Three Imaginary Girls - 4AD

Blues Funeral

Imaginary Gemma — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:06:07 +0000

8.5

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006CC0YB0/?tag=wwwthreeimagi-20

With his bass-baritone register and emphasis on sordid narrative, Mark Lanegan bears many similarities to Tom Waits and Johnny Cash. But while you love their gravelly voices because of the stories they tell, you love Lanegan’s stories because of his leathery voice: handled by Mark Lanegan, even the alphabet would sound profound. Unlike his melancholy storytelling compatriots, Lanegan’s singing holds up to a fuller sound, and even demands it. Occasionally, though, his looping, unhurried songs have walked too fine a line between hypnotic fascination and mind-numbing boredom. But when the tissue paper layers of his songs build to sufficient thickness, it’s impossible not to be swept away, as evidenced by Blues Funeral.

Blues Funeral is the first album released under the name Mark Lanegan Band since 2004’s Bubblegum, but don’t think Lanegan hasn’t been busy. He has released albums with Isobel Campbell, The Twilight Singers, Soulsavers, and The Guttertwins, in addition to making numerous guest appearances in the meantime. Despite eight years and nine albums separating them, Blues Funeral follows logically from Bubblegum. Blues Funeral is the more cohesive of the two, yet rarely dips into monotony. Guest appearances by frequent collaborators, Josh Homme, Greg Dulli, and Jack Irons connect the album to Lanegan’s other projects.

Blues Funeral is best enjoyed in its entirety in a darkened room, through headphones, with a bourbon in hand. Throughout the whole, lyrics are placed front and center, where, like the Man in Black, Lanegan yearningly explores unwholesome themes with only a flickering hope of Christian redemption.

“Gravedigger’s Song” opens with the urgency that is sometimes lacking in Lanegan’s music. Surrender to the narcotic effect of Lanegan’s voice and float away on the tides of “Bleeding Muddy Water” and “Gray Goes Black.” “St. Louis Elegy” washes you onto a dusty shore littered with tumbleweeds to join the shuffling slave march of the hopeless. The aching flow is broken by the surprisingly effective beat of the aptly named “Ode to Sad Disco.” The song is only slightly out of place and worth the interruption. It is easy enough to dive headfirst into the inviting void of “Phantasmagoria Blues” that follows. Just when you’re hopelessly lost in the darkness, the album peaks with “Harborview Hospital.” Here Lanegan sounds his best, lightened and offset by a transcendent meteor shower of atmospheric synths. The album closes with “Tiny Grain of Truth,” which takes a step back from the vocals. In their place, guitar effects work like the snap of a hypnotist’s fingers, allowing you to break back through the surface after submersion in the shadowy, suede and canvas world of Mark Lanegan.

The album’s release date is February 6, but you can listen to it streaming on KEXP now. US tour dates have not yet been scheduled.

...when the tissue paper layers of his songs build to sufficient thickness, it’s impossible not to be swept away, as evidenced by Blues Funeral.

Beauty Parlor: hey, all you pretty things! {new record review column}

Chris Estey — Mon, 30 May 2011 16:23:14 +0000

I'm going to start this new "album round up" for Three Imaginary Girls with the above recent You Tube video for Sean Rowe's "Jonathan": (1.) Because I think it's the best song off of his recent Magic album (recently given full treatment here) and though it's been out a while the video is new. More-so, it's starting my summer off all rum and cola-sweetly, buzzy and bubbly at dusk-time, and I want to share it with you because the tune still grabs my attention. (2.) That's to help set the tone for a regular column that will primarily focus on the best songs on the albums I'm playing, while taking care of full length business as economically as possible. This doesn't mean I won't be doing more full length album reviews; but they might get the test-run here before they get the full heat treatment. Or, as in Rowe's case, I might remind you dear reader of previously scribed-about music that I think needs further attention, probably due to a bright jelly ear-worm melting in the candy jar of my brain.

Now to a hit and run consumer guide starting in my iTunes, and running into my headphones and down through my fingers briskly with the assistance of a jar of cold, strong coffee and soy milk:

Stornoway, Zorbing, and a ticket giveaway

imaginary liz — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 04:28:11 +0000

One of my favorite albums of the year comes from the Oxford-based band Stornoway. It's an understatement to say they craft sumptuously understated melodies that draw from ponds of the Decemberists, later-era Lucksmiths, and Nick Drake and would sit comfortably on mixtapes between Teenage Fanclub, Belle and Sebastian. Given the line of influence, it's no surprise that the band members met while attending Oxford University and that there is an ornithologist and a Russian translator among its ranks.

