Because new music can be intoxicating.
And people sometimes call me Drunk.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
New Music Roundup 2/26/13
Travel and illness prevented me from writing the past two weeks but today this blog is back and as mediocre as ever. We have a lot to cover.
The Shout Out Louds - Optica
This is the fourth album by the Swedish indie pop band who knows how to write themselves a strong hook. It seems like I've been saying this quite often in the past year or so, but this is another album of electronic pop with some pretty noticeable 80's synth-y influences. In general, I would say that the thing that separates The Shout Out Louds from other 80's-phile bands is that they have a bigness to their choruses, making them not just singalongably enjoyable but also anthemic. The album is a little front-loaded (although album closer "Destroy" is not to be missed), but this album is worth a listen.
Album: 16 Lovers Lane Band: The Go-Betweens Year: 1988 Background: Something of an obscure critical favorite in the 80's, the Australian band the Go-Betweens deserve strong consideration for currently being one of the most under-appreciated bands of all time. Principle songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan met in college and started playing music together in 1978, eventually adding several other members and releasing a string of solid New Wave-inspired and increasingly poppy albums throughout the 80's. 16 Lovers Lane is the band's sixth album, the last one with their original lineup, and it is without a doubt their masterpiece.
What's so special about this album: Do you like traditional melodious guitar-based pop music? Of course you do; everyone does. As such, you really owe it to yourself to check this album out.
I wasn't the first to note it, but this album really is the 80's equivalent of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours; there are so many parallels. It has the same relentless focus on pop perfection, the same subject matter of the thrill of a new relationship and the heartbreak experienced once one falls apart, and the same melodious accessibility masking complex lyrics that are both more melancholic and bittersweet than one would originally expect. Heck, McLennan was even dating multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown at this point as well, so like Rumours it has that same dynamic where the lead singer is occasionally singing songs about another member of the band.
Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse
Thus far into their career, Frightened Rabbit has been remarkably consistent, and that trend continues with Pedestrian Verse, their fourth studio album. Simply put, if you liked Frightened Rabbit's previous albums, this album is going to work for you: the band manages to sound distinctly like themselves while not repeating much from their earlier work. While it may prove true that Frightened Rabbit will never be able to match their masterpiece The Midnight Organ Fight (which I believe belongs in the conversation for greatest breakup album of all time), this album represents an important step for the band by subtly moving the band into more interesting territory.
First though, a quick digression about sad music: I find mopey wallowing music to be incredibly worthwhile, but only in the proper place and time. Misery music is a lot like Vicodin: when you're in pain, it can be of great use, but limiting its consumption is vital, as that shit is addictive as all hell, and it certainly isn't healthy to be on it all the time (another similarity between the two: when each is combined with alcohol, unpredictable results occur). Because of this, I am much more inclined to listen to happy music much more often, and the artists who trade exclusively in misery get pulled out of the proverbial CD case very very rarely (thankfully).
The Midnight Organ Fight definitely skirted toward misery music territory, even if it never outright crossed the line (I put it into "sadly beautiful" territory and point to "Heads Roll Off", an ultimately life-affirming song about contemplating one's mortality, as the linchpin keeping the album from falling into self-indulgent wallowing). While there was no denying the quality of that album, I did wonder if their extreme competency at it meant the band would be stuck playing depressing downer music for the rest of their careers.
Pedestrian Verse is most encouraging because it shows the band attempting to stretch themselves out of the misery corner. It's important to note these changes happen in the margins - lead singer Scott Hutchison still does let his sadsack cynicism come through at times, and it's not like the band is covering "Walking on Sunshine" or anything - but it is nice to see the band enjoying some growth. This can be most readily seen in the lyrics, which seem to be taking aims more at the universal than the navel-gazing personal, and the music, which at times has more spring in its step than ever before.
I posit that the best example of this new approach is the album closer "Oil Slick," which actually starts off with what could be considered a first for Frightened Rabbit, an actual groove (although those finger squeaks on the guitar strings irritate the hell out of me), before building to their characteristic anthemic cathedral rock in the coda. It is both familiar and yet novel, and the whole thing even ends with birds chirping. Here's hoping this new Frightened Rabbit gets the acclaim they so rightly deserve.
