It is almost the one year anniversary of my first and so far only trip to the mysteriously named Lost Coast of California inside the King Range National Conservation Area. Therefore, I thought I would share my experience as best as I can recall—mainly because, as you will see, it was quite impossible to keep a journal of our time on the trails and because it was such an amazing and intense experience it is just difficult to describe what happened.
It's a shame this bro is gone. This track reminds me of the type of 'underground' pop some smart marketing exec would buy up to put into a commercial for some hip new company. Except thankfully this didn't happen and the pure fun of listening to the song remains intact without any force fed images of 'happy times' clouding your vision. I want to play this song for all my friends, real loud, and I want us to party to it. Let's do it.
As much this song uses big elements- Bernard Sumner-y simplistic guitars, church organ synths, fat mid-tempo drums- the whole thing is held together and in check by some sweet vocals. It's great when a group knows how to hold the best part of a song just out of reach of the listener....until midway the song breaks out for 30-40 seconds then goes right back to that restrained feeling. Then in the final minute they give you the coda and you just feel like listening to the whole song over again. As the lyrics suggest this song is about striving, needing, reaching out. If you love someone, play this for them and sing the lyrics loud and clear. Tell them how great it feels to be with them.
When it starts you might think you're in the late-80's-early-90's again. Great male/female dueling vocals. The perfect amount of fuzzy distortion and then a perfectly singable chorus about a girl named Georgia. Whoever she is, this song makes me love her too. I have no doubt this band would be great to see live. Don't be tricked by their less than appealing name though.
I really noticed this song while reading a blog about graduate school. I'm patiently waiting to hear back from grad schools and right around the 2:20 minute mark this song goes into a build up so triumphant and transcendent that I could feel the utter happiness of receiving an acceptance letter from my top choice programs. It truthfully brought me to tears. If this song can estimate the emotion I would have about feeling so blissfully accomplished then I know it's good. You feel me?
It makes perfect sense that this was the b-side to Album's best track. It has all the emotional depth of Hellhole Ratrace and it's even more listenable than that epic 7 minute love letter. What I picture here is a woodsy bar, middle aged people around smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. And in the middle of it all a young couple escaping it all, slow dancing their troubles away. They're poor and have nowhere to go but some day - "I'll settle down with you".
I don't know much about this band. When the song starts I get excited about a chill ambient guitar song, something good for either the beginning or ending of a mixed cd I'm making for a friend. Then the guitar goes low and the drum clicks wake you up. Get ready, let's go, alright, alright, alright. How could I forget how fun rock can be?
Somewhere there is a better version of this song but alas we get the 7" version. These New Zealand kids are young and they like to rock. When I listen to this which I often do I feel like I'm a young angsty teen again, minus the acne, and it's awesome. Bonus for being punk and not sounding like crap. The video version of the song is probably better than the mp3.
Every time I pick up a bass guitar I play the bass line to this song, even before I had ever heard it. It's just the thing to play when you pick up a bass. I have many personal feelings about this song. I drive to AM/PM and buy 2 sparks (RIP). I get in my car and drive to downtown blasting this song. I drink the sparks and feel hopeful about the night. What more is there? Really.
I have no idea why this guy isn't more popular than he is. Do I have bad taste in music? I don't think so. The musical theme here is triumphant. While the indie/blog trend now is to be lo-fi, chillwave, etc, Deastro puts his music right in the front. He's not afraid of clarity or lushness. The sounds you hear are just as sonically complicated as his lyrics. This song is the soundtrack to something great happening.
Pitchfork unwisely gave Let Go something like 4.4... what the hell are they thinking? Is our generation not deserving of our own Enya? While Enya was sailing away, our parents were buying tevas and ushering us through the movie aisle to get our seats for Jurassic Park. Can't jj get high on ecstacy and sample Lil Wayne while we use our respective iTechnologies? It makes perfect sense.
Girl, you are young and beautiful but you're boyfriend doesn't treat you right. Your friends and your family don't understand why you're staying with this guy. One night you decide to have a bottle of wine, maybe call up your girlfriends, you all get drunk and turn the stereo on and this is the song you sing.
Forward drums in the beginning, trance-like synths. That eery, reverbed, echoed to hell vocal until the drums drop and then the wail of an underwater creature. If only we lived in the ocean.
You can download one of Millionyoung's eps over at his myspace page.
You hear music but it's far away and you just want it to come closer. You want to be wrapped up in the sounds. But it's an impossibility. It's a long track but repeatable because it never seems to satisfy you the first time through.
You're out on your father's boat in the middle of the cape. It's that time in between night and day. The orange glow of the sun is being pushed out by the blue and black sky. You might be alone or you might there with friends, it's up to you. You feel lazy and content. But slowly you begin to dream of what is happening on the shore. You struggle between staying out or returning.
This is the happiest you will ever be with your lover. "Everybody that you look like should send you a letter to say they're sorry they couldn't change..."
First Rate People's myspace is full of interesting things, including a link to download the song above.
The Lost Coast Trail, Northern California
File on the beach, early on the journey
