Albums I Love: Perfect From Now On

There is probably no other album that has affected me as profoundly as Built To Spill's Perfect From Now On. It is easily one of my top three personal favourite albums of all time. Back around the beginning of this decade, I got my first real exposure to indie rock as a great friend and roommate at the time would be jamming Modest Mouse and Built To Spill incessantly. At first I hated it, especially Issac Brock's vocals. I talked so much smack about these bands, and then one day after listening to them over and over, something inside me clicked. Suddenly, the more I listened to those two bands, the more I enjoyed them. It was at that point where I lost interest in the jambands, classic rock, and techno I had been listening to after initially coming to college. These new bands I discovered seemed to have so much depth compared to everything else I had been listening to at the time, and I basked in the ecstasy that can only be felt appreciating music as art.

Simultaneously as I was starting to embrace and explore good, progressive music, I was also going through a period of self discovery and trying to figure out what my life was all about. At almost the exact moment I got obsessed with Perfect From Now On, I had a spiritual epiphany of sorts, and listening to this album was instrumental towards that occurring. While I know that Doug Martsch is always downplaying the importance of lyrics in interviews, PFNO is one of the most brilliantly conceived and executed concept albums ever written; metaphysically epic yet simple words armed with beautiful melodies and long, complex song structures that no other album, BTS or otherwise, has come close to reproducing again. While classics like Darkside Of The Moon and OK Computer dealt with similar questions central to our existence, they failed to provide any real path to deal with these issues. Perfect From Now On not only takes you on a similar journey of despair, but also contains a framework for addressing these problems. And not in a preachy, tell-you-what-I-think way, but in a more abstract method where different listeners can reach different verdicts based on their own interpretations and experiences. The music I love the most is the sort that can be successful and enjoyable on as many different levels as possible, and it is hard for me to think of another album that conquers the multitude of emotions and aesthetics that this one does.

I managed to snag some tickets for ATP New York and I am ecstatic to catch Built To Spill performing this album. If you have never listened to this one, obviously I can't recommend it enough:

Built To Spill : Perfect From Now On : Kicked It In The Sun



"Stop The Show":



"Velvet Waltz":



Here is an instrumental jam session that Doug and Brett Netson did on Record Store Day in Boise, Idaho as a bonus:

DOUG MARTSCH & BRETT NETSON of
BUILT TO SPILL
19 April 2008
Boise, Idaho
Record Exchange
National Independent Record Store Day - In-store appearance

Sonic Studios DSM-6s > Sonic Studios PA-6LC3 (middle bass roll-off setting) > iRiver H120

No setlist - improvised jam

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

Track 4

Track 5

Track 6

Track 7


Download Lossless Audio Torrent Here

Download Video Torrent Here

Albums I Love: Return To The Sea

After catching Islands a couple of times at SXSW, I have been on a serious tear with them lately. There is something special about an album that I can legitimately get obsessed with two seperate times. From the ashes of The Unicorns when Alder Penner left the band, Nicholas Thorburn and drummer Jamie Thompson formed Islands in 2005, and they recorded this instant classic album. Featuring guest appearances from members of Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade, I think that Return is a paradigm of how great music has become this decade. If you've never tried this one out, jam these tracks and videos and then go pick it up:

Swans (Life After Death)


Volcanoes






Of course the reason I bring this up is because Islands are about to release their follow-up album to this one, Arm's Way, on May 20th. Jamie Thompson left the band between the two LPs, so now Islands seems to be completely Nick Thorburn's own project now, with a retooled band around him that sounded incredibly tight at SXSW. Here is another track that is floating around the Internets from the upcoming album:

Creeper


I'm getting very excited about this one. The Islands are on tour as of next week and their last date is here in Atlanta on May 26th at The Masquerade. Don't miss it. Here is the new album cover to ponder:

Albums I Love: I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One

I'm getting really excited about seeing Yo La Tengo this Saturday. Last year's show was my favourite of the year. Somehow, it hasn't sold out yet, but it most likely will, so buy your tickets now. I first saw Yo La live at Bonnaroo in 2003. I only caught the last half of the set, but I was blown away by what I heard. I had possessed a few albums that others had given me from them that I hadn't listened to yet, so when I got back, I jammed this one. This is easily one of my favourite all-time records. At nearly 70 minutes, I Can Hear... showcases their enormous range and contains some of my favourite songs on it. If for some reason you read this blog and aren't very familiar with this band, you have been missing out, as they are a major foundation in the indie-rock world and this album is a classic:

"Stockholm Syndrome"


"Autumn Sweater"


"Sugarcube":



"Shadows":



"Little Honda":



Buy I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One Here

Yo La Tengo Website

Albums I Love: Liquid Swords

Yesterday Pitchfork announced that in addition to Sonic Youth perfroming Daydream Nation at Pitchfork Fest, Slint will be doing their Spiderland and the GZA will be doing Liquid Swords. I'm a Big Wu-tang Clan fan and this is an amazing hip-hop album. The entire clan shows up for this, like most of the '90s solo Wu-Tang stuff, and I'm curious as to how many of the clan will be backing "The Genius" for this special show. If you're not familiar with this record, it is a must have so check it out:

• Living In The World Today
• 4th Chamber
  

Cold World:



I Gotcha Back:



You need to get to Chicago in July:

Friday, July 13:

Sonic Youth perform Daydream Nation
GZA/Genius performs Liquid Swords
Slint perform Spiderland

Saturday, July 14:

Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues (w/members of Dirty Three, the Delta 72 & JSBX)
Clipse
Iron and Wine
Girl Talk
Grizzly Bear
Battles
Fujiya & Miyagi
Oxford Collapse
Dan Deacon
Beach House
Professor Murder
Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound

Sunday, July 15:

New Pornographers
Stephen Malkmus
De La Soul
Of Montreal
Jamie Lidell
Menomena
Klaxons
The Ponys
Deerhunter
Craig Taborn's Junk Magic

Tickets are on sale now at Ticketweb. Three-day passes cost $50, Friday night costs $15, Saturday and Sunday individual passes cost $25, and a Saturday/Sunday pass costs $35.