Codeine - Kitchen (Demo) (Numero Group, 2012)

Not-so-slow demo from the pioneering Codeine.

I am waiting with baited breath for my copy of the Codeine boxset so I can relive the slower-than-slow sounds of the groundbreaking Codeine.

Active for only a few years around the turn of the nineties, Codeine were the epitome of slowcore, glaciers forming in the space between the notes on tracks like 'Realize'. Some notable bands like Mogwai, Low, Slint and Red House Painters forming in those gaps too.

'Kitchen' is an acoustic guitar and vocal demo that whets the appetite for the box's bonus material.

Enjoy.

Download Codeine 'Kitchen (Demo)' (Slowcore, Post-Rock, Sub Pop, mp3) (via Stereogum)

Listening Post - Beach House - Bloom (Sub Pop/Bella Union, 2012)

More swirling loveliness from Beach House.

Beach House's 2010 album 'Teen Dream' was a duskily ethereal slow-burning classic. Soaring melodies amid the gentle ebb and flow of a million guitars refracted in a gauzy hall of mirrors. Superlative dreampop in the vein of Cocteau Twins and AR Kane and a cousin of beautiful Korallreven.

'Bloom' is evolution rather revolution, taking 'Teen Dream' as a starting point, adding more clarity in the vocals but more dreamy sheen in the music's candyfloss of sweet fogginess.

Listen to Beach House 'Bloom' in full (NPR.org)

Afghan Whigs - My World Is Empty Without You (Sub Pop, 1991)

Jaw-dropping Motown cover.

Before turning their attention to 'Come See About Me', Afghan Whigs had dropped this frazzled, broken and pleading soul/grunge bomb.

The beat is a threatening rumble, the bass a low-slung metallic clang and Greg Dulli's vocal is one of tears and desolation. Periods of restraint and introversion are followed by the guitars cutting loose, creating a storm of emotional interference.

Splendid.

Download Afghan Whigs - My World Is Empty Without You (Motown, Sub Pop, mp3) (Divshare)

Codeine 'Realize (Live)' (1992)

Funereal post-rock, nay, Slowcore captured live.

New York's Codeine beat a deathly slow trail across the early stages of post rock and slowcore, setting the bar low, low, low in terms of stretching each note to an infinity of anticipation.

Codeine's music builds on the beauty of Galaxie 500, has kinship with the likes of Low and Slint and created a framework for Red House Painters, Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai to operate in.

This track from their 'Barely Real' mini-album was my first contact with the band way-back-when. It was recorded here at a Sub Pop festival in Vermont and it has a kind of crunchy beauty.

Apparently, they've reformed with the original line-up including Chris Brokaw and will be playing All Tomorrow's Parties' I'll Be Your Mirror festival next year.

Enjoy.

Download Codeine 'Realize (Live)' (slowcore, post rock mp3 download) (Divshare)

Download the whole live set Codeine Live at Sub Pop's Vermonstress Festival, October 1992 (slowcore, post rock mp3 download) over on archive:live+rare mp3s

Sebadoh 'Soul And Fire' (Sub Pop/Domino, 1993)

Heartbreaking poignance indie rock style.

Back when it started out - before the Franz Ferdinand, Wild Beasts, Arctic Monkeys et al - Domino was just a cool label licensing singles and the odd album from the US indie rock underground.

Domino introduced us to Pavement, Plush, Gastr Del Sol, Papa M/Aerial M. And they gave the UK indie underworld this Sub Pop single by Sebadoh, the band Lou Barlow formed after being dumped out of Dinosaur Jr.

'Soul And Fire' is an almost tortuously sad slice of heartbreak indie (is that a genre? It is now!). The guitars veer from sweet to gently serrated, the drums mark out a gentle pace and the vocals are resigned. Sad rock.

Download Sebadoh 'Soul And Fire' (indie rock, indie mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Dum Dum Girls 'Bedroom Eyes' (Sub Pop, 2011)

Shimmering, smoother version of Shop Assistants-style indie pop.

