Mixtape: Badass Drum Mix 1

For those who don’t know me, I’m a drummer (Damn straight. --Ed). The drums have been my instrument for years, and it’s generally the first thing I’ll notice/criticize when listening to a band. And if you’ve noticed, most of all of my reviews have been spent talking about the drummer. Anyways, this mix is full of song with amazing drum parts. I’m skipping on a lot of the drum greats with this list, but I mostly stuck to choosing songs that I’ve been listening to over the summer.

1. Mister Metaphor – 90 Words [Download]
My brother and I opened for this band and Logan Whitehurst’s Junior Science Club two years ago. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from this Sacramento local band, but they blew me away completely. The drummer was phenomenal, and the songs were pretty tough. Weird time signatures, a lot of changes, a bunch of sudden stops, and this guy did it all. And managed to twirl/throw his sticks in the air. Too bad the band broke up. This is my favorite song of theirs; listen to the beginning, when the band starts playing together. One of the oddest time signatures, and they pull it off so well.

2. The Velvet Teen – Building a Whale
I’ve said enough about Casey Deitz, and I guess I could go on. I’ll let this song speak for itself, though.

3. Blink-182 – Always
Travis Barker has always been one of my favorite drummers. His recent hip-hop stuff with Transplants and Expensive Taste is pretty bad, but his work on Blink-182 was actually top notch. He was always finding ways to make the song interesting, inserting some unique drum grooves and neat drum fills. And it honestly looks like he can play anything without breaking a sweat. This song best showcases his ability.

4. Count Basie – Splanky [Download]
Written by Neal Hefti and made popular by Count Basie, this jazz song is one of my all time favorites. The main melody of this song is just so damn cool. But the best part is the chorus, where the entire band is playing out. The drummer gets to play out, catch figures, and just gets to be a badass. I got to play this song for my high school jazz band, and yeah, I got have fun with it.

5. Muse – Assassin
After the whole intro bit, listen to the Howard’s fill going into the pre-verse. Now that’s a drum fill.

6. Sigur Rós – Track 8 from ( ) Album
This album is awesome, even though it doesn’t feature a whole lot of drums. The finale of the album is pretty much the same way. You need to get through 6 minutes or slow, sweeping melodies, and then the drums enter. Then after a few more minutes of buildup, and drums kick into full force around 9:30 mark. It is grand.

7. Joules – Laser Cannon
Another crazy drummer from a Bay Area band. It’s off their latest album, “Laser Cannon and Street Thunder”, which is actually one 37 minute song split into nine tracks. This is the first track, and it’s quite good. This section features more odd time signature and crazy rhythms. Listen around the 1:15 mark and you’ll see what I mean. Get the song from their myspace.

8. Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows
Dave Grohl is the man, and this song is proof.

9. Foo Fighters – Everlong
People listen to the acoustic version of this song so much…almost too much. I think they forgot how much the band arrangement rocks. Really, Taylor Hawkins is a badass, and he shows it in every chorus and pre-chorus. Yeah, I know, the acoustic version is all sensitive and sweet, but this song is just begging for some badass drum fills.

10. Weezer – Undone (The Sweater Song)
Every time I’m on the drums, I’ll play this intro drum riff at some point. I don’t know, I just think it’s awesome.

11. Broken Social Scene – KC Accidental [Download]
This song is so badass, it only needs one verse. Just, one. There’s no need for any more words than that. The main hook of this song is enough. And the drums are just awesome. I also believe it’s required that you play this song loud as fuck.

- John Higgins -

Previous Mixtapes: Murder Ballads, An Acoustic Evening, Artists On My iTunes That Start With "B"

Tags: mixtape, badass, drums, mp3

Live: Red Hot Chili Peppers & Mars Volta 8/22/06

Of the bigger artists (i.e. those capable of selling out a stadium) I actively listen to and who still tour, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were the last on my list to see, after I had checked Pearl Jam off the list earlier this summer at Cox Arena. Like any self-respecting fan of live music, I generally try and avoid seeing concerts in stadiums or arenas (for a good reason too, as much of the Pearl Jam live experience was ruined by the venue) but I’ve been such a huge fan of both bands for so long that I had to go, if only to prove my dedication to such formative artists.

Our seats were much better than I thought they would be, thanks in part to an iTunes presale. We were a few rows up in the bleachers, directly stage left from the bands. It was certainly a strange mix of fans—stoners, open-minded hardcore kids, and pretentious prog rockers for the Mars Volta, and middle-age parents, funkcore fans, and people who knew radio singles for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. During the night it was sort of surreal to see little kids looking for their seats, a fifty-year-old drunk couple rocking out in the aisle and getting sent back to their seats by the security staff, and my rich metalhead friend at the same time. But, as it turns out, the diversity made the music that much more unifying and triumphant.

The Mars Volta kicked it into gear with “Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)”, my favorite Mars Volta track and proof that, while the new drummer may not be Jon Theodore, he can still beat the shit out of the kit. After a much-appreciated rendition of “The Widow” from last year’s “Frances the Mute”, the Mars Volta spent the rest of their set playing songs from their upcoming album, “Amputechture”. And, while much of the songs on the actual album are somewhat less than exciting, the Mars Volta’s live prowess does them wonders. Cedrix Bixler-Zavala seemed somewhat out of sorts during the set, drinking tea (perhaps he was sick?) and expressing discontent with his vocal tone but, despite his problems, he still found time for his signature “twitch-your-legs-below-the-knee-while-keeping-the-rest-of-your-body-still” dancing. Also, because of much of the audience was comprised of people generally out of touch with recent music and who had only come because they liked the Red Hot Chili Peppers back in 1992, the crowd wasn’t quite responsive to the Mars Volta’s set. It was solid, quality live music that Mars Volta fans enjoyed immensely, but the mood at the iPayOne Arena didn’t quite pick up until RHCP took the stage.

After the fifty-year-olds and radio-mongers had expressed their joy at the Mars Volta getting off the stage and after the rest of us had given them sufficiently dirty looks, sometimes accompanied by hand gestures involving only one finger with oblivious looks on our faces, John Frusciante dance-stepped his way onstage, playing a phase-shifting funk riff as Chad Smith sat down at the kit and settled into his groove. Next came Flea, donning a strange, discolored jump suit (male leotard? I’m not even sure…) and assaulting the crowd with his duel headbanging and BASS IN YOUR FACE technique. The band jammed for a few minutes before starting “Can’t Stop”, during which Mr. Anthony Kiedis bounced his way onstage.

The band looked terribly happy to be playing together, Frusciante reveling in his long hair and huge catalogue of facial expressions, Smith doing his “throw my drumstick up in the air and catch it before playing again” trick as many times as could be deemed appropriate, Flea trying to find some outlet for his insane amount of energy by kicking and jumping and climbing on things and yelling, and Kiedis trying some weird dances moves that looked like hardcore Irish dancing, made slightly worse by the fact that, from the waste down, he has somewhat of a feminine figure. The whole band actually looked kind of silly, as if they weren’t quite sure how to act onstage as stadium-filling rock stars, but the audience took it for what it was: a legendary band, happy to be playing for them, and as into the music as they themselves were. They succeeded in overcoming the often poisonous effects of arena concerts, likely due to their ten years of experience, making the set feel intimate and pulling off a decent mix despite the arena’s tendency to echo.

The Chili Peppers, thankfully, took songs from all over their catalogue, not only focusing on tracks from this year’s “Stadium Arcadium”. The farthest they reached back was “Me and My Friends”, a classic track from 1987’s “Uplift Mofo Party Plan”, which most of the audience wasn’t familiar with but longtime RHCP fans were overjoyed to hear. They played the seldom-heard b-side “Havana Affair”, a strange Ramones cover and, about halfway through the set, Kiedis gave the floor to Frusciante who, after collaborating with his bandmates regarding lyrics, sang a beautiful rendition of Carole King’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” which, Kiedis said, “lifts my spirits”. They also included a large portion of their singles and fan favorites, including “Californication”, “By the Way”, “Dani California”, “Give It Away”, and “Fortune Faded” but, surprisingly, omitted the ever-popular “Under the Bridge”, “Around the World”, and “Otherside”.

