M.I.A.
/\/\ /\ Y /\ (Maya)
Released July 13, 2010
Short Notes: Or: On The Value of Lowered Expectations
Brandon: B-
It’s not at all surprising that critics were wildly divided over this record. It’s a radical departure from her quirky but club-ready sound on her first two (outstanding) records, more abrasive, processed, and artificial. I’ve only followed parts of the story of M.I.A. the artist, who’s global fame has put her artistic decisions under a new, intense kind of critical scrutiny. And like Kanye, she’s responded by pulling into herself, with tinny beats and processed vocals evoking a new distance between her and the listener. Mainstream critical outlets have responded much as they did for Kanye--heaping praise on this record as the statement of a more mature artist. But with the exception of the AV Club and Bob Christgau (who draws the comparison explicitly in his favorable review, suggesting that, as an insular, fuck-up record, Maya accomplishes its goals with “rather more success than Kanye West on 808s and Heartbreak) , the indie press that brought M.I.A. her first attention were rather brutal (Pitchfork calls it a “shambling mess.”)
As always, the truth is closest to Christgau. /\/\ /\ Y /\ is neither shambolic nor a masterwork. It’s not a fun record (no “Sunshowers” here), without much of the humor that made her so endearing on Arular, but the industrial crunch of tracks like “Meds and Feds” is reasonably interesting in its own right, as is the synthy “XXXO.” Even if half the songs here are duds, she’s still making challenging, original music that’s clearly aiming for capital-A Art, with all that comes with being that kind of pop musician. For better or worse, I’d rather hear M.I.A.’s take on krautrock (“Illygirl”) than the second half of the Lucky Soul record, which tells you something.
Lin: B-
For me, M.I.A. is in the same category as pre-Dark Fantasy Kanye: a popularly loved and critically respected artist that I just don't get. I mean, "Paper Planes" is a burner in every sense of the word, but easily my favorite version of it is the Diplo Remix with Bun B and Rich Boy which minimizes M.I.A.'s own input. I've not been impressed with any of her previous work; the albums are good enough to throw on for background noise or, presumably, dancefloor grinding but even the relatively intricate beats rarely force attention. /\/\ /\ Y /\, for all the comparisons to Kanye, is no My Beautiful Dark Twisted Family. It seems like more of the same, though those with more familiarity to her back catalog could probably point out the differences.
My favorite track here is "Lovalot," eschewing the bang of everything else with a more subdued, tense and paranoid beat the slithers it way through a story of terrorism or freedom fighting or whatever. "Believer" comes close to the same, but lacks any payoff -- all tension with no release. The rest of the album isn't a mess (as Brandon points out) but it's a chore to get through. Only "XXXO" and, to a lesser extent, "Tell Me Why" work in the more club-friendly format that most of her work trades in.
Male Bonding
Nothing Hurts
Released May 10, 2010
Short Notes: More shoegaze/lo-fi pop that doesn’t reach the heights of other shoegaze/lo-fi of 2010
Brandon: B
Fitting right in with the noise-pop of bands (I don’t like all that much) like Vivian Girls and No Age, Nothing Hurts is a stomping, echo-y barnburner that veers between the nearly Husker Du/early Dinosaur jr /first Nirvana record (“Your Contact,” “Crooked Scene,” “Paradise Vendors”) and the more plodding drone of their contemporaries (“Franklin”). I’m not particularly into shoegaze when it’s not cut with equal or better parts of pop sensibility, and for the most part, this album holds my attention with solid riffs that overcome the affected, echo-chamber vocals. At 29 minutes, the shoegazy parts of this record I find less compelling never really subsume the punk I like much more. Not my favorite fuzzed-out record of the year (Dum Dum Girls and Ariel Pink write better songs, and balance their fidelity affects with more compelling pop), but not bad.
Lin: C
Like Brandon, I’m not particularly into shoegaze -- except when it’s an accent to a heaping pile of metal. And since I have this growing, well, ‘hatred’ is the right word, I guess, of muddied lo-fi pop music, my favorite thing about this album is its short short length. This strikes me as far more generic than the albums Brandon mentions (Ariel Pink, etc.) which also makes it worse, committing the dual sins of being bad and uninteresting. “Pirate Key” almost piqued my interest there for a second, making it my favorite track on the album, but the rest of it is like driving through Western Nebraska, trying to find a radio station with a strong enough signal.
25 July 2011
12 July 2011
2010: Los Campesinos!, Lucky Soul
Los Campesinos!
Romance is Boring
Released January 26 (Wichita Recordings)
Short Notes: Scotland’s answer to Vampire Weekend?
LIN: C+
I think the Budweiser commercial using the opening of Los Campesinos!'s "You! Me! Dancing!" is brilliant. (I tried to find a copy of the ad online, but couldn't. If any readers can find it, post in the comments, please?) The build-up has just the right amount of tension that when it breaks it releases a flood of endorphins. Unfortunately, the song is six minutes long and goes downhill from there -- so I like imagine that the Bud commercial is simply a video for the song.
Which has little to do with this album before us, which I found really quite boring. (Cue headlines: Romance isn't boring, but Romance Is Boring is boring!) Nothing here comes close to the opening 90 seconds of "You! Me! Dancing!"... or, really, to the rest of that song, which I don't even much care for. I generally have more tolerance for music that is interesting or novel even if it fails. Even shit I hated (c.f. Girl Talk/Joanna Newsom) I have more respect for since it was 'good' enough to elicit an emotion at least. For whatever reason, I think the melodramatic song title "I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed. Just So You Know." pretty much sums it up.
BRANDON: B+
Not surprisingly, I’m a Los Campesinos fan. This kind of literate (with the big words and such), half-spoken, sunny pop has always been my stock-in-trade, the third strand of my core musical identity along with alt.country and old-time blues and country. I listened to their first record, the jittery, manic, and surprisingly angry Hold On Now, Youngster on repeat during my “lost” year of graduate school in 2008, screaming out the opening track, “Death to Los Campesinos!” with the windows down in the van on the way to Woodman’s.
Romance is Boring is a bigger, sonically fuller record. Los Campesinos are getting weirder, closer to Xiu Xiu (Jamie Stewart guests), and further from the bands I was hearing in them in 2008--Frightened Rabbits and Vampire Weekend, for starters. The more conventionally structured songs--”Romance is Boring” and the too-clever-by-half but still pretty great “Straight in at 101”--are the most successful, though, as lead singer/frontman Gareth Campesinos! (yes, they’re that kind of band) channels a prep-school version of Craig Finn or (perhaps more aptly) Eddie Argos from Art Brut, ranting about the failures of hipster love. “Straight in at 101” in particular really works for me, the story of a fumbling love played out by a kid who plays at hipsterdom, camouflaging his adolescent assholery (and love for a good chorus) with tight pants, mussy hair, and picky eating:
Ladies and gentlemen, that’s why no one has sex while listening to Tortoise.
Unfortunately, too much of this record is given over to the very boring drone and repetition he’s criticizing--songs that lack the hooky vitality of this band’s best work. I still love it, but songs like “Coda: A Burn Scar int he Shape of the Sooner State” and “I Just Sighed, I Just Sighed, Just So You Know” are eminently skippable, which isn’t what you want from a taut pop record.
Lucky Soul
A Coming of Age
Released April 15 (Elefant)
Short Notes: British retro-pop that occasionally overcomes its genre trappings
BRANDON: B-
I love a good genre exercise as much as the next guy, and tamborine-heavy girl-group-baiting pop isn’t a bad genre to play with. It’s heavy on convention, offering a tight format that, with the slightest tweaking or transgression, can easily become something much more. And when Lucky Soul go straight for the hand-clapping, cliched sweet spot, these songs overcome the fairly ordinary songwriting to become something fairly compelling, if slight--like a less punky, British Detroit Cobras. The first four tracks on this record do this very well, mixing lilting “whoa-oh” choruses (“Whoa Billy”) with driving mid-tempo numbers that sound like Northern Soul outtakes (“Love 3”) and the lovely, string-laden “Up in Flames.” But when the songs tray too much from the faux-Northern Soul format, the record is mostly forgettable. Such is the danger in plying “retro-pop,” as Lin has often noted: why would you put on new derivatives when you can listen to the real thing?
LIN: B
Which is amusing, since I like the first half of this album a great deal. Part of it is assuredly a reaction against the muddied lo-fi of the indie-acclaimed best-of pop albums of the year that I continue to rail on. The two released singles ("Whoa Billy" and "White Russian Doll") captures the raw joy of the best late 60's girl groups, making it perfect for summer listening. "Love 3" is fits in nicely, a lean two minute slice of tightly constructed soul pop. In many ways, this tracks are what I've always wanted from Belle and Sebastian but never got. But Brandon's right: outside of the title track, nothing on the second half of the album distinguishes itself from its sources or its contemporaries. But 3 pretty great and 2 pretty good tracks is enough for a 'B' and a qualified recommendation, if you like this sort of thing.
Romance is Boring
Released January 26 (Wichita Recordings)
Short Notes: Scotland’s answer to Vampire Weekend?
