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.

Obi Best “Who Loves You Now”

“Who Loves You Now” falls on a very specific point in a post-break-up timeline: Enough time has passed to give the singer perspective and to have moved on at least a bit, but love and concern for her ex is still fresh in her mind. There’s no anger, just confusion and sentimentality, and frustration on what to do with this useless emotion stored up for a person who is now essentially absent or off-limits. Alex Lilly’s voice is sweet, but her affect is deliberately flat through much of the song, suggesting a distracted, shell-shocked state of mind. The song itself seems to hover and float from start to finish, drifting though moments of melancholy and optimism, slightly disconnected from reality but all the while knowing that it’s just about time to snap out of its funk.

Buy it from Amazon.

of Montreal @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 12/16/2008

Id Engager / So Begins Our Alabee / Triphallus, To Punctuate! / She’s A Rejecter / For Our Elegant Caste / Touched Something’s Hollow / An Eluardian Instance / Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse / Gallery Piece / Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games / Women’s Studies Victims / St. Exquisite’s Confessions / Eros’ Entropic Tundra / Nonpareil Of Favor / October Is Eternal / Wicked Wisdom / Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider / Knight Rider / And I Saw A Bloody Shadow / Plastis Wafer / Beware Our Nubile Miscreants / Mingusings / Al Na Wayo / A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger // Gronlandic Edit / Oslo In The Summertime / American Girl (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover)

Compared to of Montreal’s epic multimedia extravaganza at the Roseland Ballroom in October, this concert at the relatively tiny Music Hall of Williamsburg was a stripped down, lightly theatrical affair. That said, in comparison to the vast majority of bands on the touring circuit, the show was quite a spectacle. It all depends on your level of expectation, I suppose.

Without a doubt, it is more exciting and fulfilling to witness the full production of the group’s current show. It is undoubtedly a richer, more complete work of art, and the performance pieces and additional video art are funny, thoughtful, exciting, and add to or complement the lyrical themes. That said, the songs and the band’s performances are strong enough that it is not actually necessary for a satisfying concert experience. In some ways, the relative absence of spectacle made it easier to sink deep within the songs, and to emphasize a more personal experience with the material than to keep one’s mind focused on the narrative appearing on stage. Of course, much of the band’s appeal comes down to that sort of strong personal identification — ultimately, this is deep investment is why the audience is so fanatical and energetic.

of Montreal “Mingusings”

The first few verses of “Mingusings” rank among my favorite bits in Kevin Barnes’ body of work, in part for the very sound of it, but mostly because I find myself identifying closely with the words. I tend to relate to most of what Kevin writes, even when it’s rather far off from own life experience, but without explicating too much, there are a few lines in “Mingusings” that hit especially close to home, at least before they bounce off into another tangent. That bounce is part of what makes it work for me, though — it’s often enough to just echo something in your head, but it’s even better to push the thought to different conclusions, whether it’s wanting to fire all your friends and start your life over again, willing future triumph into existence, or inexplicably changing the topic to something about the intersection of technology and fiction.

Buy it from Polyvinyl Records.

Rose Elinor Dougall “May Holiday”

Much like her previous single “Another Version Of Pop Song,” “May Holiday” finds Rose Elinor Dougall attempting to reconcile the happy romance and stability of a relationship in the present tense with the nagging anxiety of wondering where she will be in the future, and what she will think of her life now in retrospect. The emotional tone of the piece is pitched perfectly between affectionate sweetness and melodramatic melancholy, particularly as the arrangement builds to a cinematic peak without getting overly sappy.

Visit Rose Elinor Dougall’s MySpace page.

Zooey “Father To A Sister Of Thought”

On the Zooey site, the duo mention that they’ve been singing this song in the shower for years. Hey, me too! It’s been one of my go-to sing-to-myself-when-I’m-alone songs for most of my life now, and in doing that, I’ve noticed that it’s a wonderfully malleable melody that rewards light improvisation and a variety of readings that bleed into genres. Zooey clearly noticed this as well. The tone of their cover is very faithful to that of the Pavement original, but it is technically transposed to another genre, a sort of mellow, keyboard-driven modern lounge pop. I’m very fond of their added harmonies, but I wish they had not omitted the riff at the end, and the “I know I’ll never know” outro.

Visit Zooey’s official site.

