Two weeks! Yes, we've got only two weeks left of Live Friday in 2009. If you've been reading this site long enough, then you already know that I devote the entire month of December to year-end lists, so with today and next Friday being the last two of November, get your live music while you can. This week is an especially great session from one of my absolute favorite bands. Phoenix stopped by the WXPN studios earlier this month, and it marked a return for the band as that was also where they did their first American radio session ever some years back. They treated their visit as something of a homecoming then, and did a little something special to give their session extra flair. If you've ever wanted to hear a few great Phoenix songs done acoustically, you're in huge luck. Yes, they did the two big singles off their latest album "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix," and also whipped out two classics from their previous album "It's Never Been Like That". Four songs, all of them delightful and made even more so thanks to some handy acoustic guitars. It's a slight tweak to what you'd normally hear from the band, and I like it very much. Also, if you're at all interested in hearing the interview (link to stream below), the band talks about where the songs "1901" and "Lisztomania" came from, and explain exactly why they're sort of considered outsiders in their home country of France. Pretty great stuff all around. This one's definitely worth a download if you love this band (you should love this band).
Phoenix, Live on WXPN 11-6-09:Phoenix- Long Distance Call (Acoustic) [
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Phoenix- 1901 (Acoustic) [
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Phoenix- Lisztomania (Acoustic) [
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Phoenix- One Time Too Many (Acoustic) [
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Stream the entire interview/performanceBuy "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" from AmazonLabels: Acoustic, Live, phoenix
By: faronheit | Friday, November 20, 2009 at 6:11 AM ||
Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone. Not every secret is bad though, because sometimes they're more welcome surprises than hurtful disappointments. So when word of a supergroup called Them Crooked Vultures emerged this fall, I approached the situation with every bit of wariness you might expect. That being I heard they were playing their first ever secret show in Chicago immediately after Lollapalooza, and I scrambled to purchase tickets. The trio of Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters/Nirvana) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) was a rock and roll grouping seemingly made in heaven, and I wanted to be on board from the ground floor. Their debut show in August marked the first time they had played these new songs in public, and I was extraordinarily happy to be among the first thousand or so people to hear their self-titled album performed from front to back. Did that show get me excited for their album? You bet it did. Well this week marks the record's release, a mere few weeks after it was announced (purposely so). Now marks my chance to revisit the material I heard on display a few months ago and to determine how worthwhile it really is.
When you put three guys known for hard rocking songs in a room together, I'll give you one guess as to what you get. Thought about it? The answer is more hard rocking songs. The difference in this case of course being that you've got three mega-talents with somewhat diverse resumes, so a big part of it is wondering what each will contribute to the respective whole. Given that Josh Homme is essentially the frontman for Them Crooked Vultures, it can be assumed that he wrote most of these songs. The lyrics tell a similar story, being very reminiscent of Homme's work in Queens of the Stone Age and also his Desert Sessions collaborations. One of the things I'm convinced helped make QOTSA's "Songs for the Deaf" such a great record was Dave Grohl's role as temporary drummer in that band, which was really the first time Homme and Grohl really worked together. So with the same scuzzy guitar style and propulsive drumming that permeated such a great past effort, the most interesting interlocking key in all this is John Paul Jones. The guy can be considered a wild card and he keeps that reputation solid with the wide variety of instruments he plays across the album. From a taking his bass for a walk or a classical piano bit to some wild organ or even a bit of xylophone, Jones is sort of that secret guy working behind the scenes to anchor these songs together. He's the glue helping take these intense rock songs and working to turn them into something more.
The whole thing works, for the most part, and for that I'm glad. You get a few quick and dirty songs, you get a handful of epic psych-rock mind melters, and there's even an odd piece that sounds like intermission music about halfway through the record. Some of it works better than others, and not everything is as great as you might think or hope it would be. First of all, with the maximum length of a CD being 80 minutes, Them Crooked Vultures take up almost all of that time. Normally I wouldn't complain about an album being too long given that I tend to feel most records are too short, but did we really need all those posturing solos on "Warsaw or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up"? Do these guys have any real sense of editing themselves down, or are they of the mind that if somebody wants to go off on an instrumental tangent then so be it? At a certain point I think you're just flirting with excess, and I think that Them Crooked Vultures reach that point after awhile. Also, as much as I like Josh Homme, it would have been nice if Dave Grohl had taken lead vocals on at least one song instead of being relegated to backing vocals the whole time. Homme and Grohl have both proven they can play guitar and drums well, so switching things up could have added a little extra spice to the proceedings.
