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February 26, 2007

The Trucks – The Trucks

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the trucks album

“I like it, I love it, I like it, I love it …” goes the first song, aptly named “Introduction,” to the Trucks recently re-released and self-titled record. Whether or not this line a subliminal message to listeners attempting to influence their opinion of the record, it’s difficult not to be enthralled by this album and it’s unique lyrical perspective. All four members are of the fairer sex, and their writing strongly reflects that. However the most notable thing about this record isn’t that its got four female members (three of whom sing), it’s the effusive energy evident on every track.

On the surface, much of the music seems rather tongue-in-cheek and unserious. On further inspection though this album’s lyrics are a set of unusually informed and in-your-face commentary on current culture, gender relations, relationships and sexuality from a distinctly different young female perspective than is generally promulgated in Cosmo and corporate media. They revel in turning on its head the dominant male perspective so prevalent in this country, and do a good job of it on this record.

My favorite song “Diddle-bot,” is a love song about a vibrator that would make any guy jealous. “Titties,” a sweet smackdown song, has the unforgettable and oft repeated line “What makes you think we can fuck just because you put your tongue in my mouth and you twisted my titties baby?” and finishes with the cherry-on-top lyric of “You need some lessons on how to get me off.” It might be hard to accept, but “Titties” effectively challenges the idea female’s sexuality as being secondary to that of males, an idea deeply rooted in our culture. This dichotomy and double standard is also given treatment in the final track “Why the ?” where they challenge those of us that stand-while-peeing to at least consider going down on our girl.

Lest you think the above songs really are unserious, view Exhibit B, the song “Shattered.” Hidden behind an infectious dance beat is a startling story, from the female side of the equation that is rarely spoken about. These are the full lyrics minus the repeats:

You could not keep your pretty hands off me

No I won’t sit nice and be quiet

You could not keep your pretty hands off me

Well I thought you were the one but I was wrong, I was wrong

You could not keep your pretty hands off me

You shattered my image of love While I was naked in the tub You shattered my image of love So when I bit, it was for blood

Late in 2006 I made it a point to search for this record at every record store I visited, and each time failed to find my quarry. Luckily the record was re-released in January, and I made it out to their re-release in-store performance at Easy Street. Their performance was more fun than I ever expected, and made me confident I had made the right choice in picking up this record before I had even heard it. One month on, it remains in high rotation and I can’t wait to see them live again at SXSW where they will be playing a show each day. Listen (mp3): Diddle-Bot – The Trucks from The Trucks

Myspace: The Trucks (Listen to “Shattered” here.)

Official: The Trucks

January 31, 2007

Somme – Weight EP

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Instrumental bands fascinate me. After being in a band myself now for a little while, I am beginning to understand how much of a central element the voice is to the composition of so much of popular music. Those bands that are able to transcend that missing element (at least missing in comparison to other forms of American popular music) are the bands who interest me the most. Somme is one such band that after my first listen I was unusually intrigued.

I’ve only encountered a few bands that are purely instrumental as well as engaging. I can’t tell you how many prog-rock bands I have seen and heard that just bore me to death with their uninteresting repetitive riffs, boring stage presence, and botched attempts at riding the coat tails of Built to Spill. I will mention “a few” that I have been listening to recently though. Lately local duo Talkdemonic has been in the rotation heavily, as well as guitarists Rodrigo Y Gabriela, who’s guitar playing reminds me of Ottmar Liebert’s updated flamenco compositions. I should tell you though, that my central point of reference, the band which all other instrumental bands are stacked up against, and a band that I listen to incessantly, is Dirty Three. Their albums Ocean Songs and Horse Stories are two of the finest albums I own. Ocean Songs would be a “desert island disc” for me, even if I only had three choices. Anyway, to make a long story short (and I could talk about Dirty Three for some time), the point of that is this: in the latest Somme tracks, I was reminded of the power of music unhindered by the constraints of adhering to a formula or accommodating a voice, as so much of popular music is reliant upon today, in much the same way that Dirty Three gave me the recognition of that power when they were introduced to me.

