[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: May 15 (Cub Scouts, Chromatics, Soltero)

From: Jeremy Schlosberg <fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxx>
To: fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 12:14:01 -0400

THIS WEEK'S FINDS <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com>
May 15

[image: Cub
Scouts]<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/cubscouts.jpg>
“DO YOU HEAR” – CUB
SCOUTS<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/Cub_Scouts-Do_You_Hear.mp3>

A breezy song with a melancholy core. Tempo-wise, it’s a finger-snapper but
listen attentively and you’ll hear a song that again and again resists
resolution, both melodically and harmonically. The expectant vibe with
which it launches never quite disappears. That’s what makes it feel kind of
lost and lonely, independent of the lyrics (which sound lost and lonely
too, though, as much as I can grasp them).

So what’s going on is that the song is rooted in a chord that is not the
song’s tonic chord. The tonic chord is, typically, the home base of a song,
the chord based on the song’s key (i.e., if a song is written in D major,
the D major chord is the tonic chord). We don’t need to hear this chord all
the time but it’s usually there to ground us. “Do You Hear” opens up on one
chord, stays with it for nearly half a minute, and it’s not the tonic. This
would feel pretty edgy except for the bouncy demeanor. And it is this
juxtaposition that gives the song its depth and allure, as far as I can
tell. In the chorus, by the way, we get a kind of opposite effect, as the
melody stays focused mostly on one note as the chords shuffle through a
progression that finally resolves—briefly—when the melody drops through to
the tonic note (heard the first time at 0:53, on the third iteration of
“things you’ve done”). But listen to how quickly we are kicked away from
that moment, emphasized by a guitar riff yet again away from the tonic
chord. Even the song’s final chord (3:02) keeps the resolution at bay, a
not-often-heard effect.

A quintet from Brisbane, Cub Scouts is a new band with two singles so far
to their name. “Do You Hear” will appear on a forthcoming EP.

[image:
Chromatics]<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/chromatics.jpg>
“KILL FOR LOVE” –
CHROMATICS<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/Chromatics-Kill_For_Love.mp3>

A masterly slice of buzzy, reverby gorgeousness, “Kill For Love” is half
Jesus & Mary Chain/New Order mashup, half resplendent dance-club shimmer.
There are bleepy, twittery synthesizers, scronky guitars, a rigorous (but
seemingly handmade) drumbeat, instrumental melody lines, and a fuzzed-up
soundscape. On top of it all we get the subtly radiant voice of Ruth
Radelet, who sings without pretension and with a wonderful touch of smoke.

Overall the song seems built on a series of simple gestures that read
aurally as elegant. An example is in the drumming, and how the song begins
with a distinct, pulse-like pounding, which unconsciously draws us in with
its heart-related sonic imagery. At 0:49, an insistent high-hat adds a
metallic blur, out of which a number of new background sounds emerge. This
is not complicated but it is incisive. More songs would be this relatively
simple if they knew how; it’s kind of like that old saw about how I
would’ve written you a shorter letter but I didn’t have the time.

Chromatics is/are (so difficult to select the right verb form in this case)
a Portland, Ore.-based band that began as a punk-rock outfit in Seattle in
2002. Personnel changes led to a major reboot in 2007, with the album *Night
Drive*, on the Italians Do It Better <http://vivaitalians.blogspot.com/> label,
which introduced Radelet as vocalist and Johnny Jewel as the band’s
mastermind. *Kill For Love*, released in March, continues in this mode. You
can listen to the entire album, blended together without breaks between
songs, via
SoundCloud<http://soundcloud.com/johnnyjewel/chromatics-kill-for-love-album>.
If nothing else, be sure to check out the opening track, which is a
splendid if unexpected reworking of Neil Young’s “My My Hey Hey (Into the
Black).”

MP3 via
SoundCloud<http://soundcloud.com/johnnyjewel/chromatics-kill-for-love-single>;
thanks to Pitchfork<http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12663-kill-for-love/>
for
the head’s up. And actually I was first alerted to this song via Matt
Pond’s Twitter feed <https://twitter.com/#!/mattpondpa>, so thanks to him
too.

[image: Soltero]<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/soltero.jpg>
“MERCENARY HEART” –
SOLTERO<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/Soltero-Mercenary_Heart.mp3>

Jaunty and homespun, “Mercenary Heart” has the loose-limbed warmth of Yo La
Tengo’s acoustic side. Underneath the mild-mannered ambiance, however, is
the same kind of songwriting diligence that Soltero has displayed the
previous two times they’ve been featured here (in
2004<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/?p=61>
and 2008 <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/?p=263>).

Although not as extremely positioned as the Cub Scouts
song<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/?p=11406> regarding
resolution, or lack thereof, singer/songwriter Tim Howard definitely uses
unresolved moments to his advantage here, employing melody lines both in
the verse and in the chorus that end before resolving. Rather than leaving
the ear hanging, however, Howard lets the music resolve after the singing
stops, which, in addition to the breezy pace, is what gives the song its
sense of relentless motion.

I also like how effectively Howard works with sound, and how he shows that
you don’t have to go nuts with strange and novel sonic elements to create
compelling textures. Here, Howard works with little more than two guitar
sounds and the regular and upper register of his own voice. True to the
cliche, less can often be more.

Soltero recorded four albums as a (usually) four-piece band in Boston from
2000 to 2005. The fifth album, in 2008, was pretty much a solo endeavor for
Howard, who was then living in Philadelphia. He went on to live in North
Carolina and Central America before settling recently in Brooklyn.
“Mercenary Heart” is a song from *1943*, the latest Soltero album, set for
release next week. The album was recorded largely with Alex Drum (who is in
fact a drummer), but playing live now the band is back to four pieces. Note
that there are two other songs in addition to this one available as free
and legal MP3s via Bandcamp <http://soltero.bandcamp.com/album/1943>.

* * * * * * *
**

*
"One day you're waiting for the sky to fall
The next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all...."

* * * * * * *

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[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: May 15 (Cub Scouts, Chromatics, Soltero)

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