THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART: BELONG

Available in iTunes: Issue #3 Discosalt Magazine

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Posted:
April 7, 2011
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THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART: BELONG


[rating: 4]
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart: Belong
Label: Collective Sounds
Release date: March 29, 2011

Since forming in early 2007, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart have become one of the most buzzed about indie pop bands in years. Their distinctive retro sounding brand of noise pop is a tidy distillation of all the great late 80s/early 90s shoegaze precedents – with obvious nods to early My Bloody Valentine, House of Love, Pale Saints, Rocketship – but with that incredible exuberance and energy that the Pains bring to every song.  The kind of song energy that leaves me wondering whether the band is knowingly as naive as they project or incredibly emotionally complex songwriters.

On their new album Belong, the band uses their bookish lyrics and fuzzed out shoegaze sound to once again conquer the fine art of innocent romanticism mixed with semi-violent instrumentation, of emotional turmoil equaled by shimmering pop.

Read a more in depth album review from Discosalt contributing writer Andrew Bailey below:

Belong paints The Pains of Being Pure at Heart in the same complimentary light as those successful releases of two years ago. The overall sound is largely the same as well. The New York foursome is still heavily indebted to — and derivative of, to be perfectly honest — many of shoegaze’s greatest acts. All those comparisons to My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and modern descendants like Crocodiles and The Radio Dept. that were so prevalent around their previous releases still hold true here. But this new album reflects some growth as well. It only takes one listen to the opening track, “Belong”, to gather that these songs are a little bit heavier than their predecessors. The band utilizes more aggressive guitar riffs that seem influenced by the whole 90′s grunge movement almost across the board on Belong, emphasized on that title track as well as “Girl of 1,000 Dreams” later on. They’ve also adapted a new crystalline production, unhinging themselves from some of shoegaze’s gravelly traits, which allows their spin on the genre to feel just a little more fresh and individualistic. It also provides for some nice boundaries between albums, with the self-titled and Belong managing to feel very different despite subscribing to many of the same techniques.
Even if Kip Berman’s songwriting feels a little too soft here and there (“I wonder what it’s like to be liked”, he ponders on the otherwise wonderful “Even in Dreams”), these 10 songs are almost resoundingly sensational. That said, they’re also all very similar. The debut album actually seemed that way as well, but after repeated listens tracks like “Contender”, “This Love is Fucking Right”, and “Everything With You” — among others — really began to carve out their own unique identity. Its too early to tell whether or not Belong will develop in the same manner or not, but for now it is a little difficult to pick out the LP’s premier tracks. That’s one of life’s rare win-win dilemmas though: one or two songs might not jump out from the others, but that’s only because they all triumph equally. (Read More HERE)

-Andrew Bailey

Posted:
April 5, 2011
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suckers_wildsmile-4881_victoriajacob

Q + A: SUCKERS

Discosalt’s Rachel Covert sat down with the band Suckers in their Brooklyn recording space to discuss their new album Wild Smile; the epic debut following up 2009′s self-titled EP produced by Yeasayer‘s Anand Wilder. The album, available on French Kiss Records, is a rowdy mix of indie art rock and synth. Equal parts experimental and accessible, at times echoing some of the glam grandeur of Bowie. The three singers/ multi-instrumentalists Austin Fisher, Quinn Walker (Fisher’s cousin), and the mysterious Pan share some insight into their music, David Bowie, touring with Menomena, stories from the road, albums in heavy rotation and “Labryth Rock”, a term coined by album producer Chris Zane (Passion Pit, The Walkmen, Les Savy Fav).

Shot back in August, a small camera crew “SNAFU” led us to believe the footage was completely lost, but eight months later, the tape has miraculously resurfaced…

And now, the lost Suckers interview:

Interview with Suckers from Discosalt on Vimeo.

