Archive for First Listen, First Thoughts

First Listen, First Thoughts – Ms. Fridrich

November 6, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
msfrid

Remember back in the old days when I was reviewing new music every single night and we found all of those great bands across a super wide spectrum? Yeah? Well, I’m back at it and I’m 2 for 2 since Saturday. Make it three?

Today’s choice is…

Artist: Ms. Fridrich
Song: “The Bills” from the album You Call That Brave
Suggester: www.bandcamp.com / @oddmonstr

Intro:

Because I’m all about making the internet a part of the democracy that is First Listen, First Thoughts, I solicited Twitter again to find me something to review from the theoretically great, but in practice frustrating as shit www.bandcamp.com. The only instructions I gave people were to find cool cover art or song titles or album names. When the dust settled tonight, I ended up with Ms. Fridrich. All I’m seeing of an album cover is a woman (who I presume to be the eponymous Ms. Fridrich) sitting on a bass/kick drum and a guy who reminds me of a bartender that I talked to in Seattle one night when Roxy and I were on the big trip across the country that left us at a place called the Lava Lounge. Anyway, the Bartender has his hand draped across a piano that I mistakenly thought was a Marshall half stack at first.

Who it sounds like (in my head) before I listen to the first note:

Elizabeth Elmore/The Reputation/Sarge: One of the best discoveries the internet ever gave me was Elizabeth Elmore who fronted first Sarge and then The Reputation, and while most of the catalog is up tempo pop punk, there’s this great song by The Reputation called “The Ugliness Kicking Around” off the To Force a Fate album. It’s piano driven and may even have some strings in it. There’s a lot of smarts and attitude in it that shakes you by the collar and makes you simultaneously ask yourself, “Why am I such an asshole/bitch?” and at the same time “Why do I let other people be assholes/bitches towards me?” I kinda feel like Ms. Fridrich might be smart and feisty in a same way because she’s strong enough to say, “You know what? I’m not even going to come up with a band name. Just let them know Ms. Fridrich is taking the stage.” I think it’s important enough to point out here that the way I explain Elizabeth Elmore’s appeal should not be confused with “Oooh, she’s an angry, shouty woman!” Anybody can dress up as Avril Lavigne and pretend to be that. It’s another matter entirely to come as genuinely tough without ever saying how tough you are.

Low: Even though the band name is all focused on her (supposing her name is actually Ms. Fridrich and it’s not some clever name stolen from a movie reference or something that once appeared in a comic book) maybe the music is a 50/50 split with her and the Seattle bartender guy playing lo-fi rock with some serious vocal harmonies. There isn’t all that much piano in the Low catalog, but there are songs like “When I Go Deaf” from The Great Destroyer that show you that there is sometimes nothing more sonically powerful than a man and a woman singing together.

Rainer Maria: I saw Rainer Maria in the basement of a church what seems like 15 years ago with my friend Rachel and her friend Dee Dee (whose dad was in the Replacements), and I remember liking the show at the time, but I was in a big hip hop phase and the Rainer Maria show didn’t resonate with me the same way it would today. What you get are some sweet and maybe a tinge vulnerable vocals. If you don’t know Rainer Maria I’d suggest starting with the album Look Now Look Again. Again, there isn’t any piano that I can remember, but it’s softer than Low, and I’m trying to avoid the easy comparisons like “Oh, I bet Ms. Fridrich sounds just like Tori Amos or Fiona Apple.”

Let’s shut off the Kaia, hit the reset button, and begin!

:01 Right away we get a bold, strong, voice that takes command of the song by tone and lyric. This sounds like it’s going to be heavy on the piano and maybe not so much with the other instruments.

:13 Missed that! Here comes some high energy–here’s an odd comparison–I hear a bit of the Dresden Dolls at this point.

1:04 I’ll stand by Elizabeth Elmore guess. The vocal delivery is similar especially philosophically.

1:22 We’ve got layered vocals and that makes me a happy boy. I’m really digging this. It’s got a good edge to it. Pardon my French, but this song is decidedly not fucking around. It is to the point and driving.

1:27 I’m also a sucker for Seattle Bartender’s drumming. He’s really in the pocket, but not boring, bashy 1,2,3,4. There’s some finesse there. Pretty fantastic.

1:43 Really cool breakdown. Yeah, I’m buying this. This is great.

2:17 These two are really in sync and recorded well.

Final Thoughts:

I’m now listening to my second song from Ms. Fridrich and I know that I’m going to love this album. I don’t even want to finish writing this review I just want to go buy it.

This isn’t Low. It’s not Rainer Maria. I could see Elizabeth Elmore and Ms. Fridrich on the same mixtape. I could see Fiona Apple on the same mixtape. This is unique without being needlessly experimental and forced. I heart this immensely. If you don’t like it, tell me why, but I probably still won’t understand you.

I’m now four songs into this album. This is so damn good. Why is Ms. Fridrich not playing Madison Square Garden right now? And why am I not in the front row? If I win the lottery, I’m putting these guys on tv every night on every channel.

 

First Listen, First Thoughts – Jess Hill

April 28, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
jesshill

Two reviews in one week? Clearly, I’m inspired by the music. Tonight should be a fun one.

Artist: Jess Hill
Song: Poppy, Poppy and a Black Crow Calling
Recommended by: @oddmonstr

@oddmonstr is the person responsible for randomly stumbling across Ms. Fridrich (one of my favorite albums of 2011), so basically I love seeing suggestions pop up from her. I also know that she, like me, seems to have a random selection process that could result in some of the most beautiful luck or in total trainwrecks. I have no fear with these matters and will choose to ride shotgun in her car as she navigates the complex maze of videos and artists and songs and gimmicks.

Tonight, she threw a few bands at me, and for whatever reason, none of the names captured me the way that I hoped to be captured. That is, until she dropped this on me in 140 characters or less–

“Not technically a band. Kind of a person. Also a creepy hostage-like captivity video” with a link.

No band name in her suggestion. No song title. Just a little jacket copy that made it sound like a can’t miss prospect. Will we see an early demo from the stunted music career of Patty Hearst? Perhaps a harp concerto played by Elizabeth Smart (she was the one who played harp, right?)? Maybe the Lindbergh Baby grew up to play in some obscure R&B Band and @oddmonstr found rare concert footage from a Baby Lindbergh and the People’s Pilots show that was recorded in St. Louis in 1953. I don’t know. I just don’t know.

When I clicked on the link, I was able to learn the artist’s name “Jess Hill.” I think the name of the song is “Poppy, Poppy and a Black Crow Calling.” And if my powers of internet deduction are worth anything (and this is a matter of considerable debate) I’m guessing that Jess Hill works a gimmick where she plays songs in different rooms of her house/apartment because some of the other related videos name different parts of a house.

That’s all I have to go on. And that is likely not enough.

Who it sounds like before I listen to the very first note:

Lauryn Hill: At one point Lauryn Hill was the pop star of the day. And then, as is the case with some folks, all of the fame seemed to do a real number on her and she disappeared deep into religious texts and started re-evaluating everything in the world. The disappearance wasn’t completely without stages. She went from being this smooth and polished singer on the Fugees albums and then her debut solo album, who, by all outward appearances was happy and positive, ebullient. I even got to see her and the rest of the Fugees along with Goodie Mob (a young Cee-Lo Green stealing the stage) and the Roots for $6 in Madison in the summer of 1995. Then one day these whispers started popping up that she had recorded an episode of MTV Unplugged (MTV, for those of you too young to remember used to actually play music) and it was rumored that she’d had a complete mental breakdown on stage that night, complete with crying and incoherent ramblings. When the show finally saw the light of day, it was as promised. A lot of people hopped off the Lauryn Hill Train (now dubbed Crazy Train (not to be confused with the Ozzy Osbourne song of the same name)) and wrote her off. I might have been one of those people.

But then a few years later I listened to that album (MTV Unplugged 2.0) again, and it damn near broke my heart. Sure the musicality wasn’t hyper-polished. She cried during songs and her voice broke. But damn, it was this staggeringly honest performance and a fascinating study in…I’m not sure what. Every few months I piece the show together, song by song, on Youtube and watch it again. By the 6:00 minute mark of “Peace of Mind” she’s totally crying and it grinds up your guts a little bit. Maybe Jess Hill is a distant cousin of Lauryn Hill and she”will have the same energy in her performance.

Lianne Vernell: A few years ago when I was looking for a song by the band Azure Ray, I came across a cover of the song by an unsigned artist named Lianne Vernell. It was a girl playing a guitar in her room. She exuded “it.” Whatever that star quality is that some folks just have. I’ve talked about her before in other reviews that I’ve done. Unfortunately, she died tragically early. As much as anybody can know these things, I’m sure she would have been a star. I often watch her cover of the song “New Soul” by Yael Naim. It’s a song that I’d heard, I’m sure, before I heard Lianne’s version, but not in the same way. To see what I’m talking about, you can watch it here. I just clicked on the link now, and it’s on in the background while I write this and it fills me with a genuine sadness that, for whatever reason, she isn’t making new music today. Maybe Jess Hill can be a girl with a guitar making everlasting music for those who can’t.

Wesley Willis: Like I said, it sounds like Jess Hill is working a gimmick where she plays concerts from different rooms of her house. And I like that idea, in theory, because maybe there are acoustic issues or maybe the songs are themed. I don’t know. But I do know that Wesley Willis used to sing songs like “I Whuped Batman’s Ass” and then two songs later on the album you’d get “I Whuped John Wayne’s Ass.” The songs wouldn’t really be all that different, just some of the lyrics changed (slightly). Wesley Willis was a diagnosed chronic schizophrenic. Perhaps we’re entering similar territory here. It’s worth noting that it wouldn’t be hard to change “Jess Hill is a musician” to “Jess Willis a musician.”

I’m turning off the Lianne Vernell (R.I.P.), and hoping for something good. Let’s go!

:05 I think Jess Hill is a dude, and I’ve totally run bad ESP for tonight’s review. He’s also from Canada. My favorite band is from Canada.

:13 Acoustic guitar. Minor tones. I’m leaning towards fan.

:22 I’m hearing echoes of Eliot Smith.

:32 Nope, Jess Hill is, in fact, a woman. I stand by the Eliot Smith guitar sounds. And my favorite band is still Canadian.

:37 Vocally, I’m hearing what I love most about Cat Power. A fact that is probably dependent upon the sparseness and the stripped down guitar (You Are Free era Cat Power)

:47 @oddmonstr has done it again–I LOVE THIS.

1:05 There’s a really soulful quality in her voice. It reminds me of somebody else that I can’t put my finger on. Part of me wants to say Florence and the Machine, but I’m not really familiar with the catalog, so I’m not sure that’s who I’m really thinking about. It might also be one of the two people from My Terrible Friend, but I don’t know their names.

1:07 You want your heart broken, listen real close starting here. There’s a timelessness to it that alternately sounds like it came out today, or it was played over an AM radio sixty years ago.

2:12 This is driving me crazy. I’m a huge fan of Jess Hill and it reminds me of something that I can’t remember right now. I’ve gone through my iTunes list twice and nothing is striking the exact right chord. I’m thinking this might be the universe’s way of saying this is what you’ve always wanted to hear.

Final Thoughts:

I know I’m going to not only listen to this song, but that I’ll be exploring the Jess Hill catalog as it exists on Youtube. I will follow her to each room of the house as needed to hear whatever it is she’s playing. It is criminal that I was the 795th view on Youtube.

The Patty Hearst thing was way off (though the anonymous voice at the beginning saying, “Ok, sing us a song” does sound a little sketchy given the lighting and @oddmonstr’s set up.) I could make an argument for the Lauryn Hill comparison (if only vaguely) as could I with the Lianne Vernell, too. The only important thing you to need to know is that Jess Hill is the real thing and “Poppy, Poppy and a Black Crow Calling” is a song you want to hear. Right now this would be in my Top Five of the Fist Listen, First Thoughts standings.

You listen to it and let’s discuss!

First Listen, First Thoughts – The Tower and the Fool

April 14, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
towerandfool

I’m at the beginning of a remixed version of First Listen, First Thoughts, as I’m taking the concept global under the banner of Songs from Every County in the World (or something like that), and I’m two countries in so far. But tonight I’m going domestic, and because my next stint on the road is to New England, I bumped around bandcamp.com (you still need to fix your damn search feature, it’s so frustrating knowing how good it could be, but how it still sucks). I stumbled around blindly and clicked on a band with my eyes closed. Here’s where the roulette ball ended up…

Artist: The Tower and the Fool
Song: Love is a Sad Song
Recommended by: blindly punching buttons on bandcamp.com

It looks like the band is from Rhode Island. Though I’ve been through Rhode Island, I can’t really recall any notable Rhode Island memories.

So I started thinking about music experiences I’ve had in the more general New England area. I came up with two things. The most noteworthy was catching M. Ward at some place in Somerville back in 2006 that was a pretty mindblowing. One of those nights where music is more powerful than drugs.

And then my memory bank coughed out a roadtrip in 2002 that took me up into Maine. What I remember most was listening to an Aimee Mann cd and NPR even though I’d just bought the new Sleater Kinney record I was supposed to be really excited about (the one before The Woods, but after The Hot Rock) before ending up in Boston not far from Sommervile on our way back to the Midwest.

To bring this shit full circle, when I got back from that road trip in 2002 with Sharon we ended up in Chicago with tickets to see Bright Eyes and M. Ward opened for him (the first time I’d ever heard the name M. Ward).

Life is circles.

But enough of my recounting…

Who it sounds like before I listen to the first note:

The Sea and Cake: Obviously I’m playing word association here with the double object thing. The Sea and Cake is one of those bands that I really wanted to love because I hear these moments of brilliance and I think, “Yes! Give me an album of this!” but then the song goes in a different way and I stay seated in the booth thinking, “No, that’s not the one I’m supposed to be with for the rest of my life.” Kinda jazzy. Indie rock. Lyrically smart. If you don’t know them, start with the song “Parasol” to see my whole The Sea and Cake experience wrapped up in one song.

Iron and Wine: I’m probably doing the same thing with the names, but it’s also because the song is called “Love is a Sad Song” and that sounds all shoegazy and mopey and lo-fi, and when I think of those things, I sometimes think of Iron and Wine. My first introduction to them was the song “The Sea and the Rhythm” and I haven’t found anything in their catalog since then that matches that beauty. I didn’t have the benefit of a baseline before I heard it, a fact that probably works against them. Anyway, maybe The Tower and the Fool plays stripped down acoustic guitar/singer and that “Tower” is this tall dude who is totally ripped and used to play football and the “Fool” is a guy from the Drama club who has a black backpack with a Joy Division patch on it, and the two of them hated each other in high school, and then found out later in life, while drinking coffee at a Friendly’s in Pawtucket, that really they had much more in common with each other and that the best way to repair the divide was to start a band.

