Make this advance track two from noted child-rearing bloggers/indie rock couple Mates Of State’s Re-Arrange Us. Maybe not as memorably melodic as the outstanding “Get Better,” but it’s not for lack of arrangement: “My Only Offer” builds bells, glockenspiels, horns on top of a simple two-chord piano figure, with Kori and Jason’s vocals swapping on the verses, harmonizing on the hook, hitting the callback/echoes later. All in all pretty pop, but the story here’s in the lyrics, two lovers maybe not so much in love, slogging through the dulled luster, trying anyway. The chorus: “Oh, It’s my only offer / stifled copies of myself / as someone else.” Gives a little more resonance to the melody, innit.
So far Re-arrange Us is shaping up pretty well for the choir singers. The LP is out 5/20 via Barsuk. This spring and summer sees ‘em on the road, winding up with a festivals.
Mates Of’s dates:
05/16 New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place
05/22 San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
05/24 Bend, OR @ Les Schwab Amphitheater
05/25 Sasquatch Festival @ Washington Gorge Amphitheater
05/28 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theater
06/06 Lawrence, KS @ Wakarusa Music Festival
06/07 Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
06/08 St. Louis, MO @ The Bluebird
06/10 Oklahoma City, OK @ Bricktown Ballroom
06/11 Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre
06/13 Austin, TX @ Emo’s Alternative Lounge
06/14 Little Rock, AR @ Rev Room
06/15 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone
06/17 Newport, KY @ Southgate House
06/18 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theatre
06/21 Philadelphia, PA (Popped! Festival)
07/25 Pemberton, BC (Pemberton Festival)
08/01 Chicago, IL (Lollapalooza)
08/08 Liberty State Park, NJ (All Points West Festival)
09/26 Austin, TX (Austin City Limits Festival)
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Good stuff…!
I heart MoS.
Their new album is the best material they’ve ever done. It’s a move in a different direction, while still capturing that signature MoS sound. Love it from start to finish.
SO correct! “The Re-Arranger”, “Lullaby Haze” & “Blue and Gold Print” are damn radass. One key factor: big drum production. Superb album.
meh…I’ll pass.
I’m not sure even sophisticated European scientists with government funding could tell two of this band’s songs apart. “Oh, it’s the one with the obnoxiously loud keyboard and the drums.”
eh, bugger.
there are sophisticated european scientists?
they’re a two person band. Keyboard and drums. Dun hate.
I hear a lot of Fiery Furnaces here.
The song seems a little boring to me. I do hear a little New Pornographers and Fiery Furnaces in there. I like their more upbeat and poppier songs though. Hopefully the rest of the album isn’t too similar to the songs I’ve heard so far.
The song seems a little boring to me. I do hear a little New Pornographers and Fiery Furnaces in there. I like their more upbeat and poppier songs though. Hopefully the rest of the album isn’t too similar to the songs I’ve heard so far.
Is it me, or is this band giving a little bit “t.m.i” about their personal lives lately? Last time I checked their site, there was a link to their blog which recounts a story how Kori got stuck in a ballpit while filming a new video, and had to use a breast pump while stuck in there to feed their baby. The rest of their blog is mostly about their kids going to the bathroom…
have children – then you’ll know that your children ARE your life.. . and that there is a fact.
Thurston and Kim never announced to the world when Coco took a dump in a record store. That is all I am saying.
.. . so would that mean that Thurston and Kim would be mentally linked to this Coco’s central nervous system – beaming an invisible signal to the elders heads when one needs to shit?
no it means mates of state need to stop talking baby scat and writing nursery rhymes
did they “talk” about it – really? “all we are is water and shit”.. right, Issac?
This discussion is both very disturbing and silly, so I just had to get down to the bottom of it (pun intended). Looks like its one big heaping pile of s*** (another pun!)…
“While eating lunch after the show June had 2 major blow outs-if you are a parent of a baby, you know what I mean when I say blow out.
One of the messes had to be changed in the record store bathroom. The other, in a McDonalds bathroom. June has these blow outs all the time-only now we’ve realized tour blow outs are harder to manage..where do you put the clothes? BTW, Are we using the wrong size diaper or something?
Anyway, my reality is one that involves sound-checking and then figuring out where to change a diaper.”
The Mates of State blog is on a parenting website and is about raising kids while being a touring band. Hence, stories about changing diapers at shows and using a breast pump while shooting a music video.
Will this ever leak? No? Well I’ll wait until monday then
The album is currently streaming on MySpace.
The album is currently streaming on MySpace.
It also leaked like a week ago.
They toured in June?
go get ‘em, catie! ?
just had to ask.. are you perhaps actually k(ori) herself or just an over enthusiastic, defensive mates of state fan? all the person did was poke a little fun at their blog. you gotta admit its weird in a funny way.
indeed.
forget mos talking about baby poo, your url section is tmi.
sold.
Totally digging this. Now need the whole album!
This is not music.I just saw them on Conan I went to the TV I thought a cow was being slaughtered .This band is by far the biggest piece of horse excrement I’ve ever heard.How did they get on Conan did the chick give a BJ to the producer????Someone save us from this decade of crap bands!!!!