GUIDED BY VOICES: UNDER THE BUSHES, UNDER THE STARS (Matador, 1996)
SONIC YOUTH: BAD MOON RISING (Homestead, 1985)
Once the temperature starts dropping and the leaves start turning, I can never get enough of Guided By Voices; particularly their ninth album, Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. This has been a mainstay of essential autumn listening since I was sixteen. Nearly every time I listen, I am brought back to the car rides up to my aunt and uncle's house to go apple picking.
This is by far my favorite GBV album. As it is the first one I ever purchased and listened to, I may be biased. Biases aside, it has definitely withstood the test of time.
The second album in this installment leans a lot more to the dark side of the season. While GBV's UTBUTS paints the picture of the colorful, warm, aromatic, and romantic side of autumn, Sonic Youth's Bad Moon Rising represents the gray, dismal, dark, cold and lonely parts.
The opening arpeggios of the album let me envision nothing less than leaves falling to the ground against a gray sky. From there on in it becomes darker and darker. The realization that winter is coming, that it's only going to get colder, that everything is dying are all here. The presence of Halloween is also very apparent; emphasized both by the cover art and the bonus track, "Hallowe'en".
There is no doubt that my interpretation and the connections that I make(here and elsewhere are heavily influenced by my New England upbringing. The autumn is a strange and magical time for myself and many others. This is but a taste of some of the music that I feel captures this essence.
More to come.
Links:
"pass the word, the chicks are back"
"I love her all the time"
the chandelier is spinnning and shaking
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