The Mynabirds @ Mercury Lounge 6/22/2012

Karma Debt / Wolf Mother / Let the Record Go / Give It Time / Buffalo Flower / Radiator Sister / Disaster / Mightier Than the Sword / Ways of Looking / What We Gained in the Fire / Numbers Don’t Lie / Generals / Disarm / Body of Work

The Mynabirds “Karma Debt”

The version of the Mynabirds that I saw two years ago was a very different band from the one I saw at the Mercury Lounge on Friday night. As near as I could tell, the lineup was completely different aside from singer/songwriter Laura Burhenn, and even she seemed like she could have been an entirely different woman. The Mynabirds at the Bell House in 2010 were professional and lovely but sorta meek; the new band is harder, faster and bolder in texture and rhythm.

Burhenn, always a magnificent neo-soul singer, is more outgoing and aggressive, both in performance and artistic purpose. Her first record under the Mynabirds name was an introspective and philosophical take on the collapse of a relationship, but her second, Generals, is a medication on what it would take to spark a true revolution today, and the ways money – or a lack of it – holds us back from standing up for what we believe is right and fair. Burhenn, both in the music, the live performance and her New Revolutionists project, seems hell bent on connecting with her audience, and inspiring a thoughtful dialog. There were moments in the band’s Mercury Lounge set where she seemed frustrated in working up a relatively sedate crowd, but more often, she and her bandmates played these excellent, thoughtful songs with passion, conviction, and best of all, optimism.

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Beck @ Governor’s Ball, Randall’s Island 6/24/2012

Black Tambourine / Gamma Ray / Soul of a Man / Hotwax / Girl / Sissyneck / Modern Guilt / Soldier Jane / Golden Age / Lost Cause / Sunday Sun / Jack-Ass / Devil’s Haircut / Loser / Novacane / Minus / Where It’s At / E-Pro

I have loved Beck for many, many years now, but this was my first Beck show. I wish I could have seen him back in his hyperactive showman period, I wish this show could’ve been twice as long, I wish he would’ve played even just one song from Midnite Vultures. But I was thrilled for every moment of this set, especially during the big crowd pleasers. (I was losing it when he did “Devil’s Haircut.”) I wrote more about this set, and the festival a whole, elsewhere.

Beck “Jack-Ass (Strange Invitation version)”

Most of Odelay falls on the funky, up-tempo end of Beck’s body of work, but the record as a whole is very well-rounded, with a few of his finest ballads sprinkled in for depth and dynamics. I’ve always favored this arrangement for “Jack-Ass” – it presages a lot of what he ended up doing on Sea Change, but it’s not quite as dour in its melancholy. The little bits of surrealism and dark humor – “loose ends tying the noose in the back of my mind” – give the song a warm, lived-in humanity, and there’s something in the way he sings “I remember the way that you smiled” that strikes me as one of the most genuinely romantic moments he’s ever set to tape.

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The Smashing Pumpkins “Panopticon”

There’s something really perfect about how good Billy Corgan’s voice sounds whenever he sings the word “suffer.” In this song, the phrase “don’t make me suffer” is sung in bright notes that light up the melody like a neon sign. “Panopticon,” like a few other tracks on Oceania, plays to musical strengths and dynamics that Corgan has mostly distanced himself from in the past decade, but despite the familiarity, it doesn’t feel like a retread of his 90s material. There’s a different feeling to this stuff – it’s not quite as potent, but there is a sense of inner peace that is very appealing, especially in contrast with lyrics that contradict that bliss. Corgan can turn out gems even in his most fallow periods, so I wouldn’t say this is a “return to form.” I do think it’s wonderful to hear him reconnect with a more joyful sound, and to wholeheartedly embrace a sound that is his entirely his own.

