Left of the Dial

2011 Music: The Year so Far

2011-06-22T15:57:00.007-04:00

With the year half over, here is a quick breakdown of the 10 best albums of the first six months of 2011.

A few notes: This list comes from a dude who has stopped listening and consuming music at the breakneck pace he once maintained. A lot of things have slipped through the cracks, and even more things just haven’t had the proper time to be processes. By the end of the year a much more comprehensive, trustworthy and meaningful list will exist. Likely, some albums that appear here will no longer be on the list in any capacity, while other albums will come roaring out of the night to take the top spots.

Albums still being processed: Fucked Up’s David Comes to Life, Okkervil River’s I am Very Far, DJ Quik’s The Book of David

Albums to be listened to: Bon Iver’s Bon Iver, Cults’s Cults, Death Cab for Cutie’s Codes and Keys, My Morning Jacket’s Circuital, Tyler, the Creator’s Goblin, any number of punk releases that I’ve been missing.

Albums that didn’t make the list but still deserve to be mentioned: The Stroke’s Angles, Cut Copy’s Zonoscope.

The 10 Best Albums of the First Half of the Year:

10) PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Harvey has long been one of my musical blind spots: this is her first release that I’ve ever owned and listened to with any kind of consistency. I can’t say exactly how this album stacks up in her catalog, but it’s weird charms and off-center take on pop music and classic rock make it more than worth a listen.

9) Frank Ocean – Nostalgia Ultra
Considering all the buzz around Tyler, The Creator, there is a certain poetic justice in this less-heralded member of the Odd Future collective finding crossover success with “Novicane,” a song that is seemingly about how it’s not good to have cocaine for breakfast. Ocean’s samples are either refreshing or annoying in their modern nature and minimal alteration, and while some may focus on his tendency to be like an emotional dude at karaoke, his open lyrics are a refreshing change from the alpha-lover bravado usually found in modern R&B.

8) The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck
On the one hand, the Mountain Goats have failed for two albums to reach the near-rock heights of 2008’s eternally great Heretic Pride. On the other hand, when mellow songs come as fully-formed and well-written as “Damn these Vampires” and “Outer Scorpion Squadron,” who gives a shit?

7) Lupe Fiasco – Lazers
I was initially down on Lazers upon its release due to the turmoil surrounding its release and the obvious grabs for crossover success in the album’s beat selection and collaborators list. Upon repeat listens, all these flaws are forgiven thanks to Fiasco’s personality and dexterity as a rapper, coming off like a more even-tempered, more thoughtful, more vocally accomplished Kanye West. Even at his worst, rap is a better genre with him in it.

6) Parts and Labor – Constant Future
For a minute, I tried to convince myself that Parts and Labor was my favorite band: one part keyboard-rock group that didn’t forget to maintain the second half of that equation and one part Big Country. I’m off that kick now, though, and just happy to have an album of experimental punk that can achieve innovation without sounding like a soupy pile of hippy noise.

Incidentally, I didn’t care much for Panda Bear’s latest album.

5) Monument – Goes Canoeing
Monument is the latest band to reach for Cap n’ Jazz’s spazzy emo throne, and the first band to come within spitting distance since Algernon Cadwalader. Goes Canoeing borrows a little more from the punk side of the cocktail, rocking a little harder and noodleing a little less while still maintaining the wide-eyed optimism and “it could mean anything or everything” lyric style of CnJ.

4) Restorations – Restorations
The older I get, the harder it is for me to justify my love of really stupid pop-punk. Thankfully, Restorations are here to inject a little dignity and maturity to my favorite genre. Part Constantines, part National and part Gaslight Anthem, the band’s first full-length is an absolute joy for the punk rock kids who are still just a little too young to grow old.

3) Tv on the Radio – Nine Types of Light
10 years in and this NYC-based band keeps brining the hits. Originally penned as a rock and roll band hiding under Radiohead-like production, Nine Types of Light finds the band more fully embracing its doo-wop roots while still turning out smart, well-written pop songs. Someday, this band will stop sneaking up on me and I will just be outright impressed with them instead of going “holy shit, this album is wonderful” after five listens.

2) Drive-By Truckers – Go-Go Boots
America’s last great southern rock band slowed things down on its 2011 release, dialing back the endless anthemic guitar solos of 2010’s The Big To-Do for more a more stripped-down country sound and a focus on building tiny worlds of small-town crime and painful lives. The shift works, especially on Patterson Hood’s calm masterpiece “The Fireplace Poker.” However, the song of the year probably goes to “Cartoon Gold,” a simple Chris Cooley number than can stand toe-to-toe with the genre’s best love songs.

1) Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for my Halo
Vile is done fucking around. After doing his best Velvet Underground impression with his band, the Violators, the Philadelphia songwriter scales everything down to a dude with his guitar and a head full of thoughts he can’t understand. Simple songs with a haunting quality and an innocent lyrical focus that could come off as amateurish in someone else’s hands sound like words of a new folk-rock icon coming from Vile, who finally fulfills the promise of all those magazine articles a few years back. There is a lesson to be learned here: talent and skill will always stand out, even if it’s just from a dude and his notebook.

You Guys Just Sit Around Doing SuperCool All Day

2011-01-08T12:12:00.005-05:00

Artist: Sisters
Album: Ghost Fits
Year: 2010

Short Review: Like a better, more accessible No Age. This could totally be two dudes you know making fun, fuzzy, punky dirt-pop.

Long Review: At its worst, Sisters do nothing more than ride the current fuzz-rock trend of rehashing the best parts of the underground from the 80s and 90s. At its best, the duo’s debut album, Ghost Fits is a fun, easy blast of accessible guitar crunch, not unlike a low-fi, no-impact version of Superchunck, or a less bullshit-y Sonic Youth.

Recalling the straightforward thump of Japanther, the band get by more on its charms and taste for melody than it does on originality. Opening track and album highlight “The Curse,” which starts with some chunky strumming, wouldn’t be much more than a mid-tempo basement punk song if not for a killer second guitar part that highlights just how much can be down with few chords.

And so the album goes. Every song is held together by a simple beat, a straightforward guitar part and some kind of additional keyboard or guitar melody (see “Glue,” “Sky”). On a track-by-track level, not every song works. Overall, however, the album is a fun diversion for people who think the underground has gotten too artsy.

Perhaps Sister’s biggest strength is its charm. The album is refreshingly free of any subtext or deeper meaning beyond “Hey, how cool does this guitar solo sound? How fun is that drum beat?” This is not a homework project or a great artistic gambit: it is two guys from Brooklyn who probably fell in love with Dinosaur Jr. and Japandroids at some point and decided to make rock music in their basement. The real secret triumph of Ghost Fits then, is how good a job these two amateurs did imitating giants.

Key Tracks: The Curse, Sky, Glue, Highway Scratch

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy, for sure.

Department of Squandered Good Will: Streetlight Manifesto Edition

2010-05-20T01:53:00.004-04:00

Artist: Streetlight Manifesto
Album: 99 Songs of Revolution

Comments: For a minute there, Streetlight Manifesto was poised to become the one ring of ska bands. One horn to rule them all, one horn to bind them.

The Sauron, the dark master of this strained metaphor, is Tomas Kalnoky, band leader and brainchild of both Streetlight and Catch 22 before them. After the success of the group's super-tight 2003 debut Everything Goes Numb, an album that succeeds with no small thanks to Kalnoky's songwriting and flair for punk-ish arrangements, the group developed a cult-like following who was chomping at the bit to buy whatever ska-morsels the band saw fit to throw their way.

Then things...got weird. Like, totally bat shit weird.

Three years after Numb, the band opted to release a remake of Keaseby Nights, Kalnoky's other ska classic with Catch 22, enleau of a new album. The group eventually got around to putting out a proper followup in a year later, the diminishing-returns-factory of Somewhere In Between, a record that sounded just like their first one in all the wrong ways.

Now, after baffling moves and unreasonable delays, the few faithful have been rewarded with...an album of ska covers! Woo.

If nothing else, 99 Songs of Revolution proves what many suspected after the band re-released Keasby Nights: Kalnoky is out of ideas. Creatively, the man has been treading the same ground since 2003, and putting out an album of covers isn't going to do much to reverse that perspective.

As far as the album goes, it's exactly what one would expect: fucking ska covers of popular songs. There's a Radiohead cover (now with horns!) and a Paul Simon cover (now with more horns!) and a Postal Service cover (with, you guess it, horns!). Truth be told, the cover of "Such Great Heights" is pretty good, if only to hear the band replicate the frantic opening techno notes with brass instruments. Otherwise, this album is a wash.

I mean, if you were waiting for a band like Streetlight Manifesto, a band totally capable of putting out classics, to get back to the business of making rock music, would you give a shit about their cover of "Punk Rock Girl?" Of course not. You'd put on Everything Goes Numb and imagine they broke up immediatly after its release. It would have been a much more graceful way to go.

Key Tracks: Punk Rock Girl

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip

I'm not linking to the covers. Let's pretend it's 2003.

The Swedes Won't Stop Making Pop Music, No Matter How Many Small Animals I Kill

2010-05-19T10:33:00.004-04:00

Artist: The Radio Dept.
Album: Clinging to a Scheme

Comments: The Swedes make good pop. The Radio Dept. is a Swedish pop band. Put two and two together. Review over.

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...

...

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OK, fine.

Clinging to a Scheme is the band's third album, and it's a dreamy little affair. Their tunes are not forceful or overly-bright as much as they are hazy and warm, free of urgency, with simple, almost lazy hooks. There aren't much drums to speak of, outside the occasional canned computer beat. Still, the lack of percussion suits the light, airy nature of the songs.

The album's best tracks, however, are the ones that are less simple strings of pleasant music and more straight-forward songs. Take, for example, the second single "Heaven's On Fire:"once one gets past the asinine quote about "capitalizing on you youth culture," the song kicks in with flirty guitars and a bouncy, easy keyboard melody that will set twee-hearts a-cuddlin'.

Things are a little childish on Clinging to a Scheme, never getting deeper than the skin, never getting darker than slightly overcast on moodier numbers like "Domestic Scene" and "The Video Dept.," and the sunny disposition of the album can get a little over-bearing at times. Still, its a fine album to just throw on and go about one's day with. It's so sweet and well-made that, when the occasional real song comes along a sticks to the ribs, it feels like an added bonus more than anything else.

And, come on, complaining about the twee-pop record being too cheerful is like complaining about the ocean being too wet.

The Radio Dept.'s latest is well-made, feel-good music for people who like to feel good. By no means a meal, it makes for a fine snack at any hour of the day.

Key Tracks: Domestic Scene, Heaven's on Fire, This Time Around, David

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Crime In Stereo's Challanging Little Success

2010-05-18T09:37:00.003-04:00

Album: Crime In Stereo
Album: I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone

Comments: As far as post-hardcore goes, no band is currently more true to the genre than Crime in Stereo. They used to play hardcore, and now they don't. It doesn't get much more straight forward than that.

Still, trying to pinpoint the sound on I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone is a fool's errand. The album is unlike any other I've heard in some time. It stretches the ideas of punk in new directions, resulting in something that sounds very modern and cerebral while still maintaining an aggressive edge through vocals and guitars.

So, yeah, this is a punk rock record. But it's a punk record the same way that OK Computer is an alternative rock record, or the same way that Illinois is a folk record. These albums, while technically just simple genre pieces, are actually much more for what they accomplish and how different they sound than anything else like them. I don't think Describe You will fall into the same game-changing category of the other two records, but it's just as good.

Patches of this album are downright melodic. This record has been out since February, and I'm still listening to the guitar melodies and vocal hooks of tracks like "Type One" and "Drugwolf." Indeed, the vocals are a big part of why these songs work. Singer Kristian Hallbert doesn't do much more than scream, but he has a real sense of melody, and, along with the band's skill of playing off the quite-loud dynamic, his hooks are a big part of why the record is such a success.

Vocal dexterity aside, this is a guitar record. I've never seen Crime in Stereo live, but I'd imagine that its guitar players are some of those guys who have dozens of pedals at their feet. There is a lot happening from the six strings, and, honestly, I'm not sure how a lot of it is happening. There are a lot of little electronic, ambient touches, like on “I Cannot Answer You Tonight,” that are difficult to pinpoint but are paramount to the album's success. The straight forward riffs are mighty good, too.

I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone is a fitting album name. It is nearly impossible to explain this record's greatness on paper. Punk rockers who come into it blind, expecting some straightforward rock in the vein of Bear vs Shark or Polar Bear Club will be disappointed. However, forward thinking rock fans will be decoding this mysterious gem for months to come, enjoying it all the while.

Key Tracks: Drugwolf, Exit Halo, Not Dead, Type One, I Cannot Answer You Tonight

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Jim Ward is Pretty Good, Too

2010-05-17T01:11:00.004-04:00

Artist: The Tallest Man On Earth
Album: The Wild Hunt

Comments: I don't usually go for singer songwriters. Too often I find their music to be self-indulgent, repetitive, devoid of ideas and delivered in a voice that is either emotionally absent, or so overwrought that I want to hurl my fist into someone's face. I don't like to chill out, man, so take that flaccid bullshit back to the beach bonfires and high-school basement parties.

Of course, there are a few exceptions to my distaste. Take, for example, the sparse and powerful tunes of The Tallest Man On Earth, whose latest album The Wild Hunt is like honey for my ears. By combining simple, enigmatic lyrics with an ethereal, almost rustic songwriting sense, the album is both familiar and excitingly new.

No, TTMON isn't re-inventing folk music; it is still just a man and a guitar singing about love through the lens of observation and fantasy. Still, it is hard to remember anyone doing it as convincingly, as enjoyably, as free of excess or pretense.

Maybe it is simpler than even that. Maybe there is just enough joy to be taken in a man who sings bravely and strongly, taking no time to whimper or whisper or wail. Surely one can just draw on the guitar playing, which is confident and firm despite its relative simplicity. Maybe it's just enough that the pretty songs are pretty, the rocking songs rock, and the lyrics are specifically ambiguous enough to apply to any situation.

Still, I say there is more. There is a comfort in The Wild Hunt, a domesticity, like meeting an old friend and finding them exactly as they were. And while the album will not yield new surprises on repeat listens, it will settle into your bones with all the warmth of November apple cider. Take note, young acoustic guitar players: this is what to shoot for.

Key Tracks: King of Spain, Love is All, You're Going Back, Troubles be Gone

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

I'm Going To Brooklyn This Weekend, But I'll Be Back For NBT

2010-05-14T11:50:00.003-04:00

I hope I see these guys:

Or this dude:

Maybe I'll get to do coke with these cats:

I'll probably run into at least one of these dudes:

Jared will probably be there:

But don't worry, I'll be back in time for this

I Don't Need To Write Rhymes, I Write Checks

2010-05-13T13:46:00.006-04:00

The video for Diddy's "Hello Good Morning" was released earlier today. Keeping in line with all of the producer / rapper's other hits, the song is a catchy piece of pop-candy with a video that looks more like a movie than a companion to the song.

Now, I've got a lot of problems with Sean Combs, but there is no denying the man's gift for making boatloads of money off of mediocre talent, and his penchant for making over-the-top, hyper-stimulating videos. Below are a few of his career highlights, ranging from songs that are actually good (Black Rob, whatup!) to songs that are just catchy nonsense (...uh...Ben Stiller?).

Hello Good Morning - 2010

What's more impressive: Rick Ross suddenly being able to rap without drooling on himself, the soupy, keyed beat being saved by some solid drums, Diddy not changing his dance moves or rapping flow since 1998, or that Diddy can stiff afford explosions and helicopters in his videos (A HELICOPTER? In this economy?). Still, the track isn't bad. It falls apart in the third to an extend, largly because it doesn't have T.I or Rick Ross to pick it up, but it'll be another notch on Diddy's hit-belt.

COME TO ME - 2006

Considering that this track reached the top 10 in Billboards Hot 100 back in '06, and taking into account that Press Play debuted at number one, going on to sell over 100,000 copies in an increasingly world-weary music landscape, I suppose I'd have to call "Come To Me" a hit. Regardless, this is the first time I've heard this totally benign song. Further proof that Diddy should stay behind the mic. Oh yeah, there is a Pussycat Doll on this song. Fun.

I NEED A GIRL PT 2 - 2002

This song, however, I do remember. Quick story: I used to play football in high school, and one of the more, ahem, feminine of our wide receivers used to play this song all the time in his Escalade (yeah, I went to the kind of school where kids had Escalades. Not me, of course. I used to ride around in my buddy Mannion's two-door coup, listening to Tha Block Is Hot and Bringing Down The Horse on a boombox in the back seat.). Incidentally, that same wide receiver used to get blow-jobs almost gratuitously in his car, usually with this song or one like it playing. If that doesn't make it a hit, fuck if I know what constitutes "a hit."

BAD BOY FOR LIFE / LET'S GET IT - 2001

Now we're getting somewhere. "Bad Boy For Life," with its Travis Barker and its Ben Stiller and its Dave Navarro and its Scooters, was a super-mega hit, far outdistancing the superior "Let's Get It" in popularity. Its a shame about "Let's Get It," which is still, to this day, one of my favorite rap songs ever. If there is one thing the world needs more of, it's nasty mugs like Black Rob. Even G-Dep comes off like a champ on the song, spitting my favorite line ever: "Shit I was born ready / And I was already on fish and spaghetti." Amen, G-Dep. What ever happened to him?

DIDDY - 2001

Another single off The Saga Continues..., an album that was way more huge than I originally realized. I could talk about The Neptunes beat, a marker of the group's fast-approaching high water mark, or I could talk about how, once again, Sean Combs needs to get off the mic. But I'd rather talk about how much time it took for me to find this video on YouTube (try searching "Diddy" on there and see how long it takes you).

Satisfy You - 1999

This track is off Forever, also known as The P-Diddy Album That Time Forgot, and it really only worth mentioning because the beat is great. So great, in fact, that I wish someone, ANYONE else was rapping over it. Sadly, we get Diddy. The man can make a hit, but he cannot rap to save his life.

Victory / Mo Money Mo Problems / All About The Benjamins / Been Around The World - 1997 (Aprox)

Listen...I'm not sure what to say about "Victory" other than it is the most extravagant, over the top, extreme rap video of all time. It should be required viewing for anyone over the age of 10, and is the benchmark against which all bat-shit insane videos should me measured. Truly a work of art, truly a classic.

Here is the video, and another with just the audio, in case you want to hear the music over the EXPLOSIONS!

The rest of Diddy's 1997 hits range from Iconic (Mo Money Mo Problems) to Hilarious, but listening to these songs, it isn't hard to see why dude made so much money. Dude was, and is, a hitmaker.

Puff Daddy lyrics

Puff Daddy The Notorious B.I.G Victory Video - Puff Daddy Music Videos

Music Videos by VideoCure

This rock remix is...just...the best lil' video. Things start out insane, then get EVEN MORE INSANE.

Ratatat - Party With Children (And Other Things Worth Looking In To)

2010-05-12T11:51:00.003-04:00

1) Ratatat are at it again.

The electronic-duo are gearing up for the release of their fourth album, the aptly named LP4, and have released a video for the album's lead single, "Party With Children."

It is, far and away, the best anti-video since "Bastards of Young."

2) Jay Electronica released a new song last week.

"The Ghost Of Christopher Wallace," is really good for a couple of reasons:

A) The beat is, as the kids say, bananas
B) It features Diddy shouting a bunch of nonsense, which is always fun.
C) It's a new Jay Electronica song, idiot!

Speaking of Diddy, some might say his presence on this track, as a close personal friend of BIG, is a blessing to Jay Elect to use his name. Some other, more cynical people might say it is a continuation on the part of Diddy to cash in on his dead friend. I'm not going to weigh in, but I think its the second one.

Either way, good song.

Drake: Possibly Bitch Made?

2010-05-11T09:43:00.004-04:00

Its hard to know what to make of Drake. On one hand, its very possible that he might be a legitimate dude to watch, rap-wise. On the other hand, he might just be an R&B jokester with a little heat, benefiting from the Lil Wayne vaccume.

Either way, here's his new video for "Find Your Love," presumably a single from his forthcoming album. The song isn't bad: it has a prototypical Drake R&B beat, but the vocals owe a lot to both Rhianna's singing on "Run This Town," and Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreaks album. The video is a mini-movie about Drake trying to find a hot woman he likes in a country of foreign origin. It even has a twist ending!

So, yes, this song will probably be popular, as will his soon-to-drop album. But, will it be another pop record, or will it be a worthwhile piece of hip-hop? Too soon to tell, but I'm leaning towards the former.

Sorry, Dudes. My Bad

2010-05-10T12:59:00.003-04:00

So, I haven't been updating this blog in the last week or so.

