So? How was it? Did all of your Thanksgiving dreams come true? Did you get all the Black Friday Record Store Day releases you wanted? Did you score any super door-buster deals?
I spent today kind of lazing around, having lunch with the in-laws, and debating whether I really and truly need that super-expensive full-frame camera that is $200 off for today only. I decided I don't. Probably the right call.
I also spent some time trying to get a couple of things together to tell you about so that you don't forget about me over the long weekend.
Fascinations Grand Chorus, Actor / Actress EP
Brooklyn's Fascinations Grand Chorus recently released their second EP of 2016. The duo of Stephanie Cupo and Andrew Pierce are meticulous about their aesthetic, and the four-song Actor / Actress sticks tightly to the band's reverby, retro sound.
I shared "When You Make Up Your Mind" here a while back. Like that track, the other songs on Actor / Actress mine the sounds of 60s pop while retaining a coolness and detachment that make them almost post-punk, if that makes any sense. The title track, for example, is bouncy pop; but Cupo's vocals never let go into full-on exuberance. Similarly, the spacey and rumbling "Can't Make Everyone Happy" feels like melodramatic, wall-of-sound style pop; but there's a restraint that keeps the song from becoming a complete imitation of that sound.
It's weird. Like Fascinations Grand Chorus came from a future where everything sounds kind of like it did 50 years ago.
Anyway... I ramble. Check it for yourself over at the Fascinations Grand Chorus Bandcamp.
First Responder, "Hey Bud"
Columbus, Ohio's First Responder started as the solo, singer / songwriter project of Sierra Mollenkopf. The songs on the band's upcoming In My Dreams My Windows Faced West were originally written to be performed on acoustic guitar; but, somewhere along the line, Mollenkopf got herself a full band.
As a four-piece, First Responder combine Mollenkopf's bright and willowy vocals with something a bit noisier and fuzzier than acoustic guitar. The result can be heard on first single "Hey Bud." It's easy to picture a quieter, folksier, more confessional arrangement; but what we get on "Hey Bud" ends up a little more on the dream pop side of things. There are moments when it sounds like, maybe, the band want to cut loose a little more; but they hold back enough to let Mollenkopf's voice be the focus.
Check out "Hey Bud" below and look for In My Dreams My Windows Faced West on 12/16. First Responder hit Montclair's Meatlocker on 12/19.
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