Archive for 2011

Slow Club @ Rock Shop 11/4/2011

Where I’m Waking / Our Most Brilliant Friends / Never Look Back / Horses Jumping / Beginners / If We’re Still Alive / Only If You’re Certain / The Dog / Two Cousins // Giving Up On Love

There are a lot of cute, energetic indie-pop bands out there, and I worry that Slow Club gets lost in the shuffle somewhat, and that people just think of them as another twee Matt & Kim thing. But while Slow Club may have some superficial similarity to other contemporary acts, their skill level as songwriters and musicians is a cut above. As I wrote in my review of their new album Paradise on Pitchfork, Rebecca Taylor has blossomed into an outstanding vocalist – confident and bold, but with a degree of subtlety and restraint. Though the band is a bit more wild in concert, this nuance carries over to the live performance.

Slow Club “Beginners”

“Beginners” is the band – and Taylor – at their best. The arrangement has some force and intensity, but the rumble of the percussion doesn’t over shadow the vocal melody. It’d be such a shame if it did – so much of what makes this song totally heart breaking lies in the way Taylor’s voice inflects on lines like “of all the things to lose / it’s you I choose” and “I know I haven’t got all the answers / if I did I would be screaming them out!” This is clearly a song about complex feelings, and just enough gets spelled out that you can infer a lot more just from the feeling.

Buy it from Amazon.

St. Vincent @ Webster Hall 11/3/2011

Surgeon / Cheerleader / Save Me From What I Want / Actor Out of Work / Chloe in the Afternoon / Dilettante / Cruel / Just the Same But Brand New / Champagne Year / Neutered Fruit / Strange Mercy / She Is Beyond Good and Evil / Northern Lights / Year of the Tiger / Marrow // The Party / Your Lips Are Red

I wrote a review of this show for Rolling Stone. Go read it.

St. Vincent “Chloe in the Afternoon”

There are a few pronouns scattered through “Chloe in the Afternoon,” but it’s hard to get a read on the perspective. Maybe that’s the point, though: The BDSM prostitution scenario described by the lyrics is a fantasy played out as a strictly professional transaction, and so both parties are at some distance from the experience. The woozy atmosphere and sterile electronics contrast nicely with violent, highly gestural guitar parts and perhaps the most overtly sexy vocal performance of Annie Clark’s career to date. It’s exactly the right tone for a song that evokes equal parts kink and disassociation.

Buy it from Amazon.

SBTRKT “Right Thing To Do”

I was concerned that SBTRKT’s show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg would be little more than some guy putting on a mask and treating the audience to a glorified album listening party, but thankfully he and his partner Sampha put in the effort to do an actual live show. Granted, a lot of the show involved hitting buttons on a wide array of equipment laid out on stage, but Sampha’s live vocals and SBTRKT’s live percussion went a long way towards providing a physicality beyond that of the audience, who responded to the throbbing bass and busy beats with great enthusiasm. (I was in a balcony, so I had a good few of the people up front losing it, and a patch of people in the middle who kept inexplicably moshing.) Interestingly enough, though the vocal-centric material is what connects best on record, the instrumental digressions were often the most compelling bits in this set.

Buy it from Amazon.

Lady Gaga “Fashion of His Love”

You don’t get a lot of songs like this anymore. As much as people have mined the Eighties for dance pop inspiration, I find that musicians tend to shy away from “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” levels of jubilation, much less mix it up with programming that sounds like something Vince Clarke would come up with on an especially perky day. This may be Gaga’s most gleeful song, and the words match the tone – she’s basically singing about how much she loves a guy, and framing it all in the context of fashion and clothes because, well, she’s very passionate about that too. Boil this down to it essence, and it’s really a song about being excited and inspired.

Buy it from Amazon.

Florence and the Machine “Lover to Lover”

Florence and the Machine are generally considered to be a secular act, but their new album sounds like straight-ahead modern gospel, complete with overt references to God, salvation and transcendence. It’s modern gospel, for sure, and the religion manifests itself in agnostic-friendly ways – you don’t really need to buy into too much dogma to relate to her singing about feeling like she’s going to be denied salvation because she’s been making too many mistakes. The point of divergence, really, is in that she sings about feeling good about her hedonistic ways with the same ecstatic intensity as when she gushes about deliverance later on in the album. There’s a lot of faith in this music, but that yearning for the divine gets mixed in with a true passion for the glories and foibles of being merely human.

