Propinquity has long been the Numero release most popular in the Numero office but seemingly nowhere else… and sales, unfortunately, have reflected this. So we were more than a little pleased (and shocked) when the alert music editor at Time Out Chicago forwarded us a link to what’s being listened to in the studio while Weezer completes their new album:
Is it possible we’ll see the influence of ethereal harmonies and gauzy soft folk-rock rhythms on Rivers Cuomo and company’s next effort? For the sake of their commercial success, we hope they stick to power pop anthems like “Beverly Hills.” The Fleet Foxes have already taken their hackneyed version of Propinquity’s prettiness into the the stratosphere of indie folk rock… still thousands of miles short of a “Sweater Song.” Nothing beats the original, though. If the Rivers Cuomo stamp of approval is what you were waiting for before pulling the trigger on Propinquity, you can find it here.
In the midst of closing Smart’s Palace, we nearly forgot that Asterisk gave birth to two more titles: Caroline Peyton’s Mock Up and Intuition. While we were busy shipping them out to your favorite record emporiums last week, Tim Perlich at Now Toronto chimed in first with the following:
While most labels are just starting to get back up to speed after the holidays, Chicago’s Numero Group has been busily readying the next two releases in their Asterisk album reissue series – the remarkably great Intuition and Mock Up albums independently recorded in the early 70s by singer/songwriter Caroline Peyton, Bloomington, Indiana’s answer to Joni Mitchell.
Jazzy folk fiends will know that Intuition has previously been reissued on disc (and the song Just As We appeared on the Gilles Peterson Digs America set), but the Asterisk version adds seven bonus demos of otherwise unavailable tracks, and none are throwaways. The ante on Mock Up gets upped with a two-song live video clip recorded at Bloomington’s Hummingbird Café. The performances and production quality will leave you wondering why Peyton isn’t a household name today.
The secret love child of Laura Nyro and Patty Waters is waiting to be adopted. Housebroken and groomed for your record collection by the Numero Group.
