The Let's Player's Curse has struck. A thunderstorm took out the internet cable of the people whose house I'm currently staying at. Hence my silence over the last few days.

EDIT: I posted three updates today to help make up for lost time.

Anathallo: Sparrows

Rumor has it that these guys started off as a ska band; if this is true, they abandoned that style pretty quickly, as their first release Luminous Luminescence in the Atlas Position was more of a hardcore-emo-with-brass thing. (I own that EP as well, but it's not on my iPod, so it's getting skipped. Besides, it was on Sparrows that Anathallo Grew The Beard.)

The followup EP, Sparrows, evolves this style into something stranger and prog-ier. Verses? Choruses? Clearly defined roles for various band members? Bah! Anathallo cares not for such trifles!

The album starts off with a stripped down, one-man-and-his-guitar opener. I won't say Three Chords and the Truth, because listen to that song structure. No wait, you can't, there is none. This is the modus operandi for the entire album: they introduce a melody/rhythm/whatever, they develop it for a bit, then they drop it and never touch it again. Seriously, any individual song here has enough music for at least three normal songs.

As for the title, I'm almost certain it's a reference to the story related in Leviticus 10. Some translations (like the King James Version) use that phrase verbatim.

I guess the purpose of track one is to ease listeners into this way of songwriting, because 'twould be too mind blowing to start off the album with the entire band playing like this. Which, incidentally, is what we get in track 2 and the rest of the album. (Your mind blowage may vary.) The guitars have that jangly indie-rock thing going on, and the brass sounds more classical than anything else.

I suppose this is as good a place as any to mention that these guys are Christian Rock. At this point in their career, all the lyrics were pretty upfront about operating from a Christian viewpoint. Eventually, their lyrical style would become more metaphorical/confusing.

Hey, do you like songs with clapping in them? "A Song for Christine" is the Most Triumphant Example of clapping, ever.

The song is also the closest of any on this EP to having a normal song structure: intro -> tension -> release -> more tension -> climax -> outro.

Is this song about suicide? YOU DECIDE (In Christianity, santification is often described in terms of one's old self spiritually dying, to be replaced by someone better. No idea if that's what the band was going for here.)

Track 5: "I Thought In My Heart..." is not the full title. No one on the internet will list the full title because Long Title Is Loooooooong. I can't remember it exactly, and I don't have my physical copy of the disc handy, so I'll post it later. Also, hell yeah punk rock at the beginning of the song.

The final 40 seconds of the title track are totally ripping off John Cage.

The final track is not a feel-good closer, but still conveys some small measure of reassurance and quiet determination to do good.

If you only listen to one track, listen to: "A Song for Christine". Clap-clap-clap clap-clap-clap clap-clap-clap clap-clap-clap.

edited 19th Jun '10 11:28:21 AM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

Makin' up for lost time...

Anamanaguchi: Power Supply

Chiptunes with some punk influence. Nintendopunk?

My introduction to the band was via their site for the album Dawn Metropolis, which sounded like a mix of live instruments and an NES sound card. So I was a bit surprised to hear this EP, which came first and sounds like all the live instruments were filtered through the NES sound card.

Not much to say about individual songs, because it's all instrumental and the band is really consistent so it all runs together in my head.

If you only listen to one track, listen to: "Power Supply".

I didn't write any of that.

I've written up another entry, but Grooveshark is being stupid. Grrr...

EDIT: And it suddenly started working again. Apparently what I needed to do was insult it.

So, I'm skipping ahead in the alphabet for reasons that will become clear later.

Havalina Rail Co: Havalina Rail Co.

Love this band. Love love love this band. This isn't the earliest music I have by them (I'll be getting to that later), but this is their first normal release. Haha, "Normal."

The Roster: Havalina's lineup has seen many changes over the years. Because I can, I will be keeping track of them as we cover the band's history. Here's their lineup on this album.

• Matt Wignall: guitar, banjo, primary vocalist
• Jeff Suri: drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals
• Orlando Greenhill: electric and upright bass, backing vocals
• Daniel Brooker: accordion, piano
• Grady McFerrin: trumpet, washboard
• Mark Cole: percussion

The first track is kind of a folk-swing dealy. Funny story: This album came out in '94 or thereabouts, and this track was promoted as the album's hit single. The 90's Swing Revival was in full swing at the time, so a lot of people heard this song and assumed that the peoples Havalina were trying to ride that gravy train. So the swing haters stayed the heck away from the band, while the swing fans were disappointed to discover that there was a lot less swing than advertised on this album—only one or two tracks you could actually dance to. And thus, any chance of having more than a cult fanbase was preemptively killed by bad marketing.

Did I say "funny story"? I meant "really irritating thing that happened".

Doesn't make the song any less great. Love that accordion.

