A coworker of mine showed me an excellent video he made to to an album written by artists Johnny Jewel and Nat Walker. There’s an articulately written description on Youtube, but Jewel is quoted saying in reference to the album’s conception “We were just spending all night in a trance with not enough sleep, exploring space, rhythm & tone.” That quote captures the feeling of this dreamlike five minutes and nineteen seconds aptly. The video was filmed in the streets and on the ferries of New York City, but even with obvious reference points like Time Square the film seems to take place somewhere outside of time. I could analyze all day, but that would never be as good as the experience of watching it yourself, so here it is below.
“I Drove My Tractor Through Your Haystack Last Night” ;)
In reference to my last post, I am well aware that I did not post “in the next couple days.” For that broken promise, I offer up the most sincere of apologies.
For music, let me (possibly re-)introduce to you, The Wurzels. As I’ve mentioned, I’m currently in England. Last week, I went to Bath, England, a beautiful place where you can still walk around in the famous Roman baths and look at all the kewl sculptures of famous war dudes of the classic era and such as part of a tour group. Our guide was the type who thought he had his finger on the pulse of American culture, and he had an American accent of matching accuracy (I could not tell you what word he was trying to say when he was demonstrating his linguistic prowess.).
Luckily, for the sake of our being tour-guided, his history knowledge was much more solid, and at the end of his tour-guidance he had a few recommendations for whoever was listening. One of these recommendations was the Bath-born band called The Wurzels. With classics like “I Want to be a Eddie Stobart Driver” and “Combine Harvester” (the opening lyric of which is featured in this post’s title), The Wurzels have made a space for themselves in the hearts of scrumpy cider drinkers and good ol’ country folk, as well as my friend Tess, who made me reconsider my original decision to leave the Wurzels to their primarily Bath-brewed cult following by sincerely loving their songs.
The Wurzels sound is what you would expect folksy, country, drinking songs to sound like at their root. They write what they know, giving their songs the personal feel that keeps their fans coming back for more. Don’t let their older sound fool you; they still perform today. Check them out if you’re looking for the perfect addition to your Pump-Up-4-The-Pub playlist or want to be a hit on your FarmersOnly.com dates.
In all sincerity, The Wurzels are a great listen for anyone who likes songs that don’t take themselves too seriously. These guys have fun with their music and you can hear it easily in their recordings. If anything, now you know about an obscure country band from England, and below is the perfect song for any romantic night with your significant other/celebration of a new combine harvester, and that “combination” doesn’t come along too often.
Editor’s Apologies
Sorry for the hiatus! Things have been crazy because I’m getting ready to go out of the country. I’ll post something in the next couple of days and promise to find some rad bands while abroad.
Sincerely yours,
CKC
B.A.dasses of Morningside Heights
Today, I introduce to you, the Morningsiders. The band formed at Columbia University in New York City, naming themselves after their school’s part of the city, Morningside Heights. Their music in the beginning was a bit Mumford & Sons-esque, but with more piano and brass and a bit less banjo. Now they’ve matured into more of their own sound. With the pressure of being in such a competitive academic atmosphere, the guys hadn’t come out with that many songs while in college. I’d certainly say the college era for the Morningsiders was a matter of quality over quantity considering what they came out with though.
I first heard Morningsiders live about three years ago at Columbia’s annual Bacchanal. They were opening for Macklemore (who I saw for free, I should add), and after their set I was thoroughly impressed. The only prior knowledge I had of the Morningsiders was that they were a resident band comprised of a group of guys who were going to Columbia at the time. They were tight, their sound was layered, and they were all just all-around talented. Plus, they were fun to watch. What more is there to love? None more.
When I got home post-Bacchanal I (of course) looked them up. They had three songs that I could find on Youtube, and I listened to them all repeatedly. It’s hard to get excited about a band who has so little to find, but get excited I did. Now they have a few more than three songs, enough that I can’t keep track of them easily on one hand anymore. The four members of the band recently graduated from Columbia, releasing a new song, “Graduation Bow” to commemorate the achievement.
It appears that since graduating Morningsiders have been working on making the band work (at least part-time), which is exceptional. I personally worried that after college they were all going to split up and make a go of accounting or something guaranteeing financial stability, an admittedly understandable choice that many college bands end up making. At least enough of the band has kept to making music though that Morningsiders have made some serious musical progress. They’ve kept to the habit of quality over quantity and their sound seems to be maturing.
Above is the song that first hooked me at Bacchanal, “Empress.” Underneath this paragraph is “Dots,” one of their newest songs. You can really hear a progression in their sound from one song to the next. Morningsiders is a band with an expanse of growing room and potential. Given the chance I think they could make it pretty big. If they don’t, at least now you know about them. Their Soundcloud, Twitter, Facebook, iTunes, and other social media can be found through their website wearemorningsiders.com.
ChEel.
