November 6, 2004

"He keeps her nose warm with his hand." the Lilys.

I haven't had anything really jump out and grab me to write about since the election. But I was just minding my own business right now working on a review of a forthcoming ~Scape compilation "But Then Again." My research tool me to Insound, where I hardly ever go anymore, and I noticed something HUGE. Apparently this coming week the Lilys' Eccsame The Photon Band and A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns are being re-released [Click here and look at the left sidebar]. I can't find any information about this at all. I don't know if this is an expanded re-issue, a straight re-issue, or a vinyl re-issue or what. All I know is that these are two of my all time favorite records. Brief History of Amazing Letdowns is probably my favorite record EVER. Insound has no other information, Manifesto, the Lilys label of record for Precollections has no information, Spin-Art who originally issued the records has no information. Amazon, bubkus. Is this a cruel hoax? Does anybody out there know anything? I just shot an email to Spin-Art, hopefully that will yield some answers.

The Lilys, primarily because of their first three releases, are probably the band I hype most, if you don't count bands that I know personally. More details as events warrant.

UPDATE: Lilys fan site Returns Every Morning has some pretty great video of the band doing a song called 365 (from the record Precollection) at Swarthmore College last spring. Precollection is a step back toward the Lilys material I truly love, and this live performance makes me think the studio versions don't really do the songs justice. This live version of 365, despite somewhat inferior sound quality, shows the band is gravitating back toward the shoegazer indie rock style. Lilys fans will already be aware the band changes styles frequently across their catalog, which makes being a fan a bit of a challenge. There's a servicable Lilys bio here, though it misidentifies Lancaster, PA as Lancaster, VA, and fails to identify Harold Evans as the brain behind the excellent Spin-Art band Poole, whose first full-length Alaska Days is gorgeous and sugary pop (Lilys' Heasley lends his hand on one song on the album). The real gold in the Poole catalog is the "Mary Shakes Her Hair" 7" -- the songs from the 7" are also on the first full-length, but the earlier mixes from the 7" rock a bit more and are rougher around the edges.

That is all.

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