video: Forest Fire "Slow Motion"

"By The Freeway"

The watchful eye of a Grandmother looking out on the kids filling her wood paneled basement could conjure a daunting, almost scornful, sentiment. Rather, in the case of Union Hall, it's homey. Albeit, a creepy sort of home, half dilapidated and populated by rusty steel sewing machines, withering bits of ancient love letters and the dust of cobwebs past and present. It's no surprise that Forest Fire, whose debut album was recently re-released by Infinite Best, look right at home in the taxidermy laden room. "Slow Motion," which kicked off the evening, felt even more appropriate in the basement of the Brooklyn bar, where the passing of time is comparable to the pace of a morphine drip, or worse, the amount of time it takes your landlord to fix your leaky ceiling. Either way, its a moment worthy of re-living, if at least in your mind, once or twice before you pass, if only so you can say "ah yes, that was a nice night."

Presents...Forest Fire at Union Hall

"With Gattling Gun Social Skills"
It is with extreme pleasure and honor that I would like to announce the first Chocolate Bobka Presents... show: Forest Fire's CD release party at Union Hall on Monday August 10th. The show, which will mark the re-release of Forest Fire's ramshackle wonder Survival, which LA BLOGOTHEQUE named "Best Album of 2008." (Not bad, eh?) It should also be noted that the records first "proper" release will come on the brand spanking new Infinite Best label, run by our good friend and former-Bobka contributor Hunter Giles. The show will mark Forest Fire's first time in New York since last winter, and will also feature Shilpa Ray, amongst a bevy of special guests.

More details in the near future, but for now, mark your calendars, as August 10th is going to be a really fun night.

PS- There will be cookies. (I am not joking.)


Forest Fire- Fortune Teller

"Fortune Teller" live at The Apartment

in rotation: Forest Fire

"I Don't Like What I've Become"

I have no idea how I found out about Forest Fire, but two days ago their infectious "I Make Windows" came on shuffle. After a little sleuthing, I found out that Forest Fire are a, surprise surprise, Brooklyn band, by way of Portland, specializing in atmospheric, bourbon soaked, tin-shack country folk. Sure, they fall into the extremely broad "Indie" category, but the songs off their record Survival feel more like urban twang or industrial hymns written in an abandoned warehouse in Bushwick than freak folk or goth folk or whatever the sweet folk the kids are digging this week is. Survival, released this summer, is an understated, overlooked gem that feels more like a stepping stone to something bigger than a master statement. Their bio notes that "Survival was recorded over an eight month period in two locations - Brooklyn, New York and Portland, Oregon. “Not all the members of Forest Fire live on the same coastline,” Mark Thresher explains, “So when certain friends roll through town, things happen pretty quickly.” Many of the tracks were recorded live in less than five takes, then maniacally overdubbed by a variety of players. Sometimes there was only one microphone for the entire band. Sometimes they pulled out a few more." If that's not enticing enough, NYC Taper favorite Sharon Van Etten and Nick Deiffs of the Shaky Hands lend their vocals on a few tracks. Oh yeah, and the album is available for free on archive.org, so what are you waiting for? Snatch Survival here, then go buy Cotton Jones Basket Ride's The Archery EP and chew on the wonders of the new East Coast atmospheric folk scene.

Forest Fire doesn't have any dates scheduled, but you can catch The Shaky Hands at the Mercury Lounge Saturday and Sharon Van Etten at Zebulon on Sunday. Both are Bobk-approved and highly recommended.