"One Day" sounds like it has a bit of a reggae rhythm. Also: lyrics so indecipherable that Havalina themselves lost the lyrics and couldn't remember the words. Seriously, the album booklet just has a note asking if any fans can figure out what Jeff Suri is singing.

"Proportion Thing" features guest vocals by Julie Musali.

"Things". Now there's a vague title if ever I heard one. One of these days I need to make a playlist of vaguely titled songs. What I can think of off the top of my head: This song, "Something" by the Beatles, "Nothing at All" by Third Day, "Nothing" by the W's... There has to be more. At least a song named "Anything".

This album is basically a jazz sandwich on vaguely-Americana bread. Right here ("Things", "Grass Roots", "Cruis'n", "2/4", Green Skies") we're in the first slice of bread.

None of these guys are particularly talented singers, but they're so earnest that I don't really care. It sounds endearing.

The lunchmeat of the sandwich starts at "If You Leave" and continued through "French Theme" and "New Song".

What's odd about "New Song" is the bridge. Matt Wignall stops to introduce all the members of the band, and he mentions Nathan Jensen, the fellow playing saxophone. According to the liner notes, Nathan was a guest musician Latino All-Star, not a band member. BUT Nathan plays on more tracks of this album than any other Latino All-Stars, and he was an official band member on the two albums that followed this one. Hmm...

Enough about that. Drum solo!

And then a song about crying into your alcohol.

Actually, come to think of it, this section of the album, after the jazz interlude, is less Americana and more of a swing-Americana mix, so the album is less of a sandwich and more of a weird thing with one slice of bread, and then some meat, and then a slice of meatloaf or some other kind of bread-meat hybrid. ...What have I done? That sandwich is a culinary abomination unto the Lord.

Also, Gospel music influences.

I don't remember who sang those deep backing vocals on "Sha La La". They should have had him sing in more songs.

The cover version of Woody Guthrie's "Take You Ridin' in My Car" is tacked onto the end of "Train Song" for no clearly discernible reason.

The album closer, "Moon River", features Julie Musali again. According to the fellow who ran the Too Good to Last music blog Drop7, Matt Wignall and Julie Musali were dating at this time. They broke up not long after this, and Julie married Jason Martin sometime after.

Why the strings at the end? Why not?

I love this band. This is totally Havalina's best album.

If you only listen to one track, listen to: "Sha La La".

edited 25th Jun '10 8:25:32 PM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

I'm on your last album and I gotta say:

FLORA. FAUNA. IS, SO. ADDICTING. Like, holy crap I love it.

I didn't quite like the vocals in Tierra, but again, standable and iddn't interfere to much.

Because Black Dove requested slow, instrumental European stuff...

Vivo

I don't know the context of these tracks at all. Are they a complete album? Selections from Vivo's extensive discography? Live tracks? Google Translate doesn't shed much light on this.

The site appears to label all the songs' genre as either Folk or "Dawna" (which Google translates as "Former" or "Old"). It's great stuff, whatever it is. The band is a trio featuring accordion, violin, and bass, with occasional flute and percussion.

First off, "Gipsy Blues" and "L'Alloutte" are both exactly the same song. As far as I can tell, exactly the same performance of the same song. And "Stowik" is an excerpt from this song. I am confuse.

Also, at first I mistook it for "L'Alouette", so I was wondering why it didn't sound more like the song.

"Unzi Me Sevdo" reminds me a bit of tango.

I love the middle portion of "Croatica". It starts at the 2:45 mark with a simple bass line, then the other instruments start soloing over it and everything just builds from there. In fact, if you only listen to one track, listen to this one.

I didn't write any of that.

Anathallo: A Holiday at the Sea EP

This is my favorite thing by Anathallo. I heard from some dude (great source, I know) that the reason this EP is so good is that 'thallo wrote a bunch of songs and then picked the cream of the crop to actually release.

The title track starts off with guitar and some quiet brass that gets progressively louder until it reaches a crescendo. If the entire album were like this, we would call it post-rock. But it doesn't so... what the heck genre do we call this?

So the lyrics start, they and the music are both a bit grim. Even though the lyrics don't say so, I picture the hangman's noose. "What's there left to do?"

The answer, of course, is to do some shouty group vocals over jangly electric guitar.

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
—CS Lewis

It's pretty simple wordplay, but I like the last lines of the song regardless:

Track 2 has more of those jangly electric guitars. As far as I know, this is the closest Anathallo's come to rocking out for an entire song.

The first 40 seconds of "Don't Kid Yourself" sound kind of country-ish.

Explanation: Dude was 19 when he wrote this song.

I love the snare drum in the middle of the song.

If you only listen to one track then you've heard like a third of the CD and you might as well listen to the whole thing.

