forstella ford

i got my fostella ford cd through the post today, which really was just what the doctor ordered. especially since it took nigh on three weeks getting here. i guess i'll let them off though, as it was imported from florida somewhere, and is actually worth the wait.

but when i opened up the envelope, guess what? the jewel case had been broken in the mail. oh yeah, i understand that's a bit of a hazard accepted in dealing through the post, but sometimes it just really pisses me off: probably about fifty percent of my cd collection have broken jewel cases, and when opening up i have to be careful that the disc doesn't go flying all over the place. hell, i even ordered about fifty blank cases the other week to put all my unboxed cds in, but even when arriving these cases were mostly all cracked in one way or the other. and i'm not even going to speak about the quality.

putting the cd in my player though, i really was waiting with bated breath for something fantastic. i'm not sure if any of you are familiar with forstella ford, but they're the band that 'only airplanes count' broke up to form. only airplanes count are really difficult to find anything on, and the only song i know that they've released is 'kings do not have watches' from the emo diaries 1 comp. and it's probably one of my favourite songs just due to the sound these guys have. twinking dissonance, rough vocals, almost incomprehensible lyrics.

one of the few things i did find out about only airplanes count was that they'd broken up and formed forstella ford though. so upon googling them, i listened to a few of their tracks scattered about the place and i was so disappointed. it turns out fostella ford turned into a hardcore/thrash band. not that it's a bad thing, just that i was really hoping for the gems of tracks such as 'kings do not have watches'. so i forgot about them.

until one day. when on c-zine someone happened to mention emo diaries 1, so i asked a tentative question about only airplanes count and came back with a bit of a discussion on how much they'd basically changed. the one saving grace is that someone mentioned their first album sounded a bit like what only airplanes count sounded like. and that was enough for me, so i ordered it.

now it's in my player though, i can't help but feel it's a pale shadow of what only airplanes count was. sure, it's a good album. it's mathy in all the right places, has the right guitar sound (maybe not quite as twangy as i remember it), but the lyrics are distinctly more.. i dunno, adolescent. it's all clearly about girls as he describes them, what they've done to him, what he never did. he leaves no room for interpretation, no room for the listener's experiences.

and they do weird inexplicable things too. after the first track comes a 1:20~ long acoustic ballad. it was over before i knew it, and i really just said to myself, "what?". in the later tracks it all kind of blends together, but one thing stands out is the good old voice over trick. they get some well spoken, probably well known dude's voice sampled over them playing. distinctly reminded me of ethel meserve's "ina", but was just not as good. why did such a good band break up to form such an inferior one? i almost cry at the thought.

maybe i'm a bit harsh. maybe i'm jaded from previous expectations. and maybe i've just not listened to this enough yet. and even though i'm disappointed that it's not the perfect album, i still enjoyed listening to it, and i'm still kind of happy to have it sitting in my stack.

rockets and blue lights

i thought that tonight i'd like to talk about one of the records i own, but i wasn't sure which one. so i've been looking through my record collection and although there's a lot of stuff i'd like to talk about, there's one thing that takes priority over that. you see, i'd already picked out the 'i hate myself' 7" that would be great fodder for some wordy meandering, but then i opened up the top of my turntable and saw the rockets and bluelights 10" just sitting there begging for a spin.

this one hasn't left my turntable in a good couple of months, to be honest, and is definately the opus of my collection. and i think it's one of these things that quite probably everyone should have heard of, but copious amounts of people HAVEN'T. needless to say that this record represents everything that's both hidden and good about emo. a 10" vinyl: two tracks on each side. of course flipping it is a pain, but what can you do. even side a has enough fantastic material to blow the socks off of a large mountain.

so i googled them a while back when i was all curious about them, but all i could find information on was the painting they were named after. needless to say that's NOT what i was looking for, though i suppose it's a pretty painting! and it obviously meant enough for them to name their band after it, i suppose.

but on further investigation, i was able to find a small geocities website from the band which is badly produced and really juxtapositioned (it's not what one would call top notch design), but without sounding insulting, it actually suits the music perfectly. spanning pictures showing their lives, obviously a very visual band. and their picture page makes me so jealous that i was and am unable to jump down into the basements where they play their shows. and on the site there was a promise of a 10 song lp, which i'd be bursting at the mention of. sadly i'm not sure whether the band are still together or not.

released on very elusive redder records, the actual record is hidden away at the bottom of the page, as the very last release! not exactly in a standout position, to be honest. it's also only $9.49, which considering exchange rates is cheap as chips for me.

so sitting here with the vinyl spinning, listening to the heavy feedback, mathy rhythms and random shouts is probably as close as i'll get to the diy scene over there. but as long as they produce superb records like this, i suppose i'll be sated. but i'm not even asking you, but telling you that you must hear this band.

mp3, rockets and bluelights - a smashed piano
vinyl, buy it at redder records

hundred hands / pop unknown

so, a couple of weeks ago i looked in my email, and the only new message i had was one from deep elm records apparently telling me that they were selling 30 cds for $40. "what?", i said to to my quietly surprised self, "this must me a typo". but when clicking on the message to read THIS IS NOT A MISPRINT!! i could not help but think that i was wrong. the only catch seemed to be that i wasn't allowed to choose any cds, but i was up for a gamble so thought hells, why not.

pause, fast-forward, play- we're at the future and i'm opening up my package, which is full of flatpacked cds that have had the jewel cases ripped out (this kind of annoyed me, but whatever, i'll buy some to replace them). after a brief flick through i was more than impressed actually, some high key releases (but sadly more than one double as the settlefish album and imbroco ep prove).

so notice that for the next while, i'll be plodding my way through these cds, highlighting any amazingly excellent ones. i hope you're paying attention.

