Friday, July 27, 2007
the ray pacino ensemble
be my lonely night / golden greats 2 x 12"
[2007, zeikzak / lal lal lal]
the ray pacino ensemble is a three-piece coming from sweden, a country which lal lal lal humorously credits as having "the lamest beer on earth". maybe they'll change their minds when they leave the states after their avarus tour. so, not a lot of info about these dudes other than they were formerly known as johannes nilsson. the first of these two records, be my lonely night, is a reissue of the lal lal lal cassette of the same name. it seems as if fusetron still has at least one copy of this left for interested parties. it's only $6.50, too. golden greats was previously unreleased but it came into fruition at about the same time as bmln, so one would assume that the chance of continuity between the two records is pretty high.
if these guys lived over here, they'd be somewhere secluded in the appalachians getting sloshed off moonshine and playing in a jug band. i've seen the words "caroliner" and "sun city girls" in response to their music. hmm. i'm not really a fan of either. both bands project an overbearing image of weirdness, the ray pacino ensemble isn't weird, they're whimsical. these are hillbillies with synthesizers and it's fucking great. throughout be my lonely night trpe do a phenomenal job of bringing joyful, toy-like, drum machine rhythms (reminiscent of the beginning to death cab for cutie's photobooth. what, you're too cool to have ever listened to dcfc? f you) with rollicking folk music, which edges on bluegrass. now, the two different musicalities are rarely interlocked, and, as a matter of fact, my favorite songs on the record are the ones that are strictly one or the other, which speaks towards their diversity, not my lack thereof. i'd have to say that as far as this whole folk thing goes, this trio's got it down with their nice mix of banjo, flute, harmonica, acoustic guitar and tamborine. this is fun, upbeat, foot stompin', thigh slappin' goodness that doesn't have a single somber moment. there's enough sad folk musicians out there. the vocals are sung mostly in swedish, but the couple of cross-overs into english don't drop the quality at all. also, for a band that draws comparison to some kookier acts, the singing isn't in some ridiculous tone or manner, it's pleasingly well-suited to the music instead of forcibly going against the grain.
before you even listen to it, it's easy to think of golden greats as some ironically titled collection of miscasts from a fruitful recording session. i mean, things are usually not released for a reason right? ahh, not so fast! this is pretty dang good, too. i would have to say that it's slightly more experimentally inclined, but i'm talking like 1% slight. the differences between this second record are mainly more instrumental songs, and i think that there's also fewer songs involving electronics. regardless, much to my delight, golden greats can stand on its own and has some terrific songs as well.
this double album is highly recommended and i'm really stoked that jelle sent it to me as i doubt that i would've discovered this on my own, since no one's really talking about trpe. well, i did see one moron complaining about not being able to play the records because the center hole wasn't punched out. first, the holes are punched out, they're just covered up by the paper label. line the record up on top of the spindle, like you'd normally do, then push down. wow, that was exhausting! back to what i was saying, most of the words about this record are regurgitated from lal lal lal's description. andrew (ironing) was just talking to me about people doing this very thing recently. it is frustrating. be my lonely night / golden greats is a bit pricey if you live here in the states and want to get it from fusetron, as it's thirty-two bucks (before shipping). thankfully, jelle doesn't live in the uk where their version of the board game monopoly is played with american dollars. the euro's trending the dollar at about a 1.3 to 1 ratio (edit: not so sure about this anymore, it might be more like 1.87 to 1), and lal lal lal's selling these for fifteen euros. i'd recommend getting this from jelle himself since his happy hour policy is free shipping on all orders sent in at uneven times. ha.
Be My Lonely Night 2
Golden Greats 6
(the songs on this double lp all have titles, but the way that they're presented inside the lps' cover makes it reaaalll hard to decipher)
[2007, zeikzak / lal lal lal]
the ray pacino ensemble is a three-piece coming from sweden, a country which lal lal lal humorously credits as having "the lamest beer on earth". maybe they'll change their minds when they leave the states after their avarus tour. so, not a lot of info about these dudes other than they were formerly known as johannes nilsson. the first of these two records, be my lonely night, is a reissue of the lal lal lal cassette of the same name. it seems as if fusetron still has at least one copy of this left for interested parties. it's only $6.50, too. golden greats was previously unreleased but it came into fruition at about the same time as bmln, so one would assume that the chance of continuity between the two records is pretty high.
if these guys lived over here, they'd be somewhere secluded in the appalachians getting sloshed off moonshine and playing in a jug band. i've seen the words "caroliner" and "sun city girls" in response to their music. hmm. i'm not really a fan of either. both bands project an overbearing image of weirdness, the ray pacino ensemble isn't weird, they're whimsical. these are hillbillies with synthesizers and it's fucking great. throughout be my lonely night trpe do a phenomenal job of bringing joyful, toy-like, drum machine rhythms (reminiscent of the beginning to death cab for cutie's photobooth. what, you're too cool to have ever listened to dcfc? f you) with rollicking folk music, which edges on bluegrass. now, the two different musicalities are rarely interlocked, and, as a matter of fact, my favorite songs on the record are the ones that are strictly one or the other, which speaks towards their diversity, not my lack thereof. i'd have to say that as far as this whole folk thing goes, this trio's got it down with their nice mix of banjo, flute, harmonica, acoustic guitar and tamborine. this is fun, upbeat, foot stompin', thigh slappin' goodness that doesn't have a single somber moment. there's enough sad folk musicians out there. the vocals are sung mostly in swedish, but the couple of cross-overs into english don't drop the quality at all. also, for a band that draws comparison to some kookier acts, the singing isn't in some ridiculous tone or manner, it's pleasingly well-suited to the music instead of forcibly going against the grain.
before you even listen to it, it's easy to think of golden greats as some ironically titled collection of miscasts from a fruitful recording session. i mean, things are usually not released for a reason right? ahh, not so fast! this is pretty dang good, too. i would have to say that it's slightly more experimentally inclined, but i'm talking like 1% slight. the differences between this second record are mainly more instrumental songs, and i think that there's also fewer songs involving electronics. regardless, much to my delight, golden greats can stand on its own and has some terrific songs as well.this double album is highly recommended and i'm really stoked that jelle sent it to me as i doubt that i would've discovered this on my own, since no one's really talking about trpe. well, i did see one moron complaining about not being able to play the records because the center hole wasn't punched out. first, the holes are punched out, they're just covered up by the paper label. line the record up on top of the spindle, like you'd normally do, then push down. wow, that was exhausting! back to what i was saying, most of the words about this record are regurgitated from lal lal lal's description. andrew (ironing) was just talking to me about people doing this very thing recently. it is frustrating. be my lonely night / golden greats is a bit pricey if you live here in the states and want to get it from fusetron, as it's thirty-two bucks (before shipping). thankfully, jelle doesn't live in the uk where their version of the board game monopoly is played with american dollars. the euro's trending the dollar at about a 1.3 to 1 ratio (edit: not so sure about this anymore, it might be more like 1.87 to 1), and lal lal lal's selling these for fifteen euros. i'd recommend getting this from jelle himself since his happy hour policy is free shipping on all orders sent in at uneven times. ha.
Be My Lonely Night 2
Golden Greats 6
(the songs on this double lp all have titles, but the way that they're presented inside the lps' cover makes it reaaalll hard to decipher)
:: posted by avant gardening, 10:49 AM
1 Comments:
It really is a great record and the art work is superb. Found my copy from Puba Records in Pasadena, California.
