Category Archives: music

2007, albums, music, reviews

The Bad Plus – Prog

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The Bad Plus

I love a group of musicians that can get together and just play. There may be an umbrella style that they fit under, but when it comes down to it there are all sorts of influences involved. Genre-bending, undefinable, whatever you want to call it. Animal Collective, Cuff the Duke, Of Montreal, Eighth Blackbird, Sonic Youth, Beck, Les Georges Leningrad and The Bad Plus are all bands that are impossible to solidly nail down to one particular genre. Sure Sonic Youth is “rock” but they sound nothing like the Flaming Lips, who could also be categorized in the same way. Speaking of which, how the hell would one categorize the Flaming Lips anyway….

That is neither here nor there. If you have not checked out the latest release from the super talented, jazz inflicted-rock inspired prodigious talents The Bad Plus, then you owe yourself. There are far too many things going on in this album to be able to point out in one blog-post, but leave it to me to try anyway.

Although I am never usually a fan of cover songs, I suppose that the exception to the rule would be when bands decide to try something totally new with their cover versions. The versions of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, which opens the album, “Life on Mars” and “Tom Sawyer” fit flawlessly amidst original tunes “Physical Cities” (more on this tune later…) “Thriftstore Jewelry” and “Mint”.

The album floats effortlessly by, without a hint of pretension. One can tell after listening to this album (and watching some footage of them on ye olde Youtube) that this is a group of 3 very talented individuals that simply has fun playing music. From my understanding they record their albums with a limited use of overdubs, putting this fairly close to a live-in-studio album (obvious overdub on “Life On Mars” but other than that I can’t spot any). Because of this the album is not flawless, it is real. This album is amazing because of this. It lacks the overproduced, overperfected and factory produced albums that are cranked out every day.

Pianist Ethan Iverson masterfully rips through a piano solo with as much excitement as anyone with an electric guitar has ever done. Taking a listen to “Tom Sawyer” you would think that Iverson has two brains, with brilliantly voiced right hand lines emerging over the top of an extremely busy yet acutely articulated left hand accompaniment. They imaginatively incorporate their own material into the song so flawlessly you would be led to believe that Geddy Lee and co. meant to do it in the first place over 25 years ago.

The Bad Plus“Life on Mars” builds to a fiery crescendo with grand octaves and the entire ensemble playing out as if they were trying to fill a stadium without the aid of amplification while drummer David King plays with pinpoint accuracy and mathematical complexity. “Mint” remains somewhat restrained, not coming off quite as dynamic as the rest of the album, but providing the listener with a well deserved break. Some light whimsy to help digest the monstrously progged out “Physical Cities”.

“Physical Cities” deserves a post to itself. This is a prog fans dream. The final three minutes of this track are among the most rhythmically intense and demanding I have ever heard. I realize that there is a pattern at work, there must be, and I think that I have found the beginning of it, but it is the longest most complex combination of syncopations and tuplets I have ever heard. When King lays down a solid drumbeat over top, alternating accents with the kick drum it is absolutely unbelievable. Musicianship to such a high caliber that everyone I have let listen to it says something to the effect of “how do they do that?” or simply “nooooo”. But believe it folks, there are still real live musicians out there that value true showmanship and virtuosity.

If you don’t believe that music can be serious and fun then you should check out closing track “1980 World Champion”, a fast paced, swinging jaunt that uncovers the answer to the question, “What would it sound like if Buddy Rich tried to write the theme to the olympics”. The song gets off to a rolling start, breaks down into bombast and then launches forward once again.

“Thriftstore Jewelry” is another lighter tune like “Mint” that sounds like something Page McConnell might try, though The Bad Plus are able to take their forms to new levels rather than simply wandering around in mundane cliches before cascading in a downward spiral towards boring repetitive stagnation. It is worth noting that I, personally, find it fun that the end of “This Guy’s in Love With You” features a recapitulation of the rhythmic material originally found in “Physical Cities”. These guys truly are having fun with their art.

An amazingly well formed album played extraordinarily well by a group of 3 phenomenal musicians.
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music, philosophy, thoughts, Uncategorized

Listening to Jandek

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A few weeks ago a friend gave me a recording of various albums by reclusive, outsider musician superstar Jandek. If you don’t know anything about Jandek, and you are interested, there is quite a back story involved. A good place to start is with the wikipedia article about him. Although I usually stay away from wikipedia for anything even quasi-“research” related, there is such scant information about the man anywhere that this is pretty much the authority, along with a very detailed fansite, done fastidiously by Seth Tisue (http://tisue.net/jandek/). Seth’s site includes vary detailed descriptions of many of the albums, ordering info and what not in case you are interested.

Basically the story is that there is a guy, living in Houston, Texas, nobody is 100% sure who he is (though his real name is most likely Sterling Richard Smith), and nobody is sure what he does for a living (possibly a machinist)…but basically somewhere along the line this man, whoever he is, began recording music, alone. He releases albums by himself through a label that represents nobody else called Corwood Industries. He has released 51 albums to date since 1978, and up until just recently (2004) NEVER appeared in public. He gave an interview that appeared in the first article of Spin, but other than that has been almost completely anonymous.

