All Around Records

2012-01-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

Howler

America Give Up

Rough Trade

Howler plays fast, noisy, brash power pop that is equal parts early Jesus and Mary Chain guitar fuzz, and a lo-fi version of the Strokes. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Jordan Gatesmith’s rueful relationship songs, delivered with a sheepish smile, point a way forward for power pop, since the songs are also tight and compressed for maximum impact. It’s a great debut from this Minneapolis band that surely has a bright future in front of them. [www.facebook.com/howlerband]

Andrea Weiss

2012-01-15T23:01:00.000-08:00

The Big Pink

Future This

4AD

The Big Pink’s name is a tribute to The Band’s Music From Big Pink. They ‘re an electro-pop duo, Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell, and are from England. Future This is the band’s second album.

The lyrics are positive, especially the opening track “Stay Gold” and “Hit the Ground Running (Superman)” with its terrific Laurie Anderson sample from her song “O Superman.” The music is seamless, polished, and goes down easy. Maybe a little too smooth and easy, which is the album’s main flaw. The rough edges that made the band’s debut A Brief History of Love, so appealing are absent here. Which is a shame, because the song quality over all is as great as on the first. The lyrics are wonderful, and Robbie is a good singer. So call this album very good light entertainment if you need a pick me up. [http://musicfromthebigpink.com]

Andrea Weiss

2011-12-05T16:13:00.001-08:00

tUnE-yArDs: Tiny Desk Concert

12-4-11

Three red hot songs from one of the best albums of the year, w h o k i l l. Merrill Garbus, fierce, tender, wild yet controlled, sings about love and pain, mostly from a political stand point. “You, Yes You,” a love song, is the quietest song of the set, but with terrific drumming, and Garbus’s sizzling electric ukulele playing. The band literally jumps in place at the end, adding to the fun, and the bounciness of the rhythms.

“Doorstep” examines love as viewed in an act of police brutality. Her boyfriend is killed by the cops for doing nothing but standing on her doorstep. Powerful, both musically and lyrically, by the end of the song it’s plain that Garbus will resort to violence if she feels it’s needed in a political situation.

“My Country” is along those same lines. It is a song of rage and sorrow about the U.S. While all three songs are danceable, this is the most so, with the drums, saxes, and the trademark loops Garbus employs, all flowing along to the beat. This concert is not to be missed, and neither is the album. It is a tour de force and this concert is a good intro to it. I reviewed w h o k I l l for this blog on 4/18/11.[ http://www.npr.org/2011/11/28/142861581/tune-yards-tiny-desk-concert?ps=mh_frimg1]

[http://www.facebook.com/tuneyards?sk=wall]

Andrea Weiss

2011-12-03T16:25:00.000-08:00

Strange Boys on Face Time

11/31/11

This 20-minute video interview with the band is full of amusing, and great insights on the band, by the band, and the role of the piano in the band. The video to the single, “Me and You,” from Live Music, (rhymes with give) their terrific new album on Rough Trade, is hilarious: all the ways to play the piano, in many different situations. I reviewed the album on 10/24/11 for this blog, and the video can be found here:[http://www.noisevox.org/content/face-time-strange-boys]

[http://strange-boys.com/]

Andrea Weiss

2011-11-28T16:34:00.000-08:00

Zomby

Nothing EP

4AD Records

Nothing is both a follow-up to Zomby’s album Dedication and a bridge to whatever he does next. Dedication was a tribute to a family member who had passed away, a very stark, grief stricken, downcast album. Nothing, by contrast, brims with life, love, and happiness. Even when the music seems sad, what it’s really expressing is love. Yes, dance to it, or use as a tool to spark creativity. And like Dedication, it has great rhythms, melodies and sounds, It’s another triumph from Zomby. [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zomby/260117424964]

Andrea Weiss

2011-11-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

Keys and Krates

Blackout EP

Self-Released

This Toronto band’s debut EP is seven songs of indie rock/electronica that steps very lively, rocks and rolls. The vocals are processed, no lyrics per se, just voices getting the party started. They are somewhat reminiscent of Fat Boy Slim, but more rocking and danceable than Slim ever got up to. By replacing 70s funk with hip-hop and modern R&B, and replacing classic rock with indie rock, their music puts them in a 2011 context. That’s a reason to rejoice. Maybe the 70s and 80s revival is finally over with, and music that sounds like today is here and that Keys and Krates and bands like them can lead the way. [http://www.keysnkrates.com/]

Andrea Weiss

2011-11-09T13:43:00.000-08:00

Today's guest reviewer is Jen Grover, author of Second Choices and The Rooks Parliament, and editor of the former Tone and Groove magazine.

Jon Anderson

Open

Open Music, 2011

"Open" begins and ends with a delicate chime, like a formal meditation. What falls between those small tones is exuberant, joyful, and wide. This 20+ minute "single" was released on October 25, 2011, Jon's 67^th birthday, as a download only, currently available on both iTunes and Amazon.com.

Though structurally and lyrically it resembles long-form, 1970s Yes songs, it's not a rock song, nor would I call it New Age. It's a fully orchestrated sweeping epic, composed on Jon's 19^th century guitar with orchestration added by Stefan Podell. The introduction functions as an overture, stating the variety of musical themes that will follow. Dawn-like at the outset, it grows from quiet to bright and sprightly, dominated by horns, until electric guitar and piano come in. Then it falls into quiet melancholy just before the vocals begin, reminiscent of the soundtrack to a grand Hollywood film (think Ben Hur) married with a bit of Ralph Vaughan Williams, accompanied by strummed acoustic guitar.

The lyrics and music suit each other artfully, building, quieting, full and grand in parts, sparser in others, always reflecting the emotions of seeking and encountering the divine and learning to express that in one's life. The themes are typical Jon Anderson: musical segments flow one into another, despite their diversity and dynamic changes. Panentheistic lyrics center on the sun as a symbol and manifestation of God, with messages of affirmation, hope, peace, love, care of the earth, and music as a reflection and celebration of life and wisdom received. A primal, danceable rhythm recurs. I defy you to not sway to it.

Jon is a gentle, persuasive preacher, as webmistress Andrea and I witnessed recently at the Jon Anderson/Rick Wakeman performance in Philadelphia. He is able to make us feel good about who we are, while admonishing us to grow and improve the lives of others as well as our own, through love, peace, respect, recognizing the same light that shines in all of us. As this song states, "Open doors will open hearts/Open hearts will always open doors." In these trying times, a song like this is an oasis of hope and joy, and a motivator for the listener to do his or her part to make things better.

Play it loud. Immerse yourself in it. Recommended listening outdoors on a sunny day. Back-to-backs rather well with Keith Emerson's "Piano Concerto No. 1".

[http://jonanderson.com/]

Jen Grover [http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/brushpanther]

2011-11-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

Kathryn Calder

Bright and Vivid

File Under: Music

Sometimes dark and/or sad lyrics can be the best lyrics of all, if sung this sweetly, soothingly, and with a steely resolve, determination, and calmness. These types of lyrics can also be a source of comfort. Life will go on, it has to go on, and that whatever pain or loss you are feeling now, will bring you understanding and relief down the line, even if the loss or pain never truly goes away.

Bright and Vivid was recorded after Calder’s mom had passed away from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The lyrics deal with her learning to cope with the loss. And most of these lyrics aren’t downers. “New Frame of Mind” the album’s best track, points to a better future, even as the line, “how many throats will I cut til I see, what is beyond the breech,” means she is going to have that release and happiness any way she can get it.

The rough folk rock of Calder’s debut Are You My Mother soared in a way very few albums did in 2010, as for example Vampire Weekend’s Contra, and the New Pornographers Together, of which Calder is a member. Bright and Vivid couldn’t be more different musically than her debut, with its very lovely melodic synth and guitar-based rock. And it soars just as high. There are very few albums that come up to its level this year, like St. Vincent’s Strange Mersey and Tune Yard’s Whokill. There are also many wonderful found sounds on it, like water being poured from a pitcher into a glass in ”Five More Years.” In the end, one of the best albums of the year. [http://www.facebook.com/kathryncalder?ref=ts]

Andrea Weiss

2011-11-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

Joker

The Vision

4 AD Records

Joker’s roots are in the Bass and Dubstep techno genres, but The Vision is more than beholden to either scene. It includes old-fashioned pop and beats, both good and strong melodies and rhythms, singing that is soulful, lyrics, and raps that are left wing political. “Back in the Days” is a boastful rap. The Vision is a much an album for deep listening on headphones as it is for dancing. All of which make it a wonderful and fun album, and a big reason to cheer on an album so multi dimensional.

[http://4ad.com/artists/joker]

Andrea Weiss

2011-10-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Strange Boys

Live Music

Rough Trade

The title implies a live recording, but it actually is a studio project. And what an excellent, fun record this is. Imagine if the Velvet Underground, at the time they made Loaded, were a blues band. And what if Pavement had played the blues on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain? And were more mellow than either of those bands. That’s the Strange Boys musically.

As for lyrics, they are wry humored along the lines of “ah yes, that’s life.” This is good-time music for a small gathering of friends, as it’s a little too laid back to be played at a big party. The Strange Boys put a smile on my face with their easy going, rolling blues, and gentle lyrics. I hope they do the same for you. [http://strange-boys.com/

Andrea Weiss

2011-09-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

St Vincent

Strange Mercy

4 AD Records

This is an excellent follow-up to Actor, and as good as Actor was, and Annie Clark’s debut Marry Me was, Strange Mercy tops both of them. Clark has found her voice as never before. These strong, confident, songs are a wonder to hear, and delight in.

Her lyrics, while having echoes of Sam Phillip’s The Indescribable Wow, and Hounds of Love-era Kate Bush, are in the end all Clark. While those two albums dealt with having pain, Strange Mercy is about relief from pain. Not that these songs are pain free. They are pretty dark, but the straightforward release she gets from that relief, also make this album her most buoyant. There are also snatches of political commentary here, like on “Cheerleader” which may be about realizing that America is not all it’s cracked up to be, or the line, “America, can I owe you one?” on “Year of the Tiger.” The commentary works because she realizes that there are other things to write about than relationships. It’s very smart.

This is Clark’s most guitar oriented album. She had wanted to be able to play all the songs on guitar, and the guitar playing here attests to that success. She is a fantastic guitarist, and as there still aren’t many woman lead guitarists, it is always wonderful when a woman steps to the front and slams down a bracing solo or riff. Taken together, this is a complete package, and a great one at that. [www.ilovestvincent.com/]

Andrea Weiss

Caveman

CoCo Beware

Magic Man! Records/ORG Music

This NYC band’s wonderful debut sounds like a little like a faster paced, louder Winterpills. Since Winterpills is a fine band in its own right, that Caveman should come up to their level, and in some cases top them with songs that aren’t as dark lyrically, means that Caveman is a band to watch, and who deserves every bit of their buzz.

They also sound a bit like the Dodos’ No Color album, but Stefan Marolachakis’ drums roll smoothly, not clatter around. Matthew Iwanusa’s lead vocals sound natural, and not oh-so-clever. His guitar and Jimmy “Cobra” Carbonetti’s blend together nicely, and the whole band’s harmonies are thrilling to hear. In the end, a joy, and one of the best debuts of the year. [www.facebook.com/CavemanBand?sk=wall]

Andrea Weiss

2011-08-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks

Mirror Traffic

Matador Records

He’s never sounded so mellow, gentle, and wiser, with the wisdom of age in his singing and lyrics. He still thinks everything is an ironic joke, but the irony has receded a bit, replaced by warmth, and even comfort. And fondness for bygone good times, like when he and little Micky smoked some pot in his van.

Now that he’s gotten his jam band impulses out with Real Emotional Trash, he prunes his guitar playing back somewhat, and what emerges is a cross between Pavement, Jorma Kaukonen and 90s Liz Phair. He is still a tremendous guitar player, one of the best of the last 30 years, and now that he’s older, he allows his playing to have sincere emotion. He cares, and it’s reflected in his playing.

Mirror traffic is his best solo album yet, but could it have been made if Pavement had continued its reunion? Did Pavement have to die for good so that he could make this great album? Perhaps answers the first question; a sad yes to the second. His new one ranks with Pavement’s best work, and with Pavement toast, this album is what replaces that band wonderfully. [http://stephenmalkmus.com]

Andrea Weiss

2011-08-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

The Horrors

Skying

XL Recordings

The Horrors combine the pretty, somewhat gloomy atmosphere of 80s era Church with the drive, and the drolly romantic languor of early Psychedelic Furs. It's a wonderful updating of both bands, and a worthy follow-up to their 2009 Mercury Prize nominated Primary Colours. [www.thehorrors.co.uk]

Andrea Weiss

2011-07-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

Inc.

4 AD Records

Inc (formally Teen Inc) are brothers Andrew and Daniel Aged, who have toured with the likes of Cee-Lo, Elton John, 50 Cent, Beck, and Raphael Saadiq. They are a synth-pop duo from L.A. whose three song EP is perfect for the dance floor, with a sound reminiscent of “Little Red Corvette” era Prince. A worthy and great debut. [www.officialinc.com] [ www.facebook.com/Inc-Life]

Andrea Weiss

2011-07-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

Zomby

Dedication

4 AD Records

If Keith Emerson were to make a mellow techno album, and did not draw on classical or jazz for the music, he might make the kind of album Zomby has made: a little bit grand, but also quieter, and contemplative. “Digital Rain,’ a highlight of Dedication is an example of this, sparse, moody, but also a somewhat majestic peice..

The tone if this album is somber, befitting what Zomby calls a tribute to a much loved and missed friend. Zomby is one of the greats of mellow techno, with this very fine album. [www.myspace.com/zombyproductions]

Andrea Weiss

2011-06-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

SBTRKT

S/T

Young Turks

On the surface-this album Massive Attack lite. Listen closer and lite turns into light. But not lightweight, rather a light touch. There is no doom and gloom here a’ la Massive Attack, just good music for just about anything , everything from dancing, chilling out, walking, thinking, and working out.

SBTRKT (pronounced Subtract) lets other people, like his collaborators Little Dragon, Roses Gabor, Sampha and Jessie Ware carry the load. He just provides them with a solid foundation. But they’re top notch, and blend their parts into a very satisfying whole. And this album has a well-deserved buzz. Drake remixed and rapped on the song “Wildfire” along with Little Dragon. Both the original and remix are great, and are very good introductions to a fine album. [www.sbtrkt.com]

Drakes remix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIluOj-yoeI

Original version http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15739-wildfire-ft-little-dragon/

Andrea Weiss

2011-06-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

Rubblebucket

Omega La La

Sin Duda Records.

On first listen, this band sounds like the Dirty Projectors. But they are cold, cocky, calculating fish, and Rubblebiucket has too much heart, soul, fun, love, joy, and modesty to be like them. Instead this album is a really mellow version of the B’52’s. Not the B’52’s of the late 70s and early 80s with classics like “Rock Lobster,” and “My Own Private Idaho,” but the mature band who wrote classics like “Love Shack” “Song for a Future Generation,” “Roam” and the album Funplex.

When lead singer Kalmia Traver sings a line like “you came out of a lady, oh!” it’s pure happy fun, B’52’s style. On “Silly Fathers,” the band argues they’re not sane, secure, mysterious, just a “chromed up, lubed up image of ourselves” they simply means that don’t take themselves too seriously. And even when their songs are sad like “Triangular Daises” the sweetness of the band shines through anyway, making the songs bittersweet.

