The End! No Moral.

Today, after 2+ years and 250 blog posts, Support Your Local Catgun draws to a close. A formal close, anyway; I may still write things here from time to time as music inspires me to do so.

During the past two years, I have written about music, with the occasional day of being rained out or just lazy, and I feel that my productivity has been at least adequate. While writing about music has not failed to be fun, I suppose that 2009 is a different time than 2007 was, where my compulsion to rant about R.E.M. is waning and my concern with sharing my psyche with mostly anonymous readers is more apparent.

I realize that this blog is lacking entries for the following albums that I am especially fond of:
Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia
Neutral Milk Hotel, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

Maybe they will show up some day. Maybe not.

If you've been reading, thanks for doing so. Good luck out there in Radio Land.

The Greatest

Things that I know or at least believe about Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power:

1) She has a bit of a checkered history with alcohol.
2) Her music is pretty rad.
3) She is pretty attractive (this seems to be a general consensus).
4) I don't know if I would ever see her in concert; maybe, but I have a hard time imagining the show to leave me with anything other than mild depression.

Having said number 4, I'm not completely sure about it. Most of this is due to her more recent work, such as her covers albums, and particularly, her 2006 release The Greatest. This album is still very much a piano-driven album, but it represents something of a stylistic departure from Marshall's earlier work (You Are Free, Moon Pix). This isn't a complaint about quality, as The Greatest is a fine album, though metalheads and hip-hop aficionados would do well to look elsewhere. The style here is somewhat more old-fashioned and bluesy, with horns and strings on several tracks; Marshall's smoky velvet voice still drives the entire production.

As in the past, it's my opinion that Marshall's music is best when it is miserable; there are a couple tracks here that don't work as well as the others. Still, the material is pretty good overall; the title track and "Willie" are my personal favorites, though your mileage may vary.

In Short: it's a welcome twist on the Cat Power sound, and a pretty good listen.

In Other News:
I picked up this album, along with the Arcade Fire's Funeral and Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood back in 2006, on a Sunday at Best Buy for a total of roughly $20. This was a pretty good day, musically speaking.

Two more days, and I am off the antibiotics! I won't miss them.

I can't believe I made it this far without making a Cat Power entry. Shame on me.

Next Time: The End! And maybe an album review.

These Four Walls

Today's Music of the Day is These Four Walls, by We Were Promised Jetpacks. This album was downloaded LEGALLY through Emusic after having read a promising review on the AV Club website.

While comparing bands is generally unfair to all involved, the elements at play here make it hard to ignore. WWPJ (which is probably an acronym for something bizarre) has a number of similarities to Frightened Rabbit: generally uptempo, accessible music, pained lyrics, a certain emotional raw quality, occasional ringing guitar, a couple gently picked ballads, and a singer who is too Scottish for his own good.

Having said that, this album is pretty great. It's rambunctious and fun, in a modern indie-rock sort of way, and manages to be emotional without whining. The music here is solid; the guitar isn't ever distracting, but soars and pushes the tempo in a number of places. It's a solid album, full of promise and heartbreak - I'll definitely see what else this band has out there, if anything at this point.

Personal favorite tracks are "It's Thunder And It's Lightning" and the eight-minute, sprawling "Keeping Warm". Really, though, there aren't weak tracks here - even the less-adored are quite listenable. By the time the album title finally shows up, it will make perfect sense why it was given such promotion.

In Short: a fine album, as enjoyable and poignant as anything I have heard in recent months.

In Other News:
See, I made it all the way through without complaining about the horrible, stupid band name. "We Were Promised Jetpacks" is petulant and tacky. What about something like "Death Panel" or "War President"?

Capoeira this weekend! Woohoo!

More music is forthcoming! Early thoughts on the Ingrid Michaelson album "Be OK" - it's, well, okay.

Brighter Than Creation's Dark

Today's Music of the Day is Drive-By Truckers' Brighter Than Creation's Dark. This album came to me via the public library, mostly due to being unfamiliar with the group. There will be no background on the band today, though.

Brighter Than Creation's Dark isn't exactly my cup of tea, but it is a decent album. The themes here are fairly simple - the lyrics are as rustic as the singer's voice - but it's still a far cry from the banality of most top-40 radio. The electric guitar is prevalent here, but the album is still very much a country music album, in spite of the twang being less consistent that one might expect. The mood here varies from feisty and rowdy to subtle and unhappy. Generally, a man with a good-natured voice that sounds of canned beer and dust sings, though a woman with heartache in her voice has turns at the microphone as well.

While the album is perhaps less rambunctious overall than I would prefer, it's not a bad listen. The performance here is somewhat less invested than a personal, small-scale album like the Rural Alberta Advantage's Hometowns, so it's not quite a triumph, but it does have quite a bit going for it. It isn't hard to relate to, and the diversity of tempo and mood are welcome.

In Short: Perhaps not my first choice, but not terrible by any means, and a decent choice for anyone who likes their music a little closer to open skies and green fields.

In Other News:
Thank goodness the week is over. Next week should be horribly busy but fun.

I'm on drugs! They're prescribed. I don't like them, but it's just a short-term deal, and nothing serious. I'll be fine, honestly.

Food and Liquor

Today's Music of the Day is Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor. This album was likely borrowed from the public library, partially in an attempt to diversify my music library, partially because Lupe Fiasco has one of the better names in music today.

While I wouldn't consider myself a rap connoisseur, this album was pretty enjoyable. Fiasco has a sharp, snare-drum cadence to his verses - even the more laid-back songs are crisply punctuated. There's a definite energy to the album; even though the instrumental portion of the album is largely electronic, the potent voices give Food and Liquor some life. Fiasco also has some heavy, literate rhymes, but he's not without a sense of humor - the man sounds equally adept rapping about a man's early death as he does dropping lines about the Sega Genesis.

I'm also normally partial to more organic elements of sound - see my ongoing love of Beirut - but the electronic-dominated album is fairly dynamic. There aren't a ton of guest stars here - it is Fiasco's first album, after all - but those that do show up, such as the female vocalist on "He Say She Say", don't wear out their welcome.

Some tracks are stronger than others - this is the case on virtually any album (except for those that have no redeeming quality, perhaps). Having said that, Food and Liquor is a pretty solid album from top to bottom, save for maybe "Outro", an extended thank-you to everyone involved with the album. Standout tracks - in my opinion, anyway - include "The Cool", "The Instrumental", and both parts of "Kick, Push". This isn't really a dance-rap album, though - 50 Cent lovers beware - but it's not hard to listen to.

In Short: this is a fine album for a budding hip-hop enthusiast, or just someone who is sick of rap songs about money and treating women like crap.

In Other News:
This post was as much fun to write as anything in the last few weeks. Why was this so complicated?

I got some more We Were Promised Jetpacks this week. Despite the beyond stupid name, I'm enjoying the songs very much.

Why can't it be Wednesday night yet?

Plague Park

Today's Music of the Day is the Handsome Furs' Plague Park. This album was loaned to me, and is the first new (to me, anyway) album that I have listened to in CD format in some time.

The Handsome Furs consist of Dan Boeckner (of Wolf Parade fame) and Alexei Perry, playing guitar and keyboard, respectively. Boeckner contributes the vocals as well; the voice should be recognizable to anyone who has heard Apologies to the Queen Mary. The sound here, compared to Wolf Parade, is fairly minimal - outside of the guitar, keyboard, and vocals, a drum machine powers most of the tracks.

It's a fairly simple concept, in terms of musical interaction, but the album is solid. Standout tracks are the opener - "What We Had" and "Dead + Rural", but there really aren't weak links so much as tracks that are less dramatic. The album as a whole is relatively morose - not hard to listen to, just not as bouncy as an album by Wolf Parade or even, say, TV on the Radio.

In short: Maybe this isn't everyone's album, but it's a good if sober listen.

In Other News:
I feel like I'm not doing this album justice. It's a bit of a niche album but definitely worth listening to. I can see some people hating it, though.

Support Your Local Catgun is likely going to go on hiatus after post #250, which should occur sometime before the end of the month. There are too many other things vying for my time and attention at present, but hopefully the blog will not wither and die.

Go outside today.

Ghosts of the Great Highway

Today's Music that is Pretty Great is Sun Kil Moon's Ghosts of the Great Highway. This album is one that I got from eMusic some months ago, though it has escaped my blog until just now. It's the work of one Mark Kozelek, apologies for spelling, late of Red House Painters.

Ghosts has a dusty, rural American feel, and mostly features Kozelek's gentle voice and guitar. (I sometimes like to think that Kozelek's voice is Michael Stipe's after having been ironed and smoothed out. This may be wildly inaccurate, or at least dismissive of the inevitable Neil Young comparison.) Generally, the guitar is acoustic and bounding, but occasionally it is traded for a heavy, distorted electric. While the different guitars don't really come with a drastic change of mood or style, the changes in sound are a benefit to this album. Ghosts would stand well alone on its morose-folk merits, but the occasional grinding electric guitar gives it another dimension.

Kozelek is often mentioned as an underappreciated figure in music, and for good reason. Ghosts hardly seems exhaustive, and at the very least, compels me to seek some more Sun Kil Moon. Mostly, though, the title seems to be fitting - this album easily evokes images of dusky skies and open roads, semi trucks lagging up hills, weary gas-station attendants.

