Tag Archive for 'Reviews'

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)

The Darlings: Photo EP (2007)


December 23, 2007
foggy ruins of time

Album Review

Hey everyone it’s Steven from the Foggy Ruins Of Time blog and after being moved by what’s going on here at 001Collective I’ve decided that I want to contribute what I can here. For my first post I’m reposting a recent review of one of my favorite releases of 2007 by The Darlings put out on Wee Pop! Records. I hope you enjoy and I look forward to featuring more great music soon. =)

I’m in love with The Darlings. I’ll get that out now. When I first heard the songs off their myspace, the mail couldn’t come fast enough. They are a five-piece band from London lead by Elizabeth Darling and their first release, Photo EP is out now on the ever so amazing Wee Pop! Records. With every CD there is a different picture, so each package is unique! These photos were taken during Elizabeth’s travels and I got picture of women attempting to use a purple tent as a blanket. What will you get? The first song , “Anything You Want” describes someone who gives so much love to another due to the beauty surrounding them. She sings confidently, “And In my head I hear music/And its glorious music/All my love is with me/And we disappear into the sea,” and we float around in that environment blissfully. “Emily” is pure, addictive and hilarious. I haven’t laughed as much listening to song in awhile. Sort-of a revenge at the girl next in line, it’s too funny to be offended by yet wittingly perfect. The ukulele strums along sharply and the strutting bass line carries us through, but its Elizabeth’s lyrics that penetrate the most as she ends on, “He won’t love you baby/he’s got no more love to spend/He tells me you are fine/But I’m better than him at lying.” The last song on the EP is a cover of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” but I didn’t even realize until the chorus kicked in. It totally takes a new dimension in the hands of The Darlings. Consisting of Elizabeth’s voice (With some aid on back up vocals) and an insistent and pretty ukulele, this song becomes more intimate, barer and more poignant. The idea of being “shook” hasn’t been this physical since Elvis used it. Probably my favorite release from Wee Pop! Records so far, The Darlings Photo EP will soothe you, make you laugh, smile and shake you until you’re thoroughly hooked.

Mp3:

The Darlings-“Emily”

Links:
The Darlings on myspace
Wee Pop! Records

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)”