Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Martin Popoff's 2004 book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time has proven to be the most indispensible music reference guide I own...not only does it contain great writing on many of my favourite albums, it also has turned me on to some great records I didn't know about. I missed some amazing metal music during the 90s, and one of that book's biggest revelations was Holland's The Gathering. A band ahead of its time, they helped popularize the use of strong-voiced female lead singers in melodic, goth-tinged metal, inspiring the likes of Nightwish and Lacuna Coil, not to mention the rather dumbed-down, Americanized mall-goth version, Evanescence. As great as Tarja Turonen and Cristina Scabbia are, they don't even come close to equaling the angelic sounds of the lovely Anneke van Giersbergen. The most gorgeous female voice metal has ever produced, van Giersbergen avoids the usual bombast of the genre, and injects pure emotion into every line, and when I first downloaded The Gathering's 1997 album Nighttime Birds, I was stopped dead in my tracks. Absolutely angelic. I miraculously stumbled across the album yesterday while scanning the racks at the local used CD emporium, so it gives me a chance to give it some serious attention. It's a very low-key piece of work, the tempos for the most part very slow. However, instead of going for slow doom, the result is much classier, and musically richer. "On Most Surfaces" and "Confusion" take their own sweet time, and each time Van Giersbergen enters, the music bursts with life. "The May Song" is slightly more pop oriented, and "The Earth is My Witness" threatens to sink into maudlin Sarah McLachlan territory, but is rescued by an explosion of power chords, which exhorts Anneke to intensify her singing, as the song evolves into a more progressive style, echoing late 80s Queensryche. Her range is stunning on the ethereal ballad "New Moon, Different Day", and the title track is gorgeous, while "Kevin's Telescope" is a surprisingly light, lilting, 6/8 time song. It's the astounding "Third Chance", though, that elevates Nighttime Birds to near-classic status...one of the finest metal tracks from the last decade, it's the most forceful song on the disc, Anneke's singing is much harsher in tone, as the band plows along insistently behind her. The chorus explodes, drummer Hans Rutten providing an unexpected disco beat, as Anneke sings powerfully, "I wait and I wait and what I really hate/Is the panic that stops me from breathing/My knees hit the floor and I panic more/Until you open my door." If this song was released as a single today, it would be a massive hit in metal circles, and would even have a chance at mainstream appeal. What a fantastic record this is. Gah, I'm left breathless every time I hear it, and I'm left sputtering like a silly fanboy. You will be, too. Give this song a try...you will be amazed:
The Gathering - "Third Chance"
Monday, June 27, 2005
Two new reviews are up at Static...there's my piece on the fun new Cobra Verde covers album (a rare covers disc that actually works quite well), and my review of the new album by The Coral which, while still not as great as their 2002 debut, is still a very enjoyable return to form, after two lacklustre releases. "In the Morning" is one of the best singles of the year so far.
The first Sounds of the Underground Tour kicked off on Saturday night, and the reviews are mixed, as expected, as every band has fans who are complaining that their favourites aren't onstage long enough. A bit unfair, not to mention ridiculous...with 18 bands playing over the course of eleven hours, short sets have to be expected. The first two three-hour blocks of bands play for 25 minutes, the co-headliners play for 40 minutes, and Lamb of God plays for about an hour. The running joke prior to the start of the tour was, "So what's Opeth going to play, three songs?" Turns out, that's all they're playing! But what a trio of progressive death epics to unleash on the audience: "Demon of the Fall", "The Drapery Falls", and my own personal fave, "Deliverance". Hey, I'll take it. Clutch's set from the first night drew from their entire career, the more recent tunes being "Promoter", "Burning Beard", "Gullah", and "Gravel Road". And here's the Lamb of God setlist (really, it's in there). Just a month until the tour hits my town...it's going to be draining, but hopefully great fun. Oh, and here are tons of photos from the first night.
One album I've really been looking forward to getting was the debut CD from Miami's Torche. Featuring two former members of underground institution Floor, Torche bring some of the most brutally heavy sludge/stoner metal to come around in years, but what sets them apart from the rest of the crowd is a sense of melody that few American hard rock/metal bands are able to pull off successfully anymore. While comparisons to Bleach-era Nirvana and Queens of the Stone Age are being bandied about, the bands Torche most closely resembles are Melvins (kind of goes without saying, what with the monstrously heavy riffs) and the vocal style of Helmet. With, of course, the usual Black Sabbath influence, and even a small hint of early 80s UK band Witchfinder General. The production is simple, but very good, the huge guitars roaring, as singer/guitarist Steve Brooks adds layers of harmony vocals. With nine songs in 20 minutes, as well as a nine-minute closing track, the album doesn't waste any time, and the way it zpis along can catch you off-guard. Blink once, and you'll miss a song, but once you give this sucker four rotations in a row (not a hard thing to do), moments start to stick out, like the chugging (not to mention extremely catchy) "Erase" and "Fire", the brilliant contrast of quiet and loud on "Fuck Addict", the plodding, Melvins-esque "Charge of the Brown Recluse" and "Holy Roar", and what is probably the best track, "Mentor", a song that most sptly encapsulates hat this band is all about, balancing melody with distorion perfectly. Not many publications are talking about this fine album, which, considering just how darn good it is, is a bit surprising. For myself, anyway, this, aling with the new albums by Clutch and The New Pornographers, will be another late entry in my forthcoming Best of the Year So Far list, which will appear in four days.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Okay, where to start, where to start...
First of all, it's Erin's birthday today. How old is she again...14?
