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Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Everybody Solo!
For this installment of WRR, we're reviewing two solo albums from artists who are firmly established frontmen with other bands. For whatever reason, they've felt the need to step beyond the dynamics of their band situations, and the results are pretty good.
One personal note: Film school has recently compelled me to buy a pair of high end headphones. Not a tiny, tinny pair of earbuds, or even the over the ear foam ones from the old Walkman days. I mean large, stick out three inches from your ears, thick headband over the top headphones. And damn, am I thankful. Any self respecting music fan should be listening to their favorites in as much detail as possible, which you can't get out of your iPod, computer speakers, car stereo or probably even your home speakers.
Also, major bonus points if you know where I stole the post title from.
A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
By Sean B.
A.C. Newman knows how to write songs. For proof see the amazing Twin Cinema, the 2005 album from Newman's main project, The New Pornographers. For more proof, see this quote from Wikipedia: "The titular songs of the band's first two albums use at least six distinct major chords each, suggesting two or three different keys. The melody of the second of those songs, "The Electric Version", begins with an arpeggiated diminished triad—a rare opening flourish for a pop song." I have a vague notion of what that means and a vastly less clear idea of how to do it. But thats why I'm reviewing, and not writing, music.
Newman's second solo, Get Guilty, opens with the regal chord progression of "There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve." Did he use an arpeggiated diminished triad? I have no idea, but it doesn't matter because it sounds awesome (in the olden sense). One could easily a imagine a conductor leading an orchestra through this song. I also enjoy the songs self awareness in the line, "And the eyes they were a color I can't remember, which says more than the first two verses."
The grandeur of 'Ten or Twelve' leads into the pacific opening of "The Heartbreak Rides," which builds a steady momentum, drums picking up, dense layers of guitars, synths, keys filling the sonic palate until the end when a controlled outbreak leads to a rhythmic outro. "Like A Hitman Like A Dancer" continues in an upbeat manner and may be the funnest song on the album. "Submarines Of Stockholm" comes the closest to emulating the dynamic energy of The New Pornographers and "The Palace At 4 AM" is probably the highlight on this album.
There's nothing on Get Guilty that I do not like, but unfortunately, there's little that I absolutely love. The song writing is tops, but I feel the arrangements don't do them justice. A more prominent role for some electric guitars would really make the album more lively. There's just something flat and uncompelling about these songs, and I know its not in the song writing. After the mild let down of the last TNP album, I really wish that A.C. Newman would have let the full band take a crack at some of these songs. But perhaps he saved his best songs for an upcoming Pornographers album. Now that would be awesome.
When you are in a two person band, and the other guy plays the drums, I'm not sure what the compelling need to go solo is. Personally, if I were the drummer I'd be pretty offended. But that's about all I'm going to devote to questioning Dan Auerbach's motives. As the singer,
songwriter, guitar player for The Black Keys, Auerbach (and his drummer) have been churning out grungy, garage blues since 2002.
For the most part, Keep It Hid doesn't divert too far from the fuzzy, minor scale basics of other Black Keys recordings, but the opening track "Trouble Weighs A Ton" is beautiful in its acoustic austerity (This video doesn't do it justice). I'd question the sequencing here, but it is a beautiful and, as the title suggests, mournful song. The second song, "I Want Some More" sticks closer to the older Black Keys script, and slightly psychedelic "Heartbroken, In Disrepair" sounds like a b-side from the last BK album. "When The Night Comes" is a placid ballad, with sparse finger-picking, some strings in the background and an occasional bass drum. "The Prowl" is another straight up Keys song, with a slightly sinister edge. Titular track "Keep It Hid" is the biggest curve ball, with slightly quirky electronic production which sounds like it could have been produced by Damon Albarn. The acoustic "Goin' Home" is a pleasant little ditty that bookends the album nicely.
The major difference between Keep It Hid and other Black Keys albums is Auerbach's indulgence of various musical styles, whereas BK albums are a mostly homogeneous affair. The results are great and actually refreshing. It's nice to see an artist step out of their comfort zone, even if that comfort zone is just a drummer.
