Would you like to hear an amazing album? Does some melancholy, soothing sadpop sound okay? It’s nothing spectacular. It’s not trying to be. And that’s why it’s beautiful. It’s the kind of music that you’d normally sit and read a book to, or fall asleep to, but you can’t. You can’t focus on anything but the songs.
Good Night and Good Morning - The Book Writer
Beautiful! And you can download it on CLLCT, hooray!
Put together by CLLCT’s Secret Chief (Luke!), better known by most as Secret Owl Society, this Lo-Fi compilation, The Roaring Nineties, covering the greatest hits of the 90s, is like most compilations, brimming with some amazing songs, some good and some bad. To keep this two-disc, twenty-six track beast at bay, I’ll just describe some of my favorites and mention a few others.
The Brooke (a tiny ocean) has graced us with two (that’s right) two awesome covers, her cover of Oasis’s “Wonderwall” being my favorite. Just an acoustic guitar and her dream-like voice, she manages to recontextualize this song, not in its sound or delivery, but in its emotional impact. It hits almost ten times harder than it did originally.
Shelby Sifers, along with help from the Sarcastic Dharma Society, cover Del Amitri’s “Roll To Me” a song I remember instantly, but don’t ever recall the original band’s name (or even the song title). Shelby manages to cover some new ground, articulating her voice in ways that sound more down-to-earth than ever before. It’s sweet and gives us a glimpse into an alternate universe where she would be selling millions of albums and the world was a better place.
Tinyfolk’s cover of the Elton John classic from the hit Disney film The Lion King, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” starts off a bit slow, but the Usher-influenced ending is totally perfect. If you like Bill and Valley Forge era Tinyfolk, this is a good reflection of that style with a hip-hop twist.
Dustin And The Furniture’s take on Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life” was probably my most anticipated cover on The Roaring Nineties and it is everything I hoped it would be and more. It is acapella, focusing solely on Dustin’s “sleepy brown bear” voice. What more could you want?
Uggamugga’s acoustic cover of “Wannabe” by The Spice Girls is so hilariously cute. Sung almost off key and featuring boy/girl vocals, there is something so infectious happening here.
Fudge’s almost acapella cover of the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Suck My Kiss” is so ridiculous you have to love it. Featuring a chorus of kazoos, handclaps and vocal sound effects, it reminds me of Weird Al Yankovic at his most insane.
Perhaps the most stunning cover is SFIAS with The Anchorites’ cover of Donna Lewis’s only hit, “Love You Always Forever.” Essentially a wall of noise, they only hint at the melody lying deep within the chaos. It is beautiful, heartbreaking and sublime.
Now I’m sad to say that both of Patrick Ripoll’s covers didn’t do much for me, although the first bit of “How’s It Gonna Be (originally by Third Eye Blind)” is actually quite cool and very different for Patrick, it sort of teeters off aimlessly. I do like the nice use of the Amen Break though.
Both Fire Island, AK covers are a bit dreary and I wanted to like Manipulator Alligator’s cover of TLC’s “Waterfalls” more than I did.
But, I can see what some of the artists were doing here. Some were trying to take these glaring monuments of mainstream ideology and turn them into what they are, manufactured dribble. I think that’s taking the easy route. Many of these songs, no matter how manufactured still spoke to us and the best covers here are ones that reflect the deep loving or enjoyment we had of these songs back when we were growing up.
Sold to raise money to help maintain CLLCT, the amazing community of artists and musicians that ALL OF YOU should be a part of, it is now available to download for free! Enjoy!
Links:
The Brooke (a tiny ocean)’s site
Shelby Sifers on Myspace!
Tinyfolk on Myspace!
Dustin And The Furniture on Myspace!
Uggamugga on Myspace!
SFIAS on Last.fm!
*anyone know anything about Fudge? I can’t seem to find anything on them.
I first found Belly Boat thanks to Tinyfolk, who is an absolutely wonderful lovely fellow for uploading their music.
