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- pat & i went to the m-room last night to see shekeepsbees open for pattern is movement. SKB is basically jessica larrabee, who you may remember from the english system. after one really great record (2002’s banded blue) and a couple of tours, TES broke up in 2003 and jess moved to brooklyn to work on her solo songs. on a side note: brian & charles from TES now play drums in my band and the silence kit respectively, and jess herself had a brilliantly short, one-practice stint playing drums in the ‘jazz odyssey’ lineup of apple of discord. hey, i didn’t say it was an interesting side note.

jessica has always had an amazing, haunting voice and the songs on her current ten song mix of demos & home recordings called atlanta demos showcase her skills as a songwriter as well. the songs are self-described as ‘dark country’ and the sparseness wouldn’t be unwelcome in a mix alongside didn’t it rain-era songs:ohia and early cat power. despite a few early miscues and awkward banter, the last five songs were downright hypnotic with the highlights being ‘lucille’ and ‘the flies’. you should absolutely check her out when she comes to your town. (shekeepsbees plays at the soda bar on thursday april 13, sputnik on saturday april 15, both in brooklyn.)

- the record we put out at the end of 2004 got a really nice & spot on review this week from adam barone on punkrocks.net.

This music is practically essential in maintaining some sort of integrity and balance in a time when far too many bands (often unknowingly) place fashion over function. If you don’t believe me, you’re just not looking.

thanks adam! that’s what i’ve been trying to tell everyone but sadly, no one believes me. on a related note, the people that expect our new record to sound like braid or sunny day real estate are going to be disappointed. however, those expecting it sound like fake jazz or bad ted leo will have their expectations fully met.