Ghosts isn't as fun or as easy to listen to as some of the brighter, poppier albums that I am fond of, but it's definitely worth the trouble. Give "Carry Me Ohio" and "Salvador Sanchez" a try - these are two completely different songs, but they are fairly representative of the album as a whole.

In Short: this is a wonderful album, just try not to let it cloud an otherwise sunny day.

In Other News:
On occasion I give thought to concluding this blog. Maybe it's just something that happens each month as other interests arise and my music library becomes somewhat overutilized.

Who is up for the Hobo Festival?

Battle and Victory

Today's Music of the Day is Nancy Elizabeth's Battle and Victory. This album came to me by way of eMusic, after having heard the accordion-driven "Coriander" on Pandora in the recent past.

Pandora initially suggested "Coriander" based on my love of all things Beirut. This makes sense; the track is fairly earthy, features a singer's voice that brings gypsies to mind, and ends with a flourish of brass. The album that features "Coriander", though, is perhaps not what I was led to expect.

Battle and Victory represents a welcome departure from my semi-consistent indie-rock diet, though the connection to Beirut is reasonable. This album, though, only uses sporadic brass, relying on strings, harp, accordion, and Elizabeth's gray, lilting voice to drive its songs. The sound is very old-fashioned, folky almost to the point of evoking a nineteenth-century carnival or something similar. The songs are deliberate and melancholy, without much hope for a brighter day.

This sort of brooding restraint isn't always easy to listen to, but the songs are difficult not to respect. Each track is a small, grey cloud; alone, one might cover the sun momentarily, but combined, they can change the feeling of a particular day.

In short: if you like gloomy strings with a Mediterranean hint, Battle and Victory is a good place to start.

In Other News:
Well, maybe not today.

Birdseed Shirt

Today's Music of the Day is Birdseed Shirt, by Deleted Scenes. This music was acquired via eMusic due to my complete lack of association with the band. As I have almost no background on this album, let's just talk about the sound.

Birdseed Shirt is largely a benign indie record. It features standard instruments - perhaps a little more drumming than, say, a Phoenix record, but probably less than a Yeah Yeah Yeahs album - and a singer with a relatively thin tenor voice. Some bells and piano show up here, as well, and are generally incorporated well. Most of the songs are pretty safe; occasionally the band gets rambunctious - see "Mortal Sin" - but it's a pretty easygoing record, altogether.

This album is fairly enjoyable, if too safe for its own good. If anything, Deleted Scenes could stand to be more irate or wounded - the lively moments here are the best part of the album. Some of the songs are fairly good - "City That Never Wakes Up" has a nice progression, and "Get Your [Stuff] Together for the Holidays" more so - but mostly, the album isn't engaging enough to be memorable. While I don't personally outright detest this album - it would probably be the best Shins album - I can't strongly recommend it, either.

In Other News:
Yes, the blog posts have been brief as of late. Perhaps I'll get excited about something in the near future.

I've been listening to the Handsome Furs this week. Good stuff - this might be what pushes me back into the 500+ word post territory that I poked around in for a while.

Please let the next two days be merciful.

Hospice

Today's Music of the Day is Hospice, by The Antlers. This came to me by way of eMusic, at the recommendation of a friend. No back story today, just discussion about music.

Hospice is a fairly enjoyable and uplifting record, despite falling somewhere between indie rock and moody film soundtrack. There are vocals, but not much to sing along to; they tend to be muted, almost whispered, appearing only to break up the cloudy piano temporarily. Some strings and horns have a presence, albeit in limited supporting roles.

This is a quiet album, one that doesn't force listening, but requires some attention. Hospice is very much in the vein of DM Stith's Heavy Ghost, and this is a good thing. It's not much of a party record, but in terms of atmosphere, it's has a definite presence. While the tracks that make use of the speakers more tend to stand out (in particular, the gorgeous crescendo of "Wake"), the whole album is pretty solid. I wouldn't mind seeing Antlers engage the listener a little more in the future, but there's definitely not much to complain about here.

In Short: give this a shot, you'll have to pay attention, but it's probably going to be worth it.

In Other News:
I had planned to be on the road and having dinner elsewhere tonight, and haven't purchased rations in a few days, so the evening meal may be an interesting affair. By 'interesting', I mostly mean 'peanut butter-based'.

Chris Lee

Today's Music That Hopefully Didn't Take Too Long To Come Up With An Album Title is Chris Lee's eponymous possible-debut. This album is something that I downloaded from eMusic at the behest of nobody at all. eMusic may have recommended it to me, for some reason.

Chris Lee features Chris Lee playing guitar and singing. The guitar is bright and gentle; the voice is a warbling, emotive tenor. Occasionally these songs delve into minor keys, but it's fairly predictable. These are precocious love songs, the kind that fit perfectly into the 'Morning Blend' on your local 'adult contemporary' radio station (mine is called 'Capitol 106').

I don't know that I even have a favorite track here. The minute redeeming value on this eight-song album is found in the last track, the I-thought-only-R. Kelly-wrote-titles-this-bad "I Can't Make Love to You Anymore", which has a solid minute of drums and distorted guitar to close the album. Unfortunately, it's just an electric take on the relatively bland progression of the song itself, as if Lee is so sure that this song is a winner that he feels the need to present it in two formats within the track itself.

Chris Lee, I have deleted your album from my computer without any remorse. I view you as a cousin to that preening metrosexual singer from Maroon 5 and I hope nobody buys your album.

In Other News:
Thankfully, most of the other albums I downloaded this album have some teeth. White Rabbits, Nancy Elizabeth, The Antlers, Deleted Scenes - these are all going to have positive reviews. Even We Were Promised Jetpacks, despite their awful name, are pretty fun in a raging and overly Scottish way.

Make it be Friday COME ON

White Blood Cells

Today's Music of the Day is the White Stripes' White Blood Cells. Like all of my White Stripes albums, I got this one by winning a game of mumbly-peg at a truck stop in Winnipeg. I don't have any scars from this one, by the way.

White Blood Cells follows the White Stripes creed: Jack gets to sing and maul a guitar, Meg creates a percussive canvas, and dirty blues rock ensues. Somehow, it appears that a piano got into the studio during these recordings and sneaked onto a few tracks.

The songwriting here is strong enough - simple yet effective - and suits the bare-bones instrumental portion of the music. Jack's voice, of course, is much like his electric guitar - a raw, abrasive force, terse and brash at its best moments.

If there is a surprise here, it's that there are so many good-natured songs. For every "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" there is a "Hotel Yorba". This explorative quality is probably what the band owes their longevity to - while this record isn't quite as eccentric as some of their later releases, it's still very listenable and lively without resorting to volume as promotion.

The verdict: this is a fine record, one that stands up well by most any standard. For those who aren't fond of the White Stripes, this probably won't sway them, but they are missing out. This record probably deserves a more detailed post but hopefully the recommendation will be enough.

In Other News:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/adam-yauch-has-cancer-beastie-boys-shows-canceled,30582/
This is a shame.

More music reviews forthcoming! Soon.

Rural Alberta Advantage Live!

On the evening of July 15th, I had the privilege to see the RAA live in concert, at Omaha's Slowdown. It was a wonderful albeit brief show, but easily worth my $8.

I missed the opening act due to a tight schedule on my part and also some road construction that closed part of the highway I wanted to take to the show. No matter; while I'm sure that this band was excellent, this in no way affected my enjoyment of the main show. I think this band was called UUWWVVZ or something similar; they are almost impossible to search for on the internets and may not actually exist.

The second band on the bill was actually a solo act, a sandy-haired man named David Dondero. David Dondero wore a flannel shirt and played a hybrid acoustic guitar, appearing to be in his early thirties. He wasn't a terrible singer, and handled his guitar fairly well. However, he made me wonder if Isaac Brock had any children. Dondero seemed to be unhappy with life in general, and his songs reflected this to some degree. Poor David Dondero, you're supposed to smile on stage.

Anyway, the RAA came out in short order, and they were fantastic. The singer - a twentysomething with fading blonde hair and a kept beard - spoke frequently between songs, telling the audience stories that formed the basis for many songs, and seemed quite personable. The female keyboardist bounced around during songs, and the drummer played like his job depended on his performance. The band held together very well for all of its songs, and was generally a joy to listen to. Note: the drummer and keyboardist were making googly eyes at each other and generally being a cutesy couple during the show; this didn't detract from the presentation but it was evident, to say the least.

If there is anything negative to say about the RAA, it would be the brevity of their show. Being a relatively young band without much of a discography, this is to be expected, but the band clearly enjoyed playing. The singer thanked the audience more than once, and the entire band seemed to be having a good time. I spoke to the drummer and keyboardist briefly after the show, and they seemed genuine and friendly as well. I wish I could have hung around to chat with them further, but most of it would have ended up being The Chris Farley Show anyway.

For reference: The Chris Farley show (with Martin Scorsese)

In short: You should buy the RAA's album, Hometowns, and go see them when they tour again. Wednesday's show was their last show on this tour, but hopefully they will continue making amazing music and come to your town someday soon.

In Other News:
Cool weather in July is generally always welcome.

I got a copy of my birth certificate today! Passport next week, international incident forthcoming! Watch your ass, Canadians!

When It Falls

Today's Music of the Day is Zero 7's When It Falls. This album was given to me by a friend a few years ago, in exchange for an album of my choosing.

