(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)
Artist: The Clientele Album Title: Music for the age of miracles Year released: 2017 Details: standard black vinyl
The skinny: Returning back to my series, spinning all of The Clientele’s long players from my collection, I thought it pertinent to quote part of the post (with some updates) I wrote when I shared the band’s sixth studio album as my favourite from 2017. “When I purchased [this standard black copy of the album] from my local record store Compact Music, Tyler, my favourite vinyl pusher*, noted the album with a grin and said it was a good one. He used all the usual adjectives dragged out when describing their music, but assured me that when that “hazy, epic tune backing a spoken word monologue” (“The museum of fog”) came on, he said to himself, “oh yeah… these guys”. And he nodded slowly in a way that suggested he was hearing the song again in his head at that very moment. When I put on “Music for the age of miracles” for my own first listen, it didn’t disappoint at all. It was like returning home and sitting in your favourite comfy chair and watching the greatest movie you’ve never seen before but with all your favourite actors and characters. Familiar yet mind blowing and new.”
Standout track: “Lunar days”
*Compact Music used to have two locations Ottawa. The location I purchased this record at in 2017 was on Bank street, sadly, now closed down and Trevor has moved on to other pursuits.
True story: Back in 2006 or 2007, when this newfangled thing called the Facebook was still a relatively new concern*, I joined a Facebook group called “Shoegaze” and promptly forgot all about it.
And then at some point early in 2013, I started receiving a barrage of updates in my “News Feed” from this very group, which both surprised and delighted me. One such post was a photo of two new records, purchased in Waco, Texas, of all places, by two (at the time) recent shoegaze/dream pop bands that I had never heard of. They were No Joy and Still Corners.
Curiousity piqued, I immediately tracked down both of the albums with more than satisfactory results. Regarding Still Corners**, their sophomore album, “Strange pleasures”, was very much on the Beach House, Mazzy Star, and Cocteau Twins side of the dream pop spectrum. But where Beach House sounded at the time really like the work of the duo they were, Still Corner’s sound felt more developed and lusher.
Formed after a chance meeting between American expat musician Greg Hughes and English singer Tessa Murray back in 2008, Still Corners was signed by legendary indie label Sub Pop in 2011, on which they released their first two records. Where their retro and dreamy dream pop debut, “Strange pleasures”, wore their influences on its proverbial sleeves, the sophomore release, written directly after finishing the first, departed slightly, but only slightly, introducing synths and plenty of reverb the guitars for a more expansive sound. And though I’ve loved the four more albums they’ve released since, all on their own label Wrecking Light, my preference is for that particular time and place.
“We came from far
We follow the sun
We fell into a hole of love, yeah”
Halfway through the track list of “Strange pleasures” sits this sub three minute love song, “Berlin lovers”, the second single to be released from the album. It’s one of the more upbeat tracks in the bunch. Synth heavy, bouncing and jagged, skipping to the loo with the drum beat, all floating aloft airy wafts of washes and Tessa Murray repeating “so young, so young, so young”, over and over, in a voice that calls to mind an early Stars era Amy Millan. It’s the stuff of strobes and smoke machines and psychedelics – or just plain being in love.
*For me anyways. I know it was created much earlier but I’m not always up on all tech things.
**No Joy’s “Wait to pleasure” also started a different love affair that continues today… but that’s another story. 😉
For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.
Fifteen years ago or so, I was going out to the cinemas semi-regularly with a group of guys from work. All four of us were happily married but the films we often went to were ones that our wives would likely not have been interested in seeing so they gladly allowed us these nights out with the guys. The movies were all big budget action pieces that exploded off the screen, many were part of this MCU group of films that were just starting to get off the ground. To be honest, I wasn’t super familiar with all of the comic books that these films were based off of, but for me the actual content of the films were secondary, I enjoyed the nights out, the laughs, the goofiness, the popcorn and junk food, and the joy of being in the cinema.
One such night, we went out to see the film “Sucker punch”. I’m not sure which of the other three suggested it, perhaps all of them, but I had no idea what I was getting into, having no idea that it was based off of a graphic novel, nor had I read anything about or seen any teaser trailers. Without the weight of any expectations, I had a blast watching the film and was surprised afterwards to find I was the only one of us that enjoyed it* and in truth, might’ve been the only one in the world that didn’t hate it based on all the critical panning it received.
As poorly reviewed as the film was, it did receive some kudos for its visual effects and of course, its soundtrack was also universally loved, which is why we are here today. The nine tracks are a mix of covers and mash ups and remixes (oh my). The songs were used at key points in the film to add another layer to the fantasies of the film’s characters, blasts of technicolor musical numbers akin to the music video for Björk’s “Oh so quiet”. Indeed, many of the songs included vocal performances by the film’s stars. It’s probably one of my favourite ever soundtracks for how creates a specific feeling and atmosphere, reinventing the songs used specifically for this purpose.
The seventh of the nine is our song for today’s list and it features the film’s star Emily Browning dueting with Israeli-Romanian singer/songwriter Yoav on the Pixies classic, “Where is my mind?”
I first came across Yoav with his own cover of the track and liked the sound of it so much I checked out the rest of his debut album, “Charmed and strange”, which is similarly charming with his Cat Stevens vocals and use of acoustic guitar in inventive ways to create a sort of dance pop sound. I don’t know how he became involved with the “Sucker punch” soundtrack but it sounds as if his original cover became the springboard from which he and Emily Browning leapt, trading vocals over a miasma of industrial beats, feedback, and sonic screams. It builds from a place of quiet, an almost forgotten corner of the mind, each singer adding distinct voices from distinct experiences, and then the guitars kick in and the beat picks up, everything continuing to build until the machine guns fire, the full orchestra finale, and fireworks galore.
The Pixies original was featured on their debut album, 1988’s “Surfer rosa”, penned by frontman Frank Black (or Black Francis), a typically Pixie weirdo number that saw a resurgence went it was used at the end of the 1999 film, “Fight club”. It has become an anthem for the disaffected ever since and is a favourite at their live shows, which they perform in an unconventional way, kind of like a mix of “do I have to?” and “since I have to, I’m going to rock the hell out of it”.
The Pixies original exemplifies the eccentric punk edge of their early days and foreshadows where music will head in the 90s, slightly off-kilter guitar rock that was antithetical to the glam metal of the 80s. The cover is one and a half times longer and the mashup explosions exemplify what was popular at the beginning of the 2000s. Two very different sounds and each with very different moods and meanings, despite there being no change in the lyrics.
Both are fantastic and though the cover ‘gives’ just a little bit more** than the original and does everything a good cover should, I can’t in good conscience pick it over the Pixies’ original. Original being the operative word.
Cover:
Original:
*Interesting then, that this was the last film we would go out to see as a group, and often when we would see each other at work over the years, the film would be mentioned as a sort of inside joke.
**I always feel lyrics Pixies tracks could easily be longer but they always end just before they overstay their welcome.
For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.
My (life in) music lists 