VS: Rilo Kiley and Neko Case

I remember reading somewhere--Phoenix? Dig?--that there are some who have created a rivalry of redheaded-alt-country-singers between Neko Case and Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley); which seems kinda foolish, since everybody can have both. Neko Case was my first exposure, and I was addicted almost immediately: the loping grace in Star Witness was unarguable. The whole of Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was similarly stellar, and since the Rabbit Fur Coat tracks that I'd heard failed to grab me, I figured Neko'd won. But then Last.fm starting playing me Rilo Kiley songs, they're now back on more of an even par; A Man/Me/Then Jim is particularly compelling.

Neko has more strength in her sound, but Jenny tends to be more willowy; Neko's lyrics are more likely to be reflective and Jenny's bitter; Neko's more consistent, but Jenny sings with Postal Service! How does anyone choose?

Luckily, no one has to.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Neko Case], [Jenny Lewis], [Rilo Kiley], [Postal Service]

Snow Patrol & Dashboard Confessional: A Meditation on Whinerock

Snow Patrol is a guilty semi-pleasure: pleasant--good music for painting red housesbut neither sophisticated nor creative, and increasingly plastic to boot. They're relatively palatable whinerock, with the typical shortcomings and appeal--it's sweet in a wistful kind of way, but guilty of emotional posturing and brooding. The saving grace is variety, or at least a shallower monotony: if the songs' narrator were a person, he'd feel pretty much the same all the time, but for slightly different reasons. Behold Mahogany from Songs for Polar Bears, which is wistful at a relationship that didn't happen, and You Could Be Happy from Eyes Open, which aims at one which did.

Which contrasts to Dashboard Confessional, whose sound is more appealing and textured, but whose lyrics are intolerably whiny. Carabba's more consistent in his whining and posturing--the point is generally that he likes some girl who is for one reason or another an unfortunate choice.

Another difference is the vocalists' performance styles, I suppose; Carabba emotes to the back wall of the room across the street, where Lightbody treats the narrator's sadness with more distance. Since he's singing things like "Do the things that you always wanted to/ Without me there to hold you back, don't think, just do/ More than anything I want to see you grow/ Take a glorious bite out of the whole world", anything that turns down the volume on the knob marked Pathos is helpful: it might even get somebody kicked out of the genre, although neither of these two is in any danger.

The only Dashboard song that sticks is A Plain Morning off of Swiss Army Romance, which is frankly beautiful and possibly less whiny. Which brings up another way to get kicked out of the genre: make music which is simply too beautiful to be dismissed.

N.B.: Whinerock is a term I made up, I think. I'm not clear if it's the same as emo, because I'm not clear on what counts for emo; so I'll use my own term.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Whinerock], [Snow Patrol], [Dashboard Confessional]

Non-Favorites of 2006

There're musicians much beloved in the blogosphere, that I just don't get. Why is there such massive swooning over Beirut, Sufjan Stevens, Destroyer, and Joanna Newsom? I couldn't say. Most of them do have the occasional nice song--but aside from that, I don't want to listen to them!

Can we please get over Joanna Newsom (Cosmia), collectively? It's interesting, I'll grant that; but it's music-major music, and not in a good way: it reminds me of atonal music in its unevenness and occasional beautiful phrasing. Her voice is so pinched out of shape, and her sense of meter is so odd--it's like Björk without the power or compelling sweep.

Yes, it is amazing that Zach Conden of Beirut (The Gulag Orkester) is only twenty; but does that mean that a full CD of Eastern European brass is amazing music? It does not. And yet I've heard "amazing" so much about this CD that you'd think I'd been listening to Tom Cruise.

Sufjan Stevens (All The Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands): This one, I just don't get; it must be a cultural phenomenon, but I am so tired of twee and sensitive and sluggish. Sufjan more than the others has the occasional successful song, and I understand that his shows are Flaming Lips-esque in their theatricality, but really, can we be done now?

It's not that I hate Destroyer (Your Blood) exactly; it's enjoyable in a jangly, raffish-hobo kinda way, but . . . why is it on everyone's list of bests? There's shrieking and howling, and guitar strings that sound like cats; it's not brilliant.


tags: [Music], [mp3], [worst-of], [Joanna Newsom], [Beirut], [Sufjan Stevens], [Destroyer]

Best Songs of 2006

Okay! Finally, somebody did a best-of that I could emulate. Best songs is just so much easier than best albums; the tricky question of whether to assess the album as an artistic whole, or based on the quality of the individual songs therein, doesn't arise. At first this makes the task seem more manageable than a best albums list, which it isn't, since technically the possible entries have just been multiplied by--how many tracks do albums have these days?--somewhere between one and fifty-six.

