Real Estate - “Art Vandelay” (Daytrotter session)
Ducktails’ ‘studio’ version of this song is a lot more muted—sounds like someone strumming around a bonfire at the beach and blah blah blah—which is totally fine and technically more ‘finished,’ but this full-band Daytrotter session is my favorite. If there’s one thing Real Estate excel at, it’s endlessly circular riffs, little patterns that never grate as they repeat over a whole song (or even an extended live jam). Combined with their uncanny ability to blend together as an ensemble, it gives you the sense that the song could go on forever and no one would really mind.
But I wouldn’t put it up here like this if it was just This Year’s Best Example of How Good Real Estate Are. “Art Vandelay” (sic) has a wonderfully rollicking and versatile cadence. The chord changes jump out on the louder chorus parts, which provides an excuse for lots of cymbal crashes and shaggy headbanging, but the verses snap right back to angular rhythms and playful guitars. That lead/solo at the end is killer (sometimes all you have to do is play the familiar melody with gusto) and Matt Mondanile makes a convincing slacker, his voice creaking and cracking from lack of effort. I don’t really know what it’s about—looking for a lost handkerchief I guess?—but the “Everybody knows…” melody is irresistibly wistful and warm. A slam dunk all around.
