Theme Week - Dream in sound (5/5)

Well this seems like a good place to round out Elephant 6 week — a band that exists mostly in the dream realm. Combining wax cylinders and wire recorders with talk of aliens and astral visions, we get a fantastical collision of a re-imagined earthbound past and interdimensional possibilities. Somewhere between a twisted lullaby and the will to change the grammar of consciousness. (Mang.) Ending this little journey, I don't know whether I'm coming home or blasting off again.

The Music Tapes - Nomad Tell Us

Theme Week - Dream in sound (4/5)

Here's a band that had so many ideas they seemed to stumble over themselves getting to them all at once. The Black Foliage album is kind of their masterpiece, but its dense restlessness makes me a little queasy. Too often it ends up screwing with its ideas before the listener has a moment to absorb them. And then there are the 10+ minute tape experiments, which are...you know. Bummer, because there are some stellar moments, like this track. I had this one in queue, and some recent sleep deprivation has given it extra resonance right about now.

The Olivia Tremor Control - A Sleepy Company

Theme Week - Dream in sound (3/5)

The Apples in Stereo are probably the most straightforward of the E6 bunch. Which is just fine when you write sterling pop songs. I suspect that if '60s jangle pop hadn't existed, guys like these would probably have invented it. Give me angelic bah-bahs and a chorus full of burly horns, and I'm a happy Songblague.

The Apples in Stereo - Silver Chain

Theme Week - Dream in sound (2/5)

Seeing Of Montreal put on their massive, elaborate stage show a couple weeks ago, I had to marvel at how far the band has come. Who'd have thought from from those ultra-twee, ultra-dense/kaleidoscopic early albums that Kevin Barnes would come to inhabit the sci-fi space-glam, emotionally-wrenched character he now takes from town to town. The songs are a little simpler now, but conceptually just as ambitious and sometimes just as inscrutable. Barnes has never been short of ideas or ambition; that's for sure. He could probably write an album in his sleep, and then record it the next morning. Makes me feel positively lazy. Anyway, here's a good one from those bright splashy color days.

Of Montreal - Penelope

Theme Week - Dream in sound (1/5)

I've been listening to a bunch of Elephant 6 bands lately. For those unfamiliar, here's a little primer on what that circle of bands was all about. Something still appeals to me about a group of creative folks fumbling around with nascent ideas, consolidating influences, making some stuff, and then scattering out into many permutations to give their musical whims the proper attention. With some distance from the heyday of that scene, my fondness only grows.

No need to bother with descriptions of the "Elephant 6 sound." You either already know it all or you'd rather just hear the music bear it out. So here goes. The first salvo comes from Elf Power, a band as charming as their name is silly. They're still rocking it out of Athens. In fact, I saw them play a couple weeks ago, and I was happy through and through. And this song title is as good a summary as any for the whole business. Extra credit if you can identify the song they're referencing in the middle bridge section.

FYI - this week's little survey will sidestep the Neutral Milk Hotel, who I believe were kinda overrated. Feel free to argue with that assessment.

Elf Power - We Dream In Sound