NOTE: i created these pages in order to introduce my friend sara johnsen, recently of san fransisco, to bicycle day. i welcome visitors, but while my crazy writing about this music is mine to share, i recognize that the music itself isn't. i offer it here for free only because i believe it is out of print and not otherwise available: thanks to john ugolini and dan grimes for providing me with copies of hard-to-find releases.
if those with a stake in the distribution of this music object to my making it available in this way, i will remove it upon request.
Gabe McElwain, [gabe at passerines dot com]
how do i introduce you to a band that has brought me such exquisite delight? how do i explain to you how that band has changed my life both in real, everyday ways, and in more profound, challenging ways? how can i explain it, especially when this band defies explanation? they make music that seems so unselfconscious as to render analysis and criticism almost impossible. the effect of their music on me is so complex that it cannot be reduced to a rational statement or argument.
more than any other music i have ever listened to, this stuff is raw and expressionistic. this does not mean, as it would in the case of most rock bands, that the subject matter is uncouth, or that the songs are angry or broken-hearted. on the contrary the lyrics--when they make a coherant picture-- most often describe the details of daily images and situations. the music can be highly technical, but it is never contrived, constrained, or reducable.
i strain over every minute calculation when i write songs. when i write, i sometimes feel like i am stalking a song, hunting it down, and then, finally, killing it. i write my songs to death, and i haven't yet been able to do it any other way. but this music is alive. this is music that cannot be captured or killed. i can't explain it to you because the tools i use to understand music cannot be applied to it. it is inexplicable, mysterious, and confounding. that is why i love it so, and why it is so vitally important to me.
this is the first song by bicycle day that i loved. i loved it because it was a song about rocking out that featured actual rocking out throughout. notice the ridiculous time signatures. 9/8? you don't notice though, because they're rocking with such purity. this is the first song, the title track, on their first EP, a CD-R with a single xeroxed sheet of copy paper folded around it, featuring a cute cartoon of the band. i bought it from them in person, at the NIU springfest in 2002, the only time i ever saw the band live. choice line: "teach yourself to pray/a rock song/so rock on". and they aren't being ironic, or over-the-top!
i don't know how they manage it. they're just so plain and honest. their music sounds natural. john ugolini described this band as "genuine", and i think that sums it up well. who can write rock songs about rocking and proceed to earnestly rock the hell out of them--without once winking at the audience? or even blinking, for that matter? no one! except these kids. because for them, rock music wasn't about sex. it wasn't about anger or heartbreak. it wasn't about partying, or getting attention, or money, or changing the world. it was just about music being awesome. this is what rock for rock's sake sounds like.
Bicycle Day - Time For A Rock Song (MP3)
Track 1 from "It's Time For A Rock Song EP"
the first track on their last offical record, "the mandarin". the opening riff blazes with driving energy, helped by outstanding manic drum work. the song has this palpable feeling of hope and motion. the drummming throughout is a joy to listen to--the great cascading use of toms, and the bell on the ride punctuating phrases like a ringing typewriter. the harmonies soar, even when they crack or are imperfect. (that's what makes this band, anyway--the imperfections. it makes them real.) most heavy guitars are played in service of dumb, testosterone-fueled something-or-other, but not these. these guitars, like so many of their guitars, are just unabashedly joyful. choice line: "everything's been changing/every day in little ways/deserving your attention".
Bicycle Day - Bring it Back To Life (MP3)
Track 1 from "The Mandarin"
BONUS LIVE VERSION!
Bicycle Day - Bring it Back To Life (Live)(MP3)
A bootleg from the NIU CAB wesbite
the first single from "the mandarin" boasts an incredibly groovy and accessable intro. the guitar solo/demolition at 1:14 is among the best they ever produced: melodic, but textured and unpredictable. perhaps the best part of this song is the fact that they play the chorus straight and even the first time, and then the swing it with extras oohs and ahhs the second time. tied for best part is bassist elizabeth hill's beautiful bjork-esque soliloquy beginning at 2:49, and then the curtain call of the invincible rock assault at 3:20. i adore the fill just before all hell breaks loose: the bell on the ride on 3, and three quick snare hits on "uh-4-e". are they saying "trilobite" at the end? could i be any more in love?