This is a blast of a full-length debut. Dancing and thinking, it’s all the same to Rubblebucket, just like the B’52’s do. It’s delightful, and loads of good natured fun to listen to. May they dance and think like this forever. [https://extramusicnew.wordpress.com/tag/sin-duda-records/]

Andrea Weiss

2011-06-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

Fucked Up

David Comes to Life

Matador Records

The structure of these 18 songs are formally pop: verse, chorus verse, and very melodic. But the huge amount of noise in this pop is more like Husker Du’s brand of barrage, especially like the Du’s classic album Zen Arcade than hardcore. The vocals may be bellowed like Bob Mould’s, but there is also an element of un-Mould like screaming.

Another way David Comes to Life resembles Husker Du is lyrically: Zen Arcade was about a young man leaving home to face a hostile world, and on both albums the lyrics are surreal. Another album with rather surreal lyrics, but also experiential power pop, was Game Theory’s Lolita Nation. There the theme was a young man coming of age in an increasingly plastic world. So yes, Fucked Up’s new album is something of a concept album. The concept here is love, death, and starting over. A young man named David has a dead end job in a light bulb factory in a small British town, and he falls in love with a woman who is a rabble rousing communist. The woman dies in an explosion or terrorist attack, and David is devastated. He plots revenge, but also meets another woman who he falls in love with. This puts an end to his plan of revenge, and he also realizes that things are okay now. He can still love, so everything is fine, and life goes on. The narrative is very loose, the band doesn’t even know how the story ends, but it works very well. As does the music, the wonderfully sprawling, life- and love-infused music which never quits being positive, just like the lyrics. David Comes to Life indeed. He leaps out of the songs, and tells his bracing story, grins when he gets to the end, confident he’ll leave listeners smiling, happy, and cheering him on. [www.myspace.com/epicsinminutes]

And here is a mini documentary about the band. [http://youtu.be/3dYWof3QZbQ]

Andrea Weiss

2011-05-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

Thurston Moore

Demolished Thoughts

Matador Records

Moore’s new solo album is quieter, softer, and gentler than his last solo outing Trees Outside the Academy. With acoustic guitars, violins, and many other muted instruments, the form is simple. Moore’s lyrics are clearly about relationships, including “Circulation” which may be about how much he loves Kim Gordon.

The mood could be described with adjectives that are rarely used about Thurston’s albums or indeed Sonic Youth: soothing and comforting. It’s like having a deeply felt, long conversation with a good friend, who is also a good listener. And it is that which turns Thoughts from sounding like a great follow up to Trees, to something more stunning. His last solo album was great. too. The understated emotions here are sweet and wonderful, usually that wouldn’t be associated with Moore or Sonic Youth. If the album sounds melancholy in places, that just adds to its meaning….kind, loving, caring and even a bit cheery. It’s lovely. [www.matadorrecords.com/mpeg/thurston_moore/thurston_moore_benediction.mp3 ]

Andrea Weiss

Friendly Fires

Pala

XL Recordings

Pala is an excellent updating of the new romantic movement. Duran Duran seems to be the source the band draws on the most. However, Duran Duran wrote better lyrics, whereas Friendly Fires dosen’t cut any deeper than, say ,Naked Eyes. This makes Pala wonderful as light entertainment, and great for the dance floor. So put this on, do the twirl, and just feel good all over. [www.wearefriendlyfires.com]

Andrea Weiss

2011-05-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

The Shivers

More

Silence breaks Records

If Rufus Wainwright had been influenced by indie and garage rock, rather than opera and his parents’ folk music, he would have been the Shivers, the duo Keith Zarritllo (vocals and guitar) and Jo Schornikow (keyboards) from Queens NYC.

They have released four albums, More being their latest, since they formed in 2001. Using their savings to record in an analog studio in Manchester, England, they serve up ten tasty songs steeped in garage and indie rock, with a bit of Leonard Cohen-style writing for extra lyrical content. A really good album, with a lot of charm, smarts, and musical action. Solid all the way around, and a lot of fun to listen to. [www.silencebreaks.com]

Andrea Weiss

Pantha Du Prince

XL Versions of Black Noise

Rough Trade Records

This album reworks 2010's Black Noise into straightforward amibient techno, ready for the dance floor. It's a relief from the original's clattering rhythms and clunky melodies.

The best remakes on this collection are Four Tet’s version of “Stick to My Side,” and Animal Collective’s version of “Welt Am Draht .” They are the best ones for dancing and "Welt Am Draht" is also good meditation music. It's the best composition here.[http://promo.roughtraderecords.com/panthaduprince/ANomadsRetreat_TheSightBelowversion.mp3]

Andrea Weiss

Micachu and The Shapes

Chopped and Screwed

Rough Trade Records

The band's off-kilter melodies are the saving grace of this collaboration between Micachu and The Shapes and the London Sinfonietta. These are melodies that keep the music from going off the rails. There is more dissonance than usual for modern classical music, and it brings the music to a screeching halt.

These melodies are a tribute to the woozy, codeine-infused music of a Houston DJ named Screw, who died of a codeine overdose 11 years ago. They are also the curse here. Classical music, even modern music, hip-hop, and the art pop of the Shapes don’t mesh. They are apples and oranges. Since this is a recording of a concert, perhaps seeing the performance live would have helped. The recording as it stands works best as a great way to end an annoying party. This music will clear a room in one minute flat. For that matter, the most important lyric here is: “Even if I turn my back/twist my head until I snap.”

[http://promo.roughtraderecords.com/micachu/everything.mp3]

Andrea Weiss

2011-04-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

The Unthanks

Last

Rough Trade

On their new album, Rachel and Becky Unthank (their real name) add a bit of prog to their musical mixture of contemporary and indie folk. Prog not in the sense of Jethro Tull, but more early Strawbs, the quieter side of Elbow, and a dash of “Carpet of the Sun” era Renaissance, of that band wrote gloomy, not happy, songs. . It is very gentle, but with much sadness, like walking on a cloudy day, but with no rain forecast. It is also magical, and even oddly pretty.

Their lyrics have the same gentle sadness, whether they are talking about star-crossed lovers, or lords and ladies. For all of that , there is a sense of hope. Wait until things get better, move on to a better place, and never give up. And the magic that is in the music, is also in the lyrics, making this album breathtaking,, and a very worthy follow up to their last album Here’s the Tender Coming. [www.the-unthanks.com/music]

Andrea Weiss

Tune Yards

Whokill

4AD Records

Merrill Garbus is Tune Yards, and her great debut, combined found sounds like the foghorn on the Martha’s Vineyard ferry, with the ukulele and her voice, using a cheap vocal recorder and shareware recording software. On her new album, the found sounds and the ukulele are still there, but she recorded in a studio with a producer, who polished up the basic sound. Together they, and people she brought into the recording process, fashioned an album that is just as good as the debut.

While the core of the sound is still folk/rock you can dance to, this album is even better. The beats zing all over the place, but also you can sit and contemplate the lyrics just as on the debut.

While the debut was mostly love songs, the left-wing political undercurrent was muted. Not so on this album. Garbus’ feminist, warm, kind, smart, common sensible, tough left wing politics are reminiscent of Ani DiFranco’s 90’s work, before it curdled into a smug, obnoxious, cynical, self-righteous act. Garbus is a breath of fresh air. Here are politics and music that are fun, cool, witty, and just right for dancing, or thinking. A great album. [www.tune-yards.com]
Andrea Weiss

2011-04-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

Cold Cave

Cherish the Light Years

Matador Records

This is a brilliant fusion of Siouxie and the Cure, with a bit of New Order and Joy Division mixed in for detail, coloring and shading. Bandleader Wesley Elsold even sounds a bit like a deeper voiced Robert Smith. Cold Cave has the same musical drive, flow, and fullness as the best Siouxie/Cure tracks, but not as goth lyrically. It is also very poetic, since Elsold has published his poetry with Heartworm Press.

Lyrically the album looks back on where Elsold has been, and where he’s going, it is inspired by his move to New York, and the nighttime walks he took soon after moving to the city. The urban feel of these songs shines in “Underworld USA,” “Icons of Summer,” and the album’s best track “Catacombs.”

The album isn’t perfect. The last three tracks’ energy level flags, and there is a whiff of cheese on “Confetti,” which sounds as if it could have come from the first Till Tuesday album. Nevertheless, this is very good album, one that looks both fondly back on the 80s musically, and forward lyrically, which is a great combination. [http://coldcave.net]

Andrea Weiss

Alela Diane and Wild Divine

s/t

Rough Trade

Musically, this is a wonderful fusion of Neko Case’s more recent work, and what Katrina and Nerissa Nields were doing on their album Sister Holler. It’s rich, and full bodied, quiet, and understated, that can be a bit surreal at times, and in the end, succeeds nicely.

Lyrically Diane combines poetic imagery that is a bit off kilter, very moving, full of love and life, death and dreams. But her writing is never dark, never mournful, just a message that life goes on, maybe not as expected. Live it as best as you can.

This album is a big improvement over Diane’s debut, To Be Still, where she sketched the rough outlines of what was to come, and not much beyond that. On her new one she comes into her own. It’s wonderful, it’s thrilling, and all great. [www.aleladiane.com]

Andrea Weiss

2011-03-07T23:59:00.000-08:00

Dinosaur Bones

My Divider

Dine Alone

Sounding some what like the Walkmen and Chavez, but not enough to be called a clone, this Canadian band’s debut album is alive with finely wrought guitar playing, smart lyrics about relationships, and an overall sound rendered cleanly enough to make the band shine. A very good debut. [www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21774254304]

Andrea Weiss

Kurt Vile

Smoke Ring For My Halo

Matador Records

Vile’s second album is quieter than his debut Childish Prodigy. He’s still tough, still snarling, and still laid back. But now this all sounds different. He’s older, confident, and happy. The brilliant “In My Time” says as much. There is kindness now, a gentleness, and love, for his sister, his girlfriend and for the world. And he has seen more of the world. “Peeping Tomboy” makes that clear. When he finds a scene where he admires the tomboy, but knows he’s not wanted, he splits.

Vile’s guitar playing could be compared to Leo Kottke. He has the same sense of fun and adventure as Kottke, but Vile’s playing is more thoughtful, solemn and, in spots, wiser. Most of this album is Vile solo acoustic. When his band the Violators show up, the rock they produce is muted, and that is perfect here. Taking all three together, this album is wonderful. It’s a big step forward for Vile, and a thrill to listen to. [www.myspace.com/kurtvileofphilly]

Andrea Weiss

2011-02-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

Dum Dum Girls

He Gets Me High

Sub Pop

Dum Dum Girls follow up their promising debut with a four- song EP (three originals, one cover) that is delightful. Putting a little more polish on the songs makes them smooth in a way the debut wasn’t, and brings the songs into better focus. The best song of the originals is the title song, an unabashed declaration of love, with giddy music to go alongside the lyrics.

The Smiths’ “There’s a Light that Never Goes Out” gets treated wonderfully as well. The music equals The Smiths’ version, but there is a nice twist lyrically. Morrissey sang this to a man, but he didn’t specify gender. When a woman sings it, it can be sung to a man or a woman. It’s a fantastic ending to a great EP that carries the band further than they’ve ever been before.[www.subpop.com/releases/dum_dum_girls/eps/he_gets_me_high]

Andrea Weiss

2011-02-27T22:44:00.000-08:00

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX

We’re New Here

XL Recordings

This album works best as an electronica singer/songwriter album. Jamie XX’s music here, enhances Scott-Heron’s poetry and singing with swoops, swirls, samples, and good rhythms. Jamie should do this with his own band, the XX. As a remix of Scott-Heron’s critically acclaimed 2010 album, I’m New Here, breathes life into an album that originally was about death.

The best lyrics of the original album fit wonderfully into the remix, making them even more powerful. There is no faux feminism at all, as there was on the original, which was I’m New Here’s one big flaw. As one song says, there is no such place as away, so you can’t run there, nor can you run for cover. It sounds even wiser than on the original album. On a new piece, a very short one Gil scolds young people for not listening to their parents. Listen to his words, bop around the room if need be, but in the main, chill-out to an album that will make you think. [www.werenewhere.com]

Andrea Weiss

2011-02-08T00:02:00.000-08:00

Esben and the Witch

Violet Cries

Matador Records

Musically this debut album from this UK band, is delightful. If early Cocteau Twins had been harder and harsher, that would be one element to Esben’s sound, combined with the drive, power and mysticism of early Siouxsie and the Banshees. Rachel Davies, Esben’s lead singer and bassist, even sounds a bit like Siouxsie. And very few of these songs include drums, which makes their sonics even more arresting.

But it’s also their optimism, their determined, steely angrily optimistic lyrics, that make this band fresh and different. They want to be happy so badly, and will stop at nothing to be happy. There is also a strange sort of kindness here, too, the kind that will kill. By the end of the album, they are violently blissful, if one can be that, and that state of mind is very refreshing. Let this album be a confidence booster to anyone trying to overcome a bad situation. [http://esbenandthewitch.co.uk/notebook]

Andrea Weiss

2011-01-27T17:57:00.000-08:00

(Kristine Miller, 2011)

I became a fan of Scott Miller’s music in 1986, when I heard “Here It Is Tomorrow” from The Big Shot Chronicles on a local college radio station. That song was captivating, as are all his songs, from the earliest Game Theory recordings to the Loud Family’s (his band after Game Theory broke up) 2006 album What If It Works. I managed to see the Loud Family twice, and the band was as good live as they are on disk.

Miller’s latest musical contribution is his book, Music: What Happened. He started making CDs after he had put his young daughters to bed, based on lists he had made as a child. These lists replaced “Ask Scott” a blog he kept on the Loud Family site. He collected these lists into a book with the help of Joe Mallon and Sue Trowbridge, who run the Loud Family site and 125 Records, the label that put out the current Loud Family CD What If It Works. I had first read some of these lists on the site, really liked them, and was delighted when this book was released. The review of his book follows the interview.

I recently interviewed Mr. Miller. His answers to my questions are delightful, and I feel very fortunate to have had this chance to interview him. Thank you, Scott, for both the music, and for this interview. And thank you Kristine Miller for the photo, and to Jen Grover’s help with the editing of the questions.

Andrea Weiss: Was it hard to write prose after many years of writing lyrics?

Scott Miller: I did the "Ask Scott" column for a pretty long time, and that was good practice. I was used to writing lyrics for an audience, and prose to one person as in a letter or email, but that was my first prose for an audience, really. I was forced to listen to myself err on the side of trying to sound some way, as opposed to saying what I had to say. When you write lyrics that are just trying to sound some way, it's a lot less decidable that you're doing anything wrong. When Freddie Mercury sounds like an upper-crust twit, he's not doing something wrong, it's just a way of dramatizing.

AW: Why 1957 to start your book with?

SM: We started the project in 2007, and the idea was to go back fifty years.

AW: The way you approached these reviews has the “wow” factor in it, as in “wow, that does make me think” or “wow, he said that, that’s great.” And there is much humor as well thrown in, as well as seriousness. Was it hard balancing all three of these elements?

SM: It's very nice of you to say I did balance those, thanks. I wasn't thinking in quite those terms; it was more jogging myself out of the habit of writing about every song using the same mental checklist--how's the production, quote two good lines--but instead asking myself what actually made the song special for me, which is usually wildly different from song to song, and in a weird way it's embarrassing for me to come right out and say what the real attraction is when I chase it down. If the truth is I like a song because it has pretty harmonies and tells you to be a thoughtful person, I have to get over this inclination that people are going to go, what, are you an idiot? So, okay, that step would just be achieving what you're calling seriousness, and beyond that, I think I just feel like cracking a joke every so often, and ranting on a soapbox every so often, and then I feel like people are going to have had enough of either of those for a stretch, so self-consciousness probably makes for good timing in that respect.

