Re: goto Albums
(I have been wanting to post on this one for a while, and I thought that DJ Boff presented me with an opportunity to share the fateful story of how I happened upon one of my favorite albums)
I was paroozing a record store in Lincoln Circle, somewhere on Lincoln Ave. south of the Potbelly's spring of or summer after senior year of high-school following an investigation of some Hofner and Eastman guitars in the Different Strummer (a pretty good selection of new hollow bodied guitars by the way) when I happened upon the album Cul-de-Sacs and Dead Ends by the Minders used for 2 dollars. It was initially (I was looking in the 2 dollar used CD section so the cheapness had little relative bearing) the cover art that got me, which I admit a bit sheepishly, but for two dollars it was worth it. I guess you could say that I was looking for something out of the ordinary or something that I could attach myself to either through fixating on its thrift or the possibility of finding a good track or two or just finding something weird to share with friends. What I did not expect, I can safely say, would be to pick up what would become one of my favorite albums.
Listening to it on the drive back from the suburbs, I was listening to the album while talking with my dad and sister, I wasn't listening to hard but periodically I would catch bits and think "hey this ain't that bad." I listened through and realized that it was pretty good because I couldn't really even remember a part that put me off. Though I try to be open minded about what I listen too, like with all things I can't necessarily control how music makes me feel from the onset, and if it puts me off I am pretty aware of it. Usually with a mediocre album, if you believe in such things, you can tell the marked difference between how some of the songs are written or the difference in song structure (usually tending towards the more cliche or simplistic) showing lack of inspiration, care, or worse yet consistency (though most often due to a combination of those factors). This goes beyond music as cheesy or saccharine, both can be thought of as positive attributes with the right perspective. I am not talking about a bad show, or a bad solo, or even bad music I am talking about a clear divergence shown in songs like Ebony and Ivory by Paul McCartney and sung by McCartney and Stevie Wonder that despite whatever intrinsic talent after any initial radio honeymoon has ended, it is clear the song just doesn't cut it, lacks something, that inchoate quality known as feeling or ethos or style or relevancy or whatever that signals the presence of passion in music.
As mentioned about three sentences before, not only does Cul-de-Sacs and Dead Ends not lack that whatever which bestows intrigue upon recordings (meaning that it is good) as does Ebony and Ivory, that feeling is present in every single song. So much so that I am almost at a loss of which ones to show you today. Though I doubt any members of the Minders are as good of musicians or as influential as McCartney or Wonder, they have managed to write enough good songs to make Cul-de-Sacs and Dead Ends as good or worthy as any other album I've heard, especially for this generation. I don't know much about the Minders, except for the fact that they were an early part of the Seattle based Elephant Six collective that has brought such artists as Neutral Milk Hotel, Of Montreal, and Apples In Stereo (who share a few members with the Minders); and were on and off until they officially broke up in 2008 after a long period of relative dormancy.
Cul-de-Sac's and Dead Ends is a compilation of singles and B-sides, which by its consistency proves to be impressive in its own right. Its sound harkens to early Pink Floyd (circa Sid Barret/Piper at the Gates of Dawn) mixed with the pop sensibilities of the Beach Boys and the lo-fi sound that Elephant Six and the Seattle grunge scene helped to popularize throughout the nineties. Though indie lo-fi isn't quite my thing, I have been continually fixed upon this album ever since I picked it up, in part for its obscurity and its chance aquisition but more so because it sounds so good. You don't have to be in the mood for the Minders, the Minders put you in their own little world. It neither relies on overly dramatic or overly fluffy tunes like other bands that have followed in their sonic footsteps (Of Montreal, New Pornographers, and Apples in Stereo most notably). Instead the songs of the Minders seem to exist in a quixotic nether world of upbeat agitated self awareness and dreamy sonic playgrounds. Its the type of music made by late to mid 20 somethings who wish they were nineteen, who sing of longing, despair, youth, and adventure all put through an irresistible uplifting Brian Wilson lens. This dichotomy (between youth/adventure with longing/despair) is mainly drawn between the lyrics and the music, but the more I listen to it the more I find an aspect of darkness buried in the music itself. Maybe I've just gone crazy, maybe not, but Cul-de-Sacs and Dead End's through and through consistency where within its simple contradictions is what makes it an album I love. Maybe its in the blissfully sharp denial captured in the lyrics "Now I Can Smile" or hidden in the haunt of the satirical la la la's of "Chatty Patty" or the albums hopeless title but its there and it represents a large part of what I like about music. The seemingly endless depth at which you can take it, if you want, the rest of the time you just enjoy it.
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