Album Reviews

Remember that line in As Good As It Gets when Nicholson’s character used one of the greatest panty-dropper lines of all time, “You make me want to be better man.” The Big Echo makes me want to become a better reviewer of music. The Morning Benders shine a bright light on my shortcomings as I struggle for words to describe the brilliance of Big Echo. I saw them perform for us in a HearYa Live Session. I watched them perform at our SxSW party in 2009. I listened (and loved) their previous album, Talking Through Tin Cans.  At no point could I have imagined that The Morning Benders were capable of an album of this magnitude. Big Echo is an ambitious album with flawless execution.

We posted the video for “Excuses” when it was released and I was slackjawed. Talk about trying to drive the green in one stroke.  Lead Singer, Chris Chu, pulled the big stick out of his bag and knocked that shit long, straight, and right on the green. The LP was produced with the help of Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear) who apparently saw something special in the Bay Area quartet. I would have loved to hear Chu and Taylor’s conversations as they discussed the nuances and intricacies that made each song sound so sonically creative. At its core, Big Echo is a pop record. It’s also a statement album by a band that will be on everybody’s top of 2010 lists.

The standout tracks for me include the aforementioned Excuses, Cold War (Nice Clean Fight) and Stitches. The piano on Stitches dances right up my spine as the Grizzly Bear influenced harmonies lull me into a state of bliss before the piano gives way to shimmery guitars as the song fades out. It was just so fucking brilliant that there is no way my words can do it justice.

So in the end, I wish I could do a better job of explaining the overwhelming genius on this album. I promise to try to better in the future but for now please trust me when I tell you if you buy this album. You won’t regret it. On every listen, you will find something new to keep your head spinning in wonderment. And that is no easy feat.

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The Morning Benders – Excuses

Video: The Morning Benders – Excuses

Who said indie music couldn’t be catchy and accessible? Certainly not Free Energy, a Philadelphia-based quintet by way of Minneapolis. Their debut album from DFA Records, Stuck on Nothing, is a real rocking beauty. And it’s been earning them considerable ink in the blogosphere, making them one of the big buzz bands of SxSW 2010.

I’m probably looking at things too simply, but sometimes it seems like the only bands that get critical acclaim in the indie music world are the quirky ones who throw a lot of weird noises into their music for the sake of trying to come across as ‘complicated’. Always struck me as an “Emperor’s New Clothes” type thing. Can’t I just listen to some old school, catchy rock and roll every once in a while? Well, thanks to Free Energy, now I can.

The album cover was the first clue that this would be music that was going to stick in my brain – it shows a pair of Chucks with a rainbow on them stepping in bubblegum. My first thought was, “Is this a Punky Brewster DVD, or a rock album?” And these guys had the gumballs to open the album with the sound of COWBELL, for goodness sake. Gotta respect that.

And you know what? They absolutely pull the whole thing off! Stuck on Nothing is outstanding – bright electric guitars, great hooks, drum beats that make you want to shake your rump (they even threw some hand claps in there for Oz), and guitar riffs that make you want to slam a domestic light beer and do a perfectly-tucked cannonball into a pool. Trust me, that description actually makes sense. At least to me it does.

Here are a couple tracks to whet your whistle.

Free Energy – Free Energy (Courtesy of Stereogum)

Free Energy – Hope Child (Courtesy of The Tripwire)

Over the years of Clem Snide’s existence, I’ve heard a tune here or there and always thought to myself, “Hey self, these guys are pretty good and you should think about picking up one of their albums.” And you know what I did about it? Fuck all.

So there I was last week with more eMusic credits than I knew what to do with. And there, staring in the face was the new Clem Snide release The Meat of Life. So acting with an impetuous nature that I’d lacked in our previous encounters, I pulled the trigger. Upon its entry into my iPod, we made the awkward niceties. Do I call you Clem? Mr Snide? We eventually settled on Clem Snide and went from there.

After46 minutes, I once again was left muttering, “Woody, you are a moron.” This is a very good album that makes me regret not jumping on the Clem Snide band wagon sooner. Songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Eef Barzeley (is hailed in some circles as brilliant) fronts Clem Snide, a band named after a character in several William S. Burroughs novels.  While best known for their “hit” song “Moment In The Sun” that was featured as the theme song in the NBC show Ed, the band has continued putting out solid music. Meat of Life, their seventh album, is consistent with Snide’s past works featuring a simmering blend of alt-country and acoustic pop with some some pretty darn good lyrics.

I have since dipped into their back catalog to get lost in Your Favorite Music and found that to be damn engaging as well. That’s the funny thing about music. Sometimes a band can just slip by and barely register with you and then that odd encounter can lead to an appreciation for their entire body of work. While I am not about to appoint myself the new President of Clem Snide’s fanclub, I certainly have a much greater appreciation for their music.