Posted:
March 25, 2011
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middlebro

MIDDLE BROTHER: MIDDLE BROTHER

 

[rating:4]

Middle Brother: Middle Brother

Label: Partisan Records

Release date: March 1, 2011

Middle Brother is the new kid on the exploding and frankly over saturated new-Americana block. With three singer songwriters from three burgeoning bands that play with modern folk-rock styles, this is something of a mini-indie-super-group, not unlike their more famous brethren in Monsters of Folk. John McCauley (Deer Tick), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), and Matt Vasquez (Delta Spirit) joined forces for an unannounced show at last year’s SXSW festival to showcase their one rehearsal of the album’s songs. A musical baby was born.

Their self titled debut mixes and matches each writer’s distinct style with an alluring spirit of collaboration to weave a warm and intoxicating blanket of hangover blues, wicked self-loathing, and ramshackle celebration. No voice dominates as each songwriter recognizes the greater good lies within the song.  Lyrically, the boys are weary and broken hearted but find a resolute wish inside their mourning. By blending the tragic and the hopeful, Middle Brother paints with heartfelt brushstrokes as all three songwriters pick up the pieces of their shattered selves filled with mistakes, lust and shame. Music may be the only reason to carry on.

Vasquez, perhaps the least heralded member is a revelation for those unfamiliar with Delta Spirit’s work. “Blue Eyes” sparkles with crystalline melodies that feel more robust upon each listen. He sings the ode to a crush with lush emotion, “She’s a southern girl without the drawl/She’s a good girl who wears black bras/The only one who can make me crawl/She’s too sweet to force me”. Slinky yet direct electric guitar work and vivid piano accents allow the song to bounce forward, building beauty. “Theater” is perhaps the most angrily elegant song on the album with a desolate refrain that rings out, “This life won’t tell you nothing/nothing but lies”. Vasquez’s “Someday” is another nugget of perfection, mixing doo-wop and R&B-ish harmonies to form a weirdly creative synthesis of modern country folk and Brill Building aesthetics that somehow makes perfect sense.

McCauley brings his very personal, raucous and gritty rock n’ roll sensibility to “Me, Me, Me” and “Middle Brother”. The former is supported by big three part harmonies from his two compadres and the latter is a hefty dose of McCauley’s self-loathing tied to a boisterous mash up of Jerry Lee Lewis vibes and “All Shook Up” melodies. In McCauley’s best work his combination of self-depreciating humor, lucid acknowledgement of personal pain, and an anguished singing voice make him a somewhat tragic figure, supremely talented yet self destructive.

Goldsmith’s brand of sincere story telling showcased so prominently on Dawes’ fabulous debut North Hills, is displayed in its most stylistically simple format on “Thanks for Nothing” where a sparse arrangement deftly allows his words and heart to shine. “Wilderness” echoes the sense of despair that turns up frequently on Middle Brother, albeit couched in the prettiest of melodies. “I plan to be the guy who when he drinks/he disappoints/They say you’ll kill yourself before you know it/Well, isn’t that the point”. Unfortunately, “Blood and Guts” is the first and only Goldsmith creation that feels slightly overblown by the middle.

A cover of Paul Westerberg’s “Portland” is a perfect choice. The former Replacements front man wrote this track after a particularly rough night in the Northwest during the 80s when he and his band mates were unable to complete a performance due to an excess of grandpa’s cough medicine. Because Middle Brother echoes the Replacement’s dirty beauty, the instantly hook filled guitar line fits in perfectly.  Westerberg’s words tell the story, “Regrets, misgivings, but we won’t change/Its too late to turn back/here we go”.

On the album closing “Million Dollar Bill” the musical brothers collaborate on a breakup lullaby with crisp snare hits and alternate singing the verses. A pure spirit of teamwork and support lifts the songs “oohs” toward a real place of heartbreak, friendship, and the hope of a better future. Middle Brother keeps the flame alive.

