Now, looking at that Minks cover you'd expect this might be going a Blessure Grave sort of direction, a little dark, coming from those days of pure youth depression. There's something romantic about taking that road in high school. To be a little bit of a weirdo.
I would have had a huge crush on that girl. Especially since she looks like she doesn't care. That's what can be mean about movies, you get a sense that those awesome loners actually exist and every single second they're alive is the fucking coolest, and your life is ridiculous. If there's one thing I could tell jerk, 16 year old me, it's that they aren't...no one is, you don't have to try to live up to that impossible and stupid expectation. Those are fake stories, live your life doing whatever the hell you want.
I care a lot less now that there is some distance between myself and 17 seconds....and maybe there is this whole new group of artists turning back on that Cure era and reexamining how it could not be so dramatic....maybe get a little more relevant? I could use more music like that.
The A-Side, Funeral song captures that sort of turning point for New Order when they lose Ian and start sounding almost dance-able, super airy synths, and ultra clean...he keeps singing about summertime...and the title is funeral song? Am I just hearing this wrong? Great use of that pitch wheel portamento (the casio taught me that word). This vocal effect is crazy...kind of a phaser and then jamming a finger on the tape wheel? It's crazy.
I would be staring out the bus window for an hour riding to school. No one understands me. I would probably have a hard time with the young version of 7inches....he was probably annoying. It's not so bad, listen to this kind of happy song from the Minks, and think about a funeral. School's almost over and you can be depressed at home for months.
The B-Side 'Drunk Punks' has all of these era's sounds perfectly, thank god people still remember how to dial in that chorusy bass, really high pitch jangle electric...almost harp sounding.A lot of other swirling distortions flying around, layers of delay. I think they keep the tempo up and it keeps it from getting bogged down the way some of the early Cure does for me, but then that sets an immediate tone of oppression. Minks are trying to break out of it in a Psychedelic Furs way. It has such a New Order heavy main bassline with that guitar dropping in for a chord here and there, Blue Monday...like an early demo...I like this a lot, they're really in the early nineties alternative zone.
Get this one on Captured Tracks.
MINKS - Funeral Song - Captured Tracks
"As generous a kiss-off to Summer as we could hope for, MINKS' 'Funeral Song' came virtually out of nowhere. Like if Robert Smith gave birth to a baby, and the baby was actually a cassette of Cure demos that had a lot more staying power than actual Cure demos. Ostensibly we could say this song is reactionary: abandoning the good vibes and surf jams of the warm months of '09 in favor of something colder. Rigid bass lines over icy, high-register synth whine. But the song has a lot more heart than that, so long summer time repeated endlessly until it not only makes sense, but makes frigid cold seem welcoming."--Fader
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