2010, miscellaneous, music, songs

A few cover songs

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I’m not going to say anything overbearing like that these are the best cover songs, or that these are my top 5 cover songs of all time. Instead I just want to share a few that I have enjoyed recently. Some of them are more familiar to me and closer to my heart than the originals, and there’s one that I didn’t even realize was a cover until not too long ago. Check them out below.

Japandroids – “Racer X”

Japandroids - "Art Czars" single
Japandroids - "Art Czars" 7"

Vancouver’s Japandroids did something interesting when they didn’t have time to get into the studio because of a relentless touring schedule. I swear that they have played 300 shows a year for the past 2 years. They are insane. Their energy comes through in their music, that much is evident. Anyway, in lieu of putting out another full length album they opted to release a series of limited edition 7″ singles. The A side would be an out-take from their “Post-Nothing” sessions and each B side would be a cover song. A great PR gambit, because the steady release of singles means that they never really go away, which will buy them some much needed time to write and record another album, and, of course, tour some more.

Their cover of Big Black’s “Racer X” captures all of the sneering aggression of the young Steve Albini. These two guys can make as much noise as any band and they really capture the energy of this track. The robotic drumming of Roland, the famous Big Black Roland 606 drum machine that was used by Albini and Co., is brought to life by David Prowse, while the brittle, ringing guitar tone faithfully reproduced by Brian King.

Japandroids – Racer-X

Matthew Good – “Moon Over Marin”

Matthew Good - "Hospital Music"

It’s actually kind of funny to me that I came to know Matthew Good’s version of “Moon Over Marin” before I knew the original. I was a fan of the Dead Kennedys long before I ever even heard of Good.

This track originally appeared on DK’s “Plastic Surgery Disasters” and featured their signature sound of East Bay Ray’s surf-rock inspired, yet still undoubtedly punk rock, ultra-distorted guitar and Jello Biafra’s warbly half spoken, half sung vocals. The lyrics speak very matter of factly about the pollution problem in the Marin area of California. Naturally Biafra’s lyrics go a little bit over the top, bringing attention to a problem by exaggerating, though that kind of extrapolation is what makes punk rock fun. You need to have something to fight about.

Good’s version, though leaving the original lyrics untouched, takes a different angle. The album that this track appears on, “Hospital Music”, are all very heartfelt songs written after a dark period in Good’s life following a nervous breakdown. He takes a gentle, slower approach to the song that still fits the lyrics as well as remaining true to the general spirit of the album. His rendition gives the effect of someone that is sort of detached from their surroundings, realizing that all of these terrible things are happening around him and almost willing to accept it. Though, knowing Matthew Good’s politics, I know that he is not willing to accept these things. This is an interesting look at how the world’s problems feel through someone that wants to do something, but is temporarily powerless. Sometimes taking care of yourself is more important than any problems around you.

Moon Over Marin

The Flaming Lips – “(What a) Wonderful World”

The Flaming Lips - "In a Priest Driven Ambulance"

Before they were able to fill arenas with their over the top stage show they were a really noisy psych. rock band that sounded like they took more acid than Syd Barrett on a bad day. Before they really solidified their sound with milestone albums like “The Soft Bulletin” and “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” they were a cult band that sounded like a 2nd rate Butthole Surfers. Freak rock for the freaks.

I realize that I am disregarding the fact that they recently released a cover album (yes, an entire album) of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”. It’s an ok album. Worth a listen, for sure, but I wanted to bring to your attention something a bit more obscure. If it wasn’t for Wayne Coyne’s very recognizable voice, you probably wouldn’t realize that this is the same band. Wayne and Louis Armstrong share a certain characteristic of singing voice….that is to say Wayne has always sounded like he was on the verge of losing his voice and Louis Armstrong probably should have stuck to the trumpet. But, I realize that is really unfair of me to say. The honesty in their voices is really what makes this track work. Something is lost if someone is to sing this song with a pretty voice, polished and “nice”. This song truly speaks with an honest, untrained voice. Of course, all the noisy guitars and feedback certainly helps bring this song up to date for a much younger audience. It’s a great cover if you haven’t heard it before, take a listen.

(What A) Wonderful World

James Husband – “We Can Work It Out”

James Husband

James Husband, multi-instrumentalist for of Montreal, released his solo debut “A Parallax I” late last year and packaged with it an EP of covers, “Smothered in Covers”. He does a great job with all of the tracks, including this one originally by, obviously, The Beatles.

It is rather daring to attempt to cover The Beatles as the songs are so familiar to everyone. So much so I think that all of their songs are pretty much in our collective subconscious. I think that covering a Beatles tune is a very delicate process because of this. You need to do something original, but nothing too crazy. You need to stick to the original song, but you don’t want it to sound exactly like it, otherwise what would be the point? There is very little room for error. You don’t want to make it sound like you are trying to improve on it because Beatles songs are, quite honestly, perfection.

That being said what Jamie does here is about as good as it gets when covering The Beatles. He leaves room for little silences and lets the song breathe a little bit. What is really effective though, in my opinion, is the way that he plays with the timing of the song. There is this very subtle rubato in place that seems to keep leaning back in the beat. He relaxes the tempo quite a bit, but he doesn’t swing it. It’s really what the song needs. That is saying something, for sure. He managed to keep everything in place and create a little something new. It’s one of my favorite covers for sure, and I think that it is almost as effective as the original track. If you only listen to one of these, listen to this one.

We Can Work It Out

The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Jesus Christ Pose”

The Dillinger Escape Plan - "Plagiarism"

This track is the reason that I even wanted to write this post. I was listening to my iTunes “5 star” playlist and this track came up. I then proceeded to listen to it 6 times in a row as I walked around town doing all the stuff that I needed to do. I was thinking to myself, “Wow, this track is what Soundgarden was trying to do!” This version adds some balls to the guitars, thickens up the distortion and really drives everything home. The vocals are right on, the drummer out drums Matt Cameron. Everything is just perfect here. They really don’t try to do anything new with the track, they are just covering it and happen to be able to do it better than the original. Phenomenal. I can’t really say anything else about this track. I hope that my enthusiasm gets you to give it a listen.

Jesus Christ Pose (Cover of Soundgarden)

2010, albums, groovemine, music, reviews

Album review: Deerhunter – "Halcyon Digest"

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Deerhunter truly lives up to the hype with their much anticipated “Halcyon Digest”. This latest release takes a sharp left turn from previous work, like the album oriented “Cryptograms”. Where that album relied much more heavily on ambiance, spacious sounds and atmospheres, “Halcyon Digest” stands as more of a collection of songs with great hooks and flat-out catchy tunes with classic songwriting rather than an album length experiment. This is an album of much more palatable music that is less confrontational in its sound than their previous work.

This time around the band is clearly influenced by the sounds of groups from the 60’s. There are obvious nods to groups like The Kinks in some of the more up-tempo, driving songs like “Memory Boy”. In that way they have taken the same route as MGMT, turning to the sound of their influences, worn proudly on their sleeves, rather than forging ahead in their formerly bold originality. “Basement Scene” takes a very familiar motive from the Roy Orbison song “All I Have to do is Dream” and runs with it. Cox’s voice trails off, melding with the feedback echo in a blurred crescendo of sound.

The songs throughout are very tuneful and vibrant, which stands in contrast to their former concentration on the more ambient elements of their sound. This is not to say that they have changed completely to an unrecognizable sound, Deerhunter still manage to pack in some hypnotic allure into these tunes. But there is a new connection made. This connection links the band to their influences, which gives the audience a better picture of where it is that they are coming from.

Deerhunter - "Halcyon Digest"

The elements of ambiance and spacey, disconnected arrangements are not completely gone. “He Would Have Laughed” combines arty atmospherics with the newly dialed up accessibility as does “Sailing” with its gentle guitar and background sounds. The slap-back echo that envelops the vocals, with the doubled guitar tone combine to become a sort of characteristic sound for the album. These effects are especially noticeable on opening track “Earthquake!” and album closer “He Would Have Laughed”, making good bookends for the album. They take out their Kinks influence on “Memory Boy” which is an upbeat, forward driving and catchy song, and immediately contrast it with the noticeably darker “Desire Lines” and its gently sung vocals, arpeggiated guitar and echoes of background singing creeping in to create a dense, layered effect. “Desire Lines” lapses into a hypnotic repeated guitar outro that continuously builds for a few minutes only to be stopped when it is faded out and left to linger in your memory.

Singer Bradford Cox’s voice is a little deeper at spots now, and there is the slightest hint of rasp in his voice that adds an element of roughness to even the sweetest tunes on “Halcyon Digest”. Also, adding to their new sound is the addition of a saxophone to “Coranado” which brings to it an interesting old school rock ‘n roll color. They also show that their experimental side has not gone away with 2 part songs “Don’t Cry” and “He Would Have Laughed”. The former song collapsing in on itself into a slow acoustic ending while the latter develops further after you begin to think that the song was coming to an end.

“Halcyon Digest” is a great album that brings together elements of the bands’ influences and works them in with their own experimental sound. The emotional content of each song really grabs the listener and won’t let go, there is a strong connection made here, a connection with the past and a connection between the band and their audience.

Listen: Revival

Watch the official video for “Helicopter”:

2010, albums, music, reviews

Album review: Wonder Wheel – "Brave New World"

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Los Angeles’ Wonder Wheel is back with their trademarked brand of pulsating rock music that stands somewhere between a dream-like haze, drugged out reality and a hallucination. The music shimmers with retro keyboard sounds amongst the swirl of delayed guitars and vocals.

On this latest release the vocals are not quite as buried in the mix, or as washed out in delay as previously heard on Paul A Rosales’ album “Wonder Wheel I”, which was released as a solo album, but in actuality a collection of previous work by Wonder Wheel. All in all this album shows a band that is in a constant state of evolution, with this album showing them at their best yet. There is some truly catchy material here in the choruses. The songwriting has become much more direct, and the songs themselves are structured in a more traditional manner. This familiarity helps make their unique sound a bit more accessible than before.

There is an honesty in Rosales’ vocal delivery. Sometimes it is double tracked, harmonizing with himself, sometimes his voice stands out in the open, solitary. It is more confident and pitch perfect here with the feeling of the lyrics coming across loud and clear. The album speaks mostly of a longing to not feel so alone. The sound captures the sadness and confusion of being in an unfamiliar place with nobody around to share your feelings. Truly something that each of us can relate to. There is a real connection to human emotion with these songs. The songs speak about that human connection that we all want to have. It is frightening to be out in the world alone, it’s like wandering through a fog in an unfamiliar city. Just hearing a song like “A Million Miles Away” with the lyric, “I’m alone, I’m sick and I’m alone” and later, “I need you, I want you” one can immediately grab onto that feeling of desperation in trying to make a connection. This feeling is unmistakably clear throughout.

The band captures a sound that I can only think to describe as “caught in between”. We hear something between a dream and reality with aspects of minimalist repetition with dreamy waves of sound from the delayed effects swirling around reminiscent of shoegaze. But, the familiarity also comes from a sound similar to the much lauded “chillwave” sound that seems to have popped up out of nowhere this past summer through bands like Neon Indian and Nite Jewel. Wonder Wheel does share a similarity in sound to these bands through their analog, DIY recording techniques and the heavily effected instruments and production.

Wonder Wheel - "Brave New World"

Even with these comparisons to other artists and classifying them into this genre Wonder Wheel has a very unique sound that is all their own and therefore very recognizable. The album begins with a very short synth crescendo before the throbbing pulsations of the full band kicks in. I detect a pronounced influence of The Cure on songs like “After Dark”, especially when the lead guitar line enters. “Wednesday” bounces jubilantly with its Bo Diddley groove, sounding like early Interpol in it’s brooding mood.

“IMHO” is an uptempo gem that is quite catchy and would really work well as a single with a spacious verse and rapid fire lyrics in the chorus. The rhythm change up at the end finds the band sliding into a half-time feel much like in the track “I Know (It’s All Good)”. These rhythmic shifts really add a new dimension of intensity to the songs by seemingly taking all of the energy of the song to that point and suddenly putting the brakes on. All of the forward motion generated by the song up to that point is being held back, just trying to break through the surface.

Wonder Wheel has something that few bands possess, and that is consistent and prolific output. They are constantly creating new material. This release is their 36th self-recorded album since June of 2003. Instead of working one EP or album into the ground until the songs get old and tired, they are continuing to work, writing songs, releasing material and touring. This album was recorded between May 4 and July 27, 2010 and is available for purchase on cassette right now over at Sixteen Tambourines.

Definitely worth a listen. Their unique sound, catchy hooks and emotional lyrics combined with an evolved sound, tighter songwriting and contagious energy is sure to make a connection.

Check out Wonder Wheel around the interweb:

http://mywonderwheel.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/thenogoego

And check out these tracks from “Brave New World”

“IMHO“

Below is the video for “After Dark”

WONDER WHEEL – After Dark from Moduli TV on Vimeo.

2010, albums, groovemine, music, news, reviews

Braid re-releases on Polyvinyl

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Braid was a band from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois that can be categorized with other early 90’s acts with a guitar driven, aggressive sound. They have the energy and abrasive timbre of Snapcase, the edgy stop-start math rock leaning of Polvo and sometimes the catchy hooks of Husker Du. Their sounds also exploits the kind of jumbled mess of guitars and screams that are each freely exploring all the possibilities of a chosen melodic and harmonic line. Somewhere between near all out improv and solid structure the band seems to be most comfortable constantly pulling themselves off in all different directions.

Braid
Braid

The band’s debut full-length album “Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five” is packed with short bursts of energy that are contained within a rush of loud, boisterous songs fueled by an urgency of fast, distorted guitars careening through 2 minutes of screamed vocals. The tracks are broken up by the constant turning of a radio dial that is sometimes interrupted by short ideas that are faded up, but quickly turning to new songs. Braid cuts through the noise of the radio dial with a noise of their own.

Through “Frankie Welfare Boy Age 5” there are many straight forward aggressive punk tracks like “Summer Salt” which is 2 and a half minutes of hardcore punk. “X Marks the Hope Box” leans a bit more towards math-rock with its running guitar line dashing across the fretboard frenetically that is doubled by the drums in stop-start fashion that is continued with the track “Brass Knuckle Sandwich”.

Braid live
Braid live

There is a lot of content on the album, showing the band in a steady trajectory. They are stretching out within songs but remaining true to their hard core sound, standing on the very edge of math rock and early emo-core. At the Drive-In would later tread a very similar path with their work.

With “Movie Music Vol. 1” their work becomes a bit more polished. Songs are lengthier, more developed and structured into parts that fit neatly together, dovetailing with catchy hooks that are begging to be screamed en masse. The guitars on this album seem to stay out of the way of each other. More room is made for the bass, and dynamically the band is more in control. On this album they make use of a broader sonic pallet and embrace more of a loud/quiet/loud characteristic that is added to the stop-start urgency of their songwriting which makes everything that much more powerful. They make room for each other, take their time and even show a much more reserved and quiet side with the track “Radish White Icicle” with its gently strummed guitar and light brass arrangement in the background. All of this growth of songwriting results in a more solidified sound that is thicker and more reinforced instead of wandering. Despite this their sound in general remains completely intact and easily recognizable.

Braid - "Frankie Welfare Boy Age 5"

Through all of this noise of guitars and punk rock attitude there is an honesty and sincerity added to the music through vocals that are untouched by effects, standing completely out in the open, totally vulnerable. The recordings have that lo-fi, home-recorded sound to them that is lacking in today’s uber-commercial and overproduced “emo” music. Braid’s music was not of gimmicks and trend, it was music of honesty and emotion before those elements became a musical commodity.

The fact that Polyvinyl has seen it fit to re-release each of Braid’s albums speaks to the importance of their output. They come from an era of music just before it was easy for word to spread through the internet. Their success was purely word of mouth built upon a reputation of touring and recording, yet their influence on other bands can still be heard today.

Braid - "Movie Music Vol. 1"

For more information on Braid, and to hear tracks, but most importantly to purchase their re-releases (which are nearly 50% sold out!) head over to Polyvinyl right now.

2010, albums, groovemine, music, reviews

Album review: Women – "Public Strain"

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Women’s latest release, “Public Strain”, is artier and more experimental than much of what is out  there right now. The album leans towards an early Sonic Youth aesthetic with its use of ambiance, noise, feedback drones and aggressive guitar attacks with through-composed song structures, but also throws in a few tricks from the prog. side of things with angular rhythms and odd time signatures. The album also juxtaposes ultra-lofi sounds with clear production and apathetic vocals that are paired with confident instrumental work through out.

There are many exciting contrasts on “Public Strain”. Songs that hide melody beneath layers and layers of ambiance and noise are placed next to more easily digestible material that features a catchy hook, or infectious guitar riff. The track “Bells” is simply a feedback drone that seems to come directly out of the bleak soundscape of “Penal Colony” which features, in spite of itself,  a sweet sounding vocal melody and is followed by “China Steps” with its minimalist groove and chugging, atonal guitar. There is certainly a lot of ground covered here songwriting wise. The band shows that they are not completely averse to the idea of writing a catchy hook in a recognizable form, though those catchy tunes are by no means “boring” or “ordinary”. Women put their own spin on their idea of what a song can and should be.

The sound, in general, on the album is described fairly well by the album cover. A yellowed picture with some small figures that are near completely obscured by the wash of white scratches across the surface (or perhaps it is a driving snow). The grit and graininess of that photo is the perfect analogy to describe their abrasive harmonies, harsh guitar tones, angular rhythms and the echoed and reverbed vocals that sound like Phil Spector got his murderous little hands all over them. There is something really sinister about the vocal delivery on this album. It is haunting, slightly creepy and truly unsettling, and it works perfectly with the music. The unsettling nature of the sound of the album is made more unsettling by the fact that none of these songs really have a chorus. The energy contained within each of the songs can not be hidden behind these aspect of sound though and something truly remarkable begins to happen when listening to the album repeatedly, (which is highly suggested as this album is definitely a “grower”) one begins to pick through all of the “sound” and find some truly intriguing and catchy parts. One can hold onto these parts and become absorbed in a trance of sorts, for example during the uncharacteristically “up” sounding final 2 minutes of the closing track “Eyesore”. Also, speaking to the lo-fi sound are “Heat Distraction” and “China Steps” that both open with bass and drums recorded from what sounds like a room mic replete with the noisy squeak of the kick drum pedal and “Untogether”, which begins by sounding as if someone started the tape after the band had already begun to play.

Women - "Public Strain"

The opening track seems to function as an anacrusis to the proper opening of the album. “Can’t You See” is a slow burning, contemplative and nearly ambient track while “Heat Distraction”, which follows, is a driving and disorienting song that is catchy, bright and radio-friendly(er) despite it being somewhat more cerebral from a compositional standpoint. “Can’t You See” shares with “Bells” a foundation in ambiance, though the veiled ambiance of the opening track is abandoned in the latter track for total unabashed guitar feedback hum and growl with organ-like overtones ringing out through a cloud of sound.

The most abrasive, in your face, and Sonic Youth-y track is the turbulent “Drag Open”. The vocals are nearly covered by the barrage of buzzing guitars, whereas “Locust Valley”, with its meandering arpeggios, sounds like the kind of 2 guitar counterpoint that Radiohead favors on their song “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”. “Venice Lockjaw” is the closest that the band gets to writing a ballad as it is another slow burning track that continues to build, while closing track “Eyesore” is another candidate for heavy college radio rotation.

Women sound like a modern band with old school production values. The reverb and sound in general is straight out of the 60’s much in the same way that Best Coast tries to capture the Phil Spector  girl group “wall of sound”. But Women isn’t nearly the same as Best Coast. There is something intriguing and sinister in their sound, something slightly creepy and disturbing about the vocals, something unsettling about the structure of the songs and all of these things are done to perfection so as to have the listener coming back for more.

2010, miscellaneous, music, songs, thoughts

A by no means complete list of emotionally devastating lyrics

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Musicians are of that breed of individual that wear their emotions on their sleeve. They seem to feel them more intensely than others, or are at least worse at hiding their emotions than everyone else. So many musicians, that didn’t die from a drug overdose (which might be a reaction to feeling emotions in itself), chose to kill themselves after a life of writing desperately painful, heartfelt songs and honest lyrics. Mark Linkous shot himself in the heart, Nick Drake overdosed on his anti-depressants after several years of insomnia and depression, and Elliott Smith possibly stabbed himself in the heart.

Words can be powerful enough, but, combined with music, some artists can really pull a listener in and make them actually feel how they truly feel. It is the purpose of art to make others feel and this collection of lyrics certainly could make even the coldest heart empathetic.

Andrew Bird, “Armchairs” from the album “Armchair Apocrypha”
“You didn’t write, you didn’t call. It didn’t cross your mind at all.”
The despair in this lyric is pretty intense. It conjures images of waiting by the phone, hoping that the one person that you love will just contact you and let you know that they feel the same. The call never comes, your heart sinks in the realization of your unrequited love. The time comes where you have to slowly let all of those built up feelings go, as they were misguided in the first place.

This longing is only heightened by Bird’s arrangement at this point in the song. Considering that it is over 7 minutes long it is really a daring bit of songwriting and arranging. He manages to, just before this point in the song, strip away nearly everything until only his voice remains, whispering into your ear. As soon as the line in question is sun everything comes back after a brief and dramatic build. The solitary upper pedal tone produced by the violin highlights the deep emotional torment plaguing the narrator of the song. Very powerful.

Listen

Titus Andronicus, “No Future Part 3: Escape from No Future”, from the album “The Monitor”
“I used to look myself in the mirror at the end of every day, but I took the one thing that made me beautiful and I threw it away.”
This line pretty much speaks for itself. Taken from the perspective of someone who has, apparently, fucked up their life beyond repair, or at least beyond what they think is reparable. There is so much regret that he can’t even stand to face himself anymore. The absolute bottom has been reached, and what is worse is that he knows that things used to be better but is unsure as to whether or not things will return to the way that they once were.

Musically this song is set in 3 general sections. This line appears at the beginning of the 2nd of those sections. Patrick Stickles growls and spits these words out with ruthless efficiency. He knows the pain he feels, and angrily shouts it out through clenched teeth. In an album that is full of emotionally devastating and honest lyrics this one stands out to me as one of the most affecting.

Listen

Hurricane Bells, “This Year” from the album “Tonight is the Ghost”
“You can always walk away if you see me comin’. I don’t think about you, I don’t think about you.”
It’s hard to accurately picture this lyric or portray it outside of the context of the song, which moves ably from optimism to pessimism from line to line. There is a sense that two people need to be apart, but no reason is given as to why. Perhaps neither of them completely understands why they need to be apart. It is clear, however, that the narrator is trying to be strong about it, knowing that he is going to go on doing what he needs to do and if that other person happens to come across him then it is up to them to turn around if they don’t want to or can’t deal with the sight of him. Meanwhile he tries to convince himself that he doesn’t think about her. His repeating this immediately, like a mantra is telling of the fact that he really isn’t strong enough to deal with the situation.

Listen

The Burning Hell, “It Happens in Florida”, from the album “Tick-Tock”
“Love, it’s like a hurricane. It happens in Florida. It destroys everything.”
The Burning Hell are full of tongue in cheek, self-deprecating lyrics. This one hits close to the heart though. There is a sincerity in this song that seems to want to let the listener know that they are serious this time.

This line is the final lyric of the song that is one continuous build. It is preceded by other lines that are borderline absurd, but after hearing these words the simple chord progression continues, unchanged for 2 more minutes allowing the listener to ponder the gravity of some of those lyrics that they may have previously considered silly. I have already talked about this one in detail here.

Listen

Tom Waits, “Georgia Lee” from the album “Mule Variations”
“Be sure to find me. I want you to find me and we’ll play all over, we will play all over again”
Tom Waits is a true artist and prolific songwriter. The grit in his voice lends an emotional power that few are able to muster. The fact that this song is simply his voice and piano with double bass also adds to the desperate loneliness of the subject matter. Abandonment, from family and even from God. There is no way to write a more heart wrenching song. The line here is the definition of devastating, longing for the past that will never return. “Be sure to find me, I want you to find me” speaks of our desire to be wanted and loved by others, but this song doesn’t find any silver lining. Sometimes you will be forgotten. It isn’t ones right to be loved, it can only be a hope and dream and sometimes dreams go unfulfilled. Sometimes there isn’t a silver lining, sometimes there is no salvation for people. Tom Waits is honest enough, and artist enough to speak this truth and I can’t imagine a soul on this Earth not being deeply touched by the setting of this lyric.

