The Gaslight Anthem preview a new track

The Gaslight Anthem were first introduced to me as "What would have happened if Bruce Springsteen had gone ahead and sold 'Hungry Heart' to The Ramones." and that description could not be more apt. They're from New Jersey, they write big songs about kids being kids all with the fuzzed out guitars from early punk records. Their album The 59 Sound broke them to a larger audience and American Slang from 2 years ago solidified their role as part of the new generation that grew up on The Boss.

Their new song, "45", off their upcoming album Handwritten is more of the same and I'm ready for that. It's been a few years since their last record and their sound hasn't worn even the slightest bit thin. While The Hold Steady, another band heavily influence by Bruce, have grown tired, these guys keep plugging away with some great stuff. I was already pretty excited for more Gaslight Anthem and now I just have to count the days until June 24th, when Handwritten comes out. [Via Rolling Stone]

Torche lights other people's fires, but not mine. Harmonicraft review.

In some ways, it's all to easy to describe Torche's third album, Harmonicraft. Superchunk goes metal, the heaviest Weezer song you ever heard, etc. Most of them involve taking a 90's alt rock band and adding tons of overdrive and volume. It also doesn't hurt if you include some form of the word "metal" (sludge metal is a common one). A shred of insight: as part of a split EP with Part Chimp, they did 3 Guided By Voices covers, all pretty deep cuts.

It's easy to fall in love with Harmonicraft right off the bat. The Superchunk shines through on the first track, "Letting Go." It's one of those insanely strong opening tracks that hits you right from the first few seconds and keeps you hooked through its brief running time. From the first time I heard it, I though "I hope every song is like that one." The album keeps going strong for the next few tracks. It keeps punching your brain with thick, chunky guitars heavy drums and you start thinking "Man, they cannot keep this going."

But keep it going they do. To say this album suffers from a lack of textures is an understatement. What first seems like settling into a groove after a few tracks feels more like a rut. Then a ditch. Then a project to try to drill through the earth's crust. My initial though on "Letting Go" turned out to be oddly prescient. Listening to the album in short bursts, say 4 or 5 tracks at a time alleviates some of this, but it's only 13 songs long. If you can't keep an idea interesting for the 37 minutes this album runs, maybe you should try a new idea. It seems like the guitars and vocals have the same exact treatments on every song on the album. It wears thin quickly.

Music lately has been moving towards crazy instrumentation and mixing as many genres together as possible, so on a certain level it's admirable that Torche is out there making as straight a rock record as Harmonicraft. This is basically the opposite of whatever it means that Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" is at #1 on the Hot 100. Though, you know, that song's also kinda boring. 

Top Of The Charts 4/30

1) Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

2) Fun. - We Are Young

3) Maroon 5 - Payphone

4) Justin Bieber - Boyfriend

5) The Wanted - Glad You Came

6) Flo Rida - Wild Ones

7) Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe 

8) One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

9) Nicki Minaj - Starships

10) Kelly Clarkson - Stronger

Yes! Finally! Beg for weeks on end and you shall receive! There's a new song in the top 10! It's bad. That Maroon 5 song is a bad song. It's a shame, I know that the only new song on the list in weeks is really quite bad, but it's the best you can reasonably ask for from Maroon 5. They really only have 2 settings, the angular faux-funkiness of their first couple songs "Harder To Breathe" and "This Love" or the more smoothed out heartbreak songs like "She Will Be Loved" or more recently "Never Gonna Leave This Bed". "Payphone" bites the latter pretty hard, but this one has swear words in it. And Wiz Khalifa for some reason. Side note: It took like 10 minutes for me to figure out the song I was thinking of was in fact "Never Gonna Leave This Bed"

But you already knew Maroon 5 isn't really a good band. The rest of the chart looks like last week again. No song in the top 10, apart from "Payphone" moved more than 2 spots. "Payphone" is in its first week on the charts, but I don't need to write again about how it's not really impressive anymore to have an established artist (even a crummy one like Maroon 5) have a high charting debut.

I've been thinking more about "Wild Ones" lately. Flo Rida is a lot of things, but "wild" is not among them. Sia should really be looking elsewhere, I hear that Nicki Minaj likes to get kinda crazy from time to time. Flo Rida has made a pretty big splash in the last few years with a  lot of songs that sound exactly like his other songs. Club banger beat, staunchly regimented verses, big hook in the middle, throw in a guest star. Done. I remember hearing Sia's name bandied about a while back, but for the life of me, I can't figure out where or why I remember it.

Albums Of The Week 4/27

Choice Of The Week: Jack White - Blunderbuss

Jack White has released a lot of music in the past 13 years. Wait, really? It's been 13 years? Time flies. Anyway, this is his first actual solo record and he seems to have made quite a splash with this one. Though a lot of people liked his work with side projects The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, neither of them really stuck with me. Blunderbuss on the other hand, apart from a few missteps, can stand among my favorite White Stripes albums with pride.







