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music / / poetry / / philosophy / / -ology by Nick CourtrightArchive for Music
Hot Off the Press: Archives of an Overworked Music Critic
As most of you know, I do this little music journalism thing on the side because I have so much spare time I don’t even know what to do with myself. In addition to doing regular concert previews and reviews for Austinist, and writing feature interviews for Soundcheck Magazine, for the last four months I’ve been running a weekly album review column for Transmission Entertainment called Hot Off the Press, which discusses in sometimes-professional, sometimes-notsomuch manner incredibly new albums—about half the time the albums are reviewed before they are released to the public, a luxury I have due to a combination of media hook-ups and blatant theft of unpublicized leaks.
The result of this is that I’m often way ahead of the game on albums, thus providing some of the initial “hype” or “bust” sentiment stewing around the internet, and that I am often reviewing albums before I really have a damn clue what I’m talking about—there are a couple rethinkers (I should have given You & Me more time, and the early weeks of HOTP are pretty thin), but for the most part I think I got it right the first go’round. So, without further ado, here is a considerable list of links (click the red to be magically transported to the full review), in reverse chronological order:
Women (Women): “…there is a very thick haze of early Animal Collective-ness populating this album, as you can almost see the two groups together—long before AC’s electro-obsession took full hold—bounding around a campfire in loincloths, shaking tambourines and scaring children…” Report Card: B+
Pit Er Pat (High Time): “…the big problem here is that while 2006’s Pyramids seemed like an album maybe ahead of its time, High Time, an almost uncomfortably ironic title, feels like an album that’s hit the shelves a good five years too late…” Report Card: C
15: Crystal Stilts & Times New Viking
Crystal Stilts (Alight of Night): “…it’s as if the woe woe woe of Crystal Stilts’ approach is so draped in mascara tears that fans have no choice but to bob their heads in utter happiness that they found something so compulsively hip-shaking and degenerate…” Report Card: B+
Times New Viking (Stay Awake EP): “…it’s difficult to figure if what Times New Viking is doing makes any sense—after all, it’s impossible not to wonder whether they would be “better” if they stopped recording on such shitty equipment…” Report Card: B
Deerhoof (Offend Maggie): “…despite oft-indiscernible lyrics, the obscurity of their songs, and a distinct lack of sex appeal, Deerhoof has successfully built an adoring fan base, and these realities make it all the more mystifying and disappointing that Offend Maggie lacks the spikes in extreme glee that their last couple albums have provided so willingly…” Report Card: B
Megapuss (Surfing): “…in many ways, Devendra Banhart and Greg Rogove’s album is juvenile, senseless, random, filthy, awkward, head-scratching, and sometimes just plain stupid. And yet, despite all of these fitting adjectives, Surfing works…” Report Card: B+
13: Juana Molina & Final Fantasy
Juana Molina (Un Día): “…through its sheer bombast and ambition, Un Día is bound to find a wider and more enthusiastic American audience than her previous efforts—songs such as the title track and “Los Hongos de Marosa” are so stunning it’d be a shame if American audiences didn’t catch on…” Report Card: A-
Final Fantasy (Plays to Please EP & Spectrum, 14th Century EP): “…frontman Owen Pallett is one of those wildly bright and frustratingly eccentric types, and these two EPs expand upon the already iconoclastic canon he has constructed, as he uses additional manpower to back his stunning string arrangements with the familiar-but-300-years-old sounds of chamber music…” Report Card: B
12: TV on the Radio & Cold War Kids
TV on the Radio (Dear Science): “…the melodrama in TV on the Radio’s music regularly foams over the surface, and although the hugeness of their approach may turn some fickle listeners off at first blush, repeated listens will draw in even the most skeptical fans of singer-songwriters and sparse arrangement…” Report Card: A
Cold War Kids (Loyalty to Loyalty): “…Cold War Kids are so divisive even your grandparents argue over whether they are the shining light of new soul rock come down from above to lead us all into a new era of heartfelt tunesmanship, or whether they are a bunch of underschooled and self-absorbed fools with an editing deficiency who are example 1A of blog bands gone painfully awry…” Report Card: B-
11:Peter Bjorn and John & Grouper
Peter Bjorn and John (Inland Empire): “…Seaside Rock is a testament to a band who’s willing to say a little bit of ‘fuck you’ to the slavering masses, a testament that declares that musical integrity and continued exploration are more important to this band than a continued assault on the tender eardrums of the thoughtless youth. Either that or they’re running away, like pansies, from expectations…” Report Card: B
Grouper (Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill): “…if it weren’t for the fact that Grouper makes her music almost impossible to hear on purpose, you’d really want to suggest that she find a better producer, or at least stop strumming the guitar seventy feet underwater…” Report Card: B-
10: Department of Eagles & Fight Bite
Department of Eagles (In Ear Park): “…while the ups can be pretty spectacular, In Ear Park is ultimately done in by its questionable revision—one almost gets the feeling that Rossen and Nicolaus felt rushed to get this out while the hype is high…” Report Card: B-
Fight Bite (Emerald Eyes): “…while the band name Fight Bite may conjure up images of Mike Tyson, crazed look in his eyes, with a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear in his mouth, this music couldn’t be further from that image. If anything, the image that’s brought up is one of Tyson and Holyfield walking through a garden of daisies, perhaps holding hands…” Report Card: A-
Of Montreal (Skeletal Lamping): “…and only then did it become easier to accept the possibility that [Kevin Barnes had] not lost himself completely in a bizarre world of cocks, asses, and transgender dance parties wildly galloping through the thesaurus…” Report Card: B+
8: The Bug & Kemialliset Ystävät
The Bug (London Zoo): “…while the scowl this album wears makes much hardcore rap look like child’s play, the album’s polarizing effects are a sign of its ingenuity—Martin’s sensibilities regarding darkness and repetition make it the perfect collection of anthems for sneering and cursing as you cut off other drivers on the highway…” Report Card: A