LIN: C+
I think the Budweiser commercial using the opening of Los Campesinos!'s "You! Me! Dancing!" is brilliant. (I tried to find a copy of the ad online, but couldn't. If any readers can find it, post in the comments, please?) The build-up has just the right amount of tension that when it breaks it releases a flood of endorphins. Unfortunately, the song is six minutes long and goes downhill from there -- so I like imagine that the Bud commercial is simply a video for the song.
Which has little to do with this album before us, which I found really quite boring. (Cue headlines: Romance isn't boring, but Romance Is Boring is boring!) Nothing here comes close to the opening 90 seconds of "You! Me! Dancing!"... or, really, to the rest of that song, which I don't even much care for. I generally have more tolerance for music that is interesting or novel even if it fails. Even shit I hated (c.f. Girl Talk/Joanna Newsom) I have more respect for since it was 'good' enough to elicit an emotion at least. For whatever reason, I think the melodramatic song title "I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed. Just So You Know." pretty much sums it up.
BRANDON: B+
Not surprisingly, I’m a Los Campesinos fan. This kind of literate (with the big words and such), half-spoken, sunny pop has always been my stock-in-trade, the third strand of my core musical identity along with alt.country and old-time blues and country. I listened to their first record, the jittery, manic, and surprisingly angry Hold On Now, Youngster on repeat during my “lost” year of graduate school in 2008, screaming out the opening track, “Death to Los Campesinos!” with the windows down in the van on the way to Woodman’s.
Romance is Boring is a bigger, sonically fuller record. Los Campesinos are getting weirder, closer to Xiu Xiu (Jamie Stewart guests), and further from the bands I was hearing in them in 2008--Frightened Rabbits and Vampire Weekend, for starters. The more conventionally structured songs--”Romance is Boring” and the too-clever-by-half but still pretty great “Straight in at 101”--are the most successful, though, as lead singer/frontman Gareth Campesinos! (yes, they’re that kind of band) channels a prep-school version of Craig Finn or (perhaps more aptly) Eddie Argos from Art Brut, ranting about the failures of hipster love. “Straight in at 101” in particular really works for me, the story of a fumbling love played out by a kid who plays at hipsterdom, camouflaging his adolescent assholery (and love for a good chorus) with tight pants, mussy hair, and picky eating:
I think we need more post-coital
and less post-rock
feels like the build-up takes forever
but you never get me off.
Ladies and gentlemen, that’s why no one has sex while listening to Tortoise.
Unfortunately, too much of this record is given over to the very boring drone and repetition he’s criticizing--songs that lack the hooky vitality of this band’s best work. I still love it, but songs like “Coda: A Burn Scar int he Shape of the Sooner State” and “I Just Sighed, I Just Sighed, Just So You Know” are eminently skippable, which isn’t what you want from a taut pop record.
Lucky Soul
A Coming of Age
Released April 15 (Elefant)
Short Notes: British retro-pop that occasionally overcomes its genre trappings
BRANDON: B-
I love a good genre exercise as much as the next guy, and tamborine-heavy girl-group-baiting pop isn’t a bad genre to play with. It’s heavy on convention, offering a tight format that, with the slightest tweaking or transgression, can easily become something much more. And when Lucky Soul go straight for the hand-clapping, cliched sweet spot, these songs overcome the fairly ordinary songwriting to become something fairly compelling, if slight--like a less punky, British Detroit Cobras. The first four tracks on this record do this very well, mixing lilting “whoa-oh” choruses (“Whoa Billy”) with driving mid-tempo numbers that sound like Northern Soul outtakes (“Love 3”) and the lovely, string-laden “Up in Flames.” But when the songs tray too much from the faux-Northern Soul format, the record is mostly forgettable. Such is the danger in plying “retro-pop,” as Lin has often noted: why would you put on new derivatives when you can listen to the real thing?
LIN: B
Which is amusing, since I like the first half of this album a great deal. Part of it is assuredly a reaction against the muddied lo-fi of the indie-acclaimed best-of pop albums of the year that I continue to rail on. The two released singles ("Whoa Billy" and "White Russian Doll") captures the raw joy of the best late 60's girl groups, making it perfect for summer listening. "Love 3" is fits in nicely, a lean two minute slice of tightly constructed soul pop. In many ways, this tracks are what I've always wanted from Belle and Sebastian but never got. But Brandon's right: outside of the title track, nothing on the second half of the album distinguishes itself from its sources or its contemporaries. But 3 pretty great and 2 pretty good tracks is enough for a 'B' and a qualified recommendation, if you like this sort of thing.
17 June 2011
2010: LCD Soundsystem, Lissie
LCD Soundsystem
This Is Happening
Released May 18, 2010(DFA/Virgin)
Short Notes: This may be happening...but is it a good thing?
Lin: B+
I've only recently come to the point where I'm willing to say I like dance and/or electronic music. Part of the reason is exactly what that statement usually implies: I started my musical journey in a much different place and shunned the sounds that didn't correspond with that ethos. But it's also my mostly-quixotic belief that one ought to be able to explain why one likes what one likes and it took awhile for me to feel like I could do that. LCD Soundsystem was one of the gateways for me, though it took me a long time to realize it.
What makes Murphy's first two albums particularly special to me is that they feel like albums: coherent and complete artistic statements, not just a collection of potential singles. Coming from a rock background and having my musical education take place in the (barely) pre-mp3 error, this means a lot. So much of dance music seems to be made for short attention spans, it's nice when music presents a fuller argument.
This is Happening also seems to do this -- definitely to the albums' credit. But it lacks the vitality of the second and, especially, the first. I want my music to grab me and force me to listen to it. A singer needs to have the force of will to convince the listener that they have something to say and that they know what they're talking about. Listen to something like "All My Friends" and you can hear it. Or "New York I Love You" or "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House." I don't hear it on the new one. It sounds too complacent. The "B+" rating is probably too low, given from a place of disappointment: the music here matches that of his earlier work and the lyrics are still top-notch. But it's missing the emotional component that makes it essential.
Brandon: A-
Having listened to this record now almost a dozen times, I think I get why James Murphy decided to end this project and move on. That’s not a commentary on the quality of the record (which is, I think, quite high, if not quite as good as Sound of Silver), but I think you can hear it in the music, in the extended, more meandering songs that make up most of This is Happening. As Lin suggests, this is a much less immediate record than the two previous LCD Soundsystem outings, and excepting the gleeful “Drunk Girls,” there’s not a song under just shy of six minutes long. “You Wanted a Hit,” indeed.
That said, I find this record quite powerful. There’s a lot less tongue-in-cheek flippancy in these songs, which ride dancily along on some real angst. “Pow Pow,” which I think of as one of the album’s standout tracks, juxtaposes the goofiness of the onomatopoetic chorus and throwaway diss lines directed at Village Voice writers with some real self-contemplation--about the perils of he scene, failing relationships, and opening oneself up to new experiences. And the opening track, “Dance Yrself Clean,” is a monster. No one does wry lyrics with minimal beats as well as Murphy, and this is his apotheosis, the distillation of his band’s signature sound into a blurting, thumping, kraut-rock mess of emotion. Murphy’s vocals have never been better than on this track either, as he switches effortlessly from his normal singsong-y delivery to an affecting yelp. All in all, a worthy swansong.
Lissie
Catching A Tiger
Released August 17, 2010 (Fat Possum)
Short Notes: Sunny, blonde Cali folk-pop-rock that doesn’t really know what it wants to be.
Brandon: B-
After hearing the opening track, the quirky, clanging, poppy “Record Collector,” I had reasonably high hopes for this record. “Record Collector” is an endearing, soaring pop song (if a little overstuffed with ideas that depart from the solid structure of the first minute), with Lissie’s Stevie Nicks-lite vocals focused and taut. But the wheels come off with the second track, the regrettable, limp “When I’m Alone,” and the record becomes something of an eclectic mess.
I don’t know Lissie’s back catalog, although her debut EP got enough buzz to put her on my radar (and thus on the list), but she sounds like an artist who’s either not yet certain of what kind of songwriter/performer she is, or like an artist whose management is deeply misguided. There are at least four producers on the record (including Kings of Leon collaborator Jacquire King and British singer/songwriter Ed Harcourt), and the album veers wildly from piano ballads in a West Coast Regina Spektor mould (“Bully”) to galloping quasi-country (“Little Lovin’), straight pop-country in the Dixie Chicks mould (“Cuckoo”), and the sort of shuffling blues that gets you a deal with Fat Possum (“Needle Starts to Fall”).
“Stranger,” which sounds like a remastered Petula Clark B-side and is one of the stronger tracks, doesn’t even remotely fit with the rest of the album. Although it’s a charming (if slight) pop song, it disrupts the album’s flow, and might have been better served as a single or the lead track of an EP. Nothing here is particularly bad (although “When I’m Alone” and “Oh Mississippi,” co-written by Harcourt and sounding just like a turgid British take on classic American folk balladry, are the weakest links), but none of the good ideas are fully developed, either. I’d be curious to hear a record on which Lissie herself takes control. For what it's worth, the live video I've posted above of "Cuckoo" sounds far better than the album version, and I suspect she's a compelling live performer who's got a shot at making a good record with better direction in the studio.
