First Listen: Besnard Lakes - "Are the Roaring Night"

An experiment occurs below. I have always imagined that music reviewers listen to a piece of work at least a dozen times before they write about it. I know I have never presumed to write about something until I know what effect time and repitition will have on it. Below are my initial thoughts on the above album by Canadian chamber-rockers Besnard Lakes--even though it came out last spring, it's still new to me. And when I say "initial thoughts", I mean these are the things that occur to me as I listen to this album for the very first time, without ever having heard a note of it. There's probably several good reasons to not ever write about music in this fashion, but it seems like a fun thing to try, so let's put the needle in the groove, whaddayasay?

Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent
--Great opener. More fluid and dynamic than anything I can remember off of "Are the Dark Horse". This song is wide, expansive. It draws you in like a painting of a meadow at midnight. Classic rock-y, in a good way--maybe some Black Mountain influence? Good start.

Chicago Train
--Ghostly vocals in the intro, very reminicent of "For Agent 13". The instrumentation is sounding a lot more forward on this album so far, not as 'underwater' as they did on "...Dark Horse". So far, I like the new direction, but there was a great claustrophobic feeling about the last album that I am very much into. Great guitar work in this song, though.

Albatross
--I think this is the single. There's an odd, de-tuned sound to the backing guitars and the bass--odd for Besnard that a bassline dominates the melody the way this one does. Great backing choir-style vocals. "And I screamed for you, 'There goes my man!'"--gotta love a band that can clown on the Pixies a bit. Wait a minute--was this whole song about Black Francis...?

Glass Printer
--If "...Dark Horse" had the quality of waves ebbing and flowing and gently lapping on the shoreline, "...Roaring Night" has the quality of tidal waves hitting a deserted island in the same perfect rythym. This song, though otherwise kind of unremarkable on first listen, really encapsulates that. Now onto Side 2...

Land of Living Skies, Part 1: The Land
--Really just a 2-minute ambient set-up for...

Land of Living Skies, Part 2: The Living Skies
--This may be the most narrative BL song I've ever heard. It has a great spaghetti-western feel, I could totally see this in a Quentin Tarantino film. It also has a for-real verse-chorus-verse structure. Whoa--even an instrumental bridge after the second chorus?! Maybe if Yoko Ono had gotten with Brian Wilson instead of John Lennon, this is the type of stuff she'd have had him doing into the late 70's...

And This Is What We Call Progress
--Love the title, so there's that. Another surprisingly rawking number. Love the rolling bass and drums--great driving music (note to self: work on that "car-mounted turntable" idea...). This song is causing involuntary head-nodding. I so did not expect that when I put this record on tonight...

Light Up the Night
--Beginning seems simple enough, but the re-curring cymbal crescendos make me think that some loudness may be forthcoming. And there is the righteous guitar solo.

The Lonely Moan
--Another hushed masterpiece. There's almost a new-wave edge to the interplay of the bass and synth here, it's like an Annie Lennox out-take. If I were sequencing this album, I don't think I'd have made this the closer, even though it is a nice and pretty comedown from the previous track.


Overall take: I like this album. It uses the best parts of "...Dark Horse" and then builds upon them. Ultimately, it's more accessible, overall prettier, and just kind of makes more sense. If there is a knock on it upon first listen, it's that I really liked the claustrophobic feel of "...Dark Horse", and the fact that it, for lack of a better way to say it, made less sense. Strangely, this band has been able to pull off making their sound easier to take in, while also making their audio profile even more complex. Not a small feat.

So, y'know...go buy the damn thing. :)

2011: Newness and its opposite

I am writing this down as a way of giving myself the motivation to actually do it.

My goal is to revamp this blog. The store is dead, long live the store. There were a lot of great things about it, and a few not-so-great things. Now, for better or worse, it is history.

But the blog can still exist, in and of itself. I mean, it has VERY low overhead cost, so even I can't run it into the ground. ... Right?