Kemialliset Ystävät (Harmaa Laguuni): “…this particular collection of sounds is a little less shocking to the ears than their prior studio work; that’s not to say, though, that it won’t elicit plenty of ‘what the hell are you listening to’ comments from passersby, because it certainly will…” Report Card: B-
7: Vivian Girls & The Music Tapes
Vivian Girls (Vivian Girls): “…Vivian Girls’ clattering, energetic approach to punky two minute pop-rock is befitting of the web’s fawning, and surely soon enough the Brooklyn trio (all women, no less) will be the darlings of a wider populus…even if the album as a whole doesn’t thrill as fabulously as the first couple singles would have you believe…” Report Card: B
The Music Tapes (Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes): “…what good possibly could come from Koster’s collection, being that he is notoriously obsessed with the singing saw, of all random instruments, that he personally has never released a truly proper LP, and that he’s been working on this album for nine freaking years?…” Report Card: B
Lackthereof (Your Anchor): “…notable because they are the primary project of Menomena member Danny Seim, Lackthereof makes music that sounds like a Menomena song lying prone on the studio room floor, like an engine taken totally apart and put only a little bit back together…” Report Card: B-
Conor Oberst (Conor Oberst): “…as his growing pains have presented themselves to the listening public, that incredible urgency has gone missing in his work, and to some critics he’s been relegated to has-been status—a time capsule at the ripe old age of twenty-eight…” Report Card: C-
5: Bodies of Water & Russian Red
Bodies of Water (A Certain Feeling): “…rarely has an album truly jumped out and demanded to follow in the bombastic footsteps of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne’s Canadian outfit, while still being talented and unique enough not merely to seem like parrots. But A Certain Feeling has that quality to it…” Report Card: A
Russian Red (I Love Your Glasses): “…words of wisdom for the listener are twofold: #1 if you listen to this album, start with track two so you don’t get your hopes too high, and #2 Hernández is only twenty-two years old, so she still has plenty of time to be the world-conqueror I’d hoped her already to be…” Report Card: B
The Walkmen (You & Me): “…the band, as usual, is pretty tight and on cue, and this album sees them expanding their oft-old-timey sound a bit, but, as usual, they rarely make the listener reflect with amazement on the awesomeness of their instrumental achievements…” Report Card: B-
Grizzly Bear (Two Weeks’ television debut): “…Two Weeks, a sparkling if simple track, is cloaked in reverb and is guaranteed to sound better on the fifth listen than it did on the first…” Report Card: A
Au (Verbs): “…some of it sounds like little more than a bunch of people tuning their instruments or screwing off pre-rehearsal, but when the noises this flock of musicians creates come together into a song, the results can be pretty damn pleasing…” Report Card: B
Pyramids (Pyramids): “…although Pyramids aren’t likely to find themselves on the cover of Spin magazine anytime soon (hell, they hardly turn up on a Google search), they have potential, and with a broadening of their sound they should start to make themselves the first ‘Pyramids’ band you think of, rather than the fourth…” Report Card: C+
White Denim (Workout Holiday): “…this garage-y business gets down to the brass tacks of dirty rock, with sloppy and simple construction and frequent breakdowns, and it’s not unlikely that your first listen will seem a bit pale for all the praise. But when it comes down to it, this is some very, very good stuff, and once it gets its energetic claws into you, you’ll have a hard time taking it off the iPod…” Report Card: A-
Black Kids (Partie Traumatic): “…While this is an album with lovely songs for a club rotation, for any other of the myriad purposes for listening to music—such as passing the time while driving on I-35 during rush hour—chances are that the absolute lack of irony will wear thin quite quickly…” Report Card: C
1: Beck & The Fiery Furnaces & Ponytail
Beck (Modern Guilt): “…despite the skepticism—fueled by his diminishing live performance as he nears forty—sure enough, like most all Beck releases, Modern Guilt gets its claws into you, and after a tepid first few listens, it starts to hold together quite well as a collection…” Report Card: B
The Fiery Furnaces (Remember): “…put very simply: if you’re not already a fan of Fiery Furnaces, this release will just solidify your disgust for them. But if you’re already a fan of Fiery Furnaces, you’ll probably just wish they would’ve found some not-so-shitty recording equipment for this ambitious project…” Report Card: C
Ponytail (Ice Cream Spiritual): “…despite the occasionally awesome interplay between these ‘instruments,’ this is an album that’s going to be hard-pressed to survive multiple spins in a row without becoming a burden on sensitive ears…” Report Card: B-
Band Interview: Caribou
Caribou is the brainchild of Dan Snaith, a man who grew up in Ontario and got his PhD in mathematics in England (check out a PDF of his impressive and practically unpronounceable thesis here), all the while developing his own brand of retro-influenced electronic pop. His mode the last few years has turned more and more towards what the layman would call “songs,” and the change has resulted in some of the best music of the last half-decade. In an effort to further understand how a man gets his PhD and then tours the world supporting electronic pop music, we had ourselves a little chat with Dan, who proved to be just as smart as he sounds.
One thing I absolutely had to know about regards your PhD—I saw that you specialized in Algebraic number theory, and I found your thesis online, and…Overconvergent Siegler modular symbols? Sounds pretty intense. I was wondering if you could tell me about that?
Well, I can, but it’s not something I can explain, really. It’s not something that’s applied—which is kind of why I like it—it’s completely abstract. It’s not applicable to anything in the real world. None of those words make any sense because, without, you know, taking a course and learning a few definitions and thinking about math and learning more about it—it’s real cumulative and it’s something that’s impossible to explain in any two sentences that make sense.
Yeah, I was looking through your thesis desperately seeking even two sentences that a non-mathematician could say aloud.
It’s like it’s this whole separate world that’s fully inaccessible. And I think somehow that that’s what I like about it.
Something that’s purely theoretical?
Exactly. In some ways it’s really self-indulgent. It’s just for the fun of doing it and for the challenge of working on it.
