Three Imaginary Girls - Joy Wants Eternity

Cumulus Festival will rock your brains out

Imaginary Shrie — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:55:24 +0000

Three days of electric fuzz and long-haired men - count me in!

A record release unleashed from Beast, Please Be Still with Joy Wants Eternity

elle — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:20:12 +0000

8 Jan 2007

Perking up, my ears prepared for the assault of sound about to hit, tipped off by the clicking of drumsticks. Earplugs would have been a useful accessory at this show, but I would hate to miss an ounce of the wall of sound created by Joy Wants Eternity. All comparisons aside, these Seattle boys build their lush dynamics in their own name.

Sweeping story lines comprised of steep, towering guitars and light, playful keyboards in the valleys between filled the air at Chop Suey. The tale JWE tells is one of incessant hope. Through the thicket of sound there is, well, joy weaved in the nooks and crannies. Even in the downtime of the set, with only four complete stops, their music carries a forward motion; no matter what, life carries on. Their instrumentation projects this message further than a vocalist could portray.
Visuals are not fallen back on either, live they are not much to see. This time no props were used, the last time I saw their performance a winged mannequin stood front center. Nevertheless, they are still damned worth seeing live if for nothing more than the use of venue sized speakers to gain full effect of their lush music.

Perhaps if we were all dosed with acid and put in an art space, Wizard Prison would have faired better. But as we were not, over half the audience left during their set.

Watching Beast, Please Be Still expand over the past year, from a questionable warehouse party (where they played within the Beep Repaired Records Family Orchestra) to this CD release show last Tuesday night, I feel I've found my new favorite local band. In the beginning, the seven piece was more post-rock. They've become a melting pot of jazz, folk, rock, classical, a bit of Irish and French, even some punk. They are post-everything. This is not missed on other's ears, as the unadvertised, Tuesday night, relocated show was quite filled.

Amongst the cacophony, impressive is Beast's members ability to know when to stop and start. They must be a sound guy's biggest hurdle, with two drummers, horns, a glockenspiel, and violin mixed in with the usual band makeup. Originally booked for the Crocodile, the band missed their opportunity to be provided with the legendary Jim Anderson treatment, but the Chop style treated them well.

Their first self-titled release is the newcomer to local Beep Repaired Records, an outlet the musicians have ties in beyond this project. With their new album to showcase one of the fullest sounds Seattle has to offer starting off the new year, I expect to see more of this newcomer.

Watching Beast, Please Be Still expand over the past year, from a questionable warehouse party to this CD release show last Tuesday night, I feel I've found my new favorite local band.

JITM at Night lineup announced on the JITM show

imaginary dana — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:32:06 +0000

Happily, this morning John Richards (aka John in the Morning) announced the lineup for his next John in the Morning at Night show, and played a song from each artist.

You Who Pretend to Sleep

JimiC — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:47:43 +0000

7.5

http://cdbaby.com/cd/joywantseternity

joywantseternity07may.jpg

I don't generally like instrumental music. If you don't have time to write lyrics, I don't have time to listen to your record. It always feels a bit lazy to me, skipping the words.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect a lot of it, I recognize the instrumental prowess of many proponents and intricacy of the best instrumental works, and I understand the aim, more often than not. I just tend not to like it. This may stem from my subconscious belief that instrumental bands are that way for one of two reasons (sometimes related):

They have discovered that all singers are ego-centric douchebags who manage to remove all sense of joy from the artistic process with their persistent preening and polyamorous distractions. And/or...
No one in the band is capable of singing (which is would be a strange excuse given the existence of “autotune” and “singers” like the Fall’s Mark E Smith or Art Brut’s Eddie Argos).

By now you may have used your keen sense of detection to pick up on my casual disdain for “singers” as a breed. But just like politics and Diet Pepsi, they are a necessary evil. Some of them are even pretty okay (but don’t let them know I said so). Often, I don’t care what they’re saying (which is good, given the lyrical content of the average pop/rock song), just so long as they’re saying something -- preferably something catchy and/or memorable. Language is a powerful thing and the human voice is an affecting instrument… combined they tend to add significant emotional heft and value to popular music.

All that being said, there are instrumental songs I like, love, even. Hmmm… sounds like time for a list.