Lin: C+
Catching a Tiger starts off well enough and I start to think of yet another way to say "it's alright but unspecial." Then it takes a turn for the worse, putting in a couple of totally skippable tracks. The nadir is the inexplicable inclusion of "Stranger" which, at best, sounds like the girl group heyday or, at worst, a Best Coast knock off. It makes no sense in context of the album and takes me out of the listening experience. It's indicative of the album's major problem: it has no ethos or point it's trying to make. It's scattered, but not in the schizophrenic way, which can turn out okay; no, it tries too hard to be everything to everyone (at least in an indie context -- this is no repeat of the Katy Perry album). There's some decent moments here (first single "In Sleep," perhaps, or "Look Away"), but nothing to recommend it over the couple dozen similar but better albums we've also reviewed here.
This Is Happening
Released May 18, 2010(DFA/Virgin)
Short Notes: This may be happening...but is it a good thing?
Lin: B+
I've only recently come to the point where I'm willing to say I like dance and/or electronic music. Part of the reason is exactly what that statement usually implies: I started my musical journey in a much different place and shunned the sounds that didn't correspond with that ethos. But it's also my mostly-quixotic belief that one ought to be able to explain why one likes what one likes and it took awhile for me to feel like I could do that. LCD Soundsystem was one of the gateways for me, though it took me a long time to realize it.
What makes Murphy's first two albums particularly special to me is that they feel like albums: coherent and complete artistic statements, not just a collection of potential singles. Coming from a rock background and having my musical education take place in the (barely) pre-mp3 error, this means a lot. So much of dance music seems to be made for short attention spans, it's nice when music presents a fuller argument.
This is Happening also seems to do this -- definitely to the albums' credit. But it lacks the vitality of the second and, especially, the first. I want my music to grab me and force me to listen to it. A singer needs to have the force of will to convince the listener that they have something to say and that they know what they're talking about. Listen to something like "All My Friends" and you can hear it. Or "New York I Love You" or "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House." I don't hear it on the new one. It sounds too complacent. The "B+" rating is probably too low, given from a place of disappointment: the music here matches that of his earlier work and the lyrics are still top-notch. But it's missing the emotional component that makes it essential.
Brandon: A-
Having listened to this record now almost a dozen times, I think I get why James Murphy decided to end this project and move on. That’s not a commentary on the quality of the record (which is, I think, quite high, if not quite as good as Sound of Silver), but I think you can hear it in the music, in the extended, more meandering songs that make up most of This is Happening. As Lin suggests, this is a much less immediate record than the two previous LCD Soundsystem outings, and excepting the gleeful “Drunk Girls,” there’s not a song under just shy of six minutes long. “You Wanted a Hit,” indeed.
That said, I find this record quite powerful. There’s a lot less tongue-in-cheek flippancy in these songs, which ride dancily along on some real angst. “Pow Pow,” which I think of as one of the album’s standout tracks, juxtaposes the goofiness of the onomatopoetic chorus and throwaway diss lines directed at Village Voice writers with some real self-contemplation--about the perils of he scene, failing relationships, and opening oneself up to new experiences. And the opening track, “Dance Yrself Clean,” is a monster. No one does wry lyrics with minimal beats as well as Murphy, and this is his apotheosis, the distillation of his band’s signature sound into a blurting, thumping, kraut-rock mess of emotion. Murphy’s vocals have never been better than on this track either, as he switches effortlessly from his normal singsong-y delivery to an affecting yelp. All in all, a worthy swansong.
Lissie
Catching A Tiger
Released August 17, 2010 (Fat Possum)
Short Notes: Sunny, blonde Cali folk-pop-rock that doesn’t really know what it wants to be.
Brandon: B-
After hearing the opening track, the quirky, clanging, poppy “Record Collector,” I had reasonably high hopes for this record. “Record Collector” is an endearing, soaring pop song (if a little overstuffed with ideas that depart from the solid structure of the first minute), with Lissie’s Stevie Nicks-lite vocals focused and taut. But the wheels come off with the second track, the regrettable, limp “When I’m Alone,” and the record becomes something of an eclectic mess.
I don’t know Lissie’s back catalog, although her debut EP got enough buzz to put her on my radar (and thus on the list), but she sounds like an artist who’s either not yet certain of what kind of songwriter/performer she is, or like an artist whose management is deeply misguided. There are at least four producers on the record (including Kings of Leon collaborator Jacquire King and British singer/songwriter Ed Harcourt), and the album veers wildly from piano ballads in a West Coast Regina Spektor mould (“Bully”) to galloping quasi-country (“Little Lovin’), straight pop-country in the Dixie Chicks mould (“Cuckoo”), and the sort of shuffling blues that gets you a deal with Fat Possum (“Needle Starts to Fall”).
“Stranger,” which sounds like a remastered Petula Clark B-side and is one of the stronger tracks, doesn’t even remotely fit with the rest of the album. Although it’s a charming (if slight) pop song, it disrupts the album’s flow, and might have been better served as a single or the lead track of an EP. Nothing here is particularly bad (although “When I’m Alone” and “Oh Mississippi,” co-written by Harcourt and sounding just like a turgid British take on classic American folk balladry, are the weakest links), but none of the good ideas are fully developed, either. I’d be curious to hear a record on which Lissie herself takes control. For what it's worth, the live video I've posted above of "Cuckoo" sounds far better than the album version, and I suspect she's a compelling live performer who's got a shot at making a good record with better direction in the studio.
Lin: C+
Catching a Tiger starts off well enough and I start to think of yet another way to say "it's alright but unspecial." Then it takes a turn for the worse, putting in a couple of totally skippable tracks. The nadir is the inexplicable inclusion of "Stranger" which, at best, sounds like the girl group heyday or, at worst, a Best Coast knock off. It makes no sense in context of the album and takes me out of the listening experience. It's indicative of the album's major problem: it has no ethos or point it's trying to make. It's scattered, but not in the schizophrenic way, which can turn out okay; no, it tries too hard to be everything to everyone (at least in an indie context -- this is no repeat of the Katy Perry album). There's some decent moments here (first single "In Sleep," perhaps, or "Look Away"), but nothing to recommend it over the couple dozen similar but better albums we've also reviewed here.
15 June 2011
2010: Kylesa, Laura Marling
Kylesa
Spiral Shadow
Released November 9, 2010 (Season of Mist)
Short Notes: Metal for the non-metal people, but it’s plenty hard in its own right.
Lin: A-
This, more than any album, was the one I looked forward to reviewing the most when we compiled the master list of 2010 albums. It appeared on many of the year end best ofs, both general lists and those that specialized in metal. And while I've gotten more into, for lack of a different descriptor metal-metal over the last year or so, I still tend to gravitate more towards those artists working with in a traditional 'rock' -- and, by extension, blues -- framework. Which is not to say that this album is "traditional" (whatever that would mean), just that this would be another great entry point into the genre if you're looking.
In writing this review, I found myself whistling along to the riff in "Forsaken," if that tells you anything.
The same part of me that wants to throw this one on the playlist is the same that loved Baroness's Blue Record from 2009. Kylesa doesn't quite reach the highs of Baroness, but they're more consistently on while mining, more or less, the same vein. You can consider this on par with that, an effective one-two counterargument for those that believe Mastodon is the standard in 'crossover' metal. Many reviews of Spiral Shadow like to point out its psychedelic flourishes; while I think they're overstating its influences (as in: you probably shouldn't go into this looking for Hendrix-as-metal), but it is a point of contrast to the other bands I mentioned above.
Brandon: A-
As I’ve mentioned before, the metal records on our list are the hardest for me to review. Even though I’ve listened to more metal since November than at any other time in my life, I still can’t really say that I understand most of it. I can’t really channel the emotion that I hear in Agalloch for myself, and unlike nearly ever good punk band I know of, most metal doesn’t make me feel like I understand how the songwriter and the musicians feel.
That said, this record is without a doubt my favorite metal record of the year. It’s not the best--it lacks the gravitas, the impact, and the clear vision of Agalloch’s metal masterpiece. But you can bet I’ll be listening to Spiral Shadow in 2012. The album starts off a bit slow, with the sludgy “Tired Climb” and the speedier but undistinguished “Cheating Synergy.” But things start to get more interesting from there, and by the time track 5, the rather epic “Don’t Look Back” comes around, Kylesa’s rather unique sound (dual drummers, male/female harmonies, the latter sung by Laura Pleasants, whose occasional lead vocals provide an enjoyable variety) comes together into something that sounds, well, like hard rock with a real kick. This record has its proggy and stoner moments, but the best songs sound like a tremendously aggro version of The Pixies or Dinosaur jr (I can almost hear Kim Deal on the title track). It’s probably obvious that I’d like a metal record where many of the touchstones are post-punk/pre-grunge bands I already enjoy, but this record is plenty heavy, too--just not in a way that get in the way of a good hook every now and again. Also, this record has the strongest second half of any record on the list with a relatively undistinguished side one. Recommended.
