No Knife - Fire In The City Of Automatons (1999) - “Academy Flight Song”
I love this song. The opening and closing groove is one of the best things ever. Imagine early Death Cab For Cutie with a heavy Fugazi influence. They should have been bigger.
Red Sparowes - The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies The Answer (2010) - “In Illusions of Order”
This song’s a slow, meditative mover, but as cheesy as it sounds the ending is gorgeous and pretty much makes my eyes well up every time I hear it. I kind of wish they repeated it a little more, but I also enjoy how it ends so quickly and leaves you wanting more. I have a huge guitarist crush on Emma Ruth Rundle (and Annie Clark from St. Vincent).
—Emancipation
Moving Units - Dangerous Dreams (2004) - “Emancipation”
Nick Zinner, Paul Viera of the Chinese Stars, and the guitarist from Moving Units have the sexiest minimal guitar lines.
—The Kill
Fugazi - The Argument (2001) - “The Kill”
”Sultry” is an odd word to ascribe to Fugazi, but it definitely describes this song well. Here, Ian and Guy’s typically noisy, experimental guitars get beautifully recontextualized by round, jazzy bass tones and a subtle, dry drum sound, lending their riffs an atmospheric, wind chime quality. It’s so uniquely Fugazi, yet unlike anything they had done previous. The more I listen to this song, the more I see The Argument anticipating some of Radiohead’s later work, namely In Rainbows.
—Ten Tiny Fingers
Marriages - Kitsune (May 1, 2012) - “Ten Tiny Fingers”*
I’ve recently mentioned my enthusiasm for Marriages after catching their set at the Casbah on Russian Circles’ Fall tour. My friend and I got our tickets well in advance this time around, having missed out on Russian Circles’ past San Diego shows due to the Casbah a being 21+ venue. We got there a little after doors opened, weaved our way through the cliques of regulars chatting it up on the patio, and sized up our wallets to our wish lists at the merch table before getting beer. Pints in hand, we hung close to the front of the stage and waited for the show to start.
Taking a quick survey of the venue, a handful of people were scattered around the bar and leaning against the walls, twiddling with their iPhones. I noticed a girl in a bulky, multicolored sweater with her hair in a tight bun talking nearby with a tall dude in an all-grey, shirt, jeans, and beanie combo. A couple minutes later they climbed onstage, Emma let her hair down, and Marriages dove into their first song, submersing the small group of people in the standing room in a thumping, ambient groove. My friend and I were just stoked that the guitarist was a girl, and once Emma’s huge, cavernous riffs ripped through the mix all we could do was look at each other, grin from ear to ear, and get as close to the stage as we could. The song kept swelling into bigger and better movements and by the time it ended a huge roar of applause erupted behind me, as I turned around to find the venue chock-full of people equally as excited for this new band as I was.
Check out the album promo below:
*Wow, it’s been a month. Sorry for the lack of posts, but I promise I have a few exciting things in store for this site in the near future so hopefully that’ll make up for my recent absence. Thanks for following!
Deafheaven - Roads to Judah (2011) - “Violet”
I had the pleasure of seeing Deafheaven perform at The Casbah with Russian Circles at the end of November, which was one of the best shows I’ve been to in recent memory. My friend and I were just coming down from an amazing set by the newly signed Sargent House trio Marriages, when this band came out with their massive album opener from Roads to Judah. They completely blew me away with their post-rock meets black metal ambience and psychedelic, shoegazey passages, not to mention captivating frontman George Clarke. They put on a hell of a show and they’re touring all throughout February so check them out if you can.
Digable Planets - Blowout Comb (1994) - “9th Wonder (Blackitolism)”
2:55 = swoon
“You want ‘em? I got ‘em. Drippin’ like water”
Retox - Ugly Animals (2011) - “Thirty Cents Shy of a Quarter”
New music from Three One G featuring Justin Pearson. You can stream their album and check tour dates over here. I’ll probably be either at the Casbah show or the Smell show!
wait for it…
now that’s how you end a show.
