Power’s Out

Since winning the Grammy award for Album of the Year earlier this year, the Arcade Fire has enjoyed growing success (despite outcries from different namby pambies that I commented on in my other blog http://jwhisperyrants.blogspot.com/2011/02/more-grammy-fallout.html), with The Suburbs jumping in Billboard’s Billboard 200 albums list to #12 from #52.  Their other records have subsequently received a boost in sales due to this win.

All of their recent success has been long overdue in my opinion.  Win Butler and crew have written three excellent full-length albums that are engrossing lyrically and musically.  Win Butler and Régine Chassagne lead the band, whose lineup has shuffled a couple of times to its current lineup, which also includes Win’s brother William on drums.  They are a powerful live band with a strong message and personalities that have weathered several personal storms to get to where they are today.  Their first wide release, Funeral, is the subject of my next entry.

# 23 – The Arcade Fire, Funeral (Metascore =90)

Funeral was released in September 2004 on Merge Records, who picked up the band after hearing their self-titled EP.  Funeral has an interesting history as the album was recorded during dark emotional times within the band members’ lives.  Chassagne’s grandmother, Win and William’s grandfather, and multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry’s aunt all died in the period leading up to the recording.  As such, a lot of the lyrics reflect this period of grief, struggle and coping that had taken place.

Four of the songs’ titles start with “Neighborhood #” and then refer to some event going on.  For instance, “Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)” references the dog of the same name that was sent by the Soviet Union into space with no intent of coming back.  The character in the story does this same sort of thing, though when I hear it I could relate the lyrics to some friend who has abandoned his family and friends for another life without coming back.  In “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)”, one of my favorite songs from this record, Butler has spoken about the song, that it shouldn’t be seen negatively but as an uplifting look at neighbors sharing love and “light” in their hearts to help others.  Another look into the lyrics, though, and you could see a reference to people that hide secrets about themselves from their neighbors, how you can’t always hide when the “powers out”.

Thematically you can hear the tie in with the losses that members of the band felt while recording this album.  In “Wake Up” the character seems bitter at the loss of his love and passes that bitterness down to his children.  “Haiti”, in a slight departure in location, refers to loved ones from Chassagne’s homeland of Haiti that still live there during the reign of notorious dictator Duvalier.  But throughout the record, there are references, whether told in first person or third person, that drive this theme through the record.  Obviously this gives the album depth and purpose, something that always makes critics happy.

Musically you can hear the fervor in the band’s performances.  Each song has a drive to it that fits the lyrics of the song.  For instance, “In the Backseat” is Chassagne’s dirge to her grandmother, and the band plays with a slow, chugging force that helps the listener feel Chassagne’s pain in the loss.  “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)” has a sharper, faster drive that gives the song a feeling of anxiety and recklessness that are carried in the lyrics.

I have been a strong supporter for the Arcade Fire and their music over the past year though I have known of them for at least four years.  Funeral is the album that launched their career and is also their highest rated record to date.  Of the three it is the strongest and also their rawest.  As they progress album to album, the sound becomes richer as the production process becomes richer.  I think this is a great album worthy of at least a listen.

It’s a Shame Their End is Near

The concept of “LCD Soundsystem” as a band name is not hard.  The concept of what an “LCD Soundsystem” would be is another matter, but I won’t go into that.  James Murphy is the heart and soul of this band.  Murphy has done many things in his life besides music, including being offered to write for the sitcom Seinfeld and leading a record label into international success.  LCD Soundsystem is his most known project.

All of their records have been critically acclaimed.  The one I am going to write about today, Sound of Silver, was my introduction to them.  Since then I have checked out all of LCD Soundsystem’s music and more or less enjoyed it all.  With their music they try to blend electronic music with rock and folk and anything that Murphy can think of.  For the most part, their records are all the work of Murphy, though occasionally members of his touring band will appear to lend help on vocals or other instruments.

# 104 – LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver (Metascore = 86)

I first latched onto this record based on the single for “North American Scum”.  The title is what got me, but then listening to the song I liked the punk electronic element it had.  I loved the hand claps and the chorus.  I liked its ironic lyrics.  So I wondered prior to getting the record whether or not their sound would be the same.  It is not, as I came to find out.

Sound of Silver followed the record that created a fitness sensation, 45:33 (that’s not entirely correct; 45:33 was created by Murphy for people with iPods that wanted something to work out to).  “Get Innocuous”, with its infection beat, chiming pianos, and otherworldly vocals, continued this upbeat trend.  The word “innocuous” means “inoffensive” or “not interesting”.  This song is anything but that, but who am I to argue with a song name.  “Time to Get Away” also has a really great beat to you, driven by the thumping bass line and Murphy’s take on soul music.

