Sadly no music update this week.  I'm going to blame Taylor Swift's new album not being available on Spotify and a lack of other interesting releases, but we all know it's just laziness on my part.

I'll be back next week.  In the meantime, enjoy the following video for "Baddest Man Alive," which is a Black Keys RZA collaboration.  The song itself is enjoyable, but the video features RZA hitting Dan Auerbach in the face with a fish.

New Music Roundup 10/17

Matters of real life pushed this back later than normal, but better late than never, I guess.

Revolt Revolt - Latah Nights

I was unaware of this band until recently, but they're pretty darn good.  They've spent a lot of time opening for Built to Spill, and that pairing makes a lot of sense: they specialize in that 90's alternative guitar-led genre and manage to touch upon a lot of the giants: not just Built to Spill, but The Pixies, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr. as well.  Interestingly, some of their slower songs have a psychedelic feel that more than a little brings to mind Jane's Addiction.  Additionally, the album is only eight tracks long, and there is definitely something to say about not wearing out your welcome.

Selections
Flares

Nu Blud
Revolt Revolt – Nu Blud
It Echoes On
Revolt Revolt – It Echoes On

Jason Lytle - Department of Disappearance

Jason Lytle's previous band Grandaddy is something of a musical blind spot for me, but hearing this recent album, which is Lytle's second solo effort, makes me want to explore Grandaddy's back catalog.

Lytle's music is an interesting amalgamation: he uses plenty of synthesizers and strings, but he usually grounds the music in driving guitars, and he definitely knows how to craft a song.  This means he can do just about any style: driving rock, mellow folk, spacey prog, or straightforward pop rock.  Lytle's offkilter raspy vocals are kinda reminiscent to me of The Thrills (sidenote: remember The Thrills?), but they are similarly versatile in their mood, sounding at different times apathetic, whimsical, melancholic, or spaced-out.

The album could probably use a little bit more uptempo songs - it sags a bit in the middle before picking up again with the excellent "Your Final Setting Sun" - but the beautiful moments are awful beautiful.

Selections
Department of Disappearance

Matterhorn

Your Final Setting Sun

Drunk on Old Music

Here's the return of the (dare I say) incredibly buzzworthy new weekly (if I feel like it) feature where I talk about older albums I really like that have not gotten the attention I feel they deserve.

Today's going to be a little different: I'm going to be talking about two albums from New Jersey power pop band Fountains of Wayne because a) I was unable to choose between the two albums, b) I wasn't able to post anything last week and consequently feel I owe an extra album this week, and c) this is my blog, and I can do whatever the hell I feel like doing, ok?  Now let's get to the writer-crutch headings...

Band: Fountains of Wayne

Genre thoughts: It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone reading this (unless I'm still getting Russian traffic, in which case за ваше здоровье!) that I am a big fan of the musical genre known as power pop.  Taking a step back a bit, one of the great things about music is that it can be so many different things to a person, changing constantly with a person's current situation, their mood, hell even the weather.  Because of this, I try not to disparage any artist or genre as being too mellow, or too sad, or too intellectual, or too aggressive, or too whatever, because I know there may come a time when that type of music is exactly what I want.  To everything there is a season (I just came up with that).

Consequently meditations on mortality, loss, social injustice, or the trials and tribulations of the Tibetan people have their place, but if I'm reaching for them more often than every once and awhile, something may be wrong.  The majority of my life I hope to be in a happy mood, and the music I'd like to listen to is something that matches that mood, namely something preferably upbeat and hopeful with a melody that's catchy and can get stuck in my head.  And it is precisely here where power pop delivers.

Most here are probably at least somewhat familiar with Fountains of Wayne; I'd imagine everyone has at least heard their 2003 single "Stacy's Mom" (except again maybe the Russians; I don't really know how many years behind us you comrades are pop culturally).  What a lot of people probably don't realize is that I consider Fountains of Wayne to be the best American power pop band of the past twenty years, provided Neko Case's American citizenship doesn't make the New Pornographers an American band (and it doesn't, by the way).

First Album: Fountains of Wayne

Year: 1996

Background: Made back when Fountains of Wayne only consisted only of the duo of Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood (they would later go on to add two more members), this album of tight catchy pop songs was recorded in only five days.  Considering 1996 was right in the smack dab in the middle of the post-grunge phase (or grunge's second wave, or third wave, or whatever: it was when bands like Bush and Everclear were seemingly everywhere), Fountains of Wayne stood out for being comprised of straighforward angst-free pop songs.  If you've encountered this album by accident before, chances are it was one of two songs: either "Radiation Vibe" or "Sink to the Bottom."

