| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Carl |
Posted - 09/02/2010 : 07:05:06
Cleveland Scene.
What to Do Tonight: The Breeders
POSTED BY MICHAEL GALLUCI ON THU, 2010 AT 9:00 AM
Four square, Breeders style
The Breeders have released only four albums in their 22-year career,
making them one of alt-rock’s most underachieving bands. During the
same period, frontwoman Kim Deal’s Pixies bandmate Black
Francis/Frank Black has been ridiculously over-prolific, recording more
than a dozen albums. But even with the smaller catalog, Deal and the
Breeders are the bigger stars, thanks to one hell of a summer back in
1993.
The band’s distinct take on noise-pop — combined with Deal’s brittle, beatific
voice — has inspired countless artists over two decades, even
with the sporadic output. It’s a blueprint for success that Deal boils
down to a simple sort of discipline: record only good songs.
“I can’t handle being part of a bad song,” she says. “Writing a song is super easy. You can go to the
library or bookstore and there’s actually a formula for writing songs. But here’s the hard part —
writing a song I’m going to want to sing in front of people five years from now. If other people write
bad songs, they just don’t play them, like [fellow Dayton native, Guided by Voices frontman] Bob
Pollard — he’s got as many bad songs as he’s got good songs.”
Deal can trace her relationship with good songs back to her days in ’80s indie-rock icons the Pixies.
“Gigantic,” one of the few Pixies songs she had a hand in writing, ranks as the group’s most endearing
moment on record. Deal wasn’t allowed to pen many songs in the Pixies, so she formed the Breeders
in 1988 with Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly as a side project and creative outlet. They
released a couple of EPs. The same year the Pixies broke up (1993), Deal’s other band unleashed
Last Splash, one of alternative nation’s greatest albums. Its first single, “Cannonball” (where Deal
traded vocals with her twin sister Kelley, who’s also in the Breeders), became a summer anthem.
But it took the Breeders nearly a decade to make another record. The band was exhausted, Kelly got
busted for drugs, and Kim formed another side project, the Amps. In 2002, the Breeders finally
released a follow-up, Title TK, a stripped-down garage-rock album that traded the Deal sisters’ sexy
indie charm for aggressive and unflattering noise rock. It wasn’t until 2008 that the Breeders got it
right again.
That year’s Mountain Battles is as magnificent and epic as its title suggests, full of cosmic auditory
assaults (“Overglazed”), brooding sonic sound waves (“Night of Joy”), sweet garage-punk (“Bang On”),
and beautiful multi-language pop (“Ragalame Esta Noche”). The band quickly followed up the titanic
rocker with last year’s meaty Fate to Fatal EP, four songs that mix classic Breeders, a cover (Bob
Marley’s “Chances Are”), and guest Mark Lanegan.
“I’ve got enough songs for an EP, and I’m thinking about doing something like Fate to Fatal again,” says
Deal. “If I had a third EP, maybe I could put it all out on a record. I don’t want to wait. It takes me
forever to write a record.”
It’s not like Deal hasn’t been busy. Since 2004, she’s been touring with the reunited Pixies. (“As a
group that’s reconnected to do live shows, I think the Pixies have actually lasted longer than as a
group that recorded,” she says.) She just got back from a series of festival shows in Australia, New
Zealand, and Japan, and plans to spend part of September down south playing the Pixies’ classic
1989 album Doolittle in its entirety.
Like the seemingly never-ending Pixies reunion tour, the Breeders could spend the rest of their days
on the road. Deal often gets invited to perform in side projects like the Long Count, last year’s
collaboration with members of the National. The Breeders are also faves at indie-rock fests around
the globe.
Even though Deal is alt-rock royalty, she isn’t resting on her laurels. She recently spent some time in
Oregon writing and recording with M. Ward, and she’s working with Cincinnati’s Buffalo Killers in her
home studio in Dayton. And she’s still on the prowl for her next set of perfect songs — no matter how
long it takes.
She says it’s an obsession that has its roots — like almost everything in her long career — in the Pixies,
when she and drummer David Lovering recorded “Make Believe,” an embarrassing song about ’80s
pop star Debbie Gibson. It actually ended up as a Pixies B-side. “It’s horrifying,” laughs Deal. “I think
we should all burn in hell for that. It doesn’t matter how many great records we’ve done. For that song
alone, I should actually just spontaneously combust.” — Keith Gribbins
THE BREEDERS, WITH TIMES NEW VIKING AND HOT CHA CHA. 8 p.m. at Beachland
Ballroom. Tickets: $18, $16 in advance.
