Lush - "Gala"

Yesterday my friend Darryl from back in Div School days posted the video for "Sweetness and Light" on his facebook page, which made me really happy! It was the final push I needed to end my international travel/jetlag/holiday/cold - induced hiatus. So the Lo Fi Life Project is officially back on. Happy new year everyone! I hope you all had wonderful holidays. I had a fantastic trip to South Africa and Botswana. If you want to see some pictures, just let me know.

So on to the topic at hand. "Gala" came out in 1988. That's twenty years ago. This makes me realize that I am not so young anymore! But the fact that the lovely music of this album, and "Sweetness and Light" in particular, has never been far from my heart, cements "Gala" as a classic in my world. I think it's stood the test of time very well.

What I've always loved about Lush is the swirling, ethereal, enveloping wall of sound their guitars create. It's just so beautiful. This music is all about atmosphere. I don't know if I heard the Cocteau Twins or Lush first, but they occupy similar places in my musical life. When I want to be surrounded by gorgeous, contemplative sound, I look to these bands. The big differences are that Lush incorporates much more straight ahead rock rhythms than you'll hear on any Cocteau Twins albums, and their lyrics are all in English. So whereas I listened to the Cocteau Twins constantly while lying on the floor of my bedroom in the dark when I had mono, Lush is better for a solo road trip on a sunny afternoon.

Seeing Lush in the video Darryl posted endeared me to them all the more. I had never seen the video, and sadly never saw them live, so I had no idea that they were so dorky. I kind of figured they'd be all dressed in black, kind of too cool for school, but in fact one of them is wearing this cotton shirt with a floral pattern at the top. Made me wonder if my extremely bad fashion of twenty years ago wasn't so unique....

Figuring I had a few other things to learn, I read their wikipedia page last night. Turns out that one of the Cocteau Twins produced "Gala," which isn't surprising, and that Lush initiated a genre of music that came to be called "shoegazing." I think that genre has already come and gone, and I had no idea, but there you go. Apparently, "Gala" was actually a compilation of the band's first three EPs, which explains the fact that a number of the songs appear more than once on the album. It's a little embarrassing but no surprise that in my college haze when I first fell in love with "Gala," I failed to notice that. But honestly, it really doesn't matter. The music is so hypnotic that it works.

There's a certain amount of nostalgia in my love for Lush, for sure. Last night while listening to "Gala" and playing Take Two (a great game by the way), a visceral memory of those ratty couches in the WOBC office came flooding back. I could feel the scratchy fabric on my leg. But this album really is as enjoyable to listen to in the home I own today as it was back in my college days. If you don't own "Gala," and want to give it a go, let me know. And again, happy new year to all!

The Sea and Cake - "Everybody"

I love The Sea and Cake. They're definitely one of my all time favorites, but in a very particular way. I never get super excited about them, can't remember the names of any of their songs, and can't sing along to them (though I can whistle along). And still I love them. My friend Meryl once said that when she doesn't know what else to put on, she always turns to The Sea and Cake. Exactly. They're almost always a really nice soundtrack to my life. They never offend my ears. I don't know what their lyrics mean, they seem almost like random phrases strung together, and whenever I choose to pay attention the phrase of that moment resonates just fine. I don't even know how to describe what genre their music would fall under - pop? indie rock? electronica? ambient? It's a mish mash, but it all works together.

Lucky for me, they're very prolific. All of these guys have other projects going on, yet over the last fifteen years, they've put out eight albums as The Sea and Cake. The album that really got me, when I started paying more attention, is "The Fawn," which came out in 1996. It's definitely on my top ten list. Once I was hooked on that, I made sure I had their previous albums, and have bought each one they've put out since. "Everybody" came out in 2007. I like it as much as I like any of their other albums. I don't often reach for it first, in part because I'm not a huge fan of the first track, so that kind of throws me off. It's more heavily rock influenced than a lot of their work tends to be, as is the third track. But when I let it play beyond those first few songs, I remember that I really like most of the album. There are a couple of singles that stand out - "Coconut" got a lot of airplay on WERS here in Boston, and "Exact to Me" also gets in your head. In a good way. Really, the whole album is good. Which pieces you'll love the most just depend on your personal preferences - and this band gives you a ton of options.

So, in a nutshell, if you don't own any Sea and Cake, you should. They're really impressive musicians, and their music is unlike any other group. At least that I know of. If you don't have "Everybody," I'd be happy to pass it on to you.