Space Is The Place (again)

Can it really be true that Windy & Carl have been making records for 20 years?  I guess the fact they are just about to release the "3rd & final installment" of their celebration of their "20th year of releasing music" on their own Blue Flea imprint means that it is!


That single and their adorable recent 7" for The Great Pop Supplement provide ample evidence that they are creating some of the most touching, effortless-sounding music of their career.  "Carnivale" - the B-side of the GPS single - is particularly great and is undoubtedly the single song I've listened to most to date in 2014.  Over a tinkling, all-percussion backing, Windy Weber sings in thee most heavenly voice, foregrounded as never before, about a scene that could have been lifted straight from a David Atttenborough nature documentary:

"Little crabs on hot sand
 Dancing on the hot sand
 Claws outstretched toward the sky
 Snapping claws, feet in time"

It just so exquisitely expresses the wonder of small, everyday things.  Both sides of the Blue Flea release and the A-side of the GPS 7" are more typical of their previous records (shimmering guitars, subdued atmospheres, buried melodies) but done so beautifully and with such understated emotion as to make them career highlights.  With Grouper's steady rise to a certain level of prominence over the last few years, hopefully the conditions are right for Windy & Carl to receive a little more recognition again.  There's no doubt that they deserve it.

Around the time I was first fully immersed in the spectral music of Windy & Carl and their Michigan peers (Fuxa, Auburn Lull, Mahogany, Once Dreamt etc.) I bought a little 4 track cdep of demos by Alison Statton's post-Young Marble Giants group Weekend.  It was flawless from start to finish and seemed to sit just right alongside the similarly elegant music made by those groups.  Earlier today, I was jolted from the tedium of work when I read the Twitter announcement from Norman Records that Blackest Ever Black is set to restore these demos to print, this time on 12" vinyl.  Now the end of February can't come soon enough!

I Still Big Red Heart Slumberland Records

Shamefully, it's been a while since I wrote about one of Slumberland Records' releases.  This should in no way be taken as a reflection of my thoughts on the quality of the records.  On the contrary, Slumberland has had another fantastic year.  I guess it's easy to take them for granted due to the sheer consistent high quality of their releases.  I guess, too, that now that other better read (ok, read!) sites are interested in Slumberland's records it can feel like they have less need for also-reads like Not Unloved getting all giddy about them.  But, so long as the records continue to be from the topmost drawer, Not Unloved will continue to get giddy about them!

The first Terry Malts 7" remains one of the most thrilling 7"s I've bought in 2011 (it's guaranteed a spot in my Top 10 of the year) so expectations were high for their second 45. "Something About You" injects a little more of The Ramones to the mix.  It is, of course, bouncy, fizzy and, most importantly, singalongably fun - even I can manage the 'oooohs' at the end!  It has a naughty word for added teen rebel appeal. Grand.

A few weeks back the cd of Weekend's "Red" e.p. took up residence in my work PC.  Anything that makes the working day go by that little bit more bearably is always welcome but it took a lot of restraint not to belt out "Hazel" whilst waiting for another 'coffee from fresh ground beans' to come to fruition from the vending machine.  Last year's "Sports" was a  startlingly good debut l.p.; all dark and pop brutal.  "Red" is a little brighter and it suits them well.

When Big Troubles (check out their chucklesomely bad website!) supported Ducktails at The Captain's Rest earlier this year it was their scrappier, noisier songs that got my heart beating the fastest so I was a little apprehensive when reports suggested that their 2nd l.p., "Romantic Comedy", was going to have a softer, more polished sound.  I needn't have worried, though, for former R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter was behind the desk and he hasn't been in the habit of ruining bands and he didn't this time.  "Romantic Comedy" is a fine record with melodies to spare.  It stands up well to repeated plays, too.

If you add to all of this that Sea Lions' long awaited debut lp* is imminent, Veronica Falls just dropped an album of the year contender and that Devon Williams released what sounds from the samples (it's yet to make an appearance in my local pop emporium of choice so I haven't purchased it yet) to be a big, confident melodic pop record, you realise just how important it is to keep on top of Slumberland's releases.

* -  Their "Let's Groove" remains the single most asked about record I've ever played out!