Category: MP3s

This Week’s Finds: April 3-9 (Eels, Lismore, Graham Coxon)

“Old Shit/New Shit” – Eels

There is something weirdly comforting about hearing Mark Oliver Everett–aka E, doing business as Eels—unload a new cheerful/depressing song on us, just when we need it most. The driving beat, the distinctive chimes, the seriously despairful lyrics, the unaccountable moments of silence, and E’s gruff but disarmingly melodious voice–all of it brings me back to, oh, 1996 or so. And yet (as he well knows) how much is very very different now than it was back when he had a minor pop cultural moment seeking some novocaine for his soul. Gliding by in an airy couple of minutes, “Old Shit/New Shit” is one of more than 30 songs on eels’ upcoming double-CD Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, to be released later this month on Vagrant Records.

“This Time” – Lismore

An appealing amalgam of trip-hoppy textures and wistful melody, “This Time” launches off the repetition of two notes, the first repeated seven times, the second five times. The notes are adjacent to one another, which makes it a so-called “second” interval. It’s an interesting interval because it’s the most natural one when the notes are played separately (we’re talking “do” to “re” here, one logical step up) and yet a jarring (in musical terms, “dissonant”) interval if the notes are played at the same time. There is a compelling, depth-laden tension in the air, then, when a songs grounds itself in a second interval; Lismore works within and around the tension astutely, floating mismatched synthesizer lines on top, glitching up the middle with a variety of electronica fuzz, and anchoring the bottom with an actual bass and drum kit. That we are dealing with a singer with as warm a voice as Australia-born Penelope Trappes adds to the delicious juxtapositions here. “This Time” can be found on Lismore’s debut full-length CD, We Could Connect Or We Could Not, released earlier this year on Cult Hero Records. The MP3 is available via the band’s web site.

“Freakin’ Out” – Graham Coxon

An unabashed shot of guitar rock, emphasis on guitar, from the former Blur guitarist. After nodding off to a few too many Blur songs that idled in one key, almost literally (and don’t get me wrong, I mostly liked the band!), I find myself all but slapped to attention by the crisp and crackly sizzle immediately on display here. On top of its Clash-like swagger and British-punk energy, “Freakin’ Out” adds enough fiery guitar work to spring-clean your brain in three and a half minutes. Anthemic riffs, solid arcs of sound, acrobatic fingerwork, and a way-too-cool solo, it’s all here, wrapped in and around a just-this-side-of-insipid ditty. Great for blasting out the windows if the weather ever warms up and if it stops raining. “Freakin’ Out” is the single from Coxon’s latest CD, Happiness in Magazines, released in the U.S. in January on Astralwerks. (The record was originally released in the U.K. last May.) The MP3 is stored over at SXSW.com.

This Week’s Finds: March 27-April 2 (The Cloud Room, Andrew Bird, Of Montreal)

“Hey Now Now” – the Cloud Room

Cross the Strokes with New Order and they might come out sounding like this, if the lead singer were Richard Butler’s first cousin (Butler being the lead singer of the Psychedelic Furs). Whether the titular nod to OutKast’s monster “Hey Ya” is intentional, there’s something of that song’s relentless infectiousness at play here, funneled through a downtown NYC sound, all rumbly drumbeats, Farfisa-like keyboards, and prickly, surf-style guitars. I imagine if you were to hear this song live in a club you wouldn’t stop bouncing around for a good few days, and I’m tempted to think we could all use that sort of vibe right about now. Not to be confused with the wonderful Laura Veirs song of the same name, the Cloud Room is a New York-based foursome featuring a guy named J on vocals and guitar, just so you know. “Hey Now Now” will be found on the band’s self-titled debut CD, scheduled for release on Gigantic Music on April 19th.



