Archive for January, 2008
Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
Wilco are a band from Chicago who shifted from alternative country to alternative folk rock over the course of their career (and, of course, being reputable for the latter). However, you can still hear a hint of their country influences in their music today. Sky Blue Sky is their latest album, released May 2007.
This album got a lot of different reviews; half bad, half good. It’s definitely very different from the likes of A Ghost is Born (2004), Wilco’s last album. Sky Blue Sky (2007) is more instrumentally simplistic (compared to A Ghost Was Born where there was a huge use of pedal effects), which were Tweedy’s intentions, anyway. It’s very mellow and has more of an adult contemporary feel compared to Wilco’s previous albums. Not that it’s a bad thing; certainly there are some notable tracks—“Either Way,” “Sky Blue Sky,” and “On and On and On” to name a couple. This album features more simplistic, melodious guitar parts with fewer backing instruments, and the vocals are sweet, as usual. This album can definitely be liked by the mainstream, as “Impossible Germany” has proven (since I hear it on the radio all the time). I think the only reason why this album wouldn’t be likable is if the listener was a die-hard fan of the previous albums (and maybe the fact that Wilco became sell-outs for Volkswagen…*dun dun dun*). The general style of the two previous albums (which were, in my opinion, Wilco’s defining albums) are different—it’s hard to get used to if you’re a fan pre-Sky Blue Sky. It’s very easy to listen to, however; the guitar playing is sweet and melodious; the lyrics are reminiscent of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)—light-hearted and feel-good.
Personally, I like this album a lot for its simplicity and sweetness. However, I must admit it was hard getting the idea that Wilco’s music could substitute grocery store music. Not too shabby, though! Definitely worthwhile to listen to.
Buy this CD on Insound
Buy this CD on Amazon
Buy this CD on CD Universe
Lightspeed Champion – Falling Off Lavender Bridge Review
Lightspeed Champion is the stage name of Devonte Haynes formerly of the Test Icicles which were known as an art rock duo. With Lightspeed Champion, Haynes shows his soft side with a folk record.
I found out about Lightspeed Champion when I was going through my Emmy The Great craze (I still love her) and with “Falling Off Lavender Bridge” as my and many other’s introduction to Lightspeed Champion. Haynes has backup vocals from Emmy the Great (huge points for this), and many other collaborations as he recorded this album in good ‘ol Omaha Nebraska (home of Saddle Creek and the Brights Eyes).
Anyway this album, I’m really digging. It doesn’t have overly addicting tracks but it feels rather relaxing to listen to without really any weaknesses. I think the dullest points are in the middle of the album especially after the 10 minute song “Midnight Surprise” to wanes with tracks like “I Could Have Done This Myself” and “Salty Water” but otherwise there’s not much to criticize. Haynes’ vocals are pretty solid, but the best moments are when Emmy and Hayne’s are simultaneously singing complementing each other well. I enjoy the song lyrics and the arrangements are top notch.
There really aren’t many standouts to this album but when looking at it album wise, I have a lot of respect for Lightspeed Champion and this is a great effort. I’d give it a 4.4 out of 5. Great but out of what I would call cream of the crop.
Here are my favorite songs off the album (which have Emmy the Great in them):
Galaxy of the Lost by Lightspeed Champion
Everybody I Know Is Listening To Crunk by Lightspeed Champion
Buy Falling Off Lavender Bridge At: Insound/CD Universe/Amazon
Dillinger Escape Plan: Ire Works Review
The Dillinger Escape Plan is a New Jersey mathcore band. Mathcore is a style of metal with fast tempo and a technical style according to Wikipedia. I have no idea what that means but after being exposed to the mathiness of Battles, I can tell you that “math” rock is too trippy for me.
So I stumbled onto this album while flipping around an issue of Exclaim!. They gave these guys’ latest album, Ire Works, a pretty good review. I also saw this album on a lot of online best of 2007 metal albums, thus I decided to give these guys a listen.
The album opens with the heavy death metal sounds of ‘Fix Your Face’ and ‘Lurch’. There was some crazy shredding in the beginning of ‘Lurch’. Then the mathy part kicked in immediately in ‘Black Bubblegum’. I didn’t like the vocals in this song very much but the song does have a catchy tune. The change in vocals from ‘Lurch’ to ‘Black Bubblegum’ was too much of a jump I think. ‘Sick On Sunday’ and ‘When Acting As A Particle’ are both just as mathy. They’re quite short and ‘When Acting As A Particle’ is instrumental, which flow quite nicely with angry growls of ‘Nong Eye Gong’. One track that stands out as a potential good metal song is ‘Milk Lizard’. It starts out fast, intense and furious but after a minute and half, the song breaks down to some piano and punk ish singing. The song then tries to bring the intensity back but breaks down again at around 2.45 minutes and ends with a punky sound.
Overall Ire Works is a decent album without much filler. I enjoyed what it had to offer.
Dillinger Escape Plan – Black Bubblegum
Dillinger Escape Plan – Milk Lizard
Buy This Album On: Amazon.ca
The Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour Review
Last week I had the privilege of attending “The Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour,” and it was absolutely mind blowing. Headed by Cobra Starship, it was supported by two of my current favourites, We The Kings and Metro Station. Unfortunately, the leader singer of The Cab was ill and I didn’t get a chance to see them perform. Nonetheless the three remaining bands did pull through, and as they say “the show must go on”
We The Kings opened the night off playing several songs off their self titled debut album. Their live performance was spot on as compared to their record, and not surprisingly they had a phenomenal sound. I enjoyed their live performance as much as I appreciated their cd, which is a considerable amount, but nevertheless it was not insurmountably better, in fact it was just over par. This could be in part due to the lack of lights and equipment saved up for the headliner; however I did not get the same stage presence that I’m used to receiving from such well-regarded bands. Was it a terrible performance? Not at all. Should they be headlining in the future? Yes and no. Their sound is impeccable, and if a band can play their cd perfectly live, then a case can be made that they belong at the forefront of any concert, but I will say the lack of stage presence tells me a couple of things: maybe they were a little gun shy that night, weren’t particularly fond of Toronto, or just need a bit more experience before heading a concert of their own. We The Kings, put on a good show and I personally would like to seem them headline a concert, whether they are ready or not. Their sound was perfect, and they did nothing wrong, however that little extra flare was missing which would have created a greater wow-factor. As such they remain in my top ten favourite bands this year neither moving up or down in rankings.
Metro Station followed We The Kings, and here I thought that Metro Station would open the night because just maybe they were the lesser known band; how naïve I was. Metro Station boosted their stock ten fold after this concert, and they had a beyond stellar performance from start to finish. This is a little bias considering they play a sort of dance-rock that is practically designed for this particular scenario; hundreds of underage teens in a swanky club looking to have a good time. That said, you have to have a sort of character to perform this genre to its full potential, and Metro Station is definitely full of that. Metro Station played their synths live (at least the keyboardist made it look authentic) and with cheesy dance moves, wild guitar motions, and falling keyboards, the audience was having as much fun, as the band seemed to be having playing the music on stage. Metro Station was also quipped with their set of funny/corny/witty lines, ready to spew at the audience and everyone, including myself, was eating it up. It was a worthwhile performance, bringing people of all ages together for a night of good honest goofy fun, and some great music. They, like We The Kings, sounded identical to their record, granted they use a lot of synths. I will however be excited to see them again, and Metro Station has instantly skyrocketed up in rankings due to this performance alone.
Finally Cobra Starship came out to a deafly roaring crowd. Was I truly excited to see them? Not really, but I’m not a pessimist so I expected good things. No surprises here, I wish I could say that Cobra was as bad as I thought they might be, but in fact they were quite good. The frontman Gabe Saporta, is definitely one of the coolest characters I’ve witnessed, and he not only could sing great, but turned his music from drab to one of the most entertaining acts I’ve seen yet. Combined with the blinding robotic lights, the ever beautiful keyboardist (Victoria Asher), and the witty punch lines in between songs, it was a great time to be had by all. I’m still not completely convinced of the music, I didn’t really like Cobra Starships first album attempt, but their newer stuff is good and of course their performance is gold and very entertaining. Perhaps I’m more partial to the electronica displayed by Metro Station, but in the end Cobra Starship did impress me quite a bit and turned me into a fan. Cobra Starship was a great choice for a headliner, because Gabe is quick on his feet, and can easily transform any room into a raging party.
With that said, the concert was well worth it, with great performances by all, some better than others, but all really great bands. I would say that Metro Station outperformed both We The Kings and Cobra Starship, but Gabe Saporta was definitely the showiest of all the performers on stage. I would easily recommend any of these bands in a heartbeat.
P.S. Pictures and possible video footage will be up in a couple of weeks.
Be sure to support the bands on their myspaces: Cobra Starship, We The Kings, Metro Station.
Here’s my favourite songs from each band:
Cobra Starship – Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I’ll See You In Hell
Metro Station – Kelsey
We The Kings – Check Yes Juliet
Dragged by Horses – Deep in The Woods
Dragged by Horses was just described to me as “thunderous rock” when I was sent a snippet about them. “Thunderous Rock” leaves a lot left to the imagination and after heading over to their myspace, I must say I was disappointed in the actual effort in saying something about this band’s sound.
Anyway, I digress but this band is pretty awesome. “Thunderous Rock” is a correct term but Dragged by Horses I would personally describe as hard progressive rock, could be metal but they have a real emphasis on the guitar riffs whether it be solos, for their intros. Overall the sound is hard yet clean.
