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A Good Read A Good Listen and a Good Drink: Cory Branan

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

Cory Branan recently released his fourth album, No-Hit Wonder; the title track is below. The song, like the record, feels – lived-in, I guess – familiar and a little rough around the edges. It’s also sharply observed; the lyrics have bite in unexpected ways.

Other highlights include All The Rivers in Colorado (my personal favorite); C’mon Shadow and Daddy Was A Skywriter.

He’s currently taking his show on the road; New York, your show is on Oct. 1 at the Mercury Lounge, and Ohio, yours is in Columbus on Oct. 8 at the Rumba Cafe.

With that, I turn the floor over to the man himself, to tell us a little bit about one of his favorite books, records and drinks:

Photo by Marco Krenn

Photo by Marco Krenn


A Good Read:

I was just talking to someone about Garcia Lorca‘s lecture: In Search of Duende. The Spanish concept of Duende is different from the western idea of muse/inspiration. Lorca describes it as “wrestling the angel” that can only happen in live music and dance because those art forms occur in real time and then are gone. Anyway, it’s what I’m after in the music I play and seek out. Lorca explains it much better.

A Good Listen:

I haven’t heard the whole thing yet but there’s a collection of Keith Richards‘ solo work with the Xpensive Winos I’m itching to check out. I heard the one track Locked Away and it was tore up and beautiful in the best of ways.

http://youtu.be/2vFAv5HJwuY

A Good Drink:

My wife makes a good moonshine Manhattan. Some buddies work this still in Gatlinburg that makes a rye based shine. Mix that with sweet vermouth and a dash of bitters and brace for impact.

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Mumblr, Full of Snakes

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Mumblr, of Philadelphia, have recently released their first full-length effort. It is called Full of Snakes. The accuracy of that title will depend entirely on your personal feelings about snakes. (I have a certain wary appreciation, providing no venemous fangs are in evidence.) I have a good deal warmer feelings about the record; it’s brash and messy and weird and contains a love letter to Philadelphia which gets stuck in my head every time I listen to it:

But there are also tunes like Sober, which is distorted, fuzzy, primal shriek of anxiety:

And Greyhound Station which seething, roaring meditation on the strange combination of sweaty exhaustion, low-level terror, and rage that eventually settles on anyone required to spend any time in the titular location:

It can be a challenging listen, at times, but it is absolutely worth it. In conclusion: here is the video for I Think About You All The Time – also their first video ever – which contains a dude in green paint for no apparent reason and some nudity towards the end. Adjust your viewing plans accordingly.

ITAUATT (I Think About u All The Time) by Mumblr

You can listen to the rest of the record here on Soundcloud, at least for now. Alternatively you can visit their bandcamp.

They will be taking their show on the road starting in October; New York you have a couple shows, but probably should attend the one on Oct. 4 at Shea Stadium, for the complete Grotty Punk Rock Clubhouse Experience; Ohio, they’ll be stopping in Athens on October 10. Everyone else, check their listings and plan your road trips if you need to.

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Blackwater Jukebox, Blackwater Jukebox

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blackwaterjukebox14

Dearest readers, Blackwater Jukebox (Geordie McElroy and a legion of talented friends) has put out a new, self-titled record, and it is packed full of foot stomping, hip-shaking, grab-your-partner-and-swing-em-around tunes. Some are remixed versions of material from Sleaze of the Reaper and Banjos and Breakbeats; others are new. But they are all great, and worth your time.

To whet your appetite, here is Cleo May, a new tune which I like a lot:


And also the video for Eastside Girl, featuring Sadie D’Marquez and, you guys, I love it so much I wish I could teleport myself inside it, so I could dance along with the crowd.

Blackwater Jukebox - Eastside Girls feat. Sadie d'Marquez (official)

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White Sea, In Cold Blood

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whitesea1

White Sea is the solo project of Morgan Kibby (M83). In Cold Blood is her most recent release. It’s lush, in the sense that it is expansive and textured and the kind of thing you can easily sink into. It is operatic, in the sense that it grabs the heart, it stirs things buried deep, and then it soars. The first time I listened to it was also the third, fourth and fifth times I listened to it because I kept scrolling back and plunging back in.

It’s also solid; there isn’t a single song I’d brush off as filler. I’m especially fond of They Don’t Know (the hook; if you aren’t snagged, move on); Warsaw (about being someone who should come with a warning label and knows it); Small December (because goodbye doesn’t mean you don’t love them anymore, and you can tear things down, but the outline will always remain); and NYC Loves You (because it’s true, the city will always take you back).

If that stream disappears, you can also hear some excerpts at her Soundcloud page.

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Alex Greenwald, Yo

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GreenwaldYo

INTERNETS. NESSIE HAS SURFACED.

Alex Greenwald has put his solo record out – it is called Yo – and mysteriously not said anything about it. In the event this is because he’s conducting some sort of marketing experiment, I offer my data-point, which is that it took the Tumblr-tide three weeks to bring the news to my door.

Anyway, I have now listened to it four times in a row, and my reaction is: Mmm. Hmm. Interesting. It’s pop music with some echo and wubble-bubble, and for all one of the songs is a love song about a knife, there’s none of the fuzzy rage and jagged aggression that showed up in Phantom Planet’s sound. Lest that make it sound like a weightless, disposable confection, know also that lyrics have razor-sharp edges, sometimes in unexpected places. It is very much the kind of thing that becomes richer with repeated listening.

Simulacre and Still Too Soon: The first two tracks are, in order, a 13 second sample of something I didn’t recognize and a song about how all the sunshine in Los Angeles can really mess with your head. This was something I wondered about when I visited, actually, if all the perfect weather eventually makes it feel like you’re living in a weightless summer camp dream all the time. I mean, say what you want about New York, but when the December wind comes whipping down the skyscraper-canyons and through your bones, you have to be real with yourself about if you have to live here. Because there are definitely easier places to struggle.

Movin’ On: Some people break up with their friends and lovers quickly; others take a little longer. I guess it comes down to whether you want a quick pain, or an extended unraveling.

Track03: Actually track four; I thought this was a labeling mistake and made a mental note to figure out the real title and fix it, and then it turned out to be meta-commentary about the placement and role of songs on mix cds.

Balisong: The aforementioned love song about a knife; one of my favorite songs on the record. Also the only one I can currently find on the internet in a relatively easy-to-share location. That said, those of you who have Spotify, you can listen to this song and the rest of the record there.

On My Own: A really bouncy song about being crushed by the city and your dreams and the disappointment of your loved ones. I imagine I will find myself dancing around my kitchen to this in the future.

Bitch Sinister Bitch: Perhaps a tiny hint of a reggae rhythm amid the shimmer and swirl; mostly about being an irritatant, and choosing the times you are an irritant wisely? I think? I wish I had the lyrics for this one.

R.O.T.K.: My other (current) favorite song on the record, mainly because it drops into the same dark register as Balisong.

You Found Each Other: A song about believing in romance, but only because it keeps happening to people who are not you. It’s cheerful and encouraging but in a slightly manic and cynical way.