Album Review
(State & Main Records, digital download)
On Saturday, May 28, Montpelier’s Langdon Street Café closed its doors for the last time. In its all-too-brief six-plus years, the quirky nightspot and capital-city arts hub became an institution in central Vermont. It was a destination for small touring bands and the breeding ground for the city’s increasingly vibrant and diverse music scene. It was also a money pit. Ultimately, the java joint crumbled under the weight of overwhelming financial pressures. Apparently, there’s not a lot of money these days in bohemian hipster haunts.
But more than any of those things, Langdon Street Café was a community center, the home to a close-knit body of artists who now, for all intents and purposes, find themselves homeless. The Golden Dome Musicians’ Collective [1] personifies that group, along with its recently formed imprint, State & Main Records [2]. In an effort to ease the financial strain on the café’s cash-strapped owners, the collective has released State & Main Records: Volume 1.5, a download-only benefit compilation, and the follow-up to another comp, Volume 1 [3], released earlier this year.
That first record showcased a surprising degree of variety in Montpeculiar, and Volume 1.5 picks up where the first one left off. Several of the contributors are the same, including rapper Boomslang [4], whose frantic flow on “Callin’ My Name” is balanced nicely by a coolly reserved turn from guest vocalist Greta Frost [5]. Champagne Dynasty [6] return with “Tropical Birds,” which sounds like what might happen if Digable Planets teamed up with Midnite Vultures-era Beck. Dan Zura [7] offers a humble charmer, a sun-drenched piece of nostalgic electroacoustic pop called “Decemberland.” Sick Feelings [8] kick out the jams on a scuzzy punk-rock homage to the Granite Center of the World, “Livin’ Is Tough, Man, Barre Is Hell.” And songwriter Scott Baker [9] continues to impress in a variety of guises, first with Robyn Peirce as First Crush [10] on the dreamy indie-pop stunner “Cast From Stars,” and again solo as Simple Heart on the rough-hewn “Sticks and Stones.”
But Volume 1.5 is defined by the new additions to the family, who highlight what the GDMC does best: a little of everything. B.B. Coyote [11] sets a melancholy tone on “Yellow Bead (a lullaby for leo),” a wistful guitar and voice waltz that soothes with lazily dovetailing harmonies. Benvelope jolt the listener awake with lo-fi, fuzzed-out shake-and-stomp on “Gift.” “Just Friends” by That’s What She Said [12] harks back to the glory days of early 1990s alt-rock. And Tiger Grip deliver a danceable electro-indie-pop on “Charm Bracelet.”
Sadly, the Langdon Street Café is gone. But thanks to the Golden Dome Musicians’ Collective, who embody its eclectic and community-oriented spirit, its legacy will live on.
State & Main Records: Volume 1.5 is available at stateandmainrecords.bandcamp.com [13]. All proceeds go toward the closing costs of the dearly departed LSC.
Links:
[1] http://www.facebook.com/pages/Golden-Dome-Musicians-Collective/131942203519840
[2] http://stateandmainrecords.com/
[3] http://www.7dvt.com/2011golden-dome-musicians-collective-state-and-main-records-volume-i
[4] http://www.reverbnation.com/boomslanging
[5] http://www.reverbnation.com/gretafrost
[6] http://www.champagnedynasty.com/
[7] http://www.danzura.com/
[8] http://stateandmainrecords.com/artists/sick-feelings/
[9] http://stateandmainrecords.com/artists/scott-baker/
[10] http://stateandmainrecords.com/artists/first-crush/
[11] http://www.facebook.com/pages/BB-Coyote/165615520134743
[12] http://www.reverbnation.com/shetotallysaidthat
[13] http://stateandmainrecords.bandcamp.com