Set Yourself On Fire

Today's Music That is Good But Not Great is Stars' Set Yourself On Fire.

First off, this album has pretty great cover art, if a little too similar to Explosions in the Sky's The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. (This is old news though.) Let's see if this works:












I guess I have a thing for the 'wall of text' aesthetic. Anyway, this album is full of sweet, tender pop songs with a Canadian twist, which is a nice way of saying that they are love songs that aren't as bald about it as most American pop music. Or at least it seems that way to me. The opening track, "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead", is a good place to start, as it is characteristic of the whole album. It's certainly presented well, with an irreverent sample to lead in to the song. The vocals are wistful and longing, the strings paced very well, and the sentiment is not lost. The whole album is like this: clever, emotional, unfulfilled.

It's all pretty good. So why is it not great? I suppose it's all relative. There are too many albums out there by other groups, bands I would consider to be peers of Stars, that offer a greater dynamic between songs and as a whole on their albums. I guess it's sort of like a cat without any claws; fine and pleasant enough on its own, but pitted against a cat that has claws, it isn't going to stand up as well. Still, this isn't a bad album by any means, even if I would like to see the metronome moving faster at times. I think the album as a whole warrants more listening, but I'd be hard-pressed to chose it over some of the other music in my library.

In Other News:
I got sunburned this weekend, just a little. Volunteering at the art fair was fun, though.

I need more sleep and guitar.

You got lucky today

I was going to blog about Stars' Set Yourself On Fire but I ran out of time. Far too much to do today so exercise must come early in light of maybe not having time to do it at any other point in the day.

So maybe tomorrow! If you are local and reading this, feel free to look for me at the art festival; I'll be watching artists' booths while they take breaks to search for coffee/cigarettes/plumbing.

Snakes and Ladders

Today's Music That You Should Have Seen Coming is Snakes and Ladders, by Basia Bulat. First off, to clarify, Basia Bulat is a lady's (stage) name. She and her band were the opening act for Devotchka, and they were excellent, certainly worth investigating. Not surprisingly, as Basia looks to be fairly young, she has a single album (and an EP, I think) out, so that is naturally what I got my hands on.

Basia's band has a very rustic, earthy sound. Basia plays a guitar, sometimes, I think, and also this little thing that looks like a miniature piano but has strings like a harp. (I wish I knew what this was called.) Her band has a ukulele, a violinist, and a drummer (maybe a bass?). The overall sound is something of a bustling string highway, but the simple sounds layered together are definitely pleasing to the ear. There's also a fair amount of clapping on the album, which is something of a gimmick, but it's not overused here. Basia herself has a wonderful voice, one that definitely leads without being overemphasized; she has good vocal range and bounces around enough that I get the impression she is a capable yodeler (or could be, anyway).

I prefer the more uptempo songs on the album (big surprise) but they're generally all good, as even the slower ballads are not too over-emotional or drawn out. In particular, "In the Night" and the title track are the songs I am most fond of, I also like "I Was a Daughter".

Will I take down my New Pornographers stuff and frame pictures of Basia Bulat instead? Probably not. But this is a lovely album, not too sweet or sad, something that I think I could recommend to most people I know.

A personal aside:
Seeing Basia and her band in concert was a real treat. After the opening band (two guys who I don't know at all), the roadies and techs came out to mess with the equipment for a while. Then, very unassumingly, Basia came out by herself and sang a short acapella gospel song, clapping and stomping on stage with her cowboy boots. The crowd didn't really see it coming but we were all mesmerized by the end, and I wouldn't be surprised if she made some people cry. It was such a surprise, one of the more amazing things I have seen at a show in my lifetime. (I thought for sure that she and her band would have upstaged Devotchka mightily, but this was not the case, as the headliners were incredibly good.)

In Other News:
There is no other news today. I guess. Maybe later this week?

The Trials of Van Occupanther

Today's Music of the Day is The Trials of Van Occupanther, by Midlake. Now, I don't know anything about this band, so let's get down to business.

