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May 31, 2005
new releases 05.31
New releases this week are highlighted by the brand new one from organico-electronicist Four Tet, as well as a Smog album that is getting some good advance word. Also, I erroneously reported the debut from Maximo Park a couple of weeks ago, and Oasis' latest attempt to be worth a damn is out, if you care.
Four Tet :: Everything Ecstatic (stream 3 tracks here)
Smog :: A River Ain't Too Much to Love (download this advance track)
Maximo Park :: A Certain Trigger
Oasis :: Don't Believe the Truth
Next week the people get what they want: new Coldplay and White Stripes, as well as Teenage Fanclub for those who miss them.
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 12:21 PM | Comments (309) | TrackBack
May 27, 2005
system of a down :: mezmerize
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If we haven't yet gotten to the point where I can't surprise you anymore on this blog, this might be it. I'm going to put the new System of a Down album in the top 10 (albeit at #10, so it may not stay long).
Yes, it's screamo-metal, in large part. Sure, they carry the kind of fuckhead look that you will revile when you have teenage boys, or teenage girls with boyfriends - or maybe you do already. I would have campaigned against them in my prissy college radio days, but that would have been my fault. I think it's necessary for everyone who's deeply interested in art to go through an absolutist phase, but I'm a happier person since I realized that there's a ton of music to love if you start by respecting great execution and follow by working on yourself to understand the frame of reference the ideas work in.
Mezmerize is completely unstable, explosive, funny, punishing, ass-kicking, head-scratching, and damn near 100% successful despite the band's best efforts to derail most of the tracks with speed changes, circus music, odd scales, and general insanity.
If you don't know much about these guys, or think of them as another Korn or Limp Bizkit (lest you wonder, I think those two bands are the nadir of modern rock), it at least helps to know that they are a quartet of lunatic Armenian-Americans who are very serious about incorporating their cultural heritage into their music. You'll hear unmistakable folk influences throughout Mezmerize.
Flaw? The lyrics veer adolescent too often, especially in anger. The world does not need to hear another song from a major label band ripping the music industry, false musical idols, etc. Luckily the unhinged delivery saves the words more often than not.
But, shit, Rick Rubin's production is merciless and this band rolls with incredible momentum; once you admit their premise, they'll obliterate your remaining misgivings.
I'm not the first to go through the identity crisis that comes with loving SOAD: The Mystical Beast's May 16th post covers the same ground. And the regular critics have spoken - Mezmerize sits at #1 in the current Metacritic 2005 tally.
The best part? This is a 35-minute disc presented as the first half of a pair; the second drops in November. There's more to come!
(Given this band's popularity, only 1 mp3, and I'm taking it down very soon . . . but Mystical Beast has another one)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 11:18 PM | Comments (181)
suspension of service
Dear readers -
Technical difficulties have prevented my posting last night's planned rave review of the new System of a Down disc. That's probably just fine with most of you.
In addition, Borrowed Tunes will be taking the Memorial Day weekend off, in order to host our annual Tuna Blush Bake Bake-Off.
So, I'm going to try to get that SOAD post up tonight if I can; if not I'll drop a couple of links to songs I've found via other blogs. Then it's sayonara until Tuesday.
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 09:05 AM | Comments (966)
May 25, 2005
mercury rev :: the secret migration
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Last Friday, I saw Mercury Rev open for the Doves at the local mega-club. Aesthetic dissonance ensued, of a kind that's particular to rock music. With eyes closed, I heard a psychedelic rock show with big sound and rich ideas. With eyes open, I saw a group of overdressed photo-op subjects fronted by an open-throated and open-cuffed singer who spent the better part of the gig "prancing about like a bell end", to steal a phrase from the official brother (and New York City advance tour scout) of Borrowed Tunes.
Funny thing is, I've always felt this kind of ambivalence towards Mercury Rev. I barely recall seeing them once way back in the early 90s and being vaguely annoyed. I own all of their records except for the first, which I knew and played to death as a college radio DJ. Their songs are often gorgeous and cinematic, but in the end too many of them are beautiful soundtracks in search of movies with a core. It's impossible to explain. It's not that they wear themselves out - I'm glad to hear this disc a 4th and 5th time. You simply don't know whether to trust them.
The closest they have come to making a record with a bit more intrigue and interest was their last release, 2001's All is Dream. It was slightly ragged and seemed to signal a kind of retreat into a more spontaneous, inviting creativity, away from their elaborately constructed works of previous years.