From Chicago, Somme is only two gentlemen, Daniel Medina on guitar and Kenny Preski on drum, but they produce a sound that belies their small stage footprint. The first song they sent over was “Massless” and it was a slap in the face. I listened to it and all I could think was Whaaaa? Where did this come from? “Massless” is journey on a stormy sea of expertly wielded distortion and aggressive drumming. Beginning in the pensive and quiet waters of a secluded cove then progressing to the fifty foot waves of a hurricane, this song hurls me overboard and back again. The companion track “Forge” is a quieter song filled with frenetic distorted riffs that while not as in-your-face as “Massless”, still serve up a heaping helping of brooding textures that tug at my heart strings in much the same way Horse Stories still does to this day.

The above mentioned tracks appear on a 5 song EP called Weight which was recorded entirely to analog tape in a single day, in this very month of January 2007. They term this EP “a spectacularly ambitious sonic marvel” and I can’t agree more. A “sister” EP will be appearing later this year. I leave you with “Massless.”

Listen (mp3): Massless – Somme from the Weight EP

Related

Myspace: Somme (where you can listen to both of the above mentioned tracks)

January 25, 2007

New Chicago Soul: Catfish Haven’s Tell Me

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 catfish haven

Recording an album in the era of Pro Tools and highly powerful computers rarely consists of a band getting together in a sound proof room and just playing their hearts out until they get a cut that they like. Instruments are layered on a track, one by one, each with its own volume setting that is constantly adjusted to fit with each new component that is being added. Singers get as many takes as they need, sometimes cutting and pasting sections from multiple tracks into a single master track. The sounds are then passed through all manner of filters to screen out unseemly tones and turn it into a product for mass ingestion. Rarely do I encounter new records that, through all of that, still manage to sound like it was recorded live, in one sitting, with everyone in the same room as if it were a concert. In Catfish Haven’s first full length release Tell Me, I have found one such record. Calling something ‘analog’ is essentially an insult in this era of HDTV, 3G cell phone networks and the mp3, but that was the first word that came to mind when thinking about this album. Maybe a better word is ‘vintage,’ as most everything about this record also strikes me as vintage sounding and the word ‘vintage’ has a much more positive association than ‘analog.’

At the surface, Front man George Hunter hasn’t written complex songs with deep and meaningful lyrics. Most of the songs seem conversations with or about a current or former lover that find no shame in repeating lines over and over again and are usually the typical “I miss you” or “Don’t leave” vein. But as we listen we realize that so much of this band’s appeal is in the delivery. Simple four word lines are never sung straight. Each word has it’s own special pronunciation and in certain songs, for example “If I Was Right,” the last word of each line is drawn out and accentuated with soulful embellishment that would make Al Green himself proud. On the slowest of slow songs, “This Time,” he sings as though it were a heartfelt tribute, that if you were in present in the room while sung, might cause you to burst into tears. Hunter’s singing, and it really is singing mind you, hearkens to the familiar and authentic; a weathered and smoked out voice that has experienced life, that just by existing tells an interesting and moving story. A singing voice influenced by gospel and blues in equal measure. A voice full of inspiration and emotion that just by being teaches other voices what passion really sounds like.

Hunter uses his acoustic guitar almost exclusively as a rhythm keeper instrument, strumming fast and hard through the first few tracks without ever looking back. This allows the drum and bass to be prominent and energetic parts of the overall sound, not always relegated to the background as a foundation of percussion, but instead be able to drive the pace and steer the mood of the song in place of the guitar. “Crazy for Leaving” is the second track on the LP and it illustrates my point perfectly. It has a mindlessly simply guitar riff that never really changes through the whole song except for dropping out during a sweet bass solo break. The density of the drum is what varies, isolating Hunter’s and his backups voice’s initially and then ramping up the crash to keep adding what seems a song of perpetual buildup. Other favorites off of the album include the first three in the play order, “This Time” “I Don’t Worry” and “Tell Me.”