-Chris Calarco

 

 

 

 

 

Posted:
March 21, 2011
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The-Strokes-Angles

THE STROKES: ANGLES

[rating:4.0]

The Strokes: Angles

Label: Rough Trade

Release Date: March 22, 2011

The Strokes officially release their fourth studio album, Angles tomorrow on Rough Trade.  After such a long hiatus and hyped as the first Strokes album with creative input from all five members, we were not quite sure what to expect from this album. But despite this albums diverse collaborative input and attempt to rebuild the band from the ground up, this is definitely still a “Strokes album”.  If you are expecting an ambitious statement from the band that will push the musical landscape in a new direction, you will no doubt be disappointed with this album. What you can expect is a collection of new songs from a continually evolving band, with a new sound that is refreshing but also familiar, maintaining their signature sound; catchy hooks, punchy guitars , Juliens droning monotone croon, subtle hints at reggae and 80′s rock.  After heavy rotation, this album proves itself a highly redeemable work, one of the bands most interesting, if uneven EP’s that is better and better with each listen. Like 2001′s overly hyped/ mis-represented Is This It, Angles is just straightforward catchy pop rock, meant to be enjoyed as just that. Pitchfork might want these guys to “quit while they’re ahead”, but if anything, Angles proves the Strokes are a band forging forward,  and we are glad they keep on, keeping on.

Read a more in depth album review from Discosalt contributing writer Andrew Bailey below:

Angles frequently sounds more like an album heavily influenced by The Strokes than actually by The Strokes. There seems to be a lot less attention to detail in the songwriting, the track-for-track reliance on big garage rock guitar riffs isn’t so aggressive, and the 1980′s have clearly left a very palpable impression. Even some alien reggae influences have seeped in on “Machu Picchu”, easily one of the record’s best tracks. Above all else though, what really stands out here is the quality of production (at last). The rugged garage aesthetic made sense on Is This It and even to some extent on Room on Fire. But by the time the band reached First Impressions — where they finally started trying to merge the old with the new — it started feeling overly manufactured. The Strokes are, after all, a big time rock group now. And they aren’t in their early-20′s anymore, either. Clinging to the same old lackluster production quality might have coddled a few old fans still starstruck by the sound they broke in with, but it wouldn’t have done anything for the band’s progression. All these changes might be big splashes of cold water to the face, but they’re all incredibly welcome ones. (Read More HERE)

-Andrew Bailey

Stream the entire album on the Strokes website right HERE.

 

Posted:
March 15, 2011
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radiohead

RADIOHEAD NOW: ECHOES OF THE PAST, GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE

(illustration:Sara Blake)

“Radiohead makes music that sounds like the future.”

I paraphrase, but this is, essentially, what every other review of Kid A, the album that marked a stylistic shift from UK alt arena rock – inspired and informed by IDM, left-field pop, kraut rock and avant-garde – to something much grander, that mirrored more than masked those influences. Labeled and branded everything from electronic pop, avant-pop, and alt-prog, the Radiohead that made Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief scarcely resembled the Pablo Honey – OK Computer band from Oxford, England. Unlike many of their contemporaries, Radiohead consistently raised the stakes of the game with each new release while simultaneously changing it completely.

Everyone knows countless bands that based their sound on The Bends, or made an entire career out of writing lesser “Karma Police” knock-offs. So, when Radiohead detoured off course, some who were listening stopped and some who hadn’t, stopped and listened. It’s no secret that there is an entire generation of kids who knew the Kid A/Amnesiac Radiohead better than the previous album but these albums and that incarnation of the band are unmistakable influences for today’s most interesting artists – many from the indie world.

Electronica, in its every variation, has been in and out of style since the seventies and, yet there are still many music fans and freaks who don’t acknowledge it, don’t get it, or just don’t like it. For those who were born into the dance/electronic scene – like the hardcore kids of the Reagan era – there was a strict expectation to only be into that kind of music (at least, publicly). Kid A and Amnesiac became the OK exception to that rule though, because it sounded closer to Autechre and Aphex Twin than say, Travis or Coldplay.

While other respected rock acts noodled with knobs and flipped on the digital blips with mixed results, Radiohead succeeded by scrapping it all and starting from scratch.This sacrifice and surrender has taken the band in a completely different direction than “The Biggest Band in the World” is expected to go. All of a sudden, the fringe became familiar, the champions became challengers, and an entirely new approach, of taking the discordant and experimental and turning it into something tuneful and accessible, was born.