Belly Boat is two girls that are quite possibly faeries. They make wonderfully strange music reminiscent of the Microphones* on LSD, and they make it with piano tunes and sweeping accordion bleats.
You can download Dear Robert Hanoy at CLLCT! Hooray!
*Also, they totally were on an album with Phil Elvrum. That alone is worth a listen.
I first heard Patrick “Redbear.” while playing the all-too popular MySpace music friends six degrees of separation game. When I saw this guy Patrick wearing an Evil Dead t-shirt, listed as a friend of the band Real Live Tigers, I had to drop in and see what Redbear was all about. I clicked on his MySpace, where my ears were greeted with a song that instantly made my day. “My Ghost Love Jam” was impeccably described on YouTue as a “ragtime version of Antony and The Johnsons.” I of course added him as a friend and proclaimed my love for his songs almost immediately. Cut to my first house show experience playing live in Champaign in which I overheard Issac “Blanketarms” and PJ “Super Famicom” also proclaiming their love for the bear. It was clear by then that upon returning from my spring break tour, that I had to meet up with the red-haired mammal in person. When I did, I instantly could see why he had a following, and as a result of his personable personality and enthusiasm for the house show scene, managed to formulate a music community with friends that magically congealed in an affluent suburban area not too far from Brookfield Zoo. Since then, it’s safe to say that I’m more excited about seeing DIY bands perform in garages, basements, and living room rather than the Metro. Experiencing shows at both The Glass Haus and The Foster Home is exactly the type of communal bliss that can reaffirm your faith in the arts.
On record, a lot of the DIY musicians put out as much material as possible, which I encourage since I actively do the same. But can one achieve a track-for-track masterpiece? Many have come close, especially since Real Live Tigers put out the best record of last year. Redbear’s first record Love Songs For A Nihilist ended with a couple of improvised goofy ditties that merely tickled the funny bone instead of the heart, unlike just about every song that preceded it. Patrick has possibly grown tiresome of playing his “older hits” because he’s evolved beyond singing about Hootie and toast. I hope he doesn’t ever completely dismiss favorites such as “Fiber!” and “Brains!” But there’s a sense that he’s steering away from his roots and letting grass grow, reaching new heights in the process. His follow-up, Hollywood Taoism, is anything but a sophomore slump, which was expected even before listening to it. Hearing the songs live were always a treat, and unlike his debut, it isn’t just primarily a guy playing his nylon-stringed guitar. There are breathtaking arrangements here. It’s hard to decipher exactly what the intent is by including a few instrumental interludes here and there, other than a tip-of-the-hat to the ear-piercing noise of Einsturzende Neubauten as well as keeping in check with the Phil Elvrum influence. The sweeping harmonies and kitchen-sink-knock-on-wood rhythms also climb to the top of Mount Eerie, but never come across as derivative. The songs here are draped in buzzy fuzz, choir-like vocal layering, and the click-clack clatter of tribal beats. The results are otherworldly despite the lyrics touching base with the mysticism of nature and the human body’s uncertain place in an ever-changing universe. There are vivid descriptions of seasons changing and keeping an open heart behind a world that seems to be closing in on us.
Standouts include show staples that receive a massive makeover due to unexpectedly sublime instrumentation. There is no denying how infectious a lot of these songs are. “Walks Among Us, Life On A Map,” and “Don’t Haunt Me Yet,” are arguably his strongest tracks to date. The latter benefits from a glued-to-your-skull chorus refrain, “Now tell me something / how do I get to be like you?” That kind of simplicity was served well on the first album, but there’s also complexity and ideas behind a song like “Forest of Legs II,” which connects mind, body, and spirit in anything but a New Agey milieu. One of my favorite moments is featured in “Forest” with the line “Do you feel the tension between the trees and the moon?” Another gorgeous number is the achingly personal “Cook County,” which is one of the more tear-jerking moments as well as the most relatable.
