John Vanderslice’s latest effort, Emerald City, works, and works well.
Nine songs that wander around at their own pace, and allow you to come along. Most of the songs breach our 3:30 mark of pop comfort, but you don’t seem to mind as all the hooks and melodies carry you through these venturous songs.
But how do they not get worn out? Just listen. You’ll see.
It does feel a little heavy on producing, which is fine as it would be quite the snooze without it. But hey, that’s probably why he’s so damn good at it. And not to mention the little story told throughout…
As Decided Upon By Zac Pennington & Matt Carlson From the Group Parenthetical Girls.
So Marke from forskinnysteve asked us to put together a mix of some kind to accompany our new record, Entanglements–which we took to mean a sort expository companion, designed presumably to allow some direct insight into our process of creative plagiarism. This was a process that proved especially sticky for us, given the record’s penchant for deliberate inter-musical and inter-textual quotation, but one that seemed like an interesting challenge.
What follows is more a calculated break of our collective poker face than a full-on tipping of the cards–one which is hopefully just as enjoyable on its own as it might be to the infinitesimal few who might care fuck-all about knowing what old pop song we’ve undoubtedly ripped off.
–Zac Pennington & Matt Carlson, Parenthetical Girls.
Bernard Hermann - Soundtrack to “Vertigo”
The arrangements of Bernard Hermann display a mastery of how the different instrumental families complement each other. Vertigo’s lush brass swells and arpeggios give me chills whenever I think of them.
“The All Golden” by Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle is, in one man’s opinion, the greatest pop record ever made. Unlike some people, however, we don’t have the kind of money or clout that buys the guy outright–so we just had to try to fake it ourselves.
“Get In The Swing” by Sparks
Sparks’ entire career is a seemingly endless font of inspiration, but the Indiscreet LP has always held the softest spot in my heart–an arrogantly ambitious record in a long line of arrogantly ambitious records. This particular selection is just dripping with some of Ronald’s best one-liners, but my favorite has to be this little diamond from verse one: “the night is younger than the girl who’s got the touch… but not by much”.
Bela Bartok - String Quartet #4
While never approaching this level of complexity, the energy of Bartok’s late quartets is something I aimed for at times.
“Just Drifting (For Caresse)” by Psychic TV A sucker for the art of context, I’ve really fallen in love with early Psychic TV’s playful juxtaposition of beautiful pop songs with the cloud of horror that generally surrounds everything Genesis P-Orridge touches.
“The September of My Years” by Frank Sinatra
Gordon Jenkins’ arrangements for Sinatra are an obvious enough touchstone–schmaltz-sick, wistful, surprisingly weird. This one’s played pretty straight relative to some, but is no less effective for it.
Charles Ives - Symphony No. 4, Central Park in the Dark, The Fourth of July, Concord Sonata, et al.
Ives was using free atonality and incorporating quotations from popular American brass-band songs back in 1905, and in doing so almost singlehandedly inaugurated the project of 20th century American experimental music.
“Charmaine” by Frank Nitzsche
In 1979, Frank Nitzsche was arrested for “rape by instrumentality” after allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend with the barrel of his handgun. Four years earlier, he wrote “Charmaine” for Milos Foreman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Like Spector and Joe Meek, Nitzsche’s creative work is an anomaly of true beauty as manifest in pure, grotesque evil.
“Ballade de Melody Nelson” by Serge Gainsbourg
“Ballade” is positioned here somewhat arbitrarily, as a placeholder for the whole of Histoire de Melody Nelson. I don’t speak French, but I know it’s dirty.
“Madame George” by Van Morrison
People shouldn’t be allowed to write about Astral Weeks.
Ennio Morricone/Mina Mazzini - Se Telefonado
While legendary for his scores to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, Morricone was also an ace arranger for 60’s Italian pop tunes. This song’s continually building intensity is admirable.
“Swee’ Pea’s Lullaby” by Robin Williams (Harry Nilsson)
From Harry Nilsson’s masterful soundtrack to Robert Altman’s Popeye musical–which is, incidentally, the unlikely favorite film of two Parenthetical Girls: both Rachael Jensen and Jherek Bischoff. Also, a sly way of sliding in one more VDP-related jam.
Ludwig Van Beethoven - String Quartet #13 Op133 in Bb 5 - Cavatina: Adagio Molto Espressivo
For me this is the ideal to shoot for in string writing: each line has individual autonomy but works perfectly with every other line.
“The Amorous Humphrey Plugg” by Scott Walker
My favorite Walker original this particular moment, “…Humphrey Plugg” melts around the typically sumptuous arrangements of Wally Scott, who always seemed to know what moves to borrow from Sinatra’s hitmen–and then how to amplify it into the utterly ridiculous.
“Reach Out For Me” by Dionne Warwick
Another somewhat arbitrary bookmark for the whole of the Bacharach/David cannon, but Dionne really kills it with this one.
