North Elementary - And Every Color You Have Ever Seen (Potluck)

North Elementary’s new LP, And Every Color You Have Ever Seen, opens with staccato guitar lines and words of encouragement and optimism:  “I know you’re dreaming of something / well I don’t care what it is / as long as you’re dreaming of something.”  I’m not great at interpreting (even hearing, really) lyrics, but I'd translate that as:  DO something, MAKE art, MAKE the world a better place.  It’s up to you!

…Color has lotsa psych-y vibes and straight-ahead power pop, and even swerves into southern rock territory at times.  As in earlier albums, North Elementary’s music is laced with ‘80s Brit & ‘90s American indie (I hear Versus and Built to Spill this time ‘round, especially the latter in Dems Da Breaks).  They pull all this diversity together into what is really a cohesive and non-derivative sound.

This collection makes for a really great (if a bit early) summer album, especially cuts like the jumpy Slippin’ Into the Sun and the stoner haze of Waste a Day.  What the hell, start your summer early.  

North Elementary celebrate this release with a great line-up at the Cat's Cradle Backroom, tonight, 4/7/14.  The Wyrms, S.E. Ward, and Reflex Arc open.  

See Gulls - Curtain Call EP (Potluck)

See Gulls have had enough, and they’re fed up.  Their frustration is mostly apparent in the push-pull relationship dynamic of the songs penned by front-gull Sarah Fuller… tales of overbearing exes and sleazy broheems.  But Curtain Call, the excellent follow-up EP to You Can’t See Me, opens with bassist Leah Gibson venting workplace anxieties on Boss Hogg (which she penned).  It’s a crunchy, grinding number that’s musically perfect for the topic:  a boring job and a boorish boss; See Gulls’ own Slack Motherfucker (“I’ll go fetch some coffees while you sit and take a rest / let me guess / at your desk”).

When …Hogg premiered as a single a few weeks back, I thought it marked somewhat of a departure from band’s sound.  But upon hearing the entire record, it actually sets a tone for and completely meshes with the overall vibe of this collection.

Curtain Call is certainly less angular, more curvy, than the debut.  But it does hop on and continue down the same road traveled by Long Gone (perhaps the best cut off that record).   While the themes here are often of defiance and strength, there’s also a soft, bittersweet side.

The second entry, Where Are We Going, exemplifies this.  See Gulls have always been great at incorporating a kind of heart-achy, ‘50s-‘60s vibe into a more contemporary style.  That’s perhaps realized better than ever in this song.  From the “ba da da da dom” intro whispering up from somewhere deep in the past, to the archetypal setting of driving down a lonely road.  Reflecting on the past, with the ghost of a long gone significant other riding shotgun, Fuller sings “It’s an older tune your Daddy played for you.”  This song sounds and feels like it might actually be one of those tunes.

Kidding Me shelves the tenderness, though.  Can’t a lady have a beer to herself without being harassed by her ex?!  He whispering “not-so-sweet nothings” in her ear (to more crunchy guitar and sick, funky little organ bloops), she telling him to “hush your mouth” like the petulant child he is.

I Want It also visits the “so familiar” (as Kidding Me put it) chore of trying to get rid of a guy.  Hard shots of reverb, and again that ‘50s vibe, back this one. “I wanted you to have me, ‘til I found him” / “I wanted him to have me, ‘til I found you.”  Here, it seems conflicted, like being caught in an endless cycle, obsessed again.  Despite the doubts, there are great lyrics of reclamation and control.  “Could you see that I am not / just the thought you have of me!”

I Wrote It is maybe the most musically upbeat song.  While the title and lyrics revolve around intra-band dynamics and coming out of the shadow of a boorsish frontman, they could just as easily refer to any relationship one’s seen before and is -- simply -- tired of. “You will never see what becomes of me / and you’re blowin’ it.”

You’re Here returns to the bittersweet vibe of Where Are We Going.  It’s the slowest cut, and filled with more cool echoes and reverb.  But despite feelings of reminiscence and loss, the closing statement is another of control, relegating the memory to being that, and only that, repeating “You’re here / in my song.”

