Guest Post: Michelle's Favorite Record

My Favorite Record

by Michelle Cornelison

My favorite vinyl record in my collection is The Creek Drank the Cradle by Iron
& Wine, released on Sub Pop records in 2002. I won’t go to much into the context and specifics of its release because I want to focus on its structure in the LP format.

This is my favorite record to listen to. The album art is, on the whole,
unremarkable—no fancy heavyweight double LPs with full color storybooks here, which is pretty typical of a Sub Pop vinyl release. It does have a modest insert with lyrics and a few images, one of which I actually just realized looks like a drypoint etching, which is a pretty cool side note. I call this my favorite because it is the one I listen to most often (the record that is, not the album in general). Many of us have certain albums or bands we enjoy especially during a specific season or time of day. In The Creek Drank the Cradle I have found a collection of songs that fit all seasons, all moments.

The first time I ever listened to this album in full was in the vinyl format. I know this is cheesy, but I remember the day clearly. I spent nearly the whole morning in my room painting the walls green, with the sun shining in the windows, taking breaks to flip records. I remember thinking how perfect this album was for the occasion, specifically “Rooster Moans,” the fifth track on side one.

Another thing worth noting about The Creek Drank the Cradle is the first song. First songs are so important for an entire album to be good. I don’t know about you, but I am very much an album person when it comes to listening to music. Maybe it comes from being an artist, but I really value experiencing the songs the way the artist intended. But if I find myself needing to skip over songs when listening to an album, I will certainly still listen to it, but it will most likely never become a favorite. All that chatter to say, the first song, “Lion’s Mane” is spectacular, and anyone who has listened to it must know that it is the auditory equivalent of basking in the sun with your eyes closed. It’s a great one for waking up. Records always have two first songs though (or four, etc.; one for each side). The second first song, “Southern Anthem,” is also strong.

Last songs are equally important (and again, this record has two). Maybe I am being ridiculous, but when the break between sides of a record does not feel like a natural pause it makes me uneasy. (But I shouldn’t complain; I suppose the more abrupt the changeover is the less likely I am to accidentally leave the needle dragging around the center of the record for half an hour). The last song on the first side is both heavenly and haunting. It is without question my favorite on the album, and possibly my favorite by the artist. It is definitely a falling asleep song. I encourage you to find it and listen—even as
a single track, from your computer, although it is even better with the whole album. The actual last track is a good one (“Muddy Hymnal”), but I think some of the previous songs could have better served as the finale, especially “Weary Memory.” I think it might be because “Muddy Hymnal” is such a short song, at less than three minutes.

And so ends my endorsement of this excellent release from Sub Pop, which I recommend to listeners of all ages and backgrounds (I guess except for the fourth track, which contains a certain contentious word. But every other song is lullaby-appropriate). I will conclude with the lyrics to my favorite track, “Upward Over the Mountain.” Cheers.



Mother don’t worry, I killed the last snake that lived in the creek bed.
Mother don’t worry, I’ve got some money I save for the weekend.
Mother, remember being so stern with that girl who was with me?
Mother, remember the blink of an eye when I breathed through your body?

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten.
Sons are like birds, flying upward over the mountain.

Mother I made it up from the bruise of a floor of this prison.
Mother I lost it, all of the fear of the Lord I was given.
Mother forget me now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to.
Mother forgive me, I sold your car for the shoes that I gave you.

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten.
Sons can be birds taken broken up to the mountain.

Mother don’t worry, I’ve got a coat and some friends on the corner.
Mother don’t worry, she’s got a garden we’re planting together.
Mother, remember the night that the dogs had her pups in the pantry?
Blood on the floor, the fleas on their paws, and you cried ‘til the morning.

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten.
Sons are like birds, flying always over the mountain.

Live Trumps All

Although records are wonderful ways of listening to music (especially for a personal experience and contemplation/analysis) any sort of recording will most often be trumped by a genuine live performance.

Last night I had the pleasure to view a few local Atlanta bands play at the Drunken Unicorn. The show overall was not bad, with the Society of Ghosts opening the night and Street Violence as the final act. I was personally captivated the most by the band that performed in between the two, named Red Sea. They played a great set, coming primarily from their newest EP titled, Weird Problem..

The band consists of four members: Kyle Sherrill and Stephen Luscre, playing back and fourth harmonies on guitars; Mick Mayer, playing bass and singing vocals with Kyle; and Rick Mayer on the drums. Their sound is unlike most that I have heard coming out lately, keeping things simple while using harmony and layering to provoke interest and add complexity. Many bands that have been popping up recently are composed of as many people with as many instruments that can fit on stage (which by no means is a bad thing), which leads to a exciting and chaotic atmosphere. Staying away from this template, Red Sea seems to be much more focused, concentrating on the science and technique of music writing and working within the realm of few instruments to organize the sounds amplified and create a landscape that is not completely revealed in a single listening.

I saw Red Sea perform in the Fall at a small house show and remember being intrigued by their music then. In the last week they popped back into my head, like a memory that got temporarily buried. When I was informed that they were playing by a mutual friend, I decided to go watch them again. Before the show I listened to a few of their songs online, because I truthfully had forgotten what I had heard in the Fall.

