This week we welcome Lauren Rearick of The Grey Estates. If you need something by way of introduction, our review of her recent compilation, Sugar Rush, is probably a good place to start. Also, Lauren runs a podcast with her friend Noah that you should listen/subscribe to right now.

Choices Without Reason

by Lauren Rearick

Song you’d play during the apocalypse

Phantom Planet – Big Brat

If the world was going to end in a fiery explosion or whatever and I was left to watch, I’d wanna go out in style. I’m kind of obsessed with Phantom Planet, as they soundtracked my high school years and adult years. I feel like this would be appropriate to play as you got to watch all of the “Big Brat”s disappear. I also wouldn’t wanna play a sad song because I don’t know what’s beyond and maybe it’s pretty cool.

Song for the sunniest day of the year

Thee Oh Sees – AA Warm Breeze

Thee Oh Sees are basically the hardest working, best garage/punk/badass rockers out there and their entire catalog is made for sunshine. There are two versions of “AA Warm Breeze” out there and I prefer this more reckless one. It’s a little longer than the one that appears on Castlemania and gets you ready for an adventure in the sunshine.

Song that reminds you of someone awful

Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater

I pretended to like this song and band for the longest time because a then boyfriend was all about them but I hate it. A lot. It’s sad and mopey like him.

(Jon: Lauren asked me to add a second song here, “Because I feel like as much as we think we need to depend on someone else, there are times when it’s perfectly okay to be alone”).

Song with a city in the title

Cayetana – South Philly

Cayetana is poetry, endless relatable poetry that pours forth from the deepest parts of their heart. I was in Philly once for a millisecond and their music always feels like you’re in some dingy basement somewhere watching them make musical magic.

Song that makes you want to dance around your bedroom

The Coathangers – Squeeki Tiki

I literally do dance around in my bedroom to this song. The Coathangers are my inspiration for life and embracing being a bad ass female. They also use a dog toy for this song. A DOG TOY!

Song you’d like played in your funeral

Chastity Belt – Drone

The first time I heard “Drone” from Chastity Belt, I felt as if they had basically lifted a page from my diary. When you spend a lifetime trying to prove yourself to men or gain any sort of recognition in the field of music journalism as a female, this is the song you need to motivate you. It’s my anthem.

And here’s the mix as one handy Playmoss playlist for those of you that are too lazy to click play more than once:

Make sure you add The Grey Estates to your bookmarks (you people still use bookmarks, right?), and to pop back here next week for the next Mystery Mini Mix.

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Oh, and there’ll one a month from now on, which will give us plenty of time to have a think of a new idea before we catch up to present day.

The year 2000 was remarkable for lots of reasons. We got to be the first people to see a new millennium in, well, a millennium, Putin took over within the Kremlin, Bush Jnr. all but made it into the Oval Office, films such as Gladiator, O Brother Where Art Thou? and the indomitable Chicken Run thrilled the public, and, most importantly, Roberto Di Matteo won the cup (again). There were also some pretty notable musical releases, and we’ve cherry-picked some of our favourites (admittedly in retrospect) for your listening pleasure below:

Tracklisting:

1) Shellac – Prayer to God
2) The New Pornographers – Letter From an Occupant
3) Pedro the Lion – Simple Economics
4) Johnny Cash – I See A Darkness
5) Bratmobile – It’s Common But We Don’t Talk About It
6) Elliott Smith – Son of Sam
7) Cat Power – Satisfaction
8) Sleater Kinney – You’re No Rock ‘n Roll Fun
9) Lifter Puller – Nice Nice
10) At The Drive In – One Armed Scissor
11) Dillinger Four – Who Didn’t Kill Bambi?
12) Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Yr. Skinny Fists, Like Antennas to Heaven…
13) Yo La Tengo – Everyday
14) Múm – Asleep On a Train
15) Sigur Ros – Staralfur
16) The Weakerthans – Left & Leaving
17) Damien Jurado – Johnny Go Riding
18) Songs:Ohia – The Ocean’s Nerves
19) Ryan Adams – Come Pick Me Up
20) Smog – Permanent Smile

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Super Glue is essentially a record about a split, written and recorded in the aftermath of a nine year relationship. As Faurholt explains in the blurb:

”Super Glue is basically a break up album. It’s a record that deals with the emotions that follow, when you have to say goodbye to a person you have shared a big part of your life with. But it’s also a record that comes to terms with the madness and points forward.”