Clearly in thrall to C86, The Field Mice and indie-pop in general, Dum Dum Girls recently released their second album on Sub Pop.

'Bedroom Eyes' is a taster therefrom and it blasts out of the traps with a buzzpop thrill worthy of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Nice.

Download Dum Dum Girls 'Bedroom Eyes' (indie pop mp3) (via subpop.com)

Codeine 'Atmosphere (Joy Division cover)' (Hut, 1995)

Stately, austere Post Rock cover of Joy Division's stately, austere Post Punk classic.

Codeine dealt in the slowest of the slow in Post Rock terms, releasing a handful of records in the early 1990s on Sub Pop. (NB. For me, the 'Barely Real' EP is a must-have.) Their songs oozed across the vinyl, catching you out with their almost hesitant poise.

The idea of Codeine covering one of Joy Division's most funereal moments makes you think that the track is going to reach a kind of absolute zero musical state, its atoms ceasing to oscillate. They don't play it like that though, instead it's a processional but respectful reading that stands alongside Low's version of 'Transmission' from the same cover album.

It's a much more skeletal version than the original's warm, comforting wash, finding a respectful but alternative angle which occasionally pauses, as if to reflect on the words' portents. Some bare, gently over-driven guitar wraps it up.

Download Codeine 'Atmosphere' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Afghan Whigs 'Uptown Avondale EP' (Sub Pop, 1992)

Motown/soul covers EP from the heart of Sub Pop.

The Afghan Whigs had already released their cover of The Supremes' 'My World Is Empty Without You' which is an amazing record in both original and cover versions (memo to self: post that one). They followed it with 'Uptown Avondale' a whole EP of covers.

Matching power and twisted melody, it's a true triumph that paved the way for other alt rock bands and should probably have featured on at least one of Quentin Tarantino's soundtracks.

Tracklist:
1. Band Of Gold
2. True Love Travels On A Gravel Road
3. Come See About Me
4. Beware (plus hidden track: Milez Is Dead (Remix)

Download Afghan Whigs 'Uptown Avondale EP' (320k mp3, ZIP) (Rapidshare)

The Album Leaf 'Always For You' (City Slang/Sub Pop, 2004)

Chirrupping sequencer lines intro the track, overlaid by a chunky, airy drum pattern and a low, buzzing sub-bass. It's fair to say that the Album Leaf deal in a rather sweet hybrid of organic and inorganic sounds.

The gorgeous dynamic of the track is set by the poised electric piano with a lovely sober vocal, full of longing and hopefulness.

The Album Leaf is the nom-de-post-rock-pop of Jimmy LaValle and he has released a string of very lovely, elegantly arranged gems. The album this track is from - 'In A Safe Place' - a particular favourite.

Download The Album Leaf 'Always For You' (mp3) (Subpop.com)

Listening Post - stream the new Low album 'C'mon' (Sub Pop, 2011)

Have stumbled across a widget to listen to the whole of the new Low album. 'Try To Sleep' has been a favourite for a couple of weeks so delighted to get a listen to the whole album now.

It's out on Monday (in the UK).

Tracklisting is as follows:
01 Try to Sleep
02 You See Everything
03 Witches
04 Done
05 Especially Me
06 $20
07 Majesty/Magic
08 Nightingale
09 Nothing but Heart
10 Something's Turning Over

Listen to the new Low album 'C'mon' (Soundcloud)

New Music - Low 'Especially Me' (Sub Pop, 2011)

Another free-to-stream track from the new Low album has been posted to Soundcloud by Sup Pop.

'Especially Me' isn't as spartan as the famed Low sound, but it's very sweet and restrained all the same. A beautiful circular guitar pattern lies at the heart of the subtly building track with a gently pounding rhythm setting the pace.

At the sound builds to its peak, the drums drop out and the harmony vocals rise to the fore, building a euphoric peak from the repetition.

Album is out next week, I believe. Can't wait.

Low - Especially Me by subpop