For the couple small faults that it has, Them Crooked Vultures do much more right than they do wrong. My absolute favorite thing about this album is that you can hear every single instrument the entire time, basically meaning that somebody did an excellent job mixing the record. Homme's guitar work provides even more evidence that he's one of the better ax men making music today. Grohl is positively propulsive and dynamic behind the drum kit. Jones has still got that killer bass and sounds like he hasn't lost a step from the Zeppelin days. This is masterful music put together by some extremely great talent, and for the most part it shows. Even on an off-kilter song like "InterludeWith Ludes" somehow works amid the loud songs surrounding it (for the record, that song did NOT work for me when the band performed it at their first show). Mostly I'm impressed at just how hard this album ROCKS. Outside of maybe Mastodon, I haven't heard much in recent years that slams you against the wall as well as this does. I mean that with the highest compliment to a band making music under the umbrella of an alternative rock genre that's slowly dying thanks to all the crap that's been released these past few years.
If you're asking me, both Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters haven't had a good album since the early 00's (maybe even earlier than that for Foo), and while "Them Crooked Vultures" may not be better than "Songs for the Deaf" or "The Colour and the Shape," it's still the best thing Grohl and Homme have been associated with in the past few years. As for John Paul Jones, well, he's welcome anytime, anywhere. Putting together the very first Them Crooked Vultures live show and this album, I've got to say that if you like the recorded versions of these songs, you'll hopefully love seeing them performed right in front of you. That was definitely a thrill for me, and something I will cherish possibly for the rest of my life. The album is like listening to a polaroid photograph of the experience in that you remember what you heard and are happy to be hearing it again, but it doesn't fully compare to actually being there as it's played for you in concert. So keep that in mind as you consider picking up a copy of the album. In case you couldn't tell, it does earn my recommendation, particularly if you've got an affinity towards any one of the other projects these guys are involved in. Every now and then it's good to just forego the restraints of our humanity and just rock out/head bang to something cool and entertaining. For me, Them Crooked Vultures fit the bill, and I hope they do the same for you.
Them Crooked Vultures- Bandoliers [
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Buy "Them Crooked Vultures" from AmazonLabels: foo fighters, led zeppelin, queens of the stone age, them crooked vultures
By: faronheit | Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 5:22 AM ||
The story behind tUnE-yArDs is definitely an interesting one. The project has been slow in developing, and that's mostly because Merrill Garbus is the only person behind the name, and she recorded every bit of music you hear on the album by herself. She took 2 years to get it all done, using a digital voice recorder and whatever free audio editing software she could find. The end result is "BiRd-BrAiNs," a debut album that she first distributed via her website on a "pay what you want" scale. After making a halfway decent buck with that method, Marriage Records felt like they could help getting the music out to more people and turn out a physical product as well, so they secured a deal with Garbus to re-release the album. That happened early on this year, and suddenly tUnE-yArDs was on a lot of people's radars. I wouldn't go so far as to call tUnE-yArDs a buzz band, but some important music bloggers did pick up on the release and said some nice things about it. Now "BiRd-BrAiNs" is getting a much wider release and push this week, thanks to 4AD Records, who much like Marriage Records liked what they heard and wanted to help with additional distribution. I didn't review "BiRd-BrAiNs" when it originally came out earlier this year, so let me take a brief minute and talk about the album.
