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BOAT [Feature]

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It’s been approximately three and a quarter years since I first wrote about BOAT, what was once a Seattle by the way of Chicago band. They’ve now fully integrated themselves into the northwest, and have given us three stellar albums (the most current of which was released last month; a fact I just recently, to my surprise, discovered). I’m waiting for that call; the one from the record store notifying me my order is in; the order of BOAT’s latest LP, Setting The Paces.

So, while I await what is sure to be another mind-blowing release by the hyper-sarcastic foursome with bizarre-o lyrics and frog-y vocals, I figured I’d re-post an oldie – that first feature from way back in 2006. And below, you can hear a track from each record BOAT has given us over the past three (or so) years.

And so it begins…

Where the hell have I been? Am I going deaf? Why do alligators eat people? Why haven’t I heard of BOAT before? These are a few questions I’ve asked myself while listening to the tracks posted on BOAT’s MySpace page. I LOVE this group and I am frantically trying to determine how they have escaped my radar until now.

As BOAT preps their new album, due to hit the world July 11 and subsequently titled Songs That You Might Not Like, it is difficult to understand why one would not like BOAT. They’re imaginative and poppy and their description of what they sound like is fantastic:

Reptile boy vocals being sung in the same room with many guitars, a bass, two drumsets, a Wurlitzer, several keyboards, mediocre talent, fragile egos, some soft tacos, a piece of pizza, and several Diet Cokes.

It’s meticulously hypnotic. It’s super-duper catchy. It’s wonderfully filled with lovable organs and heavy drums, my favorite instruments in the world (hand claps and melodicas) and a few oohs and aahs. This could very well become my favorite band. With a song off what I can only assume is their first full length or EP, Life is a Shipwreck, another off some random thing called Under the Covers with Grandma and two off their upcoming release on Magic Marker Records, I am left with yet another feeling of despair: where can I get a copy of the former two? The latter is easily found on the MMR website for $10, or on Amazon for damn near $16. But I can find no trace of Shipwreck or Grandma.

Part of the answer of where to find these albums and why the band has escaped my radar comes in the MMR bio of BOAT, attributed to one H. Fozzelberry:

This dream began taking shape with the release of a handmade album and EP “Life is a Shipwreck,” and “After All.” After several trips to the Paper Zone and Kinkos the band found themselves selling out of their homemade hand crafted albums and EPs as they began playing shows from Vancouver to San Francisco. Be it a house show or a biker bar the band is known for never playing the same show twice and never leaving the stage without sweat soaked shirts.

For now, I will have to settle for adding BOAT as a MySpace friend and picking up a copy of Songs That You Might Not Like off Magic Marker Records.

…and so it ends.

Originally posted July 8, 2006 (one month and two days after starting the site) on the old version of FensePost, I’m struck by just how much things have changed over the past several years. I’ve met D. Crane and his merry band of musicians. Crane once dedicated “Period, Backslash, Colon” to my mustache at a show at The Vera Project. I know J. Long (formerly of Racetrack out of Bellingham) and his girlfriend Erika through our mutual friend Keenan (formerly of Patience Please). I’d like to call them all good acquaintances, if not friends.

We’ve all come a long way, from those humble beginnings. Me, in the beginning of my music blogging days, FensePost in its infancy. Them as a newly transplanted band looking to make a name for themselves in the Emerald City of Rain.

Listening to “Lately”, it’s easy to hear why some are calling Setting the Paces the band’s most accomplished work yet – it sure sounds that way to me. And that’s saying a lot, as Songs That You Might Not Like and Let’s Drag Our Feet were both outstanding albums. There is one key consistency between all three *gratis* tracks (one from each album) and it’s that they’re all very solid, cohesive, good tunes.

So to call my eager awaiting of Setting the Paces a mere anticipation would be an understatement. I can’t f*ing wait!!!

To appease my longing, and somehow vicariously make it a little less hard to bear, here is a track off each BOAT album on Magic Marker. We’ll start with “Lately” off Setting The Paces, hop over to “(I’m A) Donkey For Your Love” from Let’s Drag Our Feet, and finally reminisce over “Last Cans Of Paint” from their debut MMR release Songs That You Might Not Like:

BOAT: Lately [mp3]
[audio:091114-boat-lately.mp3|titles=Lately|aritsts=BOAT]

BOAT: (I’m A) Donkey For Your Love [mp3]
[audio:091114-boat-donkey_for_your_love.mp3|titles=(I’m A) Donkey For Your Love|aritsts=BOAT]

BOAT: Last Cans Of Paint [mp3]
[audio:091114-boat-last_cans_of_paint.mp3|titles=Last Cans Of Paint|artists=BOAT]

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