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Music Home / Reviews HomeYou Heard It Here First: Yellow Dubmarine, “Something”
It’s clinically proven that the Beatles make life better. Combine the Beatles with the relaxing vibes of reggae, or more accurately reggae’s trippy cousin dub, and it’s quite possible that you could cure cancer. All right, perhaps some research is required before making a definitive statement, but it would not surprise us in the least to discover that a dub Beatles album serves as one hell of a placebo.
A quick Google search revealed a small army of reggae tributes to the Beatles, including another complete album makeover dub-style. Huh, who knew? But none of those other bands matter. We’re here to talk about Yellow Dubmarine, which is comprised of seven of the the most Anglo white men you’re likely to meet. (The only thing their press photo is missing is Damon Albarn, Graham Cozon, a monocle, and a Great Dane.) They sure don’t play like uptight English white boys, though, as this version of “Something” will show. It’s unclear where this will take them career-wise, but it’s a pretty interesting detour at the very least. We bet the Quiet One would have gotten a kick out of it, that’s for sure.
02 Something by Yellow Dubmarine
David Medsker
9/20/2011
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Steal This Song: The Moor, “Warm Winter”
It’s nice to see that ’60s lounge cool has yet to go out of style. Heck, if anything, it’s making a big of a comeback in the indie community. Jon Fratelli put his “Chelsea Dagger” day job on hiatus in order to make a boy/girl ’60s pop record with his wife’s best friend (they’re called Codeine Velvet Club, and they’re super cool), and let us not forget the ultimate hipster, slightly retro boy/girl duo the Bird and the Bee, whom the blogosphere keeps trumpeting, even though their tribute album to Daryl Hall and John Oates left us cold. More than cold, really. Frozen.
Enter the Moor, boldly going where, well, no one has made money in decades. This is to our immense gain, of course, not to mention some up and coming filmmaker who wants to use a Nancy Sinatra song without paying for a Nancy Sinatra song. “Warm Winter,” the leadoff track to their self-titled album, actually brings to mind a couple of bands from across the pond, with an extra jump over a fjord – Club 8 and the Acid House Kings. Those bands, like the Moor, are boy/girl duos, and all three are suckers for the mellow ’60s vibe, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Click here to download The Moor – Warm Winter
David Medsker
9/19/2011
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Steal This Song: The Republic Tigers, “Merrymake It with Me”
God love the Republic Tigers. Their insanely melodic, mid-tempo pop is delightfully out of time, but not in a ‘let’s cash in on this retro thing’ kind of way. Think of them as a moder-day equivalent of a band like Bourgeois Tagg – thinking man’s pop for teenagers. Is that the next niche market?
Sadly, probably not, which is why we love the Tigers for doing it anyway. Their 2008 album Keep Color still receives steady airplay on the iPod, and their new EP, No Man’s Land, is more of the same, including a revved-up version of Keep Color track “The Nerve.” Check out this new song, “Merrymake It with Me,” which we’re convinced is a tip of the hat to Swedish power popsters the Merrymakers. Well, the title is. The song, not so much.
New album coming out later this year. Hopefully this will tide you over until then.
Click here to download Republic Tigers – Merrymake It with Me
David Medsker
4/19/2011
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The Joy Formidable: The Big Roar
RIYL: Sugarcubes, The Sounds, Editors
The Joy Formidable are North Wales’ Ritzy Brian and Rhydian Daffyd with drummer Matt Thomas who clearly needs to change his name to keep up with his band mates. Like many of their contemporaries, they bring a great deal of post-punk and new wave influences to their electronic indie rock, but unlike most, they manage to transform it all into a fresh sonic experience of sublimely constructed songs that work on levels musical, emotional and technical.
Before signing with Atlantic, the Joy Formidable produced an excellent EP, A Balloon Called Moaning that demonstrated a true breadth to their song craft. At eight songs, this was a much more than a typical EP, feeling like a complete debut work. Such a solid collection drove anticipation for their full-length debut, but also created some questions. Would they simply add a few more songs and call it new? What would they do with the experience and added room? The answers are a bit surprising, challenging for the listener, and well worth listening to again and again.
Unabashedly, the Joy Formidable kick off the record with “Austere,” one of their most accessible and catchy songs, and one of four repeats from the EP. But calling them repeats doesn’t do the songs justice; from the deeper, more resonant production quality to the extended ending, they improved upon the lush, layered pop in every way. Impressively, and with no little risk, they went with a “bigger and more” theme throughout The Big Roar, perhaps to live up to the aggrandizing title. Whatever the intent, it works. They play with more echoing, ambient haunts on the original “Buoy” slowing down the pace and tone on track two, playing with expectations, not catering to them. When they rev it back up on “Chapter 2,” they throw pop pretentions out the door, using an old typewriter as introductory percussion, before slamming you with a wall of grinding guitars and drums.