Here's a live video. EDIT: The song quality was crap on that first link I posted. Here's a better live video.

edited 25th Jun '10 9:05:39 PM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

I realize now what this blog needs. MOAR SNARK

Havalina Rail Co: The Diamond in the Fish

I love these guys, but this is their worst album. Even they agree that it's Old Shame. Matt Wignall said of it in an interview once: "We were experimenting with idea of like playing jazz, which incidentally, we kinda sucked at. And found out why most of the time all good jazz players are over fifty, 'cause it takes that long to get good at it."

Note the use of "like" in the quote. Because most of this music is like jazz, but not.

The roster: Shakeups already! Daniel Brooker and Grady McFerrin left for parts unknown. Saxophonist Nathan Jensen (listed as a guest musician Latino All-Star on the last album) joins the band for realz, fulfilling Havalina's non-standard instrument quota for the album. And Lori Hoopes fills the obligatory girl quota for the band, though she contributes on percussion in addition to singing BGV's. Which means that the band now has three percussionists.

"Theme from Diamond in the Fish" is instrumental and mercifully short. Blow that sax, Nathan! More! With feeling!

"If I Did Not Love You" dials things back a bit. It's more like white-boy reggae. Nathan's sax is actually pleasant.

"Ballad of a Spy" starts off pretty nice, with the guitar and vibes laying down an appropriately spy-music melody. Then the chorus comes, and the whole band switches into "loud and dumb" mode and all those sour notes kill the song. I mentioned in my writeup of the last album that Matt Wignall's unprofessional singing sounded endearing? Well here it's just irritating.

"Paper Moon": Hey, it's actual jazz. Also, it's a cover song. Nathan steps up to lead vocal duty, and the results aren't great, but they aren't painful either. Actually, I like his scat singing a lot; I wonder if it's a bad sign when his scat sounds better than his regular singing.

"Dominique's Library": No complaints about this song. In fact, this song is awesome. The only problem with the song is that the demo version was even better.

"Ron": And now, some kind of tropical... thing. Super laid-back surf rock. Is that a didgeridoo? Hey, "desert flowers"—that's foreshadowing! I love how, halfway through the first verse, Matt just starts listing animals without any sort of transition from what he was talking about before.

"No Brainer": More jazz-pop. Lori gives that washboard a workout. Matt's vocals return to endearingly bad, rather than painfully bad.

"Emmanuel": Piano, bass, drums, and some wordless backing vocals.

"Prelude and Blue": Like the title suggests, very bluesy. Nathan's on lead vocals again. You remember how I said his singing in track 4 wasn't painful? I wasn't just Damning With Faint Praise then; here, the sour notes really are painful. And it's the longest song on the album, too!

"Hot Pants": Aaaaaaand now it's folk music. I am confuse. Matt's vocals are a much better fit here.

Holy carp self-reference overload. Crater Love is a song that Havalina released before on some compilation, and it never appeared on any of their albums proper. All the other (probably unintentional) references will become clear in time.

"Banditos": Another instrumental. Pretty rockin'.

"The Diamond in the Fish": Hey, did you know this album is supposed to be a Rock Opera? Like nearly every rock opera ever, you have to read the liner notes and/or the band's mind to figure out what the story is supposed to be. I remember reading the liner notes and thinking the story actually made sense, but I don't remember many specifics. Basically, the whole thing is supposed to be from the perspective of a retired spy looking back on his life and career. The title of this track and the album refers to a ring of diamond smugglers—they hid their wares in shipments of fish.

Anyway, this song starts off smouldering. Then, two minutes in, we switch to an extended version of the opening track. That's right, Bookends! Loud, dumb bookends!

Ugh. There's a lot of good stuff on this album, but the parts that are off just drag the whole thing down. So much wasted potential.

If you only listen to one track, listen to: "Dominique's Library".

I didn't write any of that.

You know what this blog needs? MOAR UPDATES

Havalina Rail Co: Russian Lullabies

The above link is a downloadable zip file of the album, from Matt Wignall's website. Havalina had just left Tooth & Nail Records and started their own label, Jackson-Rubio, so this was their first completely independent album. Thus, it was their first album to go out of print. When this happened, the peoples Havalina were gentlemen and put the album up on their website for free download. That was how I got my copy.

Which means I don't actually have a copy of the liner notes from this album, making it a little harder to update the roster. But I can reasonably infer the following: None of the band members from the last album left, and Erick Diego Nieto joined the band, playing violin and percussion. Which brings the total number of percussionists up to four. Four of the seven band members play percussion. Also, either during or right after this album, Lori Hoopes married Jeff Suri (as the next album's liner notes credited her as Lori Suri).

