by Joe Fielder
There are more than a few songs from indie pop act The Western States Motel that remind us of days spent driving in the desert or going to the beach. To say that we find that endearing is kind of an understatement.
The band's latest album Freeway Freeway Riverbed ended up on our LA's Best Albums of 2011 list, so we asked frontman Carl Jordan to write a few words about the making or recording of some of his favorte tracks on it.
Here are the tracks to stream, followed by Carl's own words:
"Country & Western Song"
This was the first thing I finished for the album. It's a pretty straight forward song about simple answers to big questions; the kind of answers you can find in an old c/w tune, and the kind of questions you start asking yourself when you are riding an ATV on the beach in Mexico and it's really fun, but you start thinking it's probably not such a good idea for a lot of different reasons.
The dual analog synths at the start and during the outo were directly influenced by listing to a lot of music by Tobacco. I'm hoping one day I'll get an email from him saying he wants to produce an album for me, free of charge.
"Ghost Town"
This is sort of like The Western States Motel's "Thriller." (The song, not the album.) It's the track most likely to feel appropriately listened to on Halloween.
When recording Freeway Freeway Riverbed, I took a page from The Doors' playbook… I played more-or-less all the bass parts on a keyboard, there's really no bass guitar. So for the recent shows, Paul Zawacki (of 'The Procession', same as our guitar player John Schreffler) has been doing the keyboard-bass live, and it rules.
This song is on some level concerned with the long drives that can come about while in a long-distance relationship. It is also the song on the album with the lowest number of beats per minute. I remember seeing Dr. Dog at the Bowery Ballroom and they opened their set with something really slow. I didn't know any of their music at the time, so I'm not sure what song it was (maybe "Ain't It Strange"), but I dug how they just took their time with things and didn't need to try and knock everybody's socks off right away.
"Mid-Century Modern Chair"
This song is unique in that it's probably the only Western States Motel song written on the piano, and not the acoustic guitar. One day I want to play piano on stage and seem like I'm really good at it, but Brian, who plays keyboards in the live band, is a mastermind and there really is no reason for me to even try. He used to be in Matt Pond PA, ever heard of that guy (or those guys)? Brian knows how to play "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby & The Range. Which means he also knows how to play "Changes" by Tupac. He can also play "The Final Countdown" in a very elaborate two-hand arrangement, which I never get tired of. The last thing I will say about Brian is that he claims to be the first person on the internet to compare Bon Iver to Bruce Hornsby, so everything is coming full circle now.
"I Drew Your Picture in the Sand"
Someone told me this song reminded them of 80's-era George Harrison. Man, the 80's were a weird time for all those classic rock guys. Like the "Dancing in the Street" cover from Mick Jagger and David Bowie... Holy crap that's terrible. But those guys are allowed the occasional misfire. (I actually like 80's David Bowie a lot. Much more than 90's David Bowie.)
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