VAGUE SPACE

I Thought I Would Be More Than This

The Cloud Nothings second album Attack on Memory came out January a year ago and although I liked the single "Stay Useless" a lot, I didn't know the rest of the album until I heard the song "Wasted Days" on SiriusXMU the other day and stopped whatever I was doing and said "Wait?  What the hell is this awesomeness?"  I still don't actually know the rest of the album but I know this song and thought I would share its awesomeness with you, dear reader.  Enjoy.

• Download Cloud Nothings - "Wasted Days".mp3

Oh I know
My life's not gonna change
And I live
Through all these wasted days
Never thought
That I'd end up this way
And I know
It's gonna stay the same

I thought I would be more than this
I thought I would be more than this
I thought I would be more than this
I thought I would be more than this

And I know
I'm losing all my time
Doesn't seem
Like it was ever mine
Didn't seem
My own I don't know why
Getting tired
Of living 'till I die

I thought I would be more than this
I thought I would be more than this
I thought I would be more than this
I thought I would be more than this

Farewell Transmission

Jason Molina died a weekend ago due to "organ failure as a result of years of alcoholism."  At the age of 39.  Which is too young for anyone to die and too young for as talented a singer / songwriter as he.  Molina started out many years ago as Songs: Ohia, putting out poignant, devastating record after record before shifting his focus in the middle part of the last decade to a project he called Magnolia Electric Co. and then, unfortunately, ending his career too soon using his own name.  His apparently final album, Autumn Bird Songs, a song cycle full of sad ruminations into tape, came out last summer, unreviewed by this site.  I can't do the album or any of his music justice with my words and I surely don't know enough about his life to pretend that I can write anything approaching a eulogy so I will just say that I was touched by his music through the years -- in particular Songs: Ohia's "Axxess and Ace" and "The Lionness" and Jason Molina's "Pyramid Electric Co." and the eponymous (or billed under Songs: Ohia) "Magnolia Electric Co." Two of his songs, "Honey Watch Your Ass" off of Pyramid Electric Co. and "Farewell Transmission" off of Magnolia Electric Co. are in my top 200 songs of all-time, which is a pretty remarkable feat for any band that doesn't have Spencer Krug as a member, so to say I will miss him and his music is quite the understatement.  I will leave you with the songs of his I loved the most.  And let them wash over you as you remember the beauty of his music.

 

• Download Songs: Ohia - "How To Be Perfect Men".mp3
• Download Songs: Ohia - "Lightning Risked It All".mp3
• Download Songs: Ohia - "Tigress".mp3
• Download Songs: Ohia - "Champion".mp3
• Download Magnolia Electric Co - "Montgomery".mp3
• Download Magnolia Electric Co - "It's Made Me Cry".mp3
• Download Magnolia Electric Co - "What's Broken Becomes Better".mp3
• Download Jason Molina - "Honey, Watch Your Ass".mp3
• Download Songs: Ohia - "Farewell Transmission".mp3

The whole place is dark
Every light on this side of the town
Suddenly it all went down
Now we'll all be brothers of the fossil fire of the sun
Now we will all be sisters of the fossil blood of the moon
Someone must have set us up
Now they'll be working in the cold grey rock, 
In the hot mill steam . . . in the concrete
In the sirens and the silences now 
All the great set-up hearts
All at once start to beat
After tonight if you don't want us to be 
A secret out of the past
I will resurrect it, I'll have a good go at it
I'll streak his blood across my beak and dust my feathers with his ashes
I can feel his ghost breathing down my back
I will try and know whatever I try
I will be gone but not forever

The real truth about it is 
No one gets it right
The real truth about it is 
We're all supposed to try
There ain't no end to the sands 
I've been trying to cross
The real truth about it is 
My kind of life's no better off
If I've got the maps or if I'm lost
We will try and know whatever we try
We will be gone but not forever

The real truth about it is 
There ain't no end to the desert I'll cross
I've really known it all along
Mama, here comes midnight 
With the dead moon in its jaws
Must be the big star about to fall
Long dark blues
Will-o'-the-wisp
Long dark blues
The big star is falling
Long dark blues
Through the static and distance
Long dark blues
A farewell transmission

