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The Summer That Returns… ONE WEEKEND ONLY!
Wow, it’s hot in Montana today. Here’s a soundtrack (Adventure + 9):
Television – Adventure
The side of Television that predicts R.E.M., forgoes guitar pyrotechnics, makes me ache most acutely. “Days” confuses and calms like time confuses and calms; conflates eras of sun and sidewalks and buildings; tempers my fear of R.E.M.‘s absence; happened two seconds before the forthcoming second LP by Real Estate.
Real Estate – “Blue Lebaron”
Instrumental b-side. But Real Estate never say anything with their words they don’t already say with their music: sideways-scrolling neighborhoods, intertwining guitars.
Girls – “Alex”
“Alex has a band so who cares about war?” The music has a sick, sad, sweet way of making that question rhetorical (yeah, who cares?!) while pointing out its irony (we’re so hopelessly blind but some good impulse saves us!).
St. Vincent – “Cruel”
The St. VincentTM soft symphonic wash is the cruel element: it keeps getting beaten down by the pulse, first in the song’s opening seconds, and then throughout, but we know from the outset that the groove is threatened, its minutes numbered. All the best things in life are even better in moderation. Cruel logic.
Wild Beasts – “Loop The Loop”
A soft homecoming.
Devon Williams – “Favor Tree”
Euphoria is out now on Slumberland Records! It’s wonderful.
The Fiery Furnaces – “Evergreen”
Synonym: perpetually pretty.
The Lucy Show – “Ephemeral (This Is No Heaven)”
Who were The Lucy Show? With only two albums to their name, it’s hard to say exactly, but they sure had a knack for turning prevailing trends of electric guitar into art. I dig the Smiths / Cure mode of much of 1985’s …undone, but the throbbing Pixies bass of the opener is especially convincing, and prescient.
The Shirelles – “Mama Said”
Even so, the days Mama foretold don’t sound like they’d be worth missing.
Madonna – “Take A Bow”
I would not object to this being played at my funeral.