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Stephen Malkmus “Jo Jo’s Jacket”

I was laid off from my associate editor position at Rolling Stone yesterday. My boss who broke the news, who I like a lot, made it clear that my dismissal had nothing to do with my performance, and that everyone has always been really happy with my output, creativity and work ethic. It was just a matter of budgeting, and a new plan to consolidate print and web editorial. I’m not really sure how they are going to pull that off – I wasn’t the only significant web staff member who was laid off – but I’m not really worried about it. It’s not my problem anymore.

I have zero ill will for Rolling Stone or anyone who works there; I will still write for the publication. One of my first thoughts upon learning the bad news was: Aw, I really liked working here! At the same time, I was planning on leaving down the line to pursue other kinds of writing and working, so really, I don’t feel too bad about this. I’ll probably be freaked out about money for a while, but aside from that, I can put my energy into a lot of new projects and challenges.

I am sort of amazed by how optimistic and happy I feel in the immediate aftermath of losing my job. I enjoyed working at Rolling Stone, but it took up a lot of my energy. Both the job security and time investment was holding me back from pursuing things I wanted to do. So instead of getting upset, I feel relieved. The job prepared me to do very well in this moment. I haven’t felt this excited in a while. It’s aggravating to think about the money side of this, but I have a lot of confidence that I can make it all work now.

I keep thinking about this Malkmus song, “Jo Jo’s Jacket.” It’s basically about how he quit Pavement in order to move on with his life and career. I think it’s the happiest song he’s ever written. He makes you feel his thrill at the prospect of moving on. The song smirks off fear with silly jokes; but frames the real meaning in quotes from Yul Brynner and Bob Dylan, and a wordless chorus that is just like — “Wheee! Away we go!” It wasn’t my decision to move on, but I feel the same because, without realizing it, I know this is exactly what I wanted.

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Fiona Apple “Anything We Want”

Fiona Apple’s previous albums were emotionally powerful, but highly refined and elegant. She has abandoned this approach on The Idler Wheel, slashing her arrangements down to bare rhythms, structural essentials and bits of abrasive sound for texture. Her vocals, somehow even more intense than ever, carry every song, to the point that it seems as though every cut began as an a cappella piece. Everything about the music is physical – the accompaniment draws your attention to the fact that the sounds come from objects being struck and touched; she sings in a way that keeps you aware of her body’s movements and strains; the lyrics obsess on physical fragility, tactile sensations and visceral imagery.

The first thing you hear in “Anything We Want” is a rhythmic metal clanging, the bright notes hitting with a familiar tone that recalls silverware and glass. The rhythm is jarring and impatient, while the chords have a steady sway. Apple’s words sketch out a scene that is placid but full of anxious expectation, as she does her best to trigger a physical response in her partner while remaining essentially passive. It’s a delicate balance, two people just out of sync, with at least one hoping for a moment of sublime connection. There are lines about waiting, and memory, and feeling as though you’ve regressed.

I love the image of her attempting to subliminally signal where to kiss her, but the chorus is what gets to me. “And then / we can / do anything / we want,” the rhythm spilling out slowly, as if you’d have to creep up on the idea of emotional and physical freedom. There’s a sense of mystery about what “we want,” like it’s just something beyond what we really grasp. We know our desires, but only a little, so it’s a little scary. What do we do when we do what we want? What will we want next? I love that this song is so eager to find out.

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Patti Smith “Banga”

Patti Smith sings with incredible authority, particularly on songs like “Banga” that move her to take on aggressive, biting tone. She has said that this song isn’t about something in particular, and though I don’t particularly buy that what with the references to Pilate’s dog and all, her performance is a great example of how a rock singer’s full commitment can make almost anything sound compelling and intense. Rock music is a shorthand — the strictly musical or physical elements sketch out complex thoughts and feelings, it’s an abstraction. Smith has always understood this magic, this poetry. It’s so wonderful that after all this time, she’s never lost touch with any of that. If anything, it’s only gone deeper.

