You there. Yes, you, discerning indie rock fan. Was our five-part, wall-to-wall coverage of this past weekend's Boston Calling festival just not immersive enough for you? Well, while going over our archived notes from the weekend, we stumbled upon this neat-o photo set from shadowy freelance operative Quinn Banford. You will find therein evidence of good rock music being played, and good rock music being heard. And we think you will agree the photos of Lorde and Spoon in particular really sizzle. It seems essential to share Mr. Banford's work with you. Banford, on special assignment to Clicky Clicky yet again, had this to say about his experience in the field at the festival:
"Carrying around a camera felt a bit odd at times, especially with the flowing amounts of beers waving in the air. The poor camera had no rain coat and the lightning storm was another form of "wet" that it wasn't ready to take on. But my good lad Nick the Nikon had bold plans, and he got those pictures. He pulled through."
[PHOTO: Dillon Riley] Here it was, Sunday, the day we waited for with bated breath, the final day of this fall's Boston Calling music festival. The day we saw one of the greatest rock acts ever, The Replacements, return to our fair city for its first area show in more than two decades, along with noteworthy bands who channel in one form or another the legendary act's influences. A friend we encountered Sunday on Boston's City Hall Plaza noted the presence of a much older crowd than previous days, and we laughed nervously in agreement, wondering what that said about us, our mindset, and our own inherent age/mortality. Such concerns were assuaged -- at least temporarily -- by the incredibly vital sets of rock 'n' roll we saw; here are the highlights. -- Dillon Riley
The War On Drugs (3PM, Blue Stage)
We noted in our preview last week The War On Drugs' recent breakthrough with the release of its latest record Lost In The Dream. So it's somewhat sad to report that the general excitement surrounding the band out among the broader indiedom wasn't reflected in the Boston crowd's reaction to the Philadelphia act's midday set. Indeed, festival-goers seemed a little less than enthused, which is a shame, because Adam Granduciel and his cohort laid on the grooves nice and thick. There was a propulsive chug to some of the new record's sleepier numbers, including the title track. For his part, Mr. Granduciel employed some nimble fretwork on punchier tunes such as the album's early single "Red Eyes." A reference to the dearly departed rock radio broadcaster 104.1 WBCN fell on deaf ears to boot, prompting Granduciel to deadpan something to the effect of "Y'all should get out more." We wholeheartedly concur.
Spoon (7PM, Blue Stage)
In case you need reminding, Spoon has a lot of good songs. A lot of them. And they played quite a few of them in a challenging time slot early Sunday evening (when many minds were likely drifting ahead to the next hour's highly touted Replacements appearance). But Austin's favorite sons acquitted themselves with aplomb, however, and it was nice to see the act retains a youthful energy whilst still being able to showcase the major progression it has undertaken over the last two decades. The band's bold opening salvo was a nervy take on "Small Stakes" off 2002's critically adored Kill The Moonlight before slipping into a few hot tracks back-to-back off their latest offering They Want My Soul. No complaints here, as the new record bursts with massive hooky rock-and-roll without abandoning the experimental nature of certain of Spoon's work. A heartfelt mid-set shout-out to the beloved 'Mats, who were figuratively on deck, was well-received, too, and provided a candid and true moment of real meets real.
The Replacements (8:15PM, Red Stage)
"Yes, we are this close for the goddamn Replacements," is what we kept saying to ourselves as we hung over the barrier by the right side of the stage Sunday night. And the Minneapolis-spawned act's fiery set was everything we thought it would be, and possibly more. No, Billie Joe didn't show, and couches be damned, the recently hobbled fronter Paul Westerberg made it through the whole hit-spangled, 20ish-song set without any back issues... though he did pour salt and pepper on his guitar. The set came off like all those legendary 'Mats sets we've only read about in Our Band Could Be Your Life, all manic energy and hilariously flubbed choruses. Sure, Westerberg forgot an entire verse of "Androgynous," big deal -- the crowd knew all the words and was happy to fill in the blanks. The band snuck offstage for all of about 30 seconds before returning to run through a brilliant take on Pleased To Meet Me's "Alex Chilton," a towering love letter to the legendary and iconoclastic former Big Star co-fronter (the song was explosively delivered again Tuesday night on late night television). Turns out Nas and The Roots had sent Paul, Tommy, Dave and Josh back out for the quick encore (likely sacrificing some of their own stage time in doing so, it should be pointed out). So thanks to the festival closers for letting the boys play, and thank you boys for taking the piss out of the final chorus on "I Will Dare." The laughs helped chase away the tears of joy.
And that about wraps it up for Boston Calling 2014. On a personal note: what an amazing, scary, tiring and emotionally trying weekend. We believe Saturday's final run of Spoon into The Replacements into Nas + The Roots' headlining set may have been the best show-going experience of our year thus far, and you better believe we've seen some shit. Until next time...