AW: There is so much jazz, blues, Broadway musicals, and early R&B, as well as rock and roll, in the early years of the book Do you hope people, especially young people, will read these and realize that while these songs are not “rock” as we know it today, these genres were still the building blocks of what is known as “rock” today?

SM: Sure, I'd call it making my perspective, such as it is, available, especially to young people. There's kind of a weird gap in music writing where there's no good way to find out just how catastrophic the Beatles' impact was. Over a certain age, you're just supposed to know, and under a certain age, they've been too much part of the furniture for it to occur to you to question it all. I don't think there's "rock as we know it today" without the Beatles, period. They radically changed what, say, the Stones and Dylan did, the way I read it; those artists would have been doing Chess R & B on one hand, and Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger folk on the other.

AW: And then you don't talk as much about these genres in the later years. Why is that?

SM: Short answer: Beatles. In my adolescence, if a piece of music wasn't a self-composed, stand-alone, 4-minute vocal rock song, I literally didn't know how to evaluate it as a musical achievement. A folk tradition like blues, or playing style tradition like jazz, or even a division between songwriting craft and performance craft, seemed like the ways of the ancients. But those went from being the coin of the realm to marginalization in, what, a three year period? I wouldn't have known how to create the 1960 list until fairly late in life. And it seems to me that none of the styles you mention has ever quite recovered. I mean, is there a whole lot of great, more recent material in those areas I'm just not getting exposed to, or my ear is just not sensitive to? Is there a lot of great material in *Cats*, or the Robert Cray catalog, or the Al Jarreau catalog? I seriously don't know. There's a lot of John Zorn kind of stuff I have insufficient exposure to, but I wouldn't rule out becoming a fan if I can afford the exploration.

AW: It's pretty clear from your book that you didn't like 80s or 90s music in general. Were you, in your own way, trying to change the face of music by choosing power pop as a starting point, which harks back to the 70s?

SM: You mean when I first put out music? I never thought of what we were doing as going back to a different starting point, but the current music I liked at the time was what was called “paisley underground” in L.A., or southern-based east coast stuff like the dBs and R.E.M. Those communities didn’t have any signifiers of the vanguard like music that took *Thriller* as the starting point, which in a way is to focus as much on dance performance as on music. What you’re saying definitely makes it sound like I'm more down on the 90s than I am. Power pop doesn't have the slightest chance of saving music. In a way it's a permanent fixture now, and no Cheap Trick or Badfinger fans are planning a victory parade. I would think most of the world would listen to anything from Green Day to Katy Perry and say, how is that not power pop? What kind of micro-distinction are you making between those and "September Gurls"?

What I'm down on is much more a matter of emotional depth and intellectual rigor than just being down on the nineties. I'm down on the *eighties*.

AW: What did you look for in the songs you chose for the book?

SM: For one thing, not so much that anything was flawless, but rather that the high points were so insanely high that they inspired a love I can't keep myself from sharing.

AW: Were there any songs you liked as a kid or teen that you don’t like as an adult?

SM: In most of those cases, I had my favorites, but I only knew about a small fraction of the material I was exposed to the whole rest of my life, so a certain portion of it faded into the shadows. Oh, one case of that was I badly wanted to put an Emerson, Lake, and Palmer song in there somewhere because they did that sort of complicated, bombastic orchestral style in a way my ear could easily relate to, but over the years, I found so much music I related to better, especially lyrically, that they just didn’t make the cut late in life. But "Knife Edge" from the first album is a near miss.

AW: Where would you put Game Theory’s music on your 80s list, and the Loud Family on the 90s, and 00s lists in your book?

SM: Seriously, wouldn’t it be creepy if I thought they belonged there? If I was reading a music criticism book where I agreed with the writer, and he or she had their own old, obscure band that they completely seriously talked about as doing the important music at the time, wouldn’t that be terrifying? “That was when Iggy and Bowie were doing the Berlin stuff, and the Soft Waffles were making their legendary bedroom tapes.”

AW: Will the rights issues ever work out so that Lolita nation and the other classic Game Theory albums can be re-released?

SM: Trying for ten years to work with the guy who owns the rights has become such a soul-destroying exercise I’ve just given up.

AW: You wrote this book to suggest songs for your daughters to listen to when they get older. What do they like to listen to now?

SM: Early in my relationship with my wife Kristine, I converted her to the Posies, I think when Ken Stringfellow and I were on the same bill in a Los Angeles show, and to this day when she’s driving the kids around they hear enough Ken and Jon related material that I think they can, say, sing most of *Blood/Candy*

Scott Miller

Music: What Happened

125 Books

This book is fun to read. These song lists, spanning 1957-2009, of music he loves, are at once insightful and funny, thoughtful and delightful. Each song merits one paragraph. Scott describes the music within, which is like a musician would. For instance, chord patterns, melody lines, beats, how notes are used, how sound is used, and how the lyrics fit in with the music. These enhance the capsule reviews in a way not often seen from critics. That is, not just the way a song makes someone feel, but what makes the song the way it is.

Miller selects from every genre of popular music, and he has managed to make them all fit. Every song he chose has something to offer, and in the end startling for what they do have to offer.

Everyone will have his/her interpretation. Some songs will mean more to them than others. I want to focus on two songs that stand out for me, not just because I love these songs, for the something they have to offer.

One is the Bangles’ “Hero Takes a Fall.” “Had this been the album that sold, what might have been?” So many possibilities: The Paisley Underground doing for L.A. what Seattle would do some time later? Power pop with some folk and garage in it opening things up for college rock as a whole, even more than REM were doing? Women opening doors for other women musicians at a time when feminism was a dirty word? Just to think any of this might have been the case is beautiful.

Aimee Mann with “How am I Different?” In addition to famously flipping the bird to the mainstream music biz, there is “she established a mid-tempo, less rocking out standard governing the emotional moments of a certain class of later mature audience artists like Sufjan Stevens in a way that superseded Cobainesque howling.” That Aimee Mann drew the blueprint for a certain type of indie rock, which to me seems to be most of today’s big indie bands, isn’t that far fetched when Stevens’ sound, for instance, is thought about. And as with the Bangles, to think about this is beautiful too.

Taken all together, this book is truly amazing. It is a reason to cheer, and to marvel at for the sheer wealth, breadth, and depth of the writing. [www.loudfamily.com]

Andrea Weiss

2011-01-25T01:38:00.000-08:00

Metal Mountains

Golden Trees

Amish Records

This band is something of a supergroup, Helen Rush and Pat Guber were in the band Tower Recordings, Samara Lubelski was also in Tower, and part of Thurston Moore’s band Hall of Fame.

The music flows are richly as John Fahey’s best recordings, but with electric rather than acoustic guitars. Rush sings with the same calm ease as Jacqui McShee from the Pentangle, and her simple, quiet, cautiously optimistic lyrics still have an eeriness about them. This is especially true in “The Golden Trees that Shade Us” with its hint that the main character may be dead.

This is music for contemplation, or meditation. It’s perfect music for waking up to, and perfect for going to sleep. Who could ask for more? [www.amishrecords.com]

Andrea Weiss

Jordan Andrew Jefferson

Self Titled

Self Released

Jefferson is a singer/songwriter from Huntington West Virginia. His album is very much mainstream soft rock, but a lot smarter, more fun, and wiser than is typical for the genre.

While his lyrics are sometimes somewhat corny or silly, the humor is good natured, and sincere.

The best ballad on here is “Boy in the Shadows” a touching song about unrequited love. In a faster tempo is “Charlie Brown Superstar” about life and how to live it. The “oh well” quality of the latter is expressed nicely, as he has a very good voice and places the emotions of the song clearly. This is also true of the album as a whole, which is another reason this album is recommended. This is light music, but never lightweight, and just an all around satisfying album. [www.WhoIsJordan.com]
Andrea Weiss

2011-01-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

British Sea Power

Valhala Dancehall

Rough Trade

This album is like a level. When the music is slightly out of balance, the lyrics right the ship, and when the lyrics are too cryptic, the music provides emotion and meaning. Their trademark echo, murk, and reverb are there, but not as prominently as on their previous albums.

The theme is politics, like on the Heavy Water,” which is maybe about climate change, the soaring “Cleaning Out the Rooms,” which may be about making a new start, perhaps after the revolution, or the somewhat sexual politics songs “Luna” and “Baby.” These last two are mid-tempo songs, and are a little tedious musically, but the lyrics remain interesting and pick up the slack.

The album’s best track, the brilliant “Living is So Easy,” hits the target musically and lyrically. The music is moderately fast, and eschews their usual sound in favor of a squarely mainstream rock framework. The lyrics use shopping and partying as metaphors for society’s greed, irresponsibility, and materialism, an is a very powerful piece of writing indeed. This song could also be misinterpreted as an ode to shopping. But the upside to that is that, like in the tradition of songs like Springstein’s “Born in the USA” which some think is a jingoistic endorsement of the US in the Reagan era, when it actually is a slam against America, The misperception of “Living” could land this band their breakhrough hit in the US.

This is British Sea Power’s most consistent and best album. Let’s hope it’s a hit, and land this band a huge audience. [www.britishseapower.co.uk/news]

Andrea Weiss

Broken Records

Let me Come Home

4 AD

The straightforward indie folk sound of this band’s second album is much better than the mini orchestra of their debut album, Until the Earth Begins to Part. Lead singer Jamie Sutherland reins in his voice, there is a bit of electric guitar, and the music is grand desperation rather than grandiose

desperation. Every track have something to offer.

Lyrically, all of these distraught characters cling to hope any way they can, never losing sight of the horizon. But it’s on the album’s best track, “Home.” a simple folk/rock plea for the narrator’s girlfriend to take him back, that is the most effective in carrying both the theme and emotion. If there are more “Homes” in this band’s future, they have a bright one indeed.

[http://brokenrecordsband.com/]
Andrea Weiss

2010-11-21T22:32:00.000-08:00

Girls

Broken Dreams Club EP

True Panther Sounds

Christopher Owens, the leader of Girls, says this is an EP ‘”rom our hearts to yours,” and “the next step up from Album.” Album was their wonderful debut, and I agree with Owens that this is the next step, and a very good one at that. Their spry, agile, and limber sound to include the more mellow side of the Dandy Warhols, along with Brian Wilson and Phil Spector. Their first four sad but sensible songs on their EP are about broken hearts. “Substance” the fifth song, declares that he doesn’t need broken hearts or broken dreams, a song that more than lives up to its title. y “Carolina” the last song on the disk, he finds love, and a happy ending.

From start to finish, this EP is fantastic. The songs are good, sweet, and never whine or wallow in self-pity. Their next full length album will be more than worth the wait.[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_(band)]

Andrea Weiss

2010-10-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

British Sea Power

Zeus E.P.

Rough Trade

On this seven-track E.P., British Sea Power are in fine form. Their scruffy, echo filled Brit pop bounces all over the place, making for wonderful noise. There is more shouting than singing here, which adds to the fun, as it makes for even more of a ruckus.

The lyrics are filled with so many meanings that it’s impossible to figure them out. But they do add to the overall sound,by raising the roof even more. And a lot of times, an album that blows the doors down is all that is needed to be good. So have a blast with the sound. [www.britishseapower.co.uk]

Andrea Weiss

Warpaint

The Fool

Rough Trade

Musically this group sounds like Pylon’s slower songs, with the off-kilter guitars of Throwing Muses. There is a passing resemblance to the slower songs on REM’s Reckoning, but that is only natural, since the Muses were influenced by REM, and Pylon an influence of REM. The band’s dreamy vocals and lyrics

address not just relationships with one person, but relationships as a whole.

It is wonderful to hear a band sound like college rock, AKA post-punk rather than some hippie 70s knockoff. Warpaint is a delight to hear, as the music and lyrics entwine with the vocals so tightly, and with just the right amount of shimmer. This is a great debut. www.myspace.com/worldwartour

Andrea Weiss

2010-10-12T00:05:00.000-07:00

Belle and Sebastian

Write About Love

Matador

On their first album since 2006’s The Life Pursuit, B&S have blended their original sound with their current one, and what a great blend it is. This is the most successful fusing of folk/rock and synths I’ve heard yet, and it’s about time.

The muscular rock powers their smart pop, making their folk good for color, texture and shading. The synths give their music a vaguely prog feel, and everything in the end is intergraded seamlessly, making for a rush on the fast songs, and a hush on the quiet ones.

The singing is top notch. Stuart Murdoch sounds sly and clever, but also gentle. Sarah Martin is sweet, wise and bright, and Carey Mulligan’s backing vocals add a chipper air. But as wonderful as they are, three songs stand out, one for their guest vocals, one for the vocal arrangements, and one for the way the lyrics are sung.

“Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” is mostly sung by Norah Jones, who sounds dandy, and is a nicely quirky choice for a guest vocalist. In that song, a couple blames themselves for their breakup. “I’m Not Living in the Real World,” a bemused look at a young man’s journey from childhood to adulthood, is sung by Stevie Jackson, who adroitly captures the confusion he feels, and Murdoch’s backing vocals, running along side Jackson’s, make for a thrilling point/counterpoint arrangement. “Read the Blessed Pages” sung by Murdoch, is infused with regret, but also tenderness and love for the woman he left behind. It’s a questionwhether the lyrics are fiction or non-fiction. As fiction, the song is a beautiful love song. But if they are non-fiction, especially since the couple in question were in a band, are these lyrics directed toward Isobel Campbell?

Write About Love was more than worth the wait, as it is spectacular in every single way. There is something here for everyone, for those who want the folk/rock of their earliest albums, to those who like their more recent pop/folk/rock sound. As this album falls in-between, this is a fine addition to their already distinguished catalog. [www.belleandsebastian.com]

Andrea Weiss

2010-10-04T23:55:00.000-07:00

Shadow Shadow Shade

S/T

Public Records

This L.A band borrows a lot from other sources, psych, goth, the New Pornographers, and the Arcade Fire. Their sound is the sum of all this borrowing, which means melodic, trippy, a little bombastic, and creepy. This is not bad: in fact, it’s pretty good. The bombast is kept in check, there are good melodies, it’s not an awful trip they’re on, and they don’t overdo being creepy.

While SSS’ album works as an album, the music also works on a film that is streaming at their site. White Horse, is a three -part long form music video that features the band’s music. The plot for this clip is set in WW 3, where a mysterious force has enslaved the world. There is some sex, a bit of death, no dialog, and only the music to set the scene. One of the actors in the film is Jason Ritter of NBC’s The Event. He and Anna Wilson, the female lead, act their parts well. In both instances, this is a trip worth taking. [www.shadowshadowshade.com]

Andrea Weiss

2010-09-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

This is a link to "Zeus," very good song from the upcoming British Sea Power EP.

http://promo.roughtraderecords.com/britishseapower/zeus.mp3

2010-09-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

Glasser

Ring

True Panther Sounds

Glasser is a one-woman band, Cameron Mesirow. She sounds like Bjork musically, and a less homey Imogene Heap.

On the surface this album’s music sounds somber and angry. But Mesirow’s singing is thoughtful, and her lyrics offer hope, comfort, solace, and happiness. The music and lyrics provide balance, as does the structure of the album. “Ring” in this case is a chiastic structure borrowed from the oral tradition, where ideas point symmetrically toward a whole. So there is no beginning or end to this album.