The way the record ends is an acquired taste to the least. Does the title track add or subtract from the listening experience? For those who don’t require an easy “comedown” to put your mind at ease for closure or you enjoy the sound of rhinos fucking around with an effect processor, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the conclusion of the record. I’m more of a fan of traditional pop songs so I would’ve been doused with satisfaction had it ended with “Circular,” but this is a tiny, forgivable quibble. I simply love everything else about Hollywood Taoism. Nobody is making music like Redbear is right now. I had gotten to the point where I was unsure if originality was even attainable until I listened to this and the new Portishead album back to back on a 5-hour drive in stormy weather. Both are interchangeable for my favorite records of 2008 so far. Neither are chock-full of verse/chorus/verse aesthetics, but instead, choose to defy and challenge the listener to think and feel on such a visceral and cerebral level that you almost have to check and see if you’re not living inside a dream (or a nightmare) that you never want to wake up from and are dying to analyze as it occurs. Hollywood Taoism is the perfect encapsulation of the mind of myth of Redbear. I had sensed from my first live encounter that there was something special about this kind of songwriting, and this 2nd effort is a step up from the last and definitive proof that Patrick is the real deal. And we’re all the better for baring witness to Redbear’s vivacious imagination and freakishly unique perspective of this chaotic, yet invitingly beautiful vision of the world we reside inside.
Roaring Nineties Roamin’ Over Thisaway
In case you haven’t seen on CLLCT yet, the compilation is finished and for sale. I had lots of fun drawing them, although I went a little overboard with some…However, they all look pretty much similar, some are just less similar than others. One even looks like Chewbacca! At least, I think so.
If you were wondering, I did do some editing in Photoshop. Nothing major, just my attempts to fix the quality…I don’t have a camera, you see, so I used a toaster instead. Even after my editing, they still look ten times better when you’re sitting there holding it in your hand. I used some nice-ass pens!
Now, those of you who pre-ordered (probably the only people reading this blog), I’m mailing your copy tomorrow without a doubt. And they’ll be the best of the best. I was going to mail them today, but I need access to a printer that I can’t get access to until long after the postal workers are asleep. As for your bonuses for pre-ordering? Well, let me say this: you will never ever regret pre-ordering. Your gift for helping me out when so few would - every time I make something for the collective, be it a shirt (i’ll be making lots of these soon - missus owl just got a screenprinting kit), a comp, or a paper-mache flamingo, you’re going to get one for free. For as long as the collective is around, which means your grandkids are going to be getting weird shit in the mail and wondering why the hell someone would send them a bonsai tree.
Oh, and you all now have magical powers on CLLCT. Use them with wisdom and benevolence. You’ll see what I’m talking about.
I love all of you. Thank you.
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Here’s the Track Listing!
1. James Eric - More Than Words (Extreme)
2. The Brooke - Wonderwall (Oasis)
3. Patrick Ripoll - Fu-Gee-La (Fugees)
4. Shelby Sifers and the Sarcastic Dharma Society - Roll To Me (Del Amitri)
5. Existential Hero - Say My Name (Destiny’s Child)
6. Grammar Rodeo - Lick It (20 Fingers)
7. fire island, AK - Angel (Sarah McLachlan)
8. Tinyfolk - Can You Feel the Love Tonight? (Elton John)
9. Eyes For Volume - Losing My Religion (REM)
10. The Brooke - Jamie (Weezer)
11. Dustin and the Furniture - Semi-charmed Life (Third Eye Blind)
12. Patrick Ripoll - How’s It Gonna Be (Third Eye Blind)
13. novemthree - Unbreak My Heart Oh Baby (Toni Braxton)
14. Campbell - Kiss Me (Sixpence None The Richer)
15. The Not Band - Be With You (Patti Scialfa)
16. Uggamuga - Wannabe (Spice Girls)
17. Eyes For Volume - Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)
18. Manipulator Alligator - Waterfalls (TLC)
19. porches - Same In The End (Sublime)
20. stars and thunderclouds - Bittersweet Symphony (Verve)
21. fire island, AK - The Freshman (The Verve Pipe)
22. Children’s Guide - Kiss From A Rose (Seal)
23. Fudge - Suck My Kiss (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
24. Seven Dynasties Of Glass Children - Lovefool (Cardigans)
25. SFIAS and The Anchorites - Love You Always Forever (Donna Lewis)
26. Lather - The Boyz-n-the-Hood (Eazy E)
“Honesty is so addictive/I can’t get enough of these songs” James Eric sings in his song “Off Key?”, a cute tribute to the growing DIY folk scene. That sums up James Eric’s Fire In The Mountains for me. Fire In The Mountains is a rare album, in that is both intimate and lushly produced. For being recorded completely in Mr. Eric’s bedroom, the album sounds beautiful, with all sorts of orchastration, from trumpets to violins to pianos to lo-fidelity electronic sounds. But what makes this album truly special is the thematic string that ties it all together, James Eric’s lyrics.