Earlier this week, as you will recall, we waxed poetically in these electronic pages about how unbelievably stoked we are for The Replacements' triumphant return to Boston Sunday, when the storied band hits the Boston Calling stage (ahead of NYC rap legend Nas and The Roots, no less). Today we're taking the opportunity to flag for readers the rest of the acts the Clicky Clicky brain trust deems most likely to turn in festival-highlighting performances framed against the brutalist architecture of Boston's City Hall Plaza. If you remember nothing else from this piece, remember this: stick close to the blue stage sponsored by the apparently consistently satisfying air carrier (as opposed to the red stage sponsored by the credit card company fined $140 million in 2012 for deceptive marketing). Indeed, the weekend's best acts, in our opinion, are stacked up at said blue stage. And so this is where you'll catch us clapping, cheering, and outwardly displaying all manner of merriment during this weekend's festival, and particularly during the five sets highlighted below. Dig with us now below the who, the when and the why. -- Dillon Riley
___//Friday, Sept. 5th//
Neutral Milk Hotel (8PM, Blue Stage)
The indie rock institution recently emerged from self-imposed exile to a large run of reunion dates surrounding a deluxe box set release from Merge, including two nights at the Orpheum Theatre downtown that certain members of the Clicky Clicky editorial staff -- but not all of them -- regrettably missed. There's really no need to spill too much digital ink on the importance of the collective's two epoch-defining records, but suffice it to say they mean a great amount to a good many, and the track "Holland, 1945" in particular is etched in full upon the hearts of many more. Know this, though, dear readers: the current iteration of Neutral Milk Hotel is the lineup that recorded and toured behind their swansong/magnum opus In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, so it's a good bet we'll hear plenty of tunes from it. Considering how long this reunion tour has bee going on, it wouldn't be outrageous to perhaps even expect something new from Jeff Mangum and Co. We mean, it wouldn't, right? A blog can dream.
The National (9:30PM, Blue Stage)
Elder statesmen in the indie rock game who came across like self-assured pros from the get-go, The National has built up an impressive catalogue in their decade-plus as a recording entity. Theirs is one filled with a strong identity and a strong handle on a sound that borrows heavily from the darkness of British post-punk but filters it through a prism of strong Midwestern sentimentality. Much like fellow indie legends R.E.M., their records can be exercises in slow, deliberate progression. Sure, successive releases regularly mine similar territory as those prior, but one should not mistake consistency for complacency. To wit, The National's latest, 2013's Trouble Will Find Me, boasts one of their strongest collections of songs since the act's 2005 breakthrough Alligator. Also of note, guitar player Aaron Dessner has been a co-curator of Boston Calling since its inception. This year's performance will be the band's second appearance as a headliner.
___//Saturday, Sept. 6//
The Hold Steady (5PM, Blue Stage)
The Hold Steady and our beloved 'Mats are cut from the same cloth, generally speaking. The younger act's ultra-relateable songs -- featuring the painstakingly detailed lyrics of Boston College-graduated fronter Craig Finn -- are filled with loveable losers whose judgment and choices are often clouded and/or fueled by intoxicants; The Hold Steady's early shows weren't exactly sober occasions, either. Certain of the editorial contingent here at Clicky Clicky are comfortable advancing an argument that, as a recording entity, The Hold Steady were far less erratic than the 'Mats. Not unlike The National, The Hold Steady spent the '00s putting together a stream of critically acclaimed and universally -- at least within the indiesphere -- beloved records that positioned the act tantalizingly close to a break through into the overground. That never quite happened (that part like sounds familiar to 'Mats fans, too), but the band soldiers on making great records and putting on remarkable and cathartic shows. Saturday is the act's first appearance at Boston Calling.
___//Sunday, Sept. 7//
The War On Drugs (3PM, Blue Stage)
2014 has proven to be the year Adam Granduciel finally achieved the notoriety on par with that of certain of his famous Philly friends. Not that it is a contest or anything, but The War On Drugs -- a recording project overseen almost entirely by Mr. Granduciel -- is regularly addressed in the same breath as Kurt Vile, Philly's favorite über chill son and an early Drugs collaborator. However, with the release of The War On Drugs' gargantuan new record Lost In The Dream, Granduciel has stepped out of Vile's friendly but long shadow. Boasting a billowing and bold batch of songs that takes the Americana-in-space aesthetic of predecessor Slave Ambient and blows it up to widescreen HD, The War On Drugs' latest even reminds us of Spiritualized with its massive, philosophical scope, enveloping swells and sonic trickery. We've heretofore only seen the band once, at a show in Central Park in NYC a few years back, and it will be fulfilling to finally see the band post the well-earned breakthrough.
Spoon (7PM, Blue Stage)
Got a bit of a running theme here, as Spoon represent another ultra-consistent indie rock group whose work defines the aughts. While certainly taking a more calculated, minimalist approach to rock 'n' roll than the aforementioned Clicky Clicky Fest Picks, Spoon is arguably the most notable of the three in the greater scheme of things. Their transition from Pixies-indebted garage riffers/major label aspirants to whatever weird micro-genre can classify them post-Girls Can Tell can be seen as one of the most vital evolutions in the past three decades. Their latest record, They Want My Soul, their first not on indie flagship Merge since being fatefully dropped from Elektra all those years ago, documents yet another creative rejuvenation. Turning to Flaming Lips producer David Fridmann for support, They Want My Soul situates the band among new sounds and finds them blending new techniques into their established mix with winning results, and recent reports of the acts always-dependable live show are quite promising.
What an amazing time for indie rock. Each year we take issue with proclamations that any given set of 365 days was better or worse than any other set of 365 days, but we were very excited by what we heard this year, and what we think we'll be hearing next year. Musical trends ignore the calendar, of course, but we feel like in 2011 a lot of music is going to be informed by sounds characteristic of our favorite bands of the early '90s. Just a hunch, and this isn't the place to make that argument, but we feel it. We're excited. For now, we'd like to celebrate the 10 best records of 2010, by our humble estimation.