This album is fresh and different. It tweaks both standard confessional singer/songwriter folk and electronica at the same time. It is sweet to listen to, as if you and an old friend sharing time together. [www.myspace.com/glasssser]

Andrea Weiss

Blonde Redhead

Penny Sparkle

4 AD Records

There is a lot to like about this album. Musically it’s angular, melodic ambient pop, and very atmospheric. The lyrics, while they lack detail, blend in so well with the music that any meaning gets lost.

The album’s one drawback is that the songs sound a bit alike after awhile, but it really is a minor complaint. This is good music for quiet times and rainy days. [www.myspace.com/blonderedhead]

Andrea Weiss

2010-09-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

Love, the 60s and Garage Rock: An Interview with Jenny Grover

Jenny Grover is a great writer, a good friend, and one of my most valued writing mentors. I have loved both of her novels. In 2006 she published Second Choices, a tale of two artists and the woman who affects both of them. Her latest, The Rooks Parliament, is a novel about teens growing up in the mid-60s, their dreams, their loves, and their music.

I recently interviewed Ms. Grover about her new book. Her answers are interesting, funny, and insightful.

Andrea Weiss

AW: I've not read every book about the 60s ever published, but the ones I have read make very little mention of the middle class and garage rock. Nor did the books I read cover ordinary teens; if teens were shown, they were stand-ins for a whole generation. What inspired you to write a book that stands in contrast to all of this?

JG: Well, in large part, what you said. A lot of the 60s books I've read focus more on hippies and protest music, political protest, or on the more sordid aspects of the sexual revolution and the drug culture. I haven't read many stories about what things were like for the older kids I knew or the hipsters we had our eyes on, ordinary middle class kids listening to AM radio, some of them picking up instruments. Maybe that seems too ordinary for a lot of people to want to write about. Maybe it doesn't carry a heavy enough agenda.

AW: "All You Need Is Love" seems to be a theme of this book, and the mention of "Hang On To a Dream" seems to have some significance. How much of an inspiration were these songs, and which is the bigger theme?

JG: "All You Need Is Love". That idea, and the questioning of that idea, does figure in quite a lot, and I think it's a question that figures heavily into our thinking anyway. Is love all we need? And yes, of course we need food and shelter and such, and holding hands and prancing through the daisies doesn't put food on the table, and anyone who pipes up with that argument at the outset is usually just being a prick [laughs]. Love in the broader sense, love as an approach to how we live, including how we produce and consume that food we have to have, and the other survival necessities and reasonable comforts, not just in terms of the people we work with, but the animals we employ, the earth... but I digress. Love is a big theme of the book, largely in terms of what love can or can't or should or shouldn't endure.

"Hang On To a Dream". Yes, apart from the more obvious use in the story, the title and some lines of the lyrics did appeal to me in light of the story, of people hanging onto dreams, but more as an afterthought than an actual inspiration.

But separation, of various sorts, is a primary theme.

AW: The characters are so real. Was it hard keeping them real? Was it fun trying to make them real?

JG: First of all, thank you. I'm one of these writers who is going to tell you that it's like they already existed and just showed up in my head and started telling me their story, but that really is what it felt like. But in terms of bringing out those individual personalities and keeping their actions consistent with that, you need to be able to get inside their heads, their different heads, and see things and consider things the way they do, and then act on those things in the manner they would. Even the villains. Even someone as loathsome as Dan should make sense as a complex personality and not just be a cartoon villain. I hope I've been successful in that respect. Was it fun? A lot of the time it was, but it was also quite painful at times. I put a lot of myself into my main characters, one in particular, and the pain I funneled into the story came from some very real experiences.

AW: Which one?

JG: Bobby. Yeah, I know it may surprise some people that it's not one of the girls, but I really feel like he's the one who carries my personality and motivations the most. He even stole a lot of my mannerisms.

AW: Who is your favorite character?

JG: Bobby, without a doubt. And now that's going to sound conceited! [laughs].

AW: This seems to be Jules' story as much as Bobby's, and in fact we start out from Jules' point of view. In Second Choices you had Blake and Gus presented in a similar way. Why the dual protagonists?

JG: Dueling Protagonists [begins imitating banjo music]. Sorry. I find first person too limiting for certain stories, and sometimes a more scenic kind of omniscient voice is too removed to suit me. I want a focused story with personalized emotional content, but I like to explore the notion of two intersecting lives, and what those lives are like when they are apart, as well as when they're together. A couple, or a pair of friends, comprise two entities, but when they are together they become another entity still.

AW: Was it difficult to write from different points of view?

JG: I actually find it difficult to not write from different points of view. I am, first and foremost, a visual artist. I'm used to looking at things from a variety of angles, and that carries on into my other thought processes. So, changing viewpoints is just rather like putting on a play when you're the only person in the cast. You switch up roles. If you know your characters well, their personalities and differences and motivations, it's not difficult to get into character for a scene. I try to choose the viewpoint that best gets the message and the emotional impact of the scene across, which usually seems to suggest itself naturally. On occasion during the initial writing phase, I'll write a scene from more than one point of view and then choose the one I like best.

AW: What kind of painful personal experiences?

JG: Phew. Separations. Losing people. I've lost most of my blood relatives now. There are almost none of us left, except distant relatives I don't know. There's also a rift in my family that's resulted in some people just not having anything to do with each other anymore. Thank God my in-laws are wonderful people, because they comprise the bulk of my family anymore. I suffered, and I don't use that word lightly, two serious long-distance love affairs, one of which ended badly, and the other, well, we're coming up on our 28th wedding anniversary, so at least that turned out well. Oh, and a guy I worked with years ago disappeared. That was weird. We weren't real close friends, but we both worked in the camera department, and were planning to go out on a photo shoot our next day off in common, and then a couple days later he just didn't show up at work. They phoned him and his mother and everything and he was just gone. They never did find out what happened to him, at least while I was still working there.

AW: Why garage rock?

JG: Well, like you said earlier, in a lot of books about the 60s, it seems to get overlooked or undermentioned, but it was a huge phenomenon. I love that stuff. A friend of mine referred to my collection of 60s garage band comps as "sick" . And I like revivalists from every decade, as well. Like the Black Hollies. Everyone should check them out. But in the mid 60s hundreds of teen garage bands sprang up all over the US. The suburbs were a fertile breeding ground. A lot of people don't realize that the term "punk rock" was coined in the 60s to describe the more rebellious teen garage bands. It was party music by kids, for kids, and the main themes of protest, at least at the outset, were boredom, curfews, school, fickle girlfriends or boyfriends, dress codes, and lots of sexual frustration. And small record labels popped up everywhere to take advantage. Some were start-ups looking for the next hit makers, and others were vanity labels. Radio back then was localized, not big corporate chains. The chart hits got played all over, but programming was a lot more variable and a lot of local talent got played. Some of those musicians went on to be successful, and for others it was just a passing hobby. Even a lot of the better bands broke up without making it really big; bandmembers went off to college or other careers, got married or got drafted.

AW: One of Bobby and Jules' first conversations is about electronic organs. Could you recommend some well known garage rock songs so that people could tell the difference between different types of organs?

JG: Ah, yes. Vox vs. Farfisa. There were a number of different portable organs that got used by garage bands, as well as the big name bands, but Vox and Farfisa made the most popular and ubiquitous ones. It's not always easy to tell them apart, though Farfisas are generally described as sounding more "reedy". I can toss out a few examples people might know. "Light My Fire" and "House of the Rising Sun" are Vox. "Incense and Peppermints", early Pink Floyd, and the B-52s are Farfisa. But if people are curious enough, there are demos of all sorts of vintage organs on YouTube.

AW: I like how music is used to set a scene. Did you have songs in mind before writing a scene, or did you think of them as you wrote?

JG: I mostly thought of them as I wrote. In some cases I had a band or song in mind that I ended up not using, because I got really anal about being historically correct, so I would check to make sure what year, and, when possible, what month a particular song or album came out. If it didn't fit the chronology, then I chose something else.

AW: Did you write the original lyrics as songs or just as lyrics?

JG: They're songs. The music is in my head. I need to write it out or record it someday.

AW: The sex and romance scenes are handled very well. How hard was it to write them?

JG: How hard? Heheh... Sorry. When I was a kid my mind fell into the gutter and I was never able to retrieve it. But seriously, love scenes and sex scenes are always a challenge for writers. Love scenes can easily get goopy or sappy. With sex scenes you have to decide not only how detailed you want to get about who's doing what to whom, but what tone you want to convey and carefully choose your language to reflect that, and language choices are challenging, particularly when referring to body parts. You can easily sound like you're at a doctor's office, or hanging around the docks, or in some ridiculously euphemistic Romance novel. With this story, I knew there were some places I needed to get into detail, but much of it I leave implied, or referred to in conversation. I've had a lot of practice writing sex scenes, because I've never shied away from it. In fact, I quite enjoy it. And since I try to bring my poetic sense into my prose, I go for language sound and how the sounds of the words relate to the mood I'm trying to convey.

AW: I love the organ joke in Chapter 6. Did you find yourself restraining yourself from writing more?

JG: Well, let me tell you, there is just no way around organ jokes. Someone will always find a way to make one. I really put a lot of work into removing as many potential ones as I reasonably could from the straight narrative. I have writer friends who saw sample chapters or scenes, and I thought surely they would be more mature than that. Boy, was I wrong . But organ jokes are fun and, like I said, you can't get away from them, so I just put one in as part of the story.

AW: If you could picture your characters as real people, who would they be?

JG: Oh man, that's tough. I really, honestly didn't base any of my characters in this story on actual people, and I can't think of any particular real people that fit the bill for any of them.

AW: The Mary Street reference is so cool. Is that one of your favorite Bangles songs?

JG: I do like that song a lot, so when I was making up street names, that just popped into my head, so I used it. I figured people would have fun with it.

AW: I love the cover. Who took the photo? And tell me about the instruments in the picture.

JG: I took the photo and that's some of my gear. The bass is a 1968 Univox Ventures model. I don't have any vintage organs, other than the ones in my body, so that's my Nord C2 with its modernity discreetly covered by a paisley sarong.

AW: San Francisco is portrayed very well. Have you been there or to California in general?

JG: I have visited San Francisco in one of my several visits to California, though I've mostly spent time in Southern California. And my half brother lived in San Francisco in the 60s as a hippie for a while, so I've heard his stories.

AW: San Francisco stands in contrast to L.A. Were you trying to show the good and bad parts of hippie culture and later on, politics? And we see London, as well.

JG: I did want to show the difference in flavor of the music scenes, with San Francisco representing more of the peace and love flower child thing and L.A. getting into some darker things, and use that progression to show not only lighter and darker sides of hippie culture, but of the music industry to some implied extent, and politically, since the band arrives in L.A. just days after Robert Kennedy's assassination, of the country getting increasingly domestically dangerous. And the band is losing its innocence, as well. As for London, I wanted to show some contrast between the US and UK psychedelic scenes, including the rise of art rock, and that many kids in the US were still looking to the UK for inspiration.

AW: You mention a number of well-known real bands, and then you bring in the Nice. Why the Nice? I don't think a lot of people, at least in the US, know who they were.

JG: And that's a shame. They were very popular in Britain, and they did tour the US. I do believe many people are familiar with their keyboard player, however, Keith Emerson. Since this is a keyboard-centric story and the Nice were at the forefront of progressive rock, and Keith had earned the nickname "the Jimi Hendrix of the keyboards" for the wild and creatively noisy way he interacted with his instruments, they seemed a logical choice to me, and I wanted to give them props, as well. Maybe it will inspire people to check out their music.

AW: Why do you choose prog to point to the future, from the vantage point of 1969?

JG: Obviously prog wasn't the only music rising up then that would prove important in the 70s, and beyond. Heavy rock, proto-metal, was developing and gaining prominence, as well. That was more guitar-driven, though, and prog gave keyboards a prominent role. But using the Nice as a reference point, Keith Emerson was really pushing his equipment, quite literally, to do interesting things it wasn't originally intended to do, and he was also experimenting with synthesizers. He wasn't the first to use a Moog in a rock song, nor the first to use one in a public performance, but he was the first person crazy enough to take one out on the road, something they weren't originally designed for, and he worked with Bob Moog over the years to stabilize and perfect the system for that application. Technology kept growing from there.

AW: I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't read it yet, so I won't mention specifics, but you leave some things up in the air at the end of the book. Do you yourself know the answers, where the story and the characters go from there?

JG: Absolutely. I know what happens to them for years on down the road, and the answers to all the unanswered questions. I could start on the sequel tomorrow, if I chose, but I hesitate to do that. I left those things open for a reason. I want the reader to decide for him or herself what happens. I think each reader will have his or her own desires for what they want to happen, how they want these people's lives to go, and that's part of the point of the story, and their versions might be quite different from mine. I suppose if people did clamor loud enough to hear my vision of these characters' futures I could be tempted to write it, but that doesn't feel right right now.

The Rooks Parliament

Jenny Grover

Brushpanther Press, September 2010.

What seems on the surface to be a conventional boy-meets-girl, takes that well-trodden setting and knocks it askew with what these characters are, and the time period they live in.

I can’t claim to have read everything about the 60s, but what I have read is about hippies, protests, drugs, sex, and famous musicians of the time, but rarely do they mention the middle class, ordinary teens, or garage rock. And while this book does have the usual things, they are seen through the eyes of middle class teens involved in garage rock. That makes for an interesting and exciting novel.

Bobby Lott is a garage rocker, an organ player who plays in three bands over the course of the book. Garage rock was a thriving underground culture of teens who wanted to be whatever Beatle, Byrd, or Stone, and for a while, especially in the mid 60s, it was The Culture. Julia Greene is a rather innocent teen at the start of the story, giggling over rock bands on TV, but her world changes when she meets Bobby. Their relationship makes her grow up fast, in every single way, challenging her views on love and her family, and affects the lives of everyone they know.

Separation in various forms, as well as questioning if "all you need is love,” are the main themes of this book.

The characters jump off the page and come alive. The plot is more than believable. The town they live in could exist somewhere, anywhere in the US. There is an ease to reading this book; while the story is not simple, the language flows soulfully, making for heart-wrenching scenes, but also ones that burst with joy. A compelling story, three-dimensional characters, and a window on a part of the 60s that seems to always slide by unnoticed, make it more than recommended reading for anyone who likes a good story.

[www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-rooks-parliament/12305429]

Andrea Weiss

2010-09-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

Interpol

S/T

Matador Records

This is a very different band without Carlos -- leaner, and stronger. By keeping the keyboards to a minimum, the band is better for it, because their noisier, jagged, angular, clipped, and choppy guitar playing is what makes these songs shine. This sound is their own, too, and not derivative of various late 70s/80s Brit punk bands. I much prefer it to Turn On the Bright Lights for this reason. It’s better to hear them making their own music, rather than trying to emulate someone else.

Paul Banks’ long-suffering lover-boy lyrics will always be this band’s slight weakness, but with music that is, in its own way, very grand and dramatic, the lyrics are the right fit this time. Indeed, these are his best lyrics yet. And they fit particularly well on the album’s single “Barricade,” a lament on the distance he and his partner have in their relationship. They are extremely sad, but not bleak. He knows he can work it out.

This self-titled album is their best since Antics, and very much worth the wait. It is nice to have them back better than ever, after the letdown that was Our Love to Admire. [www.interpolnyc.com]

Andrea Weiss

2010-08-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

Dylan LeBlanc

Paupers Field

Rough Trade.

