SONG OF THE DAY
“Now We Can See” by The Thermals (Now We Can See, Kill Rock Stars Records, 2009). Lyrics written by Hutch Harris, music composed by Kathy Foster/Hutch Harris.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– The Thermals are an American indie punk band based in Portland, Oregon.
– The Thermals were formed in 2002 by Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster, who had been band mates before, most notably in the folk duo Hutch & Kathy.
– Their first album, More Parts per Million, was released in 2002 with band mates Jordan Hudson (on drums) and Ben Barnett (on guitar). Their follow up Fuckin A was mixed by Death Cab For Cutie member Chris Walla, although the sound remained much the same. Ben Barnett had left the band at this point, so Hutch Harris took over on guitar for this album.
– Their third album, The Body, The Blood, The Machine, won the group much recognition, appearing on multiple top album lists for 2006 (including those of NPR, The AV Club and Pitchfork).
– Jordan Hudson dropped out of the band during the recording of their third album. Kathy Foster took over percussion duties in the recording studio, which Lorin Coleman performed on tour. Produced by Brendan Canty of Fugazi, it was a politically charged concept album designed to showcase a path of religious tyranny that America might take.
– The Thermals’ fourth album, Now We Can See, was released on a new label, Kill Rock Stars, and produced by label associate John Congleton. Again, Foster worked as the percussionist on the album. Westin Glass joined the group as a drummer after the album was finished and supported them on tour.
– Teaming up again with Walla, The Thermals fifth album, Personal Life, was released September 7, 2010.
– Now We Can See was their first album since switching labels from Sub Pop Records. Lead singer Hutch Harris claimed the album hinges on a leitmotif of “songs from when we were alive”.
– The first song from the album to be released in full is the title track, “Now We Can See”. It was premiered at Pitchfork Media on February 10, 2009.
– “Now We Can See” was featured in the April 27th second season finale of the NBC dramedy Chuck.
– Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon.
– The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission. Overall, though, the political sensibilities of the label can be said to be leftist, feminist, and anti-war, and the label has consistently shown a commitment towards underground punk bands and to representing artists in the Olympia, Washington area.
– Moon initially started the label because in his words, “I just wanted to put out my friends’ records because nobody was putting out my friends’ records. And to put out spoken word 7″ records.”
– The first major release was a compilation of Olympia-area bands simply titled Kill Rock Stars (Stars Kill Rock and Rock Stars Kill would follow in the same compilation series) and featured Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Unwound, Nirvana and The Melvins.
– Although the label’s music has never reflected just a single genre or underground music movement, it is arguably most notable for releasing the work of various riot grrrl bands during the mid-’90s, some of which, especially the aforementioned Bikini Kill, generated a good deal of press attention. Other KRS releases in this genre includes albums by Bratmobile, Huggy Bear, Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17.
– In 1995 Elliott Smith released his self-titled solo LP on the label.
– Another milestone was the 1997 release of Sleater-Kinney’s third LP (and first on KRS) Dig Me Out, which garnered national press attention in Spin and Rolling Stone magazines.
– Another popular band on KRS was The Decemberists, who released three full-length albums on the label between 2001 and 2005. Colin Meloy, singer for The Decemberists, also released a solo album on the label in April 2008.
– Other notable releases by KRS include: albums by bands such as The Paper Chase, Jeff Hanson, Unwound, Marnie Stern, Gossip, Mecca Normal, Two Ton Boa and Comet Gain; spoken word albums by Kathy Acker and Miranda July; and reissues of work by earlier punk/post-punk bands such as Kleenex/Liliput, Essential Logic, and Delta 5.
– In October 2006 Slim Moon, the owner, announced he would be departing Kill Rock Stars to work as an A&R representative at Nonesuch Records, a Warner Music Group subsidiary.
– Slim’s wife Portia Sabin took over ownership of Kill Rock Stars and in 2007 the label released 11 records, including New Moon, a collection of songs recorded by Elliott Smith between 1994 and 1997.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
and here live on KEXP.