[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: Apr. 6-12

From: "Jeremy Schlosberg" <fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxx>
To: fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 10:44:24 -0400

THIS WEEK'S FINDS <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/this_weeks_finds.htm>
Apr. 6-12

** Has it been a year or more since your last Fingertips donation? You might
want to check out the Prize
Closet<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/prizecloset.htm>page for some of
the new CDs that have been added. Remember too how
relatively small contributions go a long way here. Five or ten dollars for a
year's worth of great free and legal MP3s (about 150 of them in fact) is a
great value, yes? Go to the PayPal link at the bottom of this email and
voila, it's easy. And remember, no one will leave automated messages on your
voicemail seeking your support. (That one's for fellow Pennsylvanians in
particular. You would not believe the way the phone's been ringing around
here lately.)
*

"C'mon Baby Say Bang Bang" - Jane Vain and the Dark
Matter<http://www.killbeatmusic.com/mp3s/07%20C%27mon%20Baby%20Say%20Bang%20Bang.mp3>
I like songs that bother to lay down a full-fledged instrumental
melody--i.e. when an instrument (typically a guitar, sometimes a piano,
sometimes something else) plays a melody that is not the same melody the
lyrics have in either a verse or in the chorus. That's what we're greeted
with right away here (0:00-0:14); and, as a bonus, we immediately get that
same melody repeated by a high, squeaky, but somehow endearing instrument
that is either a high-pitched guitar or a guitar-like synthesizer and as
much as I keep listening I can't tell which it is.
That high-pitched guitar-like thing returns at 1:42, when we are shown
how the opening instrumental melody weaves into the main body of the song,
which turns out to be in the verse. And while, okay, this sort of thing is
not the be-all and end-all of songwriting, the craft and attention it takes
to do something like this speaks of a band conscientious about the musical
atmosphere it seeks to create. Atmosphere does seem to be Jane Vain and the
Dark Matter's specialty, from their fanciful name to the slidey, slinky
rhythm to the smoky singing of Jamie Fooks (there is in fact no "Jane Vain")
to, most of all, the subtle dynamism of the musical landscape which unfolds
along the way here. While the word "atmospheric" in music writing refers
typically to spacey washes of psychedelia or shoegaze, these guys create
atmosphere in a solider, truer sense of the word, via rhythm and harmony and
texture and variety and a most satisfying, if somewhat dreamlike, acuity.
The violin that adds some nifty drama between 2:55 and 3:05 had actually
sneaked on the scene back around 2:20, without fanfare, and fades away
afterwards without a trace. This is that kind of song.
Jane Vain and the Dark Matter are a quartet from Calgary. "C'mon Baby
Say Bang Bang" is from the band's debut CD, *Love Is Where the Smoke Is*,
which was released in January.

"Volatile" - the Old
Haunts<http://krs5rc.com/krs/bands/oldhaunts/audio/Volatile.mp3>
CBGBs may be dead and gone, but here's a trio from Olympia, Washington
that has at least one foot firmly planted in 1977. Combining the
pretty-yet-prickly guitar lines of Television with the earnest-yet-comic
punk drive of the Ramones, "Volatile" seems simultaneously well-crafted and
slapped together, if such a thing is possible. What attracts me most about
the song is its offhandedly industrious character: the band just keeps on
plugging away, twiddly guitar leading the way, creating the most wonderful,
busy-sounding *thereness* in the background that actually seems more the
heart of the song, in a way, than do the melody and lyrics. This sensation
is reinforced by the lyrics themselves, which aren't really about very much
other than the narrator assuring us that he's "volatile," and literally
spelling it out to be sure we understand.
The stringy, nasally vocal stylings of singer/guitarist Craig Extine
bring Tom Verlaine directly to mind, accentuating the Television-like
sensibility; the fact that this anxious-sounding character, so clear about
his emotional turbulence, bothers both to spell the word he's singing (a
concept usually reserved for more positive attributes like r-e-s-p-e-c-t and
l-o-v-e) and take lovely little "ah-ah-ah" breaks in his singing is both
charming and, basically, funny. The trio also includes drummer Tobi Vail,
ex- of Bikini Kill, the pioneering '90s "riot grrl" outfit. "Volatile" is a
song off the band's new CD, *Poisonous Times*, coming out this week on Kill
Rock Stars <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/smaller_labels.htm#KRS>.
MP3 via Kill
Rock Stars <http://www.killrockstars.com/>, which is in fact the name of a
record company, if you were wondering.

"Sun Down" - Nick
Freitas<http://team-love.com/home/wp-content/uploads/tl30/01%20Sun%20Down.mp3>
From Kill Rock Stars to Team Love <http://team-love.com/> we go--Team
Love being another unlikely record company name, pointing in the opposite
direction, and co-founded by Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes). With its delicate
but determined chug and wistful vocalizing, "Sun Down" is the sort of brisk,
contemplative guitar and piano piece that you would have heard back on a
Paul Simon record in the '70s. Check out that evocative electric guitar he's
using--listen at 1:41 in particular; now that's just a wonderful,
decades-old sound you don't hear much on a '00s indie-rock platter (and I
don't guess I should be calling it a "platter" but that's how nostalgic the
sound is). This song offers pleasures which are so low-key they might have
slipped right past me were it not for the song's eminently pleasing center
of gravity--I won't call it a hook because it's not quite that, but the way
the melody takes that three-note ascent at the end of the verse (first heard
at 0:24) is the kind of beautiful, slightly unexpected songwriting touch
that goes a long way towards nailing an entire song into place.
"Sun Down" is the title track from Freitas's forthcoming CD, his
fourth, and his first for Team Love. Freitas--one-time staff photographer
for *Thrasher* magazine--recorded the CD pretty much on his own, in a studio
he pretty much built himself in a shed in his Los Angeles backyard. It's
slated to hit the streets next month. MP3 via Team Love.

*FINGERTIPS. FREE AND LEGAL MP3s ALL YEAR. NO FILLER. NO SNARK. ACCEPTING *
* PAYPAL
DONATIONS<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=fingertipsmusic%40gmail%2ecom&item_name=Fingertips&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>.
*

* * * * * * *

To unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time, simply send an email with
the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line to
fingertipsmusic-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: Apr. 6-12

Other related posts: