Category Archives: reviews

2013, albums, music, reviews

Year in Review: Beach Fossils – “Clash the Truth”

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Beach Fossils - "Clash the Truth"
Beach Fossils – “Clash the Truth”

In 2010 Beach Fossils put out, in my opinion, one of the best albums of that year. That self-titled release paired well with Real Estate’s debut, combining to form a genre of breezy, sun-showered, effortless tunes. Actually, those albums came out at about the same time that Hipster Runoff coined the term “chillwave,” and at some point I thought these were the bands the new genre was created for. I think it would work either way.

“Clash the Truth” brings back the sound of the debut while adding a few nice touches. Thankfully the ringing, delayed guitar is back – obviously a key component to what it is that makes them Beach Fossils. Thankfully though it’s a little more under control this time around. I remember “Lazy Day,” on the 2010 release, where the guitar strings were made to ring so much that an overtone could be heard sounding over top of the rest of the mix, in an additive sound that was borderline ear piercing.

On this most recent release the guitars are cleaned up, and overall everything is fine-tuned. The addition of an acoustic guitar on “Sleep Apnea” adds something that we haven’t heard yet. Immediately following is “Careless,” taking a bit more of an energetic approach, pushing their sound to the edge of perhaps something bordering on new-wave nostalgia.

Careless

Speaking of which, so often I find myself coming back to that word with its relation to music: nostalgia. It seems like that is one of the most effective ways to create meaningful, emotionally relevant music. If a sound can tune into some sort of sense of familiarity then it’s already halfway to making a deeper connection. Boards of Canada accomplishes this through the vintage instruments, so does Neon Indian, Beach Fossils, to me, is a little bit more mysterious in how they are creating their familiarity. Maybe it’s the echo and reverb that drenches everything, or the breathy, extended legato melodic lines over top of jittering guitars and motoric drums. Imagine Joy Division, and now imagine that they were actually enjoyable to listen to and not dark and depressing, I think that is what “Clash the Truth” is.

Caustic Cross

There are a few devices that the band continually returns to, a few guitar fills that come back song after song, and even the melody line of the voice grows a little tired after a while, seeming to trace and re-trace the same path. It’s the explorations into new timbres that makes the album interesting. The distorted bass over top of brightly strummed steel string acoustic guitar, all while the bouncing delayed electric guitar continues to cast its light onto the entire texture of “Birthday” is what makes that song stand out. The same goes for the guest vocal appearance of Kazu Makino adding another layer of breathy whispers to “In Vertigo.”

It’s great that Beach Fossils was able to follow up their debut with just as solid an album as “Clash the Truth” is. Their really molding their sound, finding different ways to develop and explore their sound, changing just enough to make it noticeable, while not so much where it is a shocking departure. Now if they could just stop their habit of ending some of their songs on scale degree 2….

The album is available on vinyl or CD from Captured Tracks, and you can check out their soundcloud here.

 

2013, albums, music, reviews

New Release: Dim Peaks – “Time of Joy”

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Dim Peaks - "Time of Joy"
Dim Peaks – “Time of Joy”

On some levels it might seem like the easy way out, to record an album fully of acoustic guitar-based songs. It’s simpler, faster, maybe cheaper, at least that is what I think most people think. But, in actuality, it’s exactly the opposite. Recording such an album is pretty much the ballsiest thing that you can do. There is nothing to hide behind. Any mistakes made are going to shine through and be there forever. The stripped-down-ness of the entire affair, in actuality, complicates everything. Every aspect of a song needs to be given the same amount of thoughtful attention, because if anything is let to slip not only is that going to be noticeable but it’s going to drag down everything else in the mix.

By this point you can probably see what I’m getting at, and that thing is that Dim Peaks’ “Time of Joy” is, yes, a stripped down acoustic centric album that places all that it has to offer into a bright light, center stage. Before we even get to the lyrics we should talk in detail about just the sound of the album. The lone acoustic guitar is pushed way up front in the mix. No reverb, and no punching in (from what I can tell). The way that it’s recorded it’s possible to hear fingers against strings, strings against fretboard, sometimes a faint snapping of the lower strings as the thumb plucks out a bassline. And in the opening track “Rest Well” a piano adds a little lightness against the plucked strings and vocals.

“Rest Well” works perfectly as an album opener with its short and simple structure, terse lyric and gradual building up of the texture. Leading into “Control” and “Let the Bidding War Begin” introduces a few more instruments that periodically lay down some atmosphere to the background, again, shading the overall mood every so subtly.

