| Real Estate — Atlas (2014) |
Real Estate — Atlas
≡ Part of a hazy indie collective including Ducktails and Predator Vision, all of which mix lazy grooves with psychedelia influences.
≡ Effortless, ageless, guitar~driven songcraft...
≡ “Real Estate are a deeply suburban band, and the shade of long tree~lined streets, the lonely symmetry of the houses, rise up continually out of their music. If it has been too easy to underestimate Real Estate in the past, it might be in part because of this: Suburbs are not often stages, in the popular imagination, for great existential drama. They are places of reverie, of absence, into which the drama of the real~world intrudes. But Atlas gazes calmly and wisely into the face of some troubling questions: Mortality, the passing of time, the problem of loneliness. With it, Real Estate have made more than just their third excellent record in a row, more than just their best~ever record. They’ve made the first record of their career that feels like it might teach you something over time. It is rare, and special, for a band to be this effortlessly and completely themselves.” (Jason Greene)
Formed: 2009 in Ridgewood, NJ
Location: New Jersey, NY
Album release: March 3, 2014
Record Label: Domino (EU)/Mexican Summer (US)
Duration: 37:58
Tracks:
01 Had to Hear 4:50
02 Past Lives 4:33
03 Talking Backwards 3:07
04 April's Song 3:32
05 The Bend 5:12
06 Crime 3:15
07 Primitive 4:16
08 How Might I Live 2:29
09 Horizon 3:11
10 Navigator 3:33
℗ 2014 Domino Recording Co Ltd
Written by:
≡ Martin Courtney / Real Estate / Matthew Mondanile (6)
≡ Real Estate / Matthew Mondanile (4)
≡ Martin Courtney / Real Estate (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10)
≡ Alex Bleeker / Real Estate (8)
Album Moods: Sprawling Summery Airy Bittersweet Calm/Peaceful Intimate Laid~Back/Mellow Agreeable Dreamy Hypnotic Irreverent Narcotic Restrained Shimmering Understated Wry
Personnel:
≡ Martin Courtney — vocals, guitar
≡ Matt Mondanile — acoustic and electric guitars
≡ Alex Bleeker — bass, vocals on "How Might I Live"
≡ Jackson Pollis — Drums and percussion
≡ Matt Kallman — keyboards
≡ Julian Lynch — clarinet
Credits:
≡ Alex Bleeker Composer, Group Member
≡ Shawn Brackbill Inside Photo
≡ Greg Calbi Mastering
≡ Rob Carmichael Design
≡ Irmgard Carpenter Cover Photo
≡ Martin Courtney Composer, Group Member
≡ Sean Gavigon Mixing Assistant
≡ Mark Greenberg Assistant Engineer
≡ Kabir Hermon Mixing Assistant
≡ Matt Kallman Group Member
≡ Julian Lynch Clarinet
≡ Matthew Mondanile Composer, Group Member
≡ Alex Nappi Mixing Assistant
≡ Charles Poekel Back Cover Photo
≡ Jackson Pollis Group Member
≡ Tom Schick Engineer, Mixing, Producer
REVIEW
Words: Benji Taylor; Score: 7/10
≡ Real Estate frontman Martin Courtney has never been the strongest vocalist, but he has a way with glorious heartfelt melodies and deceptively textured compositions, both of which abound on Real Estate’s third LP ‘Atlas’.
≡ These 10 tracks comprise gorgeously dreamy arrangements, laden with nostalgia and longing. While the production is crisper than on previous albums, the ambience is still one of wistful contemplation.
≡ Thematic concerns pivot on notions of the passage of time and feelings of alienation, perfectly encapsulated on album highlight ‘Past Lives’.