 Long dark blues
Listen

Joyce Manor

Joyce Manor are a punk band from Torrance, CA, who have released 2 albums in their short history, 2011's self-titled debut and 2012's Of All the Things I Will Soon Grow Tired.  Both albums are filled with 2-minute-and-under blasts of punk, veering into hardcore and sometimes into pop, as the tracks are littered with hooks and generally about the banalities of life ("Constant Headache", "Leather Jacket", "Comfortable Clothes").  And they are awesome.  I saw Joyce Manor live in Asbury Park, NJ, a few weeks ago -- their first time in NJ ever, they said -- when the young foursome were opening for Desaparecidos. Many in the crowd had heard of them before and maybe even came to the show just to see them, as a mosh pit formed for the opening act and people were singing along.  I was pretty taken with the stage presence and energy of the band (and the crowd), even as I didn't know the songs.  I've seen them twice since then opening for Desaparecidos and by the final time, I was a definite fan.  I downloaded both their albums and kind of went crazy for them, for their inspired brand of throwback punk and the energetic phrasing and full-on hooks, particularly in standout songs "Derailed", "Beach Community" and the aforementioned "Constant Headache."  I think their debut album is decidedly superior to their follow-up but in the concerts they played several "new" tracks that seemed pretty great so I can't wait to hear more from them.  Anyway, if you're like me and always searching for new music from new bands that can inspire you, check out the boys from Joyce Manor.  They fucking bring it.  Mosh pit and all.

• Download Joyce Manor - "Derailed".mp3
• Download Joyce Manor - "Beach Community".mp3

 

  

Desaparecidos

In 2003 and 2004, I lived and died by Bright Eyes.  This was before I started this blog so even longtime readers may not be aware of how much I loved Conor Oberst and his band, eating up everything he ever recorded as Bright Eyes, from first full-length Letting Off the Happiness as a teenager to the brilliance that was 2001's masterpiece Lifted, Or the Story is in The Soil.  This was also during the brief dormant period of file sharing where all the services like Napster and Limewire and Audiogalaxy went away and I actually purchased rarities through mail order like the 3-song Drunk Kid Catholic collection or 3 More Hit Songs or the Oh Holy Fools split EP or even the entire Saddle Creek Sampler collection just for a single unheard song.  And I believe it was on Disc 2 of the Saddle Creek Collection (that's the name of the Omaha, NE label Conor formed) that I first heard from Conor's "hardcore" band Desaparecidos, who contributed two songs to that album -- "Man and Wife (The Latter)" and "Poppin off at the F".  And since I loved all things Conor at the time, I fell in love and instantly bought the album Read Music - Speak Spanish, a collection of punk/hardcore songs at Conor's most raging, definitely more reminiscent of his earliest, most desperate work than his more lyrical and plaintive later self.  I liked it, but I remained mostly a Bright Eyes fan.  And Desaparecidos disappeared.  A single album in 2002 and that was it.

2012 Top 100 Songs of the Year

1.  "You as You Were" Shearwater
2.  "Animal Life"  Shearwater

• Download Shearwater - "You As You Were".mp3

The top 2 songs of the year come from the same artist, a not uncommon feature in the Vague Space end of the year countdowns, and the sounds of the songs were similar -- shimmering pounding beats slowly ebbing and rising to powerful explosions. I really can't give justice in a description to the beauty of the music Jonathan Meiburg was able to achieve on these two tracks.  Coming into 2012, at no point did I think of Shearwater as one of the great indie rock bands of recent history, but with these two songs off the stunning first half of Animal Joy, my mind has been changed.

2012 Album of the Year

#1.  Moonface with Siinai - Heartbreaking Bravery

Well I figure there isn't much reason to leave anyone in suspense because yet again -- for the 7th straight year -- a Spencer Krug album makes its way to the top of a Vague Space end of the year countdown.  In 2007, it was Sunset Rubdown.  2008, Wolf Parade.  2009, Sunset Rubdown again.  2010, Wolf Parade's Expo 86 edged out Arcade Fire and Frog Eyes (and looking back, the album I've listened to most since then among the three is Frog Eyes' Paul's Tomb -- by far, oh well). 2011 saw Spencer dispensing with his former bands and starting anew as Moonface and winning the title with a keyboard-based electronic/drum machine album called Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped.  And that won album of the year.  Then he returned of course with a new album for the 9th straight year, this one a collection of hard rock heavy instrumentation songs with Finnish metal post-rockers Siinai, full of bombast and delight and some of the most beautiful songwriting he's made in recent incarnations.  In a stronger year for music, this may not have made the top of the list, but it was sadly a weak year in 2012 -- only two of my top 20 favorite bands put out a new album this year -- so it's not at all surprising that Spencer is on top once again.  

• Download Moonface with Siinai - "Heartbreaking Bravery".mp3

Japandroids at Webster Hall

They kicked ass.

