Don’t Give Up On Us
Perhaps one of my least favorite things I hear from time to time is a friend or acquaintance complaining that there is simply not any ‘good’ music being made any more. Equally as irritating are people whom have performed in bands drunk on volume and enthusiasm, only to toss it in the can and find some so-called new concentration on Jazz music only. Well,the fact is that there is so much great music to discover at all times regardless of genre.
Luckily, rock and roll music is as vital today as it was when Lennon and McCartney were smoking dope with the Dalai Lama. I am of course 99% certain that happened. Anyway, I digress . . . 2009 has already proven itself to be one fantastic year for music.
Through Your New Favorite Song’s interview with New Jersey Band Real Estate, we learned of Brooklyn’s Woods whom recently released the full length Songs of Shame through a collaborative agreement between Woodsist and Shrimper Records. Woods calls the same scene home that gave us Crystal Stilts and The Vivian Girls and have managed to harness a sound all their own. The sound is one of rustic folk, and wandering psych-fried guitar leads with the most glorious melody focused vocals collapsing into ecstatic choruses. Succintly, Woods is like nothing I have heard this year or any other. Hyperbole be damned, this is a great, great record, and a great, great band.
Time And Time Again
Jim Croce yearned for it, as the Alan Parsons Project lamented as well, that we people never seem to appreciate just how precious this resource called time actually is. Now, as a father, husband, and fifth grade teacher, I can grasp just how beautiful it is to have time . . . Before the tax season brought our family an Apple laptop, all of my blog entries must have felt like Chicago’s Ben Gordon hitting a three to force a second overtime against the Celts - would there be enough time?!?
Of course, me hitting the ‘Publish’ button is a far cry from the kind of grace under pressure Gordon exhibited today to even his team’s series with Boston to a 2-2 tie. I am just saying, I get it - the Stones were wrong, but Polvo was dead on - “Time isn’t on my side.” Or perhaps the real secret is to know its value and not to squander it because the realization you have indeed managed to do just that . . . is a killer.
Hence the thematic song choice for today; that and the fact that besides having a newfound appreciation for hourglass sand watching, I would have to wonder what took me so damn long to discover Jay Reatard. Sure, it was his band The Reatards that produced an 8 ” single counter to the traditional 7 ” size that I found damn hilarious. I had heard much about this man, but no tunes until the incredible “Screaming Hand” found itself onto my Ipod after being blown away by the song courtesy of some blog I have since forgotten . . .
I picked up the marvelous Matador Singles Collection he issued last year, and later purchased the In The Red Compilation. Perhaps what becomes clear first and foremost is that Jay Reatard’s songwriting flies far beyond B-movie themes, dreaming of the dead, and stalking as a sport. The man composes witty pop songs bleeding hooks all over the place. I would argue him in the short list of three best songwriters in today’s underground rock circles. The song included here is from Jay’s Matador collection - a must have. Being that they will be touring this summer with the equally genius Oh Sees, a track from them had to be included also. Thee Oh Sees latest Help comes out this Tuesday April 28th courtesy of In the Red Records.
I’m Working For Me…
I discovered Superchunk at a time when anything and everything I purchased from Matador Records was a winning move. Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted, Railroad Jerk’s Self-Titled, Bettie Serveert’s Palomine, and Superchunk’s 1990 debut full-length, an irreverent sonic bomb brimming with a manic electricity unheard since England’s Buzzcocks. The rightful reason Superchunk’s debut has remained an important touchstone in the history of Underground Rock was it’s single “Slack Motherfucker”. At this time, the term Slacker conjured images of Richard Linklater’s indie film of Austin Eccentrics alongside Ethan Hawke’s sly, Reality Bitten goatee. What Superchunk Singer-Guitarist Mac McCaughan added to the Slacker connotation was some enthusiastic swearing launched over a mess of tangled guitar strings. And so began a career for four young folks from North Carolina, that now sees the band reforming in their twentieth year, releasing an excellent EP, and performing at Coachella.
The most enduring Superchunk line-up has featured de-facto leader McCaughan, Laura Ballance (Bass), Jim Wilbur (Guitar), and Jon Wurster (Drums). The band proceeded to issue albums through the Matador Records imprint but gradually saw Merge Records, the label that Mac and Laura had started, begin to evolve into something far bigger than its humble start. In 1995 the band began putting out music on Merge, and continued to do so until taking an ‘extended’ hiatus in the early 2000’s. ‘No band’ still meant busy times for Mac and Laura as Merge, thanks to successful acts Spoon and Arcade Fire, had grown into one of the worlds most successful independent record labels.
Superchunk’s Learned To Surf EP is a short, sweet summation of the band’s best sounds. The hooks are myriad in number, soaring volume and energy rife with crashing power chords and frosted by seething feedback. It is hard to say where this one falls compared to all the great music Superchunk has produced through the years - but it is very clear, this small set of songs is certainly as good as anything the band has done.
