Elephant 6… You either love it or you hate it. If the latter is true, get the hell outta my blog. We don’t want you here.
Anywho, Elephant 6 bands are serious quality. My favorite band, of Montreal, started out as a part of the e6 collective, as did the Olivia Tremor Control. A friend of mine, Chuck, recently pointed me in the direction of Beulah, one of the most talented e6 acts.
Beulah was formed in 1996 by Miles Kurosky (lead vocals) and Bill Swan (trumpet and guitar), two mailroom denizens who decided to band together and make yummy indie music. Their dynamic was volatile – Kurosky often threatened to inflict violence during the recording process. But, hey, drama makes for interesting music.
The band released their debut, Handsome Western States, in 1996. This album is lo-fi epitomized, with static-y production and lots of tremulous guitar riffs. I love Kurosky’s gruff vocals and the driving bass lines. My favorite songs are “Disco The Secretaries Blues,” “I’ve Been Broken I’ve Been Fixed,” and “Lay Low for the Letdown.” All of these have a combination of clever melodies, jangly guitar, and attitude-laced lyrics… what’s not to love?
“Indian princess was a blockbuster,
Dances the waltz at her father’s country club…
The southern boys, yeah yeah,
Everyone waits for you with mint juleps
The dancefloor’s an ocean and that’s where we drown…”
When Your Heartstrings Break (1999) saw the evolution of Beulah’s sound. Featuring more instruments (strings and trumpets!) and slicker production, this album proved that Beulah was more than a one-note ensemble. It also marked the transition from low-fi to mid-fi. There are some stellar tracks to be found here – “If We Can Land on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart” is one of my personal favorites.
” Nose down, whatcha gonna do when,
Parties fade and your make-up starts to smear,
Only scene is a grand entrance,
Silver screen is another brand new year,
In a sea of talcum powder,
Kids swim and they lose their color,
Clock strikes twelve,
Say dontcha feel so well?
As the confetti falls,
Timed with the tears,
No one wants to hear,
About your hardwood floors,
Installs of the magic markers,
Boys and girls come and go like coats of paint,
All you got is a pretty name, you’re
Sure to be killed off in the very first scene…”
I love The Coast Is Never Clear (2001), Beulah’s third studio release. Every song is brilliant. I think that this album is so successful because of the turmoil and drama which occurred during its production… the adversity just seems to make the songs ring truer. The best tracks are (Jesus its tough to decide!) “Hello Resolven,” “Cruel Minor Change,” and “Gravity’s Bringing Us Down.” I also love the reference to the excellent short story author Flannery O’Connor in “A Good Man is Easy to Kill.”
” I would be overstated
If I said I knew you well
That I knew you well
When you flew through that windshield
And your life passed reel the reel
Was there a bit part for me?
I made a wish for you
Blew out the sun so it’d come true
But the sun froze along with your heart
So give up, give up your love
Give up, give up your love
I promise its not gonna kill ya
And I need ya, Lord I need ya
And when they cut up your lung
You said it could all breathe easy
The hole swallowed your heart
When they drill holes in your skull
And screwed that halo to your head
Did you think you could fly?
I made a prayer for you
Then prayed some more that it’d come true
Don’t know about God but I believe in you…”
When I heard Yoko (2003) I was utterly mindblown. How could such a beautiful album exist so under the radar? It is an emotional textbook about taking chances, making mistakes, growing older, and moving on… and I adore every moment of every song.
“A Man Like Me” is an anthem for those fragile relationships we all know so well, those arrangements which consist of convenient rendezvous, constant contention, and spontaneous explosions of emotion. I have several memories attached to this song and find it quite beautiful. “Landslide Baby” is disgustingly catchy; I promise that you’ll find yourself humming it at inconvenient moments. The theme of this song can be summed up with one line: “You’re scared and you’re weak, and you don’t give a fuck about me.” Next comes “You’re Only King Once,” which centers on our sad inability to make the people we love completely happy. Its one of the sadder points of the record, yet still beautifully eloquent. “My Side of the City” is a hometown ballad with more of an edgy tone; think LCD Soundsystem’s “New York I Love You” with less mournfulness. Ah, “Hovering”… Such a fantastic tune with a summery, floating ambiance. One of my favorite songs on Yoko follows next: “Me and Jesus Don’t Talk Anymore.” I love Kurosky’s voice in the intro, at first “whoa”ing along with the melody, then cooing “Don’t be sad that I’m going” in such a warm and breathy tone. The song’s tempo picks up at a constant rate until Kurosky is rasping the chorus.
Track 7. “Fooled With The Wrong Guy.” My favorite Beulah song. It is my cell phone ringtone for chrissakes. I love everything about this song – the regretful tone, the fantastically smooth vocal delivery, the reverberating guitar riffs, and the even the message. It is just fantastic all-around.
“So many friends,
who only hold you when
you’ve got dreams for them to sink
their teeth into…”
Three more songs complete the Yoko collection. “Your Mother Loves You, Son” has a fantastic opening melody. I also love the line in the chorus where Kurosky sings that “Last night’s a loaded gun.” The next track, “Don’t Forget to Breathe,” is the perfect example of a beautiful sad song. It deals with the favorite topic in music – heartbreak. This song is easy to sing along (and sympathize) with. Yoko ends with the epic flame-out track, “Wipe Those Prints and Run.” The lyrics allude to the band’s desire for success and their plans to split up if they don’t gain recognition. I love the melancholic realism it embodies, although this song symbolizes the end of a wonderful era. Had Beulah stayed together, the music world would be undoubtedly different…
“I sold my soul for rock and roll and a case of beer…
I think I would trade it all for another year.”
and not forgetting the incredibly wonderful neutral milk hotel who produced the off-kilter record of all time with ‘in an aeroplane over the sea’.two headed boy…they don’t come much better than that.oh yes they do – king of carrot flowers.
well done sarah your already on the long road to musical nirvana perhaps one day it will end withl’es rallizes denudes’, that would be quite a journey. keep listening to the good stuff.
yours, lord trotsky 5th earl of cacophony
By: trotsky on May 4, 2008
at 7:38 pm