November 2000 Parasol Newsletter

Issue #36

I know that I've felt this before, but the final 3 months of 2000 must be our busiest quarter yet. St. Christoper's Golden Blue is finally available, we introduce you to Birmingham, Alabama's Friends of Sound, another major-label-recorded-album-rises-to-an-indie with Neilson Hubbard's Why Men Fail, and Bikeride's third full-length CD Summer Winners, Summer Losers will be here imminently. In addition, Parasol's Christmas collection, Christmas Singles, is shipping to Parasol on November 11 and will be covered in more detail in the December Newsletter. Finally, don't forget, we sell gift certificates. Please consider giving one (or requesting one!) for your end of the year holiday of choice.

SPOTLIGHT

Bikeride - Summer Winners, Summer Losers CD
(AHA!020) $11.00

I didn't write it down exactly but I heard a Parasolarian proclaim that "Here Comes the Summer," the lead off track on SWSL, is the "best song to start a CD EVER!" The rest of us politely cleared our throats and put on the CD to hear for ourselves. The consensus you ask on this swirling, 5 minute-plus, out-Elephant-6 Elephant 6 masterpiece? Damn close! The following 18 songs have all been previously released, but the album's sequence leads the listener on a pop sonic trip that never feels like a collection of odds and sods. Phonetically the band suggests in the CD title that "some are losers," but we find none. Songs from both of Bikeride's vinyl only EPs, Dogs and Raspet, are represented, as are two Japanese only bonus tracks, and the B-side cover of Go Gos' "Our Lips Are Sealed." The new issue of Beikoku Ongaku (Japan's Bloody Dolphins magazine) has a truly spectacular picture of the participants of Philter Records night that shows a cowboy hatted Tony "riding" a playground hippo. His is a unique pop mind that you need to discover. This CD is shipping to the Parasol house on November 4th.

St. Christopher - Golden Blue CD
(PAR-CD-043) $10.00

In the past nearly 15 years St. Christopher has recorded for a who's who of independent pop labels: Sarah, Bus Stop, Vinyl Japan, Elefant, Slumberland, and Caff Records, owned by St. Etienne's Bob Stanley. We're pleased to be joining that company. Golden Blue, the band's first studio recording since 1996, contains eleven songs, including "Chemical King," which first appeared on Parasol's Sweet Sixteen, Volume 1. The other ten songs sound similarly melodic, and reminiscent of the literate and often anthemic material of London Suede and Pulp. The sole constant defining band member, Glenn Melia, wrote and recorded all of the material between and around two weeklong tours in the US. He is planning another East Coast trip in support of Golden Blue. We've been excitedly waiting for Glenn to deliver the finished songs, and are pleased to say that Golden Blue is our favorite St. Christopher album yet.

Friends Of Sound - Rock-Ola CD
(AHA!018) $11.00

The feel of early classic Sarah Records 7" singles filtered through a late model weirdometer? One day a cassette tape arrived accompanied by a polite introduction and self addressed stamped envelope. We didn't love the name on the cassette, Hot Cocoa, but there was something about the music and the neatly, almost drawn-as-art, handwritten note. The Galaxie 500 influence was apparent but not overtly obvious. A man sung. A woman sung. It was music of a home studio. Private. And over the next two years a quarterly pattern set in. A new tape accompanied by a new name, with more band members. A new tape accompanied by a new name, with fewer band members. And back again. We liked some more, some less. But that thing that we originally heard was still there and growing. Then…six months of silence. Did they break up? Get another deal? Get tired of waiting? When the songs that make up Rock-Ola arrived, it was the sound of all the previous disparate pieces coming together. We're not quite sure how they did it. Maybe getting married and settling as a duo made everything clear. Friends of Sound (aka Leslie and Reed Lochamy) live in Birmingham, Alabama and create fragile indie-pop music that gains its strength from the sum of the parts; he/she vocals, some bells, guitars, drum machine and other percussive sounds. This is one of those word-of-mouth releases that you'll want to be onto first.

