The 7s, part 4: 1997

Since the beginning of the year, we have been revisiting some of our favorite albums and songs released in previous years ending in 7. So far we’ve listened to the punk sounds of 1977, the UK indie scene of 1987, as represented by the recent Cherry Red compilation C87, and the wonderful guitar noise emanating from the US underground of the same year. 

In the 4th part of this series, we are going twenty years back to 1997, a year that gave us plenty of great albums by the likes of Pavement, Spiritualized, Blur, The Verve, The Dandy Warhols, Cornershop, Wu-Tang Clan, Prodigy, Portishead, Foo Fighters to name just a few of the year’s high profile and critically acclaimed releases.

The seven albums that we have chosen to represent 1997 in this feature, include a few releases that have gained cult status over the years as the prestige of their creators has risen with each subsequent release, along with some more obscure choices which are just as dear to us and we think more people need to discover. In the first category there is Sleater-Kinney, Modest Mouse and Built To Spill, three of the greatest US rock bands to come from the Pacific Northwest really hitting their stride with their 1997 releases, and in the second there is the last ever albums in the brief but excellent discography of '90s cult heroes Helium and The Geraldine Fibbers, plus a couple of outstanding records by Swell and Prolapse, who were also at their very best around that time. Have a listen to the indie sound of 1997: 

Dig Me Out - SLEATER-KINNEY

 

Turn It On

The Lonesome Crowded West - MODEST MOUSE

Heart Cooks Brain

Perfect From Now On - BUILT TO SPILL

I Would Hurt A Fly

The Magic City - HELIUM

Leon's Space Song

Butch - THE GERALDINE FIBBERS

California Tuffy

Too Many Days Without Thinking - SWELL

(I Know) The Trip

The Italian Flag - PROLAPSE

Autocade

Listening Habits 2015 03-04

Every month we present the latest new releases that have piqued our interest, but what were those albums and songs that we've listened to the most and have rightly earned a place in C.M.C.'s record collection? This is the question we answer every other month in our Listening Habits posts and the time has come for the second one of the year, which is actually the first consisting entirely of 2015 releases.

The top of our March - April album list belongs to the excellent debut by Melbourne singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, whose killer single "Pedestrian At Best" was also number one in our previous Top 20 Tracks list. The compilation "The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas" introduced us to her unique songwriting talents a couple of years ago and now her proper full-length debut "Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit" provides further proof that Barnett is able to transform her influences in witty, infectious songs that describe in a captivating manner intriguing characters and personal thoughts and insecurities.

"Untethered Moon", the eighth album by Built To Spill and their first since 2009, finds the Boise, Idaho, rockers in fine form, rocking out with the same passion as in their best records from the '90s and early '00s. They say that change is essential to survival, but sometimes it makes a lot of sense to stick to your winning ways and play to your strengths, and this is exactly what's going on here from the very first guitar riff to the last.

Other excellent records we've enjoyed in the last couple of months include "Escape From Evil", the third and best album so far by Lower Dens, "Ivy Tripp", also the third full-length by Waxahatchee who I'm looking forward to seeing live in the upcoming Plisskën Festival in Athens, "Foil Deer" by the increasingly wonderful Speedy Ortiz and the notable return to action by longtime favorites The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Modest Mouse and Blur with their first work in twelve years.

Here's the complete Top 20 list of highly recommended albums:

Top 20 Albums

1.  Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit - COURTNEY BARNETT
2.  Untethered Moon - BUILT TO SPILL
3.  Escape From Evil - LOWER DENS
4.  Ivy Tripp - WAXAHATCHEE
5.  Foil Deer - SPEEDY ORTIZ
6.  "Freedom Tower" No Wave Dance Party 2015 - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
7.  The Magic Whip - BLUR
8.  Strangers To Ourselves - MODEST MOUSE
9.  Hinterland - LONELADY
10. Another Eternity - PURITY RING
11. Short Movie - LAURA MARLING
12. Fast Food - NADINE SHAH
13. The Race For Space - PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
14. I Want To Grow Up - COLLEEN GREEN
15. Kintsugi - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
16. Shadow Of The Sun - MOON DUO
17. To Pimp A Butterfly - KENDRICK LAMAR
18. Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper - PANDA BEAR
19. Transfixiation - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
20. Edge Of The Sun - CALEXICO

Top 20 Tracks

1.  Lampshades On Fire - MODEST MOUSE
2.  Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party - COURTNEY BARNETT
3.  Raising The Skate - SPEEDY ORTIZ
4.  Fool - NADINE SHAH
5.  False Hope - LAURA MARLING
6.  Under A Rock - WAXAHATCHEE
7.  To Die in L.A. - LOWER DENS
8.  Straight - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
9.  Living Zoo - BUILT TO SPILL
10. Do The Get Down - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
11. Groove It Out - LONELADY
12. Go! - PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
13. Push Pull - PURITY RING
14. Lonesome Street - BLUR
15. Black Sun - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
16. Deeper Than Love - COLLEEN GREEN
17. Slow Down Low - MOON DUO
18. Boys Latin - PANDA BEAR
19. Cumbia de Donde - CALEXICO
20. Winter (Warpaint Remix) - DAUGHTER

Modest Mouse - Lampshades On Fire

You can listen to our Top 20 Tracks on Spotify here:

Vintage Tracks: Heart Cooks Brain by Modest Mouse

Our previous post was about the artists that have featured the most on this blog in the 5 years we're on Blogger. A band that wasn't in that Top 12, although it is one of our favorites, is Modest Mouse. This is because the band is laying dormant in the last 5 years, having only released the b-sides and rarities compilation "No One's First and You're Next" in 2009. Recently it was announced that Modest Mouse will be playing at Coachella festival this April, so perhaps we can keep our hopes up for something new from them in the near future.

