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Q: What has 32 limbs, one horn and a steel lap?
The answer to that question also happens to be one of the biggest generators of buzz in the popular music industry this week.
Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s is the aptly unusual moniker (derived from the name of the lassitudinous lass portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow in director Wes Anderson’s 2001 deadpan comedy “The Royal Tenenbaums”) of a unique eight-piece band which emerged from the Indianapolis area three years ago and promptly knocked the doyens of indie rock upon their collective ear with their debut album, “The Dust of Retreat.” Intended by bandleader and principle songwriter Richard Edwards as an elegiac amble through the Greenwich Village of the mid-20th century, “Retreat” was a musically complex and lyrically powerful evocation of broken lives, lost hope and squandered love, and it put Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s at the top of many critics’ best-of-year roundups in 2005.
With Edwards’ soulful singing front-and-center (and augmented by harmonies from his one-time prom date Emily Watkins), the band’s music features rock instrumentation augmented by strings, brass and lap steel guitar, and is typically categorized as “chamber pop” (that modern-day descendent of baroque pop which traces back to early ’90s acts like Cardinal and the High Llamas and which nowadays includes bands like the Arcade Fire, the Polyphonic Spree and I’m From Barcelona). But Margot’s musical DNA evolved from older musical phyla as well, and is liberally spliced with the folk rock of the Byrds, the country rock of Gram Parsons and the arena rock of U2.
“Retreat” was originally issued on the Indianapolis indie label Standard Recording Company, then rereleased a year later on New York’s Artemis Records. Upon its success, the band was signed to Epic, a move which seemed to spell even greater fortune for Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s’ sophomore effort. But arguments with the label over the song selection for the band’s second album significantly delayed its release. The record is now scheduled to be released on Oct. 7 as two different releases: “Animal!” (the band’s version) and “Not Animal” (Epic’s version).
In the meantime, this past week saw the release of an EP entitled “The DayTrotter Sessions,” so-named because it features live-in-the-studio renditions of songs from the upcoming album, recorded for DayTrotter, the celebrated indie rock Web site (daytrotter.com). With song titles like “My Baby (Shoots Her Mouth Off),” “Love Song for a Schubas Bartender” and “Broadripple is Burning,” and lyrics like —
“Come over
and cover me.
Lead me straight to the cross.
You’re bent over
in the chapel.
People are staring at you.
Please... good grief...
my baby wants to kill me, kill me.”
— it’s clear that major label status hasn’t cheered Edwards and company significantly.
It remains to be seen if the release of “Animal!/Not Animal” pushes the band from cult status to mainstream popularity, but the overwhelmingly positive industry chatter engendered by the release of “The Daytrotter Sessions” bodes well for the 32-limbed, horned and steel-lapped creature known as Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s.
Notes is supported by the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, promoting the success of after-school programs throughout Colorado in cooperation with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Notes can be heard daily on KAFM 88.1 or at kafmradio.org on the Web.
The answer to that question also happens to be one of the biggest generators of buzz in the popular music industry this week.
Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s is the aptly unusual moniker (derived from the name of the lassitudinous lass portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow in director Wes Anderson’s 2001 deadpan comedy “The Royal Tenenbaums”) of a unique eight-piece band which emerged from the Indianapolis area three years ago and promptly knocked the doyens of indie rock upon their collective ear with their debut album, “The Dust of Retreat.” Intended by bandleader and principle songwriter Richard Edwards as an elegiac amble through the Greenwich Village of the mid-20th century, “Retreat” was a musically complex and lyrically powerful evocation of broken lives, lost hope and squandered love, and it put Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s at the top of many critics’ best-of-year roundups in 2005.
With Edwards’ soulful singing front-and-center (and augmented by harmonies from his one-time prom date Emily Watkins), the band’s music features rock instrumentation augmented by strings, brass and lap steel guitar, and is typically categorized as “chamber pop” (that modern-day descendent of baroque pop which traces back to early ’90s acts like Cardinal and the High Llamas and which nowadays includes bands like the Arcade Fire, the Polyphonic Spree and I’m From Barcelona). But Margot’s musical DNA evolved from older musical phyla as well, and is liberally spliced with the folk rock of the Byrds, the country rock of Gram Parsons and the arena rock of U2.
“Retreat” was originally issued on the Indianapolis indie label Standard Recording Company, then rereleased a year later on New York’s Artemis Records. Upon its success, the band was signed to Epic, a move which seemed to spell even greater fortune for Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s’ sophomore effort. But arguments with the label over the song selection for the band’s second album significantly delayed its release. The record is now scheduled to be released on Oct. 7 as two different releases: “Animal!” (the band’s version) and “Not Animal” (Epic’s version).
In the meantime, this past week saw the release of an EP entitled “The DayTrotter Sessions,” so-named because it features live-in-the-studio renditions of songs from the upcoming album, recorded for DayTrotter, the celebrated indie rock Web site (daytrotter.com). With song titles like “My Baby (Shoots Her Mouth Off),” “Love Song for a Schubas Bartender” and “Broadripple is Burning,” and lyrics like —
“Come over
and cover me.
Lead me straight to the cross.
You’re bent over
in the chapel.
People are staring at you.
Please... good grief...
my baby wants to kill me, kill me.”
— it’s clear that major label status hasn’t cheered Edwards and company significantly.
It remains to be seen if the release of “Animal!/Not Animal” pushes the band from cult status to mainstream popularity, but the overwhelmingly positive industry chatter engendered by the release of “The Daytrotter Sessions” bodes well for the 32-limbed, horned and steel-lapped creature known as Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s.
Notes is supported by the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, promoting the success of after-school programs throughout Colorado in cooperation with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Notes can be heard daily on KAFM 88.1 or at kafmradio.org on the Web.