First, Said the Gramophone was chirping about it. Then Brooklyn Vegan. Then the Anti-Hit List. Then the message boards. And yesterday, the almighty Pitchfork gives it a 9, and the indie kids fall over themselves Wednesday evening, queueing up on soulseek. And for what, you might ask? A middling indie pop band led by a guy who sounds like an autistic, yodeling cross between Thom Yorke and David Byrne. No, I'm not overly impressed by the new Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! album. I have little patience for indie artists who sound quirky just for the sake of being quirky, and these guys from Brooklyn go completely overboard...seriously, is this what American indie rock has come to? People caterwauling like a bunch of special needs students accompanied by organ and toy piano? The real shame is, there are several songs on this album that are otherwise really good, such as "Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away" (whoa, shades of Arcade Fire and The Hidden Cameras there), "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth", and "In This Home on Ice", but much of the record is obscured by a singer who feels he has to overpower the music with pretentiously off-key howling, idiotic phrasing, and borderline insane babbling ("CHILD STARS CHILD STARS CHILD STARS CHILD STARS!!!"). Either sing in a normal voice, or shut up, dude. It's not a complete waste of time, but if this is going to save indie rock in 2005, I weep for the future. You indie rock fans out there should be thanking your Canadian neighbours...compared to all the baby-voiced harp players, greasy skinny emo whiners, bearded folky hippies, et cetera, et cetera coming out of the States, it's reassuring to know there are bands from north of the border who let the music do the talking, who don't feel they have to act weird to get people's attention. Well, almost.
Shifting direction completely, the five tracks I've heard from the new Super Furry Animals album sound very, very promising, especially the drowsy-eyed epic "Zoom!" (fantastic, really), the ballad "Cabin Fever", and the goofy "Lazer beam", which hits at a return to the eccentric sounds of Rings Around the World, an album I really loved. Still do, actually. Anyway, I'm hoping the rest of the album is as great, if not better.
Monday, June 20, 2005
So yeah, I got my greasy music geek paws on the leaked album by Vancouver's lovable The New Pornographers, and like their last two albums, Twin Cinema does not disappoint. Things have certainly changed over the last five years...originally just a one-off project, The New Pornographers wound up sounding too great for their own good, and before the end of the year, they were hitting the road as an official band. While the extremely pleasant The Electric Version sounded like a sequel to the great Mass Romantic, the new album sounds like the first real attempt to take this band beyond a mere indie pop outfit. More musically rich than anything they've done in the past, there are many different sounds at work here, from acoustic-based foly stuff, to 70s glam, to 60s psychedelic rock, to 90s space rock, but although it's a more adventurous record than they've done in the past, there are still pop hooks aplenty. The prolific Carl (or is it AC?) Newman is still the driving force behind the band, serving as both primary songwriter and lead vocalist, and he has plenty of great moments, from the buoyant title track, to the very lovely "The Bleeding Hearts Show" (get a load of that sing-along coda), the fun pop of "Sing Me Spanish Techno" and "Star Bodies", and the pleasant departure of "Stacked Crooked". It's two other members who continue to be the bands aces in the hole. Neko Case sings harmony on the entire album, and sings solo on two tracks, the cryptic "The Bones of an Idol", and the absolutely gorgeous "These Are the Fables", both songs sung more gently than anything else she has sung with the band in the past. Destroyer's Dan Bejar reprises his role as the band's secret weapon, adding his own enigmatic, strange, yet undeniably catchy touches on "Jackie. Dressed in Cobras", "Broken Breads", and the acoustic "Streets of Fire", which he sings with Neko. At fourteen tracks, it's a surprisingly consistent album ("Three or Four" is going to have to grow on me some more), which draws from a bigger musical palette than the band has done before. Simply wonderful, just in time for the first day of summer. Yes, we'll all be buying this album on August 23 (you'd better), but in the meantime, enjoy the MP3s.
As expected, the new Goldfrapp single has leaked. Sure, it's only a radio rip, and the sound quality is a touch subpar, but with a song as fantastic as this, we'll take it. Nice to see Alison & Will are continuing in a similar direction as "Train" and "Strict Machine". So what are you waiting for? Download it at once:
Goldfrapp - "Ooh La la"
Sunday, June 19, 2005
I have the new New Pornographers album. And it is very good. More thoughts will be posted later today...
"We have arrived too late to play the Bleeding Heart Show..."
Friday, June 17, 2005
My big review of the Dinosaur Jr. reissues is up over at Static. It was fun burying myself in those three albums a couple weeks ago...it had been a while since I'd given Dino Jr. a serious listen, and the music still sounds good today. Very few guitarists, especially in the last 20 years, sound as expressive as J. Mascis does, and even when he started churning out the same old cookie cutter songs in the early to mid-90s, his solos always rescued the music from self-parody. Both You're Living All Over Me and Bug were highly influential albums, predating, and ultimately topping the grunge silliness that would explode a few years later, but not enough people appreciateboth records. With both CDs easily available once again, there's no better time than the present to get to know two of the best rock albums of the 80s. Oh, and yes, contrary to popular opinion, I think Bug is the band's best album. Much more consistent, the songs are well-written, and best of all, it has the glorious "Freak Scene", their single greatest moment as a band.
Also, my long, long long overdue review of the new (well, it was new) Drive-By Truckers DVD is up at PopMatters. I dared to admit to have never seen the band live before...at least now, I have an inkling of just how powerful the band can be. The surround mix is outstanding, with those three guitars screaming, and the crowd singing along with the words. One thing my review doesn't touch on is the storytelling talent of Patterson Hood. The guy is a master of the long, extended song intro, and his little spoken word performances before "The Southern Thing" and "The Living Bubba" make the songs sound even more heartfelt and passionate. For a perfect example of what I'm talking about, here's a sorta-famous track from Alabama Ass Whuppin' that transforms a somewhat dopey song into something purt near beautiful:
Drive-By Truckers - "18 Wheels of Love"
I finally got the new Clutch album, Robot Hive/Exodus yesterday. In my review of their superb Blast Tyrant a year ago, I said that the album's weakest moments were when they went from the stoner rock sound to a more blues-based jam band sound, and to my great surprise, the new CD pretty much heads completely into jam band territory. Aside from the great North Mississippi Allstars, jam bands tend to try my patience, as most fo them lack the punch I tend to gravitate to, but on this album, Clutch provide that punch, big time. As a result, they seem to have created yet another metal subgenre: Bonnaroo Metal. More Allman Brothers than Fu Manchu, the grooves this band creates are relentless, and insanely rubbery, so much so, that it inspires dancing, not moshing. "Burning Beard" remains my favourite track (one of the year's best, in fact), containing more of those lyrics that makes Clutch so much fun: "Every time I look out my window/Same three dogs look back at me/Every time I open my windows/Cranes fly in and terrorize me...The power of the Holy Ghost: WOOF WOOF WOOF!" New single "Mice and Gods" is also excellent, as is "10001110101", with its goofy chorus of, "ONE ZERO ZEROZERO ONEONE ONE ZEROONE ZEROONE!" The acoustic track "Who's Been Talking?" sounds very Tom Waits-ish, and the album does run a bit long, but it's still very satisfying, the kind of metal that's perfectly suited for summer. I can't wait to see these guys at Sounds of the Underground on July 29, stuck in between Lamb of God, Opeth, Gwar, and Strapping Young Lad!
