Charming sophomore album from La Sera, plus dreamy shoegaze from Arizona - treats for the week.
LA SERA
Sees The Light
[Hardly Art]
Somewhere between recording her debut solo album and creating the follow up, Sees the Light, one gets the impression that Vivian Girls' bassist Katy Goodman went through a pretty significant break-up. The track titles of La Sera's new one hint at this concept, with names such as "Love That's Gone," "Break My Heart," and "I'm Alone," but it sounds like she's keeping her cool, and instead breezing through her emotions with a personal diary of a record; there are no ugly feelings aired here. But Goodman is not shy about sharing her story with the world (and in fact it sounds like perhaps she did the dumping), and neither is she shy about her vocal abilities, recording them with an upfront crispness, rather than smothering her singing with reverb (Vivian Girls style) as she did on the first La Sera LP. The opener "Love That's Gone" gently breaks the news to the unfortunate boy whose heart she's shattering over mellow West Coast beach-pop guitar strums, leading into the catchy fuzz-pop single track "Please Be My Third Eye," more of a love song than a lost-love song. Throughout, this record hardly is a downer, with Katy's honeyed vocals carrying it along, especially on tracks like the sugary sweet Calypso jam "Real Boy" which is a beach holiday all in itself. The music is simple and straightforward, ranging between distortion and jangle throughout the record, and eventually wrapping up with the acoustic heartbreak of "Don't Stay," insisting that the romance really is done, but taking equal part in the blame. Sometimes the best inspiration comes from a sad place, and this record finds like Katy Goodman's La Sera moniker is really coming into its own.
HALF STRING
Maps For Sleep
[Captured Tracks]
Captured Tracks'
Shoegaze Archives have unearthed some wonderful lost gems from around the world, and their fifth installment in the series is no exception. Half String hailed from the hot deserts of Arizona; this group of friends connected over their love for obscure post-punk and British shoegaze records -- a passion likely not shared by many contemporaries in their hometown of Tempe back in the early-'90s when the group formed. Thus it became clear that the pals should collaborate through a band of their own, and during their six-year run they released a few EPs and played a major influence on the local music scene, as well as hosting shoegaze festivals with fellow 'desert jangle' bands. The double LP includes a collection of their EPs as well as a few live tracks of gigs, home recordings, and demos. The three opening songs "Eclipse," "Maps for Sleep," and "Arc-Fold" come from the first 7" before the band decided to take on a second guitarist ("Oval" is a great example of resulting sound expansion into multi-layered sophisticated pop). The live tracks give an insight of how astounding it must've been to see Half String play at a gritty basement venue or a bedroom practice -- they truly succeeded at taking various musical inspirations and creating their own sound that became unique to a particular place and time. This is essential listening for any Slowdive or Ride fan. The limited edition 2XLP comes in gorgeous hand assembled packaging, clear vinyl too!
For more of this week's new releases check out
Other Music update.
Tanlines had already teased us with "Real Life," a track that made the rounds across the web a while ago, not only building up the hype but also providing a great sneak peek into Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm's fusion of '80s synth-pop and African-style drumming. With remixes of the Tough Alliance, Memory Tapes and Au Revoir Simone (to name a few) under their collective belt, the Brooklyn duo turned their creative energy into making their own music and spent the past few years brewing Mixed Emotions in various recording studios across New York; as we had hoped, the resulting album is full of sunlight-drenched dance floor-fillers. Emm's vocals are vivid and melancholy, yet never stray from the summery don't-worry-be-happy vibe of the music, which comes across as a pop mash-up of El Guincho and the Drums, while also hinting at the duo's love for house music. And the record couldn't "sound" any better either, mixed by the legendary Jimmy Douglas who's turned the knobs for hitmakers like Timbaland, Aaliyah and Justin Timberlake, and back in the day for Television, Roxy Music and Gang of Four too. I can't think of a better album to kick off the official start of spring and I expect to be playing Mixed Emotions well into the summer and beyond.
