ALBUM REVIEW: A Slothbear is what do you get when you mix some mammals and paint in Staten Island which forms the release they call Cantor On. Some may write this part of New York off as just a breeding ground for lap dance vixens but we won’t be so narrow minded. We thought we heard something deeper when we featured them in our Crop-O-Singles over the summer and here we are proven right. They do have more moves than a Go-Go dancer! This release is a wonderful dark trip of texture, mirrors and classic indie guitar maneuvers. Convulsively atonal which I’m ok with because the vocals give this music just a little bit more heart in the performance department. Making the music real and seem like it’s off the flannel and comforting in the right lighting. They particularity get their point across in a song called “Goodnight Retrograde” which is a 10 minute meandering jam that hints at the bands spontaneity at it’s best. Like we hear in long player songs that we love in punk art bands like The Fall. Then other times the technical Denison-Kimball like jazz proficiency surprises you like on their song “Sleep Daze”. A one trick circus dance pony they are not. As another track like “Ex-Teen” is a hopeful song about procreating in the future. What ever your pleasure be sure to tip them with a beer or buck. I’m sure they won’t mind. XOX.
Galloping by Slothbear MP3 from Cantor On [ Get some ] Show: Saturday Nov 12 The Grove, 64 Grove St. Brooklyn,NY
Something about their sound reminds me of these sounds: Prole Art Threat MP3 by The Fall from Totally Wired – The Rough Trade Anthology (1980-1983) False Jesii Part 2 MP3 by Pissed Jeans from King of Jeans Guitar Named Desire MP3 by Big Dipper from Heavens (1987) Private Party MP3 by The Bigger Lovers from How I Learned To Stop Worrying (2001) Tabby and Lucy MP3 by Boston Spaceships from Let It Beard (2011) featuring Robert Pollard
MUSIC REVIEW:It’s been 7 Years since The Bigger Lovers haunted a stage and about 10 years since their debut How I Learned to Stop Worrying came out. In celebration you can order a 500 limited edition pressing of this 2001 release. I think we need to check the math but regardless here’s a fresh Little Giant Maxi Single from them. Their follow-up Honey in the Hive also delivered succinct pop songs any girl would fall for like a bushel of un-thorned roses. I go back a little with these guys over the year. Bret Tobias used to play drums in Moped & Sonny Sixkiller and were label mates of Aviso’Hara; as was Scott Jefferson the bassplayer who’s solo work was also on the same label with the Diane Linkletter Experience (Vital Cog Records)- We were a little family of indie bands. Before that Scott was also in Gerrymander Bob who also used to play with Aviso’ waaaaaaaaay back in the Brighton Bar days before grunge and music broke (pre-interwebs). Regardless these guys have been working on their pop music craft for some time and it’s super awesome to hear some material and a show coming out of the woodwork March 12th at John & Brenda’s. This is good for the Philly music scene.
If you dig early Costello, Big Star, Posies and your usual poptopia suspects you can put the Lovers right in the line-up. Their soaring guitars and sweeping vocal stylings drift you to different places like Peter Pan in the night could in theory make-up lines like “classic school girls and circus clowns”. A little dream pop never hurt anybody it’s a good thing they found some magic in the basement. The opener “Talon Show” is a acoustic ditty that is sweet as much as it is a vicious little love song. The regular mix of “Little Giant” is destined to some commercial placement that has the potential to bring these guys out of obscurity. It’s a pollination of Pernice Brothers and The Shins but somehow the song craft is all their own. Don’t get fooled by the “Walk This Way” beat as it takes a life of it’s own with this Haircut 100 feel. The thing is about guitar pop music; by it’s very nature it can’t exist on it’s own as it lives in a fishbowl that all these cats keep pawing at, trying to tip the water but the illusivenes little buggers are fast and ever changing colors. We’re happy to just listen and stare to the action over and over again as these songs are like charms on your high-school sweetheart’s wrist you can treasure for another 10 years!
Check them out live at their last farewell show in 2005
Misuser MP3 By Gerrymander Bob from Meat Town Shimmy Disc (1993) Never Gonna Tell MP3 by Diane Linkletter Experience from too hard to DISGUISE Vital Cog Records (2000) Recorded by Brad Morrison Halo MP3 By Sonny Sixkiller from this is your heaven. Features Bret on drums and songstress Kara Lafty guitar/vocals (Vital Cog 2000)
Sounds Like: Love Plus One MP3 by Haircut 100 from Pelican West (1982) One by One All Day MP3 by The Shins from Oh, Inverted World (2001) [BUY] There Goes The Sun MP3 By Pernice Brothers from Discover a Lovelier You (2005) [Buy]
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