Torche - Harmonicraft

Great news everyone! The '90s are back! Okay, maybe that's not great news for some. In my opinion the '90s were the worst decade since the '70s, but that's another matter. The critical acclaim for both Harmonicraft and The Cloud Nothings recent album show that the grunge generation is now ready for more grunge. This is less the straight Mudhoney apery that The Cloud Nothings made, but still has a foot in that era. If you want an album that'll assault your brain, this is it. It suffers from a lack of different textures though. A full review will be up monday after I've taken more time with it.






Classic Pick: Tom Waits - Closing Time

Most people think of Tom Waits these days as his king of the hobos persona, but on his debut album, he's just a singer/songwriter with a bluesy edge. His voice isn't yet the loveable wreck it is today, but there's plenty of personality in it. It's completely different from his recent Bad As Me, but it's still pretty great. Make sure you check out "Martha," one of the saddest songs of Tom Waits' long career.

The Dandy Warhols should have stayed down. This Machine review.

Like anyone who thought they were at one time cooler than everyone else they knew, I loved The Dandy Warhols. They were the rebirth of The Velvet Underground. They were cocky and that's why you liked them. They wrote fun, hooky songs about heroin. "Bohemian Like You" was a hit in Europe but not here in the States, further cementing their coolness. They were the perfect band for an out of place teenager. You're just getting into music, but all your friends are still listening to whatever's on the radio or Apatite For Destruction or some other trash that you're too smart to like. There came a time, however, that I realized The Dandy Warhols were kind of terrible. Don't worry though, millions of teenagers around the world were similarly duped.

2000's Thirteen Tales Of Urban Bohemia is one of those albums that takes you back to your former self when you first heard it. To my developing 14 year old ears, it was the next logical step from The Velvet Underground And Nico. Now, looking at it in a vacuum, it's just a carefully orchestrated ripoff designed to call that exact image to mind. On one level, it's lazy to just ape another, far more talented artist, but also, it's not like they tried to ever hide it. Hell, their name calls to mind The Velvet Underground's connection to Andy Warhol. I can still go back to those records because they're fun and poppy and have some actually great songs on there, despite on the whole not being great. This Machine, the latest from The Dandy Warhols, is just not very good.

Whereas earlier records tried to sound like Lou Reed gave up and tried writing a hit single, this album just sounds like lead Dandy, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, gave up. There are two types of songs on this album. There's the "Let's just write 'Bohemian Like You' again" songs and the ones that are fuzzy and droning with no hooks at all. There's little to love in the first group of songs, but the latter offers even less. Also there's a cover of "16 Tons" that's just sorta embarrassing. 

The name of the album, This Machine, written on the side of a guitar evokes the image of Woody Guthrie and early Bob Dylan writing "This Machine kills fascists" on their guitar cases. The Dandy Warhols have shown they have no qualms taking ideas from other artists, but this is just senseless. It's literally the only thing they have ever done that recalls either of these artists. I hear those guys are alright, maybe you should buy one of their albums instead of this one.

You got me back, Jack White. Blunderbuss review.

I'll be honest, it's been a few years since I've kept up with Jack White. He's made it hard, with his side projects like The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather and guest roles on a number of different projects. I'd say after The White Stripes' Elephant, it all gets sorta fuzzy for me. I never even listened to Get Behind Me Satan or Icky Thump. Both of these albums reviewed pretty well, the latter especially, but I just felt after Elephant, the what I loved most about the band had changed fundamentally. De Stijl remains my favorite album of theirs even if I'm not 100% sure how to properly pronounce it. It was raw and dirty just the way I like it, White Blood Cells too. I know I really should go back and check out what I missed, but you know. The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather were fine, but I think I played the four albums they released less than 15 times total.

That brings us to Jack White's solo debut. A guy like Jack White doesn't seem like he'd work best without anyone to rein him in. He's shown that he's fearless when it comes to what he releases, as someone that's as prolific as he is has to be. Hell, he just put out a record that has to be played at 3 RPM. That's 10 times slower than a standard LP. That, dear readers, takes cajones. So what does an unchecked Jack White sound like? A lot like the White Stripes.

There was an elegant simplicity to The White Stripes' early albums, and it's on display here on Blunderbuss again. Even the drums sometimes sound like Meg White's basic, haphazard slamming sometimes. However, with added instrumentation, it's more obvious than ever that Jack White is a hell of a songwriter. He's able to deftly mix the throwback sound he's known for with a more modern sound. He's not always successful, but when he is, it's thrilling.

There's a fine line that an artist like Jack White has to walk. If you go too far in the direction of a throwback, you end up sounding hokey and dated. It crosses the line from "homage" into "gimmick." Let's call this line "The Brian Setzer Line." Setzer himself sprints well beyond the line and down the cliffs of dreck with reckless abandon. Blunderbuss for the most part stays clear of the danger zone, but it does dip a toe beyond the line from time to time. Sounds like "I'm Shakin'" and "I Guess I Should Go To Sleep" are a chore to listen to. Early album hard rockers like "Sixteen Saltines" on the other hand have a simple chord structure and only guitar, drums, and an electric piano but feel as big as any other song on the album. There's a lot to love on here and a couple songs that are really easy to skip over.