Somehow, throughout the album, Ritzy and company move in unexpected directions, without ever going off the rails. The wash of distortion that never loses its pop roots in “Cradles” flows into a mix of Primitives-style pop rock and prog rock eclecticism. Here you also get the taste of their all-out jam sensibility, as the song goes on for several minutes of heady instrumental work, ending in a wash of white noise.
The entire album is one designed to sweep you up on to a constant ride through a very deliberately crafted joyous and formidable world. If the band was trying to capture their live experience on a studio record, it feels like they made that magic happen. At times channeling Siouxsie Sioux, other times the Cocteau Twins with some balls, Ritzy Brian skates across the breathy, frosty vocal spectrum, without slipping into coyness or frigidity. She lets the pulse of the music carry her voice, riding the crests, and providing some clear focus in the cacophony without corralling the rush. It all comes to a close with the last and greatest of their songs brought over from the EP. “Whirring” is the quintessential example of the “bigger and more” philosophy, double in length from the original, bringing together all the pop, rock, indie and progressive sensibilities into a perfect whole. “All these things about me, you never can tell,” sings Brian, and this is a good thing. The Joy Formidable hook you easily, without ever being easy to pin down, and this makes for one of the best records you’ll hear this year. (Canvasback/Atlantic 2010)
The Joy Formidable MySpace page
Neil Carver
3/10/2011
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Cut Copy: Zonoscope
RIYL: Talking Heads, OMD, Poi Dog Pondering
Hipster elitists would like to convince you otherwise, but pop is not a four-letter word. It’s short for popular, after all, and who doesn’t want to be popular? Hell, even hipsters want to be popular. How do you think they became hipsters in the first place? Because they were never popular.
Australia’s Cut Copy, on the other hand, has no such inhibitions about the notion of popularity, if their latest album Zonoscope is any indication. Rounded out to a quartet, the electropop band who started their career riffing on New Order and Daft Punk has opted for a sunnier – and a tad softer – approach this time around, toning down the guitars while unleashing sky-high synthesizer tracks. Singer Dan Whitford can do a mean impression of OMD’s Andy McCluskey when he feels like it, and in fact the album’s opener, “Need You Now,” bests anything from OMD’s recent reunion album History of Modern. The galloping “Where I’m Going” is flat-out irresistible, while “Pharaohs & Pyramids” has an explosive finale. Zonoscope sees the band stretching things out as well, with several songs surpassing the five-minute mark and the album’s closer, “Sun God,” clocking in at a whopping 15 minutes. This is fun, gorgeous stuff, capturing the spirit of new wave while giving it a contemporary sonic makeover. One can only hope that more bands follow their lead, because God knows the world could use a few more albums like this. (Modular/Fontana 2010)
Cut Copy MySpace page
Click to buy Zonoscope from Amazon
David Medsker
2/8/2011
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Motörhead: The Wörld Is Yours
RIYL: Motörhead
The World Is Yours sounds like Motörhead’s previous album Motörizer, which is to say it sounds like Kiss Of Death, Inferno, Hammered, We Are Motörhead, and most of the other 20-plus albums in Motörhead’s discography. Lemmy growls and scowls, while guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee support him by playing as loud and as fast as they can. Its a formula that worked in 1977 (albeit with a different lineup) and it still works today. About the only discernible difference between this record and Motörizer is that Lemmy doesn’t bother with anything close to a ballad this time around. Instead we get non-stop speed metal songs about killing (“Outlaw”), screwing (“Waiting for the Snake”) and just being the all around badass that the 65-year old bass player from hell is (“Devils in My Hand”). The closest thing to sonic experimentation on The World Is Yours is “Brotherhood of Man,” which loops what sounds like a distant soccer chant as the chorus, while Lemmy somehow makes his voice even more menacing by lowering it a couple registers.