Opener ‘Floating in Space’ sets the tone of the album. It’s a bold and confident indie rock song, with a constant thudding drum beat, but sounds steeped in melancholy too, Faurholt’s vocals dripping with a wistful regret. This is a continuing theme across Super Glue. Take for example the sweetly ‘Guided By Voices’, ‘On Top’ with lines such as “It’s not a hollow life / but goddamn it’s lonely not having you by my side”, and ‘Pictures of You’ which sees Faurholt wishing his ex-partner a happy life and highlights the frightening helplessness and uncertainty of the situation, “I see a light at the end / God I hope it’s a friend”. And of course there’s a track called ‘Sad World’, which I’m sure you can imagine isn’t exactly a sunny pop song.

But there is also hope on the album, such as on the title track with its repeated refrain of:

“Sun don’t visit me
unless you feel the need
to make warm and strong
make me believe in myself and the power of love”

There is hope too on ‘Stars’, which has a vague sense of acceptance, of purpose, the big beating kick drum feeling like the first steady steps forward Faurholt has taken in a long time. The first single, ‘Future Wife’, also has this feeling. Bringing to mind Yo La Tengo in the way it uses indie pop to create a sense other than simply sunny good times, it’s a song about how the narrator plans to use his current heartache to make himself better for somebody else

The closer ‘One Last Goodbye’ is a strangely triumphant ending. The problems are not forgotten, but this is the sound of Faurholt coming to terms with them, of one final cathartic farewell to the past and certain people in it. It’s evidence of the fact that no matter how bad things can appear at a certain point in time, there is always hope of regrowth. If you can weather the storm and just hold on, there are calmer shores ahead, waiting to be sailed into. Judging by the end of this record, I think Faurholt is doing just that.

You can pre-order Super Glue on limited edition vinyl, CD or digital download via the Jacob Faurholt Bandcamp page.

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The first song, ‘Death & Taxis’ is soft acoustic bedroom pop which is almost overwhelmingly heartsick and romantic, with lines such as, “I long to live alone with you” and “my everything exists for you”. This is followed by ‘The Way It Goes’, which is way more upbeat, with ramshackle percussion and carefree guitar. Things are still loved-up though, which is no criticism, “I don’t believe in love” Sondermann sings, “but you’re all I’m dreaming of”. The song also contains the great line,”I hope you feel bored and lonely too”, which seems to sum up our fear of being different and desire to find solidarity, to find people just like us. ‘My God’ is another rattly DIY indie pop song, opening with the line, “I’m afraid of everybody, I’m afraid of you”. Both of these songs are reminiscent of a super-earnest Swim Lessons, which is high praise.

Things then get a whole lot sadder. ‘The Day Draws Near’ is just plaintive acoustic guitar and Sondermann’s voice and what feels like empty space. Its sad but in a cosy, reassuring way – sounding like being alone in an empty room on a rainy afternoon, when the not-quite-twilight has that blue-grey quality and the only sounds are raindrops on the glass and the shooooshing of passing cars. It’s just three minutes long and deceptively simple but the atmosphere it manages to conjure makes it one of my favourite songs of the year so far. Sondermann sums up the mood when he sings, “In your backyard, you talk to God / about the heartbreak you forgot”. ‘Downtown’ is another pretty sad song, with a lovely gentle flow to the melody of the lyrics:

“I will go to a forest where all tired souls are bound,
I will go downtown
I will sink to the bottom of the sea without a sound,
I will go downtown”

‘Constant’ is another love song, with just acoustic guitar and tender lyrics, “the morning light surrounds you, darling, the wind is in your hair / the afternoon I found you, darling, I knew that I was there”, while ‘Don’t Know a Thing’ reintroduces percussion and confronts self-doubt head-on, “I am scared, I’m unprepared, I’m unaware of the ways I’m wrong”. The final song, ‘Way Down’, is perhaps brighter and breezier than previous tracks, but retains the sensitive and sincere vocals, opening with the lines, “I hide my fears way down, way down / where you dry your tears, way down”. The track reminds me strongly of Cataldo’s Prison Boxing, although I have no idea of how to articulate why that’s so.