Follow us on Twitter: @clescenemusic |
| 18 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Levitated |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 07:05:32
Whatever happened to noaloha.com forums? |
| vilainde |
Posted - 02/07/2011 : 04:29:12
Yeah MB is pretty cool but I prefer TTK. Walk It off/Regalame/Here No More is a great segue. But I base my appreciation of Breeders albums by their slow song, and Off You is better than We're Gonna Rise.
Denis
Obsidiana Bijoux |
| Sam |
Posted - 02/07/2011 : 03:33:30
I love Mountain Battles. It has the typical Breeders sound, lo-fi, harmonic, schizoid all over the place topics. I thinks its a great record. Kim singing is soooo sweet. Love her melodies. |
| soderstromk |
Posted - 02/05/2011 : 16:52:23
Avoiding burn-out may induce fade... |
| Srisaket |
Posted - 10/24/2010 : 16:28:34
I prefer MB to Title TK.
Also, whatever happened to the Breeder's website? |
| darwin |
Posted - 10/22/2010 : 07:23:49
I enjoy Title TK quite a lot and Mountain Battles has moments that grown on me. |
| Grotesque |
Posted - 10/22/2010 : 05:09:09
That's funny you mention Moutain Battles cos I (tried to) listen to that record today. It's so depressed! It's Kim's "Show me you tears" (without the energy).
But Title TK was maybe even sadder. Those 2 records are 100% free of kitsh (exept for the spanish ballad) but they dont precisely give you the joy of living! |
| fbc |
Posted - 10/22/2010 : 01:59:10
The Amps. Another cool record sleeve. |
| jimmy |
Posted - 10/21/2010 : 16:38:42
I don';t see what's so bad about "Make Believe"- it's fun song, no worse than "Tony's Theme" or, like someone said, "Bam Thwok".
And by the way, I love the Breeders, but Mountain Battles was pretty weak; I downloaded it and whenever I tried to listen to it all the way through I'd have to skip a bunch of songs cause they were boring.
FB, Pixies, Breeders, Belly, record sleeves at my blog, RJ Battles http://rjbattles.blogspot.com/ |
| trobrianders |
Posted - 10/21/2010 : 09:51:31
quote:
Originally posted by Grotesque
That's also why she's able to keep the reformed pixies faithfull to their original soud.
I wish Joey had done the same. Me no like wah-wah!
_______________
Ed is the hoo hoo |
| Ziggy |
Posted - 10/21/2010 : 07:36:32
Well the shows are faithful in the sense that the arrangements are the same as the records (with the exception of 'In Heaven') |
| BLT |
Posted - 10/20/2010 : 05:35:17
quote:
Originally posted by treetime
Kurt wanted to sound like Creedence!
But ended up sounding more like Poco. |
| ruzom |
Posted - 10/20/2010 : 05:01:35
As much as I have appreciated some of the reunion shows, "faithful to the original sound"? Err no, I don't think so. There's quite a difference between the dynamics of original eras shows and 21st century ones. Vocals, tempo... they are not the same. (how could they be 13 to 20 years later?)
Besides, Bam Thwok wasn't the top of elegance and would harshly suffer any decent comparison with anything on FB's first solo record. In my opinion.
So it's all ok to have convictions, play the franciscan monk, she does as she pleases and I respect the idea of "having beliefs", but there's a difference between this and being judgmental(bad song, good song?)... You can have judgments, you can also have moderation and tact. Not to excessively defend Make Believe or anything, but I think it's a bit wrong as an attitude. It takes a bit of distance towards things to reconcile opinion with reality, and not distort one of the two. Some people quite attached to their indie credibility tend to forget that I guess. |
| Grotesque |
Posted - 10/19/2010 : 10:17:08
"Make believe" is a bit kitsh and funny, with a lot of cream. Kim Deal (like Albini) reacts like a franciscan monk in front of that kind of sacrilege: she doesnt want any lack of taste around the sacred Rock. That's why she said she just liked 10% of the first FB's album. FB doesnt sanctify music, with EDF he did a lot of funny arrangements that Kim probably hates (even on Trompe-le-Monde)
That's also why she's able to keep the reformed pixies faithfull to their original soud. It's not good or bad, it's just her no-compromise personality.
|
| Carl |
Posted - 10/04/2010 : 05:39:31
AustonChronicle.com - Monkeys Gone to Heaven: Meet the Pixies - Kim Deal: Wave of Mutilation. |
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 09/20/2010 : 11:53:46
Make Believe is a great song! |
| treetime |
Posted - 09/17/2010 : 09:46:11
Kurt wanted to sound like Creedence! |
| fbc |
Posted - 09/02/2010 : 09:54:01
They were all wrong. Kurt Cobain wanted to sound like the Breeders!
Night of Joy is always played here. |
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