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Dexys “You”

Kevin Rowland is disarmingly direct all through One Day I’m Going to Soar, his first record in nearly three decades. A lot of people sing very personal things and do it rather plainly, but he seems to go a step further — his words and phrasing seem just a bit too close for comfort. Rowland’s brand of oversharing is strangely friendly. It often feels as if you’ve somehow trespassed into the deepest recesses of his mind, but he’s all too happy to find you there, and just regales with every insecurity and anxiety he has collected over the past 20 years. “You,” a song about rediscovering lust and passion with a new partner, is warm and easy-going, but as much as he’s singing about this other person, it’s really just about how they make him feel. The song is very sweet, but taken in context of a record that has him constantly pondering why his relationships never last, it’s easy to look at this number and see that the problem is quite obvious. He never gets outside of his head, or considers the other person outside the context of himself.

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Hot Chip “Don’t Deny Your Heart”

Hot Chip excel at conveying a very contented kind of joy, and as they move along through their career, their music seems increasingly bereft of stress or anxiety. “Don’t Deny Your Heart,” my favorite cut from their new album In Our Heads, is a little more potent than their usual work, with its incredibly peppy beat and sparkling keyboard tones evoking a manic spirit that veers away from their default state of up-tempo serenity. The song never gets too far away from its peak moments of distinctly 80s perkiness, but there are some vaguely dark turns that give the composition a sense of shading and dynamic, both musically and emotionally.

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Metric “Clone”

“Clone” is the fragile emotional center of Metric’s new album Synthetica, a record in which Emily Haines struggles to keep outside forces from shaping or limiting her thoughts and feelings. It’s hard to fully grasp the dynamic suggested by her lyrics here, but every note signals a small regret and the sense that she has betrayed something essential about herself without really knowing why. Haines grasps for control of her narrative, asserting that her regret only makes her stronger and reminding herself that “nothing I’ve ever done right happened on the safe side,” but she barely recognizes herself by the third verse. “Can you clone me?,” she sings with a touch of wounded pride. “I look like everyone you know now.”

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Marit Larsen “What If”

Marit Larsen is one of the great sweethearts of modern pop; a singer-songwriter who can’t help but make even the darkest emotions sound like something out of a wholesome romance story. “What If” is a love song, but its sentiment is poisoned by her character’s intense insecurity. She frets about ruining this great love, openly singing “There’s no way around it / you’re too good for me.” Larsen’s song plays up a slightly devious tone on the verses, suggesting that maybe she is truly coming from a place of genuine damage, but it’s hard to get through the chorus without thinking that all these fears are unjustified. As the song goes along, Larsen pledges her devotion despite her qualms, and her resolve is compelling than her lingering dread.

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Liars “No. 1 Against the Rush”

I was disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that Liars leader Angus Andrew was not happy with his band’s last album, Sisterworld. I think it’s the band’s best work by far, and the record that synthesizes all the strains of their sound into one cohesive and well-rounded album. “I felt like we weren’t pushing boundaries enough with the sound and making exciting things that way,” he told Pitchfork. “Our focus was more on ‘songwriting,’ but it felt standard. I hated the idea of being related to blues.” So, of course, they went and made a very self-conscious electronic record. Andrew and I are around the same age, so I totally get this feeling – around the late 90s, there was this sense that rock music was something to be embarrassed about, that songwriting as an end to itself was limiting, and that electronic music was the answer to everything. This is the line of thinking that created Radiohead’s Kid A, and is central to the aesthetic of Animal Collective.

My point is: People have been thinking like this for a long time, so Liars’ move on WIXIW seems very quaint to me. They were embarrassed by making music that was arguably uncool, so they doubled down on the coolest influences around, or at least stuff like Krautrock and Brian Eno that are so evergreen in their coolness that no one would ever challenge it. The music on WIXIW is often excellent – “No. 1 Against the Rush,” the most overtly Eno-ish track, is among their best songs ever – but I can’t really engage with the music without sensing the band’s insecurity, or feeling that their idea of challenging, forward-thinking art is at least a decade or so behind the curve. They’re pushing boundaries in pretty much the same way as a lot of artists over the past three decades; is that so different from “being related to the blues”? Sisterworld was a record made by a band who seemed comfortable being themselves; WIXIW sounds like someone getting a makeover to fit in. It’s no accident that the best parts of the record are the bits that sound exactly like Liars.

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The celebration of the 10th anniversary of this site continues on with this collection of the best and most notable music of 2006. It’s a strange year. I’m inclined to say it’s the weakest of the decade, but given how much amazing material is collected here, I wonder if I feel that way because I remember it being a sort of dark and confusing time in general. I’m curious about your impressions of the middle chunk of the decade – please do speak up in the comments thread if you have thoughts on this.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Beyoncé “Get Me Bodied” / Ghostface Killah “The Champ” / Clipse “Ride Around Shining” / Amy Winehouse “Rehab” / Peter Bjorn and John “Young Folks” / Marit Larsen “Don’t Save Me” / The Long Blondes “You Could Have Both” / Basement Jaxx “Take Me Back to Your House” / Destroyer “Painter In Your Pocket” / Jarvis Cocker “Black Magic” / A Sunny Day In Glasgow “C’mon” / Scout Niblett “Lullaby for Scout in Ten Years” / Jeffrey Lewis “Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror” / TV on the Radio “Wolf Like Me” / Britta Persson “You Are Not My Boyfriend” / Neko Case “Star Witness” / Thom Yorke “The Eraser” / Joanna Newsom “Cosmia”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

Scissor Sisters “Paul McCartney” / In Flagranti “Genital Blue Room” / Spektrum “Don’t Be Shy” / Christina Aguilera “Ain’t No Other Man” / Bossanova “Rare Brazil” / Yo La Tengo “The Room Got Heavy” / Hot Chip “Over and Over” / Beck “Think I’m In Love” / Gnarls Barkley “Crazy” / Regina Spektor “Fidelity” / Evanescence “Call Me When You’re Sober” / Birdman and Lil Wayne “You Ain’t Know” / Rick Ross “Hustlin'” / Bonde Do Role “Ma Quina De Ricota” / DAT Politics “Turn My Brain Off” / Cam’ron “I.B.S.” / LCD Soundsystem “45:33 III (Someone Great)” / Excepter “Op Pop”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

The Knife “We Share Our Mothers’ Health” / Electric Six “Mr. Woman” / Girl Talk “Smash Your Head” / CSS “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” / JoJo “The Way You Do Me” / Outkast “PJ and Rooster” / The Fiery Furnaces “Police Sweater Blood Vow” / Mark Ronson “Just” / Camera Obscura “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” / Irving “Jen, Nothing Matters to Me” / Nelly Furtado “Maneater” / T.I. “What You Know” / Justice “Let There Be Light” / Lady Sovereign “Love Me or Hate Me” / Christina Milian “So Amazing” / Christopher and Raphael Just featuring Fox N Wolf “Popper” / My Robot Friend featuring Antony “One More Try” / The Peachwaves “Too Much Shit” / The Blood Brothers “Spit Shine Your Black Clouds” / Liars “The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

Sloan “Flying High Again/Who Taught You to Live Like That?” / Phoenix “Long Distance Call” / Buffalo Daughter “Elephante Marinos” / Shapes and Sizes “Weekends At A Time” / Sonic Youth “Jams Run Free” / Jagged Edge “Stunnas” / Shawnna featuring Ludacris, Lil Wayne, Too Short and Pharrell “Gettin’ Some (Remix)” / Velella Velella “Brass Ass” / Nouveau Riche “Take Me Home” / Robyn “With Every Heartbeat” / Grizzly Bear “Knife” / Panda Bear “Carrots” / Field Music “You’re Not Supposed To” / Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Gold Lion” / Wild Beasts “Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants” / Noonday Underground “You Keep Me Holding On” / Lily Allen “LDN” / Chicks On Speed “MySpace”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

Spank Rock “Sweet Talk” / Pipettes “Pull Shapes” / Belle & Sebastian “The Blues Are Still Blue” / Alphabeat “Fascination” / Marykate O’Neil “Things Are Too Good (They’re Bound to Go Bad” / White Magic “Childhood Song” / The Walkmen “Don’t Forget Me” / Treva Jackson “Drive” / Dirty Projectors “Fucked For Life” / Clinic “Harvest” / The Blow “Parentheses” / El-P “Smithereens (Stop Cryin’)” / Papoose “Alphabetical Slaughter” / Lonely Island “Lazy Sunday” / J Dilla “Workinonit” / Killer Mike “That’s Life” / Junior Boys “In the Morning” / Beach House “Apple Orchard” / Gustav “We Shall Overcome” / Mountain Goats “Woke Up New” / Cat Power “Lived In Bars”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

The Flaming Lips “The W.A.N.D.” / Gwen Stefani “Now That You Got It” / Rihanna “SOS” / Johnny Boy “Fifteen Minutes” / Andrew W.K. “One Brother” / Arctic Monkeys “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” / The Divine Comedy “To Die A Virgin” / Stereolab “I Was A Sunny Rainphase” / Erase Errata “Another Genius Idea From Our Government” / Ellen Allien & Apparat “Way Out” / Midlake “Roscoe” / Page France “Chariot” / Cadence Weapon “Black Hand” / Lo-Fi-Fnk “What’s On Your Mind?” / Justus Köhncke “Advance” / Justin Timberlake “My Love” / Booka Shade “In White Rooms” / The Evening Episode “Backstroke” / Charlotte Gainsbourg “Operation” / Pet Shop Boys “Integral”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

The Rapture “Whoo! Alright – Yeah…Uh Huh” / Klanguage “Never Over” / Lindsay Lohan “If You Were Me” / Zeigeist “Tar Heart” / New Young Pony Club “Ice Cream” / Clark “Vengeance Drools” / The Coup “We Are the Ones” / The Roots “Don’t Feel Right” / MSTRKRFT “She’s Good For Business” / Marit Bergman “Rentcode” / Scritti Politti “The Boom Boom Bap” / Shrag “Hopelessly Wasted” / Jan Jelinek “Up to My Same Old Trick Again” / Kelly Slusher “Be There” / Pony Up “Only Feelgood” / The Starlight Mints “Seventeen Devils” / The Victorian English Gentlemens Club “Dead Anyway” / K-the-I??? “Go-Go Girls” / Lil Wayne “Georgia…Bush”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

The Raconteurs “Steady, As She Goes” / Pearl Jam “World Wide Suicide” / The Gossip “Standing in the Way of Control” / Love Is All “Busy Doing Nothing” / Puffy AmiYumi “Radio Tokyo” / The Rogers Sisters “Money Matters” / Be Your Own Pet “October, First Account” / The Futureheads “Skip to the End” / Planningtorock “I Wanna Bite Ya” / Lupe Fiasco “Kick, Push” / Beirut “Postcards from Italy” / Casey Dienel “Everything” / The Decemberists “O Valencia” / Taylor Swift “Picture to Burn” / Loose Fur “Thou Shalt Wilt” / Dixie Chicks “Not Ready to Make Nice” / Bob Dylan “Rollin’ and Tumblin'” / Mr. Lif “Collapse” / Jim Jones “Bright Lights, Big City” / James Kochalka Superstar “Britney’s Silver Can”

The Mynabirds “Radiator Sister”

The Mynabirds’ second album Generals pulls off a few balancing acts – it’s substantially different in style, theme and tone without feeling like a different band, and it’s an upbeat soul-pop record that deals with big political ideas without seeming at all didactic. But that shouldn’t come as a big surprise to fans of her band’s debut, as one of the most appealing aspects of What We Lose in the Fire, We Gain in the Flood was the way Laura Burhenn wrote about a failed relationship in terms of faith and philosophy without ever seeming corny or trite. The songs on Generals are more aggressive and the production favors harsher tones, but Burhenn’s music is rooted in the same core values of melody, structure and craft, so it’s very easy to spend a lot of time with a cut like the glammy “Radiator Sister” without noticing the sharp critique hidden in its perky hooks. Sometimes artists lose their message in this way, but the pointed thoughts on Generals are far more conversational than argumentative. That approach is often a lot more listenable, and way more persuasive.

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The Walkmen “Love Is Luck”

There are bar bands, and then there are the Walkmen, a band who keeps making albums that always sound like distinctive, worn-in dives and taverns. Heaven, their seventh record if you count their Harry Nilsson homage, is a slight departure for them, at least in the sense that it sounds like a bar in daylight hours. They’ve mastered the sound of stumbling home after last call, captured the ambience of seedy back rooms and, in “The Rat,” created the aural equivalent of a bar fight, so it’s nice to hear something a bit more relaxed and understated. “Love Is Luck” is the highlight, and while its words contemplate the fleeting nature of passion, the chords evoke the look of golden-amber light filtering into an otherwise dark room.

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Scissor Sisters “Baby Come Home”

Jake Shears has spent the past decade tweaking the familiar sentiment and sound of classic pop to reflect the specific dynamics, quirks, kinks, and rites of passage of queer culture. He focuses on the issue of fidelity in this set, with several songs tackling the emotional complications of what Dan Savage calls a “monogamish” relationship. “Baby Come Home” nails this right off the bat, as Shears sings from the perspective of a man who is just fine with his partner getting action all night long, but is anxious to get him back in his arms. The music is bright and perky, letting on both a happy acceptance of his partner’s freedom as well as the impatience of his desire. It’s the most inspired cut on the record, and also the one that feels the most familiar. This is exactly the sort of song that comes most naturally to Shears and Babydaddy, and its presence among stodgy, over-written mid-tempo cuts and awkward stabs at hip-hop like the Azealia Banks collab “Shady Love” hangs a lantern on the notion that maybe this time around the band spent too much of its time overthinking the material and denying its best instincts.

(Excerpt from my review of Magic Hour for Pitchfork. It’s a bit of tough love, but I adore this song.)

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Alabama Shakes “You Ain’t Alone”

Alabama Shakes got their start covering songs by Otis Redding and James Brown, and that influence comes through in originals like “You Ain’t Alone,” a number that closely approximates the sound and intense yearning of their best ballads. Brittany Howard is a stunning vocalist – perhaps a bit too indebted to her influences, but arresting in her absolute commitment and vulnerability on the mic. “You Ain’t Alone” has her struggling to understand the shyness and reticence of the man she loves, and the song hits its peak of beauty just as she seems to reach her emotional breaking point.

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Jack White @ Roseland Ballroom 5/22/2012

Sixteen Saltines / Missing Pieces / Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground / Love Interruption / Hotel Yorba / Weep Themselves to Sleep / I Guess I Should Go to Sleep / Top Yourself / Hypocritical Kiss / new song – “I Love Your Sister” / Blue Blood Blues / We’re Going to Be Friends / Two Against One / Hardest Button to Button / Freedom at 21 / Take Me With You When You Go / Carolina Drama / Ball and Biscuit // (encore with male band) Black Math / Cut Like A Buffalo / Catch Hell Blues / Seven Nation Army

The main set, performed with White’s lady band the Peacocks, was good, but sloppy. It was obvious that he was losing his patience for his band mates at some points, but they came together for some inspired moments, like drastically slowing down a verse from “Freedom at 21,” and a particularly brutal “Hardest Button to Button.” The big thrill of the night came at the end, when White suddenly appeared on a second stage to the side of the audience and played his encore with his male band, the Buzzardos. The surprise was enough to make this a memorable moment, but that band was on fire, and poured a full set’s worth of energy and raw power into four numbers. The Peacocks have their charms, but White has greater chemistry with this group, or at least drummer Daru Jones. I would like to see White consolidate these two bands at some point, to attempt to get the best of both worlds.