Laura Marling
I Speak Because I Can
Released April 6, 2010 (Astralwerks)
Short Notes: 21 year old British folk prodigy evokes the golden age of British folk
Lin: B+
Like nearly allfolk albums, I Speak Because I Can works best at its darkest:
There's hope in the air
Hope in the water
But there's no hope for me
Your life serving daughter
In these moments Marling's able to hang with the best of them, continuing the line from Lost Highway through Knoxville Girl and into No Depression. Maybe it's just the British folk thing, but let me throw in one of WhoopeeInHell's patron saint Richard Thompson as an "at her best" comparison. I love ugly things said beautifully; Thompson is a master of this, Marling easily could be.
The problem is that these moments comprise less than half the album's 37 minute run time. The rest are not bad exactly but are undistinguished. First single "Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)" is a good example of this. It's power rests on the lyrics of nostalgia and homesickness, but it's such that, if you don't get the same feeling or buy into it, it's filler. My apophenia wants to draw a connection to Billy Bragg's "A New England" and while there's a good chance they are completely unrelated, the newer song doesn't stand up as well.
I'll come back to this album in the future since the highs ("Hope In the Air", "Devil's Spoke, "Alpha Shallows", "What He Wrote") are high enough and I'll like it more than I do now. I have and listen to so much music that it's rare I'll put on the same album more than once a year (...if that) if there's not something the grabs me on first spin. Folk, Country, Singer/Songwriter -- these are the genres that suffer most. I'll throw on metal when I'm just looking for something to listen to while doing other things, Hip-Hop or Dance when a driving beat is necessary, Rock as the all-purpose go-to. More than the louder genres, albums like this are best when they're familiar: "comfort" is often vital to liking the music, but that's usually only attained via repeated listens. This is true in other genres, sure -- the classics are classics for a reason -- but because of the bedside sing-along or front porch relaxation or cathartic ethos, it's so much more essential in folky music.
Brandon: A-
I agree with Lin about the Richard Thompson comparison, although I think I’d cite the albums he made with Fairport Convention with the amazing Sandy Denny more than his solo work. Like Denny, evoking the emotions of loss and pain are what Marling does best, taking folk cliches (her fingers squeaking on the chord changes on “Made by Maid” to evoke intimacy) and turning them into quotidian but quite moving stories of romantic loss. Of course, she’s not the singer Denny was--her young but husky, tired voice sounds more like Chan Marshall’s--but the songwritinghere is consistently quite strong. My favorites are different than Lin’s (“Blackberry Stone,” “ Rambling Man,” which sounds the most like classic Brit folk, and the title track), but I concur that this record is well worth the time.
Spiral Shadow
Released November 9, 2010 (Season of Mist)
Short Notes: Metal for the non-metal people, but it’s plenty hard in its own right.
Lin: A-
This, more than any album, was the one I looked forward to reviewing the most when we compiled the master list of 2010 albums. It appeared on many of the year end best ofs, both general lists and those that specialized in metal. And while I've gotten more into, for lack of a different descriptor metal-metal over the last year or so, I still tend to gravitate more towards those artists working with in a traditional 'rock' -- and, by extension, blues -- framework. Which is not to say that this album is "traditional" (whatever that would mean), just that this would be another great entry point into the genre if you're looking.
In writing this review, I found myself whistling along to the riff in "Forsaken," if that tells you anything.
The same part of me that wants to throw this one on the playlist is the same that loved Baroness's Blue Record from 2009. Kylesa doesn't quite reach the highs of Baroness, but they're more consistently on while mining, more or less, the same vein. You can consider this on par with that, an effective one-two counterargument for those that believe Mastodon is the standard in 'crossover' metal. Many reviews of Spiral Shadow like to point out its psychedelic flourishes; while I think they're overstating its influences (as in: you probably shouldn't go into this looking for Hendrix-as-metal), but it is a point of contrast to the other bands I mentioned above.
Brandon: A-
As I’ve mentioned before, the metal records on our list are the hardest for me to review. Even though I’ve listened to more metal since November than at any other time in my life, I still can’t really say that I understand most of it. I can’t really channel the emotion that I hear in Agalloch for myself, and unlike nearly ever good punk band I know of, most metal doesn’t make me feel like I understand how the songwriter and the musicians feel.
That said, this record is without a doubt my favorite metal record of the year. It’s not the best--it lacks the gravitas, the impact, and the clear vision of Agalloch’s metal masterpiece. But you can bet I’ll be listening to Spiral Shadow in 2012. The album starts off a bit slow, with the sludgy “Tired Climb” and the speedier but undistinguished “Cheating Synergy.” But things start to get more interesting from there, and by the time track 5, the rather epic “Don’t Look Back” comes around, Kylesa’s rather unique sound (dual drummers, male/female harmonies, the latter sung by Laura Pleasants, whose occasional lead vocals provide an enjoyable variety) comes together into something that sounds, well, like hard rock with a real kick. This record has its proggy and stoner moments, but the best songs sound like a tremendously aggro version of The Pixies or Dinosaur jr (I can almost hear Kim Deal on the title track). It’s probably obvious that I’d like a metal record where many of the touchstones are post-punk/pre-grunge bands I already enjoy, but this record is plenty heavy, too--just not in a way that get in the way of a good hook every now and again. Also, this record has the strongest second half of any record on the list with a relatively undistinguished side one. Recommended.
Laura Marling
I Speak Because I Can
Released April 6, 2010 (Astralwerks)
Short Notes: 21 year old British folk prodigy evokes the golden age of British folk
Lin: B+
Like nearly all
There's hope in the air
Hope in the water
But there's no hope for me
Your life serving daughter
In these moments Marling's able to hang with the best of them, continuing the line from Lost Highway through Knoxville Girl and into No Depression. Maybe it's just the British folk thing, but let me throw in one of WhoopeeInHell's patron saint Richard Thompson as an "at her best" comparison. I love ugly things said beautifully; Thompson is a master of this, Marling easily could be.
The problem is that these moments comprise less than half the album's 37 minute run time. The rest are not bad exactly but are undistinguished. First single "Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)" is a good example of this. It's power rests on the lyrics of nostalgia and homesickness, but it's such that, if you don't get the same feeling or buy into it, it's filler. My apophenia wants to draw a connection to Billy Bragg's "A New England" and while there's a good chance they are completely unrelated, the newer song doesn't stand up as well.
I'll come back to this album in the future since the highs ("Hope In the Air", "Devil's Spoke, "Alpha Shallows", "What He Wrote") are high enough and I'll like it more than I do now. I have and listen to so much music that it's rare I'll put on the same album more than once a year (...if that) if there's not something the grabs me on first spin. Folk, Country, Singer/Songwriter -- these are the genres that suffer most. I'll throw on metal when I'm just looking for something to listen to while doing other things, Hip-Hop or Dance when a driving beat is necessary, Rock as the all-purpose go-to. More than the louder genres, albums like this are best when they're familiar: "comfort" is often vital to liking the music, but that's usually only attained via repeated listens. This is true in other genres, sure -- the classics are classics for a reason -- but because of the bedside sing-along or front porch relaxation or cathartic ethos, it's so much more essential in folky music.
Brandon: A-
I agree with Lin about the Richard Thompson comparison, although I think I’d cite the albums he made with Fairport Convention with the amazing Sandy Denny more than his solo work. Like Denny, evoking the emotions of loss and pain are what Marling does best, taking folk cliches (her fingers squeaking on the chord changes on “Made by Maid” to evoke intimacy) and turning them into quotidian but quite moving stories of romantic loss. Of course, she’s not the singer Denny was--her young but husky, tired voice sounds more like Chan Marshall’s--but the songwritinghere is consistently quite strong. My favorites are different than Lin’s (“Blackberry Stone,” “ Rambling Man,” which sounds the most like classic Brit folk, and the title track), but I concur that this record is well worth the time.
26 May 2011
2010: Katy Perry, Lady Antebellum
Katy Perry
Teenage Dream
Released August 24, 2010 (Capitol)
Short Notes: This is how major label pop ends: not with a bang, but with a whimper that consists mostly of whipped cream shot from aerosol cans attached to large breasts.
Lin: C
My office has taken to this game of rickrolling each other with Rebecca Black's "Friday." I've heard the original so many times now and many of the remakes/parodies. The original video has over 140 million views and nearly 2.8 million 'dislikes.' Perry's album was nominated for a best album grammy and is certified multi-platinum. With maybe two exceptions, I'm not sure I could tell these two artists apart. (Not helped by Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)" which is actually inferior to Black's weekend ode.)
Let's get the good parts out of the way. Second single "Teenage Dream" is why I included the album in the first place, as a friend with a generally good taste in music claimed it was one of the best singles of the year. True? No, but it's alright in so far as it goes. "E.T." and "Circle The Drain" provide some much needed gravitas (comparatively) and could be saved by the right type of mixtape.
