Tag: Americana

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Best tunes of 1993: #3 Cracker “Euro-trash girl”

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Digital music has certainly changed the way we consume our favourite songs and albums*. First, with the mp3 and illegal downloading in the late 90s and early 2000s and then, with music streaming services in the late 2000s to present. I know a great many people who have stopped buying physical music altogether and some who have been offloading their collections in order to make room for other… stuff. Indeed, I am thinking that there may be some in the younger generations who have never owned a record, a cassette tape, or a compact disc. It’s these folks that I worry may never know the joys of physical music: album artwork, liner notes, gatefold and other foldout sleeves, and of course, the hidden track.

Yes… the hidden track.

For those who may not know of what I speak, hidden tracks are songs that were typically tacked on at the end of the official track listing on records, tapes, and CDs, the song titles weren’t listed on the sleeves and sometimes on CDs, would be “hidden” on tracks far later on in the disc. I personally have enjoyed a great many of these over the years** but I do believe my all-time favourite example would be Cracker’s “Euro-trash girl”. It appeared at track 69 of 99 on the CD version of the band’s sophomore album, “Kerosene hat”, and was apparently put on there by the band unbeknownst to the record company, who wanted them to keep it for a future release.

I had gotten into Cracker with their self-titled debut album and the hilarious debut single, “Teen angst (What the world needs now)” and when I started hearing new singles “Low” and “Get off this” on alternative radio, I recognized their country-twanged alt rock right away. But when I started hearing “Euro-trash girl” on the radio, I knew had to get the new album. Of course, when I first picked up the CD in the stores and didn’t see the song listed, I was quite disappointed but I picked it up anyway. And yet the story had a happy ending, unlike our protagonist in the song.

“Yeah, I’ll search the world over
For my angel in black
Yeah, I’ll search the world over
For a Euro-trash girl”

“Euro-trash girl” is a fan favourite at live shows that was as such before it was ever put to tape, which is reportedly why it ended up as a hidden track. It starts with a gentle strum and a forlorn electric guitar and it doesn’t really kick in to a higher gear than that, even when the drums join the fray and things get louder. It’s a lackadaisical eight minutes of meandering and reminiscing, David Lowery weaving a tale, true or no, of a backpacking trip through Europe, a search for European love and the misadventures that are found instead. It plays on all of our collective schadenfreude, amusing us to the point that we don’t want it to end, singing along with our narrator as he gets robbed, arrested, shaken down by border cops, is forced to sell his ‘plasma’ after his parents refuse to wire him money. And at the end, he is still searching for his “angel in black”.

*In fact, I’ve seen more than few writers posit whether the ‘album’ has seen its day.

**“Train in vain” by The Clash, “Blue flashing light” by Travis, and “All by myself” by Green Day are just a few fine examples.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1993 list, click here.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2012: #20 Trampled By Turtles “Alone”

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Memory is funny thing. And as I get older, it’s only getting funnier. Yeah. These days, it’s damn right hilarious.

I have no idea at all how I ever came across Trampled by Turtles and their very excellent 2012 album, “Stars and satellites”. I’ve thought, at points, that they were one of those many bands that I’ve investigated over the years in anticipation of seeing them live at either Ottawa’s Bluesfest or the CityFolk festival. But that can’t be it because although they have played both of those festivals, each of these appearances occurred prior to and well after this album’s release and unfortunately, I missed both.

Then, I wondered if it was because I had gotten caught up the indie folk wave that had taken hold of pretty much everyone around this time, thanks, of course, goes out here to the success of England’s Mumford and Sons and the United States’ answer, The Lumineers. A very possible theory, this.

But the theory that I feel is most likely, is a simple one: They have one hell of a band name, don’t they?

Trampled by Turtles formed in Duluth, Minnesota back in 2003. As far as I can tell, all six members – Dave Simonett. Tim Saxhaug, Dave Carroll, Erik Berry, Ryan Young, and Eamonn McLain – have been with the band since its inception and through the release of all nine of their albums. Since the beginning, they have maintained a hold on their bluegrass and folk underpinnings and man, are they talented.

One of the biggest standouts of their aforementioned fifth album, “Stars and satellites”, is this very track we are focusing on today: “Alone”. It is fresh and at the same time, old school to the nth degree. The rustic, acoustic guitar plucking is quickly joined by Dave Carroll, twanging and bouncing on the banjo and this not-so-torrid pace is maintained for the first minute or so while the frontman, Dave Simonett, finds his feet and then, locates in the darkness, his backing vocalists. Tim Saxhaug on the bass joins in next, in typical booming fashion, then Ryan Young eases his fiddle into the picture and finally, here, the pace explodes into all out ecstasy.

“The summer breezes blow so tall
And the winter nights are cold and so long
In between the falling leaves ooh“

There is a flitting and frittering sound coming from of all these stringed instruments. It is the falling leaves. It is a lonely wind. It is the sound of voices far off. It is dark here, there are plenty of stars in the sky, and if you follow them, you will find your way home.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2012 list, click here.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2012: #22 Family Of The Year “Hero”

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Family of the Year was formed in California in 2009 by brothers Joe and Sebastian Keefe, as well as James Buckey, who were all veterans of the Boston alt-rock music scene in the late 90s. California native Christina Schroeter joined the group not long after, solidifying the indie folk band’s roster and adding her female vocals to give the group its trademark harmonies. A debut album called “Our songbook” appeared almost immediately after their formation, suggesting that material had been percolating for a while, and then, their major label debut was launched three years later. “Loma Vista” was actually my introduction to them (and still the only album by them in my collection) and this meeting came a year after its release, in 2013, because they were slated to play the local summer music festival (remember those?) and they piqued my interest.

Family of the Year’s set was quite amazing and the album got a lot more play after I saw them than it did beforehand. I especially fell in love with the single “Hero”, a track that had been released earlier, albeit as a shorter and not nearly as finely realized version. This song was then used for the trailer and as de facto theme song for Richard Linklater film, “Boyhood”, in 2014 and became a hit of sorts for Family of the Year. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the film but it’s a long one, following the protagonist throughout his formative years. What makes this coming of age flick different from the rest, though, is that it was filmed real-time as the actor (and his co-stars) aged through those same formative years, making the pay off at the end all the more worthwhile. The film also imbued the song with more meaning for me, burnishing the protagonist of the song’s reluctance to stand out, and dancing all emotional and heroic in spite of himself.

“So let me go
I don’t wanna be your hero
I don’t wanna be a big man
Just wanna fight with everyone else”

“Hero” pulls into you tightly with its jangly arpeggiating plucking on the acoustic guitar, the light brushing on the snares, and the way each eases their way out of the ether. Synth washes are just there, like the flickering shadows just beyond the reach of the campfire, and then, just at the song’s apex, comes a touch of electric guitar, but more as support than overpowering force. The rest of the band joins Joe Keefe here, singing as a crowd, cheerful and uplifting. And then, the song ends as it began, quiet and acoustic, leaving a slight but definite smile on your face as the last note fades.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2012 list, click here.