Listening to the album I can’t help but be reminded of a few albums that I’ve spent some time with. The intimacy of the songs and the style of the guitar playing makes me think of Luke Roberts’ “The Iron Gates at Throop and Newport,” while sometimes the somber mood (for example on “Control” or “Slumberland”) reminds me of The Burning Hell’s “Happy Birthday” album. The occasional use of slide guitar, always a great addition when used properly, makes me think of Joel Plaskett’s solo debut “In Need of Medical Attention.” And I’m not saying that this album is derivative of those, not at all. What I am saying is that this album makes a great addition to those  and I will forever link all of these releases in my mind.

The immediacy of recording an album that focuses primarily on intimate sounds is, I think, a huge advantage that this music has over so many others. What could get closer to harnessing the full affective powers of music? That is what all music is trying to accomplish after all. The rawness and realness of “Time of Joy” rings through in the title track. While the opening guitar line repeatedly traverses its infinitely descending melodic line one can hear guitarist/vocalist Niilo Smeds altering the dynamic of the lowest voice, with the tempo ever so slightly wavering before the entire band enters. It’s these tiny elements that make the songs sound so much more human, and again so much more affecting.

Each song is treated to its own individual arrangement. Instruments come in for one song never to be heard from again, which I think adds a personal touch to each track. Dim Peaks’ masterful uses of a fully fleshed out band in the title track contrasts with the equally thoughtful and efficient use of smaller forces in “Yellow Mountain.” This is not to mention the genre straddling that is going on throughout “Time of Joy.” Some songs lean a little bit heavier onto the folk elements, while others, like “New Orleans,” hint at a blues/country tradition, though they never stoop to using stock melodies and tricks. “New Orleans,” adding to the element of immediacy, sounds as though it’s being sung amongst a circle of friends and at any minute the entire crowd will bust out singing the chorus “I wish I was in New Orleans…” Meanwhile Niilo’s vocals are laid just as bare as the guitar across the album, and doesn’t falter one bit.

Take a listen to the songs that are up on soundcloud and bandcamp, as they are all very much worth it. “Time of Joy” was released earlier this year, in September through Gold Robot Records. Follow the links below for all the good stuff. The vinyl, by the way, is limited to only 500 copies, though the album is also available digitally.

Vinyl//Bandcamp//Gold Robot Soundcloud//Web//

 

2013, albums, music, personal, reviews, thoughts

In Memoriam Sonic Youth Part VI: “Goo”

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SonicYouth - "Goo"
SonicYouth – “Goo”

The major label debut. Sonic Youth had followed the lead of Hüsker Dü by leaving the indie underground behind to sign with a major label. This deal with DGC paved the way for an explosion of new bands to become far more accessible than they had ever previously imagined. Of course that is a fight for another day, because some people defend Sonic Youth’s decision to take their show to the majors, while others still say that they had sold out. Thurston Moore tried to clear things up, after moving to Matador for the final phase in their career, saying that it was merely a matter of distribution. They wanted to reach more people, and with the internet thriving in the new millennium the band felt comfortable enough (and I’m sure it didn’t hurt that they were a household name by the time “The Eternal” came out anyway) to leave the major label behind and return to an independent like Matador.

All of that is beside the point. I think it’s more important that Sonic Youth managed to keep their artistic selves in tact during the transition. Sure, “Goo” certainly sounds more produced than any of their previous efforts, and some of the songs seem to be obvious attempts at mainstream radio-play. Ok, maybe not mainstream like Top 40, but “Dirty Boots,”  and “Kool-Thing,” though classic SY tracks, sound very of the time. But with some of those attempts at commercial success they also had songs like “Tunic (Song for Karen),” “Cinderella’s Big Score,” and “Titanium Exposé” that are obvious products of the usual SY process.

Tunic (Song For Karen)

The noise hadn’t disappeared by any means, for that we have “Mildred Pierce.” The same can be said for the overall atmosphere of the album, that brings back the general sinister darkness of, say, “Evol.”

I can’t help but wonder, listening back to the album now for probably the millionth time, if there was a certain part of them that was ironically recording some of these songs as wry commentaries on the corporate rock world overall. Hearing some of those “solos” come in, or the barrage of noise and interplay between Thurston and Lee that serve to stand in for the guitar solos, make me smile to myself. It’s as though they are commenting on the traditional rock song format, in the era of hair metal, by following it to a tee without straying from their original concept.

Titanium Expose

And they are geniuses for being able to do something like that. That ability to be adept, and thoroughly assured of their style allows them to only have to shade things ever so slightly in order to move between seemingly sarcastic social commentary to individualistic honesty. Just listen to the difference between the noise break down in “Dirty Boots” and that of “Tunic (Song for Karen).”

