 |
| Today's theme: unlikely rock. |
I had one of those weeks when I up and decided I hadn’t heard no frills, half-conscious “rock” for too long. Then I recalled a band who claimed they were about nothing else. So I went back to reconnect with the band that brought me “Day Stealer.”
Welcome to the third playlist of May 2019.
Music Band
This Nashville trio was one of the first bands Spotify’s Discover Weekly fed me in the 2nd half of 2016. Note the date…
The experience of trying to research this band underlines the importance choosing a good, searchable name. Over half an hour of trying combinations of “music,” “band,” and “Nashville” pulled up scores of Nashville-based bands (and means of booking them), but none of them this Music Band. When I wrote about them for the predecessor site to this one (don’t bother looking; it’s deleted), I could find reviews – both of albums and live performances – and a couple interviews. Their 2016 album, Wake Up Laughing, was probably a year old by then and Music Band had probably done some touring to support it. Anyway, between their name and the passing of three years, I can’t even dig up the names of the dudes in the band…
…they do have a (modest) twitter account and it appears they’re still active, even talking about another album.
If that doesn’t come out, Music Band will have put out just two albums: Wake Up Laughing and 2014’s (EP?), Can I Live. They won’t blow your mind or anything - one review for Wake Up Laughing offers qualified praise (“vocals that aren’t particularly distinctive and compressed production that doesn’t do these songs justice”), while another one just shits all over it/them (“Music Band? Really? It’s like they’re putting so much effort into putting in absolutely no effort.”) – but the song “Green Lights” left a fond enough memory of them that I circled back. And, no, they aren’t original, they aren’t brave, lyrically or musically. They also make no claims to be. As for what they sound like, eh, this gets close enough:
“Music Band is a basic rock and roll trio that grabs pieces of other acts, in particular Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (the lead vocals have that Petty drawl/twang), Green Day’s spunky punk and power pop a la Cheap Trick.”
Songs on the Playlist: “Day Stealer,” “Don’t Call Upon Me,” Money,” “Promise of Gold” (which I can't find), and “Everything Wants a Piece of Me.”
Har Mar Superstar
Minneapolis’ Sean Tillman, aka, Har Mar Superstar almost certainly has a leg in the running for the world’s least likely working musicians. And yet, there he sits on a recliner in a driveway giving what looks for all the world like a press conference. He even shared a stage with Prince once (a solid story that Tillman relates in this interview). And he's named for a shopping mall, not the twin he made up...
Raised in Owatonna, Minnesota, Tillman started in indie rock with Calvin Krime, which lasted two albums, one EP, and 3 1/2 years. His musical inclinations drifted to R&B, but making that shift required something of a step-by-step process – e.g., you can hear the beginning of the journey on “I Can’t Take It” from his eponymous debut album and the end with “Late Night Morning Light” from 2013’s Bye Bye 17. The latter matches most of what I’ve heard from Har Mar Superstar: funky, fairly upbeat, the tongue a little too deep into the cheek here and there (e.g., “DUI” and “Haircut”). Tillman looks like he straddles the line between performing and hamming on stage (also, he’s playing Dante’s in Portland, OR, June 18), and he’s famous for playing shirtless – something he stopped doing between age and some recent body-shaming. After posting an article about women in the industry getting body-shamed, Noisey brought Tillman into that conversation when a hometown outlet called him a “portly, bald Timberlake.” He’s careful to note that women have it harder, but it is a cross between heartbreaking and infuriating to read Tillman say this in 2003:
“Have fun, party your way through everything and don't expect anything. And when good things happen, don't take 'em for granted. That's all. Keep your friends. Stay friends with everybody --enemies are bad. Everybody comes back to do something great.”
And then to see this in 2016:
“Sorry I’m just not using to doing press right now. It’s like after you come out of the dungeon after a year and a half of working really hard on something and people take their shots for no reason and it makes you want to hide and not do it anymore.”
To end on the bright note the man deserves, I have this theory about musicians’ Wikipedia pages, that you can read hints of actual affection, even devotion, in the entries. When someone puts up an entry just to do it, it’s just [name], a list of albums and (often) festival dates. When the author gives a shit, you get a page like Har Mar Superstar’s – e.g., thorough, and with details that make the read worth your time. For what it’s worth, that page goes some distance to explaining why the mayor of Minneapolis declared September 20, 2013, Har Mar Superstar Day. Tillman is clearly respected as an artist, he plays festivals, he’s opened for and collaborated with more musical artists than you can name and can call a healthy cross-section of them friends, and he’s acted a fair amount to boot. So, yeah, the haters can pound sand.
I wound up focusing on two Har Mar Superstar albums, Bye Bye 17 and 2016’s Best Summer Ever, which Tillman described like so: “The idea is that the album is my greatest hits from 1950 to 1985.
Songs on the Playlist: “Transit,” “Restless Leg,” “Anybody’s Game,” "Youth Without Love,” “Famous Last Words” (a real outlier for him), and “Late Night Morning Light.”
Hinds
“You never know when it’s going to end. It could last for ever, it could last a year. So when we get these festival offers, we think, well it could be the last time we get it! This might be the last time we get to go to Australia together. We’ve had to learn to say ‘no’.”