The night’s highlights were many. Though it’s one of my least favorite songs on “By the Way”, “Throw Away Your Television” was one of said moments, the latter half of the song comprising a face-melting Frusciante solo so amazing that it left the first few rows of fans little more than piles of human liquid. “Don’t Forget Me”, clearly one of the band’s stronger live songs after its solid appearance on “Live in Hyde Park”, was fantastic, rising and falling with perfect momentum as a sort of pulsing, living entity beneath one of Kiedis’ best vocal performances. To be fair and mention one of the band’s newer tunes, “Wet Sand” was wonderful and moving, especially the last minute or so during the chorus of “You don’t fall in the wet sand / you don’t fall at all / I do, I do.” My personal favorite moment of the night was the first song of the encore; the Chili Peppers played “I Could Have Lied”, a slow, self-deprecating ballad off 1991’s “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” and, in my opinion, the most honest, sad, and beautiful songs in the RHCP catalogue (which, according to what I have on my iTunes, exceeds 200 songs and 16 hours of material) and one of those songs that has the uncanny ability to help you get through life’s hard times simply by existing.

While the set wasn’t perfect, due mostly to the dichotomy between oldschool RHCP fans and RHCP radio single followers as well as Frusciante’s restless fiddling with his several dozen effects pedals, the audience (even those who had shown up just for the Mars Volta [“What? They’re not co-headlining?”]) shared a love for the Chili Peppers consistently high-quality songs and insatiable energy. It was an evening of triumph—over a diversity of fans, over the Rolling-Stones syndrome of playing twenty years past your welcome, over a band-unfriendly venue and, most of all, over the hearts and minds of believers and unbelievers alike.

Download:
The Mars Volta - Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of) [Live]
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Me & My Friends
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Don't Forget Me [Live]

- Dominick Duhamel -

Tags: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mars Volta, Live, mp3

Artist Profile: Mystery Jets

UCLAradio.com’s awesome. Not only do I get to play my favorite music on the internet for anyone (but mostly just friends of mine), but I get to check out some great, new bands and CDs before most people. Well, it doesn’t happen all the time, but I get lucky sometimes. For example, back in May I got an EP from this band, Mystery Jets. I tried searching for them at the time, and I couldn’t really find any solid info on them other than that the band was from Britain. All I had was a name, and with that I went around to search around for more info.

Well, to start, the EP can finally be found in record stores. I was looking through my local Tower sporadically over the summer, and now it’s there. It’s called “Flotsam and Jetsam”, and it has five very strong indie rock hits.

Highlight number 1 is the track “You Can’t Fool Me Dennis,” a nice, cheery pop number. For some reason, I always think Franz Ferdinand, even though it doesn’t sound a whole lot like them. Maybe it’s that accent. But really, awesome drum work propels this song forward and some groovy guitar and bass hooks will keep this song stuck in your head for a long long time.

Highlight number 2 is the quirky “Zootime.” It just starts with the band chanting the title until the drums come in to kick the song into high gear. It moves into a fairly heavy, funky groove for a while, until the band comes back down for the vocals to return. The band once again, starts chanting “Zootime” evenly, but now the meter is in 3. Throw in some fancy drum spazzing, and it gets pretty disorienting, but so great at the same time. An actual verse doesn’t appear until three minutes into the song, but who cares? This band can rock without any sensible lyrics.

Even further, it turns out this band have indeed released an album, Making Dens. Bad news though: it’s an import. But look at that used price; I may get it sometime soon.

In other news, I have found the band’s site and more information on band members. I guess I have been getting better luck with Mystery Jet searches on Google than I was a few months ago. They even have a wiki page now…how could I miss all this? Is this all just within a few months? Anyways, it turns out this is a father-son band. Blaine Harrison does lead vocals and other stuff while his daddy Henry plays guitar. William Rees, Kai Fish, and Kapil Trivedi fill out the rest of the line-up.

And one last bit of info. I searched around on elbo.ws and found a pretty neat cover they did of Bloc Party’s “Pioneers.” It’s got a slight Latin vibe to it, as well as some haunting background vocals and vibraphone. Very well done I say.

So what are you gonna do now? That’s right, listen to Mystery Jets. Do it.

Go check out their website here.

Download:
Mystery Jets - You Can't Fool Me Dennis
Mystery Jets - Zootime
Mystery Jets - Pioneers

- John Higgins -

Tags: Mystery Jets, Flotsam and Jetsam, Making Dens, mp3

Track Review: The Decemberists

“Bridges & Balloons” (Joanna Newsom Cover)
from “Picaresqueties”
6/10

It’s only fitting that indie rock’s most literate troubadour chose a song written by psych folk’s eclectic princess to cover on “Picaresqueties”, a modest collection of post-“Picaresque” extras and b-sides. It makes perfect sense, in fact. It’s even easy to imagine how Meloy’s version would sound without even hearing it. And, while he most assuredly does justice to the wonderful song, it’s nothing if not predictable.

Meloy trades in Newsom’s jumpy fingerpicking for a simple strum pattern, drops the vocal melody down a couple octaves (naturally), and voila, that’s all there is to it. Though his vocal idiosyncrasies pale in light of Newsom’s, Meloy’s unique delivery keep the song interesting enough, especially when he tries to hit the high notes in the chorus and misses by a fraction. Essentially, the whole track is a watered down version of Newsom’s—still strange and fun, but by no means the tribute to unconventional musicianship offered by the original.

There is only one aspect in which the Decemberists’ version surpasses Newsom’s. While Newsom’s vocal performance often distracts listeners from the actual lyrics, Meloy’s more accessible approach brings her sublime verses to the forefront. I must, most regrettably, admit that, previous to hearing his version, I had not heard the wonderful, “I can recall our caravel / a little wicker beetle shell / with four fine masts and lateen sails / its bearings on Cair Paravel.”

So for those of you (and I know there are many) who can't stand Joanna Newsom’s sometimes abrasive but undeniably singular talent, the Decemberists’ version gives you the best of both worlds. But for those of you who have adjusted to Newsom’s style, the ultimate acquired taste, Meloy’s version is pretty much the same thing, only with half the charm.

Download:
The Decemberists - Bridges & Balloons
Joanna Newsom - Bridges & Balloons

- Dominick Duhamel -

Tags: Colin Meloy, The Decemberists, Joanna Newsom, mp3

Mixtape: Artists On My iTunes That Start With "B"

1. Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream [Download]

2. Barenaked Ladies – When I Fall
The Barenaked Ladies are one of the most underrated bands in pop/rock music. It took me months to figure out this song was about a window washer: “I look like a painter behind all the grease/ But painting’s creating, and I’m just erasing/ A crystal-clear canvas is my masterpiece.” Please listen to this whole live album (Rock Spectacle) if you can, and forget you ever heard “One Week”.

3. Butthole Surfers – Pepper

4. The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby
This song feels like it could have been written yesterday. The anxious orchestration and tragic lyrics are, in my opinion, some of the most powerful that the Beatles ever recorded.

5. The Beatles – She’s Leaving Home
I had to put them on here again. It took me until I was in college to get this one. Teen angst at its finest.

6. Ben Folds Five – Eddie Walker

7. Beck – Nitemare Hippy Girl
This song is roughly recorded and monotonous, but the words are so incredibly amazing: “She’s got a thousand lonely husbands/ She’s playing footsies in another dimension”. This is definitely THE best character portrait I’ve ever heard in a song.

8. Broken Social Scene – Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl [Download]

9. Bright Eyes – You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. [Download]
“You said, ‘Go explore those other women, the geography of their bodies/ But there’s just one map you’ll need/ You’re a boomerang you’ll see/ You will return to me’”. Love him or hate him, Conner Oberst is an incredible lyricist. However, what makes this song so amazing to me is the movement in it. Before the tempo change, you can actually hear him walking closer to the mic as his voice becomes clearer. I put this song on repeat.

10. Buddy Holly – Not Fade Away

- Stacey Capoot -

Previous Mixtapes: Murder Ballads, An Acoustic Evening

Tags: Mixtape, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, mp3

Live: Mates of State, Spoon, Death Cab 8/11/06

I’ve been in Berkeley many times this summer for concerts. It started with Radiohead at the Greek Theater in July (fucking amazing, I say). Then, I didn’t look at the tickets correctly, mistakenly went to the Greek Theater, and later found myself over to the Community Theater for Ben Lee and Say Anything (…yeah, and Dashboard Confessional was there too to cheese up the whole night). Last Friday, I once again went to the Greek Theater, and this time I was right about the venue. And had the pleasure of watching three awesome bands all on the same night.