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Over the past few weeks, I'd been hearing a lot about the new album by Ireland's Primordial, and it didn't take long before curiosity got the best of me, as I was able to get a copy of their new album The Gathering Wilderness, and it's now an album I cannot stop playing. It's been a sensational year for metal so far, and this album ranks right near the top of the heap, a darkly beautiful, sprawling epic. The boundaries between metal's many subgenres seem to be blurring more and more, and Primordial are certainly doing their part. Possessing the expansive guitar sounds of Isis and The Deftones, the dark, theatrical quality of black metal, the Sabbath-style tones of doom metal, as well as a very strong Celtic influence, The Gathering Wilderness has a sound all its own, each song an epic in its own right, as all tracks are between seven and ten minutes long. Despite the long, drawn out tracks, though, there's never a sense of monotony, as the music moves deliberately towards a climax (often in a typically Celtic, pounding 6/8 rhythm), the band skillfully creating a gathering storm of heavy music before the dark skies suddenly burst open (ugh, that's awful, forgive me). The band's best asset, though, is lead singer A.A. Nemtheanga, who displays astonishing range, shifting from a very effective black metal screech, to a lower-register doom voice, to an all-out, soaring, Bruce Dickinson style, power metal howl. The songs range from pagan themes to historical depictions, the most striking example of the latter being the passionate "The Coffin Ships", a re-telling of the Irish Potato Famine of the mid-19th century. It's rare that I'm tempted to call a metal album "gorgeous", but that's what this one is, from the thunderous "The Golden Spiral", to the swirling "End of All Times (Martyrs Fire)", to the menacing Sabbath riffs of "Cities Carved in Stone". It's the stirring "The Song of the Tomb" where the music sounds the most immediate, as Nemtheanga leads the band in a ferocious metal gallop, his Iron Maidenesque vocal delivery reminding me a lot of the underrated, baroque Maiden classic "The Clansman". This CD is absolutely phenomenal, a near-perfect blend of atmospherics, driving force, melody, and emotion, none of which we hear enough in metal today. Stupendous.
And as a little gift from yours truly, here's the aformentioned song for you to try out...you will not be disappointed:
Primordial - "The Song of the Tomb"
Oh, and congrats to The Ladies & Gentlemen, who walked away the big winners at Toronto's NXNE this past weekend. My review of their excellent debut album will be appearing soon...
Monday, June 13, 2005
Well, another busy week, with very little time to blather on the blog. Lots of interesting stuff to catch up on, so hopefully I can do that over the next few days.
Last Tuesday, I had a bit of a difficult decision at the local national electronics chain...I was getting the new Coldplay, and the store had a tantalizing deal where that week's new releases were all two for 20 dollars (Canadian). The deal was too good to pass up, and after much hemming and hawing, I basically gave up, and grabbed a copy of the new Teenage Fanclub CD. Well, six days later, am I ever happy with the choice, as Man-Made is one of the finest albums I've heard so far this year, and yes, better than Coldplay. Their first album in five years, it's the most understated Teenage Fanclub record in many years, their distinct guitar pop much more subtle and gentle. It's interesting how the band recorded it at Wilco's Chicago studio, and they wind up outshining Wilco's A Ghost is Born, which was far too ambitious for its own good. With three talented songwriters in the band, it's hardly a surprise that their albums are pretty much always very good, and the twelve tracks are democratically split, with each singer contributing four songs. I've always liked Norman Blake's stuff (he's the dude responsible for "The Concept" and "Alcoholiday"), and his "It's All in My Mind" is the album's best song, while "Slow Fade" is a wonderful, upbeat track. Gereard Love contributes the excellent "Time Stops" and the pretty "Save", while Raymond McGinley for such gems as "Nowhere" and "Feel". The album's simplicity might surprise some, as it's so unassuming, it needs several listens before it starts to sink in, but oonce it does, it's beauty is especially striking. Perfectly timed for summer.
I was able to get ahold of the very recently leaked, highly anticipated album by The Juan MacLean, but as of yet, have not had the time to give it a listen. In the meantime, in keeping with the DFA theme, here's an absolutely brilliant look at the annotated lyrics for LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Edge".
Oh, and this is really cool.
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Before I get down to business, do yourself a favour and give Art Brut's "Formed a Band" a listen. It's great fun. Oh 'eck, try "My Little Brother", too. Enjoy. And you are welcome.
My big Coldplay review is up. Spent way too much time writing it, but I'm quite happy with it.
Yeah, X & Y is out today. So are you going to run out to your local big box electronics outlet with all the other teeming hordes of indie yuppies, and buy it for a supercheap, one-day-only sale price? Jon Pareles certainly isn't, but you can bet I will be. I can't help it, I like Coldplay a lot, ever since "Yellow" made the Anti-Hit List on August 22, 2000. Re-reading John Sakamoto's original review of the song, it's interesting to note he calls the track "stunningly conventional"...that's the most apt description of this band. All this Best Band in the World hype has blinded many, including the UK Music Press, who seem bent on building Coldplay up to something they're not, ignoring the fact that these boys are, in every way, conventional. They just happen to be very, very good at sounding conventional. X & Y is far better than it should be...the lyrics are embarrassing at times, Jon Buckland does the Edge gimmick too many times, several songs follow the same template, a song like "Fix You" is totally manipulative in the way it builds to its tear-jerking coda, but they do it all so well, the band sounding huge at times, Chris Martin selling his silly love song lyrics like Rob Halford sells his lyrics about mythical sea beasts, Buckland selling his U2-meets-Echo & the Bunnymen-meets-The Pixies licks. It's easygoing, sincere, simple pop rock, and I'm going to go buy a ten buck copy of the CD, pop it in the stereo during lunch, and enjoy the heck out of it. The hipsters can continue raving about the very ordinary new White Stripes album instead, which is fine by me.