Anyway, this album was a weird experiment. Havalina wanted to do an East European folk-influenced thing. Normal people who want to do East European folk-influenced things would listen to East European folk or collaborate with East European folk musicians. But Havalina are not normal people. They decided to read about East European folk music, then tried to incorporate that into their own hodgepodge of rock and jazz. So the results aren't particularly authentic folk, but they're fascinating nonetheless. Also, this was Havalina's first album to have more rock than jazz. Also also, this is their best album.

As mentioned before, I obtained this album as a package of mp3's from the interweb; as a result, the first time I listened to the album, all the tracks were completely out of order. Realizing this mistake, I resorted the songs into the proper album order... and then realized that I didn't like that order any better. It sticks all the fast and/or upbeat tracks at the beginning of the album, and all the slow and/or downer tracks at the end. Which felt less like a logical progression and more like a particularly cruel bait-and-switch.

So I made my own track order. With blackjack! And hookers! And I've listened to the album this way so many times that sometimes I forget that this isn't the official order. So this is how I listen to this album:

Tundra: More white reggae. White Russian reggae? I really like the vibes on this one.

Kaliningrad: A fast, rocking instrumental. Like surf rock, if surf rock had violins.

Red and Blue (in St. Petersburg): A bluesy jazz song.

Traffic Jam: Noise. Not a song, but a fight between the violin, the double bass, and the various percussion. Entertaining noise all the same.

Changes and Forms: Rather Tom Waits-ian, with a piercing flute and the tempo changing from lethargic to frantic. A labyrinth of dimly-lit alleys and twisting stairways.

The Lovesick Blues of a Young Soviet Proletariat: Even more ominous. Enjoy that flute, because this is its last appearance.

Siberian Safari: Music suggestive of a jungle. A Russian jungle. A Russian jungle? Yes, a Russian jungle.

Nathan's Song: Naught but saxes and vocals. Melancholy and strange. Nathan's singing here is definitely a step up from the last album.

Rivers of Russia: The first two and a half minutes are a duet between violin and (prepared?) piano. Then the last four minutes are piano solo. It sounds like it was recorded in the middle of a massive, empty room. This is bleak. This is ashy-grey storm clouds over wind-swept plains. This is the wrath of God. This is not a song to end an album on. What were they thinking?

Total Depravity: So many things depend on context and perspective. The music here could be a total downer, but placed immediately after "Rivers of Russia", it sounds instead like a step back from the edge. As for the lyrics...

Being too hard on yourself? No... That's the point. This is not a song about despair, but about quiet assurance: Acceptance in spite of one's flaws.

Before Ararat: An ominous, restless thing.

Winter: Guitar and Lori's voice. The only song in Havalina's entire discography where Lori sings solo. A pity that; she has a lovely voice.

The Sensual Song: They weren't kidding about that title. There's a very slowed-down surf-rock guitar, an electric piano, Matt and Lori singing in unison, and even a sax solo at the end.

Russian Lullaby: More than any other song on the album, this makes me think of Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov being driven mad by paranoia; looking for a place to hide the stolen money; cutting himself off from his family and friends; considering throwing himself into the river to end it all; playing mind games with Porfiry Petrovich; past and present blurring together. Both in my track listing and the official track listing, this is the penultimate track, so the backing vocals from both Nathan and Lori make this really sound like the musical culmination of everything that came before This is the moment of truth.

Twilight Time: Hell yes. Let's end this thing with a bang. By which I mean, the rockingest surf-rock song on the whole album.

The lyrics are sweet nothings about love, but they're totally freaking sweet nothings, so I give them a pass. And then for the finale, one last saxophone solo and Matt Wignall shredding.

That is how you end an album. That is not track 3 material.

If you only listen to one track then you have no soul. Perhaps listening to "Twilight Time" would help you find a soul.

edited 3rd Jul '10 10:11:10 PM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

Havalina Rail Co: America

Yes, I planned this. Yes, it's still technically July 4th on the west coast.

This, in my opinion, is a perfect patriotic album. It's obvious that The Peoples Havalina love this country, but they're joyful about it rather than jingoistic. It's fitting then, that this is their best album.

The roster: Nathan Jensen left. That's the only thing changed from last album, really. So the band still has four percussionists and a violinist. Matt Wignall also plays banjo and lap steel guitar in addition to regular guitar on this album.

The songs on this album correspond to different regions of the 48 states, and they're arranged like a musical road trip: Starting in California, driving south and east, through the desert and then the Gulf states, up along the east coast, then back west through the northern half of the country.

Are you ready for the trip? You got all your bags and everything? You went to the bathroom already, right, because I don't want to stop for a bathroom break in ten minutes. Okay, off we go!

The Southwest

"Bovine Stomp": Much less stompin' than advertised. Plenty of bovines, though.

