Liner Notes 29.Sept. 2022
5 questions with Riley's Mountain, Beth Orton, Bay Area post-punk, and more.
I had been struggling to write any music for the past couple of years and I feel like this EP was the result of all of that pent-up energy.
~Abe Venzelow, Riley’s Mountain
The last time I was in Bellingham, Washington, was for a training class. I flew in (still the quietest airport I’ve ever been to), went to the same airport hotel your city has, spent the day there, and then took an early evening flight back to Seattle.
An unremarkable visit to be sure, but since I’m apparently trafficking in superlatives, the flight back over the San Juan islands & Puget Sound is still one of the best I’ve ever taken.
There’s more to Bellingham than generic hotel meeting rooms, of course. A lot more. It’s a college town and home to a small but thriving music scene. By design, that means it can be transitory, but in the shadow of Mt. Baker (and Seattle), some great sounds are being made.
By bands like Riley’s Mountain.
The term band is a bit of a misnomer, as Abe Venzelow quickly let me know. More accurately, it’s a project consisting of himself and his partner, Maryfiona Rudolph. The self-titled EP was recorded in about two weeks after the pair returned from a road trip. “I had been struggling to write any music for the past couple of years, and I feel like this EP was the result of all of that pent-up energy, ” says Abe.
Listening to the record, you can feel that energy bursting through your speakers. In my review last week, I called the record shoegaze in its purest form, noting one can almost imagine Mary and Abe living on a diet of Cheatahs, Drop Nineteens, and Pinkshinyultrablast. I’d envisioned that scenario taking place in a studio somewhere, but maybe all that listening was happening in the car.
Either way, their EP is not to be missed. Check it out below.
Five Questions:
1. Describe your style in one sentence.
Abe: Cacophonous Simulacra Laptop-Gaze.
Mary: N/A
2. Growing up, what was playing in your house?
Abe: Neutral Milk Hotel, Hüsker Dü, Palace Music, Guided by Voices, Sparklehorse, and the Replacements.
Mary: My dad played usual dad stuff: the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Breeders, Pink Floyd, Pixies, Bob Dylan … also a lot of local (Seattle) girl bands like Tacocat and La Luz.
3. What are you listening to these days?
Abe: Jackson C. Frank, GEL, Lil Texas, and Hum.
Mary: Mazzy Star and Kanye.
4. What are your five desert island discs?
Abe: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by NMH, Fist & Palm by Bellows, The Glow pt.2 by The Microphones, Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill by Grouper, and dc snuff film / waste yrself by Teen Suicide.
Mary: N/A
5. If you could collaborate with one artist or band, who would it be and why?
Abe: My first thought was Jeff Magnum, but I think he’d rather be left alone, so I’d go with Liz Harris of Grouper.
Mary: I would have liked to collab with Beat Happening. Considering that I barely know how to play an instrument, I could have fit in pretty well. It would be a lot of fun to write about whatever and just guess how stuff is supposed to sound.
Listen to the record on your platform of choice below. You can also grab a digital copy of the EP here and connect with the band on Twitter
Other Reviews
Beth Orton- “Weather Alive”
Beth Orton is not someone you listen to while out on a speedboat. There are summer songs, and then there are those best left for fall when the sun is lower, and a different energy takes over. Orton’s catalog lives in that liminal space between fall and the dead of winter, and her 8th record, Weather Alive is no different.
Summer is marked by hustle and a burst of activity. Fall is still active enough, but there’s a palpable downshift and a much more reflective tone. There’s more time to linger with your thoughts and look out the window.
With Weather Alive, Orton seems to be doing the same. Her records always lean toward the introspective, but his one feels particularly so. Indeed, right out of the gate, we get lines like this:
Slipping from my hands
Falling from my grasp
More than I can stand
Coming alive
It's coming alive
It's all coming alive
“Lonely” sounds like a scene from a noir film where the protagonist is walking down a rain-slicked street in the small hours. Spare and alive all at once. In “Arms Around a Memory,” she revisits a lost love through the lens of hindsight.
I put my arms around a memory
Though you'd always told me not to try
Didn't we make a beautiful life
In your 8th floor walk-up that night
The way two words they make a rhyme
It’s not all lament, of course. We’re a long way from Orton’s time dabbling with electronic music, but she can still lay down a groove when the mood strikes. “Fractals” sounds like Fear of Music era Talking Heads if Tina Weymouth had been on vocals.
Speaking of which, one of Orton’s strengths has always been painting a scene with tone alone. Her lyrics are always transportive. Listening to the record, it’s easy to imagine her at the piano, notebook in hand, looking out at grey waves, embroidering the next story to wrap us up in like that favorite sweatshirt.
