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Music Picks

The Sonic Equivalent Of...

Whatever you're doing, there's always a song to go with it.

Jenny Charlesworth 16 Jul 2009TheTyee.ca

Jenny Charlesworth is a Vancouver-based writer with a strange affinity for paper airplanes. She is also a regular contributor to The Georgia Straight.
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The visual equivalent of... using an iPhone for your promo shots.

In quite possibly the biggest exercise in time mismanagement ever, my friends and I have started to play a game that we've coined: The Sonic Equivalent of...

It began as simple bus stop banter, but before long the five of us were obsessed, methodically trolling music blogs and befriending record store clerks in the hopes of tracking down the perfect songs to encapsulate run of the mill activities like vacuuming and making toast.

And, yes. I'm serious. Heated debates have actually ensued as to whether Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Out" or TLC's "Scrubs" more succinctly captures the essence of brushing one's teeth. For the record, the ex-Supreme offers up a more frothy, floss-friendly tempo.

So why am I openly admitting to such a geeky, utterly pointless pastime? Because when it comes to discussing "Basement", the latest track from New Jersey DIY'ers Real Estate, I believe this wacky little exercise actually proves more insightful than an entire page of Pitchfork-approved music jargon.

Just listen to this folky psychedelic number and tell me that it isn't The Sonic Equivalent of... rummaging through a dusty antique store and finding tiny porcelain doll heads, broken compasses, and faded paper cranes rolling around in the bottom of an old library card cabinet. Such is the emotional logic of "Basement" to my ears.

Relying upon delicate guitar melodies, hypnotic electronics, and barely-there vocals to set the middle eastern-tinged tune in motion, Real Estate basks in understatement. With notes as inexplicable as those heard on Animal Collective's opaque "My Girls", it's hard to discern how such an eclectic interplay of sounds comes across so seamlessly. Unless you're familiar with the experimental outfit's sun-baked aesthetic, the slow-burning track has the potential to wear thin on the impatient listener -- but it's all about context with this wafting summertime tune. If you're expecting something a little off the beaten track, you'll fair just fine.

If, on the other hand, you're more at home perusing the tidy, uniform aisles of Urban Barn than picking through dated curiosities at some kooky curio shop, "Basement" may not be for you. The straight-ahead, play-it-safe sounds of Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way" -- The Sonic Equivalent of looking both ways before you cross the street -- is probably a much better fit. [Tyee]

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