But I think it’s good that people still do things not just because it’ll get them a job, but they do these things because they enjoy them.
You’ve said in the past that your music is not mathematics, but aesthetics. But even with that in mind, how do you think your mathematical background has influenced your music?
I don’t think it influences my music directly, but the things I like about mathematics and music are the same things. They’re both kind of creative and they’re both kind of individual pursuits. But although I enjoy the same things about both of them, I don’t think there’s any way in which the mathematics affects the music. As far I can see anyway.
If math and music are two separate worlds wholly, how do you think you would describe your aesthetic taste?
It’s really hard to say. I guess I would say that I have a tendency to like things that are kind of layered or more messy sounding or maximal sounding rather than spare minimal music, music that’s more based on space. I tend to like music that’s full of lots of things going on that create a big world of sound or whatever—lots of different surprises and interesting sounds interacting that are based on simple elements. But yeah, it’s hard to say. And even that stuff’s not entirely true.
I think there are so many things to like about music and so many different reasons to get excited about making music, and that’s the reason I’ll never get bored doing this. Each time I can think about something different when I’m making the record or when I hear new music, and it can surprise me. It never gets boring because there are so many different elements that are exciting.
Album Review: Forces by Silver Pines
Silver Pines have one big thing going for them. And, no, it’s not that their band is based in the lonesome burg of San Marcos, Texas, which at more than a half-hour away is always looking up at Austin with the starry eyes of the semi-isolated college town. That one big thing Silver Pines have going for them is that their haunting, forever-reverberating songs are often pretty exceptional, and everyone who’s heard them seems to agree that something special is going on down I-35. Last year’s Fort Walnut EP served as an excellent introduction to the band, but this year’s Forces EP broadens their sound without compromising what made their earliest work so satisfying. Using all the best of country music—slide and even a singing saw make appearances—without falling prone to the genre’s more troubling cheesy aspects, the stage-taking septet crafts only the most gentle of tunes, and that sincere gentleness remains true even when the full strength of the band is involved.
The linchpin here is lead singer Stefanie Franciotti, whose calming presence both on the album and on stage allows the rest of the band to do its finest work. Her voice is forever distant, not unlike that of a long lost lover, or of other newly-revered vocalists such as Beach House’s Victoria Legrand or Fight Bite’s Leanne Macomber, and its pleading pain or burgeoning enthusiasm acts as the band’s most captivating asset. But that’s not to discredit the rest of the band, which holds Forces together admirably with steady rhythms and the occasional dose of flash, such as the guitar freakout at the four-minute mark of the EP’s first track, “Timefather,” the rollicking conclusion of mid-disc standout, “Payasito,” and the blistering second half of the album’s most vicious track, “Fortress of Daughters.”
It’s difficult to see the career arc of a band who has yet to truly give the big city a spin, and college-based bands have a tendency to evaporate not long past graduation, but Silver Pines—if they so desire to continue unabated—have prepped themselves for significantly wider appreciation in the indie realm, especially as other country-influenced acts such as Fleet Foxes gain seemingly unstoppable momentum. And the Forces EP, clocking in at an economical twenty-eight minutes, is an undeniably solid step forward.
Band Interview: Matthew Houck of Phosphorescent
This interview originally appeared on the Austinist on March 11, 2008.
Phosphorescent, the woodsy and brutally honest project of Brooklyn-by-way-of-Athens-and-Alabama musician Matthew Houck, used the strength of last year’s Pride to firmly establish itself as an act to be reckoned with. Combining haunting natural effects and skillful understatement, the album presents an intentionally rough-around-the-edges sound that has drawn complimentary comparisons to everyone from Dylan to Oldham. In advance of Phosphorescent’s three SXSW shows, including the Austinist/Gothamist get together on Wednesday, Matthew Houck spoke to us while snowed-in in New York.
So people listen to your music, and they get this idea that you’re some somber mystic, wandering through the forest in a pit of despair.
(laughs) Yeah, I see that.
How does that image compare to who you actually are as a person?
Well, I think music is one thing and life is another. To a certain degree I don’t really care all that much about what picture people might have of me as a person based on my music. They’d have to be kind of idiots to think that, really. No one really thinks you’re a certain way because of a song you sing, but then I might be way wrong about that. Maybe they do think that, and if they do there’s really, you know, I can’t spend too much time worrying about that.
You don’t really see your music as being necessarily your “heart,” but rather a separate product?
It’s not really separate, it’s just a specific part of it. It’s not a whole picture. It’s just a narrow little slice, of what you happened to write down that day, or you happened to sing. It’s not a full picture, and that’s fine. It’s not supposed to be a full picture. If every song you wrote was for the purpose of representing yourself as a complete human being, to the world, the song would be, I hope, more than three or four minutes long.
Band Interview: Doug Martsch of Built to Spill
This interview appeared on the Austinist on February 29, 2008.
Alright, so Built to Spill is one of the greatest, most influential, and most acclaimed bands of the past fifteen years. There’s really no way around it. And for those of you who are a little late to the love-in, here’s a very small sample of some of the things that have been said about them:
“A band whose talent and proficiency at times seem[s] boundless.” –Pitchfork Media
“Flawless.” –Trigger Magazine
“In short, he’s a talent more people ought to know about.” –Rolling Stone, on Doug Martsch
“Better than getting laid, finding God and winning the lotto combined.” –San Francisco Weekly, just last week when discussing their live performance
So when a band like this comes to Stubb’s, as they do on March 2nd (along with famed Nirvana influences Meat Puppets, as well as Helvetia) you should pay attention. And that’s exactly what we did, to the point that we arranged a conversation with BTS frontman and fearless mastermind, Doug Martsch, a man whose honesty and candor proved as engaging as his music.
Back when Built to Spill first started coming out with albums, getting “big” in quotation marks, the music industry was a lot different, built around radio conglomerates, big time record labels, and word of mouth, but now everything’s downloading and blogging and MySpace. As someone who’s seen both sides of the shift, what do you think of the way the music industry is now compared to how it used to be?
