Three Imaginary Girls - Capgun Coup

Three Imaginary Girls IndieTune Podcast {August 13, 2009}

three imaginary girls — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:09:47 +0000

Imaginary liz put together a podcast featuring some of her favorite songs of the moment. A bunch of these bands are playing a Seattle show in the coming weeks (mark your calendar!) and some have just been on repeat this summer. Enjoy!

Lacrosse - "I See A Brightness" from the album Bandages For The Heart
Coulter - "Give It A Chance" from the album Sent to Coventry
The Little Penguins - "The Blame" from the album Welcome to the Celebration
The Nightgowns - "Pppps" from the album Sing Something
Tiny Masters Of Today - "Pop Chart" from the album Skeletons
We Wrote The Book On Connectors - "Almost Magical" from the album Ride It Out Like A Turbo Horse
Shotty - "Not Today, After Work" from the album Ah Here We Go
Viva Voce - "Devotion" from the album Rose City
Capgun Coup - "Social Security Number" from the album brought to you by nebraskafish
Japandroids - "To Hell With Good Intentions" from the All Lies EP
The Very Most - "You're In Love With the Sun" from the Summer EP
Andrea Wittgens - "Punchline" from the album In The Skyline
17th Chapter - "Old Folks" fro the album Around The Bend And Then Some
Unbunny - "Dental Hygenist" from the album Uncertain Tracks, 1996-2008

53:56 minutes (61.76 MB)

Brought To You By Nebraskafish

Cory Banks — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:35:15 +0000

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UGG35U/?tag=wwwthreeimagi-20

capguncoup08july.jpg

Schizophrenia
noun

A long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.

(In general use) A mentality or approach characterized by inconsistent or contradictory elements.

Schizophrenic isn't typically a good word to throw at an album, is it? The term gives off a negative vibe at first, describing a lack of cohesiveness that would turn most people off. Nothing is worse than a band that can't make up its mind.

But schizophrenic is the only one that sticks to Capgun Coup's debut LP, and they apparently welcome it. Their PR copy makes a point of the act's variety of influences -- indie pop, avant garde noise, nerd rap -- while pointing out how the band members are so unfamiliar with the acts to which the press would compare them. Which is fine, because no one really likes to be compared and because the album eventually proves itself to be full of compelling hooks and infinite energy. But damn if it doesn't take a while.

A large chunk of the album's near-hour of play time consists of little vignettes of sound and samples, from the albums opening track that samples a JFK speech to the goofy guitar noodling that rides out the end of "Adorable Doorsteps." Capgun Coup love to play with sound collage, just like any number of indie bands who want to to sound experimental, but these pieces don't add anything to the work itself. They're filler, something to skip to get to the next bit.

It's frustrating that it takes three tracks to get to the first fully formed song, "Social Security Number." A lone, faraway drum set kicks off, followed by droning bass that signals the crescendo Greg Elsasser's vocals bring. Beneath the shouting and buzz, a simple hook emerges that momentarily holds the chaos together, but things fall apart in a shower of art school collage and ambiguity. Which is fine, and pretty interesting for the first few spins, but Capgun Coup is capable of so much more. The chilly, meditative "Time" is a welcome change from the tape machine wankery found earlier, and the point when the album hits its stride.

Manic tendencies can work -- See The Cure's entire oeuvre -- but Brought To You By Nebraskafish often feels like it's being pulled in multiple directions at once. The aggressive fuzz spilling out of "Uh Huh" doesn't mesh with the flirty "Adorable Doorsteps" or the doo-wap drama of "My Tears Cure Cancer." What's more disconcerting is that, individually, most of the songs are fantastic. Putting them side by side, however, leads to aural whiplash. An album of songs like "Fucked," the standout guitar-pop track here, would be welcome, but as it stands, Capgun Coup's artistic brand of ADHD keeps pulling the listener by the ear from one end of the spectrum to the other. It's a fun but disorientating ride.

Schizophrenic is the only word that describes their sound, but it totally works.

Tilly and the Wall at The Middle East

the sleepwalker — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:15:26 +0000

22 Mar 2008

DSC01642.jpg

Locals Jason Anderson and The Best opened the night at Boston's Middle East Downstairs. Jason has an unstoppable stage presence and surged through his set of lightweight call-and-response songs to very enthusiastic audience reaction. Omaha's Capgun coup followed with a sort of baffling sound that I didn't really get and can't really describe. Finally, Tilly emerged...

