These Modern Socks - These Modern Socks
ARTIST.....: These Modern Socks
TITLE......: These Modern Socks
LABEL......: n/a
URL........: www.thesemodernsocks.com
RIP DATE...: Feb-11-2006
STORE DATE.: Aug-00-2005
GENRE......: Indie
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 54,3 MB
Track Listing:
01 - Monitor Progress 02:38
02 - Lost In The Hallways 03:24
03 - Dr. Lawyer 03:28
04 - Big Talker 03:43
05 - Glue 04:23
06 - Or Something 05:02
07 - Bird In The Bathroom 03:16
08 - Someone I Don't Know 03:44
09 - That Will Never Change 04:46
10 - Buster 01:50
─────
36:14 min
Release Notes:
These Modern Socks
self-released
Corey Palmer knows a little something about working in today's
music industry. "I'm what you call a content monkey," he says.
When not playing in These Modern Socks, he works for the nation's
only salaried ring-tone producers.
"I just had to record the music for a Valentine's Day e-card
today," he says, pausing to take a gulp of tepid liquid at the
south Minneapolis coffee shop Caffetto. "I felt like I was
literally selling my soul to Satan when I recorded my voice."
The professionalism he brings to the audio department of that
major corporation can be heard on These Modern Socks' self-titled
album, on which he recorded all the instruments in a spare bedroom
using digital software. "Not a 4-track," he clarifies. "Four-
tracks are the artistic choice now. I used a computer."
Seemingly created for quarter-life crisis sufferers who have
emerged from their medicated fog and realized they're all grown
up, These Modern Socks examines the demons of self-doubt via funky
Casio tones and a drippy teen idol vocal style. With its finely
tuned melodies and ability to tell a story, the record stands up
in the CD disc changer against established acts like Son Volt and
the Postal Service. It's groove-worthy but sophisticated,
delighting the speakers with a healthy range of soft piano ballads
and cathartic rants. Meanwhile, the haunting echoes of children
playing in some vacant lot add atmospheric effect. Throughout the
album, Palmer makes good use of his hypnotic tenor. On "Someone I
Don't Know," he goes from bitching out a succubus to apologizing
sweetly for his social ineptness. At only 36 minutes, the disc
leaves the listener hanging, craving more synthesized beats and
intoxicating piano compositions.
Palmer owes his interest in music to parents who were in bands for
30 years. Recalling an almost bohemian upbringing, he smiles
nostalgically. "My father had a band and my mother joined it after
they had been dating in high school," he says, his shaggy brown
mop hanging over puppy-dog eyes. "I remember being six years old
and sitting in a booth in the back of a crusty bar watching my
father play guitar."
Not surprisingly, Corey isn't the only musical offspring in the
Palmer family. "My 18-year-old brother is recording, too," Palmer
says. "His stuff is more akin to Nine Inch Nails. He'll surpass me
in a couple of weeks."
Though genetics may explain his musical tendencies, it's his solid
work ethic that keeps him buckled down with ambitions to record
another Socks album, which he hopes will be completed by spring.
This time he wants to have his beloved bandmates involved, instead
of the one-man-band approach he took on the first album. The
lineup will include J.T. Bates, a jazz drummer who plays in Fat
Kid Wednesdays and whom Palmer calls "an excellent bargain
shopper," bassist Arron Bergstrom, who can also be heard in the
Steely Dan cover band Steeling Dan, and keyboardist Nick
Tveitbakk. Palmer met this last member while recording with
Daykit, his other, heavier band.
"These Modern Socks came about as an outlet for me to do a
different writing style, more ballads, less loud," he says. "I
like having that outlet. It's easier because I write all the songs
instead of the group writing style that Daykit employs."
"I just want to put out a good record," he adds, "and if I can
connect with one or two people, that's cool. There's only five or
six albums that touch you in a year, and if my record can be one
of those, I'm happy." (citypages.com)