All in all it’s a really really great album and I’m again eternally grateful that the folks at Z Tapes brought it to my attention. Fans of Radiator Hospital, Field Medic and Talons’ will all find something to love I’m sure.

You can get WHATEVERLAND on limited run cassette tape, or a name-your-price download via the Z Tapes Bandcamp page.

P.S. The Washboard Abs Bandcamp page has a bunch of other releases, including a new EP which features a cool Yo La Tengo cover. Check it out, it’s good I promise.

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Brooklyn’s Radical Dads are about to release Universal Coolers, their third album and the follow up to last year’s Cassette Brain EP. The band, comprised of ex-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah drummer Robbie Guertin, Chris Diken and guitarist/vocalist Lindsay Baker, draw inspiration from the guitar rock of heavyweights such as Pavement and Yo La Tengo, creating a hook-laden, melodic brand of twin guitar (zero bass) indie rock.

Opener ‘Absurd Tests’ sets the tone, a sub-two minute shot in the arm of carefree and ramshackle DIY rock. ‘Tomorrow’s Trash’ is all squealing guitars and Baker’s volatile delivery, while ‘Slammer’ is a blend of spiky rock and romantic dream pop, with some pretty odd (but funny) lyrics. “Snakes on the sidewalk / all over my block / I won’t go outside any more/ Good lord, they’re up to my front door”.

‘In the Water is a song about the repression of the masses, “And the negative creeps keep coming around / piling up as we’re shutting down / you can’t see it from the surface you can’t identify its purpose / its in the water”, but my current favourite track is ‘Don’t Go’, which has a really great, catchy chorus of, “Prepared pianos in our room / the kids come up to dance in the doom / new signs will soon appear in space / don’t worry dear, don’t go away”.

The title track features a simple shout-along chorus of “Universal Coolers!”, with ‘verses’ comprised of lots of squally noise and mumbled vocals. The yelled chorus trend continues on ‘Desperado Dude Lens’ (“Your name on a plaque at the world’s end / white hairs flying back in the wind / he’s going up the trail / he’s got that ex-explorer desperado dude lens”), before ‘Flight To NZ’ shakes things up with an almost spoken word account of the titular flight to New Zealand (“hey we were going away / headed for a new place / sitting on the tarmac / a couple, a couple of former sad sacks”), complete with roaring guitars and slamming drums.

The final two tracks are DJ Pancake, with its time-bomb percussion, and Cassette Brain (which you may recognise from the aforementioned EP), which is all low rumbling guitars and a pounding drum beat, and, at its core a love song. “We won’t get swept away / you will clear the toxic sludge from my head / we’ll go to the library and hammer away each day we’re not dead”. Basically, Universal Coolers is a really great indie rock record and if you find you can’t enjoy it then perhaps there is something wrong with you. I firmly believe that the “virtues” of innovation and trendsetting are majorly over-rated. If every band poured as much love, care and carefree energy into their records then the world would be a better place, both musically and otherwise.

You can order Universal Coolers now via Old Flame Records (who have also released albums by Shark?, Swimming and You Won’t), on either CD or limited edition blue or black vinyl.

P.S. Here’s a fun fact for you – The artwork was produced by Steve Keene, the prolific Greenpoint artist who designed some pretty famous album covers such as Pavement’s Wowee Zowee.

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The track is the band’s first single for new label, Moshi Moshi,and will appear on the re-release of their debut album, Weird Little Birthday, which will be available to buy from the 30th of March.