My review of the new Meshuggah CD also was published over the weekend. Even though I appreciate what the band was trying to do with this project (kind of the polar opposite of The Mars Volta's big, one-track mess), too much of it sounds too mechanical. Give them an A for effort, C+ for execution. It's just not a Meshuggah album without Tomas Haake, the best drummmer in metal, playing on the CD.
The new Goldfrapp album is starting to become visible way out there on the far horizon. Popjustice is raving about it (album of the year, they say). Promo photos have surfaced. EMI says they're going to promote the heck out of it. A tantalizing clip of "Ooh La La" can be heard on her website (I fully expect this song to be this year's "Train"). And a cool Tiefschwarz remix was recently played by Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1 (thanks to Ben for the tip). Still, it's an agonizing six weeks until the single comes out...but we all know it'll leak much earlier than that. Like some old coot once said, the waiting is the hardest part.
Lots of new CD arrivals so far this week. I like the new album by The Coral. The forthcoming Fountains of Wayne odds & sods compilation is very enjoyable so far. The new Darkest Hour CD is some of the best metalcore of the year. And egads, is it ever fun listening to the Dinosaur Jr. reissues, which I finally have a chance to hear. Further thoughts on all these, and more, soon.
Oh, and the new Chimaira song sounds pretty fantastic. Can't wait to see those guys at Sounds of the Underground on July 29.
Saturday, June 4, 2005
Another new record review to mention (they never end)...this time, my rather positive assessment of the new Brand New Sin album. Like their debut 2002 album, which I also liked), it's heavily influenced by COC, Down, and Black Label Society, and Recipe For Disaster ranks as one of the year's finest metal releases so far. Simple, to the point, aggressive, and quite catchy. Well worth seeking out.
Well, the Caribou/Junior Boys/Russian Futurists show last night was very good. When I saw Manitoba a year ago, it was at one of the best venues in town, a real treat, and enormously loud. This time, it was in the cramped confines of Amigos, and offered quite the different atmosphere. The 2004 might have been well-attended, but this one was packed. Word of mouth has definitely spread about the live Caribou experience, and while the little club doesn't have the best sound (seriously, they must have the worst sound guy), the folks were not disappointed.
I arrived shortly after The Russian Futurists took the small stage, and they were doing the upbeat electro pop thing they do, singer/composer/producer guy Matthew Adam Hart flanked by two keyboardists and a guitarist. I only heard two new songs, the fun "Paul Simon" (I was really hoping I hadn't missed it, so that made my day) and "Our Pen's Out of Ink", and the rest were tracks from the first two albums. The band was adequate enough, but their set was marred by the usual club chatter that accompanies opening bands, which is a shame.
I had no idea what to expect from Junior Boys. Last Exit came just short of being named my 2004 album of the year, and I wasn't sure how their mellow synth-slash-IDM pop would play out in a live setting. Jeremy Greenspan might sound like a smooth, blue-eyed soul crooner, but in person, the guy looks like a janitor who wandered into the wrong room by mistake. He looked especially slovenly last night, as he was pretty darn sick, but he toughed it out. After becoming the ten thousandth touring musician to express incredulity at the bizarre tables set-up (resembling a bingo hall, forcing standing spectators to the back) and coaxing everyone up front, Greenspan and keyboardist Matt Didemus proceeded to tear the freakin' roof off the place. At least twice as loud as the Russian Futurists, the music sounded much more powerful than on record. After opening with a riveting new song, they went into "Teach Me How to Fight" (with strong emphasis on the New Order style bassline), with Greenspan adding much more depth to the song with his echoing guitar licks. It was "Bellona", though, that was the biggest revelation, as the beats were absolutely monstrous, and Greenspan added a terrific funk bassline. Instead of stuttering rhythms, the music was much more danceable, and the crowded club ate it up. They played two more new songs (like the opner, they center on guitar and dance beats more), as well as a beefed-up "Birthday" (love that house-style breakdown), and a scorching "Under the Sun", during which Greenspan let loose an extended guitar solo that drew heavily from early U2. They pkayed for about 50 minutes, and I didn't want it to end. I was completely blown away, I had no idea they were this powerful in a live setting.
Caribou, though, was the band most fo the people were there to see, and they continued where their 2004 show left off, sticking with the dual-drums setup. Opening with "Yeit" and the superb "Bees" (my personal fave) from the new album, the trio did the same thing as before, with the main drummer pounding away, the guitarist doing his thing, and Dan Snaith alternating from instrument to instrument, from guitar, to recorder, to melodica, to glockenspiel, to synths, to drums, which he beats to death like Animal from the Muppet Show. From the new CD, they also played "Lord Leopard", the acoustic "Hello Hammerheads" (the only song to have Snaith actually singing, instead of using pre-recorded vocals), anda ferocious version of "Barnowl" that proved to be the highlight of the set. Older songs included "Jacknuggeted", "Bijoux", "Crayon", and an encore featuring the wild, climactic "Every Time She Turns Round It's Her Birthday". Caribou's set wasn't long, no longer than an hour, bbut you could tell the three guys put every ounce of energy into the music. They play hard...as Snaith said at one point, if they're not breaking stuff, they're not playing hard enough. The projected animation during the performance was good as well, especially with the newer music.
It's great to see bands attract such big crowds in a smaller city like mine...it only goes to further show how, at long last, Canadian music is starting to catch on, big time. I already knew that I should never, ever miss a chance to see Caribou, and I look forward to seeing them again, but it was actually Junior Boys who impressed me the most last night. Their live evolution only bodes well for their second album. Bleh, now I'm way too tired to continue. Triple bills are exhausting.
Thursday, June 2, 2005
My review of The Locust's interesting new EP Safety Second, Body Last is now up. It's only 10 minutes long, but it's more interesting than your average 45 minute grind/hardcore album. Like I say in my review, 10 minutes of The Locust is pretty much the right amount of time to spend with this band. The three-inch re-release of their great debut EP is so tiny, I can't find it anywhere. Oh wait, I just found it. I love that iddy biddy thing.
