Monday, April 23rd, 2007

You Drift Away

After a long day at the office Saturday (yes), it was nice to be able to kick back in the evening with some smooth, light pop sounds courtesy of The Postmarks before heading home to crash hard.

The Miami outfit was in town for a show at the Amp’d Mobile Studio, a new venue/space that I’d been curious about for a while and finally had the opportunity to check out. Without getting into a marketing spiel for them, they’re a mobile phone company whose angle is to provide original music content to subscribers and to that end, they’ve set up a little studio in their office/storefront to host free shows which they record. How effective a business model it is is their concern – to me, it’s free shows in a cozy yet well-appointed room.

They do, however, need to work a bit on their publicity engine as said room was very sparsely filled when the band took the stage. Granted, The Postmarks are hardly a buzz band and it was the first gorgeous Saturday night of the year, but the meager turnout was a little disappointing. In the studio the band is centered around the trio of singer Tim Yehezkely, guitarist Christopher Moll and drummer Jonathan Wilkins but live, their number expands to include a bassist and keyboardist. As a result, the unabashedly 60’s cinematic retro chic of their self-titled debut gets a good deal louder on stage.

It’s an approach that has both its upsides and down. On the plus side, the extra bounce helps propel Yehezkely’s wispy and whispery vocals forward and makes for a more engaging and energetic experience for the audience. On the down side, they can also be overwhelming – it’s a delicate balance that could have been helped out a lot if Wilkins had opted for brushes instead of sticks. But as it was, the drums were loud and the vocals were soft and while that wasn’t ideal, The Postmarks still came across quite well. The string, brass and woodwind flourishes on the record were missed – the synths can only compensate so much – but the band successfully recreated the sunny yet forlorn vibe of their record. As a frontwoman, Yehezkely is as demure and delicate as her vocals suggest, but her wallflower charm works perfectly for this band (and I won’t lie, the gogo dress helped).

The band’s North American tour continues on through May, check them out if you get the chance. Deadjournalist talks to the band about the success of the album and taking it on the road while Stereogum asks them about their day jobs.

Photos: The Postmarks @ The Amp’d Mobile Studio – April 21, 2007
MP3: The Postmarks – “Goodbye”
Video: The Postmarks – “Goodbye” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Postmarks

The Toronto Star talks to Feist about the impending wave of attention that will surround the release of The Reminder next Tuesday. She also discusses the recording of the new album with Reuters.

Filter talks to Dean Wareham about how he got out of his post-Luna funk to create the new Dean & Britta album, Back Numbers.

Emma Pollock discusses life after The Delgados with The Scotsman – she’s embarking on a headlining solo tour across the UK in May and will release her debut solo record Watch The Fireworks in September.

Jarvis Cocker also discusses the solo life with The New York Post.

I have to wonder what kind of bizarro universe IGN lives in where they can declare, presumably with a straight face, that Hurricane #1 can be said to have released one of the Top 25 Britpop Albums and not a complete and utter musical abomination. Which is what they really were. Much of the rest of the list is also bewildering – Lupine Howl? Really?

The New York Times considers what effect all these indie rock comebacks might be having on the reunited bands’ legacies. Via Good Hodgkins Wolf Notes Parsefork Good Hodgkins, aka Sybil of the music blogosphere.

The Globe & Mail gets am update on the status of the Over The Top Fest vs CFL kerfuffle reported on earlier this month. Over The Top – the music festival, not the tailgate party, goes down first weekend of May.

By : Frank Yang at 8:24 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. Torr says:

    yeah, that Britpop list is a total joke. Including stuff all the way from The La’s in 1990 to Kasabian a couple years ago? Ridiculous.

  2. Ryan Hodgkins says:

    Do you have a license to carry that razor sharp wit of yours, Frank?

  3. Roland says:

    Huh, I just got into the Postmarks last night. We must have a psychic connection or something, although I’m sorry to say that I missed both of their recent shows here in NYC. Thanks also for the Emma Pollock link, can’t wait for that album.