RE: Guitars as possible cure-all?
"Time Stops" by Teenage Fanclub
OK, its Monday and I've undeniably got a case of the mondays (still slightly sleepy despite being awake for hours, can't seem to keep focused on tasks, desire to be sitting outside instead of at a desk)... as a remedy, I've been listening to Teenage Fanclub's new album, Man-Made (their first studio LP since 2001’s Howdy!) - this particular robot-doctor suggests the same for any of you suffering the same symptoms.
Here's a quick history of TFC: formed in Glasgow in 1989, therein recording their debut LP A Catholic Education. Also in 89, they had their live-debut in London with The Pastels, followed by further Scottish dates with Primal Scream.
In the first half of 1990 they open for My Bloody Valentine, Galaxie 500, Ride and the Soup Dragons. The band records Bandwagonesque (which has a really great cover) in fall of 1991. This record, quite timely by most standards, leads to the band opening for Nirvana in a series of European dates and festivals, and a coast to coast tour of the US with The Afghan Whigs in 92 (timely indeed). 1993, they record their next album, Thirteen, then tour the us with Yo La Tengo in 94. Come early 95, their next album, Grand Prix is released (recorded with engineer David Bianco, who'd worked with Frank Black on his Teenager of the Year cd). They then tour US with DGC label-mates Weezer. 1996, Songs from Northern Britain released, to Liam Gallagher's declaration of TFC being the “second best band in the world” (I'd guess he saved "best band in the world" for himself maybe?). They do a quick tour across the US opening for Radiohead. We arrive at the 00's to see Howdy! released by major-label Sony, when their former UK label Creation goes under.
Now we're up to date. Teenage Fanclub made the record in Chicago with John McEntire (Tortoise) at his Soma Electronic Music Studios. The album is full of hooks, pretty harmonies and good guitar-work, and is simply a good record. Man-Made was released on the Fanclub's own label, PeMa, in the UK in March, then released by (lately-unstoppable) Merge Records in the US a couple of weeks back to strong reviews. I like the band's sound, and really like the fact that they're still making music together. (Note: I do not, however, like the fact that Oasis is still making music together - do we really need another Oasis record? Come on.) I feel like their style of jangley rock was once the peak of popular rock music (see the earlier Gallagher-brother comment, re: mid-90s in the UK and US), then it became decidedly unpopular (at least in the US), and now its sort of becoming more popular again, at least in indie-rock circles. Any Brits care to comment on this circle-of-jangle-pop cycle?
The album is a good one - there's a number of other songs as good as this one that I thought about posting - so check it out for yourself: buy it direct from Merge for cheap or download it from iTunes for even cheaper. Also, if you're new to TFC, I'd reccomend you get ahold of their best-of CD, Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds: A Short Cut to Teenage Fanclub - you can get it from our friends at insound here.
Also its worth having a listen to some of the old 4-track recordings on their site to get a taste of their early days. Word.