Allo Darlin’, Darren (Pre-Order)

So, as you’ve likely noticed, I’ve been maintaining radio (or internet or whatever) silence for the last few weeks. I know I made mention of the fact that this summer would be light on posting because I’m starting a new job and moving to a new apartment, but it turns out that the posting will be even lighter than I previously anticipated due to the fact that I’ll be embarking on an unscheduled second move. (It is a long story, but we can keep it short by just saying: roaches.) So, it will be about another two weeks before I have regular internet access and am able to hook my stereo up again in order to listen to (and, I guess, review) things. Sorry about that!

In the meantime, please content yourself with the fact that Allo Darlin’ are releasing their first new material since their self-titled album came out last June. Their Darren single features two new songs and will be pressed as a picture disc. The band is currently taking pre-orders via their bandcamp page, where you can stream the single’s a-side. I actually took a break from un-boxing, checking for roaches, and re-boxing all of my personal possessions so that I could order this. I was that excited.

While I don’t have anything else proper or informative to say about this, it can’t hurt to reiterate just how fond I am of Allo Darlin’. The band’s material has a real and solid sense of joy about it, but that joy is often tempered by a careful awareness of the sadness and challenges that people are often confronted by. It’s a difficult balance to portray without coming across as overly trite or sentimental, but Allo Darlin’s execution is beautiful every time. In fact, in the midst of the terrible series of weeks I’ve been having, I had the pleasure to be caught off-guard by hearing their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” on stonecoldbikini (every Saturday on 91.1fm, if you’re outside of their broadcast range you can always stream online at wruw.org) as I was about to pull into the driveway — instead, I drove around the block so that I could hear the entire song and the extra time in the car was more than worth it. Something about the work they produce leaves you with the sense that you are hearing exactly what you need to heard at exactly the moment you were meant to hear it. Divine musical providence.

So, order your single while you can — I’m sure this one will sell like hotcakes — and I’ll be back, hopefully in two weeks, with a fully functioning stereo and a roach-free living space.

P.S. I have one lonely invite for Spotify US, does anyone want it? Shoot me an e-mail at heysideponytail@gmail.com if you do! And just like that, the Spotify invite is spoken for! If I get any more, I’ll post them up as well.

Grass Widow, Milo Minute

Grass Widow, “Mannequin” (DOWNLOAD)

I don’t think there’s a single thing about Grass Widow that I don’t love. As far as I’m concerned, they’re the perfect band. I was stunned by their Captured Tracks EP & their first two full-length albums and I couldn’t be more stoked about a 7” than I am about Milo Minute.

Milo Minute is the first in a series of self-released 7”s on Grass Widow’s very own HLR imprint. The a-side, “Milo Minute,” is a striking 2 minutes jam-packed with Grass Widow’s layered vocals and post-punk instrumentation. The b-side features two songs, both covers. The first is “Time Keeps Time,” originally by the Neo Boys and the second is “Mannequin,” originally by wire. “Mannequin” is the highlight of the EP for me — there’s something about the way that the component parts of the song come together to create something wholly new and fresh that takes my breath away every time. Grass Widow makes the song, an old post-punk standard, come alive in a new and entrancing way.

Some time ago I read a great piece about Grass Widow by Tobi Vail where she mentioned that Grass Widow’s sound is especially exciting because it challenges how we understand the ways in which notions of hierarchy play into music — there is no “lead singer” in Grass Widow and everyone’s instruments work together in a way that feels circular. Rather than being lead in a visible linear progression from beginning to end, Grass Widow’s songs seem to spiral in on themselves, creating a sense of depth that is fresh, exciting, and important.

You can score a copy of Milo Minute direct from Grass Widow. Now that they’re back from their European tour, they’re shipping them out! (I pre-ordered a copy back in May and got it in the mail just yesterday. It was worth the wait.) Grass Widow is taking orders via their website.

Grass Widow, “Mannequin” (DOWNLOAD)

The Coathangers, Larceny & Old Lace

During the summer months it’s easy for me to get locked on to my essential summer jams (which, so far this summer, have been a mix of new songs from Stephen Malkmus, Fucked Up, and Wild Flag and old favorites from fIREHOSE and Cadallaca.) I know I’ve talked about this before, but for someone who fancies themselves to be a music blogger (VOM), it’s pretty hard for me to actually listen to new music and absorb it in a meaningful way, so when I received an e-mail about the recent album from The Coathangers, I let it linger in my inbox for a long time (anyone who has ever read anything on this blog before is probably not surprised by that statement.)

But, this afternoon, after a long day at work and an evening spent doing laundry and with the last shreds of summer sun coming through the windows, I finally decided to give Larceny & Old Lace a listen.