This album is sort of dreamy indie rock, not too poppy, maybe a bit of a rustic touch. There is a lot of synthesizer on this album but it's not overbearing, certainly not like an 'arena rock' band. Sometimes I think the album is a little too sweet and should push its boundaries a little bit but as a whole it achieves an interesting sound. If you actually look at this blog on a regular basis, you'll see that albums (and bands) that I really enjoy have a little energy to their music, that even their ballads build some tension without having to speed up to get there. This is why I couldn't completely get into this album, as it has a wonderful sound but seems a little too content to stay with it.

The sound is something like a laid-back Band of Horses, both in the style of the music and in the vocals. I suppose the opinion on this will vary with the individual, but I don't think it's a bad thing. Some of the songs are pretty good; in particular, I like "Roscoe", the opener. I'm sure I'll get in no end of trouble for this, but here is a link to a remix of "Roscoe":
http://www.worlds-fair.net/mail/MIDLAKE.mp3
Come on Blogspot, autoformat a link for me...

Well there you have it.

Edit:
here, check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XaoF8bDMcM
It's not a Rickroll, it's R.E.M. with Eddie Vedder! It's freakin' great!

In Other News:
FRICK am I ever sleepy today.

In The Future

Today's Music That Makes Jason Wish He Had Drugs is In The Future, by Black Mountain. This is a group that I know next to nothing about, just that their album cover is a cube design and is pretty cool. I picked up this CD at the library, and it was a great find.

In The Future has a definite classic rock vibe to it, a very 70's sound. Before you tune this out and go looking for some more Zeppelin or whatever, well, you should give Black Mountain a shot. These aren't radio-friendly songs; they sound more like the dark side of Zeppelin and not far from the Waters-era Pink Floyd songs, maybe like a less dorky cousin to Rush or even Yes. These are sprawling, diabolical songs that you can rock out to and not feel stupid about liking. There's a fair amount of screaming and some wicked guitar.

I suppose I am a little partial to this kind of sound, having listened to far too much classic rock radio in my youth and even in my later teen years. But I'd like to compare Black Mountain to another recent group that sounds very much like it was spawned in the same era, Wolfmother. While Wolfmother is okay, I guess, they sound more like they were content to make pop songs with a Zeppelin foundation, whereas Black Mountain wanted to delve all the way to the core of Zeppelin and their peers rather than just taking the sweet and easy layers off the top. The result is that I think Black Mountain would musically tear Wolfmother a new one. I'm not completely anti-Wolfmother, I just think they seem to have taken the same concept as Black Mountain to a cuter and less challenging place.

In short, Black Mountain may not be for you. But they happen to be pretty rockin'. If you like a good classic hard rock sound, not just handed to you, but built up around you until you can't breathe, well, then kiss your air goodbye. I'll be curious to see what Black Mountain does in the future; let us hope it does not become doo-wop or something equally saccharine.

In Other News:
Enough indoor time today, I am going outside.

Widow City

Today's Music That Jason Wouldn't Recommend is Widow City, by The Fiery Furnaces. This is something I picked up at the library, largely on the recommendation of someone who felt it was their favorite album from last year, a credible source for musical taste. It appears, though, that this person's taste is somewhat different from mine. I tried to listen to this album on two separate occasions and found myself almost completely disinterested at best.

This album seems to follow a pop song arrangement without any of the structure. It seems to be a number of instruments in competition, and a woman with a decent voice half-singing and half-yelling over the whole thing. The result is a jumbled mess that tries to appeal to the listener based on its cuteness and charm. It has the effect of a small child that attempts to do something semi-complicated, like cook or apply makeup, and only succeeds in creating a small catastrophe. Whereas some people will look at this messy child and think it is adorable, I mostly want to get a hose and rinse the entire thing away. I think this album tries far too hard to be quirky in a cutesy sort of way and ends up just being obnoxious. I guess it isn't actively terrible but I have a hard time seeing myself being interested in the follow-up album.