Note: I included Superchunk’s cover of Sebadoh’s “Brand New Love” as it was this very song that led me to Lou Barlow’s beautiful songwriting. “Learned To Surf” is acoustic and exists on the EP as this version and a full-band electric offering.
Superchunk - Brand New Love (Sebadoh Cover)
Superchunk - Learned To Surf (Acoustic)
I became a fan of the Horror genre on the countless Saturday Nights when Bob Wilkin’s Creature Feature was televised. I lived for Oliver Reed’s Wolfman or James Whale’s melancholic monster classic Bride of Frankenstein. But it was the previews of Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead which really got to me. Filmed in Black and White, channel two’s coming attraction trailer fixated on ghoulish mobs feasting upon human meat and dripping blood. It was a miracle that the nine year old me ever found a minute of sleep after viewing those images. A few years later Ridley Scott gave the world and myself a futuristic hell never before glimpsed by way of his masterpiece Alien. I will never forget how scenes left me breathless, crushed, and fighting claustrophobia that no other cinematic experience had ever provided. Try as I might, I was unable to find films that operated as effectively as Scott’s, though I did stumble across a nasty little film that managed to scare the shit out of me using graphic violence, and primitive shock-the-audience moments. The film was called Friday the 13th and ushered in hordes of films that eschewed Halloween’s suspense and strategic technique for over-the-top rebellious gore. What causes me to reflect on these moments, these films, happens to be director Sam Evil Dead Raimi’s return to horror this summer. At the end of May, Raimi delivers Drag Me To Hell. The film details the downward, hellish spiral Alison Lohman’s character suffers upon being the recipient of a demonic curse delivered unto her. As evidence by the trailer, Hell looks to be funny, smart, entertaining, and very frightening. In short, the perfect summertime theater going experience. In tribute to Raimi and my beloved Horror Film genre are my picks for All Time Top Five Scariest Films (in no particular order)
1. Alien
2. 28 Days Later
3. An American Werewolf in London
4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
5. Halloween
Furthermore, this is as good a time as any to celebrate one of the all time greatest unsung treasures of America’s Underground Rock Scene; Antioch Arrow. Antioch Arrow worked the nineties not unlike a schizophrenic playing fast and loose with psychedelics just for kicks. Antioch Arrow began as an explosive hardcore punk act that no doubt informed later bands such as Heroin and The Blood Brothers. The band’s attack was raw, honest, and beyond compare. Perhaps this is why fans were puzzled when the band moved from hardcore punk to a style that incorporated an indie cabaret goth direction with the more literate aspects of Nick Cave’s catalog. Gems of Masochism is a perfect EP shrouded in darkness, humor, and dynamic songwriting. “Introducing Elizabeth” is a fine introduction to everything this band does so well.
Los Angeles band HEALTH follows up a genius debut with a single that proves only one year’s time means huge strides for one of the more exciting bands today. “Die Slow” marries the band’s trademark guitar chaos with its curious interest in dance music. The results mean stereo speakers saddled with aural tar expanding the breadth and depth of what audio equipment should logically do. Listen for yourself in the car, or on headphones, and see if this statement isn’t true.
Antioch Arrow - Introducing Elizabeth
How I Captured That Coyote Records Sound and Lived to Tell: An Interview with Real Estate’s Martin Courtney
If you have ever wished a band take Yo La Tengo’s take of “Living in the Country” and mold an entire sound that basks in the same calming afterglow as The Feelie’s The Good Earth - then let it be said, you have got to hear the band Real Estate. And then, the refreshing thing about New Jersey’s Real Estate, is that nothing they do needs anyone convincing anyone of anything - but the patience to sit down, slow down, and let the sound soak in. The aforementioned bands are only influences in the same way that Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry influenced the Rolling Stones. Real Estate is on their own path, and it looks to be something very special to follow. Guitarist/Songwriter Martin Courtney shared with Your New Favorite Song why fame is a cottage cheese filled football helmet, sly Phish references, and most importantly finding our blog new favorite bands and songs to give a listen.
How was SXSW for Real Estate? Any new bands you caught that you are excited about?
Thinking back on Austin now, all I can remember is hot sun, lots of people, and live music everywhere we went. We played eight shows there, which is not a record by any means (Vivian Girls played like 18 I think), but we were really psyched because we booked pretty much all of the shows ourselves. We were excited about alot of the bands that we saw and got to play with at SXSW. One of our favorites was Girls, a sick pop band from San Francisco. Woods are also awesome.
Real Estate is a New Jersey band correct? Ties to Titus? Or is that just something I read…What is happening musically in NJ and how has it informed the band?