The day started off with the San Francisco couple Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, better known as Mates of State. The last time I saw them they were opening for Taking Back Sunday and Jimmy Eat World in Oakland. It was a tour in which they didn’t quite fit in and got a pretty nasty response from many audiences. It was particularly sad to watch them perform such sweet sounding, happy music and to see the asshole right in front of me yelling at them to get off the stage and calling them names. I really think everybody should fall in love with this band. Because, honestly, how can you hate happiness?

So fortunately, this time around Mates of State fit in just find alongside Spoon and Death Cab for Cutie. It was pretty clear that most of the people in the crowd and those still coming in had no idea who they were, but all of the songs were very well received. Kori and Jason came on stage, said a quick hello, and immediately started playing “Think Long,” the first track off their new album “Bring It Back”.

Actually, the majority of Mates of State’s set was from the new album. The only two songs not from it were “Ha Ha” and “Goods (All In Your Hands).” Overall, though, it was an awesome set and a great way to promote the new album. Even though Kori dabbled with a huge number of keyboard sounds on the new songs, she recreated the sound almost exactly. Jason, too, did an amazing job drumming his heart out and keeping his voice harmonized with Kori’s. The vocals were just great from song to song; they were always bright, and always cheerful.

The two also had a special treat for the crowd in the middle of “Like U Crazy.” Not only is the song one of my favorites, but in the middle atmosphere-y part, Kori and Jason started getting into a new groove. Right in the middle of their own song, they started covering Gnarls Barkeley’s “Crazy,” and pretty well too. The vocals were on, the keyboard part was quite nice, and that annoying bassline was missing. Then, after a verse there, a chorus here, and a little drum break section, the pair continue on with their song. Sadly, they had to leave before they got to their last song because of time, but I’ll hope they were meaning to save “Running Out” for last.

Then, after another half hour or so of waiting, Spoon came on stage to start the show. Now, I enjoy Spoon and all, but I sadly have no idea what any of most of their songs are called. I just know I have Gimmie Fiction and that it’s a great CD. Soooooo, yeah. All I really know is that Spoon played quite a cool set. It was pretty different from Mates of State’s cheeriness and pop melodies; the band was much more concerned about setting and developing a strong groove in each and every song. Maybe too concerned, as it appeared the band was too interested in playing for themselves than performing for the crowd.

Regardless, I felt all of the songs were strong, and now I kind of wish I knew what songs they played. But I do know they played “I Turn My Camera On” and “My Mathematical Mind.” Those are the only two songs I can recognize, and they played them quite well. They actually closed their set with the latter, and ended the song with a kind off jazzy, but mostly spastic guitar solo. It was pretty funny to watch, and it almost looked like he was going to throw is guitar into amp or something (kind of like what Omar from Mars Volta did, but with no urine involved).

And then the night ended off with Death Cab for Cutie. Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla came onstage by themselves to open with “Passenger Seat,” as the crowd slowly anticipated the coming of the rest of the band. As soon as “Passenger Seat” was about to end, “Different Names for the Same Thing” began and the rest of the group walked onto the stage to get ready. And this song may have been the highest point of their set; they played it great. The entire second half of the song had so much energy that the crowd (and various drunk girls that were around me) got all giddy with excitement. As Nick Harmer was having fun jumping around and grooving pretty well, Jason McGerr jammed away on the drums flawlessly, catching figures and playing neat fills along the way. Compared to the very straightforward and tame recording of the song, this sounded very jam worthy.

Throughout the night, the band played songs from all their albums, but it seemed to me that “Transatlanticism” got the most attention. Though, a good number of “Photo Album” and “Plans” songs were played, and even one was played from “We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes”. Highlights of the night included that awesome drum groove in “What Sarah Said” (but not hearing everyone in the theater shout out that lyric in the quiet part), and watching Kori and Jason return to play with the band during the climax of “Transatlanticism.”

Also, Ben Gibbard completely surprised me as the band played “We Looked Like Giants.” During the whole groove in the end of the song, Gibbard started spazzing out on the guitar and the electric pads in from of him (that he used for “Title and Registration”). But, as he was hitting the pads with reckless abandon (but with no sound, because someone forgot to turn them on), some guys starting coming on stage setting up a small drum kit. Then, Ben went to drums, got situated, motioned to Jason, and the two started busting out a drum duet. It was set up pretty nicely: a good, solid groove for a few measures, then Jason solos for a few measures, then groove again, then Ben solos. Then the guys had some fun with it, busting out big loud riffs with giant, unnecessary arm movements. But it was fun to watch, and it was kind of cool realizing that Ben Gibbard can actually play. Really, if he wanted to, he could drum for a band somewhere. He’s not as good as Jason, but it was still impressive.

However, the band’s song choice in the encore was quite odd. Having already closed the main set with “Transatlanticism,” it already felt odd the band needed to play anymore. Then Ben Gibbard came on stage by himself, obviously to play “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” Now, if any song can follow “Transatlanticism,” it’s that…but then the band showed up afterward. They continued playing songs, even though they played the (arguably) two best songs from their catalog. And not only that, the songs that followed paled in the comparison to those two. The cover of The Sonics “I Wanna Go Home” (I believe that’s what it’s called) was just weird, and no one knew the song or caught on to it. And to close the encore with “Marching Bands of Manhattan”? Just weird if you ask me.

And then the sound guy was just a little off all night. It’s been done much better in past shows at the Greek too, so I was surprised. The bass end of Kori’s keyboard were way too low, the vocal mics for Mates of State and Spoon were too low, and Death Cab’s sound was just too soft. But hey, I can’t complain too much. I got to see one of my favorite albums of the year so far performed live (“Bring It Back”, if you wondering).

Mates of State Setlist:
1) Think Long
2) Fraud in the 80s
3) Ha Ha
4) Goods (All in Your Hands)
5) For the Actor
6) Like U Crazy
7) Beautiful Dreamer

Download:
Mates of State - Like U Crazy
Spoon - My Mathematical Mind
Death Cab For Cutie - We Looked Like Giants

- John Higgins -

Tags: Mates of State, Spoon, Death Cab, live, mp3

Column: It's Beautiful (Sorta)

Greetings from Coast Highway, or,
The Only Roses for Me are the Cold Ones

It recently occurred to me that my last.fm account (which, if you’re curious, you can find here [Edit: I got sick of it and deleted it, I know the link doesn't work anymore]) doesn’t quite do justice to the full breadth of the music I listen to. Most importantly, it excludes the music I listen to on the iPod-to-tapedeck setup I have in my car and the ridiculous amount of time I spend driving, most of which is simply for relaxation and a chance to unwind. And while, for the most part, the songs I listen to in my room or around the house are pretty similar to those I listen to while driving around aimlessly, there’s one artist, and specifically one album, that I reserve almost exclusively for the road.

I’ve been a Ryan Adams fan since I heard his version of “Wonderwall” and bought “Love Is Hell” and “Rock N Roll” in 2004. When “Cold Roses” was released in early 2005, my growing affection led me straight to it, despite its strange packaging. (Seriously, it’s a two-disc album, but you can fit all eighteen songs on one standard CD. Why on earth would you package something like that? The first thing I did upon arriving home was burn all the songs onto one CD.) At the time—way back when I had no iPod and no laptop on which to stuff all my music—I listened to most of my music on the CD player in my car, and so my first few listens of “Cold Roses” occurred on my various outings around town. Little did I know how much the album would come to mean to me, and how it would be the one album to never leave my car’s CD case.

I think there’s little disagreement concerning the fact that some of the best on-the-road albums somehow relate to alt-country. The driving rhythm, the fluid transitions, the vocals that simply invite sing-alongs—these things all constitute really great driving music. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals’ “Cold Roses” had all these things down pat.

But what makes this album even more suited for the road than its alt-country leanings is the perspective that it gives the world as viewed from the driver’s seat. I will give you a brief introduction to the album before elaborating on this.