The Thermals: Something to do with album covers here. Like, the cover of the Thermals album “Fuckin A” could have been a picture of towers and fools—it’s currently nuclear reactors and somebody jumping in the air. So, maybe it is, artistic interpretations being what they are. If that’s what The Tower and the Fool is like, expect some blistering rock at 100 miles an hour ripping your face off.

Let’s shut off the Cat Power duet with Neil Young, get out of the past, and listen to a little The Tower and the Fool.

:02 First thing I’m hearing is acoustic guitar. The first thing I’m seeing is the dude from the Drama club.

:11 there might be traces of a tambourine or some other percussion instrument in the background. So far, and it’s not very far yet, I dig this. Also, I think I could make an argument for how this sounds like a sped up version of “The Sea and the Rhythm” and that would be an odd coincidence.

:20 first vocals coming in are from a guy, and they’re really good. They complement the music and the opening line, “You write letters to yourself because you know there’s no one else” is pretty fabulous.

1:02 the vocals vaguely remind me of Jesse from Brand New.

1:31 the chorus just came in. I’m buying this song. Somebody might levy an accusation that it’s a little too mopey, but I’d tell them to fuck off, so we’d be even. It’s smart enough that it doesn’t come across as manufactured or manipulative. You can have my cool points, anyway.

2:04 I’m also reminded of the Smoking Popes song “First Time.”

4:00 the video’s theme seems to be one of “we get up every morning to go to a job we hate where we play the role of a yesman paper pusher and after a while we’ll call in sick with a case of suicide or office place violence. It goes with the tone of the song and the echoes of ideal love crushed by the day to day.

Final thoughts:

Though none of the comparisons were spot on musically—I’d say “Love is a Sad Song” is closest to a hybrid between The Sea and Cake and Iron and Wine. Thematically, they’re all from the same family.

The lyrics and music work for me. I don’t know if I could do a whole album of songs like this, but I’m assuming there’s variety in The Tower and the Fool catalog, so I have no problem buying the self-titled album and if the chance to see them live popped up in my neck of the woods, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up tickets.

The video description says that it’s what director Katy Guest worked on her senior year of college. I’d be curious to know whether she’s still working on video stuffs. She did good work. And you can see that good work below.

First Listen, First Thoughts – Jonston

April 10, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
jonston

It’s Sunday night and I’m trying to whip up pieces together for all of the various internet soapboxes I sometimes stand on. I’ve decided, after careful consideration, to put together an International version of First Listen, First Thoughts. I went to www.bandcamp.com and under “locations” picked the first international destination I could find–Spain–and then picked the coolest album cover on the first page.

Today’s choice is…

Artist: Jonston
Song: “Horóscopo del teletexto”
Album: Taller de Memoria
Suggester: www.bandcamp.com

Intro:
I’m totally stoked to make this experiment happen. I like to fancy myself as some sort of goodwill ambassador between the United States of Ampheta’Zine and the country of Spain. And to prove it, I’m going to participate in a culture exchange with the them. They’ll offer up some music, and I’ll sit back in a fine leather chair with a cigar in my mouth and I’ll puff a few times and then judge them. One World Government. New World Order. And me, the Secretary of Musical Tastes.

I picked this band–Jonston–based solely on the album cover. It’s a good piece of art that mixes your favorite indie rock band’s sensibilities and Bluto from the old Popeye cartoons (the dude who was always trying to steal Olive Oyl) working a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit, except I’m pretty sure he’s just going to get angry and choke it into submission.

Also, I thought the album title “Taller de Memoria” sounded cool. I like to think of it as a concept that means that something is either more powerful than a memory OR for people who have moved on past old lovers, they have grown so much that the old memories can’t even reach their brainparts anymore. Either way. Even though I don’t own any of the Rosetta “Learn Spanish in Seven Days” discs, I’m going to assume that the song title means that somebody is getting their daily horoscope via text message. Some of the other song titles were equally compelling, but I don’t review albums, so….

Who it sounds like (in my head) before I listen to the first note:

The Promise Ring: What would emo from Barcelona sound like? Who knows? I’m guessing it’d be about young matadors pining for senoritas while trying to avoid a horn through the cheek and that it would be more flamenco guitar based instead of jangle rock. But I’m probably already off by two or three stereotypes and I don’t even know if these guys are from Barcelona.

The Turtles: I’m off by about a decade, but I wasn’t alive then, so it’s not really all that important. There’s a clip of the Turtles playing Happy Together on the Ed Sullivan show and it’s pretty great. Mainly what I’m drawing on here is that the album cover feels very retro-y (50′s) and the Turtles on Ed Sullivan is from 1967, but the trumpet player, in addition to being absolutely hilarious and impossible to ignore, kinda looks like he could be Bluto’s overachieving older brother (and likely the source of Bluto’s resentment towards the world). Maybe this will be fun pop music with brass.

Jack Johnson: I’ve never heard Jack Johnson, at least I don’t think I have. But I think I understand he’s a guy with a guitar that makes women aged 19-40 swoon a bit and he’ll never play the Superbowl halftime show, but he can sell enough tickets to fill a 5,000 person venue, but he might also end up in a bar with a capacity of 300 people. Depends on the town. Well, I’m thinking that Jonston is simply Spanish short hand for Johnson and this song is going to be one Spaniard with a guitar and a crushing ability to break the hearts of Madrid’s woman class.

Let’s shut off the Turtles on Ed Sullivan, cleanse the palate, and begin!

:02 Starts off with a driving drum beat and an upbeat mandolin guitar sound that reminds me of somebody besides R.E.M. but for right now R.E.M. is actually a really good starting point. And by that I mean a mix of “Losing My Religion” mixed with “Shiny Happy People.”

:15 I’m man enough to admit that I’m shimmying a bit in my seat as I listen to this. It’s got energy.

:30 I have no idea what he is singing, but it sounds like it would be really fun to singalong with it. The word sounds are fun and soft and kinda tumble gracefully from the dude’s voicebox.

:38 Is that a keyboard? There’s a pitch shifting noise going on and it adds to the lightness of the song. It’s fun!

:41 Seriously, this might be one of the best new songs I’ve heard in awhile. I want this. It’s good jangle rock. I know that I came up with a term for European jangle rock, but I don’t remember what it was. It probably fits in that category.

:57 I know I’ve made this comment before about other songs that have made it up here, but this has some of the hallmarks of mid 80′s “alternative” or “indie” rock. And I mean that in the best way possible.

1:38 The backing vocals are a nice touch. I’m a sucker for “ooooh” and the like. It’s a subtle layer, but one that adds to the overall composition in a singalong inducing kinda way.

Final Thoughts:
This was a really fun discovery. I stand by my R.E.M. comparison. It should be noted that it applies to the instrumentation of the song. But the singer does not sound like Madrid Michael Stipe, he’s got a laid back, lower in the mix factor that gives him about six million cool points in my book.

To salvage something from my three guesses above–this isn’t how I picture Jack Johnson sounding and it’s pretty far removed from the sonic qualities of the Turtles (though I might be able to make an argument for what the Turtles would have sounded like if they had come along twenty years later), but I might be able to make a slight comparison vocally to The Promise Ring or Maritime.

I kinda also hear Aimee Mann in this song. The instrumentation AND the vocals. Especially at a point like 1:18.

In the first couple of seconds I heard Psychedelic Furs and maybe Muse and maybe The Boxer Rebellion. This song is also fun and good and I enjoy it wholeheartedly.
Here’s our tune

First Listen, First Thoughts – Summer Fiction

April 6, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
summerfiction

I did another unexpected hiatus of these reviews and in the weeks since my last one, I’ve had just under a million people suggest songs/bands, and I’ve made the best hearted promises to do those ones next, but then I got the urge to review music tonight and nobody was around and I couldn’t find the list that I’d been working on, so I took to Twitter and I asked the good folks there. And that’s where tonight’s selection comes from, courtesy of one of my more culturally tasteful reliable Twitter friends @picky_girl

Artist: Summer Fiction
Song: Throw Your Arms Around Me
Recommended by: @picky_girl

@picky_girl mentioned that Summer Fiction were from the Philly area. A little more than ten years ago I was dating a girl from Bucks County (Philly area) and we went to the Jersey Shore for a week. All I remember about that trip is that we listened to the Deftones a lot. I’m throwing that out right now. I only know the band name and where I spent my summer vacation more than a decade ago. This review will be influenced by those two things, my imagination, and nothing more. I am nothing, if not scientific.

Who it sounds like before I listen to the very first note:

A Creative Writing Grad Student Who Read Esquire Magazine in the Late 80s: I used to have a subscription to Esquire when I was younger because there would always be these long short stories and I felt super cultured reading them in a grown up magazine, even if I didn’t know anything about fashion or how to mix a martini. A few years later I was at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (Panther Pride, Represent!) and I worked my way through the creative writing department until I was in my senior year and I shared classroom space with cardigan wearing, soft handed children of the suburbs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I spent my time installing carpet and hauling furniture with ex-cons and guys on work release with crude tattoos. By that point, I felt more out of place in a desk because the things that seemed important with the guys who were getting ready to go on to their MFA programs were worlds removed from me. All of that is said because Esquire used to have a Summer Fiction issue and maybe that’s where these guys came up with their band name. If it is, I’m going to guess that they play Mope Rock that talks about feelings and broken hearts with clean guitar tones, very soft drums, and a singer that is Nise Morrissey.

Seymour Glass: I run a publishing company that does fiction. So it’s natural that I’ll want to love this band. Back when you could still shop for new music in an actual record store and you browsed the racks hoping to find something with an intriguing cover or band name or something you kinda remembered some dude telling you about but you might not have remembered exactly, I found a cd from a band called Seymour Glass. It wasn’t long after I’d read Franny & Zooey for the first time. I bought the cd based solely on the band name. It was clear that Salinger’s fiction had a profound effect on the band/singer. If it’s like that, there’ll be a little more moodiness, a little more low end, a little more distortion on the guitar. I’ll want to like them, based on their name and my love of fiction, but it could be an uphill climb. Seymour Glass never hit me the way I hoped they would. Then again, that was a pretty high bar to hurdle.

Neutral Milk Hotel: Maybe Summer Fiction will live up to all expectations and will be hyper-literate with inventive instrumentation that never borders on mindless noodling. Maybe it’ll be passion instead of effects that carries the song. Maybe it’ll be genuine enough that it will actually be heartbreaking. Maybe Darryl Hall will do a guest spot as the elder statesmen of the Philly heartbreak scene. Like I said, @picky_girl has had good tastes in the past. Maybe I should just trust her on this one.

I’m turning off the Mariza, clearing my audiopalate and making with the play button. Let’s go!

:05 Right now we’ve got some acoustic guitar strumming going on that reminds me of an upbeat country song. It’s got the slightest hint of twang. It also sounds like something that might have come out of the mid-60′s pop music world before things got too real with Vietnam and the protest.

:20 No vocals yet, but I’ve got the head nod going. It’s a comfortable song and feels good. It makes me feel happier for having listened to it so far.

:28 Vocals are a great complement to the instrumentation. I know already I’m going to dig this. I’ll tell you what I hear if you promise not to hate me for it–it’s like Connor Oberst’s less hurt friend. And as this song goes on, I think that a comparison to the last Bright Eyes album I bought–I’m Wide Awake it’s Morning–would be a totally fair one.

1:24 After hearing the chorus for the first time, I will not be surprised if this song pops up in a movie at some point. The movie might actually be called “Throw Your Arms Around Me” and this song would play at the moment when you need your heart tugged on earnestly. There’s an honesty in the delivery that gives off the vibe of “everything’s going to be ok, or we’ll die together” without being over the top melodramatic. I appreciate that in my old age.

1:30 We’ve got some subtle piano entering the song (at least I don’t remember it from earlier). It’s helping with the overall build of the song.

1:58 I broke my arm running the bases If you put a baseball reference in a song, you’ve got a 75% chance of making me a fan. Let’s see how this line is coupled. Tripped over laces, cut by the blade. If I heard that right, I can dig it.

2:18 Super gentle harmonies. I was wondering if we might hear something like that. I’m a fan. Perhaps, as the song drives on, we’ll get even more.

2:34 We’ve got strings. Violins? (I have to confess, I don’t always get that right). Working on the same theory as the piano earlier in the song. It’s all building on itself, but not in a heavy handed way. This song is good low key. It knows the mood it’s setting and it does so without calling too much attention to what it’s doing.

3:10 I’ve really talked myself into this song making good as part of a movie soundtrack. If anybody from Hollywood (or some dude sitting in a Des Moines coffee shop writing a screenplay that he’s sure is going to be the next big indie movie) reads this review, and you’ve got a story about two people coming together to celebrate love in a fractured world, you should definitely check out this song and give me an Executive Producer credit when you roll ‘em.

Final Thoughts:

This was a perfect song for tonight.

It’s sonically different from Seymour Glass (and more preferable to me). I could see Summer Fiction sharing a bill with Neutral Milk Hotel. The energy is a little bit less frenetic on this one song compared to the whole of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea but the general sense of melancholy is there and just as honest. I also hear what it might sound like if Blind Pilot, Arcade Fire and the Avett Brothers sat down in a studio and decided to record a song.

If the rest of the album is like this, it will make its way into my collection. With the shaky beauty that is bandcamp.com I’ll be able to listen before I buy.

Let me know what you think! Click below to listen for yourself.

First Listen, First Thoughts – John Davey

March 7, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
jdave

I’m back on the horse and entering the second town. I enlisted the aid of Twitter AND Bandcamp.com (who still hasn’t fixed the terrible search interface that stops me from investing six billion dollars into their operation because I believe finding new music can really be that cool and great).

Today’s choice is…

Artist: John Davey
Song: “Our Name Shall Be Revenge”
Suggester: www.bandcamp.com / Jen Jordan

Intro:

I tried a variety of gimmicks to find tonight’s selection, and ended up wasting the Sunday evening comfort time of half of the internet before J-bot 3000 found/offered John Davey. All that time wasted was time better spent listening to new music, so let’s do it. Now.

