City Belt

YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS: THE ROADSIDE GRAVES' NO ONE WILL KNOW WHERE YOU'VE BEEN

By Tris McCall

From: The Graves still live in Metuchen, and I believe Mister John Gleason teaches primary school somewhere around there. But their new label – Kill Buffalo – is based in Brooklyn. Perhaps because of this, the Roadside Graves have come untethered from the Turnpike. These guys have always sung about the West; for the first time, they sound like the West. And they do it without falling into any of the Will Oldham clichés that are currently wrecking contemporary folk-rock.

YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS: FLAMING FIRE'S WHEN THE HIGH BELL RINGS

By Tris McCall

Listen: "High Bell"

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From: JC. I think so, anyway. Their MySpace page identifies them as a Brooklyn band, but they call themselves a Jersey City collective. A few years ago, you couldn’t turn on WFMU without hearing a cut from Songs From The Shining Temple, which is weird, because WFMU is a free-form station. Their commitment to Flaming Fire is the closest thing to local interest that the station has probably ever taken. Shining Temple was released through Perhapstransparent, which is still the best indie-rock label in Jersey City history. Brian Wilson, the drummer from American Watercolor Movement, plays on half of these tracks; the great Brian Dewan, who isn’t a New Jerseyan but is a pretty constant presence on this side of the river, is listed as a bandmember. The Hambrechts – singers Patrick and Kate – feel like envoys from that old-style “weird” Hudson County aesthetic that is rapidly disappearing. I associate it with Hand-Mad, Pier Platters, the font on the menu at Maxwell's, certain studios at 111 First Street, and the Hard Grove Café before the renovation.

YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS: TIM FITE'S OVER THE COUNTER CULTURE

By Tris McCall

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From: Back in the early 00s, when Tim Fite was known as Little T, one frequent criticism he heard was that his work was “suburban.” It sure didn’t help that he was very obviously a college student at the time, or that he rapped about his hometown in West Jersey, but at least he was keeping it real. Tim Fite has long since moved to the city, and he’s absorbed some of that hipster-yokel schtick that’s so popular around Brooklyn these days. But there’s still something very Jersey about Fite’s writing: he’s more inclined to reference the Wal-Mart than the Mini-Mall, and more familiar with the cloverleaf exchange and the convenience store than the L train and the corner bodega. “Sycamore,” the most candid track from Fome Is Dape, the first Little T & One Track Mike album, was an expression of his alienation from the culture he grew up in. Suburban at heart he may be, but he’s never been comfortable with that; in fact, you can see Gone Ain’t Gone, the first Tim Fite album released by Anti- last year, as a deliberate attempt to reorient him away from his Jersey roots. Over The Counter Culture, then, is better understood as an extension of “Sycamore” than a follow-up to Gone Ain’t Gone -- and not just because Fite is rapping again.       

YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS: THE GLACIERS; THE MOONLIGHT NEVER MISSES AN APPOINTMENT

By Tris McCall

From: Queens. Don’t believe the hype in the real-estate magazines -- it’s not the new anything. It’s just itself: an aggregate of neighborhoods north of Brooklyn, inadequately served by public transit and subject to blackouts. If you’re a rapper, the ‘Bridge isn’t over and never has been. Queens indie rockers, on the other hand, have never really had a regional identity. I imagine that when The Glaciers want to feel part of the “scene,” they take Metropolitan down to Williamsburg along with everybody else.    

Format: Full-length; 12 tracks. In a year when everybody has been recording iPod-busting 10-minute epics to prove they’re Down With The Album Concept, closer “Hats Off” seems almost modest at 6:28.

YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS: MILTON'S MILTON

By Tris McCall

From: Manhattan, via Larchmont, New York. Larchmont is an extremely distinctive suburb, and not just because of its long tradition of talented native sons. Still, Milton’s perspective is likely to resonate with anybody who’s left an automobile suburb to grab for the brass ring in the big city.

Format: Full-length album. Twelve of these songs are new, and Milton appends a live version of “In The City,” his best-known song (so far). If you don’t know “In The City” already, it’ll just sound like a killer closer.