2010, albums, groovemine, music, reviews

Working for a Nuclear Free City – "Jojo Burger Tempest"

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Every once in a while an album comes along that can only be described as “massive”. Working for a Nuclear Free City’s double-disc “Jojo Burger Tempest” is one of those albums. Eighteen tracks that clock in at nearly an hour and a half but never feels cumbersome. Each track showcases an endless stream of ideas that have been carefully stitched together to complete a much larger idea. This is certainly an album about large ideas, with many of the tracks being continuations of previous tracks and a final track that is over a solid half an hour of idea after idea after idea pasted together into one gigantic medley. That final track is “The Jojo Burger Tempest”, the namesake track that is a summation of what the entire album is about.

The sheer originality and outright ingenuity present are something to be marveled at. There is just so much content to grab onto, yet the band doesn’t seem to be looking to change things up too drastically from track to track. The ideas are not wildly bounding from one thing to the next. They manage to come up with variations that fit within the parameters set forth in the song and they don’t leave, they only make things more and more interesting. There is always a new element added that seems to fit perfectly, that seems to be exactly what the song was missing up to that point and can propel the song to new heights without ever becoming too much.

I couldn’t see classifying this album as anything but prog-something. It’s not necessarily straight up prog-rock, I think that I would be more comfortable considering it as prog-electro/rock/shoegaze. There are elements of dreamy shoegaze that are ever present while at the same time merged with synth heavy dance pop. But there are also songs like “Low” that display the influence of mid-90s era Brit-pop as well as the hypnotic “Inokashira Park” that will leave listeners transfixed with its slow build of layered minimalism. Meanwhile “Buildings”, a stripped down mid-tempo acoustic gem with flighty vocals that speaks from a reverb drenched cathedral, is about as close as one can get to an acoustic guitar driven ballad. This isn’t to say that they are trying to cram as many genres together as possible for the sake of doing so, but rather their sound is so all encompassing that to ignore the effect of these influences on their music would be foolish.

As I said, I want to shy away from labeling this album as pure “prog” because usually what one expects from a “prog” band or a “prog” album are very segmented songs that are non-developmental, the kind of songs that display the musicians as all brain and no heart and this is certainly not the case with this album. Tracks like “B.A.R.R.Y.”, with its lush string arrangement and delay-drenched guitar, sound ethereal and surround the listener in their warm sound. The songs are firmly planted, for the most part, in standard forms. There are verses and choruses and hooks galore throughout. Each song has at least one memorable bit that, personally, had me coming back for more.

Jojo Burger Tempest
Working for a Nuclear Free City - Jojo Burger Tempest

There is a common thread of crystal clear production and virtuosic musicality present throughout “Jojo Burger Tempest”. This could be considered as one of the binding elements from track to track along with the thumping bass, clean guitar and a plethora of synth sounds that range from adding crunch to the low end to lifting the songs up with bright arpeggios and lead lines that cut through everything else. The vocals are clearly taking a backseat to all of the instrumental and electronic wizardry that is present though we do get a bit of vocal harmony reminiscent of Caribou’s “Andorra”, Klaxons and The Birds on the lead single “Silent Times”. The fact that whenever vocals are present they are pushed far back and made nearly unintelligible by effects shows that they are a group that is truly focused on the music more so than the words.

The organization as far as track order and song styles really benefits the work as a whole. This really is album oriented music and a lot more can be taken away from experiencing the whole sequence of songs in a sitting. The final track stands out as nearly an album in itself with its seamless melding of tons and tons of musical ideas and elaborations carefully worked into a song that is far beyond pastiche, it actually ends up making complete sense and is the most enjoyable 30+ minute track that I have come across in a long time. One goes through quite a journey in the process of listening to that song, just as one goes through quite a journey listening to this album. This is a great piece of work that is very worthy of your attention.

Click below to hear/download “Silent Times”.

Working for a Nuclear Free City – “Silent Times”

2010, albums, music, news

New Hurricane Bells video and EP

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Hurricane Bells is the latest project from Steve Schiltz, of Longwave fame. After releasing their album “Secrets are Sinister” in 2008 Schiltz began working on some songs by himself at his home with nothing but a Macbook and an M-box. The result was Hurricane Bells‘ first full length album “Tonight is the Ghost”.

Hurricane Bells
Steve Schiltz of Hurricane Bells

“Monsters“, with it’s crunchy guitar sound and classic rock feel was taken for use in the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack, which catapulted Steve and his Hurricane Bells moniker into the spotlight. He has the platinum record to prove it. Anyway, a tour of India followed, a tour of the U.S. followed that (with a show in Canada as well), and now he is back with a new EP, “Down Comes the Rain”. Not only is the new EP available for pre-order right now from the Hurricane Bells site, but it’s appearing on a new label that Steve started called Invisible Brigades.