LeBlanc is a very talented 20 year old Southerner who takes the best from people like Ray La Montagne, Neil Young, Graham Parsons, and the late Dave Carter at his most depressing and least mystical, and puts them together in a fine debut. LeBlanc sounds world weary and tired, and his country/folk music and lyrics sound the same way.

The only flaw on this album is that the songs crawl along, and by the time the album is finished, it’s something of a slog. But LeBlanc is smart enough to know this, and he’ll work it out. Someone this talented has a long and good career waiting for him. [www.facebook.com/dylanleblancmusic?v=wall]

Andrea Weiss

Magic Kids

Memphis

True Panther Sounds

Fun, musically and lyrically is the operative word here. It’s sunshine-like power-pop, a combination of ELO, the New Pornographers, Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys, the Brill Building, and Big Shot Chronicles-era Game Theory. Lead singer Bennett Foster even sounds like a deeper-voiced Scott Miller. The boy meets girl themes for lyrics are simple without being simplistic. The only quibble is that the band should have checked up on their song titles. “Superball” is not a cover of the Aimee Mann song of the same name, nor does it sound anything like Mann’s song. But that is a very minor complaint, and certainly doesn’t get in the way of the fun. This is an album to be blasted on a car stereo with the top down on a warm, sunny summer day.

[www.myspace.com/themagickids]

Andrea Weiss

2010-08-10T23:51:00.000-07:00

Liz Phair

Funstyle

Self-Released

This bolt out of the blue over the July 4^th weekend was shockingly unexpected, and a reason to cheer. I really didn’t want Somebody’s Miracle, a good but not great album, and slightly underrated because it’s a little too polished, to be her final statement. So I downloaded Funstyle ASAP.

The album is a mess. It’s a jumble of songs that don’t cohere, but that is one reason why the album is so great. It lives up to it’s name big time, it’s playful like Girly Sounds was, adult like the best songs on Somebody’s Miracle were, and just a blast to listen to, with every song having something cool to offer.

While Phair is no rapper, it’s fun to hear her try on “Bollywood.” There is the smoothness of “And He Slayed Her” where she gives Andy Slater, a former Capitol Records executive that Liz doesn’t think much of, a musical slap in the face, and “U hate It,” a wickedly funny song that at the end has the “thank yous” for the album presented as if she’s won an award.

“U Hate It” like a few other songs on the album, take on the backlash that she’s been unfairly living with since her 2003 self-titled album, the slick one which had critics screaming “sell-out.” But that album, heard now, doesn’t seem too different from her other work, and holds up very well. Liz had moved on from albums like Exile in Guyville and WhiteChoclateSpaceEgg, simply because she wasn’t in her 20s or early 30s anymore, and wasn’t about to be forced to be those ages again.

Net critics like Pitchfork are trying to continue that backlash, but don’t believe the anti-hype on Funstyle. It’s a damn fine album--funny, rocking, and pure Liz. And that’s all that’s needed. [www.lizphair.com]. And at [www.mesmerizingtoo.com/mesmerizing_interview_07-10-2010.html] a wondeful interview with Liz.

Andrea Weiss

Stornoway

Beachcombers Windowsill

4AD

This isn’t a bad album--nice, pleasing to hear, melodic, with friendly lyrics, which are also somewhat sappy. This band’s idea of Brit-folk is to sound like Mumford and Sons without that band’s white knuckle rage and fatalism, but if Stornoway got angry just once about something they would be a lot better and more interesting to hear. Still and all, this debut shows promise. For all the sappiness they’re also thoughtful in a way Mumford and Sons aren’t, and in the end likeable as well.

[www.myspace.com/stornoway]

Andrea Weiss

2010-07-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

A Loving Farewell: Kathryn Calder’s Home-spun Tribute to Her Mother

I first heard of Kathryn Calder when she joined The New Pornographers, and soon after, Immaculate Machine, a very good indie folk/rock band who disbanded in 2009, though they are still friends.. Calder’s contributions to the New Pornographers are wonderful, and “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk” is one of my favorite songs on Together. I found out about her solo album Are You My Mother? from “My Morning Download” a feature on WXPN, Philadelphia’s public Triple A radio station. The song in question was “Slip Away.” That sweet, sad and terrific song led me to her album, which I reviewed for this blog.

Are You My Mother?, named after the children’s book of the same name, is a loving memorial to her mother, who passed away from Lou Gehrig’s disease. The album is not a eulogy, but a heartfelt farewell. The album was recorded at her mother’s house, while Kathryn cared for her, and the music has a homelike, lived in feeling, and is simply amazing to hear.

Calder took time out of her busy schedule, which includes touring right now with the New Pornographers, to answer some questions. I sincerely thank her for her time and her thoughtful answers.

Andrea Weiss: What type of music were you listening to while making this record, since the album seems to be folk/rock?

Kathryn Calder: I was listening to all kinds of things – I love the Brazilian 60’s psychedelic folk movement, it inspired me to want to use percussion as much as I did instead of a drum kit. I also took a lot from Sigur Ros. I think they are brilliant at atmosphere. I wanted my record to have lots of weird sounds and I wanted the songs to each have a mood.

AW: Who are your influences?

KC: My influences are the great songwriters/arrangers of the world. Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, David Bowie, Serge Gainsbourg.. I love a good song!

AW: I know that your mother had let you record your album in her living room. How did that feel to you?

KC: Well, I love my house. I grew up there, so it’s very comfortable to me. It’s an old character house from 1912 with high ceilings and hardwood floor, and we set up in her living room – there was an old wood sliding double door that could slide open or closed between the guest room and the living room, so we made the guest room the control room and the living room the tracking room. We choose to record the album there partly because the acoustics were so nice, and also so I could record and still be at home, which was important to me. Among other reasons, I had been on tour for almost three years strong at that point, so the idea of leaving my house to go to another city to record wasn’t appealing to me at all.

AW" Did your mother get to hear these songs? And if she did, what did she think of them?

KC: She loved them! She listened to the record every day. Seriously, it was on almost every day. She was very supportive of me!

AW: I like the way you use the seasons changing, summer into fall, and then fall into winter, as a metaphor for loss. What about the seasons inspired you to use this?

KC: I think it was more a metaphor for change than for loss. It also works for loss, but I was thinking of it in terms of life always moving forward, whether you want it to or not. It’s a well used metaphor, but also a good one.

AW: There are songs like “Castor and Pollux” that just burst with life and happiness. Did you want these songs to balance the sad ones?

KC: Yes, that really was my intention. I wanted there to be some balance, I didn’t want the whole record to be the same kind of song, so I chose to include some upbeat songs in there.

AW: There are songs with wonderful wordless refrains where everyone is singing in unison. Are those refrains one of your favorite types of refrains?

KC: I don’t know if they’re my favourite type of refrains, but sometimes melodies just work better in ooohs. That was the case for my song ‘Slip Away’. I thought about putting some words in there, but nothing sounded as good as the ooohs, so I had to go with what sounded the best.

AW: Was it a different dynamic making a solo album, as opposed to one from The New Pornographers or Immaculate Machine?

KC: It was a different experience for me. I had complete creative control over my solo record. I wrote all of the songs and a lot of the arrangements. I had help from my various musician friends who came up with amazing parts, but a lot of it was also me and my producer Colin Stewart messing around late at night with strange objects trying to come up with percussion parts or those subtle background noises that add those interesting layers.

AW: Any tips for aspiring musicians?

KC: Have fun and good luck!

Andrea Weiss

2010-07-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

Perfume Genius

Learning

Matador

Mike Hadreas is Perfume Genius, and his songs, recorded while living at his mother’s house for a year after living through some dark and horrible times, are mostly just him at the piano or organ. He is very young, in his 20s, and while his voice is one of a young man, he seems wise beyond his years, years of very hard living.

If these songs were total fiction, Hadreas would be just one more whiner and/or cry baby. But these songs allude to where he has been emotionally, and the situations he found himself in, which is what makes them real and heartbreaking. However, by facing down his feelings, memories and thoughts, he offers hope that if he can get healthy, others can too.

This is a great album, cathartic, wrenching, painful, but yet uplifting. Hadreas has a lot of talent, and it will grow. It will be wonderful listening to it happen, and hearing where he will take us next. [www.myspace.com/kewlmagik]

Andrea Weiss

2010-07-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Mystery Jets

Serotonin

Rough Trade

This is prog at it’ most plastic, like Asia’s “Heat of the Moment,” or Yes’s “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” What saves these songs from total lameness is that the band mixes in variations on Blur’s “Boys and Girls” or the Gorillaz’s “On Melancholy Hill.”

Lyrically the best line is a dumb joke: “the birds and bees, they all have STD’s.” Otherwise these songs are fairly pleasant, if lightweight musings on falling in and out of love. So, if something bouncy and light is needed, this album is perfect. [www.myspace.com/mysteryjets]

Andrea Weiss

2010-07-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

Kathryn Calder
Are You My Mother?
File Under: Music

These brilliantly simple, yet emotionally complex songs have a directness reminiscent of Dar Williams and Jonatha Brooke at their most stripped down lyrically, with the homespun quality of early Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s music. There is sadness, happiness, anger, fun, and a gentle good humor, a young woman finding her voice, feeling older, sadder and wiser, yet knowing good things are out there.

Calder recorded these songs in her mother’s living room, playing most of the instruments, with Colin Stewart producing the album. Todd Fancey and Kurt Dahle of the New Pornographers (of which Calder is a member) and Ladyhawk, along with Paul Rigby from Neko Case’s band, are some of the special guests. Neko Case sings on two tracks to round out the guest list. All make the music magical, and amazing. This rough folk/rock soars. Calder’s singing is a joy to hear. She is very down to earth, wise, but also lets her emotions show, and it’s these emotions that make the songs vibrant.

Kathryn dedicated Are You My Mother to her mother Lynn, whom she cared for as she was dying of ALS, (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Her mother did hear these songs, loved them and listened to the album every day. However, this album is far from a eulogy. Instead, it’s a tribute, a heartfelt good-bye, a loving thanks for the memories, that assures her spirit will live on in this music, and also observers that life is for living and being happy. Put all of the elements of the album together, and this is the debut of the year, and also one of the best albums of the year. Out now digitally and on CD August 11. [www.kathryncalder.ca][www.facebook.com/pages/Kathryn-Calder/86730676336]
Andrea Weiss

2010-06-08T23:40:00.000-07:00

Ratatat
LP4
XL Recordings

This is a fun album to listen to. Guitars and keyboards zoom, swoosh, and swoop in and out of the mix. Electronically altered voices “do-do-doing.” “oh wow” and “yeah.” A string section weaves in and out good naturedly, and in the end the album is goodhearted, goofy, and a blast to hear, even as the pieces sound too much alike in spots. Nevertheless, this is techno with a sense of adventure, absurd humor, and playfulness, perfect for dancing and any situation where fun music is required. [www.myspace.com/ratatatmusic]
Andrea Weiss

Delorean
Subiza
True Panther Sounds

For all the happiness shown on these tracks, all the joy and ecstasy this danceable synth-pop has, it is also soft enough that by the end of the album the music loses steam, becomes tiresome and, finally. boring. A song or two might be good for the dance floor, but as a whole, it’s best to skip it. [www.myspace.com/delorean]
Andrea Weiss

2010-05-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

Holy Fuck
Latin
Young Turks/XL Recordings

This is friendly techno, with a real life drummer as well as drum machines. Nice to chill out to, but not good for dancing. It just sails gracefully to nowhere, with a beat so monotonous that it’s hard to concentrate on it. In the end, great background music, and nothing much else. [www.myspace.com/holyfuck]
Andrea Weiss

The National
High Violet
4AD records

Nothing quite fits together on this album, for all the right reasons. For example, depressing lyrics are offset by music that is hope filled, glorious, beautiful and soaring.
Nothing makes quite sense lyrically, whether the rather unclear meanings are about love or life, but the music picks up the slack, and makes the lyrics meaningful, filling the gaps with insight. The singing here is rich and reminiscent of Michael Stipe, yet the REM comparison doesn’t quite fit, because the band has its own sound and doesn’t emulate REM. Finally the lyrics are smart, and well-written, but a little too insular. This said, the overall sound of the music and lyrics is great, and proves to be just as rewarding at their last album Boxer. [www.myspace.com/thenational]
Andrea Weiss

2010-04-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

The Modern Folksinger. An interview with Mark Erelli.

I’ve been listening to Mark Erelli since his first album. He is an amazing songwriter, and singer, and his new album, Little Vigils. continues his string of great albums. The Darwin Song Project is also very good, a celebration of Darwin as a person and his work. The album that was drawn from the concert, Origin of the Species, is fun and very serious at the same time.

I recently interviewed Erelli, and found his answers thoughtful and insightful. And I apologize for misinterpreting one of his songs.

Andrea Weiss: Nature in its spiritual form seems to inform the lyrics of the songs, to form an atmosphere of the natural world. How important is that realm to the album?"

Mark Erelli: There's a lot of natural imagery on this record, both on a larger, landscape scale (e.g. oceans, mountains, etc) and on a more finely detailed level (e.g. life cycle of a parasitoid wasp). Nature is a big part of how I observe and interact with some notion of an infinite force, which is how I would loosely define spirituality. Now that I have a son, I'm understandably sharing with him some of the ways with which I interact with nature, and as such, it is on my mind a lot. On Little Vigils, nature is very much the backdrop against which many of these songs unfold.

AW: The album seems to say that people should take nothing for granted. Do you intend that to be the theme of the album?

ME: Yes, this is the larger subtext behind the phrase "little vigils." I use it in the opening track, "August," as a specific reference to checking in on my sleeping son every night before turning in myself, a moment to keep watch over the most important thing in my life. After I made the record, looking over this group of songs I see that same idea woven through each one. It's like I'm reminding myself to pay attention, live life fully and consciously, and keep watch over the things that make life so rich and fulfilling, lest I take them for granted or they slip away.

AW: How much of this album is based on your own personal experiences?

ME: From the above, I guess this is obvious, but most of these songs have very personal origins and meanings for me. However, there is a healthy degree of universality here--this is stuff we all can relate to. I'm fairly certain that comes across, because I think of my songs as drawing much of their strength from the fact that I am not much different from anybody else. I don't view myself as some rarified artist doling out insights to the less enlightened. The stuff I write about is what anyone could see and feel if they were tuned in to the world.

AW: Did the album start from the Darwin Song Project, or from a different place?

ME: I had other songs written before the Darwin Song Project, but had not written much in the 7-8 months before that experience. The project really shook things loose for me from a writing perspective, and helped me finish up the batch of songs that came to be "Little Vigils."

AW: Was it fun making the album, especially since you had worked with most of the people on it before?

ME: Making this record was a blast. It's hard to compare to the process of making my previous records because I'm more experienced and confident now, and I'm not as anxious or stressed out that things will fall apart. I had worked with all the guys in the band in other formats, like bluegrass bands or as other artists' sidemen, so there was a good foundation of friendship and mutual admiration. To be able to work together on something that wasn't just a one-off show or random club date and dig into something a bit more substantial and extensive, I think was really enjoyable for everyone. Plus, when you have all your friends in a Maine farmhouse for four days, with whiskey, bb guns and rock n' roll...if you don't have fun you are most certainly in the wrong line of work.

AW: How do you feel your songwriting has evolved over the years?

