Pastels / Tenniscoats, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Asa Chang & 巡礼 Reviewed

I have long had a soft spot for Japan, the country in general to be fair but particularly its music, the awesome Noble label has in more recent times been a favourite of mine with its lush, near perfect releases.

However, my heart was originally won over courtesy of the excellent Geographic Label, an offshoot of the also excellent (at least it used to be) label, Domino, run by Stephen Pastel of all people. Here i was introduced to array of great artists, not least Nagisa Ni Te and the wonderfully ramshackle and always delightful Maher Shalal Hash Baz who have intriguingly just released a 177, yes one hundred and seventy seven track double album entitled C'est La Dernière Chanson. To be honest i'd recommend you try one of their other releases and leave this for the completists, many songs are barely more than a lick and each track seems to have about ten seconds of silence in between, which is normally longer than the actual music on offer. When they do extend past the 30 second mark though, they are normally memorable. If nothing else it serves as a reminder of what a great and intrigueing little band Maher Shalal Hash Baz are.


It seems forever since Geographic released anything, as previously mentioned they were a fantastic label and it turns out that they still are as they return to the scene courtesy of a magical collaboration between The Pastels and Japanese band Tenniscoats. It carries a kind of liquid magic and is fast becoming a contendor for album of the year for me. Just lovely lovely music, exactly the kind of thing i'd expect from the label. Tenniscoats gentle music is the perfect compliment for Stephen Pastels somewhat individual vocals. The contrast of voices on Song For a Friend is just sublime. Lovely stuff.

Pastels / Tenniscoats - About You mp3
Source: The Tape is not Sticky


In no way connected to the label or even the bands mentioned, but equally Japanese and equally magical are ASA-CHANG & 巡礼, probably best known for their near perfect track Hana. On latest release 影の無いヒト, of which i can find no real information, they excel again, more chopped up vocals that form the beats, alongside a two or three songs that recall the loveliness of Nagisa Ni Te and Tenniscoats.

Asa Chang & Junray - Hana mp3
Source: Diary of a Space Traveller

Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea

Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea

Today in between trying to put together some of the ideas in my head for my band/project/shambles i have found myself deeply charmed by the wonderful new Silver Jews album, a band i have previously had nothing to do with though very familiar with the name. The thing that drew to me to the album, shallow as it may seem was the knowledge that they had a covered a song by a band very dear to me, namely, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, a lovely cover it is too.
Elsewhere they sound like the faster bits of Smog, Johnny Cash and on Aloyisius, Bluegrass Drummer like Calexico or some Holiday programme i vaguely remember from back when we had TV.
San Francisco BC stands out, somewhere between those fast Smog songs we love, Dress Sexy at My Funeral, Hit the Ground Running, you know the ones, and Only Fools and Horses. A charming album featuring a charming cover and a charming front cover.

You make the same old jokes and same old malapropes

Maher Shalal Has Baz - Open Field mp3
Source: Letterarms
Silver Jews - San Francisco B.C. mp3
Source: Earfarm
Silver Jews - Suffering Jukebox mp3

"well I guess all that mad misery must make it seem to true to you
but money lights your world up, you're trapped what can you do?
you got Tennessee tendencies and chemical dependancies
you make the same old jokes and malaprops on cue"

Source: The Finest Kiss


Last Fm: Silver Jews’ earliest incarnation was the college band Ectoslavia, formed by future Pavement founders Bob Nastanovich, Stephen Malkmus and frontman David Berman at the University of Virginia in 1989. An exercise in joyous noise, the band disbanded after graduation and the three friends moved to New York to take up various jobs - Nastanovich, a bus driver, and Berman and Malkmus, art museum security guards. Determined to continue the happiness they got from playing with one another, they dubbed themselves the Silver Jews, a reference to the legendary Silver Apples and the tragically blonde Jews that walked New York’s streets. Pavement, a band started by Malkmus post-Ectoslavia, pre-New York, at this point began to gain attention. This attention resulted in a record deal and a constant inferiority plague placed upon the ‘Joos with Berman totally at the forefront of the group. Misinformed music fans now saw the band as a side-project and, even worse, Berman as being not good enough to play with Pavement, many band members being shared between the two bands. The connection to Malkmus and the now blossoming Pavement was not all negative, however. Drag City, then not the bastion of American folk music it is today, agreed to release the band’s debut EPs which has led to a fruitful relationship (the label continues to release the band’s records, right up to album number 7 in 2008, ]Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea). The Silver Jews these days primarily consists of David and Cassie Berman who contribute most of the lyrics, and a changing cast of characters. They have numerous indie stars that rotate in the line up to include Willie T., of Lambchop, and Brian Kotzer of Tim Chad and Sherry. David Berman is also a poet and has been published in numerous poetry magazines and journals. He also has a book of poetry and rants entitled “Actual Air,” which was released in 1999 and received favorable reviews from The New Yorker and GQ.

4 Bonjour Parties - Pigments Drift Down to the Brook (Mush Records)

4 Bonjour Parties - Pigments Drift Down to the Brook (Mush Records)

4 Bonjour Parties are a really quite wonderful discovery. As i find myself becoming more and more convinced that Japan is the saviour of music as we know it, the distraction to take our minds off the awful hype that is constantly thrown in our faces, 4 Bonjour Parties are just one of many wonders i've discovered from Japan. Although the majority of my favourite Japanese music is minimal and extrasperimental 4 Bonjour Parties are quite certainly pop, if not quite the pop we're so used to. Lovely textured songs that build up over the 4, 5 minute mark and even longer at times, delicious and folktronic in approach, occasionally calling to mind the lush arrangements of the Delgados.
Its not often i make it all the way to the end of an album but i'm glad i did with Pigments Drift Down to the Brook, the closer, beautifully entitled Crimson After The Sunset, slow building pop gently melts into a glorious trumpet or horn section coda. Of equal loveliness is Satellite with flutes this time building playfully like kittens with a new ball of wool before the slow horn soaked breakdown. Ruins twinkles along just dreamily. Amalthea and Nostalgic Was Broken to Pieces are also worth a mention.
This is like Maher Shalal Hash Baz had they been brought up in shirts and ties, lovely, lovely stuff.

Website
Myspace
4 Bonjour Parties - Il Cortile Grigio (track to stream on last.fm)