When It Falls is a bit spacey, but fairly grounded in its ambitions. It probably falls under the category of 'modern lounge', and might best be considered a child of something like Portishead (among others). In fleeting moments, there are some hints of Sigur Ros, but mostly, this album is a peer to artists like St. Etienne. Most of the tracks are led by a female singer (Sia, I believe) who manages to be a bit sultry without having too much smoke or fire. She leads a bright, benign guitar and no shortage of strings through a dozen brief tracks; the longest here checks in at just over six minutes.

This is a nice album, warm with colors that just waft out of even poor speakers. It's bright and friendly, like a neighbor that shares actual conversation instead of just civil courtesy. It has a gentle familiarity, albeit one that doesn't offer much in the way of surprises or variance in mood. While this may be seen as a strength, the general lack of dynamics leaves something to be desired; the songs are safe, but almost to the point of being interchangeable. The musical talent isn't really missing here, just underutilized; in particular, it would be nice to hear Sia cut loose a little bit. (Yes, I know she has solo music out there.)

In short, this album is nice but overly comfortable, and too pleasant for its own good. If this sort of music is your thing, by all means, go for it, but I won't push this on too many people.

In Other News:
I am itchy today. New soap, maybe?

This week should be busy but good. Support Your Local Catgun might have a bit of an outage later in the week due to my travel to Omaha for the Rural Alberta Advantage show. Woohoo!

Cleaning House

Today, there will not be a review dedicated to a single album. Consideration was given to reviewing something by Echo and the Bunnymen, or possibly even Drive-By Truckers, but ultimately recent developments trumped traditional format.

Today's blog post will cover the following topics:

• Pandora internet radio adds pricing structure
• Michael Jackson apparently still in tabloids
• 80/35 Festival in Des Moines
  

Recently, the Pandora internet radio service changed its delivery format somewhat. After having offered free and unlimited internet radio, allowing users to create 'stations' based on their tastes, for some time, it is now offering a modest pricing structure. Radio is free for the first 40 hours each month; beyond that mark, listeners will have to pay $0.99 for the privilege of listening. This comes on the heels of progressively integrating more advertising into its programming in recent months, with short audio advertisements representing the most intrusive of these.

It remains to be seen whether Pandora will survive. This decision is hardly a surprise, given the court-approved raise of internet radio music licensing fees in 2007 (I believe) and the RIAA's general money-grubbing, but it is still something of a disappointment. I don't know that I will continue to use Pandora, despite its great utility to me over the past twelve months or so; the fee is modest, but something of a nuisance. Still, Pandora is probably something that I will choose to remember fondly and may consider in the future.

In other news, Michael Jackson passed away recently. You may have heard this. If not, I would advise you to reconsider your use of Support Your Local Catgun as your exclusive news provider and connection to the outside world. Apparently this is a great tragedy, despite Michael having done very little of musical or social worth in the last fifteen years or more. A grand funeral service was held earlier this week, in which the Jackson family and other people interested in furthering their own celebrity through public displays of grief were present.

My thoughts? My upbringing and particular age left me largely unexposed to Michael Jackson, musician and celebrity, and only later was I privy to the existence of Michael Jackson, obscenely rich personal spectacle. His death is certainly a tragedy, in the sense that the death of a parent of young children is, but otherwise, it's probably hyperbole. For most, I suppose that his passing represents lost youth never to return. Personally, I feel guilty for having devoted so many words to such a thing.

Finally, the 80/35 festival took place last weekend in the Des Moines metro area. The festival was fairly well received, though there were notably fewer ticketbuyers than the previous year. Also, Flava Flav, of first-day headliner Public Enemy, did not show up. I can only assume this is a direct result of Flav's perception of Des Moines women, and their presumed inability to reach levels of skankiness appropriate for Flav. Come on, local skanks!

In Other News:
Sorry about all the yapping in here today. I feel a bit like one of the attention-hungry vloggers on Youtube, and this makes me feel like taking a shower.

The Echo & the Bunnymen album, Crocodiles, is pretty good if somewhat dated.

Perhaps a review of Mogwai's latest, The Hawk is Howling, will take place next week.

The Back Room

Today's Music of the Day is Editors' The Back Room. This album came to me in a satanic ritual that was equal parts witchcraft and powdered sugar. It was sacre-licious. I'm honestly not privy to any real information about the band, and fearing that a trip to Wikipedia would only bias my review in one way or another, let's do this one live!

Back Room has a very early 1980's rock vibe to it, and in this case, it happens to be a good thing. The song structure here isn't overly complicated, and probably owes a debt to "New Year's Day"-era U2, both in terms of sound (guitar in particular) and blue-collar sensibility. Having missed out on so many of the circa-2000 overhyped British bands (Interpol, Libertines, etc.), I'm not sure how Back Room compares to them, but the results here are generally positive if relatively unambitious.

Still, this album has two primary driving forces - those being the drums and the electric guitar - and it does a fair job of pairing them up at the proper moments. (The singer contributes plenty, but his voice doesn't shriek or wail enough to really dominate the album consistently.)

This is a fair album, not exactly groundbreaking, but the tension is there, and it has enough drive. It's not a hard listen - sometimes, one longs for more sophisticated lyrics - but the gruff charm carries it through a dozen songs that seem more brief than they actually are.

In Other News:
Support Your Local Catgun is still alive. Just lazy, and out of new music.

Starving!

Professor Murder Rides The Subway

Today's Music of the Day is Professor Murder's Professor Murder Rides The Subway. This album is a 4+ song EP that I picked up via eMusic for no other reason than its fun title. The review may or may not be brief in order to maintain some theme with the subject matter.

Professor Murder Rides The Subway is a much better example of how to use and maintain energy in a song than at least one recent entry here. It's probably best classified as hip-hop, though it's definitely more, say, RJD2 than Jay-Z. The vocals aren't accentuated so much, though they have an apparent presence; the soundscape is alive with a number of elements. There are percussive contributions, but this is hardly a bass-heavy album; the drummer (at least, it doesn't sound like a machine) drives the songs forward as much as any piece. In terms of sound, this probably equates to something like Blur or possibly in the general direction of, say, Bloc Party. I would half expect that Professor Murder has the occasional pint with Liam Lynch.

This album is fairly amusing, even if the individual songs aren't quite momentous enough to make EP essential listening. Professor Murder Rides The Subway might show up in a sneaker or video game commercial at some point, and I wouldn't be surprised; until then, it has a place on the iPod shuffle that accompanies me to the gym.

In Other News:
Three Day Weekend OMG

I don't get to sleep in on Sunday and I don't even care. Well, maybe a little, but not really. This happens every first week of NEVER.

Seal Beach

Today's Mercifully Goldfinger-free Music of the Day is the Album Leaf's Seal Beach EP with bonus tracks. This is actually a re-release of the original EP, with five additional live bonus tracks.

This album doesn't stray too far from the Album Leaf sound - dreamy and ethereal but not quite to the point of whimsy - and is fairly easy to listen to. It is an open soundscape, sometimes led by strings or a guitar, sometimes a piano, but the key element is space. There aren't many moments of silence, but the instrumentation is so reserved that there's very little if any overlap between the different aural elements.

In spite of the complete lack of vocals, and only minimal percussion, the album sets its mood fairly well. The word 'ambient' probably applies here - the number of instruments and relative stability of emotion are established early on and not really deviated from. This is perhaps the album's greatest strength and weakness: it holds steady throughout the tracks, but offers little in the way of climaxes or surprises. In this regard, Seal Beach isn't exactly remarkable, but it's hardly an abject failure, either. However, a lack of failure does not always constitute a success.

File this one under "good, not great" and maybe go pick up Into the Blue Again.

In Other News:
Maybe ambient music just isn't ever going to be my friend. Also, my apologies if you were hoping for a 500+ word post today.

I got a ticket for the Rural Alberta Advantage show on the 15th today! $8, and I would have paid twice that. Expect an excited review, sometime.

Goldfinger

Today, there should have been a post about a Sun Kil Moon album that I believe is called Ghosts of the Great Highway. Alas, I failed to give this album a dedicated listen - it's actually quite good, with a few songs that are much more hard-rock than I would have expected. But no! Instead there will be a post on the eponymous debut album by the band Goldfinger.

In the first of what will possibly be many apologies for the subject matter, I must apologize for writing about a band that is neither interesting nor challenging when better material is available. Goldfinger is very much an old friend who was comfortable working a low-rent job and drinking away its sorrows, something that remains tied to a period in my life that hasn't really existed for a decade or so now. For some reason, I placed this album in my car for listening during a drive this weekend. This proved to be a mistake, as the album was so primitive that making it through more than a couple tracks was difficult.

Goldfinger features occasional horns, a hallmark of the late 1990s for semi-punk bands to be certain, but it is very much an album by a band that is just that: a semi-punk band. This album is fairly crass and juvenile, with most of the lyrics serving as a musical tell-off for any number of anonymous failed relationships. The album certainly doesn't lack for energy, but this is misdirected energy towards low ambitions. With song titles like "My Girlfriend's Shower Sucks" and, apologies for the language, "Fuck You and Your Cat", it's not exactly Brian Wilson meeting Ken Kesey in an airport here.