But The Secret Migration returns to the studied and shined approach that yields fewer rewards. It's still very good; there's a bit more punch and precision to the songs than we've recently heard. But an icy sheen covers it all, an arm's length distance, a rock star's aloofness that keeps this band from the head of the class. And, if you ever see them, you might want to close your eyes.
The reviews are all over the place on this one. It was Uncut's five-star Album of the Month in January 2005 (it was released early in the UK), while Slant Magazine (new to me) says:
Where once Mercury Rev painted their musical canvasses with big, blurry dollops of sound, the band now colors within the lines, all edges shaved off in favor of a sound that can only be described as "pleasant" . . .
Make no mistake: there is a lot to like on The Secret Migration, and those who are less familiar with the Rev might carry less baggage. "In the Wilderness" is as good as they've ever sounded. Have a listen for yourself.
In the Wilderness (mp3)
Black Forest (Lorelei) (mp3)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 10:49 PM | Comments (45) | TrackBack
May 24, 2005
felt retrospective, pt 2 :: penelope tree & the splendour of fear
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Read the first installment of our Felt retrospective here.
Let me begin this 2nd installment in our Felt retrospective with a quasi-correction: in the beginning post, I referred to the progenitor, leader, and raison d'être of Felt variously as Lawrence Hayward or Lawrence Heyward. Why? Because the proper spelling of his last name cannot be verified, and he is typically referred to in album credits as simply Lawrence. So we'll do the same.
When we last left Felt, they had dropped an inscrutable DIY late 70s single which yielded none of the pleasures of their future work, a sketchy 1981 single with a germ of song style to come, and a very self-conscious 1982 EP with occasionally sparkling guitar but generally murky and even oppressive tone.
They would soon return to the tom-tom drumming and glistening guitar, but with a bit more maturity, confidence, and clarity. Before that, however, they would release two singles.
1982's "My Face is On Fire" is quite difficult to find and has defeated me in this digital age. An annotated discography reports that "Lawrence didn't like this song and had it redone as 'Whirlpool of Shame' (on The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Stories). We'll get to that soon enough. It's also worth noting that Maurice Deebank, the fairly steady guitar player through the first full-band incarnation of Felt, did not appear on this single.
1983's "Penelope Tree" (named after a 60s model) was unexpectedly vigorous considering what had come before. The vocal delivery is straight out of Television; in fact, as Felt has aged a few years, they sound more like Television's 2nd album, Adventure than the first. There's a multitracked chorus vocal that sounds like a female, but I can't find a credit for it. The song is pretty good, but there isn't much instrumental nuance; Felt would finally combine their best instrumental moments with fully-realized songs a couple of releases down the road.
The next lengthy record, however, concentrated almost entirely on instrumentals and still nary a snare drum or cymbal to be heard. 1984's The Splendour of Fear - 6 tracks over 30 minutes - simply sounds like a more assured take on the first EP, with a more robust sound, more thoroughly composed pieces, and more poise and purpose than experimentation. It's not entirely successful and fairly minor in the scheme of things, but this is the point in Felt's history where you hear the aesthetic truly emerge from the influences. Maurice Deebank's winding guitar really takes over, Lawrence's playing is equal to the task, and the two songs with vocals carry lyrics that are attempts at real poetry, for better or worse (mostly worse when you read them, but at least they take chances). The music becomes more hypnotic than lumbering, it swings a bit more, and we're on the road to greater things.
It's the two songs with vocals that I've chosen for inclusion here, though "The Stagnant Pool" is 3/4 instrumental, and a good guide to what the rest of the EP sounds like. For me, "The Stagnant Pool" is the highlight of Felt to this point, with its drawn-out sense of creeping unease and terrific playing by Deebank.
The Stagnant Pool (mp3)
The World is as Soft as Lace (mp3)
Buy The Splendour of Fear
Buy Absolute Classic Masterpieces (contains "Penelope Tree" + 3 Splendour tracks including the two above)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 10:59 PM | Comments (2420) | TrackBack
May 23, 2005
new releases 05.24
It's another busy week at the record shop. I'm personally quite excited about this new Gorillaz album, as I've really enjoyed Damon Albarn's more experimental phase (Think Tank is one of my favorite albums of the 2000s, and I also loved Mali Music), and I'm looking forward to hearing Danger Mouse's production. I'm also not afraid to say that I'm a Wallflowers fan (the last one wasn't any good, but Breach was an underappreciated group of great songs). And, to complete a a run of taste you might find questionable, I must say I'm intrigued by Stephen Thomas Erlewine's very positive review of the new Audioslave. As mediocre as their first disc was, I was a big Soundgarden fan and liked plenty of Rage Against The Machine (they were easily, easily the best of a generally awful trend). To hear this group reach its potential would be a great thing.