15 instrumentals I really, really like (or love, even), in no particular order:

“Oscillate Wildly” by The Smiths
“Sleepwalk” by Santo & Johnny
“Rumble” by Link Wray
“Your Dragging Feet” by Polyrock
“Terrorist” by The Teardrop Explodes
“Pipeline” by The Ventures
“Miserlou” by Dick Dale (yeah, I kinda like surf rock)
“Rebel Rouser” by Duane Eddy
“Saudade” by Love and Rockets
“Spirea X” by Primal Scream
“Green Onions” by Booker T & the MG's
“Girls” by Death in Vegas
“Remote Luxury” by The Church
“Guitar Voodoo” by The Darkside
“Elegia” by New Order (I like this one so much I’ll even listen to the over indulgent, unedited, warts-and-all 20-minute-plus version on the Retro box set.)

A varied list, but one thing the above share is focus. They are tight; they don’t dilly dally around with meandering build ups and false stops or gently build to a massive climax. They sell their hook or create their mood quickly and effectively. In fact, I hesitated to include things like Booker T and Link Wray, as they existed in a time where songs in excess of 3 or 3 ½ minutes were almost unthinkable in the rock/pop genre, which would have tended to force an artist to say what they had to say in a much more concise (and IMO, enjoyable ) manner. This brings me to the point where a good deal of instrumental music wanders off the path for me, and, unfortunately, most instrumental bands head down the fork in the road opposite mine (mine being the one which I like to call “the right way”). It seems to me most instrumental bands like to replace their singer with more music, not concurrently, but consecutively, that is to say they stretch things out and then tend to go on and on, building on and changing dynamics, which is a pretty effective (and easy) trick to pull off, but one that’s difficult to pull off well. Godspeed! do it very well (and I actually dig them quite a bit), but many of the associated side projects seem to miss the mark a bit. Locally we’ve got Kinski, who’ve mastered the form to great effect (though they throw the occasional lyric in, and rumor has it they’ll doing a bit more of that on their forthcoming new album), but more often than not I find this type of instrumental post-rock band bo-ring.

You may have guessed by now that Joy Wants Eternity is an instrumental project. Well, you guessed right. What you might not have guessed is that their new album, You Who Pretend to Sleep, is one that while taking the “wrong” way, manages to do a whole lotta stuff way right.

Right out of the gate, “Existences Rust” is filled with aggressive energy. There's no slow build here: no verses, no choruses, just a surge of noise. “Above the Clouds Lies Eternal Sun” takes a more typical soft to loud path, but keeps it under four minutes, passing by before it’s worn out it’s welcome, delicate guitar/Rhodes passages punctuated by percussive bursts that give the song added power without disturbing the entrancing spell created by the quieter parts.

“From Embrace to Embrace” stretches out a bit, mixing early passages of layered melody that build to a chaotically restrained noisy guitar lead, which recedes back as the song reaches its dénouement. Tremulous feedback and reverbed clicks on the pick-ups create an otherworldly bed for a mournful Fender Rhodes (does anything do “mournful” as well as a Rhodes?) progression as “Death is a Door that Opens,” um, opens. A siren-like guitar wails softly in the background as the song expands without ever building to a climax. It goes against everything I look for in a rock song (as discussed in some detail above), but is probably the most effective piece on the album, as it manages to set a unique but familiar mood that is genuinely affecting. The following track, “What Lies Beyond,” as the name implies, seems to be an effort to extend or supplement it’s antecedent, but lacks the depth. It’s a short one, though, so before I can get bored the album moves on.

This is probably a good place to point out the pacing of the album, which is really excellent. The best parts ebb and flow in and out, while the less interesting and dynamic bits move out the way quickly, often serving as an effective “palate cleanser” between the main courses. (Can you tell it’s lunchtime as I type this?)