Clem Snide – Wal Mart Parking Lot

Much like the heralded debut from Girls, Dinosaur Feathers’ Fantasy Memorial has influences rooted in 50’s and 60’s pop music. What makes the music pop are the unique rhythms and percussion that propels the music forward with vigor. Lead singer Greg Sullo spent some time in Mali and those ethnic elements seep in throughout their debut. In fact, on the first song, you are greeted with the sounds of birds from Mali’s desert.

In my email correspondence with Greg, he mentioned that the songs on the album are about falling in and out of love, why it happens, and what it means for different people. The two tunes that left a mark with me are “Teenage Whore” and “History Lessons.” The latter begins like an Everly Brothers tune you’d hear on your mom and dad’s oldies station. Greg had this to say about the song: “Just because you’ve learned the lessons of history, does not mean you’ve learned your lesson.”

The recording is rough around the edges, but it only adds to the charm of the debut album from this Brooklyn band. Much like The Love Language’s lo-fi debut, which also had a few bumps in production, the talent of Dinosaur Feathers is undeniable. You can catch them around town at SXSW in Austin.

Dinosaur Feathers – Vendela Vida

Dinosaur Feathers – Teenage Whore

Northern Cali rockers, Sleepy Sun, deliver a psychedelic stoner rock gem of a debut with last year’s Embrace. At the end of each year, I post the top 10 albums we missed from the year before. I’ll save you all the trouble of guessing what my top miss of ‘09 will be. It is this bouillabaisse of prog, metal, folk and feedback that has struck a nerve with me this early in 2010.

Embrace was produced by Colin Stewart, who also manned the board for Black Mountain’s In The Future. The similarities with Black Mountain are evident though the album. The most compelling similarity is in the male/female vocal interplay. Bret Constantino and Rachel Williams of Sleepy Sun complement one another much like Stephen McBean and Amber Webber of Black Mountain.

Rachel is particularly haunting on “Sleepy Son” where the music breaks and she delivers her vocals before the band launches into a feedback laden jam. At one point near the end, it sounds like she is straining every fiber to be heard over the feedback. It is a brilliant nuance in a fantastic tune.

On the album’s final track, “Duet With The Northern Sky,” Constantino and Williams deliver a hazy folk number that is absolutely striking after the terrorizing jam on the previous track, “Snow Goddess.” My nerves were frayed and “Duet” was the perfect calm after the storm.

Every song on Embrace contains twists and turns making it brilliant. In fact, I managed to write this review without even mentioning my favorite songs, “Lord” and “New Age.” Sleepy Sun will be running around Austin during SXSW. If you dig bands like the aforementioned Black Mountain or anything Ethan Miller has his hand involved in, I suggest adding them to your must-see list. They are certainly on mine.

Sleepy Sun – New Age

Video: Sleepy Sun – New Age

Jagjaguwar’s fresh signing is also its first from the UK. Upon first listen it is apparent that Wolf People are not trying to hide from their heritage. Compiled from collection of recordings by lead singer Jack Sharp circa 2005-07, the band is a meaty stew of the music that I grew up on. You’ll hear Tull, Cream (especially in the vocals), early Fleetwood Mac, and more.

The lead single, “October Fires,” mines those influences and mixes in a little garage rock and harmonica. The album definitely has a fragmented feel to it. Hell, there are even two tracks with “fragment” in the name. But let me tell you, the proper tunes are all phenomenal. “Cotton Strands” sounds like something off of Jethro Tull’s Benefit complete with flute threaded throughout the tune. There is even a bit of crackling on the MP3 to give you a taste of that old school vinyl. Stick me on a beanbag with a Busch Light and that will give you a fairly accurate picture of me in high school.

Live reviews of this band are glowing and the band states that Tidings is look back their prehistory. I look forward to what they’ll do in the future.

Wolf People – October Fires

Joe Pug has been a favorite of our since he released 2008’s Nation of Heat EP. That record was a folk tour de force with acoustic tracks like Hymn 101, Hymn 35 and the title track that bulldozed you with powerful songwriting and weighty vocals. Following up that stellar EP (that was released to fans for zero dollars) is no easy task.

Messenger doesn’t have a Hymn 101 single that will set the Internets on fire, but it is an album that ends too early. It’s hard to find these types of albums – the complete bodies of work. It’s hard to find songwriters that hook me, line and sinker, on every line they write. Pug is one of these songwriters.

Exhibit A: Not So Sure

I’ve bummed expensive cigarettes.
I wrote John Steinbeck’s books.
I undressed someone’s daughter,
Then complained about her looks.
Stealing was so easy then,
I wish that it still were.
Now that I pick my own pocket,
I know that these days I’m not so sure.

