Miracle Fortress - Five Roses - Secret City Records

Artist - Miracle Fortress
Title - Five Roses
Label - Secret City Records
Hometown - Montreal, Canada
Street Date - Out now


Bath taking isn’t exactly a secret pleasure of mine but it isn’t really one of those things I talk much about to friends no less strangers. Feeding my addiction to this relaxing past time has been a company called Lush from whom I mail order fresh handmade bath products just about quarterly. The trouble with them is they change up their catalog frequently so just when you fall in love with one of their products (in this case it was a bath bomb called No Worry Pas) they stop making it and replace it with something new.

First off what is a bath bomb you might be asking and what the hell does it have to do with a record review? A bath bomb is a giant ball of fizzy goodness and essential oils. You pop it into a filled tub and instantly it starts melting away like an Alka-Seltzer tab releasing fantastic smelling oils and occasionally dispensing things like flower pedals, seaweed, glitter, and or colorful confetti bits. The No Worry Pas bomb is difficult to explain because it didn’t really smell like the ingredients listed on its label of which I have now forgotten. What I do recall is the instant joy and pleasure it gave me. It smelled like baking bread being hugged by a giant comforter freshly washed and just pulled from the dryer. The scent and feeeeeel of cozy is a wonderful thing and the cruel people at Lush have taken this ever important sanity keeping product away from me. I've gone months without this bomb now and have been desperate to find something that blankets me in a similarly warm and snuggly fashion ever since.

This is where Miracle Fortress enters from stage left. Listening to a CD can be a bathing- like experience. The sounds and the core essence it is composed of wash over you- not just your ears but your entire body. I’ve been disappointed with reviews of this record so far (Pitchfork I am looking at you) because they fail to highlight the calming meditative melodies and warming layers of fuzzy goodness this record emits. This is more elegant than your typical shoegaze band and while I know people like to use Beach Boys references for Miracle Fortress, there are more modern day associations to apply here. White Birch, Rogue Wave, Aloha, Lavender Diamond, The Ruby Sons, and The Clientele all belong to that same dreamy club of textured sunshine pop that cast soft shadows along the way.

As coincidence would have it both Lush mail orders (back in the day) and Miracle Fortress come to me by way of Canada. Oh Canada!

It’s nearly impossible to say why it feels more like I am wearing this record than listening to it but ultimately this is how I embrace Miracle Fortress or I should say this is how Five Roses embraces me.

And Another Thing!

From Facebook:

Group Info Name: Independents Day 08
Type: Music - Indie

Description: Though we speak different languages, have different customs and backgrounds, our common bond is we all speak the language of independent music. We are the risk takers, the first not only spot trends but to start them. We take chances to open up minds and ears.

Independent music celebrates the cultural underpinnings of a country’s heritage. But how often, if ever, does independent music celebrate itself? How often has the world heard about us through a unified voice?

We'd like to introduce you to a very exciting special event, which we will be staging throughout the world, which needs your help and support to make this one of the most powerful initiatives the independent community has ever endeavored to create.

Independents Day will be a highly coordinated worldwide event to celebrate independent music through an historic on-line auction. We will be looking to you to offer items, such as rare recordings, autographed paraphernalia, night out with the band, etc., just use your imagination.... We will also create "official" Independents Day merchandise to be sold in conjunction with this event. A special steering committee is currently developing tools for all TA’s to use in order to make this event a smashing success.

During the weekend of July 4th, this multi-purpose event will raise money for WIN, the local trade organizations that host this event. Also, we will be creating a fund for developing countries who need our support to develop trade organizations in emerging new markets.

In addition, through a highly coordinated media campaign, Independents Day will provide our sector with unprecedented media attention spotlighting our strength, unity and growing importance in the global landscape.

With a lot of hard work and a little luck, this will be our shot heard around the world.

Contact Info Email: molly@simplesocialgraces.com
City/Town: New York, NY

National Record Store Day : April 19, 2008

Read all about it here.

Xui Xui Haiku

Hey wait that rhymes!

Check out this post from the band's website:

haiku

If you send in a photo of yourself holding a copy of the record "women as lovers" and answer a few questions, Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu will in return write a haiku about you.

Spicy Pork and Sweet Potato Chocolate Stout Braise

Soundtrack while cooking: Duke Ellington / John Coltrane S/T CD on repeat. For some reason melancholy Jazz was what I needed to hear while I cooked this.

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce (SPICY!)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
3 garlic cloves
1 small onion
1 pickled jalapeno pepper stemmed
1 quick pour of olive oil
2 1/2 pounds of boneless pork shoulder or a loin could work too (boneless is key)
2 beer bottles of chocolate stout (12 oz ish) total (dark beer will work too)
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of honey
2 large sweet potatoes peeled and cubed

1.Place first 6 ingredients in a food processor for 1 minute until it thickens up.

2.In a dutch oven over medium high heat toss in some olive oil - enough to coat bottom of the pan and add pork cooking for about 6 minutes browning on all sides. Remove pork from pan.

3.Add chili mixture to pan and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in beer as well as the sugar and honey. Scrape pan to loosen browned pork bits from the bottom. Add pork back in.
Add cinnamon stick. Bring to a simmer - then reduce heat, cover, and walk away.

4.Stew should cook for at least two hours! Relax and have a beer. Watch a movie, listen to records...just don't keep checking on the pot.

