The arrival of the spring
In spite of what you might think, we are normal people who revel in the rays of sun as they shine across the derelict halls of our forsaken manor, the bad things that crawl across them retreat back into the shadows, and, feeling safe for once, we cuddle in the crimson gold-gilded sofa behind the wooden desk of our vast library and close our eyes while music such as this plays in the stereo. The dust dances in the light and we welcome the arrival of the spring with a smile.
Jeremy Jay’s ‘Slow Dance’ is cream waterfalls somewhere in between Jonathan Richman, Glass Candy and Big Star, yup, you heard right, it is that good, smooth synth-tinged balladry all warm and welcoming, mellow compositions studded with stream of conciousness snapshots that, differently from other trovadours out there, don’t shut you out but draw you in. Do you remember Phoenix? well, they got all dolled and left for an A.O.R. apocalypse leaving Jeremy Jay behind in his room sipping on a cup of tea and pottering around with songs, when they came back home drunk and beffudled, it was his lovely balladry which put them to sleep for a night of beautiful dreams.
Erlend Oye likes to do his own thing, sometimes we like, sometimes we don’t. On the one hand, I couldn’t care less for Kings of Convenience, on the other I remember with a smile his crowd-surfing during a DJ gig at Primavera Sound, the guy can make even that most cliched of showbiz antics look like the sort of thing a gentlemanly chap would do to to liven up a soiree, falling with class is a skill we clumsy 20jazzfunkgreatsters love and appreciate. Anyway, I hear people out there like The Whitest Boy Alive, this is actually the first and only song by them I’ve heard, and I say, kudos to you Erlend Oye and pals for cheering up a jaded 20jazzfunkgreatster with a top piece of smooth bubblegum pop which sounds like ‘Faster, Better, Stronger’ if Daft Punk were wedding singers dressed in pink instead of leather clad chrome androids. I can envision lots of sinuous hip swinging to this tune’s delicate stomp, which is a necessary thing these dark times we are living in.
like everything erly does
Monday, February 23, 2009 8:26 amtim
wet my pants at nevereverland afterparty to see the kid bopping away with us to h&la/klaxons dj set
Monday, February 23, 2009 8:31 amtim
You should check out Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix) — one of the best things I’ve heard from Erland (I too not keen on the indie stuff but love his DJ Kicks comp. and work with Royksopp)
Monday, February 23, 2009 7:17 pmrevd
haha,for me slow dance is a mix of sebastien tellier,isaac hayes and marc almond,smoothly fitted together in a killer song.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 2:00 amBUT you do phoenix no justice,wait until YOU are in your mid thirties,kiddies!
united still is one of the best ten longplayers of the last ten years,no single bad track on it – can’t remember ONE british band’s album reaching that peak efficiency since the late 80s …
dz
i really like this blog but jeremy jay blows
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 12:29 amsam
jeremy jay rules! giddy up!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:40 ambobby's motorcycle
sebastien tellier live made me wish to see phenix again. glad to see someone talk about United in such glowing terms dz. 25th may for the new album too!
mr jay is a different type of one man beast but has some of those phoenix like qualities of reaching for your soul in an a.o.r. radio classic way, i see the comparison as a compliment to mr jay, from those like us who still like united ;)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 10:13 am20jazzfunkgreats
The new album from Mr Jay is fabulous ! Wait until you get to hear the title “Breaking The Ice”…
The new track from Phoenix “1901″ is juggly massive !
S7
Friday, February 27, 2009 3:58 pmSpaghetti N°7
[...] – XXJFG posts The Whitest Boy Alive and Jeremy Jay… here. [...]
Saturday, February 28, 2009 11:41 pmGIMME TINNITUS» Blog Archive » Consider CLICKing: new new new Crystal Antlers, new old Jesus Lizard, etc.
Jeremy Jay is killer all the way…
Airwalker is a total heel jacker ‘diddaling ding ding!’
erlend is into handslapping with complete strangers and can out dude jj. He has the absolute thumbs up from me.
Saturday, March 7, 2009 11:21 amelliott
WBA ain’t too shabby but erlend’s “unrest” should receive an honourable mention and deserves a follow up.
Saturday, March 7, 2009 2:14 pmgerald
am i the only one who noticed that jeremy jay completed lifted glass candy’s music from iko iko (2005) for airwalker? it’s note for note! and the slow dance track is from midnight express by giorgio moroder. jay’s production is tasteful, but everysong i hear seems like it’s a lift from bowie to richman. which i suppose is understandable because they are a classics. but ripping off contemporary artists that are seems a bit extreme.
Thursday, March 19, 2009 10:06 pmhe seems to have a unique vocal approach, but the production is straight jewel worship.
samantha