“A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left” – Andrew Bird

I’m not sure when I’ve heard such a diverse, unexpected, and yet disconcertingly organic 20 seconds of music as can be found towards the end of the introductory section of this curiously titled song from the idiosyncratic Mr. Bird. After an echoey electronic burst, the song begins with voice and acoustic guitar, the singer providing a clear if rather wacky introduction to the subject at hand, and then, around 45 seconds into it, comes this marvelous 20-second stretch: a violin takes over, changes key at least twice without playing many notes, then (somehow) hands it off seamlessly to an electric guitar; said guitar issues an assured couple of strums before giving way to what sounds like a ghostly synthesizer, accompanied by some Beatle-like string punctuations. But hold on, this “synthesizer” is Bird himself, whistling. He’s an expert whistler, it seems, in addition to being a classically trained violinist. This song is so hard to describe and yet so craftily put together that I seem only to be able to talk about short stretches of it. Another great one happens at around 1:45, at the end of the verse; here, Bird breaks off, nearly a capella, and modulates himself through a captivating series of chord changes, leading into the chorus, from whence cometh the title. I have a feeling many listens are required to have this all coalesce meaningfully, and I have no doubt that those listens will be rewarded. This song can be found on Bird’s latest CD, The Mysterious Production of Eggs, which was released in February on Righteous Babe Records. The MP3 can be found on Bird’s web site.



“So Begins Our Alabee” – Of Montreal

This is another unusually put together song, but in quite a different way than “Nervous Tic.” Opening like the Beach Boys on Ecstasy, “So Begins Our Alabee” flits through a number of different electronic and guitar sounds in its extended introduction before settling on a driving beat that sets up a very simple but undeniably catchy vocal section. Singer/guitarist Kevin Barnes bears a happy aural resemblance to Aztec Camera’s Roddy Frame, and sings with the same elastic bounce in his throat; even though he ends up repeating the same melody line over and over in lieu of any real chorus or verse structure, he does so with such engaging energy, surrounds himself with gleeful harmonies, and leaves off with a memorable lyric (“Girl I never want to be your little friendly abject failure”) that it all seems to work somehow. Of Montreal is actually not; rather than being another cool band from Canada, they are another cool band from Athens, Georgia, emerging in 1997 out of the so-called Elephant 6 collective–and no, I can never quite get my arms around what a “collective” actually is, but no doubt it’s a generational difficulty on my part; at some point in the ’90s bands started having this loose, shape-shift-y way of “emerging” from “collectives.” I do know that “So Begins Our Alabee” is a song from the band’s new CD, The Sunlandic Twins, to be released on Polyvinyl Records on April 12th. The MP3 is on the Polyvinyl web site.

This Week’s Finds: March 20-26 (Palaxy Tracks, Mirah, The Exit)

“Speech With Animals” – Palaxy Tracks

I find the beginning of this song has been popping in my head randomly and repeatedly for the past couple of weeks, ever since I first listened to it. The only explanation I can offer is that this is one incredibly, indelibly gorgeous song; even before I had fully absorbed it, my brain was singing it back to me. After a laid-back but authoritative drumbeat, shuffly and welcoming, we hear a guitar describing a simple third that descends and ascends, just that, plainly and without hurry. Then comes the central melody, aching and beautiful, accentuated by lead singer Brandon Durham’s tender but resilient voice. The guy sounds like he’s sitting on a lot of hurt, but refuses to get maudlin about it; everything here is about understatement—that this is a song without a chorus seems only fitting somehow. The lyrics are elusively about a relationship on the brink of ruin, and arrive at an emotional brink themselves as a swelling sort of controlled noise rises in the background but never quite takes over. “Speech With Animals” will be the lead track on the band’s new CD, Twelve Rooms, due out in April. The MP3 comes from SXSW.com.

“Cold Cold Water” – Mirah

A strangely hypnotic sort of indie-folk-rock epic, complete with orchestral flourishes and dramatic gestures, “Cold Cold Water” is held together first and foremost by Mirah’s immediately endearing voice. Picture Edie Brickell crossed with Liz Phair and you might get close to Mirah’s matter-of-fact sweetness; add a sprinkle (just a sprinkle) of Kate Bush for an underlying sense of drama and here you are, in a place you’ve probably never been before. “Cold Cold Water” develops instrumentally in an almost indescribable way–much of the time, Mirah sings against a sparse but evocative background; intermittently things explode in various ways; nothing happens quite the same way twice; all sorts of interesting accompaniments (listen for strings and percussion in particular) are encountered along the way. I can’t think of that many songs that pull off the feat of being truly innovative and truly engaging simultaneously but this does it for me. A road warrior and full-fledged free spirit (apparently born on a kitchen table, she grew up in an artistic, hippie, macrobiotic household), Mirah (full name: Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn) has aquired a devoted left-of-center following over the past four or five years, and while not to be confused with the band Marah, both are in fact from Philadelphia. “Cold Cold Water” can be found on Mirah’s 2002 CD, Advisory Committee, released by K Records. The MP3 is available on the K Records web site.

