Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

The SMASHING PUMPKINS – ” Cyr “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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the smashing pumpkins, the smashing pumpkins cyr, the smashing pumpkins cyr release, wyttch, smashing pumpkins new album, smashing pumpkins mellon collie sequel, Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin

The Smashing Pumpkins released their new album, “Cyr”, which marks the second studio project from the mostly-reunited line-up. The core group of Billy Corgan, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin previously came together in 2018 the follow-up to 2018’s Rick Rubin–produced “Shiny And Oh So Bright Vol. 1: No Past. No Future. No Sun”.

Billy Corgan has produced the Smashing Pumpkins’ Cyr, is also the second project from the group since Corgan reunited with founding band members.  A double album, it’s also accompanied by a five-part animated series titled “In Ashes” which pairs the singles with a linear storyline of a dystopian society. The fourth installment, “Owl Wait“, premiered on Tuesday and the fifth has yet to be revealed. With Billy Corgan having overseen numerous works of myth-laden grunge rock and spent much of the past decade releasing chunks and snippets of an unfinished 44-song concept album called Teargarden By Kaleidyscope,

This album’s release marks the latest checkmark for The Smashing Pumpkins, who have ramped up production on a bevy of new projects. Last month, the band revealed plans for a sequel to their classic 2000’s Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, as well as an elaborate 25th Anniversary tour whenever such a feat is possible. Corgan has also stated that Cyr is merely part two of a three-album cycle that began with Shiny And Oh So Bright and will come to a conclusion with a future record.

Apparently bassist D’arcy Wretzky has claimed she was excluded from sessions, in interviews detailing the unbearable stresses of being in the band in the 90s. While Iha’s guitars remain satisfyingly gnarled for most of the 20 tracks on Cyr, Corgan’s runic lyricism (Minerva is named after the Roman goddess of war, Ramona and Wyttch come packed with hexes and spell-craft) largely comes attached to upbeat, enigmatic synth-pop. It’s kind of Arcadian electro, There are moments of harder hitting electro-rock, such as Wyttch and The Colour Of Love, and even some industrial grinding on Anno Satana (which translates as – gulp – ‘year of Satan’),

And the traditional comeback nostalgia tour – the Pumpkins’ will be themed around their Melon Collie And The Infinite Sadness commercial peak – will have to wait until the release of a 33-track concept album sequel to Melon Collie and 2000’s Machina/The Machines Of God, due in 2021.

Back in August, The Smashing Pumpkins began releasing singles from the 20-track album on a regular basis. In all, the 90s pop-grunge powerhouse put out eight singles ahead of the official release of Cyr. 

Taken together, all of the singles and In Ashes episodes delivered fragments of the Cyr picture. In these pieces of the portrait, The Smashing Pumpkins are shown to be looking ahead based on the futuristic, techno-pop influences found on many of the singles.

However, on songs like “Wyttch”, the band is still able to tap into the heavier influences that fans identify them with from the 1990s. With the full release of Cyr, audiences can now hear how all of these influences fit together to carve the path forward for the group.

Double album, CYR, coming Friday, November 27th, via Sumerian Records.

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The JAM – ” Sound Affects ” Released 28th November 1980

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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On this day (November. 28th) in 1980: The Jam released their 5th studio album, ‘Sound Affects’, on Polydor Records…(This photo: my Canadian pressing of the album signed l-r by Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton & Rick Buckler…) It featured the group’s second UK #1 single, “Start!”; as well as other excellent Jam gems such as the funky “Pretty Green”, the raging “Set The House Ablaze”, ballad “That’s Entertainment” & the horn-driven “Boy About Town”; one side of the cover design was a pastiche of the artwork used on various sound effects records produced by the BBC during the ’70s; Paul Weller later cited it as his favourite Jam album in a BBC documentary; in 2006, ‘Q’ magazine ranked it #15 in its list of ‘The 40 Best Albums of the ’80s’…

PETER GABRIEL – ” Growing Up Live “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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In 2002 and 2003, following the release of his album UP, Peter Gabriel went on the road with his Growing Up tour, once again collaborating with production designer Robert Lepage to create a spectacular and theatrical live experience. The tour took in thirty-two cities across the USA, Canada and Europe and this concert performance was recorded over two nights at the Filaforum in Milan in May 2003, with Peter Gabriel and the band performing in the round at the centre of the arena.