Guerilla Improv Group Stages Fake U2 Rooftop Gig, Fooling Hundreds of Manhattanites. Pure genius.
Got my ticket for the big Caribou/Junior Boys/Russian Futurists show on Friday night. Been waiting three months for this...I'm looking forward to hearing how Junior Boys translate their music live, and what kind of fun surprises Mr. Snaith has in store for us this year...
To my great delight, 19 years after first seeing them, Queensryche is coming to my town in September. They're currently opening for Judas Priest (I'm still hoping they come through the Canadian prairies this fall), and are going to run through Western Canada as well. Considering the amazing setsthey've been playing so far ("Neue Regel"! "The Whisper"! "NM 156"!!!), this should be a great show. No word about when tickets go on sale yet, but I'll probably be there.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Okay, the entire Coldplay album has leaked, I've now heard the entire thing, and I remain very impressed, but like I said yesterday, I was a bit concerned X & Y would run a little too long, and true enough, it feels there are two too many tracks. After the very lovely "Swallowed in the Sea", the record concludes with the morose "Twisted Logic", an atmospheric song that plods away for five minutes (Buckland's guitar work on the track is excellent, and the song will probably be a lot more effective live) and the acoustic number "Til Kingdom Come", a country-tinged tune written for the late Johnny Cash, and tacked on the new disc as a bonus track. Both songs aren't awful, but feel somewhat unnecessary, not measuring up to the previous 11 songs. The other three songs I didn't write about are excellent: the insistent "White Shadows" (it's impossible for me to see that title and not think of early 80s high school TV melodramas) ranks right up there with "Talk" and "Square One", and includes an interesting coda of synths at the end. "A Message" centers around acoustic guitar, and contains more of those airy keyboards, while "The Hardest part" is just plain pretty, a blend of lilting piano and jangly guitar that reminds me a lot of mid-80s R.E.M.. One thing that was really driven home to me whan I saw the band two years ago was how powerful Coldplay can be when they play their harder-edged material (Will Champion is a powerful live drummer), so I continue to prefer the amped-up full band performances, as opposed to the sombre ballads, and X & Y achieves a comfy balance between the two. Chris Martin's lyrics are still puppydog-eyed and dopey ("The hardest part was letting go and not taking part/It's the hardest part") but the music always takes the attention away enough to make the lyrical shortcomings less of a distraction they would be otherwise. In the end, it's not quite the mind-blower that A Rush of Blood to the Head was, falling a tiny bit short of perfect, but it's still one of the year's best albums so far, and very much worth buying, which I will definitely do next week.
This past Saturday's Anti-Hit List tipped me off to a nifty little Toronto band called S.S. Cardiacs. A simple indie pop trio with a singer with a cute, girly singing voice, the band really reminds me of The Blake Babies, and while their song "Noo Noo" is nothing new at all, and would not have sounded out of place on a college radio station circa 1993, it's still insanely catchy. You can download both "Noo Noo" and the enigmatic "Wolfies" here. Based on these tracks, I'd like to hear the rest of their new debut album.
Song of the Week:
The Hold Steady - "Stevie Nix"
It's been a while since I posted my favourite song of the week, so I might as well do that right now, and offer you a new tune by The Hold Steady, an odd blend of barroom rawk, esoteric yet passionate poetry, and a charmingly tone-deaf singer who sounds like a very drunk Randy Newman. The last verse got to me when I first heard it: "She got confused about the truth/She came to in a confession/She got high for the last time in the camps down by the banks of the river/Lord to be 33 forever." Great, strangely moving song from a band who's getting a lot of love from the indie crowd these days.
The Wit and Wisdom of Liam & Noel Gallagher...seriously, how can you not love these guys? Brilliant.
Monday, May 30, 2005
Two big new reviews have surfaced...my piece on the outstanding new album by death metal greats Nile appeared on Thursday. It ranks right alongside Behemoth's Demigod as the finest extreme metal album of the year so far, an overwhelming, brutally powerful piece of classic death metal. Crystalline production, unreal power, surprisingly well-researched lyrics. Seriously, even if death metal's not your thing, give it a listen anyway, and take 50 minutes to lose yourself in the awe-inspiring majesty of it all.
On Friday, my Oasis review popped up. Again, I like this album...it took a few listens to get its hooks in me, but despite its weaknesses, it's their best cd in years. Definitely a burner, worth buying if it's on sale for cheap tomorrow.
Well, I have heard eight of the 12 tracks (or is it 13...don't they have a hidden track as well?) from Coldplay's highly, Highly, HIGHLY anticipated X & Y album, which comes out in eight days. And I like what I hear, quite a bit. Yes, Coldplay can be formulaic, but they pull off the formula extremely well, and there are plenty of subtle differences from A Rush of Blood to the Head. There's a strong Echo & the Bunnymen feel to Jonny Buckland's guitar work on "Square One", the much-ballyhooed Kraftwerk homage on "Talk" (which, quite frankly, I didn't catch on to at first), "X & Y" goes for a more ethereal feel, bordering on a Spritualized-style airiness to it (sort of), and "Low" has a good early 80s feel to it, but the influence that looms hugely over this album is that of U2's The Edge, as Buckland cops the dude's style over and over again, the best example being the stately "Fix You". "What If" sounds like the most ordinary song of the bunch, the same kind of slow-burning ballad that builds to a gently soaring crescendo, the kind of thing that works so brilliantly live, but like I've always said about this band, they always make it work. Even better is "Swallowed in the Sea" is the same old thing from this band, but the song is absolutely gorgeous. And of course, we all know "Speed of Sound" by now. Twelve or 13 tracks is really pushing it, and I'd hate to see this album turn out to be too bloated for its own good, but we'll see. You know, you can slam Coldplay all you want, but for five years now, I've bought in to what these guys do. It's nothing new, but sometimes good pop music doesn't have to be groundbreaking all the time. A Rush of Blood to the Head shocked me to the core, as Coldplay went from a humble little band to world-beaters, seemingly overnight. With this album (again, I have yet to hear the whole thing), it seems they're set to remain at the top of the heap for quite a while.