And now the bad. Generic. Cloying. Tries to hard (c.f. "Peacock" which has barely more subtlety than your average ICP track). Generic. Boring. It loses nearly all the comparison games: compare, for instance, the Snoop Dogg-featuring track "California Gurls" with Robyn's Snoop Dogg featuring "U Should Know Better." It's inoffensive pop music -- a common critique of the genre, but much more damning since it so wants to be edgy. And maybe it is. If you're 12.
Brandon: C
Let's start with the positives. The singles--the ones I'm regularly exposed to, living in a region of rural Ohio without a classic rock radio station, and requiring, despite my impeccable liberal elite credentials, the occasional break from NPR--aren't half bad, as far as these things go. Of course, I'm increasingly mystified by teen-oriented pop (I was warned this would happen, but it snuck up on me a little) but there are things Katy Perry does rather well. I've never particularly cared to be "young forever," there's a certain naive charm to "Teenage Dream," and it's got a big ol' chorus. "Firework" works well as a Pink-style, vaguely rocking song about empowerment, and even though Snoop Dogg's verse is a travesty, "California Gurls" has a legitimate hook. So there's that.
But even evaluated on its own terms, there's a whole lot of mediocrity here, most of which will probably seem obvious to the sorts of people who read our blog. But lest you think I'm some sort of anti-pop snob, I'd like to rehearse the arguments, anyway. This is the sort of music audiophiles provide as evidence that the MP3 format has led to the decline of production values. Even her best tracks sound hollow, with big beats, synths, and the occasional instrumental flourish (as with the sax in "Last Friday Night [T.G.I.F.]") all compressed within an inch of their lives, with no depth to the arrangements. It's not that I have a particularly good sound system, but this record sounds better on the earbuds I use at the gym than on my home stereo. I was surprised at just how obvious the hollowness was--this is a decay in quality that wasn't evident even in the pop records ten years ago. Thankfully, it's still not entirely crowded out more complex soundscapes (Gaga, for example, who despite her reliance on pretty straightforward 4/4 Euro-dance beats, makes music that's at least passable on headphones).
Lyrically, the story is much worse. Beyond the singles, there's really not a listenable song here. Part of it is that Katy Perry's persona is really unpleasant to me--there's not even much nodding and winking here with regards to the sexual content ("Peacock"). Rather than simply being sexy, this just sounds forced, sort of like the cheesy single-entendres of the terrible self-titled Liz Phair record of a few years ago. Perry lacks a musical (as opposed to visual/public) identity. She tries to "rock," but doesn't do it as well as Pink or even Avril Lavigne (whose "What the Hell" is actually quite pleasant, although the video is product-placed within an inch of its life),
and she does the sexual liberation thing lyrically in a way that makes her (or rather, her handlers) seem rather desperate for the male gaze and its approval. She tries to nod towards hip-hop, but as Lin notes, doesn't come within a mile of what Robyn is doing. She's not the singer Christina Aguilera is, and the Auto-tune and pitch-correction are all over the place on these tracks. There's just not much reason to listen to this record given the available alternatives.
And this leads to Brandon's deep thought for the day: When will artists like Katy Perry simply stop releasing albums all together? Given that her sales (less that 200,000 units in the first week) really don't compete with what was possible in the late 1990s, and given that pop albums like this get huge initial sales bumps from deep discounting at places like Amazon, why not just release a steady stream of $1.50 singles, rather than an album that ends up being marked down to $5 to get a big sales bump? If an artist like Katy Perry can release three or four Top-5 singles in a year, why bother with filler-laden albums that get slagged not only by me, but even by more mainstream critics? Since album sales don't seem to drive the revenue stream the way they once did, why dilute your best product with the likes of "The One That Got Away?"
Lady Antebellum
Need You Now
Released 26 January 2010 (Capitol)
Short Notes: It's one of the biggest albums of 2010, but when your grandchildren see it at their local post-modern flea market in 2045, they won't even recognize it.
Lin: C+
Five dollar albums from Amazon will be my death, allowing me to pick up, on a whim, zeitgeist albums without a significant amount of guilt. (Most albums are worth getting for $5, you see.) I knew, of course, the quadruple platinum, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, most downloaded country song EVER (and 9th overall), the all-around massive chart hit "Need You Now." Hell, it's my father's ring tone. I like the song, but it's unclear at this point if it's due simply to familiarity or the psuedo-nostalgia of being loved by people I love. So there's that.
The rest of the album is generally generic pop country that Main Street Nashville has been producing for years. Maybe it's because I generally stay away from the genre, but I have a higher tolerance for the unexicitingness of mass produced country as compared to mass produced pop, hence the higher grade than the Katy Perry, even though they have similar sins. Lady Antebellum's songwriting is stronger, with some moments that threaten to break through the walls of my cynical detachment. ("American Honey" and "Something 'Bout a Woman" being the two best examples.) For better or worse, Lady Antebellum sounds more earnest in their begging and pleading than a number of the artists we've reviewed, even though it's been overmanufactured, removing the rawness that is necessary for it to truly be a positive. Anyway, more likely than not, you already know whether or not you need to pick this one up, and I'm in no position to convince you one way or another. For what it’s worth, this is the best ‘C’ album of the year.
Brandon: D+
My reaction to this album is the mirror of Lin's. I think I tolerate fluffy pop (I do watch "Glee," after all) better that I tolerate post-Shania/Faith country dreck. There’s really nothing here I find either interesting or clever. This is pop-country crossover at its most eager, referencing Skynyrd and Springsteen (“Perfect Day” and “Stars Ahead,” in which they refer to themselves as a “rock and roll band”) in the lyrics while aiming square at the teenage girl/mother of teenage girl nexus. There’s an equal number of happy and sad songs (although nothing too unhappy), and with two lead singers (Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley), there’s enough variety here to keep anyone from catching on to the underlying lack of variety. Lin’s right that the songwriting is stronger here than on the Katy Perry record, but this is still country/pop by the numbers--professional, but forgettable.
The day that I listened to this record, I also happened to attend a flea market. Since there aren't a lot of buried treasures at a rural Ohio flea market (mostly, people are selling recent NASCAR memorabilia and used DVDs), I typically look through the stacks of old records that are often an afterthought for most vendors. I've occasionally pulled some good stuff this way--especially country from the 1960s and lesser-known classic rock albums--but mostly, the sorts of LPs that end up at these kinds of things are what people were actually listening to 50 years ago. I see an awful lot of dog-eared copies of Andy Williams, Johnny Rivers, Peter Nero, and Herb Alpert--sappy, sentimental, and string-laden, and often in the form of Christmas records or record company samplers.
My point isn't to be needlessly mean, but when people my age (even musically plugged-in kids like me), think about what was important about pop music in the 1960s, this isn't what comes to mind. Sure, it was on the charts, but so was a lot of other better material. We forget just how ubiquitous this sound was in lower middlebrow American culture, and when I hear Lady Antebellum (or Rascal Flatts, or the execrable Sugarland), this is what I think of. If it were the early 70s, Lady Antebellum would be guesting on the "Lawrence Welk Show." This is the kind of music that, in an earlier time, would have left a demonstrable physical presence of its former popularity, but no one in the future would have been able to hum.
But times change. This record has moved 3.2 million, but with the rapid change in technology, it’s unlikely to have a flea market afterlife. This is the record that, in effect, defines pop music in 2010. No one I know thinks of Whipped Cream and Other Delights as the music that best captures the essence of 1966,
but it was the best selling album in the US that year. It’s unlikely Need You Now will be as well-remembered as its chart success would suggest. Since its legacy isn't guaranteed by an overwhelming quantity of physical media, how will we remember it at all?
Teenage Dream
Released August 24, 2010 (Capitol)
Short Notes: This is how major label pop ends: not with a bang, but with a whimper that consists mostly of whipped cream shot from aerosol cans attached to large breasts.
Lin: C
My office has taken to this game of rickrolling each other with Rebecca Black's "Friday." I've heard the original so many times now and many of the remakes/parodies. The original video has over 140 million views and nearly 2.8 million 'dislikes.' Perry's album was nominated for a best album grammy and is certified multi-platinum. With maybe two exceptions, I'm not sure I could tell these two artists apart. (Not helped by Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)" which is actually inferior to Black's weekend ode.)
Let's get the good parts out of the way. Second single "Teenage Dream" is why I included the album in the first place, as a friend with a generally good taste in music claimed it was one of the best singles of the year. True? No, but it's alright in so far as it goes. "E.T." and "Circle The Drain" provide some much needed gravitas (comparatively) and could be saved by the right type of mixtape.
And now the bad. Generic. Cloying. Tries to hard (c.f. "Peacock" which has barely more subtlety than your average ICP track). Generic. Boring. It loses nearly all the comparison games: compare, for instance, the Snoop Dogg-featuring track "California Gurls" with Robyn's Snoop Dogg featuring "U Should Know Better." It's inoffensive pop music -- a common critique of the genre, but much more damning since it so wants to be edgy. And maybe it is. If you're 12.