Buy it from Amazon.

King Louie “Too Cool”

“Too Cool” moves in hypnotic circles – oddly-pitched electric squiggles, rhymes that cycle through talking points like a Mike Jones rap, hype man utterances that snap into a subtle repetitive pattern. With each revolution, you get one heavy bass boom. The first several times I heard this song, it was on laptop speakers and I didn’t notice. It’s overwhelming on decent headphones, rattling on my good stereo speakers. It probably feels insane in a club or through a top-end car stereo. Be careful with this thing.

Justice “On’n’on”

Justice’s second album is a great surprise – it’s not a carbon copy of their debut, but carries enough of that record’s general aesthetic to seem like a totally natural progression. I like the faux-metal dance music angle, but I favor the cuts that merge their sensibility with the sound of 70s lite pop. “On’n’on,” a lightly funky number featuring the vocalist Morgan Phelan, is the closest this record comes to replicating the magic of “DVNO,” but its tone is much more mellow. There are similarities in the melody, but I think the more striking thing is in how both numbers convey a very sexy sort of optimism that’s a bit scrambled by odd lyrics and a vocal melody that’s secondary to the instrumental hook.

Buy it from Amazon.

The Field “Is This Power”

A lot of producers could get away with coasting on the droning keyboard hook in “It This Power,” and you’d have a fine if somewhat flat track. The beauty of the Field’s arrangement is that while it lets you meditate on a repetitive part, it’s always moving. The beat mutates as it goes along, never getting too busy but often suggesting an aggressive physicality. The bass is what makes this, though – reserved funk in combination with the main groove, oddly forlorn when that sound drops out, deliriously melodic when it returns.

Buy it from Amazon.

Coldplay “Hurts Like Heaven”

Coldplay’s music has a strange emotional resonance – it conveys huge, universal feelings with minimal detail or specificity, which has a way of making me wonder if the music is really about expressing emotion rather than actually experiencing them. It’s easy to be cynical about this band’s body of work, but at this point they’ve written too many good songs to be written off so easily.

“Hurts Like Heaven,” the opening track on their latest record, is one of their all-time best. It nods in the direction of hits by Belle & Sebastian and LCD Soundsystem, but the scope and emotional focus is very much Coldplay – a touch of melancholy adding flavor to an uplifting, swooning melody. Unlike their current single “Paradise,” which sounds like it was written to be used in the most pompous and overblown Oscar-bait movie trailers, “Hurts Like Heaven” has a lean arrangement that flatters the easy-going yearning of Chris Martin’s voice and the sparkle in the guitar.

As much as this song conveys a world-weary romanticism, it still suggests an odd hollowness. Notably, the most emotionally stirring lines in the song are quotes, bits of (very emo) graffiti that Martin is reading off walls and signs. There’s a few lines about feeling anxious, but otherwise he doesn’t say much. What does it mean to use your heart as a weapon? How does it feel to hurt like heaven? The music gives you no answer for the former question, but does a pretty great job of filling you in on the latter.

Buy it from Amazon.

The Society of Rockets “Plastic Stars”

The Society of Rockets’ tribute to the late Trish Keenan is built upon a keyboard part with a tonality that will be immediately familiar to fans of her work with Broadcast. This sound, like a sci-fi warning siren repurposed as an accent for languid melodies, was a key part of that band’s aesthetic: Grim modern and futuristic sounds contrasted with Keenan’s understated melancholy. Joshua Babcock conveys sadness in his vocal performance and melodies here, but he doesn’t even attempt to approach her icy persona. He couldn’t if he tried – for one thing, Keenan was a one of a kind talent. More importantly, Babcock can’t help but express an open-hearted sweetness in his music.

Buy it from Three Ring Records.