In no particular order, because I can't possibly do that. . .

Regina Spektor - On the Radio: The contrast between its flowing verses and staccato chorus is well done; and try as I might to convince myself that the verses are trite and hackneyed, they still sound wise and lovely in a refreshingly simple way.

Amy Millan - Baby I: You knew her voice was going to be a pleasure; what you didn't know is that her songwriting was going to be so strong. Or maybe that's just me. It's the perfect breakup song, swinging between bravado and clear-eyed melancholy.

Final Fantasy - Song Song Song: Who would have thought one violin and one dude would be so layered and dynamic?

KT Tunstall - Under the Weather: It's not her breakout hit "Cherry Tree," but in some ways it's better: what Norah Jones might have been with a little more creativity and energy.

Gothic Archies - Scream and Run Away: Okay, so it's a bit of a gimmick; it's still brilliantly addictive electropop.

Emily Haines - Nothing & Nowhere: Emily Haines as part of Metric does some of the sharpest, most elegant rock around, so it's a bit of a surprise to hear such deep sentiment; but it never crosses the line into saccharide.

Neko Case - Margaret vs Pauline: This one is practically obligatory--although the album as a whole is no weaker than this song. That's remarkable.

The Never - Cavity: The lyrics and the desperate catchiness of the song give it depth and persistence; what else could you want?

Casey Dienel - Everything: Tough call between this and Doctor Monroe for Casey; but Everything won out for its sweetly-toned jumpiness--which, come to think of it, reminds me of Regina Spektor.

Up Next: Music Conspicuously Not Featured--Beirut, Sufjan Stevens, Destroyer, Joanna Newsom.

tags: [Music], [Mp3], [Best-of], [Regina Spektor], [Amy Millan], [Final Fantasy], [Owen Pallett], [KT Tunstall], [Gothic Archies], [Emily Haines], [Neko Case], [The Never], [Casey Dienel]

Sucka!

There are things I know make me more likely to enjoy music--although they don't necessarily make it better; just techniques for which I have a soft spot.

First: Vocal harmony (Kings of Convenience, say, Gold In the Air of Summer). Maybe this comes from listening to classical music and medieval antiphonal chants as a kid, but I am a dead sucker for vocal harmony.

Second: Strings in electronica (Her Space Holiday - Tech Romance). Putting strings in an electronica context just seems to make the timbre of both that much clearer, more distinct, sweeter; and since electronica is usually safe from being saccharine, it keeps the strings from going over that line, too.

Third: Cyclical instrumentation (The Low-lows-Dear Flies, Love, Spider; anything by Tool). This, I just like: it's power that doesn't need to shout to make itself compelling. It's the easiest of the three to make into a cheap trick, I think.

None of them necessarily make the music creative, but it does generally make it something I want to listen to; and it's interesting to try and think about techniques that I enjoy as separate from the quality of the music. It's sort of the opposite of Cassandra Wilson--I approve of her wholeheartedly, she's very cool: I just don't enjoy her music; these techniques are enjoyable, but alone, they don't make the music in which they feature anything other than enjoyable.

tags: [Music], [Mp3], [Kings of Convenience], [Her Space Holiday], [The Low-lows], [Tool]

Trend: Sharp Girlrock

I'm sure it's my selection bias, but I keep running into sharp, elegant girlrock these days. It started out with Metric, but now Roh Delikat is joining up, and I can only approve--and wish they'd tour together.



Roh Delikat's 10 Brand is every bit as stylish, bombastic and addictive, with echoing, cyclic interludes that sound almost like Tool; Laudanum is hazier, less focused, less aggressive, gathering momentum as it goes and then starts releasing suddenly and sweetly. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy Sunny . . .

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Girlrock], [Metric], [Roh Delikat]

Earworm: Metric - Empty

Not that I'm obsessive or anything, and not that my particular obsession of late has been infectious, often heartsick, acidic, girl-fronted indie coolness (see also: Spektor, Regina), but today's earworm is Metric's song Empty. (Stream it here.) Does this kind of music herald the return of the rockstar, after the thankfully temporary triumph of the Carrabba-style emo wuss? I'd be happy if it did.

Metric songs make me think of shoe boots--those weird, quintessentially-eighties boots that stop even below ankle-boot territory. Like these.



