{"id":303,"date":"2006-10-02T22:00:10","date_gmt":"2006-10-02T21:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/?p=303"},"modified":"2006-10-02T22:00:10","modified_gmt":"2006-10-02T21:00:10","slug":"mates-of-state-bring-it-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/?p=303","title":{"rendered":"mates of state &#8211; bring it back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>       <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><STRONG>mates of state<\/STRONG> comprise of happy  in love folks <EM>kori gardner<\/EM> and <EM>jason hammel, <\/EM>and this is their  first album to get a proper release over in the uk.<\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">&nbsp;see them all loved up on the cover. see them  look all lost and forlorn in their soft focus photo, but open the sleeve and  notice that alongside their musical instruments on display, they also do a take  on an old <STRONG>abba<\/STRONG> image. <\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">so many revelations on one cover. <\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">minimal budgets, but&nbsp;harbouring an inner  desire to make pop music for the masses and even win eurovision, perhaps  ?<\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">for this couple are a new type of duo to hit the  decks following such noise ridden&nbsp;folks like <STRONG>the white  stripes<\/STRONG>, <STRONG>death from above 1979<\/STRONG>, <STRONG>lightening  bolt<\/STRONG> etc <\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">while one in the team hits the drums, the other  batters the keys on an old organ that seems to be held together with masking  tape, like some mad new alternative take on 70s supreme full fat pop maestros,  <STRONG>the carpenters<\/STRONG>. <\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">yet somehow, from this miniscule setup (they have  drafted in friends for a few extra touches like the necessary kazoo solo of  course) they manage to make music that is totally wonderful&nbsp;and rather  special.&nbsp;<\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">a lot of the splendour is down to the sheer  songcraft on offer, these people really love to harmonise and layer their  innocent boy-girl vocals to make up for the limited sonic palette. there is no  point in going into detail for each song, but the opening bars of <EM>think  long<\/EM> now sends shivers up my spine as i can&#8217;t wait for the song to get to  its heart-warming melodies <EM>(30 seconds in when the vocals kick in)<\/EM> and  smile inducing chorus <EM>(1 minute 7 seconds = game over, i&#8217;m won  over<\/EM>).<\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">in fact, by the fifth listen, i was completely  smitten with this album, the simple beats and piano tracks like <EM>what it  means, <\/EM>the fuzzed up riffs of <EM>for the actor <\/EM>are so full of joy  that the over riding emotion is one of sheer pleasure&nbsp;when listening, and  the fact that this album includes some previous vinyl only tracks makes it an  essential&nbsp;package.<\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">excellent timeless lo-fi pop music for people who  want melody rich songs, simple instrumentation, loved up vibes, and&nbsp;care  little for all that is supposedly cool and happening.<\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">out now on <STRONG>moshi  moshi<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><EM>more detail<\/EM> : <A href=\"http:\/\/www.moshimoshimusic.com\">here<\/A><\/FONT><\/DIV> <DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; mates of state comprise of happy in love folks kori gardner and jason hammel, and this is their first album to get a proper release over in the uk. &nbsp;see them all loved up on the cover. see them look all lost and forlorn in their soft focus photo, but open the sleeve and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}