Sure, its nothing new. But at this point does it even matter? This is Motorhead sounding like Motorhead, and that’s good enough for us. (Motörhead Music 2011)
James B. Eldred
2/4/2011
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Candi and the Strangers: 10th of Always
RIYL: Blondie, Cocteau Twins, Lush
Forming a dream pop band is one of the ultimate acts of devotion one can commit. No band in the genre ever rose above cult status in terms of sales, but the ones that have done it well will live forever. You have to think that Austin quiintet Candi and the Strangers knows that their commercial potential has a visible ceiling, but God love them for reaching for it anyway. The band’s sophomore effort, 10th of Always, is like listening to the thoughts of a cool girl in love. She feels the same things that everyone else feels but refuses to let it show, so even when the songs swoon – and boy, do they swoon – it’s done so with impeccable taste and composure, and perhaps a bit of detachment. Cool girls don’t lose their shit, you know.
Fans of Blondie are going to lap up this album, and not just because “Femme Sonique” is a toned-down re-write of “Atomic.” “Nico Regrets” captures both the smooth and edgy aspects of Blondie’s sound, and the epic closer “The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful” is like the Jesus and Mary Chain getting their hands on some lost girl group song and turning it inside out. “Glide,” meanwhile, is positively blissed. There are times, though, when singer Samantha Constant’s vocals are a bit too far down in the mix, and despite the album’s consistently strong songwriting, it takes several listens before some of the songs leave a visible footprint. But such is love, even with a cool girl – you take the good with the bad, and with 10th of Always, it’s all so pretty that complaining about imperfections seems petty. (Candi and the Strangers 2011)
Click here to download Candi and the Strangers – Nico Regrets
Candi and the Strangers MySpace page
Click to buy 10th of Always from Amazon
David Medsker
2/3/2011
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White Lies: Ritual
RIYL: Bands that sound like Joy Division, Joy Division
Ritual, the sophomore album from freakishly pale London post-punkers White Lies, opens with “Is Love.” It is a love song about love that goes into great detail about how damn awesome falling in love feels. Is it a sign that the group of anemic goth London boys are looking up? Maybe they finally got some sun?
No. Don’t worry. While “Is Love” does extol the virtues of falling in love, nearly every other track on Rituals is a counterargument to that upbeat track, explaining in great detail why love is a hideous monster filled with dread and despair, and something that should be avoided at all costs.
On “Bigger Than Us,” lead singer Harry McVeigh worries that his significant other may be leaving him because she’s taking a different way home from work, “You’ve never taken that way with me before / Did you feel the need for change?” The somber tone of “Peace & Quiet” is a little more abstract, but its a safe bet that when he bemoans a “great pressure coming down on me,” he’s talking about love. He’s definitely talking about love on “Streetlights,” which opens with the oh-so-cheerful lyric “Hold tight for heartbreak, buckle up for loneliness.”
White Lies are mopey bastards, brought up in the school of Joy Division, combining sparse yet soaring riffs with dissonant melodies, all while McVeigh does his best to sound just like Ian Curtis. So yeah, they’re derivative without an ounce of originality in them. But they’re still fun in their own “I can’t believe they’re serious way.” Besides, there are far worse Joy Division rip off groups that you could listen to. On a scale of Interpol to She Wants Revenge, they’re definitely a high Editors. (Fiction 2011)
James B. Eldred
2/2/2011
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Red: Until We Have Faces
RIYL: Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace
Twice-nominated for Grammys and one of mainstream rock’s most successful acts, Red are back with their third studio release, Until We Have Faces. Revolving around the theme of seeking one’s identity (and at least partially-inspired by the C.S. Lewis book, “Till We Have Faces”), this new offering may be the record that Red’s detractors have been foaming at the mouth for. It’s a pretty safe, mainstream offering that sees the band doing what they do best, and not much more. Guess what? It still rocks.
Kicking off with its heaviest track, “Feed the Machine,” Red attack the sound system with a simply epic sound. Featuring heavily down-tuned guitars punctuated with string arrangements and soaring choruses Red’s music personifies “brutal but beautiful.” The single, “Faceless,” is one of the stronger tracks and a very safe radio play. “Let it Burn” and “Not Alone,” in the same vein as previous tracks “Let Go” and “Start Again,” display the band’s penchant for ballads and layered melodies. The closing track, the piano-driven “Hymn for the Missing,” takes on a mythic beauty that holds long after the album is finished.
Red is anchored by vocalist Michael Barnes, whose emotional delivery and at-times wicked scream continues to lift what would otherwise be standard issue rock songs. He’s the perfect fit for what are mainly hopeful, positive lyrics (Red is, after all, a Christian band). The rest of the band is tight, and guitarist Anthony Armstrong carries a one-man army of a tone. Producer Rob Graves, who also produced Red’s previous efforts, knows these guys have a good thing going.
