Alec Koone is the 19 year old Ithaca based music student behind Balam Acab. He’s part of this ‘witch house’ music genre, a genre which I think is imaginary and only exists in the mind of music bloggers and the writers of Pitchfork. But if such a thing does actually exist then I’m sure his song ‘Regret Making Mistakes’ would be the poster child for the sound.
The track opens gently, placing Balam in the comfort of a swing chair where the sounds of a nearby stream and the murmur of voices hum dimly in the background. But there is something else around too, something that stalks the inviting eastern strings that drift through the first few bars like a daydream. Casting a shadow across his thoughts and making them teem with regret.
Balam’s awareness of the outside world fades away and he descends deeper into himself, wandering into a foggy tomb of memories. Then as the rich reverb of the bass line starts, the horrors of where his thoughts have wondered start to become clear. He’s surrounded, surrounded by all the sorrows that haunt him. He embodies them with a stunningly haunting voice, one that’s soft on the ears but knife shaped to the soul.
The bass quietens, as the sound of a synthesizer sparkles you can almost see the tears begin to swell in his eyes. He’s recalling the wrong doing of his life, the lies, betrayals, deaths or worse. There release is built up over the remainder of the song brought about with a final cathartic hit of the bass and vocals but this time accompanied by the piano; you can almost see his tears falling as each note is played.
This swell of emotion falls away as quickly as it began, with Balam returning to the world at large. Re-sealing this regret to the tomb from which it was exhumed.
It’s a stunningly powerful song and one that I feel privileged to share with you today.
I remember reading a thing by Noel Gallagher about him saying how guys in Manchester who had guitars didn't really know what to do with them until the Stone Roses came along; the Roses focussed these lads, gave them direction, "that's what we should be doing!" they realised. That's how i felt when i first heard Elliott Smith. It was like being shown a sense of purpose. I immediately i knew this stuff. It felt familiar - well he wasn't reinventing the wheel or anything, you could hear his influences. Never specific bands or artists, more the influence of certain musical eras, of production techniques, of writing styles. And i remembered being struck by his fragile voice and his lack of confidence with it, so lacking that he would use that old pop-recording technique of double-tracking the vocal to try and bolster it a bit. With Elliott though, it always sounded like he was trying to hide his voice behind his own voice. But it gave me confidence to sing, and showed me that singing isn't about being good or bad or right or wrong, it's actually about being yourself and being honest and if you do something heartfelt, it will resonate somewhere with someone.
Apart from his voice, his playing was extraordinary. As each album developed he would play more and more instruments, showing himself to be a hugely talented pianist, drummer and bass player. His guitar skills were obvious from the start, always using complicated chord progressions rather than the tried and tested 12 bar of rock and roll. Any guitarist wanting to improve their technique should sit down and study 'Son Of Sam' or 'Everything Reminds Me Of Her', the progressions are so accomplished and never obvious, always avoiding the cliche. His arrangements got more and more ambitious with each album, from delicate acoustic recordings on Roman Candle to using big string sections and horn players on XO. He was obviously a fan of the Beatles, recording eventually at Abbey Road, and i think his writing owed a lot to George Harrison rather than Lennon & McCartney. But it was never pastiche; to my ears, Elliott Smith got a lot closer to the spirit of what the Beatles were about.
I only saw Elliott play live once, in London June 2000 at the Royal Festival Hall. Me and my brother went and i remember how we both thought he was great but how he was so obviously uncomfortable performing. I seem to remember that his backing band were basically Quasi and they were mostly playing material from XO and Figure 8. And although he was clearly not in his comfort zone on the stage, he didn't seem like the tortured artist people seem intent on making him out to be. I always assumed i'd see him play live again one day. He didn't seem like he was about to embark on a journey of self-destruction. I know a songwriter who spent time with Elliott in LA, due to them having the same publisher or something, and he said that the drug scene Elliott hung around in was a quite scuzzy, dirty little world that you just wouldn't want to glamourise.
I'm not sure how Elliott Smith died but the suicide thing doesn't really ring true for me. When people kill themselves with knives, usually it involves slicing a vein. To actually force a knife into your own heart is quite an achievement, no matter what state of mind you're in. Obviously i wish he hadn't died. Mainly because i think he probably had a load more great songs to write. But also because i hate all that rock 'n' roll martyr bullshit that comes with his death.
I'm not going to list my favourite songs or albums, that's all a bit puerile really. The whole catalogue is faultless; music written for all the right reasons; music as art, not product. Some songs i'll return to forever; some songs i'm only just discovering, only making sense as i get older. I've heard Domino are soon to release 'An Introduction To Elliott Smith', a compilation for the uninitiated. This is a good thing. More people need Elliott Smith's music in their lives.