I’ve never paid too much attention to it, but I think it’s cool that people can share music. But to me, these record companies? I don’t feel bad for them at all. They argue that the artists are going to suffer and stuff but I think they’re full of shit. I think they’re just worried about themselves. I don’t think they care about the artists. And the artists will do fine, there are ways to sell your music, and big deal if you don’t sell your music? Who cares if the artists don’t have mansions and shit, you know? Why shouldn’t the artists just make music in their free time and just have regular jobs like anyone else? If you wanna make music you can go tour—there’s no way that they can get into your show for free. These record companies just dominated for so long they’re just scrambling, and I don’t feel bad for them at all.
It was the establishment and now they realize they’re not necessary anymore, so they’re trying to stop it at all costs.
Yeah, and they abused their position. They totally milked people, they milked the public. They charged people way more than they ever needed to for records. You can’t feel bad for them.
Band Interview: Yoni Wolf of WHY?
This interviewed originally appeared on the Austinist on March 7, 2008.
Lurking in the near, near future is the album Alopecia, the strange, provocative, and incredibly engaging new album from Why?, a Bay Area band that seems to be ticketed for a whole new bunch of notoriety, right quick. While Why? in the past has often incited listeners to, well, invoke the name of the band–mostly because of scattershot verbosity and music that seemed more pieced-together than refined–they’ve pulled all their unbridled talent together into a cohesive and coherent, not to mention very good, whole. And, seeming as they’re going to be tromping all about Austin’s stomping grounds next week for SXSW, we sent out some questions to lead figure and wordsmith Yoni Wolf. You know, just to see what he’s all about.
Alopecia! Your most accessible and genre-confounding record yet, it seems like Why? is poised for a much wider audience. What, to you, makes this album different or more broadly accessible than your earlier work?
Well, I think we got our shit together a bit more this time in most every aspect of process: songwriting, arrangements, pre production, recording, mixing, mastering–the whole shebang. I think we were just somewhat more prepared every step of the way because we’ve been through it all a couple of times now.
You grew up in Cincinnati, but didn’t really find your crowd musically until you moved to San Francisco. Looking back as an adult, what about your Cincinnati experience made you the musician you are today?
I think everything I am today is based on my upbringing somehow, be it Cincinnati, Messianic Judaism, my high school friends, my siblings, my parents…
Okay, here’s academic question #1. In “Song of the Sad Assassin,” you start off by saying “we lifted the body from the water like a gown,” which is a really kick-ass metaphor. How do metaphor and image work for you in your music?
I use metaphors and images like they are gonna go out of style any minute: with frequency and in great abundance. I can’t get enough. Metaphors and images are really great tools.
Album Review: Women as Lovers by Xiu Xiu
Xiu Xiu are what many would call a success story. After all, they’ve evolved from an experimental, rotating-cast freakshow who appealed only to the outer edge of musical snobs and depressed hipsters, to a full-on, 
four member, MySpace friendly, blog-writing, book- producing, ceaselessly collaborating, networking whirlwind with legions of fans and the respect of critics. Not only that, but unlike some rise-to-glory stories, Xiu Xiu’s transformation has been nice to see, mostly because founding member Jamie Stewart and able sidekick Caralee McElroy always seemed to be having a lot of fun, connecting well with their fans and managing to maintain their sense of humor and their honesty.
But somewhere along the path to Women as Lovers, Xiu Xiu lost a little bit of their subtlety. Though all the band’s hallmarks—the experimentation, the grab-bag electronics and waves of unconventional percussion, the impassioned vocals complete with über-weirdo lyrics—are still there, something vital is missing. Could it be that fame, success, and comfort corrupted Xiu Xiu’s artistic process? That doesn’t seem to fit the still-odd Stewart and McElroy. But what about those two new permanent band members—could they have caused an unnecessary bloating of the music, as if the band weren’t quite ready to absorb all the new hands in the studio? Quite possibly. Regardless of cause, one of the most endearing aspects of Xiu Xiu—their utter vulnerability—has been replaced with a steady confidence.
This is not to say that Women as Lovers is a bad album. It is actually quite fine, as it has enough strangeness to appeal to those who appreciate strangeness, and enough adorableness to appeal to those who appreciate adorableness. Lead track “I Do What I Want When I Want,” complete with shared vocals, a near-perfect progression, no shortage of surprise, and Ornette Coleman-style saxophone, is a fantastic art-pop song. “No Friend Oh!,” whose title hearkens back to earlier albums, is a joy and experience to hear, a song with just enough head-shaking moments to feel like true-to-life Xiu Xiu. “Black Keyboard,” despite its disturbing lyrics, and “You Are Pregnant You, You Are Dead” are also excellent additions to the band’s catalog.
With all that strength, it’s hard to see what doesn’t feel right about this album. But something definitely isn’t quite right, and there’s a good chance the problem lies with the cover song blaring from the album’s center. “Under Pressure,” the David Bowie standard whose beat was made doubly famous by Vanilla Ice, makes for a well-done and interesting cover, all the way down to the exceptional vocal turn by Angels of Light and ex-Swans frontman Michael Gira. But what happens is that Women as Lovers feels less like a complete album and more like a collection of songs. Other moments in the album, including the irritating “Puff and Bunny,” in which Stewart repeats the words “hot pepper” a painful number of times, also lead to the disconnected feel of the album. And this effect, especially in comparison to their previous albums, is pretty jarring.
So it seems this is what happens when a band has established itself as being really, really good—they release an album that is only merely good, and people are annoyed. But that’s the price to pay for success—you better not display imperfection, because if you do you’ll be called on it. And so it is with Xiu Xiu, one of the most excellent and fascinating bands of the decade, and one that still holds that trophy. Even if the trophy isn’t quite as shiny as it used to be.
