Estimados, pocos grupos tienen la sutileza de hacer música perfecta... y este que hoy os vuelvo a presentar es sin lugar a dudas uno de ellos.
Y para hacerla no necesita de grandes guitarras, ni sonidos atronadores, ni ritmos frenéticos.... sólo se necesita tener claro lo que se quiere transmitir y expresarlo en cada nota, en cada compás, en la sucesión milimétrica de cada tema. Y este disco que se presenta es una recopilación de la música para bandas sonoras que ha realizado Yo La Tengo... sonidos majestuosos como ninguno.
Grupo de 12, una auténtico lujo tenerles de nuevo en esta lista y poder compartir con vosotros lo que es la música en mayúsculas.
"Tomadlo como lo que es: un cd que los propios Yo La Tengo saben que no forma parte de su discografía oficial. En el fondo, es casi un regalo para sus fans: recopilar las bandas sonoras que el grupo ha hecho para cuatro películas. Game 6, Old Joy, Junebug y Shortbus.
Así que nada de echarse las manos a la cabeza si lo que hay en el disco no os convence: lo que contiene They Shoot, We Score (grandísimo juego de palabras el del título) son en su mayoría pequeñas piezas instrumentales que poco aportaran al libro de estilo de la banda. De hecho, algunas de ellas incluso están inspiradas directamente en canciones de la discografía oficial. Es el caso de los temas incluidos en Junebug, varios de los cuáles son hijos putativos de ‘Green Arrow’, el precioso instrumental que en I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One pintaba con música las noches de un verano cualquiera al aire libre.
En el fondo, lo que Yo La Tengo hacen en sus bandas sonoras es jugar con algunas de sus obsesiones musicales. En todos sus discos han mostrado inclinación a pequeñas piezas cortas, sin voz, generalmente apacibles, con mucha capacidad para transmitir clama y relajación. Aquí lo hacen una y otra vez, pero no suena aburrido, sino en forma de pequeños esbozos de emoción.
Por supuesto, nada es trascendente ni está a la altura de sus momentos más memorables. Pero se agradece que exista un grupo como los de Hoboken, capaz de tratar con cariño hasta sus obras más pequeñas. Gracias a ellos, los momentos “fan compulsivo” que me asaltan de vez en cuando para darme el capricho de comprarme discos como éste nunca se traducen en mala leche al escucharlos.
De Yo La Tengo te puedes fiar siempre. A ver de cuántos grupos puedo decir lo mismo."
Estimados, si veis las referencias musicales de este grupo os podréis hacer una idea aproximada de cómo suena el album debut de Chris Walla: Tegan And Sara, Mates Of State, Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberist....
Y estas referencias se deben a que Christopher es el guitarrista y productor de Death Cab for Cutie además de otros grupos. Actualmente reside en Portland, Oregon y el disco que hoy os presento es el projecto en solitario de Chris y que por diversos motivos nunca ha salido a la luz. De hecho 1999 se publicó un cassette con algunas de sus canciones (por aquel entonces se llamaba Martin Youth Auxiliary) y apenas se hicieron unas docenas de copias. Sin embargo después de unos cuantos años por fin este trabajo ha salido a la luz para ofrecernos unos temas delicados, tranquilos y que perpetuan la estética de toda su carrera.
Os dejo lo que ha dado de sí su carrera discográfica como músico en todas sus facetas
As Martin Youth Auxiliary Martin Youth Auxiliary (Cassette) - Elsinor - 1999
As Chris Walla Field Manual (CD) - Barsuk - 2008
With Death Cab for Cutie Main article: Death Cab for Cutie#Discography You Can Play These Songs with Chords (1997, Elsinor) Something About Airplanes (1998, Barsuk) We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes (2000, Barsuk) The Forbidden Love E.P. (2000, Barsuk) The Photo Album (2001, Barsuk) The Stability E.P. (2002, Barsuk) You Can Play These Songs with Chords (2002 re-release, Barsuk) Transatlanticism (2003, Barsuk) Studio X Sessions E.P. (2004 digital-only release, Barsuk) The John Byrd E.P. (2005, Barsuk) Plans (2005, Atlantic) iTunes Originals - Death Cab for Cutie (2005 digital-only release, Atlantic) Narrow Stairs (2008/upcoming, Atlantic)
Other Credits The Long Winters, The Worst You Can Do Is Harm (2002, Barsuk) - Guitar, Bass, Baritone, Hammond, Harmony Vocals, Drum Kit, Trap Kit, Melodihorn The Long Winters, When I Pretend to Fall (2003, Barsuk) - Guitar Travis Morrison, Travistan (2004, Barsuk) - Organ, Synthesizer, Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Piano, Xylophone, Melodica, Drum Machine The Decemberists, Picaresque (2005, Kill Rock Stars) - Electric Guitar Nada Surf, The Weight Is a Gift (2005, Barsuk) - Guitar, Keyboards The Long Winters, Putting The Days to Bed (2006, Barsuk) - Guitar, Piano The Decemberists, The Crane Wife (2006, Capitol) - Keyboards, Background Vocals Tegan and Sara, The Con (2007, Sire) - Guitars, Keyboards, Organ, Shakers, Cymbals, Tiny Guitars, Bass
As producer In addition to the Death Cab for Cutie discography, Walla has assisted in production of the following albums:
The Long Winters, The Worst You Can Do Is Harm (2002, Barsuk) - Production, Engineering, Mixing, Tape Splicing The Velvet Teen, Out of the Fierce Parade (2002, Slowdance) - Production, Engineering Hot Hot Heat, Knock Knock Knock (EP) (2002, Sub Pop) - Production, Engineering Hot Hot Heat, Make Up The Breakdown (2002, Sub Pop) - Mixing, Engineering The Thermals, More Parts per Million (2003, Sub Pop) - Mixing The Long Winters, When I Pretend to Fall (2003, Barsuk) - Production, Engineering, Mixing, Mixing Advisor, Recording The Thermals, Fuckin A (2004, Sub Pop) - Engineering Travis Morrison, Travistan (2004, Barsuk) - Production, Sampling The Decemberists, Picaresque (2005, Kill Rock Stars) - Production, Mixing Nada Surf, The Weight Is a Gift (2005, Barsuk) - Production, Engineering, Photography The Decemberists, The Crane Wife (2006, Capitol) - Production, Mixing Tegan and Sara, The Con (2007, Sire) - Production So Many Dynamos, Untitled Upcoming Release (2008/upcoming, Skrocki) - Production
"Chris Walla will release his debut solo full-length field manual on January 29, 2008, on Barsuk Records.
Known both as the guitarist / producer in Death Cab for Cutie and as an in-demand producer of other independent-minded artists (Tegan & Sara, The Decemberists), Walla brings a refined aesthetic and melodic ear to everything he involves himself in. Walla's past recordings of his own songs (occasionally made available online under the name "Martin Youth Auxiliary") have mostly been quickly-recorded lo-fi sketches unintended for widespread release. field manual represents the first time his own songs have been given the studio attention and thought-out approach to recording for which he is in such demand by others.
In addition to the expected difficulties he encountered attempting to approach his own work with the necessary detachment of a producer [difficulties which led Walla to enlist the help of Canada-based British ex-pat (and Midnight Oil / The The producer) Warne Livesey], the project hit an unexpected snag when a data hard drive containing critical album files was confiscated by U.S.Customs. The drive was held "to be analyzed" for several weeks on its way back into the U.S. prior to final mixing of the album. (Apparently the U.S. government is unfamiliar with FTP sites, and believes that physically transporting hard drives across the border is the technique of choice for foreign individuals trying to move sensitive information into our country. Brilliant.)
Interestingly, a strong political thread runs through the record's lyrics; Walla takes more than a few shots at U.S. policy, both at home and abroad, and challenges at least one senator to find the exit door... For whatever reason, the drive has still not been returned, and so Walla is working with his original tapes and a back-up drive (during his breaks from the studio where he's currently producing a new Death Cab record tentatively slated for release in late spring or early summer of 2008) to re-apply the finishing touches on the album. Walla played all the instruments on this record, except for drums. Drum duty was shared by Jason McGerr (of DCfC) and Kurt Dahle (of New Pornographers)."
Grupo: Chris Walla Disco: Field Manual Año: 2008 Web oficial: http://www.myspace.com/chriswalla Canciones destacadas: Our Plans, Collapsing; Everyone Needs A Home y Geometry &C
Estimados, aquí os dejo un par de temas de un disco que realmente me ha cautivado y que me ha hecho moverme para conocer más a su intérprete.
Kenny Anderson es el alma que está bajo este grupo (King Creosote). Anderson ha sido el cantante/lider de Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra y Khartoum Heroes. Realmente es un personaje muy prolífico, ya que ha publicado más de 24 albums y en la trayectoria con este grupo ya va por el cuarto. Muchos de estos CD-R han sido publicados por su propio sello "Fence Records".
En este sello esto es lo que se dice de él:
"In 1994, the singer / songwriter with Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra and Khartoum Heroes realised that an increasing number of his songs were either not folky / bluegrassy enough for the Dubhs, or had too few chords for the Heroes. King Creosote crowned himself to bring to the world - "songs with relatively few chords in a non-bluegrass style", except in those cases where "this song is an over-elaborate bluegrass ditty". In 2005, KC live might, fully clothed, only sport the accordion, with some rare guitar / banjo / box-playing from Pip Dylan of Spain, naturist and ogre of beauty.
King Creosote maintains that the song is more important than the style, and that the performance outweighs recording quality. If a part can't be recorded in one take, scrap it for something simpler. No sample should be longer than four seconds, and although samples should be in tune or in time, not necessarily both. King Creosote detests noodling virtuoso, and thus has a go on whatever instrument is at hand. Anyway, duff tunes strengthen the songs on either side. A KC album starts at the beginning, and don't finish 'til the end - by design. Except where they start in the middle and grow out of control."