The band also have a whole host of upcoming tour dates with Slow Club and JAWS. Here are the dates if you’re interested:

February Tour With Slow Club

5  The Bullingdon, Oxford   18+
6  Arts Centre, Norwich
7  Arts Centre, Colchester
11 Sugarmill, Stoke
13 Arts Centre, Pocklington
14 Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh  14+ / U16 w adult
15  Trades, Hebden Bridge
16 Arts Club, Liverpool    14+ / U16 w adult
23  Wardrobe, Leeds
24 Cookie Jar, Leicester
26 Guildhall, Gloucester    14+
27  Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham  18+
28  Queens Social Club, Sheffield  SOLD OUT

March dates with JAWS

3  Norwich Epic Studios
4  London Heaven
6  Manchester Academy
7  Birmingham Institute

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Hi Brian, how is life on Long Island? How does it feel to finally release the new album after the long hard process of getting it into existence?

Long Island is excellent.  It’s a pretty small town I live in.  I commute via the railroad to Manhattan for work.  It’s nice to feel the energy of Brooklyn and NYC, but also have a break from it every night, and a bit of room to stretch out.  Releasing this new album is quite an amazing feeling.  As a musician, I think every time you can finish something it feels like a triumph on one level or another.  This is the first time we’ve ever worked with a PR company, so the process of waiting and not just releasing everything immediately via Bandcamp was challenging for me.  I think my impulse is just to share stuff and see what people think, but not that we’re finally here I’m super excited.  Brian V. and I are really proud of the album.  The songs come from a really honest place, and even though some of the songs are melancholy, there was a lot of joy that went into making it.

Your explanation of the new album on the Bandcamp page gives an honest picture of your life at the time of writing – the band’s situation, your family life with a wife and kids, the economic struggle and so on – and you say this heavily influences what you write. Do you find it difficult letting the people close to you see/hear the new songs?

There are a few songs – “Stars Collided in Our Hearts” in particular, that do feel really vulnerable and emotional to perform.  “Head Underwater” is another.  I think in the past I’ve written a lot of songs that portray more of a romanticized view of love and other things. I was always trying to create a dream world that was somewhat removed from my reality – an escape.  This time I was determined to let go of that a bit, and speak more directly from the heart.  I think one of the things I’ve learned as more of a general life-lesson is that it helps to be open about things.  I think a lot of people are really secretive about their problems, especially when it comes to money.  It’s fine to be private, but handling things that way can also create this weird cycle of shame and depression.  I found myself saying things in these songs that I wouldn’t say to friends and family.  It’s funny – a lot of those people will hear the record and probably won’t listen closely enough to the lyrics to really catch what I’m talking about.  It’s bizarre and ironic that I get to speak more intimately with strangers around the world through music than I do with family, but I guess it’s also pretty wonderful and amazing that I get the chance to do that.

As a follow-on from the previous question, do you see your music as a way of speaking to your loved ones? For example in ‘Hard Times, Go!’ you sing‘I haven’t been as brave in how I’ve loved you // as I know I should have been // I thought if I kept quiet // you might think I was strong’. Do you want your wife to listen to your music and treat it personally? Or do you use your situation and emotions to mould songs that are about (and for) other people? In other words, are you writing songs concerning your life and self? Or are you writing fiction from experience?

Ha – I’ve definitely learned that speaking through lyrics is not the most effective way to communicate with my wife!  That being said, this is definitely the most autobiographical set of songs that I’ve written.  I think I resisted writing that way for a long time, and maybe I was finally just at the point where I had nothing to lose.  When I was younger I started out playing more folky, singer-songwriter type music.  I played around a lot of coffee houses where the thing is to do a more straightforward, confessional style of songwriting.  I always resented the limitation and the implication that things should only be perceived that way.  It seemed like an oversimplification.  Of course, fiction comes from some sort of emotional reality, and there’s always a connection –   but if everything is confessional than you’re eliminating the entire scope of the writer’s imagination.  I always wanted my songs to be more than stream of conscious journal entries.  I took pride in the craft of transcending that.

What are the main influences on your music and writing outside of personal experience? In the aforementioned description you say that Robyn’s Body Talk had a large effect on Hard Times, Go! But are there any others? Do books and literature play a role in song writing for you?