Brandon: C
Let's start with the positives. The singles--the ones I'm regularly exposed to, living in a region of rural Ohio without a classic rock radio station, and requiring, despite my impeccable liberal elite credentials, the occasional break from NPR--aren't half bad, as far as these things go. Of course, I'm increasingly mystified by teen-oriented pop (I was warned this would happen, but it snuck up on me a little) but there are things Katy Perry does rather well. I've never particularly cared to be "young forever," there's a certain naive charm to "Teenage Dream," and it's got a big ol' chorus. "Firework" works well as a Pink-style, vaguely rocking song about empowerment, and even though Snoop Dogg's verse is a travesty, "California Gurls" has a legitimate hook. So there's that.
But even evaluated on its own terms, there's a whole lot of mediocrity here, most of which will probably seem obvious to the sorts of people who read our blog. But lest you think I'm some sort of anti-pop snob, I'd like to rehearse the arguments, anyway. This is the sort of music audiophiles provide as evidence that the MP3 format has led to the decline of production values. Even her best tracks sound hollow, with big beats, synths, and the occasional instrumental flourish (as with the sax in "Last Friday Night [T.G.I.F.]") all compressed within an inch of their lives, with no depth to the arrangements. It's not that I have a particularly good sound system, but this record sounds better on the earbuds I use at the gym than on my home stereo. I was surprised at just how obvious the hollowness was--this is a decay in quality that wasn't evident even in the pop records ten years ago. Thankfully, it's still not entirely crowded out more complex soundscapes (Gaga, for example, who despite her reliance on pretty straightforward 4/4 Euro-dance beats, makes music that's at least passable on headphones).
Lyrically, the story is much worse. Beyond the singles, there's really not a listenable song here. Part of it is that Katy Perry's persona is really unpleasant to me--there's not even much nodding and winking here with regards to the sexual content ("Peacock"). Rather than simply being sexy, this just sounds forced, sort of like the cheesy single-entendres of the terrible self-titled Liz Phair record of a few years ago. Perry lacks a musical (as opposed to visual/public) identity. She tries to "rock," but doesn't do it as well as Pink or even Avril Lavigne (whose "What the Hell" is actually quite pleasant, although the video is product-placed within an inch of its life),
and she does the sexual liberation thing lyrically in a way that makes her (or rather, her handlers) seem rather desperate for the male gaze and its approval. She tries to nod towards hip-hop, but as Lin notes, doesn't come within a mile of what Robyn is doing. She's not the singer Christina Aguilera is, and the Auto-tune and pitch-correction are all over the place on these tracks. There's just not much reason to listen to this record given the available alternatives.
And this leads to Brandon's deep thought for the day: When will artists like Katy Perry simply stop releasing albums all together? Given that her sales (less that 200,000 units in the first week) really don't compete with what was possible in the late 1990s, and given that pop albums like this get huge initial sales bumps from deep discounting at places like Amazon, why not just release a steady stream of $1.50 singles, rather than an album that ends up being marked down to $5 to get a big sales bump? If an artist like Katy Perry can release three or four Top-5 singles in a year, why bother with filler-laden albums that get slagged not only by me, but even by more mainstream critics? Since album sales don't seem to drive the revenue stream the way they once did, why dilute your best product with the likes of "The One That Got Away?"
Lady Antebellum
Need You Now
Released 26 January 2010 (Capitol)
Short Notes: It's one of the biggest albums of 2010, but when your grandchildren see it at their local post-modern flea market in 2045, they won't even recognize it.
Lin: C+
Five dollar albums from Amazon will be my death, allowing me to pick up, on a whim, zeitgeist albums without a significant amount of guilt. (Most albums are worth getting for $5, you see.) I knew, of course, the quadruple platinum, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, most downloaded country song EVER (and 9th overall), the all-around massive chart hit "Need You Now." Hell, it's my father's ring tone. I like the song, but it's unclear at this point if it's due simply to familiarity or the psuedo-nostalgia of being loved by people I love. So there's that.
The rest of the album is generally generic pop country that Main Street Nashville has been producing for years. Maybe it's because I generally stay away from the genre, but I have a higher tolerance for the unexicitingness of mass produced country as compared to mass produced pop, hence the higher grade than the Katy Perry, even though they have similar sins. Lady Antebellum's songwriting is stronger, with some moments that threaten to break through the walls of my cynical detachment. ("American Honey" and "Something 'Bout a Woman" being the two best examples.) For better or worse, Lady Antebellum sounds more earnest in their begging and pleading than a number of the artists we've reviewed, even though it's been overmanufactured, removing the rawness that is necessary for it to truly be a positive. Anyway, more likely than not, you already know whether or not you need to pick this one up, and I'm in no position to convince you one way or another. For what it’s worth, this is the best ‘C’ album of the year.
Brandon: D+
My reaction to this album is the mirror of Lin's. I think I tolerate fluffy pop (I do watch "Glee," after all) better that I tolerate post-Shania/Faith country dreck. There’s really nothing here I find either interesting or clever. This is pop-country crossover at its most eager, referencing Skynyrd and Springsteen (“Perfect Day” and “Stars Ahead,” in which they refer to themselves as a “rock and roll band”) in the lyrics while aiming square at the teenage girl/mother of teenage girl nexus. There’s an equal number of happy and sad songs (although nothing too unhappy), and with two lead singers (Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley), there’s enough variety here to keep anyone from catching on to the underlying lack of variety. Lin’s right that the songwriting is stronger here than on the Katy Perry record, but this is still country/pop by the numbers--professional, but forgettable.
The day that I listened to this record, I also happened to attend a flea market. Since there aren't a lot of buried treasures at a rural Ohio flea market (mostly, people are selling recent NASCAR memorabilia and used DVDs), I typically look through the stacks of old records that are often an afterthought for most vendors. I've occasionally pulled some good stuff this way--especially country from the 1960s and lesser-known classic rock albums--but mostly, the sorts of LPs that end up at these kinds of things are what people were actually listening to 50 years ago. I see an awful lot of dog-eared copies of Andy Williams, Johnny Rivers, Peter Nero, and Herb Alpert--sappy, sentimental, and string-laden, and often in the form of Christmas records or record company samplers.
My point isn't to be needlessly mean, but when people my age (even musically plugged-in kids like me), think about what was important about pop music in the 1960s, this isn't what comes to mind. Sure, it was on the charts, but so was a lot of other better material. We forget just how ubiquitous this sound was in lower middlebrow American culture, and when I hear Lady Antebellum (or Rascal Flatts, or the execrable Sugarland), this is what I think of. If it were the early 70s, Lady Antebellum would be guesting on the "Lawrence Welk Show." This is the kind of music that, in an earlier time, would have left a demonstrable physical presence of its former popularity, but no one in the future would have been able to hum.
But times change. This record has moved 3.2 million, but with the rapid change in technology, it’s unlikely to have a flea market afterlife. This is the record that, in effect, defines pop music in 2010. No one I know thinks of Whipped Cream and Other Delights as the music that best captures the essence of 1966,
but it was the best selling album in the US that year. It’s unlikely Need You Now will be as well-remembered as its chart success would suggest. Since its legacy isn't guaranteed by an overwhelming quantity of physical media, how will we remember it at all?
19 May 2011
2010: Justin Townes Earle, Kanye West
Justin Townes Earle
Harlem River Blues
Released September 14, 2010 (Bloodshot)
Short Notes: Steve’s kid grows up.
Brandon: B+
I’ve got a soft spot for Justin Townes Earle. He’s Steve Earle’s kid, and named after his dad’s good friend (and SMWiH hero) Townes Van Zandt. He’s also best known around these parts for his revelatory cover on pretty much my favorite song ever: The ‘Mats’ “Can’t Hardly Wait”. But honestly, my first couple times through this record, it really wasn’t working for me. Growing out of his more youthful alt-country sound and into a retro sound that sounds a little like the recent Preservation Hall Jazz Band (the one with Andrew Bird, Jason Isbell, and Buddy Miller) album stripped of (most of) the horns. It’s a little dixieland, really. But it’s grown on me substantially--most notably the lilting, romantic “One More Night in Brooklyn” and the swinging blues “Ain’t Waitin’ ”--and I’m inclined to think it’s a nice album for a Saturday afternoon.
Lin: B-
Earle had been on my "List of Artists to Check Out" for some time, but before this album came up in the list I hadn't heard any of his work. This should be right up my alley: Earle's dual namesakes (both of whom I like), signed to Bloodshot, and spoken well of by friends with similar taste. But I find this more unexciting than anything. It's fine, but it's not as interesting as, say, the recently reviewed Joe Pug album. In a way, it reminds me of why it took me so long to get into Lucero: excellent on paper but merely competant and boring in execution. I can get why people like this, but I need something just a little bit more.
Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Released November 22, 2010 (Def Jam)
Short Notes: A motherfucking monster.
Lin: A
I want to hate this album. I find Kanye's previous albums extremely overrated, with something like 6 good tracks spread among the four albums. His public persona and actions are ridiculous. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy appeared on nearly every end of the year best of list, usually near the top. I want to hate it, but I don't. This is the album where I finally see the same genius that everyone else does.
