many of the Interpol-ish bands coming out of England and Europe.

Ok, I have to admit that “Psychomedicated” DOES remind me an awful lot of Thom Yorke. But I’ll take this kind of homage any day of the week over bands that just copy Radiohead outright. “With Fiercest Demolition” is a delicious EP filled with great, swirling songs that you shouldn’t miss listening to.

Band Members:
Mike Plata - drums, percussion
Ruben Anchondo - guitar/bass
Jason Pike - guitar/bass
Brandon Whitten - guitar/vocal

Band Website:

www.ghostoftherussianempire.com

by Palebear | Comments Off

Map
Think Like An Owner

I’ve got quite a few CDs by the band Map, including 2 EPs “Secrets of the Highway” and “Eastern Skies, Western Eyes” and this full length album “Think Like an Owner”. I always sort of pegged them as shoegaze, but this album seems to feel quite a bit different. There’s a bit of retro 80s feel to the songs and many of the tracks appear darker in tone.

Josh Dooley leads the quartet Map with his slightly angular harmonies. The musicians are excellent at attaining a dreamy blend of slightly distorted guitar and splashy drums. But the slower songs on the album (like “Girl”) are surprisingly tender and show the band is capable of slower poppy stuff too.

Continue reading “Map - Think Like An Owner” …

by Bryan | Comments Off

Minipop
A New Hope

So I magically came across this band called Minipop - or to put it more accurately I was sent their CD. Quite delicious, girl-fronted, heavy dreampop for your listening pleasure. I thought I’d heard of them somewhere before but I’m not sure. There’s just so many band names floating around in my head these days. The gal singing sounds a little familiar - I just can’t place it, a little like Dolores O’Riordan - NOT. No, not like that. Scratch that thought permanently from your head. Maybe more like The Devics?

Music-wise, anything from Autumns to Map to Delgados would be a good enough guess. I sorta feel like they’ve got a mainstream-ish thing going - not necessarily a bad thing, but the songs are pretty polished and well produced. Some big fat delicious distortionverb going on all over the place. I like this stuff… oh unfortunately at press time, they are redesigning your site. So you’ll have to be content w/ their MyDisgrace page…

Listen:
On Myspace

Visit:
Band website

by Palebear | No Comments

Monarch
If Children

I’m going to start off this review by saying that I almost NEVER agree to receive a CD when a particular band emails me to tell me about their latest and greatest. Here is the reason why - unwanted obligation. I know I’m never obligated to write a review from a submission (well, tell that to the bands that call my phone number at home…), but for solicited CDs, I just feel obligated to do it. And since it takes me a long, long, long (long) time to write these things up, I feel bad about it. It’s even worse for “friend” bands, those that I don’t like. So long ago, I learned that the least contact possible is the best.

Well, I made an exception for Monarch because I listened to their songs and just knew that I had to get the CD. It doesn’t hurt that they’re from the Baltimore area (AGAIN) - lately I’ve been noticing that a lot of music coming from that region is right up my alley. In any case, their new album “If Children” (yes, the one that I agreed to receive in the mail) is pretty fantastic. It’s going to be very hard to put a finger on the style of music they play, but if you really had to push me for it, it’s a delicious combination of folksy pop and late 90s shoegaze tendencies. Like a handful of surprising nuts from a peculiar trail mix, but what a handful it is.

Oh, one other thing. This is the duo of Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner but you can’t tell it from the music. It sounds great, and quite full at times. The overall mood and structural tendencies remind me of anyone from Viva Voce, Matt Pond PA, Cat Power, Radar Bros. and Rilo Kiley. I could go on and on naming bands. Great mix of dynamics and musical moments on the CD.

But anyway, a big apology to them for not posting this for several months. They deserve your time, have a listen to the songs…

Listen:
Warning
Regret
Family Glue

Watch:
Monarch - Family Glue (Live @ Golden West Cafe)

Visit:
Monarch website

by Palebear | No Comments

I’ve been enjoying a few tracks from Oh! Custer lately… I’d meant to post about them after seeing them on another music blog months ago. (I keep wanting to call them “Oh! Custard”, no offense to the guys) Don’t know too much about the band except they are a Swedish duo who play some great melodic shoegazey songs. Reminds me a little bit of East River Pipe plus Galaxie 500, with Peter Bjorn and John singing. There’s a bit of a lo-fi twee thing going on in the background, but the chords are very dreamy sounding. The two songs listed below are from their EP “Leaves”, but I think they have another EP that’s coming out soon (or already out?) called “States”.