This is one of the type of bands that really steps outside of what I’ve liked musically so I do have a hard time coming up with both names and a real characterization. Their self-characterization of sounding like a “violent orchestra” is perfect and couldn’t be said any better because this music will rock your socks off.
Vocally, I must say his voice doesn’t capture your attention like the clashing drums and awesome guitar riffs but he has a decent voice so there’s really nothing to say bad about this band.
This is definitely the type of band I would like to see live, skilled yet probably can get a crowd going. Watch them play live here:
This band is out of Humboldt County a really small city and it’s clear they need to get out more because they are pretty awesome. This is the type of band I would recommend to Kevin.
As for their album “Deep In The Woods”, I’ve had a chance to listen to it early as the official release in on March 11th and I’ll just tell you it’s amazing. They remain consistent in their hard sound but you always get something different, sometimes purely instrumental moments, different types of intros and overall giving some real satisfaction in straying away from the typical indie pop that I listen to. If I were to give this album a rating it would be somewhere between 4 and 4.5 but alas the score isn’t important and you just have to check them out if you’re into harder stuff.
Mas Por Dineiro by Dragged by Horses
The Need To Fight by Dragged By Horses
Cat Power – Jukebox Review
Chan Marshall aka Cat Power is one of the most respected woman of indie rock. Her bluesy style is awesome and I can see why some artists have her as an influence as she’s released some great stuff.
Jukebox released this week, is Cat Power’s second covers record. It includes two songs done by her and covering artists such as the late James Brown, James Brown, Joni Mitchell and more. The album takes on a very bluesy and soulful vibe.
The problem is that this record is STILL just a covers record. Covers are still something that are offered for free on various music blogs and I would feel apprehensive about paying for this. I love Cat Power’s style personally but this album ultimately fails to grab me other then being kindof mediocre. The only song I found to stand out was “Lost Someone” (originally by James Brown).
Not really a great record and probably forgettable. I don’t have much to say but I could shell the album more for making a record that is something that isn’t “original” per se. Meh, I’ll just wait for her next release because if it’s anything like You Are Free or The Greatest, I’ll renew my love for Cat Power (not because she’s a fox).
This album gets a 3 out of 5 from me. I’m not a big Cat Power fan so I’m thinking big fans would take some pleasure in this but there’s not that many good songs on here like her previous work.
I’ll post Lost Someone but I’m feeling hesitant with all the other takedowns I’ve seen on other blogs.
Lost Someone by Cat Power (removed by request)
If you really love Cat Power, you might want to buy the album if so (help me out here) buy it from one of these 3 online stores:
Jukebox from CD Universe
MP3 version of Jukebox from Insound
Buy the deluxe edition @ Amazon.ca
Red Sparowes
You know, there’s something about post-rock bands that make me appreciate them a lot more: their nifty song titles. Red Sparowes are notorious for seriously extensive song titles like, “Mechanical Sounds Cascaded Through the City Walls and Everyone Reveled in Their Ignorance” (At the Soundless Dawn, 2005). It’s not just for show, though; the titles actually combine to form an interesting motif of mass extinction events caused by human destruction. In fact, mass extinction of animals seems to be the feature of Red Sparowes’ literary focus; Soundless Dawn conveys the sixth mass extinction event, and Every Red Heart Shines Towards the Red Sun (2006) conveys the Great Sparrow campaign. I must commend this creative facet of theirs; it builds social awareness, something not so commonly found in music today.
Red Sparowes are considered the more “metal” type of post-rock. When I went to see them at El Mocambo, one of the band members told us they have a lot of metal influences. You can definitely hear it in some tunes (“Our Happiest Days Slowly Began to Turn Into Dust”). Their tunes evoke an ethereal-like feeling, and I think it’s deliberate. If you’ve ever seen them live, you’ll know that they like to have visuals while they play—you’ll see random footage of birds flying, moving clouds, swaying grass in a deserted landscape, etc. This imagery in support with the music definitely gave me an airy feeling.
In terms of instrumentation, their use of the pedal steel guitar is what got me into them the most. It just sounds wicked and is probably one of the most neglected instruments out there in the genre. Pedal steels might sound synonymous with country music, but in the post-rock context, it serves as a powerful instrument of rock. “A Message of Avarice Rained Down and Carried Us Away Into False Dreams Of Endless Riches” (Every Red Heart Shines Towards the Red Sun) and “A Brief Moment of Clarity Broke Through the Deafening Hum, But It Was Too Late” (At the Soundless Dawn) are excellent examples of how Red Sparowes uses the pedal steel guitar to its awesome potential.