True Story: I saw Goldfinger in concert once and it was fun. They played a bar show with Save Ferris and The Aquabats. I think my ears rang for three days.

I am a bit surprised that Goldfinger didn't become a more popular band in the late 1990's / early 2000's, especially with so many similar bands (Green Day, among others) sustaining popularity, and other similar horrible bands (let's say Sum 41, Good Charlotte) being thrust into the public eye for their fifteen minutes or so of fame. Perhaps Goldfinger was too profane and abrasive for radio, maybe the singer didn't wear enough hair gel and eyeliner, maybe there weren't enough references to cartoons and movies from 1985 for kids born in 1987 to relate to at the time.

In short, this album might be good as a motivational tool for high-intensity exercise, but it has more stock in being obnoxious than anything. Let us hope that better listening material prevails in the future!

In Other News:

Thank goodness for short weeks, and warm but bearable weather.

The Des Moines Art Festival was pleasant, and provided me with fewer sunburns than I had anticipated. I did eat more of the provided sugary snacks than I should have, though.

Manners

Today's Music of the Day is Manners, by Passion Pit. This is apparently the group's debut album (an EP having been released in 2008), and was just released in May of this year.

Manners is very much an extension of music such as Of Montreal or possibly a sugar-high LCD Soundsystem. It sounds perhaps closest to recent festival darling MGMT. Does it have merit of its own, or is this a second rate album by a band that only has a setting for 'cute'?

Personally, this album isn't going to make any 'best-of' lists that I have any say in. It's largely electronic, with a sprinkle of sampling, and voiced exclusively in falsetto. There are plenty of sound effects here, claps, chimes. The tenth track, "Sleepyhead" seems to be the most popular, but it's also one of the most grating, with a '45 record played at 78' warble droning through the backdrop of the song.

There are a couple songs which I'm not completely against here. "Swimming in the Flood" and "Let Your Love Grow Tall" seem to be more in touch with the emotions they attempt to convey than the rest of the album. Specifically, "Swimming in the Flood" decelerates the general pace of the album from Mountain Dew to, say, lemonade, and it's a welcome change of pace and infusion of introspection that the rest of the album lacks.

This album review comes with a fair number of concessions. Yes, I'll concede that I prefer my music more morose and well-read. I'll also concede that this electronic / synthetic music is not what I prefer, having come to enjoy a more traditional / organic sound from music. I'm sure that Passion Pit would be fun to see at a festival or even just a bar large enough for some bouncing around near the stage. However, this album failed to endear itself to me over the course of four or five listens, and I have serious doubts about its ability to change my opinion over the course of another few weeks.

In Short: This is a fun, "summer" album that will probably be heard at shopping malls everywhere in the coming months. There are plenty of good electronic albums out there that don't equate to a chorus of caffeinated birds.

In Other News:
Art Festival this weekend! Somehow, I hope to avoid eating a funnel cake or something equally unhealthy.

Is it bad if I'm already looking forward to the four-day work week next week? Does anyone who reads this have plans to go to 80/35?

Hometowns

Today's Music That is Pretty Rad is Hometowns, by the Rural Alberta Advantage. Somehow, inexplicably, this album came to me via eMusic. RAA is apparently a relatively new band, having released an EP prior to this album, but not much else. Anyway, I got this album on a whim, basically because I hadn't heard of the band before just now.

Hometowns is none too polished an album, and thank goodness. It's not hard rock, but definitely indie rock, and it's nice to have something with a fair ramble to the sound. There are still plenty of falsetto 'oooh's in the tracks, but even on the songs that would give Kings of Leon a run for their dirty money, these 'oooh's don't sound out of place. There are two primary vocalists, a man with a gruff wail and a woman with a sweet warble, but the two styles work together quite well. Instrumentation is also a plus here, as the traditional instruments reign, but keyboards and strings make welcome appearances.

At times, it's easy to wish for more complex lyrics. Still, the simplicity of the lyrics is balanced by the raw emotion; the vocals are heartfelt and personal enough that they convey their message well enough without really giving, say, Colin Meloy anything to worry about. No, the RAA has its roots more firmly in the Neutral Milk Hotel camp in terms of message and mood. The compositions aren't as old-fashioned or complex, but on a more personal level, the comparison seems apt.

The point is that while the sound is a bit lo-fi, it works extremely well. The album title is very apt; this album is full of dusty roads and heartbreak, and it's hard not to relate to. Solid tracks abound, though I'm fond of "The Dethbridge in Lethbridge" and "Drain the Blood". "Luciana" sounds like it came from NMH's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. "Frank AB" is simple but powerful.

This is probably the most pleasant surprise I have had in terms of music this year; if I was forced to keep score, Hometowns would be running neck and neck with Elvis Perkins's In Dearland for my favorite album of the year, with apologies to A.C. Newman and Neko Case. Perhaps this album isn't slick enough for some, but it should find plenty of fans.

In Other News:
Where were all the nice ~80 degree days that June is supposed to bring?

The RAA is playing in Omaha on July 15! Try to talk me out of this!

The Charm of the Highway Strip

Today's Music of the Day is the Magnetic Fields' The Charm of the Highway Strip. This music came to be a part of my library via eMusic, after having A) enjoyed Distortion to a fair degree and B) also having heard some Magnetic Fields on the radio last weekend. There is something of a minor travesty here, in that the only radio stations in this entire state that would likely play songs by the Magnetic Fields are underfunded college radio stations. Unfortunately, this blog has its roots in musical opinion, much more so than championing causes, however irritating, that are minor in the face of any sort of social injustice.

Anyway, Charm of the Highway Strip was released in 1994, and probably was neglected due to the remnants of grunge still dominating popular music. Charm is very much out of its time period; some of its songs have a wistful-yet-synth-heavy 1980's sound, something that would probably seem to be derivative of, say, Simple Minds, were the vocals and lyrics less contrasting with the overall sound. Other songs seem to be more in line with cheery, electronic dominated indie-pop (perhaps 'twee' in some cases). Thankfully, the instrumentation is moderately diverse - there's plenty of synth here, but strings are sprinkled, and a banjo even shows up - and, more importantly, Stephen Merritt's lyrics and vocals carry the album.

Merritt's yawning, semi-operatic vocals give the album something of a self-contrast. The bright instrumentation is balanced well by his dense baritone, which probably had even fewer peers in 1994 than it does today (not many, that is). The lyrics are fairly well-developed, and also earthy enough that the album's title seems apt (a theme that Merritt would carry through later years). A glance at some of the song titles would support this notion fairly well: "Crowd of Drifters", "Lonely Highway", "Born on a Train". This is electronic poetry for an open road, even if the emotions and the sound don't always seem to agree on a single direction.

Personally, I found this album to be fairly enjoyable. The sound doesn't lean on its 80's roots as strongly as many acts would a decade or so later, and the themes here are mature enough to warrant some attention. Would I recommend it to most people? I'm not sure. The Charm of the Highway Strip isn't exactly unforgettable, but it's certainly interesting.

In Other News:
It's the weekend and I don't even care if I do anything fun or am social. A little downtime is welcome, after all.

I still haven't decided if buying a digital television is worth the money or not. Maybe I'm just cheap.

If you haven't heard the Rural Alberta Advantage's album Hometowns, it's probably worth your time to look up. Full review is forthcoming, but my early opinion is very positive.

Rat Pants

Today's Music of the Day is actually a concert review. Over the weekend, I was in Minneapolis, and had the chance to take in a performance by Mark Mallman: local favorite, piano abuser, all-around wacky guy. He was promoting his new album, Invincible Criminal, and treated the audience to an 'unplugged' performance.

Mark Mallman himself was introduced with a reading of his life story by a local 'celebrity', the name of whom has escaped me. She did introduce herself as the host of her own show - something like 'Malibu Barbie's Slumber Party' - which may or may not be safe to search online for with children around. Anyway, the reading was somewhat humorous - particularly when Mallman chastised her from off-stage ("read it, it's all fuckin' true") - though it was lessened somewhat by the fact that Malibu Barbie's talents seemed to consist of showing off her legs and basically anything not involving words.

Finally, Mallman came out, drummer and bassist in tow. He was also flanked by two individuals in rat suits; these rats didn't actually have a direct presence in the show, but sat on the stage and watched The Wizard of Oz on an old-fashioned Zenith(?) television. Mallman, for his part, wore a white tuxedo jacket over a sleeveless plaid shirt, with some oddly blotched dark jeans, looking every bit like a younger Tiny Tim who dressed himself from a bag of clothes left at the Salvation Army.

For his part, Mallman was mostly focused on the music, playing a number of songs without much banter with (or from) the audience. The smallish crowd - probably between fifty and sixty - was appreciative of his music, though. Mallman was very active, generally standing to sing and play the piano, sometimes with one foot on the piano itself. He even played a song with an electric guitar, though not without taking a verbal shot at guitar players in general ("they know their place").

There was an amusing interlude midway through the show where Mallman shut off the television and told the rats that it was time for bed. He promised them a bedtime story and asked them to lie down on the stage; one of the rats was wearing jeans, having forgotten his 'rat pants', and Mallman told the two rats to switch places because of this. (Note: I'm not sure if Mallman was scolding the rat in jeans or not, but I suspect it will be a while before I hear the phrase 'rat pants' again.) The 'bedtime story' was about an incident in Portland, Oregon, where Mallman and his band had been 'partying' with a couple strippers. (Mallman: "I had written the word 'poop' on the window with hair conditioner; it was not one of my proudest moments".)