Jack White “Take Me With You When You Go”

While I strongly respect the deliberate limitations that Jack White has placed on his music, particularly in the White Stripes, I’ve always wanted him to break free of that and run wild with textures, sounds and styles. He does that on Blunderbuss, and most especially on the record’s best track, “Take Me With You When You Go.” It may be White’s best-ever composition; an ever-shifting number that flows from one loose groove to another, tossing in bits of country, Sly-like funk and piano rock before it even gets to a truly astonishing fuzz guitar solo that feels like a thousand-volt joy jolt. Also, harmonies! White shines when paired with a strong female vocalist, particularly when it draws out an intriguing sexual dynamic. In this song, Ruby Amanfu takes on a stern front, intensifying the lyric and diluting the part of Jack’s voice that’s a bit pleading and passive.

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Jack White @ Roseland Ballroom 5/21/2012

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground / Missing Pieces / Sixteen Saltines / Hypocritical Kiss / I Cut Like A Buffalo / Trash Tongue Talker / Top Yourself / Two Against One / Black Math / Hello Operator / Weep Themselves to Sleep / You Know That I Know / Blunderbuss / Ball and Biscuit // Freedom at 21 / Steady, As She Goes / Take Me With You When You Go / Catch Hell Blues / Seven Nation Army

Jack White played this show with his all-male band, a group of musicians so formidably talented that it seemed that he was doing his best to keep up with them. The band, anchored by the loose-limbed drummer Daru Jones, were exceptionally loose but impeccably professional – everyone on stage clearly trusted each other, and played each song moment to moment, investing every performance with urgency and inspiration. It was great to see White genuinely challenged by the other players, and willing to give Jones – a far more dynamic and physical musician – a lot of the spotlight. It reminded me a bit of when Stephen Malkmus started playing with the Jicks – both men had spent so much time playing with friends who were not at all on their talent level that it was a relief to see them step up to working with equals, or in some cases, superiors.

Jack White “Blunderbuss”

Blunderbuss is the richest, most consistently excellent album of White’s career. The title track, a gentle, ornate country pop ballad, is one of the record’s most subtle numbers, which led me to overlook it somewhat in the first month or two that I had the album. There are flashier numbers, for sure, but “Blunderbuss” has a melody that burrows deep into my mind, and lyrics about longing for a relationship that exists fully in emotional sense but can go no further that stirs up bad memories for me. But as much as it stings, there’s a lot of grace in White’s frustration, and he articulates it all with remarkable clarity: “Such a trick, pretending not to be doing what you want to / but seems that everybody does this every waking moment.”

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of Montreal “We Will Commit Wolf Murder”

The emotional stakes on of Montreal records are through the roof under normal circumstances, but even with that frame of reference, Paralytic Stalks seems unusually tortured and hysterical. In context, “We Will Commit Wolf Murder” is a milder number, though its instantly satisfying melody sweetens the codependent sentiment and fearful misanthropy of Kevin Barnes’ words, and it eventually spirals off into a violent, panicked outro. As dark as this gets, Barnes can’t help but play up his surreal nightmare visions for oddball humor, or throw in lines like “I tried to understand his logic but there’s just no pattern there” that could just as well be a critique of his music from a skeptical listener. I understand why, even with the benefit of gorgeous melodies and funky bass, Barnes’ recent music could be too dense to handle for a lot of people, but I think if you can get on his wavelength, the pattern is there. It’s fairly obvious in this one, anyway – it’s hard not to notice when someone’s scraping the lowest depths of their self-loathing on record.

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Grimes “Circumambient”

Grimes is very big on splitting her voice into multiple harmonic parts that simulate the feeling of fractured thoughts that overlap, collide into one another, and sometimes totally contradict themselves. I’ve heard this before in different ways in other songs, but part of what makes her music interesting and powerful is in the way she seems to delight in this, and the most euphoric moments in her songs embrace this indecisive delirium. “Circumambient” is especially remarkable, with verses that form clear thoughts about a relationship in which neither side can move forward without addressing issues and a chorus that starts a thought that cannot be completed.

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