Band in Review (and other assorted comments): Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian

It’s hard to find bands with such wonderful consistency as the Scottish group Belle and Sebastian. Founded in 1996, they garnered lots of popularity throughout the late nineties due to their slick sound and the beautiful, balladic touching lyrics delivered by Stuart Murdoch. They recorded their first album in 1996 at Stow College, whose music professor was so impressed by their singles that he allowed them to record a whole album, Tigermilk, on their college label, Electric Honey. Only 1000 copies were pressed into vinyl, and now sell upwards of 600 dollars on eBay and the like.
Next, they joined Jeepster Records and recorded their most critically acclaimed album, If You’re Feeling Sinister, which would go on to be named one the best 100 albums between 1985 and 2005 (Spin Magazine).
The band released several more critically acclaimed albums over the next 8 years, notably Dear Catastrophe Waitress, which had several songs used in the unduly indie flick Juno.
In 2006, the band released The Life Pursuit, which is my personal favorite album to date, if only due to how much it varies in genre and pacing. But of course, their generally upbeat nineties alt-rock guitar and organ are present throughout. One of the highlights is “Sukie in the Graveyard” which contains a fantastic organ chord progression, tells the story an odd hipster girl who hangs out in a graveyard, no less, and meets a guy in the attic of the sculpture building at an art school. “Song for Sunshine” is a perfect example of the genre shift, with elements of funk, laced with beautiful harmonies.  On a more technical review, I am moreso impressed by and drawn to their recording style, which somewhat reflects the sound I strive to achieve when I record my own music. Slightly reverberated vocals to add depth, clean guitar, super crisp drums, and dry synth create an aurally pleasant album.
Much more recently, I picked up their compilation of songs recorded at the BBC studios, The BBC Sessions, which is a nice collection of previously unreleased songs. Unfortunately, Belle and Sebastian are currently on hiatus and do not plan on releasing on any more studio albums, but only time will tell.

On a side note, today I visited one of the premiere record stores in the country today, Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas. It is home to many unique vinyl records, some of which I picked up, like Modeselektor’s Happy Birthday Remixes, Aphex Twin’s Analord, and Atmosphere’s When Life Gives You Lemons, You Better Paint That Shit Gold (with really, really awesome yellow pressed vinyl), all of these are fantastic albums as well. If you are ever in Austin, Texas and you have the slightest interest in music, I recommend you visit. It’s adjacent from the enormous Whole Foods, a place I could write an entirely separate blog about.

Furr

I recently discovered the Portland experimental folk band Blitzen Trapper, whose newest album Furr just released. I am really enjoying it so far, and I think you should pick it some time if you like folk music, or the likes of Dr. Dog; you will definitely enjoy it.

I have a new chiptune band with another local artist Josh Kaplan, Cash$Duke, and we are planning to have several shows in Tallahassee within the month of December. Check us out MySpace and on Facebook for the future showdates!