“Someone Great” is an interesting song.  Murphy’s lyrics are so mournful here, like he dreads the current when the past had so much good in it.  Moving on just doesn’t seem like the right thing, yet there’s really no other way to go.  Lyrically to me this is the best of all the songs on the album.  Thematically, the songs seem to echo this feeling of being in the wrong place (New York?) and being unable to get life together.

This record is a dance record through and through.  There’s not a song on here that doesn’t have a danceable beat to it, whether it’s the slower numbers (“Someone Great”, “All My Friends”) or the fun numbers (“North American Scum”, “Watch the Tapes”).  How this record didn’t register a higher Metascore than 86 is beyond me.  The ongoing themes, the steady music, and creativity of Murphy and his band should have been music gold to the critics.  I love this record!

Modern Times

Enough has been written about Bob Dylan that I’m not going to bore you with many details other than to say he’s probably the greatest songwriter who ever lived.  Ok, perhaps that is an overstatement, but he certainly has left an indelible mark on modern music, particularly in folk music and rock music.  In the last 10 years he has released four studio albums, which seems low considering his career output is close to an album per year.  But really, what do you expect from someone who was 60 in 2001 when he released “Love and Theft”?

Modern Times continues the modern renaissance of his music, which really began with Time Out of Mind in 1997 and more recently includes Christmas in the Heart.  The modern Bob Dylan is still quite the storyteller, though his song styles have drifted more towards country blues than the traditional folk he is most famous for.  Modern Times was another heralded album and is my subject for today.

#31 – Bob Dylan, Modern Times (Metascore = 89)

While Modern Times was critically applauded upon its release, it has had its share of controversy.  While certain critics still praised his lyrics and songs, a few questioned him as to whether he borrowed lines from other artists’ songs in his own songs and taking credit for the words.  One DJ in New Mexico even claimed that Dylan took lines from the works of Henry Timrod, a Civil War poet.  Dylan has defended his position much the same way other folk artists have, in that he may have stolen some lines here and there but he reworked them in his own words to compliment what he wrote.

His voice is stronger and less gravelly here than I have heard on other records.  His band is also in fine form.  At times this record has a jazzy edge where Dylan has a plaintive voice (“Spirit on the Water”).  At other times it has that old man blues feel (“Someday Baby” or “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”).  There’s Hank Williams, Sr. country sadness in “When the Deal Goes Down”.  For me, I thought the guitar lines by Stu Kimball and Denny Freeman were just beautiful throughout because they were so simple yet so powerful.

A drawback I get in listening to this album is how traditional it sounds.  Unlike Time Out of Mind or the single “Things Have Changed” (one of my favorite songs of his) from the movie The Wonder Boys, which had originality and depth to them, the tracks from Modern Times feel familiar, as if I had heard them all my life in some form or another.  This seems too safe for Dylan, the same man who in his early days was writing protest songs left and right against the establishment, then openly discussed not playing songs the same way when performing live.  “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” is one of the biggest examples of this.  Blues artists the world around have covered this song, even if Dylan modified the lyrics.

Despite this drawback, this album has a playfulness to it that will keep listeners listening.  I love classic blues regardless of how it’s performed, whether it’s Eric Clapton going off on some Robert Johnson riff or it’s Bob Dylan growling back to you in “Someday Baby”.  Dylan is still writing stories about current events, too.  In “Workingman’s Blues #2” he writes on topics such as the sting of lower wages for the blue collar workingman and the advance of urban sprawl on places he used to love.

With all of this in mind, I would knock this record down just a little.  89 is a high Metascore for an album that seems too safe for Dylan.  This is an enjoyable record no doubt, but it’s lacking that originality that made Time Out of Mind and “Love and Theft” interesting records.

Yo La Tengo Will Kick Your Ass

Yo La Tengo does not get enough credit.  Sure, they have been indie rock darlings for years, but to me they should be bona fide rock stars.  They have been around forever, dating back to 1984; they have released 12 studio albums, 4 compilation albums, 12 EPs, etc.  Unfortunately, they have never really achieved much commercial success and are what most people call “critics’ band” for writing excellent songs.  They do have quite the cult following, though, which is why they have been able to sustain for so long.

The band is primarily three members:  Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James McNew (bass, vocals).  The trio has been in place since McNew took over bass duties in 1993.  Their writing style has continued to evolve as they have grown older, from garage rock in the early days to folk rock to experimental rock now.  They have even written songs for soundtracks, mostly in the last decade, which helped lay the groundwork for the record I am reviewing.