"There are well-kept secrets, and there is Kenny Anderson. “Sooner or later bands always move to the city. It’s a mistake,” Anderson says firmly. Never a fan of the obvious nor the easy, the large musical brain behind King Creosote and the Fence collective still lives, where he was born and raised, in Fife. “Up here, there isn’t the competition between bands and their little scenes that you get in cities,” he says, noting that for many years King Creosote declined to play outside of his hometown, St Andrews. “I could never see the point in spending so much time and energy travelling far to try and impress so few people into buying my records. My career has been very slow and organic.”
If fame were a contagious disease, Anderson would have caught a severe dose of it years ago. From KT Tunstall perhaps, sometime backing vocalist in his first band from the mid 1990’s, the faux-bluegrass outfit, Skuobhie Dubh (pronounced Scoobie Doo) Orchestra. Or from his brother Gordon, founding spirit of The Beta Band, and now The Aliens. Or from his Fifer compatriots from Falkirk, the sex miserablists Arab Strap, or James Yorkston, one of Fence’s most affecting traditional voices, now signed to the mighty Domino label. He might even have developed a small taste for it from his father Billy, a professional accordion player with the internationally renowned Ceilidh band Albany.
But he never did. Instead Anderson has spent most of the past 20 years honing his musical craft and, since the demise of the S.D.O. in 1996, creating a catalogue of over 600 genius folk-pop tunes, most of which he has released as limited edition CD-Rs through the Fence label. Anderson started out as an accordion player, deeply intrigued by the manner in which Dexy’s Midnight Runners used traditional instruments such as his, “but not in a folk way.” Since then he has expanded his reach, assuming guises ranging from the canny indie rocker to the Highland balladeer.
Local Scottish media have picked up on the awesome quality of the Creosote sound, one reviewer calling it “the most sublime Scottish folk songwriting since Donovan.” When he isn’t polishing off another of his own songs on his home 8 track, he spends time encouraging other members of the Fence community - in the main, mates and family members from Fife who share his passion for music of genuinely independent spirit, and his fondness for quirky names. (The Pictish Trail, Midget Squid, HMS Ginafore etc.)
There have been numerous attempts in the past to winkle Anderson out of his cosy Scottish habitat. Domino’s Lawrence Bell spent time wooing the fence collective in their tiny seaside HQ of Anstruther before he hooked up with Glasgow’s Franz Ferdinand. The indirect result was 2003's Kenny and Beth’s Musakal Boatrides - Anderson’s 25th album and the first to find its way into the homes and hearts beyond the Fife area.
Things started to really motor in 2004 with the fabulous Rocket DIY album, after which Anderson finally agreed to raise the stakes. In 2005 he contracted KC’s music to the 679 label, a subsidiary of Warners, with grander designs than the stubbornly rustic boutique ethos of Fence. King Creosote’s first album for 679, KC Rules OK, followed later that year. Backed by label mates The Earlies, KC Rules OK earned widespread critical acclaim with The Telegraph hailing Anderson’s latest work as “edging towards classic territory” whilst Word agreed that “KC Rules OK is an emphatic KO.” Anderson was clearly making progress in moving from the realms of fringe-folk and into the mainstream.
King Creosote’s finest hour, the new album Bombshell, emphasises that change ever more dramatically. Either as an introduction, or as a further instalment in an extraordinary tale, this 13 track portfolio reveals everything you need to know about Anderson’s maverick musical personality - right down to the influence of brother Gordon, who helps out on several tunes. Opening with the first song he wrote as King Creosote - the sepulchral accordion-led Leslie - Bombshell is an album of every mood known to 21st century man. Highlights include the propulsive You’ve No Clue Do You, the best country rock highway driver the Eagles never wrote (“they couldn’t have managed the Fife accent nor the lyrical puns on Cluedo.”). At the other end of the Creosote spectrum is And The Racket They Made, a shimmering, hymnal duet sung by Anderson written by fellow Fencer HMS Ginafore. Between these polarities, there is menace aplenty in the title track, and a healthy slice of romantic self-mockery - Anderson’s default mode as a lyricist - in Cowardly Custard.
Listen harder and most of the songs here turn out to have their roots in KC’s Fife life : Church As Witness is based on an argument Anderson had whilst out cycling with his daughter. “Most of what I write is based on relationships with my family, friends, girlfriends ... It's emotions that seem to get me thinking.” And what a lot of thinking there is here too. At no point does the album repeat itself nor lose its wonderfully intricate plot.
“The idea this time around was to make the songs sound bigger, and more accessible,” is Anderson’s summary of his 2007 agenda. “I’m not leaving home, but I am getting out a lot more.” As he speaks, he has just returned from a gig in Brazil. For King Creosote the old ‘think local, act global’ mantra is fast becoming a reality. "
Grupo: King Creosote Disco: Bombshell Año: 2007 Web oficial: http://www.kingcreosote.com/ Canciones destacadas: Leslie, Home In A Sentence, You´ve No Clue Do You, There´s None Of That, Admiral, Cockle Shell y And The Racket They Made
Os dejo la crítica de este disco que realizan desde hipersónica (http://www.hipersonica.com/2008/10/03-yo-la-tengo-they-shoot-we-score)