A concert film capturing the live show was released in late 2003, but Growing Up Live has never been a stand alone audio release, until now. It was the beginning of 2002 that we decided to go out on the road. I hadn’t been out for 10 years so it was going to be interesting to see if there were any fans still out there, if we could sell any tickets and how it would all work on-stage.

The fourth, and last, of this autumn’s series of live LP releases, “Growing Up Live”, is released today. Like Live In Athens 1987 and Secret World Live, this is the first time on vinyl for Growing Up Live, but this concert is presented as a 3LP set in a gatefold sleeve and full colour printed inner bags. The LP has been Half-Speed Remastered and cut to lacquers at 33RPM by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering and comes with a hi-res audio download code (24bit or 16bit).

“It was the beginning of 2002 that we decided to go out on the road. I hadn’t been out for 10 years so it was going to be interesting to see if there were any fans still out there and how it would all work on-stage. Last time [Secret World tour] we had two stages, a male stage and a female stage, and they were representing different things, urban, rural and this time we have moved the axis vertically, and it’s a sky stage and an earth stage. The album title had been UP, so there was a certain logic to this vertical translation onto the stage.” – pg

The touring band you will hear on this recording consists of Ged Lynch (drums), Tony Levin (bass, vocals), David Rhodes (guitar, vocals), Richard Evans (guitar, mandolin, whistle, vocals), Rachel Z (keyboards, vocals), Melanie Gabriel (vocals) and Peter Gabriel (vocals, keyboards).

“The band is a mixture of old and new. In the tried and tested friend department there’s David Rhodes on guitar who I’ve played with for many years, since his band Random Hold supported me on a tour way back. He began life as a sculptor, never wanted to be a professional musician, but sort of fell into it.

Tony Levin, who’s on bass, was actually on the first record that I did after I left Genesis. He’s the longest serving member, but obviously he does so many other things on his own, with King Crimson and many other people over the years. I think he is one of the most respected bass players in the world, so I feel very lucky that he is always out with me.

Rachel Z who is a very able keyboard player. She is better known in the jazz world but has been developing her own sort of rock stuff and has just put out an album of Joni Mitchell covers too. She’s very good. She’s also the daughter of an opera singer and has a very useful set of pipes on her as well.

I’ve worked in the studio with Richard Evans many times, but this is the first time live. He plays numerous instrument; mandolin, flutes, whistles, guitar. So that’s fun.

The drummer Ged Lynch. When we were making the album, Manu (Katché) was away on tour for some of the time so Ged came in. Manu’s a brilliant player but he is quite a decorator in some ways so it’s always beautifully and very musically done. Ged, on the other hand, sits in this tight box and there’s this sort of powerhouse driving things forward. It felt good for me to try and make the band focus more direct this time out. Ged is also a great percussionist and did a lot of percussion on the record as well.

Then, my daughter Melanie is out with me singing, and that’s a real pleasure for Dad.”

“Growing Up Live” – on vinyl for the first time – chronicles a Peter Gabriel performance from May 2003. Featuring PG with Ged Lynch, Tony Levin, David Rhodes, Richard Evans, Rachel Z, Melanie Gabriel and special guest appearances by The Blind Boys of Alabama, Sevara Nazarkhan, Dr Hukwe Zawose and Charles Zawose (plus the voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan). Triple vinyl in gatefold sleeve with printed inners. Half-speed remastered and cut to lacquers at 33RPM, across 2x heavyweight LPs. Vinyl cut by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, mastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis and overseen by Peter’s main sound engineer Richard Chappell. 

KING GIZZARD & The LIZARD WIZARD – ” Live In San Francisco 16′ “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – ‘Live in San Francisco ‘16’ limited deluxe double golden gate sunburst and bay fog vinyl LP with rainbow foil wide-spine jacket and packaged in a recycled brown paper bag.

King Gizzard recently made multiple announcements including their first studio album of 2020, Along with the announcement was the new single “Automation” The single release saw the band give full access to fans by providing a bunch of film and audio assets to make your own remix and clip.

 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard gave fans a preview of their upcoming “Live in San Francisco ’16″ release with a video of “Evil Death Roll”. The live 13-track, double album is set to arrive on November 20th via ATO Records along with a full concert film. Coming in as the band’s second official live release of 2020, behind April’s Chunky Shrapnel, it helps pad the stats on what has been a—comparatively—light year for the Australian-bred psych rockers. This year saw no studio releases from the group that usually puts out multiple a year, with King Gizzard largely exploring their archives with live releases—many of which the band used as fundraising initiatives for various causes.