“Cold Roses” is probably the most honest album I can think of. There’s no shiny production here, no wild experimentation, no over-ambitious lyrics to be found anywhere. Adams’ lyrics focus strictly on what he knows: relationships, friends, sadness, and God, to name a few. His imagery draws mainly from the catalogue of images from southern nature. In his songs simple natural beings like rocks, mountains, rivers, roses, mockingbirds, the sky, blossoms, horses, and fields are the core figurative language. The lyrics are often clichéd, but the simplicity and passion by which they are approached overcome unoriginal verses with startling honest. Some examples:

“There’s something about you / that reminds me of all those times / that I wasn’t sorry, that I wasn’t blue.”

“I wanna be the one who walks you / the one who walks you home tonight / stare into her eyes and then try to explain it / try and explain it / but this shit just fucks you up / and I can never get close enough / I can never get close / I can never get close enough / I can never get close enough to you / to you.”

“All I wanna do is get up / is get up / is get up in the morning / in the morning and not wanna die / I feel alright when I think about you.”

“I would’ve held your mother’s hand / on the day you was born / she runs through my veins like a long, black river / and rattles my cage like a thunderstorm / oh, my soul.”

“I wanna see you tonight / dancing in the endless moonlight / in the parking lot / in the headlights of cars / someplace over the moon.”

The album is full of such wonderful moments for this reason. It’s clear for the first time that Ryan Adams isn’t hiding or exaggerating anything: this is the world according to him, sad and confusing but occasionally happy, grateful, and reverent. This is the sort of mindset that’s extremely easy—at least for people like me—to relate to. So many things are sad and shitty, but we’re still foolish enough to have hope, to look for beauty, to put confidence in some sort of meaning, to blindly follow some notion of God.

And it’s on the road that this makes the most sense. From the inside a car you have the sense of seeing what, to you, is essentially the whole world in all its beauty and folly. The irony of a highway running along the beautiful sands and waves of the beach, the lamp posts that block out the stars, the howling of trains, car accidents, people on cell phones, people dining at restaurants, trees housed in cement planters, the smoke spewing from the back of garbage trucks, kids riding bikes along the sidewalk, runners sweating in the afternoon sun, cars driving recklessly, cars driving clearly five miles under the speed limit, lingering stoplights, armies of stop signs, highway on ramps—this is the world as I and many people know it. This is the sad and shitty world that Ryan Adams is still trying to work through, and for some reason I can identify that and share in that when the world is happening all around me. From the isolated environment that is my driver’s seat, with an acoustic guitar chugging at the pace of the passing of the road beneath the wheels, “Cold Roses” simply puts all things in their right place.

The sort of honesty Adams’ presents on “Cold Roses” is the kind that doesn’t grow old, because it’s too true to be limited to a certain point in my life, or certain circumstances that makes it real. It’s the album I listen to when I feel lonely, when I just need to drive around for a while, when I’ve just spent an evening with a girl I love, when I need to calm down, when I need to come to terms with something, when I just sat and talked with a dear friend for several hours. It puts everything into the context of what the world really is and, in bringing me back to the perspective of reality, makes what I see and experience more real and more meaningful.

I would have written an album review of “Cold Roses”, but I realize now that the album isn’t so much good or exceptional as it is meaningful to me. This is a relationship, a love affair with something honest enough to know its own limits as well as its own potential. The music and words itself can get repetitive, clichéd, and even a little lengthy, but sometimes the truth is so good to hear that these things don’t even matter. For now, and for many years to come, any and all therapy I need will be in my car, driving up and down Coast Highway with Ryan Adams & the Cardinals.

Download:
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Sweet Illusion
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cherry Lane
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Let It Ride

- Dominick Duhamel -

Tags: Ryan Adams, Cold Roses, Coast Highway, mp3

Artist Profile: Wages of War

I’ve always been wary of hardcore music, mostly because there are so many bad hardcore bands out there and its something that teenage boys, especially in southern California, easily get sucked into. So when my friend invited me to go with him to a Wages of War show, I agreed with a certain degree of skepticism.

Part of the reason I agreed to go was that, over the years, I had learned that, while there are very few instances I feel like listening to hardcore music on my stereo or iPod, the hardcore live experience is infinitely different. In my humble opinion, the best part of hardcore music is the insane energy of the live shows, an energy that almost never transfers over to the band’s recordings.

And this is where Wages of War truly stands out. Wages is a San Diego-based hardcore/thrash metal band and, I am happy to say, one of the fastest growing bands in the SoCal hardcore scene. Each of the band’s members come from different hardcore backgrounds, but all of them are experienced musicians that have had their fair share of time onstage. Noah is one of the tightest drummers I’ve ever heard when he’s behind the kit. Colin’s throaty screams get better every day as he grows into his lead role as the frontman. The band’s duel guitar attack is also pretty fucking awesome, both of them sporting hair almost down to their asses and whipping it all over the stage for the insane crowd. As I’m finding more and more common among hardcore musicians, they’re all really chill, laid back guys when they’re not creating musical destruction onstage. I met one of the guitarists, Travis (or “Big Metal Travis” as he’s known) before the show and he gave me a fat bear hug before telling me a good Mexican food place nearby.

Wages of War has recorded five songs to date—two several months ago called “Opposition” and “Failure”. Since then, the band has started working on an EP, releasing several of the songs—“Wasted Life”, “World of Pain”, and “Absence of Eagleson”—that show how quickly the band has matured and how good of a handle they have on this whole hardcore thing. Their shows are quickly growing in size as well. They’ve already played several sold-out shows at SOMA with such notables as The Dog and Pony Show and The Acacia Strain.

Regardless of your feelings about hardcore, if you’re willing to give it just one chance, make that once chance be at a Wages of War show. The group is tight, fun to watch, brimming with great energy, and backed with years of hardcore experience and badass riffage. They have a show coming up on September 8th at SOMA and expect to release their EP soon—keep an eye open for these guys. You won’t regret it.

To hear some of Wages of War's new songs, check out their myspace.

Download:
Wages of War - Opposition
Wages of War - Failure

- Dominick Duhamel -

Tags: Wages of War, Hardcore, San Diego, mp3

Column: Leonard Cohen: Tower of Songs

Why is it that every Leonard Cohen cover is so fucking good? I can only answer that with one response, because Leonard Cohen is a lyrical genius, capable of writing such stunning imagery in song. I was originally going to write this article based on the individual covers of his work that I had heard, but I never got around to writing it. Then, less then a month ago a soundtrack of Leonard Cohen songs covered by popular singer/songwriters was released. It was recorded live at Hal Willner's "Came So Far For Beauty: An Evening of Leonard Cohen Songs", at the Brighton Dome as part of the Brighton Festival 2004 and at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Sydney Festival 2005. So initially my plans for this article were for it to be a column, but with this recent release I wasn’t sure if I should do a column or an album review.

I chose to not do an album review only because it would be more about the artists that covered his songs and not so much about his work. I am not saying that I don’t like the covers of his songs, because like I said above, they are all so good. Just to prove why these covers are good I will list the performers on this album: Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Nick Cave, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Beth Orton, Rufus Wainwright, Antony, Jarvis Cocker, The Handsome Family, Perla Batalla, and Julie Christensen. If you are familiar with any of these artists you can now understand why the covers were handled with such care in recreating the magic of Cohen. As good as the covers are, the most incredible part of these songs are the very lyrics that they are made from. Lyrics so profound and so genuine, that they could only be that of Leonard Cohen.

The one thing I love about Leonard Cohen’s songs is by far the variety of humor, pleasure, loneliness, and isolation he captures in his writing. I would like to pick a few of my favorite lines from his songs. The first is from the song “Tower of Song” which was beautifully sung by Martha Wainwright on the recent album released. The line is “ I was born like this, I had no choice. I was born with the gift of a golden voice, and twenty seven angels from the great beyond.” Why I enjoy this line is because it shows a humorous side to Leonard Cohen. He wasn’t known for his voice, because it was rough and he didn’t hit the notes that well, but it doesn’t matter when you can write such well-written words. The humor in this obviously is that he says he was born with the gift of a golden voice, and pointing out that he doesn’t have a good voice. What a great way to be so honest. The second line that I enjoy is from the song “Chelsea Hotel No.2” which is done by Rufus Wainwright. The line is “You fixed yourself and said, well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music.” I heard somewhere that this song was about Janis Joplin, and as everyone knows Janis was an amazing vocalist but not so much on the pretty side. So if this story is true, what a great line for one brilliant musician to say to another brilliant musician. I kind of live by this saying, ever since I heard it, but more the part about being ugly, and not the part about being a good musician though I can play a good riff now and again.