ME: I'm not sure how or if the finished product of the song I write has changed, but I know the way in which I go about writing songs has changed substantially. I used to have plenty of time to sit and stare out the window with a guitar and a cup of coffee, waiting for inspiration. Nowadays, with a young son and another on the way, I have to work much more quickly, and I steal moments to work on songs bit by bit whenever I can.

AW: The Darwin Song project is very pro-evolution and anti-religion, was there a desire to push the envelope on that subject?

ME: With all due respect, I disagree with the entire premise of this question. The songs on the Darwin Song Project focus far more on the personal life of Darwin as a father and husband. There are many more references to the fact that religion and science can co-exist, or at least comment on different areas on the continuum of human experience, than there are disdainful dismissals of faith. Even my song "Kingdom Come," ends with Darwin professing his wish that he could believe in heaven so as to be closer to his devout wife. In general, I have no desire to write a song with the sole purpose of pushing envelopes or upsetting people, but I also feel it is dangerous to censor myself by not writing about something I feel deeply about for fear that it might anger someone else. All I can do is write the best song I can, offer it up as honestly as I'm capable, and then hope nobody labels me inaccurately.

AW: Was the Darwin Project album fun to record?"

ME: The Darwin Song Project is a lot more fun now that it's in the rearview mirror. While we were writing the songs and preparing for the live show where they would be recorded, it was so stressful that basically half of us were making ourselves sick with anxiety and rundown with colds! After we'd come through successfully on the other side and the project was completed, I think everybody looks back on it as a lot of fun, but we probably didn't feel it when we were in the middle of doing it.

AW: Is Darwin an influence on you?

ME: Sure, in the sense that any original thinker who comes up with an earth-shaking theory that entirely restructures the way the human species looks at itself! I have always been into the nature, I played in the woods a lot as a boy, so his ideas resonated with me once I got to the point in school when they were introduced. As I have researched Darwin 'the man' more, I can see a lot of his qualities as a father and a husband that I would be grateful to emulate.

AW: Did you really have a band like the one in Basement Days?

ME: Yes, I really did. Several, in fact. I didn't make up much in that song, not even the names of my former bandmates! I may have thrown a couple of songs in there that we didn't actually play simply because they preserved the rhyme scheme, but 99% of it is true, including the bit about the fire department shutting down a local gig because of our smoke machine.

AW: What do you think of young folk singers like Neko Case?

ME: I think she is the latest in a line of truly unique and iconic American voices, stretching from Roy Orbison and Willie Nelson, up to more recent singers like Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Iris Dement and Patty Griffin. These artists could sing the phone book and make it sound otherworldly.

Watch the video for "Basement Days" here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lOUA907xsE&feature=player_embedded

Mark Erelli
Little Vigils
Hillbilly Pilgrim Records

The top-notch playing on this album can shift on a dime to folk, to country, to rock. Erelli and his band are well versed in all three styles, and the playful, yet serious music they make is both fun and insightful. Even when the lyrics are downcast, like on “Hemlock Grove,” the music illuminates the lyrics to give the song a haunted feel, a feeling of experience, and lessons learned. There is even a roaring guitar solo in the Springstein- like “Basement Days,” about Erelli looking back on his teen years, and all the rock bands he played in, even one that had the plug pulled on them in a church basement because the fire alarm was set off by their dry ice machine.

The natural world and spirituality are woven into a theme of never taking anything for granted, whether it’s keeping an eye on his son while he sleeps, starting over by leaving some place, like “Columbus Ohio,” or Darwin as a man and a scientist. And Darwin provides a good and interesting twist to the subject of spirituality.

Erelli was invited in 2009 to perform on The Darwin Song Project, a concert and album celebrating the 150th anniversary of Darwin. The album that is drawn from that concert, the Origin of the Species, is highly recommended, both for the rollicking folk music, and the lyrics examining Darwin’s work and his life as a husband and father. All sides are examined, including religion, which at first glance sound anti-religious and really aren’t. His two songs, “Kingdom Come” and “Mother of Mysteries,” which also appear on Little Vigils in a band format, are very much in this vein lyrically, just delightfully expanded and musically lively

This is a wonderful, thought provoking and versatile album, one that has meaning, and yet never seems weighed down. One of the best and strongest albums I’ve heard all year.
[http://markerelli.com]
Andrea Weiss

2010-04-06T00:25:00.000-07:00

Harlem
Hippies
Matador Records

Good basic garage rock, very retro-sounding musically, as in three chords and the truth bashing away. Lyrically, slightly more sophisticated, which makes them modern garage on the topics of “my baby done me wrong,” “I love my baby,” and “the whole world is against me, but I’ll survive anyway.” A fun party album and just a fun album period. [www.myspace.com/harlemduh]
Andrea Weiss

2010-03-23T23:55:00.000-07:00

Serena-Maneesh
S-M 2: Abyss in B Minor
4AD

The first track of this album sounds very sensual, but also very industrial musically, but sounds nothing like the rest of the album. The rest sounds like a popper version of My Bloody Valentine, with wonderful melodies, and sweet singing from both vocalists. It’s very creative and experiential music, but totally accessible at the same time. The lyrics are buried in the mix, which is not a bad thing. They blend with the music nicely. The few clear fragments seem to be about sex and desire. In the end, there is nothing not to like about this album, which makes it very enjoyable.
[www.myspace.com/serenamaneesh]
Andrea Weiss

The Unthanks
The Unthanked
Rough Trade Records

The Unthanks are sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank, who have made a terrific modern folk album. Their musical style is to meld traditional folk with an eerly calm atmosphere reminiscent of Radiohead and Fleet Foxes. This makes for tranquil music that is also arresting. Their voices are gorgeous: lilting, sweet, but also tough.

Lyrically it’s storytelling. For example “Annachie Gordon.” They are good writers, especially on “Not Much Luck in Our House” and “Where’ve Yer Bin Dick?” the two best tracks. So let’s give thanks to the Unthanks for a wonderful album, one that has already won raves in the UK, and hopefully will get them in the US. [www.myspace.com/rachelunthank]
Andrea Weiss

2010-03-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

Titus Andronicus
The Monitor
XL Recordings

This is a fun concept album. Was the American Civil War won, lost or ever completed? A young man leaves New Jersey for Boston, and hopes his future is there. What does it means to be an American in 2009? And should indie rock ask all of this? Finding out the answers to these questions is great, especially when the music goes full tilt throughout the album.

Lead singer/songwriter Patrick Stickles makes fun of Conor Oberst and pays tribute to Springstein simultaneously by sounding like Conor, roaring drunk, tries to imitate Bruce, and does a great job of it. The music is raucous, rowdy, fantastic, and funny. There are lots of New Jersey in-jokes, but you don't have to get the jokes to enjoy the record.

Since this is a Jersey band, there are a lot of cool jokes about the Garden State, like “there’ll be no more cars on the Garden State Parkway.” The song titles do have something to do with the Civil War, like “Four Score and Seven Years Ago.” And the album ends with all the loose ends tied up neatly, for one thing, the union did with the Civil War, and that’s damn good, with feedback fading quietly, and respectfully, a way to bring to a close a terrific album. [www.titusandronicus.net]
Andrea Weiss

Ted Leo
The Brutaliist Bricks
Matador Records

Leo’s Matador debut finds him making a few changes to his basic punk rock style. He sings and plays softer on some songs, which has the effect of emphasizing his messages. On others, especially “Even Heroes Have to Die” are folk/rock, and where he sounds like Billy Bragg in his prime.

Elsewhere, his music bristles with sharp guitars, which start the revolution, and end it in triumph. A nice contrast to the more singer/songwriter songs. His music makes the lyrics bite, never more so than this line on “Ativan Eyes”: “The means of production are now in the hands of the workers.” That’s an old-fashioned Communist slogan, which he’s serious about. Better a leftist revolution than a right wing one. Likewise on “Bartolomeo and the Buzzing of Bees,” he dreams of happy times after the revolution has been won.

Love is also political to him, and not as sexual politics, but as a foundation to build a new world. He knows he’s messed up with a lover, and wants her forgiveness. And love is a revelation to him, one that makes him happy and hopeful.

A clear-eyed leftist message set to fiery punk rock, and to gentle folk, is a tonic for crazy political times. It makes for a fine album, and one that makes you think about rising up, and making sure tomorrow better than today. [www.myspace.com/tedleo]
Andrea Weiss

The Morning Benders
Big Echo
Rough Trade

Lead singer Christopher Chu and Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear produced this album to sound apparently like a 90s power pop album. Specifically, the sound is along the lines of the people Jon Brion worked with in the 90s, like Aimee Mann and Rufus Wainwright. The sound of the Posies and the Eels also show up in the mix. That does not mean that the music is bad or retro, just fresh, different and interesting. It is very good, grand, playful, and creative.

Lyrically, the writing is smart and witty. One example is a line in the single “Excuses,” “You tried to taste me, and I taped my tongue to the southern tip of your body.” Another is “Hand Me Downs” about death and what you’ll leave behind for others to carry on with.

This is a very good album whose pleasures hit in a rush at first, then slowly sinks in. The afterglow stays after the album is finished, lingering a long time. [www.myspace.com/themorningbenders]
Andrea Weiss

Pavement
Quarantine The Past
Matador

This career-spanning comp’s songs were selected by the band, who are currently on a reunion tour. They document a great band, that in it’s own way, was as good as Nirvana.
While they didn’t have the chart success that Nirvana had, they, and many other bands like Sebidoh to Liz Phair, were just as influential.

Pavement’s music was both a comment on and compliment to grunge, they created a sound, lyrically and musically, that showed there was more to 90s rock than grunge. They offered an alternative to grunge, especially on “Range Life” where they made fun of the Smashing Pumpkins and played a lighthearted joke on the Stone Temple Pilots.

Lighthearted irony was also a big part of Pavement’s sound, whether is was Spiral Stairs (Scott Kannberg) shredding on guitar or Steven Malkimist’s wry voice and dry wit. Joking around when everything looks hopeless is a lot of fun to listen to, and a good attitude to have. Even when they played a song that was more serious, they didn’t take themselves seriously, which was great, and adds to the fun.

“Summer Babe,” “Stereo,” and “Shady Lane” to name a few masterpieces, are all on the comp, with lesser known prizes like the REM tribute “The Unseen Power of the Picket Fence.” “Cut Your Hair,” which rang true in 1994, rings even truer today.

Quarantine The Past is a good starting point for new fans, a romp for the faithful, and a wonderful look at a band that should have been huge. It is great to have them back, and this comp is a cool way to welcome them. [www.myspace.com/pavement]
Andrea Weiss

2010-03-01T23:03:00.000-08:00

Beth Thornley
Wash U Clean
Stiff Hips

Thornley was initially compared to Aimee Mann, but currently sounds more like Tegan and Sara, especially on the album’s best track “You’re So Pony.” The overall sound is 21st century indie rock, a little harder, a little rougher, and sharper. Thornley’s take on romance is smart, tough, and no nonsense. It’s a very good album, fun to listen to, especially on an iPod, and also good for doing some deep thinking. [www.myspace.com/beththornley]
Andrea Weiss

2010-02-22T23:56:00.000-08:00

Efterkland
Magic Chairs
4 AD Records

The band is from Copenhagen, their third album overall, and their 4 AD debut. The band’s name means “remembrance” or “reverberation.”

Musically and lyrically the band combines the soft, soothing wonder of Nursery Crime era Genesis, or Radiohead without the doom and gloom. Lead singer Casper Clausen is a better singer than Peter Gabriel or Thom Yorke. Clausen is not obnoxious or whiny. He and the band are very good, pleasant to listen to, and very relaxing. [www.myspace.com/efterklang]
Andrea Weiss

Holly Miranda
The Magician’s Private Library
XL Recordings

It is wonderful to hear an album as fresh and unique as Miranda’s debut. By avoiding all the lyrical clichés about how life and love is filled with joy or pain in favor of dreamscapes, especially lucid dreamscapes, she imagines a world where anything is possible.

Musically the sound is soft, lush, and yes, dream-like. It is a magical sound, happily not hackneyed, one that shimmers, and adds texture to the lyrics, especially on “Sweet Dreams.” David Andrew Sitek of TV on the Radio produced the album, and it’s what Miranda gets from that band’s sound that lends weight and power to it, with extra power provided by Kip Malone’s duet with Miranda on “Slow Burn Treason.”

The album’s title comes from her uncle David, who said Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon sounded like “the magician’s private library.” This album is dedicated to him. Miranda says the title could be anything and anywhere, which fits this album just right, and sum up this great album very neatly. [www.myspace.com/hollymiranda]
Andrea Weiss

Shearwater
The Golden Archipelago
Matador Records

The wonder of nature found in solitude is the theme of The Golden Archipelago. Researcher and singer/songwriter Jonathan Meiburg has lived on various islands, among them the Falklands, the Galapagos, and Madagascar. He found numinous silences, lushness and austerity, and how nature and humans live with these kinds of extremes. The music reflects all of this, quiet one minute, swelling to a roar the next, beautiful and eerie, with Meiburg’s calm, deep voice tying everything together.

While the lyrics put into words his feelings about living in very remote places, after awhile it’s apparent that Meiburg would prefer to live without human contact, and that nature is all he needs. It’s what makes this album so sad to listen to, almost unbearably sad, and in the end annoying. What is so bad about humankind that makes nature preferable? The question is never answered. It is that unanswered question that in the end makes this an album to skip, it is beyond belief that Meiburg would want to be alone like that. People need people, and anything else isn’t creditable. [www.myspace.com/shearwater]
Andrea Weiss

2010-02-08T23:56:00.000-08:00

Gil Scott-Heron
I’m New Here
XL Recordings

The music is barely present. It serves as various grooves, or foundations, and is always shortchanging itself by never sounding as rich or full as it could be. It’s the words that matter.

Most of these lyrics hit home, whether spoken or sung. Scott-Heron looks back on his life. He tells the truth, as he sees it, and it’s sometimes bitter, sometimes sad, and sometimes angry. “On Coming From a Broken Home, Parts 1 and 2,” he expresses love for his grandmother, mother, and all the women who raised him who made him a man. He had no men in his life growing up.

There is one little wrinkle with that two part song though. On “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” his most famous song, he slams feminists as “hairy armed women’s liberationists.” But all the women who raised him do sound like the very feminists he sneers at, so it’s hard to know how seriously to take “On Coming From a Broken Home.” This and the music mars a great album, which is too bad, he still has all his talent intact at 60, and still has plenty to say. [www.gilscottheron.net]
Andrea Weiss

Pantha Du Prince
Black Noise
Rough Trade

This album is somewhere between ambient tencho and new age music. Prince takes synthesizers, mixes them with acoustic guitars, steel drums on some tracks, marimbas on others, and found sounds such as knocking, ringing, and barking. Noah Lennox of Animal Collective sings on “Stick to My Side” and Tyler Pope of !!! and LCD Soundsystem plays bass on “The Splendour.”

However, for all the ambient noise, the beat is too fast to be much good for meditating, which is what new age music mostly is used for, but not fast enough for danceing. What is left is an album that hums loudly in the background, which is not much fun for chilling out to. But for doing choirs or exercising, for example, it is perfect, and no use for reading, writing or painting. [www.myspace.com/panthaduprince]
Andrea Weiss

2010-01-26T22:55:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Frazer
Moses EP
Rough Trade

Three versions of the same song, “Moses,” and all have a hushed, surreal atmosphere. They are basically ambient tencho with a beat, bittersweet to hear, as well as lovely. All three versions are recommended, simply because of their beauty. The proceeds from this EP go to the family of Jake Drake-Brockman, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in September of last year. Jake, along with Frazer’s partner, Damon Reece, play on all three versions, making this EP, and Frazer’s first solo recording, a tribute to him. And what a fine tribute it is. [www.elizabethfraser.com]
Andrea Weiss

Fucked Up
Couple Tracks, Singles 2002-2009
Matador

Fucked Up is a Toronto-based hardcore band that has put out many singles for different labels, two full-length albums, and Epics in Minutes, a singles comp from 2004. This comp collects hard to find singles and alternative takes spanning the years in the album title.