In this black-and-white clip shot at The Independent, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard come in hot straight out of the gate with the song’s pounding rhythm. With Stu Mackenzie jumping around like a madman from the very start, one wonders how they can keep this up for the whole song—let alone an entire concert.

The answer comes with an instrumental breakdown in the middle of the tune, where the band is able to catch its breath and slow things down a bit. Meanwhile, repeated wah wah pedal-infused phrasings coming from somewhere in the trio of guitars featuring Joey Walker and Cook Craig in addition to Mackenzie. The style shifts around during the instrumental portion, as Walker’s harmonic-led lead brings the drums down and eventually to a full stop. As drummer Michael Cavanagh gently revives the rhythm, it abruptly turns into a fever pitch as the band comes back in at full velocity, and before you know it Stu is holding his guitar up to the mic to create hectic feedback. In short, this performance is raw energy for 7:31 minutes straight.

Just under a month after delivering their award-winning 2016 album Nonagon Infinity, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard took the stage at San Francisco’s The Independent for a set both wildly frenetic and meticulously executed. In one of their final club gigs before bursting onto the international scene—soon selling out amphitheaters and headlining festivals—the Melbourne septet laid down a breakneck performance that, in the words of SF Weekly, “made every organ ache just right.” Newly unearthed by ATO Records, Live in San Francisco ’16 captures an extraordinary moment in the band’s increasingly storied history, a 13-song spectacular likely to leave every listener awestruck and adrenalized.

Multi-tracked and impeccably mixed, Live in San Francisco ’16 simultaneously channels the massive energy of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s set while echoing the sweaty intimacy of the 500-capacity venue. Like Nonagon Infinity—the band’s eighth full-length and worldwide breakthrough—Live in San Francisco ’16 kicks off with “Robot Stop,” an immediately transportive track built on blistering riffs and bombastic rhythms. Reaching its majestic climax with a 22-minute rendition of fan favourite “Head On/Pill” (from 2013’s Float Along – Fill Your Lungs), the album rushes forward with a furious intensity as the band tears through the entire set without ever breaking—a feat that induces a sort of joyful delirium in anyone who bears witness.

With nearly half the setlist made up of Nonagon Infinity tracks, Live in San Francisco ’16 unfolds with the same exquisitely controlled chaos King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard brought to that arguable masterpiece—a nine-song body of work crafted as the world’s first infinitely looping LP (i.e., each track flowing seamlessly into the next, with the album-closing “Road Train” linking straight back into the opener). “2016 was peak tightness for Gizz,” notes frontman Stu Mackenzie. “Around this time we were really into tightly composed sets, and the show was like one long song—everything linked, everything planned. We threw that idea out the window later on, but this live record is a great document of that moment in our collective psyche.”

An unequivocal turning point for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Nonagon Infinity arrived in April 2016 and drew major critical acclaim, with NPR hailing it as “masterfully bizarro” and Pitchfork stating that the album “yields some of the most outrageous, exhilarating rock ‘n’ roll in recent memory.” Not only a critical success, Nonagon Infinity won Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album at the 2016 ARIA Music Awards, while eternally zeitgeisty director Edgar Wright named it among his favourite records of all time. Two years in the making, the album marked a drastic departure from the folk-and-Tropicalia-tinged psych-pop of its 2015 predecessor Paper Mache Dream Balloon, with the band taking a bold creative leap in its structure. “I wanted to have an album where all these riffs and grooves just kept coming in and out the whole time, so a song wasn’t just a song, it was part of a loop, part of this whole experience where it feels like it doesn’t end and doesn’t need to end,” Mackenzie explained back in 2016. When replicated live, that effect is doubly mesmerizing, as frenzied and transcendent as a glorious fever dream.