Xiu Xiu [Official] [Label] [MySpace] [Download Site]
Album Review: Alegranza by El Guincho
Okay, before we begin, there are some things we must know about El Guincho. First of all, El Guincho is one man, Pablo Díaz-Reixa, and he named his album after the uninhabited island of Alegranza, which is at the northeastern tip of the Canary Islands, which are—of course this is common knowledge—an autonomous domain of Spain located on the west coast of Africa. Díaz-Reixa is from these Canary Islands, and, via Barcelona, he creates swirling and excitable indie pop using loops and samples and an amalgam of musical influences ranging from Benga (Kenyan traditional music) to Bhangra (Indian folk) to any brand of tropicalia that flies well above the head of our good friend Jimmy Buffett.
All of this crazy backstory, and El Guincho still can’t seem to shake comparisons to Panda Bear—the “Spanish Panda Bear,” he’s been called. The Person Pitch parallels, despite the fact that there remains little coverage in English on El Guincho, have been mentioned so thoroughly by now that it’s practically mandated by law that every review gives a nod to the idea, an idea which to its inventor probably seemed pretty clever. But really, outside of the compositional technique and a layered load of repetition, there really isn’t too much tying these two machine-musicians together. El Guincho is an artist all his own, and discussing his music only in the context of someone else is a disservice, especially when one realizes that Alegranza is one of the most unique and fascinating albums to come out in a long time.
So if this isn’t really like Panda Bear (or Os Mutantes, or Beirut, or any of the other ridiculous comparisons people are throwing out there in an effort to quantify the album), what is it like? Well, there’s certainly an element of the circus here, an unabashed fun and playfulness that’s hard to find on most sample-based electronic releases. And that’s probably the most striking aspect of El Guincho—much like his funny-to-say band name, the music here is decidedly light-hearted. This means that all the dour indie fans whose pockets are full of angst and agony will probably check this disc at the door. But it also offers a much-needed dose of positivity and play that too often is absent from the oft-schizophrenic art-music scene.
Ultimately, songs like “Fata Morgana,” which starts softly and eventually rampages into a colorful steel drum salute, “Antillas,” a meditative study in repetitive excess, and “Buenos Matrimonios Ahi Fuera” which cruises along effortlessly with child vocals, are proof that computer-crafted music doesn’t have to be lifeless. Because although surely El Guincho crafts his loops and distorts his samples in a solitary world of meticulous detail and independent thought, his tunes are made for the streets, the clubs, the plazas, the alleyways. And this fact seems perfect: after all, that empty island he named the album after? Alegranza, derived from the Spanish, means “joy.”
[El Guincho's MySpace]
[Download Site (album is sold out in Europe, and unreleased in America)]
[His blog (which is in Spanish, and is pretty crazy if you use an online translator)]
Album Review: Distortion by The Magnetic Fields
Say you’re drunk. Or, better yet, you just woke up after one of those Mexican Martini nights, so it’s one of those mornings where the sun, you’re sure, is already blazing its blaze just beyond your bedroom window, yet you can only spot a squeak of it through the blinds, and that little bit of light is really all you handle. Anything more would send you into full-on fury, but that special kind of fury where you can’t really do anything, because, truly, you feel like shit.
The Magnetic Fields’ new album, Distortion, seems to have been composed on such a morning. But no, this isn’t a bad thing. If you think about it, some of the purest and most unadulterated moments come when in this most unpleasant of states; after all, reason is out and only absolute animalness and grouchiness and even a bit of self-loathing humor can be had. In music, you could say it’s a place where melodies are simple and indulgently satisfying, while the themes are effortlessly and simultaneously tragic and comic. And Distortion gets right at all of it, right down in its crusty center. True, the entirety of the album is covered in a fog, a thick haze of crunch and—who would’ve guessed it—distortion.
The fact that The Magnetic Fields are legends is and is not beside the point. Their epic 1999 release 69 Love Songs—a triple album magnum opus of range and obsession and theatricality and depression and joy—set the bar pretty high for lead man Stephin Merritt, and he’s struggled a little to get back to that apex. 2004’s i was an all-acoustic affair that felt a little too soft, and besides that we’ve only caught brief glimpses of the band in the twenty-first century, a fact that’s pretty shocking considering the fact that Merritt, with the help of three other occasional lead vocalists, came out with sixty-nine songs in one year. So, to say that Distortion is a return to form wouldn’t be fair, but to say that it’s a very nice album would be.
The album begins with the triumphant and mostly wordless “Three-Way,” a song which in its own conceit stands as a harbinger of the music to come, while tracks such as “Old Fools,” “Please Stop Dancing,” and “Drive On, Driver”—one of several songs ably sung by Shirley Simms—are signature Magnetic Fields songs blanketed in that relentless haze. There are a couple misses here, as “California Girls” (chorus: “I hate California girls”) and “Mr. Mistletoe” are either too over-the-top or too medicated to survive their own confidence. But the album holds together quite well, with or without the uniform distortion.
Truth be told, Stephin Merritt’s work feels a little out of place in 2008, as it doesn’t feature all the bells and whistles of present-day indie. But, surprisingly enough, that’s really refreshing. It’s just music, and honesty, and a damn-bad hangover. And Merritt puts the reason for the hangover, and the haze of the album, in perfect focus with the chorus of “Too Drunk to Dream”: “I’ve got to get too drunk to dream / cuz dreaming only gets me blue / I’ve got to get too drunk to dream / because I only dream of you / I got to get too pissed to miss you / or I’ll never get to sleep / I’ve got to drink wine not to pine for you / and god knows that ain’t cheap.” And so it goes.
More about The Magnetic Fields: Official Website or MySpace
To download this album via Daily Dose, click here.
Albums of Note: The Last 2007 Music Best-Of, I Promise
Burial – Untrue
Propelled by striking percussion and haunting vocal samples, Untrue wraps its listener in mystery and the feeling that something very wrong is going on nearby, something very passionate and very disturbing. Repetitive but diverse, this slow-working incantation almost wants to be dance hall-ready dubstep, but escapes that label by featuring enough interlocking rhythms and ambient moments to make dancing difficult. But, more than anything, the album is just too damn emotionally-intense for the club.
