After everything.

Personalities of its members aside, The Church is my ideal band. In the past 35 or so years, it has matured from jangly post-punk to a mix of psychedelia, ambient and dreampop. To me, the romantic ideal of a two-guitar band is embodied in The Church, as the guitarists refused to adopt the usual lead/rhythm guitarist roles. Both Peter Koppes and Marty Wilson-Piper interwove lead riffs and panned them hard-right and left. (Sadly, Wilson-Piper is no longer a member of the band.)

Last weekend, I fell back into After Everything Now This, my favorite album by The Church. The band had started falling into the usual trap of recording covers and endless jams, and After Everything Now This marked a return to songwriting. While it’s not necessarily the band’s best or most historically important record, it was the first album by The Church that I bought on its release day. The riffs (especially on this almost-title cut) bring back that warm feeling of basking in the summer sun in my Ford Aspire and impatiently waiting for the air conditioning to finally get cool.

Guess I could say more, but why don’t you just listen to the song for yourself?

 

 

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Rotation (18 February 2010)

I haven’t posted a rotation in a while. Here’s what I’ve been listening to for the past week, in no particular order. No commentary, just a list.

1. Model Engine – The Lean Year’s Tradition (5 Minute Walk/1997)
2. Cut Off Your Hands – Happy As Can Be (French Kiss/2008)
3. Curious Fools – Read (Gotee/1996)
4. The Church – The Bastard Universe (Cooking Vinyl/1998)
5. The Roots – The Roots Come Alive (MCA/1999)
6. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park (4AD/2008)
7. Cazals – What of Our Future (The Hours Entertainment/2009)
8. Black Eyed Sceva – Way Before the Flood (5 Minute Walk/1995)
9. DJ Logic – Project Logic (Ropeadope/1999)
10. And, although I haven’t listened to any Kevin Clay albums this week, his songs keep popping in my head when I’m in the shower or in the car. Must be time to pull Na$hvega$: The Land of Milk & Money out.

This week’s rotation

It’s been a busy week, with working and some other events that I’ll discuss as this week goes along.  I have had a lovely soundtrack to it all.

1. Genesis – And Then There Were Three (Atlantic 1978)
2. Genesis – Invisible Touch (DVD)
3. Thrushes – Sun Come Undone (Birdnote 2006)
4. Fugazi – In on the Kill Taker (Dischord 1993)
5. Paul Weller – Heavy Soul (Island 1997)
6. Buffalo Springfield -box set, disc 4
7. Tears for Fears -Mothers Talk 12″ (Mercury 1985)
8. Destroyer – Bay of Pigs 12″ (Merge 2009)
9. The Church – Uninvited, Like the Clouds (Cooking Vinyl 2006)
10. Hammock – Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow (Darla 2008)

Look for a wild episode of Radio Free Raytown on Friday…