The vinyl product will be available in 2 formats;
1) The deluxe double LP on “Golden Gate Sunburst” & “Bay Fog” coloured vinyl with rainbow foil wide-spine jacket, printed on recycled board. Custom inner-sleeves, printed on recycled board. The product will be packaged in recycled brown paper bag in lieu of plastic shrink wrap
2) The standard double LP on recycled, randomly coloured, eco-wax vinyl with wide-spine jacket and custom inner-sleeves printed on recycled board. The product will be packaged in recycled brown paper bag in lieu of plastic shrink wrap

Live In San Francisco 16′ Double Disc. Glow in the dark embossed sleeve.
Both out everywhere November 20th

MT MOUNTAIN – ” Aplomb “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Perth-based psych/Krautrock group Mt. Mountain are today announcing their fourth full-length, ‘Centre’, and sharing the first single, ‘Aplomb’. Their first release on Fuzz Club, the incoming album is due for release on vinyl, CD and tape on February 26th 2021. Australian five-piece Mt. Mountain are today announcing their fourth album, ‘Centre’, and sharing the first single ‘Aplomb’. Taking cues from Krautrock pioneers like Neu! and Can whilst existing in a similar world to contemporaries like Moon Duo, Kikagaku Moyo and Minami Deutsch, Mt. Mountain are formidable torchbearers of the minimal-is-maximal tradition. Out today, ‘Aplomb’ was one of the first songs written for the album and marked a conscious shift of focus towards more rhythmic patterns within their music. Stephan Bailey (vocals/organs/flute) reflects on the song: “‘Aplomb’ is essentially the voice that I hear in my head, reminding me to not rush and slow down, and to have the confidence to bring this into practice in everyday life. We wanted there to be this clear contrast here between the tempo of the song and the lyrical content, an approach which appears throughout the album.”
Very excited to announce that we have signed with Fuzz Club Records. Details on the incoming release coming soon! through fuzzclubrecords: “We’re super excited to announce that we’ve signed the great mt.mountain for their incoming third album – the details of which will all be revealed soon!
Hailing from Perth, Australia and forming in mid-2012, Mt. Mountain deal in just about everything we love here at Fuzz Club: a sprawling, motorik psychedelic rock sound that effortlessly journeys between tranquil, drone-like meditations and raucous, full-throttle wig-outs that’ll blow your mind as much as your speakers.
Bailey describes how, thematically, much of ‘Centre’ is a dissection of faith – both spiritual and secular – and his personal, often complicated relation to it: “The album for me, lyrically, is mostly about my experience of religion. It explores these concepts and the rules that were told to me from childhood to adulthood and my thoughts on my own connection to them. Similar themes arise between the tracks whether it be lyrically or structural, both a play on repetition and simplicity.” ‘Aplomb’ is lifted from Mt. Mountain’s incoming fourth album ‘Centre’, due for release February 26th 2021 on Fuzz Club Records. You can pre-order the album on vinyl, CD and tape here:https://fuzzclub.lnk.to/aplomb

CHARMPIT – ” Cause A Stir “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Debut album on Specialist Subject from the partly California-raised ‘anarcuties’ Charmpit. Quietly subversive cultural politics with a barrelful of musical sugar to ease the medicine down. File under femme, not twee (then burn the filing system; they’re anarchists). “Cause A Stir” by Charmpit (by Emma Prew) London via California DIY pop(star) punk band Charmpit are gearing up to release their much anticipated debut full-length on the 3rd of April. Titled Cause A Stir, the album is being released by the always excellent Specialist Subject Records and follows on from Charmpit’s previous releases on Keroleen Records and Everything Sucks.

This London x California 4 piece, Charmpit, deliver Pop(star) Punk in a queer, DIY “Anarcutie” package. Through playful harmonies, sparkling guitar and to-the-point lyrics, they place a high value on friendship, the power of femme, and FUNctional social justice politics. Their debut LP Cause A Stir is a shining showcase of powerful song-writing twisted up in their hot couture and glittering vision. Charmpit got their start in 2016 during the DIY Space For London’s ‘First Timers’ project; an annual series of workshops, skill-shares and first time performances that ‘celebrates demystification’ and pours fresh, diverse, new talent into the UK music scene. They are what ‘First Timers’ dreams are made of! Releasing their first 7” vinyl single,

New single from upcoming CHARMPIT LP ‘Cause A Stir’ out 3rd April, 2020 on Specialist Subject,