The songs on their 2010 release, Beachcomber's Windowsill, craft a soothing journey that meanders with graceful guitars and strings, playful keyboards and drum section, and shiny hopeful vocals that pierce your heart, summoning the memories you hold closest.

Stornoway will play their first show in Seattle at the Crocodile on Thursday, December 9, 2010 with Head and the Heart opening up.

High Violet

Chris Estey — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:48:57 +0000

8.2

http://www.amazon.com/High-Violet-National/dp/B003BKF696/?tag=wwwthreeimagi-20

national-high-violet2010.jpg

(The National plays with Okkervil River at the Concerts at the Marymoor in Redmond, WA on September 11, 2010.)

I'm a latecomer to The National, the band that somehow sounds like a son of L. Cohen fronting a farm of Radiohead fans with both acoustic instruments and electronic gizmos. I first heard them on the quite excellent Live At KEXP Volume Four benefit compilation with the short, simmering "Start A War." Considering that smorgasbord also had Vampire Weekend's must-replay-frequently "A-Punk" and Sharon Jones' "Let Them Knock," the fact it was my favorite song on there was pretty impressive. Well, OK, to me, anyways.

High Violet is actually my first National full-length, and so whether or not I'm "truly qualified" to review it (feel free to take pot shots, completist trolls) is debatable. But I can admit that I am hooked pretty hard on this stuff, Matt Berninger's peet-starchy baritone more like the vocals of a particularly gifted poet pal than a rock star. That's good, because the lyrics are pretty fucking awesome a lot of the time, or at least they fit my life "Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron." The album's apex is the fourth track "Little Faith," the title of which promises the diary of a dimly lit wick, but the actual panoramic images of "Pretty girls sucked into the sky," and how the narrator "Burned down the field just to see what it kills," Blitzkriegs the melancholy bunker in your mind as massively as anything since OK Computer.

As cinematic as it is personal (half-meant for a bitter-minded gal named Anna who haunts the singer, the way we live vicariously in thought through anyone we love, no matter how messed up the situation), "Little Faith" uses a driven-into-your-mind vocal melody with a dumb little jungle/drum and bass rhythm and some cheap-ass guitar loops to construct an awesome monument to loss and abandonment in the city. It is easily my favorite song so far this year. And considering those loops are also fetching in the resentful, resistant "Anyone's Ghost" (with its 80s style electronic drum beating through its breaking heart) just before it, and the agoraphobic, anxiety-ridden imagery of "Afraid of Everyone" right after, this is probably the best middle-of-a-full-length you'll hear in 2010, period. There are other sweet and lighter ("Bloodbuzz Ohio") and sour and darker ("Sorrow") moments on High Violet, but what a peak.

The National are from Cincinnati, Ohio (where they started at the end of the last century) and remind me a lot of that city's favorite son Harvey Pekar, the beloved, grumpy underground comics genius who just passed away. Pekar was extremely literate, writing Chekov and Carver-level stories about the ups and downs (mostly downs) of his personal life, mixing them with grander epics about political destruction and change, and could scribe masterful assessments of jazz records for the music press. Berninger sounds like the worrying, sometimes caustic, always crystal clear Pekar, whether worrying over the trivial in the shadow of doom or finding momentary bliss in the description of his own desolation. High Violet is an album absolutely brimming with life, no matter how grim, maddening, or morbid. It's highly recommended, but don't forget to bring your meds.

(The National plays with Okkervil River at the Concerts at the Marymoor in Redmond, WA on September 11, 2010.)

Before Today

Chris Estey — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:13:42 +0000

7.7

http://www.amazon.com/Before-Today-Ariel-Haunted-Graffiti/dp/B003G7DSHQ/?tag=wwwthreeimagi-20

arielpink2010july.jpg

Before Today follows up Ariel Pink's previous two Haunted Graffiti projects (and becomes its own "thing" via its addition to his name) Worn Copy (2005) and House Arrest (2006). It lives up to Ariel Marcus Rosenberg's affection for Joe Meek's home-recorded production odysseys, and in the infectious swoon of fifth track "Round and Round" and the 80s-style big-pop-style remake of the Rockin' Ramrods 60s hit "Bright Lit Blue Skies," it transcends record collector rock or the critic's-easy-grab "freak folk." This is a sultry psyche-pop peak experience limber enough to transcend fetishism for either almost-colossal AM buzz or fuzzy handmade culture of past aeons.