Kidding.

In all seriousness, my plan is to continue to blog about music--some local, some not. Do some reviews of albums, do some off-the-cuff essay type stuff about the things I love about music in general, or certain pieces of music. Perhaps some of you will continue to read it. I hope so. And, by all means, if you have ideas for topics for me to tackle, serve 'em up. I just might take you up on them.

Currently listening to a compilation I put together for a friend of some of my favorites from 2010: Spoon, Harlem, Crystal Castles, Efterklang...to name a few.

I love that about mixes and playlists--putting seemingly disparate songs together can make you hear each of them in a whole new way.

While I did put together this compilation of some favorites, I have been thinking I might bow out on the idea of doing any definitive Year-End lists...though I might change my mind. If I was doing a list of best lyrics of the year, though, the following would definitely be near the top:

"Someday soon you'll be on fire / and you'll ask me for a glass of water / I'll say "No-o-o-ooo" / You can just let that shit burn." -Harlem, "Someday Soon"


Anyway, whatever. I'm done. For now.

n

Extinction

I never really planned what I wanted to say here... Hmmm. I will have to make it up as I go.

You have probably put this together by now, if you've happened to walk by the store--especially if you've walked inside expecting to see music on the walls for sale--but the decision was reached recently that Tyrannosaurus Records is no longer sustainable as an entity in the same way it has existed for nearly a year and a half. The doors have to be closed.

My inclination is to write a NOVEL here about what went wrong and why I can no longer make it work. I won't do that. I just want to say a few simple things.

1. There are a lot of reasons I came to this decision, many of them I've seen coming--some of them snuck up on me. None of it matters. I don't want to dwell on the negative, so I won't.

2. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. If you have ever bought music from us, come inside to check out the store, seen one of our live shows (at the store or elsewhere), or just generally expressed good feelings about our existence, rest assured that it could not have been around as long as it was without you and your support. I thank you, humbly and fully.

3. When I started this whole thing, it was about me asking a question: "Does Renton (and the surrounding areas) care about independent music?" The answer is "Yes". I could have done so much differently to help you all get much more involved, but I couldn't know that without having tried to do it this way. C'est la vie, and lesson learned. Thank you for proving me correct, and for sharing some amazing experiences with me. YOU really were the reason I wanted to do this, and you didn't let me down.

If anyone would like to contact me about store-related matters, I can still be reached at tyrannosaurusrecords@yahoo.com. Feel free to direct any and all questions there. If you are an artist with merchandise for sale, I have it all, and will be sorting and sending over the next couple of months.

Thanks for a great year.

Keep supporting independent music!

Your friendly neighborhood dinosaur,

TRx

Andrew the Great

If you've read this blog, like, at all, you know that I like my music independent and my voices fresh and exciting. It's possible I've just found the perfect combination.


Andrew Vait is an up-and-coming Seattle-based musician who writes amazing, heartfelt, somewhat grandiose indie-pop songs that are informed as much by modern indie stalwarts (check for hints of Modest Mouse, DCfC, The Decemberists, in varying degrees) as by the demigods of 70's singer-songwriters (think Cat Stevens and Gordon Lightfoot, among others). He is a perfect voice for a generation applying the lessons of the past to the possibilities of the present--the evidence is right there in the song "Missing Teeth": over a mid-tempo beat and a catchy synth melody, he croons with the gravity of someone at least twice his age ("...we made a little bed /.../and slept on what we never said).

Gigging for his album, The Pros and Cons of Drowning, Andrew has been making the rounds throughout the PNW. He hasn't told me this specifically, but I am pretty sure he would play anywhere. Seriously, become his fan on Facebook: there are Happy Hour shows, house shows, proper club shows...you name it. Keep an eye out soon for the full band's (Andrew Vait and The Eternal Fair) album, coming soon to an independent record store (...ahem!) near you.

