SOUNDTRACK: CAYETANA-New Kind of Normal (2017).
One of the worst feelings is when you find out about a band right after they’ve broken up.
I feel like I’ve been aware of Cayetana forever, but they only formed in 2011. I wonder if there’s another band I’m confusing them with.
Well, Cayetana played their last concert at Union Transfer this past August 3. It’s nice that they played their final show in front of a home crowd. I would have gone had I known I liked them. Which I now do.
Cayetana were Allegra Anka: bass guitar / back-up vocals; Augusta Koch: guitar / lead vocals; Kelly Olsen: drums / back-up vocals. For a band with an exotic-sounding name, their music is pretty straightforward. But boy is it good.
Their songs are pretty standard alt-rock with a 90’s feel, but there’s really interesting instrumentation under Koch’s satisfying vocals.
One of the most immediately pleasing things is the sound of the bass guitar, and that the bass doesn’t simply follow the guitars–there are basslines galore on this record. I love the counterpoint of the fast and complex New Order-like bass line and the ringing guitar notes on the opener “Am I Dead Yet?”
There’s great guitars (with feedback) and thumping drums on the really catchy “Mesa.” There’s great drums on “Too Old For This” as well.
The harmonies are terrific like on “Easy to Love” where you can clearly hear all three of them.
Most of the songs are pretty catchy, but there are few with a twinge of discord. “Bus Ticket” has some harsh notes and a thumping ending. And “Side Sleepers” slows things down and feels more bass heavy, which is no bad thing when the basslines are as cool as this one.
“Certain for Miles” starts quietly with just bass and drums but adds a nice ringing guitar about midway through. The wonderfully titled “Phonics Failed Me” is a midtempo rocker with a great instrumental break.
“Follow” has more of that great opening bass work like The Cure or New Order and “Dust” has an even better bass introduction–slow and moody with lots of bass chords.
“World” ends the disc with a slow moody tone with echoing guitars and lots of great bass lines and chords. It’s quiet and ends with a car starting up and driving away.
A fitting ending to the bands final album.
[READ: August 22, 2017] “Harbor”
I read a story by Greenwell a couple of years ago. It was written in 2017. They are both set in Bulgaria. They both have a character named N.
I found this story confusing, probably because of the cultural information that I couldn’t quite parse.
Underneath all of the action, the narrator is coining for R. who just broke up with him. Every couple of months he flew to Lisbon to be with R., but R. said he needed to figure things out. The narrator wanted a new life too. He was tired of teaching. But he wanted the new life to come with R. in it.
As with the other story, the Bulgarians and Americans writers are hanging out. The narrator explains there is no such thing as a Bulgarian professional writer–they all had other careers. The Americans were younger and boring by comparison.They play spin the bottle. But before they can finish, the waitress comes over and tells them to stop. She removes the bottle.