# 188 – Yo La Tengo, I Am not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass  (Metascore = 85)

“Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”, the opening track, is an experimental rock sound with distorted bass and guitars jamming on a straight-from-the-catalog-of-Velvet-Underground hook.  Mostly this is a jam song, because there are few lyrics over the 10:47 it takes.  “Beanbag Chair” couldn’t be more different from “Pass the Hatchet”.  Outside of the guitar pyrotechnics of “Hatchet”, “Beanbag Chair” features pounding piano chords while Kaplan quietly sings about personal reflections.  “I Feel Like Going Home” continues this quiet section of the album (sung by Hubley).

“Mr. Tough” is a bouncy tune that sounds like it would be right at home in the Spoon catalog or performed by Huey Lewis.  For some reason I envision Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head arguing on the Toy Story films when I hear this song.  “The Race Is on Again” brings us back to the pacing from “Pass the Hatchet”.  “The Room Got Heavy” sounds like a precursor to music performed by the Jack White vehicle the Dead Weather (great example would be “60 Feet Tall” or anything off of Horehound) with its droning guitar motif and screeching organ blasts.  Then the band does another 180 with “Sometimes I Don’t Get You”, a piano-driven song of sadness in one’s inability to understand his companion.

After the long instrumental “Daphnia”, the band swerves into ‘60’s pop “I Should Have Known Better”, a rambunctious song about knowing there are better ways to do things than the way the character does (getting into fights on trains, giving the finger to people driving cars).  The fun continues with “Watch Out for Me Ronnie”, which I recently heard on Sirius XMU (great channel by the way).  They switch gears again with the country rock swing of “The Weakest Part”.

My biggest issue with this record is there’s a start-stop-start again-stop again thing going on.  While the songs themselves are interesting, the critics’ assessment that the band is dipping back into their song catalog to explore seems accurate since the sounds bounce around like they do.  The New Music Express critic felt like the band was on autopilot, and this seems true, too.  The 85 Metascore seems a stretch here despite the strength of the songs individually; as a whole, the album is not.

The Strangeness of a Band Makes for the Strangeness of an Album Name

Dave Longstreth is the bones behind the band the Dirty Projectors.  The lineup for the band has changed from its humble beginnings back in 2002 to the lineup there today.  Longstreth experiments with the sounds he wants to achieve in his songs.  The themes on the albums have been all over the place, from creating a concept album built around musician Don Henley (you remember him—“Boys of Summer” and the Eagles) to doing an album of Black Flag covers.  The band has been prolific in releasing material—seven full-length albums in as many years.

Longstreth and company started developing their characteristic sound on the EP New Attitude (2006).  On there they started to incorporate the vocal interplays and guitar interplay that would expand in later albums.  The band currently features multiple vocalists, two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and a multi-instrumentalist.  Longstreth will modify the band makeup whenever a certain muse affects him.  The Dirty Projectors album Bitte Orca (2009) received strong reviews at its release and is the topic of this entry.

#190 – Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca (Metascore = 85)

“Cannibal Resource” is such a sweet song to start the album.  What I find most appealing is that it is a simple rock song yet features dense harmonies supported by harps and choppy guitars.  Longstreth weaves the lyrics through the harmonies and guitars in a way that reminds me a little of the Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin.  “Temecula Sunrise” opens with a folksy guitar riff.  Listening to and reading the lyrics I almost feel like Longstreth is going stream-of-consciousness (“Definitely you can come and live with us/I know there’s a space for you in the basement, yeah/All you gotta do is help out with the chores and dishes.”) on us.  The music is so unorthodox in how it’s performed, with stops and just random restarts.

A few songs into this album and you really can’t pin the music to any specific type of rock.  At moments the guitars sound folk Led Zeppelin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin_III), but at other times the band sounds like Animal Collective (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merriweather_Post_Pavilion_(album)). And I haven’t felt turned off by any of the sounds because they all seem to gel so well.  There is an element of the baroque in all of the songs being fused with rock, particularly “Two Doves” and “The Bride”.  The album is as pleasing to hear the music as it is to listen to the lyrics.

I’m really kind of blown away by this album.  Perhaps lyrically it’s not as interesting as a Hold Steady record, but musically this is a well put-together record that meshes different elements into a unique way.  There really aren’t any songs that I didn’t like, which is rare considering I usually find something I don’t like.  Ok, perhaps the last three songs are not as good as the first six, but they’re not bad songs.  “Fluorescent Half Dome” is too slow for the rest of the album, like Longstreth is meandering along to a finale.  But really that’s a small quibble.

The Bug

The Bug is one of the incarnations of British musician, record producer and journalist Kevin Martin.  He has used many different monikers to release music that he has created.  Usually each moniker is a different style of music that he’s doing, whether it be dub, jazzcore, industrial hip hop or dubstep.  Martin plays a multitude of instruments, including the saxophone and synthesizer, and is also a turntablist.

