Kt Emmerson: End of Summer STILL CORNERS Dreampop Mixology
Still Corners are available @ iTunes.
by Kt Emmerson
It’s the end of summer, but I’m still floating a Dreampop wave of delight. I’m gonna hold on with a death grip to my good vibes, as I know they will be under attack by the sharks we mommas (and dads) know as school pick up lines, homework policing, and spreading endless slices of Wonderbread with chocolate magic (they don’t teach this in mom school but they should…how to un-twist a bread bag, layout 3 slices, scoop the exact amount to fill the blank bread page, and fold up that fold-over within two cleansing breaths…10, 9, 8,…).
Back to the music, Kt! Right, I happened upon a stunningly beach-y, California-y-golden suntan-ed song recently from one of my favorite secret DJ spots on youtube. I’m not giving away my creative source, so don’t ask! But here’s the awesome tune.
I don’t always go down the “whole album” listening venture. Mostly cuz so many wonderful songs are ruined by the b-side song, to use an old phrase (that no longer makes sense). Someone I know did a nice thing for me and had this Still Corners album playing on my little monster cube speaker that accompanies me in the kitchen as I dive into making dinners that nobody eats (excluding special one) after my daily God Help Me walk around the block alone…very alone.
-full disclosure, that first song is not on this album.
Y’all. (It’s only with good music that my southern drawl comes out, that and my 3rd Lone Star beer). But this whole album / Slow Air is Finger lickin’ amazing from first guitar riff to last fading synth note. I don’t know how Still Corners has managed to merge some of the most opposing musicalities I can think of. But, boy howdy, it’s Led Zeppelin + Cocteau Twins + Chris Isaak + Bronski Beat + Fleetwood Mac + The Friends of Dean Martinez + OMD. Odd, I know. But please indulge me (and yourself) with this seemingly disgusting mix of genres. It’s not your soda fountain suicide mix, I promise. Maybe it’s like hot chili and chocolate. So bad but so good.
Or one of those tasting experiences people wait all year and pay a fortune to go to…pretensions, yes. But probably mind blowing. Still, Corners is my musical tasting experience. I’d wait all year for this album. I’m just glad I found it in my lifetime.
Here are a couple of my favs:
The Message
A Chris Isaak 90s western twang lead, the now iconic Still Corners phantom voice, and a lovely fading guitar picking in the end. Mmm, smooth like grandma’s jello salad.
Black Lagoon
The hit, I’d say, off this album. Definitely radio worthy. Ok, college radio. But I’d dance my ass off to this song if I ever found myself in a dark nightclub again. Ok, if you’re not sitting on that train with Bronski Beat as he’s forever leaving that homophobic English enclave he grew up in, well, I guess you don’t know good Brit new wave.
STILL CORNERS
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