Who it sounds like (in my head) before I listen to the first note:

John Mayer: I’m not gonna lie, this is that part of my brain that says, “Hey, that guy’s name is like that other guy’s name that people already know, they must sound similar.” Not to blow your mind or anything, but this time around, it’s even a little closer because both last names have five letters. Both last names have an “a” in the two hole and an “e” in the four spot. Additionally, they both have a “y.” In any case, that means it’s going to be a guy with a guitar and he’s going to sing earnest, coffee shop poetry that makes the girl studying for her Psych 211 class totally quit paying attention to her upcoming midterm, and will result in the dude asking her for her email address so they can go out later in the week to a different coffee shop and talk about feelings and he can impress her by talking about the time he backpacked across Colorado, stopping in Boulder to admire the mountains and how he cried when somebody told him about a new condo building scheduled for construction in 2012.

M. Ward: Maybe John Davey is of the more anonymous, deeper channeled school of “one dude with a guitar and a microphone” who actually did hitchhike across the country, playing street corners and bumming cigarettes with gutter punks (I don’t actually have any idea if M. Ward did any of that), and that because of his travels and experience, the depth of his notebook is greater. I’m kinda inclined to go this way right now based solely on the self-effacing/world weary tone I’m picking up from John Davey’s album and song titles.

Jimi Hendrix Experience: Not in the sense that I think John Davey is going to be straddled to a rocketship pointed towards the future of sound, but that it isn’t just a guy with a guitar, but a guy backed by a whole band with drums and bass. If that’s the case, there isn’t going to be much of an edge to it–no crunch–but it’ll be updated John Cougar Mellencamp with less Heartlandy lyrics and more about broken hearts and late nights spent in bars looking for the one but only finding the bottom of a glass and a pool table.

Let’s shut off the PJ Harvey, cleanse the palate, and begin!

:11 I can tell already that I’m going to like this. Right now I hear guitar and what I think is an accordion, but it’s got an honest and sad sound to it.

:21 vocals come in and I’m reminded of Ben Gibbard (is that his last name) from Death Cab for Cutie/Postal Service. The vocal delivery–not just the tone of his voice– follows the same kind of awkward boy in the world that I can’t hear as anything other than honest and immediately inviting. I want to make sure that I’m clear that the awkward description is not a slam, at all. It’s why I already feel like I like this song.

1:30 these are the good type lyrics, maybe a bit sappy, but an informed sappy and not just bad AABB or ABAB poems set to a strum. Melancholy in a good way. Here’s an example: and a hundred chivalries cannot undo /what that vile concoction you drank down made you

3:10 Musically there’s nothing overreaching or complex here, but it doesn’t aspire to that. The accordion, guitar, drums combo does right by me as a 50/50 complement to the vocals. This is a really good pop song.

Final Thoughts:I’m on my second listen of “Our Name Shall Be Revenge” and I’m at a crossroads that says more about my shallowness as a person than it does about the song or the musicians who created it. I really love this song. I’m man enough to say that. The problem comes in if you made this a random-assed scientific experiment where you told me, “This is the guy all the teen girls go wild over now!” if I would become too cool and say, “They’re playing down to the lowest common denominator.” Because sometimes I’m that asshole who says things like that even when it’s totally unfair to the band/musician. I believe the kids call it “playa hating.”

The truth is, this is a song that I will buy and I will listen to, and I will do so without apology.

This is nothing like John Mayer, not to me at least. It is also nothing like Hendrix or John Cougar Mellencamp. M. Ward would be the closest of the three I listed, but this isn’t really like that, either. But the two of them would be the most likely touring duo.

I hear some really weird connections in this song. Musically the following bands might not bear much resemblance to John Davey, but there’s something in what I feel–The Promise Ring, Panic at the Disco (I know! what? It’s true.), Rilo Kiley. I worry that saying the next thing I’m going to muck up the painting some, but I will lay the brush down anyway–there’s something in the vocal delivery that resonates like radio friendly emo bands from the last half of the last decade…

I just had a slight epiphany. I was afraid to say the last sentence of the last paragraph because I thought it might hurt my own credibility but that it might unfairly turn off others from buying this song (you should buy this song), but it was because I was honest and I said that bit about emo bands that jogged my brain in such a way to figure out who this really reminds me of, and it’s a band that I have no idea how popular they are–Jack’s Mannequin. At the heart of the songcraft of both bands (the limited I know from each catalog) there is some serious sympatico stuff going on.

Listen with your own ears below.

First Listen, First Thoughts – Freakwater

March 4, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
fwat

Today’s choice is…

Artist: Freakwater
Song:  “Drunk Friend”
Album: Feels Like the Third Time
Suggester: Audrey

Intro:
Freakwater? Hell, that could go in a lot of directions. My first inclination is that it is some mid-90s nu-metal band that snuck by my radar (though, I have to admit, I didn’t really watch the radar for nu-metal bands) and that never made it to an episode of Beavis and Butthead. I remember back when Beavis and Butthead was all the rage they had a guide for naming your alterNative rock band. It was basically two columns of words, you picked one from A and one from B and then you went out and killed your neighbor’s enjoyment of life by loading up a Marshall half stack in the garage and some taped together Tama kit and you played as loud as you could, saying shit like, “Hey, we’re Atomic Bicycle” or “Our name is Collecting Sombrero and this is our first song ’3 a.m. Haiku Vacation.’” I could totally see “Freak” being in column A and “Water” being in column B. If that’s where these guys got their name, I’ll expect them to sound like third generation Korn or a less Fred Dursty Limp Bizkit.

Or, Freakwater could totally be the codename a bunch of college hippies had for bong spills in their two bedroom apartment that housed six dudes who played hackeysack and swapped Phish bootlegs on the internet. If that’s the case, I bet this is going to be all about the noodling guitar work and there will be bongo players and a white dude with dreadlocks who wears a rastafarian hat and swears that he doesn’t listen to “Legend” because that Marley cd is for posers.

Who it sounds like (in my head) before I listen to the first note:

The Toadies: Remember that annoying chorus–”Do you waaaannnna die?” Yes, when I hear this fucking song, I do, thanks for asking. Slow, vaguely metal, boring rock. I think the song was called “Freakwater.” (subsequent research proves it was called “Possum Kingdom,” so I was waaay off)
Mudvayne: Freakwater sounds like they could be a band that wears masks and spits blood into the crowd like second generation GWAR who are musically proficient enough, but ended up relying on a gimmick to sell records to angsty suburban teenagers.
Phish: Ok, I’ve never listened to Phish, not intentionally at least, certainly not a whole song. But in my head, it’s really bland, soulless blues based rock that may exhibit an ability to play a lot of notes, but not in a way that means anything to me. If you want me to make a full on confession–besides that song that was on MTV in the 80s, I think it was called “A Touch of Grey,” I’ve NEVER heard or could identify a Grateful Dead song.

Let’s shut off the Blink 182 (1. Don’t judge 2. It’s Dude Ranch 3. It ended up playing on random), cleanse the palate, and begin–

:07 I couldn’t have been more off with the Mudvayne or the Toadies comparison. The first thing to note is that there are no instruments plugged into anything. We’ve got two acoustic guitars (the guitarists are sitting down) and a stand up bass. Even if they play one note for the rest of the song, they’ve already surpassed the Toadies as far as my potential enjoyment goes.

:20 And…we’re back on track. This is something I already know I’m going to love. It’s good ol’ American folk/country/blues/roots music with the kind of vocal harmonies that makes a boy like me very happy.