Long-time readers will be familiar with our ground rules from lists in prior years; here it is in a nut shell. We look at our ITunes play counts, we see what was played most, and those are our picks. Simple. Some related comments: Arcade Fire does not make it into our list, and probably should, or at least would have come close. We didn't connect with Neon Bible, and as bracing as Funeral was, we felt like it was over-wrought in places. But The Suburbs, released (as we are sure you know) in 2010, really spoke to us; we connected with the themes of adulthood, distance and alienation. But we listened to the disc a lot in our car, and plays in the car aren't captured in our rankings. Sorry Arcade Fire. Other records that certainly should be heard include Bettie Serveert's Pharmacy Of Love, Joie De Vivre's The North End and Tears Run Rings' Distance, just to name a few. So what did make the proverbial grade? Read below, and avail yourself of the many streams scraped from Soundcloud.
1. Los Campesinos! -- Romance Is Boring -- Wichita/Arts+Crafts
Heavier, denser, and more focused than all prior efforts, Romance Is Boring -- to use a hackneyed phrase we hate -- finds Los Campesinos! at the peak of its powers. We've grappled with how to articulate the strengths of the Cardiff-based octet's record all year. It doesn't necessarily have Los Camp!'s catchiest jams -- indeed there are things that drive us crazy about the record (what is that grinding sound laced through the mix in the verses of "In Medias Res?" Why is it there? It reminds us of how a song on A Ghost Is Born was supposed to represent Tweedy's migraines). But the songwriting, composition and production is fully realized, impervious and whole. We really wonder where the band can go from Romance Is Boring, because the record is flawless. The musicianship of the players has wrongly taken a critical back seat to fronter Gareth Campesinos!'s personality and (at times comical, at times harrowing) lyrics; that is understandable, but if you mentally strip the words out of this set it is still gripping. That said, Gareth's performances here are amazing, and none more so than the cataclysmic album closer "Coda: A Burn Scar In The Shape Of The Sooner State," where the devastating and searing final lyric "I can't believe I chose the mountains every time you chose the sea" makes for the most crushing moments in recorded music in 2010.
2. Walter Schreifels -- An Open Letter To The Scene -- Dine Alone/Big Scary Monsters
As we quipped in a recent episode of CompCon, if you told us in 1990 that Walter Schreifels would release our favorite record of 2010, and that it would be a largely acoustic pop affair, we'd have thought you were crazy. But, of course, it is true. Mr. Schreifels has crafted what is perhaps the most listenable, catchy collection of the year. The fact that he is working in a sonic vernacular that to us seemed very unlikely (since we haven't really followed Schreifels' career closely since Quicksand) underscores the amazing songwriting and performance chops at his command. In fact, the more unlikely the scenario, it seems, the more convincingly Schreifels succeeds. A song about pop rapper Lil' Kim? Called "The Ballad Of Lil' Kim?" Ridiculous, right? Wrong -- somehow our hero turns out a scrappy, yearning and wistful pop classic. A song eulogizing hardcore like it was a person, called "An Open Letter To The Scene," with lyrics including "at the hardcore funeral I cried and cried?" Ridiculous, right? Wrong. This song is awesome. As is the rest of An Open Letter To The Scene. Schreifels returns with a new Rival Schools record in 2011, and the first single is great, to be sure. But it will be a very tall order for it to be as good as An Open Letter To The Scene, which is, in a word, superlative.
We know what you're thinking. "Really? This unassuming, straightforward and sometimes a bit silly collection of pop-tinged hardcore?" To which our response is this: do not to make the mistake of underestimating the self-titled debut full-length from this Philly-based foursome. Everyone Everywhere is sneaky, just understated enough to not attract much attention, but the collection is perfectly paced, packed with hooks and Hoovers up all the right influences (The Promise Ring, Superchunk). In a way it's like those drinks that were just banned in the US that had booze and tons of caffeine. Everyone Everywhere wins with glorious guitars and big vocal melodies, which power both soaring choruses like that of "Raw Bar OBX 2002" and the dream-like reverie of "Obama House, Fukui Prefecture." It all adds up to something surprisingly irresistible.
Calories' hotly anticipated, but delayed sophomore set was certainly worth the wait. The perennially under-rated Birmingham, England-based power trio here delivers characteristically hooky, brawling post-punk anthems while expanding its sound to include additional textures and temperaments. "The Brink" clocks in at nearly seven minutes in length, challenging Calories' reputation for bluntness and brevity, and deconstructs into a motorik jam. Two pleasantly disorienting set pieces, "Basic Nature 1" and "Basic Nature 2," set off sections of Basic Nature and offer evidence that the trio can thrive outside its winning format for fist-banging shouters. Even so, the record's finest moments are not the singles or odd appendages, but rather the desperate quasi opener "You Could Be Honest" and the upbeat album cut "Even Stephens," which touts melody to spare, bludgeoning drumming and a brilliant sinewy lead guitar in the chorus. Basic Nature is all of your favorite things, only better.
5. Johnny Foreigner -- You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm -- Alcopop!
While we predictably loved this EP from our first listen, the more we listen the more we feel like we under-estimated You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm. The more we listen, the more we hear the themes, the hurt and the desperation. Opener "The Wind And The Weathervanes" ends serenading, its final 90 seconds a stirring and beautiful coda of feedback and strings that almost makes you forget the stinging admission that the narrator's ex-lover was probably right. The coda butts against the thrashing opening of "Who Needs Comment Boxes When You've Got Knives," which at first seems like a ham-fisted bit of sequencing until one realizes the discord is entirely the point. Indeed, the achievement of You Thought You Saw... is how well it conveys the discomfort of being in one's own skin, stewing in one's own thoughts ("this is how he'll spend forever with you...," "I wish I had a part in this...") when the world seems to be moving on without you. There is solace in the goofy, beat-driven and D Plan-referencing half of "Elegy For Post Teenage Living (Parts 1 and 2)," and even deliverance in the cymbal crash and guitar crash of the verses and conclusion of the song's front half. Whether considered in parts or as a whole, the EP is further evidence that Johnny Foreigner is among the best bands working today.
