In my bedroom, earlier today, Teta and I discussed our own personal relationships with Lucky Dragons: mine is kept to this odd disconnection, a relationship that doesn't seem to ever begin, yet when it's flirted with, feels like it's already there, and the irony is that we've played together a few times, but never in my own town (even when it was with one of my own projects, I couldn't make it to the show, so they went on without me). We see each other, and there is substantial respect and mutual admiration, the kind of connection that is both satisfying in the sense that it is allowed to happen with minimal physical necessities to do so, but also sad in the fact that it usually bound to that moment. ...for example, “I've been meaning to write Luke lately”. ...and: ”lately” is marked by a time which started when we last played with each other, August 2008.
Teta cited her time at The Manor, a local house that is forever doing shows, with an alternating cast of occupants. Not wanting to be in your own home, having strangers flood in, and not truly interacting with you or making positive impacts on you, and Lucky Dragons providing a relief, through small headphones underneath a blanket in the bedroom, a false sanctuary within the boundaries of your own domain, something beautiful and magical that made things a little bit better during a time that not allowing feelings things to feel okay.
This of course is not a criticism of the Manor, by any means, though in her specific time there, it was very loose, the occupants all having their own affairs, plans and schedules. That being said (and over-ruling): my favorite memory in that house is sitting on the futon in the living room, with Teta next to me,... she had just finished cooking some green beans while some band was playing in the living room, and her letting me try some (they were delicious, cooked to the perfect point like only she and specific Thai places can), prompting me to ask if she had ever had this one green bean dish at Lemongrass, where we inevitably had dinner together almost a year later, slightly before she left town, the first time, on a road trip. ...she left early and didn't say goodbye, and I was proud of her for doing so.
This is off task and personal, though that is the sort of thinking that Lucky Dragons consistently seem to prompt for me, as most things beautiful and magical should. There is the vagueness that yearns to be treasured, and while may be written off as boring by some, is appreciated as golden by others.
“Open Power” is perfect in every way possible, except for the fact that it is too short, not just in the confines of it being an EP, but in the broad parameters of it not being allowed to go on for hours at a time. Physical and electronic sound, cascading into something that feels like an ambient yet glitchy Gamelan-style soundscape. This is truly celebratory, escapist music. This couple is from Los Angeles, and this is the antithesis: the soundtrack for retreat and something finer, or for bulldozing the concrete to find something deeper, or for painting over the surface to open the eyes of those passing by to something more, or for looking inside yourself to find the will to hold on and pull through.
This record is truly important. There are 750 of them and I urge you to take one as your own.
CHECK OUT LUCKY DRAGONS: HERE.
0 comments:
Post a Comment