Neilson Hubbard - Why Men Fail CD
(PAR-CD-063) $10.00

Listening to Neilson Hubbard's Why Men Fail is like walking into a dilapidated Victorian mansion. You can see the way the dust has accumulated on the music room's plush velvet divan, the way the gilt-framed oil painting over the fireplace has faded, the way the carpet spiraling up the staircase has grown threadbare. For Neilson Hubbard, a native Mississippi songwriter, there's beauty beneath all that decay, glory under all the grit. He conveys it in song and in so doing his music exudes a charming, gilt-framed, comfortably faded majesty. Hubbard's 1997 solo debut, The Slide Project, presented Neilson as a reborn pop revivalist veering from Kinks-ish rave ups to "Cinnamon Girl"-era Neil Young. Why Men Fail is the second Neilson Hubbard solo album and a major creative leap forward for the artist. Where The Slide Project showed him to possess a unique songwriting voice, Hubbard's new album thrusts him into the elite ranks of unsung song heroes like Freedy Johnston and Alex Chilton, Richard Davies and Epic Soundtracks. Compelling tunes like the cello-lined "Wonderful Pain" and the piano ballad "Girl Who Killed September" are heartstoppingly blue and utterly melancholic, while tracks like the funky "Last American Hero" and the chiming, organ fed "Surrounded" cut through that melancholy with a giddy energy. Still, it's Hubbard's acute and lyrical sense of sadness that makes him such a powerful voice as a songwriter. Why Men Fail will be released to nationwide retail outlets in February. Until then you will only find the CD here at Parasol, or at one of Neilson's live shows.

Coming Soon...

Various Artists - Parasol Presents Christmas Singles (Parasol) CD due in November
Mezzanines - Underground Aces (Mud) CD due in December
Twin Princess - Complete Recordings (Hidden Agenda) CD mini album due in January
Hot Glue Gun - The Life & Death of… (Mud) Double CD due in December
Kevin Tihista's Red Terror - Back to Budapest Vol. I & IV (Parasol) Double CD due in January
George Usher Group - Days of Plenty (Parasol) CD due in January
Various Artists - Shoe Fetish: A Tribute to Shoes (Parasol) CD TBA

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

…Bettie Serveert hit the American shores in October and has already headed home. In addition to opening dates for Counting Crows and Live, Bettie Serveert played to a sold out audience in New York at the Bowery Ballroom. Press for their recently released album Private Suit has been near unanimous in its praise for the band's return to Palomine-like form. Spin describes PS as "half Dutch masters, half red-light district," CMJ New Music Report says, "…Private Suit is Bettie Serveert's most accomplished and personal statement to date…" Village Voice's Robert Christgau gave the CD an "A minus," and Magnet hears Carol Van Dyk's voice as a "….finely tuned instrument of magic, loss and light, the better to see through to a newly minted, diversified future of noise and tart melodicism erected with this record." If you are a fan of Bettie Serveert and don't own Private Suit, or are seeking an entry point to their catalog, pick up this highly recommended CD today.

SOME PARASOL RELATED ARTIST ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS

The Beauty Shop's John Hoeffleur and Casey Smith

1. Mixing session you wish you could have attended-
John: "Minutemen-Double Nickels on the Dime. Anything with 70's era Aerosmith, mostly for the 'lifestyle' aspects."
Casey: "Michelle Shocked, The Texas Campfire Tapes. It's a very lo-fi Sony Walkman recording with trucks/crickets and the works. The songs still make it through the muck and are f**king amazing."

2. Songs you think you probably shouldn't like but just can't help yourself-
John: '"I Can't Go For That' by Hall and Oates, 'Nookie' by Limp Bizkit, 'Jeopardy' by Greg Kihn Band and some silly ass song on the oldies station called 'Sugar Shack.'
Casey: "Cyndi Lauper's, 'I'll Kiss You'…Ouch…the shame. The Ozark Mountain Daredevils' 'Chicken Train.' I blame my family."

3. Favorite record that you can't find on CD (or CD you can't find on vinyl)-
John: "If anyone has a copy of any sort of Bill Bruford's Master Strokes, with Allan Holdsworth and Jeff Berlin, let me know. I had fusionaire's disease for a couple years but I still think that's some ill shit."
Casey: "Hmmmm.... records?"

4. First Concert-
John: "8th grade, Red Hot Chili Peppers with opening act Pearl Jam at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago. I don't care what anybody thinks of those bands, it was a rad show, certainly at least for a 1st show."
Casey: "Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble at the Virginia Theater (Champaign, IL), they opened for The Fabulous Thunderbirds."

5. Favorite Bass Player-
John: "Good one. Absolute favorite I guess has got to be Mike Watt, but I used to be a bass player, and so I've got a long, rambling list."
Casey: "No faves really.... there's lots of talent out there."

After building a rabid hometown following, Champaign's The Beauty Shop recently released a debut CD (Yr Money or Yr Life) full of songs that would not be out of place on Handsome Family or Uncle Tupelo albums.

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