:30 The bass player has a cigarette dangling while he plays and I say–there Philip Morris! If you want to sell cigarettes as being ‘cool’ have this guy show up. Whereas I was wondering about a Mudvayne like reliance on some gimmicky look for Freakwater, that is not the case. They’re dressed in retro western wear, but because this is shot in black and white and because they sound authentic to me, for all I know this was shot in 1953.

1:15 This is the good stuff. The guitars and the bass are working together in a solid, non-flashy way. But the beauty of this song is in the vocal harmonies, especially when the blond woman starts singing because her accent feels even a little more country. When you listen to those old Carter Family recordings you can hear the generational accent shift out of the mountains. Compared to a lot of what I listen to, this seems to be shifting back up into the mountains. I appreciate the hell out of that and I already want to hang out on back porch somewhere and listen to these two sing.

1:46 The darker haired woman seems to be playing with a slide, but the camera keeps bouncing, so I can’t really watch her play. Rewinding. There must be some multi-tracking going on, but that’s a minor point.

2:24 “I should have moved to New York City, but I never was that cool. I just languished in the Midwest like some old romantic fool.” Preach it, sister.

2:50 When she sings “My Old Drunk Friend” that’s when it feels the most authentic. She’s pulling that from a place of experience in a way you can’t fake. The thing about this type of song and the songs it is a derivative of, is that lyrically it’s as bleak as any other kind of music. Typically, the singer is singing from the perspective of a dirtball to his/her dirtball acquaintances and there are all kinds of stories about drunks, petty criminals, hell, sometimes even murder. I realize this is newish, but the school this comes from was filled by both hardscrabble folks and carny sonsofbitches who had to play it hardscrabble to sell records, but were afraid to get busted for being fake, so they had to be ready to stab somebody to prove a point. That “honesty” is what means something to me as opposed to more violent lyrics that are torn from the notebooks of angry 17 year old kids who don’t know what a bad day really is quite yet.

Final Thoughts:
I really liked this. After yesterday’s mess, this was a good recovery. I’m a sucker for stripped down country tinged music. I’m a sucker for female vocalists. I’m a sucker for things that feel timeless–like they could have been recorded seventy years ago or some true believer laid it down yesterday. This has all three of those things going for it.

Since my initial guesses were way off (I’m assuming this isn’t what Phish sounds like), here are some musicians who I feel do share a kindred spirit to Freakwater–If I was going to go way back, and I was going to keep the female vocalists, I’d say the Carter Family’s (mid 1930s-ish) “I Never Will Marry.” Listen to the harmonies at :50, there’s obviously some male voice in their because AP is singing, but the sounds are treasure. If I was going to go back not quite as far (1956) and more male vocal dominated, I’d suggest the Louvin Brothers and their cover of the murder ballad “Knoxville Girl.”

If I was going to be a little more contemporary, I’d be inclined to say somebody like Emmylou Harris (whose “Wrecking Ball” is one of my favorite albums of all time) who is covering The Carter Family here.

Enjoy “My Old Drunk Friend” by Freakwater-

First Listen, First Thoughts – The Aviation Orange

February 20, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
aviation

I don’t know the song. I don’t know the band. What will my opinion be?

Today’s choice is…

Artist: The Aviation Orange
Song:  “Darling Johnny”
Album: The Aviation Orange
Suggester:

Intro:
Not sure how this one got on the list. There wasn’t a name next to it, but I’m assuming it came in during the bigger Twitter music request a few weeks back.

Based on the band name I’m guessing this is indie/alternative with some guys who look unassuming and a girl who plays bass and sings back up vocals. It’s the soft consonants of the name. I don’t see them being metal, though I guess there’s some chance they could be punk or at least 2K punk. Any more speculation would be an exercise in excessive talking.

Things I should say, but could be wrong. The Aviation Orange will not sound like punk band Agent Orange. “Darling Johnny” will likely not sound like “Angry Johnny” by Poe (I think it was Poe).

Who it sounds like (in my head) before I listen to the first note:

Jets to Brazil: I’m going with Jets to Brazil for a couple of reasons. (1) Jets to Brazil captures that older, more mellow alternative musicality four piece electric rock n’ roll band I was talking about above (2) Jets to Brazil’s first cd was called “Orange Rhyming Dictionary” (3) The word “aviation” in tonight’s selection, the word “jet” in Jets to Brazil.
Neutral Milk Hotel: There are times when I think that Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” is for sure one of the ten best albums I own. Then there are other days where I’d put it in my top 40. In any case, if The Aviation Orange doesn’t have a lot of electric guitar, but is more acoustic guitar based, it’ll sound more like one of the straighter laced Neutral Milk Hotel songs, “Holland, 1945.” I’m sure I’m also signaling in some on the aviation/airplane/aeroplane naming convention.
Rilo Kiley: Not sure where this comes from, but I’m going to say it’s jangle rock (see earlier entries for an explanation, and if they’re from Europe, we call it accent rock) and that there’s a girl who plays bass and sings back up vocals like. If there is no girl, and it’s just a bunch of dudes, then one of the guys sings the high part while the other sings the low. Dueling vocals though. For sure. I think.

Let’s shut off the Springsteen, cleanse the palate, and begin!

:10 This clip apparently is from a show called Balcony TV that either looks like it’s a cool show where every week they bring in some band to a motel with a parking lot that is right in front of the doors to the rooms except they go up on the third floor after the maids are gone for the day and quick burn through a song before somebody calls the front desk. Or it’s a public access program for kids in high school. Unsure at this point. The host is pushing the microphone into a guy’s face. That guy is holding an acoustic guitar. Looking at the guy with the guitar I’m reminded of the Arcade Fire, but I don’t know why really. I think I’m looking at Neutral Milk Hotel or bust on my guesses.

:12 As soon as I say the above, the camera pulls back some (probably the camera was in the doorway to room 318 or something like that) and we get a shot of the female keyboardist. My Rilo Kiley guess goes right back into the mix. Seriously, I’ve been pretty lucky at guessing these things.

:22 It’s worth noting that they’re all pretty bundled up with coats and scarves and such. It’s gotta be harder to play in those conditions. Especially when you’re cramped onto the Balcony TV set.

:40 They’re barely into the song right now, but it’s pretty catchy. Ten seconds of music and I’m thinking the Rilo Kiley call is my best bet.

:52 I am endeared mightily to this Balcony TV format now. The intimate setting feels honest. I find myself respecting the band and the host for doing this. The first person to sing is the guy who had the microphone jammed into his face by the host and whether or not it’s me Jedi Mind Tricking myself, he kinda sounds like the dude from the Arcade Fire.

:58 Here comes the harmony. The keyboardist sings and she and the dude with the guitar sound absolutely wonderful together. I want this song.

1:11 Not for nothing, but the sound is stellar. Whoever did the technical engineering on the recording of this deserves a medal. Outside in the winter? And it sounds like this? Thumbs up.

1:56 Actually, the more I listen, throw out all of my older suggestions. This sounds like the Shout Out Louds (a song like Very Loud). Part of it is the tambourine as the lead percussion instrument.

3:20 The girl’s vocals kinda remind me of this girl Marisa Kasriel that I met one night at a bar hanging out with Roxy. I’ll see if I can dig up a link to her, but that might be kinda hard to do.