Drowning absolutely everything in reverb, Untrue feels like music from the afterlife, transported directly to you for the purpose of promoting unease. But the mystery of Burial extends far beyond its lost-in-the-abandoned-factory eeriness—no one knows who Burial is. And this anonymity and distance is perfect for this album, one that never ceases to be both pleading and forlorn, lovely and despairing.
September Collective – All the Birds Were Anarchists
At times almost unconscionably beautiful, the piano-driven All the Birds Were Anarchists is what happens when laptops go right—using naturally constructed sonics and an air of the haphazard, the humanness behind the album is never lost. This first release by September Collective—a side project of the more well-known Barbara Morgenstern—serves as a soothing backdrop to everything else’s endless racket, and is a piece of work that upon close inspection exceeds its delicate initial impression. And although this may be an album that won’t immediately lift you from your seat in a fit of applause, its complicated tapestry of subtleties is sure to grow on you.
Andrew Bird – Armchair Apochrypha
Few in indie music today are so obviously intelligent as the Chicago-based Andrew Bird, a man whose meticulously-crafted music transmits a genuine air of intellect. Far from willing to rest on the laurels of his previous album, he’s taken this impression to a new level with the sneaky Armchair Apocrypha, an album that at first may seem too clean, but eventually grabs you by the throat and holds on until it’s too late. And that, when it comes to incredibly well-structured and intricate songs with spot-on lyricism, is a good thing.
With a slew of quotables (“thank god it’s fatal,” “time’s a crooked boat,” etc.) and a distinct awareness of the album structure as a whole, Armchair Apocrypha is an at-times-poppy and at-times-heartbreaking journey of an album. Using practically equal parts violin, piano, and guitar to drive the songs, Bird has expanded the palette of his previous albums, while intensifying the seriousness and complexity of his songs. And, because of this, he has created a work worthy of a good fifty or sixty straight-through listens. At least.
Do Make Say Think – You, You’re a History in Rust
Do Make Say Think have carved themselves a fine little niche in the post-rock world, gathering fans over the years with jazz-and-rock-influenced instrumental opuses. And You, You’re a History in Rust maintains this momentum and develops it with a not-to-be-underestimated sense of balance and consistency. Pretty much, if you want some instrumental music you can rock out to—and something a little more varied than Explosions in the Sky— this is your place to go.
Built around the relentlessly intense “The Universe!”—a song which blends cascading guitars with a two-drummer setup to fill a room with noise, and offer a thrashing counterpoint to the slow-burners of the rest of the album—You, You’re a History in Rust is the work of very skilled musicians doing what they do. And while they cheat on one song by using vocals (how dare they!), this is still an album you should reach for when you want to get the blood pumping, but not the mind tripping over words.
Panda Bear – Person Pitch
When it comes to describing Person Pitch, you may use words like “delirious” or “psychotic” or “eastern,” or phrases like “techno blender” or “synthetic eeriness.” Hell, you may even say it’s “like a post-enlightenment Brian Wilson in a playground of crayola-colors, loops, and high-grade ecstasy.” But really, when it comes to Panda Bear’s statement album—one that ensures he’ll never again be simply an Animal Collective side project—none of those flailing attempts at description seem to grasp what’s going on.
Person Pitch is one of those albums where an entire article could be written about each track, from the bouncy “Comfy in Nautica,” to the devastating thirteeen minute shock of “Bros” (perhaps the most captivating—and seizure-inducing—song of the year), all the way through to its subtle tail end. Said simply, Person Pitch just plain kicks its listener in the gut. And while the mystery of the album was perhaps enhanced by Panda’s near-refusal to tour in support of it, that’s just fine by me—when I can remember thinking way back in March, “There’s no way in hell this isn’t going to be one of the top five albums of the year,” that’s a pretty good sign something strangely brilliant is happening.
Sunset Rubdown – Random Spirit Lover
And this is quite possibly the best album of the year, as well as one of the most shockingly overlooked. You can read about it here.
* * *
And here’s a list of some other albums of 2007 it would be wrong not to mention:
MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular
Caribou’s Andorra
Animal Collective’s Strawberry Jam
Of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
Kanye West’s Graduation
Deerhoof’s Friend Opportunity
The National’s Boxer
Sage Francis‘ Human the Death Dance
Best of the Best: Music Videos of 2007, pt. 3
Menomena’s “Evil Bee” may be the most rewatchable music video of the year, as its visual and thematic appeal are on par with each other, and the positivity of its middle provides ample setup for the inevitability of its conclusion. Although its “trapped in life/work” message isn’t terribly new, and even some of its tropes feel familiar, the artistic eye-candy of this video make it a fascinating watch.
And this might just be the worst music video of the year, and that’s why it’s so good. The incomparable Snoop Dogg and his “Sensual Seduction” lampoons the most embarrassing of 1980’s music video techniques to craft a work so wrought with irony that it’s hardly watchable. But at the same time, you have to appreciate his sense of humor, and his willingness to go all the way with something so ridiculous.
Interviews: Battles‘ John Stanier. or Fiery Furnaces‘ Matthew Friedberger.
Album Reviews: Random Spirit Lover by Sunset Rubdown. or Night Falls Over Kortedala by Jens Lekman. or Shelter from the Ash by Six Organs of Admittance. or Love Is Simple by Akron/Family. or Liars by Liars. or Widow City by Fiery Furnaces. or In the Vines by Castanets.
Concert Reviews: Joanna Newsom. or Of Montreal. or Cat Power. or Final Fantasy. or Explosions in the Sky. or MGMT. or Ocote Soul Sound.