Is it any good?: Personally, I don't think Fountains of Wayne has ever been better than on their debut album.  The one thing that has been consistent with all the Fountains of Wayne albums - in addition to Adam Schlesinger's writing of "That Thing You Do!" (arguably my favorite original song in a movie ever) and contributions to the soundtrack for Josie and the Pussycats (which may need its own underrated blog post: the album was produced by Babyface, sung by Letters to Cleo frontwoman Kay Hanley, and features writing contributions from Schlesinger, Adam Duritz, Matthew Sweet, and the Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin) - is that they seemingly effortlessly write catchy hooks, and their self-titled debut is no exception.  Any one of these songs can get lodged into your head for weeks on end.

New Music Roundup 10/10

A.C. Newman - Shut Down the Streets

This is New Pornographer Carl Newman's third solo album (I don't know why he goes by A.C. Newman for his solo efforts either).  His first two solo albums, 2004's The Slow Wonder and 2009's Get Guilty are both quite good and almost entirely indistinguishable from The New Pornographers' official albums in a way that Destroyer's or Neko Case's solo stuff isn't: it's not hard at all envisioning songs like "Miracle Drug,' "On the Table," and "Prophets" appearing on New Pornographers' albums.  In fact, if any of you like the New Pornographers and haven't yet listened to A.C. Newman, you really owe it to yourself to do so.

When I heard that Neko Case was going to be making guest appearances on Shut Down the Streets, I expected this third album to continue the trend of sounding very similar to the New Pornographers' work, but upon listening to it, I'm somewhat surprised to learn that this isn't the case.  In many ways, this album is what you would expect from a solo album by the principal songwriter of a rock band: the mood here is much more subdued, mimicking the AM Gold vibe of the singer-songwriter era of the 70's, and songs are far more likely to meander lazily about.  Make no mistake, this is still Carl Newman: the album still has its fair share of pleasing melodies, but if you're looking for something like the New Pornographers' more rocking numbers or soaring choruses, you're not going to find it here.

All in all, I still enjoy the album - I tend to just like the way Newman writes songs - and I really enjoy lead single "Encyclopedia of Classic Takedowns," which has the bigness that some of the New Pornographers' best has. This won't top my list of favorite New Pornographers albums (that would be Electric Version or Twin Cinema, depending on the day), and this isn't even my favorite Newman album (the aforementioned The Slow Wonder), but it is a solid addition to the rotation.

Selections
Encyclopedia of Classic Takedowns

There's Money in New Wave
A.C. Newman – There’s Money In New Wave
Hostages
A.C. Newman – Hostages
I'm Not Talking

New Music Roundup 10/3

Low Cut Connie - Call Me Sylvia

I was unaware of this band before yesterday, but I have to say that today I am an enormous fan.  Everyone should support this band: they're just a no-frills, raucous, throw-back rock and roll bar band, the perfect kind of music to play from a (ideally coin-operated) jukebox when you're having a bourbon in a seedy dive bar at one in the morning. The music is suitably retro without relying too heavily on any one source; there's some dirty garage rock, doo-wop, more than a little honky tonk piano, and some R&B from the time when those letters actually stood for rhythm and blues.  Over this the lead singer exudes old-school swagger, singing about such diverse topics as drinking, fucking, and longing for more drinks to drink and girls to fuck.  If there's any act that they recall more than others, it's the Faces.  What I'm saying is that this band has probably cracked my top ten of most wanted-to-see live acts.

Call Me Sylvia is actually the band's second album - their first was self-financed and came out in 2011 -  and I also recommend checking out that album, entitled Get Out the Lotion.  This second album is actually more contemplative than the relentless party of the first album (at least in that cry in my beer contemplative way drunks can get).  Either way, this is definitely definitely definitely a band to keep an eye on.

Selections
From Call Me Sylvia (which is unfortunately not yet on YouTube):
Low Cut Connie – Boozophilia
Low Cut Connie – Pity Party
Low Cut Connie – Call Me Sylvia
Low Cut Connie – Sister Mary
Low Cut Connie – (No More) Wet T-Shirt Contests

From Get Out the Lotion:
Rio

Low Cut Connie – Big Thighs, NJ
Johnny Cool Man