I just realized that I could name a bunch of great Leonard Cohen lyrics, but the night is getting old, and I am getting weary and I could never get all of it in this article. If there is one thing I would say to anyone who has never listened to Leonard Cohen, it is, do listen to him and make your own opinions about his work. Maybe I stand somewhat alone on what I think, but its okay because look at the artists that cover his work. They can’t be wrong; they are ugly but still have the music. I am joking, but now I fear that Rufus Wainwright will come and kick my ass.

- Ryan Cox -

Tags: Leonard Cohen, Came So Far For Beauty, mp3

Track Review: Dr. Dog

“Ain’t It Strange”
from “Takers & Leavers” EP
7.5/10

Some of you may be familiar with my fascination with a little-known band from Philadelphia. Their music is deceptively simple, but after a few listens, it’s clear that Dr. Dog has built upon, not merely ripped off, classic rock, especially concerning their love of augmented and suspended chords and their unexpected arrangements. Last week they released “Ain’t It Strange” online, a new song from their upcoming EP “Takers and Leavers,” to be released September 12.

It starts with a Brian Wilson bass line over washed out piano and a mellow 4/4 groove. The chorus sounds like an early 60’s pop song, and bass player Tables – who takes lead vocals on this song – is supported by warm, early 60’s Motown backup vocals, a testament to their low recording budget and dedication to reel-to-reel recording and 8-tracks. Members of the Dog have been recording this way since middle school, so why change a good thing? If anything, they are forced to be more creative with less equipment, even when the technology is so cheap, available, and tempting. That’s exactly what makes their music so impressive next to so many other bands today. No flashy production or pitch adjusters here; just unexpected melodies, tight harmonies, and unexpected breakdowns. Oh yea, and some great fucking reverse tape loops.

As with many Dr. Dog tunes, the verse is catchier than the chorus. Two thirds through, a guitar hits a few low, overdriven notes and the piano builds tension. To release the tension, they somehow disintegrate into an a capella breakdown for a few bars until the band returns for a climactic breakdown at the end, complete with huge panning echoed vocals and tape loops. The triplet bass sets the groove here, and the simple but effective guitar lines and vocal “ahhhs” color the groove and end on a figurative high note.

“Ain’t It Strange” would have fit well on last year’s “Easy Beat,” but it’s unique, like all Dr. Dog songs. They have a habit of bringing in something completely unexpected and enthralling, and making it work. And again, they don’t disappoint. If you don’t like it the first time, listen again. If you don’t like it then, listen to it again in a week. If you still hate the song, bang your head on the wall four times and email me. We’ll talk. Thanks.

You can download "Ain't It Strange" for free here.

- Austin Bauer -

Tags: Dr. Dog, Ain't It Strange, Takers and Leavers, mp3

Album Review: The Velvet Teen

“Cum Laude”
Slowdance; 2006
9/10

For those that don’t really know about this band, The Velvet Teen is an indie-rock trio from the Bay Area. It originally consisted of Judah Nagler on vocals and guitar, Josh Staples on bass, and Logan Whitehurst on drums. Their first few EPs and their first album, "The Great Beast February", featured a nice mix of rockin’ tunes and sweet ballads. Then in 2004, the band released the very different “Elysium”. It featured 8 tracks of pianos; strings; delicate, swooping ballads; sweet, clear vocals; and long, instrumental sections. Oh, and there were no guitars on the entire thing.

So to pick up the “Gyzmkid EP” a few months ago and to hear a sweet, pumped-up rock song with computerized sounds, fuzzed up falsetto vocals, guitars, and some honest-to-god badass drumming surprised me. The band even had a new drummer since Logan Whitehurst departed the band a year ago to work on his solo project. But as soon as I heard this title song I knew I was going to love the new album.

Yeah, and I do love it. “Cum Laude” is brilliant in so many ways. First off, Judah Nagler’s songwriting and vocals have improved with every CD, and this is no exception. His falsetto grabs you and demands attention, even though it’s really difficult to catch what he says. But the vocal melodies are just so sweet and fit the songs perfectly, like in “Flicking Clint” and “False Profits.” The distortion also obscures the words to the point where Judah knows where he can play around with them. “Gyzmkid” is a prime example of this: the first chorus contains the line, “you’re all I could ever want / in this eternal moment” while the second chorus is, “know you’ve all my love / in this sea turtle moment.” But when Nagler is singing at such a high pitch with that distortion, do the words really matter? It’s pretty funny, though, to look up the lyrics and find things such as this, as well as all those clever word games in the song titles. Don’t fret though, there are some warm, heartfelt lyrics on the album. It’s not all entirely pointless fun and games.

And my God, new drummer Casey Deitz kicks ass. Honestly, listening to this album is the aural equivalent of getting kicked in the nuts, Deitz rocks that hard. Before Green Day’s American Idiot was released, Bill Joe Armstrong was telling people that the album would be a “drummer’s wet dream.” He lied. He was really just talking about Cum Laude and didn’t know it. Need some samples of this greatness? That opening fill in “Flicking Clint” is both exciting and semi-simple. Then the constant, frantic rhythmic riffing in “Around the Roller Rink” compliments Nagler’s similar but more drawn-out rhythmic play in his vocals. And then the entirety of “Gyzmkid” just speaks for itself. I don’t know how the guy can play all those drums so fast. That whole song is just like a drum solo.

In fact, a lot of this album is like a giant drum solo. Deitz rarely ever stays on one groove and sits on it for a good while. Instead, he’s constantly thinking and playing out loud cool riffs, hooks, and other ideas that tie in with some of the musical figures of the song. “Tokyoto” is a nice example of this. Here’s a test for anyone out there: listen to that song and transcribe what Deitz is playing, note for note. It’ll be both incredibly tiresome and impossible. And although some people may think he playing is too eccentric and filling up the songs with too much clutter, I disagree. Deitz’ drumming gives the drums a more important role in the music. The drums aren’t just playing time and catching some hooks and figures every now and then; they have their own, unique voice in the song.

And among all this is Josh Staples bass playing. Staples’ plays exactly what is needed from him. He grounds all the songs with nice, solid, and still interesting bass playing. And I would imagine it must be intimidating to be paired up with Deitz, but the pair work off each other very nicely. And then the last thing—and sadly the only down side of the album—are the all the electronic toys and sounds. Sometimes they’re a nice addition, but a lot of times they just don’t sound that great. It feels too video-gamey sometimes, and I don’t want to listen to a video-game. I want to listen to The Velvet Teen. It’s only a minor setback though. The album is still amazing, and perhaps one of the best I’ve heard this year.

Did I mention the drummer’s amazing?

Download:
The Velvet Teen - Gyzmkid
The Velvet Teen - Flicking Clint
The Velvet Teen - Tokyoto

- John Higgins -

Tags: Velvet Teen, Cum Laude, Review, mp3

Mixtape: An Acoustic Evening

This mix is for the kind of evening when you’re feeling introspective and perhaps a little lonely, when you’d prefer the intimate company of acoustic songs to the works of amplified bands. In the following songs there are only two instruments: acoustic guitar and vocals.

1. Iron & Wine – The Trapeze Swinger
The extended version of “The Trapeze Swinger”, which first appeared on the soundtrack of “In Good Company” and then later on Iron & Wine’s iTunes “Live EP”, is a tremendous song, Beam’s picking slowly building as he laments the loss of innocence and true love. Though it’s among the more accessible and mainstream-oriented of Iron & Wine’s catalogue, the song is still a powerful testament to Beam’s ability to craft a lovesick piece of art.

2. Josephine Foster – Trees Lay By [Download]
The eccentric Josephine Foster in one of her better folksy tunes, her warble rising and falling gracefully while seamlessly painting images of nature.

3. Weezer – Jaime (Live Acoustic)
One of the songs on the bonus disc of “The Blue Album Deluxe Edition”, this song is a tribute to the days when Weezer was still a force to be reckoned with. Check out the three-part vocal melodies—they’re sublime.

4. Jack Rose – Mountaintop Lamento
This track is a twelve-minute journey across the possibilities of an acoustic guitar. There are no vocals, simply Jack Rose’s deft fingerpicking building slowly into a downpour of acoustic guitar before gently abating.

