Californication

The Wedding Present - El Rey

Almost as soon as the details about The Wedding Present's latest album were released earlier this year, people began referring to it at David Gedge's "L.A. album," as if it's some artistic right of passage that every traveling troubadour goes through. But apart from the titles of a couple of songs and the Tinsel Town references of "Spiderman On Hollywood," El Rey is no more an L.A. album than Take Fountain (the band's previous record) was a Seattle album. The songs explore the same subjects Gedge has addressed throughout his career... love and lust, relationships and breakups, flirtations and affairs, all told in such conversational detail that the lyrics would border on creepy if they weren't so brilliant. The re-pairing of the band with producer Steve Albini has definitely resulted in a slightly darker, more urgent sounding record, but with with more hints of sly humor than Gedge has shown since the early days of Cinerama. Although fans who expected the aggressiveness of 1991's Seamonsters might be disappointed, people who rejoice in witty tales for the lovelorn will love it.

The Wedding Present - "Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk" (mp3)

The Weddoes will be doing a month's worth of North American dates starting in mid-September. Hit up their myspace page for details.