Coming off a spectacular album in ‘08, Rogue Wave has made a bit of a shift in sound on their new album. There’s more processed beats here, and the general sound strays from the acoustic/folksy blend to a more streamlined dance-ready flavor. That’s not to say it’s bad, the songwriting remains solid. I don’t feel like it’s quite as good as their last album, but they also could have tried to do too much and made something awful, and Permalight isn’t awful by any means. It’s the sort of album you’d expect after something so wonderful. Something safe.
****
The Ruby Suns – Fight Softly
This weird dude who now lives in New Zealand might be best known for his song “Oh, Mojave”, the song featured in Microsoft’s silly Vista promotional ads, and that’s fine, as long as his group is getting some exposure. Their sound was a little more exotic on their last album, and so far I’m getting a crazier, more experimental vibe from their newest album. Definitely like what I’ve heard so far…
****
Other 3/2 releases: John Hiatt, Citizen Cope, Lifehouse, Groove Armada, Strange Boys, These New Puritans, Athlete, Flogging Molly (live)
I loved Shout Out Louds’ first album, didn’t get into the second as much, and now really like the third. Weird, because neither the second nor third is any great shift musically from the first, the third just grabbed my attention. Expect what you have in the past from SOLs: catchy & sunny Swed-pop with a hint of lyrical darkness and Adam Olenius’s Robert Smith-like vocals.
****
Shearwater – Golden Archipelago
I almost got burnt out entirely from Jonathan Meiburg’s whine on Shearwater’s last album. Its redeeming factor was the dramatic flair for leading good songs through rocky territory, tonally-speaking. This time around the songs aren’t quite as bombastic. There wasn’t enough to keep me interested my first time through, as pretty as the music was. I’m definitely listening again, both because I’m reviewing it and the artists have earned it, I just can’t say I’m too excited. Fans should enjoy it, those on the fence may want to listen to Winged Life for something more satisfying.
****
Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
Where to begin? A double album is a big enough feat for your average band, often poo-pooed as self-indulgent and risky. So what about a triple album? With songs as long as eleven minutes each? Lined with classically-resonant vocals and meticulously-played harp? No one, and I truly mean, no one, but Joanna Newsom. This is an incredible accomplishment, to say the least, and from what I’ve heard, it works. I’ll be eagerly listening to this several times over, as what I’ve heard so far sounds like a unique masterpiece on its way to the top of the 2010 lists.
****
Other 2/23 releases: Johnny Cash, Clem Snide, Xiu Xiu)
There’s a swell collaboration between a couple gents from Boston called Magic Man. They recorded a few songs while over in France, tweeked them, and now present them for free for your dirty little downloady fingers. Why they’re giving it away, I haven’t a clue, because the tunes are super. They do say on their site that they don’t ask for money, just word of mouth, and their music earns it. They have an electronic-based sound, but don’t feel particularly electronic, my first impression was they sound like a more subtle Dan Deacon. Anyway, download it now before they wise up and start charging people for it.
Lightspeed Champion – Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You
It was weird listening to the new Lightspeed and expecting another carefully-crafted chamber pop delicacy and then hearing this. It’s not bad, it’s just very different. Lyrically, it’s just Dev Hynes being Dev Hynes. There’s more relationship woes, more of life’s injustices. The music, on the other hand, is like a carnival rather than the summer afternoon recital in the park of Falling Off The Lavender Bridge. It borrows a lot of it’s flavor from the theater and Queen, and even more recently, bands like fun. and Panic at the Disco (sans the obvious youth and the pre-produced flair). It won’t overshadow the masterful debut album, but it’s good, and my appreciation has increased the more I hear it. Where it lands in my music rotation years from now remains to be seen.
****
Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
This has been available in one form or another for a while; but this is the first, proper U.S. CD release for the band whose debut album has been a long time coming for its native America. I first heard “Airplanes” on Chuck last season and they were one of those holy-crap-I-need-to-look-this-up-right-after-this-episode-is-done bands. Unfortunately, back then, all I could find was their single, and even that took all of my piratey skills to get since they weren’t signed to a label. Gorilla Manor was released overseas late last year and it was worth the wait. Their brand of energetic nu-folk was refreshing, and they kept it consistent throughout. Now hopefully with a domestic release they can start assembling a wider fan base and get to work on album number two.
****
Other 2/16 releases: Backyard Tire Fire, Everybody Was In The French Resistance Now, Bill Withers, Jamie Cullum, Field Music, Dum Dum Girls (single)
"Alls I needs issa one-a them dangly neck ties ana Texas belt buckle..."
The other day I heard a song that made me want to stab a nun in the face.