This is feel good music for me and I’ll admit that I’ve listened to this album pretty much daily in the last two weeks since I got it. This is another album that I am dearly sorry I missed in 2006. I have to give credit where credit is due and say that I discovered this through KEXP and DJ Kevin Cole. I’m sorry to have missed them at the New Years show that KEXP setup, so I will definitely have to be checking these gentlemen out when they return. I leave you with my favorite song.

Listen (MP3) :  “I Don’t Worry” – Catfish Haven from Tell Me

Related

Myspace – Catfish Haven (where you can listen to “Crazy for Leaving”)

January 18, 2007

+/- (Plus Minus): Let’s Build a Fire

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 plus minus

Artist: +/- (Plus Minus) Album: Let’s Build a Fire Released: 2006 (in the US) 

Did Ben Gibbard make a solo record under an pseudonym and not tell anyone? The first time I listened through Plus Minus’s Let’s Build a Fire all I could think was that this is exactly how I might expect such a record to sound. This New Yawk City band is on the opposite coast from where Gibbard makes his home, but still brandishes a catalog that wouldn’t be out of place as an northwest band with unabashedly contemporary northwest influences. Take a listen to ”Time and Space” tell me that it doesn’t sound like it could have been a b-side from the Photo Album. Similarly ”Fadeout” and “Summer Dress 2 (Iodine)” have the feel unheard Postal Service songs complete with female backing vocals.

I don’t want to pigeonhole this band as a Gibbard rip-off band though. Their influences and output cover much more musical history than a barely famous engineering student from the corner of nowhere. They have a couple of releases under their belt previous to this effort and have been around since 2002. The songs that actually got me turned onto this band are “Trapped Under Ice Floes (Redux)” and “Suprise,” both originally from 2004 (and both smartly featured in their website’s media section). Those songs feature effusive electro-pop dance-beats that I never tire of listening to that are significantly different from Let’s Build a Fire’s softer and more lyrically engaging tracklist.

Don’t worry about my preceding statement though as they definitely haven’t left their electronic roots behind with this album. ”Leap Year” has the strong feeling of Stars’ most recent record and one of my favorite records of 2005, Set Yourself on Fire (this album did in fact come out in Japan in December of 2005 as well). That being said, this album does definitely represent a progression toward more vocally oriented songmaking. “Profession” moves in a completely different (and new?) direction that is reminiscent of an Elliott Smith song with the voice, the guitar, and even the sparse drumming. “The Important Thing Is To Love” also sweetly reminds me of Elliott Smith or (gasp!) an unplugged Radiohead that eventually morphs into something closer in kin to vintage Death Cab.

As 2007 has started and our 2006 lists have been created and critiqued and we are introduced to albums we missed in 2006, inevitably we look back on our lists and think that we would like to change things. We find albums that after further listening we wish we could have added, albums that don’t stand the test of time (even a month after putting them on the list) and should never have been put on the list in the first place, and albums that I egregiously missed that definitely would have made the cut. This album definitely fits into that latter category and currently stands as probably my most played album of this month so far.

Listen (mp3): Profession – +/- from Let’s Build a Fire

Related:

Offical Site: +/- (Plus Minus)

Myspace: +/- (Plus Minus)  

January 14, 2007

The Killers – Sam’s Town

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[Editors note: I asked Jason, one of my best friends and drummer in my band, to write up a review for The Killers new album. - josh]

 Sams Town

Sam’s Town, the sophomore effort by The Killers feels to me much like an experience you might have at its namesake—the Sam’s Town Casino.   Sam’s Town starts you off with the feeling that the album is going to be every bit as good as Hot Fuss —but by the end of the first spin you realize that the House always wins, and no matter how much you’re up in the end you leave feeling a little down and disappointed, reeking of cigarette smoke, watered down drinks, and that cheap perfume of the big-haired lady next to you at the craps table.   And yet, much like the strange allure of the casino, you find yourself wanting to go back for another visit, another chance to drink it in and find that magic you know is lurking somewhere in the shadows.

