Hailing from Portland, Oregon, the young Turks of Rare Monk have a sonic resilience that’s like everything and nothing you’ve ever heard. While the obvious signposts are there to guide you (Modest Mouse, Sonic Youth, Phoenix), Rare Monk combine their love of both 90s and contemporary Indie Rock with a fevered Pop intensity, before shooting the whole thing into outer space to see what comes back. As frontman Dorian Aites puts it, “Although we draw upon many genres for inspiration, we’ve been creating our own thing based on nothing other than the idea that, ‘these are the songs we wrote cause they sound cool’”. Continue reading “rare monk | ain’t no sunshine | bill withers cover”
Shany Kedar & Benjamin Esterlis // Comfort You (Songs By Other People)
Just let your tears run wild …
This morning I found something unexpected and absolutely gorgeous in my email inbox. Let me introduce you to Shany Kedar and Benjamin Esterlis and their sumptuous collection of heartfelt songs. Their recent release is an eclectic compilation of odes by not a few iconic musicians and songwriters that span decades. Comfort You (Songs by Other People) is presented in the low faltering last light of a vanishing sun. And like those final visages of pulsing light, these songs shimmer and glow with a soft radiance.
Shany and Benjamin have deconstructed these sonic tributes with such tenderness, and reassembled them piece by piece, using only the melted notes softened by their deep admiration for the material and the lovely heat of their burnished vocals. For me, the songs “That’s Life I Guess” made famous by Billie Holiday. “I Don’t Want You On My Mind” written by Bill Withers. And the final track “I’m A Drifter” written by Terry Callier. All of these songs are molten. But really, the entire body of work inches the temperature up, and what delicious degrees by which to work up a sweet sweat. This album just makes you want to love somebody. Or if by chance your the victim of a broken heart, these songs will provide weld and salve enough to help mend you back together again.
Check out the entire release after the jump. Plus, budgets be damned! ‘Cause with this one you can name your own price! But, even after you’ve purchased the LP, you’ll find these songs are ultimately in a word, priceless. Peace. Continue reading “Shany Kedar & Benjamin Esterlis // Comfort You (Songs By Other People)”