Secret Mountains Record Release show @ Cameo Gallery 3/2/2013

Secret Mountains at Cameo Gallery

This review is a little late, it's been a long week. But, my memories of the show are still pretty fresh. Cameo Gallery is less a gallery and more a hole behind a restaurant and bar. At least it's a good-sounding hole, though. Beer on tap might cost you as much as the cover charge ($7) but I thought it was worth it for Brooklyn Winter Ale. There was a small merch table set up near the bar, and I got a chance to ask a band member if they have any old tapes left - they're all out of Rejoice, and Kaddish was a CD-R, so if anyone was hoping to pick those up, it's too late. However, Rejoice was recently added to Spotify, along with the new album.

Andrew Cedermark opened, and I was pleasantly surprised. I had seen this band play a few months ago at Union Pool, at what was supposed to be a Secret Mountains show in December, canceled due to illness. Cedermark still played, but poorly. I don't know if they were nervous being the de facto headliners, or if the sound was just off that night, but they were a lot better at Cameo last week. You can check their stuff out on bandcamp. Day Joy, the second opener, had some sound problems initially, but once they were set up, played an enjoyable and competent set. Their stuff can also be found on bandcamp. Both bands play good, if slightly uninspired, shoegazy rock.

Secret Mountains took the stage more or less on time, and they seemed a lot more sure of themselves than when I saw them last summer at Mercury Lounge. They opened with the new album's title track (which I had definitely heard live before, I think most likely at their Mercury Lounge show) and seemed set to play the record straight through - until their bassist snapped his first string on stage in all their four years together as a band, towards the end of Weepy Little Fingers. They didn't have any spare strings and he's a lefty, so there was a lot of downtime while they fixed it, by stealing a string off someone else's bass. At first, they told jokes. After they ran out of jokes, this happened (sorry for the terrible audio quality, it's my phone, not the sound at the venue). When people ask me why I bother seeing the same bands play live over and over, the answer is that it's shit like this that keeps me coming back.



Soon after the end of their improvised version of Rejoice, the bass was back in action, and so was the show, but they were now short on time. Still, they didn't seem too rushed, taking High Horse nice and slow, and jamming out a little on Golden Blue. Most of the live performances that night sounded very close to the versions on the record, which makes a lot of sense, since I imagine they've been rehearsing these songs this way for quite some time to get the record done. Here's hoping these songs will continue to evolve live, and diverge from the studio version in the future. The band was out of time after Golden Blue, but the crowd heckled the staff into allowing one more song. They played Remainder, finishing out the album. It's one of their only songs I haven't heard live or seen live myself, it's my favorite on the new record, and hearing it close the show was pretty much all I could have asked for from their first full-length gig (that both I and the band have had a chance to attend). Here are some more pictures from the gig. I have two more videos, of High Horse and Remainder, but the bass overwhelms my poor phone's mic. If anyone has a recording of this show, please contact me!

 

Kelly Laughlin

Secret Mountains

Secret Mountains

Andrew Cedermark

Day Joy

Kelly Laughlin

Secret Mountains - Rainer [2013]

Rainer is out today, and was available streaming via Stereogum starting last night. The record is short on tracks (only seven of them) but long on riffs - these are long, introspective songs, and the entire record clocks in around 45 minutes, which seems pretty common these days and is definitely pretty hefty for so few tracks. This is their debut LP, and while they have lots of good songs that they've chosen not to record again for it, I don't blame them for playing their hand close to the vest. Better to have fewer strong songs than end up with some filler, and they've managed to create a nice little slice of music in which the parts all make sense together. As much as I want more songs as a fan, I endorse the decision to keep it short.

