The Goodnight Loving

The Days of Lore Best of 2010

Monday, December 20th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | 6 Comments

Wait, weren’t we just here? Like, in 2009? As I hinted at in last year’s TDoL year-end extravaganza, making these lists is always a tug-of-war between what feels good and what actually is good. But if it makes you feel good, it must be good … right?

So here’s the process: I frantically assemble my list. Move things around. Re-listen to records. Cut one here; add another there. Anxiety sets in. I lose sleep. Get a few more gray hairs. Stop eating solid foods. I don’t bathe. I empty out my bank account on overpriced vinyl (including Rush records, for crissakes). I ignore my fiancée. Drink heavily. Call in sick to work. Stop returning phone calls. Kick my (imaginary) dog. Resort to drugs (prescription and non). And stand on the corner in the cold holding one of those signs that say “Will blog for food.” The list goes on—all so I can compile this silly list for you.

OK, it’s really not that bad … although I do like to kick my (imaginary) dog every now and again. I will say this: As someone who overthinks everything (e-ver-y thing), the early process for these year-end lists can be a bitch (which then I kick). But once I let touchiness and feeliness be my guides (more fartsy with the artsy) things always fall into place.

So here it is. I’m sure this is only one of dozens of lists you’ll read. I think it’s a good one (obviously), but it doesn’t mean you have to. Click the album covers to purchase, and add your own list in the comments section. And let the civil discourse take us into 2011, where we can be certain of two things: We’ll all be one year older, and we will definitely be sick of hearing about how incredible that Kanye West record was.

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15. The Goodnight Loving Supper Club - The Goodnight Loving (Dirtnap Records)

Though the band has shaken some of the folkier elements found on their debut, it takes only a few notes to know where Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s The Goodnight Loving are coming from (Milwaukee, duh). While there’s a certain innocence to their music—’50s rock ‘n’ roll meets honky tonk—the band has won over the cold hearts of those who like their music a little more, shall we say, grimy. Picture a sock hop with an open bar.

“The Pan” - The Goodnight Loving

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14. American Gong - Quasi
(Kill Rock Stars)

It was a busy year for Quasi, who released their first record in four years and toured all over including several dates with Pavement. The band entered the studio for the first time with bassist/Jick Joanna Bolme, and what they got was a huge-sounding rock record. This thing is LOUD. As drummer Janet Weiss told TDoL earlier this year: “We wanted to capture what it feels like to be at a live show or be in the room with all of the molecules banging around.”

“Repulsion” - Quasi

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13. Montañas 10″ - Montañas (Gramaciones Grabofónicas)

I’m always digging for music from other countries only to come up with bad techno in one hand and even worse metal in the other. I was beside myself when I discovered Montañas, a trio from Northern Spain that plays a shit-gazey hybrid of garage rock and post-punk. Their 10-inch (that’s 10 solid inches of vinyl) has a fistful of threadbare 90-second gems—guitars bend in and out of tune, the drums sound like sticks on old seat cushions, bass is non-existent. Sounds ugly, but it’s really quite perfect.

“Yo Conduzco, Ella Me Guía” - Montañas

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12. How I Got Over - The Roots
(Def Jam)

I guess there are benefits to being Jimmy Fallon’s house band. The Roots’ ninth studio record sounds like a group that kicks out the jams every night. The songs are shorter and scrappier. Black Thought’s gritty rhymes glide from his lips. And ?uestlove’s boom-bap is as snappy as it’s ever been. How I Got Over also features a slew of unexpected guests—from Dirty Projectors to Monsters of Folk—all of whom become small, yet integral brush strokes on The Roots’ brilliant canvass.

“Dear God 2.0″ - The Roots

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11. The Dirty Future - Old Light (Arena Rock)

The first thing you’ll notice on Old Light’s debut long-player are the harmonies, which bring to mind the sunny vocal stylings of Crosby, Stills & Nash. But that’s where the similarities end (thankfully). The Portland four-piece—led by a 6-foot-5 Sabbath lover—throw in stoner riffs, autoharp, and lyrics about death. It’s the kind of record made to be listened to from front to back; and the more you listen the darker it gets. Which is how we like things around here.