Besides great songs and wonderful all-around musicianship and production, one thing that can’t be understated on Curtain Call is Fuller’s voice.  She’s honed into a finely tuned instrument; little changes in tone alone evoke different, even conflicting, emotions, sometimes within the same line.  It’s been fun to watch her stage presence blossom from the band’s first gigs… a little hesitant at the beginning, now fully in control.  Appropriate, then, that I Want It ends with a twist on the earlier line:  “You will never see what becomes of me / and I’m runnin’ it!”  She sure is.

I’m hesitant to say any song here is the “best.”  I DO like the quieter, soulful vibe of …Going and You’re Here.  But this is an extraordinarily consistent EP.  Every song is a gem.  All I really want out of it is, maybe, 2 or 3 more.  Please?

Curtain Call proves that See Gulls early splash was totally deserved.  While it may be right up my (admittedly subjective) alley of musical preference, I’d still say by any standard, it’s one of the best local releases this year.

Eston and the Outs - AM Gold (Potluck)

The opening number of Eston & the Outs’ new record, AMGold, begins as straightforward doo-wop/rock.  But its simple nature belies the complexity behind this wonderful collection of songs.  Eston Dickinson can’t string us along for even half a song, though.  The downshift from Donna to Nancy in Whatever Donna / A Notch for Nancy is downright majestic, recalling Dan Bejar (sans affectation) with his own Neko Case (courtesy ex-L-Daddy Issues’ Lo Davy), channeling the most anthemic moments of Twin Cinema.  Piano, organ, cello, and trumpet add to the lushness… seems Eston’s got his own Wrecking Crew. 

Already it feels like we’ve run through a whole album in the first song, but AM Gold continues to shine.  I’ve barely been listening to it for 24 hours, and my favorite song has changed 4 or 5 times.  There’s not a weak link on it. 

The title cut reminisces -- lyrically & musically -- about the heyday of AM radio, arguing you can still enjoy it today, “in a hoopdee or a Model-T” (for free! without an iPhone!).  Luxy’s Last Kiss is a straight-up homage to Scott Walker.  Clinking keys, melancholy cello, and pining “ahh ahhh ahhhs” underpin this gloomy tale of a femme fatale.  Seems to be a lot of that particular species populating the songs here:  Luxy is a “cunning minx, she had a plan for me”, Donna/Nancy leaves you “licking your wounds” / ”with a heart of blue.”

Just Another Holiday has crunchy organ and thudding rhythms apropos to the subject of a vacation from one’s own brain.  This one’s probably more than a little influenced by fellow Out Stu McLamb’s more recent, heavier Love Language (if not SOON) material.  As Easy As You Please is a jumpy bit of post-Mersey beat/pre-psychedelia Brit Pop, right down to the song title... maybe even a hint of PRE-Mersey skiffle in there.

Color… wow.  Just.  Wow.  It’s a heart-achingly beautiful pastoral.  This is the type of song that should have scored some sad, romantic film from 1968.  Cello and flute slo-mo thrust and parry a minuet, as Dickinson relates relationship-as-painting metaphor, harmonizing with Davy (who is again a highlight here).   

The closing number gets more literally pastoral (Green Pastures), and is perhaps the most upbeat song on the album.  It’s a zen-like acceptance of moving forward with the life you’ve got, and is full of great imagery… always love me a good nautical metaphor.  It ends the album on an optimistic note:  “Within all the good seeds that you root, it's the hearts you leave unbruised.”  

As you would expect from the title, the influences of AM Gold run deep.  While its soul lies in the earliest days of rock’n’roll, its heart lives in late ‘60s and early ‘70s California.  Nothing is ever totally new; everything builds on the old.  But nowadays, with access to practically every artist that has ever recorded (which I’ve said before and I’ll say again is the best thing to happen to modern music), good songwriters have a near infinite well upon which to draw.  Dickinson takes full advantage, harvesting this boon and creating something original in the process.     