So, at this point, there's not much I can say that hasn't already been said by critics more talented than me. Cultural zeitgeist, critical darling; one of the most vital albums of the year, forcing you to pay attention as it spins not uncontrollably but purposefully into inextricable self-psychologizing and ultimately a self-destruction or, probably more accurate, a de-mythologizing. (Or is it the opposite?) Yes, the title is appropriate.
I mean, seriously:
I have no idea what that is, but I’ve watched it about two dozen times over the last 3 days. It's not properly a music video (2 minutes long?), more like promo for a video. Or a teaser for the album. Regardless, it’s utterly fascinating and seems oddly indicative of the album-as-listening-experience. "POWER" is one of the highest highlights on the album (even though I'm tricked every time by the riff-less Crimson sample) and that video is ridiculous in every awesome way. But there's also "Monster" with the somewhat disturbing video and fantastic verse by Nicki Minaj (who also provided the best moment on Drake’s album). And “Runaway” -- entirely deserving of Pitchfork’s “second best track of the year” designation. There’s exactly one less-than-good track and my biggest complaint is that the highs are so high I don’t have the patience to listen to the merely great tracks and skip ahead.
Highly recommend. This is a pick that everyone got right.
Brandon: A+
This record is a lot of things. Kanye West is a complete and total asshole--a terrible person whose misogyny is irredeemably banal (and brutally violent), a casual, almost lazy racist (there’s a lot in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ rather brutal takedown of this record for The Atlantic Monthly to agree with) and a remarkably narcissistic man, even in the golden age of over-exposed celebrity. Parts of this album make me a little sick.
I’m also increasingly convinced, after listening to it a couple dozen times, that he might have made the greatest hip-hop record of all time.* My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is clearly rooted in his earlier work--the soul samples, the electronic thump, the biting self-criticism that undermines the bravado. But it’s also something different, something more. Musically, it’s without a weak or slow moment. The beats are huge, and even the non-singles bring me back for repeats. Lyrically, this is ‘Ye’s best rapping. His style is plastic, and despite his unquestionable talent, is without a clear identity of its own--affecting a Lil Wayne-style flow on “Monster,” technically proficient if not silky smooth most of the time, and without a distinctive characteristic. In terms of the flow, most of the guests here--Raekwan, the remarkable Pusha T, Jay-Z, especially--are demonstrably superior. But Kanye blows everyone away on every single track here, mostly with sheer bravado and pathos. Has there ever been a more pathos-laden rapper than Kanye? He’s a master producer, but nothing he does feels technical. That doesn’t mean he’s not calculating, but he has a remarkable talent for sounding immediate.
I’m not inclined to waste more time trying to describe the record, because I’m not sure I can communicate just how remarkable it is. Let’s just say that “Runaway” is probably my song of the year. It’s 6 minutes of Kanye viciously undermining himself and his less self-conscious doppelganger Pusha T (of the mighty Clipse), followed by what amounts to Kanye’s version of Neil Young’s Trans--his painful lament, pitchshifted into incomprehensibility with Autotune, as though he wants us to know how much he hates himself, but he just can’t quite bear to say it out loud. And truthfully, self-loathing is the dominant theme of this record. Kanye seems to genuinely hate himself--he’s constantly chipping away at his own arrogant bravado, even when, as in “Monster,” he spends most of the song in classic self-promotion.
This is rap’s White Album: a big sprawling, genius mess, with Kanye’s personality crisis providing the John, Paul, and George parts (Rick Ross is Ringo. I kinda hate Rick Ross). Absolutely crucial.
*Note: If it's not this record, what is the greatest hip-hop album of all time? Illmatic? The Chronic? Ready to Die? Something old school, like It Takes a Nation of Millions... or Paid in Full? Hip-hop is increasingly (hell, popular music is increasingly) a singles game, and I'm not sure how many more defining album-length statements hip-hop as we know it right now has in it. The strongest argument for this record as opposed to the finest 90s records is that Kanye seems to be aiming for something--musically, obviously, but lyrically, too--more complex, more universal (by way of the particularity of our fame culture), more ambitious. If this is The White Album (or maybe hip-hop's Dark Side of the Moon, in its ability to be proggy but hit the mainstream), then Illmatic sounds like Elvis's 1956 self-titled--great on its own terms, but clearly the product of an earlier time.
Harlem River Blues
Released September 14, 2010 (Bloodshot)
Short Notes: Steve’s kid grows up.
Brandon: B+
I’ve got a soft spot for Justin Townes Earle. He’s Steve Earle’s kid, and named after his dad’s good friend (and SMWiH hero) Townes Van Zandt. He’s also best known around these parts for his revelatory cover on pretty much my favorite song ever: The ‘Mats’ “Can’t Hardly Wait”. But honestly, my first couple times through this record, it really wasn’t working for me. Growing out of his more youthful alt-country sound and into a retro sound that sounds a little like the recent Preservation Hall Jazz Band (the one with Andrew Bird, Jason Isbell, and Buddy Miller) album stripped of (most of) the horns. It’s a little dixieland, really. But it’s grown on me substantially--most notably the lilting, romantic “One More Night in Brooklyn” and the swinging blues “Ain’t Waitin’ ”--and I’m inclined to think it’s a nice album for a Saturday afternoon.
Lin: B-
Earle had been on my "List of Artists to Check Out" for some time, but before this album came up in the list I hadn't heard any of his work. This should be right up my alley: Earle's dual namesakes (both of whom I like), signed to Bloodshot, and spoken well of by friends with similar taste. But I find this more unexciting than anything. It's fine, but it's not as interesting as, say, the recently reviewed Joe Pug album. In a way, it reminds me of why it took me so long to get into Lucero: excellent on paper but merely competant and boring in execution. I can get why people like this, but I need something just a little bit more.
Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Released November 22, 2010 (Def Jam)
Short Notes: A motherfucking monster.
Lin: A
I want to hate this album. I find Kanye's previous albums extremely overrated, with something like 6 good tracks spread among the four albums. His public persona and actions are ridiculous. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy appeared on nearly every end of the year best of list, usually near the top. I want to hate it, but I don't. This is the album where I finally see the same genius that everyone else does.
So, at this point, there's not much I can say that hasn't already been said by critics more talented than me. Cultural zeitgeist, critical darling; one of the most vital albums of the year, forcing you to pay attention as it spins not uncontrollably but purposefully into inextricable self-psychologizing and ultimately a self-destruction or, probably more accurate, a de-mythologizing. (Or is it the opposite?) Yes, the title is appropriate.
I mean, seriously:
I have no idea what that is, but I’ve watched it about two dozen times over the last 3 days. It's not properly a music video (2 minutes long?), more like promo for a video. Or a teaser for the album. Regardless, it’s utterly fascinating and seems oddly indicative of the album-as-listening-experience. "POWER" is one of the highest highlights on the album (even though I'm tricked every time by the riff-less Crimson sample) and that video is ridiculous in every awesome way. But there's also "Monster" with the somewhat disturbing video and fantastic verse by Nicki Minaj (who also provided the best moment on Drake’s album). And “Runaway” -- entirely deserving of Pitchfork’s “second best track of the year” designation. There’s exactly one less-than-good track and my biggest complaint is that the highs are so high I don’t have the patience to listen to the merely great tracks and skip ahead.
Highly recommend. This is a pick that everyone got right.
Brandon: A+
This record is a lot of things. Kanye West is a complete and total asshole--a terrible person whose misogyny is irredeemably banal (and brutally violent), a casual, almost lazy racist (there’s a lot in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ rather brutal takedown of this record for The Atlantic Monthly to agree with) and a remarkably narcissistic man, even in the golden age of over-exposed celebrity. Parts of this album make me a little sick.
I’m also increasingly convinced, after listening to it a couple dozen times, that he might have made the greatest hip-hop record of all time.* My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is clearly rooted in his earlier work--the soul samples, the electronic thump, the biting self-criticism that undermines the bravado. But it’s also something different, something more. Musically, it’s without a weak or slow moment. The beats are huge, and even the non-singles bring me back for repeats. Lyrically, this is ‘Ye’s best rapping. His style is plastic, and despite his unquestionable talent, is without a clear identity of its own--affecting a Lil Wayne-style flow on “Monster,” technically proficient if not silky smooth most of the time, and without a distinctive characteristic. In terms of the flow, most of the guests here--Raekwan, the remarkable Pusha T, Jay-Z, especially--are demonstrably superior. But Kanye blows everyone away on every single track here, mostly with sheer bravado and pathos. Has there ever been a more pathos-laden rapper than Kanye? He’s a master producer, but nothing he does feels technical. That doesn’t mean he’s not calculating, but he has a remarkable talent for sounding immediate.
I’m not inclined to waste more time trying to describe the record, because I’m not sure I can communicate just how remarkable it is. Let’s just say that “Runaway” is probably my song of the year. It’s 6 minutes of Kanye viciously undermining himself and his less self-conscious doppelganger Pusha T (of the mighty Clipse), followed by what amounts to Kanye’s version of Neil Young’s Trans--his painful lament, pitchshifted into incomprehensibility with Autotune, as though he wants us to know how much he hates himself, but he just can’t quite bear to say it out loud. And truthfully, self-loathing is the dominant theme of this record. Kanye seems to genuinely hate himself--he’s constantly chipping away at his own arrogant bravado, even when, as in “Monster,” he spends most of the song in classic self-promotion.