“Pretty Machete” - Old Light

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10. The Monitor - Titus Andronicus (XL Recordings)

These guys took a left on E Street and ended up in the Deep South. Using the American Civil War as a metaphor for the wacky game of life, guitarist/vocalist/beard aficionado Patrick Stickles leads his motley crew through 10 punk rock epics that give equal nods to the drunk singalongs of the Pogues as they do Jersey’s favorite son (hint: not Jon Bon Jovi). An album about America’s bloodiest war by a band named after Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy can be nothing but a bloody good time.

“A More Perfect Union” - Titus Andronicus

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9. Soft Crash - Nothing People
(S.S. Records)

It’s a given that any year Nothing People put out a new record it will end up on a TDoL year-end list. Because this mysterious trio from the sticks of Orland, California (where, coincidentally, there is a high incidence of UFO sightings) has yet to put out a bad album. Soft Crash is these beings’ the band’s third full-length, another dark, sci-fi creepshow oozing with mangled guitars, spaced-out synths and echoed vocals. This is the sound of the future. And the past. Listen up—Nothing People are watching you.

“Avoiding Needles” - Nothing People

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8. Songs For the Ravens - Sea of Bees (Crossbill Records)

If you haven’t heard the voice of Julie Baenziger, aka Jules, aka Sea of Bees, then you’re missing out on something special. The 24-year-old Californian had barely been in a band when Tape Op honcho John Baccigaluppi heard her singing in a Sacramento studio. She recorded 2009’s The Bee Eee Pee soon after. Her followup is lush, yet spare, showcasing Baenziger’s Björk-meets-Leigh Nash register in addition to her musical ability (she plays everything but drums). Can you say wunderkind?

“Wizbot” - Sea of Bees

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7. Astro Coast - Surfer Blood (Kanine Records)

I never shook Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast. These baby-faced Floridians have put out one of the best guitar records of the year—songs, hummable; riffs, air-guitarable; cheeks, pinchable. Vocalist John Paul Pitts croons like Steven Patrick Morrissey while the band dashes out wicked indie rock with the occasional Afro-Cuban break. Many a fickle blogger has probably spat the band out like a wad of chum. I’ll wait for the next record to decide whether or not they’re just another flavor of the month.

“Floating Vibes” - Surfer Blood

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6. Before Today - Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti (4AD)

I became completely fascinated with Ariel Pink this year simply because he’s an honest-to-goodness weirdo. I’m not very familiar with his older material (dozens of self-recorded mixtapes, EPs, singles …), but I do like Before Today—a modern, lo-fi take on that magical and funky era from 1977 to 1983. Bottom line: Whether his songs are pretty and vulnerable or completely grating and bizarre, by the end of the record you know the eccentric/recluse thing isn’t an act.

“Beverly Kills” - Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

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5. The Grand Theatre, Volume One - Old 97’s (New West)

My beloved Old 97’s discovered the fountain of youth in 2010 (what, you didn’t read about that?). Not since 2001’s Satellite Rides has the band fired on all cylinders—energy, songs, production. It’s all here. No fat. No filler. The 97’s are still the best at blurring the lines between British Invasion and Texas Twang, and this time around they do so relentlessly, while incorporating garage rock and power pop into the mix. On a side note, I had the chance to meet them this year. I wept only once.

“Every Night is Friday Night (Without You)” - Old 97’s

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4. Failed Graves - The Lights (Wäntage USA)

Seattle’s The Lights are sort of oblivious to what’s going on around them, cranking out cranky rock ‘n’ roll that sounds as if it could have fallen from a ’90s wormhole. Failed Graves (only their third LP in more than a decade as a band) might be mistaken for straight-ahead rock. Nonsense. Guitars snake around throbbing bass-lines while the drums fill empty spaces and vocals drone in and out of key. Think Mudhoney meets Pavement meets Spaghetti Western. Really, what’s not to like?

