Music Notes
October 10th, 2007
Due East will provide support for Sunshone Still’s CD release show at the Art Bar on Saturday Oct. 13. Above: Zach Fowler and Due East perform at the Pour House in Raleigh, N.C. last summer.
Chris Smith of Columbia’s Sunshone Still spends his time cutting grass, slapping his friends in the face and watching the Daily Show. Or at least when he isn’t writing haunting folk songs. Smith will be celebrating the release of the new Sunshone Still album titled Ten Cent American Novels Saturday Oct. 13 at the Art Bar. It’s an adventurous concept record comprised of 17 songs with the help of 15 different musicians. Inspired by what Smith calls the “colliding worlds of manifest destiny” the record is a journey through American history of the late 19th century and the disappearance of the Native American. In fitting fashion, Columbia’s favorite y’allternative band Due East have been tossed on the whiskey drinking dog biting bill. Don’t expect too many Joy Division covers on this evening. The Cooter Scooters kick off the $3 show.
The underground is a dying breed
We all thought Hot Rod Circuit had broken up and then the pop-post-punk masters released The Underground is a Dying Breed last March. But these New Haveners have recently raised our spirits only to let us down with news of an upcoming break-up. A statement from the band on their MySpace page reads, “It has been a blast and we have made so many friends and fans and we will miss you all.” The Hot Rod farewell tour cruises through Atlanta on December 5 and into Carrboro the following evening.
Get your mansinthe now!
Get your Mansinthe! Get your Manisnthe now while it’s still hot! Nevermind the party at the fly honey warehouse! In what may be the most obnoxious news from the music business in the last 15 minutes, believe it or not you can finally get your mouth wrapped around the official wormwood-based concoction of Marilyn Manson. A Swiss distillery has been producing the 66.6% alcohol absinthe which you supposedly can buy from the Web site www.absinthe.de for $40 plus shipping.
CD Review: Minus The Bear Aug. 21, 2007 Suicide Squeeze ecord
In the beginning, ages ago, Minus the Bear was writing songs and cementing titles like “Thanks for the Killer Game of Crisco Twister” “You Kill Bugs Good, Man” and “I Lost All my Money at the Cockfights.” Primarily for their own entertainment. And of course all the music critics were writing about the fancy song titles. Now they are all writing about how the band used to write songs and obnoxiously title them. Not me I’m not going there.
Planet of Ice, the third full-length from this Seattle supergroup is a magical investment and when allotted the proper time to mature on your ears, will provide bountiful rewards. Don’t expect and instant hook with the danceable rhythms of the heralded Highly Refined Pirates. There’s a lot more maturity and thought behind Planet and the production is leaps and bounds above the band’s earlier days.
“Knights” is most consistently similar to previous efforts with bouncy yet dirty synth arrangements coupled with a heavy emphasis on guitar solos. I’m pretty sure these Seattleans have been listening to cratefuls of classic rock lately.
After “Knights” things start on a psychedelic road winding around corners of the bay. Even their hard to describe “signature body of water sound” is still haunting this planet with noise too chilly for skinny dipping.
“Dr. L’Ling” chimes in and you feel as though you’re trying to climb a ladder three rungs up and then two down- but no bother you’ve got no destination. In fact you don’t even know where you are.
The second half of Planet of Ice develops the band’s new direction which I can only guess involved some serious experimentation with substances beyond absinthe and red wine. It’s a slow strange trip to this new planet.
Vocalist Jake Snider continues with his trend of owning the English language communicating the most simple things in illustrious form. All the while belting out lyrics with his somehow magnetic unemotional tone.
New keyboardist Alex Rose has been crusading for Beer Pong to be an Olympic sport. This is the soundtrack.
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