Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Circlesquare “Stop Taking (So Many)”

“Stop Taking (So Many)” is essentially an epic song on a miniature scale. The grandiose sentimentality of “meaningful-core” acts such as Arcade Fire and U2 present, but muted to the point that the bombast disappears, and the implied “we” in the music shrinks down to a more manageable and intimate “you and I.” This is manifested in the vocals, which are rather cool and sedate, but more so in the music, which turns the trappings of arena rock balladry inside out: The beat is rendered as minimally as possible; a handful of understated, plaintive piano notes carry much of the emotional weight; and the strum and noise of guitars is replaced with abstract electronic hums, whirs, and beeps.

Buy it from Amazon.

Lily Allen “The Fear”

Vapid, cynical, hyper-consumerist neo-celebs of the Paris Hilton/Heidi Montag variety are utterly loathsome, but when we tear into them in comedy and art, it can often seem too easy and overly mean-spirited in way that eclipses any righteousness we could hope to claim in calling out their grotesque antics. Yes, they are clearly villains in the context of our culture, but on scale, they’re more like the Goombas in the Super Marios Bros. games — cannon fodder along the path to the Big Bosses.

So, keeping that in mind, this song probably shouldn’t work as well as it does. It starts off feeling like Allen is shooting fish in a barrel, but even just in the span of that first verse, there’s some hint that we’re dealing with a character with self-awareness, and that Allen has some degree of empathy for her. Essentially, this is a song about a very shallow person who is troubled by her own self-awareness, which leads her toward an existential crisis that threatens to undermine and poison every pleasure that she knows. In contrast with the painful doubt and nagging terror of the song’s chorus, the bratty statements in the verses begin to feel less certain, and more like a person trying to reaffirm and justify her reality: I know all this is true! This is just how it is! I’m a winner, and you’re a loser! Still, the lies being lived seem increasingly flimsy and transparent, but she doesn’t know how to get out, or want to leave any of it behind.

Allen does a good job of selling both parts of her song — fragile yet clear-eyed on the chorus; petulant but extremely vulnerable everywhere else. It probably helps that she seems to know a thing or two about being young, rich, beautiful, and famous, either out of proximity, or through actual lived experience.

Buy it from Amazon.

Cotton Jones “Gotta Cheer Up”

The first time I heard this song, it was snowing. Through all the white, the sunlight had a soft, pale amber hue that reflected off the ice, and through the flakes. Time seemed to move very slowly, and though there was plenty of movement, there was an overwhelming sense of stillness and grace just outside my window. In other words, I experienced this music under seemingly ideal conditions. Cotton Jones’ album Paranoid Cocoon sounds warm, soothing, and hazy, as though it was all shot in soft focus, and processed with a sepia toner. The music has a highly appealing ambiance, but its low key melodies are very emotionally engaging, and seem to draw me in deeper upon repeated listening. As implied by its title, “Gotta Cheer Up” is a rather melancholy number, but despite its lightly bummed vocals and stoned mid-tempo beat, bits of bright notes cut through the darkness and fog, like tiny blinking beacons of hopeful light.

Buy it from Suicide Squeeze.

Goldfrapp “A&E” (Live on Fair Game)

What happens if you feel desperate and alone, and you go about doing the things that your culture suggests that you do to correct your situation, and you still can’t make it happen? You can’t get him to call back, you derive no pleasure from going out, and the drugs just make you feel worse. You come in late from another boring night, and everyone you know has paired off, but you fall into your bed alone. You lie there half-awake as the morning light floods your room, and you’re still clutching your cell phone, hoping for some impossible moment of affirmation and affection. You start to wonder how it is that you came to need someone so badly, and if the person you’re pining for means much of anything, or if he’s just another arbitrary attachment. There’s no answer, no reasonable explanation, just this immense void of longing and doubt, and this horrible fear that things will never change. Other people can connect, other people can be loved, but all you can do is crumble and weep. It’s not fair.

Buy it from Amazon. Originally posted on February 18th, 2008.

Mr. Oizo “Gay Dentists”

When I hear this song, I picture someone with an enormous cartoon mallet trying to smash the abstract notion of Basement Jaxx circa Remedy. But being abstract, the Jaxx track has no solid form, so when the mallet makes contact, it slips right through, as if the song were a glob of mercury. This just frustrates the mallet-wielder, and so they just keep swinging, and the music keeps dodging the impact, or shape-shifting. The result is a piece of music that feels restless, nimble, sleek, and more than a little bit silly, like a dance music version of a Roadrunner short.

Buy it from Beatport.