Until that happens, we always have the five great albums they have released between 1996 and 2007 as well as their countless singles and EPs which give us plenty of material to consider for inclusion in our Vintage Tracks series. And below is the video that reminded me that a Modest Mouse post was long overdue: check out pitchfork tv's documentary about the making of their 1997 classic second LP "The Lonesome Crowded West", as well as a clip for our favorite cut from that album, the single "Heart Cooks Brain":

The Lonesome Crowded West

Modest Mouse - Heart Cooks Brain

Happy Record Store Day

Long before the outbreak of the global financial crisis, there was the global music crisis, with CD sales falling rapidly and panicking record companies suing their own customers and starting futile witch hunts against the "mp3 pirates".

The fact is that the ease of downloading (both legally and illegally), the inflated CD prices and the economic crunch combined with, perhaps, a decline in the quality of music on offer, drove many, big or small, record shops out of business.

In this climate, in 2007, the idea of Record Store Day was born in the U.S. in an effort to strengthen the small independent record shops - in America and internationally - so as to survive the adverse economic climate of the era.

Record Store Day is now celebrated on the third Saturday of every April (this year it's on April 17th of course), while the first celebration took place on April 19, 2008, with Metallica officially kicking it off at Rasputin Music in San Francisco.

According to the organizers: “This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on.”

Record Store Day got bigger every year, with more and more artists from the alternative and mainstream music scene showing their support with both statements and collectible releases.

Some of the dozens of special releases of this year’s Record Store Day are:

• Sub Pop Records has scheduled several releases such as: Beach House - "Zebra", 12" vinyl with 4 songs, Dum Dum Girls / Male Bonding split 7", Soundgarden’s first single since 1987 "Hunted Down"/"Nothing to Say"

• Wichita Records has a series of reissues on vinyl, including Bright Eyes' "Fevers & Mirrors", the self-titled debut LP from The Cribs, Bloc Party's debut "Silent Alarm" and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' self-titled first EP.

• 4AD is releasing "Fragments From a Work in Progress", a 12" compilation including groups like Blonde Redhead, Gang Gang Dance and The Big Pink.

 • The Fall release "Bury Pts 2+4 /Cowboy Gregori" as a 7" single in just 750 copies.

• Blur release a new song (their first since "Good Song" in 2003) as a 7" single in 1000 copies only.

• From Crystal Castles we have "Doe Deer" on 12", a first taste from their forthcoming second album.

• Modest Mouse reissue the amazing "The Moon and Antarctica" for the album’s 10th anniversary.

• Pavement's new compilation "Quarantine the Past" will be released with a different track list from the original version.

• Bon Iver and Peter Gabriel have a split single where they cover each other’s song as part of Gabriel's "Scratch My Back" project.

• The Thermals and The Cribs have a split single with new songs in 2000 copies only.

• Rough Trade in association with British turntable manufacturer Rega will sell exclusively at the Rough Trade Shops a special edition turntable with the Rough Trade logo, while they will also be releasing a range of special, very limited edition vinyl records including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Mercy Seat" on white vinyl.

The full list of Record Store Day releases is here.

Greek record stores that participate in this effort where you may find some of the above releases are Rock & Roll Circus, Sonic Boom Records & Usedrecords.gr and Vinyl Kiosk in Athens, Mister CD in Chalkis, Play Our Music in Kilkis, High Fideliy in Nafplio and Sticky Fingers in Patras.

For the Record Store Day website click here. Watch Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age below, the official ambassador of Record Store Day 2010, talking about this day and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth telling us all about the first album he ever bought.

"The 'cool' record store. It is where you can talk to people who are like you. They look like you, think like you and, most tellingly like the same music as you - the only comparable experience these days would probably be an art museum - an actual place where you can stand and simply be surrounded by your heroes." Wayne Coyne

"I think it’s high time the mentors, big brothers, big sisters, parents, guardians, and neighborhood ne’er do wells, start taking younger people that look up to them to a real record store and show them what an important part of life music really is. I trust no one who hasn’t time for music. What a shame to leave a child, or worse, a generation orphaned from one of life’s great beauties. And to the record stores, artists, labels, dj’s, and journalists; we’re all in this together. Show respect for the tangible music that you’ve dedicated your careers and lives to, and help It from becoming nothing more than disposable digital data." Jack White

The above quotes are from here. Perhaps today it's a good day for a visit to your local record store. Who knows what goodies await for you there?

Josh Homme - Ambassador of Record Store Day 2010

Thurston Moore Talks First Record, Major labels, and Record Stores

The Top 20 Albums of the '00s: Number 14

Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News (2004, Epic)

One of the three brilliant albums released by Modest Mouse in this decade. Without compromising their idiosyncratic sound, the band broke into the mainstream with their fourth release that went platinum in the US and earned them a Grammy nomination. "Float On", one of the singles of the album, is also one of our favorite tracks of the '00s. Check out the AllMusic review here and read more about our albums of the year in our 2004 review.

Modest Mouse - Float On