My blast.

Been working on some shit, trying to get a job an all that chocolate hobnob.

So, with the whole "being unemployed" thing, I don't really have much money to buy new records. At the same time, with this new computer and all, I'm not in a rush to go out and pirate shit, either.

So here's the plan. I'll borrow CDs from friends. I'll listen to streams. I'll write about the backlog of shit I've got on my to-do list. I'll try to do news updates. I'll link to other, more successful blogs. Whatever.

The people will have Left of The Dail!

Is...is this fan-made video of a Say Anything song a good enough apology?

No?

Fuck you, then!

You'll see! You'll all see!

Diamond Eyes Doesn't Develop, Dissapoint

2010-04-28T13:14:00.003-04:00

Artist: Deftones
Album: Diamond Eyes

Comments: Like New Found Glory, the Deftones are a band that time forgot. Their fall from grace is not due so much to a decline in the quality of their music as it is due to a changing of society's taste. For the Deftones, the world turned and left them in 2000, when the band released their career high water mark White Pony at the same time that the rap-metal genre they were (unfairly) lumped into began to collapse. By the time all us grade school metal heads were listening to The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand, the Deftones were an afterthought.

Of course, no one bothered to tell the Deftones they were old hat. The band released two more albums, a self titled album and their so-called “comeback” Saturday Night Wrist. Both records were received with somewhat mixed reviews. As if being passed by the public wasn't enough, in late 2008 Deftones bass player Chi Cheng was in a car accident that has rendered him comatose to this day.

And so, with little to no widespread attention and a man lying mostly-dead in the hospital, the Deftones have released Diamond Eyes, a holding-pattern album for a band with no motivation to hold pattern.

It is important to note that none of the songs are particularly bad. Most tracks follow the same trajectory the band set out on White Pony, especially “Rocket Skates” and “CMND / CTRL.” Nu-metal kids and hardcore fans will probably find things to like. Chino's vocals are as dexterous and as punishing as ever, and the band isn't hurting musically for the loss of their bassist.

I'll level with you: I have no desire to tie this band to a tree and bash them with my pretension stick considering that their only crime is operating in a stale genre. The album is good if you like the Deftones, but if you are some high-school nostalgic looking to get back into your former heroes, Diamond Eyes will be a disappointment.

Key Tracks:...

Buy, Steal, Skip:...

Pretty Much Every UK Band I Ever Liked Is Mentioned In This Review

2010-04-26T23:38:00.004-04:00

Artist: Let's Wrestle
Album: In The Court Of The Wrestling Let's

Comments: One of the ramifications of the Internet's strangle-hold on our lives is the hyper-acceleration of culture. More specifically, sub genres come and go from the public eye faster than ever before. Sometimes, this shortened attention span works in favor of the world at large (so long, Rap-Metal! Hasta La Vista, Reggeton!) but it also robs us of some better ideas that need more attention. I'm sure that, somewhere in the UK, pub-rock is alive and well. I just wish we had more bands like the Fratellis to pump out radio-friendly, upbeat drinking music here state-side.

What we do have is Let's Wrestle, a young new trio from some such country in Europe. The band's debut In The Court Of The Wrestling Let's merges indie-rock guitar strumming with the humor and good-natured youthfulness of the Arctic Monkeys or Hot Club De Paris, resulting in a sort of Strokes-meets-Wombats monster for the new millenium.

While groups like Louis XIV played their music like cock-sure fuckheads, Let's Wrestle are much more comfortable fumbling through their youth like awkward bespectacled soccer players. Instead of killar riffs and sexy lixx, the band uses the drones and echo tones of 80s American college-rock to illustrate the frustration and comedy of being someone young, stupid and in love. Most of the album sticks in this indie-minded middle gear, resulting in some pretty agreeable tunes like “My Schedule” and “I'm In Love With Disaster.” The former almost sounds like a 50s pop song, while the latter dissects the failings of young love without getting all wimpy, which is nice.

However, when the band does decided to kick shit up past 6 and actually play their guitars, the songs do get pretty fucking good. Album opener “My Arms Don't Bend That Way, Damn It!” and “Song For Old People” both sound better with a little spine behind them, and record highlight “We Are The Men You'll Grow To Love Soon” is a bonafide pop-rock hit in the grandest booze-drinking tradition.

At the end of the day, however, Let's Wrestle aren't a pub band as much as they are a “drinking with a few friends in a second floor apartment” kind of band. They walk the line between frivolous drunk music and indie rock swirling well enough that one never needs them to fall on either side. In The Court Of The Wrestling Let's has its share of good songs and there is more than enough present to make this band one to watch out for.

Now, if we can just get Europe to make some kind of Libertines / Hold Steady hybrid, we'll be guzzling pints like there is no tomorrow (wait...they already did!?).

Key Tracks: We Are The Men You'll Grow To Love Soon, Song For Old People, My Schedule, I'm In Fighting Mode

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

How Do You THINK This New Flobots Album Sounds?

2010-04-25T13:32:00.003-04:00

Artist: Flobots
Album: Survival Story

Comments: Let me get my praise for Flobots out of the way early. There are a few tracks (well, two tracks) that work pretty well. “By The Time You Get This Message” and “Airplane Mode” both have pretty good flow and instrumentation. They are above-average songs with above-average beats. They will probably make you bang your head. Any lyrical missteps come quickly and lightly enough to be forgotten. However, as these songs are in the middle of the album, one would be forgiven for not sticking around long enough to find them.

Now then.

The latest album from Flobots, A.K.A Rage Against The Machine-lite, A.K.A My First Coup album, A.K.A Rap for 9th Graders Who Like Cake is a big pile of unfocused, vaguely political bullshit rap-rock for a fan base that doesn’t exist past age 16.

Quick story: I used to work at a restaurant. Sometimes, when I was at work, a group of lawyers would come in and eat. While there, they would “talk” about politics. What I mean by this is that they would spout off the most half-assed, cliche commentary on current events that anyone has ever heard. They spoke loudly, like idiots often do, about things which they very clearly had no idea about outside of the sound bite someone told them. They were the worst kind of dangerous, because they are half-informed. At least the uninformed keep their mouths shut (They should have spent more time with the Ministry).

Survival Story is like this. The Flobots message is anti-war, anti-government, standard teenage rallying cry of “Let’s smash the system” with no clear idea or message past that. To cop a line from the Joker, they are like dogs chasing cars, with no idea what to do with one if caught. But at least the Joker was interesting. Flobots are benign and irritating. They are a tea-bagger rally. Do not want. Avoid at all costs.

Unless, you know, you are 14 and you like rap-rock.

Then, by all means, suck this swill down.

Key Tracks: ...Please.

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip

I'm not going to support Flobots by putting their music up. Instead, dig on these songs. You know, music ACTUALLY worth listening to.

Pay Attention!: 400 Bars

2010-04-24T09:08:00.005-04:00

A new Game track recently showed up on the web. It features "400 Bars," a 20-minute long class on how to flow outrageous. Bonus points for the whole thing using Jay Electronica's "Exhibit C" beat, which is still probably the most head-knocking jam of the last two years. The track isn't as incendiary as "300 Bars" is, but considering that one can count the number of rappers capable of this kind of display on one hand, this shit is something.

I'm officially excited for Game's forthcoming album. Needless to say, if you at all like rap, or even words in general, this is one to behold.

Earth Day 2010 / Rap Video Thursday

2010-04-22T12:20:00.003-04:00

Protect the planet, ya dicks!

We want everything to be nice so we can get more videos like this!

...And this!

...And more or less everything that happens in this movie!

Listen, I'm no activist, but let's at least make an effort to not be cocks to the environment. Turn off lights, take the bus, pick up some litter, etc.

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As I'm sure many of you have heard, GangStarr might Guru passed away earlier this week. This is a shame, not only because he died so young (49), but because hip hop has lost a top-notch MC. Too few dudes are making music like this, and it is always sad to lose one. R.I.P. Guru.

Eat A Dick, Williamsburg!

2010-04-21T14:56:00.004-04:00

Artist: Drink Up Buttercup
Album: Born and Thrown on a Hook

Comments: Once upon a time, there was a Philadelphia band named The Teeth. The Teeth were awesome. They made 60s style pop music but with a scary, drugged out feeling to it. Which is to say, if one were to have a bad trip at Cirque De Soleil, the Teeth's broken carnival pop would have made an excellent soundtrack.

Now, does Drink Up Buttercup sound exactly like the Teeth? No, not exactly. I just want to point out that Philly has the market cornered on warped Beach Boys / Beatles-style tunes for the new millennium. Suck on that, Brooklyn!

Now, if you are thinking “Well, fuck, man, does the world really need another band that's making music inspired by 1963 – 1973?,” you do make a good point. Born and Thrown on a Hook isn't exactly reinventing the wheel. But here's what I'm saying: sometimes, its enough to just make a really good fucking wheel.

Of course, there is more to this record than period-aping. These songs are much darker in spirit than anything the sun-pop crafters of our collective heyday were ever keen on making.

There is something sinister hanging just behind the curtains in every song, as if Drink Up Buttercup are nothing more than siren organ grinders, calling young children from their beds to be devoured by wolves.

This dichotomy is apparent on “Little Ladies,” a track that mixes a fun, poppy hook with sinister minor chords and vaguely threatening lyrics. Indeed, the subtle sense of danger that lies in the underbelly of the album is one of band's strongest attributes.

Of course, dangerous weirdness will only get you so far. At some point, motherfuckers have to actually write songs. Born and Thrown on a Hook, thankfully, is more than thunder and noise, boasting some varied, catchy numbers that run the gamut of 60s favorites from Beach Boys pop music (“Young Ladies”) to keyboard driven Brit-rock stock (“Even Think”), hitting every stop in between. The best two songs on the album, “Lovers Play Dead” and “Mr. Pie Eyes” even manage to stand on their own, sounding totally original amongst other tracks that could, at worst, be tagged for being derivative.

So here's what it come down to: Drink Up Buttercup's first album is a mass of old-time pop ideas repackaged with weirdness and apprehension to maxim effect. Indeed, those who can get past the thin layer of weirdness that covers Born and Thrown on a Hook will be rewarded with a pop / rock album that offers more than the usual touchstones to a better era. Also, if you like the Teeth, you'll like Drink Up Buttercup (eat a dick, Williamsburg!).

Key Tracks: Mr. Pie Eyes, Lovers Play Dead, Little Ladies, Even Think, Seasickness Pills

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Striking Out With Kaki King

2010-04-20T11:28:00.004-04:00

Artist: Kaki King
Album: Junior

Short Review: High on talent but low on ideas, Junior is a well-made non-factor of an album.

Long Review: True story: I had a friend in college who was the worst with women. I mean, just absolutely, mind-fuckingly terrible. It was as if this guy would go out of his way to shoot himself in the foot when it came to meeting ladies. In fact, to this day I can only remember him ever having what could be charitably referred to as a “girlfriend.” Really, she was more of a one-night-stand that he couldn't let go of. You might be surprised to hear that their relationship, such as it was, didn't last more than a month.

I bring this up only because this overly-polite young woman was enamored with Kaki King. The one awkward time I hung out with the two of them, I ended up asking about music as a means to shatter the uncomfortable, The Office-like queasiness that had settled in the room, and was rewarded with a dissertation on how awesome Kaki King was.

After listening to Junior, King's fifth album and first on Rounder Records, I can sort of see where the obsession could come from. Which isn't to say that the record is especially good (because it isn't), just that King has potential.

Junior shifts between two phases: paranoid, narrative rock music and wandering ambient guitar strumming, two subgenres she is able to handle with ease. There is no questioning her chops as a guitar player, as the woman can play a mean lick. Her style is reminiscent of fellow she-rocker Marnie Stern, though King is much more composed and less rawkus than Stern. For example, Stern would never play something as restrained as “Everything Has An End, Even Sadness,” an example of one of the album's better ambient works.

Then again, Stern's albums never get boring, either. Rocking tracks like “The Betrayer” and “Spit it Back Into My Mouth” are solid, but by “The Hoopers of Hudspurt,” she's run out of ideas. And as far as the ambient stuff goes, ones enjoyment will depend on how much moody guitar riffing one can handle before that shit gets old. Me personally, I can't take much of it.

What is frustrating about Junior is King's obvious talent. It is clear that this is a woman capable of a level of musicianship most artists can't achieve, yet she seems unable to do anything more with it than repeat a few good ideas with diminishing returns. While the album isn't bad by any means, it isn't stand-out in any way. For super fans, like that would-be girlfriend of my luckless pal, the album might be enough to hold over until the next release. For average folks, however, there is too little to get excited about.

Key Tracks: The Betrayer, Spit It Back In My Mouth, Everything Has An End, Even Sadness

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip

Record Store Day Recap

2010-04-19T13:09:00.004-04:00

Saturday, April 17 was Record Store Day, the national holiday celebrating independent and local record stores across the country. Artists and labels of all types use this day as an opportunity to release limited edition, hard to find tracks to the world, as a way to say thank you to both the stores that carry their music and to the people who buy their music in the age of digital theft.

It was my first record story day. I came home with $130 dollars worth of vinyl.

Admittedly, I went a little nuts. But, hey, at least I stimulated my local economy. And I get to add a few inches to my indie-cred dick.

What follows is a description of what I picked up and whether or not it was worth it. All records were purchased at Repo Records in Philadelphia, my favorite place to buy punk music.

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Ted Leo and The Pharmacists 7in Single:

This little number, which features two non-album tracks from the band's latest, LOTD-approved The Brutalist Bricks, was one of the more exciting buys of the day. Sadly, it was also one of the more disappointing. The two tracks, “The Oldest House” and “North Coast,” were clearly left off Bricks for a reason, as neither of them is very good. Of the two, I prefer “North Coast,” which at least has some pretty solid riffing going on. Both are straightforward punkish-rock songs, and neither of them leaves a very strong impression.

Worth It?: Nah

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs Skeleton 7in:

While the record has grown on me some, It's Blitz is still my least favorite YYYs album to date. “Skeleton” is a pretty good track, though, and the live cut of the song on the single's b-side is hauntingly true to the original recording. It is fun to hear how much breathier and warbly Karen-O is in real life, and the live cut does pack a little more energy into the song than the album cut does. While no means an essential piece of the collection, its still a neat lil' single, perfect as a gift for a girlfriend or an effeminate friend who thought Show Your Bones was too punk rock.

Worth It?: Just Barely

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Passion Pit Little Secrets Red 7in:

Full disclosure: I didn't actually buy this one, my girlfriend did (but I totally would have if she hadn't). “Little Secrets” is probably my favorite song off of Passion Pit's excellent Manners, so having a single of it is a pretty nice little addition to the (her) collection. The Felix Da Houscat remix is also pretty good, though with a song as dance-ready as “Little Secrets,” a remix does seem kind of redundant. Still, this doubles as not only a good get but the prettiest record of the day.

Worth It?: ...Yes.

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Japandroids Art Czars 7in:

Another pretty-looking piece of vinyl, this Japandroids single takes a cut from one the band's pre Post-Nothing Eps and pairs it with a cover of Big Black's “Racer-X.” The cover is a little lacking; without a full band behind it, the cover fails to reach the brutal heights of the original. “Art Czars,” however, is a bitchin' tune that finds the band bringing more punk than drone. All told, this is a fun little single from this decades Death From Above 1979 that is getting me giddy for their eventual second album.

Worth It?: Totally

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Against Me! I Was A Teenage Anarchist 7in:

Speaking of building momentum for a release, here's the single for “I Was a Teenage Anarchist,” a track from the band's forthcoming White Crosses album. This song is going to piss off the Against Me! purists, as it strikes the same stadium-ready, pop-leaning songwriting style that the band nailed on New Wave. Still, if you like big-ass pop-rock and aren't brain dead, you'll probably be into this song. And, for all you folk-punks out there, the single includes a stripped-down acoustic b-side that is also pretty good. My friend Joe Pelone had a problem with this single, though I'm not totally sure what it was. Maybe you should as him about it? Either way: good single, totally pumped for White Crosses.

Worth It?: For big fans, totally. For average shits, nah.

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I also got this cool looking Built To Spill single, but I can't listen to it yet because I'm kind of an idiot. I'll get more into that later.

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Pavement Quarantine The Past

Different track listing than on the CD. Double vinyl. Custom artwork. Pretty great stuff. Since I have all the band's music already, I will admit that shelling out for a best-of might seem like a lame idea. My defense is two fold: 1) Now I can play this for my friends without having to worry about tracks like “Hit The Plane Down” turning them off and 2) Fuck you, I love Pavement. I'm pretty excited to get drunk sometime this week and bust this puppy out, close my eyes and pretend it is 1995.

Worth It?: Again, not for super-fans. However, if you were ever looking to get someone into Pavement, this is as good a gateway record as any.

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Modest Mouse The Moon And Antarctica 10th Anniversary Reissue

Truth be told, this was one of my two reasons for wanting to get involved with Record Store Day (the other being a rumored Hold Steady silk-screen advance of their forthcoming Heaven is Whenever that I couldn't find) and I couldn't be more excited to have it in my collection. Not to sound like some kind of elitist dick-mouth, but I love the sound this record puts out. The beauty of having it on wax is in the subtle sound changes that just don't get picked up on the digital version. There are new loops and layers that are missed when listening to the record on an ipod. Modest Mouse and vinyl seem to just be meant to be. Pitchfork has a rundown of everything cool about this edition, but really it just comes down to the fact that the shit sounds better coming out of a hi-fi.

Worth It?: Absolutely

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Days like this remind me why I want my record player in the first place, and how fun the process of actually holding something in your hands can be. God bless you, Record Store Day. I'll see you next year.

Now I gotta go find a job so I can justify spending a week's groceries on music.

Broken Bells: Meh

2010-04-15T15:09:00.003-04:00

Artist: Broken Bells
Album: Broken Bells

Comments: A few nights ago, a friend and I decided to get drunk on his rooftop porch. We discussed myriad things (Mike Tyson Punch-Out, girls with flat stomachs, rock bands, which direction South was), but the most compelling conversation we had was about collaboration.

Artists and creative types will go on and on about how important collaboration is to the creative process. And, yes, there are plenty of examples to back this up. However, no amount of collaborating can ever substitute for clear creative vision, and sometimes team-ups are nothing more than people coming together to mix talents that don't naturally run perpendicular to each other.

Broken Bells, the new project featuring the Shins' James Mercer and Gnarls Barkley's Danger Mouse, is an example of the second kind of collaberation. Their self-titled debut album isn't so much “bad” as it is “unnecessary.”

The record is a moody pop affair, sounding somewhat like the emotional, brooding little brother to Danger Mouses' other, more fleshed out albums with Gnarls Barkley. At its best moments, the album is able to combine Mouse's soulful dark soul music with Mercer's finer pop sensibility, resulting in songs that are sad, but pleasant ("Your Head Is On Fire"). At its average moments, it sounds like Gnarls Barkley b-sides ("The Ghost Inside").

What the album lacks is focus. Broken Bells is an album of electronic sad-pop made for no other reason than the boredom or stagnation of the primary artists' other gigs. There is no drive, no greater idea past “Danger Mouse makes a song, and Mercer sings on it.”

Does it make for good music? Kind of, but it is never so good that you will really care about it.

Key Tracks: Any of them, I guess. This is such a benign album that I don't even have the energy to go back and see what I like.

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip it.

Regarding This New, Shitty Gorillaz Album

2010-04-13T11:07:00.002-04:00

Artist: Gorillaz
Album: Plastic Beach

Comments: I am not British. I prefer my rap music to have dominating, narrative driven lyrics or unique vocal delivery (and If I can get both, well fuck it, I’m sold). My interests in electronic music don’t go much further than well made dance music, engaging ambiance or all out audio-fuckery. Keep these things in mind when I tell you that Plastic Beach is a lame album.

I would understand if you didn’t believe me. Almost every source of meaningful critical output has raved about this record. BBC Music called the album “a new benchmark for collaborative music” in its review. The hipster taste-makers over at Pitchfork gave the album a more-than-solid 8.5, making it their favorite Gorillaz album to date. Even my buds over at No Ripcord loved this damn thing, giving it a perfect score and calling it one of the best albums of the year (not like that really matters, people are handing out 9’s and 10’s over there like they were free kittens). It is entirely possible that I am missing the point.

Fact remains, though, that this is my least favorite Gorillaz record ever. It is the least fun to listen to and the least rewarding to spend time with.. Plastic Beach takes everything I liked about the project and flips it around. Instead of having cartoon-y, goofy funk beats over spirited alt-rap verses (like on the excellent “Dirty Harry” or “Feel Good Inc”), this album is full of wiggly, overwrought production devoid of any engaging rapping to be found outside of “White Flag.”

