So lately I’ve had the pleasure of grabbing a few albums before they’re due for release. Listening to them for the past couple of days has actually given me a more optimisic view of the (near) future of music.

Since Matt’s gotten started on the hardcore genre of music, let me start out by introducing the incredibly powerful ENVY. The Japanese quartet are set to release their 3rd studio album (their first release on Temporary Residence!) in September. Capable of creating beauty in even their most brutal songs, Envy are truly way ahead of most bands that consider themselves “hardcore”. Actually, let me take that back because I doubt Envy would even consider themselves hardcore, let alone consider any of those bands their peers. You can catch them on tour this summer with such acts as Sleeping People and Russian Circles. We’ll get back to that in a bit. The opening track, “Further Ahead of Warp” is one of the most epic 7 minutes ever recorded. Think Mogwai meets the cookie monster meets Japanese poetry.

Another Temporary Residence release coming up is the new Eluvium record, “When I Live By The Garden And The Sea”, which is already one of my favorite records of the year. I couldn’t find the album art for this one, so I’m just putting up a picture of sole Eluvium member, Matthew Cooper standing by the sea…possibly in front of a garden. ANYWAYS, don’t let the sweater confuse you, Matthew isn’t some singer/songwriter playing shitty songs about how much he misses his girlfriend or something; he’s the real deal. Matt chooses to focus his talents on creating ambient soundscapes that are built upon swirling keyboards, computer (EDIT: According to TRL label head, Jeremy Devine, Cooper dosen’t even know how to use a computer), and whatever else he’s using to create these beautiful tracks. I haven’t caught him live yet, but I’m definitely going to try and be front and center when he plays the Temporary Residence Limited 10 year Anniversary party at Bowery Ballroom with Envy and others this September. For more info on that, check out the Temporary Residence site.
http://www.temporaryresidence.com

So here’s where the connection game ends. Temporary Residence head, Jeremy Devine, grew up in Louisville, Kentucky…well, so did our last artist, David Pajo. You may know Pajo already from his early outfit, the “highly influential, bla bla bla” Slint (who I managed to catch live on their brief reunion tour and were fucking AMAZING), or you may have seen him in one of the other trillion bands he’s been in since (Tortoise, Zwan, Papa M, etc), but recently Pajo’s just been releasing music under…Pajo. Last year’s self titled CD was pretty good considering he had recorded the whole thing on his laptop using just his guitar, a drum machine, and whatever else he had lying around at the time, but I happen to like this album a lot more. Anyways, Pajo’s back with his new album “1968″ that’s being released on Drag City in the near future. This record finds Pajo sounding more like an actual BAND, and he even decides to strap on an electric again. A lot of songs on this one remind me of the Byrds or other 60’s California bands (my favorite track has to be “We Get Along, Mostly” which has a sweet guitar line). I read in some interview that he consider Neil Young to be one of his favorite artists…well, so do I, and on this record I think he even tries to blow the harmonica like old Neil, and if harmonica’s can’t turn you onto a record, then you need to get out of my face. You can catch Pajo on tour too and he’ll be playing the Knitting Factory on August 4th.

So there you go, 3 records that I’m really into right now. Hopefully people go out and buy these CD’s instead of wasting their money on that new Muse album or something. Oh wait, that’s not gonna happen.

Tags: Band Spotlight, Eluvium, Envy, Pajo //