Matt (guitar), Bleeker (bass), and I all grew up together in Ridgewood, NJ. Etienne is from Massachusetts, but has started saying that he is from Jersey to make things easier. So yeah, we are a New Jersey band. The kids in Titus Andronicus are mostly from Glen Rock, which borders Ridgewood and is kind of like a sister town. I played in a band with Patrick and Andrew from Titus for a few years in high school at first called Seizing Elian and then Library of Congress. I think everyone playing together and learning to write songs at the same time has informed not just Real Estate, but all of our friends who are still making really good music. Here are a few bands or people (in addition to Titus Andronicus) that are from our immediate high school peer group and are still making music:
Julian Lynch, Liam the Younger, Vivian Girls, Liquor Store, Ducktails, Frat Dad, Andrew Cedermark, VCR (Vice City Rockers, defunct for a while but there are rumours of a reunion). That’s off the top of my head, there are totally more, you can find them through our myspace.
Who plays what - former bands?
Matt Mondanile plays guitar and writes some of the songs, (Alex) Bleeker plays bass, Etienne Pierre Duguay plays drums and I play guitar and sing and write most of the songs. We have all been in a bunch of bands before, here are some. Matt currently has another project called Ducktails and used to play in an amazing pseudo punk band called Paperface. Bleeker’s got a folk/country project called Dinosaur BBQ and he used to play in a cover band with me called Marc. Etienne’s deep house/early nineties beach movie soundtrack project is called Etienne’s New Rules and he used to play in a band called La Mi Vida Violenta.
The single is on Underwater People - Is a full length on the way - and how long must the public wait? Or impatient rock and roll nerds? I am not implying nerds love your band…
The full length CD/LP is going to come out early this summer (maybe late spring) on Woodsist. We are also doing a 12″ EP for Mexican Summer that should be coming out a little bit after the LP.
Listening to the songs….the feel is such that the songs are almost unfolding for the band at the same time that they do for the listener….How are songs composed, arranged in Real Estate - is it as organic as it sounds? (i.e. jamming in practice?)
There is definitely alot of jamming that goes on in practice and live. Most of our songs were written as pop songs with built in jams at some point in the song. The jams used to be alot looser, but as we have been playing more and more, they have kind of developed into more structured song sections. That took a long time, though, and happened quite by accident.
Are there bands out there at this moment - that you feel a kinship with aesthetically - why or why not?
We all really like Kurt Vile, who is from Philly. I don’t know how similar we are to him aesthetically, his music is definitely amazing. We are also labelmates with him twice (Woodsist is putting out his first record on vinyl and Mexican Summer just put out an excellent 12″ by him). Other current bands that we love: Woods are really good and super nice guys, as are the Beets from Jackson Heights, Queens (and who also may be the one band we have played the most shows with). We are probably most similar to our friend Julian Lynch, who also grew up in Ridgewood, but now goes to grad school in Madison, Wisconsin. That’s not just a shout out, more people need to hear his music because it is insanely good.
Why the name Real Estate? The worst (glibbest) tag line writers have used to describe the band (and selling homes)?
Real Estate is just a name and nothing more. That is why we chose it. We thought it sounded cool and didn’t really evoke too much on its own. We have started to realize that it actually works kind of well with our band because we sort of play up a suburban vibe and the suburbs are full of nice houses that make you think of real estate advertisements or something. Also, I have a real estate license and work in a real estate office and Etienne rents out apartments for a living. That’s just a coincidence though!
What do the band members do when not impressing the world with rock and roll genius?
Matt does his thing in Ducktails, jamming in his parents’ basement in Ridgewood and playing shows occasionally. Etienne lives in Bushwick and puts ads up on craigslist and fields phone calls for his landlord’s apartments. I work and record demos and live in Jersey City. Bleeker is on tour with Phish.
For Real Estate, what is more important - a guarantee or a limitless bar tab?
The most important thing is the football helmet full of cottage cheese. If we get that, then we know we’re in business.
Besides the aforementioned Feelies and Yo La Tengo - what is in the Real Estate Top Ten Albums you cannot live without?
Paul McCartney - Ram & Band on the Run
Neil Young - On the Beach
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Sensations’ Fix - S/T
Ariel Pink - all of it
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
Kinks - Arthur
Weezer - Blue Album
In 2009, Real Estate will….
Release a few records and tour Indonesia.
The best thing about being in a band is….
The cottage cheese football helmet(s).
The worst thing about being in a band is….
All of the hours in the private jet.
How do you know when an audience feels for your music, what you intended?
When the glowsticks start flying and the arena fills up with smoke, we know we’re doing our job well.
Real Estate - Suburban Beverage
Expect to catch Real Estate touring from Coast to Coast the Summer of 2009