So pretty much anything catchy or fun has been replaced with more serious and “creative” endeavors this time around, resulting in an album that serious people love, at the expense of anything an unwashed shit like me can use. The whole thing ends up sounding like a Radiohead album if Radiohead were a “rap” group instead of a “rock” group.

Look, I understand that, as an artist, the ultimate goal is to push oneself further and continue to evolve in one’s own craft. I get that stillness is death, and anyone not moving forward isn’t really moving at all. That being said, Gorillaz used to be able to manufacture off-center pop music that defined a clear genre and still struck a chord with the masses. Plastic Beach does not do this. I promise you this: when the year-end best-of lists are released, this album will be on all of them. However, you will be hard pressed to find five people who can honestly say they enjoyed this album more than Demon Days or Gorillaz.

Key Tracks: White Flag, Stylo

Buy, Steal, Skip: Honestly, it could go either way. I bought this record. I expect that I will probably play it three or four more times trying to find the secret to its success before it fades into background music and gets sold to Repo. So let's go with skip.

Cant find a video to embed right now...so...let's all listen to Crazy Train!

FANG ISLAND FOREVER

2010-04-12T13:18:00.006-04:00

(Ed's Note: This is, far and away, the goofiest review I've written. It is rotten with hyperbole and probably not very good. That being said, I cannot stress enough how excellent Fang Island is. It is not only a must-have record, but a mortal lock for everyone's Top 20 lists at the end of the year. Get this shit today.)

Artist: Fang Island
Album: Fang Island

Comments: Fang Island's latest album both begins and ends with the sound of fireworks going off. Never in the history of music has an album had a more fitting preamble and epilogue.

Fang Island is, hands down, the most fun rock and roll to come out since Andrew W.K.'s I Get Wet forced us to party back in 2001. Until some manner of audio-controlled force-feedback vibrating codpiece is invented by science pervs, no album can offer the same level of satisfaction.

Listening to Fang Island is like eating a giant, mixing-bowl size serving of the most decadent ice cream conceived by man. No indulgence is spared, no whim not exercised. This record is everything that your 15 year old mind wanted in rock music: guitar solos so intricate and catchy that they could be used to wrangle and tame Dinosaurs played as speeds so blazing that it could only be preformed by some kind of human-robot hybrid from the future, returning to our own time to teach us how to love.

Fang Island sounds like a metal band that decided to play the entire score to a fictional Sega Genesis game that I wish existed. Never before have guitars and keyboards come together so beautifully to slam-fuck your ears.

Seriously, I cannot stress enough how much of a pants-shedding good time this album is. If you are at all, in any way, a fan of upbeat music overflowing with positive energy, this record is a must buy.

Did you ever like pro-wrestling? Ever? Did you ever want to be a firetruck or a spaceship when you grew up? Do you like roller coasters, summer time, playing wiffle ball or jumping off a high ledge on to a trampoline, only to bounce into a big warm lake with all of your friends from grade school? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, Fang Island is required listening.

Do you like the technical skill of DragonForce but wish they didn't play speed-metal about JRR Tolkien? Do you wish your pop-punk had a few more guitar solos? Fang Island, my man, Fang Island.

Detractors will detract. Cynical, negative shit-mouths will say it is too light-hearted. Attention deficit speed-freaks will bemoan the lack of traditional lyrics and vocal delivery, as Fang Island chooses to use group vocals and prefer to let its message live in its music rather than what some front man spouts. Fuck those people, they clearly have given up the better part of themselves a long time ago.

Fang Island is a time machine, weather machine and Prozac pill all in one. It will take you to a better, warmer, happier place as long as you are willing to keep up and let your seriousness go for a half hour or so.

If you are ever lonely, sad, friendless or bummed, this album can save you, pull you out of it, make it seem like a cheering audience is waiting just behind your stereo to hug you, pick you up, keep you going.

The last song putters away into fireworks. The first one picks up with the same. Clearly, this is an album meant to be listened to on repeat. There is no reason not to. Fang Island forever.

Key Tracks: Careful Crossers, Daisy, Life Coach, Treeton, Davey Crockett, Welcome Wagon, Dorian

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy.

All You Need Is Love Is All

2010-03-29T22:18:00.003-04:00

Artist: Love is All
Album: Two Thousand and Ten Injuries

Comments: Considering how quickly the turnaround from indie superstar to trend has-been can occur, it is nice to have a band one can rely on.

Love is All is such a band. Their third album Two Thousand and Ten Injuries continues a trend of quality and reliability that surpasses any other blog band around.

A quick history: the band emerged with Nine Times That Same Song in 2004, a record that mixed 50s girl-pop with fuzzy art-rock and featured songs almost exclusively about relationships and the like. Their followup A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night came out in 08 and while it featured a few more disco numbers, it was essentially the same album.
Two Thousand isn't a big departure, sound wise.

Lead singer Josephine Olausson is still as vocally dexterous as ever, warbling adorably when need be and giving her Swedish accent a harsh punch when the song calls for it (doing the former on "Never Now" and the latter on "Bigger Bolder"). Nicholaus Sparding still anchors the band with his jumpy guitar licks and well-placed backup vocals. Songs still sound like they were recorded in a reverb factory, jumping from mopey sadness to righteously indignant at the drop of a hat. Sure, there aren't as many horn songs this time around (A Hundred Things was horn crazy in the best way), but that only means the guitar gets a bigger slice of the rock-pie.

The untrained ear might be tempted to write off Two Thousand as more of the same. While there are occasional songs that sound like re-treads, by and large this album represents a strengthening of what makes the band great.

The 50s doowop vocals are as strong as ever, making Love is All sound like some kind of bizzaro Beach Boys (especially on "Early Warning" and "Kungen.") The lyrics are tightening up, too. No one does heartbroken like Olausson; her songs have an honesty and simplicity that other bands would be wise to take a que from.

While slightly more rocking than previous efforts, Two Thousand and Ten Injuries is no stadium rock record. Rather, it is a different take on the bedroom album. Good as a heartbreak-balm, an above-average way to spend a night in bed or just something to dance with your special lady / man / whatever to, Love is All's latest proves that they can be counted on to bring quality pop, no matter what.

Key Tracks: Repetition, Less Than Thrilled, Kungen, Never Now

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Low-Class Victory Lap

2010-03-28T21:50:00.003-04:00

Artist: Drive By Truckers
Album: The Big To-Do

Comments: Fresh off their 2008 career revitalization album Brighter Than Creation's Dark, The Drive-By Truckers are back with The Big To-Do, an album of beer-swilling southern rock music that suggests everything will be OK even when the lyrics remind the opposite.

Seriously, if you ignore the lyrics, this is one shit-kicking, good time record. Classic rock arrangements, complete with Lynard Skynard guitar solos, pop hand claps and Springsteenian keyboards explode out of the tracks, giving way to images of crowded clubs packed with sweaty, dancing people chugging bud light and trying their damnest to have a good time. Half the fun of The Big To-Do is getting to hear the band do its thing: there are too few rock band left that can play this sort of music, and even fewer that can play it as well as The Drive-By Truckers.

The other half of the fun, however, is in the unfolding of lead Trucker Patterson Hood's tragic stories. Turning his focus from his own personal life (a subject he covered pretty well on Creation's Dark), Hood tells stories of a sexually abused preacher's wife ("The Wig He Made Her Wear"), a boy waiting for his “pilot” father to come home ("Daddy Learned To Fly") and a criminal who better be dead, or else ("Drag The Lake Charlie").

Like all great storytellers, the Truckers succeed in the little details. For example, the excellent "Drag The Lake Charlie" would be a sweet little pop song even without snapshots like this one: “Remember what happened last time Lester went on the make/ I heard it took the cleaning crew two weeks to clean the bar / they never found that teenage girl, they never found her car.” Dark touches like that one really sell the stories, make them something more than simple pop songs, something closer to actual literature, or at least one-act plays set to the best bar band you've ever heard.

As The Big To-Do unfolds, with its swelling solos and stories of tired strippers and trophy wives, it does tend to run out of steam. Out of the album's 13 tracks, the last three are the weakest. But of the other 10 tracks, no less than seven are dick-swingin', beer chuggin', life crushingly depressing romps through lower-class America.

Indeed, this music isn't so much about location (Southern Rock / Northern Rock, whatever) as much as it is about the haves and the have nots. Right now, there isn't a band alive that understands the struggles of the latter quite like the Drive By Truckers. There isn't a band around that makes their trials sound more fun.

Key Tracks: Daddy Learned to Fly, Drag The Lake Charlie, The Birthday Boy, (It's Gonna Be) I Told You So

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

(Indie) PROG ROCK!

2010-03-25T09:26:00.002-04:00

Artist: The Besnard Lakes
Album: The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night

Comments: Before the Besnard Lakes came along, I was sure that I knew what prog-rock was.

Not that The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night has really changed my total perspective. I still think that, by and large, prog-rock is a genre sick with technical prowess and little regard for what actually sounds good to human ears (it's that old jazz argument: you have to listen to what they AREN'T playing to truly understand!). However, the Montreal four-piece's third album has shifted my beliefs some.

Roaring Night is progressive, to be sure. Tracks often meander into the six and seven minute range, locking in on tight grooves and peppering in a guitar solo here, a blast of welcoming fuzz there. Songs like “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt 1: The Innocent” uses this Yes-meets-Arcade Fire pattern to maximum success, resulting in a sprawling song that never feels tired despite its simple arrangement and repetitive nature.

Indeed, this isn't your Uncle's prog-rock. Gone are the overwrought keyboard solos, the odd time signatures and the greek mythology / space exploration back stories that choked the great Prog dinosaurs of the 1970s. This is indie-prog, my friends, full of harmonies, restrained pop sensibilities and sound layering. So, yeah, if you were looking for the next Rush or King Crimson, one would be better off with the latest Mars Volta record.

Indeed, the Besnard Lakes are much less Yes and much more Yo La Tengo, making guitar heavy shoe-gaze rife with band-wide vocal harmonies, walls of fuzzy sound and a general sense of grandeur that suggests some great big sunrise awaits us all just over the horizon. Roaring Night isn't a game changer, but it makes for excellent late-night soundtrack fodder, and it offers a little more complexity than the average indie rock album. At the very least, it'll hold us over until the next Broken Social Scene album.

So, no it doesn't change the prog-rock game. It does, however, make the shit not only listenable but relateible as well. Besnard Lakes deserve credit for that, if nothing else.

Key Tracks: Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt 1: The Innocent, Albatross

Buy, Steal, Skip: Worth listening to, but not worth paying for. Steal.

In These Tough Times, You Can Count On Ted Leo, The Cal Ripkin of Rock Music

2010-03-20T00:10:00.005-04:00

Artist: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Album: The Brutalist Bricks

Comments: If Ted Leo ran for office, he would get every rocker vote in America. Not because his politics are sound, but because he is one trustworthy motherfucker.

Few bands can boast his kind of consistency, few men are capable of his level of continued quality. While his body of work ranges from the transcendent (Hearts of Oak) to the occasionally overblown (Living With The Living), his records can always be counted on for anywhere from three to five immediate hits, with a handful of slow-growers tossed in.

The Brutalist Bricks continues this Dennis Kucinich-like streak of quality tunes. Musically, it is standard Leo: the love child of Joe Strummer and Phil Lynott. The record contains less guitar solos than usual, but the ones employed are done so with maximum proficiency and potency. There are also a few more punk tunes than Leo usually turns out, with roughly three of the albums 12 tracks playing out at straight-up punk. The lyrics are political in nature, and while nothing hit hits as strongly or as smartly as, say, “Walking to Do” or “Ballad of the Sin Eaters,” the lyrics aren't a deal breaker.

Honestly, one doesn't come to Leo for political analysis or life-changing prose. One comes to Leo for some a-rock music, and the middle section of Bricks delivers in spades. The album opens with “The Mighty Sparrow,” an above-average rock song saved by some excellent guitar riffing. A few songs later “Even Heroes Have To Die” hits: a slow-burning pop number that marks the album hitting its stride. From there, we get the blistering, unhinged “The Stick,” the lyrically confusing album highlight “Bottled in Cork,” the simple, urgent thump of “Woke Up Near Chelsea” and the groovy, low-voiced smoothness of “One Polaroid a Day.” Each of these songs rank among Leo's best since Hearts of Oak, and would have made for a boss EP.

The remaining songs can't really hold up in comparison. I mean, sure, “Gimmie The Wire” is a kick ass throwback to Leo's Tyranny of Distance days and “Where Was My Brain” is a fun enough punk anthem, but the last few songs tend to drag, making the album seem longer than its 40 minute run time. Besides, with the exception of “Wire,” Leo has spent all his best guitar riffs (including a painfully, generously brief little bit of ripping on “Bottled in Cork.”).

There are some complaints to be made about The Brutalist Bricks: it feels less like a complete statement and more like a bunch of songs Leo had lying around and decided to put into an album. Then again, shit like that only matters to the obsessives like me. What's more important is that Bricks keeps up Leo's quality train with enough good songs and good ideas to keep people interested until the next set of anthems comes out.

I don't know about you guys, but if this Obama thing doesn't pan out, I'm voting Leo in 2012. At least that is a name I can trust.

Key Tracks: Bottled in Cork, Gimmie The Wire, Even Heroes Have To Die

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy it

Dig the guitar solo! So good!

Now This Is More Like It...

2010-03-17T10:11:00.001-04:00

See, Confide? There is a right and a wrong way to do everything.

Frightened Rabbit Fail To Live Up To Coolness of New Album's Title

2010-03-15T23:31:00.004-04:00

Artist: Frightened Rabbit
Album: The Winter of Mixed Drinks

Short Review: Still good, just not as good as before.

Long Review: There is no big reason, no giant flaw to blame for The Winter of Mixed Drinks's failure to resonate as strongly as Frightened Rabbit's sophomore album does. There are, however, a few small reasons one could point to.

A contributing factor could be the band's recent additions, members wise. Between second and third records, the band gained two new members and with them access to a bunch of new instruments to throw into the mix. Now, going from four dudes to six dudes is by no means an insurmountable obstacle, recoding wise, but it does mean the addition of two more voices, two more things to mix into the songs. This might account for the muddled feeling the album maintains throughout. The production gives equal treatment to all elements, making for a soupy, indistinct listen throughout.

Still, it isn't like the band forgot how to write songs. Mixed Drinks still packs a good punch at its best moments. First and second singles "Swim Until You Can't See Land" and "Nothing Like You" are both catchy little rock songs that continue the band's reputation for being a cooler, more eloquent Coldplay 2.0. The former is a more subdued number about getting lost in one's one mind. The latter is a classic “fuck you, look how awesome this new girl is,” type song: righteously vengeful without being too bitter. There's also "The Loneliness and the Scream," an album highlight that utilizes gang vocals and one catchy-as-sin guitar melody to perfection, creating a somber tune about... uh... being lonely.

These track aside, the rest of the album plays out in a pleasant, unremarkable way, never really shaking off a crowded, muddy feeling. Which leads to the second possible reason this album doesn't quite stick: lead Rabbit Scott Hutchinson has gone on record saying that Mixed Drinks is a much less personal album than his last, that the record is more about “being lost and not knowing where you are,” and that it is less focused than previous efforts.

This isn't a bad album, and these quotes are by no means deal breakers, but it is a little telling than an album about “feeling lost” suffers from a distinct lack of focus or specific vision.

Again, there is no big reason that The Winter Of Mixed Drinks isn't the almighty followup to Midnight Organ Fight one would hope for. I wish there was a better way to say “it just isn't as good as their last one.”

This personal anecdote will have to do: On their last record, Frightened Rabbit had a way of dominating any activity. Songs about loss and love would float from the background and take hold of whatever was going on. Snips of songs and lyrics would find their way into my brain, hanging on my mind with their simplicity and power. This time around, I had to look up the lyrics.

Key Tracks: The Loneliness and the Scream, Nothing Like You, Swim Until You Can't See Land

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

Freelance Whales Get All Touch-y Feel-y

2010-03-11T09:00:00.002-05:00

This review appears at No Ripcord

Artist: Freelance Whales
Album: Weathervanes

Short Review: An average collection of bedroom twee pop.

Long Review: Even in the fantasy world of Twee (a musical realm where unicorns play hopscotch with tree nymphs and everyone hugs all the time), there is a threshold where things become too quirky, too cute. Weathervanes, the debut album from NYC upstarts Freelance Whales, spends some of its time sitting on that line and the rest of it taking huge cotton candy shits on the wrong side of it.

The back story on this band is a cheerful one: five folks from Hipstertown Brooklyn make easy, fragile pop music out of gang vocals, boy/girl exchanges, banjos and a can-do attitude. After a few loft shows and street corner performances, their warm, inviting debut album drops in the midst of the Chillwave freeze out of 09-10 to remind us how to love. Or something like that.

Occasionally, one can hear where the hype is coming from. Take, for example, the tender Location, a track that invokes comparisons to Sufjan Stevens and Ra Ra Riot, but with enough originality to stand on its own. Its galloping guitar riff and soft dual vocals gives way to a chanting chorus that is both catchy and heartwarming without being overly mushy.

The same can be said of Hannah, a banjo driven highlight that achieves an easy charm without being overly sappy, musically or lyrically. Sure, there is a little too much saccharine in lyrics like “I'll work on the limbs if you work on the torso / if it gets to be too much then you can lend a helping hand,” but the track is good enough that nits need not be picked.

Elsewhere, however, shit just falls apart. Too much of Weathervanes is unnecessary fluff. Of the album's 13 tracks, three are wordless moments of focus-less, meaningless noise and at least three other songs could have been trimmed down by a few minutes (especially Ghosting and Generator (Second Floor) two tracks that are in dire need of an editor). Sure, there are some good moments to be found throughout the album, but too often the songs run out of steam long before they are over, leaving the listener checking to make sure their shit isn't on repeat.

(Note to bands everywhere: I know that whole “sound cloud, repetitious fuzzy noise” thing is awesome in concert, but it is irritating as fuck on albums. Cut that shit out.)

The band also tends to hang a little too close to their influences. The aforementioned Hannah bites its rhyme scheme from a Sufjan Stevens' track and Broken Horse sounds like a straight-up Illinois b-side, vocal delivery and all. Kilojoules plays like a castrated Los Campesinos! Song and Starring is a little too Postal Service (if you are being kind) or Owl City (if you are being a dick) to stand on its own.

But mostly, the music is a little bit too sweet to be taken seriously. I mean, I'm all for good vibes and there is nothing wrong with bringing a little innocence to the game, but pairing wispy, longing vocals with lyrics like “How many stars you think you possess / how many in your butterfly net,” and “ Please don't put your face into your hands / we could be friends” makes things hard to swallow.

A lot of Weathervanes is lacking in substance to make the album much more than an occasional indulgence (like a fried Twinkie) or a novelty album for snugglin'. Still, there are enough interesting ideas and charm to make Freelance Whales a band to look out for. They don't have it all together now, but there is evidence to suggest they might pull it together.

Key Tracks: Location, Hannah, Generator (First Floor), Kilojoules

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

Rap Video Wednesday: El Producto

2010-03-10T09:28:00.002-05:00

Most of these rap videos have been throwbacks to a better, simpler time. A time when the economy was good. A time when rap was so popular that even talentless scubs like Bridman and Lil' Flip could make millions. A time when fine looking women still backed that azz up.

So today, I want to buck that trend a little bit and post a more recent video. This one comes from El-P's brilliant Best Album of 2007, I'll Sleep When You're Dead. Let's get paranoid up in this bitch!

Titus Andronicus Forever: The First Great Album of 2010

2010-03-09T00:00:00.004-05:00

Artist: Titus Andronicus
Album: The Monitor

Short Review: The Monitor is the best album of 2010 so far. Get that shit now.

Long Review:

“I'll write my masterpiece some other day”
-Titus Andronicus from “Titus Andronicus” off The Airing of Grievances, 2008

Two years removed from its breakout nihilistic indie/punk debut The Airing of Grievances, Titus Andronicus return with The Monitor, an album that inspires feelings of violence, excitement, despair and righteous vengeance, often all within the same song.

Notice the word usage in the first paragraph. Album. This is not some collection of songs, some assembly of singles and catchy tunes to be chopped up and played in whatever order one would like. This is not a hit record made with more bum tracks than good hooks to be passed over and forgotten. This is a statement, an artistic expression that is meant to be consumed as arranged. This is literature, this is film, this is a painting.