I also remember that when I was first listening to this album (“Goo” and “Dirty” were the  first two Sonic Youth albums I ever owned. “Dirty” was the most recent release when I bought the CDs and two shirts off a friend of mine when I was in middle school) I had taped it from the CD and for some reason or another I had left “Mote” off the tape. I’m assuming it was something to do with that it’s the longest track on the album and I probably had “Dirty” on one side and “Goo” on the other. Anyway, the re-discovery (or maybe it was simply discovery) of “Mote” has etched into my mind that that is one of the best tracks on the album.

Disappearer

There really isn’t a bad track on the album, but it must have come as somewhat of a shock to people that were with them from the beginning. Thankfully the album isn’t so different that it sounds very “of the time.” This album has just as much of a timeless quality as each of those preceding. “Disappearer” captures that haunting beauty and ecstatic energy that really become a growing part of their overall aesthetic. For the first time in writing these entries about Sonic Youth I am finding it difficult to not just upload each of the tracks. I’m sure that the album can be found in full on youtube or spotify or whatever so you’ll just have to listen to the three that I decided on here. I figured I wouldn’t pick the obvious ones, but tracks that still manage to capture the overall sound of the album.

I feel like I am really lucky to have gotten into Sonic Youth at about this time. They still had several good albums in them after this, and to a certain extent this is where I start to feel as though I actually grew up listening to the band. Pretty significant, and rare, to be able to stick with a band from the time you are 13 to the time you are 32.

In the next part of this ongoing chronicle I’ll talk about “Dirty,” or the album that started it all for me, or the album that was my favorite thing ever for 2 years until “Experimental, Jet Set, Trash & No Star” came out.

 

2013, albums, music, reviews

2013 Recap: Phoenix – “Bankrupt!”

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Phoenix - "Bankrupt!"
Phoenix – “Bankrupt!”

To be honest, this album sort of slipped through the cracks for me. It was released in  April, which was a pretty busy time for me as I was in the middle of a term, performing a lot and generally running around teaching and taking classes full time. During those super busy times I tend to fall into the rut of listening to old favorites on repeat forever (read: of Montreal, Lightning Bolt and Titus Andronicus).

The last CD that I ever bought, ever, was Phoenix’s “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” the day that it came out. I remember where I bought it, at the Eaton Center in Toronto. What I’m trying to say is that there was something about the PR machine that made a huge deal out of the release of that album, or maybe it was that I was somehow more exposed to it. I’m not sure. Or maybe it was that I had been listening to “It’s Never Been Like That” since 2006, thanks to my dealer. Either way, it was exciting that a band I had to explain to people who they were was now getting other people excited too.

And the style shift that happened between “It’s Never Been Like That” and “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” was pretty noticeable. A post-production sheen was added to each of the tracks. Something about the atmosphere that was created really lent itself to drudging up feelings of 80’s nostalgia. Though similar in some ways to chillwave music like Washed Out or Neon Indian, Phoenix’s music does not look to replicate nostalgia through the use of vintage synths and “lo-fi” recording techniques (note: I’m putting that term in quotes because I actually hate the term, but it carries the connotations that I am looking for, so it serves at least a purpose here). Phoenix is somehow able to get to the core of it and producing a nostalgic sound authentically.

I know that it seems like it would be the same thing, but the difference is that the aesthetic is pure, it’s not a post-modern re-consideration, or a look back at the music and re-imagining it with updated techniques. It involves working with specific melodic material that conjures up feelings of nostalgia, rather than simply letting timbre do all of the work.

Anyway, this is all starting to sound really vague, and I apologize, the fact of the matter is that I sadly didn’t give this album the attention that it deserved when it first came out and now I feel as though I am playing a bit of catch up. What I do remember about it, from the first time that I listened was that they really like to use the pentatonic scale right out in the open. The album starts with one, and it keeps popping up in the same descending fashion in the back of other tracks like “Drakkar Noir.” But that really isn’t the important thing to remember about the album, in fact it isn’t worth really remembering at all, it’s just the thing that I think about when I think about this album.

Drakkar Noir

Phoenix is the kind of band that is capable of doing their sound incredibly well. That capability comes at a certain disadvantage though, because now they are getting dangerously close to pigeonholing themselves into creating cookie-cutter “Phoenix” tunes. Similar melodic fragments start to pop up here and there, similar syllabic constructions and accents of vocal lines start to become noticeable. They tend to relax into a midtempo, synth-pop groove and stay there for long stretches of time. The guitar has taken an increasingly more background role with the synths bearing most of the structural burden. Also, the songs “SOS IN Bel Air” and “Drakkar Noir” start off sounding remarkably similar. There are certain parts of the album that sound like the same ideas stitched together in different ways. This is all in addition to a lot of the build up in their songs seem to come from an idea that they had in “Countdown,” or “Girlfriend” back on their “Wolfgang…” album.

