Vol. 6 Episode 2

There will be a repressing for the Ar-Kaics record over at Windian Records.

Echo Lake have announced a new record through No Pain InPop. No word yet if Slumberland Records will be carrying it.

Record Store Day has announced the date for 2015, April 18^th. The 20^th doesn’t fall on a weekend this year.

On with the show...

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart/Parallelograms – Split

I have been waiting for a long time to get my hands on this split single. It was released in 2008. When I talked to Kip about the release he said that half of the 300 records that were pressed were lost. This means that there is probably only about 150 of these singles in existence. The copy that I found was number 45. I had a digital copy of the track from The Pains but I like to have a physical copy of my music if at all possible. The record was originally released on Atomic Beat Records. There was an insert that came with the record that was printed on orange paper that introduced both bands along with some liner notes about the release.

The A side is the Parallelograms side which has two tracks from the group. The first track is called 1, 2, 3 Go! It is a fun indie pop track with fun female vocals sung in a bit of a lack luster style. It keeps my interest though and that is what is important I guess, keeping the listeners interest that is.

The second track is called Pop The Bubbles. It is a bit faster of a song but keeps that innocent style of fun pop music. The singer sings about liking to pop bubbles because they are beautiful and shiny. It is cute and fun music and vocals. There isn’t really any substance behind the music, it is just simple and fun.

The B side is the song from The Pains, Kurt Cobain's Caradigan. I briefly mentioned this track in Vol. 2 Episode 7. It is a good track that reminds me of their band name song, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. They are both great songs and both are a couple of the first songs that they ever recorded. What stands out even more is that they still stand up today and sound just as fresh and new to me. This is great music from a great band.

Obviously, you can’t just run out and get this record but you can get digital versions of these songs. I highly advise that you do get digital copies of these songs they are great!

Haley Bonar – Last War

This is her sixth album released in May of 2014. I got a special deal through Graveface Records and got the album on CD, Cassette and hand poured vinyl. My vinyl copy was a mix of dark green and baby blue. It is kind of disgusting but pretty at the same time. It is also limited and hand numbered out of 300 units. I have known about Haley Bonar for a while. As a matter of fact, she has a song on 89.3 The Current Live Current Vol. 4, Local Current Vol. 2 and a cover song on the Minnesota Beatle Project Vol. 4. So, you can see that I have known of her music for some time now. It wasn’t until this album that a couple of tracks really caught my ear. Because of this I have picked up most of her music. There are just a couple of items that I can’t seem to find. Anyway, there is something on this album that grabbed me by the throat to get my attention to listen to the album. It helps that she is on Graveface records now, one of my current favorite record companies. I don’t know if Jason had any influence on the direction sonically for the album but there are some very cool wall of sound moments on the album. This is kind of an underground thing that is happening again in music and I have documented some of the new groups that are doing this.

There are a few really great songs on this short album. The first of which is the first single released from the album. The song is called From A Cage. I first saw the video for the song and it is what got me into the album in the first place. The intro is a three no loop on a Whirlitzer keyboard. This three note loop goes through the whole song. It does change for the chorus but it is so simple and elegant. The song is built around this keyboard loop and I really can’t get enough of it. The Music that is built around the loop is so simple as well. The song itself is a bit of a downer but the video that goes with it is so interesting that I can over look the depression. Since I have seen the video already and have already over looked the down feel of the song I only see the beauty of the song. On a side note, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) does some backing vocals on this track. Haley had said in an interview that she had written this song just to have him sing backing vocals. It is kind of silly but the song works well.

The second single from the album is the title track, LastWar. The song is about the end of a relationship. It is about when your have already given up on the relationship and this is the last straw and last fight. It is a soft song with lots of reverb and echo in the background on the chorus giving that wall of sound feel but still having clarity up front. Her vocals and the bass and electric guitars are so clear. It is a beautiful sound that people who cant handle the noise of shoegaze will like. It is a beautiful song with unusual clarity for a shogaze track.

The last song that I really like from this album is called Eat For Free. The song is also simple with just an acoustic guitar for musical support. The track also features Justin Vernon on backing vocals giving the song that little bit more depth. The song is an interpretation of the state of music where artist use the pay what you want or get it for free model of purchasing. Haley applies this to a relationship to great effect. The song becomes something unique and sweet. I think the song pulls something from, believe it or not, the song from Staind called Outside but to better effect because of the backing vocals. I think that the subject matter here also outdoes the face value style of the song from Staind as well.

I think this is a great album and I only wish I had found interest in Haley’s music sooner.

Gramma’s Boyfriend – Human Eye

This is a side project from Haley Bonar. This is their first album and it was put out in February of 2013. I got a copy of this album with the latest Haley Bonar album. This album is on a half and half record of slightly transparent cherry and light blue. This is my first half and half record and I am happy that it is this record. I saw the group play with the Graveface Road Show nearly a year ago. I had no idea who the lead singer was at the time. I think that it is awesome that I saw Haley Bonar sing live and I can say that now that I know who she is. Seeing this group at the show was the highlight for me and having the album now just reminds me of that concert and how much fun their set was. I am excited to get more music from them as they are working on a new album that is scheduled for release in 2015.

There were two singles that were released from this album. The first single is actually two songs, I Have This Feeling and Sugar Crash!The video to support I Have This Feeling included the short song Sugar Crash! Both songs are a bit odd but this group is about having fun more than being serious. The song carries a fun groove and has pretty simple beat. The lyrics sing about her having a dream with out her friends and she kind of blames her friends for not being there like it was their fault for not being there. It is kind of silly to think like that but the way it is done is interesting and fun. The second part, Sugar Crash!, is set up to be a song about what it feels like to be on a sugar high because you have just eaten a bunch of sugar. It is a very short song and comes to an end quick to resemble the sudden low after the sugar high. Both are fun songs.

The second single is called We R Ctrl. This is another short song that is very punchy in its delivery. It is set up like a Devo track with short controlled notes to show the control that they are delivering. The vocals are bizarre, fun and interesting. The video is shot live so it sounds a little bit simpler that the nearly out of control recording that is on the album. The album version is nearly out of control and that is the comedy of the song. I like both versions but I remember the live concert that I went to and it sounded more like the video than the album version.

The other song that I really liked was the song Lazy Bones. I like the 808 style drums that underlay the actual drums in the song. The lyric to the song in the verse are silly and don’t make much sense but the chorus is repetitive and fun. It reminds me of the Soul Coughing track of the similar name, Lazybones, but this song from Gramma’s Boyfriend is a lot more fun and poppy.

I really like this album and hope that the upcoming album is filled with just as much energy.

 

That is all for now...