≡ These New Jersey musicians show no signs of ending their upward trajectory: ‘Atlas’ is full of seemingly effortless, ageless, guitar-driven songcraft. http://www.clashmusic.com/
Review by Fred Thomas; Score: ****
≡ Jersey~bred indie rock golden boys Real Estate arrived in the late 2000s with a subdued approach to guitar rock that stripped away all unnecessary clutter and presented their tuneful songs in a manner as attractive and steadfast as primary colors, spring days, comfort food, or any of life’s basic staples. Free of gimmicks, pretense, and artifice, their tunes tapped into the insular, college~aged melancholia of the Clean or Yo La Tengo’s soft summer~night pulsations, later moving into a markedly Go~Betweens~steeped phase on their more sophisticated 2011 album, Days. With third full~length Atlas, Real Estate grow even further into the sound they've been spinning for themselves, mellowing more while they become more nuanced in both playing and production. Beginning with “Had to Hear,” the band’s sound is decidedly signature, based on chiming chords and lilting vocals from songwriter Martin Courtney, lead guitar from Matt Mondanile that wanders between psychedelic curiosity and airy punctuation, and the surefooted rhythm section of drummer Jackson Pollis and bassist Alex Bleeker. All these elements feel increasingly familiar and confident. Their songs have always resided somewhere between head~in~the~clouds lightheartedness and day~dreamy nostalgia, but the ten songs that make up Atlas seem more mature, more deliberate, and lacking some of the carefree naiveté of earlier work. “Past Lives” ruminates on the strange feelings of returning to the neighborhood streets where the narrator spent his youth, while “Crime” relates a relationship in peril to something more harrowing and malicious. The upbeat “Talking Backwards” folds some of the nostalgic melancholia into a gorgeously produced pop song about long~distance communication breakdowns as bright and straightforward as Luna in their prime. The album was recorded in part at Wilco’s Chicago studio the Loft, and the production is less hazy and more suited to the band's increasingly clear~headed melodies and expanded sounds, filled out with understated organ and keys from Matt Kallman this time around. Even seemingly buffering tracks like the Mondanile~penned instrumental “April’s Song” (more in line with his solo compositions for Ducktails) and the Yo La Tengo/Galaxie 500~modeled “How Might I Live,” sung by bassist Bleeker, seem to have a considered place in the album’s flow. The songs float by quickly, not giving all of their secrets away at first listen. As Real Estate continue to grow into their own vision of pop, they take their place in a history of classic American indie bands, falling naturally in line behind the groups that influenced them as they add to the conversation with each subsequent album.
Artist Biography by Heather Phares
≡ New Jersey’s hazy indie rockers Real Estate feature Titus Andronicus’ Martin Courtney, Etienne Duguay (who also records as Predator Vision), Alex Bleeker, and Matthew Mondanile, also of Ducktails. The foursome had played together in bands — including a Weezer cover band — during high school, but didn’t become Real Estate until Courtney returned to the Garden State after attending college in Olympia, Washington. After forming in summer 2008, the band began playing live that fall and released the Suburban Beverage 7”, which introduced Real Estate’s brand of surfy, lo~fi pop, early in 2009. A song on the Underwater Peoples Records Showcase and the Fake Blues EP appeared that summer; the band spent the fall touring with Girls before its self~titled debut was released by Woodsist. The quartet joined the Domino Records roster in 2011 for its sophomore album, Days, which hit the shelves that fall. Shortly following the album’s release, the band went through a line up change with Duguay dropping out, being replaced by drummer Jackson Pollis. The group was also joined at this point by auxilliary member Jonah Maurer on keyboards and additional guitars. This new assemblage of Real Estate toured feverishly on the incredibly well~received Days, though by their return in 2014 with third album Atlas, Maurer had been replaced by Matt Kallman. (www.allmusic.com)
Also: By Jayson Greene | March 3, 2014 | Score: 8.8
:: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19060-real-estate-atlas/
By Robert Rubsam | 3 March 2014 | Score: 4/10
:: http://www.popmatters.com/review/179361-real-estate-atlas/
INTERVIEW | Publié par : Vincent Bürgy octobre 21, 2011
:: http://www.lordsofrock.net/real-estate-interview/
Discography:
Studio albums:
≡ Real Estate (2009)
≡ Days (2011) #52 US
≡ Atlas (2014) #34 US, #43 UK
EPs:
≡ Reality (2009)
Singles:
≡ "Fake Blues" b/w "Pool Swimmers" (7″ Woodsist, 2009)
≡ "Fake Blues" b/w "Green River" (7″ Half Machine, 2009) UK issue
≡ "Suburban Beverage" b/w "Black Lake" & "Old Folks" (7″ Underwater Peoples, 2009)
≡ "Out of Tune" b/w "Reservoir" (7" True Panther Sounds, 2010)
≡ "It's Real" b/w "Blue Lebaron" (7" Domino, 2011) UK issue
≡ "Easy" b/w "Exactly Nothing" (7" Domino, 2012) UK issue
≡ "Talking Backwards" b/w "Beneath the Dunes" (7" Domino, 2014)
≡ "The Chancellor" b/w "Recreation" (7" Domino, 2014)
| Real Estate — Atlas (2014) |
_______________________________________________________________
≡ Part of a hazy indie collective including Ducktails and Predator Vision, all of which mix lazy grooves with psychedelia influences.
