Pink Flamingos – We Never Close 8.5

FYI: This cover has never been accused of coming from any other decade but the 80s.

                Consider this akin to finding an ancient artifact. I’m so positively thrilled about this album. Each song reeks of the 80s in the best way possible. You want to see pure, uncut 80s nostalgia without all the lenses, distortion and irony installed by chillwave, hypnagogic pop, and so on? Go no further than Pink Flamingos, who make AM hits so good they put my previous favorite (The Doobie Brothers) to absolute shame. Of course your ability to enjoy this will depend very heavily on how much irony you function off of on a regular day. Suffice it to say I’m more than happy about my discovery.

                Every bit of the early 80s is well covered. There are those piano ballads like “Just like in the Movies”. Heavier, more strung out songs are here as well. “Voodoo” sounds better after you’ve listened to homage Ariel Pink has written. In case the rhythm doesn’t get you, maybe the vocal spasm (you’ll see what I mean) about halfway through or perhaps the synthesizer at the end. I’m glad to see these guys (headed by Dave McArtney, a New Zealander) saw so much success in the early 80s. 

                What is the true hit on here though? “Hungry Night” might be the anthem I never knew dedicated to an unproduced 80s comedy. It would introduce the film with stock footage of 80s New York, complete with hard-working construction workers and waiting for trains. Oh man, this might be one of the best, most unintentionally ironic things I’ve ever heard in my entire life. Don’t worry, just because that movie never got produced doesn’t mean you can’t watch their infinitely excellent music video. 

                Slower songs work wonders too. “Anne was Hard” and “Prosperpine” conjure up images of the best of the early 80s. You want to know where the current 80s fetish gets its traction, I can tell. Listen to this, it’ll give you all the information you’ll ever need to know in some of the best pop morsels. Plus, did I mention the singer Dave McArtney has a BA in English and Renaissance poetry. That habit of his weaves its way into lyrics. 

                Man, mere words can’t describe this feat. Hear the history of so many AM-radio worshippers condensed into a simple, highly enjoyable album. It is just amazing the level of 80s AM-pop contained within here. “We Never Close” is such a fun listen.

Stacey Teague

                 Whenever I think about the usefulness of twitter (a thought I have a lot) I think about a few people who actually make the experience worth it. These people are precious few, since so many twitter accounts appear to be bots or just shameless promotion. Encountering one of these people is akin to finding a four-leaf clover, you’re very lucky if you do. 

                Stacey Teague happens to be one of those people who make my twitter feed a better place. Thanks to Steve Roggenbuck’s wonderful project (#poetrybyemilydickinson) I noticed she was in on that digital poetry orgasm. Not sure if she was a poet, I checked her blogspot which she shares with her friend Susan. She is. 

                A lot of her poems seem to focus on animals. Perhaps she’s an animal person or enjoys thinking about their perspective on our overburdened life, all of its complications. Yet those animals have no idea how hard we have to work so they can just lollygag around the house, eating and sleeping. Things I should be doing.

                 “Post-Coitus” is the feeling of melancholy after coitus. It is also the name of Stacey’s first poem for NewWaveVomit. The poem’s focus seems to be on one of those low-key, mellow days which are tailor made for reflection. Even the sentence within the poem mentions how she talked about nothing much with her sister, who she loves. 

                “I Remember Everything” recollects a relationship in smeared details. Little bits and pieces of personality are displayed in the strangest of memories, for squishy moles and salts. Her line about “I love you” and how it can mean that or not mean that was particularly enjoyable. It makes me think of the words we say out of obligation rather than actual affection. Or the opposite could be true, where someone knows of the value of the words and refrains from saying it. 

                The last poem “Here are some of my “statement poems” feels like it should have another position, definitely before “I Remember Everything”. Perhaps it was Stacey’s intention to have thoughts on a previous relationship to come before details of the relationship, of making breakfasts and wet skinny jeans. 

                For LetPeoplePoems, she continues these thoughts on relationships. Dinosaurs are involved, actively listening. Since they are only dinosaurs, they don’t have to listen very hard. They only need to say ‘hmm’. “Brachiosaurus” appears to be a kind-hearted leaf-eater, who tries to comfort Stacey as she looks out on the harbor. Plus, she gets to climb on his back and find out about the bands he’s listening to, though we never hear any specific bands mentioned. 

                The other dinosaur poem “Diplodocus” expresses the narrator as a dinosaur. She expresses how we are vegetarians for moral reasons. Humans are aware of our own existence, making us feel a little crummier than the dinosaurs.  Due to this awareness, we feel heavier than several-ton extinct creatures. That is a bummer. 

