When You Land Here, It's Time To Return

Flake Music
Sub Pop Records
General | Nov 2014

Reviews

Zoë
Reviewed 2014-11-14
In 1992, James Mercer (The Shins and Broken Bells) formend Flake Music in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This album was originally released in 1997, and it has all of the elements of a great indie rock album from this era. They went on tour with Modest Mouse at the time. When I listened to this, it made me think of early Built to Spill or Pavement, but with the voice of the Shins, and that is pretty awesome if you ask me. It is complete with lots of instrumental tracks, quirky lyrics, and some devolution into long jamming outros. It's really great.

FCC CLEAN!!
Recommended tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11

1. (2:25) Spanway Hits - This one has some familiar Shins-esq phrasing but with much rougher instrumentation. Love it.
2. (2:54) Blast Valve - Great lyrics to start off, and then the lyrics go away before you are even a minute into the track and the band just jams...it rules.
3. (1:21) Roziere - This is a completely instrumental track, beautiful guitar, some cool effects, simple and very cool.
4. (3:40) Structo - This really made my Built to Spill loving self happy. Great song. The guitar melody is one that is sure to stick in your head, and the build at the chorus is great.
5. (0:52) Candy Dish Of Diamonds - "1, 2, 3, 4" followed by some guitar strumming, with 1 minute of staticy sounds at the end.
6. (4:06) Deluca - Uptempo rocker. Distorted, urgent, vocals, awesome transitions. Love this.
7. (2:51) Mieke - Mid tempo, some good James Mercer falsetto on this one. Totally see why they toured with Modest Mouth in '97 :)
8. (2:11) On The Playground, In The Wind - Super distorted vocals, minimal instrumentation, mid tempo. Builds slightly at about 0:50, but remains super mellow.
9. (3:11) The Shins - Great mid-tempo indie rock track. Another one where we can see the beginning of Mercer's Shins style. Great.
10. (2:31) Faded Polaroids - This one is kind of my least favorite, but it is still solid. Cool guitar effects, but the vocals are kind of whiny.
11. (5:19) Vantage - Album closes with a completely instrumental 5+ minute track, and it is so awesome. Love this one.

Recent airplay

Spanway Hits
FMFJul 21, 2018
Structo
ShytownMay 11, 2015
Deluca
ZoëRadioJan 29, 2015
Blast Valve
Setting Fire to the LabJan 13, 2015
Vantage, Vantage
Clean Copper RadioJan 02, 2015
Structo
The Sunset LifeDec 11, 2014

Charting

2014-11-14 — 2015-01-16
Week EndingAirplays
Jan 18 1
Jan 4 1
Dec 14 4
Dec 7 2
Nov 30 1
Nov 23 4

Track listing

1. Spanway Hits
2. Blast Valve
3. Roziere
4. Structo
5. Candy Dish Of Diamonds
6. Deluca
7. Mieke
8. On The Playground, In The Wind
9. The Shins
10. Faded Polaroids
11. Vantage