Crowd was raucous.  Mosh pit was furious.  Stage divers, crowd surfers, the smell of pot overpowering.  All while two dudes from Vancouver played the shit out of guitar and drums.  I don't love all of Japandroids music but it's hard not to get wrapped up into everything they do when they play with so much energy and volume.  And I certainly exploded with the rest of the crowd when the songs that I love got played with such brilliance.  Wet Hair.  The Boys Are Leaving Town.  The Nights of Wine and Roses.  Continuous Thunder (close to the end).  Young Hearts Spark Fire (also close to the end).  The House That Heaven Built -- almost definitely the high point of the concert.  And of course, Younger Us, a song I love so much that it made the banner of this blog.

Remember when we had them all on the run
And the night that we saw the midnight sun
Remember saying things like "we'll sleep when we're dead"
And thinking this feeling was never going to end

Remember that night you were already in bed, said "fuck it", got up to drink with me instead.

Give me that naked new skin rush
Give me younger us
Give me that you and me to the grave trust
Give me younger us
Give me my girls learning love wild and free
Give me younger us
Give me my boys and I swimming through the streets
Give me younger us

Give me that night you were already in bed, said "fuck it", got up to drink with me instead.

• Download Japandroids - "Younger Us".mp3
• Download Japandroids - "The House That Heaven Built".mp3
• Download Japandroids - "Wet Hair".mp3
  • We run the guantlet, must get to France, so we can French kiss some French girls

Mount Eerie in Manhattan

Phil Elverum and his Mount Eerie bandmates made it to Le Poisson Rouge last Wednesday for a reprise of the tour I saw them on a couple months ago.  This was a "one-off" performance, not an extension of their tour, being played because they were also playing at NYU the following night (2 blocks away), practically for free if you were a student there, which I'm not, so instead I braved the traffic on "Let's let a million tourists come into the City to gaze up in slack-jawed wonder as we light a fucking tree" night, and saw them play.  All my favorites from their recent albums made an appearance -- "Pale Lights", "Ocean Roar", "I Walked Home Beholding", "Through the Trees Pt 2", and "House Shape" -- and all were great.  But the reason I'm posting this is because Phil broke out a version of my #18 favorite song of all-time, "The Moon", by his previous "band" (ie himself) The Microphones.  The live appearance of "The Moon" crosses off another of my top 20 favorite songs ever that I've seen live and I think that makes either my 11th or 12th of my top 20, so I'm one step closer to achieving that feat off my "bucket list" (although admittedly, it will be difficult to see Joy Division perform "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (#6), since Ian Curtis has been dead for 33 years).  Anyway, I did break out my iPhone video camera and discovered I just keep getting worse at recording (in this one you have to watch sideways for part of it!), but the sound is good.  It's Phil playing "The Moon" for crying out loud, I was understandably freaking out!

• Download The Microphones - "The Moon".mp3

   

   

You're Living All Over Me

I'm not exactly sure how to describe what happened at Terminal 5 on Saturday night but what started as seminal indie rockers Dinosaur Jr. playing a special concert in honor of the release of the album that put them on the map 25 years ago, You're Living All Over Me, turned into the greatest indie rock concert ever.  They had promised special guests and um, that was a bit of an understatement.  Here's a list of the absolutely legendary indie rock bands whose members appeared with J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) and Lou Barlow (Sebadoh) on stage last night.

The Pixies
The Smiths
The Replacements
Sonic Youth 
The Melvins
Broken Social Scene

Seriously.  Johnny Marr.  Frank Black.  Tommy Stinson.  Kim Gordon.  Lee Renaldo.  Kevin Drew.  Johnny fucking Marr played guitar while J sang "The Boy with a Thorn in His Side".  Oh my god, I'm getting goosebumps just writing that, just being there.  

Low Announces New Album, Gives Away Live Tracks

Low are releasing their 10th record, The Invisible Way, on March 19, 2013. The record was produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, engineered by Tom Schick and recorded in Wilco's studio in Chicago, IL, during the fall of 2012.  Coincidentally, the release marks Low's 20th anniversary as a band.

The Invisible Way finds Low's majestic melancholy in full bloom yet distinguishes itself with its starker, unadorned soundscapes, layered harmonies and drummer/vocalist extraordinaire Mimi Parker singing lead on five of the 11 songs. The album tackles large issues ("the songs are about intimacy, the drug war, the class war, plain old war war, archaeology and love," says Sparhawk) in a manner that plays a stunning counterpoint to the sublime hush of the music.
 
Low are also now making available a fantastic six-song live set they are calling Low - Plays Nice Places. The recording features five previously released fan favorites, as well as a new song called "Waiting" all of which were recorded at various historic theaters on the bands' April 2012 tour supporting Death Cab for Cutie. Additionally, the live version of "Words" features Benjamin Gibbard on bass and vocals.

The tracklisting is below:
 
Words (featuring Benjamin Gibbard)*
Waiting
Sunflowers
Witches
Pissing
Murderer