Look Back: Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys

Look Back takes, as its name implies, a look back at albums released a little while ago that didn't receive the praise that they maybe should have.

Originally released: March 4, 2011

Elbow's Build A Rocket Boys was probably my favorite album of 2011. As is the case with most Elbow albums, it was reviewed very kindly, but completely left off most critics end of year best-of lists. At least in the American press. In their native England, however, they win scads of awards. 2009's The Seldom Seen Kid won the coveted Mercury Prize, and Build A Rocket Boys was nominated last year, but eventually lost to PJ Harvey's Let England Shake. The album is even popular enough in Britain to have a beer named after it. I've never tried it because I'm not paying $20 plus international shipping for an 8 pack of beer (Word is that it's pretty unremarkable anyway). Now over a full year old, has my love for Build A Rocket Boys waned any?

Not even a little. Elbow has always been great with their use of size in their songs. Their songs can be big and orchestral, described by the band as "prog without the solos". It's clear that singer Gus Garvey listened to a lot of King Crimson growing up. (Sidebar: Maybe I'm just making connections where there are none, but Elbow have released singles called "Red," the name of a King Crimson album and "Fallen Angel," a single from that same album). Where Build A Rocket Boys really shines, however, is in its quieter moments. The mid-album track "The Night Will Always Win" is a shining example of that. The song has Garvey Pretty much on his own, without much more than a reverb laden piano guiding him through. The melody isn't as complicated as some other Elbow songs, but has plenty of range to show off exactly what Garvey can do, and he can do plenty.

Not to say there's nothing for the fans of the huge sound Elbow originally became known for. Though the heights of The Seldom Seen Kid's "One Day Like This" are never reached, that's probably for the best. A little restraint can go a long way. "Open Arms" comes as the album is winding down and has just about everything a longtime Elbow fan could ask for. A choir-backed chorus, vocal gymnastics and some of the best lyrics on the album. The line "You're not the man who fell to earth/You're the man of La Mancha" still gets me to chuckle when I hear it.

The bigger question is: Why has Elbow never really caught on in the States the way they have in their homeland? The easy answer is that their music is kinda weird. The opening track, "The Birds" is not only 8 minutes long, but sports ten bar phrases, as opposed to the more danceable eight. Go on, if you know the song, sing along in your head, see how often you just leave that bar out right before the line "Looking back is for the birds." The longer answer is that prog doesn't hold the same cultural cache here as it does in England. Sure, everyone has at least one copy of Dark Side Of The Moon kicking around in a crate full of records in storage, or at least their dad does, and every once in a while you'll find people who will refuse to believe that there are bands that aren't Rush, but it doesn't really go too far beyond that. King Crimson only ever had one song chart in the States (In the Court Of The Crimson King) and that only hit #80. Most people only know the clip from "21st Century Schizoid Man" from Kanye West's "Power". Genesis' only hit here was "Invisible Touch," and that was only a throwaway pop song. Sad to say that these things, combined with the fact that it's still hard for fandom to cross oceans, Elbow may never play Madison Square Garden, but Wembley will always welcome them with open arms. Get it? The name of the song? Nevermind.

Top Of The Charts 04/23

1) Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

2) Fun. - We Are Young

3) The Wanted - Glad You Came

4) One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

5) Justin Bieber - Boyfriend

6) Flo Rida - Wild Ones

7) Nicki Minaj - Starships

8) Carly Rae Jepsen - Call me Maybe

9) Kelly Clarkson - Stronger

10) Katy Perry - Part Of Me

Goddamnit. Last week, all I was hoping for was a new song to crack the top 10. i've been doing this for three straight weeks and for three straight weeks it's been the same ten songs in the top ten. It might have been that way for even longer, but I haven't been following the charts super closely before this. There was a time when the charts were exciting, but pop music just doesn't have the same verve it used to I guess.

I have been thinking about that Justin Bieber song lately though. It's clear that he's trying to break out of his teeny bopper persona into something that's more tenable moving forward. He's using the Justin Timberlake method. Who could blame him either? Timberlake's star has never been hotter. On top of his numerous hits on the radio, he's won the hearts and minds of the skeptics by appearing (and killing) on Saturday Night Live and in movies like The Social Network. What "Boyfriend" is missing though is production. Futuresex/LoveSounds, Timberlake's second solo album had Timbaland behind the mixer, making a comeback of his own. The first single, "Sexyback" started its radio life as a punchline. Think back to how many times your "funny" friend asked you "Pft, was sexy ever gone?" What made that track push through was Timbaland's undeniable production. Mike Posner, who's had a few songs on the radio on his own and Mason Levy sit behind the mixer on "Boyfriend" and it's just not there. It's not interesting or innovative. It just sounds like a dozen other songs on the radio right now. I think Bieber definitely has the potential to find some legs on his career, but he probably has to take a few years off away from the spotlight and allow public opinion to reset on him. Timberlake did the same. He grew up and when he came back, he came back with force.

