Adam Gnade & Youthmovies

Cor, this is a special one. Out later this month is a release I've been looking forward to for quite a long time. It's called Honey Slides, and it's a collaborative effort between Oxford's finest proponents of postprogpoprock, Youthmovies (neé Soundtrack Strategies), and Oregon's finest proponent of postweirdfolktalkingsongs, Adam Gnade. As I understand it, the history of this record begins with a Drowned In Sound-sponsored tour last year that they all ended up on together, and was originally planned as a two-track 7". However, releases take time in the indie world and in the year since that tour took place, the 7" expanded to a 5 track CDEP. And what a good thing that is. For us, the listeners. Yeah. US!

I can remember exactly when I fell in love with both sides of this meeting. With Youthmovies, it was the very first time I ever saw them, shoehorned into the opening slot of a Death Cab For Cutie show in early 2004. They had a thirty minute slot but lasted only twenty before the drum kit fell apart from just how hard it was being hit. With Adam Gnade, I spent a miserable, wet Sunday afternoon repeatedly listening to the 4 tracks on his myspace player over and over and over and over and over and over. His words and vocal delivery sucked me in, and a part of me has stayed in his world of dusty highways, failed lives and drunkenness ever since.

For a record that only just tops twenty minutes, there are a huge number of bases touched here. The title track is a skittish, beat-pounding dance number, with Gnade ranting like a man possessed, while "It's Five O'Clock In America", underpinned by it's marching band drums, sounds like a rallying battlecry for a society on it's deathbed. The second half of the the record is a lot more of an ethereal experience, with "We Were Born From Floodwaters" featuring some skittish electronics and looped guitars that build and build and build under a typically-apocalyptic Gnade lyric. Indeed, Gnade's contributions are one of the unassailable strengths of this record - while his "talking songs" (see his website for more details of what this entails) vocal delivery may take a while to adjust to, and you may not always know what he's on about, there's just something about what he's saying that you cannot ignore. Can-not-ig-nore. Although that isn't to sell short Youthmovies' contributions, who manage to turn out music that sounds almost nothing like what they usually offer. It's an inspiring turn for them, and shows really quite how versatile they are.

Simply put: I love this record.

So here's a track for your listening pleasure, the snappily-titled "We're Unknowing In The Crosshairs, We Walk Unknowing In The Crosshairs".

mp3: Adam Gnade & Youthmovies - We're Unknowing In The Crosshairs, We Walk Unknowing In The Crosshairs

If you want more, a couple of other tracks are scattered across myspace right now.

Adam Gnade joins Youthmovies for a massive tour of the UK next month, and for a full list of dates check either his or their myspace in the links below. It's well worth your time going out to see them, as they're also taking along some fantastic support bands. Tour of the year? Maybe so... The EP is out to coincide on September 24th, through Try Harder Records. Hit up these links for more info:

links: adam gnade @ myspace | adam gnade official site | youthmovies @ myspace | try harder records @ myspace | try harder records official site