One personal note: Film school has recently compelled me to buy a pair of high end headphones. Not a tiny, tinny pair of earbuds, or even the over the ear foam ones from the old Walkman days. I mean large, stick out three inches from your ears, thick headband over the top headphones. And damn, am I thankful. Any self respecting music fan should be listening to their favorites in as much detail as possible, which you can't get out of your iPod, computer speakers, car stereo or probably even your home speakers.
Also, major bonus points if you know where I stole the post title from.
By Sean B.
A.C. Newman knows how to write songs. For proof see the amazing Twin Cinema, the 2005 album from Newman's main project, The New Pornographers. For more proof, see this quote from Wikipedia: "The titular songs of the band's first two albums use at least six distinct major chords each, suggesting two or three different keys. The melody of the second of those songs, "The Electric Version", begins with an arpeggiated diminished triad—a rare opening flourish for a pop song." I have a vague notion of what that means and a vastly less clear idea of how to do it. But thats why I'm reviewing, and not writing, music.
Newman's second solo, Get Guilty, opens with the regal chord progression of "There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve." Did he use an arpeggiated diminished triad? I have no idea, but it doesn't matter because it sounds awesome (in the olden sense). One could easily a imagine a conductor leading an orchestra through this song. I also enjoy the songs self awareness in the line, "And the eyes they were a color I can't remember, which says more than the first two verses."The grandeur of 'Ten or Twelve' leads into the pacific opening of "The Heartbreak Rides," which builds a steady momentum, drums picking up, dense layers of guitars, synths, keys filling the sonic palate until the end when a controlled outbreak leads to a rhythmic outro. "Like A Hitman Like A Dancer" continues in an upbeat manner and may be the funnest song on the album. "Submarines Of Stockholm" comes the closest to emulating the dynamic energy of The New Pornographers and "The Palace At 4 AM" is probably the highlight on this album.
There's nothing on Get Guilty that I do not like, but unfortunately, there's little that I absolutely love. The song writing is tops, but I feel the arrangements don't do them justice. A more prominent role for some electric guitars would really make the album more lively. There's just something flat and uncompelling about these songs, and I know its not in the song writing. After the mild let down of the last TNP album, I really wish that A.C. Newman would have let the full band take a crack at some of these songs. But perhaps he saved his best songs for an upcoming Pornographers album. Now that would be awesome.
When you are in a two person band, and the other guy plays the drums, I'm not sure what the compelling need to go solo is. Personally, if I were the drummer I'd be pretty offended. But that's about all I'm going to devote to questioning Dan Auerbach's motives. As the singer,
songwriter, guitar player for The Black Keys, Auerbach (and his drummer) have been churning out grungy, garage blues since 2002.For the most part, Keep It Hid doesn't divert too far from the fuzzy, minor scale basics of other Black Keys recordings, but the opening track "Trouble Weighs A Ton" is beautiful in its acoustic austerity (This video doesn't do it justice). I'd question the sequencing here, but it is a beautiful and, as the title suggests, mournful song. The second song, "I Want Some More" sticks closer to the older Black Keys script, and slightly psychedelic "Heartbroken, In Disrepair" sounds like a b-side from the last BK album. "When The Night Comes" is a placid ballad, with sparse finger-picking, some strings in the background and an occasional bass drum. "The Prowl" is another straight up Keys song, with a slightly sinister edge. Titular track "Keep It Hid" is the biggest curve ball, with slightly quirky electronic production which sounds like it could have been produced by Damon Albarn. The acoustic "Goin' Home" is a pleasant little ditty that bookends the album nicely.
The major difference between Keep It Hid and other Black Keys albums is Auerbach's indulgence of various musical styles, whereas BK albums are a mostly homogeneous affair. The results are great and actually refreshing. It's nice to see an artist step out of their comfort zone, even if that comfort zone is just a drummer.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Animal Party
Wow, I suck. Apologies to all my writers and readers (who may actually be the same people) for my lack of blogtivity. While spending time camping in the Florida wilderness, concurrently starting a job and internship, and attending school has kept my plate overflowing, I should not get it twisted, as the kids say, and keep this blog humming along.
