another blistering opening. they just don't mess around, this band. the way distortion on the lead vocal falls off at the first refrain makes the refrain sound fresh and immediate, and i love how elizabeth picks up the vocal melody herself and runs with it over andy's vocal. i find the way they barrel on together right into the second verse spectacular. my favorite vocal bit in this song, though, is at the end of the second refrain, when elizabeth jumps up the the tonic.
don't miss the transition from the guitar solo into the last refrain at 2:19, which features the guitar playing triplets while the drums aren't quite playing triplets: thrilling. choice lines include, "you missed the sight of something beautiful."
check out the super special live version recorded at during the band's first appearance at Otto's. note the blistering triple guitar action, in alarming evidence at the beginning of the second verse. humble thanks to roy finley himself for donating this unreleased recording.
Bicycle Day - Racecar Number 7 (MP3)
Track 3 from "Grade School Weaponry"
BONUS LIVE VERSION!
Bicycle Day - Racecar Number 7 (Live)(MP3)
A bootleg from the band's first show at Otto's on 2/21/02, courtesy of Roy Finley. Check out the three guitar action!
another lovely, old-fashioned tune off of the very first EP. the pace of this song is slower than we're used to, but they hit all the marks. the melodies throughout are beautiful and unique, but still sound natural--almost classic. the drums pattern on the post-verse section (beginning at 0:46) is really excellent. enjoy the the double guitar solo (1:47), where one voice plays the verse melody while another gently freaks out, placing the emphasis on the tonal aspects of the parts--the actual notes--in contrast to the frenzied guitar textures of later tunes, and noisy experiments of the latest material.
i have such respect for the way the vocal melody stretches out over the chorus, adding tension and power despite the slower tempo, which culminates in another fun choral-style singa-long to cap things off.
Bicycle Day - Paperwork (MP3)
Track 3 from "It's Time for A Rock Song EP"
let me just start off here by explaining that any song with a hook in which some number of people yell, "super powers/secret loves" pretty much endears itself to me forever automatically.
mr. hill's "bell-of-ride-on-one, crash-on two" drum entrance is rad. it's little details like this, that, when you stack them up for several minutes, make amazing songs. the tambourine in the transition after the first verse is unexpected therefore cool (they didn't use tambourine often), especially over that super cool riff; the kicks on every beat over the last two measures really propells the listener into the pre-chorus. i like the "dropped-in" nature of the transition from the first chorus into the second verse at about 1:15 which revisits the introduction over a neat looped riff.
the entrance to the bridge at 1:45 is incredible, with its sheer slab of guitar punishment--i particularly enjoy how some of the prettier bits (is it an acoustic guitar? a keyboard?) seem to slip back and forth from the left to right channels when i think it's just two separate parts playing off one another. this is a particularly successful bridge in that the transition back to chorus is killer, especially with elizabeth yelling her guts out and working her by-now-familiar slidey bass part to maximum effect. finally, the drums over the last chorus are simply filltastic (this is most evident the live bootleg below).
Bicycle Day - Carry (MP3)
Track 7 from "Grade School Weaponry"
BONUS LIVE VERSION!
Bicycle Day - Carry (Live)(MP3)
A bootleg from the NIU CAB wesbite
BONUS MYSTERY VERSION!
Roy Finley - Carry (MP3)
A very different version of the song recorded by Roy Finley.
this epic closer from the first EP took a long time to grow on me. what finally grabbed my ear were the really inventive rhythms on the drums. and once i started listening to them, i couldn't stop. i have so many things to say about the drums on this song, i'm making an ordered list:
so. i like the drums on this one. a lot. but a few other quick notes: i love the chromatic back and forth of the verse melody (pre-dating the quotation of "pure imagination" two albums later), and i love how the bass plays it along with the vocal. i especially love how the guitar picks up the chromatic back-and-forth figure in that melody during the instrumental statement of it after the first refrain at both 1:36 and 1:50. and that's a pretty good "go nuts" outro, as far as those things go.
note, in the live bootleg below, one of the guys saying, "thank you very much... [something]" (at about 5:00) just before the second half of the guitar solo. that's just a classy time to say it, is all.
Bicycle Day - Impossible (MP3)
Track 6 from "It's Time for A Rock Song EP"
BONUS LIVE VERSION!
Bicycle Day - Impossible (Live)(MP3)
A bootleg from the NIU CAB wesbite
preliminary remarks: the squeal at the beginning of this song always reminds me of a whistle. remarks, liminary: this song is totally crazy. in that the guitar parts are crazy, and the vocal melody and effects are condusive to craziness. the weird breakdown at 1:10 is also crazy, and is only slightly less so after the guitars are added back in. eventually, i start to think that that section is the chorus. the rhythms are crazy; alternating measures of three and four in the chorus? crazy. i'm never sure how to count the measures in this song. those four transitional measures of six they throw in? way crazy. eliabeth's extra vocal on the left at 2:11? pretty. the 45-seconds-of-guitar-noise-and-vocal-snippits outro? yeah, you get the idea. my favorite thing about this song is the variety of textures it has to offer; this tune's a little bit more abstract and filled with more feedback than other songs of this period. the fuzzy sound and the frustrated mix of "grade school weaponry" actually does this song a service, somehow.