Somehow his music was discovered, through all of this. Somehow people became interested in this very strange music. Through the wikipedia article one can find out what they need to know about the mystery that is Jandek, that’s where I learned all that I know about him, and that is not what I would like to concentrate on in this post. What I would like to discuss is one of my favorite topics: “What is music?”

There are two camps of people basically, amongst those that even know about Jandek. The first feel that he is a genius like no other and that he is pretty damn near close to a god walking on this Earth. The other faction feels that what he creates is not music and he should not be held up on this pedestal that fans of outsider music have put him up on. I stand pretty much with the first group, though I often hesitate to throw out the “genius” qualifier.

It is true that this music is like no other, though that is not to say that it doesn’t have its influence from something. It is clear that the lyrics, their content, their form (where there is one) and the style of singing that is totally wrought with intense emotion are derived from the folk and more importantly the blues traditions of the south, namely his home of Texas. This is intense music. I will say that I disagree with the naysayers that feel that Jandek is just making noise, not music, and that he is talentless.

First of all what we need to discuss is not only what is music, but what does one expect from music? This, I feel, is a more important question than anything, it is THE question. Not just regarding music, this question should be asked of everything. What do you expect to take away from any experience that you percieve?

JandekListening to Jandek requires one to be an active participant. One can not just passively let the sound wash over them, it is not art that functions in that way. This is not the kind of music that one would put on in the background at a part. This is intensely heartfelt, soul wrenching and usually terrifying stuff. Although it is usually assumed that Jandek does not tune his guitar, if one listens closely it is possible to hear that the guitar is usually tuned to an open tuning of some sort or another, usually something bizarre, most likely of his own devising. The early albums consist completely of open strings on the guitar and a waling vocal. Later works may include other instruments, and violent and dramatic guitar butchering. His left hand attacks the fretboard while he screams out in pain.

There is no question as to whether or not this is art or not. The fact is, plain and simple, that it is art, an art that appeals to a certain group of open minded individuals. I will be bold enough to say that I am one such of the open minded individuals. One may ask, “where is the melody, where is the harmony, where is the rhythm, WHAT is the rhythm?”….all of the elements of music are in fact there though, I would argue.

The melody is, of course, in the vocal line. The harmony is in the guitar, the rhythm is in the combination of the two. This is where things get complicated: It is not that there is a lack of any of these elements, for there can’t be. You can not have sound, any sound at all without something that can be deemed melody, rhythm or harmony, you just need to redefine it for each instance. The melody is extremely hard to follow, does not repeat usually or regularly and can waver between only a few pitches. The harmony is not able to be defined by roman numeral analysis, such that music theorists may try, or by chord names or anything that has been previously thought of.

In order to appreciate this music on any level at all one must completely set aside everything that they think they already know about music. One has to listen with a fresh perspective, it’s going to ask you what you truly think and know about music, it is truly going to test your limits. I think that someone that comes to discover Jandek is most likely already pretty deep into music and will be willing to listen with an openness that someone who hears Jandek, say, through a friend, may not have.

Jandek is to pop/rock/folk/blues (whatever guitar driven music you can even think to classify it as) what John Cage was to concert music. He is more a philosopher than a musician. It is true that he is telling a story through his lyrics, he is creating a different world for us to visit while we listen and he is definitely amplifying the emotion and meaning of his thoughts through the medium of music. He chooses to do it in such a personal style that nobody could ever duplicate. If you think that his music is just aimless noise then by all means, try to mimic him. You will not be able to. The music is connected to Jandek alone.

Thoughts like this make me wish that I could start my musical training all over again. One of the hardestJandek album cover things to do is to find a voice and style of your own when you decide that you are going to create music. It is so easy to sound derivative, mimicking everything that you take in. Jandek apparently did not get this memo. Without going on for days and days repeating myself I could conclude by saying that everything that Jandek presents to us should shock us.

Another question that comes to mind is: How does music or art of this kind come to be discovered? It is my belief that something this truly originally, and this emotionally shocking will intrigue whoever decides to pay attention. Something of this nature says something about ourselves, not only is is challenging to ourselves, but it is shocking and frustrating because it is art that is telling us something about ourselves that either we did not know about ourselves, or we were repressing for a long time. How did Jandek know this about us? That is the frustrating and angering part, that there can be someone out there that is more in tune with how we feel and what it is to be human than ourselves. If you ever thought you knew yourself well enough, you may now discover that you were wrong. The scariest things sometimes come from within. Imagine carrying around with you something that you were not aware of and then one day someone reaches in and pulls out this shocking, revealing piece of your psyche. Of course you are going to be devastated. This is the music of Jandek.

