The Twilight Sad - No One Can Ever Know

As I mentioned in my review of the recent live show in Colonial Williamsburg, I remain ambivalent at the idea of being a man (sic) my age who is as into a record called No One Can Ever Know from a band called The Twilight Sad. And while I'm self-flagellating: I love the cover, it doesn't really help. My raft of issues aside, I've been a pretty big TTS fan for a while now. A chewy Glaswegian accent always gets props at JS-NYC and if you'll do it in a dark Aereogramme sort of way, you can count on JS-NYC being down for the duration. The Twilight Sad have done just that for eight or so releases of varying lengths and volume, plying a post-Joy Division guitar meets electronics sound with harrowing angst-ridden (sung) vocals.

Despite intimations to the contrary, No One Can Ever Know continues in the same vein The Twilight Sad has previously, bringing some Scottish rain and grey to your earholes by way of a bleakly beautiful background of synth and guitar noise. This may very well be the most cohesive The Twilight Sad record to date, opening with the dark and driving Alphabet and bristling with solid tracks like Nil and Don't Look At Me. Nine tracks in total, ten if you get the version with the bonus A Million Ignorants closing the proceedings. Either way, unless you've recently decided to eschew your med cold turkey and are perseverating, No One Can Ever Know comes highly recommended. Get it and all your other The Twilight Sad needs here.

R

Live: The Twilight Sad @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 2.25.12

There comes a time in a man's life when he encounters a point of reckoning. Finding oneself at an advanced age riding over a bridge in the rain with four layers of black, drunk and going to see a Glaswegian band called The Twilight Sad can be one of those times. Enjoying that eventuality can be even odder. That said, I was in fact drunk and pleased at having dodged a lovely female bullet to roll in just as the gents got underway with Kill It In The Morning from the pretty aces new No One Can Ever Know record.


Seven tracks from the new record appeared in the set, with a handful of back catalog sprinkled in for good measure. The Twilight Sad are not going to dash any of the Joy Division comparisons any time soon, but with the two JD factions currently enjoying some pre-reunion time apart, the Glasgow fivesome are doing more than enough to carry the torch. Visa issues caused the first two dates in DC and Philly to be postponed and I know the gents were a little shook personally and financially as a result, but the rabid crowd obviously gave the crew a shot in the arm. The band is tight and James is in fine voice, so barring any emotional issues that would make The Twilight Sad more of a trigger than an enjoyable experience, I'd double down and buy the new No One Can Ever Know as well as take pains to see them on this leg of their US tour. See how to make that happen here at The Twilight Sad web presence.

R

Daytrader - Last Days Of Rome EP

Looks like 2012 could be a good year for the rock. Daytrader is part of the new crop of pretty decent bands that have sprung up around the NYC area of late. More specifically, Long Island really. The five-piece sports some heavy ex-member cred, with franchises current and ex- like Latterman, Bridge & Tunnel, and Crime In Stereo cluttering the members CVs.


The Last Days Of Rome sound is not dissimilar from any of the aforementioned franchises, with B&T perhaps the most obvious, along with strong nods to mid 90s Midwestern stuff like The Casket Lottery and that period of Crank Records output. Get The Last Days Of Rome here from your friends at Run For Cover Records and keep track of Daytrader here.

R

Old Neighbors - Dishwasher EP

Of the shows that I've missed in recent history, The Fucking Cops reunion(?) December set opening for the Latterman reunion show at Maxwells tops the list. I love the two The Fucking Cops EPs dearly and not ever having seen them live continues to weigh heavily on my old non-life. Recent transmissions on the interwebs have given me the small chance of a respite, as apparently TFC singer/guitarist Jon Rybicki has formed a new project called Old Neighbors with Jon from North Lincoln plus two other dudes from Cain Marko and Traffic & Weather. They recorded an EP called Dishwasher late last year and I am pleased to report that I am totally obsessed with the six songs that comprise it, most specifically the lead-off Eight Point Five. Man oh man, is that a good tune. The other five aren't much farther behind on the awesome-ometer. Step lively immediately to your friends at If You Make It and pay what you will to get this. Here's a link.

R

BoDeans At PopMatters

All:

Those interested in my take on the newest BoDeans record can use this link. Thanks to Sarah Zupko at PopMatters.

Live: The Jealous Sound @ Knitting Factory 2.15.12

photo used with the kind permission of courtney sultan

The news that there would be a new Jealous Sound record was met with cautious enthusiasm at JS-NYC and I'm pleased to report the resulting new A Gentle Reminder is pretty aces. The are on the road behind it currently. The last two times they came through town were pretty ok shows. I passed on the Sunny Day cash-in tour four or five years ago, opting for their off-night show at Southpaw, and was pretty impressed with the set. The room was full-ish, but far from sold out and the general take from the band was that they were surprised that people still cared about them.

I rolled up to the Knit bummed that I missed Daytrader, but hoping against hope that I was going to miss as much of the Motion City Soundtrack side-project dungheap in the feature slot as auricularly possible. I succeeded in my surgical strike, but the small victory of my timely arrival was compromised slightly by entering the room to find it packed cheek to fucking jowl with vastly more kids than I would have expected. The Jealous Sound came on a little past 10 and romped through an interesting set you can peruse via the stolen photo at top left. There have been rumblings that Pedro was not on the tour and the lack of talk as to why is a bit of an eyebrow raiser. Josh from The New Trust reprised his touring bass role. Drummer guy is both good and new, and I assume played on the record, but the set came off as a little bit more 'a bunch of guys playing Jealous Sound tunes' rather than a band called The Jealous Sound. Shehan is an oddly charismatic frontman, and in pretty good voice. The crowd seemed well into it, cheering loudly despite some interesting omissions from the set list. Many seemed young enough that this very well could have been the first time they had seen LA's finest, but the evening didn't go without enough (unheeded) requests for Knapsack tunes to assert that some of the massive had been into Shehen for a bit. I'd give it a 6.5 on a 10 scale. Not bad, but not band-y either. No stupid pits, at least.

Judging by the draw, I'd say we'll see the gents in town again soon. Sadly, I bet it will be opening for some horror show of a douche-punk extravaganza, so act now and see The Jealous Sound in the small rooms while you can. Keep track of their whereabouts and buy a copy of the pretty damn aces new A Gentle Reminder here.


R

Office Of Future Plans

Office Of Future Plans is the new project from the estimable J. Robbins. Word had been that Robbins was out of the touring rock band game, shelving the Channels project to focus on his Magpie Cage Studio and tending to his family but the interwebs came alive last year with word his linking with Vic Bondi (ex-Articles Of Faith) in Report Suspicious Activity. Soon after Robbins announced that he and Channels/RSA drummer Darren Zentek had started Office Of Future Plans with cellist/guitarist Gordon Withers and bassist Brooks Harlan. A 7" followed and now their self-titled debut has dropped, courtesy of the good folk of Dischord records. Without oversimplifying the whole thing, the record sounds like a J. Robbins rock band with cello sometimes. It's good and I'd very much like to see them live, but I continue to wrestle with my inability to fall for recent Robbins projects like I did the mighty Jawbox. Get the record here from Dischord and keep track of all things Office Of Future Plans via this handy link.

R