Tag: Noise Rock

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Gateway Drugs “PSA”

(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: Gateway Drugs
Album Title: PSA
Year released: 2020
Details: standard black vinyl, booklet included

The skinny: In a couple of weeks time, I plan to start counting down my favourite albums of 2020 and though I am still finalizing things up – crossing my Ts and dotting my Is – I know that there are a couple of albums that are definitely going to finish up just outside of my top ten that still bear special mention. And you guessed it, this might be one of them. In my opinion, it’s a travesty that Gateway Drugs’ sophomore album, “PSA”, aren’t likely to be on too many radars. I first met up with these indie rockers when I saw them open up for Swervedriver back in 2015 and was completely taken in by their sleek and sexy and pure rock and roll performance. The quartet is three siblings, Noa (guitar), Liv (bass), and Gabe (drums) Niles*, all of whom share and trade vocal duties between them, and a second guitarist in Blues Williams. This sophomore record picks up where the debut, “Magick spells”, left off, playing dirty poker for their very souls at the same table as Jesus and Mary Chain and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Here, they’ve upped the ante, though, handing over the production to The Ravonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner. This pressing is bare bones black with a pretty sweet mini-booklet included but the sound is built for your best noise cancelling earphones.

Standout track: “Wait (medication)”

*They may be tired of us mentioning it by now but the father of these three siblings is Prescott Niles, bassist of The Knack. Rock and roll might just be second nature here.

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 1992: #6 Spiritualized “Run”

<< #7    |    #5 >>

Did you ever discover a band in their very early days with one particular song, a song that you loved so much but then never really managed to find out anything out about them until much later? And by much later, I really mean just a handful of years later when this same band has released an album so mind-blowing that they are instantly a favourite band. And did you then think to yourself “I’m sure I know this band” and go back in your mixed tapes and rediscover that ‘one’ song all over again?

If your answer is ‘no’, you might be too young to remember a time before the internet and Google and Wikipedia, when the discovery of music came by chance, close friends, and hours of listening to alternative and college radio, while poring over music mags and fanzines.

If your answer is ‘yes’, I’ll happily say: “Me too”. Perhaps a few times over.

Two examples of this phenomenon that I always have readily available is (The) Verve and their early single “Slide away” and of course, Spiritualized with “Run”. It wasn’t until 1997 that I really ‘discovered’ both of these bands. Spiritualized’s “Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space” was my favourite album that year (“Urban hymns” was very, very close second) and it only took a bit of pre-internet research for me to discover that it was their third record. The hunt for the two previous ones at the CD shops started immediately.

Spiritualized was formed from the ashes of Spaceman 3 when Jason “Spaceman” Pierce acrimoniously split with the other creative force of that band, Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember. The first iteration of Spiritualized was basically Spaceman 3 without Kember but with a few replacements, most notably, Pierce’s then girlfriend, Kate Radley, a distinct band began to rise out of the ether. The sound of their first releases also didn’t stray too far from the tried and true Spaceman 3 sound. Pierce would really hit his stride with that aforementioned 1997 album but their first two albums are very excellent as well.

“Run” was originally released as a single in 1991 but was included on their debut album, “Lazer guided melodies”, the following year and was when I first heard it. The album’s twelve songs are presented as four colour-coded suites and “Run” leads off the ‘Green’ suite, which appeared on the second side of the first disc. Part of the songwriting credits are attributed to J.J. Cale and there’s more than just a subtle wink and hesitant nod to The Velvet Underground here. You know the track I mean. Listening to it, “Run” has got a bass line that rumbles and thumps down, down, down into the depths of your heart. The drums just don’t quit, a droning dream, a brilliant epiphany, loops of ecstasy and rip-roaring guitars. It sounds like a high from which no one should tumble. Yeah. This is how addictions get started. Check it out.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1992 list, click here.

Categories
Tunes

100 best covers: #65 Asobi Seksu “Then he kissed me”

<< #66    |    #64 >>

Asobi Seksu. The name may not ring any bells for you, which is a big shame. In a perfect world, it would have done. However, it was not to be.

Asobi Seksu was a New York-based band that had a rather fluid membership over the years, the only constants being the glue that held everything together: vocalist Yuki Chikudate and guitarist James Hanna. For me, this band was among the best and brightest that started the new shoegaze revival in the early 2000s, a revival that feels like it has gone on much longer than the original scene. I got into these guys back in 2006 with their wonderful sophomore release “Citrus”, falling in love with their Lush and MBV vibes, and voraciously consumed everything they produced thereafter. Unfortunately, they announced an indefinite hiatus back in 2013, a word they’ve kept, except for a one-off appearance opening for Slowdive in Boston in 2014 at that iconic band’s request. But who could say no to Slowdive, really?

Asobi Seksu released this apt cover of The Crystals’ 1963 hit song as a B-side for their non-album single “Stay awake” in 2007. Given my relatively limited exposure to the original, I think the cover is at least faithful to the spirit of Phil Spector’s production, albeit with perhaps thicker and fuzzier walls of sound and of course, Chikudate’s chiming vocals replacing the original R&B harmonies.

At a mere two minutes, though, this cover is like that oft-elusive and all-too-brief first kiss. Strange, timid, and awkward, but fully imbued with passion and sexual energy, and yes, questions of love. You’ve all been there. You know what I mean. The taste is more-ish, fleeting, just whetting the appetite for a bigger feast.

I’m not even going to ask the question because I don’t care about the answer. I’m going with the cover here. Repeat after me: Asobi Seksu. You’re welcome.

Cover:

The original:

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.