GILES COREY live at Enemies List Home Recordings Warehouse. Meriden CT. 2/25/13

In press photos for his solo project Giles Corey, Connecticut singer/songwriter Dan Barrett can be seen wearing a Voor’s Head Device, a mysterious burlap hood with ties to the conceptual roots of his ghostly folk music. Similarly, earlier photos of his renowned shoegaze band Have A Nice Life often feature him covering his face or obscuring himself with foliage. Based on the way that he presents himself, both on the internet and in the mysterious writings that accompany a number of his musical releases, it would appear that there is a disconnect between Dan Barrett the mysterious, ostensibly suicidal genius, and Dan Barrett the regular human being from Connecticut. This disconnect made itself almost shockingly evident last night, when Giles Corey put on a show at a certain warehouse space in Meriden, out of which Dan and his friends run their modest, cult-followed record label Enemies List Home Recordings. 

On the facebook event page, the performance was billed less as a show than as a “house party where some guys play depressing music,” establishing a relatively lighthearted tone for Barrett and Co., who have run Enemies List since 2005. When I arrived, the twenty or so people present were sitting on couches, speaking in hushed tones as ambient folk played over the PA. Enemies List veteran Planning For Burial opened the show with a fittingly harrowing solo performance, incorporating a hearty helping of drone and shoegaze into his act. I didn’t manage to catch the entirety of his performance, but the small amount that I did witness was intriguing to say the least. 

Tucked away on the second floor of a massive industrial warehouse, the small room in which the show took place seemed to be the only one not whitewashed by garish industrial lights. Throughout the night, Barrett lurked in the ample shadows of the eerily isolated room, trading words with fans and friends and occasionally selling one of his winkingly self-aware “No Fun. Not Ever.” t-shirts. I wasn’t sure what to make of him or whether I should approach him before his set, but as the night wore on, Barrett’s human side quickly revealed itself. As recent ELHR-signee I Do Not Love worked his way through a shaky and frustratingly amateurish set, Barrett was there by his side the whole time, offering words of encouragement and resounding applause after every song. It was heartwarming to see someone so invested in his work and so trusting in those with whom he associates; I couldn’t help but feel inspired to start my own independent label after witnessing Barrett adopt this remarkable paternal role.

When he took the stage afterwards, Barrett displayed humility and candor that belied his remarkable abilities as a musician. He spoke about how privileged he felt to work with such talented musicians at ELHR and how happy he was that people cared enough about his music to come out to a show of his, especially since he plays live so infrequently. Frankly, his onstage demeanor stood in stark contrast to that of another certain singer/songwriter whom I saw recently, and given that they both performed solo, acoustically, and in a relatively relaxed setting, I could not help but make the comparison as I listened to Barrett perform last night. One thing is certain; both he and Mangum are consummately brilliant musicians capable of creating profound beauty from relatively humble means.

In contrast to Planning For Burial’s pedalboard, a shoegazer’s wet dream, Giles Corey’s setup was considerably less grand but no less effective. Barrett performed with a simple footswitch that activated the reverb and overdrive on his amplifier, through which he ran a black Takamine acoustic guitar. As soon as he began each song, all of which seemed nearly equal in their ability to rend hearts and procure tears, the unexpectedly jovial and easygoing side of Barrett that he displayed offstage faded away abuptly. When he entered his mysterious, dark, performing mode, the results were nothing short of bone-chilling. Setlist opener “Blackest Bile” hummed along in desperate resignation, while “Grave Filled With Books” — apparently adapted at the request of Barrett’s wife Thao — took on the 6:8 pulse of a mournful 1950’s slow jam. On the heels of the release of his new EP Hinterkaifeck, Giles Corey performed two tracks from that album, including the surprisingly heavy, overdriven “Guilt Is My Boyfriend,” which could have easily been a Have A Nice Life song 5 years ago.

Although rumors of a new HANL album have been circulating for the past year, I have yet to hear anything concrete; that said, when Barrett performed a handful of tracks by his old band last night, I could definitely feel that his spirit was still present in them. Unfortunately, without the post-punk backbeat of the Deathconsciousness version, “Deep, Deep” lacked persistence. Similarly, his performance of Deathconsciousness closer “Earthmover” could not come close to capturing the truly earth-shaking heft of the original. That said, his version of HANL’s “The Icon and The Axe” — a studio recording of which he released on Enemies List’s 2011 Christmas album — had just the right mix of tempered grit and emotive folk gentleness. That performance was a  particular highlight, along with his closing play-through of “Spectral Bride” (my 11th favorite song of 2011). Before introducing his final song, Barrett took a moment to humorously gripe about bands that leave the stage at the end of a show, knowing that in a few minutes they will come back out and play an encore. Barrett did not give in to this conceit, even though his performance was more deserving of an encore than almost any such bands that I’ve seen. Perhaps this is where the two sides of Dan Barrett find common ground; neither his personality nor his music (aside, perhaps, from his Deconstructionist EP…) display any unnecessary pretense. As unflinchingly honest as his music is breathtaking, I hope to see Dan Barrett continuing with this for a very long time.

