Saturday Looks Good To Me - "Lift Me Up". Coffee-cup dance-in-socks bob-your-head-and-talk-to-the-kitten. SLGTM busts out the motown bassline and the cheer of an organ; listen as hands clap, as she sings at herself, as the guitar jangles in the right channel, as the trumpet waves like Belle & Sebastian from a window. Better yet, listen to the harp - seriously, it's killer! It's drizzled like honey over the end of the song, beautiful and giddy. The Lucksmiths in a big studio, The Diskettes on speed. Zip! [buy]
The Apostle of Hustle - "Sleepwalking Ballad". Andrew Whiteman is a big chunk of Broken Social Scene, and wouldn't ya know it, there's a big chunk of Broken Social Scene in his solo project, Apostle of Hustle. Which is fine by me, because Folkloric Feel took all the right bits: murmured vocals, breath and breadth, folkie earnesty and a rock'n'roll spirit. Better yet, there's something familiar in the broken blazes of guitar and drums - Whiteman enlisted Dave Newfeld to produce. Newfeld's the guy who did You Forgot It In People, and if you ask me, he deserves half the credit.
So "Sleepwalking Ballad" is big and wide, with canyons and rivers and cloudy peaks. It begins with Whiteman masked and vocoded, sipping a drink. Whirls build in the wings, guitars arrow in and then go away. "I went in to the wrong house last night / and I crawled in to the wrong bed." Things go quiet - one channel stumbles, falls back, shuffles forward. Noise clutters the soundstage, the corners building with artifacts (old wine glasses, new chandeliers, oversized bowler hats, blinking motherboards). Sounds are pulled out of trenches, cast over the tune like a grey tarpaulin. There are emotions you didn't know were there, hiding in the harmonics, waiting for openings to dive through and snap. There's a wheeze and a moan and a storm and then "dit dit dit" we're done. Utterly brilliant. [buy]
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Stay tuned for an extra post this weekend (with mp3s!) -- i will be bidding you all a temporary adieu. Nostalgia, tears and rambling are planned.
Posted by Sean at September 17, 2004 12:30 AMNice AoH choice, Sean. I've been apesh** about this disc since I first streamed in online about a month ago. Does anybody know what else has Dave Newfeld produced? Just curious.
Posted by: mr g at September 17, 2004 12:39 PMYou're gonna be missed man.
Posted by: Keith at September 17, 2004 1:57 PM"folkloric feel" is definitely reminiscent of "you forgot in people" but in a good way...i do think Dave Newfield is BSS's 5th Beatle, similar to Nigel Godrich with Radiohead.
hopefully the upcoming BSS album will build upon this sound but at the same time grow and stand on it's own.
COME BACK SHANE!
Posted by: forksclovetofu at September 17, 2004 7:26 PMWhat forks said.
Posted by: Tuwa at September 19, 2004 9:02 AMSTLGTM looks splendid to me, really tempted to get the album!
Posted by: Matthew at September 20, 2004 4:53 AM