Like a lot of current bands, Hinds started on the internet when they released “Bamboo” (meh) and “Trippy Gum” (awesome) on Bandcamp in 2014 - under the name Deers, btw, till a lawsuit forced a switch to a synonym (e.g., Hinds). It was just Ana Perotte and Carlotta Cosials at the time, but, since adding Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen, Hinds has lived on the musician’s grind ever since- enough that a 2018 NME appreciation calls their coming out at 2015’s SXSW “the stuff of indie legend.”
Hinds was another 2016 discovery, when Discover Weekly passed off “Garden.” That song follows a classic indie template – soft, loud, soft, loud, etc. – and, like most of Hinds material, it features fuzzed-up, sparkling trebles on guitar and with Perotte, Cosials, and Martin caterwauling over it all. Cosials and Perotte swap vocals more often than not (and I’m fully Team Perotte; love her voice), and in the same song, but I intend “caterwauling” as a compliment, because that chaos gets an extra energetic kick to their take on lo-fi/garage indie. Whatever causes it (stereotyping, I reckon), I find the simple reality of Hinds as unlikely as Har Mar Superstar’s long-term success, but why can’t four Spanish women in their 20s fall in love with that sound and play it so well? As with Music Band, I’ve looked into Hinds before and was able to dig up a 2015 video interview with Nardwuar that shows how very naturally they come by it.
“Garden” came off of Hinds’ 2016 release, Leave Me Alone, but they’ve kicked off a fresh round of interest with 2018’s, I Don’t Run. The producer for The Strokes’ early material, Gordon Raphael, helped them with recording and Hinds credit him for keeping his touch light – something that’s less surprising when you read that he reached out to them (per Cosials) “when we had 300 likes on Facebook” (Game recognize game, etc.). Both albums sound “like Hinds,” but there’s a level of polish and certainty on I Don’t Run that, to the credit of all involved, doesn’t sound down any edges – e.g., “Soberland” closes with the same chaotic energy you get on “San Diego” (just found a live version). Still, they’re growing as people and artists (duh), and they seem happy about that:
“With the process it was more or less the same, for writing, but we said let’s be more honest. Don’t feel ashamed… when you start writing songs there’s always a bit of fear that the person you’re talking about will know.”
Hinds played Portland sometime last year, and I’m pissed I missed it – especially since they’ll probably play a bigger room if/when they come again. And, crap, I forgot to get to the likely reason they sing in English (Spain's music scene sounds stuffy; see the link "he reached out to them"), and the fact that they record old-school (they just play in front of mikes).
Songs on the Playlist: “When It Comes to You” (from Hologramma .45), “The Club,” “Tester,” "Easy,” and “Castigadas En El Granero” (translation: “punished in the barn”; also, that's a gentler version than the studio recording).
That wraps up the week’s featured artists. Time for the (jesus christ) odds ‘n’ ends (I really need to get theses weekly playlists down to 25 songs). In reverse alphabetical order this time:
Tyler Childers – “House Fire”
Kentucky-born, country/bluegrass artist – which makes sense because I tend to like other elements in my country. He’s a young fella (27), and he hails from the same area as Chris Stapleton and (way back) Loretta Lynn.
The Black Keys – “Go”
They’re a band you know if you want to, but they had enough fun with their recent five-year hiatus in the video for this song that I had to look it up. (Real reason is arguably darker, but clever video.)
The Beatles – “For No One” and “When I’m 64”
Those two bled in thanks to a post on The Beatles that’ll go up soon.
The Action – “Brain”
This track comes from their second incarnation, their “radically different Byrds-influenced psychedelic style,” that they recorded for a demo no one wanted. It came out in ’95.
Terry Stafford – “Amarillo by Morning”
This week’s One Hit No More; you’ll have a bio shortly.
Santana, Buika – “Yo Me Lo Merezco”
I assume everyone knows who Santana is, so I’ll pass on a link about Buika (born Maria Concepcion Balboa Buika), a Spanish recording artist. Cool, goddamn song hot off the presses.
Salvia Plath – “This American Life”
Another project from Michael Collins, the dude behind Drugdealer. This tune has the usual 70s/druggy vibe.
The Reptaliens – “29 Palms”
A band accidentally born from a fuck-around, they put out a space-loungey sound.
Lana Del Ray – “Doin’ Time”
Another artist who probably needs no introduction (and I’ll get to her…eventually), but she just released this solid cover of Sublime’s most famous(?) track.
JD McPherson – “ON THE LIPS”
His bio points to what might one day become a “post-genre” world, and this song has a suitable “grab-bag of influences” sound.
Goldlink, ft. Maleek Berry – “Zulu Screams”
Raised in the Tidewater (Maryland/Virginia), he’s relatively new, hip hop, etc. He’s got an album, a couple mixtapes behind him, plus a lot of singles (like this one). Good, bouncy tune.
Duckwrth, ft. Kiani Lede – “NOBODY FALLS”
LA-based hip hop and, based on what I hear, this is a twist on what the kids are doing these days. It’s got a little more going on for me – better beat, like the vocal overlays, etc.
Antarctigo Vespucci – “Freakin’ U Out”
Huh, a Jeff Rosenstock side project (Rosenstock is a site-fave! Don’t, uh, know Chris Farren). They’re a lighter sound than Rosenstock, generally, but small wonder I gravitated toward the heaviest track.
That’s it for this week. Here’s to hoping anyone who finds this post found a new friend!
No comments:
Post a Comment