James Eric is a frank and honest songwriter. Most of his songs are tales from his life, told matter-of-factly. It opens with “Daddy Don’t Cry”, a tale of James on his near deathbed which sets the pace for the rest of the album. While he occasionally breaks away to tell other stories (like his folk/court report “Something’s Not Right Here”), he mostly sticks to what he knows, or at least what he feels. Thankfully, they all aren’t as grave and serious as the opening track. Most notable is the upbeat and catchy “Could’ve Been Like Ben”. With lyrics like “I could have been a mentor according to my English professor/Or assistant to a lawyer, but I got too bored with college” it serves as the James Eric origin story. That’s what’s so great about the album, it’s a comprehensive portrait of the artist, how he feels, where he’s been, where he’s looking to go. It’s all delivered simply and matter-of-factly, with minimal pretense.
Unfortunately, sometimes the very plain and direct lyrics come at the cost of melody. Most of the songs have at least a few clunky lines and phrases where James tries to shove too many syllables where they don’t fit. I have no doubts about James’ talents as a musician and a songwriter, but if I had to pick one thing that could use improvement, vocals would undoubtedly be it. Luckily, with the lyrical style and subjects of the songs, it comes across much more earnest than annoying. In a way, the disregard for vocal melody only serves to add to the conversational feeling that makes the album so special. The album is worth checking out just for it’s rare combination of intimacy and vibrant production. So go on, get to know James Eric. He’s a friendly personable guy who’s made a friendly personable album.
Stream, Download, Molest, Love, Snuggle With, and Worship “Fire In The Mountains” on CLLCT
James Eric’s Myspace
James Eric’s CLLCT Artist Page
Music Video for “Could’ve Been Like Ben”
MP3:
James Eric - I Hope
But in the (pretty much) absence of content, I smell a power vacuum. And I’ve always wanted to be king. So guess who just became royalty? Patrick Ripoll, that’s who. I broke free of my stale prison they call “Friday assignments” and am now proposing something new.
You (all twelve of you) don’t go to this blog because you want to see where we stand on the big entertainment issues of the day (but, for the record, Semi-Pro is shit). You want us to share with you. This is a place where we stand on our little soap box (which would promptly tear and collapse, because it’s a fucking cardboard box that’s designed to hold soap) and yell “Hey! You! The funny looking one with the hat! Check this out! It is awesome!”. So that’s what I’m going to do every day. Sometimes it will be in the form of an album review, a rant about women in prison films, a retrospective on the career of Bill Duke, a comparison between stand-up comedy and 80’s cop films, whatever. Point is, I see some shit, I know some shit, I want to share this said shit with you. Because goddamnit, that’s what it’s all about.
I, King Patrick, declare that this blog be a place of sharing, from now until forever, cuz there’ll never be another better*. If this whole goddamned Collective is about people sharing music for the sheer thrill of it, then there’s no need to be as stingy as to limit my output to one day.
And I declare this: If you e-mail me (soybomb@care2.com) with a link to your music, your website, your blog, your short documentary about midget turtles, I will mention it here. People will hear about it. I’m not gonna lie and go “Oh my god, Long Necks, Little Torsos is the greatest short film about midget turtles ever made!” but I’ll keep an open mind, I’ll keep positive energy, and most of all, I will keep what I write about it entertaining so even if it sucks, at least a funny joke came of it.
