Old Hearts Club

Six Parts Seven, post Old Hearts Club band.

Si bien Old Hearts Club tuvo una vida corta, ésto no obstó a que los miembros extendieran su carrera musical dentro de márgenes musicales muy parecidos, pero bastante más popular como banda: Six Parts Seven. La anterior agrupación, al parecer, tuvo tres lanzamientos (al menos dos oficiales): 1) v/a: israfel 2) v/a: taking a chance on chances 3) self-titled:

"Israfel" 12" (Ape Records) fue un compilatorio de catorce temas de diversas bandas de la época, como: The Panoply Academy Glee Club, Twenty Seven Hours, Reversal of Man, Old Hearts Club, The Locust, entre otras. Según el contenido del álbum, se trata de un compilado en beneficio de dos niñas que padecían atrofia muscular espinal infantil. En éste compilado se puede encontrar la canción "...red lipstick and drama" de Old Hearts Club.

"Taking a chance on chances" (Troubleman) contó con variados artistas de corte más experimental y no tan punk como el anterior. (no wave, math-rock, emo). Agrupaciones destacadas: Young Pioneers, Assembly Line People Program, Red Monkey, Tunic, y otros. Dentro del disco se encuentra "Hot day in mexico" de Old Hearts Club.

"Self-Titled". Éste lanzamiento fue hecho el año 1996, el sello y los nombres de los temas me son desconocidos. Lo que tengo claro, es que el disco es increíble: un sonido tan particular que creo que jamás he escuchado (es más, ni el proyecto nuevo se asemeja tanto); guitarras inteligentes, matemáticas, propias de la corta pero mágica, fructífera pero ingrata labor de la década de los noventa. Sólo tengo los temas de éste disco y no los de los compilados anteriores, por lo cual cabe la posible duda de que una de las canciones 1 ó 2 sea "... red lipstick and drama"; ojo, QUIZÁS, esperemos que no sea así, para que así tengamos la posibilidad de escuchar otro tema nuevo de OHC. Si alguien cuenta con los compilados, por favor contácteme por acá o vía lastfm.

Old Hearts Club - Self-Titled - 7'' (1996)

p.s: request: please someone upload some of the comps!
edit: thanks to anonymous for sharing the comps songs!

American Football Live - Fireside Bowl - Chicago, IL (04 03 99)

01. The One With The Tambourine
02. The One With The Wurlitzer
03. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional
04. Letters And Packages
05. But The Regrets Are Killing Me
06. For Sure
07. Never Meant
08. Stay Home

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American Footbal - Honestly

This Town Needs Guns - Animals (2008)

Myspace: www.myspace.com/thistownneedsguns

Naming your first full-length release ‘Animals’ might be asking for comparisons to be made with Pink Floyd’s concept album of the same name, but Oxford’s This Town Needs Guns apparently were just looking for a way to shorten their song titles.

After previous songs, released on various split singles and EPs, carried names such as ‘If I sit still maybe I’ll make it out of here’ or the awkward/adorable ‘Wanna come back to my room and listen to some Belle & Sebastian?’, the tracks on this album are named after, you guessed it, Animals. Animals of all complexions, nutrition preferences and varying degrees of cuteness.

The content of the songs, however, still revolve around broken hearts and spirits, and despair real and imagined. Singer Stuart Smith’s vocals serve this purpose perfectly. His singing is never overly emotive or even whiney, but quietly resigned yet forceful, a bit like a younger and British Ben Gibbard. “You know from the get go/It’s over” Smith concedes on “Lemur”, and on forthcoming single ‘Panda’ he denounces “Another breeding ground for apathy/To tire me into indifference”.

The band’s sound isn’t very far removed from the mathematical emo of Mike Kinsella’s American Football, with Tim Collins’ hypnotic guitar trilling and his brother Chris’ understated, but challenging drum strokes providing a counterpoint to the pillar that is Dan Adams’ bass playing. It is a lot to take in at times, and the painstaking precision of Collins’ seemingly relentless fingertapping-tangents might deflect some of the attention from the wonderfully crafted vocal melodies and arrangements. But nevertheless This Town Needs Guns have managed to produce a very organic, well-flowing album. There are two pretty non-descript instrumentals (‘Elk’ and ‘Quetzel’), but there is little to fault with the rest of the songs. Tracks like the lovely ‘Lemur’, ‘Gibbon’ or the hectic opener ‘Chinchilla’ impress with their energy and sheer emotiveness, although a ‘hit’ of ’26 is dancier than 4’-dimensions is missing.

On the whole, This Town Needs Guns showcase on ‘Animals’ how the combination of guitars, drums, bass and vocals can be used, without harmonies or overdubs, to fashion an album that is both delicate and raw. (Matthias Scherer)

Tracks:
01. Chinchilla
02. Baboon
03. Lemur
04. Badger
05. Quetzel
06. Panda
07. Elk
08. Pig
09. Gibbon
10. Dog
11. Crocodile
12. Rabbit
13. Zebra

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