Without further ado, here's two reviews that were given to me so long ago that you've probably listened to, worn out then rediscovered the albums. More to come soon!
Merriweather Post Pavilion is the ninth full length release from this collection of musicians originally from Baltimore. Following the critically acclaimed Strawberry Jam, fans of Animal Collective were left wondering how this group could really top themselves. The build-up for release was quite enormous, and somehow, someway, the boys managed to escape the wrath of the interwebs and avoided early leaks of the album (a December 25th one was rumored, but the quality was awful). The album title was released, along with the album art—a mind tricking fish that made the viewer wonder if someone had slipped some acid in their coffee (or was that just me?), as well as the track listing. Musical foreplay, if you will.
With the vinyl released on January 6th and the digital and CD versions released on January 20th, Merriweather Post Pavilion was met with the same critical acclaim as Strawberry Jam, but has also been acknowledged as easily the most accessible Animal Collective effort to date.
MPP is an album of songs that the band had been performing live for a while, with reworked beats and shiny new titles. Arguably the shining star of the record, “My Girls”, has been performed as “House” for a while now, but the power that it has on MPP is near euphoric. I may very well label it as one of the single greatest songs I’ve ever heard.
“My Girls” goes into “Also Frightened,” which, with it’s rain forest-like sound effects, makes me think of walking through the children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are. “Summertime Clothes” (My favorite, Ed.) is a song that is essentially about the disgustingly hot and humid nights that those of us familiar with the Mid-Atlantic summers know. But, for some reason, it strikes me as the love song of the album, if only for the chorus:
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
Just you just you just you just you
Just you just you just you just you
Just you just you just you just you
“Taste” is a song that really grew on me. First because of the amazingly blissed-out feel of it…it’s haunting and echo-y, and the listener feels as though they are in an empty banquet hall and this is being sung to them and only them. But again, after the actual sonic beauty of this song goes over, the lyrics are truly what distinguishes this as a great: “Am I really all the things that are outside of me? Would I complete myself without the things I like around?” Perhaps “Taste” can be written off as a self-indulgent, indie introspection at it’s finest, but that’s okay with me.
If there is a weak spot on this album, it’s certainly the latter half. It’s not as sonically complex; however, this is sort of shattered in a live atmosphere. “Lion in a Coma” is a powerful show opener (which they did at the Metro in Chicago) and “Brothersport” serves as an equally powerful bookend as a show closer (see the Grand Ballroom recording for proof).
When all’s said and done, this album has already earned my Album of the Year spot. It’s beautiful, it’s immaculately produced, it’s complex, and it’s just so unique. And despite my usual penchant for discounting awesome bands who produce albums that hurl them into mainstream consciousness, I just feel like a proud mama for Animal Collective. I’m glad they made an album that is technically “experimental” in nature, but is as accessible as Merriweather Post Pavilion is. Bravo!
P.S. The real treat is to see these fellas live. Their full US tour was announced! If you can get tickets (they’ve sold out almost everywhere already), get them and go!!!
Another Blast... and this time it's to an outer space dance party. At least that's how "Mercury," the first single off Intimacy, will have you feeling. The pounding rhythm takes one small step for man and one giant leap for house music in 2009. But that's not all this album has to offer. For those of you who've come in late on this band (where the hell have you been?), the post-punk Brit rock band took half the concept of their second album, A Weekend in the City, with its musings on the life of twenty-somethings in an urban environment, returned to their roots of driving drums and guitar riffs from their Silent Alarm days, and added ominous horns to reach entirely new outputs. It's dark, it's airy, it is in fact intimate.
Lines like "Paralyze me with your kiss, Wipe those dirty hands on me, Maybe we're looking for the same thing, Maybe you're the one who'll complete me", coupled with heavy drums and geared up guitar from tracks like "Halo" penetrate your ear and offer a good introduction to their sound and soul. And the epic "Ion Square" will have you nodding your head to synthesizers while crooning into the eyes of your significant other. E.E. Cummings provided the hook.