5.Remove pork from pan and shred into larger pieces with two forks. After cooking for two hours the pork should be tender enough to tear apart easily.

Add pork back into the pot one last time and add the sweet potatoes. Simmer for another 20 minutes to soften sweet potatoes. Discard cinnamon stick and serve in bowls or in soft taco shells.

Serves 4-6 people depending on how big your appetites are.

A New Broadcast Record - YAY!

From the band site posted ages ago:

"Dear All, The new LP is still being recorded and won't be out until early 2008. Cheerio Martin "

All I can say is it is about time and I can't wait to hear it.


Add them to a long list of artists with new records coming this year: MBV, The Cure, Bauhaus (huh), Love is All, REM, Morrissey, Team Dresch, Alice in Chains (another huh.), Die! Die! Die!, The Breeders, Jason Collett, Los Campesinos!, Jay Reatard, Stephen Malkmus, Dead Meadow, Shout Out Louds (an ep), She & Him (Zooey Deschanel + M Ward), Kelley Stoltz, Xiu Xiu (out now I think), Sybris, Jamie Lidell, and Autechre to name a few.

Prinzhorn Dance School - S/T

Artist: Prinzhorn Dance School
Title: S/T
Label: DFA / Astralwerks
Hometown: UK
Street Date: Out now.

I've tried to add the band's site as a link in this post but it isn't working. Sorry about that!

Phooey on me. You can't hear every new record from year to year but God knows I try my best. Somehow Prinzhorn Dance School slipped by me. This gives me an extra feeling of sadness to miss since I spent ten years selling Astralwerks via Caroline but I digress. The end result is if I had heard this record last year it would have made my best of list.

During a shopping trio to Plan 9 a few weeks ago this CD was playing upstairs. It was towards the end of the night, the store was rather empty so the stark constrained tones of this two piece band sounded extra unnerving and startling. I knew it wasn't The Fall but the songs carried that kind if terse slightly uncomfortable vocal attack with a man shouting and a woman echoing the shouts hobgolbins, not liking change, and black bunkers. Why people yelling at me over minimal drums and bass/guitar repetitive lines spoke to me - who knows - but it did. I couldn't begin to guess who the group was so I became one of THOSE people at a record store. I asked what was playing and purchased it on the spot.

This is better than anything The Fall (in all its many incarnations) have done in years and is easily my favorite record DFA has have released.

Jack Penate - Matinee

Artist- Jack Penate

Title - Matinee

Hometown - UK

Label - XL Recordings

Street Date - Out Now

I have one word here. Chisel. If that doesn't ring a bell then I offer you Ted Leo. If that doesn't work either than Paul Weller is my final offer. Nothing in his press mentions Teddy or Paul as an influence or as an RIYL but I am throwing those names into the ring.

You can tell me "South London soul boy poet Jack Penate is the UK's best new singer-songwriter" all you want but my NJ pride is leaning towards the obvious. Nobody said it was a contest but Teddy Leo wins.

Thrash Sabbatical Box

Artists: Thurston Moore / Kevin Shields/ Barrabarracuda/ Men Who Can’t Love

Title: Thrash Sabbatical – Four Way Split

Label: Deathbom Arc

Street Date: Out Now and my guess is this is limited but to how many I have no idea.









Is the record playing at the right speed?
It is difficult to tell but I am following the instructions on each label.

Is the needle still on the record or is that the sound of my slip mat?
I keep turning around to double check.

Is that the sound of R2D2 being murdered?
Maybe.

Is that a deflating balloon run through pedals and an amp?
Could be.

Is that lawnmower trying to communicate?
Sounds like it.

Is that Thurston strumming away at something that is almost a song...completely collapsing the sound of chaos collected between two seven inchers and one 12”?
It appears to be so.

Most importantly I wonder how many people will buy this fancy pants hand screened box set thinking the shoegaze legend Kevin Shields has decided to collaborate with Thurston Moore. It seems totally plausible right?

Well the old and out of touch me has since learned that “Kevin Shields” is in fact a Noise act from L.A.. Actually this whole box features bands from the Los Angeles Noise scene as channeled by Mr. Moore and packaged up in a hand screened pizza box by Britt & Amanda of Not Not Fun. The final pièce de résistance is the green plastic lei one might find at a Party City location near you. I have to wonder if the lei colors will vary per box or of every box comes with a different random thingy. I guess you will need to buy a box set to find out - and then you can tell me what fun item yours came with.

After all these years I still don’t understand the genre of noise or 98.764 % of Thurston Moore’s non Sonic Youth material yet my better half however enjoyed the box set – very much so. He digs the sound of being pummeled in a dryer full of feedback. Looks like someone is getting a limited box set for his upcoming birthday.

No Kids: Come Into My House

From: Vancouver, Canada

Label: Tomlab

Street Date: 2/19

As my 92 year old Grandma Irma would say "That'sss niiice".

She says that to just about anything that doesn't sound like you are taking an offensive tone with her. She is basically deaf, even with hearing aids in, so "That's nice" is more like her way of showing us she is still awake, and finding whatever you might be saying pleasant enough.

No Kids write polite feather weight songs orchestrated like Efterklang on their tippy toes. Add in a licorice twist of R&B smooth jams and barber shop quartets that never reach any sort of climax and there you have it - one tepid collection of music.

If this listening to this record was like our first date, there wouldn't be a second one. This record is meant for somebody, just not me. Could you take this band and their record home to meet your parents or grandparents? Absolutely!