6. The Henry Clay People -- Somewhere On The Golden Coast -- TBD
Ah, the thrill of the perfect pure rock record. Time was you could count on The Hold Steady to deliver the sort of goods delivered here, but while that act has begun experimenting out of its comfort zone (actually quite successfully: Heaven Is Whenever is a sleeper record full of charm), The Henry Clay People have stuck with its son-of-the-son-of-The Replacements sound and attitude. Somewhere On The Golden Coast is chock-a-block with rootsy, narrative shouters, melodic and self-deprecating odes to slackerdom. As we said in our review (link below), the People spread their wings a little wider here, going beyond the bar room for atmospheric, textures and feedback on the standout "A Temporary Fix." Of course, there are still plenty of rockers, including the driving winner "Your Famous Friends." You need this record, and having a back-up copy ain't a bad idea, either.
While the early warning was that this was a difficult record that the band created for its own satisfaction, the fact is Transference is characteristically strong. Perhaps, as we speculated on CompCon, the message was supposed to convey that Spoon's newest collection wasn't likely to win over news fans, wasn't likely to cross over into the more broadly embraced radio formats. At any rate, Spoon fans bought the record and have probably reached the same conclusion we have -- Transference is a taut, economical and flawless record of minimalist indie rock. Fronter Britt Daniel's lyrics are a bit more impressionistic, and there are some entrancing production flourishes (mostly just expertly applied delays and reverbs), but there are no missteps here, just great songs you can dance to or drink beer along with. Win.
We didn't review this record from Glen Rock, New Jersey's finest indie punk quintet. Frankly, we saw no reason to draft anything after reading our friend and former bandmate Jim's review (link below). So while we haven't spent much time thinking critically about this record, doing so would have missed the point. Titus Andronicus' music is visceral, pounding with a desperate energy and exalted angst. The fact that there is a U.S. Civil War theme draped around the collection, the fact that fronter Patrick Stickles coopts and spins Springsteen lyrics to his own ends, doesn't dispel the immediacy of the driving guitars or hollered vocals, or the emotional punch of a Boston/Jersey long-distance relationship collapsing -- one Fung Wah bus ride at a time -- like so many arranged dominoes. While chronicling a crippling break-up, The Monitor never broods, but instead revels in the anguish and pain, celebrates the strife, and all the while rocks right along the precipice of forcefully strummed, bluntly chorded chaos.
9. Distractions -- Distractions -- Plus Tapes/Infinite Best
This selection for the year-end list reminds us of that snarky t-shirt that proclaims "I Listen To Bands That Don't Even Exist Yet." That's because, as it turns out, our number nine selection is kinda sorta not out yet. The collection is a self-titled cassette put out by a Chicago-based outfit called Distractions. Said cassette version was serviced digitally to bloggers at the beginning of the summer to build hype for a pending reissue from Infinite Best. However, due to other stuff coming up, Distractions, remixed and remastered by Dev from Twin Sister and now titled Dark Green Sea, is not due for release until Jan. 18, 2011. We find it hard to believe that the cassette version can be improved upon, as it is perhaps the most specifically evocative set among the 10 we list here. Distractions just sounds like it was made by a Zombies-influenced pop band that has worked the same subterranean bar room in a seaside town for a decade. The tunes -- often awash in reverb, organ-led and paired with a deep baritone lead vocal -- just sound murky, even with the sunshiney melodies. Even if the lead track "All Night" was the only song on there, the record would be worth whatever anybody would charge for it. And that "anyone" at this point is Midheaven, the price is $13 for the LP, and you should just buy the thing now, because it is awesome. Pre-order Dark Green Sea at the link below.
10. Screaming Maldini -- And The Kookaburra EP -- Alcopop!
Note to indie labels that are not Alcopop!: keep an eye on Alcopop!, because the small label has two entries on our year-end list, which means it is doing something right, and you are probably doing something wrong. Screaming Maldini's And The Kookaburra, in case you didn't know, is the best pure pop record of 2010 -- well, EP, anyway, as the collection touts only five songs. Imagine, if you will, that Spandau Ballet was cryogenically frozen at the height of its popularity and then reborn today as a prog-pop entity with embarrassingly excellent songwriting skills: this is Screaming Maldini. And The Kookaburra's first three songs are brilliant, but the gentle, wistful penultimate track "I Know That You Know That I Would Wipe Away That Snowflake From Your Eye" is the winner of the lot, covering lover's rock territory with its spine-tingling chorus and then -- in typical Maldini fashion -- going widescreen and panoramic and diorama and maparium into a dizzying crescendo of horns and distorted guitar. It's the song that all pop will be measured against going forward. Screaming Maldini will release a new EP Dec. 18, and the act has also completed a new video that we wrote about here Saturday.