“Don’t Push” – the Exit

Here’s a New York City trio that answers the burning question: what would the Police have sounded like if Thom Yorke had been the lead singer? I for one find the Police influence refreshing; and I’m talking the early, reggae-inflected, percussive singles like “Roxanne” and “Can’t Stand Losing You.” For all that Sting has become, for better or worse, over the years, it’s nice to take a breath and remember the raw vivid energy the Police hit the ground with in the late ’70s, and nice to see a new band drawing upon that sound for some 21st-century-style inspiration. “Don’t Push” may not be a truly great song but it sounds great coming out of the speakers, all sharp-edged, rumbly, and assured. Maybe it’s just me reliving a moment of actual awe (I swear I can still picture where I was and who I was with when we threw the “Roxanne” 45–yeah it was an actual 45 back then–on the turntable and sat there slackjawed at what we heard), but what the heck. Yet another MP3 from the incredible SXSW.com repository, this song is from The Exit’s 2004 CD Home For an Island, released on Some Records.

This Week’s Finds: March 13-19 (Kaiser Chiefs, Shipping News, Jill Barber)

“I Predict a Riot” – the Kaiser Chiefs

In both sound and sheer exuberant panache, this song more than any I’ve heard in the last few years recalls one of rock history’s greatest of time/places–Great Britain in the late ’70s. Urgent, vibrant, crazy-catchy singles poured overseas from the U.K. during that high-spirited time when punk transmuted into new wave. There was no separation between pop and credibility back then, perhaps because back then pop music could have (for lack of a more elegant word) balls–not to be confused with simple vulgarity, by the way. From the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the Jam through the Stiff Records gang (Elvis Costello among them), the Buzzcocks, the Undertones, and many others, the years 1977 through 1979 gave birth to a flood of roiling, vivid singles, each sporting a terrific melody–even if the singer (as often was the case) sneered his way through the song. “I Predict a Riot” gives us simple, memorable melodies in all three sections of the song (verse, bridge, chorus), which sounds like a straightforward feat until you realize how few songs bother to achieve it. Like many of the Jam singles in particular (check that band out please if you’ve never heard them!), this song adds a thread of minor-key and lyrical menace to the cheery fabric; the vague sensation that maybe you’ve heard this all before only heightens the engagement. The song, a sensation in England, will be available in the U.S. on Employment, the band’s debut CD, set for a major-label release here this week on Universal. The MP3 can be found on SXSW.com.



“Axons and Dendrites” – Shipping News

Perhaps it’s only fitting that a song called “Axons and Dendrites” have so much depth and tension, so much implied mysteriously below the surface. As far as I can tell, this piece is built largely upon a recurring two-chord progression (the two nerve processes of the title?), but the chords are so spacious and so good–the second so completely satisfying and yet continually unexpected-sounding an arrival point–that a fully textured adventure results. Shipping News affects a lot through juxtaposition, the most prominent one being the matching of a rapid, tribal-like drumbeat against the slow unfolding of the two chords; listen as well to the way the ringing guitar that offers the signature chords plays against an undercurrent of muddy-fuzzy guitar noise, and to how the bass flits in and out of awareness, sometimes offering high-register melody, other times sinking down into the primal groove driving the song ever forward. A four-piece band with roots in Louisville, Kentucky, these guys have been around since 1996 and the experience shows. “Axons and Dendrites” is the opening track on their third CD, Flies the Field, to be released next week on Quarterstick Records.