He is making us question what we would define as music, and all the elements contained therein. He is also forcing us to think about how that would pertain to everything else in our lives. We should always be thinking about our motivations, our expectations and our thoughts about everything and there should never be a single thing that we let slip by unnoticed or unanalyzed. We should be active in our minds at all times, constantly questioning and requestioning everything that we think should be considered a “given”. Not a single thing in life should be taken for granted. Continue reading Listening to Jandek →

2007, albums, music, reviews

Spoon – "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"

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My Interpol obsession has recently given way to one for Spoon.

Well that isn’t entirely true. Interpol went to Matt Good, which went to Of Montreal, and by the time I saw Of Montreal in Buffalo Radiohead had released their new album and I was obsessed with that for a few weeks, listening to it upwards of 10 times a day, THEN I went back to Spoon.

Several months ago, after seeing Spoon at the Pitchfork Music Festival in July of 2006 I began trying to get to know them in earnest. I knew one song when I saw them, “Small Stakes”, and they didn’t even play it. I stood there, far away from the stage haphazardly filming bits of their set not knowing what the hell was going on, but knowing in the back of my mind that Spoon is an important band that I should know. I soon began listening to as much of their stuff as I could get my hands on. I started with the early stuff, which was not a good idea, because that stuff just isn’t quite as strong as more recent material. Spoon, come to find out, grows significantly, noticeably, with each release.

They don’t really become a force to be reckoned with until “Girls Can Tell” in my opinion. There are always hints at what they would become in earlier releases, but it is not until that album that they actually find their voice. “Kill the Moonlight” is good too, the same can’t be said for “Gimme Fiction” but what can be said is that they are prolific. Spoon is one of those bands that just seems to always be writing, which is a good thing, even if they falter now and then.

They really hit the mark with their latest release, “Ga ga ga ga ga”. This album is instantly catchy rightSpoon - “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” from the first listen. Brit Daniel and company are focused on tight songwriting, and the sound, oh man the SOUND of this album is phenomenal. It’s not densely layered like an Interpol album in any sense. Everything is easily heard in the mix. Each of the instruments take up their own space, yet the band cranks away like a machine. The album doesn’t feel overproduced, but one can hear the painstaking detail that went into creating it. There are production values similar to Phil Spector on tracks like “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” and tracks that have a more live feel to them, like “The Underdog” where everything is up front more and dryer.

I really enjoy Spoon’s use of reverb throughout this album. It becomes an element unto itself on many of the songs, especially in “Eddies Ragga” where the main guitar line plays a single chord through most of the verse with the big room reverb being switched on and off to mark the phrasing. Very inventive. It really drives the song, grabs your ear and changes the feel of the song for that split second. I have never known a band to utilize changes in timbre as an element to their songwriting.

The addition of horns on a few tracks also adds a new element to Spoon’s sound. “The Underdog”, although it sounds very similar to Billy Joel, is one of the strongest tunes on the album. Strong singing with plenty of conviction, a detuned fuzzed out guitar, horns, syncopated handclaps and an acoustic guitar that is properly mic’d, so that one doesn’t just hear the pick smacking against the strings (one of my biggest pet peeves).

Throughout the album I am reminded of Frank Zappa’s “Absolutely Free”, excuse me The Mother’s of Invention….we all know it was all Zappa, anyway… throughout much of the album, in between songs and sometimes during, it is possible to hear Brit talking to the engineer, to the producer. One can also hear other band members talking, and other various studio goings on. This gives the album a feel of a quasi-themeatic venture. Sort of like a day in the life of Spoon. It appears as though they would like to project themselves as a studio band, based on what I see in the video for “The Underdog”, not to mention earlier videos for “Small Stakes” which also features Brit tinkering in the studio during what seems to be late nights.

This album is fairly solid all the way through. Not perfect, but still great. The best that Spoon has put out so far. They have definitely found their niche, and I hope that they will take more time exploring what they have found while making this album instead of veering off course to experiment. I think that an album like this has the potential to propel a band like Spoon into the realm of leaders of their scene. They are a band with a strong following, and a prolific songbook in the making. There was an excitement that I felt during their SNL performance that was not imagined, Pitchfork picked up on it and Youtube responded. Spoon could soon be heralded as the next saviors of rock (sorry Strokes, Rolling Stone needs to give it a break with you guys). This is a definite contender for album of the year.

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miscellaneous, music, personal, thoughts

Classic albums

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Today I was flipping through the channels, for the first time in a long time. When I am at school I don’t ever have a chance to watch television, and my apartment doesn’t have cable, so often times I’m out of the loop when it comes to current events. I just keep my nose to the grindstone and plow forward with my head down, ignoring pretty much all that is around me. This makes the passage of time seem to me very quick.

While I was flipping through the channels I came across one of the extended cable channels, MTV Hits. I don’t know what their normal programming is, but as long as it is nothing like Fuse (R.I.P. MuchMusic USA) or like any of the other MTV channels…..(remember when they promised MTV2 would ONLY show videos?) I’ll give it a shot. Today they were playing Nirvana unplugged. There was a scroll across the bottom of the screen stating that “Finally, nearly 14 years to the day after this session of unplugged, Nirvana Unplugged will be available on DVD“.