Eels are not a new band, and you’ve probably heard them before if you’re a fan of anything from the 90’s. Still, I forgot they existed until a good friend of mine said, “Hey, play this song on your radio show.” So I did. Suddenly I remembered I hadn’t fed my Tamagotchi in sixteen years and started mourning the death of my GameBoy Color. I dried my tears with the sleeve of my flannel.
I’m being very dramatic about the whole 90’s thing, because the band is still performing. They even came out with an album this year called The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett, but their first album came out in 1992, so my melodrama is not totally unfounded. At this point though, they’ve been performing much longer in the new millennium than the past one. Their sound (in my mind) is exemplary of the mellowed out grunge that got popular at the end of the 90’s, so it’s hard for me to separate them from that decade.
The lead singer has that gravelly, relaxing voice of your best stoner friend, backed up by the usual chill, alternative rock-ish instrumental. Their sound is hazy, like your mind after waking up late on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I recommend them for just that time. The song here, I Like Birds, is off of their 2000 album Daisies of the Galaxy, and you can find the band’s entire discography here. They have 13 albums and have been featured on 12 soundtracks in their long and illustrious career spanning movies like American Beauty to Shrek. If affiliation with those two movies isn’t enough to get you interested in Eels, I sincerely apologize for wasting your time. Check them out for a chEel vibe.
Happy Wednesday.
SLEATER-KINNEY IS OUT OF THE WOODS AND INTO THE CITY
Let me explain the title of this post before anything else, because that will clarify a lot. First, to analyze the excessive use of caps lock, Sleater-Kinney is BACK. Carrie Brownstein announced in a tweet yesterday new tour dates for the band as well as an album available for preorder on iTunes. The band’s last album before they broke up eight years ago was The Woods. Their newest album is No Cities to Love. The title of this post therefore, should not be analyzed too closely beyond this because it was thrown together in a frenzy of excitement.
https://twitter.com/Carrie_Rachel/status/542393137449021440
https://twitter.com/Carrie_Rachel/status/542333710784552960
I gave a brief Carrie Brownstein background on this blog before, and Sleater-Kinney is an integral part of that background as well as an exceptional band all on their own. No Cities to Love will be the band’s eighth album, and Brownstein has been quoted saying:
“We sound possessed on these songs. Willing it all–the entire weight of the band and what it means to us–back into existence.”
Sleater-Kinney’s comeback will be meteoric to the music world if the past is any indicator of future events. Corin Tucker, Brownstein (guitarist/vocals), and Janet Weiss (drums) are a power trio. So many all-female bands feel gimmicky and subsequently don’t leave more of an impression on the music world than cardboard cut-outs on concrete. Sleater-Kinney is a jackhammer in that concrete world. Formed in the mid-90’s in the Pacific Northwest, Sleater-Kinney was one of the most influential musical voices of the riot grrl movement (at its height at that time). Their fearless vocals, aggressive, on-point, punk style, and overall badass-ery got them described as “America’s greatest rock band” by Greil Marcus in a 2001 Time magazine, an elephantine feat considering rock’s dude-filled, semi-misogynistic legacy and the feminist, left-leaning themes of Sleater-Kinney’s music.
Sleater-Kinney was originally a side project for Brownstein and Tucker. Carrie Brownstein was part of a queercore band called Excuse 17 while Tucker was part of Heavens to Betsy, both bands deeply involved in the riot grrl movement. When their respective bands broke up, Sleater-Kinney got their full attention. Have you ever heard of that documentary with Jimmy Page, Jack White, and the Edge called It Might Get Loud? Sleater-Kinney got LOUD. Producing seven albums in their ten years together, Brownstein, Tucker, and Weiss were a force pushing for change in their music, spreading revolutionary punk ideals and writing lyrics that criticized consumerism, gender roles, war, and passive traditionalism from progressive feminist angles. Sleater-Kinney was asking questions, cracking foundations, and rebuilding from the rubble their lyrics were creating. Because all of this was happening at the height of one of the most successful waves of intersectional feminism as of late, people were receptive, and I think that is a large part of what made the band so successful and influential other than their clear ability to musically tear a house down.
Right now, many people believe the generation that is in college (my generation) is at the cusp of a resurgence of a movement much like that of the riot grrls. With so much progress being made in gender equality, women speaking back against inequalities, celebrities pointing out the heinous double standards the media creates, Emma Watson’s HeForShe campaign, there is a lot of hope for forward progress. Sleater-Kinney could be just the band to rally the troops to battle for equality. They’re coming back on the scene at the perfect time, and while it’s never a good idea to set your hopes too high even for the best bands, Sleater-Kinney’s No Cities to Love is the return of a revolutionary band that knows how to rock.
Above is The Woods in its entirety to get you properly prepared for their return.
