A Good Ground


Playful? Yes. Danceable? Yes. Yelping? Yes. Sing Along Choruses? Yes. Brooklyn? Yes. Fidgety? Yes. Good? Surprisingly, Yes. Sonic Youth? No. Mission of Burma? No. Wire? No. Oxford Collapse? Yes.

I must stop reading promotional liner notes.

Prop Cars
Last American Virgin
The Boys Go Home

Kanine Records

Buy It!

The Wedding Present
from the album "Hit Parade 1" [RCA]




























"Blue Eyes"

I don't think I've ever mentioned this before
But I couldn't possibly love you any more
Oh it's been ages
Let's not do that again

I think you said that when you wrote to me
I'm not as certain as I ought to be
I lost the pages
It didn't seem to matter then

There's a lot of things I should have kept
But there was so much I could not accept

I watched some film round Alexandra's place
But I kept seeing your blue eyes in her face
I tried to call you
But you must have left by then

And you know that stuff about your being here
I changed my mind, no, I just want you near
I don't have to own you
I just want you home again

There's a lot of things I used to say
But that all changes from today
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

other songs from The Wedding Present's "Hit Parade 1"

Three
Come Play With Me

Buy it here


---Mr. Mark

If You Were That Way Now I Think I’d Love You More


Short and sweet (emphasis on the sweet) today: Toothpaste 2000 basically has 2 types of songs, simplistic, straight-forward, driving pop rock (male vocals) or sugary sweet, girl-group-influenced low-fi pop (female vocals). These tracks come from their 2000 release "Va Va Voom!"

Spacecat
Schoolgirl Affection
I’m in Love With Who You Used to Be
Va Va Voom

Parasol Records

Buy It!

–Popkoff

Before I Turned Inwards


A few years ago, while scavenging for music in the dollar bins, I stumbled across this album by Gravenhurst, "Flashlight Seasons." I initially bought it based on the fact that it was on Warp records, but I was disappointed to find that it was not some glitchy electronic record, but rather a sad whiny British acoustic album. I quickly removed from my cd player and literally tossed into my backseat where it disappeared in the haze of newspapers and trash. Quite some time passed before it was excavated from the backseat and placed back into my cd player again, but oh what a different experience.

I hate writing about acoustic music because I’m always tempted to use cliches like "delicate" or "introspective." I’ll keep it simple, I really like these songs. Listen to them, and tell me what you think.

Damage
Damage II
The Ice Tree

Warp Records
Buy It!

-Popkoff

The Strategy Unfolding


Outrageous Cherry’s name sounds like a hair metal band from the 80's, but rest assured they are a contemporary band that makes some very solid pop music. Hailing from the traditionally non-pop city of Detroit, the band plays a jangle-heavy mix of sunshine 60's pop and reverb laden 70's stoner rock with more emphasis on the former. If you like this, you should buy it off of Amazon, a used copy is like $3.00.

Where Do I Go When You Dream?
Eclipsed
Tracy
A Bad Movie

Del-Fi Records

Buy It!

-Popkoff

"When the evening paints the streets...."

I am going to keep this short and sweet.
I enjoy music with lots of delay and tons of reverb. These are some of my favorite songs.

P.S. Explore the world of music...get out and visit your local record store today!

The tunes:
She Bangs the Drums - Stone Roses
She's So High - Blur
Since K Got Over Me - The Clientele
A Man called Sun - Verve
Treasure - Chapterhouse
Alison - Slowdive
Gone World Gone - the Kitchens of Distinction
Bill and Ben - The Catherine Wheel
Baby Blue Eyes - Dennis Wilson
How to tie a tie - the Lucksmiths
Under the Milky Way - The Church

--Mr. Mark

Driving Through the Mountains Listening to a Song


So Hudson Bell crept onto my radar about a month ago and they have remained firmly planted there based entirely on the strength of one song, "Slow Burn." They’re on Monitor Records, which is a label that is endearing itself to me more and more as time passes, and they make the kind of layered sprawling pop rock that instantly worms it’s way into your heart. I highly recommend checking out their debut "When the Sun is the Moon."

Slow Burn
The Falls

Monitor Records

Buy It!

Also, I wanted to post a couple songs by the band Shooting At Unarmed Men.