I thought to myself, 14 years? That can’t be right, it’s 2007, and this is from 1993, that’s only…..14 years! When did this happen? Where has the time gone.

I remember waiting to see Nirvana Unplugged, it was in this house actually, just over there. I remember afterwards, I think the next day, my brother hooked up our stereo to the VCR and we stripped the audio from our video tape and listened to it in our walkmans (cassette walkmans). We were so ahead of our time, but I digress.

So much has happened since then. I was in 7th grade, now I’m halfway through 2 master’s degrees. My brother was a Sophomore in high school and now he lives in Chicago with his wife and has a real actual career. Where has the time gone? I remember lots of things happening, but I can’t believe it has been 14 years. I guess it is just getting to the point in my life, and the lives of everyone I know where we are starting to realize that somewhere along the way our lives have begun without us knowing. I think we are all still trying to resist.

I get notifications on facebook or myspace about people getting engaged, or having kids and I usually just scoff like people that I graduated with shouldn’t be worrying about that stuff yet. But in all honesty, their timing is just about right. I’m the one that is in denial.

Somewhere along the way Nirvana’s entire career became legendary. This was already happening to some extent while they were still around and touring. It was solidified when Kurt died. Nirvana would be legendary, the gold standard for quality in music for years and years to come. They became our generations band, not only being our voice but our representative for our feelings, our politics and our middle finger to the establishment. Finally we had a band that our parents would never understand. While they cling to the Beatles we have Nirvana.

Nevermind was an important album, and stands up to the test of time, as does In Utero. The Unplugged performance is a wholly other thing, raw, emotional, honest, great. I guess part of my disbelief in that it occurred so long ago was that I can’t believe that I was lucky enough to have lived in the right time to have witnessed it all. Things going on in music now just aren’t as exciting.

We had Pearl Jam. Yes, they are still around today, but haven’t done anything worthwhile since No Code in my opinion. We had Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, and on and on.

Pearl Jam’s “Ten” I remember listening to until my tape wore out and I had to buy another. I couldn’t believe how awesome the guitar solo on “Alive” was. I still listen to that album on occasion and remember how I felt back in 199—-whatever staying over at friends houses and listening to it over and over again.

Soundgarden’s “Superunknown” is another one that got fairly constant rotation on my walkman. Also “Down on the Upside”, their brilliant swan song. These albums defined me as a teenager, wandering around the town I lived in wondering what the hell I was doing, what I was going to do and hating everyone and everything just like any good 14 year old should. Growing up and not wanting to, being too smart for my own good and having dreams that I could never achieve.

No album exemplified these feelings better than the Smashing Pumpkins “Siamese Dream”. I remember stealing that tape from my brother and going on a camping trip with my friend Dave. We listened to that album probably 50 times in those 2 days. Sure the singles were great, “Today”, “Cherub Rock”, but we were always more interested in “Soma”, “Hummer”, and “Mayonnaise”. We formed a band. We were terrible, we tried to play those songs, it rarely, if ever worked, but it was fun.

These albums, with Sonic Youth’s “Dirty” and “Experimental, Jet Set, Trash and No Star” were all so important to me, and still are. There is no way that they ever won’t be. My life is forever defined by these albums, it is undeniable. The noise on “Dirty” was so unbelievable when I first heard it, and the sound, the rhythms, it was everything I ever wanted in an album. I remember thinking to myself when confused about something going on in “Dirty”, “Well it’s Sonic Youth, they can do whatever they want”. This seems just about right, yeah, but I had no frame of reference, that was the first SY album that I had heard. I just knew, you can just tell with some bands that they are worthy.

I spend countless hours downloading, or trying to download new music, fueling this need to hear what is going to be my next soundtrack. Very rarely does anything fill such an important spot. The most important and influential holes have already been plugged. Radiohead was in existence with my Smashing Pumpkins obsession, there was an overlap, but they never really reached the same status. Although Radiohead apparently has much more in terms of staying power with their phenomenal “In Rainbows” up against the forgettable “Zeitgeist” by the Pumpkins, my poor, poor fallen Smashing Pumpkins. They should have just stopped after Adore, that was their peak. I could slap Billy Corgan if I was given the chance.

There is nothing wrong with embracing these albums as generation defining. I will never listen to adult contemporary factory produced garbage. These albums are my life, Nirvana is my Beatles, and that is something to be proud of. Music evolves, defines us, takes a snapshot of society, and culture. We can hold on to our memories and our childhood while time forces us to become all the things we never wanted to become but are inevitable, and the music will help with that. Our music is honest to a fault and will never lie to us.

2007, albums, music, reviews

Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam

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This is my introduction to the music of Animal Collective. From what I understand they are a growing band with quite a large following, and from what I hear, this is for good reason.Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

Out of nowhere now I am putting this album in the running for my best of the year round-up that will be coming up shortly. I wish I had more time to review more albums. This album stands out as one of the more original releases that have passed through my ears in a long time. I’m glad that I didn’t waste my time pontificating over the greatness of the new Radiohead album, as everyone knows that that is a fantastic album, and a very important album….but I digress.