Jim DeRogatis, seriously, you're a good writer, I've enjoyed your books in the past, but please, do shut up.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Sasha Frere Jones is right. Critics need promo CDs, darnitanyway. I'd hate to try to write a well-informed album review based only on a couple of listens at a listening session with other people.
Three new reviews have surfaced, and more should be appearing in the near future, so I'd better stay caught up here.
In the three weeks I've had to get used to the new System of a Down album, I've come to like the CD a whole lot. Yes, it's better than Toxicity, much more focused, both musically and lyrically...they still go off on their musical tangents, but in this album the little shifts in style don't sound as arbitrary as many people accuse them of doing, and the lyrics are far less sophomoric. Sure you get the odd tongue-in-cheek moment still, but instead of playing for laughs, the band stays true to the lyrical themes of the album (shallow bureaucracy, shallow media, shallow America). After revisiting Toxicity, I was struck by how different the guitar tone is on Mezmerize, dot nearly as downtuned as before, with a very strong hardcore influence. "BYOB" is pure genius, "Lost in Hollywood" is chilling, "Question!" is gorgeous, and the contemplative, riff-happy "Sad Statue" is my current favourite. Anyway, enough rambling. Read my review.
Oh, and Eye Weekly got it completely wrong.
My review of Maximo Park's new album also sprung up the other day. Back on February 14th, I mentioned offhandedly how I felt at the time that Maximo Park just might be better than Bloc Party...I have seen the error of my ways, as Silent Alarm is one of the year's very best records, but that still does not diminish A Certain Trigger one bit. It does sound a lot like The Futureheads upon first listen, but it doesn't take long before the differences between the two Northeastern England bands become apparent. Instead of the extremely tight, jittery pace of the Futureheads, Maximo Park are much more controlled, and whereas the Futureheads employ four-part harmonies to great effect, Maximo Park are all about lead vocalist Paul Smith, who doesn't hide his love of Jarvis Cocker one bit. He still has some work to do, as his lyrics tend to waver toward sappy emo faux-poetry, but when he gets it right, as he does on "The Coast is Always Changing" and the show-stopper "Acrobat", he nails it. Plus, "Apply Some Pressure" is shaping up to be one of the best singles so far this year. A mighty fine CD.
Also, over at Static, is my review of Mercenary's 11 Dreams, a great bit of Danish metal that I hadn't gotten around to mentioning here for some dumb reason (most likely laziness). It's a very cool blend of prototypical Scandinavian metal and old fashioned power metal, which means lots of tight, melodic riffs, insane drumming, and loads of operatic vocal turns. It's a real standout among metal albums this year, but if it were not for a cover of Kent's "Music Non Stop" (brave as it was), it would have ranked much higher in my book. Still, it's very good nonetheless.
Monday, May 23, 2005
I don't think I've mentioned the album here, but my review of The Ponys' latest CD Celebration Castle appeared this past weekend. I didn't care for it very much at all when I first heard it, but I soon found it's a much more subtle and laid-back record than Laced With Romance was. So after living with it for a few weeks, I was surprised at how much I actually wound up liking it. The band sounds more versatile than they did on the previous album, there's more depth to their sound, it's not all rawk all the time, plus the production by Steve Albini is surprisingly understated. I still prefer the debut over the new one, but it's still worth listening to.
So the new White Stripes album Get Behind Me Satan is interesting. "Blue Orchid" is a very cool, glammed-up single, but the rest of the album has much more of an organic, folk-blues feel. Good for people who are inclined to acoustic-based music, but for the classic rock set, who were responsible for maning the White Stripes a massive mainstream success, they are not going to like the new CD at all. Aside from some hints of distortion ("Blue Orchid", "Red Rain"), there is no riff-rock here whatsoever, as the duo bring in a little more variety, namely acoustic guitar and piano. Personally, I like it when Jack White goes all nutty and electric, as his acoustic numbers tend to get tedious, but this album's not too shabby. "My Doorbell", "As Ugly As I Seem", "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)" (which shamelessly swipes the piano chords from Bob Dylan's "Dear Landlord"), and "Instinct Blues" (man, does he sound like Robert Plant on this track) are tracks I really enjoy, but the rest is for the most part solid. I'm actually amazed I like this album as much as I do. I was so ready to trash it.
A few days ago, the new System of a Down clicked for me. It is brilliant, quite possibly the best album of the year so far. If the upcoming follow-up Hypnotize is just as good, then it could very well be a lock for the top of my list. A long way to go yet, though...you never know what kind of surprises might be lurking around the corner...
Oh, and I officially endorse the new Oasis album, flaws and all.
Friday, May 20, 2005
A couple of new reviews to mention here...my piece on the new album by The Nein appeared a couple days ago. I don't think I mentioned the CD on this page...I was quite an admirer of their debut EP, and was very impressed by how they've been able to separate themselves from the rest of the post-punk soundalikes by employing clever use of sampling. It's an ambitiousalbum, and takes a while to get into, but after two months or so, I've come to enjoy it quite a bit.
My Candlemass review is also up. Now there's a doom metal album people should not be without. Catchy, ultraheavy, with the usual operatic vocals of Messiah Marcolin. Yet another album that's going on my best metal albums list in six or seven months...