“Puerto Escondido” - The Lights

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3. Melted - Ty Segall
(Goner Records)

San Francisco is quite the hotbed of rock (no, I’m not talking the San Andreas Fault), including the manic Thee Oh Sees, the Sandwitches and Sonny & the Sunsets, just to name a few. But there’s something about Ty Segall. Melted is the most visceral and fun 30 minutes I’ve experienced in some time—I mean, it’s saying something if a song makes me want to pogo and do the Mashed Potato. Naked. “Girlfriend” and “Imaginary Person” can do that to a person. This I promise you.

“Girlfriend” - Ty Segall

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2. Mines - Menomena
(Barsuk Records)

Menomena’s Mines is a stunning piece of work. The fact that it was pieced together by three members who hardly spoke throughout the process makes it even more incredible. Mines is less spastic then previous records, but no less intricate. Drums are bombastic, while synths, guitars, sax and other noises creep in and out of earshot. It’s an immense collage of sound, and every sound has purpose. No wanking here—this is a band unafraid to throw it all in your face and leave your ears ringing.

“Five Little Rooms” - Menomena

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1. Halcyon Digest - Deerhunter (4AD)

Bradford Cox is a music fan, first and foremost—a guy who pines for those days when you waited for release dates and plastered your walls with pictures of rock stars ripped out of Creem and Rolling Stone. That spirit runs throughout Deerhunter’s Halcyon Digest, a record that brings all of the band’s powers together. When I say “powers” I mean the ability to embrace inanimate drum loops, bleeps and bloops as well as flesh-and-blood rock ’n’ roll without ever losing sight of a good hook. I can’t think of another band aside from Radiohead that can pull it off. I also like the fact that there are loads of bands doing the garage rock thing—looking the part, recording through shitty mics—and here’s Bradford Cox writing some of the best garage pop out there without really trying. Halcyon Digest is a seamless album that’s simply fun to listen to. Easy listening for people with impeccable taste.

“Revival” - Deerhunter

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The Rest of the Best of the Rest

Lupon - Y La Bamba (Tender Loving Empire)

That’s How We Burn - Jaill (Sub Pop)

Transference - Spoon (Merge)

The Great Return - Purple Rhinestone Eagle (Stank House)

Pop Negro - El Guincho (Young Turks)

Equilibrio! - Wow & Flutter (Mount Fuji)

Crazy For You - Best Coast (Mexican Summer)

At Night We Live - Far (Vagrant)

Man Pop - Graham Repulski (Shorter)

No Great Lost: Songs, 1979-1985 - Kevin Dunn (Casa Nueva)

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Go to Jaill. Go directly to Jaill.

Monday, August 23rd, 2010 | musiX | No Comments

You know me, I’m a sucker for a good power pop band. I don’t need experimental or existential—just shiny hooks cranked out by a guitar-bass-drums combo (power trio preferred).

Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Jaill is a four-piece that makes rock ‘n’ roll that probably won’t dramatically change anyone’s life. It’s just … good. The band has been quietly doing so for almost a decade, but their Sub Pop debut—That’s How We Burn—is quickly making Jaill as buzzworthy as a warm can of Blatz. It should be noted that three of the members have spent time in another TDoL fave The Goodnight Loving, who are in limbo after just releasing a great record in The Goodnight Loving Supper Club.

That’s How We Burn is a pure slab of power pop. Some songs—like first single “Everyone’s Hip”—have actually been sculpted and polished over the last few years. These tunes go down almost too easy, especially on a warm day … though I don’t advise washing it down with a warm can of beer.

“Everyone’s Hip” - Jaill

“The Stroller” - Jaill

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Getting Chummy: TDoL Summer Mix 2010

Monday, July 26th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | 3 Comments

Summer is finally here in Portland … at least for a few days—’tis the season for barbecues, tubing down the river, bottomless ice chests and summer jams (Jams? JAMZ!).