Then a couple of indie heroes come back out: new Stephen Malkmus, which is being favorably compared to Wowee Zowee, and Sleater-Kinney, which many are saying is the best yet. Then there's the Belle & Sebastian EPs and singles collection we covered last week, as well as retrospectives for Son Volt and the Screaming Trees (a Screaming Trees greatest hits may be the best way to experience them, and the only album you need).
One I won't be buying is the new Shelby Lynne. After 3 decent discs, she hasn't made enough of a mark on me; I can't say my ear is caught by any of the generously provided 4 tracks streaming at her site.
I don't know anything about the live Alex Chilton album.
Gorillaz :: Demon Days
Stephen Malkmus :: Face the Truth (sample track here)
Sleater-Kinney :: The Woods (sample track here)
Belle & Sebastian:: Push Barman to Open Old Wounds (compilation) (sample track here)
The Wallflowers :: Rebel, Sweetheart (stream new single in WM or RA here)
Audioslave :: Out of Exile
Son Volt :: A Retrospective 1995-2000 (compilation)
Screaming Trees :: Ocean of Confusion 1989-1996 (compilation)
Shelby Lynne :: Suit Yourself (stream 4 tracks by clicking on sampler linke here)
Alex Chilton :: Live in Anvers
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 09:34 PM | Comments (89) | TrackBack
May 19, 2005
new son volt, old belle & sebastian
I didn't have much to write about tonight, so I trolled around for free advance tracks. A couple of winners:
Son Volt's reunion album comes out soon, which I had low expectations for until I heard this track - it might be their best tune since the Trace days. Majestic guitar action. Sorry for the crappy 128 kbps MP3. Thanks, Scenestars.
Son Volt :: 6 String Belief (mp3)
Belle and Sebastian issue a compilation of their many EPs and non-album singles next Tuesday, much of it hard to find, all of it consistent, and some of it equal to their very best work. You may find that this is one of your favorite releases this year. Below is a track I hadn't ever heard, a B-side from the 2001 "Jonathon David" single. I've been up and down on B&S over the years, but I've come around to a view that has them up there with the top 10 or 15 bands of the modern indie era. Their records will be sought out by the next generation. One of the great joys of being a fan is their seemingly endless vault of high-quality non-album tracks.
Belle and Sebastian :: Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It (mp3)
On the other hand, Fluxblog has a track from the forthcoming Bob Mould "return to rock" record which sounds a) absolutely awful and b) nothing like a return to rock music.
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 11:02 PM | Comments (541) | TrackBack
May 18, 2005
someone forgot to bring the songs :: aimee mann, ponys
aimee mann :: the forgotten arm
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A heartrending lyrical story about a fallen, drugged out and drunk former boxer should not make for a monotonous set of songs, but unfortunately it does. It's seeming like we won't hear the likes of Bachelor No. 2 again.
the ponys :: celebration castle
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From mysterious, under-the-radar 60s rave-rock sleepers to lost-in-the-shuffle cool-kid indie noise. Wrong move. (If you've never heard their first album, Laced With Romance, you need to.)
The Ponys :: Glass Conversation (mp3)
Stream 3 Aimee Mann tunes here
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 09:50 PM | Comments (1419) | TrackBack
May 17, 2005
go-betweens :: oceans apart
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I have a strange relationship with the Go-Betweens. I own almost all of their records, I really enjoy hearing every one of them, I occasionally walk around hummming their tunes, and yet I invariably forget about them when tallying up my favorite music. They're role-players. Solid, never calling attention to themselves.
They're a two-songwriter band of Aussies playing a very restrained and subtle form of bittersweet six-string pop. The melodies are delivered flat - just the mellifluous side of Lou Reed - and they don't go in for big choruses or drama. But somehow the tunes catch, worming their way into your head, begging for fourth and fifth listens. They're very well-written.
Oceans Apart is the third record in the second life of the band (the first having run from 1981-1988), and it's hailed as the first true return to form of this new phase. I don't necessarily agree with that - I loved the comeback disc The Friends of Rachel Worth, and the next one, Bright Yellow Bright Orange, had good tunes even if it was a little too listless (and listlessness can be a hallmark of this band).
Oceans does have the biggest production, and rocks as hard as you'll hear the Go-Betweens (which isn't much); the last two were barely-dressed folk-pop, and this time we're back to the lusher late-80s sound of the band (with an old producer from that era in tow). Some of the songs are among their deepest.