Giles Corey Setlist - 2/24/13

• 1. “Blackest Bile”
• 2. “Grave Filled With Books”
• 3. “Guilt Is My Boyfriend”
• 4. “The Icon and the Axe”
• 5. “Deep, Deep”
• 6. “Earthmover”
• 7. “Wounded Wolf”
• 8. “Spectral Bride”

Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 8/31/12

Last night’s radio show was my last broadcast of Left of the Dial for the summer. I’ll still be doing my show throughout the school year, but I’m going to miss heading into the studio at 5:30 and coming out two and a half hours later with the sun still out. Here’s the full playlist from last night’s program, which was (unusually? especially?) sad, overall. Scroll down to the embedded link to stream the available songs from this playlist via Spotify. 

• 1. Suns - “Repulse”
• 2. Swans - “Lunacy”
• 3. Mount Eerie - “Appetite”
• 4. Joie De Vivre - “I Was Sixteen Ten Years Ago”
• 5. The xx - “VCR”
• 6. Cat Power - “I Don’t Blame You”
• 7. Desaparecidos - “Give Me The Pen” (feat. David Dondero)
• 8. Everyone Everywhere - “Fervor & Indifference in the Bicameral Brain”
• 9. Have A Nice Life - “The Big Gloom”
• 10. The Mountain Goats - “In Memory Of Satan”
• 11. Elliott Smith - “Junk Bond Trader”
• 12. Owen - “Nobody’s Nothing”
• 13. Jens Lekman - “She Just Don’t Want To Be With You Anymore”
• 14. Henry Bemis Is A Superhero - “Kuromori”
• 15. Sean Milo - “The February Heat Wave”
• 16. Swans - “Song For A Warrior” (feat. Karen O)
• 17. Cat Power - “Cherokee”
• 18. Pixies - “Gouge Away” (Requested by bangst)
• 19. The xx - “Reunion”
• 20. Serengeti - “Greyhound”
• 21. WHY? - “Bitter Thoughts”
• 22. The Shins - “September” (Requested by blueshadedays)
• 23. Mount Eerie - “I Walked Home Beholding”
• 24. Bright Eyes - “Drunk Kid Catholic”
• 25. The Human Fly - “Connecticut One”

________________________

Stream via Spotify:

Anonymous asked: Thoughts on Shoegaze?

I don’t know if I can summarize my thoughts on an entire genre of music very well, but I guess I’ll try. I like shoegaze. It’s a pretty broad-fitting term, but I really like a lot of the aesthetics that bands labeled as ‘shoegaze’ create. I think what shoegaze does/has done in a general sense is push the boundaries of how dense music can be, but I think that the best shoegaze records (My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless and Have a Nice Life’s Deathconsciousness come to mind immediately) still retain a sense of dynamics. They’re heavy and sonically assaulting, but there are also some really tender and relatively quiet moments as well. I like that balance. On some days, “Sometimes” is my favorite My Bloody Valentine song.

Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 2/10/12

Thanks to everybody who tuned in to my radio show last night on WNHU. It was great to see you guys being so responsive. Be sure to catch my next broadcast next Friday from 6 to 8 PM. Here’s the full playlist from last night’s show with attached links to stream each song.

• 1. Dum Dum Girls - “Bhang Bhang, I’m A Burnout”
• 2. Bomb The Music Industry! - “Why, Oh Why, Oh Why (Oh Oh Oh Oh)”
• 3. Big Star - “September Gurls”
• 4. The Darkness - “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”
• 5. Free Energy - “Free Energy”
• 6. Real Estate - “It’s Real”
• 7. LVL UP - “APOCALYPTOPHOBIA”
• 8. Sunny Day Real Estate - “Seven” (Requested by blueshadedays)
• 9. Hostage Calm - “The “M” Word”
• 10. The Good Life - “The Beaten Path”
• 11. Desaparecidos - ”$$$$”
• 12. The Dismemberment Plan - “The City”
• 13. Self Defense Family - “All Fruit Is Ripe”
• 14. Have a Nice Life - “The Future”
• 15. Cap’n Jazz - “Little League”
• 16. The Replacements - “Kids Don’t Follow”
• 17. Reatards - “I’m So Gone”
• 18. The White Stripes - “Hello Operator”
• 19. Slow Warm Death - “Alone”
• 20. Leonard Cohen - “Going Home”
• 21. Tom Waits - “Chicago”
• 22. The Rural Alberta Advantage - “The Breakup”
• 23. Neutral Milk Hotel - “King Of Carrot Flowers Pt. One”
• 24. Neutral Milk Hotel - “King Of Carrot Flowers Pts. Two & Three”
• 25. The Clash - “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais”
• 26. Widowspeak - “In The Pines”
• 27. Dum Dum Girls - “Coming Down”
• 28. Weezer - “Only In Dreams”