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Various
Artists: Metaphysics for Beginners
There are two types of releases that the average listener will stray from, and the hardcore listener will swim in, accruing as much Indie Rocker Street-cred as allowed in seeing the Brian Jonestown Massacre indie-documentary: B-sides and Compilations. Redder Records Metaphysics for Beginners satisfies both beasts in one Indie Rock and Electronica compilation of lost B-sides for contemporary no-names and contemporary favorites. The difficulty in compiling such a release lies in finding the coherent thread, a consistent mood to weave in and out of each track, leaving the listener with a sense of completion instead of a schizophrenic ride through schlock and sales pitches. Opening with a freestyle poetry reading by Will and Robert Creeley, backed by a cappella clicks and pops, the mood of this disc appears immediately disjointed not only in terms of mood but in terms of musical scope, perhaps biting off more than it can chew. Leading right into a post-punk indie rock anthem by Detachment Kit, we find the mood to be consistent: melancholy and WTF? So, searching for a thread and unity, we find melancholy to be our friend, and we begin to look past a sense of consistency and into an exploration of the nuggets in this particular comp. Ethereal offerings by The Gloria Record and Satellite Grooves carry us into a more electronic introspection. Sufjan Stevens, the ever-saddened Indie Folk King, delves into a bit of an electronic foray himself, with a surprisingly pop offering entitled How Can the Stone Remain; yet he still maintains his lofty extravagance with depressingly delightful metaphors about the decaying nostalgia of life. Even Jimmy Tamborellos OTHER other project, Figurine, makes a depressing and eerily foreshadowing entry into this mind-trip mix with the track Rewind (remixed), echoing (or rather voicing before the echo) the sadness and heartbreak to be seen in later Postal Service entries. Personally, the real fun begins and ends with repeat listenings to Kind of Like Spittings You Got Served, a depressingly fun acoustic guitar and (accordion? Concertina?) ballad about, (surprise) heartbreak. I first listened to this disc while on a flight leaving Seattle, my virgin trip across the country and to a city I was leaving until the time when I can afford to live there. Just as Mt. Rainiers steep slopes jutted above the clouds and outside my window, just as my girlfriend fell asleep on my arm, Summer at Shatter Creeks Everything came into queue, and everything seemed to make some sort of nostalgic bullshit sense. As a former Emo and Punk kid, this is the best comp Ive heard since Fat Wreck Chords Survival of the Fattest. But dont let the melancholy and the schizophrenia scare you. This comp will have you out spending your entire latest paycheck from whichever coffee shop you work at on a bunch of bands you should have heard of and a bunch of bands youll never hear of otherwise. And ultimately, aside from using your obscure knowledge of obscure bands to score chicks, isnt helping the little guy what being an Indie Kid is all about?
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