Seltzer

Aye, the Verlaines are great. Spot on description as well; melancholy, oddly structured and slightly challenging music.

Have you heard the Able Tasmans?

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The Fascinating Turnip

I've heard some of the first tracks on A Cuppa Tea And A Lie Down, and I must say I'm impressed.

VEGANGELICA

UB, since I know nothing about the New Zealand music scene, the documentary about Flying Nun Records was very informative. I also liked reading your impressions of The Verlaines.

I don't think I would have thought of their music as having a classical structure or orchestral arrangement, if you hadn't mentioned it, but I did hear their songs sometimes switch quickly from major to minor keys (I think!). That made their music sound unique to me plus gave it a bit of the melancholy feel you mention.

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Seltzer

The Able Tasmans are definitely one of my Flying Nun picks. They're a bit more subdued and low key than some of the others since they favour acoustic guitar and organ over jagged electric guitar, but just as good. I think their next album is even better.

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The Fascinating Turnip

The Verlaine’s debut is a rather monumental album. The title and the artwork evoke a certain epic journey, and I think the music reflects that quite well.

The musical arrangements give the songs colossal proportions, yet the jangle pop sound is quite present at all times. This manages to make them sound fresh, yet melancholy and grand.

Everyday situations seem to turn into glorious struggles in their lyrics, even if I can scarcely make any sense of them at times.
Sometimes I think they’re just bundles of references and private jokes which end up sounding rather elegant and articulate. Of course they would convey a certain meaning in the end, provided I understood the references in the first place, I’m not implying they’re shallow and meaningless.
All in all, though; as long as the lyrics don’t sound like something completely daft, and as long as, if they do need to take center stage in a song, they don’t create an atmosphere that’s off-putting or revolting by themselves, they’re not going to be too important in my “decision” to like or dislike a particular song. Sometimes lyrics can be good enough to be the only thing that grabs my attention in a song, but it’s usually not as such, and I do enjoy lyrics.

Regarding The Verlaines, I couldn’t even make out what they were saying most of the time. I didn’t really try as well, since I was so entertained and excited with the music. When I decided to discover what the bleeding hell the man was on about I was quite pleased though dazed and confused. I also realised then that they broke up the lyrics in order to sing them rather well. Another contribution to their peculiar sound.

But what can I say; each song is full of emotion. Graeme Downes seems like he’s about to fall over and die from exhaustion (or sometimes break down and cry) after every word he utters, which is also what he looks like he’s going to do after every live performance (not that I’ve seen many on Youtube...). It’s contagious and rather admirable, his voice feels a bit worn out at times, like he can’t do any better, and for some reason this feels like commitment, like love for music.

Here’s the album opener, It Was Raining:


See what I mean?

This song both shows us the energetic side of The Verlaines and the mellow, rainy side (“It Was Raining”, *cough*, *cough*). It sounds like a music box suddenly gained life and started to play itself to death.

There are bits of the lyrics that I’d like to comment on as well:


This is an example of how the lyrics glorify certain normal situations, making everything seem like some epic poem. Note the insertion of Atlas and perhaps a reference to Icarus. It all emits a certain classical feel.
I’m quite frankly not sure what this song speaks of, but if what I wonder about is correct, this segment might be the essence of it:


So what does this mean? Perhaps it’s just a story between two possible lovers that went wrong. The subject glimpses someone who's rather haunting, fascinatingly so, and is rather enamoured by that someone. It goes wrong, and he resents ever enjoying what made him hurt. This is what this excerpt might suggest, but having a look at the rest of the lyrics makes it all rather puzzling, and I'd have to spend and inordinate amount of time and attention to figure them out, and it might not even be worth it. I'll take the illiterate way out and content with how good they sound.

Don't Send Me Away is a song that arrives in all it's troubadouresque, middle ages grace amidst the glory of The Lady And The Lizard and the loud, fantastic Lying In State:


The Ballad of Harry Noryb wraps up the album phenomenally, it's absolutely worthy of its ambitious seven minutes. The instrumental in the middle manages to grab your attention with its ups and downs and delivers you safely to the end of the album:


It’s a beautiful heartfealt album bathed by lush instrumentation and creative song structures. It's romantic, in a way, it's powerful, it's capable of making you go from feeling mopey and depressed to absolutely on top of the world and right back again.

The verdict? Outstanding.

The Fascinating Turnip

Here's a small journal update:

I've been away for a while and my travels have involved long boat trips. During one of these, I was lying on the ground with my feet up listening to my ipod, and the power of shuffle graced me with a song from an album I had yet to listen to:


Spring Rain, by the Go-Betweens, is a bloody amazing song. It has a bit of a "western feel", let's call it, which is probably due to the guitar picking; but it's also incredibly fresh and glorious. I'm not even sure if I can explain what it was like to listen to this song whilst in a semi-conscious state. It was akin to a religious experience; like reaching nirvana during a fresh, rainy day.

In a way I know the song will never sound as good to me as it did then, but it's still pretty terrific. Good, good stuff.

The rest of the album is decent enough to deserve a listen as well, I think.

I've also started to realise that I can't tire of this song:


I actually like that video more than the original, probably because it's so warm and fuzzy, exactly like the song.

It's hopelessly romantic, it's slightly morbid, it's quintessentially british...it's amazing.

Anteater

Holy hamburger, welcome back Hugo! Any new Amsterdam adventures to share?

'Bloody amazing' is an understatement in regards to the Go-Betweens, but I definitely agree.

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Seltzer

The Go-Betweens are wonderful! I'm still checking our their discography - so far I've heard Spring Hill Fair, 16 Lovers Lane and Liberty Belle which are all awesome.

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The Fascinating Turnip

I've breen listening to the Cocteau Twins quite a bit lately, and I find this particular song from Garlands absolutely brilliant:


The constant, hypnotic guitar riff, the slightly disturbing voice and the incomprehensible lyrics - along with some quite interesting rhythm guitar and perfect drumming going on in the background - make for a fantastic tune, perhaps the best one on Garlands, which is saying a lot.

Here's some Flying Nun goodness for the week:


It's a fairly simple pop ballad, I suppose, but it makes me feel quite nostalgic.

The Fascinating Turnip

No matter where I go musically, I can't seem to escape this song. I might forget about it for a while, but I'll always go back:



There are times when I can't even believe how bloody brilliant it is: an explosion of emotion, an endless waterfall of bliss crashing down on your brain; a sea of sound hitting you, wave by wave, over and over again, tossing you up in the air; a complete and utter eargasm. It's as if you can see the light at the end of the tunnel behind all that hazy mess of sounds...5:59 minutes of clarity.

And when it all ends you're so...exhausted. As if it consumed you. Brilliant.