TDoL spent countless hours in a dark room assembling your summer soundtrack for 2010, a mixtape filled with singalongs, un poquito de español, noise (Noise? NOIZE!), a few breezy numbers, a handful of Portland cuts, and loads of hand claps … we’re talking more clap than a state school fraternity house. Most of the music on this compilation has been lovingly featured on The Days of Lore. You should totally buy the records.

Grab the full mix in a convenient zip folder by clicking the link below. Pairs well with road trips, good barbecue and cheap beer, as well as bad trips, good times and cheap friends.

TRACKLIST:
1. “Guadalajara” - Pepe Guízar
2. “Girlfriend” - Ty Segall
3. “Too Young to Burn” - Sonny & the Sunsets
4. “Free Association” - These Hills of Gold
5. “Better Surrender” - Far
6. “Beverly Kills” - Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
7. “Flashes” - International Waters
8. “Miss Metro” - The Knuckles
9. “Starting Over” - Typhoon
10. “The Ghost Inside” - Broken Bells
11. “Bad Buzz” - The Mint Chicks
12. “Get Around Town” - Revolver
13. “Juniper” - Y La Bamba
14. “Evening Star” - Blitzen Trapper
15. “TAOS” - Menomena
16. “La Barra” - Montañas
17. “Cars and Explosions” - Kevin Dunn
18. “Doesn’t Shake Me” - The Goodnight Loving
19. “Floating Vibes” - Surfer Blood
20. “Atom Bomb” - The Apples in stereo
21. “Sidepain” - Sea of Bees
22. “A More Perfect Union” - Titus Andronicus

DOWNLOAD: Getting Chummy: TDoL Summer Mix 2010 (117 MB ZIP)

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TDoL gets some Goodnight Loving

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 | interviewZ, musiX | 1 Comment

“We’re already three songs into the next LP,” says Goodnight Loving guitarist/bassist Colin Swinney. “Beginning this Thursday we’ll be going back in the studio to hopefully finish the rest.”

I like the sound of that. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin four-piece has been receiving steady play over the last few months here at TDoL HQ. The Goodnight Loving’s ragged rock ‘n’ twang is the sound of a freight train chugging down a lonesome, dusty trail—fully embracing traditional country music, and tussling with ’60s folk and garage.

Of course, it only made sense that the Reigning Sound’s Greg Cartwright wanted to produce their 2006 debut Cemetery Trails (”He was really professional while still keeping up beer for beer with us,” Swinney says). Three full-length records and a handful of 7-inches later and The Goodnight Loving is still cranking out new tunes, no doubt a credit to the fact that all four members write and sing.

The band—which takes its name not from a nocturnal petting session, but from a Southwestern cattle trail established by a couple blokes named Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving—released their Nothing Conquers Us 7-inch for Portland’s Dirtnap Records in November and will—as the kids say—drop a 12-inch EP later this month on Italian label Wild Honey Records. Oh, and that new full-length? That’ll be out some time this summer on Dirtnap.

With so much on their—as everyone says—plate Colin Swinney was still able to make some time to answer all of The Days of Lore’s burning questions, explaining what it’s like to record in a cabin, getting lost in Europe, and why the band will never listen to David Bowie again.

TDoL: I read that you all started out playing in punk bands in Wisconsin. How did you end up coming together and shifting to more country-influenced music?
Colin Swinney: We definitely began with the idea in mind of starting something we hadn’t really tried before. A couple of the guys were writing songs together with acoustic guitars, and it seemed natural to try and play with a full group using those same instruments and whatever other ones we could bastardize, like harmonicas and pedal steels. We all loved country and ’60s folk music, but it’s not like we were into jam bands and pickin’ circles—you still would have found us in basements drinking Old English at a Holy Shit! show. You still can.

Do you ever listen to any of the old Bloodshot Records bands? The Goodnight Loving would sound right at home on that label …
I don’t know if we could count them as an influence, but we are certainly familiar with a bunch of those bands. I’ve seen the Sadies a couple of times and I know Kavanaugh saw Whiskytown open up when he went to John Fogerty with his parents.