Listen:
Keep It Coming
Spoiler

Visit:
Oh! Custer website
Oh! Custer Myspace

by Palebear | 1 Comment

I recently came across the music of Pony Boy, a California Bay Area band who play some fantastic mellow indie pop. The track I heard off Soma FM was “3-Day Heat Wave” which piqued my interest enough to check out their website. Say, isn’t “Pony Boy” from the “Outsiders”…

I had originally thought that all their music might be like the song 3 Day Heat Wave which mixes mid-tempo indie pop guitar arpeggios with random chatter in the background (some of which sounds like a San Jose radio or TV station). It is remarkable how some of the lead guitar work really reminds me of Merge bands like Spent or Seam. I had forgotten how that type of guitar works so well in indie pop.

Continue reading “Pony Boy - Apartment” …

by Bryan | Comments Off

Red House Painters
Cabezon

A few days ago, I was idly listening to the news on TV when I heard a song for a Target Commercial and looked up immediately. Again, I thought maybe someone left the CD player on because it was the intro Red House Painters song Cabezon from the album Ocean Beach.

Not only was I impressed because Ocean Beach is one of my favorite RHP albums, but it’s pretty cool that Target chose this song for two reasons. The first - it’s from one of their older albums (originally 1995, re-released in 1999?), and second - even though it is the first track on the album (so marketing probably was just demoing a bunch of different older indie albums to glean some tracks, and they got lucky because this perfect song for their commerical was the first one) it’s NOT a hit single. In fact it’s an instrumental, so the only way you might have known that was if you had the album (or cheated and visited their site).

Continue reading “Red House Painters - Target Commercial” …

by Bryan | Comments Off

Sea Ray
Revelry

I have the unfortunate habit of getting into a band right when they are either on a bit of a hiatus or right after they have broken up (like Masters of The Hemisphere, godamnit). When I went to the Sea Ray website it looked like they’d called it quits last year. Too bad, because I really liked that track Revelry off of their album Stars At Noon that I think was released back in 2003. Dreamy, melodic rock punctuated by cello and Farfisa(?) organ and propelled with driving force by excellent drums. The band started up in 1997 and there were six members: Anne Brewster (cello), Colin Brooks (drums), I-Huei Go (bass), Jeff Sheinkopf (keyboards), Jordan Warner (vocals, guitar), and Greg Zinman (guitar). I think I’ve actually heard this band’s name before bandied about at some show before, though I’d never heard their music until now. They’ve shared the stage with a HUGE number of indie luminaries.

Continue reading “Sea Ray - Revelry” …

by Tyranosaur | Comments Off

Silversun Pickups
Carnavas

The Pickups put out their latest album Carnavas more than a month ago, but I’d actually received it when it was still titled “Title TBA”. As in to be announced - just goes to show how far we are behind again.

Having finally absorbed some of their CD finally, I can say it’s one of my favorite “noisy” albums this summer. By noisy, I’m saying it falls into the range of MBV and The Swirlies though it’s often more structured. You should probably start out with the second song “Well Thought Out Twinkles” which has some great riffs accompanied by great doses of crunchy distortion and Brian Aubert’s saw blade vocals chopping through the mix.

His voice may take some getting used to - he has a higher raspy delivery, like Smashing Pumpkins plus a band from long ago, For Squirrels. Maybe a bit of Matt Suggs’s Butterglory days or Mac from Superchunk thrown in there.

There is a definite quirky and spacey feel to more than a few of the tracks - it’s not typical rock. Fans of basement experimentalists will probably like this. There’s a sludgy heaviness to the songs as well (like a 90s Seattle feel), enough on a few tracks to make your teeth rattle. The album is pretty well produced, however, so don’t expect any lo-fi comparisons. One cool thing - I just found out they’ll be touring with one of my favorite duos, Viva Voce.

