I became a huge Henry's Dress fan at least initially because of their connection to Tiger Trap. (As I understand it, when Henry's Dress left Albuquerque they moved to Sacramento for a short time before settling in San Francisco. They lived either in the Tiger Trap house or with Rose Melberg at her house. They ended up on a split 7" together released by Slumberland. I posted the Tiger Trap song Alien Space Song from that 7" in one of my first posts.) When they released Bust 'Em Green (their second release of substance) I couldn't believe how good they had become in such a short amount of time. When they disbanded shortly after that I was pretty upset. I felt that they could only grow and get more interesting.
However, once I heard The Aislers Set I got over it! Truth be told, I did not give Terrible Things Happen a very good review in KDViationS when it came out. I have always regretted that because it is a fantastic record. I think that it seemed a bit slow and boring to me on the first few listens - it certainly wasn't the Henry's Dress sound that I had loved so much. There are many up-tempo pop gems on that first record and the slower songs are really great as well.
Once they started playing live shows I really fell in love. I generally don't dance at shows but for whatever reason I almost always dance at their shows. I find them to be an exuberant live experience. By the time they released The Last Match I considered them to be one of my favorite bands both recorded and live. A great song from that second record is below. In their hands it's a fast, slightly fuzzy, yet still poppy and fun song. I'm not usually one for covers but the Aden cover is absolutely brilliant! It's what a cover should be - a deconstruction (in this case a country tinged version) and the cover bands own unique take. It's slower and acoustic yet the song is still just as powerful. I believe that Sara (who runs blowin your cover) put that cover on a mix cd for me many years ago now!
I am anxiously awaiting the next Aislers Set record - I hope for a 2008 release! I hear that they've been recording off and on for awhile now. The band has gradually lost/changed members over the years so I'm very curious at this point. A funny note, I was not crazy about their last album, How I Learned To Write Backwards, until I saw them play it live. I was thankful to not have written another review slighting a record I would grow to love!
The Red Door.mp3 - The Aislers Set
The Red Door.mp3 - Aden
2 comments:
Hello there,
I recently came across your blog and I'm loving it! I love the kind of music you write about and have listened to bands I'd never heard of before which is great. I look forward to discovering more new (to me) bands through your blog!
A friend and I also have a music blog that covers similar music, it's at www.fasthearts.com if you want to have a look.
Thank you!
One thing I want to do is post about bands that aren't getting a lot of attention elsewhere. So much of getting press or blog attention is hiring the right company to get your music heard. Not really how I think it should be! I'm glad that you're finding stuff you like here!
I went ahead and linked to your page - looks fantastic and I enjoyed reading!
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