Everything about this Animal Collective album is highly original, everything from the sounds used, to the songforms and lyrics and effects used to process the instruments and voices. I would liken this album to the new release by Liars that came out earlier this year.

At once intense, dark, heavy and layered the unique sound of this band became something of an addiction to me. The psychedelic echoes and wandering falsetto melodies don’t leave me knowing exactly where their influences lay. It is great to be able to hear fresh sounds time and again, that aren’t derivative of something else that is already going on. Animal Collective are forging new territory.

Standout track “For Reverened Green” persists with a repeated, echoed yet staccato distorted guitar while sparse drums permeate the background. The vocals are sung with intensity, and screamed at the top of his lungs at the end of most of the phrases. This is grand music, larger than life. As each song progresses they get bigger and bigger.

There is plenty of push through this album, lots of energy as each track drives into the next one. Each song has a strong melody, as off-kilter as some of them may be. It sounds as if the band is shunning altoghether the traditional rock band set-up. The drums seem to take a back seat to overdubs of guitars, piano lines and various electronic sounds. To be honest, with as much stuff going on at once as there is in this album the drums are not missed to even the slightest degree. Not to say that drums aren’t present at all on the album, it’s just that they are not an interal part of the song, they are not consistently present or persistent in many of the songs. I guess it would be easiest to say that they serve their purpose.

It feels like this album was payed great attention to orchestration. Every song was started from scratch. There don’t seem to be any preconceived notions about what makes up a rock song. The band gets very creative in scoring and instrument choice. There are elements of minimalism throughout most of the album, with it’s repetitious patterns (see the track #1) and layering of material instead of altering the original line in any way.

Another track worthy of special recognition would be “Fireworks”, which begins with a driving (flanged) drumbeat. This would be a great single for radio play in a perfect world. The melody in the verses is just as strong as any I have heard anywhere else. Memorable, powerful and meaningful. A great combination.

I am still at the point where I am listening to this album all the time. There is so much to pick up on, so much to listen to each time. The first 10 listens are definitely exploratory.

As I write this the track “Fireworks” is building to a fiery conclusion, expanding register and dynamics for what seems like days. I don’t want to say that this is the album of the year for me, but I just wanted to take a minute and mention all the things that make this album great. The things that make it great are consequently the things that make all great albums great. Innovative, original, intelligent….etc.

2007, live, music, reviews

Show Review – Joel Plaskett/The Tragically Hip, November 2, 2007

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Traveled 2 hours East on I-90 to catch a great show in Rochester at the Auditorium Theater. The Joel Plaskett Emergency opened up for the Tragically Hip on Friday and it was a great show.

This is the first time I can ever remember being excited about the opening act just as much, or maybe even more, than the headliner. I admit that although I do love the Canadian indie-rock I am not a really hardcore Hip fan. There seems to be only one kind of Tragically Hip fan, and that is the insanely fanatical, which is good. I like bands that have intense cult followings. I have always known that Rochester was a Hip loving town.

Their latest release, “World Container” is a really solid album. There was a time where I was listening to it fairly regularly, but I guess I will have to admit that it never really caught on with me. “Yer not the Ocean” is a great opening track, and “The Lonely End of the Rink” is solid as well. They played both of those tracks at the show, and I was excited to hear them. Something familiar is always good to hear at a show is always a plus. They also played “Music at Work” which is another tune that I know. Other than that their set was pretty foreign to me. Not to say that their set was not good, it was very good. Energetic, spontaneous and long, the three most important things to any good rock show.

Gord Downie is certifiably a madman. His onstage antics were quite entertaining, flailing around a mic stand, wildly strumming an inaudible acoustic guitar and jumping around the stage like a lunatic and the like. His voice is pretty dead on, very passionate, and he is clearly frontman material, like a Freddie Mercury character, only I don’t think anyone was ever worried about Freddie having a breakdown on stage. It is certainly fun to watch the Hip if only to see what the hell Gord is going to do. It was easy to tell that he truly appreciates all his fans and that they are all having a great time up there.

The guitars were solid, rhythm section was tight and the form of their set was great. They moved from several energetic rockers in the beginning to some more subdued material towards the end. Every time they began a song a varying sized crowd would cheer wildly. Every song is a classic to crazed Hip fans, and that was good to see, I felt like I was missing out to a certain degree. I made a mental note to get to know more of their stuff.

Joel Plaskett I am much more familiar with. He opened with his power trio bringing down the house with the best opening act I have ever experienced. Song after song was a sing-along and Joel’s stage presence is something to be admired, he is quite charismatic on stage, and quite a great guitarist which was a nice surprise. Even missing some of the second guitar parts from the albums Joel managed to fill in the space nicely. I was trying to get a good view of the pedals he was using, especially the one large box that was in front of him that looked to have a large plunger on it, perhaps an old tape-delay or something. His band was tight and the solos were wild, as was Joel as he danced across the stage with the confident swagger of a headlining act. Maybe someday I’ll get to see a full set of his.