There's something here for everyone: Found your dancing shoes and in the mood to bounce around? Check out "Flux," "Mercury," or "Talons." Confused about love? Skip to "Better Than Heaven" and "Letter to My Son" (you'll think your listening to The Smiths). Heartbroken and bitter? "One Month Off" and "Your Visits are Getting Shorter" will have you simmering in self-pity. This album lets you take yourself seriously (or not), and rock out while doing so.
Without further ado, here's two reviews that were given to me so long ago that you've probably listened to, worn out then rediscovered the albums. More to come soon!
Merriweather Post Pavilion is the ninth full length release from this collection of musicians originally from Baltimore. Following the critically acclaimed Strawberry Jam, fans of Animal Collective were left wondering how this group could really top themselves. The build-up for release was quite enormous, and somehow, someway, the boys managed to escape the wrath of the interwebs and avoided early leaks of the album (a December 25th one was rumored, but the quality was awful). The album title was released, along with the album art—a mind tricking fish that made the viewer wonder if someone had slipped some acid in their coffee (or was that just me?), as well as the track listing. Musical foreplay, if you will.
With the vinyl released on January 6th and the digital and CD versions released on January 20th, Merriweather Post Pavilion was met with the same critical acclaim as Strawberry Jam, but has also been acknowledged as easily the most accessible Animal Collective effort to date.
MPP is an album of songs that the band had been performing live for a while, with reworked beats and shiny new titles. Arguably the shining star of the record, “My Girls”, has been performed as “House” for a while now, but the power that it has on MPP is near euphoric. I may very well label it as one of the single greatest songs I’ve ever heard.
“My Girls” goes into “Also Frightened,” which, with it’s rain forest-like sound effects, makes me think of walking through the children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are. “Summertime Clothes” (My favorite, Ed.) is a song that is essentially about the disgustingly hot and humid nights that those of us familiar with the Mid-Atlantic summers know. But, for some reason, it strikes me as the love song of the album, if only for the chorus:
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
I want to walk around with you
Just you just you just you just you
Just you just you just you just you
Just you just you just you just you
“Taste” is a song that really grew on me. First because of the amazingly blissed-out feel of it…it’s haunting and echo-y, and the listener feels as though they are in an empty banquet hall and this is being sung to them and only them. But again, after the actual sonic beauty of this song goes over, the lyrics are truly what distinguishes this as a great: “Am I really all the things that are outside of me? Would I complete myself without the things I like around?” Perhaps “Taste” can be written off as a self-indulgent, indie introspection at it’s finest, but that’s okay with me.
If there is a weak spot on this album, it’s certainly the latter half. It’s not as sonically complex; however, this is sort of shattered in a live atmosphere. “Lion in a Coma” is a powerful show opener (which they did at the Metro in Chicago) and “Brothersport” serves as an equally powerful bookend as a show closer (see the Grand Ballroom recording for proof).
When all’s said and done, this album has already earned my Album of the Year spot. It’s beautiful, it’s immaculately produced, it’s complex, and it’s just so unique. And despite my usual penchant for discounting awesome bands who produce albums that hurl them into mainstream consciousness, I just feel like a proud mama for Animal Collective. I’m glad they made an album that is technically “experimental” in nature, but is as accessible as Merriweather Post Pavilion is. Bravo!
P.S. The real treat is to see these fellas live. Their full US tour was announced! If you can get tickets (they’ve sold out almost everywhere already), get them and go!!!
Another Blast... and this time it's to an outer space dance party. At least that's how "Mercury," the first single off Intimacy, will have you feeling. The pounding rhythm takes one small step for man and one giant leap for house music in 2009. But that's not all this album has to offer. For those of you who've come in late on this band (where the hell have you been?), the post-punk Brit rock band took half the concept of their second album, A Weekend in the City, with its musings on the life of twenty-somethings in an urban environment, returned to their roots of driving drums and guitar riffs from their Silent Alarm days, and added ominous horns to reach entirely new outputs. It's dark, it's airy, it is in fact intimate.