There is at least a new number one. I've decided after a few more listens that "Somebody That I Used To Know" is, for the most part, painfully boring. It builds to something that's pretty fun to listen to, and I can guarantee that if you have that song stuck in your head, you're singing the latter parts of the song. Though I do enjoy a good wooden xylophone like in the intro, it's hard to justify a 4:00 song that's really only good for the last 45 seconds or so.

Review: Disasterpeace - Fez OST

Fez sure was a long time in development. It was officially announced way way back in 2007. Five years may not seem like a lot to you and me, but for a video game, where any development longer than 2 years is considered "troubled" at best. When it finally hit last week though, it was clear the wait was worth it. It won Independent Games Festival awards by the armload and was featured in darling documentary of the Sundance Film Festival Indie Game: The Movie. On top of all that, there has been plenty of hype around the soundtrack.

Disasterpeace has been a chip-tune artist for some time now, but this could scarcely be described as such. Which is for the best, because chip-tunes are really only fun for a short period of time. This is more in line with the pulses and repeating themes of Steve Reich or Philip Glass, if they both own a hell of a lot of synths. It's weird to see this sort of music getting talked about, but thanks to the success of Fez, it has been getting more attention than it otherwise would have.

Listening to movie scores outside of the movie context is for suckers. It's just something that shouldn't be done. The same goes, for the most part, for video game soundtracks. However, some are works of art unto themselves. Explosions In The Sky doing Friday Night Lights' soundtrack comes to mind, or the OST to last summer's indie game hit Bastion had some really fantastic music on it (Listen to "Build That Wall." Actually play the game, it's great.) This is one of those rare soundtracks that reaches beyond the confines of the game into something all its own. Sure, all the songs correspond to parts of the game, but the songs are so evocative that they work entirely apart from the game.

Minimalism is hard to come by, good minimalism is way harder. I've always loved Steve Reich's Music For 18 Musicians but what I find more fascinating is the ways it has permeated through other music. Post-rock bands like Tortoise would never exist without it and this album is another example. I can't say I'd recommend this to just anyone, but if you're up for it, it's well worth a little challenge. Also, it's $7, so there's that.

Albums Of The Week 4/20

Tomorrow's Record Store Day and there's a whole bunch of exclusive stuff out. That Flaming Lips one seems crazy. Go to your local record store and just buy things. It's a lot of fun!

Where is the cool?

Cool isn't really a thing anymore. That sort of effortless swagger used to be lousy in rock and roll. If you look at old pictures of The Veivet Underground they just look like the hippest motherfuckers on the planet. Recently, while listening to Regulate by Warren G and Nate Dogg, I realized that at some point, that cool had moved over to hip hop. Public Enemy had it for a little while, then there was g-funk and now it's gone from there too. Hip hop is either big and boisterous or it goes the Kanye West route of anger and emotional fragility. Gone is the laid back attitude that has defined "cool" since "cool" began. 

As near as I can tell, the last song that had any heat behind it that harkened back to the days of hipness was "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem. Plenty of other songs these days have that same attitude of "No problems tonight, we're gonna have a good time" but none of them have that ease about them. Most popularly, the Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" comes to mind. However, it suffers from a party atmosphere. This isn't the Andrew W.K. definition of partying (which is just wherever Andrew W.K. is, there's a party) but rather the type of planned, contrived party that usually turns out to be totally lame. Frat parties aren't cool, bachelorette parties aren't cool. They're about being big and wild and cheap drink and yelling "woo!" Being fun and exciting are great, but being cool isn't about that.

On the other side of things, you have the side of music that's about wearing your heart on your sleeve. It's this notion that has really revitalized hip hop in the past few years. Ever since Kanye West released 808s And Heartbreaks and made it cool for rappers to have feelings, it's been all the rage. The type of cool I'm talking about is more laid back though. Apathetic has a bad connotation, but it's close enough. It's not about not having those emotions, but about putting them to the side. Anger acceptable, but rage isn't. It's Brando in The Wild One. It's the song "Walk On The Wild Side" by Lou Reed. It's the people that you're too afraid to hang out with.

So cool isn't cool anymore. It looked for a while like the Strokes were the sure successor to the throne, but their music hasn't been what it used to be for some time now. Everyone compared them to the Velvet Underground back when they first hit the scene (if you haven't noticed, The Velvet Underground is pretty much the gold standard for this type of cool) but that feeling has since faded. Like Interpol, another band with cool to spare when they first got big, they have since fizzled out and now make music that's good, but lacks that spark. Will cool ever be cool again? Is this just an antiquated, crazy notion of cool that makes no sense in a modern context? Maybe I'm just missing something that really is cool I sure hope that's the case.

