Lacrosse - Bandages for the Heart

Lacrosse - Bandages For The Heart

The last Lacrosse album seemed to fit so perfectly into a situation I was encountering in my life around the time it was released, songs like Who Will Brings Us Together, Let's Get Old and You Can't Say No Forever perfectly encapsulated the confusion and thrill that I was going through, the excitement of a new friendship and the strange feeling you get when you can't quite figure out how and when it will go anywhere and in fact why it wasn't and hasn't, the complicated make up of human relationships. Lacrosse put those feelings and scenarios into such perfectly crafted pop songs that really even the most confusing of times could be cushioned with a helping of pop
perfection.

It's sad to say that there are few bands that follow up great debut albums with better or even a standard equivalent to its predecessor, in many cases they either replicate what preceded, at times this works but often the songs seem forced, take Los Camposinos for instance, i was still sweating from their near perfect set at ATP when a new album filtered into existence, rushed and, with the exception of the first few tracks, generally would've been better saved for B sides. The Aislers Set would be another similar reference point, although it was their second album that really shone, the follow up, although good, is a million miles removed, a lovely album of slow burning reverb drenched 60's spector-esque tracks. Good, but not a patch on The Last Match.

So it was with mixed feelings that i pressed play upon receiving Bandages For The Heart, hopelessly excited but equally fully expecting to be disappointed. Fortunately Lacrosse do not disappoint, where I’d be lying if I said that this was better than This New Year Will Be For You And Me it's certainly going to give it a run for its money.


Four songs instantly stand out, the opening brace of We Are Kids & You Are Blind, setting off at lightning pace with the pure pop that we've come to expect and are so happy that has not been lost. If you think that pair is special, then just wait until you get to the, I assume Bonnie Prince Billy referenced, I See a Brightness & maybe even better, It's Always Sunday Around Here, this is pop perfection as far as I’m concerned, like an old friend that no matter what your mood is, you are always happy to hear from or see them. The glockenspiel intro is so typically Lacrosse, very reminiscent of a track from their debut that i can't quite put my finger on, and the lyrics put any doubts that this may be anyone else completely to bed, "Tell me a story/ make the ending happy please/ put some unicorns in there/ and some animals that speak/ don't know where i go wrong/ but it always ends this way/ the world is full of saturdays/ but it's always sunday round here" the muted guitars building and building before exploding at the chorus.

All The Little Things That You Do, My Stop & Come Back Song#1 are growers but are likely to find a place in your heart after just a few listens.

I can't recommend Lacrosse highly enough, this is pop as good as it gets.

Lacrosse - I See a Brightness mp3
Lacrosse - My Plan mp3

Joanna Newsom, A Silver Mt Zion, Quasi Reviewed

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Joanna Newsom, A Silver Mt Zion, Quasi Reviewed

Posted on 2007.08.08 at 17:54

Current Music: Valley of Giants - Valley of Giants

Tags: a silver mt zion, joanna newsom, quasi, the research

Joanna Newsom – Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band Ep (Drag City)

I don’t suppose you need me to tell you that Miss Joanna Newsom is some kind of genius. What you might need me to tell you is that Y’s is, it would seem just a taster of what she has to offer. Here on the ridiculously expensive but almost justifiable (if only due to the quality of music on offer here) 3 track Y’s Street Band EP we see a taster of the first new material since the aforementioned Y’s if only in the form of one new song and two reworkings.
New track Colleen as showcased at ATP is as beautiful and as remarkable as remembered. I remember on the night I had mixed expectations of something new, so often have a band I loved been picked up by the media and then delivered something ridiculously bad or at least lacking the ingenuity of their early work. Joanna it would seem has no such problem for now, Colleen is outstanding, a true work of genius, an instant classic, timeless and charming, a song that puts what was possibly the most outstanding opening track to an album in sometime, Emily from Y’s, into the background, or at least out of the limelight. If anyone had a problem with her voice as on the Milk Eyed Mender then here is a more palatable, less shrill tone to sweep up those curious outsiders, those who take that little extra convincing, those who think more than two colours in an outfit is risky, how can you fail to love Colleen?
Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie from the Milk Eyed Mender & Cosmia from Y’s are reworked in a more intimate setting, the latter given a lush new feel, this is a portable Cosmia, Cosmia as played by Joanna and her friends in a room full of friends. Intimate and inventive and more charming for it.
If expectations weren’t high enough already for any possible follow up to the landmark Y’s then they have just been raised considerably with this release.

www.joannanewsom.co.uk/

www.dragcity.com/bands/newsom.html

I can’t stop listening to…God Bless Our Dead Marines by A Silver Mt. Zion…eleven minutes of near perfection, the slow and steady double bass that booms like a death march, a sign of defiance to the impending destruction, the clouds that get blacker and blacker, the wind picking up forming remarkable scenes in the skies, clouds twisting, menacing and full of anger, still we continue with our heads held high as others around quake with fear and terror, holding on for their very lives. We though are not afraid, tired of the threats, the lies, the injustices and the false promises, we will continue to walk straight toward the danger area, people getting sucked up as the rain thrashes down until finally we are inevitably inseparable and as helpless as all those surrounding us…is this the end?
When the piano comes in at 8.05 it hits you that no matter what anyone does, the destruction around you, the wreckage and the disarray, the world is still beautiful and if we pull together, hold hands and sing at the top of our voices from the bottom of our hearts we may perhaps be able to do something, to at least distract ourselves from the terrors that we cannot avoid…just maybe…few songs portray fear, desperation and resolute, unbendable and unyielding faith in something greater, something better, truly a thing of beauty.

www.tra-la-la-band.com/
www.cstrecords.com/bands_silvermtzion.html

download the track here God Bless Our Dead Marines Mp3

I can’t stop listening to…It’s Raining by Quasi…whilst each day since I purchased a car up until last week has been marred with rainfall, often torrential, each day has likewise been graced by the uplifting and enriching sound of Quasi’s It’s Raining from the Domino album Sword of God, a classic example of their optimistic take on pop music, sadly the ones they have influenced are probably better known, the likes of the Research in particular, the distorted fuzzy keyboards and soaring duel vocals of the divorced Sam Coombes and Sleater Kinny’s Janet Weiss are more than enough to drag you out of any rain sodden depression you may have been on a slippery slope toward.

www.myspace.com/theequasi

www.theequasi.com/