                Her poems have a few running themes or conditions. I notice for nearly all of them it is raining or the words give an impression of rain. This may be due to her location in general, I’m not sure, and I’ve never been to New Zealand since I’m not a huge Lord of the Rings fan. Umbrellas get a great deal of mention, as do harbors and being wet in general. Animals are revered, particularly dinosaurs. Relationships form the basis of most of her poems. These are shown off in realistic ways, without being too happy or unhappy. It is a rare feat to capture a relationship in poetry without veering too heavily towards positivity or negativity. 

                She’s currently making a poetry anthology and needs submissions from New Zealand and Australia. Anyone from either of those locations should join immediately.

St Ranger

              Hm, a lot of things seem to be going on in Arizona, musically-speaking. Or maybe being such a fan of warm weather has me constantly looking towards there especially after such a cold winter. Whatever the reason, I’ve been kind of interested in what’s been going on there.

                St Ranger comes from Tempe, Arizona with a nice penchant for wordplay (their webpage shows themselves as strangerarizona, an appropriate and fitting description of what they do). Going over their tiny internet presence they are five guys who appeared in a series of fairly unsuccessful bands. You know the usual young guy thing (and these guys are extremely young). It is nothing that can be helped, similar to how Australians tour around the world for a couple years for little to no reason. After getting little to no coverage, they came together and busted out a bandcamp page. Then they toured around the Southwest for a while and had some positive feedback. 

                Now they’ve stated they sound similar to Grizzly Bear. That seems a bit right, perhaps Grizzly Bear mixed in with a bit of Surfer Blood. Looking over the bands they’ve toured with, I see a perennial favorite and the tragically on-definite hiatus Women. Women might be the closest comparison I can come up with, think of a clean shaven Women and you’re halfway there.

                “Ohnowoe” is their first polished offering to the world. Listening to it, I’m reminded the 80s mining has shifted to the late 80s. The build on the song is quite nice; it reminds me of some kind of fantastic, sun-bleached summer day. You know the kind where you do absolutely nothing productive but swim and drink beer. A great day is contained within the five minutes or so in this song. Despite their recent origin, they have a knack for hitting all the right points, the tone, vocals, etc. If this is the opener, I’m keen to see what follows. Since it is free and pretty excellent, I'd suggest checking it out.

                They’ve announced an album is expected sometime in the summer. For a band that seems to be summer’s child, that makes complete sense.

Lord Howe Island Stick Insect: A story of triumph

                Anybody reading this might get the impression that I’m a ‘pet person’. Believe it or not, I had been terrified of most animals as a kid. I can’t really explain why, I’m thinking it had to do with their unpredictability. Having a three-legged dog viciously bite my ankle didn’t help, especially as a nine year old waiting at the bus stop. Dogs still freak me out as a result.

                Esoteric animals are fast becoming my friends. Sloths obviously serve as an admirable creature for me due to their slow pace, their cuteness, and generally apathy. Before I chose sloths, I ran the gamut through various other animals, cats, birds, reptiles, and the amazing creature, Lord Howe Island Stick insect. Those not aware of this creature’s incredible story, prepare to be amazed.

                They are a species of stick insect that grow to be about 6 inches long with the thickness of your thumb. While that may sound large, keep in mind on smaller, isolated islands having such oversized creatures is not unusual. Instead, what distinguishes this insect are some of its more charming, cuter ways of acting. Male and female insects form a bond. Whatever the females does dictates what the male is going to do. In fact, they only take one other insect as a mate, which is somewhat rare in the insect world. Rarer still is when the insects sleep; the male insect wraps its legs around the female. Scientists state this is where the concept of ‘spooning’ must have evolved. 

                 Before the 1920s, these insects were called “Land Lobsters” due to their red hue, and general enormous size. Residents remembered how creepy they were, crawling on tin roofs at night (they’re nocturnal) and making a lot of scraping noises. After the S.S. Makambo ran aground in 1918, the residents wished for the insects to return. But the ship made sure the island got its first encounter with rats. Rats enjoyed eating the delicious insects, and soon they were no more.

                1967, the high point of the hippie movement, came. People were willing to try new things, willing to believe somehow extinct animals would re-emerge. That occurred at Ball’s Pyramid, the world’s tallest sea stack. While a few climbers went up its steep side, they found dead carcasses of the Lowe Howe Stick Insect. Believing it to be just a hallucination, they disregarded it.

