The Eels’ first 3 albums were as integral to my teenage years as my closest friends were. Though the electronic-tinged folk-rock tunes of bandleader Mark Oliver Everett were decidedly simple, their spirit resonated with me like few others have before or since. I often felt (feel) the way those songs sound- like you’re waking up hungover from whatever lousy hand life had dealt you the night before, and you’re wondering why you should even bother to get out of bed… but then you hear a bird singing a lovely song just outside your window, and you get up and look at it blissfully chilling on a tree branch, and somehow that’s enough for you to want to leave the house and face life again. Continue reading ‘First Listen: Eels’ Tomorrow Morning’
Archive for the 'Initial Response' Category
These are unnatural greys. Interpol have sold us something untenable. There is bass and there are drums, and they meet somewhere in the night to receive wind and subterranean pulse. These instruments still function. The new record terminates at voice and guitar, which are now dispersed, abstract, bad carbon. On everything they leave black marks that signify how they are compromised. Paul Banks is not one but many; he throbs in and out of the mix in blunt choirs. He is approximating what it must feel like to have your head cratered by a rock. This rock is not even a particularly exceptional rock. It captures no peculiar strain of light. It travels in no specific arc. In its wake, a mess of blood and bone. An obtuse, grey pain. No economy, just dull muscle.
Black Mountain’s In The Future was one of my favorite records of 2008, so for over 2 years I’ve been eager to hear what this band would do next. And maybe I anticipated a little too much, because my first spin through Wilderness Heart was missing something. I still dig their uncannily ’70s lava lamp rock, which manages to feel mellow even when it drops Zeppelin and Sabbath-caliber riff-bombs. Only this time around it didn’t seize me as immediately. It seemed more generic and less adventurous. Yet because In The Future has continued to reward me long after 10 listens, I’m going to stick with Wilderness Heart a little more. Besides, I’m also partially to blame for my disappointing First Listen; I chose to do it in my apartment after midnight, which means I didn’t listen to it very loudly- which is rather unfair to a band that can rock as hard as Black Mountain can. I’ll get back to you guys after I’ve really had a chance to blast this thing.
Wow. The new Of Montreal album is getting some juice from its guest stars (bionic robo-soul singer Janelle Monae and the indie Knowles, Solange), but I suspect it will go down in history as one of the most acerbic, self-loathing, bleak albums. Which is to say: It is an Of Montreal album of recent vintage. While there are no tracks as fierce and shaggy as “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal,” the record features its share of cutting songs. While the musical mood of False Priest is somewhat bubbly, bouncy, and effervesescent, it has its share of claustrophobic neurosis vehicles. “Around The Way” sounds like a particularly demented Aladdin Sane-era Bowie track. “Godly Intersex” sounds vaguely chillwave-y, without the lack of substance and philosophic verve the genre typically displays. “Hydra Fancies” uses the deranged, multi-track voice effect to, well, great effect. The entire album is made of recriminations aimed squarely at self and chunky barbs that hurt everyone. While I can’t hardly imagine the amount of psychic pain that propels the creation of such a document, False Priest seems to make it sound pretty fun.
- 18.75% propulsive rock
- 69.44% mid-tempo meditations on napping/modernity
- 12.5% zzzzzz
The quick and dirty:
- Stewart is a power-pop-rock band from New York City
- Stewart is a good reminder why Gibson guitars and Marshall stacks worked wonders for Weezer in the mid ’90s
- You probably have never heard of them
- You should listen to this band
Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Power-pop may not be “cool” in the eyes of the music bloggers of the interwebs. I say, “Fuck them.” Kicks is an unyielding album of catchy hooks, catchy lyrics and rock ‘n’ roll prowess. After a single listen this album has reminded me what listening to music for fun is all about. For the young and young at heart, Stewart offer a solid album of 2-3 minute rock ‘n’ roll blitzes. I’m sold. ‘Nuff said.
Last year I went to an academic conference dealing with all things popular culture. It turned out that what researchers and scholars really liked talking about were popular understandings of sub and fringe cultures. One Finnish scholar now teaching at a university in North Carolina, I can’t remember his name, decided to research fans of Scandinavian and European metal in contrast to the popular understandings of these fans (which tend to depict them as disturbed, depressed, or angry/violent people). His research seemed fascinating to the head-nodding profs, but illustrated virtually nothing new to anyone who identifies as at least a casual fan of metal or “hard” music. Basically, his thesis was that metal seems “angry” to outsiders, but for fans it is a very positive experience that builds community and elicits typically happy emotions.
