Best Ever Albums

Lifter Puller - Fiestas + Fiascos

CommonWriter — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 08:55:41 GMT

Author: CommonWriter

Posted: 07/21/2023 12:55

Frenchkiss Records #2

Lifter Puller – Fiestas & Fiascos

Tracklist:

Listening to this album is like:
Finding yourself in a strange dive bar with an empty stage whose patrons start wandering up, grabbing instruments, and telling stories as you realize you are having the night of your life.

I will listen to this album again when:
I want something that is not quite the Hold Steady.

The drivel:
As a fan of Craig Finn and his other band The Hold Steady, this was far from the first time I have listened to this album. But, as expected, it is always a good listen.

There are a lot of interesting sounds and lyrics going on in this album. I’d say it was unfortunate that they broke up shortly after this was released, but I will admit I would rather listen to The Hold Steady in most scenarios. That does not diminish the sounds this album has to offer though.

Fiestas & Fiascos opens with a bang of lonely in a limousine giving a listener an immediate taste of what is to come with the driving bass and drums, the spoken-word style vocalizations and layered intermittent guitars. The second track Candy’s room then energizes and introduces the synth sound addition and stretches the vocalizations to a bit more of a singing style, creating a great summation of what else is to come.

In the words of Craig Finn interviewing with Pitchfork in 2009, “The Hold Steady is a great band, but Lifter Puller would probably be a better movie”.

My Top Tracks:
Space Humping for $19.99
Nice, Nice

My Low points:
The outro to the final song is really jarring to me. The sounds just disturbs me. I think they are supposed to represent the end of Dwight and the Nice Nice, but sonically, they hurt, whether meant to or not.

Re: The Label Project

CommonWriter — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 08:44:07 GMT

Author: CommonWriter

Posted: 07/21/2023 12:44

MadhattanJack wrote:

I kinda like Julie Odell's debut album, which (AFAIK) is the latest FrenchKiss release. Her voice sounds a bit like Maria McKee's, so some of the streamers are tagging it into the "Americana" genre, but I don't believe that's entirely fair.

I agree with your assessment, and my very important review will be coming in just about 100! albums.... 😲

Re: The Label Project

MadhattanJack — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 18:37:03 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 07/20/2023 22:37

I kinda like Julie Odell's debut album, which (AFAIK) is the latest FrenchKiss release. Her voice sounds a bit like Maria McKee's, so some of the streamers are tagging it into the "Americana" genre, but I don't believe that's entirely fair.

Re: The Label Project

Repo — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 11:49:30 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 07/20/2023 15:49

Nice! Les Savy Fav are from my home town of Providence. They're absolutely insane live mostly due to the antics of their front man! I had no idea that they started their own label.

Psyched to see where this goes! 😁

Les Savy Fav - Cat and the Cobra

CommonWriter — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 10:22:27 GMT

Author: CommonWriter

Posted: 07/20/2023 14:22

Les Savy Fav - Cat and the Cobra

The first release on Frenchkiss Records is by the owners band, Les Savy Fav.

Starting this project, this was the first time I had ever heard this album. On first listen, I knew it would take a few spins to sink in. But, once it sank in, this may be in common rotation now.

I could see how this album could be difficult for some to listen to if they do not listen to similar music. However, I think this would make a great introduction for those people, as it is accessible I believe, and after 3 listens stops and starts and sections of squealing guitars all seem to fit . It's noise art punk rock. My initial comparisons on listen are cursive and at the drive in.

Top Tracks
We've Got Boxes
The End

***I will come back and add links once I meet the level requirements of the site.

The Label Project - Frenchkiss Records

CommonWriter — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 09:25:13 GMT

Author: CommonWriter

Posted: 07/20/2023 13:25

Frenchkiss Records

Frenchkiss Records was started by Syd Butler of Les Savy Fav in 1999 and has released a number of their albums. This seems like a perfectly reasonable reason for most to explore this label. However, for me, I previously only knew of Les Savy Fav on the outskirts of my radar. Sure, I knew of them, I had heard a few things, but did I know them? No.

However, that is a simple bonus of choosing this label, as now I will finally listen to them for real. The reason I chose this label is because they were home to Minneapolis’s The Hold Steady when I first discovered that band.

And to say a band changed my life may be a stretch, but The Hold Steady certainly changed my perception on music, poetry and art. So this felt like a great place to start.

The Label Project

CommonWriter — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 09:22:35 GMT

Author: CommonWriter

Posted: 07/20/2023 13:22

The Label Project music Diary

The goal of this project is to consume the albums of a single record label, roughly in order of release. With sub-labels, oversees release, and reissues; all of the music a label puts out can be a bit confusing, so the order may vary greatly from the order the albums were actually recorded in.

I am planning to include reissues when a record label releases an album previously released elsewhere, as I believe this does two things. It shows what the label feels is worthwhile to release, and likely what they feel could make money at the current time, or just a favor for a friend.

Exclusions may regularly include single releases AND albums that would require too much effort to hunt down, unless I have a good reason. If a reader feels I skipped something important, please let me know and I will seek it out.

The manner in which I choose a label will be rather random to anyone outside my head, but I will include a reason for the label selection in the intro to that label. Most labels will revolve around the rock, punk, pop, indie genres, but radio-pop and country wouldn’t be excluded. I doubt you will see many labels releasing much classical or jazz or opera, but it’s not outside the scope of what I would plan for if a good recommendation was made.

Once I have finished listening to the catalog I will plan to make a ranked list of albums from that label.

Why bother, is a question I ask myself often with a project like this. The truth is, I enjoy seeing these diaries of others, as I always love seeing new music or opinions on music. This is also something I do myself, but having a place online for the information helps keep me on task and gives me a place to keep my thoughts.