Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Music Snob's New Music Guide: September 2011


Serengeti - Family and Friends 
12 tightly wound songs from 12 different points of view centered on the one topic of failure. Chicago alt-rapper David Cohn, who goes by Serengeti, is a master of disguise, as well as sympathy, as he seamlessly transitions into song after song, and gives a voice to collection of has-beens and losers you’d swear are members of your own family or inner-circle of friends – inspiration for the album’s title I’m sure. The beats are simple as sometimes only a wayward synth jingle adds any real spice to the backing track - but Cohn is a wordsmith, and he focuses his attention, as well as yours, on the rhymes and reasons. 

From a loser bordering on 30 who dates high school girls much to the obliviousness of his wife, to a couple trapped with their own dissatisfaction and disdain for each other, a freshly divorced blogger who finds a stay at home career pontificating on the “ins-and-outs of a perfect date”, a UFC fighter who battles alcohol addiction as well as opponents in the octagon, or his own father who neglected to take him to the zoo as a child, Cohn is smart enough to know just how complicated the real world is, and is talented enough to express it using some of the simplest, most accessible tunes of the year. This isn’t bummer music as the songs bleed too much emotion and character to elicit such a one dimensional response of sadness. These are tragi-comedies brimming with realism. GRADE: A-
Key Tracks: “Godamnit” "Family and Friends" "The Whip"

Withered Hand - Good News
Dan Wilson is a singer from Edinburgh with a self professed love of the Lord  (the Christian one), and a quivering voice full of questioning and sadness. Yet he’s not afraid to wear his sins on his sleeve when he delivers shaky lines like “I’d do anything to get my dick inside her / But that’s not what she wants to hear me say,” a sledgehammer of honesty he saves for his wife - who bought him the guitar he relies on so heavily. Wilson isn’t here to sing high praises to the Almighty. Instead he’s written letters of questioning to a being he has yet to compartmentalize and align with his own world view. 
His central dispute is with love and happiness. How can the two be real in a world ridden with drugs that replicate these feelings so easily? How can others who listen to death metal bands expect to find them? How does he expect to find them when his own feelings of lust and desire conflict with his longing for modesty? Why does God allow his message of love and forgiveness get trampled by war mongers and cheats who use his name for their own selfish gain? Is God even there? At the end of the day, Wilson turns his back on the big-headed ideas and coldly-distant feel of modern religion and modern society, looking for a “higher plain, some place of little consequence”. Now there’s a heaven I can believe in - mostly because it can exist in the real world. Here’s hoping he finds it and I get my invitation in the mail. GRADE: B+
*for better (much better) quality recording, i suggest looking them up on Spotify. 
Wild Flag - Self Titled
No super group syndrome here. Wild Flag is a real band with real songs and real muscle. Consisting of half of Sleater-Kinny and spare parts of Helium and The Minders, this collective of girl-rock pros created a stir in the indie-sphere simply by existing. An album two years in the making, their self titled debut is spunky, stout and playful from Carrie Brownstein’s throaty voals spasms and Mary Timony’s intricately fuzzy guitar work down to Janet Weiss’s thunderous drums and Rebecca Cole’s sticky keyboard bits.
Standout cuts include “Glass Tambourine”, a semi-psychedelic song for the lo-fi scene to shake it and not break it to, and opening tune “Romance” where these four women hit the ground running with their confidence (“We like what we like”). Yet the crowning moment comes on the mighty “Racehorse”, a roaring song that doesn’t so much overwhelm everything in its path as it does absorb it. The opening dirge of guitar trudges along with the drums while Brownstein gets away with her modest sense of feminism telling whatever man who shows interesting to place their bets on her and “Pony up and ride”. The climax? When she shouts “We’re in the money!” until she goes hoarse. Cigarette anyone? GRADE: B
Das Racist - Relax
Does this mean they’re real artists now? After giving away two stand out mixtapes last year and garnering attention for their fluke “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”, you’re expected to pay for Relax, the first “real” album from this three piece Brooklyn rap trio who deal in dry humor the way Jay-Z deals in excess. While the 14 songs might bleed together for some, it still sports all the ingredients most rap enthusiasts enjoy - solid beats, fluid rhymes, bravado and real talent. Their confidence is overtly tangible on “Girl” to the point you can believe she goes home with self professed ass-hole Kool AD. “Happy Rappy” takes a small stab at Waka Flocka with a count off to 20 before a borage of rhymes from all three members so clever and tongue-in-cheek it demands repeated listening. This is non-non sequitur pussy, money, weed rap with none of those ingredients required to enjoy or even relate - mostly because Das Racist don’t have any of them themselves. Well, except for the weed part. GRADE: B
Key Tracks: "Michael Jackson" "Girl" "Happy Rappy"
Glen Campbell - Ghost on the Canvas
Alzheimer’s is a crippling disease which robs its victims of their memories - and what memories Glen Campbell must be fighting to cling to. A musical journeyman who backed The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, The Mamas and The Papas, Phil Spector and Nat King Cole before finding success as a solo artist with songs like “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Southern Nights”, Campbell has always balanced rock flair and country grit with a tinge of sincerity. And it’s the same sincerity that makes Ghost on the Cavnas, Campbell’s final album, more than just a morbid, and redundant, farewell.
There is no time for self pity to be had. Campbell, whose voice remains pristine given its age, receives help from Billy Corgan, Dick Dale, Jakob Dylan and Paul Westerberg on a batch of 16 songs steeped in glam-country schmaltz, rockabilly attitude and subtle reflections on a historic career. “Hold on Hope”, the strongest personal declaration to be had on the record sees Campbell waving goodbye to the cowboy he used to be, and on album closer “There’ No Me… Without You”, he’s eased into the mist of history with an extended solo from the Smashing Pumpkins front-man. But he doesn’t rely on the youngsters forever. “Keep it in the now” he says on “In My Arms” before mastering a blistering solo. Even at the twilight of his life, he remains busy living. GRADE: B
Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels 
Don’t buy into the hype of Pistol Annies being a cowgurrl super group. Aside from the feisty Miranda Lambert, the other two ladies are only recognizable if you happen to be a part of their family tree. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be super anyway - as they prove with their robust melodies as sparkly as the Cadillacs they claim to love driving so much, a shopping list of songs merrily full of clichés  injected with enough wit and sass to be personable, the recipe for super is deceptively simple. 
These three don’t have many weaknesses aside from a certain boy from the south who may be able to charm their tame side. They tackle credit card debt, mortgage payments, unappreciative men, domestic abuse, societal norms, their own families and drug addiction all in a concise thirty minute package of pop-country spunk. They’re straight out the trailer, and claim to enjoy living off of tips at their bartending gig (to which I say “What bartending gig?”), but they never seem content with the status-quo. The proof is in the pudding on “Lemon Drop”, a someday-we’ll-get-there song with a whistle track so effective Otis Redding would say “Well done.” These are she-girls more than capable of making their own destiny - they just aren’t in a hurry to get there. GRADE: B
Stephin Merritt - Obscurities 
The songs are scraps gathered from multiple projects the Magnetic Fields front man never assembled into their own cohesive unit - so yes, it’s a mixed affair sonically. The soft, and understated, country tune “Plant White Roses” would otherwise have no business being on the same record with the digitized splice of the paranoid “When I’m Not Looking, You’re Not There”. Yet here they are together nonetheless. However, Obscurities’ mix-matched sound is held together by a few constants - Merritt’s control of miniscule melodies, and his ability to dress up his dour disposition with chipper instrumentation. I’ve always wondered why he’s always so sad. I’d be as egotistical as Kanye if my spare songs were this solid. GRADE: B-
Key Tracks: "When I'm Not Looking You're Not There" "The Sun and the Sea and the Sky" "Plant White Roses
*look these up on Spotify as i could not find them on YouTube
Mastodon - The Hunter
Gone are their wrenching epics about ogres, werewolves, Russian Czars and hunting The White Whale. This Atlanta prog-metal foursome has pulled off the prog-metal equivalent of growing up by writing about their real feelings while sacrificing none of their potent tenacity. The riffs of mass destruction, which hook both indie kids and metal heads alike, are more focused, their song structure, once dizzying, is more condensed, and the mood of the music, though less thundering than their early work, still gels together on its own terms. Drummer Brann Dailor calls The Hunter the band’s “mixtape”. Fair enough. That explains the stagnation on the album’s second half. No one ever flipped over the cassette.GRADE: B-
Key Tracks: "Stargasm" "Blasteroid" "The Hunter"
Mates of State - Mountaintops
Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner are a husband-and-wife duo who have been going strong since 1997 (musically at least), and rekindle their love for each other on their seventh album Mountaintops , acollection of charming romance ditties. They hit their stride early on opening number “Palomino”, a song so confident, even in its echoing “Ooo’s” of a chorus; it sounds as if the two were on their second honeymoon. The entire album is a melodic lesson in rediscovered love, complete with the occasional horn section to serve as witnesses to their renewed vows. It’s ain’t cheesy, and even if it was, it’s their party and they can snuggle if they want to.  GRADE: B-
Key Tracks: "Mistakes" "Unless I'm Led" "Palomino"
Tinariwen - Tassili 
Sandy Saharan songs so dry coupled with lyrics so not-English the only things this solid album will be to most is background noise or just a band name and album title so unpronounceable they just give up before they ever press play. It’s a shame really. The guitar work, though subtle, is superb, the rhythm section is understated but effective, and the melodies, though non-western and hard to pin down, are hypnotizing at times. They may not jump out and grab your attention, but they damn sure deserve your respect and your time. GRADE: B-
Key Tracks: "Tenere Taqqim Tossam""Imidwan Ma Tenam" "Wish You Were Here"
Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Girls vocalist Christopher Owen knows how to write songs - especially Elvis Costello songs, but can he make them more interesting please? Isn’t that what he’s paying his band mate, and producer, Chet White for? GRADE: C+