Very exciting news indeed.

There are also a few shows coming up in NYC and DC and sure to be more on the way. For now though you can watch the latest video for “The Waiting Song”, directed by Bill Moldt. Also check out the video that Moldt did for “Tonight is the Ghost” opener “This Year“. It’s a truly amazing and emotional video that works perfect with the song.

“Down Comes the Rain” is set for official release on September 28 and will come with a bonus re-mix EP. Head over to the Hurricane Bells site to pre-order it now.

2010, live, music, reviews

Shellac at the Ninth Ward at Babeville, Buffalo, NY (September 2, 2010)

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I have been waiting to see Shellac for several years now. The opportunity came and I seized it. I didn’t even have to go to Chicago, like I planned on doing back in 2007. Shellac came to Buffalo on their way to ATP in Monticello and brought Helen Money with them, not to mention Tortoise who played the same night at a different venue across town.

Helen Money was the opening act. She is a Chicago based cellist that seems nervous on stage on a personal level, but completely dominates with her musicality. She creates complex songs alone on stage with the assistance of several effects, looping layer upon layer of sound structuring dense music that can seem as though it is improvised except for the clear direction that each of the compositions lead the listener. Money is a phenomenal talent and the audience remained in rapt attention throughout her set, silent and leaning forward in the already small room in order to catch all of the nuance of her music. Her set was varied with music that went from aggressive to subtle, distorted and layered to simply stated. It’s always amazing to hear such forceful and confident musical expression from such a seemingly soft-spoken individual.

Quite to the contrary is headliners Shellac. There is very little to nothing subtle about their music. When asked by friends to describe their sound the words that came to mind were abrasive, confrontational, and aggressive. I don’t think of these descriptors as negative, though I suppose I’m alone in that thought. I think it sums up their sound pretty well though.

First off you have the notoriously outspoken and opinionated Steve Albini on guitar and vocals. The astoundingly accurate drumming of Todd Trainer beating the shit out of the drums with all of the force he can muster and Bob Weston on bass, vocals and director of in between song Q & A that seems to be just a way of being able to verbally abuse the audience or give otherwise smart-assed answers to stupid questions:

“Are you going to play Copper?”

“Sorry, we’re not taking requests.”

Of course the next song was Copper.

I worked my way up to the very front, well the very side of the stage right next to Albini and his famous Harmonic Percolator. Since I know all of the songs really well (when I first discovered their music I used to listen to their entire output daily….and I did that the morning of the show as well) I didn’t mind that the sound kind of sucked from where I was standing. My mix was mostly guitar and drums, but that was just fine with me.

I didn’t bring a camera, so all that I had with me was my phone, with which I took several pictures and one video of terrible quality. Here’s one of the photos that displays Albini’s “Rainbow Trout” shirt.

Shellac
Shellac at the Ninth Ward at Babeville

They played all the crowd pleasers: Copper, Squirrel Song, Steady as She Goes, The End of Radio, My Black Ass, Canada… the only song that was missing, in my opinion, was Prayer to God. I thought that they were going to do it because I was privy to all the in between song banter that goes on between Bob Weston and Albini due to my position next to the stage. They don’t use a set list, they just hop up on stage and figure out what they want to do. At one point Weston turned to Albini and said, “What you want to do?” which was followed by his hands coming together in a prayer-type gesture. The crowd reacted positively, but Steve must not have been into it that day.

There’s really no point to reviewing a Shellac show. They are such a cult act that I’m fairly positive everyone at the show, myself included, was loving every minute of it. The audience was, not surprisingly, made up mostly (90 – 95%) of males, though there was one woman in the audience that found herself at the receiving end of a fairly scathing comment courtesy of Mr. Albini. Now, before I go into the exchange you must understand one thing: The venue, Babeville, is named so because it is owned by Ani DiFranco. Also, this venue that is owned by Ani DiFranco is a converted church, a beautiful, gothic church that was lovingly restored with a significant amount of money.

So…during those Q & A sessions in between songs there was one woman in particular that seemed preoccupied with Steve Albini’s shirt. She was more interested in having a conversation with the band than in asking any questions. After a few songs, with Weston trying to stop her from talking, Albini steps to the mic and says, “Could somebody stuff a cock in this woman’s mouth, please?”, to which Weston immediately turned and said, “Dude, you can’t say that here man! We’re in Ani DiFranco’s church!” I was surprised to see that Albini actually looked like he was sorry for what he said, as if he felt that he had gone too far. Not because of what he said, or that he may have offended the woman, not at all, but rather because of where he was when he said it. He quickly changed his tune and said, “uhhh I mean, could someone please stuff a sparkly gel dildo in her mouth, please?” which elicited a lot of laughter.

Suffice to say that it was an excellent show. No encore. I was really happy to have finally had the chance to see these guys. I did muster up enough courage to have a 2 minute super awkward conversation with Steve Albini as he was packing up his gear. At the end I got to shake his hand. Mission accomplished.

