I'm excited! I've been meaning to make this post for a while, but I never had the time for it. I'm happy to be sharing with you four early EPs by one of my favorite bands, Sooyoung Park's brainchild,
Seam. What may be a familiar name to North Carolina indie rock aficionados as well as major fans of
Codeine,
Bedhead and other fellow slowcore giants may not be so to others (although don't let these comparisons fool you - they did a fantastic job of tiptoeing the slowcore line and reigning in a league of their own). Seam never enjoyed the popularity of the aforementioned bands however, and thus they are often overlooked by folks perusing the early
Homestead and
Touch & Go catalogs. It's a shame, really, given their talent, and their stupendous sophomore full-length
The Problem With Me on Touch & Go. The only EP I'm missing is the
Hey Latasha 7", recordings that I regretfully admit I haven't even heard. But it will soon stop evading me some day, I'm sure... same goes for their LPs, minus
The Problem With Me..
Seam - Days of Thunder 7" Mediafire
Somehow the eponymous track was encoded in a lower quality than intended.
Click here for a higher quality rip of that track. Sorry about that!
Their first EP is a straight up slowcore gem, tinged with a seemingly permanent melancholy heaviness found in Days of Thunder, which dissipates temporarily on the B-side with Grain, then finally kicks back in with mellower vibes with Which Way To Go?. Probably the best place to start.
Seam - Granny 9X 7" Mediafire
...and if not, this is the best place to start. Another great example of Seam's slowcore influence (Granny 9X) as well as their versatility (Look Back in Anger, a Television Personalities cover). Sooyoung's lingering regret and nostalgia shines through in his voice and his lyrics ("I threw my bike in the river / watched it sink into the night"). Distorted, loud, high-treble goodness - probably one of my favorite songs by them. On the B-side, they cover "Look Back in Anger" by Television Personalities, a version that I must admit I prefer over the original. Is that blasphemous?
Seam - Kernel 7" (Summershine Records Edition) Mediafire
A little note about this particular EP. This version I've uploaded is the Australian version on Summershine Records, a little known label from down under. This includes the two songs found on the American version as well as an extra song on the B-side entitled "Feather". I chose to rip this one for that reason.
Seam - Sukiyaki 7" Mediafire
Mirror Mediafire
Their final single, limited to and numbered out of 1000, has two covers to finish off their discography. "Sukiyaki" is a popular Japanese song originally written by Rokusuke Ei and made popular by Kyu Sakamoto, a Japanese singer. The B-side is "Heroes" by David Bowie.
Once I get a hold of the missing EP and the rest of their LPs, I will probably share them as well.
And if you haven't heard this band yet, why not?
A little over a year ago, I started this blog back up on a bored whim after realizing that I had accrued a reasonable collection of music that I hadn't adequately perused. One hundred posts later, with 300-400+ views weekly and thousands of downloads, I'm pleased to see that this archive still serves its purpose for others as well as for myself. I hope to continue providing music and other forms of expression to anyone who may pass through this place. Thanks!