Indeed, taking the album as it comes is a large part of what makes it so memorable. The songs within are massive. The shortest two clock in around two minutes, but the rest never stray shorter than five minutes, with the longest clocking in at over 14. Tracks are done in movements, like a classical work, with musical themes that are established, developed, expanded upon and revisited. Anthems will give way to dirges. Pop songs will give way to drunken choruses. One track bleeds into the next until the entire thing moves like a symphony, a story and a point unfolding.

And there is a story. Rather, there is a theme, a reason behind everything, told vaguely and with hints so that it can be followed, but only for those willing to look. Is it an album about the Civil War? Is it about leaving New Jersey for greener pastures? Yes. No. Is it about the folly of life, the division of brothers over superficial reasons, the hypocrisy and contradictions in mankind, cruelty and how one reacts to it, about finding life to be meaningless and carrying on? You'll have to listen.

Does it sound like a chore? It is not. The Monitor fucking rocks. Songs are fuzzy and bloated, but packed to the gills with layers of bristling guitars. Solos and leads fall unexpectedly at every turn, and where there is no music to carry the melody, there are sing a longs and battle cries, lyrics delivered with such energy and conviction that lines like “You will always be a loser,” and “It's still us against them and they're winning” are turned on ear from depressing realizations to rally hymns.

Despite its negative nature, the album is alive with energy. There is a current that runs through this album, through stereo wire and headphone chord, that leads right to the heart and speaks to something primal and chaotic in the human form. From the dramatic readings that begin and end the lead track “A More Perfect Union,” one will want to dance, scream, punch, kiss, burn. It is stirring music, music to rouse the soul.

Taken at face value, this is nothing more than an exceedingly well made, exciting low-fi art-punk record. The listening experience, however, is one that far few bands strive for anymore. Titus Andronicus have created an album that will grip the listener, carry them along on a tide of spit and blood and youthful aggression, and leave them dazed and exhausted at the end, with no other option but to start the record all over again.

On its first album, Titus Andronicus promised that a masterpiece would be written.

The Monitor makes good on that promise.

Key Tracks: A More Perfect Union, Titus Andronicus Forever, Richard II, Four Score and Seven, To Friends Old and New, The Battle of Hampton Roads

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy two, give one to someone.

Haiku Reviews # 6 Best Week Ever Edition

2010-03-07T23:55:00.010-05:00

Haiku Reviews: In which Nate Adams uses the ancient art of (Chinese? Japansese? Mexican?) poetry and reviews albums in a 5-7-5 format. Is it laziness, or NEW ZEN CRITICISM? Be the judge or submit your own, assface! Contact Nate on Twitter or at mrdogg45@gmail.com)

This week, there are no less than seven albums coming out that are of great interest to me. As a result, some other albums, be it ones I've had for a few weeks or that just wouldn't be fun to write about or that I haven't had a chance to flesh out ins full review, need to be dealt with to make room for the coming influx of good shit. With that in mind, dig into these little review snapshots.

LETS GET IT ON!

***************

Artist: Xiu Xiu
Album: Dear God, I Hate Myself

I was bummed out to
find Xiu Xiu were not nearly
as weird as I'd hoped.

Artist: Field Music
Album: Field Music (Measure)

Stuff that sounds like Queen
is okay, but this album
is too fucking long.

Artist: Collapse Under The Sun
Album: A Place To Be Safe

Even the post-rock
sounds like techno when it is
made in Germany.

Artist: Local Natives
Album: Gorilla Manor

Pitchfork blog buzz band
builds a better Fleet Foxes,
totally hype worthy.

Artist: Gil Scott Heron
Album: I'm New Here

Spoken word hinges
on good writing and good voice,
Scott-Heron brings both.

Artist: Jaga Jazzist
Album: One Armed Bandit

I don't know what the
fuck is happening here but
this album is great.

Rap Video Wednesday

2010-03-03T08:57:00.002-05:00

I really didn't want to post a rap video today. I had every intention of writing a review of the most recent Freelance Whales album. I even wrote up a word document that listed every album I wanted to review and the specific day I wanted to review it, and Freelance Whales was slated for today.

But then I worked a long shift at work and the minute I came home and sat down on my bed to write, I lost my moxy. I would be a terrible sassy dame..

Either way, my bad guys. My bad, Freelance Whales. Let's all ease our sorrows with a little Trick Daddy. After all, Trick does love the kids, and that's gotta count for something, right?

Wait, you day you'd like MORE Trick Daddy? MORE TRICK DADDY? Perhaps with a dollop of Lil' Jon? Well, your wish is my command!

An Alkaline Trio Cautionary Fairy Tale

2010-03-02T00:00:00.001-05:00

Artist: The Alkaline Trio
Album: This Addiction

Short Review: Alkaline Trio shoots for a GNV FLA-style return to their roots, but returns continue to diminish on their sound.

Long Review: Once upon a time, there were three dudes who liked to drink and play punk songs about girls. They would write music that was big on harmonics and simple chords. They would pepper their lyrics with dark, Gothic imagery that juxtaposed with their pop sound in a fun, compelling way. Basically, they made music for romantics who wanted to kill themselves, but at least had a sense of humor about it.

So this band recorded an album and named it Goddamnit. The album became a classic, and established the band as an exciting new sound in punk. They toured the country, kept drinkin' and sticking to the formula that made them. They released a few more albums that all sounded pretty much the same, but had enough good songs and little sonic adjustments to keep their goodwill alive.

Things were going well enough for the band. Then they put out an album that had a lot of keyboards and synths. This album was more pop-minded and it played like an homage the groups the guys themselves grew up listening to. This album, let's call it Crimson, was released to mixed reviews. Some people really like it, but by and large folks flipped the fuck out and panned the album as shit. Regardless of how people thought about it now, it was accepted as their worst album.

The band took notice and went back to their roots, writing the kind of songs that made them famous in the first place. However, it was too late. They had stretched their tricks as far as they could, and now they were just repeating themselves. Sure, they could still turn out some good songs every now and again, but things were not looking good for the band. They spent their time trying to recapture their former magic using the same old tools, with diminishing returns.

So what happened to that band? That band that made some great tracks in their day, but really haven't contributed to their personal musical lexicon since 2003 (minus a pretty awesome b-sides collection in 2008)? They released an album called This Addiction, an album with a few good songs (“This Addiction,” “The American Scream,” “Dead On The Floor”) and a few more bad songs (“Dine, Dine My Darling,” "Draculina”) and one pretty crazy bonus song (“Two Lips, Two Lungs and One Tongue”). It is more or less the same album that the band has been putting out since the late 90s, only the sound is much more stale from all the ware. Diehards will like it, the casual fan will tolerate it, the uninitiated would be better to stay away.

And that, boys and girls, is the rise, fall and cautionary tale of a totally fictional band. We'll call them The Battery Three.

Key Tracks: The American Scream, Dead On The Floor, This Addiction

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!! WITH BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-01T00:45:00.005-05:00

Artist: Bomb The Music Industry!
Album: Adults!!!... Smart!!! Shithammered!!! And Excited By Nothing!!!!!!

Short Review: Adults!!! isn't a perfect outing, but you would be hard pressed to find a better free EP recorded in five days.

Long Review: Bomb The Music Industry! have been doing quite the victory lap since its excellent 2009 album Scrambles. First there was the B-side collection Others! Others!, then a split with Laura Stevenson and The Cans and now a new seven song EP recorded, mixed and mastered in five days.

Adults!!! continues the same themes that Scrambles touched on, but with a less cheerful outcome. Even when primary songwriter Jeff Rosenstock was worried about being jobless, he was still finding time to appreciate sunsets and playing Rock Band until two AM. Scrambles was very good at balancing bummed-out attitudes with upbeat songs and small moments of emotional release. This EP lacks both of those elements, making it a bit more of a depressing listen.

Rosenstock is still not too sure about this whole “being a grown up” stuff. Adults!!! finds him questioning his living situation (the poppy-piano song “Slumloard”), imagining his own funeral (“Planning My Own Death,” a punked-up throwback to BTMI's earlier albums) second guessing his relationships (the triumphant “You Still Believe In Me?”) and even questioning his musical career (the morose “All Ages Show”). As usual, Rosenstock comes off as charming and relateable; he is still able to make very specific, personal stories feel universal. His development as a lyric writer continues to push him further from the pack and closer to the Schwarzenbachs and Kellys of the punk world.

Still, Adults!!!'s misses seem to standout more than its hits. The biggest bummer is “All Ages Show,” which is a slower, more chaotic song in the same vein of “Wednesday Night Drinkball” or “All Alone In My Big Empty Apartment,” but without the appeal of either. These types of songs are often Rosenstock's weakest, and that holds true on this EP. The other questionable track is the record-closing “Struggler,” which goes on a little bit too long (albeit comically so), and never quite sticks in its development.

The rest of the EP, however, is fucking gravy. “You Still Believe In Me?” and “The First Time I Met Sanawon” are both typical BTMI: shouty gang vocals, kitchen sink arrangements, controlled chaos that somehow works. “Slumlord,” while being the poppiest the band has gotten since Get Warmer's opening tracks, is also one of the most fun and uplifting “fuck you”s written in some time.

Adults!!! isn't a perfect outing, but you would be hard pressed to find a better free EP recorded in five days. If nothing else, it proves true what Rosenstock says on “Sanawon,” a turn of phrase destined to become a modern punk mantra: “I will do my best to never get tired.”

Key Tracks: You Still Believe In Me?, The First Time I Met Sanawon, Slumlord, Planning My Death

Buy, Steal, Skip: Get this shit for free, man!

Shout Out Louds Latest a Workman-like Effort of Pleasing Pop

2010-02-26T00:39:00.003-05:00

Artist: Shout Out Louds
Album: Work

Short Review: An above average collection of pleasant, yet inessential, indie pop.

Long Review: The third LP from Swedish pop masters Shout Out Louds is one catchy motherfucker. Work is packed to the gills with hook-y little love songs that would, at worst, make for excellent soundtrack fodder and, at best, sound right at home on a mix CD for that girl in your Creative Writing class whose always wearing the Cure t-shirts. Fans of Camera Obscura, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and being desperately infatuated with someone will find a lot to like on this record.

And yet, it could have been so much more.

The Shout Out Louds are capable of creating transcendent, essential music, yet they seem unable to capture their magic for more than a few fleeting minutes each time. They did it twice on their debut record with "Very Loud" and "Seagulls," two of the finest pop songs created in the last 20 years. The band was able to catch lightning in a jar again on Our Ill Wills with its lead single "Tonight I Have To Leave It," a track with a nearly palpable sense of glamour.

At its best moments, the band is cackling with energy. It is an almost tangible thing, an unobtainable specter of excitement that hangs over their best moments, nearly visible. That manic spark is absent from Work. As a result, the album is fine enough, but never great.

I'll say this: as much as I enjoy the high points on the album, the swelling choruses on "1999" and "Walls" come to mind, I struggled to listen to the album the whole way through. Before, the band never had to, ahem, work to hold my attention. This time around, they kept losing me.

This is such a charming little band, such a charming little album that one wants to like it more than it deserves. Because, really, there is nothing wrong with it. Its just...missing something. What made "Very Loud" and "Tonight I Have To Leave It" such great songs? Rest assured, its some impossible, immeasurable thing that, for whatever reason, doesn't ever appear on this album.

So, yes, this is a catchy album. It is, as I said, packed with fun, almost Twee, songs about love and longing, and is a totally fine record for fans of indie-pop. But for a band like Shout Out Louds, a band that has it in them to really move people, “fine” really isn't enough.

Key Tracks: 1999, Walls, Fall Hard

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

Rap Video Thursday: Crooklyn Edition

2010-02-25T10:40:00.002-05:00

After the night I just had in Brooklyn with my kinfolk, I may have to reconsider my "New York City sucks" stance. I had myself a corker of a time, but more on that later.

For now, here's Busta Rhymes.

Busta has never been my favorite rapper, but he is far and away the most iconic music video participant of my childhood. If there was a DVD somewhere of all the Busta Rhymes / Hype Williams videos out there, I'd get that shit in a heartbeat.

Anyway, this is the last Busta Video I can remember that got much play on MTV. Not only does it feature silly outfits and video hoes, but the ENTIRE FUCKING THING is in fish-eye lens. Enjoy.

Yeasayer: Oddly Compelling

2010-02-24T09:51:00.004-05:00

Short Review: Yeasayer is weird! But fun! So...yeah! Good record!

Long Review: Every 10 or 12 years, Pop music resets itself and is spurned on by the leadership of one or two incendiary artists who set the trend for the next decade. From the Beatles, to David Bowie, to R.E.M / The Cure, to Nirvana and to Radiohead, bands have emerged to dictate what sound will be “cool” for a few years to come.

It bums me out to say, but there is pretty good evidence to suggest that Animal Collective are the barometer against which indie music will be measured over the next few years. If Radiohead was a band about the fear of technology, Animal Collective are the band that Radiohead was afraid of. Everything in the forseeable is going to sound like music made by computers on drugs.

Shit sucks, eh?

Well take heart, people! It's not all so bad! Why, there are bands out there like Yeasayer, bands that aim to take the cold, unfeeling oddness of narcotic-addled processors and make something fun out of it.

So, yeah. Odd Blood is weird. Weird, but fun and upbeat and downright fucking human. This is computer music that sounds like it was made by actual people, actual people who enjoyed the process of making it (as opposed to Animal Collective, which often sounds joyless and bizarre to me. Man! I really don't like Animal Collective!)

You've got the usual elements: “sonic textures,” repeating samples, repetitive sound snippets, programmed drums, weirdo noises that don't sound as if they occur naturally in the music world. Lots of keyboards, you know? The difference here is how obtainable and friendly Yeasayer makes the intimidating elements sound. On paper, lead single “Ambling Alp” is an insurmountable wall of drugged out fuzz. In practice, however, the tune is an upbeat dance number about sticking up for yourself.

Its hard to describe Yeasayer to folks who aren't in the know. For the average person, this shit is gonna sound fun, but way out there. To hipster fucks like myself, it is much easier.

You know that one Atlas Sound song “Walkabout?” Odd Blood sounds like that song, but with more energy and for an entire album, without getting boring. Remember the best parts of Strawberry Jam? Yeasayer is like that, without the pretension. Did you like Yacht's latest album, but wish it sounded a little less like android music? This is the record for you! Do you like TV on the Radio in concept more than in practice? Fuck that, get your hooks into something your body can enjoy as much as your mind!

Look, no one is more upset about the coming tide of AnCo trend followers more than I am. Fuck all that noise, gimme some guitars. That being said, Yeasayer really opened my mind about what this new trend of music can accomplish outside of art-house pretension. This is a fun record for fun people, and while it might take a little warming up to for the uninitiated Joes, the bad haircut set will have no problem grooving. Odd Blood takes a hard idea and makes it effortless, endlessly easy. Good work, dudes.

Key Tracks: Ambling Alp, O.N.E, Love Me Girl, Mondgreen

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Freeway Still Hustlin': Stimulus Package is Great

2010-02-23T05:17:00.004-05:00

Artist: Freeway & Jake One
Album: The Stimulus Package

Short Review: Rapper Freeway goes underground, drops the whine in his delivery, pairs with Rhymesayers producer Jake One and drops a near-classic.

Long Review: On the surface, it is easy to understand why people might not be excited for The Stimulus Package, the fourth album from Philadelphia native Freeway.

The man is now seven years removed from his career apex, the eternally excellent “What We Do” off his debut, Philadelphia Freeway. The years in between then and now have been anything but kind to Free: label trouble, lyrical barbs with mega-producers Just Blaze and Kanye West, the formation and disbanding of not one but two crews (State Property and Ice City) and a loss of faith in the genre itself have all plagued the rapper. Now he's gone underground, singing with indie label Rhymesayers, priming himself for an underdog-style comeback.

How can someone deal with moving from Jay-Z to Brother Ali? How can one overcome that kind of career letdown? By making a fucking great album, that's how.

Freeway has never been a very technical rapper. His strengths lie more in delivery and emotion than in rhyme schemes or cadences. Free is a worker: he brings the same intensity to every track, the same all-or-nothing energy that endeared him to people seven years ago to every song he works on. The Stimulus Package finds the man playing to his strengths, sounding as feirce and working as hard as possible on songs.

There is an edge to his voice, a gnarled, everyman quality that makes him understandable, obtainable, even admirable on a very human level. These are not the words of some well-educated backpacker or a far off multi-millionaire global icon, this is some motherfucker who short order cooks down the street and freestyles in the kitchen. This isn't an album meant for dissection. This is a tangible album; something to be held and understood in a basic, emotional way.

It's about the struggle, man, and Freeway knows the struggle. He's afraid of having to fall back on construction work should his rap career fail (“Sure not trying to do carpentry like my pops / big pain in the bottom of his back/ and it be hurtin' him”). He remembers having to catch public transportation (“Had my walkman in my pocket / used to hop on the bus”). He's out of the hood, but he remembers what it takes to survive ( “Watch your back in the hood / hate comes from all angels”). On this album, Freeway is always honest, always earnest: he means every word he says, believes in everything he says and the album sounds better for it.

Jake One, the sole producer for The Stimulus Package, supplements Free's life stories with a series of soulful, occasionally spooky, occasionally triumphant soul beats. The music is top notch, blending seamlessly with Free's lyrics, always hitting the correct emotional tone to match the flow and content.

Really, though, the record would sound good regardless of producer, because The Stimulus Package is Freeway's realization that the rags-to-riches fable of gangsta rap is just as flimsy and opaque as rap's detractors would have people believe. The ride will end, things can go wrong and no amount of swagger can change that. This is Freeway coming to terms with his own career mortality by pushing himself harder than ever, stepping his work ethic up a notch and dropping his best album to date. This is the product of a hungry, able hustler, sounding better now than he ever has.

Don't get it twisted: this isn't a classic. There are a few lame tracks, and Freeway still occasionally stumbles over some dumb rhymes. However, listening to his Ghostface-esqu storytelling on "Never Going To Change" or his Tyson-like intensity on "One Thing" or even his fear on "Money," it isn't had to believe that Free has a great album in him.

Key Tracks: Never Going To Chance, One Thing, Microphone Killa, Money, Stimulus Outro

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

This track is crazy!

Hot Chip: Too Cuddly?

2010-02-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

Artist: Hot Chip
Album: One Life Stand

Short Review: Latest from rock-minded electro-dance troupe is less sexy, more mature.

Long Review: The problem with Djs, or really any artist who works in a totally isolated, non-collaborative way, is that the music comes without an editor. Sure, Djs might have their friends listen to mixes before they test them out on dance floors or make albums, but by and large, there is no one pushing against. Djs rarely have someone along side, who has been a part of the creative process, to say “Hey, man, this part sounds like shit.”

Hot Chip has never had this problem. The band has not made a bad album yet, benefiting from their status as a group of dudes making music that could conceivable be made by one dude. I mean, I can't prove anything, but I'm confident that having a room full of people working on one song will always lead to a better product than having one person work on the same song. Call me a Communis t, whatever.

Regardless, One Life Stand continues this trend of excellence, providing the world with more top-notch electronica.

Hot Chip's latest finds them moving away from their pants-off-dance-off-iest fourth release, 2008's Made in The Dark. That was kind of sleazy record (or, at least, as sleazy a record as dudes who look like this could make). It was all bass lines and boom, the sort of thing that Brooklyn vegans might do coke to at a house party. One Life Stand, in contrast, tones down the sex appeal quite a bit, making for a more mature, if less funky collection of tunes.

In fact, the album almost suffers from a lack of sexiness. Most tracks run in the softer, more indie-electronica-pop orientation of their breakout single “The Warning.” Three tracks use this slowed down, more instrumented mind set. Two of these tracks, “Alley Cats,” and “Brothers” are sufficiently awesome. Only two tracks could even be called sexy: the album opener "Thieves in the Night" and the titular track. The other songs are above quality, mid level techno / electro pop that may or may not contain auto-tune.

The problem here is that things are a little too somber, a little too mellow, a little too mature. The Warning worked so well because it balanced ballads with bumpers, and Made in The Dark worked so well because it was electric sex, with the slow songs serving as breaks to regain stamina. One Life Stand is more of a cuddle fest, with some occasional heavy petting.

Still though, with all the shitty electronic music coming out these days (cough ALBUM LEAF cough), you can't do much better than Hot Chip for quality and consistency.

Key Tracks: One Life Stand, Brothers, Alley Cats

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

Hiku Reviews #5: I'm LAAAAAAAZY Edition

2010-02-19T08:38:00.007-05:00

For die hard Wayne fans

only. Between Avril and
T-Pain lies Rebirth

Artist: The Soft Pack
Album: The Soft Pack

How many more bands
will record stuff in Brooklyn?
Garage rock, please stop.

Artist: Mixtapes
Album: Maps

Lemuria got

married to Reliant K,

had a cute 'lil babe.