Though I don’t think that this is my favorite Phoenix album, it is their most solid effort to date. It doesn’t have the rhythmic drive and the raw edge of “It’s Never Been Like That,” but then again they are almost a completely different band now. Their sound has made drastic changes in the past 7 years. “Bankrupt” is even a big shift in direction from “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix,” but this is the sound that has really propelled them into being the headlining act that they are today. To be honest, 2000s “United” is one of the most scattered and disorganized albums I’ve heard. That one seems to be exploding in every direction in a desperate search for a sound with which the band can be comfortable. To that end it seems like “Bankrupt” signals their arrival at a sound. I can be more fond of “It’s Never Been Like That,” but in reality this most recent effort is more focused and stolid.

The Real Thing

It’s really difficult to deny that the thick, buzzing low end synth isn’t a really great addition to their sound. And the ethereal and dreamy sound that shifts them squarely into synth-pop territory casts a hazy familiarity to each of the tracks on “Bankrupt.” Hopefully the next release will take this fully formed sound and develop it, before the band starts to run out of tricks. All in all “Bankrupt” is a good album, and deserving of a spot on anyone’s year end list, but we’ll have to wait and see where their next release takes them. Hopefully some time out of the studio and off the road will allow them the opportunity to come up with some fresh ideas. It would be really exciting to hear Phoenix go off in a completely other direction following the synth-pop 1-2 punch of “Wolfgang…” and “Bankrupt.”

The band recently did a Take Away Show for La Blogothéque that finds them performing on a chartered jet. You can watch that video below.

2013, albums, music, reviews, thoughts

End of Year Recap: The Strokes – “Comedown Machine”

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The Strokes - "Comedown Machine"
The Strokes – “Comedown Machine”

Unfortunately for The Strokes, it seems as though they are never going to be able to catch a break again. I don’t so much blame them, or the music that they have been making since 2000’s “Is This It?,” as I do journalism’s tendency toward histrionics when it comes to “the next big thing.”

The early 2000’s, as I’m sure you don’t need any reminding about, found the cycle of criticism once again looking for something that would be able to stand in opposition to the usual pop nonsense that captures the attention of the masses in general. I think that the first time in my lifetime that it happened was when every band in Seattle in the early 1990s was positioned to save “us” all from whatever nonsense that was on the radio at the time. The irony of this, of course, is that the artist that is put up as the answer to our prayers, to save us from top 40 pablum, become exactly the thing that they were to be standing up against. This is due, of course, to the industry’s willingness to milk an idea dry and only abandon it after absolute and total over-saturation. The worlds part, the pap is relegated back to its placeholder position while the industry figures out another trend that is going to shift focus temporarily. And the cycle continues.

How many headlines did we read that stated alternately “The Strokes Save Rock and Roll” or “Can The Strokes Save Rock and Roll?” One quick google will uncover overexcited fans proclaiming that the band has “saved us” from boy bands.

The Strokes didn’t ask to be some sort of saviors of rock music, or indie music, or anything. Why would they? Being foisted into the spotlight instantly as the “chosen ones” only hurt them then, and it’s continuing to hurt them now. Thanks to the incessant press that their first album received, sure they got a lot of exposure, but the backlash was almost instantaneous. People fought over the legitimacy of the band because Casablancas comes from money. Thus began the “trust fund hipster” argument that sought to rip credibility from the band. Nevermind that such a claim has nothing to do with the music. At the same time that this battle was raging on the “indie” side the fanbase for the band became a mix of indie-rock fans and misguided tweens that fostered crushes on the disheveled badboys of rock. Notice how neither of these sides have the music as their first concern.

It always happens in groups. This time in particular, in the early 2000s it was The Strokes, The Hives, The Vines and The White Stripes. The White Stripes, now disbanded, were able to weather the storm due to their having 2 albums prior to “White Blood Cells,” their most current album when everything went down. In fact, they weathered the storm so well that they only rose to greater heights, gaining critical acclaim for every subsequent effort, and now have an air of royalty surrounding them that they went out on top. The Hives only had one previous album out, and though they are still around creating albums, their sound is completely dependent upon aping The Clash’s riffs and The Rolling Stones’ swagger. The Vines were even less experienced, and only had one song that even did anything. That song wasn’t even that good, it was a catchy chorus with a wild and unpredictable frontman at the helm. I think people were a.) slightly excited that he sounded in some way like Kurt Cobain (how long before people stop “looking” for Kurt Cobain. There was a Kurt Cobain, and now there is not a Kurt Cobain. It’s not that hard to understand) and b.) waiting to see if the group would actually be able to get through a song.