Selected Albums on Itunes:

Carnavas
Pikul

Band Website:

www.silversunpickups.com/

by Palebear | Comments Off

Spraydog
Karate Summer Camp

I rather like this album we got in from Spraydog the other day. The band hails from Newcastle upon Tyne but there are some connections to the U.S. (they released off the familiar Kittridge label earlier). Really soaring and powerful indie rock songs on the album - there’s that definite hint of off-kilter guitar chords that will lead you down the path of Sonic Youth. The simultaneous boy-girl vocals, however, remind me of indie pop bands like Butterglory or Imperial Teen but with a definite rock edge. Listening to them is like being in a bit of a timewarp back to the early 90s, when this type of sound ruled the indie roost. But this is definitely my type of sound - immediate, shoegazey, a bit noisy and with great melodies.

Listen:
Spraydog Myspace

Visit:
Spraydog website

by Palebear | No Comments

The Invisible Cities
Watertown

I keep hearing awesome songs from The Invisible Cities on SomaFM; this must be the 10th time or something a song of theirs has come on, not that I’m complaining. They often play this slow and majestic type of indie pop tinged with shoegaze and beautiful vocals. The instrumentation on the slower songs remind me of the empty skyshimmer of Idaho and old Red House Painters, while the faster indie pop sounds a bit like That Dog, Pixies or the criminally overlooked Star Ghost Dog. What’s nice about The Invisible Cities is they are able to transcend that single genre tag on their album pretty easily (though I might have tagged them as shoegaze from a few selected tracks if I hadn’t went and listened to some of the others).

The track I hear the most is “Synaptic Gap” from their debut full-length album Watertown an amazing dreamy piece that features Sadie’s vocals drawn out like sheets flapping in the breeze.

Continue reading “The Invisible Cities - Watertown” …

by Palebear | Comments Off

The Jim Yoshii Pileup
Silver Sparkler

If, like me, the first thing you wonder about The Jim Yoshii Pileup is how come they have that name when none of them is named Jim Yoshii (or let alone Jim) then prepare NOT to find the answer out here. I’ll just stick with figuring out the music thank you very much.

I’ve known about this band for a little while, I think I first heard them on Soma FM. They play their own brand of slightly mutated indie rock. I thought I actually remembered some of their other tracks being more experimental as far as atmospherics go. So I was a bit surprised that the track made available for download off their new album Picks Us Apart is actually quite smooth and and much more straighforward indie rock. It’s also damn catchy.

Continue reading “The Jim Yoshii Pileup - Silver Sparkler” …

by Tyranosaur | Comments Off

The New Year
Disease

Hm… so this is the new year. And to bite a DCFC lyric or two… I don’t feel any different.

Well, maybe a bit different. I feel like writing about music more now that the CRAZY REVIEWING MONKEY PRESSURE is off my back…

Back to talking about the new year. I somehow or another missed getting any CDs from the band The New Year which is amazing since I was a huge fan of Bedhead and saw them in shows many times (believe they opened for Yo La Tengo, or was it Red House Painters at the Alligator Lounge). After 1998 when they split up, I just somehow lost interest.

The Kadane Bros. new outfit isn’t such a new outfit after all, but it’s new enough for me. And if you’re expecting something other than the extremely dynamic, slowcore moody music that Bedhead was known for, prepare for disappointment. I love their new stuff, however. Same tinge of darkness, same emotion (before “emo” was something to cringe about).

The latest album they put out was in 2004 and is called “The End Is Near” which isn’t a very auspicious title for a band called The New Year. Anyway, the song I heard from them that I liked was called Disease and you can watch the video for it on the Touch and Go site.

by Palebear | No Comments

The One AM Radio
This Too Will Pass

I am not quite sure what is going on, but lately I’ve been getting a ton of great music in the mail. I’m only surprised because 2006 was a year of so many bad or mediocre albums that found their way to our door. It’s sorta weird - the minute I decided to hell with being an “official” review blog, everything started to work out.

Well, I also DO have a soft spot for most of the stuff off Dangerbird too (hooray for SS Pickups). But for some reason I’d never heard of The One AM Radio before. This is the musical project of Hrishikesh Hirway who combines beautiful hushed vocals with extremely smooth and muted beats in his songs. It’s the kind of semi-electronica I can dig - a la Tristeza and Postal Service.

Hirway’s voice exudes unbelievable calm and it meshes with the songs amazingly well. I’d say that on more than a few levels he does remind me a bit of Jose Gonzalez or Kings of Convenience. I think he also might give N. Lannon a run for his money. But more than a few tracks like “Cast Away” and “You Can Still Run” have a Mark Kozelek feel to them - folk-drone shoegaze, or something in between.