At my desk the other day I was listening to the fabulous BBC 6 Music when this song hurtled down the wires of my earphones sending pulses of pleasure throughout my being. I hadn’t been paying much attention before so I was suffering some form of brain atrophy and any song that can break through the indifference barrier is worthy of further investigation.
Once I’d got my bearings on the stream, I found it was a collaborative effort between Ben Folds (the music) and Nick Hornby (the lyrics). Which on paper, is like the wet dream of a hipster kid from 1995. A year that saw Ben Folds Five release their amazing debut album and Hornby had the musically themed High Fidelity published.
Taken from the forthcoming album Lonely Avenue the song opens with a quick roll of the drums and bounces along blissfully into the best pop song I’ve heard since Darwin Deez Radar Detector. Driven by Folds on the piano and teeming with synth embellishments in all the right places, it becomes very difficult not have it whirring around your head for the rest of the day.
Lyrically the song is a distinctly Hornby monologue. A daydream of two people who don’t realise they are soul mates. Comfortable in their current relationship and have no desire to search for a fairytale ending. Folds delivers Hornby’s words with gusto and is ably supported by female vocalist Kate Miller Heidke, who provides the soft edges to the track.
The sum of these parts creates a truly memorable pop song that is reminiscent of Jens Lekmans work and leaves me hoping that the rest of the album can match up to this high standard.
You can buy the Single “From Above” on iTunes and the album Lonely Avenue is out on September 28th
In 2009 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released a self titled album that I literally became addicted to. Listening to it is like basking in a hot and hazy summer day of shoegaze pop. Each song, crafted with meticulous care, was riddled with deeply intelligent and melancholy lyrics about young love and growing into adulthood. Such are the depths to be found in their music, anyone who dared brand the band could a mere copycat of the late 80's early 90's sound that they love, can only be described as a nincompoop.
And so when I was scouring Hype M and found two news songs from this Brooklyn band I was excited. Taken from the "Say No to Love" single (which is also excellent) Lost Saint details a youngster in love from within a Catholic education upbringing. Being branded sinful for confessing your feelings of forbidden love, sympathising with the famed lover Heloise and her plight, knowing that she'd understand how you feel.
Its this sort intelligent output which make the band nothing short of astounding. I just hope the second album can live up to what has gone before.
Lost Saint.mp3
If you like what you hear please support the band by buying there first album here
Last year Japandroid released ‘Post Nothing’ a thrilling lo-fi pop punk album that perfectly described what it was like moving into your early 20’s. The youthful angst, the continued obsession with the opposite sex and the highs/lows that ensue when you think your ‘in love’. Their new track ‘Younger Us’ picks up life a few years later. Recounting memories of ”that time you were in bed, said ‘fuck it’ got up and drank with me instead” when saying “I’ll sleep when i’m dead” was a mantra. Before hangovers actually hurt and the emotional toll of (not so) meaningless sexual encounters started to tell. Wishing you could feel that way again even if only for a day, but knowing deep down those carefree days are gone forever. Its a great track and not to be missed.
I’m not sure how Los Campesinos! releasing a mini EP got by me, but it did. Well until now that is. It’s really caught my ears as sees the band stepping out of their usual wall of fuzz and guitar riffs.
Instead these new versions of songs from their 3rd album Romance Is Boring contain violins, pianos and a stripped away to nothing production that cynics might say is them jumping on the folk bandwagon. Even if there is any truth in such cynicism I don’t care one bit as the results are startlingly good.
Los Campesinos! songs have always crafted with very idiosyncratic lyrics, that unless you listen often don’t reveal themselves as intimate confessions of character flaws and past wrong doings. But slowed to crawl and removed from the wall of noise their intimacy is at once immediate.
It’s something that caught me by surprise and hints that the bands future direction could be something very different but equally great. That my friends is something to be excited about.
So it's been a while since I wrote one these things., Its an unfortunate by-product of just having way too much on at work and in my social life. Excuses aside I'm back and intend to be far more committed to this music blog than i have been in the last month.
So where to start? well there's only once place really and thats with this most amazing of Tracks from Darwin Deez. I first got wind of this via Ben Marwoods podcast for me on [edit] radio last month, he described it as possibly 'the best pop song of the year?'
I have to say that even after the 10th listen the track loses none of its luster. It has a boundless energy and sounds wee bit like Max Tundra but poppier (if thats even a word).
As I said in the podcast I released this week if you listen to this song without bopping along you don't deserve the power of hearing!