It's somewhat important to note that "BiRd-BrAiNs" was first released during the time when the lo-fi resurgence was upon us. The spring of 2009 was a good time to put an album out with shitty production values, and tUnE-yArDs was kind of in the thick of it. Unlike some bands who purposely muck up their recordings to make them sound rough around the edges, Merrill Garbus didn't have much of a choice. Recording on nothing close to professional equipment, it's actually surprising that the sound quality isn't completely shot. Still, it's not nearly a prized pig either, and Garbus only adds to that by mixing in all kinds of house sounds and outdoor stuff and a kid talking. These things, mixed in with mostly quiet folk songs played via ukelele, tend to give the record a slightly warm and "home-y" appeal. But there's also a huge negative side to it as well, mostly in that a number of tracks sound worse than your average band's demo tape. There's all kinds of audio clipping as well, when the vocals or an instrument gets too loud or high in register, you can hear the limits being reached and it adds some nasty distortion to the proceedings. Some may find that charming, but it bugged me after awhile.
One thing making "BiRd-BrAiNs" much more bearable is Garbus' vocal performance. She proves she's got chops and range with the various songs on the album, ranging from the most intimate acoustic track to the jaunty pop tune that's eerily reminiscent of Ani DiFranco's most energized cuts. Mostly though, and on a recording like this is where it really counts, Garbus has heart and emotion behind her voice. That, above all else, is what sells tUnE-yArDs and takes it from a basement recording to something being distributed by 4AD. When she's having fun and being plucky that's nice as well, but the softer tracks can cut right through to your core if you're easily swayed, and that's what turns this album into something worthwhile.
There are very few circumstances in which I would recommend an album that has been recorded as poorly as this one has. My logic has always been that if your home-recorded stuff has been good enough to earn you some significant attention from a record label, then they should get you into an actual studio to record those songs over again in better quality for mass distribution. In the case of tUnE-yArDs, it seems that the two labels distributing Merrill Garbus' songs feel like those bad quality songs have a certain charm to them. They're right in that there's a distinctive and cool feeling you get while listening to "BiRd-BrAiNs" which gives you the impression that you're hearing some lost artifact or undiscovered artist . Would I like to hear these songs again after they've been properly recorded and pieced together? Absolutely, and I think they'd be better that way. I doubt that will ever happen, but I do hope that for the next album, Garbus actually gets to use a full-fledged recording studio. An improved sonic quality on songs like hers could take the tUnE-yArDs project from an interesting curiosity to a hotly-tipped "next big thing" label. I can't give a full recommendation to "BiRd-BrAiNs," though I think it's a decent record. There's plenty of good songs on it as well, so if this sounds at all like it could be your kind of thing, don't hesitate to give this album a try.
tUnE-yArDs- SunlightBuy "BiRd-BrAiNs" from AmazonLabels: tUnE-yArDs
By: faronheit | Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 8:34 AM ||
We're getting to that point in the year where new music releases pretty much slow down to a crawl, which is why I'm pretty excited that December will be upon us soon and I can spend that entire month talking about all the great stuff that has been released in the previous 11 months of the year. So as the new music gets sparser, I'm going to throw a couple random songs at you over the next couple weeks just to either keep you up on some great stuff I've enjoyed recently or just to gave some sort of content on here. Something is better than nothing, right?
Today I want to hand off a brand new song from Minus the Bear. They released a digital single a couple weeks ago called "Into the Mirror," which is available on Amazon and iTunes. It's main purpose is to give their fans something to enjoy and salivate over while we wait for their next full length effort, which is set for release in April 2010. Minus the Bear's last album, 2007's "Planet of Ice," was a fascinating if not slightly different look at the band, taking them a bit further away from their earlier math-rock inspired material and more towards atmospheric prog-rock. I liked it a bit more than their previous album "Menos El Oso," but in my opinion 2002's "Highly Refined Pirates" and the EPs that came right before and after that were the best things the band has ever done. I held and continue to hold that opinion because of the intricate guitar work and gloriously fun songs (and song titles!), but I've also begun to appreciate their more serious and hard-lined approach from the past couple albums a bit more recently.
That being said, I'm actually kind of excited, because "Into the Mirror" may not have a wacky title, but it sounds a surprising bit like old school Minus the Bear. Actually, you could call it almost like a mixture of the many things the band has tried across their career so far. The song itself is energetic and bouncy, but there are a few guitar solo detours along the way, which adds more depth to the proceedings. In short, it's impressive, and probably falls in the category of one of my more favorite songs by the band in recent memory. You should definitely download this if you're a fan of the band.
Whether it's physical or digital, I do like it when there's a b-side attached to a single, and "Into the Mirror" is no exception. The song "Broken China" is the extra track here, and it serves its purpose well enough. It's actually one of the heavier songs the band has done guitar-wise, with a chorus that smashes some serious chords and a cutting solo mid-way through. I wouldn't call it completely uncharacteristic of the band, but it's definitely on the more different side of the things they've done so far. The song itself may not be extremely addictive or even highly memorable, but few b-sides are. Still, for collectors or fans of the band, the song is worth hearing, and it's available for download below. Am I excited for the upcoming Minus the Bear album? If "Into the Mirror" is any indication as to the direction they're headed in, then color me psyched.
Minus the Bear- Broken China [
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Buy the "Into the Mirror" digital single from Amazon MP3Labels: b-side, minus the bear
By: faronheit | Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 11:55 PM ||
Honestly, it's a little too easy to slam the band Real Estate and their self-titled debut album that's out this week. They've got a large target on their backs, and anybody with a proper weapon can take their shot. Calling their music "uninspired" or "taking advantage of what's hot right now" is easy enough, and I'm sure some reviewers will take that stance. I mean, Real Estate are signed to Woodsist Records, known for earlier this year providing us with great records from bands like Woods and Wavves. I should note that those two albums were lo-fi, or as some have been calling the trend this year "no-fi," and it's something that's quickly going out of style. So guess what? Real Estate are doing that whole lo-fi/no-fi thing as well, which is the main reason for critics to fire all kinds of canon fodder in their direction. But as I've said on far too many an occasion in the past few months, the hype may be fleeting, and critical reaction may flow directly along with it, but I refuse to slam a band for doing things that so many others have done before them. A finely crafted song is a finely crafted song, no matter what style it's in.
This is why Real Estate is, despite the haters, quite the great band. They know songcraft and they've got an album full of sparklers on their self-titled debut. The vibe is generally sunny and fun, and there seems to be a nearly effortless groove running through many of the songs. Energetic may not always be the best way of describing it, but these songs are very much on the right side of the pop spectrum, which I find nothing short of delightful. The excellent album opener "Beach Comber" sets things up just right, and even dictates a mood with its slightly surf-tinged guitars and title. Relaxing on the beach is kind of the idea and I imagine listening to this album while doing so would enhance your enjoyment of it, but I'm willing to bet that 98% of us don't live near a beach or won't go to the beach to listen to this record. Which is fine, because this shouldn't be a summery beach-specific album anyways. There's so much more to it, with depth and layers that go beyond just the warm months of the year. Hell, it's November and the temperature in Chicago is barely skating above 50 degrees on any given day and these songs sucked me in like a hard-boiled egg on top of a bottle with a lit match inside.
Calling this album lo-fi could be considered something of a misnomer. Sure, the recording quality isn't as clean as most things you'll hear, and no doubt at least part of that was intentional, but compared to some of the really shitty sound and echoey vocals on albums from bands like Vivian Girls and Wavves earlier this year, Real Estate's debut is a pleasure. It really is reminiscent of old school Yo La Tengo, which is pretty much my favorite kind of Yo La Tengo these days. A couple of the longer songs, particularly "Suburban Beverage," really drive that point home. But what also intrigues me to no end is how much Real Estate's guitar style is remarkably similar to Grizzly Bear's. You wouldn't entirely get the two bands confused with one another, but the way some of the electric guitars are strummed and plucked just catches your attention and enhances an already engaging listening experience. It's that much more noticeable on the couple instrumental tracks the band has strategically placed on the record. After all, if you've got no vocals or lyrics to pay attention to, the shimmering guitars will do just fine. Which also reminds me that those instrumental songs owe some of their sensibilities to Explosions in the Sky, a band that certainly knows their way around a lush and gorgeous vocal-less song. If Real Estate had just put out their debut as a purely instrumental piece of music it'd be nearly as good as the actual product we get, which is less a knock on the singing and more a compliment to their overall strength as a band.