“Oh Heart” – Jill Barber

An old-timey tune sung by a young Canadian singer/songwriter with an old-timey voice, “Oh Heart” is not the sort of song that screamed “Pick me! Pick me!,” waving its hands and jumping out of its chair to get here. But there was something in its insinuating melody and well-crafted homespun-iness that has worked to charm me as I’ve listened repeatedly over the last couple of weeks. (Note that it did keep calling for repeated listens.) Fans of Kate and Anna McGarrigle will feel an immediate affinity to Barber’s tremulous alto and back-porch arrangements; I hear hints of the great Ron Sexsmith (another Canadian) in the way this song mixes fragile beauty with rock-solid songwriting. Barber is the younger sister of Matthew Barber, who is himself far more well-known up North than he is here in the U.S. “Oh Heart” comes from a six-song EP Barber released last year by Dependent Music. The MP3 comes (where else?) from SXSW.com.

This Week’s Finds: March 6-12 (The Decemberists, Devin Davis, The Hold Steady)

“The Engine Driver” – the Decemberists

With crisp, minor-chord rhythm guitar, spacious yet intimate percussion, and an unusually effective melodica, the Decemberists deliver a haunting take on the time-honored train song—whether metaphorical or actual, the train conjured here both lyrically and musically feels lost even as it chugs by necessity along its predestined tracks. While not as obviously a historical tale as many this unique band has told, there’s yet something in the graceful fabric that suggests history (and history’s handmaiden, loss)—something that has much to do with the distinctive, nasal urgings of singer/songwriter Colin Meloy’s voice and his singular syntax and vocabulary. “The Engine Driver” will be found on the band’s new Picaresque CD, due out on the Kill Rock Stars label on March 22. MP3 via Better Propaganda.


“Turtle and the Flightless Bird” – Devin Davis

Chicago bedroom rocker Devin Davis opens his mouth and Ray Davies all but tumbles out. This is a fine thing in and of itself, as I am kindly disposed to anyone properly inspired by the Kinks. But Davis (and isn’t come to think of it “Davies” pronounced “Davis” in the U.K.?), to my ears, has much more going for him than a Kinks fixation, a fact made clearest by his achievement as a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/arranger/engineer/producer. Technology has made it easy enough to be a one-person band in your own home studio, but rarely will you hear a bedroom rocker who sounds as loose and unfettered as Davis does. Think of it: to do all this yourself requires incredible precision and repetition; how do you then produce something that sounds so loose and alive? Playing the part here of a crestfallen turtle who appears to have lost his true, inter-species love, Davis delivers a song buzzing with spirit and life. From the quiet, bouncy-sad electric piano intro through to the heart-opening chorus, with its stirring melody and ramshackle feel, he not only transcends his influences, he transcends his technology. “Turtle and the Flightless Bird” comes from Davis’s debut CD, Lonely People of the World, Unite!, set for release on (of course) his own Mousse Records imprint next week. The MP3 is available on his web site.


“The Swish” – the Hold Steady

Cross early Bruce Springsteen with mid-career Iggy Pop and you get a harsh, riveting slash of wordy, sardonic rock’n’roll that at the same time offers a bracing, Dada-ist antidote to the retro-’80s love-fest dominating the indie rock scene here in the mid’-00s. (As singer/guitarist Craig Finn directly notes in this song: “I’ve survived the 80s one time already/And I don’t recall them all that fondly.”) This song isn’t pretty; there’s no real chorus; the band isn’t trying to get you to like them. The Hold Steady throw a lot of electricity into their particular rock’n’roll stew and the end result may not be beautiful but to me it sounds not only compelling but maybe even original, which is saying a lot at this particular point in the rock timeline. “The Swish” comes from The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me, the band’s first CD, released last year on French Kiss Records. A new CD is due out in May. The MP3 is available on the band’s web site.

