Galaxie 500 – This Is Our Music
After two albums celebrated by a thirsty underground network of fans, Galaxie 500 produced what turned out to be their unexpected swansong, This Is Our Music. The title is an intentionally declarative statement. After being labeled masters of the disengaged and forlorn, the band’s third album offers Damon Krukowsi, Dean Wareham and Naomi Yang’s most stately material. Here, one can hear potential realized, and changes afoot.
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“Fourth Of July” is a surprisingly up front song from the band, with rolling drums and a bass-heavy refrain, and it proved to be their most popular single. It sets the stage for the dynamism of This Is Our Music. When the band sounds wistful (“Summertime”), it sounds like years of yearning actualized; when the band sounds regretful (“Sorry”), it comes pleading on its knees. The band found a beautiful balance between increased production values and knob-twiddler Kramer’s odd handed approach.
Galaxie 500 – On Fire
For many, On Fire is considered the canonic pinnacle of Galaxie 500′s career. The artwork conveys this, with a shot of the band taken from low near the ground, looking up towards an amber sky.
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This record marked the realization of their signature sound. Nowhere is that more clear than on the album opener, “Blue Thunder,” which is the closest a song can come to waves crashing on a beach in song form. Lyrically inconsequential, with a chorus composed entirely of “la’s,” the power of “Blue Thunder” lies in a systematic build and break of intensity that reaches a Spector-like climax. It has become Galaxie 500′s signature song, encapsulating all that was great about the band.
Galaxie 500 – Today
When Galaxie 500′s record Today was first released in 1988, it set off a chain reaction of quiet explosions still being felt. Never before had a record so emphasized the calming elements of rock music, transforming what at first seems like a collection of bridges into fully realized songs. And one can draw a straight line from here to the many groups they influenced, like Low, Belle & Sebastian, and Bon Iver. The record itself is full of idiosyncrasies.
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Damon Krukowski, Dean Wareham and Naomi Yang were recent Harvard grads who intuitively eliminated any histrionic tradition to rock songs, leaving core emotion (not for nothing did they include a cover of “Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste,” by the kings of feeling, The Modern Lovers). It was produced by Kramer, who was best known for his work with cataclysmic slop rock pioneers such as Bongwater, Ween and King Missle. The band’s hometown of Boston was just coming out of its love affair with Mission of Burma and pouncing upon the spasmodic electricity of the Pixies. Despite, or perhaps because of, all these elements, Today thrived.
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