New Harrison's Whip - "The Lost Arch" (0)



Indyrock vets Harrison's Whip are poised to release their new album-all they need is a name. The album, which follows the plot of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, promises to explore the inner turmoil of Indianna and his dealing with his fear of snakes and the detrimental effect it has on womanizing and adventuring.

Pretty heady stuff, especially for the band that released an opera in 3 acts detailing the history of the aliens from The Crystal Skull.

The first single of Harrison's Whip's as-of-yet-untitled album is called the "Lost Arch" is a rollicking romp through the musical styles of Peru, Cairo and America (all locales which Indy has visited) and can be found on the band's Myspace.



02/19 - Oslo, Norway (by:Larm)
03/08 - London, UK @ The Lexington
03/22- Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
03/23 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
03/25 - Portland, OR @ Berbati's Pan
03/26 - Seattle, WA @ Triple Door
03/27 - Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
03/30 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
03/31 - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
04/01 - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
04/02 - Toronto, ON @ Opera House
04/03 - Montreal, QC @ Il Motore
04/04 - Cambridge, MA @ TT THe Bears
04/05 - Milford, CT @ Daniel Street
04/06 - Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
04/07 - Washington, DC @ DC9
04/08 - New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge

~Matthew
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Wait A Second. Could Fishing School Be The Best Album Of 2010? (0)



If it's not the best album of the year, could it at least be the best debut of the year? I mean wow. Just Wow.

Fishing School's debut is an exercise in Musicality and Remembrance. The opening track, "Sixty Stories", is a swelling acoustimactic epic and perhaps one of the greatest album openers in musical history. Jaime Marks, the emaciated singer, opens the song in his characteristically thick drawl singing "I know I'm not what you want/ Sixty Stories in the air/ I'd shoot them all down for you/ To make the whole game fair."

The song cuts out for 30 seconds, letting you gather your thoughts, but also allowing anticipation to ferment. A sweet guitar melody enters next, playing sweet and alternately sour chords. It is a depressing sequence, perfectly prefacing the melancholy and nostalgia and wistfulness that is characteristic of a Fishing School song. As the musical vignette reaches it's end, we are shaken from introspection by an intense series of harmonizing guitar riffs that come and pass at break neck speed. The song rushes through three separate musical ideas before settling on a particularly modest line reminiscent of John Cage or Philip Glass, during one of his quieter moments.

Only now, does the baroque-inflected melody begin to take shape. Marks again sings the first memorable line in the album, and tweaks it over and over again each time adding a tiny bit of pathos. As the orchestration expands to include more multi-tracked guitars, woodwinds and electronically affected found-sounds, the song reaches it's quivering emotional climax. Finally, Marks bursts out in refrain while the swirling band behind him plays the same chords and melody that first showed up in the hands of two classical guitarists.

The Deja Vu that "Sixty Stories" inspires is a hallmark of the rest of Fishing School's most recent release. From quiet minuets like "Oriental Insects" to misleadingly straightforward anthems like "I love you, No-Ho," Fishing School is a tour-de-force of emotion, memory, regret and sadness. Like Jaime Marks sings in the third track, an aching twee masterpiece, "Yes I will love you, but after you're gone/ Memories are the only ones who won't let me alone." Fishing School is devoted to awakening emotions you never knew you had, and dedicated to finding it's way to your vinyl collection.

9/10

~Matthew
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