Terius Nash - 1977
The Dream released this mixtape, his first, under his given name after the postponement of The Love IV (Diary of a Mad Man), and gets down to business with what i could only assume his intended proper record would have dealt with anyway - sex, and the baggage that comes with it. His lady who used to strip and get high with him has changed her mind and ditched him, so he shows up a few songs later at her wedding drunk as fuck singing his own anthem of misery. From there he sings more songs about, and to, her but rarely internalizes with himself. He’s not as complicated as he thinks he is because he’s an R. Kelly rip off who gets away with being unoriginal by being more talented. His synth-flavored R&B has been worked over by many just like him, but he shows potential of branching out when he thinks of his mother who passed away when he was only a child. I sympathize with mama’s boys. You will too. GRADE: C+
Neon Indian - Era Extrana 
His delicate electronic work one-ups anything Daft Punk have done in recent memory, but it still rings hollow outside its own limited parameters. Inside? He can see for miles and miles and miles and… GRADE: C+
Key Tracks: "Future Slick" "Heart : Release"
*Spotify > YouTube


Wilco - The Whole Love
Freed from the trapping of an industry with which he never had a cozy relationship in the first place, Jeff Tweedy promised Wilco’s first self-released album, and eighth overall, to be an experimental outing. The opening track, with it’s twisted arrangement of strings dipped in psychedelia, gnarled electronic bits, extended fuzz solo and syncopated backbeat is the only clear example of Wilco truly stretching themselves beyond their normal comfort zone - and it fails under the weight of its own ambition. The remaining 11 songs? Middle of the road wanderings from a man who was more interesting, and surprisingly more reliable, when he hated himself. GRADE: C
Key Tracks: "Born Alone" "Open Mind"
Butch Walker and the Black Widows - The Spade
Still looking for an endless vacation by mining his past. GRADE: C
Key Tracks: "Summer of '89" "Every Single Body Else"






Switchfoot - Vice Verses
I’ve never minded Switchfoot because of their faith. It just shows they want another life to live - just like this atheist does. I do, however, mind rockers going on about going on. Once they turn down their distortion levels, they prove how easily they’ll cross over into the adult contemporary market. They may just find a second life yet. GRADE: C
Key Tracks: "Restless" "Souvenirs"

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Hysterical
Yes their name really is as stupid as it sounds, but their brand of indie-synth has its moments of inspiration such as the majestic “Misspent Youth”. However, this Brooklyn bunch’s identity relies heavily from what you know about a host of other acts ranging from U2, Radiohead, Interpol and (yikes!) David Gray. GRADE: C
Key Tracks: "Misspent Youth" "The Witness' Dull Surprise"
Eleanor Friedberger - Last Summer
Ranging from the mellowly cool, to the mellowly strange, she certainly knows her audience well - mainly the upper crust of middle class white women in New York. They are the only ones who know where Bensonhurst is after all - except for the Italians who live there. GRADE: C
Key Tracks: "My Mistakes" "Heaven"