I got several different e-mails recently from various blokes asking me to review their albums. On Friday (which will still be “Patrick’s Big Stuff Day”) I’m reviewing Chicago folkie James Eric’s new album Fire in the Mountains. Spoiler Warning: It’s good. The next Friday after that I’ll be reviewing plucky young upstart Big Round Spectacle’s debut misfortuneless, which is also all sorts of pleasant. But let me cover the two non-CLLCT folks who contacted me recently, AKA, “the less important”.
I got an e-mail recently from a Nadav Young promoting his curious site www.VIRV.TV I say curious because it’s purpose is not entirely clear to me. In the little e-mail press release thing I got, it claimed to be “a hand-picked, all-indie playlist 24/7, exclusively on the web. Our playlist includes Bright Eyes, Of Montreal, Spoon, Arcade fire, Xiu Xiu, The Good Life, Now Its Overhead, Architecture In Helsinki, Bloc Party, Shout Out Louds and many, many more..”. So it’s like a YouTube with super-limited selection and no easy ability to control what you watch? I’d like MTV2 to start playing all music videos again, too, but that’s cuz it’s on TV, so it’s easy to have on in the background while I do other things, like making gin in my bathtub. An online tv station just misses the point of why people choose to sit in front of the TV: It’s passive. So why have it online? Why would someone download an application to watch videos they could find on youtube? Well, Nadav’s job is a playlist manager, so I suppose the angle they are going for is “if you like X band, you’d like Y band!” Which I guess makes a little more sense, but not a ton.
Nadav, if you read this and you could clarify exactly what your site is and the needs of the consumers it fills, that’d be super helpful. As far as the music, I think it’s silly to limit yourself to indie, but niches are meant to be filled, I suppose. For once I’d like to see a radio station that plays Curtis Mayfield, Paul Simon, Captain Beefheart, Kylie Minogue, Daniel Johnston, and Leadbelly back to back. They could call it “97.5, The Hammer: We’re completely unmarketable!” Then I could listen to it for a week before I get all up in arms about it shutting down. Cuz that’s what happens to great things. They get replaced by Lite Rock mix stations. Fuck quality, we need another outlet to hear Rob Thomas.
The other fellas that contacted me were one of those musical rock ‘n roll groups you kids love so much. Their name: Springfactory. Their mission: to rock you. Or make you dance. Or make you giggle while dancing. Look, I’m not going to tell them why they do the shit, point is they make music and they want to share it with ya’s. They have a new album of old material, their previous released EP’s, coming out through Series Two records. Series Two records is based in Nebraska, the music capital of the world. I’ve listened to music via their myspace, and the tracks they e-mailed me, and I gotta say, it’s pretty nice (especially “No More”, which has a fun Georgie James quality to it). Go ahead, check it out, it won’t hurt. It’s some rather lovely definitely well-made indie/pop/rock/dance stuff. Look, I won’t do Springfactory the disservice of lumping them into the genre. You know why? Because I’m not a good enough writer to do that. You gotta be a DaveB motherfucker to do that shit. I’m just some college dropout.
Speaking of which, will Kanye West ever be interesting again? Just wondering. Dude can make fucking beautiful beat, but will he ever be interesting again? I wonder. But speaking of Kanye West and interesting, have you seen Spike Jonze’s video for “Flashing Lights” yet? Holy great.
Anyway, that’s about all I got for now. Keep in touch though, for real. BTW, if I ever say something stupid here, or just incredibly ignorant, tell me. That’s you sharing with me. Which is beautiful.
*I was the key grip on Chicago rapper Astonish’s music video, Hear Me. Look at that lighting and TELL ME that I’m not some kind of a genius.