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Released April 3rd, 2020

MAMALARKY – ” Schism Trek “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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As Mamalarky set out to make their debut album, they had a vision in mind: to shape the, “patchwork of different influences that comes together as a cozy quilt you can cuddle under”. Mamalarky are a collective of musical obsessives, outside of the band they are touring musicians and band managers, people dedicated to music above all else. The result is a record that seems to be indebted to the great and good of music history, a blur of musical ideas, melded into weird and wonderful soundscapes entirely of their own creation. There’s an almost hyper level of creativity here, a record that zips between styles and sounds, rarely stopping anywhere for long, channelling the spirit of an array of artists, from the angular stop-start rhythms of Weaves, the wonky-pop of Pom Poko and the wonderfully noisy edge of Deerhoof. In the foreground throughout is Livvy’s vivid story-telling, scratch the surface and these are personal tales, memories of feeling lost and lonely, repressing old relationships and the band’s own experience of being dotted across the country, wondering when the chance would come to be together again. This is the sound of a band in love with making music, a record that’s a fun, exciting and joyous expression of self

From Mamalarky’s Debut Self Titled Album Out in November on Fire Talk Records.

MARVIN ETZIONI – ” Marvin Country! “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Marvin Country is Marvin Etzioni’s ambitious fourth album. The two-record set hits the streets on April 17, 2012 and features Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, John Doe, Richard Thompson, Buddy Miller, Maria Mckee, and more. Marvin Etzioni is an American singer, mandolinist, bassist, and record producer, Etzioni is best known as a founder of, and bassist for, the band Lone Justice.

In 2012, Marvin Etzioni released a double album extravaganza: Marvin Country! It featured guest appearances from folks including John Doe, Lucinda Williams, Buddy Miller, Steve Earle, The Dixie Hummngbirds, Murry Hammond, and Richard Thompson. Even old Lone Justice cohorts Maria McKee, Shayne Fontaine, and David Vaught were along for the ride. But, the origins of some of those songs go back two decades.

Marvin issued Marvin Country: Communication Hoedown himself, on cassette in 1992, saying “I was single-handedly trying to bring back cassettes at a time when the industry said they were done. I still liked the analogue sound versus the high glossy digitalness (to coin a new word) of CDs.” It has never had an official release until now.

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There’s country, there’s alt. country, and there’s Marvin Country. It’s a magical place, way off the map, populated by back-porch philosophers, hobos, brokenhearted lovers and spacemen and presided over by the man the L.A. Times called “one heck of a songwriter.” Grammy award winner Marvin Etzioni has been known over the years as producer (Counting Crows, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Peter Case), sideman (T Bone Burnett, Dixie Chicks, Grey Delisle) and songwriter (Cheap Trick, Victoria Williams) Even before there was No Depression, Marvin was a co-founder of the seminal roots-rockers Lone Justice. It’s safe to say Marvin is revered in Americana circles worldwide. “Marvin Country!” is his ambitious fourth album, and first in over a decade. The two-record set hits the streets on 16th April. The mandolin man is back. “(Etzioni’s) material ranges from stark folk-based tunes to raw Stone’s-like rockers.”

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This time around Marvin lacks his mind blowing poetry & almost makes up the CD set with simple repeatable blues refrains. Yet he is his normal playful self with analogue sound effects, inner jokes, & songs about death & salvation. I hear more Blues & a few Cajun songs than the number of any country style of music. Some other songs are beyond categorization. There are many references about past Country greats as with Pasty Cline & Gram Parson, even the death of Bob Dylan. Don’t worry Bob is still around, but Marvin is thinking about that day that all of us shall meet.

CAR SEAT HEADREST – ” Making a Door Less Open “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The struggle continues on Will Toledo’s latest effort. Id does battle with superego; fame seduces and repulses; and self-acceptance tangles with self-loathing. What’s evolved magnificently is the music: Toledo has stowed the seven-minute-plus rock operas for a collection of single-length songs that are crawling with earworms, such as the shimmying “Can’t Cool Me Down” and the stunning LP climax “There Must Be More Than Blood.”

This album was made from January 2015 to December 2019, starting as a collection of vague ideas that eventually turned into songs. I wanted to make something that was different from my previous records, and I struggled to figure out how to do that. I realized that because the way I listened to music had changed, I had to change the way I wrote music, as well. I was listening less and less to albums and more and more to individual songs, songs from all over the place, every few days finding a new one that seemed to have a special energy. I thought that if I could make an album full of songs that had a special energy, each one unique and different in its vision, then that would be a good thing.