This guy just loves to play. And play he will.

We are so lucky to be able to bring him to Renton...check him out this coming Friday (10/22 @ 6pm) for an intimate solo performance at your favorite DTR record store. Yes, the only one. Whatever. Always have to point that out, don't you?

As always--our shows are FREE, for ALL AGES, and SUPER RAD.

Can't wait to see you.

ROAR, -TRx

An Open Letter to Music

Dear Music,

Hi. I've been listening for a while. Long-time fan. Seriously. Not to gush, or anything, but I was always the one who was off listening to you while other kids were doing stuff outside, or playing video games. I wouldn't expect you to remember. It's OK. I just wanted to write to you to explain how you've helped shape me, and thank you for all the times you made my life a little more tolerable.

So, I was recently reading somewhere that you're like, 9000 years old...? That is amazing. I mean, you don't seem a day over 6000. You've aged really well. You're always finding new ways to evolve and change to fit whatever time you're in. I mean, that's really cool. A lot of us (humans, I mean) get all stuck with what we liked at a certain time in our lives, and never really learn the skills of adaptation to what is new. I know I'm still stuck on a lot of the stuff I used to like as a kid... I really admire that you can stay so vital.

Somewhere early on, I knew that my obsession with you would last a very long time.

I mean, I've seen you change a lot over the years, and I've done a lot of research about how you were before I was around. I am continually amazed that you can always be such an inspiration for people when it feels like they are losing reasons to keep trying. Just one of your many skills, I suppose. I remember this one time: I was having the week from hell--I mean, it was bad. It was like, you name it and it was going wrong, and I didn't have anyone around that I could really talk to about it...and there may have been a girl involved. I bet you hear this kind of stuff a lot, huh? Anyway, I won't bore you with the details, but I decided early on that I was going to have to lean on you a little bit to get through that. And the whole time, you were there, like a champion, to commiserate with me when I needed it and to lift me up when I was too far down. Likewise, I have soundtracks made of you that have accompanied all the best times in my life--you know: all those times when I was sitting behind glass, watching cars pass by in a state of utter contentment; or those first meetings with people I knew would be important to me, even though I didn't know how or why I knew that at the time--it was like you already knew, and you were trying to clue me in without saying too much.

I mean, you're perfect. You're amazing. I don't know how you do it. I know a lot of your fans are too cool to say these things. I know that I might not be so cool. I am OK with that this time. I think it is important that you know we aren't taking you for granted.

Anyway, I'll wrap this up by saying that the real reason I'm writing is that I have started falling in love with you even more recently. I mean there has always been love, of course. But lately, it's as though I am hearing you with new ears. You have somehow rejuvenated me--made me start to remember that there are things that can make me happy. I feel like you are teaching me lessons all over again, the way you did when I was just a kid, wearing flannel and trying desperately not to fit in. I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable by telling you all this. Like I said before, I just think you need to know.

So, y'know, just keep doing what you're doing. It's been a great run so far. And thanks again for everything. I'll be here, listening. We all will.

Respectfully,

nich

The Perfect Playlist: "Smiles and Sighs"

So...

Who knew that people actually paid attention to me posting things on Facebook? Cheers. I started talking about The Perfect Playlist recently, and got requests to post it when it was complete (Sorry, Kendra: wish I could do downloads, but I am SO not that cool.). A brief explanation is in order before I proceed, however.

Is this The Perfect Playlist? No...and yes. And maybe. This thing was designed for a purpose. One day recently, while listening to music, as I am wont to do occasionally, I heard CHYSY's "In this Home on Ice". I thought (and even FB'd!) about the lyric "Now that I'm so sad and not quite right / I could dance all night". That lyric has a strange effect on me...makes me both sigh and smile. It gives me the feeling of being resigned to things, yet very much OK with them. It speaks of the potential for utter happiness in the midst of difficult situations. Simply put, I love that lyric. It got me thinking about what other songs give me a similar feeling. So, I set out to make a playlist of songs that gave me this feeling, songs that I was amazed people were living their lives without listening to...that said, some of the songs are relatively obvious, but most are on the more obscure side of the spectrum for those of us who don't have ridiculous amounts of time to scour the indie-verse for the next amazing band/song/album. I mean, me? What else am I gonna do? I scour, so you don't have to.