The span of years roughly book-ended by the launches of Napster and Spotify -- a decade during which many perpetually proclaimed the album format dead -- was crammed with crates and crates and crates and crates of compelling music. And why wouldn't it be? Ones and zeroes do not obviate humanity's innate need to rock. But that is a subject for another day. Today, as part of Deckfight's ongoing Albums Of The Decade Blog Tour, we force ourselves to choose the 10 best of the last 10 years. For weeks we've debated how to weigh the best versus the most representative versus the most influential and so on. It's difficult stuff to parse, but we think ultimately what it came down to was giving respect where respect was due for songcraft, innovation and gusto. While we offer our picks for 10 best records below, we are not ranking them, as simply making the cut is the honor here. What is below is listed alphabetically.
No matter whether you are gauging by songcraft or innovation, The Books deserve recognition for writing some of the most amusing, compelling and beautiful compositions of the decade. In particular we find Lost And Safe's closer "Twelve Fold Chain" incredibly moving. Here's a digested version of what we said in our review May 10, 2005:
Even on this, their third album, The Books sound like they've got secrets to tell. But the most solid clues they offer on Lost And Safe are fragments of dreams, stream-of-consciousness queries and allusions to spiritual questing. An intricate mix of serene vocals, spoken word samples, understated clattering percussion, guitar and cello, the duo's music is enchanting and hypnotic. "A Little Longing Goes Away" opens the record with soft vocals swathed in reverse reverb, making lines like "our minds are empty / like we're too young to know to smile" sound like prayer.
All musical elements are expertly but gently balanced like a series of birds on a wire. Although not overtly apparent, the band's lyrics, in addition to being spiritually inquisitive, can be quite funny. This is most apparent during the act's current live show, during which video accompaniment emphasizes the graduate school-level word play that characterizes songs like "Smells Like Content" and "An Animated Description of Mr. Maps." No matter the context or what you call it, The Books are in relatively uncharted territory with bountiful potential in every direction. Although Lost And Safe would be a crowning achievement for any band, The Books show no sign of running out of beautiful musical ideas to convey.
We didn't review this record upon its release (or ever). As with songwriter Dan Bejar's finest efforts, the record is self-referential, inscrutable, beautiful and biting. Destroyer's Rubies in particular seems like a record ripe for academic examination. But no matter how layered or diffracted the narratives, the songs themselves are hook-filled, generously melodic and wholly rewarding. Bejar's smarter-than-you lyrics, singular vocal delivery, and attention to production detail make all of his records great -- Destroyer's Rubies is exceptional. What else is there to say? We recently saw Bejar perform solo in Boston, and for much of the performance we were thinking how we wished he was performing with a full band. But even performing solo with a weather red acoustic under spare spotlights the songs were completely arresting.
This list is not really about success stories, but The Hold Steady's sophomore set certainly qualifies as one, and -- of course -- one of the biggest of the decade. The burgeoning blogosphere was alight with praise when this was issued, and although our first inclination was to ignore the band because of the bountiful praise from seemingly every corner (we're contrarian like that), we were an embarrasingly ready convert when we finally stopped to listen to Separation Sunday. And what's not to like? As Mr. Kumar states, The Hold Steady is like Jim Carroll fronting Thin Lizzy playing Bruce Springsteen songs. Like the aforementioned Mr. Bejar, Hold Steady fronter Craig Finn is an amazing lyricist and he crafts on this record an amazing, conceptual collection that follows the rise and fall and rise again of certain gutter-frequenting, drug-gobbling drifters. Mr. Finn and his cohort take these losers and wring from them incredible tales of spine-tingling desperation and redemption. Also, there's a whole hell of a lot of rock music on this record, including the highlights "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" and "Stevie Nix." Ground-breaking? No. Awesome? Yes.
Did you think a guy who co-operates the Johnny Foreigner fan site Keeping Some Dark Secrets wasn't going to pick a Johnny Foreigner record for his list? There are so many reasons why this record is awesome, front to back, but here is just one: on the rare mornings where we walk to the subway, ride the subway, and then walk to our office, it takes exactly one run through the entire record to get us from door to desk. Wonderful. Here's a digested version of our review from Sept. 28, 2009:
Grace And The Bigger Picture is pointedly heartfelt, jubilantly aggressive, road-weary and resigned all at once. The record is populated with wistful ideals of home ("we'll throw parties in the yard") and amazing letdowns ("all we have is miles and wires and all I am is calls tomorrow"), but there are also wonderfully carefree moments, as in the almost blindingly brief "Kingston Called, They Want Their Lost Youth Back." [The record] is painstakingly crafted, deeply layered, and hangs together as a collection more firmly than even its ambitious predecessor. The narratives sparkle like dizzying mosaics comprised of thousands of digital snapshots. Themes appear and re-appear, e.g. the clarion call "some summers!" in "Feels Like Summer" resurfaces in "The Coast Was Always Clear;" "More Heart, Less Tongue" is transmogrified into "More Tongue, Less Heart;" the breakdown to "Custom Scenes And The Parties That Make Them" even repurposes the breakdown from the band's break-out single "Eyes Wide Terrified;" and keen ears seem to hear the familiar cry of "Amateur! Historian! shouted in the closing moments of the squalling anthem "Dark Harbourzz." But even more impressive than the whole are the parts, as there is a remarkable compositional cleverness in certain of the songs that points to an ever sharpening songcraft among Berrow and company. This is no more apparent than within the almost linear, structure-flouting gem "Custom Scenes And The Parties That Make Them." Best Before Records releases the record 26 Oct. in the U.K.