I think many people, myself included, feared what The Killers second album would be.  Could it possibly be as good as the seemingly unending raw power that Hot Fuss was?  No matter how much you don’t care to admit it, after listening to their debut you really wanted to run out and buy a synth, cover the stand in glitter and sequins, grab your bright red suit jacket, and add just a hint of eye liner and makeup on your way out the door.   Hot Fuss was a 45.6-minute explosion of pent up energy that ebbed and flowed but remained strong throughout.  

After seeing The Killers on stage the first time, I vividly remember turning to my roommate, mouth agape, and saying, “Dude”, which roughly translated into “omfg, these guy’s are the shit and we need red suits and omfg did you see how they just dominated the stage and…”   So, I was waiting for a similar OMFG-turn-this-shit-up-lets-jump-around second album. The Killers have instead turned their image from the glam-inspired British past to … Midwest America .  Hrm.  I don’t foresee any copy-cat bands springing up from this one.

What to say about Sam’s Town?  You can go read Spin and Pitchfork and yadda yadda yadda to get wonderful inside jokes and quips.   But all I can say is that I still really don’t know.  Sure the title track leads off and makes you recall the intensity of Hot Fuss, but I certainly did not enjoy Sam’s Town all that much the first two times through.  Nor did I find anything terribly compelling about The Killer’s stage presence when I saw them tour in support of this album.  They seemed tired and forced, two words which sum up how I feel about a lot of Sam’s Town.

It seemed to me that Brandon Flowers’ voice was straining a lot—sometimes to the point of just not working.  I also thought the writing was rather inconsistent.   “When You Were Young” seems overly-cliché, and if Hot Fuss was as well, it just worked better on that record.   On the other hand, I thought the title track was quite good and had fleeting moments of brilliance, though I’m not sure what Flowers is going for with lines like, “My brother he was born on the fourth of July/…and that’s all.”

“Nobody ever had a dream round here/but I don’t really mind that it’s starting to get to me” starts the song, and then near the end, “And I’m sick of all my judges/they’re so scared of letting me shine/But I know that I can make it/As long as somebody takes me home.”   He seems to be telling people he’s here to make something bigger, and he’s hoping that people will get out of his way and let him do it.  However, in “Bling (Confessions Of A King)” Flowers belts out, “How do you know that you’re right/If   you’re not nervous anymore?”  That nervous energy doesn’t seem to be here like it was on their first album.

I think the disc has some truly great stuff, and I’m starting to appreciate, if slowly.  I’ve decided this is an album that may only truly be appreciated by existing Killers fans and doubt they’ll win anyone new with it. (Which may a bit of a problem since they have no issues telling everyone they want to be the biggest and best thing ever.) But I think it’s good stuff, and certainly worth owning.   In trying to decide what I wanted to say about the album, I found myself yearning to hear it again and again, so perhaps it is one of those sleeper hit albums. Then again, I doubt it.

 I’m interested to see where The Killers will go from here.  I think Sam’s Town is more polished, and sounds pretty good overall, but I’m hoping their next effort will bring back more of the 80′s synth revival sounds of Hot Fuss.   In the end, I give the album a B- with a chance for extra credit after I listen to in for another month.

Related

Myspace: The Killers

January 10, 2007

Homegrown: The Hands

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The Hands

Artist: The Hands Album: So Sweet EP Label: Basement Empire Release Date: October 2006

Abbey dubbed 2006 “the year of the EP,” and the deeper I delve into the independent music scene, the more I am beginning to agree. Seattle band The Hands put out their EP So Sweet back in October, but I didn’t get hip to their throwback garage rock until just a few weeks ago. I picked up So Sweet last week and I have listened to it at least once every day since then. Had this EP been on our radar earlier, it would have been one of our top Northwest releases of 2006, and the Best EP of the year for 2006.

