They burned brightly, but briefly. Now, they have rekindled the flame. For Beachwood Sparks, the metaphor is all too easy and all too apt. The band’s discography is succinct: two albums, plus an EP and a few singles. There wasn’t much, but there was something indelible about those records. They took the cosmic American music of the Flying Burrito Brothers and Byrds, added the bittersweet sounds of middle-period Beach Boys and Sister Lovers Big Star, then turned them into a sun-dappled, dreamy, psychedelic brand of alt-country. But by 2002, Beachwood had run its course, and the group disbanded amicably, five years after it formed. Now a decade later, Beachwood Sparks—guitarists Farmer Dave Scher and Chris Gunst, bassist Brent Rademaker and drummer Aaron Sperske—is back with The Tarnished Gold (Sub Pop). The quartet will also be guest editing magnet magazine.com all week. Read our new feature on the band.
Scher: Check them out.
1. Ask The Dust By John Fante
Peel back the layers of time and walk the streets of old with the help of the skilled pen of famed Bukowski-predecessor Fante.
2. Waiting For The Sun By Barney Hoskins
Really covers a lot of ground about the history of L.A. music and paints a wide and enjoyable portrait of scenes across a great chunk of the 20th century.
3. Inherent Vice By Thomas Pynchon
This book’s got vibe for days. Pynchon, the weaver of dreams, at it again, creating a tripped-out tapestry using early-’70s Los Angeles as his cloth, running amuck following fictional private investigator Doc Sportello, fueled by doobage, zeitgeist, intuition and, oh yeah, vibes.
4. Look, Listen, Vibrate, Smile By Dominic Priore
Beach Boys Smile zines compiled into an epic big yellow book. As in depth as necessary, then more. When I was 23, absorbing this stuff and thinking of how Smile would’ve changed the course of pop-music history felt as important as anything in the news, maybe more so.
5. The City That Grew By Boyle Workman
A great insider’s view on the history of Los Angeles from the mid-1800s through the 1930s. A standout on the subject in its charm and civic-minded attention to detail.
Video after the jump.