By the very nature of experimentation, this led the band and all musicdom to where it is now. Wilco, Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Yeasayer, etc. And now we have The King of Limbs. Though it surprised us in its date and time of release, the material really hasn’t. It’s an amazing piece as a cohesive album and there are standout tracks, but it doesn’t feel like much has changed. Thom continues to become more comfortable exploring his entire range and register as a vocalist, The Greenwoods continue to perfect their unique, complex and melodic arrangements and explore guitar as texture, and Ed O’ Brien and Phil Selway marry precise, hypnotic, off-kilter and oddly timed rhythmic patterns. In other words, Radiohead continue to be Radiohead. They continue to produce semi-challenging/kinda-experimental music for a mostly mainstream audience. (Yes, indie is a sub of mainstream).

They’ve commercialized the avant-garde. They’ve sold us jazz by convincing us it’s rock. This is a great accomplishment. Though The King of Limbs is no departure from near recent efforts, it is still a Radiohead album and it’s better than most anything from 2010 to current. It’s another triumph, filled with jittery sexiness and sexy jitteriness.


 

Musicianship and artistry aside, the marketing of Radiohead is exciting in and of itself. We’ve seen Kid A’s less-than-friendly “press interaction by email only” attempt to break the slack journalism cycle and we witnessed the band succeed in breaking the fourth wall of the music business with In Rainbows’ self-distributed, pay what you like industry-shaking power move. So, where do you go from there?

If you’re Radiohead, this time out, you surprise, delight and befuddle. First off, with little warning, they announced The King of Limbs release date, then released it even earlier, catching almost everyone and all of twitter off guard. At the same time, they released the black and white “Lotus Flower” video of a happy-looking Yorke busting liquid-like moves in a bowler, then watched it go viral and achieve meme status (See Yorke Vs. Bieber). Next, to commemorate the physical release of TKOL, they handed out a newspaper (The Universal Sigh) featuring essays, poems and Stanley Donwood artwork. With these efforts, the band and their camp have proven that they know what they’re doing – and love that the rest of the world still doesn’t.

Still, many have called the release a sleeper or grower – which is a fair enough assessments for cliquey hipsters and jaded critics – but like all things wonderful and strange, there are many levels of The King of Limbs to love. With the Record Store Day tracks “Supercollider” and “The Butcher,” as well as the most recent Limbs session release (and Glastonbury favorite), “Staircase,” adding even more complex allure and simple joy to the equation, fans and foes alike are getting another vital piece of the puzzle completing an already enthralling album from the only band making music that genuinely sounds like the future.

-Casey Bowers

Posted:
March 10, 2011
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ADAM KESHER: CHALLENGING NATURE

[rating:3.5]

Adam Kesher: Challenging Nature

Label: Disque Primeur

Release date: April 11, 2011

Named for the character of the same name from David Lynch’s ever-weird Mulholland Dr., Adam Kesher is the creation of Gaëtan Didelot and Julien Perez. Now expanded to a five-piece, the French group’s latest record, Challenging Nature, wears every fleck of its DNA — drawn from a very specific family tree — on their sleeves. Even after the most cursory of listens its clear that the group is cut from the same cloth as other synth-driven acts as Hercules and Love Affair, Cut Copy, and Chromeo. Not-so-coincidentally, those last two acts have direct pipelines into Adam Kesher’s sophomore excursion.

Challenging Nature is produced by one half of Chromeo’s brain trust, Dave 1, and mixed by the likes of A-Trak, Philippe Zdar of fellow French band Cassius, and Pierrick Devin, who has contributed to many disco-influenced acts including — you guessed it — Cut Copy. The band also lists Phoenix as an influence and, paired up with the roster of producers and mixers, all of these acts bleed straight through with absolutely no resistance. Its like Adam Kesher noticed these other acts went away for the weekend so they hopped the fence and used their swimming pool, shamelessly cannonballing right smack into the middle of the deep end. So no, it isn’t the most original thing in the entire world; far from it, in fact. But if nothing else you have to admire the group’s confidence in so defiantly marching down what is already a well-worn path. They do it consistently well too, its just that even at its best moments — “Hundred Years Later” and “Hour of the Wolf” are a borderline phenomenal opening pair — it feels lacking in its own distinguishable personality, ultimately resting more in a genre than by a name.