"American Skies": An alt-country opener. Matt plays steel guitar and some guest musician Latino All-Star plays organ.

"Mexi Radio": An interlude. Static and radio samples.

"Puerco Chico": Latin-influenced rock. I believe Matt wrote in the liner notes that this was their impression of Los Angeles.

"Dark Skies": A spaghetti western song.

The Gulf States / The Southeast (I don't remember where the divide between these two sections is)

"Little Darl'n": More surf-rock! Only this time, the verses and chorus sound like they came from completely different songs.

"Travel Music 1 (Blues Pick'n)": Another interlude. Blues guitar and more radio samples.

"Miss. River": Here and on the next track, Havalina tries to play some zydeco-blues, just without an accordion player. The fiddle and harmonica try to fill the gap here.

"Cajun Blue": Jeff Suri (the drummer) wrote this one. I think that's why the percussion dominates the song so. Love those castanets at the end. Suri also sings lead vocals.

"Travel Music 2": If you haven't noticed yet, this album has a lot of interlude tracks. Hope you like harmonica.

"Bullfrog": HELL YES are you ready for Ray the Bullfrog? Because ready or not, he's BACK. Are you ready for jamming out on banjo and steel guitar? How about a field recording of a frog pond?

Is this the end? No! This song isn't over until Ray the Bullfrog says it's over.

Seriously, this is my favorite track.

"Travel Music 3 (Some Country Pick'n)": See, Ray the Bullfrog was so epic that they need to sandwich him between two instrumental interludes to protect the rest of the album from his glory.

"Flower of the Desert": Now this is country. Or rather, this is what you get when some non-country musicians play country and crank the "country-ness" up to 11.

"Travel Music 4 (Banjo Pick'n the 9th)": An excerpt from Beethoven's Ninth, performed on the banjo.

The Big Cities on the East Coast:

"Feeling Green": An attempt at instrumental hip-hop. It's... um... yeah.

'''United State(s)": Jazz. Cool jazz, I guess? Remember when I said Nathan Jensen was gone? He's back as a Latino All-Star just for this track. So, guitar, violin, and saxophone solos.

The Midwest:

"Pick'n and Yodel": Matt Wignall said he thinks yodeling is a lost art.

"Boris the Milkman": Do I hear bits of Russian Lullabies in this? The liner notes say they were going for The Nightmare Before Christmas with the backing vocals. Hey, there's a cowbell.

"Devil in the Cornfield": Blues-country-gospel-jam rock? I can't tell anymore; that last track broke the part of my brain that tells genres apart. Erick's violin really shines on this song.

The Pacific:

"(An Ascetic Heart Warms) Alaska": A bass and some artfully-arranged noise.

"Chips": Havalina actually wrote this for a cellphone commercial. It wasn't used.

"California": I like to say that every single Havalina album has one white-boy reggae track; so this would be the obligatory white reggae track for this album. Except that's kind of a stretch. This is too fast.

"Let's Not Forget Hawaii": Time to slow things down with a Hawaiian-ish ballad. No ukuleles, just steel guitar and a surf-rock-tuned electric guitar.

"Keep Smil'n": Folk / gospel. The lyrics of this one bug me.

HE DIDN'T ANSWER THE BLOODY QUESTION WHAT KIND OF DAD IS HE

After the end of the song, wait six and a half minutes to hear a completely pointless hidden track. Or, better yet, don't.

If you only listen to one track, listen to: I don't know. Re-read my descriptions of the songs and listen to the one you think sounds most interesting.

What, you still want me to tell you which to choose? Fine, "Bullfrog".

We give glory to the Hypnotoad. The Hypnotoad gives glory to Ray the Bullfrog.

edited 5th Jul '10 5:18:19 PM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

Quite nice thusfar, though I'm kinda skipping around.

Trying to listen to the last update now, Grooveshark is taking a long time to load, me being unfamiliar with the site doesn't help.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

Yeah, Grooveshark can be pretty stupid sometimes. If/when the page finishes loading, you can just hit the "play all" button above the list of songs.

Also, the entry right before this one was a downloadable zip file, so no mucking about with dumb flash sites to listen to that one.

I didn't write any of that.

Afro-Cuban All Stars: A Todo Cuba Le Gusta

Like the name suggests, a Cuban band. A big band: they've got multiple singers and a full horn ensemble. According to Wikipedia, they dabble in every style of Cuban music. I'll take their word for it, because I'm not familiar enough with these genres to tell the difference.

The band, and this album in particular, owe their fame outside Cuba to the Buena Vista Social Club. Several of the All-Stars—Juan de Marcos González (tres), Rubén González (piano), Orlando Lopez (bass), and Ibraham Ferrer (guitar and vocals)—played in BVSC as well, and this album in particular was recorded concurrently with the sessions that led to BVSC's self-titled album. (That's also why Ry Cooder was around to play a guitar solo on "Alto Songo".) Incidentally, that was the entire reason I bought this album in the first place.

