Namelessnumberheadman :: Animal Kingdom
All namlessnumberheadman records are heartbreakingly good. They break my heart with their shameless beauty and grace and they further break my heart because they are one of my bands. You have a few yourself, I’m sure. The bands you love like old friends, the bands you press on friends and strangers and anyone who will listen, the bands you cannot for the life of you believe that people aren’t showering with the love and adulation that should rightfully be theirs. I lived in Kansas for years but never saw them play and I feel like such a chump because of it. I saw a bunch of other damn bands that namelessnumberheadman keeps getting inexplicably compared to by lazy damn people who characterize midwest music like Mark Leyner once did its freeways: corn corn Stuckey’s corn corn Stuckey’s. And God knows I saw many a deadly dull band while this one was writing and playing some of the most original and inspiring music around, a perfect form of electronica-flavored orchestral pop. What the hell was I thinking?
Speaking of regrets, few bands voice them better. Wires Reply is a record that aches, and Animal Kingdom, despite its tense rhythms and lovely rising choruses, still sounds exactly like mourning for something precious long gone. The arrangement and playing is impeccable, but Andew Sallee’s voice is my favorite instrument. It’s so light and pure, so expressive and yearning. I could listen to him sing anything, but I’m glad he sings this:
Spider legs, cicada wings, and pulsing wet worms
Fingernails and petrified leaves’ veins
Cull the settled, well-spent parts
Tape the box to slow further decay
That’s a whole life laid to rest in a couple of lines. Animal Kingdom, along with so much of the rest of namelessnumberheadman’s catalog, proves conclusively that is possible to be both spare and lush at once, and modest and ambitious — and to carefully wring the best out of such contradictions. Listen to the song, and please seek out and listen to the rest of what this band has created. (I had the hardest time picking just one song from this record to give you, and once you hear it you’ll sympathize.) Soon enough, you’ll be another voice in the wilderness begging everyone you know to just listen to this band, already.
Animal Kingdom
namelessnumberheadman (myspace)
Hiram said on monday, march 10th, 2008
joshua said on monday, march 10th, 2008
Yeah, this is really tasty. I was anticipating an explosive triumphant outro but instead got scattering static and organ swirls. And that was real nice.
Melissa have you listened to our pal Devin Davis’ record at all? It is a brilliant and wonderful thing that I think you may like. There are some songs at his myspace and his site.
Melissa said on monday, march 10th, 2008
Josh, I did not know Devin Davis before your comment but his music is appropriately swirly so I will listen more.
Mmmm, pecan logs. Wait, I’ve never had a Stuckey’s pecan log.
Great choice, melissa.