I’ll spare you my theory on how My Morning Jacket is the modern day equivalent to a mid to late 80’s R.E.M. and instead point you towards a download of a track from what’s shaping up to be the year’s most anticipated release. It seems like ions since I saw MMJ play a sparsely attended, yet defiantly convincing set at the dearly(?) departed Metro Cafe. Nevermind that though; after all, “we now live in the 90’s”. Ahem.
In addition to REM’s Accelerate, last week also marked the release of Sun Kil Moon’s third full length album, April. Other than its release date, this album shares absolutely nothing in common with the album that debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 (and topped the charts throughout Europe). While Accelerate is a loud, in-your-face, brash affair, April is a contemplative mood piece. Accelerate clocks in at less than 35 minutes, while April paces itself for a staggering 74+ minutes. In other words, it’s business as usual for Mark Kozelek, the man who has been releasing some of the most consistent and beautifully sad music since 1992, initially with his first band the Red House Painters, briefly under his own name and now with Sun Kil Moon. (Band names are largely inconsequential when discussing Kozelek’s music, as these albums could just as easily be considered solo affairs.)
April follows up 2005’s Tiny Cities, Kozelek’s album comprised entirely of Modest Mouse covers. Kozelek has always had a knack for unlikely cover choices (AC/DC, the Cars, Yes, the Star Spangled Banner), but he’s never failed to make a song sound uniquely his own. That said, April is a return to entirely original compositions and in that sense is the natural successor to the first album under the Sun Kil Moon moniker, 2003’s uniformly excellent Ghosts of the Great Highway.
April is a fairly demanding listen. It’s not challenging or confrontational, but rather is the kind of album that requires a kind of immersion. Kozelek often writes the kind of song that can ease along a level plane for upwards of 7 or 8 minutes. If you don’t pay attention, you might just miss it. It’s a style that certainly reveals the massive influence of Neil Young. Like Neil, Kozelek is as at home plugging in and leading an epic Crazy Horse-like plod as he is quietly fingerpicking an acoustic (adequately displayed in the selections below). One might go as far as to say that an appreciation for Shakey might just be a required prerequisite for Sun Kil Moon.
April might not be the equal to Ghosts of the Great Highway, the album that would certainly serve as the best introduction to Kozelek’s rich discography, but it’s steeped in much of the same unshakable sepia-toned beauty. It’s a grower for certain.
Sun Kil Moon, April (Caldo Verde, 2008, Purchase Here)
The Light
Harper Road
It’s a big day here at REV HQ as one of our favorite bands has released a brand new record. Accelerate is REM’s 14th studio album and the party line seems to indicate that it is the much ballyhooed “return to form” effort. Read all the reviews and the pre-release hype and you’ll get pretty much the same arc: for those of you who took a sabbatical from the band the last few years, while they figured out how to carry on without drummer Bill Berry and released a string of mediocre, inconsequential records, it’s finally safe to come back. Recent interviews with Michael Stipe and Peter Buck even have the band members themselves somewhat owning up to the relative shortcomings of their recent recorded output.
So Accelerate is touted to be the record where REM have regained their focus. But is it?
Perhaps I’m not the best person to answer that question, as I actually swim against the critical tide (and apparently to a certain degree the band themselves) in regards Accelerate’s most immediate predecessors. I actually would rank the band’s first post-Berry album, 1998’s Up, among their very best. I find 2001’s Reveal to be a fascinating exercise in the art of studio-as-an-instrument. And I’ll admit it: I really enjoyed 2004’s Around The Sun. Ok…so I can’t adequately refute any of the common criticisms levied against ATS; much of the album does in fact sound like a band sleepwalking and forgetting its identity. But I think it’s more a matter of unfortunate production and arrangement choices. The songs are actually there; the guys just had a few bad days at work. We’ve all had those, right?
So, once again, I’m probably not the person to ask if you want an honest assesment of whether or not Accelerate succeeds in making REM “relevant” again. The fact is I know I’m going to listen to this album until I find things to appreciate and enjoy, much as I did with Around The Sun. The only question really is how long this will take and what role this album will ultimately serve in what is one of my most favorite musical legacies.What follows now are my earliest impressions of Accelerate, having now finally heard the album from beginning to end for the first time.