But what I haven't read in the reviews (which are all very positive), perhaps because my ears are too sensitive, is that the recording is squashed and strangely EQ-ed so as to sound like a crap set of 128 kbps MP3s or a bad cassette. It's really, really bad for a supposed professional product. It's probably not distracting for most people, but I'm surprised other reviewers haven't made an issue of it. A proper, bright production and mastering job might have made this good album great.
So, here they are again, making solid music that strangely sticks. I recommend it, I'll listen to it again, and yet, like their catalog, it can't break through this year's increasingly gridlocked list of 20 favorites. But to help you get a sense of the unanimous critical adulation for this band, take a look at Metacritic's top discs of 2005 so far. It's at #2.
The Statue (mp3)
Darlinghurst Nights (mp3)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 09:55 PM | Comments (7)
new releases 05.17
The US release of the new Mercury Rev is the big news this week. Another Brit hype band launches, named Maximo Park; this one might be worth checking out. I lost track of Robbie Fulks a couple albums ago, but this new one is described as big country stuff, and I'm intriuged. He can't have lost his songwriting touch. I kind of like System of a Down's take on aggro-nu-metal. And for those of you who don't own a copy of Gang of Four's Entertainment, don't miss the newly expanded reissue out this week.
Mercury Rev :: The Secret Migration
Maximo Park :: A Certain Trigger (single streaming in low quality at band site here)
Robbie Fulks :: Georgia Hard
Gang of Four :: Entertainment (expanded reissue)
Richard Thompson :: Live from Austin, TX (DVD available)
Van Morrison :: Magic Time
System of a Down :: Mezmerize
Next week? Plenty to cheer for including Stephen Malkmus, Sleater-Kinney, Gorillaz, Shelby Lynne, and Wallflowers. Then comes summer, when the really big records start coming out.
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 12:54 AM | Comments (192) | TrackBack
May 16, 2005
live :: gang of four, kathleen edwards
Tonight was marked on my calendar for months: the first chance to see my heroes Gang of Four in the flesh, to hear "Damaged Goods", "I Found That Essence Rare", and "Anthrax" with all of the bite and passion that I imagined as I held my hard-sought used LP copy of Entertainment and spun it over and over in college.
I also knew it would be a Monday, and that the mood wouldn't be quite right. And so tonight I saw a band obviously in command of their music, and often thrillingly so, but with a long week looming (and the Doves waiting at the end) I stood at the back and kept my distance. From there, I knew the band had given their all and the crowd up front had the time of their life. For my part, I was only sporadically abosorbed, more my fault than theirs. I hope you can dedicate yourself more than I was able to - I'm sure you'll get out of it what you put in.
On the other hand, last Tuesday I found myself with time on my hands and Kathleen Edwards at the club across town. So off I went, hoping for a few good tunes, a short night and a couple of beers with a pal.
Just as when I saw her two years ago, she proved that she's so much more than the polished AOR songstress her record company would lead you to believe she is. She likes to rock, she goes all out, and she has spazzy Canadian stage banter about Ottawa. She's not afraid to sing about hockey skates, and if she was a pro she'd be Kris Draper - solid, careening, and yet displaying flashes of finesse. Don't miss her when she comes around.
Thoroughly endearing. I'm glad to bring back the song about the blue line, with its great guitar lick, here.
Kathleen Edwards :: Hockey Skates (mp3)
Gang of Four tour dates
Kathleen Edwards tour dates
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 11:50 PM | Comments (4)
May 15, 2005
spoon :: gimme fiction
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Spoon's fifth album arrives in a perfect storm of hype and anticipation; they've created their own momentum among fans with two near-perfect albums, Girls Can Tell and Kill The Moonlight, and a crowd of bandwagoneering critics have fanned the flames with pieces that have the faint whiff of regret for having to make up lost time.
The flashpots have been lit, the fireworks set off, the launch party kool-aid cocktails poured and downed in threes and fours. It's the morning after, and it's time to try to fit this record into our normal daily routines, to see it it can reach through our bleary eyes and gauzy ears.
We know that it's a very, very good record - our heroes are men of supreme skill - but we find that what this disc is missing more than anything is the playfulness, the sheer joy of rock record-making that gave such incredible life to the previous two. Girls Can Tell swung and swaggered with guitar menace; KillThe Moonlight grooved with Kinks confidence. Gimme Fiction sounds overthought and overwrought, and long stretches of it are stuck in first gear. You can almost hear Britt Daniel strain to make the next brilliant record that he knew was expected of him; his taste competes for supremacy against his talent and instincts, and nobody really wins. It's as if he's pleading with his muse when he sings, in "I Summon You":
Remember the weight of the world
It's a a sound that we used to buy
On cassette and 45
And now this little girl
She says will we make it at all . . .