Red are really one of the last truly mainstream rock acts around. They’re heavy enough to bring in fans of more aggressive music, but friendly and catchy enough to cross over to contemporary rock fans. The sensational vocals of Barnes and the beautiful orchestral arrangements really help them separate from the competition. Those expecting progression from a technical standpoint will be disappointed, but savvy veterans content with Red’s place in the musical landscape are going to find a whole new batch of songs to love. (Red Ink/Sony 2011)
Bill Clark
2/1/2011
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Audio Bullys: Higher Than the Eiffel
RIYL: Primal Scream, The Ting Tings, Basement Jaxx
Yet another lesson in why bands should choose their names carefully. The word ‘bully’ suggests someone aggressive and intimidating (and, conversely, someone insecure and a little scared). The Audio Bullys, however, are no such thing. They’re beat mongering rockers, like Hard-Fi pulling the late shift in an Ibiza club. (Singer Simon Franks and Hard-Fi’s Richard Archer should do a duet, just to mess with people’s head over who’s singing which line.) The band’s third album Higher Than the Eiffel has some good ideas – lead single “Only Man” is armed with one hell of a hook, and closing track “Goodbye” is a nifty modern-day take on the Specials – but is sorely lacking a filter, not to mention an editor. Two of the first three songs contain fragments of ideas stitched together, much like Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, but there is no flow. Why did “Daisy Chains” need to end with an a cappella bit? (Answer: it didn’t.) “Shotgun” is the only song here that takes advantage of melding two separate ideas into a whole, but it arrives a bit too late to care, thanks to the album’s 56-minute (!) run time. Take out some of the clutter, and this bully could have been a contender. (The End Records 2011)
Audio Bullys MySpace page
Click to buy Higher Than the Eiffel from Amazon
David Medsker
1/27/2011
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George Michael: Faith (Special Edition)
RIYL: Madonna, Michael Jackson, ’80s-era CHR
The world will probably never see another album rule the world like George Michael’s Faith did from 1987 to 1989. Twenty million copies sold worldwide. Number One on the R&B charts, a first for a white artist. Six Top Five singles, four of which went to #1. As pop records go, it was a monster, and while Michael Jackson’s Bad, released two months earlier, notched one more #1 single than Faith did, Faith managed to outsell Bad by two million copies. It also, strangely, won the Grammy for Album of the Year two years after its release.
Looking back at the album today, it’s easy to see why it was so popular; the songs have held up remarkably well (unlike, say, a good chunk of the songs on Bad), and Michael covers a lot of territory in the process, from contemporary dance pop (“I Want Your Sex,” “Hard Day,” “Monkey”) to mid-tempo ballads (“Father Figure”), while throwing in a Bo Diddley-style jam (the title track) and a jazz-fueled torch song (the underrated “Kissing a Fool”) for good measure. Michael’s voice has tremendous range and versatility, and his production is downright minimal in an era known for bombast. It’s a dead brilliant pop record, and the fact that Michael was a mere 23 when he made it is, well, sickening, really.
The bonus disc of Epic/Legacy’s re-release of Faith culls together B-sides and remixes from the era, which includes instrumental versions of “Faith” and “Kissing a Fool,” Michael’s covers of “I Believe When I Fall in Love” and “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” and, at long last, the full-length version of Shep Pettibone’s remix to “Hard Day” (the version that appeared on the Faith CD is a good two to three minutes shorter). Also included are Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis’ mixes to “Monkey” (single edit, 12″ mix, a cappella). Very shrewd move on Michael’s part to get them involved, as the song would not have reached the top of the charts without them. Curiously, the track “Fantasy” is included as well, though it first appeared as a B-side to Listen Without Prejudice Vol. I track “Freedom ’90.” Tough to argue with its inclusion, as it’s a gem, but there are some UK-only and promo-only remixes to “Faith” and “Father Figure” that should probably be here instead.
The DVD contains all of the music videos from the period, as well as the MTV promo film “Music, Money, Love, Faith,” where Michael gears up for his first solo world tour (don’t blink, or you’ll miss his chreographer, a then-unknown Paula Abdul). The uncensored version of “I Want Your Sex” is included as well as the censored one, and both clips seem pretty tame by today’s standards. (Michael wearing nothing but a sheet, horrors!) The best bit is the 40-minute interview Michael did with British TV personality Jonathan Ross, where he delves deeply into Michael’s personal life, even asking him if he’s taken an AIDS test and whether or not he wears a condom. Fans of George Michael, or ’80s pop in general, will find much to love here. (Epic/Legacy 2011)
Candi and the Strangers MySpace page
Click to buy Faith from Amazon
David Medsker
1/27/2011
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Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s: Buzzard
RIYL: Aqualung, Nada Surf, Rogue Wave
It’s interesting to note or see when a band loses its record deal or exits from a major label on its own, and what happens afterward. Many times the band breaks up and goes their separate ways, but these days that’s just the beginning for some artists; with Chicago-based band Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s being one such act. Their previous albums – The Dust of Retreat (Artemis, 2005) and Animal (as well as Not Animal – Epic, 2008) – were similarly lush and brooding with lots of orchestration. But now back to being fully indie, singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard Edwards took six months off before gathering the rest of the band to record again, and the result is the beautifully haunting Buzzard. These songs can maybe best be described as raunchy Halloween-inspired stoner rock, with melodies. The strings are gone and the crunching Fender guitar sound is prominent. There are moments, of course, when Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s reaches back a couple of years and delivers some similar material, particularly on “Tiny Vampire Robot” and the beautifully acoustic “I Do.” But the raunch is in full bloom on “Let’s Paint Our Teeth Green” and “New York City Hotel Blues,” as well as the album’s best track, “Freak Flight Speed.” Oh, and there is also “Your Lower Back,” a somewhat playful nod to a young stripper. Not only does Buzzard have the type of music you might hear in the hip indie record store, it’s maybe Margot’s best album yet – and perhaps the one they’ve wanted to make all along. (Mariel/Redeye 2010)
Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s MySpace page
Mike Farley
1/26/2011
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The Alternate Routes: Lately
RIYL: Gabe Dixon Band, Matt Nathanson, The Damnwells
New England based alt-pop band the Alternate Routes have flirted with modest success – their breakthrough, Good and Reckless and True, was produced by Jay Joyce and their 2009 album was released by indie giant Vanguard. But like many talented bands these days, they’re back to doing it on their own again. Led by Eric Donnelly and Tim Warren, the Alternate Routes and their acoustic-driven, slightly twangy alterna-pop are back with a fourth studio album called Lately. The band is road-tested and still has above average songwriting chops, but there is a bit of magic missing based on previous work. As with most work from the Alternate Routes, there is a nice balance between guitar-driven, beer-soaked rockers (“Rocking Chair”), rock anthems (“Kiss Me” or “Tell Me Your Name”), and pretty ballads (“Shame” and “Lollapalooza”). But if you’ve been digging on these guys since the beginning, you’ll no doubt appreciate the straight-up driving pop of “Still Can’t Get Enough.” No matter where they are in their career, The Alternate Routes are still making relevant, easy-to-listen-to music – that and the compelling vocals of Warren should keep them on the road for a little while longer. (Alternate Routes Records & Soundwave 2010)
The Alternate Routes MySpace Page
Mike Farley
1/21/2011
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Pendulum: Immersion
RIYL: The Prodigy, Nightbreed, King Cannibal
Pendulum have the most apt band name in history, because they love to swing back and forth between two genres; drum and bass and hard rock. Their 2006 debut Hold Your Colour was almost exclusively drum and bass, but their 2008 follow-up In Silico saw the group abandon almost all of the drum and bass influences in exchange for a hard electronic rock style (think Nitzer Ebb meets metal) that put off much of their core fanbase. It also made them mainstream stars throughout much of their native Australia as well as Europe, leading bassheads around the world to cry “sellout.”
Well, this should shut them up, although it probably won’t. With Immersion the band takes a hard swing back to their drum and bass roots while still keeping just enough of their rock influence to sound exciting and different. They even pull in some electro-house and dubstep influences into the fold. Sometimes they even do it all at once, like with the two-parter track “The Island,” which starts as a straight-up electronic-rock song before suddenly exploding into a sea manic breakbeats and then transforming again into a shockingly good dubstep sound, a genre that is usually as boring and empty as the fans who listen to it. There are a couple mid-tempo tracks on Immersion that stick closer to the rock/dance formula of In Silico, and most of the songs still feature an abundance of vocals. I’m sure the most hardcore drum and bass fanatics out there will cling to those two facets of the album to convince themselves that Pendulum are still a bunch of sellouts. They can go ahead, the rest of us will be rocking out to the first great electronic album of 2011 (or the last great electronic album of 2010 if you live in the rest of the world, where it came out months ago). (Atlantic 2011)
James B. Eldred
1/21/2011
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Pearl Jam: Live on Ten Legs
RIYL: Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron and Boom Gaspar
For a band that makes most of its live material available to fans, Pearl Jam releasing a live compilation hardly qualifies as news. In fact, judging by the reaction of some message boarders, Live on Ten Legs qualifies as everything from a giant snoozefest to an 18-track rip off. “Why would I buy this,” asked one poster, “when I already own all the bootlegs?” Well – surprise – most PJ fans, from the casual to the diehard, don’t already own all the bootlegs, in which case Live on Ten Legs, a collection of tracks culled from the band’s 2003-2010 world tours, serves its intended purpose as a companion to 1998’s platinum live release, Live on Two Legs, and a fun way to kick off the band’s 20th anniversary year.