Is that a bad thing? I can't stand shoeboots, but I love Metric; it's the sharp, fearless, rockstar quality that connects them, I think.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Metric]

Isobel Campbell: Milkwhite Sheets

As if there were any doubt, Isobel Campbell gets credit in the very first few sentences of her interview with Scotland's Sunday Times:

Isobel Campbell bridles a little when it’s put to her she may well be the forces’ sweetheart of indie, a Dame Vera Lynn for sensitive young men who like their music lovelorn, thoughtful and laden with chiming guitars. . . .
“No, really?” she ponders in the bar of a hotel in her native west end of Glasgow. “That’s quite patronising, though, isn’t it? It’s like the record sleeve is the thing that really matters, which is rubbish as far as I’m concerned. I put in the slog to be a worthwhile musician. I’m not a show pony.”

But quarreling with heart-throb status is a tricky thing. It's like F. Scott Fitzgerald snarling at every mention of The Great Gatsby--it's all very well to resent its shadow, but where would the artist be without that shadow? Not a question I have an answer to (to which I have an answer).

I'm curious about Milkwhite Sheets (out 6 Nov): how will Campbell fare without Lanegan's gravelly drag or Belle & Sebastian's twee space pop vibe? I'm thinking she might be like Iron & Wine--a technically accomplished artist that somehow needs depth, darkness, or spark from a collaboration to be really excellent.

Isobel Campbell - Cachel Wood from Milkwhite Sheets
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Saturday's Gone from Ballad of the Broken Seas

Stream both (M3U)

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Isobel Campbell], [Music interviews]

Broken Social Scene: A Meditation on Supergroups

Okay, I give up. I like Broken Social Scene. I guess that was inevitable, given recent obsessions with Amy Millan and Emily Haines, and slightly longer-ago obsessions with Feist. But I don't like it as much as I like any of its various members. Is this inevitable? I don't know what I think of supergroups. They sound like an inarguably good thing in theory, but they never quite seem to work out that way--it's the opposite of synergy. Maybe you get synergy in the shows? Recorded, at least, I think they're pretty weak--the best song on You Forgot It In People is Shampoo Suicide, a laid-back, directionless jam that I'd more readily associate with something like Bonobo.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Supergroups], [Broken Social Scene]

Learning to Listen (and Play) Polyrhythmic

I've started doing an African drum ensemble this year; the first thing we're doing (besides trying to get used to a polyrhythmic setup) is Ewe music, then we'll go to Dagbanli next semester. Learning how to function in a polyrhythmic ensemble is a cognitive challenge--we spend maybe a third of our time talking about where the one is and what the basic beat is (it isn't the same to an African ear as to a Western). It's pretty obvious who the proper musicians are and aren't in the group (I'm sure not, dammit).

I'd gotten the Kronos Quartet's Pieces of Africa a while ago, listened to it, and didn't quite know what to make of it. Listening to it now is quite different, having a conceptual base for it. Kutambarara is my favorite track at the moment, because it's the most similar to what we're playing. It sounds damned different when you're sitting in the middle of the whole thing and trying not to lose your beat or encroach on your neighbor's; I'll always wonder how it sounds different to a native listener, though.



tags: [Music], [African music], [Polyrhythmic], [Kronos Quartet]

Lost and Found in the Shuffle

I have a ridiculous amount of music--at least, in human terms; in gigabyte terms, I know people with more, but in human terms we're in the same boat: we have too bloody much music to absorb, and most of us acquire new music at such a rate that the situation is hardly going to change.

So there's music in my library that I don't remember having heard. Large amounts of it, even; which seems just as shameful as having large amounts of books you haven't read in your library. (Come to think of it, I don't know why this should be, either; but everybody I know who does have large amounts of unread books is vaguely embarrassed about it--maybe we think it betrays a gluttonous lack of temperance, or something.)

Irrational embarrassment aside, the plus side of this is that shuffling can produce very nice discoveries that still feel new, no matter how long I've actually had 'em. This is one; it's by a tiny band called Dandelion Wine that apparently, incredibly, doesn't have a web presence--and isn't the one from Melbourne that plays pop with medieval instruments, which does.

I like this song: it's got an addictive, sweet bop to it that avoids being saccharine, and there's a nicely steady trajectory from start to finish. I wish to hear more from Dandelion Wine.