Other songs like “Coming Back” and “A Brittle Filament” are almost orchestral or movie-like in feel. Trumpets, violins, upright bass are sprinkled throughout the album liberally among the beats. Interestingly enough, Pontiac did use one of his older tracks (”What You Gave Away”) in a commercial.

His latest album is called This Too Will Pass and I have to say that I didn’t need any convincing - I was into it right away, but then again this kind of music is right up my alley. Very evocative stuff…

Listen:

In The Time We’ve Got
Untied
Flicker

Watch:

Video for the song “Witness”

Visit:

The One AM Radio website
The One AM Radio on Myspace

by Palebear | No Comments

The Sems
Any Day Ago

Even though The Sems are essentially just the one man act Pete Bogolub with friends, their CD “Any Day Ago” has been a frequent flyer in my Itunes list “To Review” playlist. Since about January in fact. Dreamy and mellow, this is definitely pop music that has been carefully orchestrated and thought out.

Droning bass lines, minimal melody changeups, and great guitar soundscapes make up the bulk of the album which supposedly takes on influences from MBV and Jesus and Mary Chain. This is what I hear though - American Analog Set. The first two songs “A Lonely Place To Be” and “Leaving Is Easy” certainly contains all of the elements of that great band. There are a few vocal touches thrown in that go more in the direction of Stereolab/Broadcast.

The Sems also drift into the territory of such pro-instrumental bands as Scenic and The Sea and Cake, especially on tracks like “As Others Live” and “I Don’t Believe”. “The Last Noise”, however reminds me more of the DCFC song “405″. “Should I Stay” ventures into Field Mice territory.

Despite the overall mellowness of the album, there ARE hints of the louder bands mentioned in the bio (My Bloody Valentine and J&M Chain). But the similarities are more in general feel and perhaps some of the higher vocal harmonies. This is a much more mellow disc, which is fine with me. Great for driving around to.

Members:
Pete Bogolub

Albums on Itunes

Any Day Ago

Artist Website:

lunamusic.net/rechead/

by Tyranosaur | Comments Off

The Zephyrs
Bright Yellow Flowers...

I’ve been a fan of The Zephyrs for awhile now, having heard so many of their tracks on SomaFM. But I never got around visiting the website until recently.

The Scotland-based band creates dreamy soundscapes that range from Mojave 3 to Spirtualized to Low and Dirty Three.

They don’t have too many full songs for download but they do have a full length video for the song “So Called Beau” which mainly looks like pastiches from old home movies of waterfalls and the woods. The song I kept hearing on Soma was the beautiful slow-jam slide guitar driven “Galicia” which for some reason reminds me of a track off Beck’s Sea Change. Some really nice songs here for fans of shoegazey plus acoustic stuff.

Listen:

Lacuna Head (Live)
Galicia (Preview)
Dancing Shoes (Preview)

Watch:

So Called Beau

Visit:

The Zephyrs website

by Palebear | Comments Off

Yo La Tengo
Pass The Hatchet...

Almost forgot, there’s a new Yo La Tengo track from their upcoming long, long ass named album “I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass”. It’s up on the Matador site, I think for awhile now but I had forgotten to download it. The song is called “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”. Whew, if you are a fan of their 13 minute crazy distortion jams with James thumping away on the same bassline for what seems like hours on end (and yes, I am) you are going to like this one. Ira sings, when he’s not destroying the air with his ghee-tar. A lovely track, nearly as drone-rockin’ as old school Painful. Here ye go:

Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind - Yo La Tengo

by Bryan | Comments Off

Yo La Tengo
Our Way To Fall

A couple of years back you might have noticed a really cool PBS commercial “interstitial” that featured a girl waking up early in the morning and heading over to the family barn to shine a flashlight on a rooster to see if that would make it crow. The song featured in the commercial was of course, Yo La Tengo’s “Our Way To Fall” from their awesome CD And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out.

This was a part of a series of PBS promotionals that aired starting around 2000 (I think it’s called the “Stay Curious” campaign.) They still show some of these spots, including “Photo Booth” in which a guy takes tons of pictures of himself in an automatic photo booth singing the words to a Caruso song and then uses them as a sort of flip-book so that he can see himself sing along to the real music. But I haven’t heard the Yo La Tengo one for awhile now.

Continue reading “Yo La Tengo - PBS Commercial” …

by Palebear | 1 Comment