After it had exhausted a Superchunk fixation, a record label and Athens, Georgia, and before its late embrace of a rootsier sound enamored a major rock critic or two, this always-at-the-brink-of-destruction collective created this wondrous, sweet full-length. A slapdash concoction of literate, lo-fi balladry and everyman indie rock channeled through three songwriters is remarkable perhaps mostly because, like the band itself, We're All In This Alone somehow manages to hang together. All at the same time the proceedings sound like the end of the '90s, point toward the ascendency of the band's adopted hometown of Brooklyn and presage a decade that once more embraced folk rock. It's a weird record, but it's a fantastic record, held aloft by great songs including the devastating "I Hope That You Remember To Forget." Of course, The Mendoza Line did not survive this decade, but part of the magic of We're All In This Alone is that the record sounds like a band with a world of possibilities in front of it, which was fairly accurate in the year 2000.
With the ascendancy of the related, more psych-leaning project Woods, and with silence from the band going on uninterrupted, we are starting to believe we may have seen the last of our beloved Meneguar. Which is a shame because the Brooklyn-based quartet's brand of desperate, shouty, smart and guitar-driven indie rock pushes all the right buttons for us, and we see no American successor really taking up the banner for the style. I Was Born At Night, so good it was issued twice, is seven anthems brimming with brawling attitude, splendid guitar interplay and heavy dynamics pounding home hooks galore. And it all comes down to the "The Temp," a fist-banging shouter about dead-end employment (or something -- who knows?) with a killer chorus that out-Slack Motherfuckers Superchunk's renowned "Slack Motherfucker." We recall that at one point Troubleman Unlimited had posted the MP3 for "The Temp" as a promo track, so here it is in all of its glory. Actually, this is the mix from the original Magic Bullet release -- retro!
Meneguar -- "The Temp" - I Was Born At Night
[right click and save as]
When we mentioned innovation supra, The Books weren't even the first band to come to mind. Instead we thought of The Notwist, and how in the wake of this landmark release that melded laptop electropop and indie guitar music suddenly, for at least a year, every one tried to replicate the Weilheim, Germany-based quartet's sound. Only by watching the amazing "On | Off The Record" DVD does one develop an appreciation for just how difficult an undertaking such replication would be (the opening seconds of the album were incredibly difficult, actually impossible, to perform), which is why -- despite seemingly providing the formula for an aesthetic perpetuated by labels like Morr Music for years afterwards -- so few acts came close to The Notwist. Even more amazing? The band's astonishing, dub-injected, Wii-dazzled live show, which we caught for the second time a year ago, makes Neon Golden and it's excellent successor The Devil, You & Me seem pale in comparison. But at the warm, digitally-pulsing heart of Neon Golden are 10 incredible, catchy songs delivered in Markus Acher's emotive deadpan murmur.
Flawless, every song, from a songwriting and a production standpoint. Endlessly listenable. As we said here in our Best Records of 2007 wrap-up:
We listened to this record over and over and over: in the car; in the office; in the kitchen. It's exceptional. Taut, glistening pop-rock, touches of spacey, warts-and-all production, and hooks galore. The songs all flow with an ease, an internal logic that is so finite that each tune seems representative of what indie rock is, at its core. If (when?) space aliens come to the United States asking about indie rock, perhaps the most obvious example to hand them is Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.
Digested from our review posted Feb. 10, 2008 right here:
Portland, Ore.-based A Weather's beautiful full-length debut has a persistent but slippery allure. Populated almost entirely with murmured bedroom ballads driven by brushed drums, guitar and electric piano, the set somehow succeeds in not repeating the same tricks over and over again.
Is there a voyeuristic attraction inherent in pretty songs delivered in hushed tones simultaneously by male and female singers? Or is there something universal -- an inverse of voyeurism, in a way -- conveyed by these intimate, poignant tracks that make them so arresting. What we are certain of is that sping-tingling moments are frequent on Cove: when the ride cymbal pulses louder and louder during "Shirley Road Shirley" as fronter Aaron Gerber and drummer Sarah Winchester desperately assure "I swear, you won't even know I'm there;" when the duo stingingly confesses during "Oh My Stars" that "sometimes it's hard thinking about how the plans we make won't happen;" when the pair utters during "Spiders, Snakes" the unfathomably sweet sentiment (for those of us of a certain age, anyway) "I want to have you again, listening to Bedhead."
10. Yo La Tengo -- And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out -- Matador (2000) Yo La Tengo: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy
When your band puts out what is arguably the best record of 1997, what is the likelihood that only three years later it will release one of the best, if not THE best, records of 2000? This doubt is why we were quite ready for Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out to be a disappointment. But it was nothing of the sort. Opening with the Mogwai-toned spook droner "Everyday" and closing with the 17-minute spectral masterpiece "Night Falls On Hoboken," the record provides easy exuses for lapsing into over-the-top praise. This is simply a perfect record, and we'd argue it is downright better than the admittedly fine records that the trio has released since. In addition to the droners we already named, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out also carried the sugary, caffeinated rocker "Cherry Chapstick," the marvelously affecting ballad "Tears Are In Your Eyes" and some bossa-tinted toe-tappers "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" and "You Can Have It All." For the rest of the decade Yo La Tengo delved into murky sounds, garage rock and shiny pop, but when we think of the band, we think of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.