While definitely its own thing, Gold is sonically closest to an Elephant 6 record as I’ve heard around here (thinking Beulah and the Gerbils).  Maybe it's the instrumentation.  This is thanks in no small part to the afore-mentioned crew, so I have to name them.  They’re a veritable Who’s Who of local music.  Besides Davy and McLamb, there’s Ben Carr (Last Years’ Men) on trumpet, guitar, etc, Mark Connor (SOON, Strange Faces) on guitar and bass, Dan Grinder (Gray Young) on bass, Tom Simpson (Love Language, SOON, Human Eyes, The Dead Tongues) on drums, Morgan Friedman (Flash Car) and Autumn Ehinger (Love Language) on keys, Jeff Crawford and Jon Lindsay on piano, and Hart Dementi on acoustic guitar.  Notably, Emily Pate plays the wonderful flute on Colors, and Josh Starmer (The Star Makers, and anytime anyone else needs a great cellist) plays cello throughout. 

I’m not sure how many of these guys are formally Outs, but I hope they ALL show up – to a number --and play at the CD release show for AM Gold.  This, by the way, is at the Cat’s Cradle Backroom, tomorrow (Fri, 8/21/15).  The mysterious Shelles and John Howie, Jr. (solo) open.   

Lakes & Woods / Jphono1 Split 12" release show, w/ Hectorina & Little Books (Cat's Cradle Backroom, Carrboro, 7/10/15)

Last weekend, there was yet another Potluck Foundation release show:  to celebrate a split 12" featuring Jphono1 and Lakes&Woods (also playing were Hectorina and the Little Books).  This Triangle collective of like-minded folks just keep'em coming, supporting music of a slew of the better local bands.  As much music as they share with us, they share band-members with each other even more.  Case in point, Jphono1, the formerly-solo alter-ego of North Elementary's John Harrison, plays keys in Lakes&Woods.

Jphono1 has been playing off and on as a solo act for a while, complete with lots of looping and other assorted effects to fill in his sparse, atmospheric songs. The result has been a rather psychedelic, rolling, drone of a sound.  While this single ("Castles")  is similar to that, the full band is just coming into its own.  Heavier and less reliant on effects and more on the usual guitar-bass-drums ethos, providing a different outlet for what are good songs either way.

Jphono1...

Hectorina are a Charlotte band that I think has been around for a while.  I caught them briefly in Wilmington some time ago, and was a little taken aback at first by a somewhat poppy and schizophrenic sound; are they funky? Are they Animal Collectiv-ites?  Wasn't sure what to think.  On second listen, I gained a greater appreciation.  Maybe if Interpol had more funk and a sense of humor, Hectorina might be the result.  They were sorta mathematical and jazzy, too.  Definitely not like anything in the Triangle.

Hectorina...

Lakes&Woods have a clean, jangly sound that traces it's lineage back through the Connells, dBs, Big Star, maybe all the way back to the Byrds.  Really, though, front-man and songwriter Matt McMichaels' earlier band, Mayflies USA, were  practically contemporaries with the later bands in that lineage, so he's just continuing to do what he does.  Also not a lot of stuff like this in the Triangle (anymore).  Occasional ukelele & harmonica, and organ from Harrison, provide nice depth to their straight-ahead power-pop songs.

Lakes&Woods...

The Little Books were a touring band (from Jacksonville, FL) added to the end of the bill, which made for a very pleasant surprise.  They're just a duo, a fact belied their sound.  Though they would sometimes settle down for a sweet folk number or two, they alternated this with frenetic, punky, K-records-style rippers.  I wonder if they  remember Crowsdell, another Jacksonville band from the late 1990's (or subsequent solo music by that band's frontwoman Shannon Wright).  Little Books kind of reminded me of them... especially on the song "The Cure" (see video below).  Dig up the song "Sugar-Coated", from Dreamette, Crowsdell's debut LP produced by Stephen Malkmus of Pavement.  Nevermind, I've done it for you.  And watch the Little Books video below to the end to see what they do to their equipment when they get carried away.  Also, see the other video below, of Lakes&Woods performing "The Future of the Payphone".

This weekend, there's another Potluck joint going on:  See Gulls' much anticipated EP release show at Kings!  'Course, if you saw the Indy this week, you could not possibly have missed that.   

The Little Books...