Artist: The Go Find
Album: Everyone Knows Its Gonna Happen, Only Not Tonight

A few quick pop songs
are all that keeps this record
from total mope-rock.

Rap Video Tuesday: Cam'ron

2010-02-16T05:41:00.002-05:00

You could write a book about Cam'ron. Not that I'm gonna try, but I'm just sayin...

Anyway, here's his kinda shitty video for "I Hate My Job," one of the more bomb-ass tracks off his scattershot '09 release Crime Pays. Even if the visuals don't set you off, its important that you listen to the song because it is probably my favorite rap track of last year.

Cam'ron- "I Hate My Job"

Cam'ron | MySpace Music Videos

The Album Leaf: Vanillia Ice Cream for Boring People

2010-02-15T18:26:00.003-05:00

Artist: The Album Leaf
Album: A Chorus of Storytellers

Short Review: If listening to Sigur Ros is like having sex with a mermaid in a coral palace, listening to A Chorus of Storytellers is like holding hands while walking down the street: pleasant, but unremarkable.

Long Review: Jimmy LaValle has been making low impact ambient electronica for over 12 years, and, motherfucker has gotten his act pretty much down. A Chorus of Storytellers is the latest album under his Album Leaf moniker, and it continues on his established legacy of making easy electronic music for people to sleep / write / grope to.

Its hard to write about an album as honey smooth, sticky sweet as Chorus. Featuring no real peaks or valleys, there isn't much to speak on other than its polite, courteous, inoffensive nature. Keyboards softly swell over programmed drum beats. Ocassionaly, there are some lyrics. By and large, however, there is a lot of soft melodies and simple progressions.

The songs work on the same build and release principal that dominates post-rock, but it features none of the eerie charm of Godspeed! You Black Emperor, none of the emotional catharsis of Explosions in the Sky or any of the woodsy jazz of Do Make Say Think. This is the definition of background music.

A Chorus of Storytellers isn't a bad album, but there isn't much to grab hold of a listener, either.

If one assumes that LeValle has no higher aspiration than to make something sweet and substance-free, like the audio equivalent of a puff-pastry, then this record is a success. And if all you are looking for is something nice to put on after a long day or something to go down some one's pants to, then you could do a lot worse than The Album Leaf. However, this ain't no Postal Service-esque crossover hit in the making. It is a simple, straightforward, inessential listen.

Maybe I'm missing something. Perhaps a trip through The Album Leaf's back catalog would provide some context to Chorus, give it some meaning within the band's body of work. But who's got time for that shit? Besides, any good album can be appreciated on its own merits. This album can be enjoyed, but only as soft static and not in any active. Bedroom music, and nothing more.

(Note: Latterman has nothing to do with The Album Leaf, but it's way more interesting. You want Album Leaf tracks, find them yourself.)

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip it.

Nick Jonas, Motherfuckers

2010-02-11T23:52:00.003-05:00

Artist: Nick Jonas and the Administration
Album: Who I Am

Comments: Unless you are the sort of person that has been without a radio, a television, a magazine or Internet access for the last several years, you have probably heard of Nick Jonas (and if you are that sort of person, welcome to the Internet! Thanks for choosing my blog.) Still, here are the facts:

- Nick Jonas is one-third of the Jonas Brothers, a wildly successful, Disney-backed pop-rock band.

- The Jonas Brothers' success is due partially to their radio-friendly rock songs, partially to their alignment with Disney and partly to their “good boy” image, which has garnered them a large following with girls between the ages of 8 – 16.

- Who I Am is Nick Jonas's second album, his first since his 2004 release and the first solo release since his Jonas Brothers success.

Now, I don't expect anyone to have any sympathy for a good looking, hyper-wealthy young man with an army of young women clamoring for him and more fame than Moses, but there is evidence to suggest that Jonas wishes to be taken seriously as a songwriter and that'll be near impossible given his teen-pop fame. Who I Am is an attempt at a much more mature sound than Jonas would be able to put forth with his “brothers,” one that aims to distance himself from his celebrity and establish him as crossover adult-rock star.

So let it be said now: Who I Am doesn't sound like the Jonas Brothers, it sounds like Nick Jonas. I'm just not really sure that is such a good thing.

This album is one wacky affair. Featuring members of the New Power Generation (fucking Prince's backing band!), songs jump from John Mayer-like easy listening to top 40 adult pop to weird faux-funk outbursts. The funk tunes, like the Stevie-Wonder-biting “State of Emergency” and the bewildering “Conspiracy Theory,” are played well enough by the NPG, but there is something awkward about hearing Jonas cut loose with “Woo!s” and “Yeah!s” and the like. His voice, while fine enough, doesn't really lend itself to soulful power vocals.

While Jonas fairs better on his John Mayer knockoffs, it is his adult-rock songs that have him sounding best. The title track is an A-OK piece of top 40 writing that would easily appeal to someone who has completed puberty and can probably serve as an indication of where Jonas will end up.

Who I Am, then, can be thought of as a teen pop star trying to establish himself as something more and the sound of him misstepping through experimentation. Should his solo career continue, this record could stand as an in between point between his teen past and his adult future, but as it stands now, it's just a muddled, occasionally interesting but often baffling pop-rock album. Nick Jonas might never be the next Prince, but he'll make a fine Rob Thomas someday, and that's not bad for a dude who doesn't wanna be tied to Disney for the rest of his life.

Key Tracks: Who I Am, Stronger (Back on the Ground)

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip

One Terrible EP (How I Learned To Buy Music Again)

2010-02-09T05:34:00.000-05:00

Artist: Semi Precious Weapons
Album: Semi Precious Weapons EP

Comments: For reasons totally not worth getting into, I boycotted the itunes music store for about a year or so. Around that same time, I was pretty steadily unemployed, so I stole a shit load of music.

Stealing music is wrong, sure, but its also counter-productive to writing reviews. It gives one access to everything, all the time. It makes the idea of possibly reviewing all of that stuff so terrifying and unobtainable that a critic (well, this critic) can retreat into a stasis of Bear vs Shark albums and paralysis.

So I'm buying my music again, both physically and itunes. And, yes, there are still a metric dick-ton of albums to be reviewed, but at least now they come in manageable, weekly packages.

What does this little interlude have to do with Semi Precious Weapons? Earlier this year, before anything even remotely worth reviewing was out, I was perusing the Itunes releases to see if I was missing anything cool, if anything worth while was sneaking under my radar. This brought me to download the hyper-affordable most recent EP from this New York based glam-rock band.

The good news is this: nothing was sneaking under my radar. Semi Precious Weapons is fucking terrible.

This EP sounds like a more vapid version of Velvet Revolver. This EP sounds like a reminder of why everyone like Nirvana so much back in the 90s, because they killed shitty fuck-music like this. This EP is the kind of thing Randy “The Ram” would listen to if he hadn't killed himself giving Ernest Miller a Ram Jam.

I mean, this is bad, even by glam-rock standards. This isn't fun or sexy or shocking or anything. If its a joke, its a bad one. If its just for irony sake, Semi Precious Weapons should fuck off. This is useless music for useless people. I wouldn't even do coke to this record. Fuck this EP and everyone involved.

I just looked over this review and I realize that I haven't really described the music very well. It sounds like late 80s rock music. Lots of faux-sexy, cock-sure ham-handed metaphors for fucking. A few garden variety guitar solos. I mean, really, this sounds like a shitty version of Velvet Revolver. Or a really shitty Guns n Roses. No, that's not right. Guns n Roses kick ass. Like a shitty Night Ranger.

Fuck this EP. Bring on the Nick Jonas CD.

Key Tracks: None. Three tracks of shit.

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip, skip, fucking skip.

Los Campesinos!: Just In Time To Ruin Valentine's Day

2010-02-08T00:33:00.003-05:00

Artist: Los Campesinos!
Album: Romance Is Boring

Comments: Writing one great song is no easy feat, but becoming a great band is even harder. This simple axiom explains every one hit wonder ever, as well as explaining why the truly special bands (Bear vs Shark) are so few and far between.

Los Campesinos!Have already written one great song. That song is "You! Me! Dancing!" And the band knocked it out on the Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP. It's first release, no less. That particular mountain climbed, they have spent the rest of its brief career trying to become your new favorite band.

So if Romance Is Boring is not loaded to the gills with emotional powerhouses, it is not for a lack of ideas or quality. It's just fucking hard to be good, and this album is the sound of a band trying as hard as they can.

Romance is far and away the nosiest album the group has released to date. Los Camp records have always been high-energy, musically crowded affairs, but the band has been good about balancing all that clamor into highly focused tunes. They succeed where bands like The Polyphonic Spree have failed because the band understands that not everyone needs to be playing at all times.

That being said, there is a shit load happening on this record. Specifically, there are a ton of keyboards and guitar lines that layer the songs to an occasionally suffocating degree. “These Are Listed Buildings,” for example, could have done with a little editing and a little less of the everything-all-at-once mentality.

A few editorial changes here and there, and Romance Is Boring could have been a fucking classic. It continues down the darker path that We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed took, using boy-girl dynamics and razor sharp wit to decimate any notion of storybook romances. “We Got Your Back” and “Straight In at 101” are two of the band's best songs to date. The latter also features this neat little lyric: “I think we need more post-coital / and less post-rock / seems the buildup takes forever / but you never touch my cock.” (fuck you, Explosions in the Sigur Ros!) Then there's the melancholy “The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of The Future,” a song about a girl with an eating disorder that rockets the band out of the realm of “cute smart kids” and into “serious songwriters” land.

So, no, Romance isn't great, but cut Los Campesinos! Some slack. After all, they're trying to become your new favorite band and they're coming close.

Key Tracks: We Got Your Back, Straight In at 101, The Sea Is A Good Place to Think of The Future

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

I Think This Review Features a New Personal Record for Parenthesis Use

2010-02-03T09:03:00.004-05:00

Artist: Fucked Up
Album: Couple Tracks: Singles 2002 - 2008

Short Review: A collection of occasionally good, occasionally bad songs from up-and-coming experimental hardcore band Fucked Up.

Long Review: You are Fucked Up, a hazy hardcore outfit from the frozen north of Canada. You've been making songs at a break-neck pace for about five years now. Your Internet stock is as high as it has ever been. Your most recent album, The Chemistry of Common Life, is your most profitable and well-received release to date. Such is your ubiquity that your lead singer is able to land a gig as commentator for Fox News.

So what do you do now? Wait, you don't know? R-record a new album? Shit, no! What the fuck is wrong with you?

You release a singles compilation, idiot. That's what Fucked Up did with Couple Tracks: Singles 2002 – 2008. (See, this is why you'll never bee Fucked Up.)

First thing's first: if you are at all interested in buying this record in some way, getting the physical copy is a must. The liner notes to this double album monster are a dream come true for obsessive music fans. It lists where every song first appeared in the Fucked Up catalog, as well as a little fun-fact about where the song was recorded / why it was recorded / how the band feels about it, and makes for a total bitching compendium to the non-stop punk.

Serving as a “Get to Know your Fucked Up” kind of thing, Couple Tracks is an intimidating behemoth of fast, screamy punk music. The comp starts out with the band's first song ever, "No Pasaran," a kind-of -shitty tune with an overlong intro (The liner notes that the band has “weird feelings about this track now.” See? See how cool the liner notes are?). From that point, it's just an hour and change of career-spanning singles with a focus of acclimating new-comers to what's been going on for the last seven years.

There isn't really a rhyme or reason to the arrangement of tracks, so there is not much flow to the comp. This makes it somewhat daunting to listen to all in one sitting, as songs can tend to meld together into one long buzz saw factory. As all these tracks are singles, they are all on the more melodic end of the Fucked Up spectrum, which contributes to the saminess.

Some standout tracks: The aptly named “Neat Parts” is an early album highlight. “David Christmas” is a well-produced punk song with a touch of musical theater thrown in towards the beginning. Twee covers “Anorak City” and “I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You” come from an obvious place of love, and make them all the more endearing (finally, some Fucked Up tracks me and my girlfriend can agree on).

Some not so standout tracks: The aforementioned "No Pasaran," the single versions of "No Epiphany" and "Crooked Head" (sounded way better on Chemistry), the overlong "Triumph of Life" and the too gnarly "Last Man Standing."

While it is by no means required listening, Couple Tracks is certainly worth it for newcomers and short-time fans of an up and coming experimental punk band. And while it never achieves an album feel, it's got enough short blast of quality to make it worth the money. Just make sure you get the physical copy.

Key Tracks: Neat Parts, Anorak City, David Christmas

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

Spoon: The Sam Jackson of Indie Rock

2010-02-01T22:26:00.005-05:00

Artist: Spoon
Album: Transference

Comments: Spoon is a relentlessly cool band. Its songs are groovy affairs. Listening to them is like dancing with mysterious stranger who moves with a confidence both seductive and dangerous. It is not hard to imagine everyone in the band wearing leather jackets and sunglasses at all times, cigarettes dangling uncommitted from their expressionless faces as they casually walk to the next party, fully aware that all eyes are on them but making no notice of the attention.

Here's the thing about cool, though: It don't keep you warm at night. Sure, everyone wants to be cool, but man cannot live on cool alone, you know? Man needs soul, man needs something more substantial, less detached, more true to that intangible, indescribable core of human nature that gives power to the pop songs that can move people, change people.

Spoon is occasionally capable of achieving this zen-like level of pop mastery while maintaining their aloof, Fonzie-esque aesthetic. Their last full-length, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, an album so dripping with effortless perfection on a song-by-song level that it almost seemed like the band wasn't even trying, was a modern classic that could stand both as a touchstone of modern hipness and a piece of near-flawless alternative for the stadium minded.

Transference, however, is not so much a cosmic success as it is a cool fucking album. So, if you were looking for another car-ride, life changer this time around, you'll be let down.

Still, there's nothing wrong with a good headphones album, and this album is certainly that. There is a lot to take in, from the echo-y bass-and-piano grove of "Mystery Zone" to the meandering, jammy guitar of "I Saw The Light." Production wise, the band is back on their studio experimentation BS (ala Kill The Moonlight), focusing less on rocking like a hurricane and more on layering their rock songs with as much cool shit as they can think of.

It makes for an interesting listen, no doubt, but a more detached one, as the band wants to keep the listener at arms length instead of fully drawing them in for the big rock and roll bear hug.

There is one track that bridges the gap between studio knob-fiddling and full on emotional rocking, and that song is "Trouble Comes Running."

"Trouble Comes Running" is fucking awesome. It's a quiet little rocker with a goofy mix so the guitar is pushed higher than the rest of the song, and the drums are kind of low-fi and canned. All this means is that the song sounds interesting as well as emotionally satisfying.

Transference doesn't swing for the fences, it doesn't strive to capture anyone's heart. It is fine to be another solid addition to an already solid (and occasionally perfect) catalog of mercilessly cool music. Get your sunglasses on, motherfucker.

Key Tracks: Mystery Zone, Written in Reverse, I Saw The Light, Trouble Comes Running

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?

2010-02-01T09:30:00.001-05:00

...because it wasn't.

Rap Video Wednesday: Gucci Mane

2010-01-26T23:06:00.003-05:00

Heard of Gucci Mane? Here are the facts:

- He's a cross between Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy.

- Dude makes a lot of mix tapes.

- He's going to jail soon, just as his career is starting to take off. Bummer, right?

- The second single from his latest album is "Lemonade," and it's a catchy / terrible / stupid / brilliant track.

Here's the video. I like it because my favorite color is yellow.

Jason Ward, I'm So Sorry, But I Don't Like Almighty Row

2010-01-25T23:18:00.004-05:00

Artist: Jason Ward
Album: Almighty Row

Comments: If various internet sites are to believed, singer / songwriter Jason Ward has written over 350 songs between 2001 and 2009, with another EP slated to be released sometime early in 2010. Considering that most bands don't write that many songs over the course of a career, Ward can safely be classified as one prolific motherfucker.

While his output is certainly remarkable, his most recent full length Almighty Row is anything but.

The album, which referrers to a big ass fight and not some dudes trying to get down a river, is a sparse and depressing affair: its 10 tracks clock in at 31 minutes and the subject matter is almost entirely about being really sad or fighting with a loved one. Tracks have titles like "Just About Time (to Get Even)" and "Hinting Towards the Door." These cuts sound exactly like one would expect.

The songs are based around simple, repetitive piano lines and /or guitar chords. Everything is played softly: strings are muted, chords are hushed. They have one or two parts, and those parts are repeated for three or so minutes while Ward softly sings about breakups, fights and generally being bummed out about a relationship. Sample lyric from the song Sinkhole: “Enjoy your sinkhole / make it your home / you raise your kids there / and die alone.” So, yeah, not really a feel good record.

Look, no one wants to knock a guy who writes a shit load of songs, records them himself and puts them out for free on the internet. I mean, I do that. Shit, I was raised on punk! I fucking love DIY! I wish Jason Ward nothing but the best. That being said, most of Almighty Row is bland and forgettable. Though it never sounds insincere or forced, the tracks are too sparse, too simple, too samey to be of any substance. I want to recommend Ward on the strength of how he does what he does, but one would be much better off with Elliott Smith.

Assuming the Internet hype is honest, Ward isn't going to stop writing songs any time soon. I hope he doesn't. I hope he keeps making his simple, honest songs until the day he dies. I just don't expect I'll be listening to too many of them.

Haiku Reviews #4: "Not Enough Time To Write A Real Review Before Work Tomorrow Edition"

2010-01-18T23:03:00.007-05:00

Seven great anthems.

Some bad lyrics, two duds.
Happy Birthday, Souls

*****

Artist: Badly Drawn Boy
Album: Is There Nothing We Could Do? (Music Inspired By The Motion Picture: The Fattest Man In Britain)

Soundtrack work is fine
for this one time wunderkind,
relaxed and laid back.

*****

Artist: Passion Pit
Album: Manners

Attention teen girls:
Please stop liking bands I like,
it makes me feel weird

*****

Artist: Banner Pilot
Album: Collapser

Sure, it sounds the same.
Best made pop-punk since D4.
Collapser: Must-Buy.

*****

Artist: Do Make Say Think
Album: The Other Truths

The best post-rock band
makes another another album of
songs to help you live.

An Open Letter to Ok Go

2010-01-17T23:12:00.007-05:00

Artist: Ok Go

Album: Of The Blue Colour of the Sky

Dear Ok Go,

Let me just start this letter by making it clear that I wish you nothing but the best. I like you guys. I think you are neat.

Your first two self-titled EPs were two of my favorite things to listen to in high school. Your cover of Adam Ant's "Ant Music" is one of my favorite covers to date. Your self-titled LP, though a little bit too concerned with commercial appeal, was a top-notch collection of well made, clever power-pop. I think that, had your career began in 1995 instead of the early 2000s, you would be kings of the world. I even liked that treadmill video that launched you into the public eye. You guys seem pretty cool.

That being said, what the fuck is happening on Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky?

I mean, what's the motivation behind this new production? You guys are masters of pop-rock, professionals at catchy, hooky, easily digested, fun rock music. That kind of music usually calls for a much cleaner, more straight forward production. This album is all distant and spacey, piled high with fuzzy bass lines, vocal reverb and way too little guitar. It sounds like the bass and drums were recorded in one room, and the rest of it was recorded across the street. Why the disconnect?

Its a shame, too, because I think, had you stuck to a more basic sound, these tracks would be really, really fun. I mean, it isn't as if you guys have forgotten how to write good pop music, buried under all that useless space and echo-y nonsense are some really solid pop tunes. Tracks like "This Too Shall Pass," "Needing / Getting," and especially "Before the Earth Was Round" have great qualities to them, they are just stuck beneath a lot of bad production decisions. Especially "Before the Earth Was Round:" this song would have been a total success if not for the weird, Frampton-esqu talk-box vocals.

Also, I know you guys love the Pixies. I do, too. It's one of the things I like about you. But boo on you for ripping off "Hey" so brazenly on your slightly overlong "Skyscrapers."

I don't understand. You've always struck me as a band with an identify complex, like you wish you cooler than your public perception. Are these sonic changes an effort to appear more "hip" or "indie?" I don't want to discourage you guys from trying to experiment with your music, I just don't think this particular trial worked out.

I mean, it's not like Of The Blue Colour of the Sky is a terrible record, it could just have been a much better one had you guys stayed true to yourselves. It just feels like all the wacky studio noise takes away from what could have been a really fun album.

Sincerely,
Nate Adams

Key Tracks: Needed/Getting, This Too Shall Pass, Before the Earth Was Round

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip

Confessions Of A Hipster: Vampire Weeken Edition

2010-01-15T08:37:00.007-05:00

Artist: Vampire Weekend
Album: Contra

Short Review: Vampire Weekend's Contra is a strong second album that overcomes occasionally stifling production with tight, fun Paul Simon-pop.

