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8/6/2019 City Pages: Solid Gold
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Solid Gold pin down a sound
that's so old, it's new
I
15inw:esTHE SON GSWE[AN 'TESCAPE
~ Ray Cummings
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
"Brother Sport (LiveJ0.
This sh i mmer ing,shrieking orgasmat ronof a bliss t ide - osterisiblyI guess,aboutencouraging one's brot her t o pursue
just trying to playoff "the absurdity of the sport ing life with indefat igable vigorbut rea lly.just about melting myfaceit all," the "all " referring mostly to theirTHE FUTU over and over again- whollyembodiesjobs as musicians. Coulter says that whilet he euphoria surrounding Obamas posthey're not necessarily interested in writsiblecandidacYrOughta be an easy fay-up.
ing party songs, they don't need to keep aOFRETRO Swoosh?serious edge on every aspect.
"During the last 10 years, everybody
and their mom have been in a band . We're
BY AMBER SCHADEWALD
_a carnival of faux-vintage scarves, hid
eously sexy sunglasses, and whateverelse
1is unconsciously trendy, the SXSW 2007
:: owd was a hipsterfashion showat its best,bu t Solid Gold opted out of the scene com
pletelyand went foramore classic look-the
mariachiband. Donning heeled boots, puffy
shirts, and super-tight black suits, the three
amigossweltered in the Austin heat."There were three rul es for the week,"
band member Zach Coul ter explains. "You
couldn't pass up free food, beer, or take off
your mariachi suit."
Coulter, Matt Locher, and Adam Hurl
burt stuck to theirpromise and found themselves suffering clothing-inflicted bruises,
takingstreetnaps, and evenswimmingin a
pool that was closed for health reasons.
"When I finally got home and pu t on apair of jeans, it felt like I was wearing thefinest woven silk," Caul ter remembers.
Out ofthe suits and backinMinneapolis,Solid Gold has since added two members,
slide guitarist Shan Troth and drummer
Adam Peterson, thereby solidifying theirsound into the incredible ride it is today. Lis
teniag to Solid Gold's electric, psychedelic,
and simultaneously stable rock is like inhaling and exhaling at the same time.
Straight off a plane from New York, allbut Peterson gather downtown at Barrio on
a Monday night to sip some tequila and dis
cuss the band's CUITent state of mind. Afterseveral years ofreconfiguring, Solid Gold are
finally feeling like their name fits and releasing their debut full-length, Bodies ofWater.
"We're finally hurdling that hump,"
Coulter says with a smile and a sigh.
Blending and braiding a multitude ofsounds, Bodies of Water features organ
melodies with anxious guitar. fueling basslines, and technologic input. The tracks
are an invigoratingIVof straightserotonin,
providing a sense of musical ecstasy you
can enjoy up or down.
With a rainb ow of pills on their show
posters (which Coulter says is just their
version of coloring Easter eggs), picturesof fat guys in capes, and their sometimes
strange stage apparel, the guys say they're
citypagec.com
just taking it with a grain of salt and having
fun with it," says Hurlburt.Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Solid
Gold eventually exhausted their oppor
tuniti es in the small city and headed west
to play with Twin Cities friends Digitata,
Building Better Bombs , and Mystery Palace.More recently, the five-piece have beentraveling internationally, finding success
in Iceland and, most notably, London.
"[In London] I think people are more
eager to listen to something that's unlikeeverything else ," Hurlburt says, which is
exactly what Solid Gold are trying to be-e
different. Although they may have influences from the past, the band members say
they are by no means attempting to be any
sort of decade revival.
"We never sat down and decided what
kind of music we wanted to play," says
Locher, who places their music into his
made-up "retro-future" genre. "With some
bands, that's just so obvious. We just p laywhat we feel."
Changing things up at all times, Locher,
Hurlburt, and Coulter often play each oth
er's ins truments, taking advantage oftheir
varying abilities to create otherwise unexpected sounds .Locher says the limitations
in his music-theory knowledge make him
"play really weird shit" and helps to keep
their work versatile.
"We like to keep switching thingsup. We'll probably change it again next
year. Maybe add in a choir of dolphins or
a clown singing a cappella," Coul ter says,while singing along to a Junior Senior re
mix playing in the restaurant.
Happy to be home and back in the com
pany of their girlfriends, the group agreethey are "very communal," an extended
family that gets along better than most ac
tual families. But like any true brothers, the
guys admit they can fight like siblings, too."Most recently we fought about sand
wiches. I got a full beer can thrown at me
becauseof it," Hurlburt says to Coulter, who
simply smirks. He must have deserved it. rnl
SOLIDGOLDplaya CD-release showwith
Mystery Palace and OJ Real Jaguar on
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7,at the VARSITY
THEATER;612.604.0222
KIERAN HEBDEN AND STEVE REID"Lyman Place"This phenomenal pairworks frorn i3sopping wet,improv-funktempfate here,thickening Reid's t it teringst ickworkandHebden's magic boxof elect romcsam-,pies into a savory rouX .Their thrummingmind-meld throbs, expanding insize andvolume,t axing alo,ng sorneconcept uslairport runway- a .sonic representa
t ion of arevolutioriary·movernent incrementally ' J ~ ~ E for 1609
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