Matthew’s not here! Yay!
He’s drunk in Texas at SXSW, as evidenced by this candid image supplied by our good friend and regular contributor, Campfires & Battlefields. Nevertheless the show goes on here in Edinburgh. Ruth’s at the helm with suport from Michael from Jesus H. Foxx, Dylan from Blueback Hotrod and HP from.. well.. the next show up on Fresh Air actually.
Tune into Fresh Air now to listen in live.
Here’s the playlist we’ll be filling in as we go.
1. The Hoosier Hot Shots – I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones
2. Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Dodge Veg-O-Matic
3. Cold Seeds – Crank Resolutions
4. The Morning Benders – Promises
5. Beach House – Zebra
6. Teitur – Catherine The Waitress
7. Diamond Rings – All Yr Songs
8. Pavement – Gold Soundz
9. Silver Columns – Brow Beaten
10. Alex Bleeker with Mountain – Oh Boy
11. Yo La Tengo – Take Care (Alex Chilton cover)
12. Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew – TBTF
Well Gila, the promotional track, is excellent but I’d really hesitate to recommend the rest of this. As with a large amount of atmospheric, slow-down music, this struggles to resist drifting placidly off into the realm of muzak and is for the most part no more than pleasant.
The problem with this kind of stuff is that there are millions of albums out there that could all, interchangeably, serve the self-same purpose: dark, intimate, warm evenings when you want something lush and beautiful to which the pace of your life can slow to a crawl. So whilst this would make a lovely evening’s listen, or even a lazy Sunday afternoon one, I am not sure if I would be hugely fussed if it were exchanged with a slightly different evening’s listen, without my being informed. I doubt I’d even notice.
It is definitely a step up from Goldfrapp’s recent let-down, but nevertheless even records that rely on atmosphere and the gentle mixing of emotional eddies could benefit occasionally from a few more memorable hooks. It doesn’t need to be overt – just a chord change here or there, or slight change of pace at an unexpected moment – but without it this sort of album can really often just drift inconspicuously into the background, becoming no more essential than a nice choice of emulsion for your walls or a pair of comfortable jeans.
It’s not bad, but I won’t remember this record by the end of the week.
Beach House – Gila[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/Gila.mp3]
Beach House – Holy Dances[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/HolyDances.mp3]
website | hype | amazon
