Nothing detailed to talk about today, so I’ll just give you a couple new songs that I’ve been playing a lot recently, and a couple old favorites.
Lightning Blue Eyes – Secret Machines
I’ve been listening a fair amount to their album Ten Silver Drops, which is officially released today. It is being compared to The Flaming Lips’ Mystics as both bands play a genre of music that is a large, spacy, and atmospheric form of post-prog rock. As one might guess from my review of Mystics, I don’t necessarily see this as a positive thing. Some of the same problems pop up on Ten Silver Drops: songs that drag on, amble a bit aimlessly, and are a little too self-satisfied. That said, there are a few songs I really enjoy, and Lightning Blue Eyes is one of them. At five and a half minutes, it’s hardly the most economical song, but here the length is not really a problem, since it provides an opportunity for multiple sections to unfold. Each component is tightly-woven and the ultimate result is an enjoyable epic feel.
The Pitchfork review had a quote which I really enjoyed: “The Secret Machines are never going to make it to “The O.C.” Their candyprog blitz– which combines Krautrock precision with U2-size melodies– is better suited to a show like “Battlestar Galactica”, with its Cylon battles and lost-in-space conspiracies, than to beach houses and young sunny romance.” Fair enough.
Other Days – Big Buildings
Amy over at Shake Your Fist had a link to this track a couple days ago and I quickly fell in love with it. She describes it as a “a gutwrencher, a good-bawl-in-your-beer of a melody.” I couldn’t say it better. It’s from their new album, which is apparently in very limited release. If the rest of it is anywhere close to as good as this song, I’m guessing it will end up pretty high on my year-end lists. Their myspace page is here.
Sleepy California – Her Space Holiday
When I was back home in Washington over Thanksgiving last year, my computer broke (a very traumatic experience), leaving me essentially without music until it was fixed. I made a stop at Sonic Boom Records (my favorite record store) to pick up a few CDs to tide me over. I don’t get much chance to just browse CDs these days (living in the middle of nowhere, New Hampshire), so I took the opportunity to buy a couple records based on staff recommendations. The description of The Young Machines by Her Space Holiday (“perfect music for a long nighttime drive”) piqued my interest and I gambled on it.
It won’t ever be one of my favorite albums, but there are some very good elements. It’s an album full of songs about broken relationships, messed up people, and their struggles to deal with those things. Musically, it occupies the space of electronic-melancholy. Pianos and keyboards are combined with electronic loops and drum beats to great effect. This song is one of the more “conventional” sounding songs on the album, and details the way you see things differently as you grow up. He re-evaluates his relationship with his mother, beginning to understand that the tensions and troubles between them may not be as meaningful as the love which hides beneath the troubles.
This comes to a head in the second verse, when he talks about a phone call he received telling him that his grandmother was dying. He laments that he failed to see her once last time before leaving town, since he realizes now that he’ll never get another chance. It’s a powerful feeling, when he concludes by half-singing, half-whispering: “But I just hope they know, how much I really care. How I want the best for them, even though I’m hardly there.”
Sleeping Aides and Razorblades – Exploding Hearts
Speaking of tragic deaths, one cannot discuss the Exploding Hearts without going into the backstory. Not long after releasing what could have been their breakthrough album Guitar Romantic, three of the members of the band died in a car accident. It’s an incredible shame. This song exemplifies the great music they were creating. It’s everything The Strokes were supposed to be an more: a garage pop-punk romp through a relationship gone bad (“You know the first night you left me babe, it was so hard / and it didn’t hurt you told all my friends I’m a retard / and you say you know what’s best for me / but if you got your way, I’d have a lobotomy”). It’s playful and exuberant, the kind of song that makes you want to get up and dance.