Showing posts with label Dirty Beaches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dirty Beaches. Show all posts
Monday, June 6
Tuesday, March 29
Record Review: Dirty Beaches [Badlands, Zoo Music]
By Jennifer Graciano
With a shaky demeanor, trill tones, and rough production; the debut full-length “Badlands” from lo-fi nostalgia king, Dirty Beaches, proves to be a first-rate throwback with a matchless spin. With this relatively short album (under thirty minutes), Dirty Beaches, also known as Alex Zhang Hungtai, might as well have popped out of a time capsule from the mid-50s. There’s a definite attitude to this album that creates an atmosphere of a brooding narrative; while tense at times, you’ll feel as if you’re following a story, or listening to a film score. It’s lo-fi sound littered with fuzz that aids “Badlands” to, not only sound as if you’re listening to this live, but give it a sentimental kick. Thick layers of noise and garbled vocals give off the impression this album is truly a remnant of times past, rather than a new piece attempting to emulate a different era.
“Horses” is a stripped down nod to the mid 20th century; tunes Carl Perkins, or Johnny Burnette would have enjoyed. “Badlands” in its entirety is a salute to nostalgia, but not in the sense where it’s tired, or forced. Clear influences from the King and old pop ballads are prominent, especially on “Sweet 17” which has got the drive of an old rockabilly track with Hungtai’s husky barks, and a pleasing guitar rhythm that throbs at a rapid pace. Spotlighting Hungtai’s abilities to manipulate basic sounds, “Speedway King” has a singular note sounding like it’s been banged up and magnified. Like “Sweet 17,” “Speedway King” meanders between chaos and meticulous rhythm as sounds resembling a bell toll, rather than a guitar, emerge alongside Hungtai’s cries. It’s an abrasive introduction to the album, but pays off for the bravest of listener.
Screeching guitars, muffled percussion, and instruments drowned in fuzz make up “A Hundred Highways.” Its looped distortion coupled with Hungtai’s burly croons make it infectious and fairly catchy. “True Blue” and “Lord Knows Best” are easily my favorites off of the album; gentle ballads that exemplify Hungtai’s swoon-worthy vocals with grace. “Black Nylon” and “Hotel” seemed poor choices as the roundup closers for the album. Swift pace aside, neither left much of an impression. Both might appeal to the narrative aspects of Hungtai’s sound, but as an album, are easily forgotten.
Many valiant efforts are made by musicians towards the nostalgia gimmick, not everyone pulls it off. Dirty Beaches does things differently as “Badlands” never comes off as one focused on mimicking, rather it’s producing an homage, an accolade to the past. In doing so, Hungtai creates a sound all his own, something quite unique. “Badlands” only wavers at the tail end with the two instrumental tracks: “Black Nylon,” and “Hotel.” While they may play a hand in the cinematic appeal of the album as a whole, they’re dreary as closers and lack Hungtai’s enthralling nonchalant attitude present in the rest of the album. Both would have benefited by being nestled between some of the other songs. Recreating, or being heavily influenced by, sounds of whichever era is hard to execute well. Making something like this sound natural is hard, but when it happens.. it's fantastic and “Badlands” is a testament to that. While not everything on the album pans out, it’s an excellent debut from Dirty Beaches.
Monday, March 28
Tuesday, March 15
Dirty Beaches [Street Beat Dub]
Tuesday, February 22
Dirty Beaches [Golden Blond, Live Clip]
Nate Chan of Yours Truly captures Dirty Beaches before his show at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on February 16th.
Friday, February 18
Dirty Beaches [The Singer / No Fun]
A good friend of mine tuned me into Dirty Beaches early last year. He handed me a tape from the Night People label and told me to put it on and just listen. I was instantly hooked on Alex Zhang Hungtai's minimalist yet intriguing style of music and immediately went and ordered the tapes. Since that time I have blogged pretty much anything Hungtai puts out. After listening to his new record Badlands (Zoo Music) several times and seeing him perform an excellent gig the other night, this is one artist not to sleep on. Even with a full length record complete he hasn't stopped just yet. The below two tracks are covers from separate split 7''s that be released over the next couple months.
The first, "The Singer" is a Johnny Cash cover and will be released on Soft Power with Prendergast on the flip.
The second is a Stooges cover called "No Fun" and this one can be found on Italien Beach Babes in March.
The Singer (Johnny Cash cover)
No Fun (The Stooges cover)
Thursday, January 6
Dirty Beaches [Lord Knows Best, Zoo Music]
"Lord Knows Best" is the latest single to be released by Dirty Beaches from the highly anticipated album on Zoo Music titled Badlands. Alex Zhang Hungtai will embark on a Spring tour in support of the record released on March 29th. Find the full tour schedule here opening for Dum Dum Girls with a date at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on February 16th.
mp3[via]
Friday, December 10
Dirty Beaches [100 Highways, Daytrotter Session]
The latest Daytrotter sesh goes to Vancouver's (originally from Montreal) Dirty Beaches. Released yesterday Alex Zhang Hungtai performs four raw, lo-fi and gritty tracks which can be found from his latest LP, Badlands, on Zoo Music. The album may possibly be out around February/March which would coincide with his tour with Dum Dum Girls and Minks. Catch all three bands at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on February 16th.
100 Highways (Pop Montreal Session)
Wednesday, August 11
Dirty Beaches [Paris Music Video, Night People Records]
There is nothing better than when a great band release material on a great label. Huge fan of both Dirty Beaches and Night People Records, the cassette Night City was released earlier this year and is the second tape to be released by Montreal's minimalist musician Alex Zhang Hungtai. A music video for the track "Paris" was recently released and can be seen below. The images were taken from the 1976 short film C'était un Rendezvous by Claude Lelouch. Dirty Beaches also recently released the True Blue 7'' on San Diego's Zoo Music and can be picked up here
The two Dirty Beaches tapes can be found here
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