This weekend, there's another Potluck joint going on:  See Gulls' much anticipated EP release show at Kings!  'Course, if you saw the Indy this week, you could not possibly have missed that.

A couple of videos from the show...

The Kneads – Letting You Let Me Down (PotLuck Foundation/Records)

Greensboro’s The Kneads are a band haunted by ghosts of the past… specifically early to mid ‘90s indie ghosts.  And that’s fine by me, because for all that era’s resurgence in popularity, I’ve heard few new bands actually continuing to mine the vein. 

Which is not to say they’re derivative.  It might sound like they wear their influences on their sleeves.  People (even their press kit) cite influences like local heroes Superchunk, as well as DC post-hardcore band Fugazi.  I also hear Midwestern acts like Poster Children and Braid, and another great DC band, Jawbox.   But these can’t rightfully be called influences.  Members of The Kneads were playing in indie bands of some note back then (going back to The Raymond Brake), so they were really more contemporaries.  Now, with The Kneads, they’re just continuing to do what they’ve always done. 

The thing about “indie guitar rock” is, it’s a vein with plenty more left to tap.  When done well (and The Kneads do it well), it’s not just thrashing of guitars with a melody buried in the din.  Within the simple guitar-bass-drums dynamic (here, sometimes guitar-guitar-drums), there’s ample opportunity for the unexpected:  complex instrumental and vocal interplay, surprising chord and tempo changes, etc.  And the unexpected, for me, is what makes music worth listening to. 

Their debut CD, Letting You Let Me Down (great title, btw), on Durham’s PotLuck, is full of dense, dissonant guitars, with unanticipated little twists and turns embedded throughout.  The first cut, North and South of Temperament, is a perfect example.  The bridge slows and slips you into a completely different melody -- almost a different song entirely -- before resuming the driving hook that opened the song.  Call-and-response lyrics here, and in other tunes like Persistence Changes Everything, add yet another layer.  I do hear Fugazi in Persistence and a few other places, but the similarity is more vocal (courtesy bassist/guitarist Michael Joncas) than musical.   No, check that.  Maybe also in the jazz-ish complexity of the instrumentation.  While there are more straightforward head-bobbers like Jaded and Rejuvenated and Toto Recall (and more great titles), they always have a more-than-par-for-the-course intricacy, often via syncopated rhythms from drummer Joe Garrigan.  

Toto Recall and Microcelebrity visit the music scenes of yesterday and today, respectively.  The former flashes back to the summer of ’95, post-adolescence, and self-doubt, twisting Tom Petty’s discontented lyric into the more open-ended, even optimistic (?), “start draggin’ my heart around”.  It then pleasantly ventures into a little psychedelic spacey-ness near the end.  Microcelebrity bemoans the current crop of “pseudo-indierock” bands trying to claim the overused mantle.  With indie having long-since become a buzz-word, guitarist Joel Darden laments singers that have “no virtues to extoll / just cheap-ass hood-rat dime-store rock’n’roll” and have “read the Pitchfork poll”.  Or… is he one of them?  Self-doubt, it seems, is always there. 

At the end of Microcelebrity, Interpol-esque guitars devolve into still more spacey sounds, before the space theme becomes lyrically overt in I Miss Your Underdog Days.  I must say this one had me flashing back to Poster Children’s Junior Citizen, with all the mission control terminology, though it’s more relationship than music metaphor (“Did you wake up in the thermosphere?  It don’t matter, get your ass back here!”).  Fistful of Contradictions brings it way down with an almost experimental number, answering-machine “vocals” struggling from underneath acoustic strumming and chiming electric.  Then the album returns to the rawk with its driving closer, the Fugazi-meets-Smashing Pumpkins Frames.   

Of course, there’s yet another surprise at the end… and not just because it’s a hidden track (and, due to the chorus of “Not gonna let you let me down”, I assume the title track).  It veers WAY left into a twangy, reverb-laden, light-pop vibe, and it’s a wonderful way to (actually) close the album.  Don’t touch your dial until it ends! 

Overall, Letting You Let Me Down is a nice bridge between hardcore & indie-rock, from a band clearly schooled in these genres, but smart enough to mix it up throughout to keep it interesting.