The Strokes were the least experienced of the bunch, yet the criticism machine at large decided that they would be the poster children. They also had the most original sound of any of the bands in that group. In that way The Strokes started at the highest point that a band could possibly ever even hope to attain. Without even having really done anything other than making a thoroughly great debut album, they were hailed as the reigning champions of rock. They weren’t even given a chance to prove themselves, and they didn’t have to.

How could they possibly be expected to thrive in that environment?

Now, 4 albums later, “Comedown Machine” was released and forgotten nearly just as quickly. The reason that it was forgotten is not because it is a bad album. It’s not a bad album. At all, by any stretch. It’s just that everyone, unfortunately, is always going to be comparing everything that the band does to how they felt when “Is This It?” was released. The fact of the matter remains that The Strokes have been a remarkably consistent band. That isn’t to say that they have been resting on their success, churning out the same album every few years. They haven’t been doing that. Their consistency exists in that they have continued to release worthwhile albums while retaining their original sound, finding the opportunity to branch out whenever possible.

“Comedown Machine” has some amazing moments. For example, the downtempo “50 50,” with it’s delicate, palm-muted guitar and Casablancas’ falsetto soaring into the stratosphere. The jerky glitch of “One Way Trigger.” The impossibly catchy melodies in so many of the choruses across the album. For any other band, this would be a triumph. Unfortunately The Strokes live in the shadow of The Strokes and nothing short of Sgt. Pepper would be good enough to garner them the attention that they once received without having to even do anything.

Maybe The Strokes weren’t the saviors of rock after all. Nobody was. And nobody is. The Strokes are just a band. And, as listeners, that should be all that we concern ourselves with.

Happy Ending

2013, albums, music, reviews

Best of 2013: Fuzz s/t

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Fuzz - "Fuzz"
Fuzz – “Fuzz”

I know that I’ve at least mentioned this album in passing before during past posts, but now that I have finally had the chance to actually sit down and listen to it a few times I figure that it would be a good time to actually talk a bit about it.

Ty Segall, famous for being almost comically prolific, releasing several albums a year, usually with at least a few different bands, has released an album with his newest band Fuzz that features Ty on drums while retaining vocal duties. This, actually, isn’t the only thing that Fuzz will release by the end of the year. In addition to this self-titled debut release they’ve put out two 7″(1, 2) and then there is a live album that just came out this week, recorded in San Francisco at the Eagle, Ty’s home base, for his birthday in which Fuzz, along with Total Control, opened for Thee Oh Sees.

In that teaser one can hear Ty being barely able to contain his excitement when drumming, as the pulse ebbs and flows with each verse and chorus, but Mootheart and bassist Roland Cosio follow Ty’s lead.

And though the garage elements of Ty’s music will surely never go away, they are part of who he is, I think that Charlie Mootheart’s guitar style and tone adds a bit more of a Black Sabbath, early classic rock vibe to all of the tracks. His thick, bonecrushing, distorted guitar tone is way up front on this one. It seems that for the most part, despite Ty being center stage, that Mootheart is actually the “frontman.” His endless and effortless solo work merges seamlessly with his duties as rhythm guitarist. Sometimes, for example on the opening track “Earthen Gate,” he can take the entire song in an unexpected direction, and with a simple harmonic shift pulls the band in a completely different direction.

Though similar in certain ways to Ty’s “Slaughterhouse” album, the hard-driving energy blast that propels these songs takes them out of the territory of sludge in which many of the tracks of “Slaughterhouse” seemed to live. The energy is directed, while the overall sound is allowed to remain more or less raw. The solid guitar work is underpinned with Ty’s explosive drum fill blasts that pop up at every opportunity.

