The Paper and the Empty Box

Flotation Toy Warning - Losing Caroline; For Drusky

I've talked about the door in my office before. It's the only window I have to the outside. Sometimes it's awesome -- with the hot sun streaming in and fluffy white clouds outside. Other times it's grimy yellow filth of the city. Today it's just kinda gray. The place next door is this place that teaches you how to pass the Bar exam. Every morning hundreds of freshly scrubbed little legal wannabes come drifting in with their coffees and book bags; a few renegades ride in on Vespas. The collective group makes a rumbling, humming noise. No one is quite yet awake, so the talking is low. It kinda sounds like an idling human engine outside. Anyway, today, a slow Tuesday here at the office, this new record from England's Flotation Toy Warning seems to paint the picture pretty well.

Losing Carolina; For Drusky* is long -- four seconds shy of a full 8 minutes. It travels through various styles of music, with all sorts of different instrumentation. There are operatic samples, harpsichord, organ, shuffling drums. I won't go as far to say this is sprawling. A typical argument for a song like this would be to say it's "aimless," but I think that misses the point. The album from which this comes, Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck, is firmly rooted in experimentation. It's pop music allowed to grow on its own, crawling out from the sea on fresh legs.

The album comes out on Austin's MISRA records, home to such acts as South San Gabriel, Phosphorescent and Slow Dazzle. It's the kind of stuff that Slatch turned me on to back when they were still doing the Drinking Story of the Week. Most of it is really good, and you'll see it all here later.

You won't be able to buy this record until August 16th (the same day that Hilary Duff's Most Wanted hits stores). It's out now in England, so if you're desperate you can track down an import copy.

*The album cover says Drusky, but my iTunes says Dursky. I'm not sure who's right.