His newest effort, “Ashtray Rock” is one of the best albums released this year, and another solid classic rock theme album added to the Plaskett catalog. If you are interested in hearing more of his stuff I also highly suggest “Down at the Khyber”. It is fun to pick out the million ways that he is influenced (i.e. rips off) by Led Zeppelin, but the songs do stand on their own as well. I highly suggest.

For your viewing pleasure I recorded all but one song of the Plaskett set and put them on my youtube. They are here, below.

The concert on the whole was great. Sarah and I had great seats (yes, seats, always a plus) in the upper balcony that were cushy, and on my right side was a wall, which is perfect, seriously. During Plaskett we had a very clear view (hence the videos) of the stage, while during the Hip’s set we had a very clear view of the people in front of us, very drunk and dancing around and/or grinding up against the nearest female. Very entertaining all around. The sound of the venue was pretty good, very loud even though we were way in the back. I need to remember to bring my earlove to the Shellac shows in December.

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live, music, reviews

Show Review – Matthew Good (October 5, 2007. Club Infinity, Buffalo, New York)

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I live in a college town, well actually not even a college town, I live in the town that is next to a college town. Over here in Dunkirk, which is a very poor city, one of the poorest in the state, there is no sports arenas for shows, there aren’t even any clubs, just some really dumpy bars. It’s a rather small city….and dumpy, have I mentioned dumpy? Anyway, thankfully we are situated just 45 minutes south of Buffalo. Who would have thought that anyone would be excited for Buffalo? Surely not I. Buffalo is much better than Rochester, who hosts no good shows at all, but I digress. This isn’t a post about the shitty upstate New York music scene, but about a great show by Canadian singer/songwriter Matthew Good.

Good’s new album, “Hospital Music” is one of the years best, trust me on this one. I realize that I haven’t reviewed it yet, but when I do, you will know, unless of course you own it already. The album is a very personal account of his hospitalization after having suffered a nervous breakdown, and dealing with his newly diagnosed bi-polar disorder.

The concert venue was an open area club type deal, there was a balcony, but it is my understanding that it was a V.I.P thing up there. In order to get to where the show was you had to walk through the bar area where people were playing darts and pool and what not, then in the back was the large, dark room, with the wall of fame prominently displayed. The wall of fame was quite entertaining. Did you know that W.A.S.P has played there….twice? as well as Jordan Knight, JC Chazet or however the fuck you spell his name…whatever, anyway….

Waitresses actually came up to us to offer us drinks, I was so taken aback that I didn’t know what to do. My stupified silence was taken for a negative response and I went drinkless for the entire show.When Matt took the stage, alone, with only an acoustic guitar I was worried that I would get bored, how could a show with one guy and a guitar possibly be entertaining? I was wrong, it was a great show. Good’s guitar abilities match his songwriting prowess. He is able and confident on stage, his voice is right on (except when his post-nasal drip gets in the way) and the banter in between songs helps to make the distance between audience and performer a little less.

He did not stick to a show completely consisting of songs from the new album, he drifted back to songs from the Matt Good Band rep, which gave them a new sound and a stripped down honesty. Being that I am more familiar with “Hospital Music” (the album that made me stand and take notice of him even though I have some of his other stuff in my possession) all of the videos that I captured at the gig are of songs off that album.He did play an encore consisting of, I think, about 5 songs, which means he played for a total of about 2 hours. The show certainly exceeded my expectations and I would certainly want to go see him again, perhaps with a full band so as to experience the contrast.

The drive back to Dunkirk was terrible. All of my friends from the show were heading back to Rochester, East on I-90, and we parted at the toll-booth as I headed West, regretfully.

Continue reading Show Review – Matthew Good (October 5, 2007. Club Infinity, Buffalo, New York) →

2007, albums, music, reviews

Shellac – "Excellent Italian Greyhound"

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The long wait finally came to an end this summer. Shellac released another album, and only 7 years after their last. Putting a gap like that between albums is a risky thing for any band, well, any band that is trying to make a living through record sales and touring. For ShellacShellac - “Excellent Italian Greyhound” this is just protocol.

I only recently came to know Shellac, and instantly become one of their maniacal fans, I don’t think there is such a thing as someone that “casually” listens to them, either you are completely obsessed or you detest them with every fiber of your being. Perhaps grinding, sarcastic, sneering, harsh, abrasive, offensive dissonant math rock is not your thing. I didn’t know it was my thing until I couldn’t stop listening to “1,000 Hurts” for about a month and Shellac shot straight to no.4 on my last.fm charts within a week of me first hearing them. I fell in love with Steve Albini’s guitar tone. The Travis Bean aluminum necked guitar sound, apparently augmented by way of metal picks with divots cut into them. It’s funny, Steve’s guitar sound matches his personality: begging to be heard. Even if you don’t like what he has to say the sound will grind its way into your soul.