Ok, I told myself I wasn’t going to get carried away with that opening sentence, but really, you have to understand, this was my level of anger. *sigh* Maybe I’ll lighten up just a little bit.
The other day I heard a song that made me want to stab a nun, who had been stealing money from orphans, in the face.
Better?
What song could possibly make someone react this way, the proverbial reader asks? A country music song. Filled to the neck with cliche after cliche, eye-roller after eye-roller. Enough precocious sap to light up the town of Fairbanks for a weekend. I actually thought for a second that maybe, in my intolerance and hatred, I imagined the whole thing. Like my overactive imagination finally carried the cynical stereotype of the country song too far and I dreamed it all up. So I went home and Googled the lyrics. It was real. And the worst part was, I heard it in a fast food restaurant; meaning that not only did the song exist, but it was a mainstream song, implying royalties and fame for a singer who rightfully deserved dismemberment and death.
Again, I know, probably going a bit too far. But you haven’t heard the song yet. Calm down.
I struggled with this for quite a while. I’m a pretty open minded person, musically speaking. I’ve found something to like in almost every musical genre, why not country? Then I wondered how I could find so much artlessness and drivel in a music business that makes BILLIONS of dollars and is basically the official music of my home state and home country. A billion country music-mongers can’t be wrong, right? Eh…let’s delve a little further.
This is the song that started it all, a song by Eric Church. (be warned, I take no responsibility for the earaches, muscle spasms, diarrhea, or spontaneous combustion that comes from listening to this song)
See, that acoustic guitar kind of welcomes you in, sets the trap. “Don’t worry about me, I’m just a laid-back intro! Why not kick off your shoes and walk away from the radio so you can’t change the channel when I start gettin’ all freaky!?” But by then it’s too late, every country cliche you can think of is in that song. And this is not an old song, this is a song from 2008. Dogs, trucks, jeans, beer, football, BBQ, Nascar…ugh.
And thus began my existential country music crisis. I felt like I needed to find SOMETHING solid out of that terrible genre, something to reassure me that we’re not a nation exclusively filled up with slack-jawed idiots who carry around 3-gallon jugs marked with “XXX” who slap their knees and spit wads of tobbacy juice on the ground all day long.
Days past, and let’s just say I listened to a lot of country music. I checked the top charts at first, assuming that it would be some of the best. *indistinguishable noise* Not so much. In fact, the charts are stupid, both in pop music and country. Perfect example is the number one county song in America according to Billboard.com, “Why Don’t We Just Dance?” by Josh Turner. Or as I like to call it, “Why Don’t We Just Give Up On Any Subtlety Or Imagery And Just Say Exactly What We’re Gonna Do?”
Granted, it’s better than the ear vomit Eric Church gave us, but the words were still mighty simple, to an aggravating fault. And the music with its chromatic, Barenaked Ladiesesque-chorded chorus and that delicious, bassy southern-drawl of Turner’s? Fail.
So I kept looking. Through country blogs, critics’ pages, and any other offering the interweb could present. And it was all pretty much the same stuff. Lyrical retardation and musical primitiveness, an unfortunate representation of the lack of mental complexity in country music’s artists or in their assumptions about everyone who listened to their music.
It was almost as if country music had become the ambassador for partisanship in my life. To me, it only signified the jagged divide in our culture, and how if you listen to a certain type of music, you must favor a certain belief. The music’s themes weren’t helping the process either, as songs of faux-patriotism and pride seemed produced for one single, solitary end: to unite those of a certain persuasion. After a while it felt like me not being able to justify differences over musical genres was like saying a social liberal couldn’t worship Jesus or a gun-slingin’ nationalist couldn’t allow gays to marry. Pick your side and shut up, there will never be a compromise.
So I might’ve blown my situation a bit out of proportion… Finding a solid country song wasn’t the audible equivalent of civil rights or anything, but it gave me some added motivation.
In the end, I just had to admit I wasn’t a country fan. Just because some people don’t care for artfully-crafted songs doesn’t guarantee a lack of intelligence, I begrudgingly told myself. Then… I listened to Patty Griffin’s new album. She won’t make any top 40 country radio’s playlists any time soon, but she’s a bonafide country music singer/songwriter. Her new album was recorded in a Nashville church, is filled with gospel and traditional spirituals, has all the standard country music accouterments, and she’s got a beautiful twang in her voice. And I like it.
So humanity was saved, I finally found someone with a definite country labeling that I could say I liked, and everyone learned a valuable lesson. Although this still doesn’t justify ANYONE who likes Eric Church. We gots to send that boy to Iraq.