They are as melodic as classic Husker Du, as principled as Fugazi, as angry as prime Black Flag, with a sense of humor all their own, like “I Hate Summer” and “He’s So Frisky.” They are fun to listen to, to get some aggression out, or to start a revolution, like on “No Pasaran,” an anti-fascist commentary of the Spanish Civil War. The title is Spanish for “they will not pass” and the phrase over the years has become a rallying cry at leftist rallies.

This band was great from the get-go, and if their last single “No Epiphany “(fast version)” is any guide, this comp, will also be cool, as in fucking cool. [www.myspace.com/epicsinminutes]
Andrea Weiss

Basia Bulat
Heart of My Own
Rough Trade Records

Multi-instrumentalist Bulat sings like a cross between Joan Baez and Sandy Denny, with lyrics that bring to mind Dar Williams. She uses her voice to good effect to bring out the emotions in the songs, never over sings. Her guitar and autoharp playing, just two examples of the instruments she can play, is wonderful. She plays with grace and style. Her lyrics are traditional folk, but the modern twist is that they’re somewhat quirky, just like Dar Williams. Heart of My Own is a very good album, a nice mixture of folk and pop and recommended to folk music fans, and to anyone who likes good pop music. [www.myspace.com/basiabulat]
Andrea Weiss

2010-01-12T23:58:00.000-08:00

Vampire Weekend
Contra
XL Recordings

Vampire Weekend’s second album is fairly bursting with ideas, thoughts, and feelings. It succeeded on every track putting its points across both musically and lyrically. It is wonderful in every way, and easily tops their debut.

They opened their sound to other cultures, from third wave ska bands like Operation Ivy to Brazilian baile funk, to name a couple of examples, and moved beyond their basic afro-pop sound. Ezra Koenig’s singing has improved greatly, much more adult, and what he does with his voice, whether by scatting like on “Cousins”, or entwining his voice with a Kalimba thumb piano on “Horchata”, makes the emotions and thoughts in the music come out in the lyrics as well.

“Diplomat’s Son” is a great example. Assuming the main character is gay, a man looks back at a best friend, the diplomat’s son, who wasn’t very diplomatic. The main character knows he loves him, can’t bring himself to admit it, so he wants to use him instead. One night they smoke a joint, go to bed for what turns out to be a one night stand, and leaves the main character with a terrible memory. Musically there is a lot going on, the warm, bouncy melodies and rhythms of dancehall, Bollywood, West African guitar music, a percussive sample from MIA’s “Hussel”, and a guitar interpolation of “Pressure Drop” makes the emotions of the song come through nicely, and powerfully.

Because it’s mid January, it’s probably too early to say that there will be very few albums that are as good. These songs are wonderful, and the band’s vision so strong, that it is hard to say anything else. This truly is the first masterpiece of the year, and what a cool way to start the musical year. [www.myspace.com/vampireweekend]
Andrea Weiss

2009-12-15T22:29:00.000-08:00

I slept With Joey Ramone
A Family Memoir
Mickey Leigh with Legs McNeil
Touchstone 2009

This wonderful, sweet, poignant, loving and, at times, funny memoir is written by Joey Ramone’s younger brother, Mickey, with help from Legs McNeil. It is the story of two brothers, told with much love, even when Mickey was estranged from his brother.

Jeffery Hyman, Joey’s real name, grew up in Queens. He and his brother found salvation in music, a way of making sense of their world. Since this was the 60s, the brothers became hippies. Jeffery even went to Woodstock.

Mickey recounts Jeffery’s childhood and young adulthood with both sadness and affection. He tried to help his brother as much as he could, all the while making a life for himself.

The Ramones’ rise to icon status is told from Mickey’s the point of view, including how Johnny, Tommy and Dee Dee joined the band. The band was in the right place at the right time, just the way New York punk rock was, and while Joey was an unlikely frontman, he was unmistakable, for his size, glasses, and voice. Mickey also played with Lester Bangs in Birdland and his own bands including The Rattlers, and STOP.

Joey’s diagnoses of lymphoma is the most heartbreaking part of the book., and how he deals with it. Mickey is a great writer--sharp, clear, direct, handling even the most delicate and disturbing events with ease and grace. Reading this book is to read about the man behind the icon. It celebrate Joey’s accomplishments, personal and musical, and mourns his passing. It is a must read for Ramones fans, and for anyone who ever loved rock and roll.
Andrea Weiss

2009-11-06T22:14:00.000-08:00

Cold Cave
Love Comes Close
Matador

The music sounds like a cross between Erasure and Joy Division. The lyrics, all about relationships, are friendly. They sing with a wary note in their voices, as though they are uneasy with the thought of getting in too deep with whoever they want to go out with. Love Comes Close is a good album for an iPod, nice music to walk to, as well as to dance to, in a club. It’s a strong debut from this New York/Philadelphia band, and a great one. [www.myspace.com/coldcave]
Andrea Weiss

Friends on Fire
Dale Whisman
AWOC Books

The book begins in Vietnam. Davis is looking for something in Saigon, winds up getting kidnapped, but escapes. What was he looking for and why is it so important that he was kidnapped and marked as a criminal?

Thirty-five years later, Davis is still on the run. Why does his son think he’s innocent? Meanwhile, fires have been set in Tulsa, OK. Is there a connection between these fires and Davis, and if there is, why are people being killed because of it? And how is main character P.I. Carl Jacobs involved?

This well-plotted mystery, with characters that are very real, is told in clear, direct, matter-of-fact prose. What adds to the suspense is that the book is narrated in omnipresent third person, which allows for the bad guys to be seen as well as the good guys. Both sides have a story to tell.

Friends on Fire is a thrilling book, with many wonderful twists and turns, yet wraps things up in a splendid way. Whisman’s excellent writing makes this book a must read, and another winner just the way his last book, Friends and Other Perishables was. [www.awocbooks.com] [www.myspace.com/hookersmovie]
Andrea Weiss

2009-10-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

Elvis Perkins in Deerland
Doomsday EP
XL Recordings

This EP revolves around a song from this band’s self-titled album that was released earlier this year. There are two versions of the tile track, one the album version, and a new slow version, with two traditional folk songs, and two new originals.

Perkins and his band play, write and sing very well. However, the songs on the EP, like the full length album, sound like a less experimental Michael Penn, with lyrics that try to shoulder the weight of the world on them. Perkins sings like Michael Penn, and without Penn’s caustic air. The title tracks are meant to be ironically lighthearted, but in the end sound pretentious. Michael Penn continues to turn out better music than this, and there is no reason Penn should be replaced by Perkins.
[www.myspace.com/elvisperkinsindearland]
Andrea Weiss

2009-10-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

Spiral Stairs
The Real Feel
Matador Records

This is Bob “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg’s first true solo album, and the first record from him since Preston School of Industry’s 2004 album "Monsoon." Kannberg was also a founding member of Pavement.

His theme is his divorce from his first wife, and the emotional devastation that followed, from which he emerged as a happier, healthier person. The lyrics are dark, but not gloomy, they recount the darkness he felt, and what it took to bring him back into the light. He’s positive that music will hold him together, even though there were times he felt he could not make music anymore. This is all accomplished without making the lyrics or the theme a cliché. That’s not easy to do, but he makes it look easy.

Musically, this album is mix and match, some Rumors/Tusk era Fleetwood Mac, some Dylan circa Blood on the Tracks/Desire, the deep blues of Nick Cave, the plainspoken honesty of the Go-Betweens, and Richard and Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out the Lights. Stairs has managed to blend these very different sounds and bands together very well, with the help of bassist Matt Harris, drummer Darius Minwalla, the Posies Jon Auer, and his friends in Australia. Australia will also be his home from now on, because he has a fiancé there.

The Real Feel is an album rich with musical and lyrical detail. It feels real. It’s his world. Welcome to a great album. [www.myspace.com/prestonschool]
Andrea Weiss

2009-10-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division
The Inside Story of the First Openly Gay Pop-Punk Band
Jon Ginoli
Cleis Press, 2009

This out and proud memoir starts out as a coming out/coming of age story. Ginoli was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, came out to himself as a teen, and got into 70s punk rock, especially Tom Robinson, the UK's first out punk rocker. He moved to Champaign to attend college, and found himself more comfortable in Champaign's underground music scene than the gay club scene. He started a band named The Outnumbered, which had some success, and signed with Homestead records. Ginoli wasn't out publicly at the time, his lyrics were closeted, with no-gender specific pronouns, and nothing that could be construed as openly gay.

Ginoli moved to L.A. after graduation to work at a music store, and later at Rough Trade. He didn't like L.A. and moved to San Francisco, where he got involved with ACT-UP, and occasionally rallies and demonstrations with Queer Nation. He got the idea to form a gay pop-punk band from the wonderful lesbian folk/punk band Two Nice Girls, who, along with Phranc, predated Melissa Etheridge and were a lot more out than she and other out musicians who followed.

Ginoli wanted to put into song what he got from performance artist Karen Finley, a woman who celbrated feminism and denounced sexism in very radical terms and Two Nice Girls. He wanted rock with a clear, direct, and fun viewpoint about being out and gay. Ginoli wrote funny and dirty songs about sex that were personal and political statements. "ANTHEM" from the first Pansy Division album, has lyrics about disliking Judy Garland, who is a gay icon. Garland's status was based on rumors that she was gay friendly. A new generation of out musicians was coming to the fore who wanted an alternative to standard gay male and lesbian culture.

Pansy Division is a play on words and a protest on the Panzer Division, a WW 2 German army unit that sent l/b/g/t people to the camps, too. It was the right name at the right time. “Homocore” or “queercore” (the terms were interchangeable) was just starting as a trend, and the band got lumped in with that scene, even though they didn’t like hardcore. But the trend got them signed with Lookout Records, where they met Green Day.

Green Day had been Lookout Records' biggest seller, who eventually signed with Warner Brothers. Their first album was a huge hit, and the band decided to mess with their newfound jock audience by taking Pansy Division on tour with them. Suddenly Pansy Division had a taste of the mainstream, liked it, and had loads of fun. The women who went to the Green Day shows became the biggest fans of Pansy Division on that tour. They liked Pansy Division's music and their message that some guys, no matter if they're gay or straight, can be jerks. There was much homophobia, though, from other, mostly male fans, and people in the industry. There were times when Green Day refused to play if Pansy Division couldn’t play. Green Day won those points.

The lesson from touring with Green Day was that Pansy Division found what worked and what didn’t work musically. They remained on Lookout and toured all over the world. There was still lots of homophobia, even from out musicians, and many people found their viewpoint a little too extreme. Dustin, a neurotic drummer whose problems caused much tension within the band, eventually was asked to leave the band. And the scene which had spawned feminist and out punk rock bands slowly faded.

In later years, Pansy Division found their niche, with a solid audience, and are still together today. Their songs also became more relationship-oriented.

Ginoli is a good writer, wry, honest, and has a light touch on some of the little wrinkles about being gay and liking rock. That he tells his story so well made this book a must read, a window on an alternative that was needed then, and is needed now.
Andrea Weiss

2009-10-12T01:24:00.000-07:00

Alela and Alina
Alela and Alina
Rough Trade

Alela Diane is a 25 year old folk singer from Portland OR, and Alina Harding is a friend of hers. This 6 song EP is a companion piece to Diane’s terrific To Be Still, released in February of this year on Rough Trade.

To be Still is a wonderful mix and match of 70s, 90s and 21st folk: “Diamonds and Rust” era Joan Baez, early Kate and Anna McGarrigle crossed with Katryna Nields
and Beth Orton vocally. Diane draws on Joanna Newsom for lyrics. Diane's lyrics are even quirkier than Newsome’s but the meanings are easier to understand. In lesser hands this album would have been a mess, but Diane’s sure vision keeps all three elements together seamlessly.

The Alela and Alina EP has the sound of To Be still, with Harding’s voice adding Katryna's sister Nerissa , or a second Beth Orton. The first four songs are new, and all are excellent, both women harmonize very well, like on “Bowling Green” where they wish they were in that town and with their lover. The Child Ballad, “Matty Groves”, made famous by Fairport Convention, with its stark, bare bones updating, fits into the folk tradition of learning songs to pass them on expertly, and gracefully. Rounding things out is a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Rake” which ends a great EP on a sad, wistful note, but one with a sense of uplift through tragedy. [www.myspace.com/alelamusic]
Andrea Weiss

2009-10-07T00:06:00.000-07:00

Kurt Vile
Childish Prodigy
Matador

On Vile’s first album on Matador, he sounds as if he’s trying to imitate Iggy Pop, if Iggy was a folk singer. Vile is very good at that too, he has Iggy down pretty well, and he is an excellent amplified acoustic guitar player who uses various effects such as reverb nicely. It is just Vile and a guitar on most of these tracks.

The two best tracks are the ones where he is himself, and not Iggy. “Blackberry Song” is with a full band, and is a true pop song with a hummable melody and drums that skip along to the music happily. Vile sings without affect, a relief. The album’s one big flaw is that he mumbles his lyrucs.

“Inside Looking Out” is a true folk song. Vile sounds like himself here, too, it's also the best of the one man band songs. To sum up, two great songs, the rest good, and an album that hints at much good music to be made in the future. [www.myspace.com/kurtvileofphilly]
Andrea Weiss

The Mountain Goats
The Life of the World to Come
4 AD Records

The nicely melodic, sometimes happy folk pop of this album is at odds with the grim lyrics about losing faith, death, being too depressed about not having faith, and wanting escape from a dull, meaningless life. But is John Darnielle writing about his own life, or creating fiction?

Darnielle keeps his cards close to his vest on the answer to this question, which is good, as it opens up the lyrics to interpretation. These songs are named after various Bible verses, trying to match the verses to the songs provides little clarity. The music is good to hum to, the music sticks around long after the album is finished, and lyrics to ponder.
[www.mountain-goats.com]
Andrea Weiss

The XX
XXYoung Turk/XL Recordings

This soft-spoken, fragile, slow indie rock collapses under it’s own weight, which is light, by the end of the album. Lyrically, it’s a couple trying desperately to decide if they want to become romantically involved. In the end, this is melodramatic silliness, which is more than enough of a reason to skip this album. [www.myspace.com/thexx]
Andrea Weiss

2009-09-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

Hello,
This is a music blog. If you like what you read, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com

Girls
Album
True Panther/Matador

Christopher Owens is the lead singer and songwriter of this band. He has a quirky voice and can sing the high and low end at the same time. His lyrics seem to describe confusion and frustration as a way of life, until he realizes at the end of the album that he doesn't have to live like this. Musically, this is sweet sunny, loopy pop, and it's the music that makes this album so much fun to listen to. He's never angry or bitter, but just wonders what's going on, and trying to get a handle on the women he wants to date. This is an album to think by, or with the windows open on a warm spring day. [www.myspace.com/girlssanfran]
Andrea Weiss

Regina Spektor
Far
Sire Records

Spektor’s piano playing is fun, quirky, and light but not light weight. Her lyrics are thoughtful, smart, and a little odd whether she is singing something sad, like “Eat,” happy like “Human of the Year,” sweet and whimsical like “Folding Chair,” or strange like “Genius Next Door.”