All in all, Red Sparowes are very delectable, fusing the genre to create an apocalyptic sense to their sound. Very original in my opinion, and very worth checking out.
Red Sparowes – A Brief Moment of Clarity Broke Through the Deafening Hum But It Was Too Late
High On Fire: Death Is This Communion Review
I first heard of this band while searching for information on the Gigantour 2008. These guys are playing at the North American Gigantour along with Megadeth, In Flames, Children of Bodom, and Job For A Cowboy. Tickets for this tour came on sale last Friday.
High on Fire is from Oakland, California. Their music is classified as stoner metal or doom metal. I’m not too sure what kind of music stoner metal is. Personally, I can’t enjoy metal, with the exception of Tool, while I’m high. And these guys sound nothing like Tool.
These guys released their latest album, Death Is This Communion, in September of 2007. They got pretty good reviews on Metacritic. Revolver named the album the 3rd best of the year, after Ire Works by The Dillinger Escape Plan. It had also came in at 4th on Total Guitar’s “50 best guitar albums of the year” and 9th on Metal Hammer’s best of 2007 list.
The sound that these guys produce is fast, throaty, and raw. Their vocals are brutal war cries and their riffs are powerful and thundering. Some of the songs I liked from the album are Turk and DII. Khanrad’s Wall was entirely instrumental and had an Eastern sound to it. Cyclopian Scape sounded a bit Opeth-ish in terms of how the song starts and the way the heavier riffs and the vocals gradually creeps in. There are also really good riffs in the beginning of Ethereal.
Overall, this is a solid album and I give it a 4 out of 5. It is something I would buy if I have some extra money lying around.
Click here to buy this album at Amazon.ca
Click here to buy this album at CDUniverse.com
Click here to buy this album at InSound.com
Hello Blue Roses – The Portrait Is Finished And I Have Failed To Capture Your Beauty Review
First off I would like to say that “The Portrait Is Finished And I Have Failed To Capture Your Beauty” is one long ass album title but it definitely is one of the better album titles I’ve ever seen. Could it mean that this album isn’t quite complete or that in the eye of the beholder none of us will find the beauty in Hello, Blue Roses release?
I was extremely excited for this album going so far as downloading 5 songs even though I knew I would be given an advance copy. Expectations were high to say the least.
Hello, Blue Roses is a husband and wife duo between Sydney Vermont and Dan Bejar (New Pornographers, Destroyer, Swan Lake). Dan Bejar contributes the musical arrangements but this is Vermont’s show as she sings lead and writes everything lyrically.
This album shows off Vermont’s vocal prowress as a former choir singer. You could fall into a trance just listening to her and ignoring everything else lyrically. Bejar occasionally adds in some vocals more so a contrast and does a great job musically to compliment Vermont as best as he can with a variety of instruments and adding things at random that work perfectly at times.
I feel hard pressed for words at times when trying to conjure what type of feeling I have for this album. At times I grow tired of “The Portrait Is Finished”. I really enjoy it while in the right mood when I feel I need things to be quiet and relaxing. This album I would describe as easy and giving me a rather soothing feeling. Musically it’s very minimal due to this, it never really strives for your attention but that isn’t really the goal I’d assume. I think it’s due to the lack of variance in style. Songs seem to be under the same formula, where at times Vermont’s awesome vocals just isn’t quite enough to come through.
I like most of this album, maybe not all of it as towards the end I grow quite weary and really look for something to rock my socks off. This album is still pretty good though for what it’s worth. Argh @ not really being able to describe too well. It gets a 4.25 out of 5 from me. Good but not perfect.
Here are two songs that I haven’t seen posted online and they are songs that really got my attention while going through the album.
Scarecrow by Hello, Blue Roses
Ruby Isle Elbo.ws Cover Project: Headlights’ Cherry Tulips
Ruby Isle has been doing a very cool project over the past few months covering every #1 song of the week. Some covers have included “Shadow Falls” by Hello Blue Roses, “Aly, Walk With Me” by The Raveonettes and more.
Their latest contribution which I had been most looking forward to was “Cherry Tulips” by Headlights. I absolutely love this song so I was patiently checking out their myspace for anything new.
Luckily the fellows at Kindercore e-mailed me when it was up. Yes this post does suck but it’s not what I had in store for today. Think of this post as an excuse to link to various blogs that I like and just to get away from the standard reviews. Look out for a review tonight.
You can find Ruby Isle’s thoughts when completing this cover. Download Ruby Isle’s version of Cherry Tulips.
Find Ruby Isle’s Planes of Baltimore MIA vs Stephen Malkus and the Jicks at YANP.
Cover of Sax Rohmer #1 by the Mountain Goats @ Indie Blog Haven.
Find Beach House’s “Gila” at EVP.
Find covers of the Raveonettes and Black Mountain here.