Long Review: Contra makes me realize that I am a hipster.

One of the most tried and true moves in the hipster play book is backlash. It's an important one, because it a) establishes credibly about a band (ie: “Vampire Weekend? Yeah, I saw them back in 2007 with like 10 people at some college party up in Hartford. It was so totally authentic”) and b) allows for the “I-liked-them-before-they-were-cool” elitist abandonment. Backlash is the musical equivalent of the one night stand: like a band once until they get cool, then jump off the band wagon to seem cooler than the re s t of the plebes who are just catching on.

I've felt myself slipping into preemptive backlash mode twice. The first time was before the release of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a movie i decided I wasn't going to like because I was sick of “that whole Judd Apatow scene.” Thankfully, I came to my senses, realized the man has never been involved with a movie I didn't love and now Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of the only Blu-Rays I own.

The second time occurred in the weeks leading up to Contra's release. Considering how many of my other favorite blog bands had burned me in the past on sophomore releases (Cold War Kids, Tapes n Tapes, Clap your Hands Say Yeah), I felt I had a right to be skeptical in four preppy dudes who made tight pop songs that sounded like Paul Simon.

Just like with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I am pleasantly surprised to report that Contra is an album that is every bit as good as Vampire Weekend. Even if I am a hipster douche, I can still recognize one of 2010's better records.

The biggest change between Contra and Vampire Weekend is the production. Rotsam Batmangllij is all over this record, covering songs like “White Sky” and “Giving Up The Gun” with layers of programed drums, keyboard bloops and synth bleeps. Seems like his work with Discovery had a pretty big impact on the band's current sound. There are so many digital elements, it becomes hard at times to remember there is an actual band under all those computer noises.

While it can be a little disarming to hear so much sound that it boarders on overproduction, these songs work because, at their core, they are just well written, catchy, breezy pop songs. If you liked the first Vampire Weekend record, there is no reason not to like Contra, which boasts some immediate hits and some slow burners. For example, “Cousins,” the well-traveled second single for the record, is a frantic, goofy, kick ass pop song in the same vein of “A-Punk” and one of the album's most immediate tracks. Then there are songs like “Taxi Cab” and “Giving Up The Gun,” tracks that take a few listens to stick but make them all the more satisfying once they take.

Really, besides the hype and the new-fangled production, Contra is a spiritual continuation of Vampire Weekend's sound. Both albums have songs to hook a listener. Both songs yield new benefits with repeat listens. Both albums make for top notch party music. Both albums feature the best indie-pop being made. Sure, this album sounds a little less like a full band effort because of all the keyboards and synths, but that doesn't take away from the strength of the songs.

Putting things down makes people feel cool, and feeling cool is always a big temptation for people who obsess over music. I urge anyone interested in Vampire Weekend to overcome the urge to backlash and give Contra a fair shake. The rewards outweigh the cool feeling one gets from being a dick.

Key Tracks: Cousins, Giving Up The Gun, California English, Taxi Cab, White Sky

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

So...Many...Guitar...Solos. So...Much...Hippy...Bullshit!

2010-01-14T09:52:00.005-05:00

Artist: Citay
Album: Dream Get Together

Short Review: Citay's Dream Get Together is hippy bullshit, and I mean that in the best way possible.
Long Review: Citay is comprised Erza Feinberg and a revolving door of musicians. Their focus, it seems, is to combine elements of folk, psychedelia and sunny '60s-style pop into the longest guitar jam possible.

Considering how many current bands are leaning on digital elements to create their sound, Citay's commitment to the guitar is almost endearing. Every song on the album is more or less structured the same way: the band starts on a simple, friendly pop progression (think a few simple chords being played on repetition). Base of the song established, there might be singing (or there might not be, we'll cover that in a minute). After that, its just nonstop guitar solos.

Some songs are more rock-oriented ("Careful With That Hat"), some songs have a world-music feel to them ("Secret Breakfast"), and some songs have a Grateful Dead-like folk appeal ("Fortunate Son"), but every song has got a bitching guitar solo.

As for lyrics, Citay doesn't put a very high premium on them.

Of the album's eight tracks, only three feature any kind of meaningful vocal presence. "Dream Get Together" and "Tugboat" are the only two songs that boast traditional structure and verse / chorus / verse singing. Incidentally, those two songs, the only ones that clock in under four and a half minutes, are the best on the album. The former is a cheerful, upbeat interpretation of '60s-psych pop and the latter is a restrained, haunting love song that boasts this overly cute, nonsensical lyric: "I just want to be your tugboat captain."

You can bet your ass I'll be saying that to my girlfriend sometime soon.

If "Dream Get Together" and "Tugboat" are examples of how good Citay can be with a little focus, the rest of the album is an exercise in over-indulgence. Most tracks are nothing more than extended instrumental pieces that serve as a medium for the listener to see how kick ass guitar solos can be. Sure, there are entertaining sections ("Careful With That Hat", "Hunter"), but most of the album is a hazy blur of faux-trippy '60s revisionism.

One's enjoyment of Dream Get Together will depend greatly upon their appreciation for good jam sessions. Jam sessions are fine after all, but it's hard not to be a little disappointed in Citay after hearing the disparity between what they are capable of and what they want to be.

Key Tracks: Dream Get Together, Careful With That Hat, Tugboat

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

To Boldy Go...

2010-01-13T05:49:00.003-05:00

So I was going to write about the new Citay album last night and post it this morning, but then Star Trek: The Next Generation (my favorite show ever) came on last night and I got a little side tracked.

So THEN I thought, "Hey, Stupid, why not just write about whatever episode comes on next? Sure, it's not music and, yes, it'd be silly. Maybe it'd be fun or funny though."

SO I WAS GOING to write a running diary of the episode. Seeing as most of the TNG episodes are chalk full o' craziness, I thought I would be a breeze.

Turns out it was that suckass episode where Riker can't get any sleep and Data has a poetry reading. What. The. Fuck.

So no update today. Check back tomorrow.

Image courtesy of the Riker Blog

It's Official, Dudes: Girls Want You To Pull Your Dicks Out In The Club

2010-01-12T00:21:00.005-05:00

Artist: Ke$ha
Album: Animal

Comment: Listening to Ke$ha's hyper-sexual, misanthropic disco debut Animal is a lot like watching an insecure college freshman try to heal deep emotional scarring with alcohol and promiscuity. On the surface it's all about the hedonistic pleasures of living fast and fucking anything that moves, but underneath those layers of makeup and random hookups lies an empty, lonesome core.

Animal is predictable, well made pop-radio fare. Ke$ha moans, giggles, coos and cat-calls like an immature Lady Gaga or the female answer to 3OH!3. Her songs utilize simple pop structure, oil slick electropop production, dabbles in autotune and talk-rap with simple, almost nursery-rhyme like word play. Which is to say, most of these songs sound a whole fucking lot like 3OH!3, Those useless fuckers even make a brief and totally forgettable appearance on "Blah Blah Blah," a track that boasts this memorable lyric: "Don't be a little bitch with your chit chat / just show me where your dicks' at."

Ke$ha isn't reinventing the wheel by any strech of the imagination, but she has her share of catchy would-be hits. Album opener "Your Love is My Drug" is a fun little disco tune, and current radio burner "Tik Toc" is no better or worse than anything else on the FM dial. She's even able to surprise on "Animal," an honest-to-goodness dance track unburdened with the undercurrent of promiscuity that runs throughout the rest of the album.

While it can be fun to hear Ke$ha tread on the kind of opposite-sex objectification that is usually reserved for the boys (again, I'd like to point to that song where she encourages dudes to shut up and whip their cocks out), that novelty wears off quickly, especially on simplistic and outright stupid tracks like "Take it Off," "Boots and Boys" and "Party at a Rich Dude's House." The first sounds like something you'd hear on a playground, but not in a good way. The second is a weak analogy that stretches too long to fill three minutes. The last is just a shitty song about spilling wine on some one's couch.

There are a few songs about rejection and heartbreak, too. Those willing to take things deeper than the surface could make a point that these songs of loss and self-defeat say more about Ke$ha than her tracks about brushing her teeth with whiskey. While that might be valid, any attempt at depth is obliterated by the reminder to just shut up and pull out your junk. Besides, this is easily digested pop music, not great literature. Don't try to see the forest through the trees, just dance.

So that's Animal. An occasionally fun, occasionally catchy pop record that will log a few hits, move a few units and ultimately be forgotten once this particular pop trend goes the way of Crunk, Snap Music, the Power Ballad and all the other castoffs in the ever-expanding pop graveyard.

Key Tracks: Your Love is my Drug, Animal, Tik Toc

Buy, Skip, Steal: Skip

Tweens, Twilight and Cell Phone Lighters: It Must Be Paramore

2009-11-19T09:51:00.004-05:00

Artist: Paramore
Album: Brand New Eyes

Comments: At the end of September, Paramore released their third full-length album, and I’m just now picking it up from my local branch of the Philadelphia Free Public Library. Does this say something about Paramore or me?

I guess I should preface this post by admitting that I have fallen off the ‘keeping-up-with-new-music’ bandwagon, which I’m not proud of. In my defense, however, Paramore’s Brand New Eyes is an album that makes me think that I haven’t missed all that much.

Upon breezing through the CD only three songs really stuck out to me, apart from "Ignorance," the first single that has plagued Radio 104.5. The three highlights of the album are surprisingly the slower paced songs. When I think Paramore, I think fast-paced pop punk and I visualize tween-led faux mosh pits. Instead, these songs make me think of actually listening to their lyrics and I visualize tweens with cell phones waving in the air in place of the badass lighter effect.

With these three songs, lead singer Hayley Williams stretches her vocals and reminds fans that underneath it all, she has a gorgeous voice. Plus, the slower songs explore a musically-matured side of the band as a whole. Check out "The Only Exception," "Misguided Ghosts" and "All I Wanted" if you don’t believe me.

As far as the other songs on the album go, it’s your typical Paramore pop-punk. The first single is catchy, but doesn’t have much sticking power. The second single off the album, "Brick by Boring Brick" features a clap along at the close of the song, which is practically a signature for the band. A surprise, however, was that one of the track’s choruses threatens that “next time you point a finger I might have to bend it back/or break it break it off.” Yikes! Hayley and the boys are gonna pull out a can of whoop ass!

Oh, and just in case you are one of those "obsessed with Twilight" people (I think they are calling themselves ‘Twi-hards’ now or something equally weird), know that Paramore’s single for the movie is NOT on this CD. I repeat, NOT on this CD.

Overall feeling on Brand New Eyes? Not terrible. Not the band’s best work, either. I still say that Riot! is Paramore’s best full length, but then again, that was released in 2007 when I was probably still on that bandwagon with all the tweens and their cell phone “lighters.”

Key Tracks: The Only Exception, Misguided Ghosts, All I Wanted

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

By Mary Elizabeth Sullivan

Now this, THIS is 50

2009-11-18T16:58:00.003-05:00

Artist: 50 Cent
Album: Before I Self Destruct

Comments: There are a few spots on Before I Self Destruct where 50 Cent sings, and he is just fucking terrible. Like, remarkably bad. What’s more, he doesn’t hide his off-key warbling with auto-tune or any kind of studio magic. Still, he keeps right on singing, oblivious or unaffected by his bad voice. Pure, tone-deaf balls.

It’s refreshing to hear. Balls, after all, is what has been missing from 50’s music since his firecracker 03' debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The time spent since that landmark release has been spent making uneven and uninspired albums littered with too many b-level guest spots, half-baked club jams and a handful of successfully vapid hit singles.

And, sure, dude made millions of dollars in the process. However, America didn’t fall in love with 50 because of hit capacity for radio-friendly hits. What made the man so compelling was his bravado, his swagger, his fucking confidence. Sure, he wasn’t the best lyricist and his persona is nothing new to gangster rap, but motherfucker had conviction, had the voice and delivery to make you believe. Real or not, 50 sounded hard, and his songs were like mule kicks.

Of course, it's been a long time since 50 Cent sounded like that. Which makes this album's strength all the more remarkable.

Self Destruct is 50 Cent reborn: the story of an older, more jaded, more isolated gangster returning to battle-ready mindset missing from his work for far too long. Like Marlo Stanfield, 50 is returning to what raised him with balled fists, the streets.

Most of the early album is about beef, a notion so antiquated in the modern rap scene that it’s almost refreshing. On “So Disrespectful,” 50 speaks on his uneasy relationship with Game and Jay-Z, even throwing an odd line or two at Dr. Dre, who produced a handful of the album’s better cuts. Pure balls. He saves his most telling attacks for Young Buck, hinting that, perhaps underneath all of his anger, there is more hurt there than he cares to admit. Regardless, 50 comes out cutting close to the bone and sounding all the better for it.

Other early standouts include the soulful Wu-like banger “Strong Enough” and the Dr. Dre produced “Death to my Enemies.” The former is a hungry, mournful track that paints 50 as ferocious and bloodthirsty as he’s ever been, and the latter is the first evidence that Detox might not be as terrible as common sense would indicate. Both tracks are pure bangers, villainous music from a confident gorilla flexing muscle for the first time in years.

If the album were limited to the first nine songs is would be an instant classic. As it is, the back half of the record is loaded with more of those soupy love songs and faux-club bangers people have come to expect from 50. Nothing really worth getting into back there, though it should be noted that “Baby By Me” would be a pretty good song if not for Ne-Yo.

It’s hard to imagine a multi-millionaire living in a Connecticut house previously owned by Mike Tyson feeling backed into a corner, but there is an element of caged animal to the best tracks on this album, as if 50’s recent loss of allies has made him more aggressive and lonesome.

Motivations and weak club tracks aside, what will stick are Before I Self Destruct’s darker moments. The bangers, the battle tracks that prove the 50 of old can still bring what made us love him in the first place: the invincible swagger and bravado of a real life hood-raised gangster.

Call it voyeur. Call it artificial. Call it exploitative. Just don’t call it boring. It’s the first 50 Cent album in some time that can boast that.

Key Tracks: Death to my Enemies, Strong Enough, So Disrespectful

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy, for the first time in a while.

Rap Video Tuesday!!

2009-11-17T09:38:00.001-05:00

Ok, so there is a finished review I need to post, but I just sent it to Noripcord and I didn't want to post it here before it showed up there, and I need to take a shower before work, and I don't have time to make links and...and...

Shit. Sorry guys.

On the bright side, this is probably my favorite rap video ever:

Juvenile - Ha
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

LOTD Invents a New Genre!

2009-11-16T09:11:00.003-05:00

Artist: The Chinese Stars
Album: Heaven on Speed Dial

Comments: Ever since the untimely breakup of Death From Above 1979, indie rock has suffered from a lack of a hyper-specific genre of music, a style I am going to call Fuck-Core.

What is Fuck-Core, you ask? It's a brand of overly masculine and aggressive music that is entirely about dirty, depraved sex with strangers. It is the kind of music one would play if they were to bang a stranger on the bathroom sink of a bar, high as a kite on stimulants, ala Micky Rourke in The Wrestler . It has a focus on heavy, driving rhythms, cocaine-fueled guitar riffs and a general sense of being as emotionless and primal in lovemaking as possible. You're a Woman, I'm a Machine is Fuck-Core. Most of the Blood Brother's stuff is Fuck-Core.

While the genre might sound kind of unsavory, it does have its place. Considering how wimpy and limp most indie-rock comes off (too concerned with style over substance), a healthy blast of macho confidence can be refreshing. However, this only works if the artist can walk a fine line between being actually sexy and just being some coked-out weirdo.

Sadly, The Chinese Stars Heaven on Speed Dial walks that line about as well as a one-legged circus clown on a high-wire in downtown Chicago. In roller skates.

The album is nine songs of gritty guitar driven dance music that recalls both the Blood Brothers and DFA79, but never doing as well as either. Tracks range from Liars-esque anti music (the bracing album opener "Rabbit Face") to blatant attempts at decadence (the cringe worthy "Lick it Clean"). Lead singer Eric Paul's vocals are a bit of a drag: every song is sung / screamed in a high-pitch wail that is occasionally effective but often just an irritation. The guitar work, which is the signature element of the band, is equally problematic, inspiring more cringes than sexy grinding.

The album does yield a few worthy tracks. Those with an ear for noise will like "Rabbit Face." Tracks like "No Car No Job" and "Slow Children" are legitimately groovy, showing off a rock-solid rhythm section. The slow build of "House is Burning" takes over four minutes to fully mature, and the restraint makes the track the best on the album, one of the few tracks where all the band's elements work together.

However, these few chestnuts and glimpses of quality are few and far between. Most of Heaven on Speed Dial comes off as low-class and creepy, the audio equivalent of that dude at a rave who sells Ecstasy to high school girls only to watch them from the wall of the warehouse, waiting for his moment to pounce on their chemically-enhanced hormones. No one likes that guy.

That guy isn't sexy, he's just a drugged out weirdo. This album isn't sexy or decadent: it's just kinda bad.

Key Tracks: Slow Children, House is Burning

Buy, Steal, Skip: I'd skip it.

Rap Video Thursday!!

2009-11-12T09:57:00.004-05:00

I've really tried to be a Freeway fan, but between getting decimated by Cassidy and his crazy uneven albums, he's just a lot of wasted talent.

At least we'll always have "What We Do," one of his best, most quotable tracks to date.

(Sorry about the ad in this video. "I'll try to find a better one after work.)

...I Mean, It's Better Than That Say Anything Double Album, Which Was, Honestly, Really Shitty

2009-11-11T14:13:00.004-05:00

Artist: Say Anything
Album: Say Anything

Comments: A while back I had this pipe dream idea for an audio project. I wanted to follow around some of the homeless people in Suburban Station and record them as they spoke.

I'm not talking about your average down-on-his / her-luck homeless person, either. I mean the ones who are obviously suffering from mental disorders of some kind, the ones that spoke to themselves in hushed and hurried tones, as if they were discussing the secrets of the universe with some unknown, invisible deity.

Now, I will never follow up on this idea. I know that it is exploitative and inconsiderate. I realize the using someone's disability for my own perverse interest is as callous and sinful an act as I could commit. And I really don't want to get stabbed. Still, there is a part of me that will always be fascinated by people with no filter for their thoughts and emotions. I find that kind of rambling freedom intensely fascinating.

Which might explain why I even bothered to pick up Say Anything's self titled new album.

Say Anything lead singer and primary songwriter Max Bemis is about as close to my dream of listening to vagrants as I am going to get. Bemis is well documented for his social anxiety problems, struggles with medication and his often unhinged vocal delivery, which are so rambling and ripe with palpable emotion that boarder on madness. And while these traits are compelling in and of themselves, Say Anything have also turned out some really catchy emo-punk tunes in the past, especially on their proper debut ...Is A Real Boy.

However, taking voyeuristic pleasure in another man's unbalanced life isn't enough to save Say Anything. Bemis and Co abandon their pop-punk leanings on this album, instead relying on their pop instincts to produce an album of occasionally interesting but ultimately empty radio-ready jams.

Now, I know what you are thinking, and fuck you for thinking it. There is nothing wrong with radio-ready rock music, especially if its made well and is more well written than most, which cuts like “Do Better” certainly are. However, too much of this album just sounds like stale versions of songs they've already done better on previous albums or self indulgent bullshit aimed at “enlightening” adolescents.

On the bright side, Bemis does make with the crazy on a coupe of tracks (“Eloise” and “Mara and Me” are particularly ridiculous and awesome), and this record is way better than that double album monstrosity of In Defense of The Genre. But, really, its just one kinda sucky record instead of two kinda sucky records.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just no fun. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this shit. I found Say Anything a lot more fun when they wrote punk songs. These new pop tracks aren't really bad. They are just kind of bland and nondescript, and no amount of unhinged insanity can really fix that.

Key Tacks: Fed to Death, Do Better, Eloise, Mara and Me

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal it if you must.

Tegan and Sara Get Sad, Happy, Canonized

2009-11-09T22:46:00.002-05:00

Artist: Tegan and Sara
Album: Sainthood

Comments: I want to buy Tegan and Sara Quin a beer. They come off as such unhappy women, I bet they could use a drink.

It seems like every song they've ever written has been about being in love, falling out of love or the damage that falls somewhere between those two extremes. Even if one isn't listening for lyrics, the music itself (while coming quite a long way since their tampon-rock folk days) has an element of melancholy: an intangible quality of sadness that would dampen spirits even if the lyrics were about trampolines and puppy dog ice cream parties.

It should come as no surprise then to learn that the best tracks on Sainthood, the duo's latest album, are the ones that don't make you want to put a gun in your mouth.

