| Author | Message | ||
     Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 111 Registered: 09-2004 |
I have the new Real Estate album "Atlas." The reviewer below sees a GB's connection, but I honestly don't hear it. REAL ESTATE Atlas (Domino) A Straight off the bat: Atlas, the third full-length Real Estate LP, is a gorgeous guitar-rock album that shimmers and chimes in all the right places. Across ten sprightly songs, the band channels the minimalist suburban grandeur of the Feelies, the crystalline guitar leads of Television, and the earnest literary sensibilities of the Go-Betweens. Like Days before it, Atlas finds Real Estate reinforcing the tidal dynamics and effortless interplay between the core four players -- Martin Courtney on vocals/rhythm guitar, Matt Mondanile on lead guitar, Alex Bleeker on the bass, Jackson Pollis on the drums -- while introducing new member Matt Kallman, who lays down lush, subtle keyboards throughout the album. Hopefully all the folks rushing to append lazily hyphenated descriptors like "lo-fi" and "reverb-laden" to the band will trip and fall face-first when they hear the crisp, cool energy of songs like "Talking Backwards" and "April's Song." Recorded in Wilco's loft studio in Chicago, Real Estate and producer Tom Schick take laidback, ambling guitar rock albums like the Rain Parade's Emergency Third Rail Power Trip as a template before tying Courtney's bell-clear voice and Mondanile's slippery guitar lines together like a pair of shoelaces. There's a heavier sixties psychedelic vibe to songs like "The Bend," which sounds equally as influenced by Jerry Garcia's squiggling clean guitar tone as by the dripping ring modulator fireworks of a Broadcast record. "Crime" speeds along at a cool 65mph, about as much of a "jammer" as Real Estate feels comfortable doing. Credit must also be given to Bleeker's walking, talking bass lines and Pollis' precise and subtle touch, without either of which I don't think Real Estate would be possible. For his lone vocal on the album, Bleeker delivers the beautiful, loping "How Might I Live," which sounds like Galaxie 500 working a shuffling country number into their repertoire. On Atlas, through songs that are not about the suburbs themselves but rather the people who live in them, Real Estate prove themselves not just capable of writing a relevant record, but also a timeless one. [MS] | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6523 Registered: 05-2005 |
I don't hear it either Austin, though I do like it. I saw a pretty big R.E.M. Influence on their previous album, but far less so on this one. There is definitely an influence from their fellow New Jerseyites The Feelies. | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 887 Registered: 05-2005 |
No GBs for me but as previously stated there is a LOT of Felt in there | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 988 Registered: 10-2006 |
I bow down to none in my musical ignorance, but listening to the first few bars of this....well, there's a smidgen of GBs shimmer, isn't there...? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gSE2NK8S DQ | ||
| Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 112 Registered: 09-2004 |
Real Estate posted a list on Spotify of their influences for this album. It lists The Feelies, 10cc (?), etc. Interesting choice of Go-Betweens song on their list- "You Tell Me." https://play.spotify.com/user/real_estat e_official/playlist/4kqrqIlFOFOtSSNXJteI LY | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6540 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've never previously listened to Spotify, but having just signed up, the first Real Estate song it threw up was It's Real, which sounds very much like The Go-Betweens circa Liberty Belle. Which I'd never noticed before. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6541 Registered: 05-2005 |
And now I've just watched the video Stuart linked to. The evidence is mounting. |