So, here it is. It is 2 hours long, and separated into 2 different "sides". Not a "Smile" side and a "Sigh" side (remember, all the songs elicit both responses--for me)--the sides are almost arbitrary, but in sequencing, it just made sense to me. Plus, I like titling things, so I was able to come up with an extra title (AKA, I was able to rip a lyric and call it a title)...here goes. I will try to explain as I go, but some of the choices need no explanation--or, if they do, I can't really explain them.

My thanks goes out to Crystal (who smartly made me feel lame when I said I was attempting "Perfection"), Annastasia (who asked first to see this diabolical scheme), Kendra (who probably shouldn't compliment me so much), Jeffrey (who is a true mix-making hero), and Laika (who paved the way for humans to travel in space, ensuring we would all always have reasons to smile and/or sigh).

Please, be gentle with your criticism. :)

Smiles and Sighs
Side 1: "...I could dance all night"

1. Ryan Adams: Come Pick Me Up
2. Band of Horses: Detlef Schrempf (Kind of schmaltzy, but my favorite of BoH's more sentimental works.)
3. Elliott Smith: The Biggest Lie (I could find an Elliott song for any mix, so...I did.)
4. Film School: Two Kinds (I can't hear this song without being surprised by the violins. So pretty.)
5. Pinback: Penelope (How many love songs are there about fish? This is easily the best of them.)
6. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: In This Home on Ice
7. Ra Ra Riot: Run My Mouth ("All my days, they end too slow")
8. The Spinning Wheels: Wrecking Ball (This band needs more fans. That means you.)
9. Owen: Femme Fatale (Not as good as the original--obviously--but I like the way it sounds here.)
10. Iron & Wine: Jezebel (Sigh. I couldn't love this song more than I do.)
11. Volcano Choir: Island, IS (I told someone recently that this song has ended up on nearly every mix I've done for the past year...PROOF!)
12. Rogue Wave: Maps (Yes, we all love Karen O. This version is better. I get being a purist about the original, but this one is SO GOOD.)
13. Loch Lomond: Wax & Wire (This one is kind of scary, if you really listen to it, but something about the rise and fall of Ritchie's voice always mellows me out.)
14. Foals: Spanish Sahara (This may be the most epic song that gets released this year. That's not meant to be hyperbole.)


Side 2: "You little mountain noise"

1. Coconut Records: West Coast (Turns out, Jason Schwartzman can write a pretty damn good Beatles-esque melody.)
2. Spoon: Goodnight Laura (Makes me wish I knew someone named Laura...)
3. Peter Broderick: Below It (I am enamored with everything Peter Broderick does, but it all started with this amazing song.)
4. Glen Hansard: Say It To Me Now (If I could sing and play guitar, I would just cover Glen Hansard songs.)
5. Neal Burton: Bandages (I was introduced to this on Aviation Records' "2021" compilation, and this guy's voice is killer. And the song embodies such a beautiful, escapist idea.)