As much as it pains me to admit, I must parrot the partyline to certain degree: there *is* an intangible quality to the album that gives it a much more urgent and, for lack of a better word, living quality. The sound is of a band renewed and full of energy. Uptempo rockers rule the roost here, with Peter Buck’s guitars pushed deeper into the red than ever before. If there is an antecedent in the band’s catalog, it’s in the louder, faster moments from 1996’s New Adventures In Hifi (ie, “Wake Up Bomb”, “Bittersweet Me”, “So Numb, So Fast”, “Binky the Doormat”)– no real surprise as the band’s relatively fast working methods for Accelerate most closely resemble the written-on-tour/recorded-at-soundcheck approach taken with New Adventures.
Further kindreds can certainly be found in the more recent pair of new songs recorded for 2003’s best of compilation In Time, “Bad Day” and “Animal”. (One wonders, by the way, how Around The Sun might have fared with the caffiene-injection of those two songs?)
If I anticipate any potential pitfalls with Accelerate it’s that many of its most memorable and immediately noteworthy moments seem to simply recall earlier, more storied moments in the band’s career. There’s a fear that in the band’s effort to “return to form” they may have found themselves on a bit of a treadmill. That certainly wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, but say this for Up, Reveal and Around The Sun: at least there was an effort, at times considerable, to push the band into new realms and sonic territory. Accelerate sounds like a band retreating safely to its comfort zone.
For now though I am going to push those fears and reservations aside and simply enjoy the process of getting to know a new batch of songs from one of my favorite bands. I’ll share with you my two immediate, first-spin favorites.
“Mr. Richards” is perhaps the album’s most melodic moment. Imagine Green’s “Turn You Inside Out” (see what I mean?) recast with Beatlesque melodies. Then there’s “Horse To Water”, a song that sounds like it may have been written two minutes before it was recorded and sounds all the better for it. It’s as close to 70’s NYC punk as REM has ever sounded. I also like to think that Stipe’s venemous lyrics are addressed to the recent critics of the band, those who have the gall to tell the band what type of album they *should* be making. “I am not that easy, I am not your horse to water…”
REM, Accelerate (Warner Brothers, 2008)
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Mr. Richards
Horse To Water
Supernatural Superserious, Video
My prior knowledge of Goldfrapp is fairly limited. My broad impression was of a band that specialized in the kind of disco-glam anthems likely to soundtrack your next visit to The Gap. How was I to know they were as capable at making music for headphones as they were for dancefloors?
Seventh Tree is the English duo’s fourth album. I’d read some fairly rapturous reviews of the album that tossed around words like “folky”, “pastoral” and “psychedelic” — words that on their own don’t necessarily merit an investigation, but when used in conjunction certainly make me take notice. While the album isn’t quite as dusty or rustic as I perhaps was lead to believe, it does deliver a captivating listen on its own terms.
For this album, the band gives the backbeats a break, instead offering up a sonic signature that places an emphasis on warm washes of analogue synths, occasional finger picked acoustic guitar and some sweeping string arrangements that at times feel borrowed from a Nick Drake record. Of course, the real star of the show here is singer Alison Goldfrapp, who has a dynamic range that calls to mind Kate Bush.
Much of Seventh Tree floats out of the speakers pleasantly enough, but the album is peppered with occasional highlights. “Little Bird” spends its first half prettily trading in the album’s primary colors, but explodes and builds to a climax that sounds roughly like what would happen if a Hofner bass-weilding Paul McCartney crashed a Cocteau Twins session. “Cologne Cerrone Houdini” see’s Goldfrapp auditioning to be the next Bond girl. And “Caravan Girl” has some serious hit potential, the album’s most upbeat moment that reminds me of Saint Etienne’s high water mark, Good Humour.
The one I’m really stuck on though is “A&E”, the album’s first single. It’s a poignant “Drugs Don’t Work” lament, coming across like Pulp’s “Sorted For E’s & Wizz”, if it were written by Jarvis Cocker’s neurotic sister. It also features one of the more memorable videos I’ve seen in a long time.