This isn't a first impression, more like a fifth, but it helps that I have some experience with these tracks already. Only three seem really new, and I feel like I've heard parts of the title track somewhere before, perhaps under a different name, which, after the recent single, would leave only one truly new song on the whole record. However, almost everything about these old songs is new again. Weepy Little Fingers, Make Love Stay, and Golden Blue all retain the same basic shape as their predecessors, but the colors and textures, the pacing and drama - they're all different. There are new riffs, new noises, new shifts in cadence and feeling fleshing these tracks out more completely. They never seemed particularly thin before, but it's now fairly clear that they were basically live takes - and it's really great to see what they were able to do with them in a proper studio. But that's the least of the changes. First, check out the old version of High Horse from their Shaking Through Session:

and then check out the new official video for it below. Worlds apart. The video is nice too. Obvious themes of life and death are obvious.


Secret Mountains - "High Horse" Official Video from Brian Papish on Vimeo.

The way this track has changed with studio production is profound. The amount of restraint they show taking it down a notch, making it as eerie and haunting as it became, is impressive. I had no idea they were capable of sounding like this, and I'm very curious to find out if this was their vision, or their producer's, because I want to know who to thank. On the topic of production, it pays to point out that as far as I'm concerned, all the right decisions have been made. Kelly Laughlin's vocals are buried when they should be buried, and clear when they should be clear. The way the album flows from track to track is better than I could have even hoped for. The ambient sounds and field recordings are lush and just loud enough to be noticed, as they should be. The drums are neat and clean have not lost their characteristic driving (and dramatic) momentum. This album sounds great on speakers with a good low end, but it sounds even better on really nice headphones, so you can hear all the little noises in the background - and there are a lot of them. I had my jaw drop a time or two trying to get my mind to keep up with what I was hearing. It's been a long time since a band have done that for me, and it makes me think they have the potential to become truly great.

After seeing them live once (out of two attempts), hearing the early tracks, and now hearing the record, it's pretty obvious that they're one of those bands who play a song one way live, and another way in the studio, which is GREAT, in my opinion. Gives you a reason to go to the shows, and I'll be going on Saturday (March 2nd) for the record release party at Cameo Gallery in Brooklyn. Those of you in their hometown of Baltimore can catch them at The Bell Foundry on Thursday February 28th.

P.S. - She sounds like another vocalist I like, but I can't place it. If you can think of the answer, please put it in the comments. It's driving me nuts. 

[2011] John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves

I have been waiting my whole life (I think?) for someone to make an album of meaty songs that bridges the gap between cold-wave and space disco, so thank you John Maus. In his newest We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (I don't think I'll ever remember that title, I keep typing Ancestors instead of Censors) we are given layers of murky synths, cheesy synths, raw synths, sexy synths, and other kinds of synths. The key thing to remember is "synths."

The opening track "Streetlight" is practically a brightly lit flashing sign of what's to come, brazenly announcing that if you in any way shape or form have been dreading the day that the Ghostbusters soundtrack become something worth mining for musical gold, now is the time to walk away. "Quantum Leap" is upbeat, hooky and reminds me of last year's hit Gary War single "Born of Light." I want to believe that "Head for the Country" is an ode to Tears for Fears, specifically "Head Over Heels" the video of which I couldn't get out of my head listening to the Maus track. As "retro" as it is, it also feels brand new to me and I won't bother reconciling that unless someone makes me.

The vocals are entrancing throughout the album (particularly in "Cop Killer" and "We Can Breakthrough"), and I can only try to sum the sound up as "Ariel Pink forcing Gregorian monks at gunpoint to sing Big Country covers." However, the final track "Believer" strikes a much different chord, and has an aimless "best of: shoegaze" thing going on, and seems much shorter than it is because you don't want it to end. Try both Quantum Leap and Believer below:

John Maus - Quantum Leap by RibbonMusic

John Maus - Believer by RibbonMusic

[2010] Sri Aurobindo - Cave Painting

I couldn't find out a whole lot about this band. Named for some famous spiritual dude. Genre label tells you all you need to know. Click below to listen to one of my favorite tracks, "Find The Door". Found this on (new to me) music blog weedtemple, which also has a link to download the album, though I recommend you listen to it for free on bandcamp and buy it if you decide you like it. That's what I would do if I had money! (I don't have any money. If you have any money, can I please have some? no? jackass.)