Patrick Stump “Coast (It’s Gonna Get Better)”

Patrick Stump seems very eager to impress on his first solo album. This isn’t coming from desperation, but rather a desire to show off a pretty wide-ranging musical skill set – he plays every instrument on the record, and very well at that – and a talent for glitzy, hyperactive modern pop songwriting. Though there are points on Soul Punk when the ambition, performance and general razzle dazzle of the production values are more impressive than the actual hooks, Stump mostly succeeds in his attempt to hold on to the cerebral charm of his Fall Out Boy while fully embracing the aesthetics of R&B-centric chart pop. Listening to the record, it’s clear that this is exactly what he wants to do, and that at the same time, he’s unwilling to give up any part of his personality to fit into another genre. His obvious confidence carries over to the sentiment of his lyrics. He spends a lot of time grappling with the diminished expectations of post-recession life, but he projects his can-do spirit and enthusiasm on the rest of the world, insisting that there is a real possibility that things will get better. It’s escapist, feel-good pop, but he leaves you feeling convinced that something positive is just around the corner.

Buy it from Amazon.

M83 “Claudia Lewis”

M83 specialize in a sort of musical nostalgia that does very little to move me, though I recognize the ways it aggressively jabs at the emotional buttons of those for whom the idea of “The Eighties” might have a profound resonance. Their new album, a double disc set, is sprawling and “epic,” but its expanse is mostly numbing – a few setpiece numbers are surrounded by ethereal time-wasters and underwritten bombast. M83 aim for a cinematic grandeur and mostly attain it; it’s just too bad that Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming would be a very mediocre film.

I also have issues with Anthony Gonzalez’s voice – I appreciate that he’s “going for it,” and committing to expressing something akin to passion in his performances, but that doesn’t keep him from sounding like some kind of petulant eunuch. Why is this the default for so much acclaimed indie music right now? It conveys powerful emotion, but no agency. I can see why that a lot of young people today would identify with that, but ugh, I don’t think it’s a positive thing!

This doesn’t mean that M83 can’t nail it here and there. The single “Midnight City” is a very strong and engaging composition that compresses the charm and ambition of the band into four minutes so effectively that it makes the remaining 70 minutes of the album seem entirely redundant. I’m also fond of “Claudia Lewis,” a vaguely funky track that balances its hyper-romantic atmosphere evenly with a few sharp hooks and a vocal performance that, while thin and bleating, gets across some convincing emotional stakes.

Buy it from Amazon.

Real Estate “It’s Real”

I quite like this song – it has a sweet sentiment and a gorgeous lead guitar part – but I can’t help but think it’s basically the answer to the question “What if Peter Buck was the only really talented member of Murmur-era R.E.M.?” The rhythm section isn’t bad; just competent and not particularly imaginative. The vocals suit the mood and lyrics, but err too much on the side of wimpy, passive and faceless. I wish the singer committed just a bit more, communicated a bit more personality. This is a song about a guy who is finding the strength to be assertive enough to be clear in expressing his feelings for someone, so it should have a gentle, maybe somewhat shy quality, but I feel like I have no idea who this guy is when he sings. A good vocalist – regardless of their technical skill – reveals something about who they are in their voice. This is lovely and very relatable song, but if it weren’t for the guitar style – which isn’t all that distinct but is nevertheless the main feature of Real Estate – it’s a bit too anonymous.

Buy it from Amazon.

Brenton Wood “I’m the One Who Knows”

I love the lightness of this arrangement – the lead guitar is like a delicate filigree, the percussion is a patient tap, the gentle buzz of the organ has a soft, pillowy quality. Wood sings about the adorable intensity of a teen boy who has fallen in love for the first time, and he sounds both bemused and nostalgic for this unguarded sweetness. The refrain “I’m the one who really knows” is a bit ambiguous, but it’s clear enough that he’s just looking back on his own experience as a young man and remembering this earnest, innocent love with great fondness, even if some of it is kind of embarrassing.

Buy it from Amazon.

PJ Harvey “The Words That Maketh Murder” (iTunes Session Version)

It’s startling to see the words of this song in print – the tune is so jaunty, it can be easy to tune out the grisly imagery. But once you know what she’s singing, you can’t unhear it, and the horror sits uncomfortably with the rhythm and her odd, high-pitched tone. Of course, the real kicker here is the “What if I take my problem to the United Nations?,” delivered with just the right balance of hopeful naïveté and bitter irony. All the little disconnections in this song make perfect sense — it is, after all, essentially about processing grotesque atrocities and looking both within and without for some way of classifying and understanding what it all means. Is there a context where any of this terrible violence makes sense?

Buy the album version from Amazon.