Lines like "Paralyze me with your kiss, Wipe those dirty hands on me, Maybe we're looking for the same thing, Maybe you're the one who'll complete me", coupled with heavy drums and geared up guitar from tracks like "Halo" penetrate your ear and offer a good introduction to their sound and soul. And the epic "Ion Square" will have you nodding your head to synthesizers while crooning into the eyes of your significant other. E.E. Cummings provided the hook.
There's something here for everyone: Found your dancing shoes and in the mood to bounce around? Check out "Flux," "Mercury," or "Talons." Confused about love? Skip to "Better Than Heaven" and "Letter to My Son" (you'll think your listening to The Smiths). Heartbroken and bitter? "One Month Off" and "Your Visits are Getting Shorter" will have you simmering in self-pity. This album lets you take yourself seriously (or not), and rock out while doing so.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Blast From The Past
Man Man – Rabbit Habits
By Jason C.
Two thousand nine is still pretty fresh, so while we give it a little time to b
loom, I felt we should look back on another album from ought-eight. This hidden jewel comes from the strange audio-scribblings of Philadelphia's Man Man. Their latest album, Rabbit Habits, puts the band in a very good light, as it is their catchiest and most pop-sensible one to date, but showcases the qualities that make their live shows so enthralling. This is a surprising dichotomy for a band with such an unclassifiable style. The most accurate description of these guys that I've read was "gypsy-swamp-rock-carny-soul- viking-vaudeville-punk." Quite a mouthful, I know.These experimenters have a penchant for using a wide variety of instruments, along with many non-instruments (such as kitchenware and toys), to conjure up a sound that truly puts them in a genre of their own. While this record seems to be the logical continuation of their last release, Six Demon Bag, it displays more mature song writing and is, on the whole, much more accessible (God, I hate using the word "accessible" but there was really no other way).
The album kicks off with the spastic dance-a-thons of "Mister Jung Stuffed" and my personal favorite, "Hurly/Burly." It then veers into piano ballads such as "Doo Right" and the title track, sails the chaotic seas of live-show dynamite with "Harpoon Fever" and "Top Drawer, " and closes with the lounge-act magnificence of "Whalebones." All in all, this is a thoroughly entertaining album, but it requires the proper mood and mindset. So, picture a world where Frank Zappa is president and Tom Waits is VP. In that world, Man Man's Rabbit Habits would be like Nirvana's Nevermind.
Not unlike many retro sounding bands like MGMT, Chad VanGaalen rehashes and updates older music - however, C.V. seems to channel one artists' nuances rather than a whole genre or era. It’s hard to listen to Chad VanGaalen’s Soft Airplane and not hear Neil Young throughout. From the warbly nasal voice, the melancholy ballads and the crunchy garage rockers it seems as if Chad is a modern channel for Neil.VanGaalen peppers his songs with loops, blips and keyboards but nowhere enough to consider this an “electronic” album. Death is a common theme throughout, from the plucky banjo opener “Willow Tree” (in which VanGaalen requests a Viking funeral), the surprisingly upbeat “Cries of the Dead" (nuff said), and the eery “Molten Light” (a story about a girl who is either a ghost or was nearly murdered and… okay, it’s getting morbid). The album isn’t nearly as depressing as I’m making it sound, but that’s not to say its all puppies and rainbows either.
I prefer the more garage rocky tunes like “Bones of Man” and “Bare Feet On Wet Griptape” along with the most “produced” song, “Phantom Anthills,” but I enjoy many of the folksier ones as well. Since I've never heard of Chad VanGaalen, I decided to do some in depth investigation. He’s a Canadien who has been signed to Sub-Pop since 2005 and has released one previous album called Skelliconnection along with a few EPs. I have no idea where I found this album, or how it got onto my computer, but I do know that Soft Airplane is damn good enough that now I’m going to track down this Skelliconnection.
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