There was alos a brief encore, in which Mallwolf made an appearance! (Note: Mallwolf is actually Mark Mallman with a wolf mask.) This would have been the high point of most other (read: lamer) shows.

Overall, the Mallman show was very entertaining. It was somewhat unfortunate that he focused on his music so much, as the comedic bits seemed to be well-received by the audience. Still, Mallman is a more than capable pianist, and his vocals, while somewhat more dramatic than accomplished, were certainly a strength. I don't know that I could hang out with Mark Mallman, who is probably a nice enough guy if you remember the rat pants that you are responsible for, because he simply seems just unhinged enough. I suppose I feel the same way about him that the Dandy Warhols feel about the Brian Jonestown Massacre, as recounted in the film Dig!:

Eric Hedford: "...I will not have them anywhere near me again."
Peter Holmstrom: "I'll still buy their albums though."

Well, maybe that's a bit harsh, but the Mark Mallman experience is certainly not easily forgotten.

For reference:
http://markmallman.wordpress.com - some free music here! Enjoy.

In Other News:
The Bryant Lake Bowl is a pretty wicked place to hang out. Where else can you see a concert, bowl, and get Belgian beer (and mojitos!) all in the same place?

Actual album reviews coming later this week, I swear!

In a day or two, I might be back to normal, so long as I don't run out of peanut butter.

The Royal Tenenbaums

"I'm sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman."

Today's Soundtrack of the Day is the soundtrack to Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. This is a complete cop-out for music of the day, and I'm basically justifying this blog entry by considering the soundtrack to be something of a playlist rather than an accompaniment to the film. It probably warrants a track-by-track analysis, though there isn't going to be anything of the sort today.

The Tenenbaums soundtrack is an interesting mix of classical instrumentation and late 1960's pop music. This is classic Anderson, who generally has film scores that are interesting if a bit grounded in his particular taste. Some major Woodstock-era fixtures are featured here: the Velvet Underground, Paul Simon, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan (with a nice, vocal-light "Wigwam"). I will give him credit for branching out, ever so slightly, and including the Clash and the Ramones (!!!) here, and even sneaking in an Elliot Smith tune. (Side note: I don't dislike Elliot Smith, but the general fascination with him is something that I've never completely understood.)

There's a clear disparity of style and mood between the popular songs, and the score-exclusive instrumentals - some of which are written by Anderson's sometimes-collaborator Mark Mothersbaugh, of Devo fame - but the union of the two works well, in the same way that a sweet fruit and a buttery, crisp crust come together to make a delicious pie. (This is what happens when a post gets written too close to lunchtime.) This is best illustrated in the last track of the album, an orchestral version of the Beatles' "Hey Jude". (Ironically, I couldn't tolerate this track and deleted it from my music library. Nico works better as the closer.)

Also, the Rolling Stones are notably absent from this soundtrack, despite having their music used in the film (as they are in just about every Wes Anderson film), because apparently the use of their song on this disc wasn't going to provide them with enough money to get Charlie Watts addicted to heroin again. So sad!

While I like this film, I'd be somewhat ignorant not to compare the similarities between the pacing of the film and the soundtrack. While the film is a visual spectacle, and has some genuinely memorable characters, it sometimes feels like a series of interrelated shorts rather than a carefully plotted narrative, for better or worse. The soundtrack has a similar feel, in that the songs work well individually, but there really isn't a common thread, or any sense of scripting to the order of the songs. Still, in both cases, the quality is evident, even if the concept sometimes outweighs the execution.

Anyway, the songs are somewhat out of order here, so they don't exactly evoke the same emotions as the film, but the listening experience is still fairly rich. This album might have benefited from a couple more upbeat songs, like the Ramones' "Judy is a Punk", but it wouldn't really be faithful to do so.

Still, there are plenty of good tracks here - Nico's "These Days" remains a treasure, as does Nick Drake's wistful "Fly". "Wigwam" is an inspired choice from the Dylan catalogue, and "Pagoda's Theme" is a welcome change of pace, if only for a single track. This is classic rock with string interludes, and while it seems more like a playlist with transitional pieces, it stands alone very well.

"You wanna play some word games, or do some experiments on me or anything?"

In Other News:
I really didn't give credit to the actual The Royal Tenenbaums film here today, in spite of it being one of my favorites. If you haven't seen it, well, you're bad at life.

I need a nap. Maybe coffee will have to suffice. Either way, I'm looking forward to the weekend, mostly. There's just no way around hours of driving, that's all.

Country Was

Today's Music of the Day is the Avett Brothers' Country Was. This music came to me by way of eMusic, at the recommendation of a friend.

I'm not sure where the name Country Was comes from, but it's at least half accurate; this is a definite bluegrass album. It's short - only seven or eight songs - and pretty easygoing. The piano and banjo seem to be the most prominent instruments here; the vocal suit the pastoral instrumentation fairly well. The lyrics and song structure are pretty basic, just simple good-timey backwoods songs to be found here. Sometimes the instrumentation is nice, but the old bluegrass harmonies were not far short of grating.

This isn't a terrible album, in the sense that terrible albums are usually more soundtracks to bare-navel-and-cleavage walking music videos than actual music intended for interested listening. However, it's overly twangy, without much depth or change of mood. I'm willing to admit that the Avett Brothers are not getting much of a fair shake from me, as this EP might not be the best introduction to a band with a sizable back catalog. Truthfully, though, this made me want to listen to more Calexico or the Sadies more than anything.

So, Country Was, nice enough in its own way, but not something I could recommend.

In Other News:
The writing in this post was pretty lazy, but it probably reflects my enthusiasm about the subject matter. You'll have to forgive me if this post didn't have the energy that some of my recent entries (Explosions in the Sky, et al) had.

I'm going to the YMCA today for exercise, and I'm pretty excited. My 'office' gym is convenient, but it certainly doesn't have the free weights that the Y has. To be continued...

Hot Rail

Today's Music of the Day is Calexico's Hot Rail. Sadly, this is the first Calexico album I have acquired (not counting the collaboration with Iron & Wine, In the Reins, which is excellent), despite having enjoyed their music for some time. I believe I first became acquainted with the band due to their song "Alone Again Or" being included in Wes Anderson's somewhat underappreciated film Bottle Rocket. Now, let's get to the part about Calexico, so I can go find someone to call 'Futureman' for a few days.

Hot Rail has a very rustic, southwestern feel to it. The songs are generally brief, though the sound is more 'country' than anything, if it has to be given a broad classification. Some tracks are more of a hushed, acoustic near-folk, while others are straight brass and string instrumentals. There aren't really any burning athems here; even the instrumentals tend to have a reserved quality to them. The overall sound is something not quite dark but certainly dusty; it's no secret that one of the major influences of Calexico's sound is the music of Ennio Morricone, and this is plain for any listener here. The pacing of the songs here is very deliberate and cautious, as though the band isn't exactly being restrained but has set some firm boundaries with regard to tempo and volume.

The opener, "El Picador", is a lovely mariachi tune, something that sets the tone of the album fairly well; "Muleta" is another standout. Some of the vocal-driven tracks ("Sonic Wind", "Hot Rail") are pretty good, but I think I honestly prefer the instrumentals. Maybe I'm just a sucker for horns, and I appreciate how the guitar is integrated into the sound here. "Service and Repair" is a nice twangy tune, and probably the closest that this album comes to anything with a pop sound.

Overall, this album may be too rustic and mellow for most people who would be musically adventurous enough to find it. However, it's a fine work, something that sounds the way that watching an old, dusty western film feels. It's not exactly relaxed, but decidedly sure of its pace and direction, and the experience is rich if not immediately gratifying.

In Other News:
I had pie and cat time this weekend, and both were glorious.

Don't you hassle me, I'm barely keeping up right now.

The Way The Wind Blows

Today's Music of the Day is A Hawk and a Hacksaw's The Way The Wind Blows. I'm certain that this music came to be a part of my musical library in some sort of feverish moment after listening to Beirut for several consecutive hours as I drove out to Reno to shoot a man.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw is very much a peer to Beirut, or perhaps someone heard Neutral Milk Hotel's "The Fool" and decided that it might be a good starting point for an album. The song composition is decidedly less pop than Beirut, and there are not really any vocals to be found, but the horns and strings are out in force. The horns in particular are busy, and often seem to fit the score of a bullfight-themed episode of Tom and Jerry.

It's a pretty good listen, if somewhat less engaging than I would prefer. In particular, I'd like to see a more dramatic quality from some of the songs, as they tend to give away their elements without much of a build. Still, it's energetic and old-fashioned, two very positive qualities, and while it's not the monumental album that some are, the quality is certainly there.

In Other News:
There is no other news today! Just that I'm almost out of clean socks.

Not Dead YET

Today there isn't really a blog post. Just a short half-post to let anyone who actually reads this that I'm not dead, just busy. Don't start picking over my things just yet!

Maybe later in the week, there will be a post on Calexico's Hot Rail, which is pretty bitchin'.

Sologne

Today's Music of the Day is Loney, Dear's Sologne. I'm certain this album came to me via eMusic, due to my own curiosity as much as anything. No history lesson about the band today, so down to business.