This Week’s Finds: February 27-March 5 (Iron & Wine, Liz Durrett, Pit Er Pat)

“Woman King” – Iron and Wine

A timeless sort of mystery hangs in the air from the opening rhythms of this satisfying new song from Sam Beam, the one-man band who calls himself Iron and Wine. While the critically-acclaimed Beam in the past has been just a little too whispery-slow for my tastes, here he finds a propulsive, ancient-seeming groove to explore; combined with concrete, evocative lyrics, the results are deep, elusive, and magical. While his acoustic guitar is still center stage (I’m loving his slide work in particular), Beam delivers an outstandingly textured song through the use of precise percussion, engaging electric guitar accents, even what sounds like a woodwind-like synthesizer line. “Woman King” is the title track to a six-song EP released last week on Sub Pop Records. The MP3 is up on the Sub Pop site. Me, I’m going to go back and listen to some of his other songs again; maybe I’m now ready to hear what many others have been hearing in him for a while already.

“Ablaze” – Liz Durrett

Liz Durrett proves that slow doesn’t have to mean boring, trombones aren’t necessarily out of place in a moody rock song, and that Athens, Georgia isn’t finished spawning worthy musicians. After a pensive, minor-key guitar intro, Durrett enters, awash in echoes and echoed by (yes) a trombone chorus. I am hooked by the oddly glowing shadowiness of it all. Durrett has a substantive duskiness to her voice, and a pleasing way of creating melody out of a minimum of notes. “Ablaze” is one of nine songs on her debut CD, Husk, which was released last week on Athens-based Warm Records. Durrett is a niece of the offbeat singer/songwriter Vic Chesnutt, who produced the record. These songs were all written between 1996 and 1999, when Durrett was still in her teens; an album of newer material will apparently be released before the year is out. The “Ablaze” MP3 is available
through SXSW.com.

“Underwater Wave Game” – Pit Er Pat

A strangely engaging little song from a strange little guitar-free band. Keep your ears on the opening piano motif–an endearing string of ascending four-note clusters. They form the backbone of this indecipherable song; when they disappear in the chorus, we’re a little disconcerted but some of the unusual intervals singer/keyboard player Fay Davis-Jeffers leaps to and from vocally become their own sort of hook, and before long we’re swimming along again with the endearing piano. At about 1:55, however, I feel I’m in over my head as the song hits an almost dissonant stretch all the way to 2:45. But—hurrah—the piano motif returns triumphantly, and in so doing justifies the ornery section. All in all this sounds engagingly like, oh, I don’t know—maybe the Waitresses singing Genesis after listening to Talking Heads ’77. Or maybe not. In any case, I have been listening and listening to this, continually assuming I wouldn’t actually end up featuring it but I kept hitting the play button again and again, finally alerting me to the fact that even if my brain can’t figure out why I like this some other parts of me obviously do. The song will be on Pit Er Pat’s full-length debut, entitled Shakey, to be released in early March on Thrill Jockey Records. The MP3 is available on the band’s site.

This Week’s Finds: Feb. 20-26 (Low, Over the Rhine, Doris Henson)

“California” – Low

How much to keep sounding the same and how much to evolve and explore is a question that faces all bands that manage to stay together for more than a few years. Remain too much the same and risk staleness (“There’s a fine line between a groove and rut,” as Christine Lavin once sang); change too much and risk alienating fans who like how you sound already, thank you very much. And in the indie rock world, any change that smacks of “accessibility” is treated with the harshest of scorn, for reasons I have never quite figured out. In any case, here’s Low, a band from northern Minnesota that cultivated a devoted following through the ’90s while giving new depth of meaning to the word “slow” in the so-called “slowcore” genre. And here’s a song from their latest CD, The Great Destroyer (Subpop Records) that moves with a nice crunchy, toe-tappy bounce. This is not the first upbeat song the band has recorded by any means, but so far they remain indelibly associated with their brooding, slow-burning material. Me, I’m enjoying the grit and intensity a band that knows slow brings to a peppier number. On the one hand, I love the big, fat, but still ambiguous chords that open the song, and drive its center; but on the other hand, check this out: right at the moment in the song where songs that have these kind of big, fat chords will break into a bashing, cathartic instrumental break (at around 2:00 here), Low, slyly, retreats into quiet–instead of big bashes we get a slow, ringing guitar and gentle harmonies, which simmer slowly together before delivering a final almost-bash. Pretty cool. The MP3 is available on the Subpop web site; the CD was released in January.