Simply put, to me, this band is Rolling Stones version 2.0. Their lead singer sounds enough like a young Jagger that the comparison is pretty obvious after the first listen. That being said, his singing is unique and updated enough that it never sounds copycat or trite, his style is just smartly grounded in one of the greatest rock vocalists ever. More than just the vocals, instrumentally this band has moments that sound strikingly like the Stones of yore, and this is especially true in the song “Cold Ground (Lay Me Down)” where some of the lyrics are sampled from the Stones classic ”(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

The lead single “So Sweet” is a breath of fresh air in our existing culture of sad bastards and quiet singer-songwriters. “Lies Lies Lies” and “Do Me Right” have been occupying my brain for a solid week now. “Arrows” might be my favorite song though, solely for the reason that every time I hear it I wish was in a space where I could get my white-boy-dance on in full effect.

Every song on this EP could be a single that would sell records. How this band isn’t the biggest thing right now baffles me. Just as Abbey named 2006 the year of the EP, I am going to proclaim 2007, “The Year of The Hands.” If this band doesn’t explode in 2007, like the Cold War Kids did in 2006 and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! did in 2005, there is something very wrong with the music business (and the world in general) today.

Listen (mp3): The Hands – So Sweet

The Hands will be at the Tractor with the Cops and the Old Haunts this Saturday, January 13. They will also be at the Crocodile on January 31. The show you will not want to miss though is February 13, where The Hands will be playing with Thee Emergency and Ice Age Cobra.

Related

Myspace: The Hands  (where you can purchase their EP So Sweet)

January 9, 2007

Featured January Release: Menomena

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 Menomena

Artist: Menomena Album: Friend And Foe Label: Barsuk Release Date: January 23, 2007

How does one begin to evaluate a band that defies comparison? From the disjointed drumming, to the ominous horns, to the unconventional backup vocals, Menomena has created an entirely unique sound that treads new ground. After touring with Barsuk label-mates The Long Winters and What Made Milwaukee Famous during 2006, this Portland trio is ready to take the world by storm with their third full length release Friend and Foe in January. This is art-rock at its finest, pushing the limits of popular acceptance, until the line has to be redrawn to accomodate new notions of what is possible and what is good.

Menomena isn’t bound by any traditional concepts of conformity in music making. During the creative procress they have a virtual fourth member to the group called the “Deeler,” or Digital Looping Recorder. A computer program, the Deeler allows for all the members to loop instruments in an organized fashion, giving them the ability to incorporate and experiment with many more sounds than might otherwise be impossible with only three members. Typically a drum beat is laid down and the song grows organically from there, with each member adding to the soundscape. One important thing to note though, the Deeler is only a creative tool for building songs; during a live show, the Deeler isn’t used at all. If it frees them to be creative in ways not possible before, it isn’t an excuse to be lazy during a live performance.

Each song on Friend and Foe is a new adventure in music. At their most basic this band is a guitar, a synth and a drum. But other elements such as the use of Baritone saxophones and transitions between techno drumming and classical sounding piano with a single song make this album unique. The furious drumming reminiscent of The Postal Service release feels comforatably familiar, but the different things they do with it makes it something entirely new and different. A prime example of this is the first single, “Wet and Rusting,” which showcases some inhumanly fast drumming behind a sweet piano riff, a synth bass line and three layers of vocals.

“Muscle and Flo’” the first song in the play order on the record, features another element of Menomena’s unique drumming style, the strategic lack of drums. In most songs the drum would be the key element in the build up of the song, but in this one and a couple of others, the voice is the key element driving the buildup and the drum is totally absent during entire sections of the song. “Rotten Hell” feels like a stripped down Arcade Fire styled piano song with some layered vocals that sound strikingly close to John Lennon.  Over the course of the record, the use of the Baritone sax and some very deep synth tones create a larger theme of darkness and depth that eventually permeates the whole record. 