In his early 30s, Rosenberg's infatuation for and collaboration with R. Stevie Moore (DIY songwriting cassette king, known for crafting mail art tapes that could be as thrilling as anything on alternative radio and as weird as the noise your druggiest pals made in their padded sound sheds) has blossomed into what is now and is aiming big time to be. Through infusing novelty porn soul (opener "Hot Body Rub") with the dark city boogie he assimilated as a teenage Goth (check out "L'Estat" and "Fright Night" mashing butts together here for undercurrents), Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti should keep earning him oodles of new acolytes.

It may have been Jimi Hey (The Rapture) and Animal Collective that discovered him, but he's right at home on 4AD, the longtime/timeless label that consistently reinvents "art rock" for people who dread that tag. Like how their Pixies combined irresistible rock hooks with weird, Biblical rants about monkeys going to heaven and problems with hookers, or when Cocteau Twins invented their own vocal vocabulary to sit in the middle of beds of guitar and bass, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is just as much about staking out its own territory with the past and the future as it is filling time with sound (and making you dance, oh yeah).

The new nickname for Rosenberg's band makes a lot of sense, as fading montages and stark morning afters sit side by side in their own love-funk dimension, a artful abstraction of everyday life on walls of memory. 4AD sure knows someone has to make the new surreal Original Soundtracks for the next generation of party (ahem) animals, and investing in this cosmic commodity shows they know cash is poetry. Tonight's show should be quite a bash.

(Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti plays tonight at Neumos with Puro Instinct and Magic Kids.)

The Big Pink: it might get loud at Neumos Friday

ChrisB — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:02:05 +0000

Music from The Big Pink was the 1968 album from The Band. Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell know this, as their band's website is musicfromthebigpink.com. Yet, The Big Pink, circa 2010 bears little resemblence to The Band of 1968, and sounds more like what might happen if My Bloody Valentine reveled in the mid-90s Blur/Oasis/Pulp Britpop scene, rather than precede it.

The Big Pink are a London-based, shoegaze duo who are playing (I believe) their first show in Seattle Friday night at Neumos. Their debut album is modestly called A Brief History of Love and it was released on 4AD last September. That's what Wikipedia will tell you about The Big Pink but what you really need to know is that the LA Times called what they (and tourmates A Place to Bury Strangers) do "kicking the bejesus out of your reverb unit."

{The Big Pink plays Neumos Friday, March 12 with A Place to Bury Strangers, io echo and Grave Babies; $15 adv, 21+.}

Want to see a live (DVD) Mountain Goats performance - and buy the album (The Life of the World to Come) a day early?

heather hydra — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:48:23 +0000

(In the interest of full disclosure, you all should know that I work at Sonic Boom and am going to be running this event.)

4AD and Sonic Boom Records have a present for you!

Come on down to the Sunset on Monday, October 5th. Around 8pm we will be showing a film by Rian Johnson (Brick, the Brothers Bloom) of John Darnielle performing The Life of the World to Come in its entirety at Pomona College, where Darnielle was a music student as a child. He is joined on vocals by Rachel from the Bright Mountain Choir, his original bassist with whom he first performed as the Mountain Goats.

Download Camera Obscura's "French Navy"

ChrisB — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:27:20 +0000

By the time this gets posted, it'll probably be Bastille Day's Boxing Day, but that shouldn't stop anyone from posting this catchy-as-hell Camera Obscura song, "French Navy," which can be downloaded by right-clicking here. And/or you can watch the video after the jump.

My Maudlin Career

Diana Salier — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:25:48 +0000

7.5

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001T46U32/?tag=wwwthreeimagi-20

cameraobscura09may.jpg

I'll be the first to admit that when I heard there was a new Camera Obscura record coming out, I expected a new collection of indie pop tunes in the vein of "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" or "Let's Get Out Of This Country." The first track on My Maudlin Career is "French Navy," -- also the album's first single -- a string-heavy, upbeat song that stays true to its pop roots by only lasting three minutes and reminds me a lot of "Lloyd..."

But the fun hardly stops there; the only other really pop-ish songs are "Swans," "Honey In The Sun" and standout track "The Sweetest Thing" -- the rest will leave you dazed and introspective, and maybe even lonely. Lead singer Tracyanne Campbell's melancholic vocal delivery verges on the country-esque, and even recalls Jenny Lewis on the plaintive "You Told A Lie." Whether she's asking "do you still miss the way that I hold you?/in other towns and cities, who's holding you tonight?" ("Other Towns And Cities") or lamenting the age-old "just friends" syndrome in "James" and "Careless Love," it's impossible not to have your heart break just a little bit. The latter is the absolute high point of My Maudlin Career, and features Bjorn Yittling's (of Peter Bjorn and John) swelling horn and string arrangements, which inevitably give the song a cinematic quality.