That said, in order to properly get into this album you must commit to doing two things. First, turn up the volume. It should really go without saying based on the aforementioned comparisons, but this isn’t an LP that’s going to do you much good wavering around in the background. The bass really needs to have some punch behind it. Secondly, you have to toggle off any expectation you have that all music be created entirely from scratch with organic ingredients. If you can do those things, you’re likely to find that Challenging Natureis hardly challenging at all, but rather a surprisingly well put together collection of straight up synth-pop. You might also find yourself longing for a sweaty dance floor because, by and large, that’s what this record is most suited for. In fact, my very first instinct was to catalog in my head where certain songs here would fit in a DJ mix alongside tracks from Cut Copy and house remixes of Phoenix. And there are quite a few such tracks that would make the cut.

Its always exhilarating to be swept over by a completely refreshing new sound, but there’s something to be said for simply tackling an existing blueprint and pulling it off successfully. Challenging Nature might not blow you away or keep you enthralled for weeks on end, but its fruitful nonetheless. If nothing else, it manages to cozy up alongside some of the genre’s foremost representative artists and doesn’t back down.

-Andrew J. Bailey

 

Posted:
March 7, 2011
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strfkr

STARFUCKER: REPTILIANS

[rating:2]
Starfucker: Reptilians
Label: Polyvinyl Records
Release date: March 8, 2011

Joshua Hodges started Starfucker as a solo act in Portland, Oregon four years ago. He gained citywide acclaim for danceable electro pop that ruled the house party circuit and left all the tight jeans and ironic Def Leppard shirts ripe with sweat. Soon the band expanded in numbers and a self-titled LP was released in 2008 but failed to gain the band a much wider audience. Their live show continued to earn higher marks than studio work. At some point in 2009the band changed their name to PYRAMID and then apparently to Pyramiddd.Soon thereafter, they pulled a switcheroo and returned to their original name. However, they now tour as STRFKR. Got all that?

As one of Portland’s belovedindie productsthe band releases their second LP,Reptilians, on SF imprint Polyvinyl.In the band’s early days, Hodges was hailed for his combination of hummable pop song structures and quirky electronica, a blend now ubiquitous across the world. On Reptilians, the band faces the sophomore challenge of trying to figure out where the first album missed and establish themselves as an emerging force to be reckoned with.Unfortunately, there isn’t enough about the album to make a strong impression. The problems are two fold. Most egregiously, the band cranks their snappy synth leads so high in the mix they clobber instead of inspire, seemingly dying to be recognized as the next“Time to Pretend”. Second, the vocals are far too hushed, plaintive and washed out, showing little urgency or emotion. Breathy and ethereal is one thing but thesevocals lack passion andmake Hodges sound as if he is drowning in a pool of opaque water. The songs are on the whole, unmemorably ho-hum.

In the middle third of the album Starfucker finds their zone for a few songs. “Astoria” is mixed more effectively, vocals are audible, acoustic guitar loops converse with the click-clack of e-drums and vibrant synth lines dip and dive without smothering the song completely. “Reptilians” is a weird little nugget of electro-psych-pop that shows off solid songwriting skills with sweetly warped guitar and a synth sound that seeps inside one of the album’s thicker grooves. The band shows off a bit more creative patience here, vibeing with delicate structural changes inside three minutes and instantaneously turn the song into mournful electro candy. “The White of Noon” is the album’s strongest track. A stoned groove lays back before exploding in a processed sunburst of spacious guitar melodies. It is in this moment the band shows off greater purpose and energy. Unfortunately, this moment doesn’t come until half an hour in and it’s not clear why listeners would hang around that long when so many bands compete for a similar sound. It is simply hard to see this collection standing apart from the pack.

-Chris Calarco

Posted:
March 4, 2011
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PAPERCUTS: FADING PARADE

[rating: 2]

Papercuts: Fading Parade

Label: Sub Pop

Release date: March 1, 2011

Jason Robert Quever has never been even remotely rapacious to begin with, but on his newest release as Papercuts he’s gone from simply being moderately bashful to almost completely disconnected. This isn’t to say that Fading Parade isn’t a feathery, pleasant LP. Its just that so much feels ambiguous or straight-laced and rarely, if ever, does it manage to completely hit its marks, causing it to leave behind very little in the way of lasting impressions.