New Walkmen this week part II

It's been an embarrassment of riches for fans of The Walkmen this week. First came the title track from their upcoming album Heaven and today drops a new song called "Heartbreaker". It's clear now that the departure from Lisbon wasn't just a one off thing. This features the same old feeling as The Walkmen of yore. I want to stress how much I loved Lisbon but if you're giving me the choice, this is the Walkmen I'd rather have. It has that propulsion behind it, but it never gets too big. Restraint is often the name of the game with The Walkmen and it's on display here. The new album comes out this summer, June 5th, and both songs that have been released so far have a cool summer breeze feel. I'm getting more and more excited for June 5th. You can hear a radio rip of "Heartbreaker" over on Stereogum

The Sound of Fez

Fez is a wonderful video game. Released last Friday on Xbox Live Arcade for a mere $10, it's a damn steal and if you have an Xbox you should really pick it up. It appears at first to be a neat little puzzle platformer with a twist. Literally a twist. The would appears at first to be strictly two dimensional, but with a flick of the trigger buttons, you can spin the world around and find out that it actually exists in 3D space. It's a neat little trick and that's pretty much all you need to know to get through the game. There's a crazy amount of depth lurking just beyond the surface, but you can go to a video game website to read about all that. I, of course, want to talk about the music.

The Fez soundtrack recently leaked early to Spotify, and was quickly pulled. Composed by chip-tune artist Disasterpeace. It was an error that was corrected, not something more insidious. It comes out for real on the 20th. When most people think of chip-tunes, they think of Anamanaguchi. They're probably the most popular chip-tune band, with their songs being featured in games like Bit.Trip Runner and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Video Game, and as the theme song to the Nerdist podcast. Their songs are are more accessible and poppy than most chip-tuners; they use real guitars and drums in their songs instead of only using old 8-bit sound cards exclusively.

You won't find anything poppy on Disasterpeace's soundtrack. It's ambient, moody, and most importantly, if you've played the game, evocative. Releasing video game soundtracks is certainly nothing new, people have been buying orchestrated Final Fantasy soundtracks for years, but this is one of the few that I'd actually recommend. Most game soundtracks, like orchestrated movie scores are dull and awful. John Williams and Danny Elfman are great, but their job is to be a part of the movie. The Fez soundtrack does more than blend into the game though. If you're playing the game, it'll blend in and you might never notice it for what it is. Much like the game, taking a step back and really paying attention opens it up as something more.

All the tracks are associated to various parts of the game, so they're named things like "Puzzle" and "Progress." Cleverly, though, they also correspond to the song in a weird way. There are no lyrics on the album, it's purely electronic instrumentals, so one could only really describe the texture of the song. "Home" for instance, the song that plays in the main character's hometown, feels familiar and comforting. It's a neat trick having it work on both levels like that.

As for the music itself, well, you'll just have to wait for a full review after it is officially released. You can listen to most of it early over on Disasterpeace's website

A new Walkmen Track too? What a week!

I somehow missed it yesterday, but The Walkmen released a new track from their next album, Heaven due out on June 5th. In fact, it's the title track. Also, it's really damn good. It's closer to their sound from You & Me than Lisbon. Whereas Lisbon was a great album, it dealt mostly in sparse instrumentation and atmosphere rather than indie guitar rock. No telling how much of the album will sound like this, but it's certainly off to a good start.

The song actually wouldn't feel that out of place on last year's beloved Real Estate album Days. It evokes the feeling of a fading polaroid of the beach. You can practically see the sepia colors, the lens flare, the windswept hair and the Ray-Ban sunglasses. The drums are rich, the bass moves the song at a swift clip and the guitar plays that sea salt riff that's just so relaxing. Of course, Hamilton Leithouser's yelp steals the show, but doesn't it always? It's a great track, check it out on Pitchfork

New Hot Chip single!

I'll admit it, I love Hot Chip. Their first few albums failed to really grab me, but there was so much heat around them that I figured I'd give Made In The Dark a shot and, brother, that sure as hell grabbed me. I can still listen to "Ready For The Floor" and have as much fun as I did the first time I heard it. It's songs like "Wrestlers" though that really demonstrates what sets Hot Chip apart. Sure, their more upbeat songs are fun, but it's when they slow it down that lead singer Alexis Taylor's voice comes shining through. Throw in some great, creative lyrics and you have a great song.