4:20 The song is over and the host from Balcony TV appears on screen again. He looks like this guy who used to work at this coffee shop down the street from my old office who used to always talk about how he was going to paint a mural on the sidewalk of one full city block and did I have any ideas how he might be able to do it at night so nobody would catch him. I don’t think it’s that guy, but it’s hard for me to see him objectively.

5:30 Band says they were late showing up because they stopped at some Dinosaur World. I’m willing to put money on it that they were near Mammoth Cave in Kentucky when they stopped.

Final Thoughts:
I really liked this. It was pleasant. The two vocals add a nice touch to pretty stripped down instrumentation. I’m guessing this is a song from the band’s standard catalog, but usually they’ve got drums and are electric. I’m choosing to believe that this is the indie rocker’s motel equivalent to MTV’s Unplugged (ha! remember when MTV used to play music but now they play Jersey Shore and clearly hate America? Assholes.)

When the video is over the band puts up a website and says that “Darling Johnny” and other songs are FREE for download. I’d suggest going and getting them. I’m pretty sure I will.

I just read the band’s description in the Youtube clip and it sounds like I might be way off on what they sound like when they’re not on a motel balcony. The italicized part below was either (a) written by the band (b) written by Balcony TV, or (c) written by a third party. In any case it is NOT me writing it (I’m merely copying and pasting) and any opinion or recommendation taken from the text below does not reflect me.

The members of NYCs The Aviation Orange have mastered the art of blissful, atmospheric indie-pop—no song on their recent self-titled album is without a healthy dose of sanguine synth, delay-heavy guitar, and infectious male/female vocals. But that doesnt mean the band plays spaced-out shoegaze either; the tight-knit rhythm section adds a post-punk edge that propels the songs relentlessly forward. The likes of The Cure, New Order, maybe even some M83 are evident in the songwriting and the band also has its own sonic signature, with subtle layers of ambient noise and feedback hovering under the hook-laden melodies. Mixing sounds of The Cure and your favorite garage rock indie band, The Aviation Orange have a hit in the making here. Everything comes together to create a very atmospheric sound thats tight and engaging.

Live from Motel 6, it’s The Aviation Orange performing “Darling Johnny”

First Listen, First Thoughts – Katy Rose

February 13, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
katyrose

Here’s a new one on me. I’ve never heard this singer or this song. Is it possible that I’ll like it? Or will I be a hypercritical asshole about it? Only time will tell.

Today’s choice is…

Artist: Katy Rose
Song: “Overdrive”
Album: Because I Can
Suggester: Strawberry

Intro:
My friend Strawberry shared a piece she wrote in 2004 about a teenage rock n’ roll girl named Katy Rose. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Katy Rose, though I have vague memories of my friend Roxy doing a photoshoot with a girl that fits Katy Rose’s description (Christ, when did I become such a namedropping asshole?), but in any case, I’m sure that I don’t know the song “Overdrive.”

Right away, without listening to the song, but having read the article, I KNOW that Katy Rose and whoever her management team was/is were totally trying to cash in on Avril Lavigne’s comet. The years match up, the confused teen girl who is mopey and angsty, but still gets excited about small things in life (and can’t wait to share the details) are all right there. Her father, if I read the article right, was/is in the music business as an associate musician friend of Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Could be that he saw his own career as already having had its high point, and that if he could get his daughter to be Nise Avril Lavigne he could use his contacts and get his little girl a recording contract. A recording contract that, if lightning struck twice, could mean, in the parlance of Charlie Louvin, “Cash on the Barrelhead.”

But in reading Strawberry’s article, I couldn’t help feel a little sad and a little dirty to know that Katy Rose never became the star she and the people around her hoped she would be. It’s seven years later and though I’m not super in tune with what the kids are listening to today or yesterday, I know that I’ve heard of Katy Perry, but never Katy Rose. It should also be pointed out that the music business graveyard is full of Katy Roses who get pulled from their roots early, boxed up, and awkwardly presented to potential suitors. To be sure, there are plenty of people who can lie and encourage and promise the moon to a struggling artist, in much the same way that strip clubs from Seattle to Miami are filled with dancers and guys on the run from their domestic situations making tenuous backroom deals. Fundamentally, it’s all about capturing the imagination and taking the cash before the unwitting mark knows that he has been taken.

Who it sounds like (in my head) before I listen to the first note:

Avril Lavigne: I’m definitely not going out on any limb here. Katy Rose is going to sing emo lyrics over vaguely “punk” instrumentation that lets the listener know that she doesn’t play by the rules and that she’s edgy. There will be eye make up. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and coin a new genre of music called “Eye Make Up Rock” that covers girls like Avril and Katy Rose and boys like all of the skinny jeaned, cardigan wearing, Flock of Seagull haircut inspired emo “rockers” in bands called “The Dysfunction Syndrome” or “Awkward in Gym Class.”

Teenage Lisa Loeb: There’s a 1 in 100 chance that Katy Rose is going to be by herself “playing” an acoustic guitar and singing songs that are lyrically much less “rebellious” covering more pedestrian high school fare about boys and mean girls (that might be slightly subliminal because I saw that a Katy Rose song was going to be used in the Lindsay Lohan vehicle “Mean Girls.”) If this is the case, I expect Katy Rose will be trying to find her voice and that it will be sweet, but not remarkable. Interchangeable with her American Idol peers.

The Distillers: There’s a super super almost nominal chance that Katy Rose is the real deal, a punk rock prodigy who legitimately sees the world from a unique perspective and isn’t just a studio’s attempt at raking in cash. Some folks just shine light and can’t shut it off, even as young ‘uns. But for real, if I’m betting money on this, I’m going to say that this isn’t the case and that now Katy Rose works in an office with casual Fridays.

Let’s shut off the NOFX (“The Decline”), cleanse the palate, and begin!

:19 Well, this ain’t starting off all that promising. The guitar part feels dated (precisely to the era in which it originated) and when Katy starts singing “Out of bed at the crack of noon” I see what they’re going for, but it sounds like Lil’ Sheryl Crow or Tracy Bonhamita. Hopefully this picks up steam, but right now, Avril rocks harder than Katy Rose. Perhaps I should have kept in mind that Katy’s father played keyboards for Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

:23 It should be pointed out that the video began with Katy Rose rolling around in the sand on the beach. I’m not sure how old she is in this video, but, much like the exploitation of Britney Spears schoolgirl charm (“Oops, I Did it Again”), the director of this video has a goal in mind and it isn’t hard to figure out.

:40 The chorus kicks in and it’s catchy. I can see why this was supposed to be a hit.

:44 As she runs along the boardwalk we see that her jeans are torn. I point this out only as a comparison to the punkiness factor of my original comparison to Avril. Prior to that shot, Katy didn’t look very Alter Native.

1:00 Chorus is finished and I wonder why the whole song isn’t built up big like it. Whoever wrote that part of the song did well and Katy’s vocals complement it well, even if the lyrics are a little meh (I need to keep in mind the target audience). However, and I hate that I’m even having to mention things like this–there’s this guy in the video that she keeps making eye contact with and homeboy looks like he’s a good five or six years older. I understand the crassness of marketing, but damn, can we tone it down just a little?

1:08 As was the custom of the day, quick somebody call a DJ and work a little scratching into the mix before we go back to the verse.