“Do You Really Wanna Know” and “Do What You Will” aren’t only the first two songs on the tracklist, they’re the album’s most apparent outliers. Of course, many of the songs here do tend to follow the same general guidelines, so its reasonable to assume that no matter which two cuts had been bumped to the front of the line they might have felt like the album’s most noteworthy moments; barring something truly extraordinary, first and last impressions are what tend to resonate with our collective memories. At any rate, those two tracks — not coincidentally among the album’s shortest — are representative of Quever’s most direct and vibrant moments against a backdrop of stuff that shoots to be simultaneously dreamy, folky, and emotionally riveting but rarely has the urgency or variety to achieve any of the above.

Of the 10 songs here, “I’ll See You Later, I Guess” might be the best example of where Quever’s efforts fall short. The song actually features some decent core components: the identifiable lovelorn indifference, the occasionally pretty arrangement. But the track is far more spacious than it needs to be, dragging fruitlessly in the middle, wavering around in search of a climax that never comes. It seems like a seed stretched beyond its means rather than a fully formed song and as an unfortunate consequence leaves behind little in the way of memorability (yes, thats a recurring theme). Its affable and all, but Quever’s timidness is a real anchor of progress.

The mixing on the album is also a significant stumbling block. Quever places a large emphasis on guitar here, but rarely is the production crisp enough to really bring out the strumming. The reason for this is fairly simple: there’s actually a bunch of instrumentation, but its all been pushed way back in the mix. So what ends up happening is the intended focal point — the guitar — gets overwhelmed by many of these peripheral, mostly nondescript sounds. Sometimes it’s lazy percussion coming from off in the distance, or the smattering of a tambourine, or even Quever’s vocals just swooning around, gently bouncing off the walls of the studio but never fully coming into focus. It all feels strangled and muddled, each instrument content to exist rather than live, and so each of them merely plod along together. Whatever pretty guitar work is being plied just falls by the wayside. Its especially frustrating because it really does seem as though Quever has something to get off his chest here.

It isn’t essential that Quever be the kind of frontman demanding of a spotlight, standing on the edge of a stage throwing his arms in the air and dripping flop sweat on his adorning front row fans. Actually, with that visual in mind, its probably a good thing he isn’t that guy. But Fading Parade could have certainly used some more punch from its leading man and driving creative force. Without it, this collection of songs merely come and go.

-Andrew Bailey

Posted:
March 3, 2011
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yuck

YUCK: YUCK

[rating:4.0]

Yuck: Yuck

Label: Fat Possum

Release date: February 15, 2011

Yuck is a predominantly four-piece (sometimes five-piece) outfit made up of members from London, Hiroshima, and New Jersey. On their self-titled Fat Possum debut, the band proudly wears those worldly influences on their sleeves, meshing together a surplus of genetics from other notable artists into one versatile, low-fi production.

Both Yuck the band and Yuck the album could be loosely fit into a number of different genres. There’s indie rock, obviously, but there’s also elements of shoegaze, noise pop, punk, and dream pop all run through the same garage rock aesthetic. All things considered, its not the most original sound that’s ever been broached. In fact, more often than not these songs are derivative of other songs from other prominent bands, beginning with Dinosaur Jr., Yo La Tengo, and Sonic Youth and then extending to Pavement, shoegaze mainstays My Bloody Valentine, and even The Folk Implosion. An entire mile-long scroll could be dedicated to listing all the bands that have a fingerprint on here. So yeah, its a familiar sound. But its a sound that’s tried and true and that they do an impressive job of tackling.