Tilly and the Wall has always been the cutest, most charming kid on the block thanks to gang-delivered, shaky vocals, catchy sing-a-long songs, and a rhythm section primarily consisting of the tapping toes of Jamie Pressnall (nee Williams — prior to her 2006 marriage to bandmate Derek Pressnall).

After emerging from the Omaha DIY scene in 2001, the band built a parade of fans while supporting Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, Of Montreal, and Pedro the Lion on the road. Now, after a couple of years out on their own, they are proving that they are absolutely headliners by selling out virtually all of their shows.

Even with capacity crowds, cute kids sometimes have to work twice as hard to be cute grown-ups, and Tilly's coming-of-age has not been without some growing pains. In addition to the usual suspects: Jamie Pressnall (tap dancer), Derek Pressnall (vocals, guitar), Neely Jenkins (vocals, bass), Nick White (keyboards), and Kianna Alarid (vocals, bass), the band has added two musicians, rumored to be: Mason Brown (primarily electric guitarist) and Craig DeMayo (electronic drums).

If your attention span is long enough, you may conclude that this additional instrumentation is in direct violation of item 3 on the earlier expressed "why we love Tilly" list. Whenever anyone mentions Tilly and the Wall, the first descriptive clause is invariably: the band with the tap dancer. The drums consistently drowned out the intricacies of the tap rhythms, making the songs feel duller and ploddier than on past tours. Perhaps the blame for this also rests on poor fader placement. The addition of electric guitar into the mix contributed little to the songs, apart from clouding up their typical beautiful, minimalist approach to arrangement. Again, it's difficult to determine whether this resulted from the naturally cave-like venue, less than perfect mixing, or just a poor aesthetic decision by the band. Overall, a number of sonic decisions were highly questionable. In fact, the vocals for all three singers were excessively reverberant for the majority of the show, making lyrics mostly incomprehensible.

Despite the dodgy sound situation, the band, whose wardrobe must have gotten mixed up with costumes from '60s musical Hair at the last train stop, plowed through their catalog with such genuine joy and sincerity, that just about anything was forgivable. How else can one justify singing along to the inane lyrics of the overwhelmingly '80s-dance infused, recently released single "Beat Control"?

In addition to presenting us "Beat Control," which Kianna absolutely rocked, Tilly chose to offer a taste of their third full-length recording (due out later this year), while wisely cranking out a set that was almost unfairly loaded with their best sing-a-longs from their first two releases. Although it can be difficult to understand how the unreleased songs will rest in their recorded state, none of the new tracks quite stood up to the band's best output in this setting. Still, there was plenty of their best output to keep the crowd dancing, singing along, and having a great time. Every member of the band puts something honest and energetic into their live performance and that is really what keeps the whole thing together.

The sweetest and "Tilliest" moment of the whole set came when the band returned for a 4-song encore expressing tremendous gratitude and joy for the audience's response to the evening's performance. The highlight of the encore was a group huddle to cram and relearn "I Always Knew" in response to a fan's sign requesting the song. The band couldn't quite make it through the song, but they did their best and they weren't ashamed to make a mistake.

No doubt, Tilly is a great band with a great attitude and great songs and seeing them live is a lot of fun. They may not be able to remember how to play all of their older songs, hit all of the right notes, or write all hit songs, but they always have a great time and always do their best and their best is good enough for me.

The forthcoming songs are best guesses based on lyrics and prior setlists:

1. Chandelier Lake (Forthcoming album) - Daytrotter Sessions MP3
2. Pot Kettle Black (Forthcoming album)
3. Fell Down the Stairs (Wild Like Children)
4. The Freest Man (Bottoms of Barrels)
5. Urgency (Bottoms of Barrels)
6. Dust Me Off (Forthcoming album)
7. Nights of the Living Dead (Wild Like Children)
8. Tall Tall Grass (Forthcoming album)
9. Bad Education (Bottoms of Barrels)
10. Beat Control (Beat Control Single)
11. Blood Flowers (Forthcoming album)
12. Sing Songs Along (Bottoms of Barrels)

Encore
1. Lost Girls (Bottoms of Barrels)
2. I Always Knew (Wild Like Children)
3. Reckless (Wild Like Children)
4. Rainbows in the Dark (Bottoms of Barrels)

Beat Control Live

Beat Control Video

Every member of the band puts something honest and energetic into their live performance and that is really what keeps the whole thing together.