Naturally after such a long wait there is going to be certain expectations. One would expect a greater album, faster, more powerful, just more in general. This album delivers on many of those expectations through tracks like “Steady as She Goes” and “Spoke” the latter being a mushmouthed scream-fest between Albini and bassist Bob Weston. On some fronts though the songs seem forced and lose their drive, “Genuine Lullabelle” for instance.

The choice of opening track is understandable, from a lyrical standpoint. “The End of Radio” features Albini spouting off while Todd Trainer pummels the snare drum into submission. The song eventually takes off, but not fast enough for me. This song works on the first listen but honestly it doesn’t hold up and gets the work off to a slow start. The whole thing doesn’t actually “start” until “Steady as she Goes”.

“Steady as She Goes” is Shellac doing what Shellac does best, which means they click into their very precise and tightly played groove and crank out a fast-paced, form shattering number. There are some interesting contrasts on this album though, for example probably the most melodic and catchy line that they have ever presented, “Kittypants” appears after the long and boring “Genuine Lullabelle” a song that goes nowhere fast, though the Strongbad appearance is a great addition. Another interesting aspect of that song in particular is the extended use of silence. I’m not trying to be a smart ass, that is a very daring move, first of all to have Albini all alone out there singing and then putting in 10 seconds of silence between phrases, that is something I have never heard anyone try before.

It is good to hear Shellac trying new things, but they are most enjoyableShellac when they stick to doing what they normally do. Face it, they don’t care if you buy their album, they don’t care if you go to their shows, they don’t care about reviews (neither do their fans) so it makes sense that they put out this album which does not work as well as a whole unit as “Terraform” or “At Action Park” do.

To me this is Shellac’s most uneven album and I think the thing that pushes it over the edge is the use of 2 extended tracks where not much happens. “Didn’t we Deserve a Look at You the Way you Really Were” almost kills Terraform, almost….they pushed it too far this time.

Don’t get me wrong, when they are on they are on and the things that they do within a 3-piece ensemble is pretty amazing. They always manage to find new ways to combine instruments or new ways to turn a song into a meter-stretching progged out jam session. And this isn’t even mentioning the fact that they record most of their tracks live, and they are the tightest band you will ever hear, yet another daring thing.

All in all this is a fine album, but it is not going to be enough to hold me over until 2015 when their next album will most likely come out. They took a lot of chances on this one, something they didn’t really do on 1,000 Hurts. There is more to an album than just the music, certain expectations are developed within certain circumstances. Waiting this long for an album this “ok” is anything but ok. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter what they do, because all of us fanatical Shellac followers will rush to the record store to buy whatever it is that they put out as if there were only 100 albums pressed.

Although this album is their first misstep, in my opinion I am still extremely excited to be able to see them twice, in the same day, in December. If they do their trademarked “Q & A” session in the middle of the show perhaps I will ask them “Why?”

albums, music, reviews

Interpol – "Our Love to Admire"

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Our Love to AdmireFirst up for review in the new releases this year (I hope to begin doing these as they happen for next year) is the latest effort from New York City’s Interpol.

It is hard to believe that this is their first release on a major label as 2005’s “Antics” was a pretty solid album, though I do mean “pretty” solid, there were a few tracks on that one that don’t quite make the cut. Regardless, that was then and “Our Love To Admire” is an album full of great songwriting and the densely layered guitars that fans have come to love. They are definitely a band that continues to grow with each release.

The album ( I do own this one on vinyl….came with a CD inside too, which earns bonus points….thank you Restless Records in Chicago) opens with the somber “Pioneer to the Falls”, somber but with a lot of forward motion, something that Interpol seems to do better and better. Throughout the song guitars are added, layer upon layer, with the drums chugging along with a march-like roll that proceeds incessantly.

InterpolInterpol seem to have carved out a niche for themselves in being a band that is concerned more and more about keeping a song interesting, never saying anything the same way twice. Things are added, taken away, every song goes from loud to soft or vice versa, every song has a shape and very very few of them follow the tried and true formula of ‘verse – chorus – verse – chorus – chorus – etc..’ and one would hardly notice.

There is a contrapuntal element to Interpol’s songwriting that few bands have. They manage to get up to 4 or 5 different ideas going at one time without the song becoming so dense as to not hear what is going on. Thankfully Carlos D. has learned to keep his bass playing a little more on the functional side this time around. His lines are much less busy than on previous efforts, and he is somewhat more buried in the mix but still noticeable. The guitars tend to stray from the straight 8th note rhythms that made “Turn on the Bright Lights” so plodding, exchanging it instead for a groove that is a lot more free.

The first single “The Heinrich Maneuver” is a straight ahead, driving rocker reminiscent of “Slow Hands”, and in the same key too. This is one of the strongest tracks on the album with the sneering, tense vocals and cryptic lyrics that have become something else that is expected from the band.