Got the weight of the world
I summon you here my love
So, yes, I feel a small disappointment as I settle into this record for the fourth and fifth listens. But I also recognize that it may sound better as the months wear on, as the songs breathe and the press fades. The three opening songs are instant keepers, each setting the table for the other with building intensity. From there, it may just need time to grow.
Since I've posted 3 links to mp3s from this disc in the run-up, I'll offer a demo of "Sister Jack" from the (mostly non-essential) bonus disc. The demo has been widely available online for months, and I think it did a lot to build the hype. The album version of this tune hits me a little bit wrong - Spoon has always been accused of sounding like Guided by Voices, and "Sister Jack"'s full version does - in a latter-day, mailing-it-in way. The demo version shows how it could have been one of the best songs of the year. Why did he kill those backing vocal lines?
Sister Jack (demo) (mp3)
mp3s from previous discs + one more demo at the Spoon site
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 10:04 PM | Comments (2381) | TrackBack
May 13, 2005
in the country :: this was the pace of my heartbeat
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The latest on our favorite Norwegian experimental label, Rune Grammofon records (doesn't that sound so sophisticated?), is contemplative piano trio music courtesy of Morten Quenvild, who I know better as Susanna's "magical orchestra" on Borrowed Tunes' #10 record of 2004. He's also in Shining, reviewed here earlier.
The style is nominally jazz - certainly the instrumentation and approach come straight from the modern jazz tradition - but this is not frenzied improvisation, and the harmonies are stark and come from a variety of sources. The music generally moves at a glacial pace. It's often beautiful, often barely noticeable, and occasionally splinters into a more abstract, dissonant mode to recapture your attention. You wonder if Quenvild is a better composer and producer than piano player until he proves himself worthy in tiny bursts.
There's also a Ryan Adams cover, which I'm not going to even attempt to understand.
Anyway, why am I even writing this? The excellent blog The Suburbs Are Killing Us has done a better job already, including an interview with Quenvild and 3 tracks. Go there now.
3 tracks at The Suburbs Are Killing Us (mp3)
0883 Oslo (mp3)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 07:32 AM | Comments (387) | TrackBack
May 11, 2005
the raveonettes :: pretty in black
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The Raveonettes first release, the long EP Whip It On, was an intermittently interesting if overly contrived slice of noir fuzz, proud of its compositional limitations: it was all in B-flat minor, and proud of it. It seemed like this was probably one male-female alterna-rock style project too many, and they would probably disappear quickly.
For the first full-length, they shocked me by moving to B-flat major and delivering a consistently winning set of tiny pop songs combining the Jesus and Mary Chain's buzzing reverb with girl-group/doo-wop simplicity. Chain Gang of Love wasn't a great album, but it was a good one with a few great songs, and I knew I'd have to pay closer attention.
Just like the Jesus and Mary Chain, and like almost every band that starts noisy, they've cleaned up considerably for Pretty In Black. Now the sound is almost pure airy girl-group borne on a bed of modern detached rhythm. The single-key conceit is gone. The fog is cleared.
And half of the album holds up to the exposure. It eases in through a couple of chilled openers into a stretch of the most complete, distinctive songs they've recorded. They are still soaked in reverence for the old ways, but they swing and propel themselves with a confidence that lifts them beyond style experiments. You have incredible hope listening to this record for the first time that you're hearing a band grow into its own out of a set of limitations that seemed inevitably crippling.
Then comes the petering out. With a cover of "My Boyfriend's Back" (could it get more obvious?), and the cringeworthily titled "Ode to L.A." including a Ronnie Spector appearance that brings Eddie Money to mind, the second half slips too easily into its formulas. The cinematic "Somewhere In Texas" is worth seeking out; the rest is pleasant enought, but forgettable - and forgotten. This disc is destined for the cutout bins, where the right price will be paid for half of an excellent record.
Also, literate listeners beware: they're Danes. Don't get too close to the lyrics.
Sleepwalking (mp3)
Somewhere in Texas (mp3)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 10:20 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
May 10, 2005
more mp3 blogs :: #1 songs in heaven; monkeyfilter list
While you wait for more original content here, including a review of the Kathleen Edwards show that I have just seen, why not check out some other great mp3 blogs?
First, the guy who got the Go Kart Mozart challenge question right in the recent Felt post runs a nonpareil soul/funk blog called The Number One Songs In Heaven. When you feel like you've run out of old music to pursue, the unknown artists of the classic soul/funk era can provide endless new paths. Start here.