This album is full of gentle drums and strings, with a singer that doesn't exactly warble but comes close to it. I'm not sure if the term 'easy listening' still exists, but sometimes this album seems to fit this label pretty well; other times, there's a little bit of frantic energy that suggests a different sound given a slightly different mindset. It's difficult to listen to this album and not picture the singer as being some kind of precocious child or perhaps even a pretty, pretty bird. The instruments generally stay out of his way, and the entire sound just kind of floats in the air.

While the light, delicate sound itself isn't necessarily a flaw, there isn't a real dynamic in most tracks. I don't believe this album lulled me to sleep, exactly, but the overall sound was just not engaging enough for me. It does have its moments - the haunting "Grekerna" is nice - but most songs just seem to be the aural equivalent of down pillows. The overall precious sound suggests that Sologne will likely have plenty of success, due to inclusion in the soundtrack of Julia Roberts movies and jewelry commercials. Okay, that was probably uncalled for, but I don't think I could recommend this album to most people. So, if your personality is diametric from my studied and contrary demeanor, maybe this album is your Christmas. Otherwise, maybe you should check out that Elvis Perkins album that I am so fond of.

In Other News:
why do short weeks feel the longest?

I'm trying to decide on some summer / fall concerts to see. Neko Case is the obvious choice, but I generally like to have some variety, and I did see her last fall...

Is there really a good reason to buy a digital TV when I barely watch the one I have now?

Yellow House

Today's Music of the Day is Grizzly Bear's Yellow House. Finally, finally, finally, I have been able to listen to this entire album, after having enjoyed "On a Neck, On a Spit" for some time now. (This came to be via BetterPropaganda, which I have touted enough over the years as it is.) Anyway, I recently got my act together and downloaded this album.

Yellow House is something of a challenging but rewarding listen. There are vocals, but they serve the same purpose as the sound of rain or a howling wind, here; the album is mostly dominated by the sounds of strings and keys. The instrumentation isn't so intricate that keeping up is difficult, but it definitely requires some attention on the part of the listener. Yellow House is full of tracks that create an eerie mood, one that calls to mind images of dead trees and gravel roads somewhere just far enough from civilization to be uncomfortable.

There are several good tracks here: the strings of "On a Neck, On a Spit", the surprisingly engaging vocals of "Knife", the banjo-driven "Reprise". The closer, "Colorado", is something of a drone, but it winds down the album nicely, particularly in its last quarter. There aren't anthems to be found, but it's hard to ignore the designs of the album, unless the mood just can't be overlooked. (It's definitely not a sunny-day album.) It's easy to see where other artists (DM Stith, for one) were influenced by this album, but more than that, it's easy to see why.

In Short: Yellow House is a thing of beauty, and while not an easy listen, it is something I neglected for too long.

In Other News:
Where is my lunch?

The weekend was great, even if I didn't quite know what to do with myself for Monday evening. Work is making me pissy today but I will maintain my composure.

Grizzly Bear's drummer is named "Chris Bear". I'm not quite sure what to think of this, but it seems a little too 1980's-action-cartoon-team for me.

Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever

Today's Music of the Day is Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever, by Explosions in the Sky. By now, Explosions in the Sky should be a fairly well-known commodity, even if their music doesn't appear in daily media or life in general without some seeking. EitS makes dramatic, guitar-driven music that would not sound out of place as the score of a film; indeed, many of their songs seem to have a progressive, uplifting quality that condenses the emotions of a film into six or eight minutes of rocking audio. It's not much to sing along with, and maybe it leads with the heart too much for some, but the end product has both originality and spirit that are hard to deny.

Those... is EitS's second album, and is perhaps a little more primal than some of their later works. It might not be as relateable (is that even a word?) as The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place, but what it lacks in congeniality it makes up for with raw fury. No, this won't be mistaken for a Mastodon album (now there is a group that warrants a review here), but it definitely has some sharp edges. The drums in particular are awarded some welcome spotlight here - they really drive the mood and sound of some tracks on this album.

The slightly edgier sound works nicely for Those...; there's certainly nothing 'wrong' with the later albums, but this one lends some evidence to the belief that EitS have made a conscious choice not to force the listener into submission, but certainly aren't incapable of such. For a first-time listener, this might not be the best introduction to the adventurous, singing guitar style of EitS, but this album can hardly be considered a failure. The tracks aren't interchangeable, to be certain, but one doesn't represent a qualitative gap over another. "Greet Death" takes a bit to get started, but is a nice introduction to the album.

So, to summarize, Explosions in the Sky have something to say about America's pop-radio calloused listening habits, and more people should pay attention. This is a fine album that should be listened to by anyone who considers the electric guitar to be a viable instrument.

In Other News:
Apparently there is a special bonus disc of EitS' latest album, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, consisting of remixes. I wouldn't know what to expect from this but I'm very curious, especially considering that one of the remixes is done by Four Tet. Now I really want to listen to that album as well!

I had three separate dreams last night, all about people breaking into my home. So you know, if you do this, you are asking for trouble.

eMusic get your act together

So yesterday I tried to download my monthly quota of songs from eMusic and failed somewhat. For some reason, the wireless network at my Local Public Library was being diffcult, or maybe eMusic is just fed up with me searching for Calexico and getting frustrated. Either way, I only got about 20% of my quota downloaded, so album reviews will be delayed somewhat.

Perhaps I could just blog about old albums that I own in physical form, or get off my butt and check out some music from the library, like in Old Times. More than likely, I will just seek a better connection or finally suck it up and get home internet. I wonder if there is some kind of a black market for music, where I could trade some unopened aluminum foil and cherry grenadine for a flash drive full of Roxy Music MP3s that would not also give my computer some kind of STD.

In short, here is a list of artists you can expect me to review in the near future:
Grizzly Bear
Explosions in the Sky yet again
Loney, Dear
Calexico
Anything but Wilco

Today there will be a mini-review of Les Savy Fav's The Cat and the Cobra. I found this album to be both abrasive and obnoxious without being balanced by any particular redeeming quality. The best thing about this album was the album art, which is a nice painting of a kittycat behaving aggressively towards a cobra. While this seems like a bad decision on the cat's behalf, it also serves as an appropriate analogy about my feelings towards anyone purchasing this album. Maybe I have just gone soft in my relatively advanced age. I also happen to wonder whether a cat would be able to win a fight versus a cobra, though I doubt it.


In Other News:
I'm not sure why today's post was so petulant and disjointed. I guess this is what happens when you come in to work and find a cake in the break room first thing in the morning.

I need to get an air valve cover for my bike tire but will most likely end up overpaying for one at some place like Hy-Vee.

Notes from the Underground

Today's Music of the Day is Medeski, Martin & Wood's Notes from the Underground. This might have come to me from eMusic, or this might have been given to me back when I was dealing drugs around the military base. (Note: this did not actually happen.)

Notes is a jazz album, and while I don't know that it would be classified as 'free jazz', it's fairly chaotic. There are individual but given the general lack of melody (enough so that it's basically a theme), distinct impressions about the individual songs don't jump up freely. The soundscape is busy, though, but not really dominated by any one instrument. It's hard to say where this music would not seem out of place; maybe a late-night poetry club full of anarchists and Methodists. Still, the musicianship is outstanding, as expected, and each major player has an opportunity to shine.

It's sometimes difficult to listen to this album and not expect to have a night full of dreams so bizarre that David Lynch will show up somewhere, but it is interesting, just not a work that I am passionate about. I would probably prefer Combustication to this album, for quality and sentimental reasons, but Notes isn't a failure, just something that is almost completely undecided on what it is supposed to be.

In Other News:

I suppose this is the kind of unfocused and brief post you get on a weary but content Monday. I did actually get some work done today, though.

It's definitely scooter weather.

Mogwai in Concert OMG

Today, there is no album review, but instead, a concert review. On Monday evening, I was fortunate enough to catch Mogwai in concert, at Omaha's Slowdown.

The opening act was the all-male band Women. I missed part of their set due to the parking situation, in that spaces were generally unavailable within a couple blocks of the venue. However, Women was/were pretty good, if a bit uninspired. They sounded very much like a younger, less ominous cousin to Mogwai, albeit one that paid more attention to their song times (for better or worse). They rocked fairly hard, though I wish their songs could have been a little more dramatic. As one concertgoer in earshot said, "no band should end their set with a three minute track. I demand that a set be closed with at least six minutes of rocking my ass off."

Mogwai came out in relatively short order, and opened with "Friend of the Night". The band did a good job of playing through their back catalogue, giving the crowd songs from Young Team all the way up through their last couple of albums. (I was particularly pleased to hear some tracks from Happy Songs For Happy People, including "Hunted By A Freak".) While I thought Mogwai was very good, and quite musically talented, my memories from this show will likely be of the audience as much as the performers. The crowd was quite appreciative though not overly bouncy; however, the number of obnoxious drunks in attendance was surprisingly high. One woman somewhere in the back of the audience screamed between songs for the better half of the show before, I assume, being allowed to plague the general public and not the facility itself. It must be nice to be able to sleep in on Tuesday.

Overall, the show was quite enjoyable; Mogwai, despite being something of a down-tempo band, connected with the crowd quite well. I don't know that this was the be-all end-all of post-rock shows, but I certainly enjoyed the experience. Now, about those Explosions in the Sky tickets...

