THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY (Day 2) : TRASHCAN SONATAS

When JC mentioned that he was looking for guest writers to fill these fine pages, I was fairly keen to get involved. My own wee blog, Plain Or Pan is becoming increasingly popular. I often wish more people would’ve been with me from the start, when I was posting loads of stuff that I wanted people to hear. Nowadays I get a guilt trip if I consider re-posting any of it, as it seems like a bit of a cop out. In my twisted head I consider it to be a heinous crime, a bit like the BBC showing endless repeats of past glories rather than putting any effort in to getting some new stuff out. So this opportunity was too good to miss. I get to re-post some older material in a new way, to a new audience. Knowing the sort of stuff JC puts up here on a regular basis, I’ve gone for a track by a band that many of you will have heard of, but not necessarily heard. And anyone who knows me will tell you that’s a real shame.

Anyone who knows me will also tell you that I think the Trashcan Sinatras are just about the best band ever. Of course, they’ll never ‘make it’, whatever that is, but in years to come, someone somewhere will stumble across a copy of Weightlifting or Cake and think “Where have they been all my life?” They’re a Velvet Underground waiting to happen. Seriously.

Snow is a bit of an obscurity amongst the collected works of the Trashcan Sinatras. It’s much sought after in Trashcans circles and as rare as a winning lottery ticket in my house. Naturally, I have a copy, on super-sexy 7” vinyl. Japanese Promotional copy no less. If you could get record Top Trumps this would be in my winning hand, right up there with my one-of-only-60 promo CD singles for last year’s Trashcan’s digital-only single, Oranges & Apples. But enough bumming from me.

Released only in Japan and recorded with some percussion-playing Japanese musicians, ‘Snow’ isn’t the definitive sounding Trashcans record. It wouldn’t be the first thing I’d play to someone who’d never heard them (try All The Dark Horses or Country Air from Weightlifting), but that’s no reason to give it a body swerve. Far from it.

Written by Randy Newman, it builds on moody atmospherics, some Doors-y sounding Fender Rhodes (I think) and some nice understated slide guitar playing. It sounds like angels crying in heaven in some places. It’s that good. Listen to it and pass it on.

Then get yourself over to Play or Amazon and buy up the band’s back catalogue (or what’s still available from it). Then wait with baited breath for the new album, rumoured to be out just in time for the summer.

mp3 : Trash Can Sinatras - Snow

TODAY'S GUEST POSTING IS COURTESY OF LOCAL(ISH) LAD PHIL SPECTOR OF THE BLOG PLAIN OR PAN? WHICH HAS OFTEN BEEN A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR SOME OF THE THINGS I END UP WRITING ABOUT.