If two weeks ago was Super Tuesday, this must be Ultimate Tuesday, as there are at least four albums likely to make more than a few year end top 10 lists (there are two likely to make mine -- I'll let you guess which ones). So you'll forgive me if this week's post is late, as the word count has spiraled out of control laying praise on the latest from The Posies, Deerhunter, No Age and Neil Young. Other notables this week include new releases from Abe Vigoda, Women, Glasser, Nellie McKay, Owen Pallet, Ben Folds/Nick Hornby, The Corin Tucker Band, Owen, Grandchildren along with a greatest hits comp from Soundgarden and a deluxe reissue of 2009's list topper Bitte Orca from Dirty Projectors.
I've been a Posies fan going back to 1988, when you could catch them playing the occasional house party near the University of Washington campus. In terms of bias, familiarity can make a sub-par record seem better, but by the same token, it's also fairly difficult to be surprised by someone you've known for nearly 23 years. So when I say the greatness of Blood/Candy shocked me, it's not just hubris void of perspective.
Stringfellow / The Posies / Sasquatch 2010
Initially inspired by a 2009 performance of 93's Frosting on the Beater in it's entirety, B/C was going to be a 'return to roots' rock record for Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum recording the album... the songs just weren't going to cooperate with the initial box laid out for them. The restless Stringfellow has been harder to pin down creatively since the Posies first broke up (and thank God breaking up is the one thing The Posies are horrible at) and his song contributions here seem like they'd be especially difficult initially to button down. Witness the theatrical "Licenses to Hide," the zany Pet Sounds-inspired "Enewetak" - name for the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific which were abused by the US for nuclear testing - and the soaring "For the Ashes." Meanwhile, Auer had his own left-turns up his sleeve, unleashing the challenging "Accidental Architecture," after which it must have become obvious that this was not going to be a 'return to' anything album.
Auer / The Posies / Sasquatch 2010
Sure, there are a couple songs here that fall into the classic Posies sound, and those have always tended to be Auer's contributions, whose confidence in his McCartneyesque songwriting has made him Mr. Reliable (see "The Glitter Prize,""So Caroline" and "Notion #99"). But even the classic (and the almost nursery rhymish "Cleopatra Street") have so much going on that it begs, nay demands, repeat listens to get the full effect. To my ears Blood/Candy is the first album since Auer and Stringfellow's styles started more noticeably diverging (around 1996's Amazing Disgrace) where the potentially conflicting styles mesh in perfect harmony, with both artists reaching forward and out to each other, and it's a wondrous thing to behold.
The slow and steady progression for Deerhunter from damaged art rock to accessible (yet still damaged) pop band has been fascinating to witness. In some respects, we've been witnessing frontman Bradford Cox's split personality gradually merging together, with the tripped-out art of Deerhunter now almost impossible to distinguish from the pop ambitions of his solo project Atlas Sound.
Cox / Deerhunter / CHBP 2009
Witness the Cox's cooing bedroom vocals on the pop nuggets "Revival" and lead single "Helicopter," two highlights from the album (that still don't eclipse Microcastle's "Nothing Ever Happens," but that's to be expected). Cox's lyrics are still kind of a downer and purposely obtuse, but on the final track, the sprawling 7 1/2 minute "He Would Have Laughed" (dedicated to the late Jay Reatard), he comes as close as ever to letting us inside this thoughts. Cox pleads "Where do your friends go?/ Where do they see you?/ What did you want to be? Ah shut the hell up... shut your mouth" and then the song peters out, ending mid-note, much like Reatard's life. It's a powerful coda to an endlessly fascinating release.
Watching No Age play Bumbershoot a year ago, I got the impression that the duo (Dean Spunt on drums/vocals, Randy Randall on guitar) was perhaps a bit bored, drawing mostly from 2008's well-received Nouns. Everything In Between, the band's 2nd proper full length), kind of reinforces this opinion, with No Age mostly amputating nearly all the punk-fueled up-tempo elements ("Fever Dreaming" and "Shed & Transcend" remind us they still have that in their arsenal) that made their last album a dizzying affair.
Spunt / No Age / Bumpershoot 09
The aptly named "Positive Amputation" is a drum-less instrumental that explains this theory better than words can, built as it is from loops and sonic experimentation. Lead single "Glitter" is the perfect distilling of No Age's strengths, combining looping sonic landscapes with Spunt's simple repetition on vocals. The only weakness here for No Age (and it barely can be called that) is that with their leap forward in sonic sound, unfortunately Dean Spunt's vocals just don't seem strong enough at times to hold their end of the bargain. Spunt's laid back Cali skate punk feels at home riding the wave of their punkier numbers (again, see "Fever Dreaming"). Even with the tempo ratcheted down a notch, it's still another dizzying affair.