Best of the Best: Music Videos of 2007, pt. 2
Using a slew of quick edits, neato effects, and a heaping helping of total weirdness, “Peacebone” by Animal Collective is one of the most polarizing videos of the year. Regardless of whether you love it or are repulsed by it—you’ll probably be a little of both—this video manages to catch the artistic intrigue, the storytelling tendencies, and, again, the total weirdness of Animal Collective in the year they finally broke into the mainstream.
“Atlas” by Battles isn’t necessarily the most artsy or storytelling or fantastical video—almost strangely, it actually features the band playing the song all the way through—but despite this, there’s an energy here. Maybe it’s the whole crazy rotating glass room of mirrors, or the spaciness of it, or maybe it’s just the fact that this is some ripping rock and roll, but this video can get the heart pumping.
Interviews: Battles‘ John Stanier. or Fiery Furnaces‘ Matthew Friedberger.
Album Reviews: Random Spirit Lover by Sunset Rubdown. or Night Falls Over Kortedala by Jens Lekman. or Shelter from the Ash by Six Organs of Admittance. or Love Is Simple by Akron/Family. or Liars by Liars. or Widow City by Fiery Furnaces. or In the Vines by Castanets.
Concert Reviews: Joanna Newsom. or Of Montreal. or Cat Power. or Final Fantasy. or Explosions in the Sky. or MGMT. or Ocote Soul Sound.
Best of the Best: Music Videos of 2007, pt. 1
Granted, the concept for Blonde Redhead’s “Top Ranking” video isn’t particularly striking—one second per pose—but the cachet of its sole actress makes this effort one of the year’s most intriguing. Miranda July, known for her acclaimed work in film and literature, is this video’s center of attention.
“Elephant Gun” by Beirut is one of those videos where a whole lot of stuff is going on and you can’t really assume that it’s supposed to make sense. That said, a lot of it is fun to watch, from rubber elephant noses to the ocean to euro-partying. And we all know euro-partying is video-worthy.
Interviews: Battles‘ John Stanier. or Fiery Furnaces‘ Matthew Friedberger.
Album Reviews: Random Spirit Lover by Sunset Rubdown. or Night Falls Over Kortedala by Jens Lekman. or Shelter from the Ash by Six Organs of Admittance. or Love Is Simple by Akron/Family. or Liars by Liars. or Widow City by Fiery Furnaces. or In the Vines by Castanets.
Concert Reviews: Joanna Newsom. or Of Montreal. or Cat Power. or Final Fantasy. or Explosions in the Sky. or MGMT. or Ocote Soul Sound.
Exclusive Interview: Battles
So there’s this band. They’re called Battles, and they’re getting pretty damn big pretty damn fast. The reason for this burgeoning bigness is at least three-fold: their critically-adored debut album Mirrored, the YouTube sensation known as the “Atlas” video (watch it after the jump), and, not least of all, their ferociously energetic live show. While there’s no doubting that their music can be a bit challenging, and isn’t for the faint of heart, this is one of those bands you just know is going to get huge.
At Battles’ sonic center is John Stanier, a former member of Helmet who could be seen destroying the drums at Fun Fun Fun Fest with an impressive combination of machine-like precision and animalistic stamina. We got a chance to talk to John about the (undesirable) genre ascribed to Battles, the band’s investment that’s really starting to pay off, the future, and the most difficult question to answer during an interview.
So you just finished talking to some Australians?
I just did two really lame interviews, super horrible interviews, like “Are you happy that you’re being well-received?” Of course I’m fucking happy.
Like, do you know how to play the drums.
Yeah, you know.
I’d read around and I’ve heard some rumors that you’re getting kind of sick of this classification, so I just wanted to hear your—
Math rock?
Yeah, math rock.
The M-word. Yeah, we never liked that. That was lame since day one.
Who came up with that shit anyway?
To be honest, I think it was the fucking English. I think the fucking English press did it. It’s always their fault, one way or another, but I think they—because to me, it’s such a nineties word. Like that’s a really old word, isn’t it? Seems I’ve been hearing math rock in indie circles since the early to mid nineties.
If you had to describe your music, what term do you think you would use?
Big time party music. Anything but math rock.
Album Review: Six Organs of Admittance’s Shelter from the Ash
Say you like to meditate. Say you like to sit in a room and think real hard and then not think at all. 
Say you like a little sound in the background to help keep that head of yours on straight. Say you don’t mind some vocals, but not too many, some jangling now-it’s-folksy/now-it’s-noodling guitar, maybe a dash of sometimes- shimmery/sometimes-bombastic drumming to toy with your heart rate. Say you pop in the new Six Organs of Admittance album, expecting to get exactly what you’re looking for. Say you find something that upsets the Big Mind just a little more than you wanted.
And that’s how Shelter from the Ash, due next Tuesday from Drag City, shakes expectations. By relying on Ben Chasny’s guitar and comforting (though spare) vocals to craft subtle, beautiful, and haunting ragas, Six Organs has developed a fine reputation as a western band in touch with eastern musical roots—though their sound is often referred to as “psychedelic,” the more appropriate term is “contemplative.” And Six Organs of Admittance, despite that troubling mouthful of a name, have used their unmistakably thoughtful sound to produce a satisfying LP every year for the past six years, and while Shelter from the Ash follows in those albums’ footsteps, it walks slightly outside their sonic and thematic similarities and into something a bit uneven.
With the help of a small army of guest stars, including Matt Sweeney (of Superwolf and Zwan fame) and members of Comets on Fire and Magic Markers, Shelter from the Ash creates a sense of dispossession and paranoia, framing disturbing squall with simple melodies to create a work more uneasy than what you’d expect from this band. The album’s undoubted center and strong point is the throttling seven-minute anthem “Coming to Get You,” which—after a gentle yet cautionary two minute intro—builds into one of Six Organs’ most ferocious works. With its foreboding lyrics and a jarring drum beat rarely found in Chasny’s work, the song stands out spectacularly from the rest of the album, which features only minimal percussion and few rock trappings. But it is in this disparity that one of Shelter from the Ash’s most glaring weaknesses is discovered: that, compared to “Coming to Get You,” the album’s other songs, though often rewarding in and of themselves, feel far too subtle.
