The members of Wilmington, Del.’s Spinto Band have been playing together since the mid-1990s, when they were still in high school. A decade and a half later finds Nick Krill (vocals/guitar), Thomas Hughes (bass/vocals), Jeffrey Hobson (drums), Sam Hughes (keyboards), Joey Hobson (guitar) perfecting pop sounds on the recent full-length, Shy Pursuit, in their newly built recording studio, scoring films, starting a record label and searching for the perfect cup of coffee. They will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with Krill.
Krill: I have recently been listening to some recordings made by Joe Meek. His work has kind of always been floating around my world, playing on friends’ iPods and appearing on mixed tapes, his name mentioned in conversations about sound recording and in music books, etc. However, for some reason, I never sat down and really listened to his recordings. A friend of mine who has not watched TV show The Wire recently gave this reason: “Well, the show is pretty much filled with everything I love about stories, so if I watched it, I’d have nothing to look forward to.” The same thing kinda applies to me and Joe Meek. So many of his sounds go straight through the Nick Krill sonic strike zone, it was kind of fun anticipating the chance to explore this guy. Anyhow, I’m glad I finally did. Here are some of my favorite songs and sounds:
Shirley Bassey’s “Burn My Candle”
That fuzzy “honk honk” wild-goose brass knocks me out every time. I mean seriously, if the best way to describe a sound uses the words fuzzy and wild goose, you know it’s gonna be great.
Peter Jay & The Blue Men’s “Just Too Late”
The solo on this song is outstanding. That completely burnt-toast slap-back delay is a nutritious part of a complete breakfast if you ask me.
Michael Cox’s “Sweet Little Sixteen”
Another great guitar part here, this time with the rhythm guitar. I love how the “chika”s become a rhythmic decay to the initial guitar chirp. Plus, you can’t help but rewind the solo again to listen to the weird “wop wop” sounds that seems like vocals doing a call and response with the guitar.
The Moontrekkers’ “Night Of The Vampire”
Where do I even begin. Such a great combination of mood and sound and noise and organs and guitars and cool turn-around chord progressions and screams and wind sound effects and … and … and … and …
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxdTq67MRdE
