I Listen to New Records While I Drive, Sometimes It's Disappointing.

I spend an inordinate amount of time in my car on weekends, mostly sitting in traffic on the B.Q.E. while people stop and gawk at the Waterfalls.* It's frustrating at times, but it's also when I get to pay close attention to new records. It's the most suburban thing about me, I think, that I never quite feel like I've really heard a record until I've spent time with it in my car. Anyway, this past weekend, I took two new records with me: Catfish Haven's Devastator and Calexico's Carried to Dust. On first listen, I wasn't particularly fond of either. 

Catfish Haven is still doing the rowdy, 60s soul thing I loved so much on their last record, Tell Me, but there's something really terrible about the production on the new one. Too much separation, I think, to the point where every song winds up sounding like it could be the generic "soul" ringtone on a cell phone.  

I spent less time with the Calexico record despite being even more excited for it, and there was something keeping me from really diving in. It seemed a bit cold, which is surprising considering how welcoming I've found everything else they've done. I worry that it has something to do with my inability to process what I believe might be a more pronounced focus on the Spanish and Mexican sounds they've always implemented so carefully. After a few more careful listens, I'll decide how I feel about it, but right now, the whole thing seems like pastiche. 

Both records do, actually, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around when exactly I find it offensive and when I don't. It may ultimately devolve into a conversation about authenticity, though, and that's not really fun for anyone, now is it?

*Speaking of the Waterfalls, did anyone happen to notice a few weeks ago that the one out there by the Statue of Liberty just kinda stopped working? I drove by it on two separate occasions, a few days apart, and mysteriously, it just wan't on. Presumably, no one cared.