Second, our good friend over at The Tofu Hut has started a giant and well-categorized list of mp3 blogs at the Monkeyfilter wiki. Surf at your own risk (we will not be responsible for lost jobs, marriages, etc.)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 11:43 PM | Comments (9)
May 09, 2005
new releases 05.09
A light new release schedule this week, but it's a big day for the hipsters as the new Spoon drops. That's all I think I'll be picking up, although I'm going to find ways to hear more of the Fannypack, which is supposed to be a ton of fun, and the Electrelane, a band that I'm just not sold on yet. I can't bring myself to buy the new live Lucinda Williams, even though I love her; I've seen her countless times. If you care, there is new Weezer out this week as well. I don't.
Sorry for the lack of song links - there just aren't many.
Spoon :: Gimme Fiction (search Spoon on this site for a few mp3 links)
Electrelane :: Axes
Lucinda Williams :: Live at Fillmore
Fannypack :: See You Next Tuesday
Next week is the US release of the latest Mercury Rev and System of a Down finally gets their new one out. Things pick up the following week with Malkmus, Shelby Lynne, Sleater-Kinney, Gorillaz, and The Wallflowers,
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 10:04 PM | Comments (2187) | TrackBack
elvis costello :: a life in liner notes
Thanks to loyal reader Denis for this tip: the Onion AV club has put together the choice moments, album by album, from all of the liner notes to Elvis Costello's recently-complete back catalogue reissue series. These extremely extensive liner notes were written by E.C. himself, and as the Onion points out they amount to an autobiography of sorts. Actually more interesting than the usual autobiography for those of us who wish artists would provide more musical background than they do.
In any event, if you're a Costello fan & you haven't picked up these reissues, or just want a Cliff's Notes version of the notes, check this out.
Elvis Costello Liner Notes (at the Onion A.V. Club)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 09:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 08, 2005
the hold steady :: separation sunday
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If early Bruce Springsteen was actually a recovering drug addict skate rat and fronted AC/DC instead of the E Street Band, you'd really like that, wouldn't you? I knew you would.
Separation Sunday is an epic concept album exploring Catholic edcuation, guilt and redemption in the lives of down-and-out drug kids - opiates, both of the underground party scene and of the masses. The central character is a Holly (née Hallelujah), a "hoodrat" who wears a cross because "she likes how it looks on her chest with three open buttons", because when you get busted "if you think you're a christian then they won't bring in the dogs", and because there's something in the lives of the saints that feels like her own.
If you've never heard the Hold Steady before, approach the vocals with an open mind. Craig Finn (formerly of Lifter Puller) isn't so much a singer as a shouter, because he knows the lyrics need full force to be delivered over the kicked-out jams. In a way, this album is the American version of Borrowed Tunes' #1 album of 2004, The Streets' A Grand Don't Come For Free - a long story about wasted lives of wasted kids, delivered in a voice that takes some getting used to, with the simplest of musical accompaniments.
And it's simply brilliant. There are more changes of pace, delivered with a more expansive sound, than on the excellent debut Almost Killed Me. Spend some time checking out the complete lyric sheet here. I usually don't recommend reading lyrics before hearing songs, but for some of you this may be the way in to getting past the vocal style.
The initial reviews are super-strong and unanimous on this; a good quote comes from Tim Sendra's review in the All Music Guide: the strength of the album is in the flow from song to song and the way the intensity level (which starts off at a near fever pitch) elevates until your head is just about ready to burst from the thrill of it all. Call it a quaint idea in 2005, but Separation Sunday is truly an album, one that sounds almost perfect when played from beginning to end in the proper running order.
Banging Camp (mp3)
Stevie Nix (mp3)
Your Little Hoodrat Friend (mp3) (from the band site)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 11:11 PM | Comments (19) | TrackBack
May 05, 2005
a perfumed garden :: v1
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I recently picked up the first volume of an old collection of British psychedelic rarities on Past & Present Records - part of the subculture/cottage industry that concerns itself with digging up virtually every hard-to-find underground single from the 60s and preserving them in an endless string of compilations, which then in turn become part of a rarity/reissue cycle. A Perfumed Garden, last released on vinyl in the early 80s, is now available on CD as an import.
I picked this up due to a review in Other Music's weekly new release newsletter (a wonderful resource), probably because it seemed like it might be a little weirder than the usual garage/psych comps which, despite their astonishing volume, can actually get a bit monotonous at times. It's fantastic. There's a wide range of sounds, from Zombies psych to Beatles pop to fuzz rock, plenty of the goofy song titles ("Crawdaddy Simone") and band names (Mandrake Paddle Steamer; Tintern Abbey) that you expect, and nearly every tune sounds like it should have been a minor hit. The sound is excellent for this type of archival release.