While it seems silly to complain about the album as a whole – if you don’t want it, don’t buy it – it is fair to question the 18-song lineup, newly remastered and remixed by longtime Pearl Jam engineer Brett Eliason. Five songs from the band’s epic debut, Ten, and another four from its most recent release, Backspacer, dominate the proceedings, with 1993’s Vs. being the only other album to contribute more than one song and 1996’s No Code getting completely shut out. Granted, PJ was careful to avoid any overlap from the Live on Two Legs track listing, but it still seems strange to have only five songs representing six of the band’s nine studio albums. Fortunately, the material that did make the cut is top-notch, with Pearl Jam once again demonstrating why they’ve long been considered one of the best live bands around, particularly with the killer quartet of “Spin the Black Circle,” “Porch,” “Alive” and “Yellow Ledbetter” to close the album out.
After 20 years, Pearl Jam knows all too well that you can’t please all the fans all the time. With Live on Ten Legs, the band gives everyone else a taste of what the bootleg junkies have been gobbling up for the past eight years. (Monkeywrench Records 2011)
Jamey Codding
1/18/2011
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The Jayhawks reissues, Part I: Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass
RIYL: Flying Burrito Brothers, early Wilco, Gram Parsons
We say Part I because Jayhawks guitarist Gary Louris personally told us that there are plans to reissue the band’s remaining three albums with American and Lost Highway before the end of the year. Insert fist pump here.
It sure seemed like the planets were aligned, on several occasions, for the Jayhawks to become a much bigger band. They were discovered in an only-in-the-movies fashion, as American Recordings A&R chief George Drakoulias was on the phone with the president of Twin Tone Records and heard Blue Earth, the band’s 1989 sophomore album, in the background. He quickly signed them and produced their first two major label albums. They sold well, but beneath the ‘next Black Crowes’ hype they were tagged with at the time, which was a silly tag to hit them with in retrospect, but you know how the music business works, even when it’s counterproductive to a band’s long-term health.
And ultimately, that inability to break through to the next level cost them in more ways than one. Singer and founder Mark Olson left the band shortly after the song “Blue” failed to take off the way they had hoped it would, and Louris took over the band for three more albums before quietly calling it a day. Then something strange and wonderful happened: Olson realized that he and Louris had unfinished business. The two made a quiet album together, 2009′s Ready for the Flood, and before they knew it, the definitive Jayhawks lineup was playing together again and are currently putting the finishing touches on their first album in eight years. As an appetizer, Sony Legacy has reissued the band’s first two albums for American Recordings along with some hard-to-find B-sides and basement tapes that were the stuff of urban legend. Dig in.
Hollywood Town Hall
Modern rock radio was still in its infancy when Hollywood Town Hall came out in late 1992, and you can’t help but think that the fact that they received support from modern rock stations actually cost them airplay on the traditional rock stations. Whatever the reasons, it deserved to do better, because this is one solid rock album, thanks in no small part to the blossoming of Louris as a songwriter. The Jayhawks were Olson’s band in the beginning, but he would never have written something like “Waiting for the Sun” or “Settled Down Like Rain,” and it’s no coincidence that both of those songs were tapped as singles. The harmonies are as tight as ever, and the inclusion of piano and organ fleshes the songs out and gives even the more countrified moments a rock flavor. For a band that began as country rock act, Hollywood Town Hall is certainly far removed from their roots, yet the band’s essence remains intact.
The bonus tracks are just as good, too, particularly “Leave No Gold” and a raucous version of the gospel standard “Up Above My Head.” Many of these songs never saw the light of day in the US (and two of them were never released at all), so their inclusion here is a big, big plus.
