Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Velvet Davenport on SHDWPLY Records


Shdwply recently released this single from The Velvet Davenport. The sleeve is great, reminiscent of the NNF demented cut and paste collage, so right away I have to go check out their myspace. At first all I saw was the words Ariel Pink and Gary War and jumped to the conclusion this was a Roman Soldiers sort of situation...man, that Gary collaborates all over town...which makes me think I have to listen to his full length again. It's such a great collection of sounds, it's one giant entity to me that I sit down with and evolves over two sides...I get caught up in it...maybe it's just kind of mysterious to begin with? It definitely helped Blank Dogs...I mean you kind of make up a better story than the press release anyway...nobody knows where this guy is from, what gear he's using. It's like there's some kind of time machine effect? It is pretty cool to hear a crackly reverb sounding plug in on garageband...just for a second it's believable, but still insanely produced....to think that could be reduced down to a single plug in is just ridiculous...but that didn't stop me.

I'll start with the B-Side 'Run' since it's VD by themselves, this has all the sensibilities of AP, it's got that nostalgic aesthetic, but very grounded in 70's psyche, like MV+EE, laid back hippies time traveled to the SHDWPLY studios, like Bill and Ted. Too high to notice they were in 2010, they wrote some jams, laid down the flute tracks, lit some candles, tie dyed some stuff...I'd be completely against this direction if there wasn't that modern dark edge to this...starting with that disembodied mask-face.

The A-Side 'Get Out', the one with Ariel & Gary (that's got the sound of a side project right there), has all of the patina you'd expect of the three of these entities coming together. It sounds like all those era's they reference at once, the static from 70's, the earnest disillusionment of the 80's, a little indie guitar thrown in for good measure....or maybe that's just me attaching all my own memories to the nostalgic sound they've always been creating... it sort of lends itself to that, by listening to it through wax paper, you make up the parts you aren't actually hearing?

They have a free download of their cassette release 'Happy Endings' here. This single is a pretty great start for these guys and it's immediately going to be filed in the unfile-able weirdo section of the vinyl shelf.

While you're at it, Shdwply is releasing a new Ducktails single, so get on both immediately. I'm shocked this is still available with this Ariel & Gary contribution.
“Our previously loved psychedelic friends, Velvet Davenport have just sent over their newest slice of 60’s infused pop. On their recent LA vacay they met up with like minded nostalgists Ariel Pink and Gary War, the resulting “Get Out” is an acid flashback into a more liberal state of mind. This will be the a-side b/w of “Run” which is set for release as a 7″ on, the appropriate, Shdwply Records. Also, check out the free downloads that Velvet Davenport has available at their myspace…”
-Weeklytapedeck.com

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