1146 miles

Give me the soft, soft static, with a human voice underneath

It might seem sacrilegious for a Frightened Rabbit fan like myself to declare a cover of one of their songs better than the original but that’s what I’m going to do here. John Statz has stripped the song down to its essence and melded it along with the songs around into an album that captures a nostalgia that the title implies.

His cover of Old Old Fashioned appears on his new album, Old Fashioned, which is out today, January 24th, 2012 via Yer Bird Records. The album was recorded in Iowa City with Bo Ramsey.

Here’s to enjoying this Frightened Rabbit cover and the new album. You can like John Statz here.

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Friend of the blog, Speaker Snacks ended its run as a record label with the release of this Top Girls EP, its twelfth release. It’s always bittersweet when a small label shuts down but I know that Jake has many other projects that will reward music lovers here in Denver and elsewhere.

After Life is a minimalist R&B offering that falls somewhere between James Blake and How To Dress Well. It’s music that’s set in the hazy trappings of lo-fi samples and floating vocals. The whole EP is embedded and Next Year is the must-hear track of the EP. Evan Woods is Top Girls, you can like him on Facebook.

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Music is part of the equation of what’s featured on 1146 miles. The other part is emotion–whether it’s the emotions that the music elicits or the emotions it reflects.

Here, the song title says it all.

Sometimes I want to write about emotions and how music sparks them or reflects them and sometimes there’s nothing I really want to say at all. The latter is the case here; for the things that hit closest to home, I’d rather bottle it up and only talk with those I care about. When something is consuming you, you can’t escape it, even when making a song choice for a blog post. I figure at least with this song, it can do the talking because it reflects some of my feelings when you replace the you’s with I’s.

Sorry for being so opaque, sometimes a post just takes on a diary tone. Here is Lost Weekend. It’s a good song whether you attach any value to it or not.

Here is the Facebook page of Tiny Victories. Their EP will be out in the end of February.

So after hearing that one of my all-time favorite bands were reuniting, my first thought was “1146 needs an At the Drive-In post!” But, it took about a week for the initial shock to wear off, then another week for me to decide which song to post. First and foremost, I must provide a link to “One Armed Scissor” regardless of what song this post is about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NYbojdoAQE. Ok, go watch that. I’ll wait. (The bridge starting at 2:29 is one of my favorite music moments ever)

*taps foot*

…

*checks watch*

Ok, good. Now you see what At the Drive-In is all about: Unusual song structures. Guitar amps cranked up to 10. Lyrics chosen randomly from SAT vocabulary study books. Having an absolute fit on stage. Absolutely NO MOSHING allowed in the crowd. And two afros. The band members’ rather extreme personalities lead to the schism that resulted in The Mars Volta and the under-appreciated Sparta. While both have their qualities (and the Volta’s De-loused in the Comatorium is without a doubt my favorite album of all time), I’ve wanted to see At the Drive-In live more than either other incarnation.

“One Armed Scissor” is ATDI’s most popular song, but “Arcarsenal” (also off their last album Relationship of Command) gets me psyched up in ways that are hard to describe. Essential, when those drums kick off the intro, I wouldn’t mind running head-first through a brick wall. Try listening to this song and NOT repeating “Have you… ever tasted skin?” under your breath for the rest of the day.

Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Jim War, Tony Hajaar, and Paul Hinojos have had a stranglehold on my music listening since the 11th grade. There are no signs of stopping.

At the Drive in – “Arcarsenal”
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/17525347"]

Other choice At the Drive-In cuts:

• “Rascuache”
• the semi-dancey “Enfilade”
• “Rolodex Propoganda” feat. Iggy Pop
• the Jim Ward-lead “Hourglass”
• and the band’s purest punk rock moment “Fahrenheit” (I may or may not have been found screaming GHETTO BLASTING ON THE BASEMENT FLOOR at inappropriate moments)