I’ll say it: I love this record. You will to. You can even listen to it before you buy it at one of the links below.

My Rating: 9 out of 10

Menomena’s only scheduled show right now is for January 28 at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland.

Related

Stream the whole album here . Get an MP3 of their first single, “Wet and Rusting,” from Barsuk here. Listen to “Muscle n’ Flo” and “Rotten Hell” at Menomena’s Myspace. Official Site: Menomena Preorder from Barsuk here.

December 19, 2006

New Favorite Local: The Sea Navy

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[Editors note: "New Favorite Local" is a new weekly feature where we highlight a local band we've recently discovered, give a quick review of their album and style, and provide an mp3 for your listening pleasure. As the title states, this is a recent favorite of ours, so you will definitely want to check this band out.]

The Sea Navy frontman Jay Cox, originally of Boston, moved to Seattle and with material that he had been performing solo, put together a band and recorded Oh These Troubled Times. Released in October of 2006, this album is chocked full of understated upbeat pop songs that lyrically don’t cover the typical topics of heartbreak and pre-heartbreak, instead dealing with the always difficult relationships with friends and oneself, examinations of the tenuous connections we all have to one another, and the day to day grind of humanity. Cox and friends have crafted an album from simple pieces that when combined create a bittersweet “garage pop” sound that is genuine and without pretense. While the title is a line from the first song, it does serve as a theme throughout the album. Each song develops the theme of “troubled times” a little further, enough so that I wonder if it is wrong to label this a “concept album.”

The opening track “Arctic Advice,” starts the album off strong with an energy filled ode to simply making it through the day. “Action (Above 12th)” is a sweet acoustic song that harkens to local group Math and Physics Club’s stripped down style. The song that first caught my ear as a gem though was “Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.” This cut is an “I told you so” song, lamenting the poor life situation of a friend who didn’t listen to the advice he was offered. We all have a friend like this, although hopefully not one so difficult to deal with as Henry VIII, as Jay tells me is the inspiration for this song.

My other favorite song, “Avenue A,” is an acoustic guitar song that captures the theme of the album title nicely, talking about what must be a battle with alcoholism. I wish I could have written this song. This verse especially: “Between the bottles and the bottom of the floor, I’m searching for the dignity I had, They take months and they take days and they take years or more, But I will walk away, but I will walk away.” The chorus line of “We’re just strangers on this journey, banging those pots and pans we carry” succintly brings to life a universal element of the human experience; we all can identify with wearing our  experiences on our sleeve. We’ve all got baggage, some are just louder about it than others. The backing synth perfectly creates a weepy atmosphere that sets the mood of the song as sad, allowing for the guitar and voice to remain moving, positive and unburdened with the somber content. When I first heard this album I thought to myself, “Self, you’ve been dropping the ball on this whole music blogging thing. How did the Sea Navy escape your discerning and insatiable ear for new good music?” After a few listens to this unsigned band, my feelings about it haven’t changed one bit, and this album has been in high iPod rotation. I’ve been trying to fit this band into the popular music family tree and always manage to have a hard time. My closest comparison is The Shins meets Pedro the Lion meets Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. In looking at the band’s Myspace page, both Ted Leo and David Bazan are in their top friends, so it looks like I might be onto something there.