MP3s:
Springfactory - No More
Folk has splintered. There’s folk-rock, folk-pop, anti-folk, twee-folk, jazz-folk, folk-salsa, folk-rap, folk-folk, folk-folk-rock-folk and too many other folks to mention. This is not new news. Since the folk explosion of the 60’s, the word hardly means anything at all. What used to describe pop music inspired by traditional music, now means “an acoustic guitar is in there somewhere”. Surely, when Neutral Milk Hotel and the Mamas and the Papas can both be covered with a single term, things have changed. I beat this point into your brains because I need to emphasize how remarkable an artist Joseph Still is. His music sounds like he’s been in a Rip Van Winkle coma since 1953, as if Dylan never happened. And it is wonderful.
The aptly named MineSongs has a thick reverb that dominates the entire album, as if Joseph’s mournful howls were eminating from the depths of the Earth itself. Every part of this album carries the same air of mystery, from the inconsistent tracklists (his album is available various places, and never are the songs in the same order) to the cryptic single letter song titles to a hissing voice that makes the lyrics to his songs near impossible to detect. His raspy voice has a weariness and wisdom that comes from a place much older than himself. The fact that Joseph is only 17 years old is mind boggling and I still have trouble believing it.
Most of the songs rely on Joseph’s considerable skills as a guitar player, but other instruments, sounds, and voices drift in and out of the music as if they were a dream. It’s a dark dark album, but these instances of accordion, organ, and vocal harmonies are warm lanterns that penetrate the night. Listening to this album is like live with a group of folk musicians, in a log cabin, in the dead of winter, in the middle of the night, huddled together, taking turns playing songs to keep your mind off the cold, trying to make it until the sun comes up. And I’m sorry I have to fall back on such flights of fancy, but Mr. Still has left me with no choice. He’s created an intense dreamy album that you float in and out of, that floats in and out of you, that transports you somewhere else.
I’ve listened to this album, in it’s many different mutations, probably over 30 times since I first stumbled upon it, and I will probably listen to it at least 30 times more. It’s eerie production possesses an ambience that makes it a perfect album to listen to as you go to sleep, but the old fashioned song structure and Joseph’s amazing voice make it so engaging that it also works on it’s own terms, listened to straight through. You can drive to it, you can make love to it, and one day, if he’ll permit me, I would love to score a film with it.
My friends, I cannot reccomend any one or two songs, because to take any song out of context would be doing both you and Joseph a great injustice. I will say that if you can listen to “Break” and not feel moved, you probably have your heart installed backwards.
Download, listen to, stream, praise, and vote for Joseph Still’s “MineSongs” here.You will thank me later. Preferrably in cash.
I’m not sure if everyone knows, but Isaac of Blanketarms, Isaac Arms, The Spooky Ghosts, and the man behind the beloved Pop Monster Collective has called it quits. While I am deeply saddened we all do what we need to do and I’m just happy Isaac is letting the legacy live on by allowing us to post the entire discography onto CLLCT.com (or as much as possible). Today I personally put up Blanketarms’s masterful double album Sweet & Sour along with their side of the activist-minded One Small Fist split. I also put up Isaac’s solo record that I won’t shut up about. Russ of Tinyfolk is also working on uploading more material and if any of you have something that we might not have let us know!
I like to talk about how I got into lo-fi music a lot lately (or at least the events behind it) and I just remember Blanketarms being one of the first bands I listened to. The first song I heard was “Heartbreaker,” the version off of their tour CD-R (anyone have the entire disc?). I was transformed completely and utterly forever. I never heard something so raw, so honest and so unexpected. From that moment I had to find more. I was freshman in college and I was vulnerable and open and I wanted to consume everything lo-fi; luckily Pop Monster Collective was right around the corner. I immediately started snatching up records from Blanketarms, Tinyfolk, Real Live Tigers, Super Famicom, Jon Crocker; you name it I was listening to it. And not just Pop Monster either, but I would follow myspace top 8s to get to any artists that sounded like the perfect fit.
It wasn’t just about listening to all these wonderful artists, but it was about the spirit of DIY and how it didn’t matter if your guitar was a twenty-five dollar toy guitar, if it was broken, or if it was a thousand bucks. You could record your songs on cassettes using headphones, using iPod mics, or even the recording device that comes with windows; it didn’t matter. For the first time in my life I knew that if I made music someone would listen because in this community everyone was willing to give you a chance.
I mean I can honestly say that my entire train of thought was effectively altered forever because of Blanketarms, Pop Monster Collective, and all of you fine folks out there doing what you love no matter what. I grew up in place where most people had ZERO passion and suddenly discovering so many people who cared deeply about what they were doing inspired me to become a more driven and confident person.
So what I do is for all of you. I want to make Isaac proud, Pop Monster proud and all of you proud of what I do, you do, what we did, what we do and what we will do. We are all artists and no matter what, we always will be.
The legacy of Pop Monster Collective will never die and I suggest for those uninitiated check out every artist that was a part of that family.
Mp3s:
Blanketarms-“Heartbreaker (Unripe Version)”
Isaac Arms-“Us Vs. Stuff”
Real Live Tigers-“No Regrets”
Tinyfolk-“Dear Apollo”
Rambling Nicholas Heron-“Only This And Nothing More”
The Spooky Ghosts-“Ghoul’s Night Out”
Super Famicom-“I Evaporate”
LA Beard Club-“ Harder Than It Has to Be”
Links:
The Pop Monster Collective site
Pop Monster on myspace
CLLCT.com where the legacy lives on!
Blanketarms-”Ya Basta!”
Get up and out of bed and in your car and off to work
Complain cuz greatness passed and you’re just stuck with common jerks
So you’ve been lost so long just like a cog it’s not the end
And it won’t kill you to destroy yourself and start again
But I refuse to believe that no one gives a shit
And I think we, we watch ourselves sink
Just because we’re used to it
You know how nacho cheese it gets real stiff when you let it sit
Well I think your eyes are pale
And your soul is stale cuz you don’t do shit
Just ride a bike or read a book or send a letter home
Or build a new friendship cuz we weren’t meant to be alone
But I refuse to believe that no one gives a shit
And I think we, we watch ourselves sink
Just because we’ve given up
But enough is enough
Personality counts for a lot in lo-fi music. Bob Dylan only wrote 2 of the 13 tracks on his debut album, but his voice and guitar playing crackled with life, wit, and a taste of the dry sense of humor to come. Morgan Orion wrote all 9 tracks on his debut album, and it drips with his personality, particularly the sound of his voice. A common flaw many beginning folk artists make is to allow their influences overpower their creativity. There are a million and ten bearded 20-somethings out there who are trying desperately to sound like an Iron & Wine, or a Bruce Springsteen. There is only one Morgan Orion.
One of the great things about Morgan Orion is that he sounds exactly as you would expect him to after looking at him, and he looks exactly like you’d think if you heard him. It’s a friendly, unpretentious, and slightly defeated sounding voice, one that is perfectly mirrored by his lyrics. Songs like “Furniture” and “Seashore” are driven by free-associative imagery like “Sweeping what’s swept up and keeping what’s kept up/it’s not so easily done/the battles are ample but we’re just a sample/of all that’s been lost and won” and “They had a child, the child had another/this young boy was that child’s brother/he looked at his Grandfather with eyes like sailing ships”. His clever wordplay gives the songs a terrific rhythm and energy that no amount of additional insturmentation could duplicate.
With 9 tracks clocking in at 30 minutes, Circle of Allusions is a highly enjoyable and propulsive record that gets in, does it’s job, and gets out. It’s been getting a whole lot of airplay at my place, even as background music it always puts me in a good mood. Do yourself a favor, and check him out.
Also, Morgan is going to be touring all over the place with the duo Kiki & Peepee throughout March. I had the good fortune to see him perform last night at the House of Grey Noise, and they were both excellent. I highly reccomend you see these excellent performers, so check out the tour dates on his myspace.
Download Circle of Allusions from CLLCT here!
Morgan Orion’s Myspace