Aside from how recognizable this album is even on a first listen, the thing that immediately jumps out about it is the variation. Perhaps its just a narrow perception, but it seems that as more and more bands influenced by garage rock and indebted to the increasingly popular low-fi production crop up, the differences from track to track grow slimmer. This isn’t the case at all for Yuck. Highlighted by the fantastic, grinding closer “Rubber”, Yuck hardly spends the entirety of the album rocking our ears off, even though the first few notes of the initial track, “Get Away”, suggest that’s what’s to come. Standouts “Holing Out”, “Georgia”, and “Suck” are all infused with thick layers of bass and guitar, but throughout the album these heavier peaks are complemented by valleys of surprisingly comforting harmonies and softer, more wavy instrumentation. “Shook Down” is one such example. Even if they’re borrowing from a recognizable sound, each song manages to distinguish itself in some way so as to prevent it from feeling like 12 iterations of the same old song.

Yuck isn’t going to garner a lot of points for overall creativity, though it certainly begs mentioning that following in the footsteps of other artists doesn’t simply mean playing prearranged songs out of chord books. They should, however, be credited for their execution. Over the course of 12 excellent songs, they’ve done justice to the likenesses of some of the best bands across multiple genres, while simultaneously separating themselves from their more recent contemporaries.

-Andrew Bailey

Posted:
March 3, 2011
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bright-eyes-the-peoples-key

BRIGHT EYES: THE PEOPLE’S KEY

[rating: 3]

Bright Eyes: The People’s Key

Label: Saddle Creek

Release date: February 15, 2011

The People’s Key is expected to be the final chapter for Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott’s Bright Eyes, a legendary outfit with a revolving cast of characters that has spawned no less than four classic albums. This curtain call is also quite possibly the most ambitious yet, picking up right around where 2005′s Digital Ash in a Digital Urn left off. This isn’t the Bright Eyes we’ve heard evolve over the past decade plus, but it is a fitting punctuation mark.

One of the reasons that this is expected to be the last Bright Eyes production is that Oberst’s tastes and ambitions have shifted noticably over the years. Obviously, changes with age are also a factor (he was a teenage prodigy when this all began, after all). Cassadaga, the band’s previous album, was arbuably their most country-influenced yet, but Oberst has stated in the lead up to The People’s Key that he’s become“really burnt out on that rootsy Americana shit”. So basically, rather than clinging forever to a name that comes with preconceived expectations, Oberst will be able to move forward and explore different things without that cloud hanging over him (of course, as we all know, musicians do have a way of changing their minds). But not before exhausting the last of the obvious Bright Eyes avenues.

Unless Oberst and bandmates were planning to release a Spanish techno album — and they probably weren’t — The People’s Key is about as far as the Bright Eyes umbrella could have been stretched without becoming something altogether alien. That isn’t to suggest that 10 songs on this LP are unrecognizable, because they aren’t. Some of the formulas the band has subscribed to for years are still firmly in place. At the same time, this is easily the most electronic, drum heavy, rock ‘n roll inspired album the band has ever put out.

The album starts horribly, to be blunt. In front of wavy synths that serve as the lead-up to the actual song, “Firewall” features the first appearance of some weirdo buddy of Oberst’s, who makes several appearances on this album, but none worse than the one right at the top. He rants mostly incoherently about Adolf Hitler, lizard-creatures, the Garden of Eden, and alternate universes orbiting counter-clockwise. Its pretentious, probably intended to be a little bit ironic, but most of all its the first appearance of a frustrating trend. Unfortunately, it also feels necessary, because these are all topics Oberst addresses — even if briefly or vaguely — throughout the course of the album. From someone who puts such an emphasis on narrative and literate songwriting, it shouldn’t be a surprise to hear Oberst reference Jesus, Buddha, and the Führer (and Hitler directly). But we expect to hear this stuff from him. It would have been nice not to have to hear it from some rambling froot-loop as well.

That big complaint aside, the musical composition of the album — albeit different — is actually pretty good. The percentage of “Firewall” that doesn’t involve these senseless ramblings borders on fantastic, “Shell Games” is one of the better radio-natured songs Oberst has ever written, and “A Machine Spiritual (In the People’s Key)” is another standout that really begs repeated listens. The album’s closer, “One for You, One for Me”, is every bit as terrific a song as there is here and, in a strange kind of way, sparks subtle reminders of LCD Soundsystem‘s “All My Friends”. (Admittedly that’s a bit of a left field, abstract parallel to draw.)