Dandelion Wine - Fosterwallace (from YSI)




Relevant tags: [Music], [Obscure Music], [Dandelion Wine], [Mp3], [Found]

Tripwire: The Escapism of Headphones

There's a great bit on Tripwire right now about headphones in law firms (sort of), from the point of view of a temp. It's a pretty pompous article, but it pinpoints something that motivates the success of the iPod, and the Disc/Walkmen that preceded it: solace for the sacrifice of our time. This is what portable music, and particularly high-capacity portable music, is for; it rescues odd scraps of time that would be otherwise irritating waste or barren tedium, and makes them into a blank canvas for mental experience. It makes everybody in the world into me and my patient, book-toting friends: what does it matter if anything is late, as long as I have a book? Music is even better, because you don't have to be sitting still to use it; my 1.5-mile walk to the lab every day is by far the happier when something good is playing in my head.

Doesn't happen all the time, of course, but with everybody hoo-hah-ing about how iPods make you selfish, asocial, and self-absorbed, it might be noted that they can make you more patient, too.

Course, it'd be easy to argue they make you good little drones dependent on external stimuli to fend off boredom, since technically, all unoccupied time is a blank canvas for mental experience; to stretch the metaphor badly, it could be argued that by giving you a ready-made painting it prevents you from making your own. Only applies sometimes, of course, when there are truly minimal attention demands; repetitive work that seems like it should free your mind just catches it in equally repetitive mental loops.

And since it seems appropriate. . .

Headphones - Natural Disaster (from YSI) off of the self-titled debut of Dave Bazan's new project.




Relevant tags: [Music], [Headphones], [Tripwire]

Cogitation: Music Blogging

So having read this a while ago, and thinking about what Connor had to say about how fast the music blog cycle is from up-and-coming to universally gushed-over to gone; that made me start thinking--what's the point of a music blog? Why do we do this?

Most of the well-known music blogs are primarily about what's new and cool--either new bands, or the favorites plus the new at festivals, or show dates.

Resources are a question, of course--a lot of the big music bloggers (I say that advisedly, knowing it's a small pond) have professional connections in the music business, or have been around long enough and have high enough readerships that they've got an inside track on what's new and good: bands send them samples, they go to a whole lotta shows, that kind of thing. They're best suited to advising the rest of us on new cool music, because they've got the resources to comb through lots of it.

The downside of these blogs is that that's usually all they do. When's the last time Stereogum reaaaaaaally went batty over a band that's been around a while? What about You Ain't No Picasso getting all riled up about something that wasn't a festival or a new, obscure band? Rediscovering somebody that doesn't actually record any more? Talking about an old classic or their influence on the new stuff? The blogs that are best at covering what's new and good are most myopically focused on it; so if you get all your music pointers from them, you spend your music-listening time running from one next-hottest-thing to the next.

Not to bash new music--I love finding new music that really lights my fire. But the reason I love it is basically that they give me more salty good musicness--and obscure bands with smallish followings are more likely to give shows in the small venues I like to frequent. Obviously I don't have the resources or the motivation to be a new-music-finder blog; so what'm I doing, then?

It's a simple and boring answer, really. For myself, I like keeping notes of what I think of music; it helps me conceptualize and remember my impressions more strongly. If anybody else finds it and has something to say about it, that's a cool thing, too; dialogue can do the same thing as writing. That's part.

I appreciate the odd song from interesting artists that mp3 blogs (as neophile as they may be) provide, and some songs are just hard to find (viz. to wit., Ben Taylor's cover of Mos Def's Favorite Nitemare), so those I try to spread the love a little. That's part, too.

I'd love to find some music blogs that had a somewhat more historical outlook: somebody who wrote about White Whale and Johnny Lee Hooker. They've gotta be out there somewhere, don't they? I'm trying to write the music conversation I'd want to find. That's probably the biggest part.

Cogitation: Rogue Wave

So, Rogue Wave. Granted I haven't heard a whole lot of 'em, but they seem like a poor man's Kings of Convenience, without the shockingly beautiful harmonizing. What makes 'em unique? Why do we need a poor man's Kings of Convenience when the royalty's in everybody's reach? Still, I like this song--"California" off of Descended like Vultures (buy it here).




Thanks to So Much Silence for the mp3.

Rant: Guster

Right, this isn't new in the least, but I gotta write about it because it's pissing me off. Guster! What's up with them? I heard their new single "One Man Wrecking Machine" on the radio last night and didn't even recognize them. Guster has, or had, three main distinctive elements. First, the bongos (easy); second, the three-part harmony (how many bands do that?); and third, the majority of songs depicting or narrated by horrible ass-people ("Center of Attention"? "Happier"?). In their new stuff, no bongos and no three-part harmony, but they still got the brassy, assy narrator thing. Who told them that was the best part? Now they sound like every other disposable radio-friendly band, damn them. They must've known what was cool at some point--in memoriam, and to prove my point, "Either Way." RIP Guster!