Benjy Ferree “Fear”

Benjy Ferree’s “Fear” doesn’t sound fearful, but then again, it’s not sung from the first person, so it probably shouldn’t. The song is lush, gentle, gorgeous and comforting, but ultimately it’s about how once things start going wrong, misfortune can seem inevitable and omnipresent. The lyrics are all black comedy, but there’s no lack of empathy here — Ferree’s voice conveys a great warmth and sympathy, particularly when the fearful events he sings about get silly and weird. Interestingly, Ferree’s protagonist is someone rather specific. Come Back To The Five And Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee, the record from which this selection is taken, is a song cycle about the tragic life of Bobby Driscoll, the one-time Disney child star who was rejected by Hollywood in his early teens, and ended up dying alone, unknown, and penniless in Manhattan at the age of 31.

Buy it from Amazon.

The Joy Formidable “Cradle”

It’s just about impossible to watch the video for this song without getting the impression that it’s a lost hit from 120 Minutes circa 1994, or something from an alternate Earth where female-fronted alt-rock thrives as a dominant genre. Nevertheless, “Cradle” sounds remarkably fresh for a ’90s throwback, thanks in large part to its brisk momentum. Even when the song seems to take a moment to breathe, the pace is quick, and the emotions come hard and fast enough to overwhelm the words. I’ve heard this tune many times over now, but I’m not quite sure what Ritzy Bryan is trying to say — half her lyrics are obscured, and every time I try to pay close attention, I get lost in the sound. It hardly matters. This is effervescent, highly potent stuff, and it makes me feel excited about life, even when nothing is going on.

Buy it from The Joy Formidable.

K-the-I??? featuring NoCanDo “Trading Places”

One of the more fascinating things about this song is the way K-the-I??? and NoCanDo are both venting frustrations and speaking their mind, but in a way that seems like they’re holding back slightly, not out of weakness, but out of tact. It’s not passive aggression, but rather words carefully designed to hit precise targets, and call into question “frenemies” who have given them reason to feel suspicious, bitter, or confused. The track feels tightly wound from the start, but by the time the sample loop kicks in, there’s a distinct hazy, dizzy, slightly nauseous feeling that emphasizes the rappers’ emotional discomfort and lyrical bile.

Buy it from Mush Records.

The Sound of Arrows “M.A.G.I.C.”

If you need a warning, here you go: “M.A.G.I.C.” is an extremely Pollyanna-ish pop song, and really, the sort of thing you should never hear on a bad day. The arrangement twinkles like a sequin suit in a room full of mirror balls, its groove is so shamelessly Swedish that it may as well be Ace of Base, and the chorus is sung by a choir of children. It’s a bit too much, but somehow, there’s some sense of restraint. It’s not all giddiness and rainbows — the lead vocalist sounds measured and calm, and upon closer inspection, it’s clear that he’s singing about trying to be open to the wonders of the world, which implies the understanding that those things can easily be drowned out by the horrors. It’s a tremendously optimistic song, but its outsize perkiness feels lived-in, earned, and surprisingly pragmatic.

Buy it from Labrador.

Animal Collective “Summertime Clothes”

1) I’ll be honest with you: I had pretty much given up on these guys. After the initial thrill of discovering Spirit They’re Gone Spirit They’ve Vanished and Danse Manatee circa 2001, Avey Tare and Panda Bear’s path mostly diverged from what I wanted, and what I imagined to be their full potential. There were good songs along the way — “Who Could Win A Rabbit?,” “Grass,” about half of Person Pitch, and “Chores,” but for the most part, their music had come to seem overly indulgent, lazy, or horribly uninspiring. I can’t hear Strawberry Jam as anything other than a failed compromise; a misfire that moved toward more accessible songwriting while leaning hard on the most grating aspects of their distinct aesthetic. I just get this allergic reaction hearing that album — I wish I could isolate exactly what it is that bothers me so much, but I can hardly stand to listen to most of the tracks.

2) I didn’t expect much from Merriweather Post Pavilion, but my immediate response was positive. Very positive, in fact, to the point that I had to wonder how much of my reaction came out of the fact that I was enjoying new music by a band I had almost entirely written off. One or two good songs wouldn’t have such a huge surprise — even their worst records have at least one worthwhile track — but Merriweather was the thing I’d been hoping for since the start of the decade: A record by Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and the Geologist that was tuneful and enjoyable from beginning to end without sacrificing their particular tone and style. The album is not perfect — it’s a bit too long and lags in the middle — but it is by far the best work of their career to date. Simply put, Merriweather Post Pavilion is everything good about the Animal Collective, with barely a trace of their worst impulses. It’s a balancing act, really — disciplined pop and avant chaos, hippie and hipster, electronic textures and quasi-primitive rhythms — there is nothing on the album that wasn’t there all along, but suddenly they’ve got it all figured out.

3) “Summertime Clothes” is essentially a synth pop song with a folk pop melody, done up in Animal Collective drag. It’s about as conventional and straightforward as the band has ever been, but it still feels light-headed, delirious, and disconnected. Avey Tare sings about feeling uncomfortable in oppressive heat, and sneaking out with a someone for a walk as a way of making the most of a sleepless night. His words focus on physical sensation, and the music follows suit, simulating waves of stifling heat, thick humid breeze, and the slightly unreal feeling of empty city streets in the wee hours of the morning. Even when it feels most sticky and wet, the song overflows with pleasure and an overwhelming, utterly joyous sense of both physical and mental freedom, as if all the singer’s neuroses have temporarily disappeared, and he’s just acting on instinct. He seems amazed by himself, by his partner, by the beauty of everything around him. More than that, he seems genuinely grateful.

Buy it from Insound.

Hilotrons “Lovesuit”

Aside from vaguely resembling the Talking Heads’ “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody),” the most immediately striking thing about “Lovesuit” is its immaculate tone. Every element in the track seems almost freakishly crisp and clean, but somehow the song doesn’t feel uptight. It’s like a state of alert, clear-headed relaxation. The lead singer does seem a bit high-strung at points, but even still, any anxiety in his voice or rigidity in the beat is diluted by the composition’s overall cool, easy-going vibe.

Buy it from Kelp Records.

Women “Shaking Hands”

Taken on its own, Women’s breakthrough song “Black Rice” gives the impression that the band is in the same general post-Zombies/Beach Boys aesthetic zone as the Shins, but the rest of their work comes closer to emulating Sonic Youth’s balance of freaky punk experimentation and gorgeous, winding arpeggiated melodies. “Shaking Hands” is a fine example, cycling through several parts that recall Sonic Youth at various stages in their career, from the grim urban tangles of Sister and Daydream Nation on through the more placid landscapes of A Thousand Leaves and Murray Street. This is not to say that Women lack character — their tones are colder, their beats have more stutter, and their compositions go on more frequent digressions, generally avoiding Sonic Youth’s penchant for neatly symmetrical forms.

Buy it from Jagjaguwar.

Hank “Threw Me”

Song one, side one for 2009. We start things off feeling rather tentative, but optimistic. We’ve still got a touch of bitterness, but we’re slowly letting it go — we know it’s not helpful, that it’s not productive. We harmonize, we come together to make something beautiful. Our confidence builds, but we’re still skeptical and questioning, even of ourselves and our collective strength, careful not to over- or underestimate our capabilities. We hit our stride, we cool out. We already feel better, so we all smile. We’ve taken our lumps, but it’s time to move on, to try to find the silver linings, and the opportunities hidden within all sorts of adversity. It’s time to build, it’s time to create, it’s time to move into the next decade, and get our heads out of 2008. Let’s go.

Buy it from Weeping Truckers.

Beck “Profanity Prayers”

The older Beck gets, the more his music begins to sound like the equivalent of a thousand yard stare. Or really, in the case of Modern Guilt, a billion lightyear stare out into the expanse of the universe. He’s always been aloof and unknowable, but in recent years, his work has felt aesthetically sterile and emotionally blank, even as he deals with increasingly dark subject matter. His songs are still catchy and he’s still got a sense of humor, but it has all become very cerebral and disconnected, like there’s just no real dude there anymore, only this intellect that has thoroughly devoured a personality. I think this all worked to his benefit on The Information, a record that navigated the void and emoted in this odd, muted sort of way. Modern Guilt, on the other hand, mostly just sounds like a hollow shell, even when the songs have a nice hook or express, in the faintest way perceivable, serious existential dread.

I reckon a lot of this failure comes down to the fact that the album is a collaboration with Danger Mouse, and his weak production values hobble many of the songs from the get-go. From begin to end, the drums on Modern Guilt sound limp, ineffectual, and overly compressed, leaving even the best songs feeling tentative and anemic. Whereas Nigel Godrich’s production work on The Information balanced out the distant vibe of the material with crisp, urgent percussion and vivid tones, Danger Mouse’s oomph-less tracks make entire compositions come across as non-committal, or worse, devoid of humanity. In other contexts, some of these songs could click, but for the most part, Modern Guilt is pleasant but not at all engaging, and it gets to feel draining when heard as a whole. This is unfortunate given that “Profanity Prayers,” the record’s most successful number, arrives at the end. The song, which sounds rather like an emotionally neutral version of Radiohead’s “Bodysnatchers,” is the most spirited thing on the album by far, and the only track with a drum sound that has any sort of spark.

Buy it from Amazon.

Hauschka “Rode Null”

Should song reviews come with spoiler warnings? I feel as though describing exactly what happens in the second half of this song may ruin the experience somewhat, but at the same time, I feel like there’s no way I could adequately describe its movement, and the specific blend of emotions it evokes. I probably don’t have the skill necessary to do it, but more than that, I don’t have the desire. This is an astonishing, gorgeous piece of music, and I don’t want my useless, futile words to get in the way of your pleasure.

Buy it from Amazon.

Black Milk featuring Colin Munroe “Without U”

When people bitch about “haters” holding them back, it’s easy to be suspicious and wonder if they’re just egomaniacs who cannot handle any form of criticism, or if they are actually dealing with toxic, negative people who are genuinely undermining their happiness and creativity. In the case of “Without U,” I’m inclined to feel that Black Milk was actually dealing with the latter. This could easily be an excessively bitter and angry song, but mostly, he just sounds relieved and eager to move on. Even if this were an instrumental, the light, airy bounce of the track would still express that feeling of a weight lifted off of one’s chest.

Buy it from Amazon.

Flying Lotus featuring Dolly “RobertaFlack”

The critical success of this Flying Lotus record comes as something of a surprise, at least in the sense that I didn’t realize so many of my peers were eager for new iterations on trip-hop. As an album, Los Angeles is comforting and functional background music — it maintains a steady groove, and its sound feels classy yet slightly perverse. Upon closer inspection, many of its tracks reveal subtle charms, mainly in the form of intriguing textural clashes, rhythmic shifts, and samples that temporarily stray from its primary palette of tones. The most effective tracks include vocals, or some other emotive element — too much of the album floats along in a stoned haze, but its gradual drift toward more expressive and communicative tracks is a nice trick in and of itself.

Buy it from Amazon.

Andrew Daly “Sing-along With Skip McCabe”

Andrew Daly’s character monologues do not break any formal ground, but somehow his best bits have an unusual charge that leaves the work feeling rather bold, new, and distinct. Daly’s performances are exceptionally controlled, and often benefit greatly from a presentation that removes the visual component and focuses the audience’s attention entirely on his vocal mannerisms. He truly sounds like a different person from track to track on his debut album Nine Sweaters, whether he’s portraying an unusually horny old man, a philandering futurist, an abrasive party-starter, or broad caricatures of French, Irish, and Southern Californian stereotypes. The bits mostly start with a familiar archetype or scenario, but the structure of Daly’s routines inevitably follow down some horribly dark path, and the most hilarious moments come when his characters are forced to reckon with the twists of the narrative on their own skewed terms. Even when you’re anticipating the turns, Daly’s verbal prowess and impeccable timing allow for genuine surprises, particularly when he shows himself willing to go much further with his premise than originally expected without compromising the integrity of his character’s reality. This is certainly the case for “Sing-along With Skip McCabe,” a sketch in which a seemingly wholesome singer tells an unfortunate story that inadvertently highlights his warped, ruthless ambition.

Buy a physical copy from A Special Thing, or a digital copy from Amazon.

Rev. Edward W. Clayborn (The Guitar Evengelist) “The Wrong Way To Celebrate Christmas”

Not being a religious person, I don’t really have any issue with secularizing Christmas. Make it open, abstract, and inclusive — as long as there’s some peace and love in there, it can’t be a bad thing. Reverend Clayborn — obviously, a man of God — doesn’t get very specific about the wrong ways to celebrate Christmas day in this song, but it certainly seems that he’s more concerned about people suffering through the holidays rather than going a little overboard with Christmas lights. (Of course, this was recorded ninety years ago, so maybe if he were around today, he would’ve thrown in a jab at that sort of material excess, or something disapproving about people trampling a guy to death at Walmart on Black Friday.) Anyway, whatever your views may be, I hope that one way or another you celebrate this Christmas in a way that is right for you.

Buy it from Dust To Digital.