The first song that really caught my attention was “Go Away”, a definite change of gear from the preceding tracks “Hurricane” and “Trailer Park Boneyard.” Accented by simple hooky keyboards and built on a sweet breathy vocal, “Go Away” is what popped out at me and talked me into listening to Larceny & Old Lace more than once.

Albums are slow to grow on me, but on my second listen I noticed a lot of things that had escaped me the first time around and I think that with a few more listens, Larceny & Old Lace could certainly yield a summer jam or two.

The Coathangers’ powerful vocals and catchy keyboard remind me of the aforementioned Cadallaca, a perennial summer favorite and like Cadallaca’s album Introducing… Larceny & Old Lace is an album that seems to build in intensity with each subsequent listen. Songs like “Jaybird” and “Tabbacco Rd.” underscore the album with a darkness and a sadness that may not be apparent at first, but that ultimately adds a distinguishing richness to The Coathangers’ brand of hooky garage rock.

The Coathangers’ are currently touring in support of Larceny & Old Lace and will be at Cleveland’s own Now That’s Class this weekend on Sunday, June 26th.

You can support The Coathangers by picking up Larceny & Old Lace direct from their label, Suicide Squeeze.

For a taste of Larceny & Old Lace, check out this video for the album’s first track, “Hurricane.”

Give Away! Wild Flag

Hey pals, I’m still not ready to be posting full time (my new job is great and I love it, but my boyfriend and I still have to pack all of our stuff and move it to a new apartment), but I’m temporarily popping out of hibernation because my aforementioned boyfriend texted me this afternoon to let me know that Wild Flag will be playing in Cleveland this October and I’m so stoked that I can’t even handle it, but anyway, beyond Wild Flag being in Cleveland, you can now preorder their forthcoming full-length album from the Merge webstore (link here).  Pre-orders will ship on or around the album’s September 13th street date and will come with a poster while supplies last.

To promote their album, Wild Flag will be embarking on a major tour. Dates can be seen here (just scroll to the bottom, artists are listed alphabetically.)

To celebrate all of this, I’m giving a way a copy of Wild Flag’s sold-out Future Crimes/Glass Tambourine 7”. I was lucky enough to score two copies and want to spread the joy. To enter, just leave a comment here with your name, e-mail address, and favorite Wild Flag-related song (meaning any favorite song by Sleater Kinney, Mary Timony, Spells, Minders, Quasi, etc. etc. etc.) To get you started, here’s a sampling of some of my favorite songs that members of Wild Flag have played a part in:

(Sleater Kinney, One More Hour)

(Mary Timony, Blood Tree)

(The Minders, Hooray for Tuesday]

(Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Gardenia)

I’ll be closing comments on this post on Friday, July 29th at midnight, EST. Until then, comment away!

Hiatus? Well, sort of.

Hey everyone, it’s been awhile, hasn’t it? (Well, I guess it’s only been awhile in theory since I just posted that P.S. Eliot review that’s been sitting in my drafts folder for over a month, but anyway.) I wanted to drop a note here and let you all know that things might be quiet for awhile. I’m excited to say that I’ve got a new job (which means that the frantic job search I alluded to in that P.S. Eliot review has come to an end) and I’ll be moving at the end of June/beginning of July, so it’s likely that my “real life” will interfere with my ability to overshare on the internet.

So, before I go, I thought I’d update you on my most-listened-to albums of 2011. This data was generated via a last.fm plugin and doesn’t include things I listen to in the car or things I listen to on cassette, but I doubt those omissions interfere with the accuracy of this list. 2011’s front-runners are as follows:

1. Cloud Nothings, Cloud Nothings (Buy it)
   
2. The Babies, The Babies (Buy it)
   
3. Joyce Manor, Joyce Manor (Buy it)
   
4. EMA, Past Life Martyred Saints (Buy it)
   
5. P.S. Eliot, Sadie (Buy it)

Also, while I’m here just gabbing, you all might want to know that online sales of the Mountain Goats Rare & Rarer Gift Pack that I posted about awhile ago raised $6,865 for Women’s Medical Fund. According to Bethany, who worked with John to make all of this possible, that’s enough funding to provide safe and legal abortions for at least 37 women from low-income backgrounds. Well done Mountain Goats fans! Obviously it’s never too late to donate to an abortion fund (though it is too late to be potentially rewarded with rare Mountain Goats prizes for doing so.) Check out NNAF’s website to find an abortion fund in your area.

I’ll be back sporadically over the next few weeks, but expect posts to be scarce until I’m getting paid mad cash at my new job and am settled in at my new place of residence.

