Song Stories: Blue Monday

 When Wil and I started the This Wreckage ‘zine over 30 years ago now, the idea is that we would have people submit material that we would throw in each issue as is and put it out to the world.  What we didn’t realize going in is that most people do not want to actually share things like that.  We struggled in finding material to achieve our albeit ambitious goal of a monthly issue. 

However, in a small way, I’d like to float out a similar request we used to do every issue, but with more of a singular focus.  I am hoping that anyone who reads this would be willing to send some kind of story of a certain song that means something to them.  This could mean a short story, an essay, a drawing, a photograph, a poem, a few words, I don’t know.  One of my favorite things is to tie music to pretty much every waking minute of my life.  It’s a problem really.  There are hundreds of songs that evoke a lot of emotions for me for a variety of reasons based on their being nearby at the time.  I absolutely love hearing and reading other people’s stories along these lines.  I don’t care the genre or the artist, or my personal history, if any, with the song, I find these stories endlessly fascinating.

I’m hoping to encourage any and every one who might be willing to send some of their stories to me via messenger, or via email: tangledrec@hotmail.com.  I would like to share them here, on this site, if given the permission.

Please ask any questions you may have.

Matt Jenkins has been kind enough to share a story.  Here it is: 

Growing up in LC in the 80’s, there was plenty of pop music and metal. I love both. A wonderful memory I have is from 8^th grade. After basketball practice, I needed a ride to the Driftwood Library. It was about 6 pm and, of course, just a little dark and rainy. A friend on the team was getting picked up by his big brother, who was in high school, and I was going to catch that ride. I ended up in a rusty 70’s Honda Accord hatchback with about six people (but it seemed like twenty). This, I think, was the first time I heard a subwoofer.

 

FUCK! They were playing AC/DC and getting high from a Pringles can made into a pipe with a carb. I was all in. I still remember inhaling and looking down at the Pringles guy with his mustache. Nemo? But AC/DC is not my song story. The song that rocked my world was “Blue Monday” by New Order. It was just such a different sound and for a kid who already had designs on leaving LC and trying to see the world, it was a revelation and a break from the pop, the metal, all the other common forms of music. AC/DC might rock a sub-woofer, but that beat on “Blue Monday” was, and still is, so fucking electronic that it’s like a digital heartbeat. It seemed to transport me into the future, a beat from far away big cities. When I think of all the things that have happened since, the advent, rise, and domination of the Internet and social media, all the various forms of digital culture from the human genome project to AI, to electric cars, that beat in “Blue Monday” was calling to us. How could we not know? This present moment used to be the unimaginable future.

How does it feel?

(http://www.williamlmoore.tumblr.com)

New Order "Blue Monday"

Nostalgia

Spectres

Nostalgia

(Artoffact)

Nostalgia indeed!  When I first listened to this album from Vancouver BC’s Spectres (their 4^th LP, but my introduction), I was immediately transported back to when I was a shy kid in the 80s losing myself in the discovery of post-punk music.  These discoveries were so exciting for me that I still get a charge thinking about it.  I used to dream about finding rare (or non-existent) vinyl singles in strange places, like in the grocery store near the produce, or in a roped off section of a hardware store.  These records would have striking cover art that would intensify my curiosity about what mysterious music was inside to discover.  Hell, I still have dreams like these on occasion.  What’s so great about Nostalgia is it not only sounds like it could’ve come from the early 80s UK indie chart (though thankfully without the over treated 80s drum sounds), but it could’ve thrived there.  I can easily see them being heralded as legends now, if they had been a part of that era.

The most obvious influence could be the bass, which draws on the style that Peter Hook created in Joy Division and New Order.  The opening of the incredible “When Possessed Pray” is very reminiscent of “Ceremony,” and the influence is only intensified when vocalist Brian Gustavson borrows the vocal melody from “Age of Consent” to open the second verse.  What’s funny though, is despite a handful of nicks like these here and there, Spectres do not sound like any particular previous band at all.  My introduction to Spectres is the second track “Dreams.”  This song is a shimmering breath of fresh air as it evokes both the excitement and sadness of a young relationship that is experiencing that first separation.  One is off across the world, while the other stays at home.  The trebly guitar chimes of the chorus is exhilarating. 