I’d say that this album falls squarely into the category of stoner rock, if that even means anything. But, seriously, nothing screams “sitting in a dimly lit basement bedroom with a group of friends surrounding a bong” than that album cover art. Steady, straight ahead, heavy garage thrash. Stoner blues as I’ve read it described elsewhere online. Songs like “Hazemaze” sound like a few dudes just jamming on 4 chords. Power chords in the verse, solo riffs in the chorus. Simple formula, but contrasting a staid verse with an unhinged chorus is something that works, just ask Thee Oh Sees. In “Hazemaze” Ty gets a chance to really stretch out and show off his drum chops, wildly filling in any and all empty spaces between sections. Another track, like a combination of “Hazemaze” and “Earthen Gate,” “Loose Sutures” takes the 4 chord jam to surprising territory in the verse, and to an honest shredding guitar solo that really allows Mootheart to let loose for a while before giving Ty another shot.

Probably my favorite of Ty’s releases to date. From the classic rock guitar stylings that are brought out more than on any of his other projects, to the more direct and punishing material like “Preacher,” this is really a bit different than anything that Ty has been involved with, though not too different. It’s not like anyone is going to listen to this album and be surprised that it’s a Ty Segall album, but if one is to listen closely it’s Ty’s music coming to us from a different angle. Worth a listen or two, which you can do with the handy youtube video below. You can also head over to Midheaven Mail Order to purchase “Fuzz.”

 

2013, albums, music, news, reviews

Best of 2013: Foxygen – “We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic”

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Foxygen - "We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic"
Foxygen – “We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic”

Again, my story is the same as before: I get obsessed with certain albums during the year and other ones that are equally worthy of several listens start to fall by the wayside. Foxygen’s “We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic” is one such album. And of course after I realized on what I had been missing out I started listening to the album several times a day. I felt like this was a penance of some sort, or maybe in some ways a way for me to “catch up,” if such a thing is possible.

The thing is though, that even after all that listening, I still can’t quite put my finger on what makes this album so great, and why I can’t stop listening to it. There isn’t just one thing, it’s the amalgam of poppy melodies, retro sounds, catchy hooks and the mixture of sounds past and present. One second there are Beatles-esque horns (“In the Darkness”) and the next thing you know Neil Young walks in the room and takes over an entire verse (“No Destruction”).

Speaking of Neil Young, it’s not like the verse of “No Destruction” simply reminds me of that of “Barstool Blues” from Neil’s “Zuma” album (my favorite of his), but it really just is the same verse with the words changed. I’m not faulting Foxygen at all for this, and there’s two reasons why: first of all, if you’re going to rip someone off do it unabashedly and obviously and steal from the best. Secondly, they use Neil’s verse as a starting point, it is merely the seed that the remainder of the verse springs from. They take everything in a different direction. Where Neil’s song is tense with pain and heartache, Foxygen finds relaxed thoughtfulness.

There are many points like that across “We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic.” I know that I probably use the term “post-modern” far too much, but it’s so often apt for bands lately. Foxygen has some of the same characteristics of Brian Jonestown Massacre or White Fence, where you’d swear up and down that there is no way that this album came out this year. On the other hand, Foxygen retains that ability to use their influences as jumping off points, reaching beyond them, touching upon them and then following them wherever they may lead.

One of my favorite traits of a lot of the songs is the way that the band is able to use a switch from simple-time to compound-time as a means for separating the verse from the chorus, take for example “On Blue Mountain,” with the the ultra soulful singing of Sam France taking center stage. And rightfully so, France’s wailing in the verse allows one to easily picture him dropping to his knees, arching his back and shouting to the skies, eyes closed, microphone in hand, as he sings “I was looking through a bible.” Similar rhythmic modulations and soulful singing appear on the funky, mellotron and synth lead song “Shuggie.” The breaks in “Shuggie” take on a life of their own as the funk and soul gives way to a bouncy outro with a tack-piano buried in the back of the mix.

But this soulful rasp that evokes images of James Brown is immediately contrasted with the gentle and sweet singing that appears on the following track “San Francisco,” a lilting melody appropriating the wall of sound. Doe-eyed hopefulness and peace are presented with the help of a glockenspiel and distant echoed backup singing.

I suppose, yes, I do hear the Rolling Stones influence through their songs, but to me there really is more of a focus on psych-rock, as evidenced in the shambling guitars and horns of “Bowling Trophies.” This really is, simply put, a melting pot of early rock, funk, and soul, and it’s a damn groovy album as a result. Every track is noteworthy and catchy as hell, making this one of the year’s best albums.

