New Buffalo, Bitches!

Actually, wait, who exactly is appearing next Thursday at Spaceland...?

Actually, wait, who exactly is appearing next Thursday at Spaceland...?

Good point! We'll make them give us their copy!

BUMBLEBEEZ 81
CUT COPY
WOLFMOTHER
2 DRUNK AVALANCHES PLAYING BAD RECORDS

It's a short album - ten songs in 36 minutes or so - but I think that works exactly as it should. Despite the sonic largesse there's something very humble about Sally's songs, her melodies, her vocals, that suits this small-scale format. Still, it would be interesting to hear her do more epics in the vein of "About Last Night" - everything on the album is more focused and obviously song-based than that track. Some of these songs are just gorgeous though - "I've Got You & You've Got Me (Song Of Contentment)" is just astonishing, and so is "It'll Be Alright", which reminds me of the Disco Inferno eps.

what NB are doing is very very different to anything else in australia at the moment, which makes me worry that her appeal will remain select in this creatively backwards country..
-- the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound@hotmail.com), October 8th, 2004.

its a shame but not surprising, i don't think the first ep sold well here, nor did it attract much airplay at the time? probably another case where they'll have to make some noise overseas before the rest of australia sit up and take notice.

They bought it, but they don't actually listen to it. I've heard this from many many indie types. That's why it's so prevalent in the used bins here.

I'd say the relevant difference w/ Junior Boys is not sonic density so much as emotional intensity. Last Exit is a very emotional record but it's also very distant, reserved, reluctant to give up its charms easily; to that extent it creates the impression of a mystery that is difficult to solve. I think this makes it a harder record to love so viscerally, but an easier record to form a long term "relationship" with. Since I Left You is much more direct - I can't remember a record that was more anxious to grab me by the throat on the first listen and [x] listens after that. But by bearing its soul, laying all of its cards on the table, it ultimately invites the listener to take it for granted. A lot of the discussion around the album now seems like damning with faint praise - people still seem to believe that the album achieved something, but something obvious or easy or one-dimensional. In hindsight, maybe it can seem like that, but at the time it was very different.

As with Kish Kash, I think my love affair with Since I Left You peaked at the end of that summer (when I wrote the review for FT), when I had absorbed and processed its abundance such that every sonic crevice and corner felt natural but not yet familiar, no longer surprising but still a wonder to behold.

'come back' is pretty amazing. although i miss darren's production a bit, i can also see how she'd want to step away from his shadow and establish herself in her own right too. minor quibble, but the cover art could've been better... great record on the whole, though.

Jury's still out for me. I started thinking about what "singer-songwriter" means while listening to it. There's still a magic to it and her voice, but the production is too spare - there's nothing unexpected and the textures don't reflect or comment upon her sung emotions like they did on the EP.

for those (like me!) who missed it the first time, the about last night EP is getting a reissue "soon", according to the website.

it is an odd's and end's thing, i wouldn't say either of the album track re-recording's are an improvement on the originals, but the one with jens lekman is pleasant enough. the recovery remix is probably my fave actually!

the unreleased tracks she's playing live are great. i hope all this overseas release biz doesn't mean we'll be waiting a year or two for the next album.

my coworker: "this sounds like sigur ros"

(& post the pictures, n! there's a sort've NZ equiv to new buffalo, bachelorette (except w/... pram standing in for the avalanches, maybe), & seeing her live has had similarly awkward moments)

Before this album, she was working on an album for EMI, who ended up dropping her halfway through the project. It'd be interesting to hear how that was going.

Clearing away the dreamy cinematic haze of her previous records, singer-songwriter New Buffalo (aka Sally Seltmann) returns with the first single – ‘Cheer Me Up Thank You’ - from her forthcoming second album ‘Somewhere, anywhere.’

‘Somewhere, anywhere.’ follows on from New Buffalo’s captivating 2004 album ‘The Last Beautiful Day’, which was applauded by both fans and critics alike. Featuring guest vocals from Beth Orton and drums from Dirty Three’s Jim White, ‘The Last Beautiful Day’ was described by the New York Times AND Uncut as ‘intoxicating’, with Rolling Stone including it in the Top 50 albums for the year and declaring it ‘Unique, adventurous and perfectly poised’.

Written on a century-old piano by the sea, and recorded and produced by Sally in a flower-flanked shed in her own backyard, the songs from ‘Somewhere, anywhere.’ convey a newfound directness to New Buffalo’s music that is as frank as it is beguiling.

‘Cheer Me Up Thank You’ is the first taste from Sally’s new album. To celebrate this new era, she will be taking to the road for a series of shows in the coming weeks, including a string of headline dates in early March in support of her new single.

What's wrong with a bit of seaside piano?

so what's the deal w/ her latest album? is it boring?

"It's True" is a really great song, but...um, yeah. The rest is a little boring.

:( why cant she just keep on re-making the ep over & over again??? (seriously)

the Feist single she wrote outshines her own new stuff by a long shot

Latest album is GREAT - I like it much more than the last one which was too spare. "Emotional Champ" is the most immediate thing for me so far.

o is the new one less spare? that makes me think i'd like it. i was worried it was too girl-and-a-piano.

There's definitely more going on than on the last record.

Maybe my tastes or expectations have changed a bit, but I've been revisiting The Last Beautiful Day and *really* like it now - not sure what I 'wasn't' hearing before.

Also, there was an EP released after that contains a couple amazing reworks/remixes: "Inside (The Corrections) feat. Jens Lekman" and the Broken Social Scene remix of "I've Got You and You've Got Me". There's also an alternate version of "I've Got You.." that adds this plaintive overdriven guitar which really reminds me of The Jesus and Mary Chain's "remix" of "Birthday" by The Sugarcubes.

did anyone know she had a new album? i didnt

i did but i can't really say i'm terribly excited by it

the leading single is a decent enough tune but i find the lyrics unbearable

went to her instore on Sat morning bcz I was curious but not enough to buy the album (and I was at Orbital when she did a proper gig with her hubby last month)

it was aight