Author Archive for Parade Parade

I’M MISSING THE NOUNS.


February 4, 2008
Parade Parade

MP3 Quickie

so i have this song on my computer, it’s “fingernails” by “the nouns.” I don’t really know anything about it, except that it’s really fucking good. it’s distortion heavy, with a steady roland 808-esque synth drum beat and cryptic lyrics with some really beautiful imagery (e.g. “my fingernails are rooted to the earth, and I’m smiling while you are still breathing, and I watch you swallow your vowels like a pill that you take to go sleeping”).

the problem is, I have looked and looked and I have no information on the band “the nouns.” no myspace, no website, no nothing really. all I know is that at one time they were on Oh! Map Records, and then they just kind of disappeared from the site.

so if anyone knows anything about this band, please comment or email or something. let me know, this song leaves me craving so much more. and if you haven’t heard it, give it a listen. get down with this a little, then help me in my quest.

the nouns - fingernails

P.S. I realize this entry is not anywhere near as detailed or thought out as my last ones. it’s not just because there is a lot of mystery surrounding this song. honestly, i’ve been really lazy and school is hectic. I am attempting to clean up my act by next monday. please bear with me and support me in this endeavor.

FRENCH QUARTER - BUILD FIRES


January 21, 2008
Parade Parade

Artist Review

I’ve been to Arizona once. It was in late July, and it was hotter and drier than any other place I’ve been in my life. It felt like the top racks of ovens. It felt like the air around high-wattage light bulbs. At night, it was still hot, and when it rained, the rain was also hot. It was a hot hot place. Absurdly hot, I’d even say.

However, the band French Quarter does not evoke these images or feelings. Centered around the singing and songwriting of Tempe, Arizona native Stephen Steinbrink, French Quarter instead conjures the image of a road-wizened kid ambling through the nooks and crannies of our country, speeding down highways in beat up cars with only his thoughts to keep him company, a constant cycle of images of home, smells, troubadours of yesteryear and past loves. That’s how I’d like to think of Stephen, anyway, but I’ve never met him.

French Quarter’s self-titled LP (released on Gilgongo Records in 2007) is a strong and wonderful record, ten solid tracks of expressing the gamut of thoughts and emotions of 19 year old Steinbrink (whose lyrics embody a level of self-awareness and articulation that seems way beyond most people of this age). The last track, “Build Fires,” is definitely my favorite and an excellent cap to the record.

Backed by a fairly mellow instrumentation of acoustic guitar, bass, and drums, “Build Fires” is a catchy laid-back jam, evoking cool breezes coupled with the pleasant warmth of a summer sun (the antithesis of my Arizona experience, I believe.) Steinbrink coos simple, beautiful lyrics, and harmonizes pleasantly with himself (which is a hard feat to pull off successfully) during the refrain. “Build Fires” is a wonderful track off an impressive debut LP, and I’m definitely excited to hear French Quarter’s future offerings.

French Quarter is currently on tour, check out the myspace for info.

French Quarter - “Build Fires”

LACRYMOSA - “WOLF SNARE”


January 14, 2008
Parade Parade

Artist Review MP3 Quickie

Lacrymosa consists of one (1) Caitlin Pasko, one of the sweetest singer-songwriters you will find in the Village. While one may be tempted to label her Spektor-esque at first (”Lacrimosa” is the title of a Regina Spektor song, and Caitlin possibly drops a couple other references throughout her music), it would be hasty and unwise to write her off as such- she offers much more than that.

Her songs range from lilting waltzes to schizophrenic bursts of piano pounding, often ending up a satisfyingly chaotic mixture of the two elements. Her voice perfectly complements this musical yin-yang: it reads sometimes sad, sometimes joyous, (these overtones reveal themselves through her cryptically beautiful lyrics) and after a few listens, it seems safe to say that Caitlin has a proficiency in both languages.

One of my favorite songs of Caitlin’s is undoubtedly a track called “Wolf Snare.” Her voice and piano are enhanced with a ghostly reverb, it echoes and bounces around in your head and after a couple piano-key hits, you find yourself seduced and hooked in to the personal yarn that Caitlin’s begun to spin.

An irritating music snob might be tempted to say that she’s like Cat Power but more complicated, Mia Doi Todd but more classical, Regina Spektor but more controlled. But if you hear someone say any of these things, you should push them down and tell them to shut up, because Lacrymosa is just fucking wonderful and you should just listen.


Lacrymosa - “Wolf Snare”

want more? here’s her myspace.

WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS - TENDER LOVING CARE


January 7, 2008
Parade Parade

Artist Review Live Music

It doesn’t normally rain in Los Angeles, and when it does, it’s generally laughable: light drizzle or that fine kind of mist that comes off of freshly poured soda. But lately, it’s been shitting rain in LA, slowing traffic, knocking down power lines, and generally making life a little more miserable. But I was fortunate enough to see Watercolor Paintings tonight. They performed in a quaint little gallery in Silverlake, and it helped us (the audience) forget the weather.

