matthew mondanile

matthew mondanile is the common link b/w real estate, ducktails, & predator vision.

real estate's s/t album is very unassuming upon casual listen, but its probably become one of my favorite albums that ive discovered this year. & if i could be bothered to keep up w/ new music or to compulsively compile lists, im sure it would have been on my top 10 of last year.

wikipedia describes the band as 'psychedelic surf pop,' which is about as good a description as any, i guess. the only thing ill add to that is that @ times i hear galaxie 500, which may explain why i love the album so much. this is the obvious standout track from the album, which also happens to bear the strongest galaxie 500 influence, imo. but pretty much every song on the album is solid.





i dont know all that much about ducktails. the only things i have are 'landscapes' & a split w/ dracula lewis on not not fun. the nnf split is pretty pointless i think, which is hard for me to say b/c i really dig nnf. the thing about 'landscapes' is that there are flashes of real estate, especially on the three-song run of 'spring,' 'oh magnolia tree,' & 'wishes.' i realize that they are entirely different projects, but you could probably trim down 'landscapes' to just those three songs, & it would be a better album than it presently is. its hard for me to choose a favorite out of the aforementioned ducktails songs, but why not.






as little as i know about ducktails, i know less about predator vision. the only thing i have by pv is a split w/ sun araw. pv's side is a fairly long jam that is only half interesting. it seems to me that pv emphasizes the elements of ducktails that i think are weak - meandering, hazy noise a la skaters. theres a time & place for all that, but i think mondaniles got this psych pop thing down.