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June 14, 2008
albums you should own: life without buildings - any other city
i was in asheville a couple of weekends ago for my brother in law's birthday (read: raging kegger) party and naturally you never have to twist my arm to get me to a keg party. so i packed up the company car and at my sister's request i brought along the old portable hard drive to donate some more music to their fledgling library. and to tell the truth if there is anything that i love more than listening to music it would be sharing the music i love with the people that i love. so of course i was more than happy to oblige. and that saturday morning i spent a couple hours transferring some albums over to their computer. i could list off all the bands and/or albums that i dragged and dropped. but that would just be intimidating for some. i will say though that one of those albums was life without buildings any other city and i crossed my fingers and hoped they wouldn't hate it.
jump ahead to last night - my sister called me to ask me some i-pod related questions because she was going to buy her husband an i-pod for father's day. and wow. i really need to get married so i too can get really rad gifts in the middle of june. anyway, she thanked me for all the new music and mentioned life without buidings specifically and how much they liked that record in particular. and wanted to know more about the band. tears of joy.
because the truth is over the past few months i have started having conversations with myself centering around the argument that this record should really be put into consideration for the indisputable greatest albums of my lifetime list. a list that i hope to compose on my deathbed to ensure that nothing is overlooked. and then when friends and family gather to celebrate the spectacular waste that was my life they will remember me fondly as these records play in the background. so yes. this is kind of a big deal. i already had a loosely defined list floating around in my head for the last couple of years and hadn't really planned on any other contenders dropping their hats into the ring. and then i heard this strange and wonderful little record and - admittedly the first couple of times through i wasn't sure exactly what i was hearing but by my third listen i was convinced that this record was special and as such i started insisting that others get their hands on it. by any means possible.
that's the great thing about music though isn't it? you never know what you will find around the next corner. most of the time it's just alot of heartache and disposable disappointment but then you hear something life altering - which makes the whole thing worthwhile. this particular record grabbed my attention because it sounded so great. especially for a first (and last) album. these four college kids got together in 2002 captured magic in a bottle the first time out and then called it quits shortly thereafter. which is for the best i suppose. because that is the stuff that legends are made of. and instead of having to suffer through a shaky sophomore effort you can sit around with friends lamenting what might have been. imagining how spectacular it would be if these kids pulled a portishead and dropped another stellar album out of nowhere just because they could.
i guess i should say the thing i love about this album is how seemless it is. the songs are so fully realized. the musical arrangements are very compact. it's just bass, drums, and one guitar and then the singer, sue tompkins scattershot vocals float in and out filling in all of the spaces - sounding something like sugarcubes era bjork sitting down over a long weekend and singing along with a stripped down broken social scene. the standout tracks for me are the leanover and sorrow a perfect little lost love song set to a sweet jane esque chord progression. a gleaming gem custom made to round out any wistfully rendered break-up mix. in case you were wondering those songs have always been right up my alley. so that track is definitely a shoe-in if i ever get around to cobbling together tickle me st. elmo vol. 4.
you might have some difficulty finding any other city in your local record shoppe. but it can be found on the internets if you know where to look. there is also an album - live at the annandale hotel - that was released in 2007. it is available through i-tunes. and it features all of the songs from the album as well as a couple of other songs. plus you get all the brogue-y banter. which is never a bad thing. even thouse self-serving elitist bastards over at pitchfork raved about life without buildings. which is saying something these days...somtimes i think those kids don't even like music. i love music.
| By young_christopher | 3:43 PM
Comments
Sorry, but this one goes into my "I appreciate what it's doing, but don't love it, myself" category. After repeated listens, I can't warm up to the talkiness. Same with Art Brut.
Posted by: heidi at June 17, 2008 8:33 AM
Heidi, I'll tell you some talkiness I can really get behind--William Shatner's cover of "Common People." Holy shit that is awesome.
Chris, I really hope you read that article I sent you. It was a speech written by a reviewer for Paste who is in his 50's and reminds me of you in 20 years. And that's a compliment, because it's really a phenomenal piece.
Posted by: Nick at June 18, 2008 11:50 AM
i did read the article nick, and it was great. sadly, as much as i would love to be that guy in 20 years -
i've gotten myself mixed up in a sordid suicide pact with tim that will require me to marry or terminate my existence in 2.5 months. which means i really need to pick up the pace on that novel.
Posted by: young_christopher at June 18, 2008 11:38 PM
I'm still waiting for a rough draft of On the Road to Mordor to show up in my mailbox.
Posted by: heid at June 19, 2008 1:42 PM
that's funny - i'm still waiting for your hand drawn illustrations for on the road.... to show up in my mailbox...
Posted by: young_christopher at June 20, 2008 12:10 AM
What? I have no idea what you're talking about.
Posted by: heidi at June 20, 2008 10:03 AM
On the road to Mordor? Is that a Led Zepplin song?
Posted by: Nick at June 20, 2008 6:18 PM
i guess i just assumed that we were working on this project together. the story won't be nearly as compelling without hand drawn maps and character sketches.... bill gothard where are you now?
Posted by: young_christopher at June 21, 2008 9:54 AM
I'm not sure what Bill Gothard has to do with anything, but I do recall discussing the inclusion of hand drawn maps. It seems unreasonable for you to expect me to produce work inspired by unwritten text. You are clearly the one dropping the ball, here.
Posted by: heidi at June 24, 2008 9:22 AM