I take from lots of different places I guess.  I think as a writer, my work was fundamentally shaped by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Jack Kerouac more than anyone else.  I still think about Bob Dylan all the time – and just the sheer power of him as an artist.  Of course there are lots of others – Tom Waits is big.  I draw on literature a bunch too – I love the Beat Generation writers, and Bukowski and Henry Miller, but also more contemporary folks like Junot Diaz, Lorrie Moore, Denis Johnson.  I feel like film is pretty closely connected to music also, and even television.  The song “Chasing a Phantom” is a direct reference to one of the episodes from the last season of Mad Men.

The album was funded via Kickstarter, and through one of the updates on there you said that you felt it allows artists to receive funding for the work they want to produce, rather than the old model of producing what others want to hear in order to receive funding. Do you think this freedom could allow bands to thrive in areas where that were previously impossible? Does the amount raised significantly influence an artist’s ability to produce their work?

I think it’s part of a larger conversation, about the whole digital revolution, but Kickstarter has absolutely been an amazing tool for us, and bands are absolutely thriving in areas that were previously impossible.  I was always an indie rock kid at heart – I grew up idolizing people like Ian Mackaye from Fugazi, so for me that fact that’s it’s become so much easier to make records than it was back then is a really incredible thing that I’ll never take for granted.  You can make a record for almost nothing.  I don’t think the amount of money raised from Kickstarter relates directly to an artist’s ability to produce work – unless their work relies on more expensive tools than ours does – higher fidelity, mastering, etc.  It does take a bit of creativity and stubbornness to be self sufficient, but it always has.   We treat Kickstarter more like an extended pre-order for the record, with merch and stuff.  Our goal was set to make the process of making the Vinyl and the T Shirts and stuff something we knew we could break even at – instead of the old DIY way of basically funding things on a credit card and hoping you did well enough to recoup your expenses.  We aren’t able to do that.  On a larger scale – signing to a label was sort of the same thing.  Most bands never recouped expenses and got dropped.  My favorite thing about Kickstarter is that if you don’t meet your goal, no one gets charged and you aren’t required to complete or fulfill the project.  It seems responsible.  If there is not an audience demand to support a product, that product doesn’t come into existence.  You make music to connect with people.  You make records if people want them – not just because it seems like a cool thing to do. 

With all the said – with music and with our culture in general there is also a relationship between money and access.  There’s the challenge of reaching people through all the noise.  I try not to worry about that much.  I just try to do good work and share it, making use of the tools I have.  If there a content war going on with our culture – it’s probably a war that no one is going to win.

You wrote an essay on the evolution of the music industry and our relationship with the music we listen to, and conclude that the increased availability of music (and for free) has lessened our willingness to engage with each single album, as if in the gluttony of filesharing we no longer savour each bite and instead gulp down whatever we can (as highlighted by my first post on Beat Radio). Compare this to the positive effect of the internet where unknown bands can reach wide audiences through social media (and the aforementioned effect of Kickstarter allowing artists to create whatever they envision) and there is an interesting standoff between the good and evil of the information age. In your own experience (admittedly without the pleasure of a crystal ball to view alternate realities), has the internet been beneficial or detrimental to your musical career?

I used to get hung up on the question but I came to realize that there wasn’t really any point to look back.  Beat Radio came of age creatively at a strange time where people were still operating with the expectations of the old music industry, but the bottom had dropped out.  We were able to get the attention of lots of people – labels and stuff, but nothing ever really came of it, for lots of reasons.  Without the internet and the support of mp3 blogs and stuff, we never would have found an audience at all.  Without access to inexpensive gear where I could make records in my basement, we never would have gotten past the first album. So mostly I’m grateful that I’m able to make art and connect with an audience.  I feel really lucky to have been able to continue to develop as an artist. We’ve been fortunate to finally start bringing in revenue over the last couple years through licensing and download sales and stuff – but whenever I put pressure on music to have it be something that could take the place of my day job, it always seems to take the joy out of it.

Finally, what music are you enjoying at the moment? Could you list four or five artists that you are currently listening to? Any genre or vintage welcome.