“Yet Onward We March” seems by title to be the third in a trilogy with the previous two songs, but shares little musically. It’s generally a by-the-numbers soft to loud build set apart by the tremendously good guitar sound in the noisy build that the band have captured in the recording. The staccato fits and start of the percussion also help make it a little more atypical and less predictable. “Uriel” utilizes a simple but engaging guitar figure to capture my attention before quietly wandering off into a fragile decrescendo, even the drums blending quietly into the mix giving the passage more life than the “soft bits” usually have on offer. Closer “You are the Vertical, You are the Horizontal,” after a familiar-feeling opening passage, feels like a lullaby… right until the explosive end, which is more than just a “loud bit,” with two prominent guitar melodies overlapping and giving the climax an unexpected depth, all of this in just a shade over four minutes, therby avoiding that very common pitfall (as far as I’m concerned) of instrumental rock music, unnecessary length. And while I’m on that topic, four of the eight songs on the LP clock in under four minutes with the longest being a bit over six minutes, certainly lending to the aforementioned excellent pacing, a trait I find very rare in this type of album and one that I must say adds so much to the listening experience.

The last two songs, “Uriel” and “You are the Vertical, You are the Horizontal,” have similar vaguely uplifting chord changes that have a way of making the record feel triumphant as it comes to it’s end. It seems an apt ending to a well-crafted and well-played instrumental rock album. In their bio, the band mentions Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, and Mogwai as “recommended if you like” touchstones, and I would certainly second that claim, but I would also advise record buyers not to be scared off by those comparisons if they don’t typically “like” those bands. Joy Wants Eternity has done something similar in quality to them (even occasionaly exceeding their high self-set standard), but unique in its focus and clarity, and more immediate and accessible (at least to vocal-needing cretins like myself) for it.

Joy Wants Eternity has done something similar in quality to their influences (like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky), but unique in its focus and clarity, and more immediate and accessible (at least to vocal-needing cretins like myself) for it.

From the imaginary mailbins

imaginary dana — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Read about all the exciting new Northwest music we got in our mailbins this week, including Clorox Girls, Brush, Joy Wants Eternity, Your Favorite Book, and more!

Beep Repaired Family Tree

Cal Ledbetter — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 04:31:01 +0000

yes

5.9

http://www.beeprepaired.com/catalog/index.htm

beeprepaired07feb.jpg

The "Family Tree" compilation is a schizophrenic journey through the roster of the Seattle label Beep Repaired. Containing 18 disjointed tracks that somehow fit together, the CD takes twists and turns like a long road trip where in the end your memories of the miles behind are hazy, but for some reason you look forward to turning around and doing it again backwards.

A few songs may be thrown on for the sake of a compilation, but none of the songs are throw-away.

There are a handful of songs by bands that seem to be pumping in the veins of the deceased (rest in peace) At the Drive-In, such as "Sclatica" by Free Jail, "Pretty Girls" By The Born Losers, and "Hotry" by Lake of Falcons. Throw in the mix you also find the surf-rock of Smile Brigade's "Dear John," and the trippy folk rock of "Crowning" by Correspondents.

Other stand-out tracks include the song, "Alcohol" by McGovern Goldwater Ticket. This pretty little ballad about nostalgia and self deprecation ("Everything goes wrong when I open my eyes") could have landed itself next to the Devotchka and Sufjan Stevens tunes on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. The jerky drums and tingly guitars sound like a stretch of freeway in the summer in a yellow van you have to push-start.

The silly, blippy soul in Plenty Face's "Stuck to its Gunk" evokes both Beck (circa Midnight Vultures) and Prince (circa 1979). It's the kind of song that, if listened to on a middle-of-the-night stretch of dark highway where everyone takes turns driving and sleeping, you'd end up fearing alien abduction if you were to pull over to pee.

Commodore Duchess sings about the glossed-over neighborhoods south of L.A. on "Orange County" in a way that would make Joni Mitchell proud. Her shaky, sun-dripped voice pleads for a loved one to make a change by getting in the car and going north to where. "The girls don't wear mini-skirts all the time."

"And We Went in Love to the Circus" sounds like the Great Gift Idea could be the adopted little brother of the Shins (babysat a few times by Modest Mouse) with a toe-tapping, finger-snapping song about, what else, change and the open road. The lyric, "Pack a suitcase, turn the engine on, take the interstate, drive away from here," makes you want to do just that, even with the uncertainty of where it will take you.

Not every song on this compilation fall in the same genre, and not every song has the same kind of sound, which leads to an inevitable truth: You won't like all of it; you may like most of it, you may hate most of it. But what we have here is a journey, and not every journey is a smooth ride. There are tight turns, bumpy roads, and every once in a while, a flat tire. But it's when we get to our final destination, relieved we've made it, we seem to always look forward to the backwards trip home.

