Tag: Comet Gain

Your Heart Breaks Shares New Single with Kimya Dawson and David Christian

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We are just over a month away from the release of the new album from Your Heart Breaks, and they continue to amaze me with the incredible voices who’ve lent their voices to the project. Having already brought in one of my favorites in John Samson, they seem intent on upping the ante by adding Kimya Dawson and Comet Gain‘s David Christian. The song’s set to a steady gallop, with little accents hanging in the background, but it leaves plenty of room for great lyricism and vocal work. I forgot how playful and charming Dawson could be, but David’s performance transported me back to the late 90s when I first heard Comet Gain…it should say enough about their songwriting that Clyde Petersen was able to get all these great voices together to life their craft. I’m thinking the Wrack Line might be a secret charmer you should all put on your radar; it drops on July 7th via Kill Rock Stars.

Love, Burns Share In a Long Time

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This Bandcamp Friday, we’ll be releasing a cassette version of the new LP from Love, Burns, the solo LP from Pale Lights songwriter (and ex-Comet Gain!) Phil Sutton. I talked Phil into giving me a single a day this week with a little blurb about the tracks…so here’s Phil:

The Triffids song “Do You Want Me Near You,” from In the Pines was a big influence on “In a Long Time,” along with Petula Clarks “Downtown.” The former has a fantastically melodic bass line, and then a great metallic, reverb-y guitar solo that makes me think of wide open spaces in (the) Australia (of my imagination). The lyrics capture loneliness and isolation very well, which is what I tried to do with my song. Where it differs, I think is that Ive tried to make “In a Long Time” a New York City song, rather than a relationship song; it’s a sort of upside down, melancholic version of “Downtown,” where someone new to the city is on the subway, looking at twinkling lights, and all the Saturday night people, but is quite alone. Nothing new, really, a classic trope. Alone in the big city, but still intrigued by and drawn to it. New York always looks its best at night. Alicia Jeanine plays some beautiful violins, Hampus plays a very subtle driving Subway beat, and Kyle Forester does a really great guitar solo – not the first one on this LP. Kyle plays most of the instruments on It Should Have Been Tomorrow. He’s a pop genius.

Love, Burns Announces It Should Have Been Tomorrow

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It seems only fitting that we begin covering music in the new year by covering our first release of 2022; It Should Have Been Tomorrow by Love, Burns. The band is the solo project of Phil Sutton, who plays in Pale Lights (among other acts like Cinema Red and Blue and Comet Gain!), but the album features help from Kyle Forester, Hampus Ohland-Frolund, and Gary Olson…so it’s kind of a big deal! We’re releasing it in conjunction with Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten, Calico Cat Records and Jigsaw…all great labels run by admirable persons, so we’re fortunate to be part of this release (we’ll be handling the cassette version)! But, we can’t really convince you to pick it up without a little taste now can we? Here’s a few tunes from the album, which will be out on February 4th; buy it from us HERE.

Plus, Phil recently recorded a wonderful cover of the Wake’s “Crush the Flowers” with Suzanne Nienaber for Soleado, a Tribute to Siesta Records, organized by Fadeawayradiate. You can hear that below:

Phil photo courtesy of Dominick Mastrangelo Photography.

David Christian and the Pinecone Orchestra Share Single

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Avowed Comet Gain fans (like me) will always clamor for more whenever something from David Christian pops up out there, so I was super stoked to hear that David’s turned his solo writing into a proper release with assistance from the Pinecone Orchestra. Personally, this first single is precisely the sort of lyrical wordplay that made me fall in love with Comet Gain in the late 90s, and I’m marveling at the clarity in the mix here, which really allows for the craft to shine. You get sweeping slide guitar, tinkering piano and powerful backing vocals, all of it giving off a very settled poetic vibe. For Those We Met on the Way looks set to come out via Tapete Records in November of this year.

David Christian Drops Bubblegum Summer Beach Bash

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David Christian‘s been one of my favorite songwriters for over 20 years now, at least since I grabbed my first Comet Gain LP. But, out of nowhere he’s released 12 pop ditties for you to enjoy as the Summer draws to a close; the album is titled Bubblegum Summer Beach Bash. There’s a lot to love here, particularly if you find yourself a fan of David’s other work; I’m personally drawn to “Song for Suburban Butterflies” as I go through my first few listens, but I have a feeling that will likely change as I listen on repeat…usually the case with Christian’s stuff. So go ahead and stream it!

Comet Gain Release Slew of Family EPs

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Disclaimer, I’m a bit of a Comet Gain fanboy, so lets just put that out on the table. So, without a further swoon, lets talk about the 3 EPs the band release digitally today via Bandcamp…only one of which is a true Comet Gain EP (from the Tiger Town era!). The band’s lineage runs all over the indiepop realm, from Ladybug Transistor to Crystal Stilts to Love, Burns…so naturally, you’re all going to find a little something to adore here. You get an EP from Cinema Red and Blue, Adult Babies and Comet Gain. In total, its a collection of 12 songs, some of which you might not have heard before, all of which seem like a worthy addition to your digital collection. As of right now, they’re online only, but rumor has it they may see the light of day physically…but we’ll save that news for another day!

*** All the music was deleted…it was a 24 hour affair!

 

 

 

Top 25 Albums of 2019

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This is the list you’ve all been waiting for, well, sort of. This is my Top 20 LPs of the year. Admittedly, there’s none of the high profile hitmakers on here, but that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy those albums. I loved Purple Mountains just as much as the next person, same with Weyes Blood, but in a pickle, would I choose it over that Martha LP? Uh, absolutely not. Plus, I ran a lot this year because I got tired of being fat, so the majority of this stuff is pretty upbeat and “runnable.” There’s no order because all are equal under my ears.

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2019 Albums of the Year from Pale Lights

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I’m a big fan of indiepop outfitPale Lights, and I reach out to the band from time to time, like I did this year when I was compiling my Year End List collection from people I admire. The band got back to me with their collective list, including some reissues, which you can find down after the jump. I don’t mind one bit seeing Robert Forster on a list!

Be sure to go listen to the Pale Lights at their Bandcamp page, and then check out their great new track for the FadeawayRadiate Compilation.

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Comet Gain Share We’re All Fucking Morons

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In my opinion, it’s never a bad thing to start off your Monday with a Comet Gain tune. Here we are revisiting the recently released single “We’re All Fucking Morons” from the band’s forthcoming Fireraisers Forever. It’s a digression from the first single we heard, which was more of a pop song, though this one feels more like the band’s tried-and-true formula. It’s got this matter of fact vocal delivery, with this fuzzy stomp going on just behind; it almost feels like you could see the band playing at some modern psych festival of sorts, particularly with those keys popping their head up to maintain the rhythmic sensation. This band rules. New LP out on October 11th via Tapete Records.

Obligatory Comet Gain Post

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This post gets to be the first of the day because the song’s been out for 24 hours and has popped up where all the cool kids gravitate. Normally I stay away from such things, but I’ve always sort of felt like the Comet Gain were simply a band solely for me. I can still remember the first time I stumbled upon Casino Classics in a chat room for nerds in the late 90s. I still say City Fallen Leaves is my favorite. Alas, the new stuff. I think my favorite on the new LP is “Bad Nite at the Mustache,” but the chorus on “Mid 8Ts” is just so striking that its bound to get stuck in your head all day long. Listening now, I just don’t get how more people don’t adore the fuck out of this band. Just go listen. Fireraiser Forever is out October 11th via Tapete Records.

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