Dig it out of the closet and throw this on.
Favorite tracks: Fractals, Forever Young
Neutrals- “Bus Stop Nights” (EP)
With snarling lines like “You think you know what’s best for us. You don’t know anything” on “Pressures of Life,” you’d be excused from mistaking Neutrals for Stiff Little Fingers or anyone else that went to the same late 70s post-punk finishing school.
I spent much of the first listen trying to place who lead singer Allan McNaughton most sounded like and what part of the UK he might be from. Imagine my surprise on learning they’re not from the other side of the Atlantic but the Bay Area. The vocals make sense once you learn that McNaughton is a Scottish ex-pat. Bus Stop Nights crams a lot of jagged guitar & motorik drumming into four tracks- just enough time for you to listen on your “15” at work. It’ll be better than whatever coffee is on in the breakroom.
Favorite: Bus Stop Nights
Dear Boy- “Forever Sometimes”
Another band that sounds straight out of mid-90s Brit-pop, but is actually from the other end of I-5.
Los Angeles-based Dear Boy’s latest record is full of bittersweet, beautiful pop songs. A dose of jangly musical sunshine with wistful lyrics laid over the top. Like catching the last moments of summer. It reminds me of when I was young and a sucker for any girl in horned-rimmed glasses and a pair of Mary Janes.
Favorite tracks: (On My) Mind, Swan Dive, Forever Sometimes
Thoughts on any of these? Any records you think I should review?
What Was On
This week’s list of records I listened to all the way through. Not counting reviews, playlists, or stuff played in the car.
Speedy Ortiz- Twerp Verse
Graham parker- Heat Treatment
Yo La Tengo- Painful
Run-DMC- Raising Hell
Grateful Dead- Aoxomoxoa
Dave Edmunds- From Small Things: The Best of Dave Edmunds
Sleater-Kinney- Dig Me Out
Bananrama- S/T
The Style Council- The Internationalists
MBV-Loveless
Cold Atlantic- Copycat Guitar (EP)
Joyce Manor- Never Hungover Again
Hazel English-Summer Nights (EP)
Saib-Unwind
Pearl Jam-Lightning Bolt
A Tribe Called Quest- The Low End Theory
Insiders-Ghosts on the Beach
Boys Life- Departures and Landfalls
Jawbox- For Your Own Special Sweetheart
ZZ Top-Fandango!
Unwound-Repetition
Romeo Void- Warm, In Your Coat
The B52s-S/T
Squeeze- East Side Story
Squeeze-Singles 45 & Under
Soulside- Soon Come Happy
Maritime- Human Hearts
Dead Moon-Unknown Passage
B-Sides
The Top 75 albums of the last 15 years.
There’s no shortage of Brooklyn hipster-approved picks here. Still, these can be fun exercises. And there’s enough variety to make it interesting.
Sleater-Kinney announced a record of “Dig Me Out” covers.
“Dig Me In” (heh) features covers from the iconic record by Wilco, The Linda Lindas, and more. More importantly, how is this record 25 already?!
Sunny Day Real Estate recently played its first show in 12 years.
This made me irrationally excited. And they’re touring! In Brooklyn tonight, ironically enough. We’ll see how it all plays out.
Speaking of bands I loved in high school…
“A Brief Moment in the Sun is a narrative LP, full of stories: some based on Bobby’s personal experiences and others addressing volatile sociopolitical themes, including a historical perspective on racial oppression in the United States. In both the music and the lyrics, this new album picks up where Soulside left off years ago—but with zero nostalgia in the mix. ”
Speaking of bands I loved in High school Pt. 2
No. 2 was originally formed by members of various 90s PDX bands, and they’re getting back together. This article reads like a taxonomy of the PDX-scene, but if you take one thing away from it, it’s this: please take a minute to check out Heat Miser & Calamity Jane.
I found a new record store close to my house.
Some words from Medium on some new adds to my record collection. RIP my bank account.
All good things must come to an end. Hopefully, “in one form or another” means Weir & Lesh are on stage together at least one last time.
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
The Pixies, Breeders, and Yeah Yeahs are now “dad rock” for this band? Why, it seems like hardly 25 years ago I was writing about these bands for Addicted to Noise. 😎I heard “Cannonball” on the radio the other day and I was excited: “I know this record!” But hadn’t contextualized it as an “oldie but goodie.”
I looked through that Consequence of Sound "Best 75 of the Last 15" list. It was exactly as disappointing as I expected it to be. These kinds of lists must have a very poor satisfaction rate, and yet, I can never resist. It's click bait for music snobs 😉. Some pleasant surprises though: I was glad to see Kaytranada's 99.9% on there.