Other stand out tracks include “Mammoth”, which is quite similar to “Not Even Jail”. I say that it is quite similar, but not in a derogatory sense, like they ripped themselves off. “Mammoth” is the better track, they took the ideas presented on “Antics” and extrapolated on them, perfected them and present them here again. “Pace is the Trick” comes next, with seemingly endless verses that flow into each other. The additive effect at work in this one is quite grand. It just builds and builds, background vocals are added and guitars are layered (again) the vocal line reaches up higher and higher and then everything is cut off, only to be built back up again double-time. Have I mentioned their brilliant songwriting yet? There is some really groundbreaking stuff on this album.

Aside from the abandoning of traditional songwriting forms (which is nothing new, the New Pornographers have been doing it for years) andInterpol - “Our Love to Admire” the layered, contrapuntal guitar work which are all great there is one thing very wrong with the package…..the artwork.

Sorry, I don’t get it. I know that Interpol has a very dry sense of humor that tends towards the sarcastic and dark, but I liked the dark, intense imagery conjured on their first album. That album had the whole thing down: artwork matched what was contained within. Since then they have drifted in that respect.

Back to the music, and summing this up, it is definitely worthy of your time to try this album. Even if the lyrics tend towards the mysterious on certain songs, there are times when they are not so hard to understand. For every ” show me the dirt pile and I will pray/that the soul can take/three stow-aways” there is a line that is quite to the point: “my friends they come/and the lines they go by/but tonight I’m gonna rest/my chemistry”. Though their sense of humor, ala “Roland”, is still in tact via “No I in Threesome”. Funny, yes, dark, yes, does that make it funnier that you think he is being dead serious YES.

The album has a flow to it as well, it works good as a whole and does not weaken as it draws to a close. If you were to put this on repeat it would go for hours and hours before you even noticed. Trust me, I’ve done it.

2007, albums, music, reviews

Albums of the Year

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It is getting close to the point where I am going to have to develop my list for the best albums released in 2007.

You may think that is is too early, ahhh, but this is where you are wrong, and it is my blog after all and I do whatever I want. Here’s to an early start. Albums may or may not be added to this list, we’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the year goes. In the weeks to come I will begin to review the merits of each of these albums, hopefully that will bring us up to the end of the year where only one winner will remain. Here they are in no particular order:

Thurston Moore – “Trees Outside the Academy”
The most recent addition to the list has the indie rock god still showing everyone how it is done, while coming a long way from “Psychic Hearts”. I expected this to be a bit more Sonic Youth-y, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was very wrong. The addition of violin on the album is a very nice touch, and the song writing is quite polished, all in all a solid album and strong contender.

Interpol – “Our Love to Admire”
The major label debut for NYC’s Interpol is their best effort to date and my personal latest obsession. The album is solid all the way through, despite some rehashing of old material. Dark and beautiful and full of emotion, regardless of whether or not the lyrics make any sense whatsoever.

Matthew Good – “Hospital Music”
This was a surprise to me. I have heard many songs by Matt Good and the Matt Good band in the past, and nothing quite grabbed my attention. This album sat on my computer untouched for a while before deciding to finally listen to it, being sick of all the regular things I was listening to. The album made me stop what I was doing and demanded my attention all the way through. Quite a powerful piece of work from a dark period in the life of this Canadian singer/songwriter.

Air – “Pocket Symphony”
Successful albums, to me, are able to convey a feeling all the way through. The mood is set through the songs, it is the thread that ties each together, but the songs need to also stand alone too. This album is a perfect amalgam of almost, but not quite, ambient pop tunes with a hint of Kraftwerk minus the rigidity and math.

Marnie Stern – “In Advance of the Broken Arm”
Out of nowhere comes this shred guitar, prog, thrash album from a great guitarist with a very odd sense of rhythm (thanks to Hella’s drummer). These songs are catchy, fast, intense and a whirlwind of emotions presented by a captivating, convincing voice. The lack in sound quality on the album is more than made up for by the complex counterpoint of the multiple guitar tracks and almost exclusively finger-tapped guitar.

Of Montreal – “Icons, Abstract Thee” (EP)
Although this is only an EP (you can see already that this most likely will not make the cut) consisting of outtakes from the “Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer?” album, it is a concise and well crafted piece of work. This was my introduction to Of Montreal, and for that reason it holds a special place in my heart.

Shellac – “Excellent Italian Greyhound”
What can be said that hasn’t already been said about Chicago’s own Shellac. These intense math-rockers, fronted by the ever captivating and violently opinionated Steve Albini, never fail to deliver to their fans. Although this album does not necessarily break new ground as far as Shellac albums go, it is always great to have more. The production quality, the humor, the guitar tone that I drool over, Albini’s snide, sarcastic tone contrasted by Bob Westons inability to sing on pitch all add up to a demanding listen, although they falter on a few tracks.

That sums it up for right now. I have word that there are a few albums that may be missing. A friend recently told me not to leave out the Grinderman effort, as well as the new Ricki Lee Jones, and I mustn’t forget the new Tegan and Sara album. As soon as I check them out I will add them here. Check back soon to see reviews, and watch the contenders to see who will remain standing at years end.