Goldfrapp, Seventh Tree (Mute, 2008)
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Little Bird
Caravan Girl
If you frequent any of the music blogs then you have likely already read the latest news sure to send shockwaves across the music industry.
Just yesterday evening, the Raconteurs announced via their web site and Myspace page, that they would soon be releasing a recently completed record. To put a finer point on it: they finished the new record, titled Consolers of the Lonely, the first week of March and it will actually be in stores (as well as available for download at all the major outlets and the band’s web site) next week.
From the band’s press release:
“The album was mastered and completed in the first week of March. It was then taken immediately to a vinyl pressing plant. Then to a CD pressing plant. Then preparations to sell it digitally began. March 25th became the soonest date to have it available in EVERY FORMAT AT ONCE. The band have done no interviews or advertisements for this record before this announcement.”
The band then go on to claim that while they will likely be suffering a bit of a hit in terms of the all-important first week sales, their desire to get the record in everybody’s hands at the same time trumps any commercial concerns. As if all of that is not enough, they will be debuting a video on their web site on March 25th as well.
The logistics of this are kind of amazing. Though we here at RitH are big fans of Brendan Benson, we never really latched on to the White Stripes and subsequently never bothered with the Raconteurs’ first release. Regardless of whether or not we revisit that decision (possible), or decide to take the plunge on album number two (likely), on some level we must now consider ourselves fans of the Raconteurs. It’s such an admirable gambit, one that ups the ante from In Rainbows certainly and throws down a gauntlet that I know at least one person should appreciate.
Then today news came that Gnarls Barkley will be bumping up the release of their second album, The Odd Couple, from April 1 to…ummm, today. The album is now available for download from all of the major outlets and will be in the traditional brick and mortars this week. Not quite as impressive as what the Raconteurs are pulling off, but pretty cool nonetheless.
As with the Raconteurs, we missed the boat on Gnarls Barkley’s first album and weren’t necessarily planning on applying for any late passes here. But respect is due. Today at least we are fans in spirit.
Of course the cynical view here is that these are both attempts to minimize the risk and/or damage of pre-release leaks. In the Raconteurs’ case, they most assuredly won’t have to worry about the cat getting out of the bag, but the Gnarls Barkley album has apparently already leaked. If that in fact is the motivation, more power to them. Artists have every right to ensure that their works are distributed in the manner they fully intend.
Will the rush to release strategy earn these artists higher sales? That, of course, remains to be seen. One thing is for certain: two high profile releases just became even higher profile. Is all of this enough to upset the apple cart that is the broken music industry? Again, the outlook is murky. But it represents a trend that this music consumer certainly applauds.
And maybe, just maybe, the lads in Athens, GA are paying attention. Care to Accelerate anything, fellas?
Update: Now I’m reading rumors that Elvis Costello will be releasing a vinyl-only new album on April 22nd! Sounds cool to me…and maybe goes some way towards serving as penance for the recent unnecessary rash of reissues.
Been spending a lot of time this week with the new Stephen Malkmus record and am finding myself more and more drawn to it. This is somewhat surprising because initial spins had me fearing this might just be the first Malkmus-related release to not work its wonders with me. (For those keeping score, that’s five proper albums with Pavement and now four solo ventures.)
As is the case though with so many records, patience and repeated listens brings new rewards.
This is easily the most muscular-sounding Stephen Malkmus record yet. One can’t help but wonder how much of this down to the influence of the newest Jick, drummer Janet Weiss (ex-Sleater Kinney, current-member of Quasi). Never one to simply lay down a backbeat or keep time, she’s always been a bonifide, dare-I-write Bonham-esque presence on any record on which she’s featured– high praise for any drummer indeed. This record certainly features more drum fills than any previous Malkmus or Pavement record; it also features, perhaps not coincidentally, more guitar solo’s. This should only be regarded as a good thing, as Malkmus is certainly no slouch in this regard himself. The result is the impression of one fantastic musician pushing another to new depths and dimensions. (This is also, I must add, an absolutely fantastic sounding recording as well.) It’s also noteworthy that this is the second Malkmus record to be credited as “Stephen Malkmus & Jicks”, sharing some territorial ground with the other band-credited record Pig Lib.
