LISTEN: Dungen - Skit i Allt (2010)

“Skit I Allt is about a certain feeling: you’re with your friends and mates, all hanging out till 6 in the morning. You’re the last one left at the party and you call this person that you want to be with. They’re asleep, but they still say, ‘Ah, fuck it, come over.’ It’s that feeling.”

via Mexican Summer

Picture yourself waking up late on a Sunday morning. Your apartment is cramped, but your bedroom is sunny, especially today. The bustling cymbal work of "Vara Snabb" accompanies your fluttering eyes as you wipe the crust away. As Louis CK would say, you're slowly rebooting the computer. The calm flute quickly transforms into a rumble of guitar, bass and toms as you try to process the night before. All abruptly stops when you realize, "Why remember? Look forward. It's a nice day."

Picture yourself in that suburban summer of '76. A teenager, a hi-fi in the basement living room and a stack of LPs. Cue "Högdalstoppen" as you make your daily trek down those steps. The drums break in at double-time, but the guitar moves to your slow motion scan of the familiar pastels and browns, velour and shag. The bass is working the upper register as you settle into the couch. That couch! So soft it swallows you whole. Facing a television that you have yet to outgrow. The guitar skronk is getting more complicated. Why is your hair so straight? Why are your corduroy bellbottoms so straight? Why are the stripes on your bodytight top so straight? Bass, drums and delayed organ loops -- what is that smell? Is that the room? Is that the factory-fresh LP sleeve? Is that the slightly sweat-stained canister headphones now pressed snugly against your ears? Is that fresh sweat slowly dripping down your pits as you air drum furiously to this increasingly godhead solo? Is that you?  

Read Prefix Mags great review here.

http://www.myspace.com/dungen 

Kurt Vile - God Is Saying This To You... (2009)

Up until now I had only heard the excellent 'Constant Hitmaker' and 'Childish Prodigy', but I was just browsing around on Spotify when I noticed they'd just added 'God Is Saying This To You' and I knew I had to listen to it! Anyway, as I've been listening to it I've been reading through a review I came across over on Hippies Are Dead and I think it captures the feel of the album perfectly. The key word used in the review for me is probably 'organic'. The album drifts effortlessly from song to song like a vulture soaring high over the desert in the summer. The review also talks about how the album is at heart a great pop album, with some excellent songwriting, but still manages to push the boundaries enough where necessary to become something more than just a pop album. And it's exactly those two elements which make the album what it is: the songwriting keeps the experimental parts in check and the experimental parts help keep the album interesting. The album is out now on Mexican Summer, where it seems to suggest this is his latest LP, even though it was actually released before 'Childish Prodigy'. Strange!

"More than a mere odds-n-ends collection, Kurt Vile’s latest LP is a compilation of tracks from Overnite KV, a tour-only CDR, along with a handful of extra tracks recorded specifically for this release. Here we find Kurt solo, four-trackin’ as usual, and blowing minds with his mix of bluegrass guitar, blazed singer-songwriterisms, and the knowledge of how to balance these contexts out with laidback precision. Psychedelic to its core, these twelve tracks speak to the will of the casual perfectionist, honing his craft with effortless aplomb. You’ll be hearing plenty more from this Philadelphian wizard in the months to follow, and we’re happy to keep the ball rolling with God Is Saying This to You…"

Listen in Spotify

Real Estate - Reality EP

Following up one of my favourite albums of last year (the band's S/T LP), Real Estate released this EP only a month after their deut album. The reason, according to the band, is that the songs on this EP were tracks they either wrote or recorded too late to be included on their LP. Also of note, is that apparently only one of the EPs tracks features all the band playing together. The rest were all performed by Martin Courtney.

The only real difference in sound between the LP and this EP are maybe that the EP sounds a little more desolate and sadder. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the almost solo recording of this EP or not, but that's what it sounds like. The standout track after my first listen is probably 'Younger Than Yesterday', which whilst keeping the bands trademark beach vibe could almost be unreleased Elliott Smith song. If you liked their debut as much as I did, you're sure to enjoy this 5 track EP.

"New Jersey’s Real Estate has successfully captured the sound of a late Sunday afternoon, in the dreaded hours before work or school claims your life again. The band’s sweet, loose pop ballads recall a modern-day Everly Brothers, drifting and dreamlike, as their tales of suburban indifference and insecurity mask your own fears. Six new songs, and not a moment too soon."

 Mexican Summer - BUY THE ALBUM

Real Estate - Basement

Real Estate - Younger Than Yesterday



Real Estate - Basement, 10.18.09 from Duke Chronicle on Vimeo.

Real Estate - Real Estate

I've finally got round to getting their debut album and it's easily in my Top 5 albums this year. Although most people have labelled it a perfect summer album, it's been really snowy here of late and the album has a lethargic quality to it that goes perfect with the snow. Plus the last track on the album is called 'Snow Days'. I'm sure it'll sound great all year round! Their sound kinda reminds me of Clientele (see video below) in that it has the same hazy dreaminess to it that you can get lost in. They do have a surf-rock edge to many of their songs too and have a hint of Beach House's late night sleepiness to them. This album wouldn't be out of place alongside some of Modest Mouse's slower, dreamier songs (Drammamine, Edit The Sad Parts). The comparisons could go on and on, but they DO have their own sound and I like it. I've already made two earlier posts on these guys, so be sure to check those videos out too if you haven't already and give these tracks below a listen.

Woodsman

If you enjoyed my recent Real Estate post, then you'll love Woodsman and like Real Estate they're also on Mexican Summer. The video below is for their song 'Sunglass' is a perfect accompanyment for the blissed out, woozy feel of the track. It kinda has a similar feel to something by Brightblack Morning Light, in the way it almost seems like nothing is happening, but in the best possible way. The track is available on their new album, 'Collages', which can be downloaded at Mexican Summer, but has not yet been released on vinyl.


Woodsman - Sunglass from woodsman man on Vimeo.

From the green forests of Denver comes the debut album from Woodsman, an instrumental quartet with roots in nature, post-rock of the mid-‘90s Tortoise/Cerberus Shoal/A Minor Forest variety, and a sense of epic grandeur that ties the whole thing together. Killer from nose to nuts, with 19-minute monster “Mothershift” taking top honors; it reminds us that one ton of feathers is just as crushing as one ton of lead, if properly positioned.

Mexican Summer