***There is a bit of a tonal shift here, from the more grounded to the more ethereal. If I'd thought a bit more, I may have dispersed the following songs more throughout the mix, but it turned out I liked the idea of the end of the mix being really dreamlike and pensive. Totally a personal choice.***

6. tUnE-yArDs: Fiya (This is one of those songs you hear on a cellphone commercial, and just marvel about how little those advertisers knew about what they were getting into.)
7. Rauelsson: Elefantes y Ninas (Admittedly, this only qualifies as "dreamlike" since it is sung in Spanish, but I still like the way it fits.)
8. Mum: We Have a Map of the Piano (This has been a favorite of mine for so many years, it's impossible to really talk about. The title of this side comes from this song, as well.)
9. Bent: Cylons in Love (A classic of the "chill-out" genre from the turn of the century.)
10. Animal Collective: Winters Love
11. Grizzly Bear: Foreground
12. Grizzly Bear: Colorado (I have never, nor would I have ever imagined I ever would, put two of any one band's album-enders side by side on a mix. I love the way these two work. There is a first time for everything.)
13. Gayngs: The Last Prom on Earth (Another album-ender. It's kind of tongue-in-cheek, but I still think it's a really pretty song. And it cleanses the palate a bit from all the preceding heaviness.)


OK...let it fly. What do you think?

roar,

TRx

They Came from Across the Water

Who is Lemolo?

I have been asking myself this for months now. And as I've been looking for an answer that makes sense to me, I've also been trying to explain it to other people--in neither attempt have I been fully successful. While I'd love to sit here and analyze the music these girls make (which should be relatively easy, mind you), I find that I have a lot of questions.

But let's start with the facts.

A) Lemolo is Meagan Grandall and Kendra Cox (respectively known as the "Band Queen" and the "Energy Specialist"). B) They are from Poulsbo/Gig Harbor, or thereabouts. C) They are in their early 20's--very early 20's, I am assuming. D) They play keyboards, guitar, and drums--typically playing either guitar OR keyboard, depending on the song. E) They write tremendous songs. F) They gig like crazy, burning up stages all over the Seattle area since this past summer. G) They are as sweet as the sugar on your Cornflakes, in every sense of the word (I can hear you arguing that saying someone is "sweet" is an opinion, but I have empirical evidence on this--it is a verifiable fact. Trust me.)



It all seems relatively simple, up to this point--I'll grant you that. But then the picture gets hazy.

How do girls this young have such a command of songcraft? They employ such delicate subtlety, especially in their slower arrangements--adding layer upon layer and change upon change until a melody that originally had an alluring negative space is full, each measure is bursting at the seams. Or, put another way, the songs are made with a patience that people this age have no business possessing--each work is fully-formed, mature in its own right. A great example of this is the aptly-titled "Old Fashioned Lover", which begins as a somewhat whimsical lament about the loss of summertime friendships, then slowly, and exquisitely, over the course of eight minutes somehow fast-forwards the listener into an autumnal plea for genuine companionship. It's breathtaking.

Who are their influences? The basic dynamic of the instrumental make-up sounds, on paper, as though it should reflect clear influences (several duos have had similar DNA, not least of all Mates of State and Beach House). While there is a bit of it, albeit fleetingly (along with noticeable nods to such heavyweight female vocalists as Hope Sandoval and Chan Marshall in the singing), this band sounds too original to be merely the sum of its elements. The sheer individuality behind this band's vision is utterly remarkable, turning simple notes into stunning melodic turns through timing and vocal interplay. How do they do it?


I speculate on these things, but when I think I have answers, I hear something I hadn't heard before (their songs are like that...), and it knocks my conclusions right back into the murk of uncertainty. Luckily, I am OK with having a little mystery in my life--after all, who wants to see a magic trick after they know how it's done?


But I know this much:

1. Lemolo is one of the most consistently interesting bands in the Seattle scene right now, if for no other reason than they sound like nothing else in it.
2. The new songs I've heard take everything I've said above and capitalize on each strength exponentially, which shows that this band is nowhere near slowing down creatively--and that makes them one of the most exciting bands in the scene as well.
3. You will love them, if you don't already. Check them out online (www.myspace.com/lemolomusic and/or www.lemolomusic.blogspot.com), or see them live sometime soon at a venue near you--namely Tyrannosaurus Records on Friday, 9/10 @ 6pm for a FREE, ALL-AGES in-store performance.


Does that answer your question?

roar - TRx