                In 2001, a few scientists followed up on this potential discovery. Sailing across the sea, they discovered the insects living under the only vegetation on the whole island. Bringing a few specimens back with them, they began the re-breeding program. While the female insects were giving birth, they fell ill. Their male counterpart waited next to his mate, hoping for the best. Scientists were so moved by this display that they took the male out to the nearest pub to drown its sorrows. Eventually his companion recovered, and together the two of them lived to the ripe old age of one. 

                How the insects arrived at such a remote location continues to baffle scientists. Perhaps a bird collected a couple of them thinking they were overweight sticks. Or the insects had been in that stack for generations, since the stack broke free of the island proper. Either way, it shows the resilience that animals face each and every day. 

                I hope we can learn from these incurably optimistic insects.       

Puerto Rican Flowers – Voice of Love/When your lonely Heart breaks 5.5

I wanted to like this more. A band influenced by any sort of dark punk or 80s synthesizer bodes well for me most of the time. Sadly, Puerto Rican Flowers left me bored and my mind wandered.

For one thing, it is trying much too hard to be Joy Division. Considering how good that band was, it is an understandable goal. But simply extending the length of your songs is not the way to do it. Part of the reason this fails is the ambition is noble, but the music can’t quite get up to that level.

“Voice of Love” is the stronger of the two songs. It has a more concise, better build. The second song really drags. Unlike the first track, there’s little to hold on to or enjoy. All it does it is linger far too long. 

Maybe they’ll figure out how to tighten up the playing so it can match the first song better. Developing their own personality would help as well, since the 80s dark wave thing is very big right now, and with quality this mediocre, they’re not going to get noticed.

Chicks on Speed – Chicks on Speed will Save Us All! 6.5

I have an emotional attachment with this particular album. When it first came out, I grew unreasonably obsessed with it and played it on repeat for an indefinite period of time. So bad it became that I saw them live, trying to convince others to see them with me at the Knitting Factory. They were about as art trashy as I could’ve hoped. Coming back to this, I wanted to see whether or not I still felt the same way about them. 

The music is still insanely catchy. Like, as I’m listening to this I remember some of my favorite songs clearly. But what sounded new in 2000 comes across as a bit dated now. For one, the electro clash thing they got involved in sounds a bit stale now. Plus, there’s a few more dullard tracks than I remember “Little Star” being a prime example. 

But those are minor details. A few tracks here avoid the inevitable aging process, like the mischievous “For All the Boys in the World”. No matter what happens, I’ll always adore this piece. It has some jittery melody in there somewhere, along with disemboweled vocals. 

Also, some of the ironic posturing no longer has the same feel for me. Songs like “Glamour Girl” come across as too much fluff. Yes, I know it is supposed to be sarcastic but it sounds a bit embarrassing to me. 

On the flip side, some of these songs still work the same way they did years ago. Listening to the entire album, their darker songs worked out much better. Songs like “Warm Leatherette” which is a great disturbing cover, and “Euro Trash Girl” which is pure garbage (I mean that as the highest compliment) remind me why I liked them.

Later on in their career they veered a little too much towards various inside jokes. But this one, though a bit dated, still has enough to offer.  

Ambarchi / Fennesz / Pimmon / Rehberg / Rowe – Afternoon Tea 7.9

Not your standard day of having tea with your grandmother. This tea-time is far more intense, like watching the walls melt around you. An invisible third person tells you insane things as you’re just trying to enjoy your Chai. 

If you’re familiar with even one of the above artists, that might not be enough to prepare you for what’s about to happen. Sure, most of the improvisers on here are primarily interested in the guitar, but don’t expect any of the lush beauty that Fennesz often give. Instead, expect more of Rowe’s “I can’t believe a guitar made that sound”. 

The live recordings “Live Tea 1 & 2” tend to be less dark than the studio versions. In the studio versions, the drones become more prominent and emphasis is on decay. Whereas with the live recordings, you get a sillier mood, but things are a bit more decipherable. 

Actually, the live versions were not included in the original release on Ritornell. Having the night and day versions give you a better idea of what the group is able to accomplish. These are very competent electro-acoustic recordings. It is interesting to note how even with all the collaborators, it is impossible to determine who is doing what. By listening to each other, they are able to accomplish quite a bit. 

Even with the intellectual bent of the recordings, there are some beautiful moments, particularly in the beginning of “Live Tea 2”. This is definitely worth seeking out.