So I just spent two paragraphs pretty much praising Real Estate's debut, giving almost zero justification as to why anybody would have it in for the band. With all the high praise for the band leading up to this album's release, mostly based on the strength of their live shows and the songs played during them, one might expect the band to coast for at least the next month assuming the album delivered on what was seemingly promised on stage. This might in fact happen, but the fact of the matter is that I've already heard a number of people railing against the band, the backlash having already started before the buzz could even reach even a slightly fever-pitched level. Oh this fickle world of hype we sometimes live in. I'm asking you to try and avoid listening to the haters, because Real Estate have made themselves a very great record. I say the early words of praise were justified, and am now looking forward to the new EP that they'll be putting out early next year. Whether or not this band is capitalizing on the lo-fi revolution or copying the styles of an infinite number of bands that have come before them, the simplicity of breaking this down is that they know how to write a good and compelling song. That's reason enough for me to like this band, and it should be reason enough for you as well.
Real Estate- Beach ComberReal Estate- Suburban Beverage [
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Buy "Real Estate" from AmazonLabels: real estate
By: faronheit | Monday, November 16, 2009 at 11:13 PM ||
Here we are, yet another Friday the 13th, and yet another day when everybody gets highly superstitious. Anything can happen on a day like today, right? Sure, you may think there's a high probability of things going wrong, but I'm here to tell you that the less you think about it, the less chance there is of that happening. One way to help take your mind off things is to take some solace in the Bible. You don't necessarily need to believe, because even some of the least spiritual people can find applicable life lessons within those passages. Take John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats as a perfect example. He's said many a time that he's not exactly the most spiritual person, but he thought to write an album about how the Bible has influenced his life anyways. That's what "The Life of the World to Come" is all about, and the end results
make up one of the better Mountain Goats records in recent memory. Well, Darnielle and his two cohorts are out on tour now supporting the album, and last week they stopped by the Minnesota Public Radio studios for an interview and to play a couple songs. They did two tracks from the new album, and then the classic "No Children" off the "Tallahassee" record. Great stuff, and of course Darnielle is both an excellent storyteller and interviewee. The interview is certainly something to check out if you're at all interested. Enjoy, and keep a close eye out for any black cats!
The Mountain Goats, Live on MPR 11-7-09:The Mountain Goats- Isaiah 45:23 [
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The Mountain Goats- No Children [
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The Mountain Goats- Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace [
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Stream the entire interview/performanceBuy "The Life of the World to Come" from AmazonThe Mountain Goats Tour Dates:November 13 - San Luis Obispo, CA - Downtown Brewing Co.
November 14 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
November 15 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
November 18 - Austin, TX - Antone's
November 19 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
November 20 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
November 21 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
November 23 - Orlando, FL - The Social
November 24 - St. Augustine, FL - Cafe 11
November 27 - Washington D.C. - 9:30 Club
November 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Theater of Living Arts
November 29 - Boston, MA - Wilbur Theater
December 1 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
December 2 - Brooklyn, NY - The Bell House
Labels: Live, the mountain goats
By: faronheit | Friday, November 13, 2009 at 6:14 AM ||
Don't ask me why there are so many pop and electro-pop releases as we reach the later part of Fall 2009. What with CFCF and Annie each putting out great records around the past few weeks, there are even more good beat-driven albums freshly out there I've neglected to mention. Case in point, last week saw the U.S. release of Vitalic's second album "Flashmob". If you've never heard of Vitalic, he's a French electronica artist whose real name is Pascal Arbez-Nicolas. He's been producing and making his own music since about 1996, but really didn't rise from the underground electronica scene until 2001 when he put out the "Poney" EP. The song "La Rock 01" made a serious impact all over the clubs that year, and it rose Vitalic's profile enough for Arbez to sign a record deal. The first Vitalic album, 2005's "OK Cowboy," was composed mostly of the many singles he'd released over the years, though for most people these songs were brand new as they hadn't really gotten such wide distribution before. A collection of underground greatest hits or not, "OK Cowboy" was remarkable when it was released, and remains good enough today so that Pitchfork just named it one of their favorite albums of the decade.