Neil Young is in the enviable position where he really doesn't need you to like him, which makes his album choices always an event of sorts. Take Le Noise, an album that is very recognizably a Neil Young joint (it's just Neil and his electric guitar playing within his idiom) and yet manages to be kind of out there through the funky mix job by Daniel Lanois. The result is a swirl of guitars and echoing vocals dancing around what are otherwise superb Young songs. Compare this with fellow rock legend Eric Clapton, who's vanilla offering this week challenges nobody, and we're reminded again why Young is such a treasure (I'd say national treasure, but some Canadians might scoff at the thought). In concert with the album, Young's YouTube channel is streaming the album as a short film, with artful black & white footage of Neil in the studio intercut with some crazy effects (much like the album itself) - see below:
Day 2 of Bumbershoot was like the first in that the weather looked grim initially, but held up fine once things got going. Other than that, though, it was quite a bit different. There was a black hole in the middle of the day schedule-wise, but that allowed me to both visit Flatstock, and to scope out the Lost panel (hosted by EW's Doc Jensen) for Monday. By 5:45, though, things got ca-razy, starting with Common Market's vivid set. From there I ping-ponged around the grounds seeing six bands over the next two hours, before deciding to jump into David Cross' set, so I could finally sit down for a bit. Pics to follow (brief recaps to be added piecemeal as time before too long).
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band @ Broad Street Lawn stage
MSHVB is a band that is easy to root for, and I always go in hoping for the best, but I find myself wishing they could just rev it up a notch. Visually, they're pretty stoic for the music, with seemingly only Traci Eggleston exhibiting any life, looking like an indie rock Kristen Bell.
Parenthetical Girls @ EMPSFM's Sky Church stage
The indie rock cabaret isn't my cup of tea, but I can see it's appeal to the disaffected youth. It's as if Kurt from Glee fronted an indie rock band of Liza Minelli fanatics. It was a bittersweet set for the band, though, as singer Zac Pennington announced it was their last with keyboardist Matt Carlson.
Common Market @ Fisher Green Stage
The hip-hop band, like The Whore Moans the day prior, saw the Depression as a source of inspiration for their set, but while the Whore Moans lads played out the haves, Common Market took the part of the have nots. Where Satan is the corporate master and all the workers are slaves. Full of rich theatrics, it was one of the highlights of the festival. Covering Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" was pretty, but wholly unneeded -- let's have a moratorium on that cover, k?
Vivian Girls at Broad Street Lawn Stage
I heard some complaints about their KEXP set, but on the big stage their reverb-drenched punk-pop-shoegaze mashup sounded delicious. Sure, the guitar playing is a bit sloppy, but it's rock and roll y'all.
No Age at the Exhibition Hall Stage (Rock Star Energy Stage)
This might be my biggest disappointment of the whole weekend. I've repeatedly missed their earlier swings through Seattle due to scheduling conflicts and was looking forward to their set. Maybe it was the cruddy sound of the Exhibition Hall, but the crowd and the band both seemed pretty tired.
Roy Ayers @ Fisher Green Stage
Holy Fuck @ Broad Street Lawn Stage
The naughtily-named quartet from Canada took their Can-inspired spacey jams and made a crowd of thousands move their feet. I so wanted to see them play at the Neumo's after-party, but just didn't have the energy to get there (on foot/bus all weekend). Next time.
David Cross & Friends (pictured Wyatt Cenac, Cross & H. Jon Benjamin as BUMBERCLAP!) at Bagley Wright Theatre
After a long day on my feet I just felt the need to sit down and laugh. Cross always pleases, and while most were expecting either Eugene Mirman or possibly Sarah Silverman to show, seeing Wyatt Cenac and Doug Benson was just as good. And BUMBERCLAP!
I have to admit, I've been on the fence about Fuel TV since it's launch nearly five years ago as 'the only 24/7 action sports network.' Is there really a need for an ESPNX? Lately, though, the program The Daily Habit has had a rotation of great indie and/or punk bands appearing on the program, in concert with pieces on surfers, skateboarders, snowboarders and the like. The lineup this week, for instance, is incredible: L.A. punkers No Age (Monday,) nob-twisters MGMT (Wednesday,) and international hip-hop assasin M.I.A. (Thursday) all lend some adrenaline to the program. It's almost enough to have me contact my provider and press them to include the network... that is until I remember it's a sister network to FOX News. Oh Rupert Murdoch... why are you such a contradiction?