The Voluntary Butler Scheme “Foolish”

Much in the way that the previous Voluntary Butler Scheme track featured on this site used the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” as a starting point for a song that skewed in a slightly different direction, “Foolish” adapts a rhythmic hook from Booker T and the MGs’ “Time Is Tight” as the basis of a tune that otherwise sounds like vintage British Invasion. Rob Jones, the man behind this music, has a natural talent for pastiche, and also for modernizing his tracks just enough to make them seem fresh, clean, and new without necessarily forcing winks or putting huge quotation marks around each and every note.

Visit the Voluntary Butler Scheme’s MySpace page.

A.C. Newman “Submarines of Stockholm”

At this point, we know what to expect from a record penned by Carl Newman, and that’s no bad thing. Though “Submarines of Stockholm” is comprised mainly of familiar Newman songwriting tics, the composition has an aggressive, chopping guitar motif and subtly seasick percussion that leaves it feeling distinct, memorable, and slightly uncomfortable despite its ingratiating melodies.

Pre-order it from Matador Records.

Deerhoof “Snoopy Waves”

In another world, John Dieterich is playing guitar in a much more mainstream band than Deerhoof, but I suppose that world is also a bit more dull. Dieterich’s playing is loose, slick, melodic, and restless, and serves as a fine counterpoint to the trio’s more child-like and/or abrasive impulses. The guitar parts throughout Offend Maggie are exceptionally crisp and vibrant, but I’m most partial to the way his grooves and leads fall together in “Snoopy Waves,” a composition that briskly moves through several phases, as if to compress an entire day’s worth of emotions into a two minute song.

Buy it from Kill Rock Stars.

Julia Holter “Moto Perpetuo”

Holter’s composition sounds like a cross between a music box and a video game, and implies a tiny, delicate, finite world, like a snow globe or a level within a game. It’s pretty and sweet, but obviously artificial in a way that reminds us of the messy reality of our own world, but also that it’s necessary to imagine and invent these alternate realities. Also: Hey, look! This song’s title is very similar to my given name.

Buy it from Amazon. Go here for more information about Julia Holter.

Ella Fitzgerald “What Are You Doing New Years Eve?” (Mangini Vs. Pallin Mix)

This remix doesn’t change the mood and tone of Fitzgerald’s original recording so much as enhance it to the point that its glossy, over the top artifice becomes a bit surreal, and charming in and of itself. In other words: Yo dawg I herd you like nostalgic whimsy so we put nostalgic whimsy in yo romance so you can be nostalgically whimsical while U romance!

Buy itfrom Amazon.

Anya Marina “Afterparty At Jimmy’s”

This feels cartoonish, in a good way. Even though it’s not entirely true, the guitar sounds like it’s nothing but a single, stabbing down stroke chord repeated forever, or at least until the player takes a break for a moment of awkward noodling in, as Noel Gallagher would say, “a Wayne’s World stylee.” Marina’s voice is even more exaggerated, warping her sexy rock bad girl front into something weirdly Muppet-ish at points. (This muppet.)

Buy it from Amazon.

Clipse “Intro”

“Intro” is a misleading title for this track, at least in the sense that it implies that it’s not in fact a full, complete song but rather a skippable bit at the start of a record. This is definitely not the case. The track is lifted whole from Fabolous and Junior Reed’s “Gangsta Don’t Play,” a simple, mellow composition that leaves plenty of space for Malice and Pusha T’s careful wordplay. As always, the duo specialize in tight verses that never feel over-written despite their meticulous construction. True to the title, the lyrics of “Intro” are primarily concerned with reintroducing the primary theme of Clipse songs — their proficiency at both rhyming and selling cocaine — while allowing for a brief meditation on their lack of major commercial success without getting all self-pitying about their inability to score a radio hit since their debut single.

Get it from Complex.