2010, albums, music, reviews

Album Review: of Montreal – "False Priest"

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Kevin Barnes and company are back with another album full of arty, psychedelic tunes. This time out they have employed the help of producer Jon Brion to bring us 13 over the top tracks that showcase an affinity for funk and soul music that mixes well with the band’s penchant for writing quirky pop tunes.

of Montreal is one of those bands that is not satisfied sitting still from album to album. Their sound changes and grows as they continue to explore new territory. “False Priest”, their most recent release (out September 14, 2010 on Polyvinyl), positions them as a pop-funk band with falsetto vocals and thumping bass lines as the centerpieces for their brand of arty rock. There is still the usual layered production and complex songwriting that fans of the band have come to expect throughout the years, as well as a pronounced use of infectious melodies and catchy pop hooks placed liberally throughout. The songs fill a lot of space, but they don’t wander off schizophrenically as a lot of the tracks in 2008’s “Skeletal Lamping” did. Where “Skeletal Lamping” comes off as fractured and a seeming experiment in song form, “False Priest” is lean and solid with a clear trajectory from beginning to end.

The songs on this release seem more able to be used as singles, and “Coquet Coquette” has already popped up on Youtube with an official video as well as being featured on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The song features a sparse verse with a driving bassline that moves into a chorus that explodes with timpani and the crunch of guitars. It is least like any of the other songs on “False Priest” but it is most like previous of Montreal work. Like I said before, this is not a band that is afraid to try new things, but there is always a basis for their branching out. There is a gradual and methodical evolution at work.

Several new elements were added to the process of producing this album, not the least of which was Jon Brion who took the songs that were apparently already finished when Kevin Barnes brought them into the studio and improved upon them. Percussion and strings were added and an all around larger and cleaner sounding album are the result of Brion’s studio wizardry. The inclusion of Janelle Monáe’s voice on “Our Riotous Defects” and “Enemy Gene” and Solange Knowles’ on “Sex Karma” gives the album more of an authentically soulful vibe.

The album remains focused on the psych-funk aesthetic rather than exploring the Georgie Fruit alter-ego that first appeared on 2006’s fantastic “Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer?” and continued to allow Barnes to get his Ziggy Stardust on all over “Skeletal Lamping”. Though we are not too far separated from those albums. After all the title for this release is taken from the same lyric that gave us “Skeletal Lamping”. The bass has been playing an increasingly central role in recent of Montreal albums and this time out it is truly the driving force and foundation to many of the songs. In addition to the ultra-funky bass lines is a slightly heavier dependence on synths that are layered throughout.

of Montreal

“I Feel Ya Strutter” is an energetic and funky dance tune that starts the album off on the right foot. Similar territory is covered on tracks like “Godly Intersex” with its trippy psych-rock verse and its grooving, multitracked vocals in the chorus. It is amazing what Kevin Barnes can do with his voice from song to song. One second he is singing like Prince in a pitch perfect and ear piercing falsetto and the next he is growling in a husky tone, or sweetly duetting  with Janelle Monáe on “Enemy Gene”. On “Sex Karma”, a duet with Solange Knowles, we are treated to 4 minutes of funk-pop perfection. Knowles’ voice in the chorus works perfectly with Barnes’.

The connecting of songs ala “Skeletal Lamping” is present to a very small degree when “Sex Karma” flows directly into “Girl Named Hello”, which features the standout lyric: “If I treated someone else the way I treat myself, I’d be in jail”.

It’s not all funk and psychedelia. of Montreal branches out on tracks like “Famine Affair”, which sounds like  it was lifted straight from a Cars album, that give us our only chance to hear the guitars turned up all the way, driving us through a nice loud and straight ahead chorus. There is some strange lyrical content explored on “Like a Tourist” with a chorus that reaches up to the stratosphere and also has some driving straight ahead rock tossed off for the verses. The end of the album features some of the most eclectic material, though still funky and bass driven “Around the Way” is a little bit darker than anything else here and the album closer “You Do Mutilate?” seems like something left over from the last album in that it seems to be 2 or 3 songs stitched together. This track truly ends on a strange tone, but anyone that is a fan of the band’s previous work will not be surprised by this kind of change towards the end of the album. Things reach a similar breaking point on “Hissing Fauna….” after the 11 minute turning point track “The Past is a Grotesque Animal”, the only difference being that this track closes the album.

“False Priest” is of Montreal’s best work to date. They continue to be one of the most exciting acts to follow in the indie scene and continue to grow in popularity, and show no sign of stopping or even slowing down. In fact they just released information, before the release of this album, regarding an EP, “The Controller Sphere” (whose title also comes from the same lyric in “Faberge Falls for Shuggie” from the “Hissing Fauna…” album, and was also considered as a title for this album) which will be released before the end of the year. All the music they are creating, combined with their live shows that are an ever evolving exercise in dadaism and political commentary really point to the fact that of Montreal is one of the most significant and creative acts around today.

Catch of Montreal on tour. Trust me, it will be one of the best shows you have ever seen.

Better than Pitchfork.