If you only listen to one track, listen to: "Habana Del Este". A nice, slower, instrumental opener, then it switches to cha-cha halfway through. Also, it's the only song on the album to feature the flute. If I remember the liner notes correctly, this arrangement for the instrumental part is original; it was traditionally performed by a string ensemble with a solo trumpet.

I didn't write any of that.

*can't use zip files*

Thanks, though. OOC, do you check my thread? I like yours.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

I don't check it as often as I should, but I am caught up on what you've currently posted.

Any particular reason you can't use zips? If it's lack of an unzipping program, there's free- or shareware programs out there.

I didn't write any of that.

I have an unzipping program, it just doesn't work.

Oh well, update today in my thread, when's your next one?

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

Is anyone else still reading this?

I'm going to cover Anthallo's Floating World next(ish), and was wondering which my reader(s) would prefer to see: me describing the album, or me unleashing NERD RAEG over a really dumb review of that album from way back in the day.

I didn't write any of that.

BOTH

I'll keep that in mind.

Havalina: A Bullfighter's Guide to Space and Love

Wait, just "Havalina"? Are they no longer a Rail Company? Yes, indeed. The reason why is the roster: Huge shakeups happened after America was recorded. Half of the band (Mark Cole and both the Suris) up and left. Erick Diego Nieto was the sole remaining percussionist, and his stepping up to the drum kit left him little time to play violin. Two new musicians were brought on to fill the remaining empty slots: Starry Dynamo (guitar, backing vocals) filled the girl quota; Dave Maust (farfisa, wurlitzer, moog synth, accordion, hurdy-gurdy) filled the weird instrument quota. This was the highest turnover rate in the band's history, so the remaining members felt that an event of this magnitude warranted changing the band's name to mark the difference between old and new.

Also, Havalina was what they wanted to call themselves way back in the beginning of their career, but they couldn't because there was already a surf-rock band named The Havalinas. Now, seven years later, The Havalinas had broken up, so the name was available.

Havalina Rail Co is dead. Long live Havalina.

As for this particular EP, Matt Wignall posted some notes on the old website (preserved here by the wayback machine), so I won't repeat information from there other than this summary: They were planning on their next album being a mix of Latin music, space-pop, and love songs, so they decided to do this EP as a practice run for the full album. Oddly enough, none of the Latin influences actually made it onto this EP, unless you count the fact that they sing one song in Spanish.

The resulting EP was a limited run; Matt said that it would be available for download after the physical copies sold out, but this never happened. So now it's completely out of print, and quite hard to find. (Oh, look, some dork is selling a copy on ebay for 100 frigging dollars.) Gah.

"Space and Mexico": This is a live-in-the-studio recording. A deliberately messy version of an already-boisterous rock tune. This isn't bad, but I prefer the cleaned-up version that appeared on the final album.

"You Got Me Cry'n": Again, live in the studio. This one's not so messy-sounding, but goes for completely self-indulgent instead, stopping dead in its tracks so Dave and Matt can solo on their instruments for a solid four minutes. What do they think they are, prog musicians? I kid, I kid; I actually like this version better than the album version.

"Worst Days": For a song about being thoroughly depressed, this is a great pick-me-up. Starry's bgv's can be heard more clearly here than in any other track.

"Radio": Very yes. This song is exclusive to this EP; the first time I heard it was when I knew beyond a doubt that tracking down and ordering the dang thing had been totally worth it.

"Touched by the Moon": Slow and droning—which is to be expected, since the entire reason they wrote the song was so Dave could show off his hurdy-gurdy. I guess they weren't entirely happy with the results, because this is the only Havalina track with any hurdy-gurdy. Melody's not much to speak of, but the atmosphere is great.

If you only listen to one track, listen to: "Radio".

edited 7th Jul '10 9:45:49 PM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

So I finally listened to America. Great album, just wish I could find it somewhere. <:/

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

Yeah. Russian Lullabies, America, and A Bullfighter's Guide to Space and Love were all put out by record labels that have since folded, and right before the iTunes music store took off. So the physical copies are out of print, and there isn't even anywhere you could download mp3's where Havalina would get a cut of the profits.

Lullabies was put up for free download by Havalina themselves, and America isn't too hard to find used copies of on ebay. (I was lucky enough to find an unopened copy in some Christian bookstore's music clearance shelf.)

But the Bullfighter EP... I'm still surprised I was able to find it at all. It was the last copy at the online store where I bought it.

I wish I could share mp3's, but no dice. Especially not if the interested party were to PM me.

I didn't write any of that.