Given that Arbez had 8-9 years to develop enough material for his debut record, it should come as less of a surprise that he's taken another 4 years to put out a follow-up album. As a stop-gap of sorts, he chose to release a live album in 2007, which really didn't do much for anybody. What has really shaken things up in the Vitalic camp though have been the music videos. Both "My Friend Dario" and "Poney Part 1" were intensely great from the last record, and the first single on "Flashmob" is "Your Disco Song," which also has an incredible video associated with it. They're the sorts of music videos you load onto one DVD and sell as collectors items, because you'll want to preserve them for posterity purposes. They're some of the best videos released this decade, if you're asking my opinion.
Videos aside, let's talk purely the music of "Flashmob". At 12 tracks and around 45 minutes, this thing is a party from start to finish. It's extremely fun, all the songs are like little 4 minute slices of dance heaven, often building up rhythm and speed as they go along until they crest shortly before winding down. Essentially that's what makes for a great dance track, and that pretty much defines most every song on "Flashmob". If you hear this album spinning at a club, it's not something you'll want to turn off because you'll be dancing your ass off. Arbez keeps the same synth-heavy style and automated vocal technique of the last album, which may not feel as relevant given the electronica scene today, but at the very least sounds like a slightly modernized version of great dance songs from 5 years ago. Then again, who am I to say where the current tastes in electronica lie - though you could argue that lo-fi electro aka glo-fi or whatever the hell they're calling it, is the latest part of that trend. By contrast, "Flashmob" is a polished piece of electro chrome, not over-produced, but rather extremely shiny and tidy from a sonic point of view.
Vitalic owes a hell of a lot to Daft Punk. Arbez comes so close to ripping off that duo's signatures it's almost not funny. But he also keeps himself smartly original enough to earn proper praise for his work. Then there's also the chain paradox of Justice being influenced by Vitalic and Daft Punk as well, while also succeeding on their own. The grand point in all this I suppose is that all three of these artists are in some way related and have all put together amazing albums in their own rights. "Flashmob" continues the trend, and though it may not ultimately be as influential as "OK Cowboy" was, it is more a more cohesive and engaging record. It gets weird on occasion, silly on others, and downright beautiful as well. This is masterful and artistic electronica made by a guy who absolutely knows what he's doing. You'll be surprised at how easily you get lost in the melodies. If you're looking for another great dance album this year, Vitalic is once again providing the gold standard.
Vitalic- See the Sea (Red)Vitalic- One Above One [
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Watch some great Vitalic music videosBuy "Flashmob" from AmazonLabels: daft punk, justice, vitalic
By: faronheit | Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 5:33 AM ||
Raise your hand if you remember Annie. My hand is raised, but if yours is not, don't feel too bad about it. She's been having some troubles these past couple years, it's mostly been label-related, so with our short attention spans it can pretty easily seem like after her 2005 debut album "Anniemal" she disappeared without a trace. Well I'm here to tell you that Annie is back, and that next Tuesday her second record "Don't Stop" will arrive in U.S. stores (it came out in Europe and elsewhere over the past couple weeks). For the uninitiated, let me take a brief second to catch you up on the history of Annie up to the present.
In 1999, Annie first caught a whole lot of attention when she sampled Madonna's "Everybody" for her very first single "The Greatest Hit". People got excited about the song, and very quickly Annie found herself crowned as the next pop star. As it so happens though, the death of a close friend and musical companion put her in a less than creative mood. So she took a few years to record her full length debut "Anniemal," and the buzz around her died down by the time the album finally arrived in 2005. Of course "Anniemal" brought with it a fresh helping of buzz, backed in large part by the excellent single "Chewing Gum," a pop gem about using boys then throwing them away. Annie started charting around the world (but not really in the U.S.), and suddenly some big record labels were interested in signing her. She eventually settled on Island Records, and they were set to shoot Annie into superstardom with her follow-up album "Don't Stop". The album was set for release last fall, but thanks to what was cited as "internal problems" with the label (possibly caused by economic issues or possibly caused by disagreements over the sound of the record), Annie decided to leave Island and search for a new home to release "Don't Stop". Smalltown Supersound is the label that is now distributing the album around the world, but not before Annie had re-worked much of it and made some adjustments to the tracklisting.