≡ Effortless, ageless, guitar~driven songcraft...
≡ “Real Estate are a deeply suburban band, and the shade of long tree~lined streets, the lonely symmetry of the houses, rise up continually out of their music. If it has been too easy to underestimate Real Estate in the past, it might be in part because of this: Suburbs are not often stages, in the popular imagination, for great existential drama. They are places of reverie, of absence, into which the drama of the real~world intrudes. But Atlas gazes calmly and wisely into the face of some troubling questions: Mortality, the passing of time, the problem of loneliness. With it, Real Estate have made more than just their third excellent record in a row, more than just their best~ever record. They’ve made the first record of their career that feels like it might teach you something over time. It is rare, and special, for a band to be this effortlessly and completely themselves.” (Jason Greene)
Formed: 2009 in Ridgewood, NJ
Location: New Jersey, NY
Album release: March 3, 2014
Record Label: Domino (EU)/Mexican Summer (US)
Duration: 37:58
Tracks:
01 Had to Hear 4:50
02 Past Lives 4:33
03 Talking Backwards 3:07
04 April's Song 3:32
05 The Bend 5:12
06 Crime 3:15
07 Primitive 4:16
08 How Might I Live 2:29
09 Horizon 3:11
10 Navigator 3:33
℗ 2014 Domino Recording Co Ltd
Written by:
≡ Martin Courtney / Real Estate / Matthew Mondanile (6)
≡ Real Estate / Matthew Mondanile (4)
≡ Martin Courtney / Real Estate (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10)
≡ Alex Bleeker / Real Estate (8)
Album Moods: Sprawling Summery Airy Bittersweet Calm/Peaceful Intimate Laid~Back/Mellow Agreeable Dreamy Hypnotic Irreverent Narcotic Restrained Shimmering Understated Wry
Personnel:
≡ Martin Courtney — vocals, guitar
≡ Matt Mondanile — acoustic and electric guitars
≡ Alex Bleeker — bass, vocals on "How Might I Live"
≡ Jackson Pollis — Drums and percussion
≡ Matt Kallman — keyboards
≡ Julian Lynch — clarinet
Credits:
≡ Alex Bleeker Composer, Group Member
≡ Shawn Brackbill Inside Photo
≡ Greg Calbi Mastering
≡ Rob Carmichael Design
≡ Irmgard Carpenter Cover Photo
≡ Martin Courtney Composer, Group Member
≡ Sean Gavigon Mixing Assistant
≡ Mark Greenberg Assistant Engineer
≡ Kabir Hermon Mixing Assistant
≡ Matt Kallman Group Member
≡ Julian Lynch Clarinet
≡ Matthew Mondanile Composer, Group Member
≡ Alex Nappi Mixing Assistant
≡ Charles Poekel Back Cover Photo
≡ Jackson Pollis Group Member
≡ Tom Schick Engineer, Mixing, Producer
REVIEW
Words: Benji Taylor; Score: 7/10
≡ Real Estate frontman Martin Courtney has never been the strongest vocalist, but he has a way with glorious heartfelt melodies and deceptively textured compositions, both of which abound on Real Estate’s third LP ‘Atlas’.
≡ These 10 tracks comprise gorgeously dreamy arrangements, laden with nostalgia and longing. While the production is crisper than on previous albums, the ambience is still one of wistful contemplation.
≡ Thematic concerns pivot on notions of the passage of time and feelings of alienation, perfectly encapsulated on album highlight ‘Past Lives’.