It’s damn refreshing to encounter lyrics that are about things beyond broken hearts and relationships (don’t get me wrong, I love these things too), but here we get songs about the world, culture, religion, and politics – but not in a preachy specific way.  The LP opens with “The Head and the Heart,” which builds momentum as it progresses, making it a perfect introduction.  It is about discovering a worldview beyond religious doctrine and they seem pretty happy about it as the song closes with the repeated refrain of “the worst is over.”  Elsewhere, in “Pictures from Occupied Europe,” Gutavson channels Pete Shelley as he shouts over a frenetic set of verses lamenting the fact that we struggle to learn from history and as a warning against the factors that lead to fascism (“Recondition / shapes of what’s to come / polarized parties / breakdown has begun / and no one cares what happened anymore”).  The dangers of political polarization between the left and right continues in “Years of Lead,” which has an absolutely killer guitar hook.  “Insurgence” reflects all of this political tension and comes on the some chanted “woooah –oooooohs” like a fueled up to the point Killing Joke.  Meanwhile, “The Call” is a song after my heart with its Peter Hook bass intro that jumps in like Big Country’s “Steeltown.”  I can almost hear a phantom e-bow from the ghost of Stuart Adamson, as the sing-along chorus kicks in.  As my friend Matt said, when I shared this song with him: “That’s got it going on.”  The exciting finale is “Along the Waterfront,” with its stumbling forward musical momentum and its melancholy mix of the excitement and possibility of youth and the dashed hopes of experience. 

There is not a weak track on this collection.  If you like you like UK post punk, catchy pop songs, and thoughtful lyrics, then this is likely right up your alley.  Highly recommended!

(https://spectresvancouver.bandcamp.com/)

Spectres "When Possessed Pray

Permanent

Fawns of Love

Permanent

(Test Pattern)

Sacramento based label Test Pattern Records is on fire!  I swear I’ve amassed just about every record they’ve released over the last several years, but this new one, may already be the record of 2019 and we’re just getting started.  I had not previously heard of Fawns of Love until their beautiful, wistful, and lush single “Zine Days” early last year, but it made me an instant fan.  However, much like label mates, Soft Science and their incredible album Maps from last summer, this new release takes all of the band’s best elements and presents them in a wide open clear and concise space.  All of the songs sound huge and vibrant.

Fawns of Love are Jenny and Joseph Andreotti, and Permanent sounds like they snuck into New Order’s recording studio in 1986, right after they recorded “Bizarre Love Triangle,” borrowed their equipment, and laid down a bunch of brilliant songs.  Please don’t misunderstand this.  It is meant as the highest praise.  I cut my musical teeth on that 12” single as a young teenager and vividly remember the day (before weeks passed like days) I purchased it and rushed home to listen to it over and over.  I love the heavy prominent dance beats and that mid-range bass as melodic lead and never tire of it.  The major difference here is that Jenny’s vocals mix with washes of dreamy atmospherics giving this entire album a sincere reflective feel that takes things to another level. 

The album opens with the single they shared late last year, “Someday,” which floats atop a wash of keyboards, a sharp dance beat, and some great percussion.  This is maybe what it would sound like if Julee Cruise release a dance single (I don’t know, maybe she has).  Similarly, “December” continues this thread.  That insistent beat combined with strong atmospherics.  Perhaps the best of the pre-LP singles is “Mournful Eyes,” which builds an incredible amount of jittery anticipation leading up to the warm sing-along multi-tracked vocal of the chorus. 

My early favorite songs (I can’t decide on one) include the majestic sounding “Horoscope,” which reminds me of all-time favorite New Order song “Your Silent Face,” if it had been graced by a vocal from Elizabeth Frazier, along with the sheer catchiness of the title track, “Permanent” (I cannot stop humming the ooohs from the chorus), and I cannot leave out the stunning “Divine,” which is so pleasantly dream-like that it is a shame when it ends.  Every song is fantastic and though there isn’t a huge variety here, the album works very well as a whole and its 30 minutes or so keeps any fatigue from setting in.

In my tiny circle, Fawns of Love are getting a lot of well-deserved attention.  I hope that it continues to grow.  This is magical music that needs to be heard.  The vinyl is limited, so please pick up a copy while you can! 

(https://fawnsoflove.bandcamp.com/album/permanent)

Fawns of Love "Mournful Eyes"