Because I posted about them so long ago I feel as though I never gave Schooner a proper EAR FARM write-up. This isn't one really but as I type up this post about Schooner news I just realized you guys might not really fully grasp just why you should check them out. They're a band from Raleigh/Chapel Hill, NC who play that certain kind of American indie-rock you're used to hearing from Wilco or The Rosebuds but the songs they write are distinctly their own. Schooner's music balances along the melodic divide that exists between happy and melancholy and never ceases to remain equally interesting and catchy. They've posted a new track called "Make Me Mad" on their MySpace page, have dates scheduled for the NE in October, and will be releasing an EP very soon. Three cheers!!!
Listen:
"Make Me Mad"
Visit Schooner on MySpace
See them live - dates HERE
06 September 2006
Schooner news and new song
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Rich kid band Schooner from North Carolina visit Quebec in a naive attempt at self-promotion, parasitically endeavoring to affix themselves to the limelight surrounding the Montreal music scene.
At one time there was a rumor of Montreal existing as little brother to the Seattle episode of the early nineties; that candle quickly snuffed, though, by the majority of Montreal artists who seemed disenchanted by the whole idea. Montreal artists had viewed the disastrous result of such renown, the Seattle music epicenter metamorphosing into some giant parody, a monstrous trend burning itself to a crisp with "grunge aerobics" and the corporate prank of costly tattered outfits available at the The Gap. Thereafter, every band with a modicum of savvy from the United States linked themselves to the Montreal name, chastely believing that notoriety would flourish, simply, via a link to the word 'Montreal.'
Schooner (consisting of band members Reid and Kathryn Johnson, Tripp Cox, Billy Alphin and Megan Cultin), recently performing a wearying forty-five minute set at Casa Del Popolo in Montreal to an audience of perhaps thirty Montrealers, seemed mesmerized by their own existing grounds; judgement based on an exhaustively redundant mention of Chapel Hill. Dull from the initial passionless note to an extended eight minute finale of supposedly 'psychodynamic' guitar masturbation and at best a sad facsimile of Sonic Youth's melodic endurance, the rich kids from North Carolina apparently forsook the most important aspect of a pricy history of private school instrumentation...to not suffuse ego with creativity. Yes, we Montrealers perspire in our admiration of the Chapel Hill music scene, so much so that the guilt of selling our souls to a location causes us to stay home and consume alcohol.
So apart from being fluffed to tears by the genuine repetitiveness of North Carolina's Schooner, one is forced to hear about them at every turn, father's golden credit card slowly depleted in purchasing space on this plastic plexus for promotion everywhere and anywhere. Additionally, this sychophantic Schooner band has the audacity to persistently associate itself with Montreal...we wish you the best of luck. In the meantime, consider that we already have a band called 'schooner,' that OUR 'schooner' have rendered smoldering crater of local dive for years...that selling one's soul is not an option. But who knows, with the trend-imbued stolidity
of 'Brains and Mistakes,' perhaps we will register your ''haunting sound'' in the elevator of some Montreal office building, and perhaps we will smile a little, understanding the misguided effort.
Whoa. Let’s just take a step back, now, shall we? First of all, I’d like to apologize on behalf of the Chapel Hill band, Schooner, for being from Chapel Hill. That we went to school in Chapel Hill and the surrounding areas of Chapel Hill, and then decided to stay in Chapel Hill to play music in Chapel Hill must have, now that you mention it, all have been in the interest of having access to the proprietary use of the words “Chapel” and “Hill.” For street cred, you see. And I would like to personally thank one Stanley S. Birge for pointing that out. You remind me of a girl I used to know in middle school. It’s interesting, too, that from the dizzying heights of slanderous self-loathing, the very same Stanley Sleuth-Shumaker could detect the royal blood of Sir Schooner. This is also something of which I was not aware, and will rush right over to beat the truth out of my teacher-parents’ golden credit cards. How dare my padded parents allow us to incur those unnecessary debts traveling to Montreal to play music upon the hallowed grounds of a self-depraved “music critic” and his minions. Until today, Montreal stood in my consiousness as a pillar of positive energy, but this Stanley has thankfully sullied it up a bit. Given it that deserving hateful edge. And try as I might to let it flavor the city’s brilliance with a urine-caked abhorrence, I cannot. For the critique of said Stanley S. Stansonberry is just too absurd, too permeable; and the city’s luminosity too exceptional to be blighted by a cold north wind. But the pointed daggers that lace the astute Stanley’s assessment of the Chapel Hill band, Schooner, do give way to love and understanding. Piercing the surface of our precious swollen egos, we are left to self-reflect. In retrospect, we must be circumspect of the things we try and protect. So thank you for that little gem of a review, Mr. Stanley Birge. Though I’d have to say that you’re really more of a dirge. One needs not be too inundated by waves of such revulsion; but if one is unable to stray, it is better to pose a structured argument for opposition than a less-credible slander-fest. People will be more likely to believe you that way than to feel pity for your journalistic misfortune. Good luck to you in your future endeavors. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. Sincerely, Kathryn—Schooner
kathryn is awesome.
Post a Comment