Nov 25 @ Rancho Relaxo

Check out this awesome poster for our forthcoming show Thursday November 25th at Rancho Relaxo with Mooseblood and Azores.

Dan Wolovick (of Twowaymonologues.com) says:  “(Papermaps) new album will surface in 2011 and I’ve heard it and it is bloody fantastic. They also are one of the best live indie rock bands in the city. So much more intensity to the new songs and Dean Marino has the best band you could ask for.”
Thanks Dan!

Cover: $5, Doors: 9PM, Mooseblood: 10PM, Papermaps: 11PM, Azores: 12AM

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171793302846365

Back Catalogue Made Affordable

Hey,

For those of you who are fans of the amazing site Bandcamp (www.bandcamp.com) and affordable high-quality downloads, we have made our previous LP, Central Meaner Street available there for only $5 (or more if you are so inclined, thank you).

Here’s a direct link:  http://ex-po.bandcamp.com/

I should note that the Central Meaner is still available at ZUNIOR.COM, where you also get high-quality digital files and a bonus 5-track album, Live at Chemical Sound for $9.

Just sayin’

-dean

Review – The Walkmen: Lisbon

Ever since creating a blog it’s been my intention to write about some good records.  Not on a regular basis mind you but only when something comes around that really resonates with me.  Furthermore that something can’t be “the new hot thing,” already lavished with press attention and tainted with opinion or something so obvious that mentioning it would be a waste of  time and virtual space.  I like to quietly discover new music whenever possible and so I’d like to write about those new works that I feel are worthy, if overlooked.    Despite a penchant for purchasing new music, usually on vinyl,  not much fitting the criteria has stood out to me since setting up this blog  — until now.

I’ve been a fan of The Walkmen for a few years now, since the release of  their second LP, Bows and Arrows (2004) and subsequently purchased previous record, Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone (2002).  That’s why I decided to give their latest record, Lisbon a shot — based on nothing more than a hunch.   I’m glad I did.   It’s rare to find a record that works on several levels: musically, lyrically and sonically and Lisbon does just that.  Here is a record that sounds like a record (in the original sense).  That is to say, these songs  sound as if they were captured  rather than created in the studio.  As a recording engineer, I understand that this may be pure sonic illusion (I know little of the process behind Lisbon) but either way, it works.  The use of reverberation and natural room effects bring a real sense of space to the whole work. The performances sound natural, beautifully imperfect and unhinged.   To sum it up, Lisbon seems authentic in a way records haven’t been since the early 60’s — and I mean that in the best possible way.

Hamilton Leithauser’s vocals sound worn but earnest and his lyrics are refreshingly cut and dry simple.  In Juveniles, he sets the scene:  “You’re someone else tomorrow night.  (It) doesn’t matter to me cause there’s a sun dying into the hill (and) you got all I need.” Reverb drenched guitar, drums bouncing off walls, old piano and organ nestle around these words.  These are sounds and textures we’ve all heard before on countless classic records, but arranged and combined in a way that still feels fresh enough to turn me on my ear.  Although the album’s title is named after a city in Portugal, these songs are distinctively American in tone and texture.   If  Lisbon (the city) was a muse, her influence lives more in the lyrics than the music.  The album as a whole feels much more influenced by California than Europe.  This is most evident on the tracks Blue as Your Blood, and Torch Song both sound as though they could be  ghosts from some lost AM radio broadcast (circa 1963) before the world started to shrink rapidly. The imagery these songs evoke in me are purely subjective and distinctly my own — to me this record is like visiting an antique shop or a flea market — it is a glimpse into a something long-lost except for the yearning to be there.  It’s refreshing to hear a record so evocative and nostalgic yet lyrically modern. I hope more artists choose to make records like this.

-d