In honor of the veritable orgy of aural delights that was released yesterday, I'm not wearing any pants as I write this post.
alt-J - An Awesome Wave
I may be out on an island on this, but I absolutely love this arty, schizophrenic, occasionally just plain weird debut album from the British band alt-J. It's difficult for me to describe their sound, and that's part of the appeal: though you hear traces of other indie or folk acts in different parts of their songs, alt-J has more or less managed to create a sound of their own, which is one of the highest compliments I can give a debut album. This band manages to accompany folky guitars and vocal harmonies with off-kilter polyrhythmic beats that sparkle at times, bounce at times, and rock at times. Over all this the lead singer Joe Newman gives what I will call a quirkily affected vocal performance, singing out of the back of his throat in a way that reminded me several times of the lead singer of System of a Down. People's mileage may vary on the guy's voice, but unlike some other bad indie singers - the guy from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah comes to mind - it seems to be an intentional effort on the Newman's part: on a couple of the more straightforward songs, he sounds perfectly normal.
Anyway, this is my favorite album of a week filled with some great music. I will most definitely be tracking this band's career:
Selections:
Fitzpleasure
Dissolve Me
Breezeblocks
The Killers - Battle Born
It is my personal belief that the Killers will never make a better album than Hot Fuss, their 2004 debut, but this new album may be the clearest expression of what the Killers are about. And if I had to sum up what the Killers are all about in one word, it would be excess.
This album has all kinds of songs: it has songs that start off with fast-paced verses leading into to-the-rafters anthemic choruses, it has songs that start off with slow-paced verses leading into to-the-rafters anthemic choruses, and then it even has songs that start off with to-the-rafters anthemic verses leading into to-the-rafters anthemic choruses. The diversity is astounding.
But here's the thing: this completely works for this band. Sam's Town was a disappointment because the Killers were aping Springsteen, and that comparison did them no favors. All along the band would have been much better off emulating someone like Meat Loaf, or Bryan Adams, or Bon Jovi: acts who may be cheesy, but they embrace that cheesiness to the hilt.
This new album similarly embraces the cheesiness. If people still cared about rock music, lead single Runaways would make a strong case for being the "Sister Christian" of the 10's. "Here with Me" sounds like every single power ballad played on VH1 between the years of 1988-1992 that I consider a guilty pleasure. But perhaps if you're looking to really quickly and easily deduce what this album is about, just listen to the first 35 seconds of the title track, before the vocals come in, which is to me at the least the purest summation of this band's aesthetic.
Anyway, I'll probably always be a little disappointed the Killers didn't live up to the slightly more eclectic potential of Hot Fuss, but if this is the sound of the band finding itself, who am I to complain? This is fun music, and I'm willing to keep buying it if they keep selling it.
Selections
Runaways
Ben Folds Five - The Sound of the Life of the Mind
As a big Foldsy fan (confession: sometimes I call him Foldsy), I'm really excited that he's reunited with the other two members of Ben Folds Five (fun fact that I'm sure you've never heard before: Ben Folds Five only has three members. Counting, huh?). Considering he's the lead singer and his name takes up two thirds of the group's name, you could be forgiven for not making much of a distinction between Ben Folds's solo work and his work the Five, but I think the output from Ben Folds Five is far superior, and this reunion album, coming thirteen years (!) after that last Ben Folds Five record, seems to suggest that that superiority was not an accident.
In a lot of ways this album sounds hearkens back to the band's successes in the latter half of the 90's. Since even at their most popular Ben Folds Five never really sounded stereotypically 90's, it wouldn't be accurate to say that this is a retro album; rather it's a band showing they still have their fastball. That means you're going to get what you get from the average Ben Folds Five album: there's going to be some upbeat bouncy catchy pop, there's going to be some pensive ballads, and there's going to be plenty of raucous ivory-tickling.
I doubt this album will make much of a dent in the pop music landscape, but anyone who enjoyed the band in the past owes it to themselves to give this a listen.
Selections
Erase Me
Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet on Sky
Dinosaur Jr. had their big comeback album with 2007's Beyond, and this new album continues the trend. J Mascis is still in a class by himself on the guitar, and this album shows more varied instrumentation than previous Dinosaur Jr. albums. Opener "Don't Pretend You Didn't Know" shows this, featuring an outro that places a driving repetitive piano riff over Mascis's guitar noodling. It may be my favorite Dinosaur Jr. song ever recorded.
In short, if you're familiar with Dinosaur Jr. this album may not hold a lot of surprises for you, but everything it does works exceptionally well for me. If you like guitar-driven rock, give this a listen.
Selections
Don't Pretend You Didn't Know
The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter
I know it's become de rigueur to bag on Mumford & Sons, and I don't really want to do that (at least not until their new album comes out next week), but I do remained confused by their massive success compared to the Avett Brothers. Put simply, everything people love about Mumford & Sons is done and done better by the Avett Brothers.
2012 seems to be the year that indie folk started appearing everywhere, and out of all the strong releases (the Lumineers, Dry the River, Delta Rae), right now I think this Avett Brothers release is my favorite. Yes, they have the banjos and the harmonizing, but they manage to vary their sound from song to song, something that a lot of these younger bands haven't yet mastered.
Selections
Live and Die
Robert Pollard - Jack Sells the Cow
I was originally planning a lengthy article here entitled "Everything Robert Pollard Does is Excellent, so Nothing Robert Pollard Does is Excellent, or The Essential Scarcity of Cool," but it became clear in the writing that it was preposterously pretentious (which, given the title probably comes as a huge surprise), so I scrapped it.
Here's all I'll say: I like songs written by Robert Pollard. This album (the third in 2012 by Robert Pollard, after the two Guided by Voices albums) contains songs written by Robert Pollard.
Selections:
The Rank of a Nurse
Robert Pollard – Take In
Pontius Pilate Heart
Robert Pollard – Pontius Pilate Heart
Grizzly Bear - Shields
I never really got the appeal of Grizzly Bear before. Having listened to this album, I think I would sum it up as "a less bombastic Arcade Fire." Glad that got cleared up.
I definitely don't find this album objectionable, and some of it even rocks a little more than I expected. This is one I'll probably spend more time with before really making up my mind: right now I'd say it's alright but with very little material that instantly grabs me. And in a week with so much good music, if an album doesn't instantly grab me, it might get a little short shrift.
Selections
Speak in Rounds
Grizzly Bear – A Simple Answer
Sleeping Ute
Band of Horses - Mirage Rock
This album is a little forgettable, but it's not bad. It doesn't sound like too much of a departure from their previous releases, although on a couple songs they do sound a lot more like Crosby, Stills, and Nash or America than I had remembered. This is another album that would get a B/B- that probably isn't being done any favors by being released on a week with so much other music.
Selections
Dumpster World
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