Sounds of Medicine...
I am squeezing in an update before tomorrows Thanksgiving festivities take place. This also means that I am going to try and squeeze in a bit more into this one post, so be prepared. I do wish everyone a safe travel to wherever you may be going to eat dinner and that everyone does have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now on with my last update until this weekend most likely.
For those that follow baseball, I just want to know. Have the owner’s gone absolutely batshit insane this off-season? I mean I just got on CBS Sportsline today and saw a headline for Gary Mathews Jr. having a preliminary agreement for a 5 year, $50 million contract with the Angels. They’re going to pay that much money for a guy who FINALLY had a decent year at the age of 32? He’s a marvelous center-fielder defensively, but man, $50 million for a one year wonder thus far? This is all in the wake of me seeing Mark Derosa receive a $13 million, 3 year deal with the Cubs. He is 31 and yet another guy who hadn’t done squat up until last season. That’s just great. Anyway, I guess the market value this year for average to slightly above average players is going through the roof. I bet Carlos Lee is sitting back right now and watching all of this with a big smile on his face being one of the few “premium” bats left on the market. Like Alfonso Soriano, he is pretty much guaranteed to get a gigantic contract due to all this.
Brad Laner was the brains behind the oft overlooked Medicine. Formed in LA sometime in 1991, Medicine went on to release four full-length albums and a few EP’s. Really there are two different versions of Medicine. The one that was around from the early to mid nineties and then the one that appeared a little after 2000. I much prefer the original Medicine sound that appeared basically through the first two albums and a couple of the EP’s. Their sound was often thrown into the whole shoegaze category, and it does fit to an extent, but to me it’s much more firmly rooted in the sounds of noise pop. A lot of their material has a very danceable rhythm to it, which also kind of sets itself apart from other bands commonly associated with that label. It’s not often that you run across something that is basically drenched in feedback and also makes you feel like you’re in a nightclub as well.
Their first album Shot Forth Self Living is pretty much the perfect example of their earlier sound and what I mentioned above. It opens with “One More”, which features a couple minutes of guitar feedback before the song finally fully kicks in. It ends up being my favorite song off the album as the guitars continue to swirl and the rest of the song begins to take shape. It’s then followed by the equally trashy sounding “Aruca”, also the name of one of their EP’s, which opens with what could only be described as noise for a full on minute before it dives into a poppy psych influenced rhythm. The album follows suit for seven more tracks that features at times ear piercing feedback mixed with some wonderful melodies.
Their second album The Buried Life is pretty much cut from the same mold as the first. It relies yet again on high pitched feedback and industrial sounds to serve as a backdrop for the melodies and vocals, however it may be considered a bit less abrasive than their first.
I see them compared to and at times labeled as MBV rip offs, which I don’t quite understand. It seems to me that Medicine was quite a bit different sounding than MBV or any of those other bands for that matter. Aside from the breathy vocals and the whole “wall of sound” aspect, Medicine added their own industrial influenced and treble heavy sound to it all.
You’ll notice I didn’t mention their third album Her Highness. Although it’s not bad, the band lost some of its appeal as the sound was much more stripped down and basically kind of left everything sounding kind of lifeless. The band soon broke up after that, but Brad Laner would later resurrect the name Medicine for another go around.
Shot Forth Self Living:
Medicine – One More [MP3]
Medicine – Aruca [MP3]
The Buried Life:
Medicine – Never Click [MP3]
Medicine – Fried Awake [MP3]
Aruca EP:
Medicine – The Powder [MP3]
Come Here to Drink Milk EP:
Medicine – Time Baby II [MP3]
Although the majority of their material is out of print, you can still find most of their releases available on Amazon for a reasonable price. If the songs above catch your interest then the albums probably won’t disappoint.
For those that follow baseball, I just want to know. Have the owner’s gone absolutely batshit insane this off-season? I mean I just got on CBS Sportsline today and saw a headline for Gary Mathews Jr. having a preliminary agreement for a 5 year, $50 million contract with the Angels. They’re going to pay that much money for a guy who FINALLY had a decent year at the age of 32? He’s a marvelous center-fielder defensively, but man, $50 million for a one year wonder thus far? This is all in the wake of me seeing Mark Derosa receive a $13 million, 3 year deal with the Cubs. He is 31 and yet another guy who hadn’t done squat up until last season. That’s just great. Anyway, I guess the market value this year for average to slightly above average players is going through the roof. I bet Carlos Lee is sitting back right now and watching all of this with a big smile on his face being one of the few “premium” bats left on the market. Like Alfonso Soriano, he is pretty much guaranteed to get a gigantic contract due to all this.
Brad Laner was the brains behind the oft overlooked Medicine. Formed in LA sometime in 1991, Medicine went on to release four full-length albums and a few EP’s. Really there are two different versions of Medicine. The one that was around from the early to mid nineties and then the one that appeared a little after 2000. I much prefer the original Medicine sound that appeared basically through the first two albums and a couple of the EP’s. Their sound was often thrown into the whole shoegaze category, and it does fit to an extent, but to me it’s much more firmly rooted in the sounds of noise pop. A lot of their material has a very danceable rhythm to it, which also kind of sets itself apart from other bands commonly associated with that label. It’s not often that you run across something that is basically drenched in feedback and also makes you feel like you’re in a nightclub as well.Their first album Shot Forth Self Living is pretty much the perfect example of their earlier sound and what I mentioned above. It opens with “One More”, which features a couple minutes of guitar feedback before the song finally fully kicks in. It ends up being my favorite song off the album as the guitars continue to swirl and the rest of the song begins to take shape. It’s then followed by the equally trashy sounding “Aruca”, also the name of one of their EP’s, which opens with what could only be described as noise for a full on minute before it dives into a poppy psych influenced rhythm. The album follows suit for seven more tracks that features at times ear piercing feedback mixed with some wonderful melodies.Their second album The Buried Life is pretty much cut from the same mold as the first. It relies yet again on high pitched feedback and industrial sounds to serve as a backdrop for the melodies and vocals, however it may be considered a bit less abrasive than their first.
I see them compared to and at times labeled as MBV rip offs, which I don’t quite understand. It seems to me that Medicine was quite a bit different sounding than MBV or any of those other bands for that matter. Aside from the breathy vocals and the whole “wall of sound” aspect, Medicine added their own industrial influenced and treble heavy sound to it all.
You’ll notice I didn’t mention their third album Her Highness. Although it’s not bad, the band lost some of its appeal as the sound was much more stripped down and basically kind of left everything sounding kind of lifeless. The band soon broke up after that, but Brad Laner would later resurrect the name Medicine for another go around.
Shot Forth Self Living:
Medicine – One More [MP3]
Medicine – Aruca [MP3]
The Buried Life:
Medicine – Never Click [MP3]
Medicine – Fried Awake [MP3]
Aruca EP:
Medicine – The Powder [MP3]
Come Here to Drink Milk EP:
Medicine – Time Baby II [MP3]
Although the majority of their material is out of print, you can still find most of their releases available on Amazon for a reasonable price. If the songs above catch your interest then the albums probably won’t disappoint.
posted by Jonathan at
8:51 PM
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