I don't have the time or energy to do all of the research necessary to fully understand these tunes' origins (though I can tell you that Syn featured 2 future members of Yes), but it's almost best to treat this like an unlabelled cassette tape found in a basement, full of mysterious classics.
I'm providing 4 full tunes here in order to demonstrate the variety, and in hope that you take the time to find out more. We'll cover volumes 2 and 3 in the next couple of weeks.
Syn :: Grounded (mp3)
Shy Limbs :: Reputation (mp3)
The Smoke :: Sydney Gill (mp3)
Sands :: Listen to the Sky (mp3)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 10:19 PM | Comments (2148) | TrackBack
May 04, 2005
bruce springsteen :: devils & dust
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| (buy) |
I'm sure everyone's dying to hear the official Borrowed Tunes take on the new Springsteen, since the Boss always gives music writers an occasion to polish up overblown claims of gravitas, to go toe to toe with Bruce Almighty in a serious assessment of the state of rock music, always needing saving, as a metaphor for our sorry-ass world.
My first thought on getting the disc? "Jeez, I can't figure out how to get this newfangled case open!" Seriously. You have to push the little tab button thing.
Anyway, I'd rather just listen to the songs, and by that standard it's a patchy little record, one that is sadly kind of boring to sit through. It's a good deal better than The Almost Unlistenable Ghost of Tom Joad, but nowhere near Nebraska. It's not in the same league as that paranoid, agitated, and bleak and, not least, compact masterpiece. There are some sparkling moments on Devils, but it sure does go on forever.
In fact, it's amusing - but understandable - that this record is cast in comparison to the acoustic pair of Joad and Nebraska. You're taking in the extremes of the Springsteen catalogue there; this one is the very definition of middling.
The title track wears in nicely. "Black Cowboys" holds your attention with a well-spun story and a simple folk melody. "Long Time Comin'" is an uplifting grownup singalong rocker of the variety that he perfected on The Rising. "Leah" reminds me of the quiet tunes on Born In The USA or even Tunnel Of Love, but mostly as an echo of something greater. "Reno" (subtitled "Did He Really Sing That? Rewind!") [lyrics] is a similar faint copy of the Nebraska vibe. "Matamoros Banks" is a good closer, another stark folk song.
Then there are the ill-advised falsetto experiments, "Maria's Bed" and "All I'm Thinkin' About", plodding sappers like "Silver Palomino", and the almost laughably sanctimonious "Jesus Was an Only Son" (where he seems to be channeling Oh Mercy-era Bob Dylan, which is fine; just weird). Because of these, the disc never really gets going, and it becomes difficult to remember the good parts until you take them one by one alone.
The disc does come as a double-sided CD/DVD, with video of pure acoustic versions of some of the tunes and a 5.1 mix of the whole album. The stripped-down versions are illuminating; the 5.1 mix is a lusher version of a production that is already too dressed up.
In the end, I'm worried that Springsteen's gift for melody is slowly deserting him. Even some tunes on The Rising depended on raw emotion to carry them through; here, he doesn't have that benefit, and some alarmingly hook-free material has made the cut. Let's hope it's just the mood this time around.
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 10:38 PM | Comments (4)
felt retrospective, pt 1 :: early singles and 1st EP
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I'm finally getting around to a feature I've been wanting to add to Borrowed Tunes since the beginning: retrospectives on artists that don't get a lot of ink these days. We begin with Felt, for no other reason than a friend/loyal reader and I have spent some time talking about them and seeking out some of the more rare recordings lately.
Active from about 1979 to 1989, Birmingham's Felt do get a fair amount of notice in the UK, where they hold minor classic status; in the States they've gone virtually unheard except among Anglophile indie rockers who were paying attention in the mid and late 80s. They're really not the kind of band you're going to discover without someone turning you on to them; you can't follow family trees or rock lineage, and you probably won't discover much in record guides either. Felt largely operated outside of any particular scene; the closest they came to an identifiable affiliation is by virtue of their mid-career signing to Creation Records, the massively influential English indie label (Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Primal Scream, Oasis, Teenage Fanclub among many others). But by then they had carved out a space all their own.
Less a band than a guy and his collaborators, Felt was the project of Lawrence Hayward, who went on to found the totally different Denim in the 90s, and subsequently Go Kart Mozart (bonus points if you identify the source of that name), who are still releasing records today. We'll cover them all in this retrospective, aiming for an album or two a week until we're done.