“Wallet” is a tale of a woman who finds a wallet, and takes it to the nearest Blockbuster so that it can be returned to it’s owner anonymously, is the happy, sweet, and oddball side of Spektor. “Laughing With” is sad, smart, thoughtful, and brims over with emotion. The song is about the reasons why people turn to God.

An album with such heartfelt emotion, direct clear lyrics, music that grabs and holds throughout the album is different. It's like having a conversation with a close friend. Far is an album to cheer for. It’s warm, giving, and caring, and for me personally, the album of the year. [www.myspace.com/reginaspektor]
Andrea Weiss

The Big Pink
A Brief History of Love
4 AD Records

The Big Pink are a digital hardcore band, and this album is their debut. But they aren’t harsh, noisy, fast, or angry. They sound more like a softer, quieter, more streamlined Nine Inch Nails with lovelorn lyrics. This is not to criticize them. Their album is excellent, even if the lyrics to “Dominos,” their single, are sexist. The music flows very well, with electric guitars meshing nicely with the synths. This is a good album to spark the imagination, and also to dream to.
[www.myspace.com/musicfromthebigpink]
Andrea Weiss

Times New Viking
Born Again Revisited
Matador Records

Fifteen songs in the thirty-one minutes of this album fly by joyfully, good and noisy. A wonderful clamor. Lyrics and singing are almost beside the point on these lo-fi, minimalist, experimental pop songs. They add to the fun by being unintelligible. These songs are meant to be played at maximum volume, and you'll have a great time doing so.
[www.myspace.com/timesnewviking]
Andrea Weiss

2009-09-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hello,
This is a music blog. If you like what you read and hear, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com.

This is a track from Basia Bulat's upcoming January 26 2010 release HEART OF MY OWN . The album is thefollow-up to 2007's Oh, My Darling.

http://www.beggarsgroupusa.com/mp3/basiabulat_goldrush.mp3 .

2009-09-17T22:27:00.000-07:00

Sid n Susie
Under the Covers Vol. 2
Shout Factory

Susanna Hoffs and Mathew Sweet have made another covers album that focuses on the 70s. The covers are diverse-- everyone from Yes to Big Star, Carly Simon to Tom Petty. Yet there is a good flow to the song selection, Hoffs and Sweet made these songs fit together smoothly.

The album as a whole is somewhat uneven. Some of these covers work better than others, such as Yes’s “I’ve Seen All Good People.: Your Move/All Good People.” Even Steve Howe’s playing can’t save the song from being played and sung by rote. And the songs played by the numbers are what mars the album the most. It’s too bad Sweet and Hoff’s didn’t take more liberties with these songs.

There are four covers though that make this album worth it, Sweet shines vocally on Mott the Hoople’s “All the Young Dudes” and as this song is a tribute to Gay Liberation, which was a widely used term back then, the gay sub-text is emphasized. Hoff brings out the bitterness, anger and hurt of Carly Simon’s “You’re so Vain.” The song is interpreted as a tribute to Women’s Liberation, which was another way of saying feminist back then.

Sweet brings a gentle anger to Fleetwood Mac’s “Second Hand News,” with Lindsey Buckingham re-creating his guitar work on the song. Hoffs poses as bi on Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May,” and sounds very convincing.

With albums like this it’s tempting to ask why this band or not that band was chosen, but the 70s was so diverse musically that no one album can do that decade justice. That someone tried is amazing enough, and even as the album doesn’t work overall, the parts are better than the whole. [www.myspace.com/sidnsusie]
Andrea Weiss

2009-09-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hello. This is a music blog. If you like what you read here, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com.

Yo La Tengo
Popular Songs
Matador Records

The overall mood of this album is contemplative: living a good, full life, loving all it has to offer, as part of a couple in a long time marriage. Ira Kaplan and Georgia Huxley, are the performers, he being the singer and guitarist for Tengo, Georgia is the other singer, and the drummer. They seem to be taking stock of their lives and their relationship, with grace, gentle wit, and a bit of wonder that they've lasted as long as they have, a bit of worry over how to make what they have keep going, and a sense of bliss that they are so happy and in love.

The music is just as meditative. Even as most of these songs are short, they fit the moods of the lyrics. They pull off all this very well. There is no irony here, musically and lyrically. This is straight emotion, and honest as well.

The two jams that close the album, "The Fireside" and "And the Glitter is Gone" run counterpoint to one another. "The Fireside" is all whispering accoustic guitars, with just a few mumbled words for lyrics. It is eleven minutes long, and a beautiful piece of music.

"And the Glitter is Gone" is fifteen minutes long, and mostly Ira's famous fuzz, feedback and melodies taking the place of lyrics. Georgia's deft, fluid, and flowing drumming alongside a galloping bass makes for sonic regret, some sadness, but also a fierce determination to bring the glitter back someday. It is a smashing way to close out a great album, and a worthy addition to their canon. [www.yolatengo.com]
Andrea Weiss

Taken By trees
East of Eden
Rough Trade

Victoria(no last name given) and her guitarist Andres Soderstorm traveled to Pakistan to make this album with musicians from Pakistan. They were male musicians, Victoria wanted women, but was told that it was too dangerous for them to travel from north to south Pakistan. None of the musicians spoke English, except the Trees host. Victoria used other means, too, like singing what she wanted the musicians to play. Teaching the musicians to play wearing headphones, and playing at times out side the studio, which was harder than when they were in the studio.

So what did they come up with? Ambient, atmospheric slow music, Victoria’s whispered singing, and quietly powerful guitar playing. These are relationship songs, mostly romantic, except for a re-working of Animal Collective’s “My Girl” re-titled “My Boys.” That remake is the loudest song on the album, and fits into the other songs very well.

The concept is interesting, the music is great, and Victoria’s singing fits the mysterious mood of the songs. It’s different, a nice album for quiet times. [www.myspace.com/takenbytreesmusic]

Andrea Weiss

2009-08-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

Hello, this is a music blog. If you like what you read, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com.

Golden Silvers’
True Romance
XL Recordings

This band is at its best when they keep things light, bouncy and for the dance floor. When they try to make pronouncements about love and life, they preach, and the music falls flat. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good here, and even though in the end this isn’t a bad album, it’s also not good enough to recommend. [http://www.myspace.com/thegoldensilvers]
Andrea Weiss

New Reviews

2009-08-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hello,

This is a music blog. If you like what you read, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com

The Cave Singers
Welcome Joy
Matador Records

Imagine the Sadies as a folk band, quieter musically, but like the Sadies, their lyrics deal with hard times and hard living. That’s The Cave Singers, a trio from Seattle, and this album is their debut. It is a very good album, with hushed vocals, gently strummed guitars, and drums that whisper, all meant for quiet times, and for a great late night nightcap. [www.myspace.com/thecavesingers]
Andrea Weiss

Jack Pinate
Everything is New
XL Recordings

The laid back groove Pinate has on his new album is only marginally better than the jittery new wave singer/songwriter sound he had on his debut Matinee. At least with a smooth shimmy the fact that he has nothing to say or play goes down easy. When he wants to make a meaningful statement it's embarrassingly lightweight: the refrain of “out of the womb, and into the tomb, let’s all die.” Skip it and live.
[www.myspace.com/jackpenate]
AndreaWeiss

Jay Reatard
Watch Me Fall
Matador Records

Reatard follows up his acclamed 2006 singles compilation Blood Visions with his first proper full-length album Watch Me Fall. The sound of the album is the speedy punk of the Buzzcocks combined with the melodic roar of Husker Du in their prime.

Lyrically, the words are a blur, as they race along with the music. In general, they seem to be about panic, paranoia, and bad times. He also throws in a couple of songs about succeeding against the odds no matter what.

This album is a lot of fun to listen to. The energy of these songs is infectious. Reatard doesn’t take himself too seriously, and that’s good, otherwise this album could have been one long whine. It’s recommended for these reasons. Speed doesn’t kill here, it’s uplifting. [www.myspace.com/jayreatard]
Andrea Weiss

2009-08-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hello. This is a music blog. If you like what you read, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com

Julian Plenti
Julian Plenti is…Skyscraper
Matador Records

Plenti, AKA Paul Banks, lead singer for Interpol, wrote and performed under this name starting in 1996 to 2001. Banks then put Plenti on the back burner until 2006, when he learned how to make music with the software Logic Pro. That program freed him up to compose songs more than any other program he had tried. In 2008 he entered the Seaside Lounge recording studio to finish the songs with engineer Charles Burst, and Skyscraper was the final result.

The music and lyrics sound Interpol like in terms of the melodies and song structure, and Plenti is still trying to make sense of confusing situations lyrically, much like he does in Interpol. There are some big differences though. The music is lighter, less sharp edged, and while there are electric guitars used throughout the album, the overall sound leans towards indie folk, in the sense that these songs were acoustic songs to begin with, then electrified for Skyscraper. Banks sings without a snarl and softer than with Interpol, and the lyrics, while not exactly cheery, have none of the doom and gloom or sardonic humor that are in Interpol’s songs. In the end, this is a really good album, an album to think to, and a good companion piece to any Interpol album. [www.myspace.com/julianplentinyc]
Andrea Weiss

2009-07-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to All Around Records, a music blog. If you like what you read, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com.

Blue Roses
Blue Roses
XL Recordings

Laura Groves has fashioned a sound that recalls Stevie Nicks, the softer, quieter side of Nicks. Think “Landslide”, with a little bit of early Kate Bush thrown in for lyrical and musical color. It is a good sound, light, airy, mysterious, yet grounded in earthiness. Groves’ singing has a trace of wide-eyed wonder to it, as if she can barely believe what she’s hearing, feeling, and seeing, and is also delighted by it. This delight is reflected in her lyrics, which are filled with fascination for what the world has to offer. In short, a very good, and sweet debut, by a very likeable folksinger. [www.myspace.com/musicofblueroses]
Andrea Weiss

Jarvis Cocker

2009-07-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

New, and good remix of You're In My Eyes (Discosong) from his curent album Further Complcations

http://jarviscocker.net/audio/discosong_pilooskimix.zip

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2009-07-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome. This is a music blog. If you want to read more of my reviews, go to www.toneandgroove.com.

Broken Records
Until the Earth Begins to part
4AD Records

Broken Records formed in Edinburgh in 2006. They put out a debut EP in 2006, and three singles in the UK in 2008 that caught fire with the British press.

On the best tracks on the album, the band fulfills their intent to be an indie rock orchestra. The band wants instruments like a trumpet or glockenspiel to be as loud as an electric guitar, and that does happen on tracks like “Nearly Home” and “Ghosts.” The overall sound is smoothly symphonic, but with the grit of a rock band. Lyrically these songs are relationship songs, except for “If the News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch it,” which is political and social commentary.

The concept goes awry on songs like “Wolves” where the orchestra sounds out of tune and out of step, Jamie Sutherland over emotes with his singing. Nevertheless, the good tracks make up for the bad ones, and the concept as a whole is interesting. This is an album to try, to hear thoughtful words set to thoughtful music and to hear a different take on a rock orchestra. [www.myspace.com/brokenrecordsedinburgh]
Andrea Weiss

Discovery
LP
XL Recordings

Discovery is a super duo. Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot, and Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend have created an album of shimmering, summery, light toned, danceable synth pop. There are no snare drums. Handclaps processed to sound like snare drums take their place. Rostam sings one half of the songs, Wes the other. Both are good singers, modest and likeable. Ezra Noening of Vampire Weekend, and Angel Deradoorian from the Dirty Projectors do some guest vocals,

Lyrically, their concept was to embrace and commentary of the past decade, but the concept comes across much too subtly, making all the songs sound like troubled love songs. That’s not a bad thing. Their take on troubled love is smart, especially on the one cover on the album, the Jackson 5’s “I want You back.” This song was recorded before Michael Jackson died, making the song something of a tribute. However, the song is played for irony, so it’s hard to know how much the band takes the song seriously, and whether it was meant as a comment on Jackson, or a compliment. The processed vocals do add a good wrinkle, as the singing is almost inseparable from the music. It’s one more fun song, on a fun album of very good, intelligent synth pop. [www.myspace.com/discoverdiscovery]
Andrea Weiss

Welcome to All Around Records

2009-06-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hello,

This is a music blog. All kinds of music are reviewed here. If you like what you read, I have more reviews here http://www.toneandgroove.com/. These are my first two reviews:

Stuart Murdoch
God Help The Girl
Matador Records

Murdoch started this project in 2004, but did not finish it until 2009, since he was working with his main band, Belle and Sebastian, and trying to find singers suitable for God Help The Girl. He envisioned the songs on God, sung mostly by women, about the lives of these female characters.

The plot is a little fuzzy. It’s not a straightforward narrative, so the songs don’t quite hang together as a whole. It’s the details that make the songs work: the thoughts, feelings and the lives women are leading, and how they find their places in the larger world. Murdock articulates the thoughts and feelings of his characters so well that a woman could have written these songs with no difference in tone, voice, or content.

“Funny Little Frog” is note perfect about a woman’s crush on a guy who doesn’t know her. Likewise “Perfection of a Hipster” is a half comic, half tragic story about a woman who wants to impress a trendy guy, and she passes out on his couch, wakes up and demands to know what happened while she was unconscious.

Catherine Ireton sings lead on most of the songs. She was featured on the cover of B&S’s single White Collar Boy, and already knew the band. Two of the other voices, Brittney Stallings and Dina Bankole, were chosen after a competition on iMeem. The contest was two demos posted on iMeem that people could add vocals to. Stallings and Bankole had the best voices. Murdoch himself is on two of the songs, Neil Hannon from the Devine Comedy plays the hipster. Asya from the band Smoosh sings lead on “I Just Want His Jeans”. Stallings takes the lead on “Frog.” Anna Miles and Celia Garcia who sing harmonies, round out the singers. Everyone is wonderful; they embody their characters with heart, soul, and intelligence.

Musically, this album draws on several different sources. Broadway musicals show up in the orchestral arrangements written by Mike Cooke, and recorded by a 45 piece orchestra conducted by Rick Wentworth, the composer of Withnail and I. The orchestrations are lush, a firm foundation to build the singing and lyrics on. Another source the orchestra uses is the Brill Building when the songs call for more rock, particularly 80s indie music. The orchestra steps lively on songs like “I’ll Have To Dance With Cassie” and the title song. The other members of B&S also participated, giving the album an early Belle and Sebastian feel as well.

God Help The Girl is wonderful from start to finish. Even though the plot is somewhat confusing, listening to these women is delightful. [www.godhelpthegirl.com]
Andrea Weiss

Future of the Left
Travels with Myself and Another
4AD Records

Future of the Left is a Cardiff, Wales based trio, and this is their second album. Their first album Curses won them much acclaim. They also played well-received shows at SXSW earlier this year. The band consists of singer/guitarist Andy Falkous, Jack Egglestone on drums, formally with McLusky, and bass player Kelson Matthias, formally with Jarcrew.

The band plays solid, well-crafted, hard-edged punk rock. Falkous is, in general, a good singer, although at times he screams a little too much, which is annoying. The biggest problem, though, is that their lyrics are incomprehensible, rendering what is on the surface provocative and thought provoking a headachy bore by the end of the album. Even the best punk rock can’t work around that. In the end, no matter how good the music is, the lyrics make this album one to be skipped. [www.myspace.com/futureoftheleft]
Andrea Weiss