St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
Annie Clark’s third record jumps out of the gate by being more forceful, streamlined and condensed than her breakthrough second album, but she quickly reverts to her old trappings of off kilter, and over-long, songs with lyrics just vague, or obscure, enough for the hipsters to decipher some meaning from. GRADE: C
Key Tracks: "Cheerleader" "Strange Mercy"


Blink-182 - Neighborhoods
The reason they were so effective in their youth was because they could perfectly articulate how bratty, clumsy and arduous refusing to grow up could be. Since they’ve lost their fight with father time after a five year hiatus, they’ve gone through puberty, expanded their song lengths, lost the attitudes, heaped on a truck-load of cheesy synths and tried to get philosophical - understandable given the fact they are dads now. Yet the deepest they dare delve and prove how bratty, clumsy and arduous being old is, is with the vapid line, “love is dangerous”. How profound. They were smarter, and more entertaining, when they sang about aliens and masturbation. GRADE: C
The Rapture - In the Grace of Your Love
Half electronic driven, half guitar driven, and wholly manipulated to get you to feel what front man Luke Jenner can’t feel himself - real emotions. GRADE: C
Key Tracks: "Miss You" "Never Die Again"






Gavin DeGraw - Sweeter
He’s wholeheartedly genuine, which makes his flaws (and believe me, there are plenty of them) easily excusable if the snark-o-meter is turned off. Regardless, it’s hard to get through this album of schmaltzy pop-rock without pressing the skip button, or feeling fully invested with what’s going on. GRADE: C


Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien 
These indie-prog kids are so sure of themselves they almost forget to write real songs. Getting through the disjointed eight minute opener without feeling any hint of boredom, confusion or apathy isn’t impossible, just rare. Even when they tone down their brash musicality the context they so desperately need is still nowhere to be found. GRADE: C
Key Tracks: "Another Tunguska" "Cary Condit"


Ladytron - Gravity the Seducer 
If Ladytron were at the BMV trying to get a license to be “real” indie-synth darlings, they’d be pulling ticket number 9,138,064 while they are busy serving number 9. GRADE: C
Key Track: "White Elephant" 




Tori Amos - Night of Hunters
An avant-garde collection of songs based off reworkings of classical composers such as Chopin, Bach and Schubert, her twelfth album is impressive and admirable from a technical aspect, but overdramatic and high brow from a consumer standpoint. GRADE: C
Key Track: "Snowblind" 


Primus - Green Naugahyd 
A rhythmic juggernaut dressed up as a goof. Or is it the other way around? GRADE: C
Key Track: "Last Salmon Man"


Thrice - Major/Minor


Currently sitting at a whopping score of 95 on MetaCritic thanks to short sighted scene publications like AP who are always looking for an act to gush over in order to justify their own existence, I’ll call out this band for what really is - a run of the mill Warped Tour act howling and rawking in their own misery all in the name of “post-hardcore” (whatever that is). GRADE: C-
Key Track: "Blinded" 
Laura Marling - A Creature I Don’t Know
The best Fiona Apple rip-off act you’ll ever hear. GRADE: C-
Key Track: "All My Rage"
Bush - Sea of Memories 
Gavin Rossdale brings back his post-grunge fuzz and overbearing vocals while his kids are with the nanny. Switchfoot replaced them and beat them at their own game by being uplifting. GRADE: C-
Key Track: "I Believe in You"

Lindsey Buckingham - Seeds We Sow
In-Laws you can’t stand have a birthday coming up soon? Here’s the perfect gift. GRADE: C-
Key Track: "Seeds We So"






Boston Spaceships - Let It Beard
Lo-Fi punk too vague to stick, too dull to enjoy, and too long (26 songs) to ever fully ingest. GRADE: C-
Key Track: "Just Can't Tell"



Lady Antebellum - Own the Night
Domesticated country-pop for domesticated Moms and Dads too tame to know real country even if it ran them over with a John Deere tractor. Also, someone tell them to let the girl sing more. They become slightly less annoying. GRADE: D
Key Track: "Wish You Were Mine"
SuperHeavy - Self Titled


Nothing but an exercise in ego run amuk. But what else is new for Mick Jagger lately? GRADE: D-
Key Track:
N/A
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