Chicago-based foursome Speck Mountain make music that Wikipedia says “can be described as space rock.” Sure, you could call it that, but that’s like saying the Dos Equis guy is a cool dude who sometimes drinks some kind of beer. NO. He is SO much more than that. (I refuse to hear that he is not real. Don’t even try to go there with me.) And this BAND is so much more than that. Space rock HA! Maybe if space rock was a giant, sweet, melancholy marshmallow floating in an endless sea of the warm, toasty Ovaltine of longing. Maybe THEN we could start talking about what it’s like to swaddle oneself in the music of Speck Mountain.
But why talk about music when you can listen to it, eh? That’s what the stereotypical Canadian version of the Dos Equis guy says. That guy’s fun; he knows how to party. And he owns even more flannel shirts than you. So take his wisdom. Absorb it. Listen to Speck Mountain’s new album Badwater in full via SoundCloud, soon to be released on Carrot Top Records. And whilst Speck Mountain are out, dallying along the country roads between say, charming rural hamlets Chicago and Brooklyn, why not venture into their spacey/psychy/ambienty world? They’re ringing in America’s Favorite Holiday (Record Store Day, duh) at Reckless Records in Chicago, venturing to all those cities people talk about moving to one day, and then wrapping their spring tour at a concert with Sharon Van Etten in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Dates:
04.20.13 - Chicago, IL - Reckless Records
04.27.13 - Brooklyn, NY - Cameo Gallery *
05.15.13 - Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern
05.17.13 - Olympia, WA - Le Voyeur
05.22.13 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern
05.23.13 - Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Bar
05.25.13 - Los Angeles, CA - Permanent Records
05.29.13 - Denver, CO - Merchants Mile High
06.03.13 - Chicago, IL - Millennium Park **
* Lazy Eyes & Modern Rivals
** Sharon Van Etten
• Speck Mountain: http://speckmountain.com
• Carrot Top: http://carrottoprecords.com
[Photo: Julia Stotz]