This pretty little ballad about nostalgia and self deprecation could have landed itself next to the Devotchka and Sufjan Stevens tunes on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack.

AstroPOP! for June 2005

three imaginary girls — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 07:00:00 +0000

Your monthly imaginary horoscope told in album reviews!

June 2005 AstroPOP! is brought to you with musical reviews by igDana, igLiz, Imaginary Curtis, JimiC, Mad Professor, and Chris B.

Aries
Find your muse. Sharpen your pencils. Get ready to go on your long-overdue personal journey to the place where you figure out what you were placed on this funny round planet to accomplish. Perhaps you should go to Sweden. Clearly, Sweden has found its niche: creating dreamy fey pop bands. I think there's a factory in Sweden (possibly in Upsala...) that churns out delectable pop bands. Latest case in point: My Orchard's Silhouettes (Not Lame), which comes off that line ready to delight with their keyboard-tinged guitar driven power pop. Perhaps it will provide just the sunshiny optimism you need to take that first leap forward.

Taurus
It's time to redecorate! Or perhaps it's time to full-on renovate. Either way, it's time to update your home/wardrobe/CD collection to the latest and greatest. Oh lookie — just in time, here's Trent Reznor's five-yearly effort to shift a few units and at the same time keep everyone convinced that he's both the King of Pain and the Prince of Alternative. Ah well, Nine Inch Nails' latest With Teeth is not bad, a totally enjoyable effort this time around — as much as NIN can be enjoyable. But if you really want to hear NIN with teeth, then I suggest listening to The Downward Spiral or my favorite — Broken — played as loud as you or the neighbors can bear. Perhaps it will drown out the sound of your table saw and power drill.

Gemini
Good news, Gemini: if you've been struggling between the dayjob work to pay the bills and the creative work to feed your soul, this might be your time to make a go of it, all art-stylee. Step away from your desktop (or cash register, or fry station) and step into your guitar (or paintbrush, or pen). There may be windfall: consider Black Horse. This Northwest guy/girl rock duo features two guitars and a drum machine. Imagine classic Earache sludge-core bands such as Fudge Tunnel and Godflesh backed by Jesus & Mary Chain's original rhythm section with X's male/female vocal trade-off, and you have an idea of their demo. While the recording quality leaves something to be desired, a little extra time in the studio and these guys could be the next Kills. The lesson here? Don't wither away in the office. Make the most of all your creative potential this month. We see big things. Oh, and Happy Birthday!

Cancer
You can dance if you want to, Cancer. New wave has made a big comeback recently; in fact, it's come so far back, it's already gone again. Don't tell Sunshine, 'cause they're having too much fun. Moonshower and Razorblades manages to hit the right eighties revival notes (albeit a bit more darkly than most), but manages to sound a bit fresher than most of the bandwagon, er, bands. Stop thinking so hard about the origins and reprecussions of the past, both musically and otherwise, Cancer — just experience without judgment. Note how fun it is. And dance.

Leo
A very wise fictional character once told me that adversity breeds character. It's certainly working for Garbage. Divorcing her cheating husband has clearly been good artistically to Shirley Manson, who is back to her very best lyrical form of earlier days and the likes of "As Heaven is Wide," "Subhuman," and "Suffocate Me." Bleed Like Me has more energy, passion, and vitriol than anything since their stunningandimpossibletofollow 1995 debut, and is book-ended by two of their best yet — the deliciously raunchy and wicked "Bad Boyfriend" and the gloriously sweeping and cathartic "Happy Home." C'mon Shirley, be our bad girlfriend once more.

Virgo
Spend some money and make some changes to your physical self this month, Virgo. Ooh, that new tattoo looks nice; it's so very non-Virginal of you. Now how about a new wardrobe? Manic Panic hair? You might want to consider some tight leather pants and extra Aquanet. Why? Seattle band Girth. Damn, their record Living in Truth (Hector Stentor Records) has enough changes to make four Rush records. It's razor-sharp playing, well-recorded instrumental metal. Fans of spaz attack bands like Dillinger Escape Plan or Cave-In and art freaks like John Zorn and Frank Zappa will have a lot to sink their teeth into with this release. Better skip the coffee before this one. But definitely proceed with the body modifications...

