On the way home from dinner last night, keriyo, Boogie and I drove home to Kings of Convenience. As new parents, we are discovering all of the things that help Boogie sleep on a car ride. Curvy roads, her toy bee hung just right from her car seat, and quiet music. King of Convenience = perfect.
Kings and I go way back. I used to frequent a long-gone store in Homewood, called Noise. It was one of two independent music stores in Homewood at the time. Sadly, Homewood is down to zero. Noise was a great place. The owner (I think his name was Greg, so let's go with Greg) had installed an incredible sound system, and even though his shop butted right up to a stuffy furniture store, he played songs full blast all day. Greg was responsible for introducing me to a ton of music I would not have heard otherwise. This was 2001, before I knew how to discover things myself, or take the opinion of Paste, Pitchfork, All Songs Considered or any digital outlet. Nope, back then, it was all word of mouth for me.
One day, Greg plays me a new demo CD he's received. A Norwegian duo. He has already fallen in love with them, and is kind enough to make me listen to the first track, Winning a Battle, Losing the War. The song starts out good; two guys, some harmonizing, nice enough lyrics concerning a girl (a novel topic). Greg is staring me down, analyzing my face while I'm taking the song in, waiting for me to agree with this recommendation (perhaps, waiting for a sale). . Frankly, I wasn't too impressed. And Greg could tell. And he didn't agree. About the two minute mark, I start to lose interest, and Greg says 'wait for it. Just wait for it.' I hadn't noticed the song building and building, but around the 2.45 mark, the acoustic guitars are joined by the rest of the band, and Greg's face lights up. What started as a ho-hum track (to me) turned into an incredible song. You'll just have to hear for yourself.
Now I think that anything Erlend Oye touches is gold. Check out The Whitest Boy Alive. European techno nerd pop. Fantastic.
Tonight we listened to Kings' most current album, Declaration of Dependence. keriyo and I are fond of Renegade. And when I go to bed tonight, I will still be humming this one in my head. Maybe Boogie will too.
PS. I'll try not to talk this much in future posts. I promise
Kings and I go way back. I used to frequent a long-gone store in Homewood, called Noise. It was one of two independent music stores in Homewood at the time. Sadly, Homewood is down to zero. Noise was a great place. The owner (I think his name was Greg, so let's go with Greg) had installed an incredible sound system, and even though his shop butted right up to a stuffy furniture store, he played songs full blast all day. Greg was responsible for introducing me to a ton of music I would not have heard otherwise. This was 2001, before I knew how to discover things myself, or take the opinion of Paste, Pitchfork, All Songs Considered or any digital outlet. Nope, back then, it was all word of mouth for me.
One day, Greg plays me a new demo CD he's received. A Norwegian duo. He has already fallen in love with them, and is kind enough to make me listen to the first track, Winning a Battle, Losing the War. The song starts out good; two guys, some harmonizing, nice enough lyrics concerning a girl (a novel topic). Greg is staring me down, analyzing my face while I'm taking the song in, waiting for me to agree with this recommendation (perhaps, waiting for a sale). . Frankly, I wasn't too impressed. And Greg could tell. And he didn't agree. About the two minute mark, I start to lose interest, and Greg says 'wait for it. Just wait for it.' I hadn't noticed the song building and building, but around the 2.45 mark, the acoustic guitars are joined by the rest of the band, and Greg's face lights up. What started as a ho-hum track (to me) turned into an incredible song. You'll just have to hear for yourself.
Now I think that anything Erlend Oye touches is gold. Check out The Whitest Boy Alive. European techno nerd pop. Fantastic.
Tonight we listened to Kings' most current album, Declaration of Dependence. keriyo and I are fond of Renegade. And when I go to bed tonight, I will still be humming this one in my head. Maybe Boogie will too.
PS. I'll try not to talk this much in future posts. I promise
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