Exclusive Interview: The Fiery Furnaces
The Fiery Furnaces have an unmistakable sound and an unmistakable presence. Between mastermind Matthew Friedberger’s pounding around on three different keyboards, to sister Eleanor’s ultra-intense vocals, The Fiery Furnaces are a band who’s crafted quite a unique little niche in the psyche of music lovers all round that big ol’ world. With their two-night to-do at Emo’s coming less than a month after the release of the acclaimed and surprisingly accessible Widow City, Austinist pulled up a phone to talk to Matthew as he drove across West Texas, his UT graduate(!) sister riding alongside.A while back in an interview you described yourself as an animatronic Chuck E. Cheese band—I really thought that was great.
Yeah, we tried to sound like an animatronic Chuck E. Cheese version of The Who.
Do you think that description still fits?
Well, we don’t sound like that so much on this record. Now we try to sound like, let me see, what do we try to sound like? We try to sound like somebody trying to listen to Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney records through a Magic Eight Ball or Parker Brothers Ouija Board game.
Concert Review: Joanna Newsom
At the regal Riverbend Centre on Saturday night, Joanna Newsom proved why she’s one of today’s most iconoclastic and oddly appealing musicians: not only did she mesh shockingly well with the ultra-classy Austin Symphony Orchestra, but she also managed to get in trouble for hauling a bottle of Maker’s Mark onto stage. And it’s in this almost-accidental appeal to both sides of the concert-going spectrum—as well as an almost embarrassing wealth of talent—that she has become a powerful force in sub-pop music.
Beginning by playing her acclaimed 2006 release Ys straight through, Newsom remained faithful to the studio recordings, and hit even the most difficult notes with ease. Certainly one of the most surprising developments of Newsom’s recent career is her burgeoning vocal confidence, as she no longer feels the need to render her voice childlike as a way of overcoming her insecurities regarding its uniqueness. Alternately impressive is that during these five lengthy songs—the shortest of which runs longer than seven minutes—the Peter Bay-led symphony ably and enthusiastically performed the Van Dyke Parks-arranged strings, making Austin proud by serving as a perfect match for Newsom’s songs.
Concert Review: Of Montreal
Dear Of Montreal:
I remember way back in the day when you were singing silly little ditties on the four-track, or when you were talking about old people in the cemetery, or disconnecting the dots, or just plain old doing nothing. Ah, I remember those times like they were yesterday, when no one knew you except the fine few obsessed with that whole Elephant Six thingy. And you were so much like the Beatles!
But look how you’ve grown! Now you’ve got this whole lovely stage presence, where you like to get as nekkid as the local laws allow, with the blue lights flashing all around…you even have the money for fancy screens with disturbing cat-centric videos that look like something out of an lysergic Wall redux! And you yourself, Kevin, you’ve been working out! It makes me so proud, how magnetic you are on stage, everyone’s eyes glued to you and your pretty makeup and oversized package! Of course you still write all the songs yourself, but you’ve grown up so much! Even if you’ve become kind of a weirdo in the process!
Concert Review: Cat Power
Things we learned Saturday night about Cat Power frontwoman Chan Marshall: that she has a busted eardrum…that she’s on steroids…that she wants to shoot each of the stage-lining speakers… that she likes to apologize when she thinks she’s being unprofessional… that she was born deaf…that she had family in the crowd who were judging her…that steroids make you angry and that’s why you’re stronger…that she points out people who appear ill in the crowd even when they aren’t really ill…that she tells people when she coughs up something green…The list could go on. And it became apparent through this, and Marshall’s constant running to stage left (and off the stage…and onto the adjacent stage…and in the middle of songs…and between songs…) to consult the sound technicians, that her reputation as one of the most quixotic and mood-driven musicians in the world today is completely and totally fucking earned. It’s almost enough to make you wonder why she keeps getting gigs. And then you hear her sing.
Chan Marshall, god love her, is blessed with an absolutely stunning voice, and that, coupled with her skillful and ultra-professional backing band, makes her not only one of music’s most neurotic personalities, but also one of its most talented. It seemed like a dose of hubris when she was introduced as “perhaps the world’s greatest soul singer,” but it also seems pretty hard finding a counter-argument. Playing a variety of her famed cover songs and selections from her original work, she effortlessly teased passion out of her sore throat, and wowed her audience with an uncanny ability to seem entirely distracted and entirely focused at the exact same time.
So, yeah, Cat Power. A study in contrasts, and an utterly unique performer. Although I was often annoyed by her strange tics and the almost frightening temper that was constantly boiling just beneath the surface of her performance, I can say one thing for sure: there is no way in hell I’m not seeing her next time she comes to town. I mean, who knows what we’ll learn?
[Photo courtesy Eric Uhlir]
Concert Review: Ocote Soul Sound
Sometimes, you just want a band to shut up and play some music. And sometimes, that band you want to shut up just won’t shut up, and feels the need to talk between every song, perhaps in an effort to overcome the vocals-less music. Sometimes, that talk you just want to stop is way too preachy for anyone’s good. Sometimes that talk severely undermines really fine musicianship.So that’s the dig on Ocote Soul Sound, an effortlessly talented seven-man collective led by our little talker himself, the well-loved TV on the Radio collaborator and Antibalas founder Martín Perna. While his flute playing was practically flawless, and the always-chill songs progressed smoothly and seamlessly, what got old really fast was his maddening need to spout enviro-love and anti-fencehood to a predominantly left-wing crowd that had heard such platitudes a million times before.
And that’s a shame, because the band’s Latin-infused jams are really quite good. Using a full range of instruments and rhythm-melting techniques, the amazingly relaxed band—at ease on the stage, always professional, and with no need for a pulpit—pulled off fine renditions of songs from their 2006 album El Niño y El Sol. If only those songs had been all we’d heard, well, that would have been nice.