Exhibit B: Bury Me Far From My Uniform

Do not bother with Congress, the rich, or with the rest.
I fought their battles in this world,
I’ll not fight for them in the next.
Do not find me justice,
Just find me a grave.
And then bury me far from my uniform,
so God might remember my face.

Restraint. That’s the word that comes to mind to describe this album. Unlike the forceful vocals on his EP, Pug has softened his tone to better suit ballads containing fragile themes that need to be handled with care. Nowhere is it better exhibited than on my favorite track, “Unsophisticated Heart.” But those passionate, almost angry vocals come back on my next favorite, “Bury Me Far From My Uniform.” It’s a tearjerker about a dead soldier that laments and begs for redemption by being buried as his true identity for his moment with God, and not just another commodity soldier casualty of war.

On yesterday’s post, a quick discussion sparked about paying for music these days. It’s hard for me to put a price tag on Joe Pug’s music. That’s how much it means to me. I’m grateful for his music and more grateful that he’s only 25 years old and just getting started. This will be one of my favorite albums of 2010.

I’m completely unbiased in writing this review, but I’d be remiss not to mention that HearYa Live Session producer, Steve Shirk, produced Messenger at his studio, Shirk Music + Sound. You can catch Joe Pug and Steve Shirk and all of HearYa shaking our asses at the HearYa and Woods Entertainment SxSW 2010 Day Party.

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Joe Pug – The Sharpest Crown

Joe Pug – Not So Sure (from the HearYa Live Session)

Joe Pug – First Time I Saw You (from the HearYa Live Session)

Video: Joe Pug – Bury Me Far From My Uniform (LaundroMatinee Session)

Things I like from Queens:

1. St. John’s circa the 80’s when Chris Mullin and Marc Jackson were killing it.
2. Coming To America – Remember when Eddie Murphy made funny movies?
3. My buddies Kev and Dan.

Other than than that, it’s been barren for awhile but I’m ready to add Freelance Whales to my list.

The 5-piece from Queens combine indie folk and electronic elements and, while the electronic stuff is typically not my speed, Freelance Whales use the effects to complement the melodies and arrangements without overpowering any tunes. Throughout Weathervanes, banjos and synthesizers mix effortlessly to support the album’s love story, described as follows:

The record works to tell a simple, pre-adolescent love story: a young male falls in love with the spectral young femme who haunts his childhood home.   He chases her in his dreams but finds her to be mostly elusive.  He imagines her alive, and wonders if someday he’ll take on her responsibilities of ghosting, or if maybe he’ll join her, elsewhere.

“Starring” and “Broken Horse” are my favorite tracks. The latter is a delicate tune that moves along slowly and quietly builds into a brilliant finish with wonderful harmonies and melodies. The video below does the song great justice.

This isn’t an album I expected to enjoy this much. I am not a huge fan of acts that they are being compared with (Postal Service) but something about them struck a chord. Weathervanes is being released on Frenchkiss Records on 3/16 and you can catch them running around at SXSW.

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Freelance Whales – Generator ^ First Floor

Freelance Whales – Broken Horse

I once asked a buddy for a restaurant recommendation in Florence, Italy. He emailed back the name of a place with a comment about their truffles, saying “they are earthy and divine.”  I never expected a guy that funneled beers with me in college to talk about truffles let alone use that phrase, but by happenstance, this random phrase is how I’d describe Midlake’s latest release, The Courage Of Others. Earthy. And devine.

It’s also a perfect album for the winter season. It’s sound is heavily influenced by 60’s British prog-folk-rock with mystical lyrics, flute accompaniments and melancholy themes. It’s not an album you want to throw on at your next party, but it immediately gave me the urge to walk through a damp, foggy forest in solitude.

So that’s what I did. I put in the headphones and, for the first time, hiked to the top of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.  It was the site of furious Civil War battles that claimed the lives of more than 5,000 soldiers. Hearing these somber songs while walking past cannon emplacements and preserved earthworks in this battlefield of ghosts made the early morning hike extremely eerie. As I approached the summit, “The Courage of Others” began to play with lines:

How can they have the courage?
Of lords that have long since past.
It’s in their hands. It’s their heads.
It’s been in their blood for many years and brings them sorrow.
In a dark room he trembles alone. He trembles alone.

It was a moving experience and I don’t think the moment’s gravity would have been felt without Midlake providing the backdrop. I captured a picture on my phone:

I’m aware that this isn’t a typical album review, but this is one of those albums that must be experienced. There is no standout single like “Roscoe” on 2006’s outstanding The Trials of Van Occupanther but The Courage of Others is a better body of work than it’s predecessor. It’s available on eMusic if you’re a subscriber. No mp3’s have been released, but there’s a little player below for sampling.