Friday, November 21, 2008

Beach House - Beach House (2006)



Well. This is probably one of the better albums you'll ever hear to come out of 2006. Perhaps an over-statement for some, but i think if at first you don't hear it eventually you will. Otherwise, yr probably just not listening hard enough and should head south for broader plains & valleys of plenty, they're just over the horizon there. If you do hear it, at first or fifteenth, then good. That means we're on the same page, and I can enjoy that. You can sit in my chair. We can both build houses to sleep in. Mellow, raw. Soft, angry. Beautiful, broken. Hahaha Oh yes I did say that. What corn. What utter corn. Please Mister, I beg of you! Stop this hackneyed garble at once! OK then, I will! Beach House is like Mazzy Star and Black Flag colliding (??).

I say Black Flag not to indicate any amount of speed or volume (this is music to sleep to, or bathe to) but because there is a similar edge to them that I lend to Beach House as well. I don't really know how to explain it for you. Listen to this while you look out a window and hope for love & death! It's fucking haunting, and I really like it. Gobble Gooble Booble Dobble! Get down on yr knees and tell me you love me you mother fuckers!

"Baltimore's Beach House are singer/organist Victoria Legrand and guitarist Alex Scally. Because they come from such a well-defined tradition-- the boy-girl duo making lovesick, narcotized rock with lots of depth and sweep-- it's pretty much impossible to listen to this, their debut, without making certain connections. Bands like Mazzy Star, Galaxie 500, Spiritualized, and Slowdive will come to mind, but this is neither pastiche nor homage. While a lot of their sounds and shapes are the same, Beach House's recipe of fairground waltzes, ghosted lullabies, and woodland hymnals feels more intimate than those of their forerunners. The Hope Sandovals and Jason Pierces of the world mostly wanted to make their songs bigger than their heartaches, to rub out messiness with beauty; Beach House play their songs for a much smaller room, and aren't afraid to stare down a mistake if it comes bounding back in echoes." - Pitchfork Review (8.1)


Apple Orchard (Live @ the Hi-Dive in Denver, CO "22/03/08 ")

TRACK LIST:
  1. "Saltwater" – 2:55
  2. "Tokyo Witch" – 3:42
  3. "Apple Orchard" – 4:31
  4. "Master of None" – 3:19
  5. "Auburn and Ivory" – 4:30
  6. "Childhood" – 3:35
  7. "Lovelier Girl" – 3:02
  8. "House on the Hill" 3:14
  9. "Heart and Lungs" – 7:50
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