2013, albums, music, reviews

Stream: Paper Airplanes – “Scandal, Scandal, Scandal Down in the Wheat Field”

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Paper Airplanes - "Scandal, Scandal, Scandal Down in the Wheat Field"
Paper Airplanes – “Scandal, Scandal, Scandal Down in the Wheat Field” 

Earlier this week Airhouse records released Paper Airplanes’ “Scandal, Scandal, Scandal Down in the Wheat Field.” The release successfully bottles heady, thematic, album oriented rock music that is driving and passionate, and even more importantly, exciting and at times joyful and exuberant. A full album, that takes advantage of every minute that it has to offer. Like many song-cycle albums, it’s dense. There is a lot of material, but that is not a negative aspect in the least. I am of the opinion that the job of an album, and the job of an artist, a true musician, is to be able to create music that needs to be heard. The trick with an album constructed in this way is that the artist needs to create an entire album that needs to be heard as an album. Sure there are some songs that the listener will grab onto more than others, but in order to fully grasp the reality of the disc one must settle in and listen from front to back.

Paper Airplanes have managed to create such an album. A rare feat.

Like any good song cycle album, the listener is taken on a journey. The sequencing of the tracks is just as important as it would be with any other album, but this has the extra added challenge of needing to tie each element into the larger shape of the narrative arc. “Scandal…” deftly accomplishes the feat of creating a cohesive album of songs that are bound to each other to create a truly engaging solitary work.

Singer Marcus Stoesz’s voice stretches out from octave to octave, exploring the various shadings of tone in multiple ways for dramatic affect. One minute soft, relaxed and low, while brittle, reaching and tenuous the next. “Assembly” is a good instance of this type of song where the voice is reaching, soaring into the sky in a chorus that joyfully continues almost indefinitely in its soulful refrain.

The guitar tone, on that track, and throughout the album, is decidedly bright and clean. Everything is clean.  Stoesz’s voice is very unique, and instantly recognizable or. In many ways, and I’m sure that this comparison has been drawn before, but there are elements of Paper Airplanes’ sound that are similar to that of The Decembrists. Aside from the album length narrative structure that ties all of the songs together. The way that everything was recorded, and the arrangements (beautiful use of strings appear throughout this album, as well. They underpin perfectly the keyboard and guitar led ensemble in the quieter moments. The band really does know how to use their resources to provide each song with a terrific amount of emotional depth) tend to be reminiscent of The Decembrists.

There are elements of this album that have the shade of prog-rock to it. The presence of the drums, and the large scope of the album in general are both big contributors.Something like “Chisolm Trail” that comes at the end of the album, takes its time building up momentum. A trumpet rises out of the keyboard texture only to become the backdrop to the climactic outro.

From the opening fingerpicked tension filled steel string acoustic, to the exuberant beginning of “An Account of Surprising Accuracy, Given the Messenger,” “Scandal…” simply floats from song to song.

The band is exceedingly adroit in building everything up to an exciting and memorable climax, but knowing when to back off and when to keep things simmering a bit. Take some time to listen to the album above, give it the honest listen that it deserves, maybe give it 2 or 3. You’ll be glad you did.

Airhouse Records//Purchase//Bandcamp//

2013, albums, miscellaneous, music, news, reviews

Best albums of 2013: White Fence – “Cyclops Reap”

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White Fence - "Cyclops Reap"
White Fence – “Cyclops Reap”

I find it hard to believe that I haven’t written about this album already. I’ve had it for so long that I couldn’t even remember if it came out this year or last, but how could I have forgotten that 2012 was the year of “Family Perfume Vols. 1 and 2”?

Never before has consistency felt so good. On “Cyclops Reap” we’re given 11 more tracks of maximum grit and garage-folk. Probably the best work that we’ve heard from Tim Presley to date. Every song on here would be at home on a year end mix.

I’m going to be talking about the Foxygen album that came out this year as well, soon, but for those of you that have heard that album you’d know that they share a post-modern take on indie rock. It’s definitely been mentioned on many blogs other than mine that White Fence takes its cues from The Left Banke, which is a route that I don’t think many other people have been taking lately. The fact that Presley is attached to the San Francisco scene that also includes the likes of Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees provides connections between those diverse acts in ways that are improbable, though when White Fence and Ty Segall worked together on “Hair” a few years ago, Ty injected some serious noise and energy into White Fence’s sometime lulling, folk sound.

Live On Genevieve

Songs like “Beat” shamble through the speakers in an endless verse with no real beginning and no real ending. “Cyclops Reap,” like all previous material from White Fence comes off sounding like a mixtape that a friend has handed you of stuff that they have been working on at home on their 4-track tape-recorder. The only difference here being that this is worth listening to. The fragmented nature of some of the songs lends a lot to the sound. One simple idea per song, and sometimes that idea is developed a little further in the next. It’s a stream of consciousness of sorts that carries the listener through the album.