Their new single, the first proper single from their upcoming album In Our Heads, is more "Shake A Fist" than "Wrestlers." It has the beat to get the toe tapping, but lacks layers beyond that really. It's fun, but not a lot more than fun. You can listen to it at Soundcloud, here

Top Of The Charts 04/16

1) Fun - We Are Young

2) Gotye - Somebody That I used To Know

3) The Wanted - Glad You Came

4) One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

5) Justin Bieber - Boyfriend

6) Nicki Minaj - Starships

7) Flo Rida - Wild Ones

8) Kelly Clarkson - Stronger

9) Katy Perry - Part Of Me

10) Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe

No change in the actual contents of the top 10 this week. Sad to say that this is sorta what I expected. Pop music has moved really slowly for a long time now and, at least by my reasoning, part of why the music industry has been really struggling. Sure, the whole piracy thing got out of hand for a while there, but thanks to digital sales, we seem to be on the other side of that. Nowadays though, there just doesn't seem to be enough music out there. Record companies throw huge amounts of money at the stars that are currently out there and hope for the best and it seems to be working for now though. As more and more people get frustrated with top 40 radio though, one has to ask how long this can go on.

Speaking of the weird musical landscape these days, a lot of hubbub was made when "Part Of Me" by Katy Perry debuted at #1. it's only the 20th time in history that's ever happened. When I first heard that I was really impressed. "Sure" I though to myself "It might be a lot easier these days to stick around for a long time at #1, but to start there? That's impressive!" That is until I did a little research. I found out that the first song to do it was "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson. In 1995. The list had been around for 40 years without it happening and now it's happened 20 times since then. Now the list is riddled with American Idol winners (Taylor Hicks? Really?) a few Britney Spears songs, Gaga, Perry, Ke$ha, etc. Going back you find your usual suspects from the late '90s (Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, that Aerosmith song from Armageddon) Kinda takes the fun out of it when something that sounds historic has happened a bunch in the memorable past.

Side note: All the record holders for "Biggest position gained in one week" have happened in the past 5 years.

I haven't heard most of the new Nicki Minaj album (Mostly because I thought it was just a deluxe edition of her first album for a while), but it seems crazy how poppy "Starships" is. It's surprising how well she can move from hip hop to pop and back again. That said, any of the hip hop songs I've heard off this album are awful.

Oh, and I heard that Carly Rae Jepsen song on the radio. It's fine, I guess. Hopefully I get to talk about at least one new song next week…

Albums Of The Week 4/13

It's Friday and that means that you might want to do a little shopping over the weekend. Here are some releases old and new that you might want to pick up.

Choice Of The Week: M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion

The album starts off incredibly strong with a couple great tracks right at the beginning. It falls off a bit from there, but the second half of the album is as good as M. Ward has ever been. "There's A Key" in particular would fit into Transistor Radio without any problem. That's the way I like my M. Ward.








Of Monsters And Men - My Head Is An Animal

Of Monsters and Men are an Icelandic sextet that set the indie world on fire with their single "Little Talks". It's a fun number that drives along at a good pace. Much of the album keeps up that same energy, possibly to a fault. If you like The Arcade Fire's early, peppier songs, give this album a shot.








Classic Pick: Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis

There's no good reason to not own this album. One of the best, early examples of blue eyed soul, it features the inimitable Dusty Springfield, whose voice is like a fine whiskey, backed with some of the best musicians Memphis had to offer. Though it was released in 1969, it remains a clear influence on artists like Cat Power, who pulled a similar move towards the blues with her fantastic album The Greatest.

Review: M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion

M. Ward has been busy in the past few years. His high profile side project with "adorkable" actress Zooey Deschanel, She And Him have released two original albums and a Christmas album since 2008, and this is Ward's second in that span. Add in an album from indie supergroup Monsters Of Folk and his own solo effort, 2009's Hold Time and it's clear he's not one for slowing down. Though this is the most prolific he's been in his career, it's far from the best. Hold Time ended an incredible hot streak starting with The Transfiguration Of Vincent in 2003 and running through Transistor Radio and Post-War. His work with She And Him has been affable, but little more than that.

But enough about the past, what of A Wasteland Companion? Back again are the the soft melodies, smokey voice and soothing guitars that you've come to expect from Ward. Though it appears that the instrumental pieces that used to break up his older albums are gone forever. In a way, that makes me sad. His guitar only cover of "You Still Believe In Me" is wonderful, but you do have to wonder ow many more of those he has in his back pocket.

Ward has always been something of a throwback artist. In the past, and here as well, he's been something of a folk artist. He's a wildly talented guitar player, but his songs have always told simple stories and sung with simple melodies. This album brings him forward in time for a little '50s rock and roll (I Get Ideas) and bringing in Deschanel for a little '60s pop (Sweetheart).

Ward has said that he got his trademark singing style from the fact that he used to lay down demos in his basement and didn't want to wake anyone up. When he blew these songs up to album proportions, they kept some of that basement charm. See Transistor Radio's "Big Boat" for an easy example of what ramshackle fun his early "big" songs were. The "small" songs on A Wasteland Companion are as good as ever, just Ward and his guitar soothing your ear canals. The songs he does with a full band though are polished to the point where they lose their personality. Sure, "Primitive Girl" is fun, but really doesn't fit with most of the rest of the album. It's weird to criticize an album for sounding too good, but what can I say? I like rough edges.