There's a moodiness throughout the 10 songs that is perfectly conveyed not only via Campbell's lyrics, but in the slightest organ and violin melodies of "Away With Murder," or the rolling drumbeats of "Forest and Sands," which sound like they're about as ready to give up as Campbell herself.

It's hard to describe why listening to an album as atmospheric and sad as My Maudlin Career would be a pleasant experience, but it's probably best understood with a bottle of whiskey on the bedside table and a few quiet hours alone.

Enter to win Pixies Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde on vinyl

imaginary liz — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:22:17 +0000

After a while out of print on vinyl, 4AD has re-released both Pixies' Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde albums on 180 gram vinyl (they hit the racks back on Oct 13).

The Breeders are coming to Seattle!

imaginary liz — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:13:30 +0000

First Liz Phair plays Exile in Guyville in its entirety at the Showbox, and now I find out that The Breeders will be at Neumo's on November 11th!

Mountain Battles

imaginary ash — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:20:32 +0000

9.5

http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Battles-Breeders/dp/B00133FBDY/wwwthreeimagi-20/

breeders album cover.jpg

The Breeders' debut, Pod, is undoubtedly the album that changed my life, so you can imagine the anticipation that comes along with news of a new Breeders release. It last happened back in 2002 with Title TK, and now (a mere six years later) they're back again with Mountain Battles. In the case of Title TK, I loved it BECAUSE it was The Breeders, and anything they touch is gold in my book. However, Title TK was admittedly a departure from the band's previous output on Pod and Last Splash, and the album lacked any "Cannonball"s or "Fortunately Gone"s. It was raw, stark, lo-fi and almost experimental, and it left many a '90s Breeders fan confused.

I am now ecstatic to report that Mountain Battles is the culmination of all the best things Kim Deal has ever done this side of The Pixies. It has its pop moments, its ballads, its major chord harmonies, its minor chord hauntings, and even a few foreign languages. Like Pod, it's lo-fi but at the same time doesn't suffer from underproduction. Like Last Splash, there isn't a single song that seems out of place or unfinished. And like Title TK, it breaks new ground for the band, whose line-up is mostly the same as on the 2002 album. Where Title TK felt like a whole new band had recorded it, Mountain Battles feels like a natural progression for The Breeders, incorporating their past without regurgitating anything or favoring any one phase over another.

It also interestingly incorporates world geography. "German Studies" is a catchy guitar pop song sung entirely in German; from there they travel east to "Istanbul" two songs later; and in another two songs, they're singing en Español on "Regalame Esta Noche," a cover sung by the band's other Deal, Kelley. I'm a big fan of Kelley independent of her work with Kim, and own both Kelley Deal 6000 albums as well as (gulp) the Last Hard Men album, a band she was in with Sebastian Bach, so I'm delighted when Kelley steps up to the plate on Breeders songs, and here she doesn't disappoint.

But I've gotten ahead of myself in all my excitement. Let's back up to the opener, "Overglazed," a perfect intro with a sunny disposition that incorporates an up-tempo beat, blissful guitars, and Kim singing the simple phrase "I can feel it!" on repeat, throwing in some "Oh, oh oh, oh oh oh oh" in between. That segues into the bass-tastic "Bang On," a song whose infectious beat is accentuated by a single bass note that sounds like it's being played on a hollowed-out upright bass so as just to capture its pluckiness without fussing much about its tone. It's another song that doesn't waste words; the bulk of the song's lyrics are variations on the line "I love no one / and no one loves me," sung in tandem by both Deals. It has the same kind of spunky charm that made Title TK's "Huffer" work so well.

"Night of Joy" is a melody driven number with a slightly slowed pace and a haunty feel, high on emotion and dramatic appeal. "We're Gonna Rise" takes us back to Pod with its slow drum beat and harmonious background vocals. It has the feel of a "Glorious" or "Metal Man," but shows an obvious growth from those early, more primitive songs. It's one of the prettiest songs on the album, and it leads well into the more frenetic pace of "German Studies," which is full of edge. The song gels exquisitely with its German lyrics, and would likely not sound near as right if sung in English; it just has some kind of sonic German je ne sais quoi (or, more appropriately, ich weiß nicht der) about it. And somehow, even if you don't speak a lick of German, you find yourself singing along and making up your own version of the lyrics.

