The Sound Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Every Tuesday, the Sounding Board is a space for a short-ish review of a recent-ish release and conversations about new-to-you music. We’ll get things started with a write-up about a newer, likely under-heard album, and invite you to share your music musings in the comments.
You’ll have Big Blue all figured out by its second track.
The album betrays nothing of its nature with its ambient intro track, “VI Tape Lament, Tribute Etc.,” which buries indecipherable, faint falsetto vocals under a gentle key loop and spacy sounds. It’s warm, nearly directionless and could conceivably work as an opener for almost any kind of album. But song No.2, “Transducer,” with its approximation of tape recorder hiss, clicktrack-steady percussion and soft flourishes of surf guitar clearly mark it for what it is: A hazy, easygoing West Coast indie rock album.
Once that is established, there isn’t anything on Los Angeles-based four-piece 2070’s new album1 that will come as a surprise. Big Blue is a slightly shambolic collection of sun-bleached garage rock songs with a light infusion of psychedelia that sounds like it was played through a tape deck and recorded on a second, shittier tape deck.
2070 does not rewrite the rules of what that means or subvert expectations about what sort of songs appear on that sort of album,2 but the shortage of surprises doesn’t mean a paucity of pleasure. It just means that enjoyment of the album hinges entirely on whether warm tones, lots of fuzz and hard-to-hear laconic lyrics do anything for you.3
For listeners enticed by that description, there’s no risk in giving Big Blue a spin. It includes a nice variety of lo-fi garage rock. The appropriately titled “Birdschool (Off Sludge,) an early album standout, covers the thicker, grimier end of the spectrum, while “Windowpane,” another diamond in the intentional rough that comes one song later, offers the airiest, gentlest dish that can be concocted with the ingredients 2070 have available. There isn’t an expansive globe of sound between those two poles, but there is enough space for some solid and distinct tunes.
“Tansducer, Motional,” by far the best of the bunch, sounds like a new wave song was dragged through a grimy roadside puddle and allowed to airdry. It’s got a sticky melody, a real sense of propulsion and a few moments of harmony. It also marks the end of an especially sleepy four-song slate in the middle of the album, kickstarting a run of relatively driving music that helps Big Blue sprint through to its wandering closing number, “V3.”
At 14 songs, the trip is a little longer and a bit less strange than it probably should be, but it’s worth taking just the same, especially for fans of garage rock.
About the writer
Ben Hohenstatt
Ben Hohenstatt is an Alaska-based dog owner who moonlights as a music writer and photographer.
For more information, consult your local library or with parental permission visit his website.
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The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
The Kids In The Hall, Season Five, Episode Four,
“God is dead, and here is the body to prove it.”
“You just blew my mind!”
“Our minds have been blown!”
“OHHHHH… that doesn’t hurt.”
“Did you make much money at that?”
“No. But I got to keep the donkey.”
“After you walked out that door, I bounced around from empty relationship to empty relationship!”
“The kettle’s not even boiled yet.”
Kevin Macdonald’s character accepting what’s happening is what makes that sketch funnier.
“You two deserve the same kind of respect and admiration a high class whore like Julia Roberts gets.”
“Montreal, you should stop bragging about your stupid hockey team and start bragging about your tappetes.”
“Don’t get all excited, I was already jaded.”
“I spoke French with a lovely Parisian accent, which made some people think I was a snob. Which I was, so I didn’t mind.”
n“I remember once, a John didn’t have any money, so he tried to pay me in magic beans.”
The Practice, “The Return of Joey Herric” – Joey Herric being the sociopath who managed to murder two lovers and get away with it both times. He’s now a lawyer and begs Bobby to help on a murder trial. Only by the end it becomes clear that Joey wants not help but an audience, and that apparently he once again manipulated things so he would get away with murder. We’re well past the sell by date on this character and his increasingly absurd antics, even if John LaRoquette is still very good (another Emmy nomination). There is a more interesting B plot, where Jimmy tries to help a client we’ve seen before, a sex worker who is now accusing a john of raping her. Jimmy is able to win a settlement against all odds, but then discovers that the john’s counternarrative of “she was blackmailing me” is true, and his heart breaks. A rare season six episode written only by David E. Kelley, who went from writing almost every thing to almost nothing.
Doctor Who, “The Moonbase” – The Second Doctor and friends arrive at a moonbase in charge of controlling the weather on Earth just in time to confront the Cybermen. Parts one and three are missing, so we have two filmed parts and two animated. Not much special here, with the writers being told Jamie was sticking around without having time to integrate him well yet. But I like the design of the Cybermen here, and that of the spacesuits we see. The Doctor’s suits have bubble helmets and funky sunglasses!