While experiencing the live show I realized a few things about their music that did not jump out at me during that exclusively auditory preview. For example, the two guitarists have certain techniques for creating these captivating harmonies; they often play the same chords while using different strumming or picking patterns or strum the same pattern while playing different chords. Also, getting to see people sing harmonies live is more revealing than when they are recorded.

Overall, Red Sea seems to be a band that could go somewhere, taking influences from post-rock and pop-rock, with the sense of pulling grunge out of the swamp of ambiguity and giving it a little more of a backbone. I am excited to see what might come next.


*While this video is not of the best quality, I wanted to use a media that most closely would represent the live performance. But I highly recommend the procuring of these songs to be listened to with quality headphones.

LP Art: Explosions in the Sky

As records are becoming more of a collectors item and something that both the creator and buyer puts a heavy penny into, they are also being thought of as a more visual implementation of artistic expression to assist the auditory.

One band that has utilized album art in many of their records is Explosions In The Sky. I own three of their records, two of which (All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone and The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place) are among the most beautiful and intricate on the shelf. E.I.T.S. is a four piece, American instrumental post-rock band from Texas that uses intricate layers of guitar melodies backed by bold and often sporadic drum beats to create expressive and emotional experiences. They began in 1999 and were heavily influenced by bands such as Mogwai and Dirty Three, two other instrumental bands often placed in the post-rock genre.

One of my favorite albums to pull out and show people as an example of really great album art that could not be replicated by a CD or digital media is All Of a Sudden I Miss Everyone.

This record was released in February of 2007. The art within it was done by Esteban Rey, who is also the band's tour manager. Not only is the image that appears on the cover, alone beautiful and reminiscent of the art of Van Gogh and Manet; it is also replicated on the D side of the record itself through an etching.

The use of this extra space on records is being more and more often used for these types of etchings (and as someone who has been through an undergraduate degree in Printmaking, I find this detail to always be a wonderful surprise).

In terms of the listening experience of this record, it is definitely one of a continuous nature. Each song feels like a part of the whole and the entire record has an ebb and flow that begs not to be disrupted.

There has been speculation that the themes of the song titles and the title of the record has a direct relation to the novel Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. The title is a short summary of the last part of the book, when the main character Holden tells the reader, "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody." There are also major themes in the book of isolation, fear, home, normality, and tragedy. These ideas could be alluded to in song titles such as, It's Natural To Be Afraid, What Do You Go Home To?, and So Long, Lonesome. I am not sure if this is the exact intention of the musicians, but it is an interesting idea and literary relation to ponder.

In this post I have included a digital representation of the album, but if I could I would invite you all over to hear and watch it spinning on my turntable.

*Extra Note: The band is releasing a new record Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, this month and they have gone even further with the album art included. It is another visual creation by Esteban and is tempting me to splurge of the rather high price and add it to my collection....

Vinyl Week!

In congruence with Records Store Day, which occurred nationwide this past Saturday, I will being doing a week long tribute to Vinyl.

There is a recent surge in the vinyl industry that has been taken place within the past few years. Many people attribute the rise in records to the "trend" factor that has also been attached to antique toys and vintage clothes, but there is a specific rationale behind this social instinct.

FIRST of all, there is a beauty in the technology of record players themselves.
Invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison, its earliest form of the recorded audio technology consisted of cylinder shaped tinfoil sheets that had audio recordings engraved on the outside surface and were then read and played by a mechanical "phonograph". This later developed into what we now recognize and still produce as vinyl records.

Most of us who own records find ourselves mesmerized by the way that a small wire (needle) can run its way along the canals and ridges of a record and produce the crisp and clear sounds of the musicians that we love.

Most importantly there is an intentionality behind the creation of a record, the purchasing of a record, and the listening experience.

CREATION
The term "concept album" is one that is now often thrown around in the music industry, but at one point in time concept albums were all that existed. Artists created albums as full hour or so long listening experience. The only times that songs would be isolated were for publicity purposes (giving the audience a small taste of the whole). Today this is lost in our MTV driven culture of hit singles and sound bites. Often people do not even take the time to listen to a single song all the way through, let alone an entire album.

The creation of a vinyl record forces the listener to have that all encompassing experience of the music. You put the beautiful black disc on the turntable and watch it spin.


PURCHASING
These are bulky, heavy, and weather sensitive objects that cost a bit to create and own; so people who purchase them do so for very specific reasons.

Whether it is an artist that you have loved for years or one which you compulsively decide to invest in, there is always a memory and sentiment that comes with the purchasing of a record. Like Rob does in the film High Fidelity, people can often think of the storyline of their lives by the records that they own.


LISTENING EXPERIENCE
When you put on a record it's an entire experience that you are investing time into. There is a location aspect--it can't happen while you're walking down the street or in class when you're distracting yourself from the lecture happening. When you decide to listen to a record it's because you want to really listen to the music. It is active and genuine.


In this next week I will be expanding on the topic of vinyl records by going into my own record collection and pulling out ones that I feel the experience of the music is drastically and genuinely heightened by the medium. I will be focusing in on the flow of the music within albums and also the art that is incorporated even more strongly in the contemporary production of records.