P.S. Eliot, Sadie

P.S. Eliot, “Talk” (DOWNLOAD)
P.S. Eliot, “Sadie” (DOWNLOAD)
P.S. Eliot, “Jesus Christ” (DOWNLOAD)

So, I actually drafted this on April 19, 2011 and am just now posting it. My bad. Don’t worry, the album is still really good!

So, there is (I think) this moment in My So-Called Life where Angela Chase is, as usual, monologue-ing and she says something about how sometimes there is a space in your heart and someone says something that finds a way to fit right into it, and that is, a little bit, like how I’m feeling about Sadie right now.

I hate to say that something is better than I expected it to be, because that makes me feel like I’m giving off a “I should have been too good for this” vibe, but Sadie wasn’t an album that I was eagerly anticipating. I knew it was coming out and I knew that I would listen to it, but I wasn’t hyperventilating over it or anything. I figured that I would get around to listening to it and that it would be ok, maybe good, but that it wasn’t anything to trouble myself over.

As usual, I was too quick to judge.

P.S. Eliot makes music perfect for the liminal times in your life. I first hear their demo during my senior year of college, feeling lost and listless and desperate for something, anything to hang onto. Their first album came out just as I was easing into my first “real&rdquo job, taking a tentative stab at adult living. And now? Sadie comes as I prepare to leave that position and figure out what I’m going to do next.

P.S. Eliot has definitely grown stylistically since 2009’s Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds. Sadie has a tightness, a crispness, a something-ness to it that I don’t remember earlier P.S. Eliot releases having. “Talk,” the album opener grabbed me almost immediately on my first listen and nearly ten listens later, it’s still one of my favorite songs on the album along with the title track, “Sadie.”

Sadie fuses elements of the pop-punk I loved growing up with a sense of perspective and maturity that speaks to me as someone perpetually on the precipice of adulthood (whatever that means, anyway.) I feel reassured and hopeful when I listen to this record — it’s perfect for spring, for new beginnings, for filling up tiny, empty parts of yourself.

You can download the album in full via If You Make It and if you like what you hear, you can either donate to the band (also via If You Make It) or purchase the album on vinyl from Salinas Records. If you have access to a record player, I would recommend picking up the album as it comes with a nice color insert and a lyrics sheet (too rare these days!) You can get more P.S. Eliot news via their blog.

P.S. Eliot, “Talk” (DOWNLOAD)
P.S. Eliot, “Sadie” (DOWNLOAD)
P.S. Eliot, “Jesus Christ” (DOWNLOAD)

Signal Boost! Mountain Goats “Rare and Rarer” Raffle

The amazing Bethany, of bthny.tumblr.com, has worked with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats to put together a sweet prize pack as a fundraiser for Womens’ Medical Fund, a Philly non-profit that assists women from low-income backgrounds with abortion financing. It’s always amazing when my personal politics (reproductive rights and justice!) intersect with my personal interests (sweet prizes!), and this is really an exceptional pack:

A $5 donation will enter you to win:

1 (one) copy of The Life of the World to Come DVD, a film by Rian Johnson documenting a single acoustic performance of the album of the same name, housed in a a gorgeous booklet printed by Durham’s Horse & Buggy Press

1 (one) copy of the long out-of-print CD edition of Nothing for Juice on 3 Beads of Sweat Records

1 (one) copy of the Chile de Árbol 7″ on Ajax Records

1 (one) copy, numbered 006/500, of the John Vanderslice/the Mountain Goats split 7″ on Bedside Recordings

1 (one) copy of the Jam Eater Blues/Store/Straight Six 7″ on Sub Pop, on peanut butter and jelly colored vinyl

1 (one) copy of Moon Colony Bloodbath, a collaborative EP by the Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice, on black vinyl

and finally

1 (one) copy, because it’s the only one that exists, of one of the little notebooks JD uses for writing lyrics, titles, ideas, chords, etc. To the best of anyone’s knowledge none of these have been given to anyone or sold, etc. They often take years to fill, because JD accumulates new ones like the scavenger animal he is, and then gets excited to start writing in a new notebook. This one got half full before he got distracted by a flashing light or something, and it contains: early, heavily revised & visibly in-process/scored-through/worked-over drafts of a few lyrics from The Life of the World to Come and All Eternals Deck; some album or song titles that didn’t get used; and a chord sequence which, when read out loud, may open a cosmic gate someplace, or it may not, but just in case we wanted to mention it. Also, JD’s handwriting can charitably be described as “creative,” i.e., it looks like somebody tried to teach the cat to use a pen.

& if one $5 shot at winning isn’t enough, a $20 donation will buy you 15 chances to win! Please support reproductive rights & justice in Philly & send some cash their way! You can purchase raffle tickets here. You do not need to be present at the drawing to win, but this is limited to people living in the US.