Justice “We Are Your Friends” (Live in San Francisco, 2008)

It was a pretty good decision for Justice to record their live set in a way that included the audience as much as possible, even if the actual recording is weirdly lo-fi for an officially released album. A straight mix of their live set would’ve been almost entirely pointless — it’s mostly just tweaked versions of the songs on their only album — but with the audible audience, you get a sense of the excitement they are generating, and the ways the duo’s music and approach to performance is far closer to the aesthetic of arena rock than a typical DJ group. The chorus of “We Are Your Friends” is sung almost entirely by the audience, which makes perfect sense musically and lyrically — the genius of those words comes from how it taps into and then amplifies the over-inflated sense of togetherness of otherwise lonely people dancing in a club, or a rock show. In this context, it could just as well be “We Are Your Fans,” as the sentiment feels just as much like a connection between the DJs and their audience. This is a great document, but I would’ve preferred it in video form, to get a feeling for the place, the people, and the lighting. Ironically, this is from part of set that also includes a dvd, but that dvd mostly skips live footage in favor of backstage documentary reportage and enough leering shots of cute young hipster girls to fill out a few months worth of Last Night’s Party galleries.

Buy it from Amazon.

Bell @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 12/8/2008 (Gummy Awards)

Housefire / Echinacea / Brown Bear / The Miner / New Bridge / Suerte Loca / Hero

Bell “Brown Bear”

The latest incarnation of Olga Bell’s live band entirely omits guitar and bass, and emphasizes rhythm and electronic instrumentation. Whereas the guitars thickened her songs and maximized the impact of their most dramatic moments, her frequent collaborators Jason Nazary and Gunnar Olsen loosen up the material with nimble percussion and generally more nuanced accompaniment. Both approaches have their merits — certainly, the versions from earlier in the year had a greater appeal for mainstream and rock fans — but this current take seems more true to the spirit of Olga and her general aesthetic. “Echinacea” and “Brown Bear” came off especially well with the new arrangements, as the players were better able to capture the weightless feeling essential to the compositions.

Nevertheless, as astonishing as Olga and her band can be, some of the music can still seem like a work in progress, primarily due to the impression that they are overthinking and over-arranging the songs. In the case of “Housefire” and “The Miner,” strong melodic parts were altered somewhat or avoided entirely, as if to deliberately tone down their emotional weight. The arrangement of “Hero” smothered its simple, affecting melody beneath far too many elements, and sort of begged to be pared down to essentials. Also, despite being blessed with a lovely, expressive, and technically proficient voice, Olga has a tendency to lean too hard on electronic vocal effects. The effects can work quite well, but ought to be employed in moderation.

Also, if you were wondering: Yes, it’s very difficult for me to hear the song “New Bridge” without thinking of the Best Show on WFMU.

Buy it from Bell.

Deerhunter @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 12/8/2008 (Gummy Awards)

Cryptograms / Never Stops / Dr. Glass / Hazel Street / Nothing Ever Happened / Saved By Old Times / Octet / Microcastle / Vox Celeste / Operation / Twilight at Carbon Lake // Cover Me Slowly / Agoraphobia / Strange Lights

These guys again, right? I don’t know how they do it, but each show I see Deerhunter play is about 20% better than the one previous. I imagine the actual quality of this performance was not enormously different from the one that I saw last month, but the Music Hall has far better sound than the Bowery Ballroom, and Bradford Cox was in an especially silly mood, so that kinda puts it over. Also, this show included “Saved By Old Times”!

Deerhunter “Saved By Old Times (Platts Eyott Session)”

I find myself to be consistently moved by the phrase “Saved By Old Times” as Bradford sings it in the song, even if there’s more than a little ambiguity to what it means in and out of context. I mostly interpret the line as a way of expressing the comfort and consolation of connecting with the art of another era. As in, you may be dissatisfied with the present tense for any variety of reasons, but inspiration from the past can be a guide to working your way into the future. In this way, it’s like a mission statement for the band — pull what you can from the old times, but keep moving forward.

Buy it from Amazon.

Belle & Sebastian “Slow Graffiti” (BBC session version)

Ten years ago, this song could kill me. Nowadays, it just sorta maims. The thing is, I’m not entirely sure why. I have not ever, at any point in my life, directly related to the song’s protagonist, though his plight certainly taps into some of my own worst fears. At the start of the song, he’s imagining a portrait of himself twenty years into the future. The lyric then shifts to a first person account of a man passively slumping through a dull life in which he tends to a girlfriend who comes across as something of a mess. Then the perspective shifts again, this time affectionately chastising the character for being “like a mother to the girl you’ve fallen for, and you’re still falling.” It’s funny that I’m only just now noticing the shift in perspective — which I suppose means that the second section is the imagined future, and the finale has him speaking to his vision of his future self — but had always intuited its conclusion as being this cutting bit of self-criticism that trails off into an abbreviated instrumental digression before returning to the thought once more.