Listen: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. – The Sea Navy from Oh These Troubled Times

Related

Interview: Jay Cox interviewed by Metroblogging Seattle

Myspace: The Sea Navy

Official: The Sea Navy

December 4, 2006

Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam

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[Editor's Note: In honor of Rolling Stone polling their readers and "Pearl Jam [taking] the title of Best American Band of ‘06 by a wide margin” I am posting a guest review of their most recent album that I should have posted a while ago. Sorry for the wait becca. – josh]

Pearl Jam

Bring on the Avocado: Pearl Jam’s “Avocado” Through the Eyes of an Uber-Fan By Texbex, Sound on the Sound Guest Writer

So my family thinks I’m nuts because I re-routed my flight from New York to Seattle through Chicago for an extra $150 last May, after a family wedding in Brooklyn. I felt compelled to do this because Pearl Jam was playing two nights at United Arena and it would only extend my vacation one day, and well; it was Pearl Jam. You see, my philosophy is, “one must seize opportunities to experience good music when one can.” I mean, this band has led me one smidgeon closer to bankruptcy through the years but at this point, I could care less: they’re that good. Besides, I am in the fan club so I get killer seats. The show I attended was phenomenal. My cousin and I spazzed out to the music from the 4th row and the next day, I proudly traveled back to Seattle boasting my shiny new avocado t-shirt.

Anyway, this review may be coming a little later than the others – ok, more like six months later – but I am still in as much awe as the first time I heard Pearl Jam the date of its release, May, 2, 2006. The self-titled album’s cover displays a half-cut Avocado in front of an electric blue background, but when one opens the CD leaflet, they’d see morbid depictions of rotting corpses; disfigured, grotesque portrayals of each band member’s face, and lyrics that still impress many a seasoned fan. The songs cover topics like the horrors of war, the corrupt nature of our country’s current presidential administration, and the questionable existence of God when his so-called followers use religion to legitimize why some people kill thousands and thousands of other innocent people in a seemingly endless, double conundrum excuse for a fight against “terror” (specifically the latter in the song, “Marker in the Sand”).

For weeks, even months after the release of Pearl Jam, I had the album safely nestled in the confines of my car’s CD player, blasting it as loudly as humanly possible so everyone else in Seattle could hear the awesomeness coming out of my Taur-ass’s speakers. The only exception to keeping the CD in the deep depths of my trunk came from occasionally wanting to hear it at work (especially on the day of it’s release, as I sat fidgeting in my cubicle with the largest shit eating grin plastered across my face); or the “you-gotta-hear-this-NOW whether you like it or not!” moments when I ran to my car, retrieved the CD, and played that sweet music; that nectar of the GODS, to my friends who hadn’t yet been exposed to the hardest rocking masterpiece since, dare I say it?- 1996’s No Code. This album not only features the “impeccable” drumming of Mr. Matt Cameron (formerly of beloved Seattle band Soundgarden and my hero, seriously…), it showcases Mike McCready’s songwriting abilities (featured in the song, “Inside Job”). One can definitely sense the band’s uncanny ability of retaining that same rocking scrumtrilescence from years past in such great songs as “Army Reserve” (my second-favorite song on the album) and “Universal Soldier”. This album also incidentally provides the Evil Conglomerate of Clear Channel’s Crony Radio Stations with a popular staple that deejays aired, repeatedly, during its initial ascent to number one on the popular charts; proving once again that Pearl Jam can play by the music industry’s rules and still beat the crap out of the corporate machine with “World Wide Suicide”, their blatant, BLATANT war protest song. The tune has a catchy chorus, despite its woeful message (“The whole world, world over, it’s a Worldwide Suicide”), and at the time of WWS’s release, it was chanted by fans and Republicans alike, much to the irony of Clear Channel’s strict conservative ties.

Not only does this album ROCK in more ways that I can count, it also contains the best bridge ever conceived by man during the song, “Marker in the Sand”. I also love the other hard-hitting gems, such as, “Life Wasted”, “Big Wave” (the chorus of this song is as hypnotic as its bridge), “Severed Hand” (both awesome on the album and live), “Comatose” (I’ve heard some people compare a part of the chorus to a Shania Twain song. Those people are idiots that have too much time on their hands), and “Gone” (also amazing live).

