I saw another apartment this morning, over in the Franklin Village area. It was a bit on the small side but not terrible. It was the first ray of hope I’ve felt during the process of looking for a new place to live. The only faults were that it was an upper-level unit (and I’m a bit too OCD about being a quiet neighbor to have my stereo setup potentially above someone’s bedroom) and that the outside – meaning the complex itself – looked like it could use some maintenance. The search continues, as it always does, whenever I have free time. Meaning tonight, tomorrow and Thursday when I’m off from work.
There is perhaps no more relevant album title in my collection to the search for housing than that of Do Make Say Think’s second studio album. Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead not only kicks an insane amount of ass, it was the first non-Godspeed You Black Emperor release on Constellation that I heard after I started investigating the label in 2001-2002. Of course, the recommendation came from Ian, who was so immersed in the Montreal scene back then he was seeing The Besnard Lakes at loft parties, pounding booze at Miami and Biftek, and hamming it up with Efrim and the guys at La Sala Rossa, right Ian? RIGHT IAN?
Ahem. Where was I?
Oh, right. The brilliance of this album. When I saw the group back in 2007 they played a couple of these tunes (“Goodbye Enemy Airship” was one of the highlights of their set) and I went on an absolute obsessive tear listening to this and & Yet & Yet in the days and weeks that followed. I’d long since worn out my copy on CD, but I’ve always treated the vinyl with a bit more care. It’s not like you can shove an LP into a car stereo and torture the disc. I think I used “When Day Chokes The Night” on countless mix tapes before, either on the blog or for friends. Seriously, if you’ve never heard this album you would be wise to either purchase it ($13 seems to be the average “new” price – you can afford it) or seek out some of the songs online. Then get & Yet & Yet. Then get the EP of b-sides with the song “I Love You (La La La)” on it, because that’s one of the group’s best compositions. After that you can explore the rest of their recorded output.
I obtained my copy of Goodbye Enemy Airship on April 14th, 2006 from Vintage Vinyl in Fords, NJ. Although that store never really rewarded me with any good finds (I think a ’77 UK issue of Raw Power was the best thing I ever found there) it was good for new releases. They always had titles by bands like Burzum and Don Caballero and Shellac. Plus their cheap CD section were usually specked with gems. We used to stop, either Ian and myself or Sam/Lindsey and myself, on the return trip from Princeton Record Exchange. Mostly because the pizza place next door had a bathroom we could use before hitting the Parkway. I remember they used to have odd signings at the store too. One of the most memorable was Zakk Wylde. My memory from those days is so hazy (you know, bong hits and all) I’m sure I’m forgetting some hilarious event or situation we ran into at Vintage Vinyl that has eclipsed me as I sit and write about it. My fondest recollections from that era were being totally underwhelmed by Hoagie Haven, totally overwhelmed by Burrito King, discovering dozens of albums I’d never heard before on the various treks to-and-from Princeton, and – of course – the Wegmans a few miles south of the Record Exchange in Princeton.
The search for a change of scenery and a new apartment/duplex/house/condo/whatever continues…wish me luck.
Do Make Say Think
Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead
(Constellation – cst010, 2000)
A1. When Day Chokes The Night
A2. Minmin
A3. The Landlord Is Dead
A4. The Apartment Song [MP3]
B1. All Of This Is True
B2. Bruce E Kinesis
B3. Goodbye Enemy Airship