#9 - hundred hands - s/t EP

the first one i picked out of the list kind of erked me a little bit. i recognised the name of the band from somewhere, but i couldn't for the life of me remember where it was. after some brief scurrying about and a sharp reminder from a friend of mine, turns out it's the guitarist from the appleseed cast's side projecty thing. with the appcast boys being one of my favourite ensembles that actually still exist, this was exciting news!

only six tracks, but distincly through these, it sounds as though i'm listening to some serious low level owl / two conversations era appleseed cast, but with a slightly simpler sound. it has the same distinct guitar sounds, but they're played in what can only be described as a more accessable way. plus there's helluva vocals sung by guitarist aaron pillar, who has a slightly deeper voice than our usual friend christopher. it's a nice change to be honest, and it's one of these things that sounds as though it really grows.

the thing that kind of caught me off guard was the last track, "sunday", which starts off with two really short lines on different guitars interweaving, sounding very post-rock indeed!! and there's this funny bass drum that sounds electronic, and all of this keeps repeating all the way through. of course a piano dances about for a little while, but i must have been three minutes through the track when i thought, "what's going on here."

and then it ended.


#15 - pop unknown - summer season kills EP

of course if you liked mineral at any point at all, and are anywhere near worth your salt, you'll know all the side projects that these guys dashed off into. of course big chris simpson dived off into the gloria record, and later on into his solo project zookeeper. then gabe and scott mccarver did a bit of fun in imbroco for one short ep then disappeared off of the earth, and then gabe started performing with pop unknown, bringing all the most poppy aspects of the style mineral had crafted out and adding in some really broad, understandable vocals for a change.

yeah, sure i'd been aquaintanced with the band's album "if algebra fails, try arsenic", but i never really looked into their discography too much. and in my mind the band had always been another imbroco, releasing one record and then disappearing. i feel shocked and almost embarrassed that there's actually this ep and another album still floating about that i haven't touched.

anyways, enough about my forgetfulness

like i said, if you can picture all of the twinkly bits in mineral, and the throbbing, trademark octave chords of good old mid 90s emo, you've got pop unknown right there. except one hell of a lot cheesier. and to be honest, that's what sets them apart from their past; where mineral was really serious, really beautiful and really serene at places (especially on endserenading), pop unknown blasts that all out of the way and isn't afraid to be adolescent and cheesy. the lyrics themselves show this sort of thing, straight out of a notebook (that embarrassingly could have been mine) from maths class. lots of "me", lots of "you", lots of what we are, what we were and what we could have been. what we did, what we've done, and what i will do. lots of compliments, lots of what you remind me of. and it's this pop side of the 90s emo movement that really spins my discs.

i might even venture to say that this ep is better than their full length, "if algebra fails, try arsenic", but i'd really have to sit down for hours to decide. unforunately though, since this is just an ep, it consists of five songs coming up to just about half an hour. which, when all is said and done, is a pretty meaty amount of music.



and i think that'll do for today. thanks, deep elm, for giving me at least two decent releases. now all i do is find another two, and basically i'll have broken even with costs, eh? hah.


links

pop unknown
hundred hands
deep elm records homepage

one toy solider

recently i've been listening to a band i like an awful lot, and their name happens to be 'one toy solider'. they appear to hail from the rocking vicinity of northampton, a place i'd only previously known for their rubbish football team and not much else. but apparently this place has become somewhat of a breeding ground for promising new bands! thankfully this one is plenty for my plate at the moment, so we'll focus on them.

the release i'm mainly talking about is the cd-lp of "concrete smiles at the midnight hospital diner", which i picked up off of amazon for little more than a fiver. their weapon of choice appears to be a subtle blend of the pretty, excellent midwest-emo of a decade past, blended with a bit more fervour and some crunchy indie.

some useful comparisons might be in order. their influences are cited as as at the drive-in and idlewild (i can hear it, i really can!), but they retain this lovely pop sensibility. and every song on the album has a certain cuteness to it which really just makes your mind go "aaaww". as far as i'm concerned it has all the hallmarks neccessary for a good record. crunch, twinkle, the odd placed, well executed scream, and melodies that are extremely catchy, but not to the extent of being irritating.

the only downside to these guys would be the fact that they haven't had a show in scotland yet. if you're reading lads, i'd attempt to remedy this one sharpish. for now though, i reckon i'll be content shoving this record on repeat and just sitting back and enjoying how fantastic they are.

listen to them on myspace, maybe pick up their 7" directly from them
pick up their cd from amazon

it's begun

if you read this, you'll probably find out a lot about absolutely fantastic music in the coming months.

don't just ask me, even this little girl believes good things are coming!