Why is this dead. ;-;

Because lack of motivation and time on my part coupled with the perception that I was just talking to myself.

But something very special happened that inspired me to dust it back off...

Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz

(The above link goes to an NPR article where you can stream the whole album.)

This is gonna be different from every other "review" I've done thus far, because I'm writing down my reactions to the very first listen.

If anyone reading this seriously needs background info on Sufjan Stevens, this wiki article already has everything I would have said. The end of a musical hiatus and a New Sound Album, blah blah blah.

So, let's listen.

"Futile Devices": Sounds folkier than I expected.

"Too Much": Sounds a bit different than I remember the preview on Bandcamp being. Busier. Still cool.

Ah, it's the 4:30 mark, and here is where Suf starts sampling from The BQE. Awesome.

"Age of Adz": Now THAT's an epic opening. After five minutes, it dials back a bit.

"I Walked": Heard this one on Bandcamp, too. Still good.

"Now that I'm Older": Floaty and ethereal and directionless. First song on the album that I don't like.

I'll probably warm up to it later.

"Get Real Get Right": The electronic beats are back, as are the BQE samples.

"Bad Communication": ...

"Vesuvius": ...

Man, I'm no good at this.

"I Want to Be Well": Real drums.

o_o
Suf was not at the top of the list of musicians that I never expected to hear sing those words, but he was close. I guess he's taking after Rafter.

"Impossible Soul": Ah, the fabled 25-minute thing.

Is this the autotuned part? I can't really tell.

Hey, Sufjan's singing his own backing vocals!

And now it's going all glitchy. A minimalist interlude, perhaps? Sort of.

Ah, this is the auto-tuned part.

Okay, the middle portion of this song is far better than advertised.

Everybody sing-along! Digging that funky brass.

And it's back to folky for the ending.

IN CONCLUSION: I expect the earlier tracks will take time to grow on me, but "Impossible Soul" has convinced me that Sufjan's got his groove back. I'm happy.

I didn't write any of that.

Update: Upon listening to the album a few more times, I'm beginning to doubt that Suf really sampled from The BQE. It could just be similar-sounding, original orchestral bits.

I didn't write any of that.

I find this live-blog interesting. I like that you explain the histories behind the various bands and artists and you do so humorously, in a Sophisticated as Hell / Buffy Speak kind of way.

Being a post-rock nerd I might have an easier time with it.

nope

So the turkey feast has passed, and now the Christmas season is upon us in full force, and with it, crappy Christmas music. These times have inspired me to raise this thing from the dead, in hopes that, by sharing the music that brings a smile to my face in the bleak midwinter, you folks might find something that makes your December a little brighter.

Let's get this pratty started.

Various Artists: Happy Christmas

The above link goes to a Grooveshark playlist with all the tracks. If Grooveshark doesn't agree with your computer (hi Arks!), or you're wondering how to get a copy of this completely-out-of-print album, PM me and I'll see what I can do.

Released in 1998 by BEC Records, which was an imprint of Tooth & Nail Records. So yeah, this is a Christian Rock compilation. Independent Christian rock—T&N was basically the biggest mover and shaker in the chrindie scene of the 90's, for better or worse.

Let's listen.

The OC Supertones — "Joy to the World" Ska ska ska ska! Back when Ska Punk was all the rage, the 'Tones were one of the Big Three ska bands in the christian rock scene.  ^**

They had a lot of member turnover throughout the years—this particular track is interesting because it's the same personnel as on their album Chase the Sun (which, IMO, was the beginning of a downward spiral in quality that they didn't recover from until Hi-Fi Revival) but they're playing more in the style of their previous album Supertones Strike Back. It's catchy and fun.

Joy Electric — "Winter Wonderland" JE's best work was her synth-pop / synth-rock albums, but here she does a pleasantly bouncy techno-pop take on the song. It fits, because sometimes those monosynths just sound cold and wintery.

Okay, I lied, Joy Electric is actually a dude. A manly masculine male with a quite high singing voice. Also, he's the brother of the guy from Starflyer 59.

Chasing Furies — "O Come Emmanuel" CF was criminally underappreciated. They put out one home run of an album that apparently didn't sell very well (I got my copy off the clearance rack), and they recorded this track, and then they fell off the face of the earth. (The lead singer, Sarah Macintosh, put out a solo album about a decade later.) This is one of my favorite Christmas hymns; this isn't quite my favorite cover version, but it's good.

Starflyer 59 — "A Holiday Song"' What's odd is that this isn't an original recording. This is exactly the same as track 5 of Sf59's album The Fashion Focus. While this technically wasn't the first Starflyer track I ever heard, this was the first one to catch my attention and make me investigate them further. And now, half a decade later, I'm the one who wrote our article about them.

