Mp3s of the Week: Mary Timony & Helium
Posted on March 23, 2005 at 3:01 pm | No Comments
I’ve been crushing (musically so… mostly) on Mary Timony since I first put the needle on Helium’s ‘Hole in the Ground‘/’Lucy‘ seven inch about a dozen or so years ago. That round piece of wax remains one of my favorite singles ever, and I’ll never forget when Bill Peregoy (who ran the amazing Pop Narcotic label) surprised me and my mailbox with a copy of the original test pressing. Don’t remember exactly what I did to deserve that, but to this day I’m in his debt.
No matter what direction Mary’s music takes, from Helium to the Spells, from Green 4 onto her more recent solo records, I’m along for the ride. While I’ve been pretty open to the piano-centric Hobbitcore (I almost went with ‘Mordorcore’, but the songs were never that dark) of both 2000’s ‘Mountains‘ and 2002’s ‘The Golden Dove‘, I’m a sucker for her guitar playing, and I’ve been hankering to hear her strap a six-string back on and rock out a little more.
Well, next month sees the release of her third solo album, Ex-Hex, and it sounds like I’ve gotten my wish. The first net-released mp3, for the song ‘Friend to JC‘, is up at both Lookout! Records and over at Insound, and boy has it got me all psyched up for the record. A new interview in Venus Magazine reveals that we’re hearing more guitar because she’d become bored of the keyboard. Another reason for increased rawness and rockness? She recruited drummer (and boyfriend) Devin Ocampo for the recordings, working out the album’s songs as a duo and adding bass herself. I absolutely cannot wait to hear the whole thing when it arrives on April 19th.
To mark that day, Mary and her band will be performing a cd release show here in Boston at TT the Bears with openers Noll and Charlene (holy crap, i think i’m in that band!). It’s the first date of a week-long coastal tour that also hits New York, DC, LA, and San Francisco. According to her website, there will be more U.S. dates in May and June.
So, since I’m in a Mary Timony kinda mood, here are a couple early Helium mp3s that you can listen to along with the new one you just grabbed above (you did, didn’t you?): ‘Lucy‘, the b-side of that excellent Pop Narcotic single (I offered up the a-side, ‘Hole in the Ground‘, as one of my very first weekly mp3s in 2003), and ‘The American Jean‘, from their debut seven-inch (released in ’92 on bassist Brian Dunton’s Warped label).
To keep up with all things Timony, check in regularly with Poison Moon, easily the most complete and oft-updated MT fansite out there.
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