But it’s not all bluster and and brute force at work here. If you stick with Real Emotional Trash long enough to discover the cracks in it’s thick, hard exterior, you’ll still find the same melodic charms that Malkmus has seemingly effortlessly been offering for years. Indeed, it took me three or four listens of the epic “Hopscotch Willie” before I realized just how perfectly imperfect its unassuming slide guitar part is. And “Gardenia”, which features some lovely background vox from Weiss, just may be the single breeziest moment of Malkmus’ solo career, calling to mind his former band’s valedictory note from Terror Twilight “Carrot Rope”.
So, nothing here to necessarily convince or convert the non-believers. But if you’ve found any facet of Stephen Malkmus’ solo career compelling, there’s more than enough on Real Emotional Trash to discover and appreciate. It just may take a little while to get there.
Stephen Malkmus & Jicks, Real Emotional Trash (Matador, 2008, Purchase here)
Hopscotch Willie
Gardenia
Bands like Nada Surf aren’t supposed to exist. In an industry not exactly known for giving second chances, the band are an unlikely story of a phoenix rising from ashes. By all accounts, they really shouldn’t be much more than a footnote in the history of 90’s alternative rock. Yet here they remain, having just released Lucky, the third album in a troika of memorable, hauntingly beautiful releases.
The late 90’s saw Nada Surf in danger of being relegated to “one-hit wonder” status. Their 1996 single “Popular“, whose verses consisted of singer Matthew Caw’s snarkily reading verbatim from a 1960’s etiquette manual on teenage dating, was a mainstay on MTV’s Alternative Nation.
Things went downhill quickly after that.
Their Ric Ocasek-produced debut album, High/Low failed to yield any further singles. Elektra refused to release their follow up album, 1998’s The Proximity Effect, essentially holding the band and the album hostage until finally being released from their contract in 2000. Yet the band somehow persevered, opting to finally self-release the album and tour in support.
In 2002, a full six years beyond their initial meteoric rise to video infamy, Nada Surf released the album Let Go, a self-funded venture that was picked up by northwestern indie label Barsuk. Let Go was a shot from the dark, an album of surprising depth and maturity that shockingly bore very little resemblance to “Popular” or anything of its nerdy alterna-ilk. It hit with the critics and the band suddenly found itself with something even better than a resurrected career: a complete rebirth. The band’s 2005 follow up, The Weight Is A Gift continued the renaissance, mining the same introspective, at times hushed, yet tuneful territory. Not nearly as revelatory as its predecessor but not without its merits.
Expectations in these parts for Lucky, however, were not especially high. The Weight… in some ways seemed just like an inferior, less-impactful sequel to Let Go. Would this be yet another case of diminishing returns? Had the band simply peaked with Let Go?
Those fears were unfounded: Lucky is the band’s true masterstroke, the first thoroughly great record of 2008. It’s an album that endearingly wears its heart on its sleeve and begs to be played loudly. If Let Go and The Weight… felt best on cloudy, rain-filled days, this is one to soundtrack the morning’s first ray of sun.
It’s album of many highlights. Opener “See These Bones” is a slow burner that hinges on the lyric “too tired to eat, too hungry to sleep”, but builds to a crescendo featuring three memorable melodies, weaved together and sung in the round. “Whose Authority” shimmers like nothing so much as a lost outtake from Teenage Fanclub’s career defining Grand Prix, while “Beautiful Beat” is an unabashedly positive reflection on the healing powers of that one perfect song. (Sounds hokey, but it works.) ”Weightless” alternates between herky, jerky, restless guitars and softly, swooning strings, before finally giving way to a soaring wordless choir that would make Mr. Wilson blush. It’s an album that is likely to yield new favorites with each play.
They say it’s better to be lucky than good, but in Nada Surf’s case it seems both apply.
Nada Surf, Lucky (Barsuk, 2008)
See These Bones {download mp3}
Whose Authority {view video}
Weightless