catalogue

SMALL BLACK

BEST BLUES (JAGJAGUWAR)

SMALL BLACK - BEST BLUES 88429
format:
1 LP
release:
16.10.2015
label:
JAGJAGUWAR
item ID:
88429
barcode:
0656605226910
The group's third full length release, written & recorded at their Brooklyn home studio, nicknamed 222, showcases a band still evolving, and embracing the unpredictable.

Kolenik (keys, vocals), Ryan Heyner (guitar, keys, vocals), Juan Pieczanski (bass, guitar) and Jeff Curtin (drums) have been recording, writing, and often living together, throughout the life of the band, establishing a closeness that has allowed them to achieve easy creativity and unspoken chemistry.

After a year of recording, that band enlisted mixer Nicholas Vernhes (War on Drugs, Deerhunter) of Rare Book Room Studio to help complete the record.

Best Blues finds the band in their sweet spot: the smoky intersection of considered & vulnerable songwriting and loose, almost nonchalant ambience.

The addition of piano flourishes, trumpet (Darby Cicci of The Antlers), hidden acoustic guitars and Kaede Ford's ethereal vocals provide new dimensions to the band's already expansive sonic palette.

Cut-to-the-chase rippers "Back at Belle's" & "Checkpoints" embody & build on the group's signature gritty yet focused electronic sound.

While the more pastoral tracks, such as "Between Leos," & "XX Century," skeletally based on recorded improvisations, find the band painting a more nuanced, assured aural portrait.

The repeating of the line "twentieth century" on closer, "XX Century", serves as a coda for the album, offering a simple summation of what Best Blues' intent has been from the opening Casio stab: an attempt to re-examine the past, but also one to let it go.
 
  • Tracklisting
  • 1.1. PERSONAL BEST
  • 1.2. NO ONE WANTS IT TO HAPPEN TO YOU
  • 1.3. BOYS LIFE
  • 1.4. THE CLOSER I LOOK
  • 1.5. BIG IDEAS, PT. II
  • 1.6. BACK AT BELLE'S
  • 1.7. BETWEEN LEOS
  • 1.8. CHECKPOINTS
  • 1.9. SMOKE AROUND THE BEND
  • 1.10. XX CENTURY