Yeah, of course! I wrote a post about my favorite songs of 2012 here – I really loved the records last year from Will Stratton, Damian Jurado, and Father John Misty.  I also listen to a ton of Pavement over the last few years, and Neutral Milk Hotel.  I heard the new Yo La Tengo today also and that is really great.  I co-wrote a song recently with Drew Danburry and have been listening to a ton of his stuff.  The demos for the new album he’s working on are incredible.  There’s so much. It never ends.

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Tracklisting:

1. Borrowed Tune (Neil Young Cover) – Field Report*
2. Someone Like You (Adele Cover) – Shipwrecks & Island of Misfit Toys
3. Good Good Things (The Descendents Cover) – Edsel
4. Ceremony (New Order Cover) – Chromatics
5. Angels (The XX Cover) – KOTKEE
6. Dark Eyes (Bob Dylan Cover) – Dirty Projectors
7. If I Had No Place To Fall (Townes Van Zandt Cover) – Nathaniel Rateliff^
8. Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – Praything
9. From the Soil, a Violin (Goose Lake Cover) – Wand (formerly First Nations)
10. I Can’t Talk About It (El Perro Del Mar Cover) – His Clancyness
11. Such Great Heights (Postal Service Cover) – Iron & Wine
12. From The Morning (Nick Drake Cover) – Pickering Pick
13. Night Moves (Bob Seger Cover) – Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson^
14. Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (Traditional) – Daniel Rossen
15. My Dreams Have Withered and Died (Richard and Linda Thompson Cover) – Angel Olsen & Marissa Nadler
16. No Ordinary Love (Sade Cover) – The Rosebuds
17. You Aint Seen Nothing Yet (Bachman Turner Overdrive Cover) – Yo La Tengo
18. Indian Sunburn (Schooner Cover) – Wesley Wolfe
19. Ohio (Damien Jurado Cover) – Neil Halstead*
20. I See a Darkness (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy Cover) – Johnny Cash

* = taken from Fuel/Friends Chapel Sessions
^ = taken from Daytrotter Sessions

Please remember to support the artists! We’ve included links on the tracklisting that will take you somewhere more specific for each band so be sure to check out their original material. Also visit Daytrotter and Fuel/Friends, the sessions they do are well worth your time.

The Covers Mix: Volume #6 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Today is the first volume. It features a mix of styles and bands, covering classic songs and new music. We hope you enjoy these re-workings as much as we do.

WTD’s Covers Mix, Volume #1:

1. Crystalized (The XX Cover) – Holly Miranda
2. Her Vore (Coma Cinema Cover) – Fog Lake
3. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths Cover) – Dan Mangan
4. Don’t Haunt This Place (The Rural Alberta Advantage Cover) – Yellow Ostrich
5. Tears Are In Your Eyes (Yo La Tengo Cover) – The Antlers
6. Cars (Gary Numan Cover) – The Leisure Society (Thanks to TWR for the shout!)
7. Old Old Fashioned (Frightened Rabbit Cover) – John Statz
8. Owner Of A Lonely Heart (Yes Cover) – Grizzly Bear
9. I Fought The Law (Bobby Fueller Cover) – Titus Andronicus
10. I Will Truck (Dirty Projectors Cover) – Painted Palms
11. A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell Cover) – James Blake
12. Devil Town (Daniel Johnston Cover) – Bright Eyes
13. Like A Diamond (Glass Ghost Cover) – Sharon Van Etten
14. Ex-Girl Collection (The Wrens Cover) – Will Sheff
15. Angst In My Pants (Sparks Cover) – Signals
16. Sleep All Summer (Crooked Fingers Cover) – St Vincent & The National
17.Beacon Hill (Damien Jurado Cover) – The Head And The Heart
18. Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton (The Mountain Goats Cover) – Andy Hull
19. Godbye Again (John Denver Cover) – Youth Lagoon
20. Long Desert Train (Jason Molina Cover) – Strand Of Oaks (Thanks to CXCW)

You know the drill – support the bands. Each of the artists’ names above will take you to their website so explore further. Don’t be an Emily White, musicians have to eat too.

The Covers Mix: Volume #1 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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