And yes, Star Wars delivered. Egads, what a grim movie. I was expecting it, but it kind of cast a pall over the rest of my day, including now. It's a haunting movie, especially the last hour, which is loaded with chilling moments...SPOILER WARNING (highlight the invisible text!): The Mace Windu/Palpatine confrontation, the murder of Mace, the origin of the Emperor's craggy face, Anakin's being renamed Darth Vader, the systematic slaughter of the Jedi, the brutal murder of the young padawan at the hands of Vader, the Emperor's defeat of Yoda, the spectacular de-limbing of Vader by Obi-Wan, the burning torso of Vader clawing at the earth as Obi-Wan leaves him to die, the re-assembly of Vader, the final descent of the famous Mask, those first sounds of the breathing apparatus, the return of the voice of James Earl Jones, the agonized screams when Vader learns of Padme's death, the exile of Yoda, the beginning of construction of the Death Star, the separation of twins Luke and Leia, that final pose of Ben Lars at sunset, a mirror image of Luke's first appearance in Episode Four. Man, oh man, talk about draining! Although it has a tiny handful of cheesy moments (what Star Wars movie doesn't?), this one definitely deserves to be ranked alongside (okay, maybe just underneath) Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. A highly rewarding experience, well worth the wait, and a beautifully tragic way to end a saga that, while it has its ups and downs, was always enthralling.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Three years ago, during my early days at PopMatters, I reviewed the very impressive debut album by a Syracuse, NY band called Brand New Sin. It was good, solid, blue collar metal, complete with the kind of Southern accents that COC does so well. Now, three eyars later, they've signed with metal big boys Century Media, and their new album Recipe For Disaster is now out. And man, was it ever worth the long wait. It might be the same old barroom metal that the first album was, but the band sounds so much better, the songs more fleshed out, the production ace. It's beer metal, through and through, following the footsteps of those great old late 80s bands like The Four Horsemen and Circus of Power. You've got the Southern boogie ("The Loner"), the greasy AC/DC riffs ("Another Reason"), sheer aggression ("Dead Man Walking"), and some good old 80s metal ("Black and Blue"). Singer Joe Altier sounds like Phil Anselmo, but with more range, more soul, and his rough-hewn, yet versatile vocal melodies carry the album. It's a CD I just can't stop playing, and it's a shame I have so much stuff to listen to, because this big, mean, tough-as-nails sucker of an album would be on constant repeat otherwise.
The new Oasis album is growing on me the more I hear it. It was Corey who told me he detected a Ride-ish quality to "Keep the Dream Alive", and whaddya know, the dude nailed it, as the song is one of two tracks to be written by bassist/former Ride member Andy bell ("Turn Up the Sun" is the other). There's a feeling of democracy on Don't Believe the Truth for the first time ever, as all four principal members (not counting Ringo's kid) contribute songs, and while the collaborative feel is more than welcome (Noel wrote only five tracks!), the album still has its share of ups and downs as a result...guitarist Gem wrote "A Bell Will Ring", which could very well be the best Oasis song I've heard in the past five years, but on the other hand, out of Liam's three songs, "The Meaning of Soul" and "God Thinks I'm Abel" bog down the album's middle section. "Love Like a Bomb", on the other hand, is th strongest song Liam has written to date. Noel's songs are typical Noel...although his Beatles obsession has been toned down he still has to shamelessly rip off every other classic band, but despite their goofiness, I still get a kick out of "Mucky Fingers", "Lyla", and "Let There Be Love" (and don't tell me "Part of the Queue" doesn't rip off Badly Drawn Boy). So while I was a bit down on the album a couple weeks ago, I'm willing to give it a more favourable grade this time around. A respectable six out of ten, maybe. Don't quite think it's worthy of a seven.
So I was reading Zoilus the other night, and what was mentioned, but the old Canadian kids' show House of Frightenstein...I had not thought of that show in years and years, but the second I listened to the theme song for the first time in, what, 20 years, I knew all the words. That show was surreal...green vampires, mosquitoes telling really bad jokes, Grizelda the Ghastly Gourmet. Wow, did the memories ever come flooding back. I kind of wish the show was back on TV again now...
Yes, I'm going to Star Wars on Thursday, partially in hopes that Lucas can pull himself together enough not to destroy the saga completely in what should be the most fascinating episode of the six, and also purely out of shameless Gen X nostalgia. After first seeing Episode Four in 1978, it'll be neat to do it one last time.
Oh, and get well, Kylie.
Friday, May 13, 2005
So sorry about the lack of updates, but I've been incredibly busy over the last nine or ten days, trying to dig myself from out of this mountain of new music, literally typing my fingers bloody (really, that's never happened before). I still have a bunch of stuff to do over the next couple weeks, buty I think I'm over the hump now.
Anyway, three new CD reviews to mention. First, there's my review of the very annoying album by P:ano, a huge disappointment. Second, mypiece on the very enjoyable new 13 & God disc, which I wrote about last week. And lastly, my review of the new album by Bart Davenport for Static...it's a decent enough ,shamelessly sincere homage to 70s soft rock that goes just a bit too long for its own good. It has its moments "Into Music" knocked me out, but I had to give it a mild thumbs-down.
Sad news about the passing of former Metal Church singer David Wayne on Tuesday. He was a terrific singer...I saw him and Metal Church open for Metallica in December, 1986, and was impressed enough by their loud, surprisingly shrill set to go and buy The Dark soon after. That one and the infamous debut album represent Wayne's finest hour as a singer. So in memory of the guy, go listen to "Beyond the Black", "The Dark", and "Ton of Bricks" at once, and enjoy one of the 80s' most underrated metal bands.
Friday, May 6, 2005
My review of the new Russian Futurists album has appeared. I've mentioned the CD here a few weeks back...it's a very fun album, some extremely catchy tunes, and improved production compared to Matthew Adam Hart's previous efforts.
The 13 & God album, a collaboration between The Notwist and hip hop guys Themselves, has really grown on me. At first, I wasn't too crazy about doseone's nasal vocalizing, especially when he started to sing, but his lyrics have won me over. The CD is a very tidy blend of glitch pop and hip hop, and you can sense it's a total group effort...aside from the lead vocals, split between doseone and Markus Acher, it's often difficult to tell who specifically is creating the music. It's basically both sides doing their thing simultaneously, and the result is surpringly pretty, namely "Men of Station", "Soft Atlas", and "Superman on Ice". This is for anyone unafraid of daring musical experiments, and this seemingly disparate pairing works very well in the end.
Some Goldfrapp news to pass along...the new single is called "Oh La La", and will be released in the UK on August 8, the as-of-yet untitled new album to follow shortly thereafter. It's apparently very heavily influenced by glam rock. Not unlike the "We Are Glitter" mix of "Strict Machine", I'd suspect, but with Ms. Goldfrapp and Mr. Gregory doing their kooky thing, you never quite know for sure...
Gah, no time, no time to spare anymore. I'll try to mention the new albums by Oasis and Candlemass sometime tomorrow.
Thursday, May 5, 2005
It's only been three days, but I have a ton of catching up to do here.