I have to be fair, though, and talk about the tracks that just don’t do it for me because I am only human and I don’t absolutely have to love anything Pearl Jam does because that would be stupid. Besides, I am pretty open about my disdain for the song, “Last Kiss”, and it doesn’t make me any less of a fan because the fucking song drives me up the wall. That said, one of the two slower tunes featured on the album, “Parachutes” (lyrics and music by Stone Gossard), is skipped on a constant basis because the album flows much better when “Marker in the Sand” is followed immediately by “Comatose”. Also featured is Pearl Jam’s first official blues song, “Come Back” which is not really one of my first picks, either, but an admirable little diddy nonetheless.

Simply put, I have not been this obsessed with an album since Ten. It has gotten to the point where, every time I see an avocado on a billboard, I no longer crave guacamole, I crave Pearl Jam. If that’s a testament to this album’s greatness, then I don’t know what is.

November 28, 2006

Cat Power – The Greatest

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Cat Power - The Greatest  

Cat Power The Greatest Released January 24, 2006

 Chan Marshall, AKA Cat Power, is notorious. Notorious for drinking. Notorious for breaking down on stage. Notorious for just being downright crazy. Recently Marshall has cleaned up though, kicking the drink and going sober. To accompany this life change, she created her best album yet and one of the most notable albums of 2006, The Greatest. While her head may be clear now, the songs on this album reflect the self-loathing and despair she experienced as a part of her past driking and depression.

The title track and first track in the play order, “The Greatest,” begins with a bare piano intro that is signature Cat Power a la You are Free. Big string arrangements and multiple backup singers combine to augment a sound that has up to this point in her career, been lo-fi, sparse and simple. “The Greatest” is haunting and inspiring all at the same time. When listening to this record, Marshall is doing more than just singing the song, she is painting a mood onto your soul. 

From the beginning this album also seems intensely autobiographical. “The Greatest” appears to be a song about the descent into drinking she experienced while gaining notoriety and fame.  ”Living Proof” and “Lived in Bars” immediately follow “The Greatest” and also seem to be telling Chan’s story of the trappings a traveling musician. ”Lived in Bars” seems especially introspective and honest with the line “There’s nothing like living in a bottle, there’s nothing like ending it all for the world.”

“Hate” is clearly the most intense song on the album. One has to wonder where and when Marshall penned these lyrics: “They can give me pills, Or let me drink my fill, The heart wants to explode, Far away where nobody knows, Do you believe she said that? Do you believe she said that? I said I hate myself and I want to die.”

Now I realize I just quoted the two most suicidal lyrics from the album in a row. While I’m not insinuating that she will be our next Elliot Smith or Kurt Cobain (she can’t be in that group anyway because she’s not from the northwest), these lines do a good job of exposing the true nature of this album as a sad bastard masterpiece. Who would ever really want to listen to someone talking about hating themselves anyway? (me.) But if go and package those songs up with a one-of-a-kind voice that experiences the lyrics while she is singing them, you’ve got yourself some hit material.

Not all the songs wallow in their own misery though. ”Could We” and “After It All” are positive love songs that coulbe be Ray Charles inspired. ”Willie” might be the most unique and beautiful song on this album. The intro to this song seems like a slight return to the original intro in “The Greatest,” and with its background vocals, “Have you seen her? Have you seen her? Have you seen her?” we see lyrics that might allude to Chan’s own life struggle and positive changes.

Chan Marshall is simply one of the most unique and expressive personalities in music right now. This record magnifies and enhances those personal qualities to the point where, while before the album I might have challenged her bold association of the album title with Muhammad Ali, I now have no qualms about alllowing a connection to be drawn between these two personalities. Just as Ali was defined by his ego in his quest for greatness, so was Marshall defined by hers. Ali’s ego became what Ali was in the same way that Marshall’s erratic antics defined Cat Power. This album serves as a sharp repudiation to that lifestyle and as a signal to those who would dismiss Marshall as another slowly deteriorating sad, sad story. The Greatest is bar-none Cat Power’s best and most mature album to date and one of the finest releases in all of 2006.

8.8/10

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Myspace: Cat Power