you beautiful bastard. ugh. what to do when it rains.

besides trudge around my house in pajamas, sample Riesens and Rolos and Reeses (i'm not really kidding, though they all start with r's) and wonder how the hell i've been out of school for a week already...

well, i do the music-finding thing, of course.

now, i will not indulge you in what i was listening to in 2000. you'll have to stalk me and rummage through my closet for old mix CDs to get any kind of handle on that priveleged information. but what i will admit is that i was not marking my calendar for the release of this record by The Sea And Cake called Oui - - but i wish i had. these guys are truly great, and they formed all the way back in (gasp) 1993, and still ten years later they turned out One Bedroom. i find a quote from one amazon "spotlight reviewer" pathetic, humorous, and maybe right on the mark: "The latest confecton from Chicago scenesters the Sea and Cake is a floating ripple of subtly colored light across a breezy sunlit hillside." this is, of course, from One Bedroom, the sound of which is more refined and tweaked and tuned and polished. sometimes those qualities do not give leave for such raw beauty found on the tracks of Oui.

they are very much like a slowed lounge version of Broken Social Scene. BSS are a very influential Toronto indie ambient-pop band, whom i have blogged about elsewhere to catch you up to speed, because they are very dear to moi. The Sea And Cake come in somewhere between the bored, airy, guitar-plucking vocals and the pillowy excess noise, and fall just short of the almost-art-rock status that BSS brings to the table. TSAC are also older. officially five years older, at that.

it's jazzy, it's electronica, it's airy and often described as catching up to you like "afternoon sun in your eyes." sure to set the mood for leisurely drives with the windows down, doing that thing where you let your hand ride the air waves as they stream past your car...

oh, god, guys. my only warning is that its potential to slip you into a coma is very high. you can get lost strolling in those breezy, grassy hillsides, and these guys will lead you there. be ready with some uppers, if you can. i highly recommend The Raconteurs (if you'd like, you can brave their official site, which is really fucking cool but slightly intimidating). and don't worry. i'm sure they'll get their blog time too.  shan  7:39 PM  |  view comments (0)