Tomorrow the Green Grass
Here is all you need to know about Tomorrow the Green Grass: when the band announced that they had reformed and were doing a mini-tour, and would be dedicating certain nights to playing one of these two albums in its entirety, the shows where they were playing all of Tomorrow the Green Grass were the first ones to sell out. With keyboardist Karen Grotberg involved in the recording sessions (she came on board after the band had finished recording Hollywood Town Hall) and the band ready to experiment with different sonic textures, songs like the string-kissed “I’d Run Away” soared like no Jayhawks song had ever soared before. “Nothing Left to Borrow” is the best song the Byrds never wrote, and “Blue” practically started its own religion. It’s pop in the best sense of the word, melding a myriad of influences (check out the rockin’ “Real Light”) to create something wholly unique. Tomorrow the Green Grass is in a class all its own.
And look what Legacy dug up to go with it – the so-called Mystery Demos that Jayhawks fans gossiped about for a good 10 years on message boards. Comprised of two sessions between Olson and Louris (one of which featured a violinist), several of these songs wound up on Tomorrow the Green Grass, but the stark versions here are just as memorable, particularly “Red’s Song” and an almost fully formed “Nothing Left to Borrow.” Of the tracks to receive the deluxe recording treatment, the Grotberg-sung “Last Cigarette” and the stomping title track are highlights. We eagerly await Round II of the Jayhawks reissue campaign, not to mention the band’s new album, their first in eight years, later this spring. For the first time in a long time, it’s good to be a Jayhawks fan. (Sony Legacy 2010)
The Jayhawks official website
Click to buy Hollywood Town Hall from Amazon
Click to buy Tomorrow the Green Grass from Amazon
David Medsker
1/17/2011
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Duran Duran: All You Need Is Now
RIYL: Duran Duran’s first two albums, Mark Ronson
It’s funny how people can surprise you even when you think you know them better than they know themselves. After spending a good decade releasing albums that ranged from underrated (Medazzaland) to underwritten (Pop Trash), Duran Duran reunited the Fab Five lineup early in the 2000s and dropped Astronaut in 2004. It was the closest the band had come to their trademark sound in 20 years, and they were rewarded with some of the best reviews of their career. But old feelings die hard, and guitarist Andy Taylor bailed on the band again the middle of making the follow-up to Astronaut. That album, titled Reportage, was supposed to be a back-to-basics affair, an angrier, more aggressive album. Rather than finish the album, though, the band dissolved their partnership (we’re guessing that’s a money move, so Andy would no longer be involved in any revenue sharing) and started over from scratch…
…with Timbaland and his hack protege, Danja Hills. Ye gods.
The ensuing album, 2007′s Red Carpet Massacre, was a gigantic step backward, filled with wonky synthesizers and the worst drum sounds a rock band ever put to tape (and that includes Missing Persons’ Rhyme & Reason). The whole modern-day hip-hop production didn’t suit them at all, and the worst part is that there were ways that Duran Duran could have modernized their sound without looking silly; Timbaland was not one of them.
And clearly the band realized this, because midway through the tour for Red Carpet Massacre, they teamed up with UK It Boy Mark Ronson and asked him to remodel their hits. The collaboration proved to be fruitful, as Simon Le Bon would go on to sing on Ronson’s (great) 2010 album Record Collection (the title track, no less), and keyboardist Nick Rhodes contributed a song. Ronson returned the favor by producing the band’s new album, All You Need Is Now, and with that, they found their new Colin Thurston and released their best album since Rio.
Let’s qualify that best-album-since-Rio line, though. It’s their most consistent album since Rio, no question, with nary a duff track in the bunch. But it’s surprisingly lacking in the ‘killer hit single’ department. The title track is a gem, and “Runaway Runaway” captures the essence of the band’s glory days better than anything here, but as good as these songs are, it’s an album full of songs on par with “Anyone Out There” and “My Own Way.” There isn’t an “Ordinary World,” “Planet Earth” or even a “New Moon on Monday” to be found.
There is, however, a new “The Chauffeur” buried in the album’s final third. “The Man Who Stole a Leopard” is a masterpiece, but its run time (over six minutes) and tone will make it a hard sell for release as a single. Beginning with a flanged keyboard, string accents (courtesy of Arcade Fire’s Owen Pallet) and minimalist percussion, the song slowly builds into a melancholy dance track not unlike Massive Attack’s “Unfinished Sympathy,” with haunting call-and-respond vocals from Kelis. Easily the best song the band’s done since “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone.”