Bicycle Day - Water Grenade (MP3)
Track 8 from "Grade School Weaponry"
BONUS LIVE VERSION!
Bicycle Day - Water Grenade (Live)(MP3)
A bootleg from the Northern Star Online website
ANOTHER BONUS LIVE VERSION!
Bicycle Day - Water Grenade (Live)(MP3)
A bootleg from the NIU CAB wesbite
so there's this alarm clock. and there's a little acoustic guitar melody underneath. and then, at 0:38, the alarm clock starts playing the melody at half time. and then the drums come in. and a scary guitar. and a shaker. and then the distorted bass, playing the same melody, but panned all wacky. and then the vocals come in.
and then things get interesting.
another song with a single, yearning lyric. apparently, it only takes four words to write a beautiful four-minute song. i would not have believed it.
Bicycle Day - W.D.Y.T. (MP3)
Track 5 from "Planet Xeno" (CD Version)
this song makes me feel the way the house on the rock makes me feel: excited, intrigued, bewildered, and ultimately, charmed.
this song has a truly excellent bass line at the beginning; there's definitely something spyish about it. some nice feedback ushers in a distinctive blown out and harmonically unexpected (given the established bass line) riff; some very interesting guitar work in both channels. i don't know what to make of the drums here; they almost sound as if they are sampled and looped, or at least as if the cymbals were overdubbed. it's that tight hihat that makes me suspicious. eventually things descend into a kind of chaotic freak-out, where elizabeth seems to be muttering and chanting earnestly from the right, while one of the gents is yelling his head off on the left.
i don't get terribly invested in this song until gradually, the noise slows, unwinds, and busts apart into a genuinely lovely and unexpectedly conventional-sounding song, almost reminiscent of something off the very first bicycle day EP. very sweet back and forth vocal melodies. i love the way the noisy guitars leak back in, now willing to play by the rules.
another interesting feedback collage at the end; listen closely for a brief reappearance of the blown-out guitar riff, this time played through fewer pedals.
Bicycle Day - Spy Balloons (MP3)
Track 2 from "Summers For Lovers"
the shortest song bicycle day ever released. what with the voyeuristic subject matter, hypnotic repetitions, phased vocals, the odd doubling, and the strange hums and cacaphony of noises, this song should be chilling... but somehow it's still sweet, almost pitiful. for me, no song says, "silent romantic desperation on a sweltering summer day" like this one.
Bicycle Day - Watchin' You (MP3)
Track 4 from "Planet Xeno" (CD Version)
two versions of this song were released officially, one live version and one studio version.
city streets EP version [live at luther's blues]:
the most amazing thing about this recording is the wealth of textures that the band could achieve, even in a live setting. much of this is achieved through the guitars and effects, though Mr. Hill does a fine job of varying the groove so that it jumps out or lays flat or rolls along dutifully depending on the context. it's nice to know they weren't faking it with studio magic.
i have a feeling if i actually tried to analyze this song harmonically, it would be extraordinarily difficult. since it's an instrumental, this song is obviously mostly about the interplay between the two guitars. key developments in that relationship take place at 0:38 (the distorted version at 1:50), 2:35-2:45, and 3:18; i believe it reaches it's peak with the pseudo unison at 3:33. i like the way the bass guitar moves so purposefully through the song, holding the groove and the harmonic context together. i enjoy the way the song trails off into the little solo guitar passage at 2:45 and the way it explodes at 3:03. it's a dynamic journey.
the studio version of this song is far less about guitars and much more--as near as i can figure--about crazy sounds. the live version clocked in at just under five minutes, while this version runs a hefty nine minutes. it sounds to me like those extra four minutes take the form of the extended "instrument punishment" outro, the odd extra acoustic guitar riff that turns up around minute seven, and then the swath of atmospheric knob twisting, which builds back into a crescendo at 8:15 on a familiar riff.
a it's strange how, aside from the expanded second half, the song remains very similar to the live version. it's like a dream version of the song; the parts are all there, but they're cloudy, miscolored, versions of themselves. the drums in particular are no longer dominant, but are buried in the mix, used like a flavoring rather than a main ingredient. still, they manage to get their job done when it counts; if it isn't isaac on the tape here (i don't think it is), i am impressed by the approximation of his parts from the live arrangement. the most unexpected addition is the use horns and/or winds of some kind on the "chorus" sections at 1:48 and 3:02. I find it thrilling how ambiguous the guitar and horn sounds can become upon the explosion at 3:58.
Bicycle Day - Querulous (MP3)
Track 1 from "Planet Xeno" CD Version
Bicycle Day - Querulous (Live)(MP3)
Track 8 from "City Streets EP"
finally, a little gem courtesy of the wonders of the internet: Bicycle Day - Querulous (Live at The House in DeKalb)
ONE LAST PAGE WITH VARIOUS GOODIES YET TO COME.