Speaking of sports and rock and roll, this Friday on Letterman is the network debut of the new baseball fan supergroup of The Baseball Project, which features Peter Buck (R.E.M.,) Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate,) Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, Minus 5) and Linda Pitmon (Zuzu's Petals). For Friday's appearance, McCaughey sings "Past Time," which reads like a laundry list of things we miss about baseballs' past, like "the sideburns of Pepitone and Oscar Gamble's afro." Singing songs about baseball's rich history never sounded so good... someone needs to give Peter Gammons a call, and get them in ESPN's battle of the bands.
Finally, Live From Abbey Road returns for it's second season on the Sundance channel, getting it's world debut stateside this time (appearing on Channel 4 a couple weeks later, featuring a lineup of Mary J. Blige, Dashboard Confessional and James Blunt. While the behind the scenes look at the famous studio is always fascinating -- the best part always seems to be the featured archived video, usually of The Beatles -- the lineup can sometimes be a disappointment in comparison. Just typing James Blunt's name in conjunction with fab four made me throw up in my mouth a little. Yuk. I guess that's what the fast forward button is for.
Merging the styles of Loveless, New Day Rising, and Slanted and Enchanted, No Age's (proper) debut on Sub Pop is taking the critical world by storm, and with good reason. Even though the LA punk duo is by all estimations still getting it's bearings, Nouns seems to hit a sweet spot that's been missing... sloppy DIY punk delivered via My Bloody Valentine guitar swirls, all encased with a tape-loop hiss that all together sounds far more accessible than you'd think it would. Songs like "Teen Creeps,""Sleeper Hold" and "Brain Burner" create their own genre of punk-shoegaze-noise-rock anthems that sound familiar, like a hazy rememberance of what 1991 sounded (like before Nevermind came and squashed it). To that end, the vocals are buried, putting the sound at arms length, like those hard to reach memories (one of those hard to reach memories is Overwhelming Colorfast... another is early Don Fleming productions).
Of course, any discussion of the band No Age seems to be predicated on the recognition of the setting in which the band was born, namely the community surrounding the all ages venue The Smell. Much like Seattle's The Vera Project, NYC's ABC No Rio and Berkley's 924 Gilman, The Smell is more than just a place to see shows, it's a resource (and a vegan cafe). It seems it's the politics and DIY ethics that propel Nouns beyond just a fine debut and push it into the realm of SCENE. Considering it's only the duo's debut, I hope their backs can withstand the weight of "NEXT". It's interesting, in that regard, that they opted for "Eraser" as the single instead of the obvious "Teen Creeps," possibly not wanting to follow too closely down that pre-paved 'Teen' road.
It seems with every Animal Collective album, there's an EP to follow, collecting odds and ends from the previous albums' sessions, and containing at least one nugget worth it's purchase. Water Curses contains perhaps the best 'nugget' to date, with the bubbly title track, already one of my favorite AC songs. "Water Curses" takes on a watery sound, floating with dense electro flourishes, a technicolor wonder that probably felt too light to fit in with some of the harsher sounds that inhabited Strawberry Jam. For all the accessibility of the title track, the rest of the EP stretches out in all directions away from that starting point. For an album, it would approach annoying quickly, but in the safe setting of an EP, it makes for a nice ride around AC's crazy block.
The slow and steady progression for Deerhunter from damaged art rock to accessible (yet still damaged) pop band has been fascinating to witness. In some respects, we've been witnessing frontman Bradford Cox's split personality gradually merging together, with the tripped-out art of Deerhunter now almost impossible to distinguish from the pop ambitions of his solo project Atlas Sound.
Watching No Age play Bumbershoot a year ago, I got the impression that the duo (Dean Spunt on drums/vocals, Randy Randall on guitar) was perhaps a bit bored, drawing mostly from 2008's well-received Nouns. Everything In Between, the band's 2nd proper full length), kind of reinforces this opinion, with No Age mostly amputating nearly all the punk-fueled up-tempo elements ("Fever Dreaming" and "Shed & Transcend" remind us they still have that in their arsenal) that made their last album a dizzying affair.
Neil Young is in the enviable position where he really doesn't need you to like him, which makes his album choices always an event of sorts. Take Le Noise, an album that is very recognizably a Neil Young joint (it's just Neil and his electric guitar playing within his idiom) and yet manages to be kind of out there through the funky mix job by Daniel Lanois. The result is a swirl of guitars and echoing vocals dancing around what are otherwise superb Young songs. Compare this with fellow rock legend Eric Clapton, who's vanilla offering this week challenges nobody, and we're reminded again why Young is such a treasure (I'd say national treasure, but some Canadians might scoff at the thought). In concert with the album, Young's YouTube channel is streaming the album as a short film, with artful black & white footage of Neil in the studio intercut with some crazy effects (much like the album itself) - see below:
