Vinyl Vednesday 1/5/2011

[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. This week’s installment celebrates the best of 2010. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Bars of Gold’s Of Gold (2010) on clear orange, Crime in Stereo’s I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone (2010) on clear, and Smoke or Fire’s Prehistoric Knife Fight seven-inch (2010) on black.

Place of Purchase: Actually, only two of these were purchased – CiS and SoF came from Interpunk.com. Bars of Gold came from the band’s publicist.

Thoughts: Bear Trap PR has always been good to me. Case in point: I got a limited pressing of Bars of Gold’s semi-self-titled debut. Made up of former members of Bear vs. Shark, the group essentially updates that beloved group’s sound and adds plenty of Modest Mouse-y twists. This record was a joy to review, and a real scoop too. I get high off of breaking great new bands, and debuting Bars of Gold to the Org crowd was awesome.

I’m still a little shocked by the break-up of Crime in Stereo. They wrote some of the best post-hardcore tunes. While their shows got a little hit or miss near the end, they were a band I felt compelled to watch as often as possible, thanks to a passionate songwriting that walked between melody and dissonance. They get compared to Brand New a lot, but honest, CiS had the better discography. I’m still holding out hope – the guys did break up almost as many times as, say, Sunny Day Real Estate. But for now, I have to settle for spinning I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone and screaming along to “Type One” and “I Am Everything I Am Not.” Oh, and, uh, Drugwolf forever.

Smoke or Fire sort of, kind of, maybe broke up somewhere between 2007 and 2010. But they announced their return with an onslaught of new material. Joe McMahon dropped two releases March 16, 2010 – an acoustic split with The Lawrence Arms’ Brendan Kelly and this fine seven-inch. It’s a lot rawer than what eventual full-length The Speakeasy turned out to be, which I respect and enjoy. Mostly I’m just glad to have the boys back.

Bars of Gold - 'Of Gold'

The world is a cold, fucked up place, but every so often it drops little gifts to remind us that life is alright. Bars of Gold’s semi-self-titled debut, Of Gold, is one of those gifts. It sucked when post-hardcore masters Bear vs. Shark broke up, but from those remnants vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Marc Paffi and drummer Brandon Moss have built up a new, thoroughly awesome indie rock effort. This is the rock equivalent of babies and puppies laughing together underneath a double rainbow.

Call it an EP or a metal full-length, either way, Of Gold delivers eight new jams to satiate the BvS faithful. And for the first two tracks, that faith is rewarded outright. Opening numbers “Boss Level” and “Heaven Has a Heater” provide the follow-up Terrorhawk deserved. When I think of BvS, I think of three distinct, loud elements: Paffi’s bellow (check), Moss’s thundering kit (check) and sharp, crunchy guitar parts (not so much here). Indeed, the guitars aren’t quite as loud, especially as the album winds down, it starts to emphasize keyboards more.

That said, those first two tracks are rockers. “Birds” also has a heavy BvS sound, but it incorporates some more indie elements. The guitars plink and bend a little more. There’s a heavier emphasis on atmosphere. By the time the final track of the A side, “The Hustle,” arrives the group shifts into more of a Modest Mouse/Built to Spill vibe. “Hustle” could’ve easily fit in with the songs on We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. It’s got the same country/indie rock mix, blending banjo with a threatening 4/4 beat.

Of Gold could certainly be thought of as a transitional record away from the classic Bear vs. Shark formula, and the tracklisting makes that more literal. The A side phases out BvS’s most obvious characteristics, and by the B side, the metamorphosis is complete. “Doctors & Lawyers” is much more banjo-heavy. “Up, Up, Up” is funkier, not that Bear vs. Shark was ever afraid to explore a groove. “Cannibals” closes out the release. This makes Of Gold such an ideal release. It’s faithful enough to Moss and Paffi’s previous work while still pushing into new sounds. Bear vs. Shark probably won’t get back together, but that’s not such a bad thing anymore.