For the Bug, Martin gets his musical influence from dancehall, noise, grime, and hip hop (think more like Dizzee Rascal).  Martin first started using the Bug moniker in 1997 when he released Tapping the Conversation, an alternative soundtrack to the Francis Ford Coppola film The Conversation.  London Zoo is the third album to be released under the Bug moniker and is the subject of this writing.

#24 – The Bug, London Zoo (Metascore = 90)

I wasn’t immediately turned on to Dizzee Rascal until I gave his album Boy in Da Corner a second chance.  This will be probably the third time I have heard this record, though the first in probably a year.  “Angry” features reggae artist Tippa Irie; the track mixes the reggae rapping of Irie over a club beat, giving the song what I call a “head nod” effect.  This is the dancehall sound I mentioned earlier.  “Murder We” features Ricky Ranking and continues the dancehall sound that was used in “Angry”.  “Murder We” is a statement song if you listen to the lyrics, with Ranking rapping about people dying and how political despots make him want to lead a rebellion.

Deep down this record is rooted in political and social turmoil around the world.  The singers/rappers reflect on war, bloodshed, inner-city issues, and topics that are as relevant today as they were when this record was released in 2008.  “Insane”, featuring Warrior Queen, sounds like it would fit just as well on an M.I.A. record.  Flow Dan pummels in “Jah War”; the theme of this song should go without saying.

Martin puts together a mixed palette of sounds to complement his singers/rappers.  The sounds range from sledgehammer-to-the-head dance to paced dubstep to atmospheric trance.  The sequencing of the record helps balance the sound so that the listener doesn’t feel overwhelmed and can understand the true meanings behind the tracks.  The final tracks tend to be drawn out, but “Judgement” does feature some interesting atmospheric sounds as the track closes out.

Overall I was more impressed by this record during this listen than I was other times.  I don’t think this record was worthy of a 90 Metascore, but I do believe it is a great record worthy of a higher score.  If you are interested in dub or dancehall or have an interest in post-rave music, this might be up your alley.

Chutes Too Narrow

The Shins are a band driven primarily by the musings of James Mercer.  Mercer grew up in a military family (his father was in the United States Air Force) who moved around frequently (he attended high school in England and Germany).  Mercer originally formed the Shins out of another band that he was a member, Flake Music, which was based out of New Mexico.  The Shins differed from Flake Music in that Mercer wanted to work on primarily three-minute pop songs with conventional chord structures.

Most of the original members have left or been replaced since they began back in 1997 with the exception of Mercer and bassist Dave Hernandez.  The Shins relocated to Portland, Oregon, and joined Sub Pop in 2001 and recorded three albums with Sub Pop—Oh, Inverted World (2001), Chutes Too Narrow (2003), and Wincing the Night Away (2007).  Chutes Too Narrow earned the band critical praise and also commercial success due to effects added to what they had done on Oh, Inverted World, including multi-layered lyrics and exploration into different song structures from the conventional ones previously used.  Chutes Too Narrow is the subject of this entry.

#43 – The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow (Metascore = 88)

Chutes Too Narrow opens with the poppy “Kissing the Lipless”, and right away you can tell the production is stronger than the Shins’ previous recordings.  All of the instruments are mixed very well; each instrument, from guitars to xylophone, is featured effectively throughout the tracks.  The album is filled with pop rock that ventures from driving acoustics to country-tinged guitar solos to pumping organ notes.

“So Says I” is an interesting song, with Mercer envisioning a world where the people are bound to the duty of living a boring life.  He sees the flaws in this system and tries to encourage his friends to rebel, only to realize that the “big ones eat all the little ones” and this exercise of rebellion is a boring idea.  “Young Pilgrim” provides us with the album’s title (“I fell into a winter slide/and ended up the kind of kid who goes down chutes too narrow/just eking out my measly pies.”

“Saint Simon” is my favorite track.  The song features strings and a steady guitar riff while Mercer and the band sing lyrics that cascade over the music.  This is followed by the catchy single “Fighting in a Sack”.  The pacing throughout the album for the most part follows the quick tempos of songs like “Fighting in a Sack”.  There are a few slower songs (“Simon”, “Pink Bullets”), but even they are at least moderately paced.

I have heard this album a few times but never really appreciated its sound, pacing, or lyrics like I have this time.  In the past I didn’t really pay enough attention to the lyrics, but this time I have a better appreciation of what Mercer sings about.  Sticking in the pop rock realm (as he mostly has) seems to fit him and his writings the best.