That said, it's still a pretty damn good album. I much prefer the softer side of M. Ward, and A Wasteland Companion delivers that. The second half of the album is chock full of the Ward I've loved for years, and really, the polished songs aren't so bad I guess.

Track: 3D and Scarlett Johannson - Summertime

Head over to Pitchfork to listen to the song: Listen Here so "Summertime"

Scarlett Johansson's musical career has been a strange one so far. First came the album Anywhere I Lay My Head, a collection of Tom Waits covers that was frankly not that great. TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek produced the album and it showed. None of the songs would have felt out of place on Sitek's Maximum Balloon side project. Following that was an album she made with Pete Yorn. That was actually recorded prior to Anywhere I Lay My Head, but put her voice more in the forefront. Now she's back and more in the background than ever with this track, "Summertime," a barely recognizable version of the Gershwin song. 3D, of Massive Attack fame, co-headlines with Johansson, as well as produces it.

The track is far more 3D than ScarJo. It has the same ominous trance feel that's familiar to any of Massive Attack's fans. Scarlett's voice is barely more than another texture in the song. This isn't really a bad thing, the best thing that can be said about the production on Anywhere I Lay My Head is that it keeps her voice mostly behind the music. This takes that idea to its most far-reaching conclusion though and barely includes her.

The music Johansson has released so far might not be the best, and this is probably no exception, but her career has certainly been intriguing. Most actresses turned singers are boring as all hell, but I'm actually interested in seeing what she does next.

Review: Amadou And Mariam - Folila

Hold it right there. I know what you're thinking. "World music? Psh, more like worst music." Well, how about you tone down the snark a little bit there, cowboy, and hear me out. I realize that being a little late to the Folila party makes me the 400th music writer who wants to tell you how cool they are because they know about Amadou & Mariam, but frankly they're worth a little more. Just in case you've missed the past 399 introductions, Amadou & Mariam are a blind couple from Mali who have been singing and globetrotting together for decades. The couple gained fame steadily in the world music scene until, along with German superstar Herbert Grönemeyer, they wrote the anything for the 2006 World Cup (held in Germany). Then they really started to get noticed. Big festivals, year-end awards, the works.

What's so impressive this time around? Well, afro-pop is hip as fuck right now. Riding the strange, but not unwelcome, wave of popularity, they enlisted a few friends for this album. Songs on the album feature such recognizable names as Santigold, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone from TV On The Radio, Theophilus London and several guesting appearances from French singer Bertrand Cantat. It should be clear at this point that this is not your typical world music album.

The songs of Folila largely transcend the dreaded moniker and when they do, it's thrilling. Early track Wily Kataso, which has the guests from TV On The Radio, will get you singing along as well as any english language pop song. Who cares if you don't know the words when you don't know the language? Unless you actually do know it, some of it's in French so that's not too hard, and some of the guests sing in English. While the featured players add some much needed texture to the songs, they always stay respectfully in the background, letting the two stars shine.

It's the songs that don't break the mold the fare the worst here. This album has some rather serious mid-late doldrums. It's these songs that fail to separate themselves from what you normally think of as world music. Perfectly at home in a coffee shop downtown, but more or less meant to stay there. The good feelings return however by the end with the great (When he's guesting on another artists' song) Theophilus London and super happy tune called "Cherie" close it out.

A Look Back At Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too

New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too

Originally Released: October 20th, 1998

Yeah, the "You Get What You Give" guys. That song that you heard way way too many times. Lead singer and front man Gregg Alexander knows you got burned out on it, he did too. He became so jaded by the fact that it was only song people wanted to hear from him that he detonated The New Radicals after only one album. Who could blame him? Especially these days, it's easy to hate the snotty, dated vitriol of the song's infamous coda. He even wore big hats on stage so he could hide the scorn he felt for that song. Alexander has since had a decent career writing songs for other people, including a few songs for Enrique Iglesias and even Santana's hit with Michelle Branch, "The Game Of Love"

The New Radicals were a strange band in their brief time. Alexander didn't want the band to have any sort of firm lineup. He's the only constant in the rotating set of performers on Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too. The album was actually fairly well received at the time, even earning praise from the notoriously prickly Village Voice critic Robert Christgau. He said at the time he was impressed by Alexander's savvy, impressed by the influence of Todd Rundgren and Hall And Oates. 

But what about the rest of the album? The Hall And Oates shines through immediately with the first track, a funky, breezy little number called "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough." Gregg Alexander has quite a range and he's not afraid to show it off. "Someday We'll Know," the second single from the album may have flopped at the time, but it holds up much better than its bigger brother. Lyrically, it's clever but not especially deep, but it's catchy and nice.