In other news:
floods!

Distortion

Today's Music That Jason Would Like to Get to Know Better is Distortion by the Magnetic Fields. I wish I knew more about the Magnetic Fields because I don't really have a solid grasp of what exactly their 'sound' is. The last album, I, was a polished, sweet-sounding pop-album with lots of piano and strings; sometimes it was interesting but mostly a little too contrived for me. Distortion is a fair departure from that.

Distortion sounds very much like Brian Wilson songs performed by Sonic Youth. If you took the vocals out and put them over strings, they would be pleasant and well-harmonized; the instruments are hazy and very much lifted from a dirty 1992 band. All together it is kind of a strange combination, that being something like 'happy grunge'. But as a whole, it works. The songs seem to be wistful and peppy enough in their vocals to prevent the fuzz from making the album too melancholy. The album kind of makes me long for a period in time (if not in my life) that I'm not even sure really ever existed.

In Other News:
Thank goodness it is Monday. The mayhem of the weekend was pretty fun though.

Live at Folsom Prison

Today's Music of the Day is none other than Mr. Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison. And I wish I had more to write! This is the essence of Johnny Cash, singing to a group of lucky convicts (ha ha) for about an hour. It's classic Cash, from the music to the demeanor. I like a lot of things about this album - Cash doesn't do most of his better-known songs, but some of them show up here ("Jackson", "I Still Miss Someone", "Cocaine Blues"). If you like Johnny Cash, you have to know about this album. And if you don't like Johnny Cash, well, best of luck to you.

I suppose this album has more significance than its songs would have you believe. Cash was always a religious man, and the concept of the saint sitting with the sinners is something he probably would have appreciated if he were a more arrogant man, or at least something of a saint and less of a sinner. The album was also recorded at a time when live concert recordings were not unheard of, but certainly less common than they are today. Mostly, though, the idea of a concert at a prison is great, and it's something that I am surprised hasn't been done again (outside of Cash's visit to San Quentin a few years later). Finally, Johnny's famous use of profanity on this album always makes me laugh a little bit.

I wish I had something to tell you about this album that hasn't already been said. It's a fine album, and a major milestone in a career filled with highlights. Mostly, though, this album deserves to be listened to and enjoyed, even forty years later. So get yourself a copy of it, set aside 45 minutes or so to yourself, open a beer or pour some whiskey, and relax.

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash..."

In Other News:
My knee hurt all day yesterday, and against my better judgment, I went to capoeira. And somehow the stretching and movement fixed it? I'm still not sure what happened, but it feels better than it has in a month or more. I don't even know, any more.

Do You Like Rock Music?

Today's Music of the Day is British Sea Power, Do You Like Rock Music? This album is something I decided I should finally look into, as I actually saw this band a couple months ago (locally, no less) and they were pretty rockin'. I also remember staying up too late to see the show and basically being as miserable at work the next day as I can remember. Sleeping ~3 hours will do that to you, though.

Anyhow, DYLRM? is decent. It seems to be somewhat anthemic indie rock, sort of a laid-back British cousin to the Secret Machines. It sounds very much like the kind of music that I would have expected U2 to release in the mid-90's if they hadn't sold out so hard. Sometimes the music on this album isn't quite driving or abrasive enough for me; it does a fine job of building tension but the release of that tension isn't quite great enough. Still, for being a straight-forward rock album, this set of songs is a pretty good listen, and has some interesting ideas.

This blog is basically of my impression after one listen, and I think this album probably warrants at least one more. So, based on my small sample size, I would say to find a couple tracks from this album and evaluate them before you buy it, but you could do a lot worse with your money.

In Other News:
It's already June?

Next post will be the 100th for this blog. How exciting! Perhaps I will treat myself to a cupcake, and you to a review of an album that I found particularly inspiring or touching. I guess you can have a cupcake, too.