St Ranger

                St Ranger released another sweet song off of their yet untitled album. I’m not sure if giving away music is a good business model. Perhaps it is important to give the listener some idea of what to expect. That’s what I assume the purpose is for this young, young group.

                When I hear they were all in other bands before this, I feel so lazy. How many people have been in bands since their early teens? Every day it is more and more people. I had a solo project, I’m not sure if it counts as the same thing. Laptop musicians aren’t really as beloved.

                Their most recent song “Shark Week” sprawls. I mean this in the best way possible. Seeing a band get messy is one of my greatest pleasures. What would “Teenage Riot” be if Sonic Youth decided to whittle down its length? Listening to “Shark Week” shows what happens when a band decides to stretch out. 

                “Shark Week” begins in the middle of things. Unlike the previous song, you’re just thrown into things. The drums are a bit more prominent in this one. I’m still pretty amazed at how St Ranger manages to sound so graceful. You’re reminded this is a five-piece band, it sounds so big. The vocals are fantastic. Again I’m reminded of the late 80s, when music began to pull itself out of the ‘New Wave’, out of plastic pop, and feel human emotions. That may be one of my favorite periods of music, hands-down. 

                Part of me wonders if they aren’t just going to tease out the entire album. You know, every couple of weeks release another track until lo and behold, it is summer. I wouldn’t be opposed to this approach. Seeing them live wouldn’t be a bad idea either, but unfortunately they haven’t quite made it to my neck of the woods yet. Perhaps they will sometime soon.

Perverted Pop Playlist (The Triple P) Part II

                Do I have a lot of playlists? Well, yes, I most certainly do. This particular playlist series is based on stuff I could probably party at a party without too many people getting angry at me. Most of these songs contain a certain pop sensibility, or they are just songs I really enjoy.

                Unlike the previous list, there is a greater diversity of pop music. Chillwave and Hypnagogic pop have moved on, mutated, and taken new forms. The 90s will be coming in soon, so I sort of want to prepare myself for its eventual arrival and mining. Hopefully you enjoy this list as much as I did making it. Like the previous Perverted Pop Playlist, it is precisely one hour in length to correspond with my lunch break. 

1.       Gary War – Born of Light

Born of Light sort of rushes towards you. Perhaps in the future all pop music will sound similar. I can hope. This is the best thing I’ve heard from Gary War thus far.

2.       Brown Recluse – Paisley Tears

Paisley Tears reminds me of Elephant6 for some indescribable reason. They get the mood right and sort of allow for a break after Gary War’s whiplash pace. 

3.       Archers of Loaf – Web in Front

Archers of Loaf embody early 90s college rock. Now that the 90s are far enough in the past to begin counting things as classics, I’d say this belongs up there with the classics. Only two minutes, but all it ever wanted was to be your spine. 

4.       Teeel – Masterplan

Sure, the 80s might be mostly over as a way of being a retro fad though high unemployment and disillusionment suggests otherwise. However, Teeel is one of those few still successfully visiting it while countless others do tepid attempts. 

5.       Outer Limits Recordings – Plastik Child

So I have Outer Limits Recordings on the other mix CD. That just proves the intense amount of love I have for this project. Perhaps they will someday release a sweet album. 

6.       Pink Flamingos – Hungry Night

Oh man, I adore this song. When I listen to it, I can imagine the 80s movie it could have introduced. Some cheesy romantic comedy would have literally drooled over how ridiculous it was. In the off chance I make a movie, I want this song to introduce it. 

7.       Teams Vs. Star Slinger

While their EP was great, this song was easily my favorite. It glides so smoothly in under two minutes. Pop music never sounded so good to me as it does here. 

8.       St Ranger – Ohnowoe

St Ranger has a great summer feel to it. Whenever I listen to this song in particular, I feel like summer is going to get here. Things are going to get warmer and more enjoyable.

9.       Toro Y Moi – How I know

According to Last.fm, this is one of my most played songs. When I heard this, I had it on repeat for a long time. This has everything I enjoy in a song. Hopefully, after this, he’ll have collaboration with Stereolab and I’ll cry tears of joy. 

10.   The Wrens – I married Sonja

The Wrens have a lot of good songs, but this happens to be one of my favorites of theirs. You’ll have this stuck in your head for ages.  If the 90s ever get mined for material, I wouldn’t mind a couple of bands ripping off Wrens material. Personally, I feel more Wrens songs make the world a better place.

11.   Camper von Beethoven – Tania

Camper von Beethoven is one of those bands I introduce to people and they instantly like it. I can’t imagine people disliking an articulate, intelligent band like them. Plus, I actually have a friend who met all of them in real life, and confirmed they were as nice as their recordings suggest. Tania just happens to have won the coin toss. 

12.   Chris Weisman – The Paradox of Thrift

Either Chris Weisman is a recluse or very bad at promotion. There is so much material of his which is finally seeing the light of day lately, so hopefully more people will discover him. I choose this song because it sounds timeless. 

13.   Carsick Cars – Zhi Yuan De Ren

China is catching up on us rock-wise. According to this Carsick Cars song, they are in the late 80s/Daydream Nation age. We need to move faster to get into mining early 90s material before they beat us to it. This is a fantastically excellent song, forceful, ambitious and happy. I want to hear more from them. 

14.   Chris Rehm – Blinders

While most of these songs have been more pop-orientated, I wanted to put this one alongside some of my favorites. It is a favorite. The song has such a strong emotional connection to me; it reminds me of staring out at the sea before I just dive in (sorry I used to be a lifeguard). As an added bonus, this song is free for download by going here. 

15.   Boards of Canada – Rue The Whirl

Boards of Canada take their time with releases. They take their time with a song. I sort of wish more bands had their patience. Sadly, most rush things for a release a year. Meanwhile, these Scots lock themselves away for a half-decade. 

Part III will be forth-coming as well. Hopefully I can continue to keep enough attention to bother with a third installation in this very rare thing (me following up on stuff).

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.