Take, for example, the album closing “Someday”: a cheery guitar riff hums beneath a downright triumphant keyboard melody as the sisters Quin encourage the listener to “Move Up!” and “Reach Out!” before confidently reminding that they “Might write something that I want to say to you someday / mark my words I will be something someday.” This kind of well crafted feel good music is a long way removed from weepers like “Knife Going In.”

While the positive attitudes are welcome when present, mopers will fine plenty to get angsty about on Sainthood. Tracks like “Don't Rush” and “Hell” are the kind of dark fare that they duo perfected on their moody high water mark, 2007's The Con.

The overall mood of that record was palpable enough to let some lesser tracks slip by unnoticed, but the same cannot be said of Sainthood's duds, like the overly dramatic “Red Belt” and the Chris Walla-y “On Directing.” The album's better tracks, however, combine the sad-sackery with slick pop arrangements and solid song structure (see “The Cure,” the hurried "The Ocean" and the Sleater Kinney biting “Northshore”).

At its worst, Sainthood comes off like second-rate Death Cab For Cutie from a female's perspective. However, when it hits its stride, the record is a fine collection of mature, forward thinking indie pop that can be enjoyed by the heartbroken and the unmolested alike.

On the surface, Sainthood maintains Tegan and Sara's reign as the progressive poet laureates of relationship-related malaise. However, the real triumph of the record comes in the realization that if these gals can keep sharpening their pop senses and lyrical chops, they are going to put together a modern classic sometime soon.

Key Tracks: Someday, The Cure, The Ocean

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Is Dizzee Rascal Popular in Great Britian? I Really Have No Clear Idea of What Goes on Over There.

2009-10-28T18:44:00.004-04:00

Artist: Dizzee Rascal
Album: Tongue N' Cheek

Comments: If blogs and general pop music trends are to be believed (and really at this poin t I have no good reason to think that they can't be), whatever unholy afterbirth is spawned from the diseased sperm and rotten womb of this new Rap / Techno explosion will be the next big thing to hit both top 40 radio and the underground.

Sings of this monstrously terrible trend are already all over the place. The bursting of the low-fi / garage rock bubble, giving a clear window for this new wave of terrible 80s synth-touched techno music that has become prominent along the same time as the bastardization and castration of the digital music boom, has left us hipsters at the mercy of unlistenable coke addicts making loops on their macbooks and selling it to us as culture.

And in the mainstream world, they have autotune, which basically makes it possible for anyone, anyone, ANYONE to make a hit record as long as it has a good beat and a catchy hook. Granted, catchy hooks and good beats are still as elusive as ever, but now is the time for pretenders and one hit wonders to thrive, pull for their paltry 15 and move the fuck on before the next yahoo gets his spin.

Shit, I'm talking about this as if it already inst happening. Truth be told, the first few waves of this noisy shit sea are already crashing on our ruined shores. David Guetta's first, last and only single "Sexy Bitch" is all over the goddamn place, merging 4th rate rave beats with all the poetry and art that can come with calling a girl a sexy bitch.

And on the more underground side, at least in the states, we have Dizzee Rascal's latest album Tongue N' Cheek, which is billed as, get this, the exact combination of techno and rap that I mentioned above.

Thankfully, the album isn't as bad as I originally predicted. Most of the cuts are just straightforward rap with more digitized production, which is to say its less about trunk rattling and more about dancing, at least in spirit if not in content. And that's OK: rap music started out in the late 70s as dance music, so it makes sense to merge it now with a newer kind of dance music.

However, there is one song on the record that is the total embodiment of the nightmare scenario that the combination of techno and hip hop could produce. The song is called "Bonkers," and it's the kind of...thing...that you really need to hear to fully comprehend its putridity.

If you like this song, you are either on drugs, an idiot or both:

But besides this misstep, Tongue N' Cheek isn't so bad. If you are into Dizzee Rascal already, you'll be down with this. If you aren't keen, this isn't the ideal place to start, but you could still have some fun with the record.

Key Tracks: Bonkers, Chillin' Wiv Da Man Dem, Freaky Freaky

Buy, Steal, Skip: ...I would buy this, but I wouldn't encourage 1st timers to start here, and I wouldn't be a in a rush to go out and get it.

Struggling With The Wu Tang Clan Once More / I Miss the 90s / Raekwon's Sad Goodbye / I Wonder What Matt Judge Is Up To These Days?

2009-10-13T22:35:00.003-04:00

Artist: Raekwon
Album: Only Built For Cuban Linx Pt 2

Comments: Okay.

Okay, okay okay.

Okay.

Yes.

Yes, Only Built For Cuban Linx Part 2 is good.

Yes, it is very good. Yes, it is probably the best assembly of rappers, producers and songs of the year.

But the shit isn't an album. It's a time machine. A very specific, poorly designed time machine that can only go to one place and time in history, no where else. It is a vessel that is capable only of going back, only of traveling to the fall of 1994, and no where else.

And, shit, why wouldn't you want to go back to the early 90s, when underground rap was exploding? Why wouldn't you want to go back to a time when the Wu Tang Clan was the driving force in hip hop, east coast or otherwise? Why wouldn't you want to live again when everything was dirty dusty, covered in grime and power and hate and force and confidence and fucking authenticity, when the music dripped and pulsed and storytellers and criminals stood side by side telling their broken stories to an audience drunk, stupid, hungry for more?

Of course you want to go back. I do, too.

But here's the problem: WE CAN'T GO BACK.

Hell yeah it's fun to relive the Cuban Linx of old, but you don't want to get caught in that bear trap where your best days are behind you and all you can do is relive the good times. That just makes you sad and old, like a group of college grads at a kegger or a batch of old construction workers telling stories about fingering cheerleaders after high school football games.

This is the class of person Raekwon has aligned himself with now.

Don't get me wrong, I love OBFCL2. The shit bangs and thumps and rumbles. It's packed to the gills with detail oriented crime stories, boombam thump rap that'll put a spring in your stride, quotables (personal favorite comes from track two when Ghostface Killah spits "Our guns is chunky"), lyrical outbursts and top not production. But I love it the same way I love looking at signatures in my yearbooks: as distant reminders of past friends and better times. Sure, this album is awesome, but the fact remains that this is a continuation of an old idea en lieu of a new one.

So maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way. Maybe I should just be thankful OBFCL2 is as good as it is. Maybe I should just appreciate the fact that Raekwon can pick up his old lamp, blow the dust off and rub that fucker until the Clan and everything they stand / stood for sounds relevant again.

But a big part of me has a problem with this kind of record making. This, to me, seems like an admission that Rae has no where to go but down from here. This is the saddest kind of swan song: the kind from an artist who accepts his decline into the faded, faceless background of mediocrity and rather than scream into the darkness, coughs up a photocopied image of what once made them great.

Go buy Only Built For Cuban Linx Part 2. Listen to "House of Flying Daggers," the J-Dilla produced battle track that features three of the Clan's best throwing heat like they used to (and Inspechta Deck). Listen to the crime stories of "Cold Outside," "Penitentiary" and "Sonny's Missing" and appreciate them for their ability to put you at the scene and fill your head with images the way that great fiction always can. Listen to the mournful "Ason Jones" and the batshit crazy "We Will Rob You" and miss ODB for two totally separate reasons. Listen to "Gihad" and "New Wu," and realize that the year's best rap album is also the saddest.

Because that, in the end, is what Part 2 really is: A bittersweet victory. A successful last grasp. A beautiful, tragic goodbye of a banger.

Key Tracks: House of Flying Daggers , Cold Outside, Gihad, New Wu, Penitentary, Ason Jones, Surgical Gloves, We Will Rob You, Kiss The Ring

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

An Introduction to Oblivion / The Fall Of Our Folk Heroes / American Starlets and Their Appetites for Destruction / Fear And Loathing Everywhere

2009-10-10T20:29:00.014-04:00

You poor fuck. You think you know what's going on.

You don't have a fucking clue.

Not that I blame you. You've got the Internet, a tool capable of providing you information at a rate so mind-bogglingly accelerated that if you were to describe it to a dandy from the 1950s, he or she would banish such a creation as a simple indulgence of science fiction and cock their eyes at you as an unbalanced interloper objecting on their golden era. You've got 24 hour news channels, beasts of horrible proportions that distort and conjure opinion and influence far more wide spread and far-reaching than any sane person care to admit.

You think, YOU THINK, you are informed. You are not.

You are simple. You are blissfully ignorant. You think that's a light at the end of the tunnel. It's not. Its the Broad Street Express line, and you are not at one of the scheduled stops. Prepare yourself to see the forest through the trees.

Brace yourself for the cold chrome impact of real truth.

A month ago, a document was delivered to me. A document with such staggering, shocking contents that it has taken me 30 days to process. 30 days, many drinks (MORE BEERS! BEERS FOR YEARS!) , many sleepless nights. I don't know why I was chosen. I usually like to leave the cloaks and daggers of politics to those cold and sstealy enough to wield them. I keep my focus on music, the stuff that really matters.

However, sometimes a man has to stand up and play his part. This is my cue to stand, this is my time to play.

And so, I reveal to you what has been revealed to me. I don't expect you to understand it. I don't expect you to come to grips with it. The act of revelation is enough. Understand is overrated. Simply being aware how little control you have, simply acknowledging how little you know, is the first step.

Without further ado, I present to you...

The Deep Dick Dossier.

-------------------

The Annual Ministry of General Mayhem Garden Party fell on Saturday the 22nd of 2009. This is the most sought after and high security social gathering of the year. The range of the guest list is as vast and convoluted as the mind of The Ministry’s self-appointed figurehead, and even more difficult to infiltrate.

The Guest List was as follows:

Grand Minister Adams (The Ministry of General Mayhem)
Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT)
Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
Attorney General Eric Holder
Tunde Adebimpe (Singer, TV on the Radio)
Rick Ross (?)
Gloria Steinem (Feminist Activist)
Robert Pattinson (Actor)
Unknown Peace Protester (Lawn Decoration)
President Hugo Chavez (Venezuela)
Kim Kardashian (Socialite)
The Dalai Lama

----------

The events of the evening revolve around continuous rounds of Beer Pong played over roughly a seven hour period. The evening begins at 9 PM sharp and is believed to last well past 4 AM.

GM Adams and Adebimpe are the first team of the evening, facing Leahy, who took a brief break from egging Jeff Sessions office, and partner Rick Ross who continuously baffles even the most dedicated listener, in the first round of the beer pong proceedings. Steinem in the foreground, who she’s conversing with is as of yet unclear.

Adams and Adebimpe entitle their team “AA” and prepare for their turn. In the foreground it is now clear that Steinem is conversing with Pattinson, star of the popular fledgling Twilight film series. He is known to appear on the covers of numerous magazines marketed toward adolescent girls. Something about him suggests he wouldn’t mesh well young children. But that’s pure speculation on my part.

Adebimpe is no longer Adams’ partner and Kucinich steps in. Kucinich seems to be more inebriated than others at this point in the evening. Adams is beginning to get a concerning look in his eye. Leahy in the foreground, now in Steinem’s seat. The wheelchair-bound anti-war demonstrator on the lawn is what it is. A truly sickeningly display, as manic as it is offensive. Surely Adams’ touch.

Kucinich has obviously abandoned sobriety.

Here things get especially interesting. There is an apparent familiarity here between Adams and Chavez, one corrupt official to another. I have yet to check with the Venezuelan diplomatic consulate but I believe we can safely assume that Chavez’ presence was unknown by the State Department. Not only is this illegal, but Chavez is one notch short of a national threat and already a well-known enemy of America.

So we have offense number one, a very large offense number one. This alone would be enough to hang him in the press. But there is more. Much, much more.

Sadly, for the common American observers, drugged on pop culture and numbed to the gravity of allowing dangerous libelous extremists like Adams to freely operate, this will most likely be what they latch on to.

And that’s fine, this time, as it is the second offense he has hanged himself with.
Kim Kardashian, highly visible socialite, daughter of deceased attorney Robert Kardashian and goddaughter of O.J. Simpson. Following her recent break-up, the latest of many, it had been rumored that she had become involved with Adams, but neither confirmed or denied it to the press.

That goes without question now.

This will surely do great damage to both of their public images.

Kardashian could never be forgiven this kind of conduct and her political affiliations will forever be identified as far left by her unfailingly centrist adoring public from now on. And Adams, the leftist organizer, the dashing young street fighter, on a self-righteous crusade to advance the liberal agenda, seen cavorting around with a reality show “celebutante” and certifiable party girl?

He has no chance now, he’s finished. Any and all street credentials he’s acquired will be forever lost to him now.

Whoever you are, I’m truly sorry that you must view this sick display. But it is essential to our cause. It is here that Adams’ lewd conduct with Kardashian, in full view of the other guests mind you, begins in all of its sordid glory.

Yes, it is here that the two forget themselves, or fully realize themselves, and Kardashian descends to presumably perform fellatio on Adams, outdoors, in full view of all in attendance.

This presumption is confirmed in the following picture.

His expression says it all.

And here lies the third and arguably gravest offense. While liberal guard dog Eric Holder stands nearby, His Holiness The Dalai Lama approaches Adams, appearing to be amused by the image on Adams’ t-shirt. Adams responds with a terrifying primal look of horror mixed with insanity.

Adams reveals unequivocally how inebriated, classless and uncaring he is, by exposing himself to The Dalai Lama, who scurries away, disgraced and terrified. Even Holder steps in to chastise the repugnant Grand Minister, who only grins back with glee, clearly remorseless and all together pleased with the madness and destruction he has caused.

The final photo is a summation of all that has come before. Adebimpe, The Grand Minister’s loyal friend, supports him and keeps him from hitting the ground. Adams looks like he’s going to be sick.

Kucinich is out of control.

---------

So what do we make of this?

Where do we turn when our heroes have failed us?

Where do we go when there is no country for men, both young and old?

When there is no law for men, men become lawless.

We turn in on ourselves. We must find the strength to carry on. We must use our fists and our mouths and our minds. If the top must fall, we shall fall with it, riding its burning pieces to the ground, dancing in the rubble around us, burning in beautiful agony together, once and for all.

We must SMASH THE MINISTRY!

Viva! Viva! Viva!

I'm Drawing A..........BLANK! (Come On, Guys, Haven't You Seen Grosse Pointe Blank?

2009-10-04T23:55:00.004-04:00

Artist: Amanda Blank
Album: I Love You

Comments: I've been wrestling with Only Built For Cuban Linx Pt 2 for a couple of weeks now, and quite honestly, I'm getting nowhere with it.

I've got this thing about me: for albums that I really love, I want to say something profound about them. I want my praise to be equal to their product. I want to be a small part of it, I guess: I want my work to be a reflection of how good their work is.

But fuck all that for now. For now, let's talk about an album that sucks. That album, of course, is Amanda Blank's I Love You.

Now, dig this shit, Okay? If you are a person who reads about music on the Internet...actually, fuck that. If you are a person who has at all been remotely plugged into popular culture in the last four years, you are familiar with M.I.A. Even if it's only for that totally kick ass, now totally played out hustler's anthem "Paper Planes."

Regardless of how or why, regardless of the depth or breath of said knowledge. You know about M.I.A. Odds are also good, if you are a fan, that you know about Santagold (Santigold? I'm not looking up the spelling. Fuck spelling.). AND, odds are good that if you know about Santa(i)gold, you might know about Diplo.

Diplo, to get to the point and make the last two paragraphs even more excessive, is the beat maker funk master brain child behind some of the best dance music of the last few years, M.I.A, Santigold and Major Lazer included.

He also, sadly, is responsible for Amanda Blank. Blank is a shitty lady-rapper who writes songs about fucking and slutting and occasionally feeling bad about it.

And, hey, that shit is fine by me. 90% of popular music is about fucking, and at least Blank has the sense to be honest and open about it. The problem is that, for a dance record about fucking, the album is both bad to dance to and totally not sexy.

Considering how good Diplo has been for dance music, production wise, its shocking how far he's missed the mark on I Love You. The beats are sparse and glammy, like Lady GaGa light with none of the inane catchiness. No good rhythms for shaking, no good melodies for grooving.

And with no backing to support her, Blank's amateurish lyrics fall even more flat. Here is every Amanda Blank song: I like to have sex / I will fuck you if you can get it / I am dirty / Fuck. Shit sound good to you? It's not. It's not even catchy, which is a cardinal sin in the world of frivolous fuck-music.

There's one good song. I can't really defend why I like it, but I do. It's called "Make Up," and it is pure post-ironic, post-modern dance sleaze, totally indefensible and unforgivable and brilliant. Check it out, but it's the only song worth digging.

I Love You is bad. Sorry, Blank. I love Philly and its music scene, but your album did not move me.

Amanda Blank - Make Up

Key Tracks: Make Up

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip

Please, Major Lazer! Don't Hurt Us!

2009-09-22T23:39:00.006-04:00

Artist: Major Lazer
Album: Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do

Just take a look at that album cover and try to tell me you don't want this record.

Jesus Christ, when is the last time someone made a dance record like this one? For all the scatting and beeboping those lousy skinny jean wearing fucks down in Brooklyn have been doing for the past few years, no one has taken as many chances or made as crazy-assed a dance record as Diplo and Switch have with Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do. Sure, they're pretty much just watering down Jamaican-style Dance Hall music, but that shit NEEDS watering down! And, not for nothing, filling the album with actual Jamaican artists instead of a dickload of American stars is...well...mad decent.

I know you want to dance, you motherfuckers. I can see it in your eyes. The music just isn't moving you, I get it. If that's the case, get your sweaty meathooks on this album. It is all at once like no other dance music you've ever heard and instantly like every other club track in the world. It is the Alpha and Omega. It is ubiquity realized in the form of Avalanches-like sound manipulation and Beanie Man-style island thump. And if those references don't make sense to you, then it sounds like Santigold if Santigold took a bunch of speed and knew a goddamn thing about production.

Don't resist Major Lazer. The sooner you bow to your new vampire fighting, bazooka-armed, jet-powered surf board riding master of rhythm, the better.

Also, I can't embed it here, but check out this video for Pon De Floor' (NSFW on account of dry humping. See, you want this album, don't you?).

Key Tracks: Hold The Line, Lazer Theme, Pon De Floor', Baby

Buy, Skip, Steal: BUY

Major Lazer - When You Hear The Bassline (Ft. Miss Thing)

Let's Put on Some Owen and Gaze Longingly Into Each Other's Eyes, Holding Each Other in a Neverending Embrace as we Drift into Dream....Together...

2009-08-05T09:21:00.002-04:00

Artist: Owen
Album: The Seaside EP

Comments: Emotional people of the world, rejoice! There is a new Owen EP out!

Ok, so being a Cap n' Jazz super fan, I am contractually obligated to like The Seaside EP, the latest release from Mike Kinsella, the once (and future? Please?) drummer of the seminal Chicago spaz-punk outfit. While I love the Jazz for their atypical song structures and genre-defining vocal delivery, I like Owen because it's nice music to take a nap to.

This seven song EP is more of the same from Kinsella. Softy strummed acoustic guitar, elongated, occasionally whispered vocals, lyrics about self doubt, sadness, relationships and...uh...overbites. While the songs are all straight-up emo for people who still love Garden State and kids who still really, really, REALLY believe in love, the EP is not without its quiet charms and good humor (the goofy cover of Xtreme's "More Than Words," for example).

The Seaside is a must have for mopey, self-defeating people everywhere. It makes for the perfect soundtrack to a pity party. And if you don't hate yourself, Owen is very good night time background music. Good shit to take a nap to.

Maybe I'm just an apologist or an obsessive or whatever, and I feel the need to support any side project / offshoot of one of my favorite bands. Maybe I'm just a dude with too much loud music who needs to unwind with something soft and quiet every now and again. Maybe I'm just a big pussy. Either way, The Seaside is another nice EP in an already nice career. If you can focus less on what is being said and more on how its being said, Owen can be as comfortable as a warm blanket. Just don't go in looking for verbal poetry ("You fucked a fever in me / and I'm burning up" on "A Fever." Gross).

A dude with a guitar, earnestly singing songs about feelings with a soft, soothing voice. Fuck else you want me to say?

And here is come Cap'n Jazz, post-hardcore and emo pioneers. Get into it!

Listen to MORE!

100 Best Rap Songs Ever: #73 Kanye West ft. Mos Def and Freeway - Two Words

2009-07-28T10:07:00.005-04:00

Artist: Kanye West ft Mos Def, Freeway and the Harlem Boys Choir
Song: Two Words
Album: The College Dropout
Year: 2004

Comments: From "Through the Wire" to "Jesus Walks," from "New Workout Plan" to "Spaceship," The College Dropout has no shortage of hits. However, five years after Kanye West's career-starting classic dropped, no track has as much replay value as "Two Words," a track that still sounds fresh half a decade after the fact.

