Category: Reviews

Adam Green – Minor Love

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adamgreenRating: ★★★☆☆

It seems like only yesterday when Adam Green donned a Peter Pan outfit onstage with his former band, The Moldy Peaches. Since then, he’s gone on to release several solo LPs, with most of them featuring his clever wordplay without ever taking himself too seriously.  That being said, Minor Love is his most focused, and probably his most serious album to date; it shows us just how crafty the fellow can be when he puts his mind to it.

“Breaking Locks” opens the album with what appears to be an apology to the masses, as he admits “I’ve been too awful.”  It’s interesting to see the man who mocked Jessica Simpson so well show a bit of emotion in regards to his mistakes.

You’ll also notice the influence of other musicians on this album, as Adam tries to step away from the singer-songwriter lifestyle.  “Goblin” is one such song, which seems to allude to his relationship with Rodrigo from Little Joy; it’s a song with a touch of tropicalia.  “Boss Inside” is similar in the fact that his picking emotes a darker side of things, which is a far cry from his work on Sixes and Sevens.  On top of that, his guitar work seems to hop from genre to genre allowing for the album to show some deviation from basic guitar strumming songs.  It definitely makes the listening experience for fulfilling than on past efforts.

As you go song to song, you have to give credit where credit is due, as Green’s ability to cleverly unite mundane detail after mundane detail whilst stringing together intricate stories is something at which you can marvel.  Not too many artists can make the banalities of everyday existence seem so interesting or heartfelt.  If he is destined to only be a one man troubadour, then at least he’s got a solid style that only he seems to perfect.

All that being said, the one drawback from Minor Love is that nothing stands out as exceptional.  Your entire listening experience will be enjoyable, though not one that you’ll come back to over and over with desire.  I suppose this is always one of the faults with Adam’s solo work; he writes good songs, but he’s yet to sit down and write a great song.  Still, you can’t but feel some sort of affiliation with his music, as it comes off as something we all wish to do; Adam Green gives you hope that you too can write such songs of simple wonder.

Still, you can’t discard Minor Love entirely.  A tune like “Cigarette Burns Forever” has redeeming qualities that enable you to appreciate the work of Adam Green.  You’ll enjoy his songs, and you might even love some of them, but odds are that you’ll just let the record spin quietly in the background while you eat dinner with your friends.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/10-Castles-And-Tassels.mp3]

Download: Adam Green – Castles And Tassels [MP3]

Local Natives – Gorilla Manor

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localnatives-600x600Rating: ★★★★½

This California band just barely began making waves back in 2009 after successful shows and a rollicking time at SXSW.  All those things slowly began to build a lot of attention for the group, and finally we have come to the release of Gorilla Manor by Local Natives.  Listening to this for several months now, it’s the most complete record to come out in 2010, and will continue to garner extensive praise for the group.

When you first listen to Gorilla Manor, at least for this writer, I couldn’t shy away from thinking of Fleet Foxes, which is entirely due to the multiple-pat vocal harmonies the band uses. But the more that I let it unfold, the more that I began to see there are so many little touches across the album that it’s clear the group is doing their own thing entirely.

You come across those touches in the first song,  “Wide Eyes.” It seems as if the drummer barely hits the drums, other for the snare fills, as you can clearly hear the banging of the sticks atop the rim of the drum.  It’s something the band utilizes throughout the whole affair, giving a sort of tribal feel to their California-tinged summery pop. In fact, it distracts listeners from some tight-knit guitar work, that rarely seems to nod towards a folk sound, which is what one would think the band would imitate, if you only listened to the vocals.

“Airplanes,” the second song, begins with some piano noodling, before the vocals soar atop the steady percussive drum beat. Everything about the chorus here is perfect; each time I hear “I want you back,” I just get this chill; it’s the execution of the perfect song.  You could say the same thing for the following track, “Sun Hands,” the band’s first single off the album, but I’m sticking with “Airplanes.”  Still, people will love the usage of gang vocals at the 3 minute mark of “Sun Hands,” which provides a different dynamic before the band lashes into a little post-punk jam session.

One of the best things about Gorilla Manor, aside from the music itself, is that the majority of the songs are well-over the three minute mark.  Cleverly, Local Natives are able to sustain your interest throughout, leaving you with an album you can really go inside, immersing yourself entirely.  Each song has enough movement to keep it interesting, as the band doesn’t remain static for long, if ever.  That says a lot about the group, who can go in multiple directions in a song like “Warning Signs,” and hold onto a sense of cohesiveness within the song itself.   It really is hard to find a song not worthy of listening to multiple times.  Well done.

In the end, you can say that Local Natives have spent a great deal of time honing their craftsmanship, and Gorilla Manor is the ultimate reward for listeners and the band alike.  You’ll find that the differentiation and light changes will keep you interested all the way until the end, allowing you to finally spend time with a solid record you’ll want to listen to time and time again.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/02-Airplanes-1.mp3]

Download: Local Natives – Airplanes [MP3]

Title Tracks – It Was Easy

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titletracksRating: ★★★½☆

If you’ve been following the life of John Davis, then chances are you’ve enjoyed a great deal of music.  He made waves with his role as the drummer in Q and Not U, then jumped into the pop world with Georgie James.  Now, he’s playing under the name Title Tracks, which brings in some new sensibilities on It Was Easy.  You’ll find traces of his work in both previous bands on the album, but you’ll also see a new direction coming through.

As it all begins, you get “Every Little Bit Hurts,” which definitely has one foot in Georgie James, yet you can feel the ghost of Ted Leo (or his spirit, since he’s not dead, thank God) making his presence known.  The guitar sounds are similar, and the drumming is spectacular (done by John himself).  Why we know that Ted uses The Jam and Nick Lowe as reference points, you can see John go straight to Ted; just look at the way he tries to hit that falsetto note near the end of the track.

And so he slows it down to a little dub-step number with “No, Girl.”  Here yo see the pop sensibility of Georgie James coming through.  If it weren’t for the reggae-ish guitar, then it might very well be one of the leftover demos from his old group.  This isn’t a knock on the man, as GJ surely had some great elements across Cake Parade.

This is one of the most important notes from It Was Easy.  A lot of these songs wear the mark of Georgie James, and to be honest, a lot of the sonic exploration Q and Not U did with their last album Power.  John clearly isn’t staying in once place, which might be one of the reasons that this album just doesn’t blow you out of the water; you can see his next release being something ridiculously good.

One of the treats for me was listening to “Tougher Than the Rest,” a number which features my favorite Tracyanne Campbell.  Her voice is simply to wonderful to be ignored completely, yet it once again brings about the idea that John hasn’t fully left the ideas behind from the whole Georgie James affair. Still, they lyrics are really heartfelt, and it’s precisely the thing you expect Tracyanne to be singing.

You’ll want to listen to “It Was Easy” and “At Fifteen” as these are two of the songs which really show you that John is trying to step out of the shadow of his past.  “At Fifteen” is one of those sleeper tracks that I can see being one of my favorites.  It’s nothing more than guitar and whispering vocals; it’s just the sort of think I adore.

Closing out It Was Easy is a cover of The Byrds “She Don’t Care About Time,” just one more signal to the abundance of influences for John Davis.  Title Tracks have made a good start, but the one thing lacking is just a bit more cohesiveness all over.  Sure, the record is full of great songs and great influences (I’m looking at you Ted), but you can see a bright future in store for John Davis once he tightens the reins and kicks into gear.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/04-Piles-Of-Paper.mp3]

Download: Title Tracks – Piles Of Paper [MP3]

Hot Chip – One Life Stand

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HotChip-OneLifeStandRating: ★★★★☆

By now, surely everyone has his or her expectations of what a Hot Chip record should sound like.  You’ve got the club bangers, and you’ve got the geek-tronica that makes you questions just why you’re moving to and fro.  Their fourth album, One Life Stand, sees the band doing much of the same, yet they finally honed their craft enough to create an album with very few imperfections.

One of the record’s longest songs, “Thieves in the Night” kick off the whole affair.  While the beats remain catchy, they aren’t as in your face as you’ve found on previous efforts, which actually propels the song along without letting the listener grow tired of redundant house beats.  You can follow that up with another similar tune, “Hand Me Down Your Love,” where the electronic elements actually aren’t forcing you to dance at all, yet you can tap your feet along just as well.  It’s reminiscent of Erasure (or Republic era New Order), a band who wrote love songs that could just as easily be enjoyed lyrically as you could dance to them.  This is sort of the story of One Life Stand; it’s no longer about creating great dance tunes, but just great tunes period, which Hot Chip does for the most part.

Middling point kind of dies down the minor tempo, slowing it down just a bit further.  The trifecta of “Brothers,” “Slush” and “Alley Cat” all take a step back from focused electronica in favor of fleshing out complete songs, albeit ones that include electronic components.  “Alley Cat” is possibly the best of the three tracks, due mostly to the fact that the band has composed such songs without going too far out with their experimentation.  In the past, the usage of too many elements often busied certain tracks, rendering them irritating upon repeated listens; this is no longer the case.  The away the created “Alley Cats” leaves the perfect amount of room where it should be, whilst still including certain touches for the die-hard Hot Chip fan.

Closing out the album, Hot Chip go back to where you want them, hitting you with the edgier “Take It In.”  It’s a dark number, but then it opens up in the middle, bringing you back to the light.  It sort of encapsulates the whole of One Life Stand.  You’ve got some electronic fused tunes kicking up the pace in the beginning, only to sort of relax and leave room for sitting back in the middle of the record.  You can’t argue with such an ending, and you don’t need to do it, as the group has clearly closed the record in the most appropriate way.

Throughout the years, we’ve watched Hot Chip tinker with their own recipe of electro-pop.  Finally, they’ve made enough breakthroughs, as well as missteps, to have landed upon what seems to be their final recipe.  It’s hard to imagine that they’ll create much better than One Life Stand; of course, we can always hope they take the lessons learned and push even further into their development of great electronic music.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Hot-Chip-Take-It-In.mp3]

Download: Hot Chip – Take It In [MP3]

Yeasayer – Odd Blood

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yeaRating: ★★★½☆

Finally the time has come for the release of the much anticipated follow up to All Hour Cymbals, and Yeasayer has switched it all up for you with the newest release, Odd Blood. Where they once dabbled in world music with a hint of electronic elements, they have turned the tables, choosing instead to go with electronic music that takes aim at taking over the world.  Your first listen might not offer too much, as this is a listen that requires several listens to completely unfold what lies beneath.

“The Children” opens up the album with some gothic samples that recalls old industrial music from the eighties, and the dark auto-tuned vocals keep the mood quite eerie, but there are some moments of lightness, which set the tone for the rest of the album.

We then come to the spectacular “Ambling Alp,” the band’s first single off Odd Blood. You wouldn’t be too far off if you didn’t notice some resemblance to Animal Collective, at least in the usage of samples, but the vocals don’t seem as intrusive as the latter band.  Really, this song is all over the place, which is perhaps why it’s so charming after repeated listens.

For the next three tracks you get transported immediately back to the eighties with Yeasayer. This isn’t an entirely bad thing, as the group doesn’t in their own particular way, incorporating more of their tribal meets world music instrumentation to the tunes. The opening moments of “Madder Red” as the vocals kick in just bring pure ecstatic joy, and “ONE” is just wonderful.  I love the way they play with the vocals, and then bounce right into the dance elements for the chorus.  All these songs benefit from the fact that there are extemporaneous elements all over the place, which makes the spin on such music more diverse than most of their modern-day equivalents.

When you come to the latter half of Odd Blood, you’ll find that the energy isn’t as fast paced as the early part of the record.  It feels as if the band is rushing themselves, especially when you come to songs like “Mondegreen,” a song full of horns and rhythmic vocal displays, but the elements here don’t seem to be as cohesive as they were on the early half.  Those extra touches that added so much to the first six songs sort of dissipate; this is something that causes the second half of the record to seem a bit less powerful than the first.

Throughout its duration, Odd Blood is full of so many different twists and turns that you have to give the band credit for being so exploratory in their efforts.  It might not be the most complete album the band will make, but it demonstrates that Yeasyer are willing to push themselves, and their listeners, towards a maximum musical listening experience. Cheers to that.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/01-Ambling-Alp-1.mp3]

Download: Yeasayer – Ambling Alp [MP3]

The Album Leaf – A Chorus of Storytellers

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thealbumleafRating: ★★★☆☆

A Chorus of Storytellers is Jimmy LaValle’s third album for indie label Sub Pop, and at it’s finest moments, it proves that this is the most cohesive Album Leaf record to date.  While it maintains many of the electronic flourishes that existed on past works, the latest piece somehow comes together a little bit tighter, forming stronger collection of songs.

For me, it all starts with the title, and for that part, the cover art.  Artists of this ilk can rely upon these mediums to further their message.  Sure, all artists should do this, but it’s even more important with acts that remain instrumental.  And the title,  A Chorus of Storytellers, should really say it all.  While I’ve lambasted electronic music in the past, it is works such as this that strive to make a coherent story, to create a plot within their music.  Such is the story within this record, as illustrated on the cover.   It just begs you to create your own story of the man ashore while his boat drifts aimlessly away.

Of course, one thing that differentiates this album from purely electronic or post-rock music, if you wish to call it that, is the inclusion of songs which use lyrics.  “Falling From the Sun,” for example, is a pleasant enough tune, and you can easily follow as the melody rises and falls, especially in the vocal performance.  But, moments such as this make things to clear for the listener; this is something that detracts from the overall listening experience.  Lyrics, in this case, push a story upon you when you’d rather just float off into your own world.

You can take a song like “Within Dreams,” which in itself recalls the ability to drift off with your own thoughts.  Slowly, you can feel the song fall asleep on you, as if you too are going into that deep REM sleep.  Then you can hear the faint touches of string instruments, and you’re off an running in a dream of your own.  It is here where LaValle succeeds the most, as he allows you to immerse yourself in the song, and take the song wherever you want to go.  Happily, it’s not constructed of mere loops, and the national progression lends itself to the telling of tales.  “Until the Last” is another such song; it is along the lines of Balmorhea or even a less-dangerous version of Mogwai.

Up until the middle point of the album, the record is really strong.  It has its ups and downs, but it also adds enough diversity for you to be invested wholly into the album.  However, towards the end, there are a bit too many songs with vocals.  This isn’t a disaster by any means, as the songs are actually really good, “Almost There” in particular, but it does break up the flow of the album.  Still, A Chorus of Storytellers provides many listenable moments that prove Jimmy and The Album Leaf still can concoct magic out of their post-rcok potions.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/05-Falling-From-The-Sun.mp3]

Download: The Album Leaf – Falling From The Sun [MP3]

The Soft Pack – s/t

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soft packRating: ★½☆☆☆

A few years back a band by the name of The Muslims exploded out of California with the supposed surf-rock answer to The Strokes. Now, the band has changed their name to The Soft Pack, and have released their self-titled album on Kemado Records. It’s exactly what you would expect from a California garage group.

Upon listening to the first track, “C’mon,” the band’s formula is immediately apparent.  They combine mild surf guitars with the fueling of a garage practice space, and they lyrics have a slight hint of punk drawl delivery.  But, what listeners will see is that the lyrics are severely lacking in the developmental sense.  The only words that really stand out are “c’mon,” uttered over and over again.

By the third track, “Answer to Yourself,” nothing much has changed in the structure of the album.  Lyrics are overtly redundant, and clearly lacking in any creative sense. Musically, it just seems like a consistent re-hash of song after song.  There’s a definite energy to the group, but you’ll be hard pressed at this point to find much else in the offering.

When you get to “Pull Out” the bass is a little bit heavier, while the guitars are reminiscent of living close to the waters.  Still, water is the only thing that really comes to mind at this juncture in the album.  Everything about the band just comes across as watered-down, and just out of touch.  It’s not something that you can stand up and say that you hate because it really isn’t horrendous musically, it just isn’t anything that warrants listening to time and time again.  It’s almost as if the band is treading water in the same place for the duration of the record.  Tired of the water analogy?

What once seemed like a promising moment for the band seems to have slipped away as The Soft Pack has compiled a solid set of forgettable songs that you won’t remember when their gone.  It’s quite a shame that all this work and popularity came to nought for the band.  Garage moments and surf-guitars are great, but in this day and age something has to be done to distinguish yourself from the masses in order to reach the pinnacle of the genre, and it’s hard to find a standout moment on the album, aside from the joke track “Move-Along,” which is more of just a “WTF?” moment than anything.  This is just one man’s opinion, but you won’t find the self-titled album from The Soft Pack spinning around my house any time soon.

Midlake – The Courage of Others

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Midlake-The_Courage_of_OthersRating: ★★☆☆☆

When Denton, TX band, Midlake, released The Trials of Van Occupanther in 2006, they received critical acclaim, which put the pressure on the group to follow up with similar success.  Four years later, the band has finally prepared the next installment in their catalogue, The Courage of Others.  Influences for the album are said to rest somewhere in the British-folk era, but would the four years since their last release match the acclaim the band received last go round?

Upon first listen, “Acts of Man” opens the introduction with Tim Smith’s trademark vocals, seemingly floating on the winds.  As a completed song, it does have the wintry affect one would associate with a lot of 60s folk-undertakings, marked most notably by the way the guitar is strummed.  Still, there isn’t a wow factor, or something that stands out as brilliant, like “Roscoe,” but it’s only the first track.

But, herein likes the problem with The Courage of Others; you can make it through the first four songs of the album, and nothing really differentiates itself; nothing is begging for you to come back for a repeat visit.  Admittedly, all the songs are pleasant enough, with gentle guitars and Smith’s floating vocals, which can’t really hurt the overall value of the album.  However, it doesn’t bode well that nothing really seems to change in the craftsmanship of the songs either; they all sort of stay in the same place, as if they’ve been created as small pieces to fit into a larger puzzle.

“Fortune” is one of the few songs on the album where the approach to writing the music seems to have been altered.  It’s got little to no percussion, and the song rests on the idea that Smith appears as some sort of musical bard, just picking his way through his life.  It also touches with imagery that is more personal than some of the more nature related themes you’ll find elsewhere on the The Courage of Others.

This isn’t to say that all the blandness doesn’t have its rewards.  “Bring It Down” is worthy of repeated listens, and though it clearly has roots in the past, the barely audible female vocal buried beneath the lead vocal tracks adds an extra bit of layering that the entire album could of used as a whole.  “In the Ground” is another number that grows with repeats.  It begins a bit slow, but there’s just a bit of a quiver in the vocal delivery, which does just enough to make it come across a bit differently, though those flutes (are they horns) get a touch annoying.

After four years of waiting, you would have hoped that the next work from Midlake was as rewarding as their previous effort, but it seems that letting the songs fester for too long might have led the band down the path towards complacency.  For what its worth, The Courage of Others is listenable, but other than that, it’s far short of remarkable, which makes it a disappointment to many, if not most.

Four Tet – There Is Love in You

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four_tet_there_is_love_in_youRating: ★★☆☆☆

Kieran Hebden has been at this game longer than most, so it’s no surprise that people expected big things from his latest effort under the Four Tet moniker.   There Is Love In You has already garnered a lot of interest over the Internet, though one must look at it through their own looking glass in order to fully evaluate where this record falls.

For me, I’m not one to fall easily for Intelligent Dance Music, and it really has to be something to knock me off my feet in order me to appreciate it, let alone even contemplate trying to understand it.  I remember Aphex Twin videos blowing me away, but that was based more upon twisted imagery in the videos.  DJ Shadow blew me away, but at the time, I had a faint interest in hip-hop.  But now, I’m not really into that sort of thing, especially since it lacks solid vocal involvement, which is one of the main reasons I listen to the stuff I do.

Now, as far as this album goes, I’m going to have to stand on the sidelines and watch the rest of the adoring fans as they chase Kieran Hebden around.  Song after song just seems like really simple loops being placed atop each other at certain intervals.  At times, like during the aptly titled “Sing,” you get some fearful moaning of sorts in the background, but nothing worthy of latching onto as a whole.

For me, there has to be some sort of sharp shift in the music, some sort of influential piece of movement within a song, and this, by and large doesn’t really seem to have that sort of craftsmanship to it.  Given, the use of space and timing here does seem to accomplish the affects that Hebden is associated with in his work, but I can’t lie and tell you that any of it is all that interesting. After more than a dozen listens, this album only made me focus more on my immediate surroundings as opposed to this record, which I suppose is a lot to say for an album.

The duration of There Is Love In You allows for the listener to look within himself (herself, if you so choose) while the content of the loops and layering of sounds only makes things appear more cosmic, in a sense.  You can feel yourself being absorbed into your surrounding, sinking within yourself, and that is entirely due to the non-invasive quality of the music on Four Tet‘s latest album.  It’s perfect for what it is.  It allows you to successfully pass the time while being absorbed in your own world.  Perhaps my anxiety about the world’s plights have always served as a blockage to my understanding of IDM, and for that I apologize.  Remember, this is just one man’s opinion of walking alone with this album, absorbed in himself for once, thanks to this album.

Retribution Gospel Choir – 2

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retributionRating: ★★★★☆

If you’ve been following closely along the careerpath of Low, you might have noticed that around 2005 the band turned it up a bit with The Great Destroyer, then forging further ahead with Drums & Guns.  Why does the diveregence of a great minimalist band such as Low matter here?  Well, this is Alan Sparhawks band, and the only difference between this and Low is the absence of his wife Mimi in exchange for drummer Eric Pollard.  All this leads to one thing, 2, the second proper Retribution Gospel Choir album,  is a further illustration that despite the solitude of old Low records, Alan seems to have always wanted to rock.

“Hide It Away” builds from the minute you press play on your stereo, with Pollard’s drums lying in the background, providing a steady, if not powerful, backbone for the song.  Of course, Sparhawk’s vocals soar in the foreground, with just the faintest hint of waivering.

If you didn’t believe he had this need for rock building in him for a long time, just check the forty second long “68 Comeback,” which begins with a bit of an homage to Black Sabbath (Paranoid?).  This jumps right into the arena rocking moment that is “Workin Hard.”  The chugging guitars and stomping drum sound all feel as if this was destined to fill out a large arena, yet somehow Sparhawk makes it feel rather intimate; a specialty he places here and there in his entire catalogue.

Still, you can feel the presence of his past workings throughout the record.  Take “Poor Man’s Daughter,” for instance; it’s a song that feels an awful lot like 90s College Radio Rock, yet there is a certain depth that all Low records have that is present here too.   There are also little mini-suites like the previously mentioned “68 Comeback” that show the group using ambient moments to influence to overall atmosphere of the record.

Personally, “White Wolf” is definitely a favorite number on 2. It sort of begins with a J. Mascis type riff, which brings back the whole classic alternative rock appeal that is present here, and when the chorus kicks in you just can’t help but feel elated.  It gets straight to the point, and just hits you all the way through.  Then it ends.  This remains one of the most pleasant things about this album; the brevity of the songs allows for ultimate enjoyment. A lof of current guitar albums get a bit too over-indulgent (I’m looking at you metalheads), choosing to hear themselve, and their “chops,”  more than craft the perfect song.   Here, there is no such thing (if you get rid of one song, but don’t because it’s good).  It makes for a precise rock album, one that fulfills without wasting too much time.

Alan Sparhawk has always been able to craft great songs, and this time he shows that he can do so by turning up the amps, and cranking out the energy.  If you love Low, as I do, then you’ll surely find that 2 and Retribution Gospel Choir are perfectly suited for you.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/06-White-Wolf-1.mp3]

Download: Retribution Gospel Choir – White Wolf [MP3]

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