There is a lot more lead guitar action on this album than previous. Whenever there are no lyrics, there is a guitar soloing around in the background, lending an added layer that I don’t think has been explored too much on “Family Perfume” or “…Is Growing Faith.” Take “Trouble is Trouble Never Seen.” The wildly strummed acoustic guitar is doubled by a static distorted electric, and a simple 2-part melody, until the lead line comes in and the song immediately begins to fall apart. Twice. Beautifully.

To the Boy I Jumped in the Hemlock Alley

Following “Trouble is Trouble Never Seen,” “Live On Genevieve” begins with several of the aforementioned fragments cutting in and out. But I think that my favorite track off of “Cyclops Reap” has to be “To the Boy I Jumped in the Hemlock Alley.” The slide guitar melody that comes in and out of play, the incessant interruptions from the overly reverb drenched organ. The whole thing ends up sounding like 60’s psych folk one second and then demented country music the next.

If you haven’t gotten on board with White Fence then start here. Or, alternatively, you could wait maybe another month or two, as I’m sure that Presley won’t be able to not release anything for very long.

Speaking of which, he has recently put out a live album on John Dwyer’s (Thee Oh Sees) Castleface Records. “White Fence Live in San Francisco” was released earlier this month (November 5, 2013) and you can pick up a copy from Midheaven mailorder here. Though I haven’t caught him/them live yet, I’m sure that when I do it is going to be one to remember.

2013, albums, music, reviews

Best of 2013: Buke and Gase – “General Dome”

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Buke and Gase - "General Dome"
Buke and Gase – “General Dome”

I’ve been keeping a close eye on Buke and Gase for the past few years, ever since I just had to have their +/- EP in 2010. What drove me to them initially was just their timbre. It was one of those rare instances where I had never heard anything like them before. Of course everyone knows (and if you don’t then you’re about to find out) they make their own instruments. So the timbre of the baritone ukulele and guitar/bass hybrid are what first grabbed me, but after listening there was so much more waiting beneath that intriguing surface.

I noticed, on that EP, that there were several layers of rhythmic complexity going on throughout most of their songs. The way that they fluidly shifted from meter to meter and from divisions of the beat, casually coasting from one tuplet to another, causing the overall structure to slide across apparent tempo shifts. Though these shifts are only figments of our imagination, they are actually staying perfectly in tempo but only reorganizing the meter as they go. This is no small feat, as the duo are in control of the percussion while they are playing and singing. It’s like 2 one man bands in one. I think that that is actually part of the reason why there can be so much rhythmic complexity. It has to do with their embodiment of rhythm, and the music in general. Also, of course, adding to their unique sound.

And that isn’t the only thing that shifts around during their tracks, there is no telling how many times they are going to repeat an idea. A comparison can be drawn here to The New Pornographers, another band that tends toward the invention of their own structures, eschewing verse-chorus-verse and repeating everything 2 or 4 times with rigidity. And where those elements were pushed more to the fore on previous efforts like “+/-” and “Riposte” they are drawing less attention to themselves on “General Dome.” 

The title track holds steady with a high degree of intensity and a persistent ostinato rhythm, Arone Dyer’s voice soaring high above the bass heavy foundation. Building up multiple layers in a complex fabric is probably most important when approaching a single-form structure such as this one, but it remains surprisingly monotonous throughout, holding onto that intensity and maintaining it at all costs.

The duo has always been reaching out and exploring new harmonies and interesting maneuvers therein, and on this album things are no different. Remarkably protean key shifts to match the rhythmic shifting. For example, “Twisting the Lasso of Truth” can’t settle on a rhythmic structure at all. The meter shifts, the accents change faster than one can grasp the pattern with which they do so, and the harmony resists focusing on a single pitch center. The song is in a constant state of flux, making it, to me, one of the strongest and most interesting on the album.

Twisting the Lasso of Truth

“Split Like a Lip, No Blood on the Beard” picks up these exact cues. The denial of verse-chorus-verse structure is strong on this track, as is a similar denial of engagement with a steady, regular pulse. Dyer’s vocals vacillate between sweet and soulful, and clipped and tense, sliding from major to minor in alternating phrases, giving an interesting shade to the melody.

Split Like a Lip, No Blood on the Beard

None of these elements are allowed to fall into the trap of becoming highly recognizable “tricks” that the band employs liberally in each song. The focus is more upon the structure as a whole and not so much just the parts that make it up. But those parts are really interesting, everything from the unique sound to their individualistic use of rhythm and song form.

You can hear most all of their work (not the +/- EP, unfortunately) on their bandcamp page. All their albums are available on cd, lp or mp3 and all are available from the bandcamp link.