When an album gets stuck in label turmoil like "Don't Stop" has, the first question people tend to ask is whether it wound up being worth the wait. With Annie, the answer is simple: yes. The girl who was poised for pop superstardom 10 years ago makes more than good on that promise for the second time this decade. In fact, it stands to reason that "Don't Stop" is even more incredible of an album than "Anniemal" was when it amazed people nearly 5 years ago. Clearly working with various producers like Richard X, Paul Epworth and pop production team Xenomania has done wonders for Annie, as all 12 tracks on the record are bubbly, fun and remarkably addictive. They're also once again impressive from a lyrical perspective, and matching that up with some hefty beats and keyboard work does more than wonders. You get a great (guitar only) team-up with Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos on "My Love Is Better," and single "Songs Remind Me of You" attacks with a ferocity I've not heard from a pop song in quite some time. But simply singling out a couple of tracks doesn't do the entirety of "Don't Stop" justice, so if intensely danceable pop music is your thing, you owe it to yourself to check this album out.
Since "Anniemal" came out in 2005, there have been a few "indie pop stars" that have risen to the forefront and presented us with some great records. Lily Allen is one of the more notables, and Little Boots made quite a big splash earlier this year with her debut album "Hands". A lot of people don't know that Annie's debut marked the start of the trend with her pop songs that didn't always play by the rules, and had she not faced a year-long delay for this new record, you'd probably be hearing a number of these songs on the radio and in TV commercials. But that's simultaneously one of my worries with Annie leaving Island Records - it may cost her yet again in terms of exposure. So many of the songs on "Don't Stop" deserve the love of a mass audience, but without some pushy promoter wearing an expensive suit strolling into your local Top 40 station and demanding that they play Annie (perhaps in exchange for some cash considerations ::cough::payola::cough::), I'm worried it just won't happen. Not to say that Smalltown Supersound can't do a decent job promoting this record, but they are an indie record label based out of Oslo, Norway - compared to Island they're very small potatoes. Really what we can hope for out of this album I suppose is that it turns into yet another situation like she had after "Anniemal" came out, where major labels are looking to sign her again, hopefully this time without any of the turmoil. We work with the hand we're ultimately dealt.
In a way, I'm kind of glad that Annie is still signed to an indie label, because that probably means she'll remain our little secret for that much longer. Yeah, she deserves all the success that will hopefully and eventually come her way, the issue we've got to worry about right now is whether popularity on a large scale would significantly alter her pop music with sharp edges. One would hope not, but the pressures of being a pop star have caused many a person to do foolish things, the least among them being making a "sonic adjustment" to try and bring in the widest audience possible. Perhaps that was the underlying trouble behind the whole Island Records split in the first place. Right now though, Annie isn't sacrificing anything for any sort of greater good, rather she's writing and piecing together songs that are truest to her own nature. That's about all you can ask from any artist, let alone somebody who should be selling out arenas that Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus play. So please, if you're so inclined, get yourself a copy of "Don't Stop". I don't talk about full-fledged pop music often (if ever), but rest assured that when I do, the reason why will be worth it. Annie has done a stupendous job yet again with her sophmore release, and though it may not be my favorite record of the year, it's most definitely my favorite pop album of 2009. Expect me to bring this up again come December and list-making time.
Annie- I Don't Like Your Band [
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Preorder "Don't Stop" from AmazonLabels: annie
By: faronheit | Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 9:22 AM ||
There are a number of things that I don't like about The Cribs. I realize how biased and unfair it sounds to start a review with those words, but if there's one thing I don't want to do, it's mince words. Plus, there's an ultimate purpose behind what I'm trying to say, so bear with me. For the record, I don't hate The Cribs, rather just moderately dislike them. Their last album, 2007's "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever" felt like a blatant grab for attention and mainstream success. In other words, all I thought the entire time I was listening to the album was how it looked for the easiest hooks and avoided any sort of innovation or attempt at creative diversity. It was moderately bland in other words, and in the sort of formula that seemed to guarantee high albums sales and mass popularity. Well, the band seems to be getting the attention I was thinking they sought around the world, save for the United States. Why The Cribs didn't hit it huge with their last album in the States is a strange mystery to me. Perhaps it was a consequence of being signed to the small-ish record label Wichita Recordings, who probably don't quite have the PR sledgehammer a major label would wield to get radio airplay. Color that issue corrected with the band's new album, "Ignore the Ignorant," finally out this week in the U.S. after an early September release everywhere else. The Cribs are now signed to Warner Bros. Records, a major label, and though I have yet to hear the band get played on the radio here in Chicago, it's probably going to happen eventually. If signing to a major wasn't enough of a PR boost, the addition of former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to the lineup certainly caught a lot of people's attention. Marr certainly brought a lot of people into the Modest Mouse fold when he played and toured with that band around their last album "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank," and now he's jumped ship to become the fourth member of The Cribs and adding his extra guitar to the proceedings.
