today
1 p.m. Pet Photos with Santa "Claws" Henderson Center
read >4 p.m. Young Parent Support Group College of the Redwoods Kinship Site
read >4 p.m. Teen Writing Group Ink People Center for the Arts
read >6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds Chapala Cafe
read >6 p.m. Blue Lotus Jazz Libation
read >6 p.m. State of the Watersheds Bayside Grange
read >6:30 p.m. The Transgender Day of Remembrance Humboldt County Courthouse
read >7 p.m. John Ludington + Chris Parreira + Colin Begel (acoustic) Mosgo's
read >7 p.m. Peppino D’Agostino Mateel Community Center
read >7:30 p.m. A Commedia Christmas Carol Carlo Theater (Dell'Arte)
read >8 p.m. Humboldt Folkdancers Arcata Presbyterian Church
read >8 p.m. John Ludington + Scott Garriot + Chris Parreira (acoustic) Mosgo's
read >8 p.m. Stones in His Pockets Arcata Playhouse
read >8 p.m. A Christmas Carol North Coast Repertory Theater
read >8 p.m. Keller Williams (sound) Humboldt Brews
read >8 p.m. Air Supply ('80s soft rock) Cher-Ae-Heights Casino
read >8 p.m. KJNY 3rd Annual Glow Party Arcata Community Center
read >9 p.m. NightHawk WAVE @ blue lake casino
read >9 p.m. The Melodramatics (ska) Central Station Cocktail Lounge
read >9 p.m. Cadillac Ranch Six Rivers Brewery
read >9 p.m. DJ Touch Pearl Lounge
read >9 p.m. Bondage Bash Aunty Mo's Lounge
read >9 p.m. Latin NIght The Red Fox Tavern
read >9:30 p.m. Phil Berkowitz & Dirty Cats (blues) Riverwood Inn
read >9:30 p.m. David Starfire Arcata Theater Lounge
read >10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines
read >10 p.m. DJ Ninja Retro Dance Party Aunty Mo's Lounge
read >10 p.m. SexyTime: MiMosa and Sleepyhead Mazzotti's Arcata
read >previous columns
June 26, 2008
Get Awkward
Be Your Own Pet. Universal/Ecstatic Peace. This just in: Record ...
read >June 19, 2008
The Midnight Organ Fight
By Frightened Rabbit. FatCat Records. With their sophomore effort, The ...
read >June 12, 2008
Jack and the Beanstalk
Ballet performance by North Coast Dance. June 7 at the ...
read >Photos
Re-Arrange Us
By Joel Hartse
Album by Mates of State
Barsuk
The last time Mates of State blew my mind was in 2003. This makes me feel old, and at first it makes me kind of disappointed that they haven’t done much blowing, mind-wise, since then. The brilliance of their first trio of records – My SoloProject,Our Constant Concern,and Team Boo – was in the band’s ability to create joyous anarchy within almost Spartan limitations: two members, two instruments. Jason Hammel played a modest, vintage drum kit, and Kori Gardner played keyboards, or, rather, one particular keyboard, a 1970s-era Yamaha Electone organ. This democratic partnership sang, shouted and battled through songs that twisted and tripped all over the place. Incredibly, their sudden, awkward tempo shifts and key changes only made Mates’ songs catchier and more danceable, like on Boo’s “Ha Ha,” probably the best song of their career.
Somehow, their debut for Barsuk records, Bring it Back, wasn’t as compelling – their songwriting and craft were solid, maybe more so than before, but even the energetic single “Fraud in the ’80s” lacked the hurried urgency of their earlier material. Longer songs, quiet piano ballads and slower tempos had begun to creep in. Was the “maturity” albatross going to sabotage Gardner and Hammel, now married and starting a family?
The first single from Re-Arrange Us, “Get Better,” is representative of the record’s tone and texture. The Electone is wholly absent, the drums aren’t all up in your face, and the belting has become actual nuanced singing. Gardner starts off with an insistent piano lick and the song builds slowly, never to a climax, adding glockenspiel, trumpet and Hammel’s cautious, tasteful stickwork. There are some outbursts – the energetic mantra of “Now” (“now now now now now now now”), for example – but this is a record of songs, not shoutalongs.
Re-Arrange Us is a slide into the comfortable rather than the unpredictable – many are calling this the Mates’ first truly “domestic” album, now that the band has two kids in tow when they tour – but remarkably, the lack of mind-blowing actually feels like a step in the right direction. What the band has really done, from the opening strings section on “Get Better” to the fuzzy electric guitars of “Jigsaw” to the perfect plunky bass on “The Re-Arranger” is expand their palate while toning down their pomp and circumstance. They’ve gotten bigger and smaller at the same time, and the result is by far the most subtle, pleasant and elegant record the band has made.



















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