Andrew, Ethan, Seth and I started going into the studio to record songs that had more finished structures and jam on ideas that didn’t. Then I would mess with the recordings until I could see my way to a song. Most of the time on this album was spent shuttling between my house and Andrew’s, who did a lot of the mixing on this. He comes from an EDM school of mixing, so we built up sample-heavy beat-driven songs that could work to both of our strengths.

Each track is the result of an intense battle to bring out its natural colours and transform it into a complete work. The songs contain elements of EDM, hip hop, futurism, doo-wop, soul, and of course rock and roll. But underneath all these things I think these may be folk songs, because they can be played and sung in many different ways, and they’re about things that are important to a lot of people: anger with society, sickness, loneliness, love…the way this album plays out is just our own interpretation of the tracks, with Andrew, Ethan and I forming a sort of choir of contrasting natures.

The songs are shorter but denser, a melding of driving guitar rock and euphoric EDM, with unexpected flourishes that range from white-boy hip-hop to prog rock. Toledo has credited drummer and his co-producer Andrew Katz with the album’s electronic direction — a direction related to their electro-comedy side project 1 Trait Danger, which has something to do with the gas mask that the frontman has been wearing in recent photos. Ignore the get-up, listen to the album. Music should be about enjoying yourself, especially live music, and I think of this costume as a way to remind myself and everyone else to have some fun with it. I don’t think it changes anything else about the songs or how you feel about them to be able to drop it for a second and have fun with it. If you can’t do that then you’re in a bad place…

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The character comes from another project Andrew and I have been working on called 1 TRAIT DANGER. This is something Andrew started doing on tour¬—recording ideas for his own songs as they came to him, and forcibly enlisting everyone else to participate. It appealed to me because it was nothing like Car Seat Headrest, and the ideas cracked me up. Before we knew it we had two albums released, a video game that was almost impossible to beat, and a growing number of people who seemed to be enjoying it all. It’s been a great outlet for weird and untenable musical experiments, and the live performances have been a blast. I play a character called TRAIT, and we’ve been working out the backstory as we go. I think he spent a lot of time in classified government facilities before getting into the music business.

‘Making A Door Less Open’ is the new album by Car Seat Headrest released May 1st, 2020

Written by Will Toledo. “Hollywood” written by Will Toledo and Andrew Katz.
Published by Mattitude.

Will Toledo – vocals, synths, keyboards, organ, guitar, piano, drum programming
Andrew Katz – vocals, drums, drum programming
Ethan Ives – guitar, vocals
Seth Dalby – bass guitar

Violin on “Can’t Cool Me Down” by John Huggins.
Guitar on “Hollywood” and “There Must Be More Than Blood” by Gianni Aiello.

REAL ESTATE – ” The Main Thing “

Posted: November 27, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Real Estate

Real Estate were breezy right from the start but have mellowed further with every record. The Main Thing, is the band’s fifth album, is their most settled yet. Also one of their most enjoyable. This is Real Estate’s second album with Julian Lynch as the group’s other guitarist, alongside frontman Martin Courtney, and everything feels comfortable if thankfully not quite predictable. Keyboardist Matthew Kallman’s presence is increased, with swirling synthesizers intertwining with the rippling guitar leads, and Jackson Pollis is credited not just with drums but drum programming. In that way, there’s an added emphasis on rhythm and groove, with Alex Bleeker’s basslines more fluid than they’ve ever been before. The album opens with “Friday,” a song whose oceanic synths and rolling basslines are closer to Air or Zero 7 than The Grateful Dead or The Feelies, and it’s not the only soft rock touch here. That leads directly into “Paper Cup” which, with sweeping strings, bongos and a fat keyboard lead dueling with the guitars, is just a Michael McDonald backup vocal away from being full-on yacht rock. No Doobie Brothers in earshot, but Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath does provide lovely background vocals.

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The rest of The Main Thing is in more familiar Real Estate territory, and quality remains high. “You” is an instant classic, and the title track is nearly as appealing with a soaring, compact guitar solo that actually leaves you wanting more. Courtney and Lynch stretch out and peel off some jammier leads on “Also A But” and a few other tracks, but for the most part keep things, tight, bright and just a little wistful. As for the album’s title, it was partially inspired by Roxy Music’s song of the same name and more specifically about how doing the thing you love is your true path. Which, in the case of this band, is writing super catchy guitar pop. To that end Real Estate are wildly succeeding.

Released February 28th, 2020

2020, Domino Recording Co Ltd

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