“Born” – Over the Rhine

Over the Rhine’s Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist have learned over the years how to make a singular sort of aching, exquisite music–at once brilliantly wrought and deeply relaxed, equal parts off-hand expertise and deep humanity. “Born” is soft and soulful, an acoustic strummer enhanced by melancholy, restrained steel guitar accents and a piano played with such a warm touch I want to curl up in bed with it. And then of course there’s Bergquist’s bewitching voice, which, if an acquired taste, is way worth acquiring. “Born” will be found on the band’s new CD Drunkard’s Prayer, set for release in late March on Back Porch Records. The MP3 is one of two from the CD now available at PasteMusic.com.

“Sidestepping” – Doris Henson

From the largely ignored metropolis of Kansas City, Kansas comes this curiously named five-man band with a curious-sounding song. Over an itchy, bare-bones rhythm (drumbeat, erratically strummed guitar with some well-placed feedback), “Sidestepping” begins sketchily, singer Matthew Dunehoo’s airy, high-pitched voice kind of toying with the lyrics at first. There seems not to be a verse or chorus; instead, Dunehoo merely sings a lazy, descending melody in between instrumental breaks. But, hey: the volume and intensity of the accompaniment cranks up a notch at around 2:13 and as this subtly new soundscape unfolds, I am transfixed. Everything is the same but different: the lazy descending melody is stretched and hung now upon dramatic chord changes, and Dunehoo’s singing acquires an edgy substance that sounds appealingly to me like Brian Eno doing his best Ray Davies impersonation. “Sidestepping” comes from the band’s new CD, Give Me All Your Money, their second, which will be released later this month on Desoto Records. The MP3 has moved around over the years but it’s still up as of 2011 on The Pitch, a Kansas City alternative paper.

This Week’s Finds: February 13-19 (The Layaways, Laakso, Damon and Naomi)

“Silence” – the Layaways

An untamed growl of guitar noise lays at the heart of this pop confection, like a bit of crunchy frog sealed within succulent Swiss chocolate, as it were. It’s a simple song, but the vibe works well for me, a vibe constructed through a combination of an appealing melody and a knowing ability to romp through some of the choicer specimens in rock’n’roll’s sonic back catalog: from Jesus and Mary Chain-esque squalls of sound to Yo La Tengo-ish understated vocalizing to (this is the kicker, for me) a Cars-like use of catchy synthesizer riffs. While I’m generally all for the ’80s touches that seem to be inspiring lots of today’s independent bands, I particularly enjoy when there’s integration going on rather than re-creation, however exuberant. The Layaways are a trio from Chicago; “Silence” is the lead track on the band’s second CD, We’ve Been Lost, released in December on Mystery Farm Records (which appears to be simply a label set up by the band for its own releases). The MP3 is available via the band’s site. Thanks to visitor Jen for the tip.

“Aussie Girl” – Laakso

From Sweden comes this idiosyncratic, joyful blurt of a bittersweet song. Wrap Conor Oberst up with the Decemberists, give him a fetching little Swedish accent, speed him up and spin him around blindfolded, and maybe he’d sound like this. Any four-person rock band featuring one member who plays trombone, trumpet, accordion, and glockenspiel is going to immediately catch my attention, and I must say I do enjoy the subtle texture said member (David Nygård) delivers. For what is in fact a fairly precise song, there’s an endearing fringe of sloppiness oozing out around the edges here, due I think to lead singer Markus Krunegård’s wavery energy and unbridled spirit. And while a song bemoaning the torture of a (very) long-distance relationship is unlikely to break new ground observationally, I find that good pop music has the happy ability to keep me unworried about cliche. “Aussie Girl” can be found on the band’s first and only full-length CD, I Miss You, I’m Pregnant, released on Adrian Recordings, a Swedish label. The MP3 is available via the band’s site.