5. The Decemberists – Of Angels and Angles
The moving closer to 2005’s fantastic “Picaresque”, this track is a quiet tribute to the beauty of a woman and all her intricacies.

6. Neutral Milk Hotel – Two-Headed Boy Part 1
One of my favorites off “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”, this track is Jeff Mangum at his most urgent, his voice straining to keep up with his churning guitar, all of which betray the frustration and panic that made the frontman of Neutral Milk Hotel one of the greatest and most tormented musicians of all time.

7. Cat Power – Willie Deadwilder
The centerpiece of this mixtape, Cat Power’s “Willie Deadwilder” is an eighteen-minute ballad with M. Ward on guitar. Simply put, this song sounds like a super long M. Ward song with Cat Power singing in his place. The result, however, is fantastic, combining Ward’s expert guitar work, Chan Marshall’s beyond gorgeous voice, and their joint ability to tell a love story.

8. Palace Brothers – You Will Miss Me When I Burn [Download]
Back when Will Oldham still went by the moniker “Palace Brothers” and had only one full album under his belt, he released “Days in the Wake”, which opened with this track, an absolutely devastating dirge featuring Oldham at his most fragile as he sings over and over, “When you have no one / no one can hurt you.”

9. Ray LaMontange – Burn
LaMontagne’s voice is made of solid gold, and it never stands out more than this track from “Trouble”. Another song of lovesickness, with truly brilliant dynamics.

10. Nirvana – You Know You’re Right (Solo Acoustic)
The thundering finish to Nirvana’s “With the Lights Out” box set is this low-fi version of “You Know You’re Right”, Cobain’s voice wailing and cracking, graceful and perfect. We miss you, Kurt.

11. Radiohead – True Love Waits [Download]
This track was written around the time of OK Computer but not released until 2001 on the “I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings” EP. It is Thom Yorke’s sad plea for his lover to stay, fueled by a fairly simple guitar part and memorable lyrics like, “true love waits / in haunted attics / and true love lives / on lollipops and crisps” and, “I’m not living / I’m just killing time”. His vocals at the end are heart-wrenching, as he sings with what seems to be all of his might, “Don’t leave, just don’t leave.”

- Dominick Duhamel -

Previous Mixtapes: Murder Ballads

Tags: Acoustic, Mixtape, mp3

Track Review: Audioslave

“Original Fire”
from “Revelations”
3/10

Audioslave’s 2002 self-titled debut album was pretty good. Tom Morello and his buddies from Rage Against the Machine had toned it down a little bit, but with Chris Cornell’s pipes at the forefront, their potential seemed almost unlimited. Three years later came “Out of Exile”, a collection of what seemed like recycled riffs and predictable (though still well-executed) arrangements that occasionally betrayed the fact that there was still some life in the group. But now, only a year after their last release, it seems like Audioslave is finally dead.

When Matt told me a couple weeks ago that Audioslave had posted its new single, “Original Fire”, on Myspace, we quickly got to a computer and, after waiting five minutes for the damn thing to buffer, listened to the first minute before turning it off. The several times I’ve listened to the track since then have been even less pleasant. Trust me: there is nothing here worth throwing away four minutes of your life for.

Let me tell you why: Morello, considered by many to be one of the most exciting, talented, and innovative guitarists of his time for his work with RATM, decided to ignore his inner genius and instead chose play one of the most boring and clichéd minor-pentatonic riffs I’ve ever heard and then fuck things up even worse with a solo that sounds like a wife yelling at her husband in the most grating voice she can conjure. Cornell, also one of the great talents of his time, sticks to his guns with soul-influenced rock vocals, but one listen his vocals on almost any other of his songs and it becomes painfully clear that he’s sleepwalking through this track, omitting the raw energy and sense of dynamics and leaving only a stale amalgamation of previous melodies. Brad Wilk’s drums are nothing to get excited about either, though I can’t get mad about that because they were never that exciting in the first place. In fact, the best part of the song is the bassline and, unless you’re talking about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, that’s not saying much at all.

Oh and there’s this: “The original fire has died and gone / but the riot inside moves on.” I don’t even want to discuss that chorus line. That could have been a line from a Foreigner song, and I wouldn’t have thought less of Foreigner. But that’s because Foreigner fucking sucks. Until now, I could not lower Audioslave to the point of such an analogy without feeling unfair. But unfortunately, that’s the most fair thing I can think of right now.

Audioslave’s original fire has died and gone. And while the riot inside may move on, it sure as hell is nowhere to be found on this song. But don’t worry Chris Cornell, don’t worry Tom Morello, when for some unknown reason I buy your new album this September and it confirms the fears bought about by this song, I promise I’ll still listen to my Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine albums and do my very best to think of you as you were in the nineties and not the washed up sell-outs you’ve become.

If you still want to give the song a shot and have four minutes that you wouldn’t mind losing forever, you can check out “Original Fire” at Audioslave’s myspace.

- Dominick Duhamel -

Tags: Audioslave, Original Fire, Revelations, mp3

Judging by the Cover: The Format

"Dog Problems"
The Vanity Label; 2006
5/10

If you just broke up with someone and you want to continue feeling miserable, listen to Bright Eyes. If you’d rather dance it off than sit in the corner and slit your wrists, listen to The Format’s “Dog Problems” and put away the razor.

Simply put, this album is catchy as hell. All the songs are wordy, but they’re executed with such great meter and rhythm that the vocals never sound crowded. It’s the poppy-est angst I’ve ever heard, filled with biting lines like “We’ll take our chances/ We’ll last a month / We’ll never speak again”, “Five years and you fell for a waiter / I’m sure he says he’s an actor”, “We know I can’t construct a poem / ‘Cause words like girls get bored and run”, and “See we break for the summers / so she can find lovers / She treats them like a bottle of wine.” I don’t know who this girl is that they’re trying to get over, but I don’t know how they survived her intact enough to make an album.

The lead vocalist is a bit of a cross between Jason Mraz and Keith Slettedahl from The 88. His voice is high without being nasally and annoying, but sometimes I feel it’s a little too controlled. He’s backed up throughout the album with classic pop harmonies, but unfortunately they’re predictable and fail to vary much.

In fact, that’s the problem with a good portion of the album. The standard upbeat-rock style of most of the songs is just too predictable to be memorable. Now I’m no snob –I admit that I’ll take catchy melodies and classic one-three-five chord progressions over Mozart any day. It’s just that The Format isn’t good enough at it.

It’s not that they aren’t good musicians, but their attempt at putting all their talent out at once has produced a result that is mediocre at worst and good at best. According to listener reviews on iTunes, their last album was mostly acoustic. I’ve never heard The Format before, but I think that they might have been better served to stick to the acoustic style their fans miss. There are so many different instruments on this album, and a lot of them are employed mostly for their novelty and not for their effect. The list on the album includes guitar, bass, drums, synth, piano, horns, harpsicord, doppler, cello, viola, violin, tuba, trombone, trumpet, French horn, clarinet, sax, Wurlitzer, claps, noise, and “fun instruments we had lying around”. Yeah, no kidding. As a result, everything is drowned out by excessive layering and it’s hard to even hear any of the instruments individually at all. It sounds like The Format should have spent less time in the studio and more time plotting revenge against girls.

There’s no doubt that these songs are a pleasure to listen to and sing along to, but only two of them really stand out. “She Doesn’t Get It” is everything that I complained about in the last two paragraphs. It’s predictable, it’s musically crowded, but this is one instance where they are redeemed by their apparently innate ability to write a ridiculously catchy song. I don’t know what it is—maybe it’s the Christmas bells (probably the only novelty instrument on the album that really stood out to me), maybe it’s the claps that I so recently mocked, or maybe it’s just that the chorus is so incredibly strong. It screams “single”. For reasons I couldn’t even tell you, I just think this is a great song.

The title track, “Dog Problems” is the best song on the album, hands-down. It’s The Format’s skilled lyricism at its best, and their words flow together effortlessly: “I smoke myself to sleep / and blame postmodern things I can’t relate / Like summer camp and coastal states/ Like alcohol and coffee beans/ Dance floors and magazines.” The song starts out slow but picks up quickly and turns into an upbeat vaudeville show-tune. The song slows down again in the middle to build up to an almost theatrical climax that swoops right back into the show-tune to the sounds of crowd cheering and applause. On this track, their excessive production actually works.

