***Just in time to kick off summer, Helsinki, Finland's daydreaming pop tunesmiths, TEINI-PÄÄ, return with a four-track EP that's on assignment to swallow your insecurities and your anxieties, and spit them back to the world in bubbles of carefree elation and effervescent romantic charm. At the end of the day, the reason we are drawn to the music that sticks with us, is because it moves us and strikes an emotional response that tickles our chemicals in a way that we want to keep coming back over, and over, and over, chasing the initial high. The way that "Mietin Minne Meet" washes along the break between tight and clean, upbeat indiepop melancholia and a nostalgic power-pop-punk sound—that is specifically Scandinavian in its nuance here—brings me back to that heart-in-throat wonderment I felt the first time I heard (and fell in love with) TEINI-PÄÄ's tunes. Lyrically the record spends most of its time in its own head, trying to work through some shit—which makes a whole lot of sense when you learn that the band name translates to "Teen Head"—and Renata Rojo's artwork reflects this theme flawlessly.
7" $7.00
05/17/2024
***The first non-audio project from Vague Absolutes is a small book of polaroids by TOM BONAURO. Long before earning commercial and critical accolades for his work with Emigre magazine, Levi’s, Gus Van Sant, and Todd Oldham, Bay Area graphic designer Tom Bonauro could be observed in the night clubs of California’s new wave and fledgling punk scenes during the late 1970s and earliest part of the 1980s, clubs such as San Francisco’s Fab Mab, and the Masque in Los Angeles. Apart from mere spectatorial roles, Tom contributed his avant-garde eye for design to layout spreads and adverts for underground periodicals of the day, like Boulevards and Another Room, and album artwork for visionary local bands like Minimal Man and The Hoovers. This small book compiles 27 polaroids captured by the artist during that wonderfully-seedy era of West Coast decadence and audacious self-expression. First edition of 150 copies 56 pages, uncoated paper stock, and matte laminated cover Printed by Brown Printing in Portland, Oregon.
BK $17.75
10/04/2019