Monday, August 27, 2007  3:00 pm 

United States of Wham City.

{{Here you have another column from Mr. James Nascent/Black Banana, enjoy the love kidss, and say thanks}}

My last post…an open love letter to the West coast lo-fi-trash-about-party bands that I owe a large portion of my record collection to. The ones they wrote about in the NME last week. That was weird…. in a good way. I never expected to read about Silver Daggers or Abe Vigoda in the relentlessly bollocks rag that is NME. But I’m certainly not too bigger a snob to not see that it was a good thing.

In this and in contrast a post about the Esoterica from the East coast. From the view over here there does seem to be some kind of split. I can see it in my records and you can see it with the touring bands that come over here. West = jump up and down party, East = sit down, sway back and forth party. Of course there are exceptions but you can’t deny that there is something in it. I’m sure someone could tell me exactly why it is. Probably something like a common reaction to the shared surroundings of the people involved in making the music. The west’s sunny/clean living Vs the East’s bleak/polluted city living. Whatever it is or isn’t, it works. So what? Yeah so what? Who cares?

Right now it’s the East that’s doing it for me. Next week it’ll be something else I’m sure. It has to be. What would I write about?

One such band that I’m really digging at the moment is High Places.

Bubble beats and finger snaps suspended in woozy-drunk violin plucks and backwards cello and I love some echo vocals too. I’m a total sucker for girls singing with the reverb and echo turned up. Every time.

High Places- Golden

And from their amazing 7′ out on Ancient Almanac. This is what pop music sounds like in my dreams. The dream I have where I’m dancing with a giant stuffed toy bear, in the woods, with cuckoos calling the dawn in and woodpeckers hollowing out trees and it just started pissing it down. And that pretty girl with the ghostly voice is there again. Her voice ahhhh. I wake up. Morning glory.

High Places- Head Spins

Another band albeit a one man band that gets me all dreamy and makes me wanna turn it up real loud and dance and I would if only I wasn’t in my parents downstairs broom cupboard come office room and it wasn’t bloody 2am (damn the night, damn these sore eyes) is… Soft Circle. A solo project from ex-Black Dice and one time Lightning Bolt dude Hisham Akira Bharoocha. The not quite there vocal chants are in effect, the beats are tumbling tribal techno and go right to that place at the base of your spine that makes you wanna do the loose jerk or the flunky junk. At the same time (literally) he’s playing the violin on the guitar or doing the funky thing on the bass with what sounds like some serious thumb jamming. On another its heavy on the cymbals and the guitar calls to prayer and he’s there in the Minaret and the hairs are standing, quivering, dancing on the back of my neck. You’re gonna love this.

Soft Circle- Shimmer

Soft Circle- Moon Oar Sunrise

It was really hard to just pick three bands to write about. I dunno why I decided on three. It was a self imposed limitation I’m regretting as there are bloody loads of bands that I’m getting very enthusiastic about at the moment. But for now there is three and there is finally These Are Powers featuring ex members of Knife Skills and Liars. That Pavlovian drooling at the mention of those two names is understandable and justified. Their very excellent 7′ out on Elsie & Jack recordings is still available so get your hands on it quick quick. They make harsher, darker, more metallic noises with a banshee as front-woman, chainsaw bass and guitar turned electric glockenspiel, the drums skittle on the rims and big boom on the kick and the toms go bam dala bam dala. Sexy, very sexy.

These Are Powers- Makes Visible

&

These Are Powers- Funereal Xylophone

labels >> high places, real indie, soft shoulder, these are powers