My review of Caribou's excellent The Milk of Human Kindness is up. Nearly four months after first hearing it, it has grown a fair bit in my opinion. A real understated record, but very ambitious at the same time. It pleases me greatly that the critical reaction has been so favourable...normally, you'd think that Dan Snaith had set himself up for a backlash, but thankfully, webzine critics (present company included) warmed up to the CD. It's been out for two weeks here in Canada, but it's only just been released in the US. Be sure to pick up a copy.
My Raveonettes review appeared on Tuesday. This band is shaping up to be one of those acts who put out consistently good music each time out, and Pretty in Black is nothing but good, clean, retro 50s fun.
Two more reviews over at Static: the new Glenn Hughes, which tries valiantly, but ultimately sounds like a weak Chili Peppers imitation, and Joe Perry's solo album, which is abysmal. Seriously, that dude should never be allowed to sing...had he hired a good lead singer, I might have liked the album.
Two of this year's most eagerly anticipated releases, in my books anyway, are the two new albums by System of a Down, and at long last, I've heard the first of those CDs, Mesmerize. This is a band I love to be confounded by, and I would think it a disappointment if they didn't pull the rug out from under my feet every time out. And believe me, Mesmerize is not disappointing in the least. What a nutty, wacky record! "BYOB" is an ingenious blend of thunderous metal riffs and a shocker of an R & B chorus that works better than I would ever have imagined. "RadioVideo" jumps right into some kind of weird Armenian polka (I still don't know if this is brilliant, hilarious, pretentious, or all of the above), while "Violent Pornography" starts off as a goofy Chili Peppers knock-off before erupting into a monstrous funk metal stomp. "Revenga", "Sad Statue", and the brilliantly-titled "This Cocaine Makes Me Think I'm On This Song" are the kind of hyper-energized aggro metal as System of s Down can only provide, and "Question" is a first-rate, "Aerials" style ballad. The album closes with the synth and vocoder-laden "Old School Hollywood" and the brooding mini-epic "Lost in Hollywood" (sung by guitarist Daron Malakian), a song that really reminds me of Tool's "Ænima" given the A Perfect Circle treatment (which is sort of a good thing). I'm still as yet undecided whether this is better than the great Toxicity, but my thumb is definitely up. It's definitely a buyer, and from what i can tell after five listens or so, it was very much worth the wait.
Another big 2005 album has come into my possession. Last summer, when I first heard "Stay", by Toronto's The Ladies & Gentlemen, on last year's mighty fine Boompa compilation, I was instantly hooked. The name of the band is a bit misleading, seeing that The Ladies & Gentlemen consist primarily of one Thom D'Arcy, formerly of The Carnations, who wrote, performed, and produced the album pretty much on his own. The resulting piece of work, Small Sins is everything I'd been hoping it would be...the first comparison that always comes to my mind is Grandaddy, and there's a slight Sumday-style feel to the entire disc, in that Small Sins has the same relaxed, mellow-but-upbeat pace as that great record has. That's not to say that it quickly sounds redundant...it's anything but, thanks to the incessant pop hooks that burst out of each song. The aforementioned "Stay", "Won't Make it Easier", "Threw it All Away", "She's the Source", "It's Easy", and "We Won't Last the Winter" are all instantly memorable. Unlike Grandaddy, though, there's far less focus on epic sweep, and more on a simpler arrangement focusing mainly on keyboards (though guitars do pop up every once in a while). Instead of sounding minimalist, though, it's merely more understated, a lot more controlled than the likeable goofs in Grandaddy, building up to a sublime climax in "At Least You Like Something". This is one gorgeous album, and you can bet this will not be the last time I talk about this CD. It's out in Canada in July, but for the time being, you can hear tracks here, and download "Stay" here.
Monday, May 2, 2005
As is the routine, the last two months' entries have been archived. Link's over there on the right margin.
April was definitely the wacky month I'd expected it to be, and out of those five big concerts I saw, they were so great, it's almost impossible to pick the best of the bunch (but Motorhead is definitely right up there). So as one last look back at a superb month of great music, here are some highlights:
- Devin Townsend cracking me up with his onstage chatter
- Having a sold-out, all ages crowd show me that not only is Canadian indie rock legitimately on the rise, but Death From Above 1979 could very well become huge in this country
- Apostle of Hustle's festive set, reiterating the fact that I was really stupid not to list Folkloric Feel on my Best of 2004 page five months ago
- Stars' incredible performance, and the sudden realisation during "Elevator Love Letter" that yes, they are one of the best bands around today
- Seeing a big crowd sing along to Hot Hot Heat's "No, Not Now"
- The Futureheads all but knocking me off my feet with an incredibly intense, all-too-brief set
- Corrosion of Conformity sounding incredible, as they always do
- Lemmy.
Song of the Week:
Jens Lekman - "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
Young master Lekman certainly isn't one to rest on his laurels. True to his prolific nature, and on the heels of his great 2004 debut When I Said I Wanted to be Your Dog, the Swedish singer-songwriter keeps on churning out the music, and his latest EP, The Opposite of Hallelujah (released on The Hidden Cameras' Evil Evil label), continues right where he left off on his album. Out of the CD's four songs, the title track is the strongest, a sprightly little tune that brings to mind the sugary pop of "You Are the Light". Over a string section and a bouncy piano accompaniment, Lekman grabs your attention right away with the opening salvo, "I took my sister down to the ocean/But the ocean made me feel stupid," as the vastness of the coastline distracts him from giving his younger sister the advice he'd intended to impart to her: "Those words fo wisdom I had prepared all seemed to vanish into thin air." Still he fumbles along, his attempts at improvising not working well at all ("I picked up a seashell to illustrate my hopelessness/But a crab crawled out of it, making it useless"), and he eventually gives up, clumsily blurting out in the fun, sing-along chorus, "It's the opposite of hallelujah/It's the opposite of me and you/You don't know it, cos it just passes right through ya/You don' know what I'm going through." It's the same kind of sly imitation of Stephen Merritt and Morrissey that he's done before, but Lekman is so skilled, both lyrically and musically, that at the rate he's going, it won't be long before we regard him as a true original.
