Why is it that it’s your favorite bands that are always the least prolific, yet bands like Nickelback can crank out crappy record after crappy record year in and year out?
A new song from the band Built Like Alaska got me thinking this very question. Variations on this question include: why do the best bands inevitably wind up on labels that promptly go out of business, why are the best bands so much less well known than dance music remix crap, and why do the best bands always split up?
I’ve been looking forward to a new record from Built Like Alaska for years. The only thing that satiates my hunger for new music from these Northern Californian fuzzy rock stalwarts is something new from bands like Radar Bros, Shaky Hands, Mercury Rev, or select songs from The Flaming Lips.
Anyway “Red Eye” is just one song from a 2 disc compilation called Portraits: 32 Singers, 32 Songs. There are a bunch of other great artists on the comp and they all have in common playing an independent promoter’s series called “Off The Air” in Modesto, California. For this record each artist was told to record one new song and to keep it on the quiet side. Thus the restraint shown on the Built Like Alaska track. When and if there is a new BLA record I hope this song is on there and I hope they crank it up midway thru.
Lots more info about Portraits: 32 Singers, 32 Songs here.
Tags: Built Like Alaska