1:13 For real? These lyrics are, en Francais, “Le Terrible.” I would like to enter this bit of evidence: “I need to take shower after I see you, you sting and hurt like a bad tattoo. I wish you’d change my point of view.” Seriously? She sings this while peeling an orange and looking into the camera. But it’d be like if somebody held up a fender from a ’61 Ford and recited the opening lines of The Red Badge of Courage while licking their lips seductively. It doesn’t make any damn sense. The song/image seems to be a bit cobbled together.

1:28 My stomach hurts. My head aches. Now she says (and Strawberry mentions this line in her article) “I like the light and I hate the heat, but I’ll lick the blood right off your street.” I wish I could unhear these lyrics. If you told me right now that I could, using a very sharp, but precise scalpel, cut out the part of my brain that processed and retained the last twenty seconds of this video, I’d do it. Sonofabitch would I do it.

1:45 The goal was to make her look like Avril in the eyes and to sing this big catchy chorus that is good relative to the verse. It’s got this swagger and a boldness that, while momentarily entertaining, is ultimately depressing, because it’s one thing to talk that kind of shit around your parents who, at worst, can ground you and take away your credit card. It’s another thing to have that inflated sense of invincibility in the public at large where you will be systematically chewed up and spit out before you know what is going on. Sometimes that means the heartbreak of unfulfilled record contract promises. Other times it means you’re in a dumpster, one pick up away from the landfill.

2:00 The video location has moved from the beach to some out of the way back country orange stand (that Katy gets to on her bike and where the creepy dude who looks like that guy from “Friends” is hanging around his car while she serenades him with those lyrics) and then ultimately to the set of the video for Hole’s “Miss World.”

2:08 Y’know what else this sounds like? Every crossover by Nashville studios who send out a sassy singer trying to capture the “rock” market, totally abandoning country roots but still calling the singer a country singer. It’s got that kind of uninteresting, directionless instrumentation. Also, it sounds like the back up band might be Everclear.

2:15 Our heroine is talking about girls being naked on a tv screen. God, I hope she’s at least an adult or that somebody got sued for exploiting her.

2:45 She plays the drums, too! A regular renaissance child. Mercifully, this song draws to a close. I have heard the sounds of hell.

Final Thoughts:
Yeah, I’m not gonna lie–that was terrible. Musically, it was dated. The image was forced. It was like some studio head got the idea that all he had to do was follow a formula to make a lot of money. So he said, “Bring me the songwriting talents of whoever was on the billboard charts seven years ago, a girl who is part Britney Spears but edgy like Avril Lavigne, and whatever lyrics you can steal from Kajagoogoo’s old notebooks. Oh yeah, and there should be a dj who does some perfunctory scratching so the rap kids will dig it.”

In twenty years when every major record company is dead or in hospice and they wonder what happened, it will be documented in history books that real musicians and real talent were eschewed for the most banal and disposable crap that should never have been greenlit. Katy Rose may only have been a tiny part of it–where things started going wrong, but she is symptomatic of the collapse. This is when people started turning off the radio. This is when people started pirating old Kansas albums. When the record executives asked, “How far can we take this? This manufacturing and marketing of total crap before the people throw up their hands and revolt?” I’ll suggest looking here as a tipping point.

The album is called “Because I Can.” I wouldn’t have a hard time believing that a teenager with an exaggerated sense of entitlement might come up with that. I also wouldn’t have a hard time believing that a record exec living high on the hog believed that.

Seven years later, in the words of Dylan, “How do you feel?”

You shouldn’t click play, but if you do, enjoy, “Overdrive” by Katy Rose:

First Listen, First Thoughts – The Fierce and the Dead

February 5, 2011 First Listen, First Thoughts No comments
the-fierce-the-dead

Man, I spent about a half an hour looking through Bandcamp.com tonight and I couldn’t find shit to review. I’m in Fort Collins, Colorado, so I thought I’d pick something local. But then the one intriguing thing that I saw, the band didn’t have a website, wasn’t on Facebook, and didn’t have a Twitter account–oh, but they had a Myspace account. What the fuck? Next you’re going to want me to play the damn song on an 8-track or something.

Then I typed some random thing about “trains in the distance” into the search bar because I heard a train whistle and it made me think the universe was giving me signs, and that brought up some dude in Seattle, but there wasn’t much info about him either (though it sounded like he’d captured the ghost of Eliot Smith and it was probably raining outside when the song was recorded).

Then I went to Twitter and begged somebody to give me a song. My guy Eric Landes stepped up and suggested…

Artist: The Fierce & The Dead
Song: 10 x 10
Album: If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe

Intro:

I don’t know anything about this band and I’m not even going to do much guesswork tonight. My detective badge is in the car.

Who it sounds like (in my head) before I listen to the first note:

The Body: Way back when I was on my mission to do a song review every night for a year, one of the regular suggesters of songs was Commissioner Gordon (Bill) who hipped me to a bunch of bands. One of those bands was the super heavy and eerie The Body. I don’t think anybody can really be like The Body, but the band name evokes some of the same feeling. So this would be non-traditional doom metal, chorus of the damned singing in the background, maybe a little screaming. Something you might hear on the soundtrack for the next Exorcist movie when they make it.

The Soundtrack to a Western movie: I think there was a bad movie made starring Sharon Stone (gasp! does such a thing exist?) called The Quick and The Dead. I’ll admit, I didn’t see it, but maybe this song is all about the wah wah wahnnn music that pops up during gunfights in spaghetti westerns. All instrumental. No lyrics. No drums. Just some weird modified didgeridoo sounding instrument being orchestrated by Ennio Morricone and a trumpet player.

The Thermals: The Thermals are one of those bands that I have a very small selection of their songs and I’m afraid to buy more because the two I have are really fucking good and I worry that I just got really lucky when I bought those two songs and the rest of the album(s) would just disappoint me. High tempo. Bashy drums. Slightly aggressive vocals. Efficient songs. Over and done in a few minutes. Not the least bit flashy or pretentious. Check out “A Stare Like Yours” here.

Let’s get rid of the Neil Young, start the song, and see what we get.

:02 I’m hearing Jim White’s “Static on the Radio.” That might end up being waaaay off, but the guitar and the secondary noises are likewise evocative.

:30 This is going to seem weird, but the haunting quality so far of 10 x 10 reminds me of Emmylou Harris’ whole Wrecking Ball cd. There haven’t been vocals yet, so I won’t commit money to that comparison, but in my gut and in my brain, that is a twin experience.

:32 I really like the super clean guitar tone. I know I rely on the comparison probably way more often than I should, but the guitar tone–it’s actual sonic quality–reminds me of American Football.

1:00 Really cool change at the one minute mark. So far I’m liking this song. It creates a cool atmosphere.

1:15 A darker American Football is how I would summarize this so far.

1:30 It got REALLY crazy, maybe even into temporarily odd time signature world. This song is not content with being one thing. It’s all over the map (in a good way). This is cheating, but I’d say the best guess so far was the one about the movie soundtrack. I could totally see this playing during an action sequence/montage where some serious high stakes type shit was on the line.

2:45 Now it sounds like a toy piano is being plucked and there is distortion and feedback on a guitar in the background.

In Summary:

I really liked this and it was not at all what I was expecting. These guys could go on tour with Signal Hill and it’d be a good fit.

One thing that was very apparent is that the guys behind the instruments here, know what they’re doing. They play stuff that sounds “musicy” without sounding like noodling showoffs.

Dig it~!

 

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