≡ These New Jersey musicians show no signs of ending their upward trajectory: ‘Atlas’ is full of seemingly effortless, ageless, guitar-driven songcraft. http://www.clashmusic.com/
Review by Fred Thomas; Score: ****
≡ Jersey~bred indie rock golden boys Real Estate arrived in the late 2000s with a subdued approach to guitar rock that stripped away all unnecessary clutter and presented their tuneful songs in a manner as attractive and steadfast as primary colors, spring days, comfort food, or any of life’s basic staples. Free of gimmicks, pretense, and artifice, their tunes tapped into the insular, college~aged melancholia of the Clean or Yo La Tengo’s soft summer~night pulsations, later moving into a markedly Go~Betweens~steeped phase on their more sophisticated 2011 album, Days. With third full~length Atlas, Real Estate grow even further into the sound they've been spinning for themselves, mellowing more while they become more nuanced in both playing and production. Beginning with “Had to Hear,” the band’s sound is decidedly signature, based on chiming chords and lilting vocals from songwriter Martin Courtney, lead guitar from Matt Mondanile that wanders between psychedelic curiosity and airy punctuation, and the surefooted rhythm section of drummer Jackson Pollis and bassist Alex Bleeker. All these elements feel increasingly familiar and confident. Their songs have always resided somewhere between head~in~the~clouds lightheartedness and day~dreamy nostalgia, but the ten songs that make up Atlas seem more mature, more deliberate, and lacking some of the carefree naiveté of earlier work. “Past Lives” ruminates on the strange feelings of returning to the neighborhood streets where the narrator spent his youth, while “Crime” relates a relationship in peril to something more harrowing and malicious. The upbeat “Talking Backwards” folds some of the nostalgic melancholia into a gorgeously produced pop song about long~distance communication breakdowns as bright and straightforward as Luna in their prime. The album was recorded in part at Wilco’s Chicago studio the Loft, and the production is less hazy and more suited to the band's increasingly clear~headed melodies and expanded sounds, filled out with understated organ and keys from Matt Kallman this time around. Even seemingly buffering tracks like the Mondanile~penned instrumental “April’s Song” (more in line with his solo compositions for Ducktails) and the Yo La Tengo/Galaxie 500~modeled “How Might I Live,” sung by bassist Bleeker, seem to have a considered place in the album’s flow. The songs float by quickly, not giving all of their secrets away at first listen. As Real Estate continue to grow into their own vision of pop, they take their place in a history of classic American indie bands, falling naturally in line behind the groups that influenced them as they add to the conversation with each subsequent album.
Artist Biography by Heather Phares
≡ New Jersey’s hazy indie rockers Real Estate feature Titus Andronicus’ Martin Courtney, Etienne Duguay (who also records as Predator Vision), Alex Bleeker, and Matthew Mondanile, also of Ducktails. The foursome had played together in bands — including a Weezer cover band — during high school, but didn’t become Real Estate until Courtney returned to the Garden State after attending college in Olympia, Washington. After forming in summer 2008, the band began playing live that fall and released the Suburban Beverage 7”, which introduced Real Estate’s brand of surfy, lo~fi pop, early in 2009. A song on the Underwater Peoples Records Showcase and the Fake Blues EP appeared that summer; the band spent the fall touring with Girls before its self~titled debut was released by Woodsist. The quartet joined the Domino Records roster in 2011 for its sophomore album, Days, which hit the shelves that fall. Shortly following the album’s release, the band went through a line up change with Duguay dropping out, being replaced by drummer Jackson Pollis. The group was also joined at this point by auxilliary member Jonah Maurer on keyboards and additional guitars. This new assemblage of Real Estate toured feverishly on the incredibly well~received Days, though by their return in 2014 with third album Atlas, Maurer had been replaced by Matt Kallman. (www.allmusic.com)
Also: By Jayson Greene | March 3, 2014 | Score: 8.8
:: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19060-real-estate-atlas/
By Robert Rubsam | 3 March 2014 | Score: 4/10
:: http://www.popmatters.com/review/179361-real-estate-atlas/
INTERVIEW | Publié par : Vincent Bürgy octobre 21, 2011
:: http://www.lordsofrock.net/real-estate-interview/
Discography:
Studio albums:
≡ Real Estate (2009)
≡ Days (2011) #52 US
≡ Atlas (2014) #34 US, #43 UK
EPs:
≡ Reality (2009)
Singles:
≡ "Fake Blues" b/w "Pool Swimmers" (7″ Woodsist, 2009)
≡ "Fake Blues" b/w "Green River" (7″ Half Machine, 2009) UK issue
≡ "Suburban Beverage" b/w "Black Lake" & "Old Folks" (7″ Underwater Peoples, 2009)
≡ "Out of Tune" b/w "Reservoir" (7" True Panther Sounds, 2010)
≡ "It's Real" b/w "Blue Lebaron" (7" Domino, 2011) UK issue
≡ "Easy" b/w "Exactly Nothing" (7" Domino, 2012) UK issue
≡ "Talking Backwards" b/w "Beneath the Dunes" (7" Domino, 2014)
≡ "The Chancellor" b/w "Recreation" (7" Domino, 2014)
_______________________________________________________________