[Photo Credit: Robert Gauthier/LA Times] Readers are likely familiar with L.A.-based Jon Brion because of his brilliant soundtrack work over the past decade, or his production work with big names like Fiona Apple and Spoon (Brion recorded "The Underdog" from the Texas quartet's brilliant Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga). The most interesting thing, to us anyway, about Jon Brion is that we had a couple opportunities to get on board with the formerly Boston-based songwriter and producer long before we picked up his solo set Meaningless at the short-lived Harvard Square location of Other Music about seven years ago. Whilst an undergrad in the early '90s, our compadre Mr. Obb emphatically recommended to our attention the work of Jellyfish, a combo that featured Mr. Brion along with whoa, wait a second, Jon Brion wasn't actually in Jellyfish, his future bandmate Jason Falkner was (Brion did, however, apparently play guitar on Jellyfish's Spilt Milk). OK, fast-forward to 1998 or so, and our co-worker Max recommended we check out The Grays, which featured Mssrs. Brion and Falkner. Even so, nothing from Jellyfish or The Grays fired our imagination.
However, we certainly found what we were looking for when we bought Meaningless. The set is packed with immaculately produced indie rock, and features clever and melodic pop numbers and ballads. The crown jewel is the up-tempo scramber "I Believe She Is Lying." According to Brion's liner notes, the lyrics were co-written with fellow Boston scenemaker Aimee Mann. Those circular words provide a sharp focal point for the tune, which rides a dizzying jungle breakbeat -- think Scooby Doo's legs spinning before he gets moving -- and brilliantly layers in vocoder backing vocals and harmonies over syncopated and arpeggiated guitars. The only other comment Brion offers in the liner notes is the short description "fear of commitment anthem." Which is sort of like calling Mount Rushmore an interesting hill. "I Believe She's Lying" is #90 on the Clicky Clicky 200, the countdown of our 200 most-listened-to favorites; read prior CC200 posts right here.
Jon Brion -- "I Believe She's Lying" -- Meaningless [right click and save as] [buy Meaningless from CD Baby right here]
As promised to Twitter scrapers and Facebook noseys, here is the link to the new Muxtape. Assorted notes and musings below.
1. Come -- "Yr Reign" -- Don't Ask, Don't Tell (In an era of good feel-bad songs, this one might take the cake. Perhaps the closest Come gets to sounding like Nirvana, with the same sort of primordial, the-gods-are-against-me pathos. The title to this Muxtape comes from the terribly affecting lyric in this number. This song is a four-minute rain of sledgehammers with the word "BUMMER" embossed on one of the long dimensions.)
2. Moped -- "Does Your Back Hurt?" -- It Won't Sound Any Better Tomorrow (We saw what might have been the final Moped show at Philadelphia's Silk City Lounge. They may or may not have opened for Idaho, those dudes with all the custom four-string guitars. We requested this song. And then they played it. And for a moment we had the world by the tail. This whole song is a best part, but perhaps the best part of the best part is the screamed backing vocal in one of the final verses. Exhilarating. We used to scream along in our silver Volvo sedan after charging 12 packs of beer to the family gas card when we were sequestered in Virginia. A memory that makes us wonder where our copy of Bardo Pond's Amanita is.)
3. Drop Nineteens -- "Delaware" -- Delaware (Title track from important record from erstwhile Boston act. Not as catchy as "Winona" and not as epic as "Kick The Tragedy," but even so this song provides the blueprints to the exceptional first iteration of this band. With My Bloody Valentine reunited and hosting that jawn in New York state in September -- which we can't go to because of work -- and with Lilys now on the bill, the only thing that would make our non-attendance at the event more tragic would be if Drop Nineteens reformed to play this record front to back.)
4. Kimbashing -- "Ultraeasy" -- Parades Of Homes EP (We loved the K logo this band used. The act featured future members of every Philly band except the ones you were in. We recall there was a Pro-Teen single these guys did that had a blue sleeve, and if you really want to be our friend you'll email us MP3s of that. There also may have been a 10-inch, although we may be confusing Kimbashing with Buddy Sevaris on that one. Anyway, this song requires playback at heroic volumes so the churning muck of the guitars rises to waist-level. An argument could be made that this is the best track on the Parade Of Homes vinyl EP, as Haywood's "Devon Lanes" ends up sounding relatively one-dimensional compared to the exceptional material that followed it, and Barnabys/Sweeney never quite got a version of "Tiny Ships" recorded that matched the live versions we witnessed.)
5. Drunk -- "Gizmo" -- A Derby Spiritual (Mrs. Clicky Clicky says this song sounds like it should have been on "The Muppet Movie" soundtrack. And of course she's right. Incidentally, word is our boss' cousin, who you know from popular movies and television programs, has inked an agreement to write a new script for the Muppets film franchise. Anyway, back to Drunk. This track graced an early Jagjaguwar release. When we lived in Virginia the dude who ran Jagjaguwar was the graphic designer at the arts weekly where we sold classified ads. We can't remember any of the other tracks on the record, as this song eclipses them all.)
6. Hip Young Things -- "Gizmo" -- Shrug (This German act's record seems largely overlooked, which is too bad. It was released around 1995 and is on par with the 18th Dyes and occasionally even the Pavements of the era. We select this one because it is good, and also because it is interesting to hear two songs named "Gizmo" in a row. Every band should have a song named "Gizmo.")
7. The 6ths -- "Falling Out Of Love (With You)" -- Wasps' Nest (Dean Wareham sings Stephin Merrit, to thrilling effect, if your idea of a thrill is hearing songs that are sad delivered by a guy who does deadpan better than most, probably without trying.)