This is rap’s White Album: a big sprawling, genius mess, with Kanye’s personality crisis providing the John, Paul, and George parts (Rick Ross is Ringo. I kinda hate Rick Ross). Absolutely crucial.
*Note: If it's not this record, what is the greatest hip-hop album of all time? Illmatic? The Chronic? Ready to Die? Something old school, like It Takes a Nation of Millions... or Paid in Full? Hip-hop is increasingly (hell, popular music is increasingly) a singles game, and I'm not sure how many more defining album-length statements hip-hop as we know it right now has in it. The strongest argument for this record as opposed to the finest 90s records is that Kanye seems to be aiming for something--musically, obviously, but lyrically, too--more complex, more universal (by way of the particularity of our fame culture), more ambitious. If this is The White Album (or maybe hip-hop's Dark Side of the Moon, in its ability to be proggy but hit the mainstream), then Illmatic sounds like Elvis's 1956 self-titled--great on its own terms, but clearly the product of an earlier time.
14 May 2011
2010: Jonsi, Josh Ritter
Jonsi
Go
Released April 6. 2010 (XL)
Short Notes: Sigur Ros frontman makes a pop record, mostly.
Lin: B+
A solo album essentially in name only, where the best moments are those that come closest to his main band. It's more accessible than Sigur Ros, probably, but accessibility was never their problem. There's still the majestic chord progressions and non-English singing, but the songs are shorter and generally less complex. It's real easy to say that if you're a fan of Sigur Ros, this is a worthwhile purchase, though it doesn't reach the level of Sigur's better albums. Indeed, this is a "throw it on and don't think about it too hard" album that doesn't require much active listening as many of the tracks blend together in one long drone-y atmospheric. The one track that stands out here is "Tornado," which has the pathos of the first Sigur Ros album.
Brandon: B-
Among the many terrible things I have to publicly admit in order to write for this blog, I must confess that I never enjoyed Sigur Ros. Most of my college friends and a number of my grad school friends absolutely loved them--bought rare releases, saw them in concert, described the rapturous experiences they had with the music. I just never felt it. And so in as much as this isn’t like Sigur Ros (and Lin’s right--Jonsi brings the pop here alongside the weird), I prefer it. The lead track and single, “Go Do,” is a piece of commercial-ready post-millennial dream-pop, its insistent happiness and upbeat attitude verging on The Polyphonic Spree. The rest is a little more eclectic--lots of blips and beeps and vocal manipulations alongside the soaring verses-as-choruses and cheery orchestration. It’s a little saccharine for me (even with the weirdness), but it has it’s charms. It sounds like something a Cirque de Soleil performance could be built around, if they were so inclined. I’m not sure if that’s an endorsement or not.
Josh Ritter
So Runs the World Away
Released May 4, 2010 (Pytheas)
Short Notes: Much-loved singer-songwriter mostly succeeds
Brandon: B-
Josh Ritter’s 2003 record Hello Starling is much beloved by the the indie singer-songwriter community. It’s a justifiable classic of the last decade in songcraft--wordy, clever, built less on hooks and more on long, intricate verses that tell simple stories with lots of memorable lines. His newest outing isn’t nearly as strong, although it has its rewards. Sonically, Ritter’s work is a lot more diverse now--more orchestration and a much more dynamic mix of tempos and sounds. When this plays to his strengths as a storyteller (“Folk Bloodbath”), his way with a slow crescendo (“Change of Time”), or he works out a relatively straightforward hook (“Lantern”), this works out. But too often, the music is too busy when the songs are least interesting (“The Remnant”), or his use of drone-y keyboards for atmospherics (something one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Richard Buckner, has done expertly) falls flat (“See How Man Was Made”).
Of our run of singer-songwriter albums, I like this rather less than the Joe Pug album, or even than the Ben Weaver or Doug Paisely albums--all of which are less Randy Newman, or even Freedy Johsnston or Ron Sexmith (read: less polished and literate) and more, well country. Ritter’s strengths are his quirks as a writer, but I think he works best musically when he plays it simple and straight.
Lin: B+
Even now, after I've spent such an inordinate amount of time learning about popular music, I can name only two and a half good musical acts from my home state of Idaho. So, I have a particular nostalgic love for Josh Ritter's music, even though someday I'll end up owning this shirt and didn't hear him until I left the state. (Nonetheless, Ritter's 2006 track "Idaho" always heightens any remaining homesickness.) Despite having some wickedly good tracks in his oeuvre -- Hello Starling's "Kathleen" is one of my all-time favorite songs -- Ritter's never made a front-to-back great album. That's not changed with So Runs The World Away, which follows a similar format to his previous work: fairly inconsistent but with a couple of pretty great tracks. The highlight is "Folk Bloodbath" a reworking/retelling of the Stagger Lee and Louis Collins fables. (There's some meta elements at work here, too, if you're familiar with the Mississippi John Hurt 'originals.') If you're already familiar with Ritter's work, this is a worthy pick-up. If not, there are better places to start (Hello Starling) or, better yet, get someone who knows to make you a mix.
Go
Released April 6. 2010 (XL)
Short Notes: Sigur Ros frontman makes a pop record, mostly.
Lin: B+
A solo album essentially in name only, where the best moments are those that come closest to his main band. It's more accessible than Sigur Ros, probably, but accessibility was never their problem. There's still the majestic chord progressions and non-English singing, but the songs are shorter and generally less complex. It's real easy to say that if you're a fan of Sigur Ros, this is a worthwhile purchase, though it doesn't reach the level of Sigur's better albums. Indeed, this is a "throw it on and don't think about it too hard" album that doesn't require much active listening as many of the tracks blend together in one long drone-y atmospheric. The one track that stands out here is "Tornado," which has the pathos of the first Sigur Ros album.
Brandon: B-
Among the many terrible things I have to publicly admit in order to write for this blog, I must confess that I never enjoyed Sigur Ros. Most of my college friends and a number of my grad school friends absolutely loved them--bought rare releases, saw them in concert, described the rapturous experiences they had with the music. I just never felt it. And so in as much as this isn’t like Sigur Ros (and Lin’s right--Jonsi brings the pop here alongside the weird), I prefer it. The lead track and single, “Go Do,” is a piece of commercial-ready post-millennial dream-pop, its insistent happiness and upbeat attitude verging on The Polyphonic Spree. The rest is a little more eclectic--lots of blips and beeps and vocal manipulations alongside the soaring verses-as-choruses and cheery orchestration. It’s a little saccharine for me (even with the weirdness), but it has it’s charms. It sounds like something a Cirque de Soleil performance could be built around, if they were so inclined. I’m not sure if that’s an endorsement or not.
Josh Ritter
So Runs the World Away
Released May 4, 2010 (Pytheas)
Short Notes: Much-loved singer-songwriter mostly succeeds
Brandon: B-
Josh Ritter’s 2003 record Hello Starling is much beloved by the the indie singer-songwriter community. It’s a justifiable classic of the last decade in songcraft--wordy, clever, built less on hooks and more on long, intricate verses that tell simple stories with lots of memorable lines. His newest outing isn’t nearly as strong, although it has its rewards. Sonically, Ritter’s work is a lot more diverse now--more orchestration and a much more dynamic mix of tempos and sounds. When this plays to his strengths as a storyteller (“Folk Bloodbath”), his way with a slow crescendo (“Change of Time”), or he works out a relatively straightforward hook (“Lantern”), this works out. But too often, the music is too busy when the songs are least interesting (“The Remnant”), or his use of drone-y keyboards for atmospherics (something one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Richard Buckner, has done expertly) falls flat (“See How Man Was Made”).
Of our run of singer-songwriter albums, I like this rather less than the Joe Pug album, or even than the Ben Weaver or Doug Paisely albums--all of which are less Randy Newman, or even Freedy Johsnston or Ron Sexmith (read: less polished and literate) and more, well country. Ritter’s strengths are his quirks as a writer, but I think he works best musically when he plays it simple and straight.
Lin: B+
Even now, after I've spent such an inordinate amount of time learning about popular music, I can name only two and a half good musical acts from my home state of Idaho. So, I have a particular nostalgic love for Josh Ritter's music, even though someday I'll end up owning this shirt and didn't hear him until I left the state. (Nonetheless, Ritter's 2006 track "Idaho" always heightens any remaining homesickness.) Despite having some wickedly good tracks in his oeuvre -- Hello Starling's "Kathleen" is one of my all-time favorite songs -- Ritter's never made a front-to-back great album. That's not changed with So Runs The World Away, which follows a similar format to his previous work: fairly inconsistent but with a couple of pretty great tracks. The highlight is "Folk Bloodbath" a reworking/retelling of the Stagger Lee and Louis Collins fables. (There's some meta elements at work here, too, if you're familiar with the Mississippi John Hurt 'originals.') If you're already familiar with Ritter's work, this is a worthy pick-up. If not, there are better places to start (Hello Starling) or, better yet, get someone who knows to make you a mix.
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