Libra
This month may bring big changes, and we all know how that unsettles you, oh balanced one. Try to roll with the punches and enjoy Minmae's brooding release I'd Be Scared, Were You Still Burning (Greyday Productions). You might not understand what titles like "Dimorphic Hips Have Chances Still" mean. Just quit trying, and enjoy their Pavement-esque melodies, Smog-like vocals, and oddball song names. Give the unknown a chance, and yourself a rest. Next month will bring balance to those scales, and if we're lucky, will also bring this talented Portland-based band to Seattle (ahem, hint).

Scorpio
Get planning those post work-day beer parties. These days you're a social superstar on the job, and should have no trouble interacting with even the most persnickity of co-workers. No one understands this better than Josh Homme. On Lullabies to Paralyze, the latest from Queens of the Stone Age, absent are long-time bassist Nick Oliveri and occasional drummer/Foo Fighter Dave Grohl. Instead, you can indulge in the cameos from rock's best sex symbols: Shirley Manson and Brody Dalle, and the same accessible kick-ass rock that somehow consistently makes QOTSA the favorite metal band of musicians and metal-haters alike. Bring it to your next kegger.

Sagittarius
Sometimes romance is hard. Does your partner take out all the woes of this sad world on your unsuspecting self? Soured romance can make you write a lot of songs. There are many examples of songs on Take You Apart by Screamfeeder. These songs are only examples, and are not recommended for repeated use. If you like these songs, you will like songs by the Jam much, much more. To that end, if you like romance, we predict you will like the romance of another partner much, much more. So buck up, little Sadgie. It doesn't have to be as hard as it's been.

Capricorn
Cappy, it's time to get caught up on your inbox. What do you mean you still haven't returned that email to your estranged Republican sister? The more you hold on to grudges, the longer they take to resolve. Perhaps that's just the way you like it, you old goat, you. Better go play The Frank Boscoes then. Frank Boscoe brings his signature vocals from iconic underground indie pop bands Wimp Factor 14 and Vehicle Flips. With his crystal clear, hypernasal voice and pointed lyrics, he navigates through an overtly idiosyncratic world, one in which we can imagine it's okay to let go of the ironic, but not of those grudges. In this world, it's okay for a 30-something hipster to drink Margarita wine coolers. Why not chug a four-pack and tell that strange sib exactly how you feel about the Bush...?

Aquarius
Ancestral issues weigh heavily on you this month. Is it conflict with an older relative? Or are you shouldering the weight of those who came before you? Speaking of forefathers, ever heard of Godspeed, you Black Emperor? Joy Wants Eternity have, and I mean that in the best possible way. Must You Smash Your Ears Before You Learn to Listen with Your Eyes (Beep Repaired) covers similar territory with consistently superior results. Epic, cinematic, dynamic and a bunch of other -ics, but never icky. Highly recommended. See? Just because something looms in your past doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Use it as a source of inspiration.

Pisces
One Pisces dear to this imaginary astrologer's heart recently proclaimed Sonny Votolato as his guitar hero. And with just cause — Votolato has graced tons of Seattle bands with his Rickenbacker skills, including Bugs in Amber, Fields of Mars, and currently, the dazzling Slender Means. Now Sonny has a solo project in the works under the moniker Blue Checkered Record Player. This three-song demo displays Sonny with acoustic guitar and atmospheric orchestral layers — it's earnest, intimate, and lovely. I'd tell you how he evokes the dazzling gentleness of Elliot Smith, except that every tenor singer with an acoustic guitar gets compared to Elliot Smith; the comparison will not sufficiently describe the delicacy and ingeniousness that breathes through these songs. On the track "Reality" he croons, "But there's music it's more than in my dreams. Don't wake me now, I just want to sleep." Pisces, your dreams come true later this summer, when the full BCRP record will release on Esoterick Musik Records. That other dream you've been pining for will follow shortly thereafter. {Aside to Seattle folks: catch BCRP at the High Dive on 6/15 and the Crocodile on 6/22.}

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See what's in the stars -- and the record stores -- for you for June 2005, including reviews of Black Horse, Girth, Minmae, Queens of the Stone Age, and My Orchard.