Cities of the Plain

Foreign Born - Keep It In Mind

Foreign Born’s Person to Person remains a perennial summer favorite around these parts. Sadly, it does not look like we will be seeing a follow up to that record anytime soon. Secretly Canadian, the bands label, is reporting that the band will be going on indefinite hiatus as the members focus on other projects. As a parting gift, the guys have offered up a new song, their first since Person to Person. “Keep It In Mind” shakes and grows with the same spirited energy that made their album such a stand-by.

mp3:Foreign Born - Keep It In Mind

Washed Out - Eyes Be Closed

I haven’t done the requisite research to support this, but in a reflective moment the other night I wondered if my generation, the ambiguous 20-somethings, might be the first generation to actually prefer the way things were as we were growing up. Hardly the greatest generation, historians will refer to us as Generation N. The “N”, of course, for nostalgia. That feeling of vague familiarity which so many generations past rejected to create their own unique vision of the world, embraced whole-sale by us, the non-rebels. Through this unfortunate lens then, “chillwave” becomes our generational soundtrack, music tinged with a reverence for the ineffable quality of times gone past.

Washed Out, the project of South Carolinian Ernest Greene, was initially saddled with the chillwave designation. And not entirely inappropriately, his Life of Leisure EP definitely recalled those familiar feelings. However, if “Eyes Be Closed” is indicative of the rest of his new album then we should become increasingly hesitant to cast Greene off as just-another-chillwaver. The climactic refrain right before the break, “see the world clearly now”, followed by a refreshing cascade of percussion, seems to indicate that he has shed his hazy affection for the past and is looking confidently into the future with clear-eyes. A welcome evolution in his project and possibly a missive of hope, that sooner or later the rest of us will follow suit.

Within and Without, Washed Out’s first proper LP, will be released on July 12th by Subpop and will feature the previously loved track “You and I”. The album was produced by Ben Allen, who also shares credits on Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion and Deerhunter’s Halycon Digest.

French Kicks - Sex Tourists

All splashy drums and blase vocals, the French Kicks aren’t trying to turn any heads with “Sex Tourists”. It is one of those songs you can listen to on repeat for hours without really hearing, one listen seamlessly blending into the next. But then there are those moments when you suddenly realize you stopped whatever you were doing 10 minutes ago and all you have been doing is listening. Eyes closed, head back, listening. The French Kicks are masters of this sort of silent takeover. Half way through they sing “when we’re vibrating somewhere” and I am sure they are referring to that pleasant buzzing sound in your brain when you are blissfully unengaged. Sun on your face, wind in you hair, the world turning ‘round.

“Sex Tourists” is from 2008’s shamefully underrated Swimming, one of those rare front-to-back albums that I still listen to years later.

Alela Diane - Long Way Down

My first reaction after hearing Alela Diane’s new album, Alela Diane and Wild Divine, was to go back and listen to her previous album, To Be Still. Some important change had taken place over the course of albums, but I couldn’t put my finger on it without looking backwards. A few songs in my suspicions were confirmed: this was a new Alela Diane. To Be Still resonated with listeners because of it’s sweet fragility, the product of a young women still searching for her place in the world. Wild Divine, on the other hand, brims with confidence and purpose, the work of a songwriter completely at ease with herself and her craft. This new found maturity suits Diane very well, most so on “Long Way Down”. Here Diane sings of love gone cold, but with the perspective of someone who has learned and grown from her romantic failures rather than been defeated by them. Supported by surprisingly muscular guitars, played by her father and new husband, she sounds much more like country-rock heroine Gillian Welch than Joanna Newsom, the folksy songstress she has typically been compared to in the past.

Gardens & Villa - Black Hills

Gardens & Villa are a new-to-me group out of San Diego looking to have a big year in 2011. They recently signed to Secretly Canadian, who will be releasing their debut LP in July, and have been touring up an down the west coast this Spring. I caught the tail end of one of their packed shows at Amnesia a few weeks ago and was impressed with the two songs I managed to hear. Although, I was disappointed to have missed “Black Hills”, one of the two tracks featured on their Cool Summer Records 7” and one of my favorite songs of the Spring. The song pulses and flutters with a cool energy that makes for a prefect soundtrack to a now sunny San Francisco. While many of their Californian-brethren choose to bash through 2 minute riots these days, G&V are distinct for their pace, letting their songs breathe and sweat, like the perspiration of a cold beer on a hot day. Which is just about the highest praise you can give anything, right?

*******************************

A bit of housekeeping here as well. Clearly the current format of COTP is not inspiring much production, so I am going to focus my efforts in the coming weeks. From now on I am going to feature 3 songs, new or old, a week. No more, no less. If I can get in the habit of writing on this schedule I might pull in some show reviews, but for now it is back to basics. Today was our 700th post, a nice round number, and I’d like to keep this going for 700 more.

Young Galaxy, Cover Your Tracks [EP]

I already thought of the new Young Galaxy album as a bit of a remix album, the band sent their tracks off to Sweden for a total reworking by Lissvik, waiting nine months before they could hear the finished product. But now they have gone ahead and released an EP of remixes for “Cover Your Tracks”, perhaps an intimidating assignment for any budding remixer: following in the footsteps of Lissvik. You can download the entire EP for free at Fader to hear the results or listen to the CFCF version below, my personal favorite. CFCF slowed it down and stretched it out into something beautiful and dramatic. I like it more than the original.
Young Galaxy - Cover Your Tracks (CFCF Remix)

“No Battleships Today, That’s Nice”

Last week, I was catching up with Rachel, a dear friend of the blog, and she asked me what had been in my headphones recently. After a few false starts in writing a list of stuff to her, I thought to myself, ‘Wait, you’ve been absolute crap with your posting consistency at CotP. Why don’t you re-evaluate your neglect and write this for the blog?’ So without further adieu, the next two posts are what I’ve been listening to of late. Hope you don’t mind that I posted them here.

Snuffalufagus - No Battleships: A gift from another friend of the blog, Jacob. Snuffalufagus is primarily the project of Chris Braciszewski, with help on certain instrumental parts. “No Battleships” feels like a composition of two songs: the first minute and a half features Braciszewski singing over a spare recording; it sounds as though they recorded as the horn players were warming up. The horns then synthesize together into a slow Soullive-y kind of jam that drives the direction of the rest of the track. I’m still unsure as to what the song is about, I tend to get lost in the music on this one.

Read More

Young Galaxy, Shapeshifting

I stumbled across the video for Young Galaxy’s “We Have Everything” a few days ago and wondered how I had not heard anything from them before. Then, listening to the song on my Ipod today I realized they were the same people responsible for “Peripheral Visionaries”, a song I obsessed over for a while when it showed up on Said the Gramaphone’s year-end best of list. Not only that, but it turns out their new album, Shapeshifting, was produced by Swedish wunder-producer Lissivik and is being released tomorrow on Paper Bag Records. The Canadian duo was kept in the dark for nine months while Lissivik fashioned and formed the final product. The resulting songs possess a cool and powerful energy produced by a cold fusion of drums, synth and spacious vocals. Listen to the two previously released tracks below or stream the entire album here.

mp3:Young Galaxy - We Have Everything

mp3:Young Galaxy - Peripheral Visionaries