The simple name Felt doesn't refer to the fabric; it's actually lifted from a Television lyric - "how we felt" - from "Venus". By explaining the name's origin that way, Hayward is making less of a point about requiring an unusual source for an ordinary word; he's declaring Television to be his primary influence. And their shadow falls long over Felt's sound, especially as it was developing in the early years. The music quickly moved into a kind of cerebral, slightly off-center guitar-driven style that relied less on riffs and more on chord shifts and melodies taken from dimily lit corners of familiar scales. Add to that Hayward's voice, which operated on the Lou Reed side of Tom Verlaine, and you understand what he had in his head when he set out.
But where did it really all begin? I've spent plenty of time trying to appreciate the first single, "Index", which was recorded solo into a cassette recorder, and which was apparently the subject of "lavish critical praise" in 1979, according to the All Music Guide. I do understand that in the late 70s there was a thirst for any kind of music made of artful simplicity, and bonus points were given for a DIY approach. But I simply don't get this one here in 2005. Its value, to me, is more in its clues to the future: Felt would use chord changes that hew to no traditional cadence or standard arrangements (often simply moving up or down a step), and they would also display a penchant for frustratingly useless instrumentals. Otherwise, grab a guitar, learn a bar chord, strum constantly, and move your left hand around. You can do this too.
Index (mp3)
The next single added a drum machine and vocals to the mix, and here you have proto-Felt for the first time, 2 years later in 1981. Vague, pensive lyrics speaking to an unspecific "you" - these will be hallmarks. This isn't a bad song; it's separated from later, better Felt more by the one-dimensional instrumental treatment than the writing itself. Note the one-step chord changes. A tricky drumbeat shows some inventiveness.
Something Sends Me to Sleep (mp3)
Then, later on in that same year of 1981, a fuller band and a lengthier release marks Felt's first real statement of purpose. Heyward said around that time that he intended only to put out EPs, and the first one, Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty, showcases a three-piece band (virtuoso 2nd guitar by Maurice Deebank, drummer who only plays jungle toms) playing a set of songs whose self-conscious, arty reach exceeds their ponderous grasp. I've been trying to figure out the production choices and influences here, and I have a couple of hunches beyond the Television sound, which is in full bloom here. We will learn later - through Denim - that Hayward was a fan of glam rock. He could very well have lifted the tom-tom drums from the bongos used by the first incarnation of T. Rex, the fuller-named and more mystical Tyrannosaurus Rex. Every musical kid who grew up during Hayward's time in England loved Marc Bolan.
Given the minimalist, clean guitar style, I also think he was listening to The Durutti Column, whose first album caused something of a splash in the influential Factory Records scene in 1979.
I've included 3 tracks from the EP here (one showing their continuing penchant for instrumentals) plus the necessary reference material.
Next installment we will begin to hear Felt coming into their own over the course of a couple of more substanial releases.
Evergreen Dazed (mp3)
Fortune (mp3)
Cathedral (mp3)
King of the Rumbling Spires (Tyrannosaurus Rex) (mp3)
Madeleine (The Durutti Column) (mp3)
Lyrics for Crumbling
Buy Crumbling the Antisepctic Beauty
Buy Absolute Classic Masterpieces (contains 1st 2 singles)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 01:31 AM | Comments (2433) | TrackBack
May 02, 2005
new releases 05.03
It's a big-time up week for Borrowed Tunes at the local rekkid shop. We've already posted about the Hold Steady. The Go-Betweens promises to be excellent. The Ponys will be a purchase. One more go-round for the Raveonettes, who keep expanding their sound. Madlib's helium-voiced alter-ego Quasimoto comes back out. I'll probably get suckered in by the Aimee Mann, even if I am beginning to find her boring. A concept album about boxing is pretty enticing.
One I know I'm not buying? The Ryan Adams. I can assure you this is his best record under his solo name, and perhaps a return to Whiskeytown form. But not great Whiskeytown; it's too long and not enough of the songs stick.
The Hold Steady :: Separation Sunday (mp3 here)
The Go-Betweens :: Oceans Apart (wangle your way to a track here)
The Ponys :: Celebration Castle (first mp3 here is new)
The Raveonettes :: Pretty In Black
Quasimoto :: The Further Adventures of Lord Quas
Aimee Mann :: The Forgotten Arm (big points for a high-quality full QT stream here (link at bottom) with cool pics and lyrics)
Ryan Adams :: Cold Roses (low qual full stream here)
Caribou (formerly Manitoba) :: The Milk Of Human Kindness
The Russian Futurists :: Our Thickness
Posted by borrowed_tunes at 10:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack