Author: nathan.lankford

Wilco – Wilco (The Album)

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wilcoRating: ★★½☆☆

Everyone always has Wilco on the mind.  No matter where you go, you find someone you know that adores Wilco, which is acceptable, as they’ve managed to put out some phenomenal records. The question on everyone’s lips will be whether or not Wilco (The Album) will be one of those feats of greatness, or something along the lines of Sky Blue Sky. More than likely, once everyone has listened for an ample amount of time, it will lean more on the side of their later work rather than their earlier strengths. Alas, such is the life for a band of such stature.

One of the strengths of this album is that Jeff Tweedy has his voice way up in the mix, which provides die-hard fans with a chance to get more acquainted with him.  He seems quite a bit more assured here, as if he finally has come to realize that his voice is truly the backbone of the band, and without him they fail.  In all honesty, his voice is the best thing that runs throughout the album; it seems as if he would succeed to greater lengths if he just went it on his own.

This is where the album seemingly misses its mark.  Nels Cline has taken the reigns from Tweedy, and he now has control over the group. It’s much like the presence of Jim O’ Rourke; he has the ability to add greatness to a song, but the power to destroy it in various moments.  His guitar work meanders through the songs, but haphazardly, which decreases his strengths, and that of the band.  Nels, and the band, travel into territory that seemingly adds little to the progression of the songs as a whole, bringing the listener to a point of indifference.

“You and I,” however, is one of the best songs the group has ever written. Sure, the presence of Feist doesn’t ever hurt anyone, aside from being played on various iTunes commercials, but the song itself exemplifies the gifts Tweedy possesses as a songwriter. It’s on of the more straightforward songs, and it demonstrates Tweedy at his best, without the tampering of Nels Cline.  “Solitaire” is another such song where Tweedy seems to go it alone.  You can’t deny the power of his voice in such a song, and you can’t deny the intimacy with which he sings.

But, at the end of the day, the band lacks much of the interesting moments they’ve maintained on previous releases. Their formulaic styling as of late leaves much to be desired, and it seems as if its rendered the band rather mundane.  While they once peaked your interest with various approaches to Americana, they seem to have dwindled far away from those moments, instead settling for the most basic song elements.  So you find the band traversing such territory, dancing with tried and true strategies, while fading away with their modern twists on the genre.  Sadly, it just doesn’t garner much interest for listeners, which is a place Wilco fans never thought the band would go.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/05-you-and-i.mp3]

Dowload: WIlco – You and I [MP3]

FT5 – 2009 Jams of the Summer

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0626top5coverWe’re right in the beginning of summer, as we can all tell by the ridiculous heat has been beating down upon us.  For us, we just sit around all day listening to sweet tunes, hoping that we can create the perfect playlists for our long drives to nowhere.  As per usual, we think we’ve provided you with a list of songs that are destined to have you turning up your stereo as you drive through the hill country or maybe you just want to throw them on during your barbecue.  Regardless, these are our jams of the summer.
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New Tunes from Spiral Stairs

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stairsSpiral Stairs is Scott, one of the founding fathers of Pavement, so you can already label us stoked on the news of his solo release this October on Matador Records.  The album is titled The Real Feel, and it features various artists making guest appearances, including Austin’s own Ian Moore.  Some guy named Kevin Drew is on there as well. Sit back and enjoy the brightness of this new tune by Spiral Stairs.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/spiral-stairs-maltese-terrier.mp3]

Download: Spiral Stairs – Maltese Terrier [MP3]

New Tunes from Hiawata!

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hiawata Suffice to say that I really enjoy really clean indie-pop, especially when it’s done like the band Hiawata! does.  They’re another Scandinavian bunch just pumping out good tunes, and the track we’re throwing out below will come out on their new album These Boys and This Band is All I Know. This track put me down sounds a little bit like taking the vocals from Beulah and making them run through a maze of 90s radio pop like Tripping Daisy.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/04-put-me-down-1.mp3]

Download: Hiawata – Put Me Down [MP3]

Rock Plaza Central – At the Moment of…

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rock-plazas Rating: ★★★½☆

You have to give it up to Toronto’s Rock Plaza Central; not only have they just finished their new album, but they managed to make it the most long-winded title: At the Moment of Our Most Needing or If Only They Could Turn Around, They Would Know They Were Not Alone. Yet again, it’s a record that begs to be listened to from start to finish, and if you make it the entire way through the album, you’re destined to be rewarded.

“Oh I Can” creates an emphatic opener worthy of grabbing the listener’s immediate attention.  Slowly, almost inaudibly, percussion sounds inch along the recording, creating a tension which begs the band to let it all loose.  And they do, chanting out the song’s title in gang vocals, before singer Chris Eaton focuses a little bit more on the traditional verse tactics. And before you know it, you feel as if you CAN too.  Then the song goes off into the distance, replaced instead by an instrumental number.

This is one of the more noticeable additions to this album, as Eaton and Co. clearly worked to construct a concise album with all the pieces ornately put down with purpose.  Every song carefully melts into the next, flowing like a river through an orchestral valley in the country of Americana. It’s here that you see the band share a lot of resemblance to Theater Fire.  “Them That are Good and Them That are Bad” is a song that uses layer upon layer of musicianship and craftwork to carefully flesh out every bit of the song; this is a song that exemplifies the band doing their best work to date.

While Chris Eaton’s voice might steer some listeners in the wrong direction for it’s cross between Jeff Mangum and Will Johnson, it definitely falls directly in line with the patchwork of the band.  String instruments are abundant, as well as various horn elements, and non-traditional instruments such as a banjo play a great role in the hodge-podge construction of this album.  Sure, it lies somewhere in line with the folk/americana aesthetic, but there is more at work here.  You really get the feeling that Eaton has put a lot of thought into the composition of every inch of song, much as he would his novels, of which he has written two.  Interestingly, there aren’t a lot of stand-out moments on this album, just a lot of great craftsmanship and organization; in the end, that makes up for everything, as the record is as complete an album as they come, filled with beauty and inspiration.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/07-them-that-are-good-and-them-that-are-bad.mp3]

Download: Rock Plaza Central – Them That are Good and Them That are Bad [MP3]


Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer

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dragRating: ★★★½☆

Let’s face it, Spencer Krug is a prolific guy.  Not only does he have the time to put together hits with his friends in Wolf Parade, but he also has made several records under the Sunset Rubdown moniker. Dragonslayer is his third proper album under the title, and it’s being released by Jagjaguwar Records.

Since the release of his first album, Shut Up I Am Dreaming, Spencer has enlisted various other members to flesh out his sounds.  The most noticeable change on this new album is that Camilla Wynee Ingr plays a more prominent role in singing backing vocals.  Her voice does a great job to compliment the sometimes wavering voice of Krug, providing a solid balance to the sound.

Of course, since the first release, we’ve come to expect that the songs of Sunset Rubdown would be grandiose affairs, almost epic in a sense.  This album gives you much of the same as almost every song sprawls over the five minute mark. Opener “Silver Moons” is your traditional piano driven Krug tune, and the restraint he uses in staying within the boundaries of the song definitely provide the listener with some of the album’s finer moments.

But, the opener is followed up by three raucous numbers, which those in search of a faster pace to accommodate Spencer will enjoy. While “Idiot Heart” slowly builds towards a calamitous ending, “Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Oh” takes off from the minute it picks up.  One of the detractors from this period in the album is that at times there seems to be too much going on in the space of the song. Spencer’s softer side seems to be the most fitting for his voice in this setting, and when he goes into other territory, the songs seem a bit strained. “Black Swan” is one of those numbers that seems to struggle with too much going on within the song.

As always, this man can pen some absolutely wonderful songs within the span of an album.  “Paper Lace” is one such song where you realize just how perfect he can be.  Keyboard and guitars seem to just hang in thin air, while his voice never seems to falter one single bit.  If only he could consistently knock out ballads like this every time out. And it also serves as the song that kicks off the best moments of the album.

“You Go On Ahead” and “Nightingale/December Song” are some of the best moments on this album.  Here the band finally has all the pieces of the cryptic puzzle put together.  Tribal drums dully rumble beneath the songs as Ingr’s vocal accompaniment displays the depth of the line-up.  When the sprawling tunes sound this strong it’s hard to see look back and see where the album ever took a misstep.

Then we close it out with “Dragon’s Lair.” It’s the ten minute epic that caps off this record perfectly.  It combines all the elements that you’ve witnessed on the album early on, and it puts them in a one-song extravaganza to encapsulate all the ideas posed by Spencer and the rest of Sunset Rubdown.  It’s a fitting end to a splendid story.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/05-paper-lace.mp3]

Download: Sunset Rubdown – Paper Lace [MP3]

Girls Announce Release Date

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girls During SXSW we took it upon ourselves to investigate the hype generated by San Francisco’s Girls. Lucky for us, they completely lived up to the hype, if not rising above and beyond. Now we finally have a release date for their debut, Album, which will be released on True Panther Records via Matador Records. The album comes out on September 22nd, and the following song “Lust for Life” is slated as the opening track. Look out album of the year, here come Girls.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/01-lust-for-life.mp3]

Download: Girls – Lust for Life [MP3]

New Tunes from The Drums

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drums I’m really psyched on this band The Drums right now. Of course, they come to us via New York City.  I’m not really surprised by that, but their sound doesn’t sound precisely like the rest of the bands using the wall of sound technique.  Just check out the bobbing bass line that runs throughout the song “Let’s Go Surfing” that’s down below. You can pick up this song and seven other right now off the groups self-titled EP.  They have a new Summertime EP coming our way on August 4th. Pogo…you know you wanna.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/02-lets-go-surfing.mp3]

Download: The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing [MP3]

The Mary Onettes – Dare Ep

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dare Rating: ★★★½☆

Sweden’s The Mary Onettes have long been one of those bands that I wished everyone would get into, as they clearly deserve the recognition I’ve built for them in my brain.  Perhaps some will find them drenched in nostalgia, but their self-titled debut showed that they could rise above and beyond limitations of the past. So here they come with their first release in a few years, the Dare EP.

Right away, you sort of have to knock it down a bit based on the fact that there are only three songs on the EP, which is short, even for EP standards.  In the end, you find that this is possibly the only knock on these exceptional tracks; you’ll find nothing else wrong here.

“Dare” is the opening track, and one I threw your way earlier on in the year.  Opening the song you have a swirling guitar sound reminiscent of the opening moments of “Geraldine” by Glasvegas, though the lyrics here will delve further into true meaning than some of the simpler lyrics by the latter.  Also, as with most current bands, the melodious moments are accompanied by layers of atmospheric guitar screeching and pounding drums.  Everything about this song sums up carefully the abilities of The Mary Onettes when they’re at their best.

Following the opener is “Kicks.”  It’s a far cry from most of their earlier work; it’s clearly more subdued in mood and pacing.  This is one of the first songs in their career that I feel is driven by the vocals and lyrics rather than the beat.  Broodingly gently piano accompaniment continues to push this song into traditional ballad format.

“God Knows I Had Plans” closes the Dare EP with a shimmering wall of guitars and harmonies.  A certain warmth exist on this song, which immediately implies a certain craft leaning towards soundscapes.  This is perhaps a fitting association, though they fill the traditional elements with belting harmonies and pounding drums.

It’s a really short effort, but at its best, it portrays a band pushing beyond the boundaries of their glorious first efforts and bounding forwards towards new horizons.  Expect to continue to hear brilliant moments from this band in the near future.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/02-kicks-1.mp3]

Download: The Mary Onettes – Kicks [MP3]

God Help the Girl – s/t

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godRating: ★★★★☆

God Help the Girl is the project of Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian. It’s a fourteen song story created by Murdoch meant to be accompanied by his musical craftwork.  His devotion to the craft of pop writing has expanded greatly as evidenced by this album, which began during his writing for Dear Catastrophe Waitress.

Unlike most Murdoch penned songs, this entire album is fairly void of his soft-spoken voice, instead being replaced by Catherine Ireton on almost every song, aside from “Funny Little Frog” and the two instrumental tracks, “A United Theory” and “The Music Room Window.”

Here we find a remaking of The Life Pursuit’s “Act of the Apostle” opening the album, though it hardly seems recognizable, if any connection at all.  This version comes with Ireton’s vocals accompanied by some appropriate string arrangements.  For all intents and purposes you see this song as the introduction of the story’s narrator.

“God Help the Girl” quickly follows the opener, and it’s one of the most similar to the traditional Murdoch stylings.  Piano backbone and Ireton’s delivery remind you of other Glaswegian band Camera Obscura, which is all the more appropriate seeing as that band, and this project, both travel back in time to 60s pop girl groups. You can just imagine this song coming across with a dance routine and sharply dressed females filling the void in sound.

“Pretty Eve in the Tub” is a track one can possibly dismiss, but it’s going to strike home with most listeners, including the author, for the full use of Murdoch’s voice during the song.  It’s one of the few instances here when he steps in front of the microphone during this project.  However, he also utilizes his voice to trade verses during “Hiding Neath My Umbrella.” Such a song seems fitting in the B&S catalog, though the string arrangements take it further into the musical spectrum.  You’ll find that Murdoch’s arrangements allow for the presentation to go beyond their usual limits.

One of the more developed songs is “Musician, Please Take Heed.” Slowly, for the first minute, it builds with the focus playing upon the vocals, but then the chugging jangly guitars Stuart typically utilizes come into play.  From here the song takes off with a galloping pace as strings are added atop the entire track.  Stuart then returns in the following track with “Perfection as a Helper.”  Backing vocals are so noticeable in this song, which is due to their immediate throwback quality.  At this point, it’s clear just how far he’s really pushed himself in the production of the album.

Every song makes a powerful statement on the album, and there isn’t one that really goes awry when put into the perspective of the album as a story.  Murdoch is at his best with his songwriting, and even the closing moments are spectacular, such as “I’ll Have to Dance with Cassie.” Lovers of his pop song writing will see he’s gone beyond his concise tunes and into a whole other world; this album is the better for it.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/02-god-help-the-girl.mp3]

Download: God Help the Girl [MP3]

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