In Other News:

Support Your Local Catgun returns to its regular format sometime, or not.

The weekend looks to be mostly busy but good-busy, as opposed to why-did-i-think-this-would-work busy. I don't know if that makes sense tome or not.

I need to figure out what my next concert is going to be. It might be time for a flight somewhere.

Good News For People Who Love Bad News

Today's Music That Should Have Been Ranted About By Now is Good News For People
Who Love Bad News. I think I was just inspired to write about this due to Modest Mouse coming up on Pandora for me today. Anyway, this album was a big part of my life a few years ago, enough so that any "Jason c. 2005" soundtrack / mixtape would have to include something from this album. It made me like Modest Mouse, then really like Modest Mouse, then dislike Modest Mouse, then dislike myself, and finally just admit that I liked Modest Mouse sometimes.

Anyway, in 2004 / 2005, "Float On" was everywhere, and while it was likeable enough, the ringing guitar and Isaac Brock's sharp vocals gave the uninformed (and count me among them) the impression that Modest Mouse might be an updated Big Country or Dexy's Midnight Runners. Thankfully, I got my hands on a copy of this album and found that while "Float On" was the most outgoing song, it wasn't the only worthwhile track on the album by any means.

This album definitely wears its heart on its sleeve, for better or worse. It's very much a modern indie rock sound, with the guitar - sometimes blazing, sometimes tender, but always present - and Brock's half-screaming, half-pining vocals leading the charge. (The Dirty Dozen Brass Band makes a couple nice cameos here as well.) Not all of the songs are favorites, but the entire album is hard not to get behind. Even at its blaring, most raging moments, it is somewhat endearing. By the time the last track plays, it's difficult not to be weary from the weight of the emotions here, but it's also hard not to want to start the album over again.

"Float On" is a good place to start, though there are good tracks throughout the album. "Bukowski" and "Satin in a Coffin" are also decent starting points; I'm also partial to "This Devil's Workday" and, of course, who could deny "Dance Hall". "Blame it on the Tetons" is a nice counterpoint to the bitter vigor of some other tracks, and "The Good Times are Killing Me" is the very definition of bittersweet.

In short, maybe this album sounds a bit dated now, but it's a damn fine work and something that I'll probably always cherish for the nostalgia and the quality of the music itself. It's debatable whether this album is better than The Moon and Antarctica (which definitely warrants a future entry) but I would recommend it to anyone who isn't 100% metal but appreciates indie rock. Plus, enjoy the cover art:













In Other News:
Thank goodness for Friday. What a strange week.

How did I make it this far without blogging about Modest Mouse? Really?

Out of Time

Today's Music of the Day is Out of Time, by R.E.M. By now, if you haven't heard "Losing My Religion" enough times to know that it came from this album, you probably never will. This is probably the most well-known (though not the best, in my opinion) R.E.M. album, being released in 1991 at the height of their popularity.

This is still an R.E.M. album, though there are some notable differences from albums past. It couldn't be called 'experimental', but there are some elements - strings, guest rappers - that weren't present before and had lesser if nonexistent presences after Out of Time. In hindsight, it's easy to see how this album, though successful, probably created a schism between casual and determined R.E.M. fans, perhaps even more so than the each-successful Green and Document. The sound is light and wistful in places, enough so that some of these songs might seem to be covers. It's widely known that for years, hipster testing was administered by restraining an individual and forcing them to listen to this album. (Displeasure would indicate hipster status.)

'Abberation' might be too strong a word, but Out of Time represents a clear departure from the days of Fables and Reckoning. The lyrics and sound are still strong here, but the soundscape is so occupied that individual elements lose their weight. The strings which were so prevalent here would be used to better effect in the future, but this album sounds a little like R.E.M. wasn't quite sure how to handle its increased resources.

Still, there are some good songs here. "Country Feedback" and "Me in Honey" are strong individually, but bookended they are especially powerful. "Losing My Religion" is a fine tune, though overplayed in the years since its release. "Half a World" has a nice vibe as well.

Overall, I might recommend this album to someone who needs to ease into R.E.M. and hasn't quite been weaned off popular radio yet, but it's hard to put it above many of their other works (even the much-reviled Monster), at least those not from the post-Berry albums, which shall have no presence here save for Up and possibly Accelerate, if I ever get my hands on it.

In Other News:

I hope I have spring fever and not swine flu. (Note: I am not actually ill.)

Saturday is Roller Derby! Friday is Capoeira open house! Sunday is Advil!

Ágætis byrjun

Today's Music that is Great and Also Makes Jason Want to Watch Some Wes Anderson Films is Ágætis byrjun, by Sigur Rós. By now, my fondness for Sigur Rós is no secret, so you'll probably have to run today's entry through some kind of fanboy filter in order to extract any usable opinions or text.

Ágætis byrjun (which I will be copy/pasting for the remainder of this post) is a semi-symphonic, charmed album, to say the least. Oh, there are vocals, though you won't be able to understand them; by the time you get halfway into the album, you won't really care. The instruments here are mostly strings, though more traditional keys and guitar show up on occasion. This is possibly SR's grandest if not most ambitious album, and while the emotions run high, they aren't played up for attention. Like most any SR album, you probably won't hear these songs on the radio unless you happen to listen to a college radio station that doesn't make its staff do regular drug screens.

The end result is a sweeping, magical work, one that sounds the way that the Earth must look from outer space or maybe just how it feels to not get sick on a ferris wheel. I do have to confess that this isn't my favorite SR album; I generally prefer the darker Von or the more whimsical Takk... to Ágætis byrjun. It's still very listenable, though, if the sheer emotion doesn't prove too exhausting.

"Staralfur" is the song most people are familiar with, and for good reason, but there are some other tracks that stand alone as well: "Ny Batteri", "Hjarto Hamast". The closer, "Avalon", is a nice way to wind down and reflect on the listening experience. Really, though, the only track I'm not fond of is the title track, which isn't so much terrible as it is overstayed and emotional.

In short, this is a solid introduction to the band and worth listening to, if you like SR or appreciate strings more than lyrics in your unconventional popular music.

In Other News:
where did the weekend go anyway?

...

Robbers and Cowards

Today's Music of the Day is Robbers and Cowards, the debut album from Cold War Kids. I'm almost certain this was given to me a year or two ago by a friend who would not shut up about how good "Hospital Beds" is. Anyway...

This album isn't subversive in any real sense of the word; it comes out with all instruments blazing, though only occasionally does it grasp the 'rock' part of 'indie rock'. The guitar adds a welcome edge to the music, though the piano is surprisingly prominent. I'm not sure what to make of the singer's voice, though; he's sometimes restrained but usually wails loudly enough to put the instruments in their place. His voice isn't elegant, really, but it couldn't be classified as screaming in any real sense of the word.

Robbers and Cowards has its moments, but they aren't dramatic enough to make a fairly predictable album memorable. The songs aren't performed poorly, but there don't seem to be enough lyrical or musical ideas here to allow any tracks to stand out. The lyrics never venture into storytelling; mostly, the songs seem to be about how trying life is. Maybe I'm not listening closely enough but the angst doesn't have a great deal of mileage. Musically, each song seems to be based off one bit of phrasing and rhythm, with a little build on that idea culminating in an instrumental solo or interlude, and that's about it. The piano is a nice touch but it's basically Heinz 57 sauce on an otherwise plain hamburger: appreciated but not really a distraction from an underutilized canvas.

Overall, this album is okay, but there just isn't enough substance here in terms of music or mood to make it particularly worthwhile. Some bands that are stronger in other areas could compensate for the shortcomings in terms of songwriting, but Cold War Kids just aren't doing it for me.

In Other News:
Thank goodness for Saturday. Please let me sleep in and also remain motivated so that I don't work so much this weekend.

I have got to find a guitar teacher, or at least a good guitar book.

Flaming Lips cover that which will not be named

Okay, so this is a complete cop-out from the normal format. This was worth sharing, though. Please try to make it to ~2:30, as it was worth the wait. Enjoy!

The flaming lips Borderline

Collisions

Today's Music of the Day is Calla's Collisions. This is something that came to me by way of eMusic, after having heard some Calla in a local record store and being curious enough about it to download it instead of acquiring more Explosions in the Sky or something else this month.

This is definitely a rock album, one where the term 'ballad' doesn't exactly apply. Collisions is a dark and moody record that takes itself fairly seriously, and the listening experience is better because of it; I wouldn't call this 'metal' but it's definitely hard rock. This isn't to say that every song is uptempo and goes to eleven, but even the more restrained songs feature some serious guitar fuzz. The songs are relatively brief - the longest clocks in at 5:11. The general sound here is very post-grunge; some people might see cues from the Cure but groups like My Bloody Valentine (maybe in the mood if not the sound so much) and possibly even the Smashing Pumpkins seem to be more relevant influences here. I'd consider Calla to be peers to groups like Polvo. The rage is repressed, but it's definitely there.

I especially like the opener ("It Dawned on Me") and the closer ("Overshadowed", which provides a welcome release to all the tension built through the album). Truthfully, though, there aren't bad songs on this album. The band doesn't really break any new ground but they do a good job of stomping on what already exists. I would love to listen to some more of their back catalogue; Collisions doesn't really offer anything I would consider a rock anthem, so I am curious to see if there's anything more bold in their repertoire.