Percussion is the thing that makes this such a new direction for Bright Eyes though. Drums have always held a place in their songwriting arsenal, but on this record they’ve been pushed to the very front and paired up with more synthesizer than ever before. Hell, “Triple Spiral” illustrates it all in one four minute chunk. Its a weird chameleon-like shift to undergo in four years or so, but if Cassadaga was the outfit’s most outwardly Americana album, then this is as close to the opposite of that they’ve ever gone before. Its a curveball to be sure, but again, it really isn’t leaving the band’s boundaries so much as nuzzling right up close to the edges.

This isn’t the greatest thing Bright Eyes has ever done and if it does turn out that this is their farewell then it might not be the most neatly tied ribbon they could have put on their legacy either. Or maybe, just maybe, we’ll look back down the road and see the positivity this album yields and be able to appropriately compare it to those gut-wrenchingly emotional days of Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground and realize, yeah, Bright Eyes covered all the ground they could and did so wonderfully.

-Andrew Bailey (Binge Listening)


Posted:
March 1, 2011
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SharonVanEtten

SHARON VAN ETTON: EPIC

[rating: 4]

Sharon Van Etton: Epic

Label: Ba Da Bing

Release date: September 21, 2010

The opening track of Sharon Van Etton’s sophomore album Epic sets the tone of the album by being quite literally, epic.  As she pushes through the song, the listener realizes that she is her own hero, protecting herself from the naked emotions of a broken heart.  With each breath, she is both asking and telling herself “never love like that again.”  Her lyrics, while generally uncomplicated, have a subtle power to both ask and tell, and to be firmly resolute.  The record poses a series of introspective questions that are directed at herself, not the listener.  The record isn’t telling a story, but instead, expressing the feelings that humans have that make us insecure.  Her bare and direct confrontation of these feelings is unsettling and beautiful.

Her lyrics and smoker’s voice are the driving force behind the album.  There are definite influences of country music from her years in Tennessee, especially on “One Day” and “Save Yourself” but they don’t define her sound.  Her voice has a strong character to it that shines over country guitar or the synth pop sounds of “DsharpG” and “Love More”.  “Don’t Do It” is strongly reminiscent of The Cranberries, both vocally/lyrically and instrumentally.   Although the album is a relatively short seven tracks, there are a lot of different musical styles and influences.  While it does feel a bit disjointed, her strong lyrics and emotional delivery seem to bind the album together.

There is no way to decide if a singer with a simple backing is going to be uneventful.  Sometimes you’ll get a beautifully spare record like Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago. Other times you’ll hear a completely forgettable album, that was good, but nothing special.  On that spectrum, I think Epic is far into the Bon Iver region.  I find myself humming parts of it, and dialing my iPod to it more than I expected for a female folk singer.  There’s something raw, open, and honest about Epic that makes it noteworthy and memorable.

-Rachel Covert

Posted:
February 25, 2011
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Million Young at Mercury Lounge 2011

Last week we checked out ANR and  Millionyoung at New York City’s Mercury Lounge. The show was packed full of long time dedicated fans of  the Floridian chill-wave bands.

Miami’s music-making duo ANR brought a raw punk rock intensity to their synth heavy 80’s dance beats. The band pummeled through their set with a louder, more virtuosic energy than one might expect from listening to their most recent album, Stay kids. Drummer/singer Michael-John Hancock belted pipes from behind his kit, joined occasionally with brilliant falsettos from keyboardist Brian Robertson to reach shimmering dual chorsus electro pop juju. Millionyoung played the last set of the night, almost entirely in the dark. Only appropriately lit by a few colored strobe lights, as the band slowly turned their set list into a late night dance party, midway through the act.

When we caught up with Millionyoung’s front man Mike Diaz after the show, he told us his favorite part of the tour, so far, has been catching up on watching TV on the tour bus.  So, what is Millionyoung vegging out to? Mike’s a fan of one of our favorite shows: Arrested Development.

Check out some images from the show below:

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