Fall Out Boy “20 Dollar Nose Bleed”

Fall Out Boy are about as weird as a band can possibly get while still, somehow, sounding more or less normal. Despite, and in some ways because of, their incredible success, they’ve become oddball pop maximalists hell-bent on appropriating the often embarrassing trappings of the 80s/90s blockbuster aesthetic at a time when the blockbuster album is dead or dying. The band is still technically “emo,” at least in the sense that they pin smirky-clever lyrics to music that mostly conforms to some variation on pop-punk, but at this point, Patrick Stump is singing virtually everything with an R&B affectation, songs are packed with unnecessary, ostentatious cameos (Elvis Costello!), and at least half of their new record is a mutant strain of some other genre. I really appreciate what Fall Out Boy are going for, but I wish that I enjoyed more of the songs. Though the group is capable of knocking out some gems, too many of the songs fall flat with huge ambitions and slight, unremarkable melodies. “20 Dollar Nose Bleed” is one of the numbers that works, in part because its fanfare and dynamics flatter Stump’s voice, but mostly because its hooks are pleasurable enough to make Pete Wentz’s vainly verbose lyrics seem relatively natural. (Well, except for the sorta rappy bit at the very end, that’s not so hot.)

Buy it from Amazon.

Archers of Loaf “Assassination On X-Mas Eve”

Christmas music is normally concerned with things that are appropriate to the season, but the Archers of Loaf’s song opts for the opposite, and presents a scenario in which an act of violence ruins Christmas for everyone. It’s hard to tell what’s the actual tragedy in the song — the murder, the fact that the perpetrator is running free, or that all these hapless people are forced to work on a miserable case through the holidays. There’s no escape to ritualized artifice, just blood and paperwork.

Buy it from Alias Records.

The Knux “Parking Lot”

“Parking Lot” chugs along on a brief loop that has almost exactly the same effect as the one RZA concocted for the GZA’s “Liquid Swords,” though it’s missing that composition’s spikier, nervier treble notes and murky bass. Similarly, the Knux are not in the same lyrical league as the Genius, and wisely stick to more trivial matters such as being lewd in the street, being lewd at a club, and lewdly insulting guys in Bape gear. Krispy Kream and Rah Al Millio are nimble, melodic party rappers of the Big Boi variety, and are more than capable of spinning garden variety macho bullshitting into highly listenable verses simply by having stylish flows and amiable voices. I could do without their guest announcer, though…that guy is just a creep. If this is Entourage — and really, it is kinda like Entourage, though please don’t let that put you off too much — that guy is Turtle.

Buy it from Amazon.

Joan of Arc “Just Pack Or Unpack”

The instruments in “Just Pack Or Unpack” dart, weave, and zig zag, but at a cool, leisurely pace that shies away from tight, mellow harmony or frenetic punk energy. As the title implies, the song is like being stuck in a state of interminable indecision, with overlapping thoughts and impulses moving at the same rate and sparking at the same frequency, thus canceling each other out. The composition does move forward, but even then, it doesn’t resolve itself so much as it collapses into a stalemate, and trails off like an endless ellipsis.

Buy it from Polyvinyl Records.

Joan of Arc “Ne Mosquitos Pass”

Tim Kinsella is not the easiest singer to appreciate. In fact, he’s probably the worst singer whose music I actively enjoy. But here’s the thing: Whereas all too many crappy indie vocalists hedge their bets and sing with timidity and a flat affect, Kinsella emotes and pushes his thin, frail voice to occasionally excruciating limits, often with gutting results. Even still, his style would come off horribly in most musical contexts, and so it’s pretty crucial that it’s in contrast with delicate, imaginative arrangements that balance out gorgeous, graceful instrumentation with uglier textures and unorthodox rhythms. “Ne Mosquitos Pass,” a Joan of Arc gem dating back to 2001, never fails to move me with its gently floating arpeggios, somber piano chords, and absolutely unhinged conclusion. The beat is steady, but it seems to stagger all along the way, as if it can barely hold itself erect, especially when the song gets around to its bitter, ironically anthemic chorus.

Buy it from Amazon.

The Smashing Pumpkins “No Surrender”

Despite many valid, harsh criticisms of their most recent tour, The Smashing Pumpkins are still more than capable of producing very good new songs, even if they come a bit more sporadically these days. “No Surrender,” a song written and performed during the band’s residency in San Francisco, is a mellow composition with an abundance of negative space and bright guitar notes that seem to blink in and out like white Christmas lights. The melodies are lovely, but at least in terms of Billy Corgan’s discography, atypically understated. Though the piece has its subtle dynamics, there is no bombast or drama, just this slow, meditative drift between delicate thoughts and emotions. Corgan’s vocal performance is also rather understated, and focused primarily on the lower register of his limited, trebly singing voice. He sounds relaxed and mature, and some turns of phrase sound absolutely gorgeous in a way specific to his body of work. The general sound of “No Surrender” is not without precedent in his catalog — the psychedelic tone owes something to the Gish era, and there are echos of the brilliant Mellon Collie outtake “Set The Ray To Jerry” — but the song certainly points to a more promising and rewarding future for the band than the bland excesses of many of the pieces recently showcased on tour.

Buy it from Amazon.