“Beautiful Close Double” – Damon and Naomi

I like how Naomi Yang’s dreamy voice floats against a rooted instrumental base here. Too much of what is sometimes known as “dream pop,” while perfectly agreeable, does tend to drift off into an airy sort of neverland. Damon and Naomi–two-thirds of the landmark indie band Galaxie 500, back in the day–keep things grounded in a variety of subtle ways. (Key word subtle: be warned this song can in fact sound as if it’s merely drifting off into neverland if you don’t pay close attention.) To begin with, the song is set against Naomi’s classic-rock bass riff (sounds like “Cinnamon Girl” to me, actually). Second of all, drummer Damon Krukowski, while starting off cymbally and understated, echoing the bass line for a while, kicks out a few jams (subtly) now and again. Distant layers of muted trumpet add a distinct substance as well. As for Michio Kurihara’s rubbery-sparkly guitar licks, well, they’re pretty dreamy I guess, but what the heck, they’re still cool. “Beautiful Close Double” is the song that opens Damon and Naomi’s new CD “The Earth is Blue,” set for release this week on the duo’s own label, 20/20/20. The MP3 can be found on their site.

This Week’s Finds: Jan. 30-Feb. 5 (Veal, The Octopus Project, Blonde Redhead)

“Judy Garland” – Veal

“If you looked like Judy Garland/I’d be over it in half a shake/But you stood there dumbfounded/You looked nothing like Judy Garland” is how this song that appears at least partially to be about being knocked unconscious begins. We’re instantly right in the middle of something (although exactly what is part of the quirky mystery), a feeling enhanced by the smart cascade of (mostly) major chords, which change on the first beat of each measure, and the asymmetrical use of seventh chords (at “half” and “nothing”). I feel pulled in, delighted, and yet still completely unprepared for (okay, I’ll use one of the music industry’s hoariest cliches because nothing else quite applies) the killer chorus this leads into. I won’t describe it (much; but do listen for those extra two beats, the crazy lyrics, and how sharp the harmonies suddenly are), but yes, absolutely, it’s a killer chorus. Veal is a Canadian trio led by singer/guitarist Luke Doucet, whose cheery voice has a wonderfully elastic upper register. (The drummer, I feel compelled to point out, is simply named Chang.) “Judy Garland” comes from the band’s third and most recent CD, “The Embattled Hearts,” released in 2003 on Six Shooter Records. The MP3 can be found on the band’s web site.

“The Adjustor” – the Octopus Project

A lo-fi-ish, white noise-y, scratchy-boopy instrumental with genuine warmth and charm. Which shows that all things are possible (good news for Eagles fans, I should note). A quartet from Austin, the Octopus Project sounds like a surf-dance band attempting to play jazz on R2D2’s spare parts. First we spend an agreeable minute or so establishing the basic groove–a chiming sort of repeated melody propelled by a perfectly fetching sort of clickety-scratching percussiveness (sounding a bit like someone trying to play the snare drum on a broken guitar neck). Then come some (for lack of a better word) solos: the minimalist solo played by a squeaky-honky gizmo (sampled tricycle horn?) which begins at 1:13 is well worth the download by itself; so is the one played by what sounds like a sampled dial-tone, at 2:13. What makes it work so well for me is that, for all the electronic manipulation going on, the song still happens in an expansive aural space–due no doubt to the fact that the band uses actual drums and guitars along with the machines. “The Adjustor” can be found on the band’s new CD, One Ten Hundred Thousand Million, their second, released last week on Peek-a-Boo Records (the label which spawned the group Spoon). The MP3 is available on the band’s site.

“Misery is a Butterfly” – Blonde Redhead

Talk about a simple, repeated melody–“Misery is a Butterfly” succeeds, to my ears, largely because of the plain, recurring piano riff that serves as a backbone for this atmospheric, borderline melodramatic piece. There are strings, there’s almost a dance beat popping up here and there, there are breathy-emotive vocals from guitarist Kazu Makino, there are Rachmaninovian chords, but time and again we get back to the piano riff, and everything seems all right again. Blonde Redhead is a veteran NYC-based trio that has gravitated over time from a Sonic Youth-style dissonance to a lusher sound that early fans of the band might not like very much. Me, I’m kind of intrigued by the still-somewhat-strange-ness of the whole thing. The song is the title track from the group’s sixth CD, released last year on 4AD Records; the MP3 is found on Better Propaganda.

