At the Spine
Vita
© 2008 At the Spine/Michael Toschi (796873078054)
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An aural feast stretching from the sweet Gothic streets of Barcelona and the salty sands of Mediterranean, to the grit and grime of the darker sides of London.
tracks
- 1 Chisel
- 2 Crumble
- 3 Accordion
- 4 Primrose Hill
- 5 Transylvania
- 6 Spanish Anarchy
- 7 The French Girl
- 8 Sometimes
- 9 Delirious
- 10 Nora
- 11 6 AM
- 12 Dine
- 13 World Turned Upside Down
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- GLOBAL SEEPEJ RECORDS SAMPLER: Future/present 2002: A Collection Of Demo's, Rough Mixes, Upcoming Releases, Etc., From Global Seepej Records
- THE PLAINS: On Earth as it is in Heaven
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- THE HELP: Justice, Impunity, Foodstuffs and so forth...
genres you will love
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notes
"Their fourth album in five years, Vita is an impressive statement from Seattle alt-rock trio At the Spine. Penned during a tumultuous period overseas where frontman Mike Toschi fled to the UK—only to be jumped and beaten a few days into his trip—the album is lyrically peppered with flawed characters far and wide, and is structured around the impressive songwriting skills of Toschi, whose confident voice carries the band's solid, if a tad bit predictable, alt-rock sound. The highlight of Vita comes in the detail-heavy "Crumble," with lyrics like: "Crystal New Ager with a necklace of beads/Ted Nugent-type cowards who lie through their teeth." Making fun of the 'Nuge is not recommended for anyone not heavily armed at all times. If the members of At the Spine are mysteriously killed by a hunting bow and turned into delicious jerky, I think we'll all know who did it." (EAC, Portland Mercury, Portland, OR Aug 21st, 2008)
Vita is the fourth album in five years for the Seattle born and based band At the Spine. This album was mainly written in Europe after main ATS songwriter Mike Toschi (Toe-skee) left the states in the final days of 2006. Having grown increasingly disenchanted and frustrated with the political conservatism of the country and the continual corruption of industry and government, Toschi secured a six-month work permit for the UK and left to explore music, culture, people, and politics of Europe, unsure if he would return.
On New Year’s Eve of 2006, a few days into his visit, Toschi was jumped by five males (claiming to be from Iraq) after a trivial verbal exchange near Trafalgar Square in central London. After a few days of recovery, he began working as a privatized substitute teacher in a stretch known as Murder Mile in the Hackney section of London. Flashbacks of teaching in the South Bronx were constant and depressing. He found the same poverty, segregation, and failing state school system, but in a country with less armed citizens where kids would call you sir while treating you like dirt.
As an American during an unpopular war and president, teaching children in England’s class stratified system was not a pleasant situation. But as London was not a cheap place to live, he plugged onward in various teaching assignments, taking advantage of all school breaks and the strength of the British currency to explore the rest of Europe and write songs.
Like life everywhere, there were good times and bad times: beauty, ugliness, lust, love, sex, kind hearted strangers, thugs, and thieves. The isolation and loneliness of being an immigrant away from the lifelines of home. Hitchhiking into the mountains of Emilia Romagna to search for and find relatives in a village of 100 people. Spending a week in Barcelona, or a day passing through southern France. Struggling to crack into the London/EU music scene. An occasional night homeless or stranded in the middle of nowhere. Loving, hating, thinking, and reflecting. “Vita”, Latin and Italian for “Life”. Sometimes sour, sometimes sweet.
After seven months struggling to find a drummer in London, Toschi returned to the U.S., reconstituted the At the Spine and began experimenting with and polishing the songs written abroad. Re-joining him were drummer Chris Croft and guitar wizard Richie Parish. Adding some new blood and ideas on bass, guitar, and organ was an old Seattle skateboarding and music friend from his youth, Doug Starcevich. The album was recorded in Portland, OR with longtime friend and engineer Rob Bartleson (Wilco, Pink Martini, Pond, etc.) at Haywire recording in Portland, OR, with additional tracking done in Seattle.