My fellow blogger and hetero-life partner Andrew came over on Saturday for our usual sit around turning into an unrecorded podcast. Sometimes I wonder if we ever have a plan. We talk about recording a podcast or doing something rather ambitious but always fall into what makes us most comfortable: talking about the things we know.
Since I met him ten years ago we could talk for as long as I could keep up. If Tony Romo were in the dictionary, his image would sit along side gregarious. Andrew would run parallel to loquacious. The boy never stops talking, and I love him for it. Thankfully he forgives my weak battery and blue moods.
The conversation always turns to music and sports. I took him to his first standing room only concert. He kept interested in writing for all the years since we met. We talk on the phone like it’s 1996. After games we talk on the phone for almost an hour at a time. Even when he lived in Japan for two years we spoke like this.
I find I’ve usually been a conjugate for new music to Andrew and all my friends, except he listens to almost everything I throw his way. So when he brings me something new I’m ready to accept. Back in his college days he crossed paths with Ryan Santos Phillips when a friend suggested he check out Phillips’ project Spirits of Leo.
Last year they dropped their double LP Equinox. Andrew got a copy when Phillips visited him in Japan. I still skewer through music to find records like Equinox. It reminds me of watching 120 Minutes reairs on MTV late on Saturday nights in high school. These were formative years stuck with emotional ignorance.
No where to go, so much desire to experience things without the resources. So dissatisfied with suburban life but still oblivious to how adult works.
Summer 2012?
Equinox fits very well into the types of the stories told about adolescents in Reagan’s Morning in America. Some of those songs could fit into the soundtrack for Adventureland, especially “Soma” a favorite of mine and many of their fans on Bandcamp.
There isn’t one band they sound most alike to. Each arrangement lifts from several key bands from the 80’s college rock era. The drums keep the beat simple but crisp like Hüsker Dü yet guitars stay almost exclusively clean. Clean like The Cure but don’t fall onto loud distorted chords. Playing scales dominate over chords on this record.
The influences don’t overdrive the artist’s creativity. Yes, it’s obvious where they came from, but each song sounds like it’s own going off into its planned course. The mid-range vocals remind you of Jesus and Mary Chain or a bit of Echo and The Bunnymen, but the highs a bit of Morrissey. The basslines enjoy the fortune of time and technology. Low end frequencies just mix better today than they 30-40 years ago.
I asked Andrew to hit up Phillips for a copy but I see now I can just buy it myself. Usually buying directly from the source means they get 100% of the money, which he deserves. If you’re in Brooklyn March 1st see them at Alphaville. Stream it on most platforms now or purchase directly from the artist over on Bandcamp.
Disaesthetic 