So if you thought that I disliked The Cribs before, the even more intense and seemingly obvious grabs for attention only pushed me away farther. Yet I still do not play judge, jury and executioner before giving a record at least a couple listens from start to finish. So it may come as something of a surprise then when I say that I actually enjoyed "Ignore the Ignorant" from the get-go. That's not something I put lightly either, given my past history with the band as outlined above. It was just like a switch flipped in the two years since their last record, and all of a sudden they were a pretty good band. The immediate observer might point the finger squarely at Johnny Marr, saying that it must have been his joining the band that sparked a new-found creative streak. This is certainly a possibility, especially given that Marr shares songwriting credits with the Jarman brothers on every one of the album's tracks. How much he directly contributed to any single one of these songs is debatable, but given that he's credited it says a little something. For the record, I do think that Marr's work on "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" partly resulted in making it one of the poorer Modest Mouse albums to date, but I also like to think that Isaac Brock shares the blame on that one. But the paradoxes between how Modest Mouse and The Cribs turned out can certainly be considered interesting. Marr helped turn the sometimes extremely odd curiosities of Modest Mouse into something a bit more mainstream and bland for their last record. Now Marr has helped take the bland and somewhat formulaic pop rock of The Cribs and given it a stroke of strange. Granted, "Ignore the Ignorant" is not a highly experimental affair, but it isn't as blatant or forceful as the band's last album, which is a huge plus in my opinion.
If you're looking for some serious headrush 1-2-3 punch combos of addictive songs back to back to back, look no further than the opening three cuts on "Ignore the Ignorant". They're catchy as all hell, but with little twists and turns that sink in your ear and make them seem less obvious. In other words, if you're not a fan of big radio hits, there's an edge to these songs that make them very playable yet smarter than your average bear. These are the songs right before you get into the brash, 6 minute guitar jam of "City of Bugs," which is where you can get your best taste of Johnny Marr seriously tearing things up. You're then treated to "Hari Kari," a song that boasts some of the finest lyrics I've ever heard from the band. Again, this is surprising, and a welcome change from the frantic and unfocused pop jams of the band's earlier work. These songs are still every bit the mindless fun of the last album, but done with much more intelligence and pure skill this time around. No, it's not groundbreaking nor is it very experimental, but it's definitely boundary stretching for a band that seemed to keep themselves confined to a very tiny box that didn't seem to hold much in the first place.
To make a long story short, "Ignore the Ignorant" is essentially my album of Cribs conversion. This is the record that put my fears to rest and proved to me there was more behind this band than just a trio of pretty faces trying to write the biggest songs possible to attain worldwide success and fortune. Of course that may actually be their one singular goal, but even if it is they've done a fine job of convincing me otherwise on this new record. They've toned down their nuclear bomb-like explosive tendencies for a more appropriate and precise cruise missile, and they're better off for it. This isn't an album that will change your life, nor is it something you'll probably be considering when thinking about the best albums of 2009, but it is at the very least a solid 45 minutes of skillful fun. Up to this point, that's about all I can ask from The Cribs, and they've delivered. Now if we can just get some U.S. radio stations to start giving them some real airplay.
The Cribs- We Were AbortedBuy "Ignore the Ignorant" from AmazonLabels: johnny marr, modest mouse, the cribs, the smiths
By: faronheit | Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 1:47 PM ||
