Aaaaand we’re back!
Wow, six months or so is a long while to not post, but after ELK and a new pal maganged to revive me a bit I have returned with a super great album and track to share.
Junior Boys are putting out a new album in, well, about seven weeks. Or eight if you’re not Canadian. But after March 24th up North April 7th in the US , we will be able to physically hold Begone Dull Care. With the 12″ of “Hazel” the first single out sometime earlier. I have been rocking this album during dish duty the last two nights and I already have many favorite tracks, such as “Dull To Pause,” a song with the kind of intro I only wish they’d play on NPR between human interest stories. The tone of the album is incredibly consistent, taking as its cue the work of filmmaker Norman McLaren.
This is from the official press release–
“Begone Dull Care is the band’s third album, following the critical and commercial successes of Last Exit (2004) and So This Is Goodbye (2006). The title is a reference to a short film by the pioneering Oscar-winning Scottish-Canadian animator and electronic composer, Norman McLaren, who was a big influence on the conception and creation of this album. McLaren may not be as well-known today, but his influence has been seen by nearly anyone whose been raised on the early works of the Children’s Television Workshop. McLaren was especially fond of direct film animation (the technique of physically manipulating or painting on film frame by frame) as is the case with Begone Dull Care and stop-start animation (as displayed in his classic, Neighbours).”
Ok, so I tried that. Listening to the tunes off this album with the aforementioned “Neighbours” in fullscreen was a really nice match. Try It.
Junior Boys – Dull To Pause mp3
Pre Order Begone Dull Care or “Hazel” 12″ (eventually) from Domino
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I’d have to say the first track, “Parallel Lines” is the jam on the album, another inductee to the Junior Boys’ pop gems hall of fame. Joe, you should put that one up. But I have to confess the rest of it just hasn’t grabbed me yet. There’s something about the Junior Boys aesthetic that sounds like boredom. It’s the minimal arrangements and the tempo that doesn’t ever quite bring you to the dance floor no matter how much you wish it would. And to their credit, most of the time none of that matters–or it matters insofar as it’s what sets them apart. But on second listen, this “Dull To Pause” track is really nice. Maybe it’s a grower.
Perhaps that’s the case, but boredom may just be symptom of a much bigger problem in dance music, namely self-awareness. Getting the crowd to move their feet while keeping in mind several hundred minute rules of sonic hipness is bit like having to compose counterpoint at the business end of Fux’s 9mm. How then, do you just go forth and groove, like the kids who play in the snowbank on a blind curve in the road, oblivious? I suppose the trick may be in paying very little attention at all to what you are hearing and for what ironic reasons they have come into your stereo. If your wife were to ask you what on god’s green earth are you listening to, to have no ready reply. And yet, there you are, unconsciously humping the counter while you do the dishes, and the Junior Boys, despite themselves, have done it again.
It’s true. I went through a major dance music phase a few months ago, scouring blogs devoted entirely to fist-pumping electronic anthems and such. And every time I went through my daily download binge, assembling everything new from every reliable source, there was just too much for me to pretend that I had some criteria for determining which of these three dozen songs were actually more than a song-of-the-minute–too many minimal intros, too many breakdowns, too many fours on the floor, too many extended outros, and worst of all, too many remixes. But it was inevitable. At some point, something would click. And while nine out of ten of those tracks ended up just being obscure titles in a playlist I couldn’t remember, the one banger remained on heavy rotation, inexplicably thumping my brain all day, all week, all month long. It was undeniable.
Time tells you the truth. Only time will tell. Time after time. And time flies.