SOUNDTRACK: FLASHER-Tiny Desk Concert #770 (July 30, 2018).
I haven’t heard of Flasher, but the description of the band (noisy) makes me think I’d like them. I’m also intrigued by the various guitar and bass lines. The vocals are also really nice–wonder just how buried they are on record:
For its visit to the Tiny Desk, this young Washington trio set aside the distortion and worked up a semi-acoustic set of three songs — taken from its debut album, Constant Image. Voices sometimes in unison, sometimes swapping leads, adding a shifting point of view to songs that, on record, give equal footing to a precise noise.
These three high school friends, Taylor Mulitz (guitar, vocals), Daniel Saperstein (bass, guitar) and Emma Baker (drums) have been bouncing around the D.C. punk scene of house shows and DIY venues for some time.
I rather got a kick out of this little “How Bob knows the band”
I’ve been aware of Taylor’s work for a while…in the potent D.C. band Priests; Daniel I’ve known (a bit) since he was a child, mostly from Hanukkah parties with his family (his mom was the executive producer at All Things Considered when I was the show’s director); Emma can be seen playing around town with another band, Big Hush.
I really enjoyed the stops and starts of “Pressure” I imagine it’s really fun when they rock. It also has some really clever word play: “saving face / self-effacing / keeping pace / in a stasis.” Most of the delicate harmony vocals come from the bassist (who is actually playing acoustic guitar), although when all three of them sing it sounds even better.
The interchange of electric and acoustic guitar works great on “XYZ.” All three sing in tight harmony.
I love the way “Who’s Got Time?” seems to be constantly catching up on itself, like they are running out of time to finish the song–even though it never sounds like they are out of sync with each other.
Their overall sound is wonderful acoustic shoegaze. At least at the Tiny Desk.
[READ: August 15, 2018] “A Refugee Crisis”
I didn’t love Wink’s last story (about killing cats), but I found this one fascinating because of how many elements were included here.
The narrator is a writer living in a place where one can cross-country ski regularly (Bozeman, MT). The trail is mostly unused except for a guy who runs tours by dogsled–and there is plenty of dog shit on the trail to show where the sled went.
When he gets home, M is lying on his couch. She says she let herself in since she knew the key was still under the mat. She says she just came back from Serbia. (She had been in Athens, Budapest and Frankfurt among other places). The refugee camps there were really bad–people are trying to get across Hungary and the military is beating them, shooting at them.
She is twenty-three but looks forty and her personal hygiene is atrocious. They have sex anyhow. She says they can’t get pregnant because she already is–from a nineteen year old boy from Raqqa. She didn’t tell the guy. She is planning to get an abortion shortly. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 