Clever and not especially deep is pretty much the name of the game for this album. The lone exception being "I Hope I Didn't Give Away The Ending." The song tells the story of the singer getting caught up with a drug addled enchantress who takes him on a journey to score. It's a story song that takes a good two minutes to actually get going. The first section of the song is a dense trek through swirling sounds that I just realized is an awful way to sell a song, but trust me, it works. The rest of the song is a dark, insane journey to find more drugs and have more sex. The song wraps up with the line "I don't even love you / We weren't even friends / It's just that I can't take it alone." And it's actually pretty devastating.

Drugs are a common theme throughout the album, especially on songs like "Jehova Made This Whole Joint For You" and "Gotta Stay High." These are songs that were a lot less grating in my youth, but just comes off as hippy-dippy bullshit to my older, more jaded ears. Still kinda fun though.

Overall, I'd say this album more than overcomes the stink of the late 90's that weighs down "You get What You Give" and deserves far more love than it gets. I used to think it was one of the most underrated albums ever, but I'm not even sure what that means anymore. Give it a shot.

Review: Robert Pollard - Mouseman Cloud

Earlier this year, indie-rock legends Guided By Voices released Let's Go Eat The Factory, their first album in 6 years. They did so with their classic lineup no less, which has been disbanded since 1996's Under The Bushes Under The Stars. More importantly, it was a pretty solid album. Not the best GBV album, but had some great songs to be sure. Shockingly, GBV already has another album in the can, Class Clown Spots A UFO due out in May. Oh, also there's also Bears For Lunch a rumored third album due out in October. Anyone familiar with Robert Pollard knows to expect a certain level of prolificness, but to outsiders, it probably seems insane to release a solo album in between those.

It's always been hard to justify Robert Pollard's solo albums while GBV are up and running, especially during the years when Tobin Sprout, the other key songwriting component of the band was off doing other things (Solo albums, photorealistic painting, etc.) Pollard has no shortage of side projects and each have their own sound, but early on his solo records established that they really weren't going to be that different from GBV proper. During the years the band was on hiatus, though, he found an opportunity to break free from the usual sound. From A Compound Eye, a double album released shortly after the split, had a bunch of different textures and was lauded for it. Normal Happiness released the next year was a bright, chipper album by comparison. From there, even the biggest GBV fans can start to lose the plot. He's released 14 solo albums since 2005 and it's been impossible to keep up with. I heard Robert Pollard Is Off To Business was pretty good.

So that leaves us with Mouseman Cloud. Each of his last few solo albums have been associated with some theme. Last year's Lord Of The Birdcage for instance was based around Pollard's previously written poems. He has said this album focusses more around wordplay than song craft. Most of Pollard's lyrics have no specific meaning, so it's hard to hear exactly what he means by this.

The album opens strong with a few quick, rocking tracks. Catchy, quick and most of all good fun. The album continues to be exactly that for the entire rest of the running time. Pollard sings a loosely formed melody with interesting but not particularly grabby lyrics over the same basic overdriven guitars (played by longtime collaborator/producer Todd Tobias) for about 2 minutes then it's onto the next one. It becomes easy for all the songs to run together very quickly, unfortunately.

There are some mid-to-late album moments that will cause your ears to perk up and your foot to tap once more though. "Continue To Break" slows it down a bit and sports a catchy, building refrain. "Zen Mother Hen" trades the usual guitar for a particularly aggressive acoustic sound. This just makes you wish more of the album sounded like that though. Sadly, most of the album just sounds like itself and not a lot else.

Top Of The Charts 04/09

1) Fun. - We Are young Featuring Janelle Monae

2) Justin Bieber - Boyfriend

3) Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

4) The Wanted - Glad You Came

5) Kelly Clarkson - Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)

6) Nicki Minaj - Starships

7) Flo Rida - Wild Ones featuring Sia

8) Katy Perry - Part Of Me

9) One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

10) Carly Rae Jepsen - Call me Maybe

Surprising amount of weird in the top 10 right now. Fun are as unlikely a band as you'll ever see at number one. Sure the song is catchy as hell and was featured in a Super Bowl commercial, but the band is an amalgam of other indie-pop groups that found little to no success in the greater world. Gotye is a similarly odd selection at #3. He's seen some international success, but it's strange to see any international musician (Canadians don't count) getting airplay in the States, let alone the amount Gotye has gotten with Somebody That I Used To Know. I love me some weird, so it's refreshing to see something that isn't just a club banger in the top slot.

There's also a fair amount of pure trash in the top 10. I don't care what you might think of Justin Bieber, but that Justin Bieber song is a bad Justin Bieber song. It doesn't play to his strengths and really only highlights his weaknesses. His melodies are good, his lyrics are not. Is he rapping? I don't even know. One Direction and The Wanted are part of an insane revival of boy bands, both of whom have British and Irish members. Both of these band have bad songs in the top 10 right now.

That Kelly Clarkson song isn't bad I guess, the subject matter has been done to death a thousand times over, but it's catchy and fun. The mid-majors at 6, 7 and 8 are exactly what you expect from those artists. Frankly I have no idea who Carly Rae Jepsen is.