Nino Rota - Soundtrack to “La Strada”, “8 1/2″, “La Dolce Vita”.
Arguably the best Italian film composer other than Morricone, Rota’s scores for Fellini’s classic films have always held a special place in my heart.
“Sing Another Song, Boys” by Leonard Cohen
One of Mr. Cohen’s more over-looked masterpieces–a fatalist epic of lust, and power and inevitable disappointment. This is what I think makes for good pop songs. And that is why, presumably, we will never be successful.
Krystof Penderecki - Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima
Penderecki’s early compositions offer some innovative approaches towards dissonance in string writing.
“Let’s Face The Music and Dance” by Fred Astaire
A melody that gets stuck in my head perhaps more than any other, performed as it was intended. That opening phrase kills me every time: “There may be trouble ahead…”
To learn more about the band, check out their website and myspace. And be sure to buy Entanglements, coming September 9th on Tomlab.
Pas/cal’s, I was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura is bound to be on top 10 lists by the end of the year. If you were floored by A.C. Newman’s ‘04 solo effort, you are in for quite the treat.
The songwriting is incredibly well thought out and original. It grabs you by the throat and forces you on a ride that any amusement park would be envious of.
It’s rare that a record comes out and has such creative and flawless production, magnificent melodies, sharp hooks and the music to back it. The drumming alone is wonderfully creative enough to be a record of its own.
Put down your Gnarls Barkley and pick up something that will make you better at life.
Well in keeping with what appears to be their M.O., The Sea and Cake are set to release their second lp in about a year’s time. Car Alarm hits shelves (or whatever it is cd’s do nowadays) on October 21, and i’ve had a few days to digest it.
Let me just start this off by prefacing that i love The Sea and Cake. Their self-titled album drove indie flavored post-rock in a direction that yielded many of my more cherished albums (cough…Pinback…cough); and the melodies that frontman Sam Prekop weaved on Oui are memorable to say the least. Which is why it’s so hard for me to admit that Car Alarm bores me.
There’s a point (there has to be), in music at least, where consistency ceases to be a good thing and starts to become something little more than unimaginative. Car Alarm is a standard The Sea and Cake album, there isn’t really any criticism i could throw at it that one couldn’t throw at any of their other albums (and as i’ve already mentioned, i loved them). In fact, i’d go so far as to say that this record could fit anywhere within their discography and fans would be none the wiser.
It just seems to me that after 14 years, we’re ready for something more from these guys.
However, if you’re just looking for something you can ignore, some subtle pleasant melodies that can play in the background of your life while you go on living it, then this album is definitely for you.
So amongst all the mediocrity this week i stumbled upon something really brilliant. {{{sunset}}} is the brainchild of Bill Baird on Austin’s artist-owned label Autobus.
Their lastest release The Glowing City is densely layered sloppy pop at its finest: fun, informal, and blatently imperfect (which is actually what gives it its charm). The album’s opener “Zombies” (included below) has quickly become my favorite track of 2008 and will undoubtedly be near the top of my list come of the end of the year. Anyways, here’s some details on the album and a couple of tracks to listen to.
Okkervil River’s Will Sheff is apparently set to release a series of videos where he plays songs from the upcoming album The Stand Ins with…well…stand ins. First up is Carl Newman from The New Pornographers, which i must say is ineffably cool. So enjoy, and imagine what a better record it could have been if he would have simply recorded it in people’s living rooms.
This news is a few weeks old, but i just found out about it so chill. If you’re like me, you’ve been eagerly waiting for the follow-up to Bound Stems’ 2005 indie rock debut Appreciation Night. Well turns out it’s coming September 9th (apparently sept. 9th is a popular release date) and it’s called The Family Afloat. While the 500 vinyl editions are currently being sold directly from the band on their tour (no west coast dates, thanks guys), they’ve started streaming one new track a week from the album on their myspace. I’ve posted one of them here. Listen, enjoy, get excited.
Stumbling around Asthmatic Kitty today i noticed that “afro-tropicali-folk-funk-noise-pop” outfit Rafter has a new ep coming (hot off the heels of the wildly entertaining Sex Death Cassette).
Here’s a track from the upcoming release (entitled Sweaty Magic). Buy it September 9th, and check out their myspace.
Los Campesinos! decided to take their twee sound to the streets of Austin. They perform a track from their debut [Arts & Crafts]. They’ve got a new album slated for November 11th, so stayed tuned for more info on that.
Jaguar Love’s Take Me to the Sea, the first album from the band who rose out of the ashes of The Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves is set to be released next week on Matador. Most of it just made me miss ex-Blood Brother, Jordan Blilie’s counterpoint, but Johnny Whitney (below) has a go at it trying to infuse some soul influences, and actually manages to lay down two amazing tracks (the last two, the only two worth listening to).
I have a feeling future releases will find Cody Votolato and Whitney perfecting this sound a little more.
Anyways, here’s some details on the album (check out the song i’ve posted) and link to their myspace.