After that conference I silently asked myself, “Is there enough metal in my life?” The answer, sadly, was “no.” Somewhere along the way, my metal consumption waned and my record collection began to swell with folk and country records. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I decided to diversify my sonic portfolio, so to speak.
Enter Wonder, the new album by Swiss math-metal, hardcore, sludge band Knut. Now, I dropped out shortly after Botch’s We Are the Romans and my stint in Greensboro, NC. If bands continued to make records like Wonder between then and now, then I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
Knut’s latest is a reminder why we need more metal in our lives. Wonder is a cathartic experience. Amidst the chaos of postmodern existence, Knut burst through with raw emotion, stripping away all the excesses of consumerism and putting forth just loud, heavy music. Time changes and riff progressions are everywhere. On my third listen (couldn’t stop to write after one), I’m drawn to the way that the songs evolve. Like a web or matrix, complex riffs, jud, jud palm muting, and polyrhythmic structures shift continually with each song an amalgam of at least a dozen parts held together by a unifying aesthetic theme.
While the vocals (lyrically inaudible, but for me that’s a non-issue) display excellent screaming capabilities, from low guttural to mid-pitch screams, I’m a little disappointed by the lack of diversity in cadence and delivery, which is my only criticism in this early review.
The second album from School of Seven Bells has me excited. Coming on July 13th, it might not be a summer anthem, but it will mark my discontent quite nicely. “Windstorm,” the starter to the album and the single, might the best song they’ve written in their short career. Alpinisms had the unique problem of topheaviness– I like the first three songs so much I never really gave the rest of the album enough of a chance. The sharper, bigger movements and sweeping tones of Disconnected from Desire continue throughout, though, and I am certainly impressed.
Expect a full review close to the release date or sooner. I’m liking this enough to put it at the top of the reviewing heap. You can stream “Windstorm” here. I think it is one of the best songs I’ve heard this year.
I haven’t heard any of the 4 EPs Maps & Atlases have released, but I stumbled upon their full-length debut Perch Patchwork and was pleasantly surprised. Their sound is rich with peculiar, worldly rhythms and acrobatic melodies that feel more like hooks than exercises for music theory geeks. Sometimes it gets a little too breezy for my taste, but there’s no question that I’d like to spend some more time with this record. A full review should be up here within the next couple of weeks.
In 1999 I bought my first Pavement album, Wowee Zowee. I think I had heard Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain’s “Cut Your Hair” on MTV’s 120 Minutes or in a friend’s car or something and thought it sounded a bit Weezer-ish and pretty cool. When I got to the record store they didn’t have Crooked Rain, but they did have Wowee Zowee and the cover was sorta funny so I went ahead and purchased that as my first Pavement album. I don’t remember much of my first listen except thinking that this didn’t sound much like “Cut Your Hair.” These songs were really weird, but also kinda cool. I wasn’t really sure what to make of it.
Listening to CAW! CAW!’s Bummer Palace is very similar. Not that they sound like Pavement (they don’t), but they play music that is not easily categorized and my first impression is that this music is both very strange but also quite awesome and unique. Moreover, this is a band that doesn’t take itself too seriously and has a great sense of humor, both of which are extremely refreshing.
CAW! CAW!’s closest musical relative might be the indie darlings of yesterday, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or the lesser known but incredibly awesome Kudzu Wish. Bummer Palace is frantic, angsty rock music that is seemingly always being pulled in a million different directions: pop, indie rock, punk, hardcore, soul, psychedelic, shoegaze. The genre bending is probably Bummer Palace’s greatest strength and biggest weakness. However, with songs continually shifting and changing, it is a fun album that rewards listeners with multiple listens (I’m on 2.5 listens at time of writing and still trying to wrap my head around some of these songs).
The best introduction to CAW! CAW! might be the “band photo” they’ve posted on their MySpace page:
Interested? Do yourself a favor and go listen to a handful of the tracks from Bummer Palace on their MySpace band page.