It looks as though something good came out of Red Carpet Massacre after all. The band realized that chasing the pop charts is a fool’s errand, and that the best thing they can do at this point in time is simply be themselves. All You Need Is Now could be better, sure, but Duran Duran hasn’t shown this kind of focus in nearly 30 years, and that alone is reason to be cheerful. Well done. (Skin Divers 2011)
David Medsker
1/13/2011
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Girl Talk: All Day
RIYL: Popular music
Girl Talk’s albums have always been a Top 40 of sorts for the ADD set, but with All Day he takes it to new heights. His breakthrough album Night Ripper featured samples from approximately 150 songs. His follow-up, 2008′s Feed the Animals, had about 300. All Day‘s massive menagerie of liberated cut-ups and clips tops out at close to 400. At 71 minutes in length, that averages out to about 5.6 songs a minute.
Like all Girl Talk (real name Gregg Gillis) albums, it’s one continuous mix, constantly changing and evolving, so its impossible to rate individual tracks. However, some highlight sections include the opening minute, which combines Ludacris’ “Move Bitch” with Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”; the brilliant combining of Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” with Fugazi’s classic “Waiting Room,” and an awesome combination of Toadies’ “Possum Kingdom” with vocal samples from about half a dozen different rap tracks.
Nearly anyone with good enough sound mixing software and a basic understanding of time signatures can mix songs together, but Gillis doesn’t only top amateur mash-up artists with his quantity of tracks sampled, but with his inspiration in choosing tracks. But only Gillis has the gumption to mix together ODB’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” with Radiohead’s “Creep,” to added unexpected meaning to ODB’s ode of dirty sex and some much needed levity to Thom Yorke’s self-loathing warble.
It doesn’t have the novelty of previous Girl Talk releases – we’ve all heard this before by now. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a truly awesome mix, and one of his most entertaining to date. (Illegal Art 2010)
James B. Eldred
12/6/2010
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Leeroy Stagger: Everything Is Real
RIYL: Ryan Adams, Matthew Ryan, Gabe Dixon Band
There are times when you just have to marvel at all of the great music that continues to funnel down from Canada – well, minus Celine Dion. In Leeroy Stagger, here’s a guy who has been toiling away for the better part of a decade, aided by being brought on tour as support for Hot Hot Heat. Stagger’s latest, Everything is Real, was released in 2009 and released in the U.S. in 2010 on Brooklyn-based 2:59 Records. If you’re a fan of any of the artist’s listed above, digging Leeroy will come naturally – his music is hauntingly old-school yet has a twangy alternative bent that is fresh and modern. And Stagger has that same compelling vocal drawl that is perfect for movie soundtracks. But wait, the songs – there isn’t really a clunker on Everything is Real. There are some real gems too, like the stunning mid-tempo “Sleep Alone” or the sing-along “Stormy.” Stagger also knows how to turn the volume way up, as on the blazing title track, which has a Ramones flavor; or how to turn it way down, as on the acoustic-driven “Snowing in Nashville.” If alt-country tends to be too country for you, and you like stuff that leans more “alt” with a hint of twang, then go check out Leeroy Stagger now. (2:59 Records 2010)
Leeroy Stagger MySpace Page
Mike Farley
12/3/2010
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Miggs: Wide Awake
RIYL: Butch Walker, Matthew Good, Bon Jovi
Apparently Don Miggs has been making music and touring for several years, but as the bio for Miggs’ eponymous trio proclaims, they may be one of the “best bands you’ve never heard of.” That’s a blessing and a curse, yet in today’s indie music scene, maybe more of a blessing if you can be heard. Indie rock/pop label Rock Ridge was impressed enough with Miggs’ accessible, hard-edged alternative pop. Miggs’ latest, Wide Awake, is 12 songs that ride as a roller coaster might – from addictive anthems like “Let the Games Begin” and the title track to Butch Walker-esque ditties like “Fire” and “Sincerity,” to balls-out rockers such as “Enemy,” with a positively stunning keyboard-driven ballad, “Crawl Inside,” to close out the set. Miggs the vocalist sounds at various times like Jon Bon Jovi, Walker and Canadian rocker Matthew Good, and those are all guys with pipes. Add in the production expertise of Ken Lewis (Fall Out Boy, Kanye West) and the rough edges of the band are captured on this release, yet effectively smoothed out as well. Intrigued? You should be, because this is easily one of the best albums of 2010 that you….wait for it…..have not heard yet. So do yourself a favor and go hear these guys. (Rock Ridge 2010)
Miggs’ website: www.miggsmusic.com
Mike Farley
11/29/2010
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