Sugarland

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:00:00 +0000

While growing up reading Spin and Rolling Stone, I quickly realized that both publications are fond of describing the sound of new bands by referencing older bands, many of which my twelve-year-old self hadn’t heard. I used to hate it, but now I realize it’s a pretty effective if lazy way of doing things. This is why I can say that Talk Normal would be the resulting lovechild if Sonic Youth and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had really sweaty, kinky, drug-fueled sex, which is to say it’d be a very frightening, emotional lovechild, fond of howling, screaming, and talking nonsensically into a microphone over sonic noise.

It seems that Rare Book Room Records has made it their goal to sign the creepiest, noisiest, and most difficult to characterize bands to come out of Brooklyn. These bands, much like Talk Normal, make records that you’d be afraid to listen to by yourself, as they may bring on a nasty drug flashback or elicit some pretty strange daydreams.

To be honest, I don’t even know if I liked Talk Normal’s Sugarland. I can’t ever picture myself saying, “Hey, let’s throw on that incredibly moody, emotional, energy-draining album that scares the shit out of me.” Which is not to say it’s bad; it’s just too different. When I want to be sad, I throw on something sad. When I want to be happy, I throw on something happy. Sadly, a mood has yet to be discovered that would result in me throwing on Talk Normal’s record. Maybe with a little more time spent practicing together and a little less distortion and howling, Talk Normal’s next record can illicit some more human emotion—as opposed to pure animal savagery.

Written by: Tina Vasquez, January 10th 2010

Necima

admin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:57:00 +0000

By Lia Ices

Rare Book Room Records

When I listened to Necima I was reminded of how humans have always wanted to be birds, to spiral up into the clouds and dash across the landscape without touching the ground. A bird’s voice is the most true instrument of music. They can send shivers down our spines without effort because they are natural singers. Listening to Lia Ices sing on her debut album, I was reminded of a bird.

I found that the best way to listen to this album is to lay back with my discman in my hands, plug in the headphones, and close my eyes. I heard a multitude of tremulous instruments I can’t begin to identify. (Was that a hand held drum, a violin, and a piano?) I went online later to find out more about the music and found that Ices also uses a gemshorn, electric guitar, organs, and bass clarinet. Her words are caught here and there, but mostly I couldn’t figure out what she was saying. This made sense after reading that, while attending NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for Experimental Theatre, Ices was encouraged to kick back and experiment, to let go of her classical training and use her voice “as a vehicle for emotion and a source of expression.” Now Ices says she is “interested in making music that is emotionally driven and experimental.” Necima is a lovely feast of sound.

Written by: Patricia Ethelwyn Lang, October 20th 2008