8. Ted Minsky -- "Porque No Hablo" -- Madame Le Ted (A curveball track from a record filled with curveballs. We've searched the Internetz now and again to see if Ms. Minsky ever released another record besides this one on the Austrian Angelika Kohlermann label, but we never find anything. Which is too bad. This record is special.)
9. Spoon -- "Me And The Bean" -- Girls Can Tell (Many of the songs on this Muxtape were selected in response to having watched the popular film "There Will Be Blood" Friday night. The line "I have your blood inside my heart" in this track has particular relevance. We just received our copy of the vinyl reissue of Girls Can Tell and have been enjoying it thoroughly.)
10. Blonde Redhead -- "Jetstar" -- Zero Hour Threadwaxing Space compilation (The stylistic development of Blonde Redhead is fairly remarkable if one stops to think about it. Nothing they've done this decade has really resonated with us, but there was a time in the mid-'90s when the band was dark, dangerous and boundlessly sexxy with two x's. That time was probably after this song was recorded, as we pinpoint it to the material released on the peerless La Mia Vita Violenta record. But still, this is a stirring ballad.)
11. Crooked Fingers -- "When U Were Mine" -- Reservoir Songs (Bachmann's spin on Prince's classic is revelatory. Great backing vocal in here. If anything, Bachmann's sorrowful take seems more appropriate to Prince's tale of the lover that would not be controlled, and the lovee too weak-willed to do anything about it.)
12. Palace -- "You Have *** In Your Hair And Your D*ck Is Hanging Out" -- Arise Therefore (This is one of the songs that plays in the movie adaptation of the sequel to your life. Incidentally, you've been chosen as an extra. You have just been told off in the hotel lobby right in front of all the bellboys and the over-friendly concierge. She walks out. This is the saddest song ever recorded, and something about the weird mix of Oldham's voice, the creaky first-wave drum machine, guitar, piano and Albini's spare production gives this the song the impact of an entire shelf of books collapsing on your heart.)
>> [PHOTO CREDIT: Dawn Walsh] Philadelphia indie rock upstarts The Swimmers recently completed a small strand of tour dates, but the quartet is continuing the good vibes by sharing a cracking live recording of their March 22 show at The Hideout in Chicago. The audio is clear and punchy and the performances are sharp. The live set is largely comprised of tracks from the band's long-awaited and recently released full length Fighting Trees, which we reviewed here in early March. The Swimmers harness the rootsiness of Wilco and the economic pep of Spoon, and as such it is unclear to us why the foursome doesn't enjoy a higher profile outside of Philadelphia. Check out the live version of "Pocket Full Of Gold" posted below, and if you're jazzed also hit the link for a .zip file of the whole show, which closes out with a pleasantly ragged version of the Hall & Oates chestnut "Rich Girl." If you can't get enough of that live stuff and you are in Philadelphia Friday you can catch the band at Johnny Brenda's with BC Camplight and The Capitol Years.
The Swimmers -- "Pocket Full Of Gold (Live)" -- Live at The Hideout, Chicago, March 22, 2008 [right click and save as] [to get a .zip file of the whole show right click on this link] [buy Fighting Trees from Newbury Comics right here]
>> Thanks to the Internet, we are more able now to consume Philly-reared musical victuals than we were when we lived there in the late '90s. It also helps that we have money now, we suppose. We're tempted to turn Today's Hotness into an all-Philly edition so we can talk about the new Windsor For The Derby tracks and the review of the Yah Mos Def record at PantsFork, but we see some other things we need to get to, so a little bit about the recently reissued -- and free -- 2006 EP from Philly quintet The War On Drugs will have to suffice. Incidentally, The War On Drugs likely hit our radar via coverage in the inimitable Philebrity.com. But it was when we saw this item at BrooklynVegan saying the act -- which recently signed with Secretly Canadian -- was giving away a free EP that we finally checked out the band. And you know what? The Barrel Of Batteries EP is dynamite. Mixing laid-back Byrds-ish strummery and vocals with some rich production flourishes and the occasional odd interstitial, the small stack of tunes is a promising harbinger of what a planned full-length Wagonwheel Blues will bring. To whet your whistle, we've posted below an MP3 of "Arms Like Boulders," a different version of which will appear on the full length, which is slated for release in June. If you dig that you can snatch a .zip file of the entire EP at the other link below.
The War On Drugs -- "Arms Like Boulders" -- Barrel Of Batteries EP [right click and save as] [download the entire EP as a .zip file from Secretly Canadian here]
>> Brooklyn-based indie rockers Meneguar were responsible for our favorite record of 2007, and we've known for some time that more recordings are in the offing. And although we've stumbled across some things on the Internets over the last couple months -- and memorialized said things here and here -- we've been in the dark about what the band would be releasing when. Well, our RSS percolated up two items from the band yesterday. First, Meneguar has released via its own Rear House label the vinyl-only full-length The In Hour, which is available for mail order directly from the band [details here]. The record purportedly showcases the foursome switching up instruments and creating a spontaneous, self-recorded set. Meneguar itself characterizes The In Hour as "a serious departure," but contends the recordings "hold true to the band's undeniable pop sensibility." Needless to say we mail-ordered it straightaway. In other news, the band has uploaded to YouTube a video [linky linky] for the new track "Some Other Life." Frankly, we don't think the video is much to shout about, although once certain of the actors don full-body cat costumes things improve dramatically, in a creepy, "The Shining" sort of sense. If anything, the video is important because it is the only chance you have to hear the track without hunting down the band or ordering the vinyl or hanging out at its MySpace wigwam.