I have no complaints about The Format’s poppy melodies and vocals. I just wish they had kept it simpler. Maybe I should have listened to their earlier acoustic songs. If nothing else, “Dog Problems” will put you in a great mood, but it’s unlikely you’ll find this a standout album.

Download:
The Format - Matches
The Format - She Doesn't Get It
The Format - Dog Problems

- Stacey Capoot -

Previously on "Judging by the Cover": Of Montreal, Joanna Newsom

Tags: The Format, Dog Problems, Review, mp3

Album Review: Thom Yorke

"The Eraser"
XL; 2006
7.5/10

I really don’t want to review this album. It’s not that I don’t have the time to sit down at my computer and type it all up, it’s not that I’m short on things to say (in fact quite the opposite—my most recent album reviews have needed some cropping, I admit), it’s not that I haven’t listened to the album enough (because, uh, I have), and it’s not that my ridiculous worship of Thom Yorke and everything he is intimidates me. To be honest, I don’t want to write this review because I want “The Eraser” to be one of those albums that I can pick up every once in a while, give it a spin, enjoy it in a casual sort of way, and let it sit for a few weeks or months or however long until the mood strikes me again. You know, kind of like Joanna Newsom’s “The Milk-Eyed Mender” or “I Am A Bird Now” by Antony & the Johnsons. But I know this is futile, as eventually my wandering mind will stray into analysis, only to leave me with a neat little list of what I like and don’t like on the album. So I figure, better get it over with now.

“The Eraser” is everything you would expect a Thom Yorke solo album to be: somber vocals, frustrated lyrics, a wash of synthesizers, plenty of interesting effects, etc. This is one of the real problems with the album, however. Thom Yorke has, at this point, become an icon of transition, to the extent that his listeners expect the unexpected from him. “The Eraser” yields just the opposite: it’s totally expected. That’s not to say it’s not a very good album, because that would be lying. We must not forget that we should not (and are not meant to) view this album in the frame of Radiohead. For most fans, this is a nearly impossible task, but the truth is that “The Eraser” is a much more enjoyable listen when you’re not thinking about your favorite “Kid A” tracks.

Observed in the best Radiohead-free vacuum I can muster, “The Eraser” is home to some really brilliant music. While the blippity-bloop production does get a little tiresome as it spans the entire album, most of it acts as an effective enough background for Thom Yorke’s otherworldly melodic concoctions. The album-opening title track, after working through somewhat melodramatic verses, gives way to a sublime chorus, Yorke’s backup harmonies giving that track a sort of desperate life as Yorke sings, “The more you try to erase me / the more that I appear / the more you try the erasers / the more that you’ll appear.” The loops of “The Clock” interlock perfectly with Yorke’s vocal performance, especially his humming parts during the bridge. “Black Swan” is the album’s best track, an electric guitar offering welcome respite from the albums almost entirely electronic instrumentation while Yorke sings a simple but, for some reason, undeniably memorable chorus of, “This is fucked up / fucked up.” “Harrowdown Hill” is another standout, Yorke’s signature paranoia taking life in the line, “We think the same things at the same time / we just can’t do anything about / so don’t ask me / ask the ministry.”

Yorke does slip up a couple times, mostly on the tracks “Skip Divided” and “Atoms for Peace”. The former is a quiet bluesy number, and while the vocal melody is enjoyable enough, it’s about two minutes longer than it needs to be. The latter’s bubbling bassline simply seems out of place on the album, jarring the listener out of Yorke’s sad beauty into what seems like contrived and unwelcome child-like security.

And now, out of the vacuum. As so many other critics have noted, one of the most important things this album has to offer is a new perspective on Radiohead as a band. Fans can now see firsthand exactly what Yorke brings to the band, and why his bandmates are so important. In this light, the unique melodies and musical sensibilities Yorke brings to Radiohead are just as important as the energy and innovation bolstered by the other four. To put it simply, Yorke’s solo album shows that Radiohead is not, in fact, the Thom Yorke Show, but instead a much more balanced and complicated entity that most of us had previously imagined. “The Eraser” isn’t as good as your Radiohead albums (except maybe “Pablo Honey”, but that kind of goes without saying). And that’s okay, because it shouldn’t be. It should be an honest, low-profile, solid release from one of generation’s greatest minds. And it is.

When it all boils down, the only thing that makes this album less than great is that Thom Yorke, as the frontman of Radiohead, has become someone that cannot be listened to casually and whose creative output cannot be taken lightly. For those of you with enough willpower, I suggest to you this: don’t overanalyze this album. The fact that you’re reading this means your probably too late. But if you can continue to see “The Eraser” as an album that’s cool to put on every now and then, you’ve got a nice little gem in your record collection.

Download:
Thom Yorke - Black Swan
Thom Yorke - The Clock

Also, be sure to check out Thom Yorke performing a killer version of "The Clock" live on the Henry Rollins Show here.

- Dominick Duhamel -

Tags: Thom Yorke, The Eraser, Radiohead, mp3

Column: Kiss Off, Rick Rubin

For how much producers contribute to the process of making music, there are only a handful of names that are recognizable. Off the top of my head I can only come up with three: Jon Brion, Jim O’Rourke (does he even count?), and Nigel Godrich (I’m excluding hip-hop producers like Danger Mouse, Mad-Lib, Doom, etc.). But there’s one more, and he can’t be overlooked. He can’t be overlooked because he is, in fact, the most well-known and sought-after producer in rock/pop music. His name is Rick Rubin.

It’s easy to see why the guy is so famous. He has some fantastic albums under his belt. Soundgarden’s “Superunknown”, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” and “Californication”, all of Johnny Cash’s “American Recordings”, Rage Against the Machines’ “Renegades”, and System of a Down’s “Toxicity” are a few of them. The man has worked with Slayer, LL Cool J, Tom Petty, Mick Jagger, Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, Neil Diamond, Jay-Z, and the Smashing Pumpkins. Very (and I mean very) few producers can boast such an incredible résumé.

But despite all that, I have a fucking bone to pick with him. I know he got famous for “stripping down the music” and “letting great artists speak for themselves” but for the last five years or so, it seems like that’s all gone to hell. When I listen to the vast majority of his recent work, few words come as easily into my head as “overproduced”.

Let’s do a quick run-over of how Mr. Rubin has spent the last few years. He produced both Audioslave albums, a task that would seem easy working with the experienced musicians in the group. However, on their debut (and especially on their follow-up) the energy and dynamics that make the ex-Rage Against the Machine members so interesting had all been sapped. The great riffs were still there and, of course, Chris Cornell can do no wrong, but the life was missing from the mix. The same goes for The (International) Noise Conspiracy’s full-length debut: a band known for its energy seemed to be sleepwalking through the album. These are not mistakes on the band’s part; the phenomenon known as “energy” that can be captured on a recording is largely the work of the producer and how he/she chooses to handle a certain group’s songs.

There are far better examples, however. System of a Down’s two-part Mezmerize/Hypnotize sounded like soft-core metal produced like a pop album. Rivers Cuomo put his dying band’s life in Rubin’s hands and the result was “Make Believe”, a collection of semi-decent songs that sounded so clean cut and sterile nobody could take them seriously. And then, in yet another blow to a band dear to my heart, we have as evidence the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Stadium Arcadium”. And while the double album could have used a better filtering process and would have benefited by putting fewer effects pedals under the feet of John Frusciante, the several great songs on the album, like the Weezer tracks and System of a Down’s two-part album, are rendered lifeless by the production. The instruments sounds as if they’re coming from a crystal room, fragile, pure, and isolated. On their own they sound pristine, to say the least.

But the nature of music needs things to be otherwise. Music is about the connection it makes, the raw energy it carries, and the imperfections of the musicians. Without those things, music means nothing; it is a beautiful deity, floating above us but never gracing anyone with any sort of relationship other than that of the worshipper to the worshipped. And while I can respect beauty in music as much as the next guy, I want beauty I can touch, hear, and feel, even if it’s imperfect. The connection is worth it.

And, as far as I’m concerned, Rick Rubin has eliminated this connection by spending so much time isolating the sounds from anything other than their own layers. I’m not saying it’s entirely his fault, because it’s not. The bands he works with are more than capable of controlling their own sound and contributing to the way their album is recorded, but with the large number of albums Rubin has drained of energy in the last few years, a pointed finger is very deserved.

I’ve only had one argument against my opinion of Rubin’s recent work, and that argument centered around Cash’s “American Recordings”. These albums are nothing if not human and imperfect and incredibly moving. Of course, if you put a microphone in front of a man like Cash you’re going to get gold, no matter who the producer is. But even in Cash’s instance, I sense a bit of overproduction—it’s simply less evident because there’s less to ruin. Cash’s voice at the time was so frail that there was no way to make it sound as polished as the vocals on Rubin’s other releases. Ruining the recording of an acoustic guitar is also a difficult thing to do. But even then, there are moments when the crystal-clear ringing of a chord is too perfect for human taste to relate to.

And so, I must conclude with this: Rick Rubin, even though you are the most famous producer in music today, I must humbly ask you to stay the fuck away from bands with great energy and potential, because you will ruin their music with your ridiculous overproduction. If you could stick with Lil’ Jon and the East Side Boyz, Kid Rock, and Linkin Park from now on, that would be just great, because there’s no way you could make those guys any worse anyway.

- Dominick Duhamel -

Tags: Rick Rubin, overproduction, ruining music, mp3

Mixtape: Murder Ballads

1. Jimi Hendrix – Hey Joe

2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Curse of Millhaven
Of course, Nick Cave could have a mixtape of murder ballads all to himself and still have a few left over, but this is among my favorites: the sick and twisted tale of a girl as she kills off residents of her small town before getting caught.

3. Eagles of Death Metal – Midnight Creeper [Download]

4. Gnarls Barkley – Necromancer
It’s a song about necrophilia. Apparently Cee-Lo prefers his sexual encounters to be with dead women. Which is probably the most ballsy song topic ever.

5. Guns N’ Roses – Used To Love Her
Back before Axl Rose was a total dick, when he still wrote semi-decent songs, he wrote a tune about getting sick of his lover and burying her in his back yard. “She bitched so much, she drove me nuts, and now we’re happier this way.” Priceless.

6. Rage Against the Machine – How Could I Just Kill A Man
Zach de la Rocha’s just your average gangster, and killing's fine by him.

7. Johnny Cash – Hung My Head
Cash’s version of Sting’s “Hung My Head” is beautiful and despairing, and, in my humble opinion, better that Sting could ever do it himself.

8. Kings of Leon – Joe’s Head

9. Wilco – Via Chicago [Download]
He sat and watched her bleed. Gnarly. Plus, in the live version, there’s two crazy-ass noise breakdowns that own.

10. The Decemberists – The Mariner’s Revenge Song [Download]
My personal favorite Decemberists’ track. This song is “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” for a new generation and follows the narrator as he seeks revenge on the man who killed his mother.

- Dominick Duhamel -

Tags: Mixtape, Murder Ballad, mp3

Album Review: Hot Chip

"The Warning"
DFA/EMI; 2006
7.5/10

So my first experience with Hot Chip came around February, as a friend of mine, S.A. Andrée (of Orangutang Gang Bang fame…really), found what he thought was an awesome song on elbo.ws. It was a song called “The Warning,” and yes, it was pretty damn good. That precise, precise, precise bass line (that sixteenth note “skip” is brilliant); those delicate and graceful ahhs; and the neat vocals. It all tied together real well, even though that whole section near the end didn’t make sense. I liked the song so much that I later felt the need to search for more Hot Chip. All I found was "Coming On Strong", their slightly disappointing debut album. All the songs were lacking that coolness and finesse in “The Warning,” in fact, it was lacking the song all together.

Fast forward to mid-June, and all of a sudden I’m seeing Hot Chip reviews for their latest album, The Warning. I was pleasantly surprised, because I put two and two together and realized the song must be on the album, hence maybe there’s a chance that Hot Chip made a much better effort on a rockin’ album. And yes, they did.

If you are unfamiliar with Hot Chip, think of a British Postal Service (the band) with more of a knack for songwriting rather than playing around with electronics. Their main toy of choice seems to be little metallic clinks and clanks. Sometimes, they’re even melodic, making sort of a glockenspiel-ish sound sometimes and a vibraphone sound other times. Anyways, the neat little doodles with those sounds add a lot to some of these tracks (like the single, “Over and Over,” “The Warning,” and “Won’t Wash”). Other stand out instruments are the bass entrances in “Tchaparian” (it’s not much, but the volume swells are sooo cool) and the guitars in “No Fit State” (it’s such a laidback jam, really).

All this talk reminds me why I like this Hot Chip so much. A lot of the great things about these songs are all the subtle touches and textures these guys add. In “Over & Over,” the light tambourine in the beginning is perfect to fill in the space of the groove with some lightness. The coolest part is when it stops playing near the end of the first verse, cause that’s probably when you’ll realize it was even there in the first place. Also, that awesome, yet soft organ part in the second verse is something. Really, it’s hip, and it’s layered just right in the mix so it’s still clear.

And the vocals are quite memorable throughout the album; Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard are on the ball. “And I Was a Boy From School” is all about Alexis’ vocals; the verses depend on that sweet, sweet, falsetto bend in the middle of each line. And “Arrest Yourself” is a cool, funky track that features quirky lyrics with an awesome delivery of cool and confidence. Then there’s “Not Fit State” and the vocal vamp of “I’m in no fit state / I’m in no fit shape.” The entrance is perfect, and it gets into a nice little jam section with addition instruments and vocals.

There are a few blemishes on this album, though. Take “Colours,” for example. The bassline is just lame—nothing else can describe it. It pretty much sticks to the drum part note for note, and rarely, if ever, strays from that pattern. Then there’s those background vocals in the chorus singing “Colours and colours and colours and…” you get the picture. It just sounds all hokey. The worst part is that it’s a fairly long track and doesn’t really get anywhere. Which is another gripe I have about this album: a lot of these songs seem too long. There are sections that could’ve been shortened or cut out all together, making slightly more coherent songs.

So Hot Chip, you’ve won me over for now. There are definitely some great qualities about this group and signs of more awesome albums in the future.

Download:
Hot Chip - The Warning
Hot Chip - No Fit State
Hot Chip - And I Was A Boy From School

- John Higgins -

Tags: Hot Chip, The Warning, Review, mp3

Track Review: Bonnie "Prince" Billy

“Cursed Sleep”
from “The Letting Go”
8/10

It was clear enough from Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s “Sings Greatest Palace Music” that polished production does not do justice the work of Will Oldham. His has always been the voice of humanity, weak and flawed but nonetheless beautiful and meaningful. Because of this, it would seem the sweeping string arrangements, the pristine backup vocals of Dawn McCarthy, and the input of Björk-producer Valgeir Sigurdsson would muddy the emotion of “Cursed Sleep”.

The result, however, is not so predictable. What has in the past nearly destroyed a Bonnie “Prince” Billy record is now it’s strength, and for one reason: Oldham is still at the forefront, acoustic guitar strumming willfully away, his vocals gloomy and his lyrics among the best since those on “I See A Darkness”. The combination works because of the juxtaposition of the song’s various elements: McCarthy’s vocal perfection vs. Oldham’s tired southern drawl, epic string arrangements vs. simple acoustic guitar, the peaceful composure of the production vs. the restlessness of Oldham’s lyrics, etc.

The song itself alternates between quiet verses, swelling on several occasions into orchestral majesty accompanied by memorable lines like “cursed love is never ending / cursed eyes are never closing / cursed arms are never folding / cursed children never wising / and cursed me never despising”. The breathtaking of the climax of the song (about 3:40 through) is, I would venture to say, the best Bonnie “Prince” Billy moment in nearly seven years.

If this track is any indication as to the quality of “The Letting Go” then Oldham fans have something truly wonderful to look forward come September. “Cursed Sleep” is a new facet of Bonnie “Prince” Billy that could yield true treasures, a facet that counters Oldham’s morose ruminations with inspiring instrumentation and strikes a chord with a despairing world still hoping for something to revere.

Watch:
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Cursed Sleep [Music Video]

- Dominick Duhamel -

Tags: Bonnie "Prince Billy, Then the Letting Go, Will Oldham, mp3