In short, Calla may not have universal appeal, but I believe that they make serious rock music that can be listened to and enjoyed. Collisions is a fitting album for an overcast if not bleak day such as today, where the sky is a uniform shade of heather gray and the air is damp. It's worth a listen if you think you can make it forty minutes without yelling at the kids to get off your damn lawn.

In Other News:
Why did the weekend have to end yet again?

This week promises to be busy but things will end well. I hope the storms don't lead to floods but I am enjoying all the lightning and thunder.

Dark Was The Night Pt 2

Now, for Part 2. Apparently I gave up on a unique scale and just decided to hand out letter grades. Quit whining, you are getting a lot of blog for your money this week and just because the effort is going into the writing and not a gimmick doesn't mean you have any right to bitch. Now read.

*Spoon - "Well-Alright" - This is a pretty fun tune, uptempo and simple, almost uncharacteristic of Spoon. If I didn't know better, someone could have probably convinced me that this was actually the Strokes. Do the Strokes still exist? Did they give up music and just resort to looking cool as a career move? Anyway...B+.

*Arcade Fire - "Lenin" - good stuff, though the mood here is much more relieved than I would normally expect from the Arcade Fire. It's not the greatest AF song but the quality is still good; maybe there just isn't as much of a sweeping crescendo as Win Butler has led me to expect. B

*Beirut - "Mimizan" - love the accordion. This sounds like Flying Club Cup-Beirut, which is not a bad thing. The song is brief but has a nice build, and the sweeping vocals are well suited for the song. A

*My Morning Jacket - "El Caporal" - this is the gentle, easy side of MMJ, which is not what I prefer, but this song is still kind of fun. It's borderline doo-wop, a very old-time feel, and a nicely understated sax presence. I wish I could give this song a higher grade, but it's solid, not spectacular. B-

*Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - "Inspiration Information" - an appropriate followup to the previous track, as this is more relaxed than some of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings' tunes. Not bad stuff, I just prefer the songs with a little more edge. B-

*David Sitek - "With A Girl Like You" - what immediately seems like cheese is redeemed by a wicked horn line. This song is a bit of a guilty pleasure, but damned if it isn't fun to listen to. There's a nice progression here, too, and the horns take center stage at the end long enough to whet my appetite. I could listen to this one two or three times in a row, easy. A

*Blood Pt 2 - "Buck 65 Remix" (feat. Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti) - nice segue! This is a rhythm-driven rap tune, a nice change of pace on the album. The mood here is darker, borderline sinister, but I appreciate the variety. Plus, the song is relatively brief, especially in comparison to Sufjan dorking up the place for 10+ minutes at the end of disc 1. B

*The New Pornographers - "Hey Snow White" - a slow burn as opposed to the NP's more traditional frantic style. This song is only guilty of giving away everything a little too soon but it still works up a decent groove - love the progression here, and the chorus that just won't quit. To be fair, I'm a sucker for basically anything A.C. Newman does. Love this song. A

*Yo La Tengo - "Gentle Hour" - Good stuff, and another tempo/style change that contrasts well. This is more the hazy, cloudy YLT; this song feels like taking a nap on a gray afternoon. Nice piano here, and the vocals are restrained enough to let the piano be the star. A-

*Stuart Murdoch - "Another Saturday" - an old-fashioned tune here, something that wouldn't sound out of place in a church service. Is this from the Nick Cave-scored The Proposition? It's a little cloying but pretty nonetheless. Subtle instrumentation here is a nice touch. B+

*Riceboy Sleeps - "Happiness" - a serene, ambient tune. It's all synth and strings here, something celestial that wouldn't sound out of place on a Tangerine Dream album. Definitely a changeup from everything else on this disc, but just beautiful. Not something to sing along to, though. Perhaps the best indication of the song's quality is that it is 8+ minutes in length and always seems to be less than half that. A

*Cat Power & Dirty Delta Blues - "Amazing Grace" - oh HELL YES. The mother of all old-time spiritual hymns, covered with as much heart as a thirty-something white lady can muster. Love the instrumentation, too. Maybe if Chan Marshall sang at church I would have a harder time not going. A

*Andrew Bird - "The Giant of Illinois" - Lovely string intro, seamless transition to guitar lead, vocals so full of yearning that it hurts. Wow. There are other artists on the composition that I prefer to Bird, but given all the tracks, I'd be pressed hard to place many of them above this one. Somehow, Bird manages to upstage Marshall here, just a little. A

*Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch - "Lua" - I have to mark this one down, as Conor is covering one of his own tunes. It's still nice and meanders enough, but this isn't one of my favorites. Maybe this song just seems to settle for its opening hook too easily; by the time the song ends, it has pretty much worn out its welcome. It's an okay tune, there just aren't enough ideas to make up for a relatively milquetoast mood. B

*Blonde Redhead + Devastations - "When The Road Runs Out" - kind of interesting to hear BR do something so laid-back. The end result is that the song was somewhat less creepy than a typical BR track, but still not quite sure what to do with itself. B

*Kevin Drew - "Love vs. Porn" - Maybe a little too Broken Social Scene-ish for my taste but still a nice way to wind down the album. B+

And there you have it. Some peaks reach higher than others, but not any real valleys to speak of. Please don't let my general anti-Sufjan bias keep you from this compilation; the two discs contain some great songs. (This is to say nothing of the important charity aspect of the album as well.

Just for reference, in case you are interested in obtaining this compilation yourself:


Enjoy.

In Other News:
I spent too much time blogging this week.

If you live within driving distance of me, go outside, spring finally showed up.

Dark Was The Night - Interlude

Suck it, eMusic. Enjoy!

Dark Was The Night - Pt 1

Today marks the beginning of an epic two-part post covering the Dark Was The Night compilation. As is tradition at Support Your Local Catgun, I'll be rating the songs on a unique scale. As soon as I come up with it. Also, I am a little irritated, as I realize that a couple tracks are missing from my download. These are tracks by Grizzly Bear, which may belong to a label that is not available via eMusic. This is a Damn Shame, as I like Grizzly Bear. We'll work on this, though.

*Dirty Projectors + David Byrne - "Knotty Pine" - bright and cute, but has a nice vibe to it. I really like the piano line here. A good choice for an album opener, as it sets a strong tone but does so briefly. A-

*The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez - "Cello Song" - neat stuff here. Very minimal but integrates the electronics and the strings exceptionally well. Gonzalez's voice is ideal for this composition. The song does a nice job of building tension while remaining benign. A-

*Feist & Ben Gibbard - "Train Song" - nice, basic, campfire-spooky mood to it. Probably not one of the standout tracks on this album but still very good, and certainly well-placed after the previous two. B+

*Bon Iver - "Brackett, WI" - my first thought was "oh NO, Vernon went electric". I, for one, appreciate Vernon's approach to this song, even if it isn't too far from his roots. Nice build and use of percussion here. The tempo makes me a little restless but damned if this isn't good. A

*The National - "So Far Around The Bend" - a nice transition from Bon Iver to a larger, fuller sound and a little more spring in the heels. Perhaps not the most complex composition, and not my favorite National song, but very listenable, and placed well on the album. The clarinet(?) and piano are good here, and I like the punchy snare drum, too. B+

*Yeasayer - "Tightrope" - just melancholy enough. The singer does some interesting things here. Musically somewhat simple in spite of the layers, but it's very difficult not to empathize with the song, and want whatever the singer is singing about even if that thing isn't exactly clear. A

*My Brightest Diamond - "Feeling Good" - very much a successor to the Feist/Gibbard track, albeit with a brassier, big-band sound. Lovely voice, nice instrumentation as well. I'm a sucker for the horns, and damned if this isn't the best-sung track on this half of the album. A

*Kronos Quartet - "Dark Was The Night" - all strings, all the time. Kind of a musical interlude, really, but this is the reason why compilation albums exist - for little gimmicks and style anomalies like this one. This one seems to be less of a song and more of a bunch of sounds that happen, but it's still a nice touch. B

*Antony + Bryce Dessner - "I Was Young When I Left Home" - kind of a mopey old-timey blues song. As much as I like the mood and sound here, I can't say this is my favorite track on the album, though it's not bad - it is a logical segue from the previous instrumental track. B

*Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner - "Big Red Machine" - not bad but a little too gentle and emotional for my tastes. Also doesn't seem to have much in the way of progression compared to some songs. I do like the use of the piano as a semi-percussive instrument, though. B

*The Decemberists - "Sleepless" - pretty good though a little morose. I wouldn't have minded a greater crescendo through the song but Meloy leading the piano and banjo(!) makes for a nice effect. Also, I'm a sucker for the Decemberists. B+

*Iron & Wine - "Die" - sixty-six seconds and each one is beautiful. This is the Iron & Wine that I live for. Why couldn't this song be much longer? A

*Sufjan Stevens - "You Are The Blood" - well, they can't all be winners. C, and that's being generous. Sufjan, you suck.

That's all for today. Tune in for Part 2, possibly tomorrow, maybe some other day. I'm really enjoying this compliation so far, in spite of Sufjan Stevens showing up to try and out-cute everything, as usual. I'm excited for Part 2, as the second half of the album features some bands that I really like.

In Other News:
I'm so close to free weights again that I can just about smell them. Come on, shoulder.

I bought a medicine ball last night. I just hope I can remember to use it regularly!