This Week’s Finds: January 23-29 (Bettie Serveert, Cass McCombs, Engine Down)

“Attagirl” – Bettie Serveert

With a charmingly slinky verse and disarmingly catchy chorus, “Attagirl” might not, still, have succeeded so well without the captivating presence of Carol van Dyk (alternatively spelled Dijk)–the Canadian-born, Netherlands-raised singer who fronts this veteran Dutch band. Rilo Kiley fans take note: Jenny Lewis may yet sound like this (she’s cut from the same cloth), but there are ineffable aspects of tone and timbre that remain out of reach when you’re only in your 20s. From start to finish we are in the hands of a comfortable and confident crew here; I like the scratchy-frenetic guitar in the background, subtly undermining the faux-bossa-nova ambiance, and of course I love that wordless “ohhh” in the bridge, alternating back and forth on a fetching fifth–the song gets expansive and smooth right there in just the right way, with layered vocals and a quivering complement of things being strummed (do I detect a mandolin, even?). This leads into a most excellent chorus, with an urgently sing-songy melody, words that sound, somehow, better as sounds–“Don’t get stuck somewhere in the middle/You’ve paid all your dues and you’re not a second fiddle”–than than they do as a sentiment, and a superb and snazzy off-the-beat finish: the way van Dyk breathes out “Attagirl” at the end is just too cool for words. “Attagirl” is the title track off the band’s new CD, scheduled for release on Minty Fresh records on Tuesday of this week. MP3 via Better Propaganda.


“Sacred Heart” – Cass McCombs

This is the kind of song that convinces me that we are, truly, entering a new golden age of rock’n’roll. And I’m serious. When a 20-something guy like Baltimore’s Cass McCombs can take all his influences (I hear ’80s stuff here–a touch of Smiths, a dollop of New Order, a sprinkle of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark–and then ’60s stuff too, such as his unexpectedly Dylanesque turns of phrase and word selection) and wrap them into something this timeless and thrilling (geez, I find simply the open, vibrating chord that starts the song bizarrely thrilling), and when he is one of many doing this very sort of thing, and yet each differently, here in the middle ’00s, what else to call it? A new golden age. If I’m wrong, at least I’ll go down swinging. In any case, rock has weathered a lot, including being eviscerated by Madison Avenue and shoved off the pop-cultural main stage by hip-hop, but even so there is something timeless at its core. Sure, you have to sort through an incredible amount of nonsense to find it (were there quite so many inept troubadours in the Middle Ages as there are unlistenable singer/songwriters in the Information Age?), but it is here to be found: specifically here with this gentle-urgent vocalist, singing his sweet descending melody with aching assurance; and generally out there, as McCombs is hardly alone on the scene with serious rock’n’roll talent and know-how. “Sacred Heart” is an advance single from his new CD, PREfection, set for release on February 1 on Monitor Records. The MP3 can be found on the Monitor web site. Thanks to the estimable record review site 75 or less for the lead on this one.



“Cover” – Engine Down

It’s very easy to be very loud and very fast; it’s significantly less easy to be not-quite-very loud and not-quite-very fast, and harder still to do so while exhibiting a strong sense of melody and craft. The Virginia-based foursome Engine Down churn up a lot of dust here, but right away I hear plenty to separate this from the output of the many (many) loud and churning bands nowadays filling the web with their MP3s. They know some interesting chords, to begin with, and push us through them right away–you can hear how the whole musical ground shifts and shifts as the melody in the verse progresses. They have a sense of production perspective as well, allowing various elements to flow through the aural center of the song as the piece blazes along–a lead guitar line emerges from the noise here, a nice wall of vocal harmonies there. And to me the great hook is the off-beat delivery in the chorus: singing on the second and fourth beats here (the “Your cover has been blown” line) is an ineffably delightful twist in a hard-driving 4/4 song. Consider it all another vote for experience: Engine Down have been around since 1996; “Cover” comes from the band’s fourth full-length CD, self-titled, released on Lookout Records in August 2004. MP3 via Better Propaganda.