Buy it from Matador Records.

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou “Se Tche We Djo Mon”

The particular guitar tone in this track is among the best I’ve ever heard in all my time listening to music. It’s a rather bright sound that perfectly accentuates the trebly notes of its nimble solos, and brings a clean, lightly metallic clang to its brisk rhythmic hook. That rhythm part is especially hypnotic in combination with the persistent hi-hat clatter of the percussion, which glides along at a quick clip, but leaves the middle range of the composition wide open for the arrangement’s more subtle elements.

Buy it from Analog Africa.

If you only read this site via RSS feed, you should take note of the first part of the 2008 retrospective in this week’s Fluxcast. It’s the closest thing you’re going to get to a year-end thing from me, unless you want to count my Pazz and Jop ballot, which you probably shouldn’t.

Think About Life “Cyanide”

“Cyanide” is about panic and confusion, but it somehow feels loose and calm despite its anxiety and tension. Maybe it’s like being in the eye of the storm, or finding some peace amid chaos. Listening to the track, it seems as though it could just explode at any moment or build to some catharsis, but instead, the track just sorta stops, letting the mood run its course without a hint of what could happen next.

Visit the Think About Life website.

Barbara Morgenstern “Reich & Berühmt”

As far as I can tell, “Reich & Berühmt” is sung in German except for a line in English. Understandably as a non-German speaker, the English line is the one that catches my ear: “Dance the night away if you want to be part of it.” I have no sense of the line’s context, but I’m intrigued by the decision to have that particular sentiment sung in another language, and wonder if it is somehow intended for the segment of Morgenstern’s audience who speak English but cannot understand German. Either way, this is not really a dancing song, but instead something more melancholy and lost in its own head. It’s not “part of it,” but removed, aloof, and physically and/or emotionally removed from the room full of dancing people.

Buy it from Amazon.

Clue To Kalo “User To A Carrier (By The Sister)”

Each of the songs on Clue To Kalo’s forthcoming album Lily Perdida examine the title character from the perspective of other people in her life, yielding a complete picture of a person out of often conflicting fragments of information and contradicting experiences. It’s a clever idea, though the odd density of the lyrics can make the broader themes about identity and community a bit difficult to engage without following the lyric sheet in the album’s booklet. The music is quite another matter, as its best songs roll on with lovely, breezy melodies that often follow the winding curves of English folk, and are executed with the style and grace of Elliott Smith and early Belle & Sebastian. The vocals can get a bit too thin at times, but when it snaps together, the reserved performances suit the tone just fine.

Buy it from Mush Records.

A few notes on last night’s Indie Karaoke show hosted by Andrew WK, and featuring Ted Leo and the Pharmacists:

1) Andrew WK and Ted Leo are both, as my friend Chris notes, unequivocal forces for good in this world. Young rock musicians would be wise to follow their example of marrying positive energy and solid principles to artistic craft and everyman appeal rather than to end up like, you know, this.

2) Ted Leo and the Pharmacists’ new material is very strong, probably their best work since Hearts of Oak. Yes, it basically sounds like Ted Leo music, but it’s sharp and immediately catchy, and the song Ted described as being like “black metal dancehall” is a clear winner.

3) There were some really wonderful performances in the karaoke set. Much respect to the guys who did the Outfield song, “Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap),” and “Minor Threat,” but it’s safe to say that the obvious highlight was this awesome woman named Abigail who absolutely killed it on “Respect.” She was just astounding, and had enough charisma, confidence, and vocal power that if she doesn’t already have a band of her own, she’d better start one right away.

4) Of course, there were some lame performances as well. Look, I know it’s mean to be overly critical of karaoke performances and that Andrew WK would probably not approve of me saying this, but if you’re going to get to the venue super early to sign up for a song, you should be prepared to sing it, and have heard the song at least once in the past ten years. Anything less, particularly in a scenario in which a lot of people would’ve liked to sing but didn’t get the chance because it was first-come first-serve, is just insulting to everyone else in the room. Specifically, I am talking about those two assholes who did “Dancing With Myself.” They should be ashamed of themselves.