Bell “Meaninglessness”

Olga Bell has a slippery, wildly expressive voice — she’s all bright notes, and her melodies kinda spiral and swirl around through her compositions. This approach is well suited to “Meaninglessness,” a perky, restless number about trying to keep up with adult life’s endless distractions and demands. I love that this is a happy, upbeat song. A lot of people write about this sort of thing, but they come off as unpleasant, easily overwhelmed cranks. Bell, on the other hand, has an optimistic point of view, and the music is like shrugging off morning grogginess to greet the day with genuine enthusiasm.

Buy it from Amazon.

Shudder to Think “X-French Tee Shirt”

The first time I ever heard “X-French Tee Shirt” I was 15-years-old and listening to a local alt-rock radio station in 1994. The station was doing this thing where they would debut a song and listeners could call in to say whether or not it should go into rotation. I was immediately impressed by the tune. Even after all these years, a lot of the charm in the song lies in how it sounds like a big arena rock number thrown off balance, but to my young ears it seemed especially alien. The song ended up becoming a very minor hit, and the video on MTV only emphasized the off-kilter weirdness of the group, with singer Craig Wedren looking like a pervy goateed glam Charles Xavier. I probably bought Pony Express Record a week later after playing the snippet of “X-French” that I taped off the radio dozens of times over.

“X-French Tee Shirt” is a perfect example of a song that is effectively pop in its sound despite having an asymmetrical structure and a peculiar sense of rhythm. The big chorus at the end is very accessible and undeniable in its appeal, but the first half of the song is more interesting and exciting for me, as Wedren’s voice delivers a slinky, effeminate vocal performance at odds with the spiky, brutal staccato thud of his guitar. He’s negotiating a break up, but his words bend into abstraction. He doesn’t tell you very much, but the betrayal, anger and jealous come through loud and clear, particularly when Wedren’s voice drips with dismissive bitchiness as he sings “So what’d you have to do that for? Him?” He’s incredulous at the thought of returning “to us,” and he’s heading out. When the chorus outro comes in, you feel a weight lift off the song – he’s free.

Buy it from Amazon.

Though the lyrics on Atlas Sound’s forthcoming album Parallax aren’t particularly concerned with sex, the sound of the record is very sensual and seductive. A lot of this comes down to Bradford Cox’s voice, which has reached a new peak in terms of confidence technical range, emotive power. Though he typically writes from a passive perspective, he has moved away from romantic pining and embraced this persona that seems at ease with being an object of desire. With this in mind, the title of the record makes some sense – he’s writing about a variety of topics, but his confidence has shifted his perspective on everything. He still sounds like the Bradford Cox we know, but you immediately sense the difference.

Electric Six “Psychic Visions”

Heartwaves and Brainwaves, this year’s new Electric Six album, is basically the band’s Depeche Mode record. This isn’t a huge surprise – Dick Valentine often sings a bit of “Everything Counts” at the end of “Germans In Mexico” in concert, and there’s already a precedent set for dark, keyboard-heavy material in the larger Valentine catalog. “Psychic Visions,” the opening track on the album, is delightfully seedy – it’s like “Nightclubbing” cut with “Personal Jesus,” with Valentine’s hyper-masculine voice taking on a weathered, resigned tone. He sounds defeated but bemused by the world around him, and when he sings about psychics and tarot cards, you can hear the pessimism in his voice, but also a willingness to play along with other people’s banal eccentricities, if just for a brief distraction.

Buy it from Amazon.

Dum Dum Girls “Coming Down”

I saw the Dum Dum Girls perform a few times last year, and each time I found myself wondering why Kristin “Dee Dee” Gundred under-sang on the band’s recordings though she sang beautifully and confidently in concert. This is not an issue on Only in Dreams, the group’s second full-length album. There’s no holding back on this record; she sings with total commitment and presents the songs with crisp, clean production that pushes the band outside of the indie rock ghetto and into, at least, a theoretical mainstream. This is direct, big-hearted music. “Coming Down,” in particular, is a revelation – Gundred’s voice is bold but delicate, approaching a sort of tough-girl sensitivity that you mostly encounter on old Pretenders records. She’s a bit guarded, but she knows when she has to really go for it — there’s a moment in this song where she aims for an emotionally devastating high note and nails it without seeming the least bit ostentatious.

Buy it from Amazon.