"Spark" is, er, stark, and sees only vocals and jarry guitars. Its pace leads flawlessly into the drawl-y tempo of "Istanbul," layering plucky bass over shuffling drums a la Title TK's "The She." The entire drum line sounds like its either played a) solely with drum sticks beating on each other, or b) by two drummers playing the same drum line in tandem on a wooden surface. The chorus is shout-sung, with the Deals calling out "Where you going? / To the city! / Where you going? / To the city! / Where you going? / Istanbul!" Like "German Studies," it manages to capture a sound appropriate to its title, here presenting an Eastern vibe.

The next track, "Walk It Off," picks up the pace again and gets the toes tapping. I wouldn't be surprised to see this song as a single, given its hookyness, but it doesn't quite rise to the level of older favorites like "Saints" or "When I Was a Painter" because it lacks the kind of switch-up that made those songs so great and that The Breeders do so well. It feels a bit like they took the easy way out on this one. Still, it's a successful song, and it is followed by the aforementioned "Regalame Esta Noche," with a Spanish guitar intro that's sweet like a lullaby. The song is among the album's most striking, and was the first I found myself drawn to as I began to get to know the album. "Here No More" follows, continuing the lullaby feel in a quiet three-quarter time signature. The Deals again duet on vocals, and the harmonies, which remind me of "You and Your Sister," a This Mortal Coil song with vocals by Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly, create a very pretty little number.

They shake the pretty and bring back the noise for "No Way," then hit the mark bigtime with "It's the Love" — this album's answer to Last Splash's catchy pop songs. Finally, the title track closes the album with drama and style. The song is simply Kim singing over a faint organ, with occasional guitar notes that increase during the second minute of the song and ultimately climax towards the end. It closes the album thoughtfully and with poise.

Mountain Battles has just enough little hints of unpolishedness to keep it on the DIY side, but at the same time it reflects the skill and creative growth of the Deal twins & company. The press copy that I received for review was digital-only; I plan to buy the hard copy ASAP. Let me point out that as a music critic, I hardly ever buy music, since I get so much of it for free; but in the case of Mountain Battles, even though I already have the complete album on my iPod, I will without a doubt rush out to procure myself a hard copy. That, my friends, is true love.

Mountain Battles is the culmination of all the best things Kim Deal has ever done this side of The Pixies.

Heretic Pride

Bob Ham — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:10:40 +0000

8.1

http://www.amazon.com/Heretic-Pride-Mountain-Goats/dp/B0011458QA/wwwthreeimagi-20/

MountainGoats.jpg

Any discussion of an album by The Mountain Goats begins, with good reason, with John Darnielle's lyrics. The songwriter and leader of this group has, through 10+ years of releases, starting with his lo-fi cassettes releases and moving through to his most recent work Heretic Pride, proven himself to be a masterful wordsmith. Through one simple song, Darnielle is able to evoke the pathos of two young men who dream of fame and fortune through their metal band, cut right to the heart of a horrible break up and take the listener deep within his own troubled relationship with his abusive stepfather.

Darnielle's latest album is no exception, filled with sparkling imagery, wit, emotion and some of the leanest writing this side of Raymond Carver. Unlike the last three Mountain Goats releases, the focus is not on Darnielle's life, with his all-seeing eye pointed towards ficitional characters and the lives of iconic figures like H.P. Lovecraft and Prince Far I.

What made previous albums like The Sunset Tree and Get Lonely so memorable was the visceral feelings that so many of the songs on them brought to bear, making them feel alive and sentient. As great as the songs are on Heretic, you can feel the remove. The barrier between Darnielle and his characters is palpable, which makes those moments where there is a connection that much more striking.

For example, on the heartbreakingly beautiful "San Bernandino", Darnielle sings of a young couple, settling into a hotel room so that the woman can give birth to their child. In certain parts of the song, you can hear a slight catch to Darnielle's voice, as if the story was haunting him in some way. It makes for a much more powerful experience than can be found on songs like the title track and "Tianchi Lake", the subject matter of both being quite obviously fictional.

This is only a minor infraction on Darnielle's part, as he still fills every one of his songs with some amazing, indelible images, as well as his unholy knack for a timeless melody. Just because you can't find a way to relate to some of the songs doesn't mean you can't still sing along.

Just because you can't find a way to relate to some of the songs doesn't mean you can't still sing along.