Rebecca and Josh Redman (that’s them by the artichoke) are the dynamic brother-sister duo that comprise Watercolor Paintings. They’re extremely kind and wonderful people, and if you get the chance to meet them you should. But if you don’t get that chance, you can still listen to their music. Rebecca writes beautiful pop songs that generally involve acoustic stringed instruments (harp and ukelele), but don’t exclude instruments such as toy drums and a children’s toy vocoder with an anarchy symbol scribbled on it.

More than any other band I’ve seen in recent years, Watercolor Paintings has mastered the art of the sing-a-long. With ease, they command whole choruses that will gladly and unabashedly do as told, singing whole songs that they have never even heard before. One example of this finely-honed craft is Watercolor Paintings’ “Tender Loving Care.” While the begins with an upbeat polka-like drum and uke combo, it quickly surges in to a triumphant chorus of TLC’s “I Don’t Want No Scrubs.” I’ve noticed that often times, people will join in not even really realizing that it’s TLC. They sing because they know the words, and they sing because they want to. It’s not an easy feat, but I believe that Watercolor Paintings pull it off on a nightly basis. And they don’t brag about it, either, because they’re eff-ing rad.

“Tender Loving Care” is an amazing song. Not only is it an honest song of young love and miscommunication; it cleverly co-opts T.L.C.’s 90s pop chart hit. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but if some part of you doesn’t enjoy some part of this song, then I think you’re dumb.


Watercolor Paintings - Tender Loving Care

This is their myspace.

A WONDERFUL - “UNCORKED UNDERSTANDINGS”


December 31, 2007
Parade Parade

Album Review Collective Family

I don’t know Tim Wilson. But after listening to A Wonderful’s “Uncorked Understandings,” I kind of feel like I could. Sure, it feels like a personal record. His voice has a kind of gentleness, and though it is thin at times, it is thin in a kind of pleading, desperate kind of way. The lyrics are sparse and simple yet seem loaded with personal references, experience, and memory. But the record seems personal in an almost universal sense. Tim talks a lot about hiding, about missing someone, about regret- thoughts and things that I’d like to think anyone could understand and relate to, particularly boys having been under the weight of heartbreak at one time or another.*

My favorite track is “Under Cover(s).” The drums are minimal yet mesh with electric guitar and a synth drone to tap out the kind of syncopated beat that makes me want to sway around alone in my bedroom. At one point, Tim seems to croon “… and this year, I chose to give myself to others. Just not you, and you’re damn tired…”, reinforcing a sense of isolation and a kind of lament. “Under Cover(s)” is really a beautiful song, and I’ve probably listened to it over twenty times now. It’s honest, minimalistic, and has a (dare I say) funky accented beat that sets it apart from 99% of lo-fi pop music in a good way.

I remember in the documentary “Wise Old Little Boy” (2004), Phil Elverum of the Microphones / Mt. Eerie said something about how he felt it was important to make music that was obviously “made by a human.” I’d say that A Wonderful accurately captures this human-made aesthetic, both on an emotional and musical level. Even the drums and percussion are cleverly layered and exude a very human feeling.

With repeated phrases and consistent instrumentation, “Uncorked Understandings” is a minimalist song cycle that begs for multiple listens. It is cohesive and lush with lo-fi pop sensibility.

*I don’t mean high school boys in a negative sense, but more in reference to young love and gray days when you just want to lay on your bed and listen to Elliott Smith.

A Wonderful - Under Cover(s)

GOOD GRIEF IT’S CHRISTMAS.


December 23, 2007
Parade Parade

Album Review

charlie brown christmas album

… or almost Christmas. I feel like for many, Christmas has a lot of layers to it: there’s the family thing, the materialistic thing, the changing of the seasons and year thing. Some people go in to this psychotically-cheery gift-giving frenzy, others become uncharacteristically Scrooge-like assholes. You see people you wouldn’t normally see. A lot of people go home to their parents’ houses and they sleep in their old rooms or guest rooms or whatever. Those spaces are often full of old memories, good or bad or both. It’s a weird polarizing thing, Christmas, and I think a lot of people would agree that that there’s a lot of weird emotions floating around at this time.

I kind of feel the same way about the old Peanuts comics. They’re funny and they’re sad in a way. They’re steeped in this kind of nostalgia, whether you grew up watching them or not. It works on a very complex level.

So it makes sense that the two elements would kind of suit each other in away. Vince Guaraldi’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a legitimately good album, Christmas and Peanuts aside. It’s got jazzy up songs and lilting down songs.

My favorite cut is “Christmastime is Here (Vocal),” a Christmas standard. It’s got this slow shuffling kind of swing, and the brushed drums remind me of snow falling for some reason, even though I grew up in L.A. and it doesn’t snow there. The vocal line is sung by a children’s chorus, and it’s kind of reverb-y and haunting. It goes really well with Guaraldi’s gentle plinking on the piano. It’s minimal yet full, a little glum but overall uplifting.


Vince Guaraldi - “Christmastime is Here (Vocal)”