My Little Corner Of The World – Volume 67

by Vinh on July 27th, 2010

The Auteurs – After Murder Park (1996)
The third album from The Auteurs is probably the closest that songwriter Luke Haines got to touching genius. Written and recorded whilst Haines was in a wheelchair (following injuries he suffered in a bizarre drunken accident), this only added to the growing bitterness and disillusionment of the singer. Haines felt his band were the best in Britain and while the likes of Blur, Menswe@r, and, in his mind, any other fucker with a guitar and one-way bus ticket to London were selling shitloads of records, The Auteurs were being completely ignored. Completely rejecting the direction of British pop, Haines decided to get Steve Albini to produce and released a single called ‘Unsolved Child Murder’ — its unsettling theme would run through the other songs found on After Murder Park. This is the rawest you will ever find The Auteurs. The guitars have a twisted edge and Haines vocals sound unrecognizable from the man who sang rather sheepishly and softly on previous albums. Here he is spitting fury; hoarse, angry, and unwilling to compromise and play the brass-infested Britpop game. There is a Cobain-like exorcism to the “hey, hey, yeah, yeah” screech of the chorus of ‘New Brat In Town’, as brutal as it is brilliant. But this is by no means just the sounds of a man on edge. After Murder Park also possesses some fantastic pop moments. Musically, ‘Unsolved Child Murder’ is a lovely Beatles-inspired tune with subtle orchestration and sweeping melodies while ‘After Murder Park’ is a rousing conclusion to the record wrapping up the murder case. ‘Light Aircraft On Fire’ deals with Haines’ fear of dying in a horrific plane crash and jangles and rocks as well as anything released in this period. The same goes for ‘Everything You Say Will Destroy You’ where Haines just about restrains himself from screaming the song’s chorus. This was another great record by The Auteurs and another one that didn’t make much of an impression with the record-buying public. Perhaps that is what really drove Haines to create his works that pushed his creative urges to the limit. Haines desired to be successful but while people were celebrating a brief period of Great Britishness, the themes of child murders and airplane crashes were not really what the masses wanted to sing about. So how did Haines follow this effort up? Well, he wrote a concept album about terrorism of course, under the moniker Baader Mainhoff. – Matthew James

Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind EP (2009)
I belong to one of those subscription download sites that give you a certain amount of downloads per month. The trouble is is I often wind up with 4 or 5 unused downloads at the end of the month that won’t roll over to the next. My mother raised me not to waste anything so I always eat everything on my plate, use every last bit of peanut butter before opening the next jar ,and I make sure all of my available downloads are put to good use. This means once a month, I wind up seeking out excellent EPs. Animal Collective’s Fall Be Kind is one of the best EPs I’ve come across. These five tracks have a box set’s worth of ethereal, orchestral rock awesomeness. From the opening flourish of ‘Graze’ to the vocal petting zoo at the end of ‘I Think I Can’, Fall Be Kind is an incredibly enjoyable adventure of sharp turns and unexpected vistas. I originally acquired this as an exercise in frugality. However, I’ve been richly rewarded far beyond what I paid. – Jeremy Schaefer

Various Artists – Pretty In Pink: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1986)
Last week, I mentioned this soundtrack in my recommendation when talking about indie band Elefant. Then, I read Rob Sheffield’s Talking To Girls About Duran Duran and it came up again. I’m taking that as a sign from the new wave gods and the soundtrack has been on repeat all week. The John Hughes fan camp is usually divided between The Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink — and that includes the music. If you consider ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ from The Breakfast Club the ultimate 1980s teen flick anthem, you are in love with the nostalgia of those years. If you are firm in your love for all things Pretty In Pink, you are in love with those years and there is nothing nostalgic about it. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) provided the hit single with ‘If You Leave’ that remains so, like, totally awesome that Nada Surf covered it for The O.C. soundtrack (which I’m told is a television show about teen angst in the age of mp3 players and text messaging). The Psychedelic Furs provide a slick remake of ‘Pretty In Pink’ from 1981’s Talk, Talk, Talk album without losing the thundering passion of the original. ‘Do Wot You Do’ is classic INXS and Belouis Some (probably better remembered for being in Swatch commercials) kicks in ‘Round, Round’, both of which could fill a dance floor in 1986. However, it’s the darker, more introspective songs (and themes of the film) that separate Pretty In Pink from the other Hughes works. Suzanne Vega’s ‘Left Of Center’ strikes a chord for any teen struggling with alienation in the shallowest decade of the century. Ending with Echo & The Bunnymen (‘Bring On the Dancing Horses’) and The Smiths (‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’), the soundtrack isn’t afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. When Echo & the Bunnymen sing “Hating all the faking/And shaking while I’m breaking/Your brittle heart”, we are reminded that the road through the late teens wasn’t always as sunny as many like to remember. Impossible to piece together on iTunes, the soundtrack takes a little effort to hunt down but the reward is a near perfect compilation of what the first half of the 1980s sounded like to those who lived it. – Jason Lent

Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 7 in E Major (1881-1885)
A spectacular example of the late 19th century symphony, there’s something architectural about the vast scale and sense of space to be heard in Bruckner’s 7th Symphony, which is no surprise given that he spent a great deal of his early life working as an organist and composer of sacred vocal music in Austria’s cathedrals. Later he was to move to Vienna, one of — if not the — most important centres of music in Europe where he attempted to find success as a composer of symphonies. It took 7 attempts before he found something that the Viennese public really understood: the 3rd symphony, in particular, struggled to find an audience. Rejected by the Vienna Philharmonic three times, Bruckner eventually persuaded a colleague to conduct on the piece. All was looking good until the conductor, one Johann Herbeck, died a few days before the performance. Bruckner was forced to take conduct, something he was never comfortable doing. The orchestra rebelled against him, most of the audience left during the performance, and the critics wrote blisteringly unpleasant reviews. Bruckner, who was insecure and vulnerable to problems with mental illness, struggled to continue but he pulled through partly, no doubt, due to his absolute faith in God. The 7th Symphony, completed 7 years later, had no such problems. The audience grasped its immediate appeal and Bruckner began to enjoy popular success across Germany and Austria. It’s difficult to sum up a work that takes longer than 60 minutes to perform in only a few sentences without being glib. Particular highlights for me are the contrast between the serene grandeur of the first movement’s opening and the latter more playful and almost folky theme, the two wonderful crescendos of the second movement, and the beautiful interweaving melodies in between. This work is arguably Bruckner’s masterpiece. Certainly it is the most accessible of his works with attractive melodies and a clear dramatic narrative. – Garreth Brooke

Marine Girls – Beach Party (1981)
In their sand-and-sun-soaked euphoria, beaches are this century’s eminent symbols of solace. The demulcent sea is viewed as the remedy to ills perpetrated by the color gray. Gray buildings, gray suits, gray sidewalks, gray hair. They’re the distant paradise we desperately yearn for amid the big city’s colorless manacles. However, these havens are typically exotic in nature. For those who can’t muster the funds or pluck to jet off toward remote countries, the sensible options are much closer to home and consequently much feebler in immersion. The gulf between “real” life and the one led on break is significantly bridged. Hatfield’s Marine Girls don’t mind, they’ll take every crumb of repose they can get. Even though skies do dip into the overcast, the 4-piece’s minimalist pop is diaphanous and nebulous all at once — what you might hear if Young Marble Giants stumbled upon cuddle buddies for a day. Comprised of little more than understated guitars, bass, and Tracey Thorn’s delicately doleful timbre, Beach Party is a homespun reflection of afternoons spent wandering craggy beaches. It marks a telling transition from skeletal post-punk to C86, sour to somber, groovy to wispy. Marine Girls remain jittery and glum, they’re just really adorable about their melancholy. There’s a sincerity to the ramshackle lo-fi pop on display as though dressing up sentiments would betray the interminable pining contained within. Lonely souls walk the secluded shore, seagulls caw overhead, and in this lull mere feet away from urbanity, if only for a few fugacious instants, we grant ourselves a breath. For now, for today, we’re anywhere but here. – Vinh Cao