CYHSY are a band that consitute a fair amount of the thread by which I’m tenuously holding onto some knowledge of the “scene,” as it were. They sound like early Talking Heads, they put out their first album entirely on their own, they have a not-too-slick 80s sound that really grows on you, they made the Times Arts and Leisure section around November 05 (which means they are no longer part of the scene, duh, I know that). If you knew me last year, then you know that my former band, Polar Bear Parade (got a problem with that name, buddy?), practiced across the hall from them in Red Hook, Brooklyn, because I relentlessly told people about this for about four months. Nevertheless we only saw them once and were duly sheepish; i.e. tried to act like we didn’t care (that’s what people in New York generally do around celebrities anyway). Anyway, they have a new album out, and as an overworked schnorer I thought I’d record my immediate impressions of the two songs they’ve posted for free on their website.
"Love Song No. 7":
Hmmm. Piano. Slow. They’re trying to sound weirder. There’s something Bowie-esque here, but not the usual Bowie people copy. More the Scary Monsters Bowie. Cool in concept, though I’m still—hey, they just switched to ¾ time! Oh, no, back to 4/4. Someone’s whistling, unless that’s my heat. Accordion—it’s getting slightly twisted, heading into Neutral Milk Hotel territory—and some serious rhythmic jumpiness despite the slowness. The main lyric seems to be “Safe and sound.” Was that someone opening my screen door? Not really coming together for me.
"Underwater (You and Me)":
Bowie again—but Heroes era, by way of Pianosaurus—remember them anyone? The vocal, though, got no Bowie going at all. Oooh. That little descending bit there sounds like “Do They Know its Christmas?” The production is muddy or else these are super crap quality mp3s. I like that tremolo guitar solo, all chords! Lyrics pretty indecipherable on first listen. Midtempo is a risky thing, my friend. My mind is wandering. . . oh, there’s that toy piano again, above the fade. This is the best part! The rest is kind of cluttered.
Later: I accidentally started the first song up on two different pages, with a delay of 20 or 30 seconds, and it sounded really cool.
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my main problem with cyhsy is the "david byrne called and he wants his voice and vocal affect back" thing. that said, I have to admit that i like the song "details of the war" and not in a superficial way at all. at the same time, one of my main music-based fears is anyone trying-to-be-bowie, in part because bowie forms the unthought background to so many of my thoughts (and nonthoughts) about music and sex that if it is done badly it just goes So Very Wrong. So you've now made me fear both of these songs without ever having heard them, even though I find your real-time comments charming. I guess the real test would be if I were to listen to the songs and reply to your real-time comments in real time. But I have always doubted the distinction between "reality" and "theory" anyway. and since i am sleeping on someone's couch right now, and he has to wake up at 5 am, it would be rude to listen to music. and so i theorize and then sleep instead.
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