Bicycle Day - City Streets (MP3)
Track 4 from "The Mandarin"
the last track on "the mandarin", one of two songs on that album on which elizabeth sings exclusive lead. i can't say enough to praise her vocals here--she's got such range! she can be so sweet and dewey, and then brassy and ever-so-slightly out of key, and then she can just scream her head off to goose-bump raising effect.
another song like the first on this mix, that is an excellent use of music to praise and glorify music itself. bonus points for inclusion of a cowboy in verse two. choice line: "now's the time / off with those clothes". as if the subject matter wasn't engaging enough, her delivery is jaw-dropping. kick-ass bass lines throughout. the delay-and-distort-everything production rule works well, even in this relatively sweet, quiet song. and: one day, i will cover this song.
Bicycle Day - Song Song (MP3)
Track 11 from "The Mandarin"
quite possibly the catchiest song on here; almost the shortest. i include this cut as a splendid example of the "loud guitars for joy" mastery. further, i would draw your attention to several things: the the amazing guitar riffs/amazing drum part interplay in the beginning of the chorus (0:48), and the perfect boy-girl harmonies/bass part interplay of the second part of the same chorus (1:13). the bridge with layered spoken parts is natural and engrossing, rather than gimmicky and confusing. how do they do it?
Bicycle Day - Comet Speed (MP3)
Track 3 from "The Mandarin"
the first track on the first proper full-length "grade school weaponry". a little messier, possibly. such evocative rhythms tossed among the drums and rhythm guitars! note that the bass part on the verse (and the chorus for that matter) are among the most melodic parts of the song. beautiful harmonies. note the return of the first line of the verse for the last refrain, albiet with a different rhythm and melody. choice line: "can you hear the music?"
Bicycle Day - Automaton Rock (MP3)
Track 1 from "Grade School Weaponry"
a song for which a photo-collage video was made after their guitar player jer died tragically at the age of 23. search youtube for bicycle day, someone had the sense to put it up there. chorus-like parts just keep coming: 0:54, 1:05, then 1:23, then 1:32. then a plucked acoustic at 1:57! then the call and response anthem part at 2:38. choice line: "do what makes you happy, oh / what makes you happy, oh / new shoes"
Bicycle Day - New Shoes (MP3)
Track 7 from "The Mandarin"
a weird and beautiful song, notable for it's melodic quotation of "pure imagination" from "willy wonka and the chocolate factory" at 2:34. also some lovely affected piano, pehaps the only bicycle day song with piano on it. choice line: "there's better things to do than be in love with you / it always makes me blue / but i'm in love"
Bicycle Day - Training Wheels (MP3)
Track 8 from "The Mandarin"
this song is a catalog of amazing stuff. the first is elizabeth's backing vocals on the verses, and particularly her yelling "say it!" before the refrains. also: the time signatures. i still don't know what they are, and i've tried to figure them out. also, the bass part on the refrains. most importantly, the tremendous anthemic section beginning at about 2:38, and kicking into amazing, tingle-inducing high gear at 3:06. the bass figure that leads into this section, and appears again at 3:21 (and 4:08) is genius. this is currently my favorite bicycle day song.
Bicycle Day - Colossus On Cobblestone (MP3)
Track 6 from "The Mandarin"
another track from the very first EP. outstanding guitar solo(s) following the vocal melody at 1:56. the half-time sections after the refrains are gold. choice line: "well nobody knows just how damn smart you are / they should be bathing in your brilliance"
Bicycle Day - It's Not A Secret (MP3)
Track 2 from "It's Time For A Rock Song EP"
BONUS LIVE VERSION!
Bicycle Day - It's Not A Secret (Live)(MP3)
A bootleg from the Northern Star Online website
another song from the first EP. 2:30 of pleasant early b-day goodness. then comes the coda: a polite little build and then a powerful rocking. choice line, of course: "you said write what you know / i know three chords / and i hate you / that's what i know".
Bicycle Day - Three Chords (MP3)
Track 4 from "It's Time For A Rock Song EP"
is this emo, as some might claim? i don't think it is. i'll tell you why: 1. the large majority of these songs are not about girls. or being angry. there are a few exceptions, but even these don't take the usual routes, and they prove the rule. 2. there's a girl in the band, actively. kick-assedly. it seems to me emo (and glam) share a necessary condition: all boys. bicycle day escapes this, and manages to make largely sexless rock music. this is interesting and excellent and rare.