Mos Def opens the track with more focus and confidence than anything he's had since Black on Both Sides (although I hear The Eclectic is a stellar return to form. More on that later), delivering his quick syllables with air-tight flow. West, never a strong lyricist, submits one of his best Dropout verses here, doing his best to stand up with the star power on the the track. If the track has a downside, it is the lack of Freeway, who only gets 12 bars but still finds a way to compare himself Steven Seagal and threatens to turn haters into Olympic athlete Jackie Joyner Kersee. Seriously, we all need more Freeway.

And, of course, the beat is fucking bananas.

more about "Kanye West - Two Words (feat. Mos Def...", posted with vodpod

Secondhand Sounds from Scrambles Superhero

2009-07-27T08:35:00.004-04:00

Artist: Bomb The Music Industry!
Album: Others! Others!
One Liner: Covers, singles and online-only tracks for long time fans of BTMI!.

Comments: B-side collections need to be held to a different set of standards than regular records. A listener has to go into the album with a different mindset, knowing that the tracks will not be as cohesive or complete as they would be on a regular album.

It should also go without saying that B-side collections are usually for die hard super fans only. There is no B-sides album that I would recommend as a good place for a listener to start learning about a band (some folks might argue Etc. by Jawbreaker, but those people are idiots. Incidentally, if you are interested in getting into Jawbreaker, I recommend starting with 24 Hour Revenge Therapy).

So with that in mind, if you are a fan of DIY punk or have an established Bomb The Music Industry! fetish or just like free music, you should download yourself a free copy of BTMI's Others! Others!.

Others! bundles BTMI's 7-inch tracks with some Myspace.com only gems into one free collection of songs that were not good enough to show up on actual BTMI releases. Fans will be familiar with some cuts, like "All Alone in my Big Empty Apartment" and "This is a Singalong." Both tracks, demos here, were featured more fleshed out and, quite frankly, better on other releases.

While there are some quick little charmers on Others! ("Come On, This Shit is Getting RIDICULOUS" in particular), the main attraction here are the covers. BTMI has always been enthusiastic in it's covers, and having a bunch of them all in one place is nice. The band goes all ska-mitzva on Pavement's "Gold Soundz," and turns in a shockingly faithful cover of We Versus the Shark's "This Graceless Planet." The gold star, however, goes to the synth-ed out cover of Andrew Jackson Jihad's hilarious and charming "Little Brother," a surefire candidate for song of the year.

For first timers, there are much better places to start with BTMI (Scrambles or Get Warmer, for example), and the most obsessive of fans will probably already have most of these tracks already. For the rest of us, however, there are enough charming tracks to make Others! Others! worth the hard drive space.

Key Tracks: This Graceless Planet, Come on, This Shit is Getting RIDICULOUS, Little Brother

Download the album here from Quote Unquote Records

We Believe in Nothfink, Lebowski! We Cut Off Your JOHNSTON!

2009-07-07T23:26:00.002-04:00

This review appears on Noripcord.

Artist: Future of the Left
Album: Travels With Myself and Another

Comments: It seems like everyone uses keyboards these days, but not the way that Future of the Left uses them.

Matt and Kim use keyboards to form one half of their quick, cute pop songs for teenagers.

Mates of State use them to write lullabies.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs use them so people have music to do coke to.

Franz Ferdinand use them so people have music to fuck to.

Future of the Left, however, uses keyboards to punish, to pummel. It's keyboards, like it's guitars, bass and vocals, don't so much pluck or hum as they do howl and snarl. It's keyboards are not instruments, they are weapons.

From top to bottom, Travels With Myself and Another is one of the toughest albums of the year. The bass is distorted and low, growling like a bear and strong enough to crumble pavement. The guitars buzz, not with the clean metallic sound of a saw but with the panicked chaos of an angry swarm of bees. Lyrics, for the most part, are screamed from the center of an angry chest, except when they are spat, bitterly and sarcastically, through a knowing sneer.

And as for the keyboards, they are used sparingly and only on the most accessible of tracks. Even then, they sound broken and used, like something a robot organ-grinder would use to make a man dance.

There's a scene in The Big Lebowski where Tara Reid explains that the passed-out German in the pool below her is a nihilist. "He doesn't believe in anything," she says, before offering to suck Jeff Bridges' cock. Future of the Left is the same: it believes in nothing, but rather than float idle in a pool, it is laughing in the faces of the followers, sounding smarter and having more fun in their max-volume, full-throated atheism than most people find in their religions or love.

Love? Fuck love. "I'm on a mercy mission / to prove to my new love / that she is my nothing / that she is my no one...that even these triumphs are empty," lead singer Andy Falkous informs the listener on "Lapse Catholics," one of Travel's finest tracks. The song is a 4 minute burn that boasts the album's best riff along with lyrics that jump seamlessly from Morgan Freeman to the Devil, dripping with wit and obnoxious cleverness.

Falkous doesn't exactly write lyrics as much as he writes conversations and inside jokes. Characters and settings are introduced but given no context, resulting in the kind of screaming schizophrenic songwriting that one might expect from a deranged John Darnielle. The words are compelling despite their lack of clarity, and even with all the ambiguity there are plenty of self-explanatory one liners ("Re-imagine God as just a mental illness / looming toward the end of our days" on "The Hope That House Built" or "The while man claims that he's in love / does anybody doubt him?" on "Yin / Post-Yin").

And, while this has nothing to do with the music, the song titles themselves are pretty funny. Album highlight: "Stand By Your Manatee", although "You Need Satan More Than He Needs You" is pretty good, too.

By no means a feel-good record, Travels With Myself and Another is rich with enough black humor, sharp perspectives and tight muscular music to make it one of the best rock of albums of the year. Think of it as comfort food for the condemned: if everyone is going to die, might as well laugh along with Future of the Left.

Note: I don't love this song, but it is the only quality video I could find for the new album. Plus, sideburns!

Key Tracks: Lapse Catholics, Arming Eritrea, Throwing Bricks at Trains, Yin / Post-Ying

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Dancing On The Corpse's Ashes

2009-06-24T09:03:00.003-04:00

Artist: The Mars Volta
Album: Octahedron

Comments: The Mars Volta are the most polarizing band of my lifetime. No other group has caused so much mindless devotion and vehement hatred in my quarter century on earth. It is either loved and praised for its mind-bending amalgamation of genres and sounds, or reviled and hated for it's self indulgent tendencies passed off as progression. There is no middle ground: everyone falls into one of these two camps.

I, along with anyone else raised on bare bones punk rock, I suspect, fall into the second group of fans who wish that Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriquez-Lopez would hurl themselves off a cliff (or wish, at least, that they had stopped with At The Drive In).

That being said, each Mars Volta album has always been able to spark some interest, generate some small good will. Despite all the dissonance, the gibberish, the swirling, meaningless clouds of noise for noises' sake, the endless bullshit of it all, each album has always had some redeeming quality. Be it fragmented pockets of actual songwriting (“Ciatraz ESP,” “Drunkship of Lanterns” off Deloused in the Comatorium), snippets of interesting guitar work (a number of songs off Frances the Mute) or the band just cutting through their progressive title and simply kicking some ass ("Goliath" off last year's The Bedlam in Goliath), TMV have always been at least marginally interesting, at least to the point that an album would warrant a handful of listens.

And then there was Octahedron, the band's latest album.

It's hard to pin down exactly what is so repulsive about this record. I mean, it sounds fine, which is to say it sounds like every other Mars Volta record: hyper active drums, ethereal guitars, bad high school poetry style lyrics delivered in a goofy falsetto, massive breakdowns of meaningless sound.

What's lacking here is any kind of interest. Octahedron sounds like a band going through the motions, making music out of obligation and not inspiration. Every note, every movement, every single element of every single song comes off as lazy and uninspired. It is as if the band said “Fuck it, this is good enough,” and released the first thing that came to mind. If the guys themselves can't even muster up some excitement, what are we listeners supposed to do?

Its as if the band can't even muster the energy to try and write new songs. Album opener “Since We've Been Wrong” sounds like a second-rate “The Widow.” “Teflon” plays like any track off Amputechture. Some bands write the same song over and over again because its all they know, but TMV have proved themselves talented enough to progress, even within their own brand of shitty “progressive rock.” This is not some pop-punk band using the only three chords they know. This band can do better, has done better. This is laziness.

Maybe I am being closed minded. I've already admitted that I don't like the band. Its possible that I am just totally missing the point, and Octahedron is a masterwork of rock so far above my head all I can do is bad mouth it. Still, every other Mars Volta album has jumped out at me at least once. This album passes by without a single interesting note, without one thing to engage a causal listener, devoid of anything worth going back to.

In a recent interview, Bixler-Zavala and Rodriquez-Lopez talk about a possible At The Drive In reunion, calling such a thing unlikely given the amount of material they still want to make as The Mars Volta. Octahedron makes that claim extremely hard to believe. This is kind of album bands put out before a break up.

Key Tracks: Since We've Been Wrong, Teflon

Buy, Steal, Skip: Skip

100 Best Rap Songs Ever: #35

2009-06-16T22:07:00.002-04:00

Artist: Wu Tang Clan
Song: Triumph
Album: Forever
Year: 1997

Comments: 36 Chambers is, for my money, one of the top 10 rap albums of all time, and probably high on the list of "Best Debut Albums." Forever is not nearly as good, but it does feature what might be their best song in "Triumph," a hookless banger of a track that finds ever member of the Clan absolutly killing it (except for OBD, who plays hype man).

Pay special attention to Method Man (second verse), U-God spitting waaaaaaaay above his usual ability (forth verse), RZA being his usual werid self (fifth verse) and Ghostface Killah taking a shit on Masta Killa by starting his verse with "Hey yo, fuck that!" (seconf to last verse). Try and listen to this song without getting amped. You won't be able to.

And, not for nothing, but how awesome is this video?

BONUS VIDEO (To make up for the lack of ODB on "Triumph")

100 Best Rap Songs Ever: #67

2009-06-02T14:11:00.002-04:00

Artist: Clipse
Song: Grindin'
Album: Lord Willin'
Year: 2002

Its The Return Of The...Oh, Wait...Not Really

2009-06-02T09:08:00.005-04:00

This review appears on No Ripcord.

Artist: Eminem
Album: Relapse

Comments: Despite all the negative things I am about to say about Relapse, there are two very important points that must be kept in mind.

1) From a technical standpoint, Eminem is the best rapper alive. Better than Lil Wayne, better than Jay-Z, better than any backpacker, underground, grime or regional act anywhere else in the world. His flow, delivery, internal rhymes and complex structure will always be more important that his content, and in these areas he is without rival.

2) Relapse is, by a wide margin, the man's best album since The Eminem Show.

Those facts established, let's talk some shit, eh?

Controversy played an enormous part in Eminem's success in the late '90s. In fact, one could argue that shock was the main factor to his meteoric rise, more so than his talent, his production or his skin color. Considering his fall from the public eye thanks to diminishing releases and a four-year absence from rapping, it is not surprising that Relapse leans heavily on the scare tactics. The rapper downs bottles of pills, kills everyone in a McDonald's, jerks off to Hannah Montana and drinks his cousin's bathwater. All on the first track.

The difference here lies in what is behind the words and not the words themselves. Sure, Eminem's albums have always been twisted, violent affairs. However, the mania on previous albums was fueled by an almost palpable anger, a desperate search for some kind of peace through ultra-violence. And while tracks like "Underground" and "Beautiful" are powered by this same intensity, the vast majority of the album's tracks are little more than gross-out jokes.

Speaking of jokes, odds are good that by the time this review hits the web, "We Made You" will have been played over 10 times in a single day on most mainstream FM stations. Clearly this track is an attempt to re-create the angry frat humor aimed at pop culture that served Em so well in the past ("The Real Slim Shady", "My Name Is"). This song and the album at large miss the mark in this respect as well. I have a theory that in this modern age of hyper-fast celebrity news turnaround, such songs like this cannot work any more. It would certainly explain why jabs at Lindsey Lohan, Kim Kardashian and Sarah Palin cause more eye rolls than chuckles.

More likely, however, is that Eminem has lost the fire. His first albums were, as he was quick to point out, combative middle fingers aimed at everyone and everything that pushed against him. Now he's making albums about recovering from addiction, sounding worn out and uninspired. Dude needs to find a muse or something.

"I may be done with rap / I need a new outlet," Em raps on "Beautiful." I hope it doesn't come to that. Even at his worst, Eminem is worlds more talented than anyone else rapping today. When he's on, like on "Crack a Bottle", "Stay Wide Awake" and the other previously highlighted songs, he is a titan. Relapse is billed as a return to form, but it plays more like a departure note.

Key Tracks: Underground, Beautiful, Crack a Bottle, Stay Wide Awake

Buy, Steal, Skip: Steal

Dan Deacon Gets His Empire Strikes Back On With More Serious Second Album

2009-06-01T00:04:00.003-04:00

This review appears on No Ripcord

Artist: Dan Deacon
Album: Bromst

Comments: Time is a son of a bitch. It robs us of our bodies, minds and good looks. It takes our friends from us. But perhaps most damagingly, it alters our view of the past. The further detached we are from events, the more blurred they become in our memory, which leads to broad strokes of emotion in place of and accurate recalling of events. Right now, I am 23 years old with no job, no health care, no car and less than 1,000 dollars in the bank. This is undeniably a shitty time in my life. And yet, I am sure that a few years from now, I will look back on this as a "golden age of my early 20s" where I "found myself" and "discovered what I really want to be."

This same principal applies in music. When Dan Deacon's first record came out in the summer of 2007, I originally claimed it was silly, fun music for silly, fun people. Since then, however, my view has shifted and distorted the album into some kind of electronica classic, a high water mark for the genre and as essential an album as The Blue Album, The Lonesome Crowded West or Doolittle. I look at that album now less as a fun record of goofy experiments and more as serious art that strives to push forward. By looking back through rose-colored glasses, I've forgotten what attracted me to that album in the first place, the fact that it was fun, easily accessible electronica for anyone with a pair of dancing shoes and a sense of humor.

Time is fucking me again. It's been two months since Bromst was released and odds are good that if you are reading this website you have already formed an opinion on it. The record has received tons of positive press, and the general take on it is that it is a big step forward for Deacon, one that establishes him as a serious, mature artist. As if there was something wrong with making music with a sense of humor in the first place.

And so, we have Bromst, an album that does indeed show signs of Deacon taking his music seriously, but at the expense of what initially made him great. His skills as an arranger and sequencer are as strong as ever. The album's opener "Build Voice" is a prime example of this, almost as if the track is nothing more than a warm up exercise for the rest of the album. The slow fade in of theme, the addition of melody, the development and exposition, the breakdown, the final crescendo: the track is a blue print, a note to other, lesser artists explaining "This is how it is done, this is the way the pros do it." The track itself isn't nearly as interesting as what it seems to say.

In an effort to grow up his sound, Deacon has introduced new noises to his normal pallet of 8-bit video game midis and Saturday morning cartoon blasts of colorful notes. Bells, horns and unaltered human voices are just some of the new, more mainstream effects that he uses to create his music. Of course, calling Deacon mainstream is like calling the Mojave desert a nice summer vacation spot. Deacon still deals in spastic bursts of fuzzed out dance music with a manic communal feel, but the fun doesn't come as easily this time around. "Red F," "Padding Ghost," "Woof Woof," and "Get Older" all strive for that Spiderman of the Rings feel. Only "Woof Woof," with its barking dog samples, achieves the same level of exuberance. "Baltihorse" and "Surprise Stefani" find Deacon taking a shot a slower, more restrained songwriting, and though these tracks do eventually grow after repeat listens, casual fans may not stick around long enough to be drawn in.

While the album lacks a powerhouse number like Spiderman's "Wham City," Bromst boasts two of Deacon's finest tracks in "Snookerd" and "Of The Mountains." The songs are placed next to each other on the album, and they embody every good thing that Deacon does. They are layered and arranged beautifully, each song working together to create a 15+ minute anthem that rises, falls, swells and sways with a weight and beauty that modern pop music so rarely achieves. Classically arranged, professionally rendered and lovingly created, these two songs are as close to symphony as any electronica artist has ever come, and stand as Deacon's finest work to date.

It is in moments like the final chorus of "Snookerd," or in the whistle-lead breakdown during "Of The Mountains" that maturity looks best on Deacon. Those moments show that when he puts his mind to it, Deacon can advance his music while retaining the sense of fun that made him such a hit in the first place. Bromst is not as immediately enjoyable as its predecessor, but that's OK. Deacon is out to be your new favorite artist, not just some flash in the pan. Time fucks with everyone, and I am sure I will look back at this album differently two years from now, but right now, Bromst is an excellent followup to a slightly more-excellent debute, and proof that Deacon is here to stay.

Key Tracks: Snookered, Of The Mountains, Woof Woof, Build Voice

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Band With Stupid Name Deliver Most Sincere Rock Record of the Year FTW

2009-05-13T07:54:00.006-04:00

Artist: Japandroids
Album: Post- Nothing

Comments: Low-fi is a ridiculous genre. To think that an entire class of music can be defined by how it is recorded is a testament to how far rock music has stretched itself. Most of these low-fi artists, artists who are allegidly creating something new in rock music, are nothing more than punk bands with extra fuzz and a Sonic Youth fetish. The recent surge in buzz-rock is all the proof anyone needs that history repeats itself. It's New York, 1976 all over again.

Perhaps I'd be more open to the idea of the "genre" if so many of its flagship bands didn't leave me disinterested and cold. While Wavves, No Age, Women and myriad other hip-today low-fi bands have lit the blogs on fire, too much of their music is too self-conscious, too fashionable, almost as if these bands are trying as hard as they can to look like they aren't trying. There is nothing less appealing than a group more concerned about a look or an aesthetic than they are about making music, and that stylistic urgency is all over recent hits like Nouns and Wavvves.

It is in this respect, an emphasis on sincerity over style, that Japandrioids set themselves apart. While their core sound is not much different from that of their peers (fuzzy guitars, low-mix drums, gang vocals), the honesty found on Post-Nothing makes it the first low-fi rock album to actually matter.

According to the band's myspace page, Japandroids originally set out to be a full band and only exist as a two-piece because of their impatience to find bandmates. It's easy to believe this claim. The duo fills their tracks with shouts, layered guitars and thundering drums, making as much racket as they can to compensate for absent band members. The thick layers of guitar on "Heart Sweats" and the crashing enthusiasm of "Wet Hair" beg to be filled out and highlight the band's low production as circumstance and not a stylistic, trend-catching choice.

Post-Nothing cackles with energy. Lyrics about drinking, girls and being young are delivered straight-faced, with an emphasis on directness over flowery prose. There is never any question about what is being said, their meanings are simple and without unnecessary confusion. At worst, lyrics come off tongue in cheek ("Let's move to France / so we can French kiss some French girls" on "Wet Hair"). On the other hand, there are moments (like the thrilling youth chorus of album highlight "Young Hearts Spark Fire") where the straightforwardness of the lyrics provide them with that much more punch.

Post-Nothing is an album that can wear a lot of hats. The sound lumps it in with the cresting wave of indie low-fi. The band's simple and unpretentious discussion of young love and young lives puts them more in line with the long-gone emo bands of the mid '90s. The underlying growl of their music has ties with Constantiens-like post hardcore. Regardless of classification, Japandroids have created something pure, something without pretense and without any concern for how smart or cool they will sound.

In the underground, where status is more important than comfort, Post-Nothing is a beacon of safety, a true rock record for everyone.

Key Tracks: Young Hearts Spark Fire, Heart Sweats, Crazy/Forever, Sovereignty

Buy, Steal, Skip: Buy

Goodnight to the Rock and Roll Era

2009-04-06T19:03:00.002-04:00

Left of the Dial is going on hiatus for a few months on account of some spontaneous employment (I know, I'm just as surprised as you are).

In my absence, I advise you to check out the following sites for your music needs:

Picasso Blue (For your punk / indie needs.)

In The Wake of Poseidon (Like rock music? So does Paul.)

The Garbage Man and the Ambulance (Dudes, this is what the hipster gals are listening to. Ladies, this is what you should be listening to if you want to be hip.)

Also, check these ones out, too.

Nickmongo (Comics that occasionally feature jokes.)

Drunk and Stuck in Philadelphia... (A good read if you live in Philly and like alcohol.)

Well, that's it! You can still read my thoughts at Punknews.org and No Ripchord, on occasion. Thanks for reading this mess, everyone. I'll bring it back around again when I've got the time for it. In parting, I leave y'all with this:

One love,
Mr Dogg