Anyway, this is pretty cool, catchy track. Gotta love that farfisa.

Five Iron Frenzy — "You Gotta Get Up" This song was the reason I wanted this compilation back in the day. At the time (i.e. back before I discovered Starflyer 59), FIF was my favorite thing ever. This track (a Rich Mullins cover) was recorded between Our Newest Album Ever and Quantity is Job 1 EP—their two best releases, as far as I'm concerned—so it's vintage FIF from the high point of their career. It did not disappoint.

Sarah Masen — "Heaven's Got a Baby" Unfortunately, this song did disappoint. The song itself is fine (I have proof that that; we'll get to that on another album), and the instrumentation is fine (love that accordion), but Sarah's voice... She's trying too hard to be cute, and it's just irritating. Oh, crap, what if that's her natural singing voice? Whatever, I don't like it at all. Seriously, when I copy this album to my iPod, this is the one song that I leave off.

Plankeye — "Away in a Manger" I don't care much for the original song, but these guys make it listenable. Can you tell that, immediately prior to this, the band had been reduced to two members? Frank Lenz played guest drums for them. He played guest drums for everyone.

Almonzo — "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" Ah, Almonzo. No one knows who they are. Seriously, they only recorded a handful of tracks, released on compilations for southern California-based indie record labels, and all their band members are listed by pseudonyms. This particular track doesn't sound merry at all, but somber is okay, too. The organ and cello certainly help.

Pep Squad — "Feliz Navidad"' Mariachi punk. This is stupidly wonderful. (I have their album Yreka Bakery, which is nowhere near as good as this one track.)

Bon Voyage — "Holly Jolly Christmas" Apparently, they decided that the best way to cover a song made famous by Burl Ives was to get a band fronted by the Anti-Burl-Ives. If there ever was a line separating country music from Dream Pop, this song blurred it like crazy. For the record, this band is a Starflyer 59 side project.

Seven Day Jesus — "O Holy Night" This may well be my favorite Christmas hymn. The melody, the lyrics, just beautiful. I don't care for any of Seven Day Jesus' original songs. Yet, somehow... It's easy to play it safe with this song, and produce a completely mediocre take on it. Seven Day Jesus did not play this one safe. The singer dude sounds like he's wearing his heart on his sleeve, and the delivery borders on narm at a few points, but somehow it works.

One-Eighty — "Mele Kalikimaka" The ska-punk parts with singing are great. Unfortunately, they only make up about a minute of the song.

Switchfoot — "Evergreen" Man, this is old Switchfoot. Before "Meant to Live". Before "I Dare You to Move". Before Jerome joined the band. Before "New Way to Be Human", even. It's... okay. I may be a crotchety old Switchfoot fan, but I'm not one of those COSF's who think The Legend of Chin was perfect and it's been all downhill from there.

House of Wires — "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Another techno band, this time covering one of the most-hated Christmas carols, ever. This version is okay.

Fold Zandura — "Asia Minor" This band is interesting. Fold Z was comprised of Jyro Xhan (formerly of the industrial band Mortal), Jerome Fontamillas (also of Mortal; he would later join Switchfoot) and Frank Lenz (the guy who, as I mentioned above, played drums for everyone). The first two guys produced Starflyer 59's first album, and the last guy would eventually join Starflyer 59.

Unfortunately, the song itself isn't nearly as interesting. And I can sorta see how it's supposed to be Christmas-y (it's about the wise men, right?) but I never would have figured that out if it weren't on a Christmas compilation.

The Huntingtons — "It's Always Christmas at My House" These guys clearly want to be the Ramones. (Fun fact: they also covered "Merry Christmas, I Don't Wanna Fight" for Flying Tart records' Christmas in Heaven compilation.) This song is kinda fun, but it wears out its welcome around the 56th or 57th chorus.

It's at this point that I realize this is a long string of okay tracks, and begin wondering why I'm still listening to this album.

The Dingees — "We Three Kings" Oh, right, this is why I'm still listening. An atmospheric and all-around great dub track by a weird band that also played punk and ska. Love love love it.

More weird connections: This saxophonist used to play for the Supertones, and this drummer would eventually play guitar for the 'Tones, and later, for the metal band Demon Hunter. After said drummer's departure, Frank Lenz played drums on their albums. Ronnie from Joy Electric played synths on this track, and one of the girls from One-Eighty sang the chorus. That's the thing about the southern California chrindie scene: you start reading the album liner notes, and you realize that everybody knows everybody.

Puller — "Saviour of the Fools" And, another merely okay song to finish the album. I appreciate it more after reading the story behind why Mark Lewis wrote it, and I've heard from some other people who feel this song really spoke to them, but it never really spoke to me like that.

edited 26th Nov '10 9:13:40 AM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.