The main draw to them for me is that they feature former Mclusky guitarist Jon Chapple. Admittedly the band’s sound is far different from that of Mclusky’s and certainly not as instantly gratifying, but I do see the potential for this album to become a future favorite of mine. The songs themselves seem sort of subdued on record, but structurally tight. Given their strong rhythms and rousing sing-along-type choruses, I suspect that the songs will really flesh out more live. A couple other things to note; the liner notes omit the band member’s names and simply offer the phrase "those who need to be thanked will be thanked in person."

No-One Can Waltz
The Pink Ink

Too Pure Records

Buy It!

Plus, here is one of my favorite Mclusky tracks.

You Should Be Ashamed, Seamus

Too Pure Records

-Popkoff

All the Flowers Can’t be Wrong

Hailing from San Francisco, the band known as Young People bring a strange mixture of noise-rock, country twang, and dare I say...Broadway to their sophomore effort "War Prayers." On this album the band strings together tiny and eclectic bursts of style to form one and a half minute long opuses, all the while anchored by the simultaneously awkward and fascinatingly booming voice of Katie Eastburn.

These songs are all at once abrasive, theatrical, heartfelt, surprising, and playful. If you don’t like the first 30 seconds, stick around, it will change.

Ask the Dust
Dutch Oven
The Lord
The Night of the Hunter

–Popkoff

Two Sick Sisters

Today's tunes come from the early '90's. The distinct wonder of the Pale Saints wasn't the pretty vocals or the polished guitars, that often lumped them into the shoegazer niche of the time. Rather, it was the odd use of pop structures and the ability to change tempo and chords in the middle of songs. Ian Masters and Meriel Barham [the original vocalist from Lush] often sang in a fey ethereal voice that was just icing on the layers of guitars and keyboards.

4 songs from two EP's:

Half-life EP
Half-life, remembered
Baby Maker

Flesh Ballon EP
Hunted
Kinky Love


---Mr. Mark

the scene that celebrates itself



"Not since The Jesus and Mary Chain has there been a debut of such glowing, commanding beauty. It's so assured it really doesn't sound like a debut at all. Moose have a fierceness and urgency that belies their loveliness. Trust me, they're a band you could learn to love a lot...." Melody Maker, March 9, 1991

"Sonny and Sam" by Moose is an older EP that is definitely worth your time and effort to find. the guitar work and the arrangements are simply gorgeous. i found videos on youtube for a visual.

enjoy.



jack
butterfly collector
last night i fell again

---Mr. Mark

Can We Ever Make It Right?



Starflyer 59 is playing tonight at the Parish, so I decided to go ahead and do a post about their last album, "Talking Voice Vs. Singing Voice.".

I hate to say that I’m a newcomer to Starflyer 59, but I didn’t really get into them until this record. The thing that struck me the most about these songs was the lushness of the guitars and the effortlessly poppy structures.

The Contest Completed
Good Sons
Longest Line

Check ‘em out tonight.
$10, doors at 9:00, music at 10:00.

-Popkoff

I WANT YOU ON THE OTHER HAND BUT.....


Appearing in the fall of 2004, this EP combined Scott Herren’s sampling and creative arrangements with the amazing vocals and guitar work of Eva Puyelo Muns. Possibly intended as a follow up to "Apropat’t", this collection stands on it’s own utilizing rhythm and slightly more experimentation to further their sound. While it maybe easy to dismiss this as another downtempo album from Prefuse 73, with nice beats and samples, this is altogether something different. More on the Catalan/Portuguese folk tip than on the beats and breaks, this is pure ear candy. Enjoy.

Dema Vindra
Ya Estoy De Vuelta
No Puedo De Cidir

---Mr. Mark

Give People Little Presents So They Remember Me



Since this is the inaugural post for Open House, we decided it would be appropriate if it was about our moniker’s inspiration, "Songs For Drella" by Lou Reed & John Cale.

After the death of pop artist Andy Warhol in 1987, life long adversaries and former Velvet Underground cohorts, Reed & Cale, began working together for the first time in decades. The result was this, an odd, amusing, and strangely moving experiment in minimalism and storytelling. With merely a guitar, keyboard, and viola, Reed and Cale would take turns on vocals, sometimes singing as themselves, sometimes channeling the persona of Warhol.

I first heard "Songs For Drella" in 2002, but it’s effect on me now remains to same. When it came time to assign a name to what it was we were trying to do, it was among the first ideas to spring to mind. Why? You decide.

Open House
Slip Away (A Warning)
A Dream
I Believe

--Popkoff