Day 33 – Do You Believe?
The continuing adventures of “Eric’s Trip Around the Sun”. One final trip with the iPod.
I was in dire straits. Day 33 had a very limited song list and was wondering if it was time to pull out and R.E.M. by numbers article. I considered going back a day and writing about the Velvet Underground’s ‘Beginning to See the Light’, after recent developments which suggested that Lou Reed wasn’t always a nice guy. People are just figuring this out now?
Yet, a small little gem made it’s way to the front of the list. A little-known band from Athens, GA, named Macha decided to come out with an album with Bedhead, a band that had at the time, had broken up to release an EP “Bedhead Loved Macha”.
Macha’s sound has been considered experimental post-rock but I have always felt that it’s influences lie in World Music.
Collaborations can be a sticky thing sometimes, and there is something very familiar with the sound on this EP. It’s lush and atmospheric sound will remind listeners of Yo La Tengo and My Bloody Valentine. The final track not so much.
Enter Cher.
For those of us living in the 21st Century we could make the argument that this is truly an artifact of the prior with the use of ringtones backed by a funeral organ to play a very somber version of Cher’s ‘Believe’. There is a definitive charm, something that feels perfect after a night of drinking and sitting in your living room with the lights turned down low at 2 am while trying to interpret the whirlwind of events of the evening.
For those of you interested in something a little bit more experimental and on the psychedelic side, I would definitely recommend Macha for whom I never thought got their fair shake.
• Low – Belarus
• Belle Stars – Sign of the Times