Inside No. 9, “Tempting Fate”
The series has a recurring Easter egg of hiding a particular hare statuette in its episodes. (I am terrible at spotting it.) In this horror episode, the hare finally gets its turn in the limelight, as three contractors assigned to clear out a dead hoarder’s house find it locked up in a safe: it’s dangerous, the dead man’s note tries to warn them. It grants wishes, but–as usual–with a terrible price or twist attached. Very good atmosphere and setting here, and the episode gets some nice mileage out of having Shearsmith’s character have a folklore degree and so be exquisitely, panic-inducingly attuned to how this could all turn out. Weruche Opia’s part–as the rookie on the team–leans maybe a little too hard on comedic malapropisms, but the bit where she repeatedly thinks someone’s trying to mime “rent boy” is terrific. This has two perfect swerves away from expectations, creating classic Monkey’s Paw setups and then not resolving them the way you’d think; I’m starting to think good crime plotting is the secret to juicing up a horror tale. Maybe sometimes all the supernatural has to do is wait for us to fuck ourselves up.
Got this week’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode in early, didn’t think it was very good. This show has a pretty low hit rate.
I wonder if this is why Twilight Zone is better remembered as anthology shows go.
Could well be! I’ve enjoyed seeing some familiar faces pop up in a bunch of strong casts but there’s a lot of filler. Which I guess makes sense in a 39-episode season, admittedly! They liked to work in those days.
Twilight Zone came close to 39 a season in the four years it was a half hour. So it’s not just “we have to fill a lot of time.”
Yeah, I started with it because I’d seen a lot of episodes that I’d generally really enjoyed, and it’s less covered than something like TZ, but going through it week by week like this, there are more misses than I’d like. I think when we finish off S1, I’ll at least take a break and do a season of another anthology show, which will give me time to figure out if I want to keep covering every AHP episode or just select some stronger episodes and feature those.
Yeah I’d be intrigued to see a few of the most beloved ones. And the one with Vincent Price in it. Still enjoying watching along and reading your articles but just wish there were a few more hits in there.
Finished The Pitt S1, mostly good stuff though Robby’s verbal breakdown didn’t totally work for me. (Him saying the Jewish prayer did break the heart, followed up by his admitting he’s not sure he even believes in God.) The finale really does feel like the end of a shift, with the workers cleaning up the mess from the day and coming down from fourteen hours of stress, blood, and (literal) shit. Overall a good show with a lot of quick, funny, and sweet moments that quickly endear you to the characters (in this case Santos inviting Whitaker to move in, everyone drinking beers in the park, and Mel taking as long as possible with Vax Mom to stop the spinal tap).
Notes: Nice mirroring of the premiere in the rooftop scene. Shawn Hatosy as Robby’s buddy and foil Abbott gives the kind of performance I’d call Shieldian, professional and unshowy, and it’s cool he won a guest Emmy. I say foil in the sense that Abbott has developed very good coping skills and Robby does not have any, his refusal to even acknowledge his collapse is hilariously reminiscent of my dad. One too many pushy and anti-vax moms this season and I wonder if this is just reality now. Apparently hospital admin really wouldn’t come downstairs at all to talk to ER docs. I suppose Kelso on Scrubs is more realistic as the Chief of Medicine representing the bureaucratic side of things.
The Great – Up to S2E6. A lot of this season has been pitting the rational against the irrational and mystical, sometimes to it’s dramatic detriment. “The Jape” is terrific, blowing Catherine’s rationality the fuck up in her face while pointing subtly to the actual lack of reason in what she’s doing – Velementov correctly looks at her like she’s insane when she says everyone will come to their senses – and her own status as Empress (“Are you asking or telling me?” “You don’t want to know the answer to that.”) Dovetails beautifully with Peter coming so close to taking his empire back and being too deeply in love with Catherine to do it. “The mysteries of the human heart.” RIP Lady Svenska, the hottest and meanest woman at court. OWNAGE.
What did we listen to?
Enjoying the Ratboys and Music City albums from last week. As much as I enjoy the lo-fi powerpop aesthetic, it’s pretty cool hearing Music City deliver a lusher version with some classy 70s production really getting the most out of some big hooks.
Screen Drafts, PTA – I get that it’s hard to rank a director when basically all of his films are Very Good, but they got this ranking wrong and should feel bad. That said, I’m planning to rewatch a bunch of these soon and maybe there’s some room for new favourites.
Critical Darlings, Train Dreams – interesting that they didn’t care for this one much, it’s probably my second-favourite of the best picture nominees (with a couple left to see). I enjoyed the discussion though and I’m glad this is filling a gap while Blank Check is covering a director I don’t particularly care for.
Ratboys in the music queue!
Good band, not every album does it for me but this one feels like it’ll stick.
Adventures in Musicals: Tried to listen to HMS Pinafore but was a touch exhausted and cut it off after a few tracks. My fondness for Gilbert & Sullivan and love of arguing are probably my most Sorkinesque traits.
Otherwise, I listened to Evil Dead: The Musical which is a total blast. Lots of Jim Steinmanesque rock numbers, which is exactly the tone Ash Williams would want for his macho bloody exploits, and some demented, funny demon songs like “Join Us” and “Do The Necronomicon.” Can see why this is a cult hit and would love to see it live.
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder inspired me to listen to a British music hall playlist. This may be the most annoying genre that is also the ancestor of a lot of good songs.