Does it surprise you that The Goodnight Loving has been embraced by garage rock crowds?
Not really … everyone loves garage rock. It’s no different in spirit or anything to whatever it is we do. I don’t really know who else would embrace us, either. Soccer moms?

How was it working with Greg Cartwright on your first record?
It was wonderful. We were all really big fans of his at the time, so it was like having a highlight of your career be the first thing you do as a band. He was really professional while still keeping up beer for beer with us, so whatever nerves we had psyched ourselves into quickly passed.

What did you take away from the experience?
I’d say how to make a record to be proud of in just a few days. We didn’t quite know what to expect having never made an album with a producer or anything, but we definitely learned that you can just knock it out quickly as long as the performances can speak for themselves.

It’s not often you get a band where every member writes songs and sings. How does the process work? Does that make it difficult to whittle down songs?
It’s pretty fun and stress-free actually. We show up to practice and say, “Does anyone have anything new?” and go from there. Sometimes songs don’t work, but those ones usually make themselves obvious enough that we just don’t spend much time on ‘em.

I love that you recorded [2007's] Crooked Lake in a cabin. How did that affect your approach over recording in a traditional studio?
A big part of it was that we didn’t intend on coming away with a full-length record. We just had all these songs left over or written after the making of the first LP that we decided it’d be fun to get them down to tape. We picked a cabin on a beautiful lake in June to record them, because who wouldn’t? When it turned out we had enough songs, we fell into our next album.

You’ve had success outside the States … how do you like touring in other countries?
For as much as fun as it is, it’s also a lot of stress. We’ve been driving ourselves around while we’re in Europe, and it’s pretty intimidating trying to navigate with just a GPS that barely knows where the hell you are. That said, there’s nothing comparable to a trial by fire in another language. We always managed to have a good time and keep our spirits up when someone’s reaching a breaking point. And there’s almost always a new, delicious food to set anyone’s mood right.

Any countries in particular that have embraced the band?
Italy and Australia stand out as they’re places where we’ve had labels who released our records, and then followed through with promoting them and bringing us there. We’ve had some really great shows in both. Sometimes it’s hard though. There are some cities where nobody moves, just staring through you as you play and you think “well this sucks” … but you still might sell 200 bucks in merch and suddenly that crowd wouldn’t seem so bad anymore.

What’s usually in the CD player/iPod during tours?
Usually it’s Roger Miller, Buck Owens, Hank Williams, lots of Beatles, CCR … pretty standard road material. We once went five weeks with a Velvet Underground best of and a David Bowie 1962-1967 collection on cassette. No one ever got sick of the VU, but I don’t think anyone of us will ever willingly listen to Bowie again, no matter what period of his career. “Sell Me a Coat” will live on in all our top-five-worst-song-ever lists.

“Nothing Conquers Us” - The Goodnight Loving

“Colin Attends a Party” - The Goodnight Loving (self-titled LP)

“Drafted Into War” - The Goodnight Loving (Contaminated Records 7-inch)

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There are many hiatus

Monday, January 25th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | 1 Comment

Talk about a hiatus.

TDoL—the blog that never sleeps (except Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 a.m. to 6:15 a.m.)—has been away for a couple of weeks, traveling, learning to put chains on tires, and being just plain naughty. But mostly I’ve spent the time away recharging the batteries and contemplating the plural of hiatus. Hiatus? Hiatuses? Hiati?

Of course, there’s been a soundtrack to all of this fun: Surfer Blood (April 3 at the Doug Fir!), The Goodnight Loving, and more recently the new Spoon and Yeasayer records. And, of course, you’ll be reading about these bands right here (look for my interview with Milwaukee country five-piece The Goodnight Loving in the coming weeks) in addition to all of the usual nonsense.

Until then, here’s a song that’s near and dear to my heart, a song that needs no introduction, a song that sums up the past two weeks at The Days of Lore …

… I guess that would qualify as an introduction.

“Holiday Road” - Lindsey Buckingham

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