Albums:
The Woods (2005)
One Beat (2002)
All Hands On The Bad One (2003)
The Hot Rock (1999)
Dig Me Out (1997)
Call The Doctor (1996)
Sleater-Kinney (1995)
Your New Weekend Anthem
LISTEN HERE: Caitlin Rose – Answer in One of These Bottles
In an earlier post of mine, (“Auditory Royalty”) I mentioned an artist named Caitlin Rose. About four years ago now, I was wandering the internet on a search for songs while I probably should have been doing something else (oh, how little has changed). I struck gold when I found Daytrotter, a website full of music sessions from hundreds of different, mostly independent and unknown artists for free download. There is where I found Caitlin Rose.
I had no particular reason for clicking on her session other than I thought she had a pretty name, and I thought my music library could use more lady voices as at the time it was saturated with the notoriously testosterone-fueled genre of classic rock. At first listen, I found Rose’s voice twangy and too close to country for my taste; I recoiled. Before totally dismissing her though, I decided that I should at least listen to a segment of all four songs recorded in her session. When I got to “Answer in One of These Bottles,” it was love at first “ba-da-da-dum.” Admittedly, it’s a song about alcohol and I was not a drinker of alcohol at the time, but her laissez-faire style of singing and relationship to her lyrics made an impression on me that had the song stuck in my head and heart in no time. I started singing the song around my friends, sounding like a regular drunk (or perhaps more like Spongebob after a long night at Goofy Goober Ice Cream Emporium…) in the most entertaining of ways.
Me+
= 
The studio recording of “Answer in One of These Bottles” isn’t nearly as fun to listen to in my opinion, so here I’ve given the Daytrotter version I downloaded so long ago. Sadly (for the average music consumer, not the artists most likely), Daytrotter now costs money, so sessions are no longer free to download. I had to put some effort in (for once) to find this song online now, but this version is worth it. There’s a contagious feeling of camaraderie that comes from the background singers(/audience participation?) singing the responses, making the listener feel like they’re there at the bar’s open mic, sitting at a table with Caitlin Rose’s friends.
A Rose by any other name than Caitlin would not be as sweet. Check her out the next time you’re looking for a not-quite-yet-country song to cry or drink to.
Other recommended songs: “Spare Me,” “Own Side”
Bow Down to Brownstein
Musical, hilarious, smart, punk: four words that describe Carrie Brownstein to a T. If you’ve ever seen the show Portlandia (streaming on Netflix. Watch an episode. I’ll wait.) you know Carrie Brownstein can be versatile when it comes to playing different characters. It’s time for the big (yet unsurprising) reveal: Carrie Brownstein is awesomely versatile at life.
Carrie Brownstein has not always been Portlandia. Formerly one of the lead guitarists for Sleater-Kinney, she was immersed in the riot grrl movement of the 90’s. When they broke up in 2006, Brownstein hopped from working at an advertising firm, to NPR music blogger, to even trying out for Phish, all the while working on her comedy series ThunderAnt with Fred Armisen. Since starting to act in Portlandia, she has started to write a memoir about her life and continues to perform on occasion.
The first band I ever knew of Carrie Brownstein being in was Wild Flag. The band only had one album, but featured Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney on drums.
Here’s to Carrie Brownstein, woman after my own heart. A companion Sleater-Kinney post to come.
Kindle Your Love for Kindler
After a night out at the bar a few years ago, my older sister came home with a CD. The album was titled Trifles for Queen Jane by an artist named Will Kindler, a New Hampshire-native musician who she had met at the bar. The track list was filled with titles like Techno and Gingerale and She (Knows Not); I was immediately intrigued.
After my sister was done with the CD, I started to listen to it…and didn’t stop for six days. Kindler’s voice is sharp and nasally but goes straight to the heart. In Trifles for Queen Jane, he has songs where he’ll vocally float into haunting wails and then come back down to earth with lyrics that tether the song to reality and hold the listener spellbound. At least, this was the case when the listener was me or my sister. As an artist from a place like New Hampshire playing mainly open mics, Will Kindler doesn’t get a lot of recognition. He has multiple other songs that he’s uploaded to YouTube, but no new album that I know of, and I’ve never met anyone else who’s heard of him.
By chance, my sister met Will Kindler again one more time. I have never been one to get starstruck or overly-excited about celebrities, but by the time this happened, Trifles for Queen Jane had gotten me through some tough times already and I associated Kindler’s voice with all that is good in the world. My sister called me from the bar. When I answered, she put him on the phone. My voice cracked, and I started to cry those pitiful, pull-yourself-together-or-so-help-me-God types of sobs. I tried to regain composure on my side so I could talk, but my voice kept giving me away as I was saying how much I loved his music and how it meant so much to me. Will was reassuring, and said he felt so lucky to have such a fan like me, that he was so happy his music could affect someone like that. In short, this guy is a sweetheart, and he deserves recognition.
Will Kindler is truly one of a kind. I mean that with such sincerity that I didn’t even try to make a joke of the word “kind” being in “Kindler” just now. The song I’ve posted is the first track off of Trifles for Queen Jane. If you like it, I highly recommend the rest of the album and any other songs you find on YouTube or elsewhere. Kindle your love for Kindler.
Album: Trifles for Queen Jane, 2008
The Approachable Hipster 