Alles Weideroffen by Einsturzende Neubauten

Well this one wasn't heavily promoted. I didn't realize it existed until I saw it in a CD store. Compared to 2004's magnificent Perpetuum Mobile, this feels like a minor work to me. I'm sure that there are a lot of fans of Einsturzende Neubauten that feel differently. This album funded entirely by the Einsturzende Neubauten fan club, and more importantly the entire recording process was available for fans of the band to witness and comment on. I've read in a couple of reviews about how the band would revisit previously discarded musical paths and discard others based on comments from their fans. I've never heard of a band allowing their fans to contribute so much to the creative process, so I certainly admire it. Unfortunately, the result is an album that just does not come accross as strongly as Einsturzende Neubauten's previous works. While there are no bad songs, there is little on this album to give it the strength of other efforts from this group.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of impressive tracks on here. Opening song "Die Wellen" starts with quiet piano and percussion and then slowly increases in volume until the end. There's no explosion of sound or cathariss. Just one crescendo for a little over three and a half minutes. It works. Not particularly well, but it works. "Weil Weil Weil" and "Lets do it Dada" show off their ability to deliver catchy almost dancable grooves. Both of these songs would be candidates for singles if this band did singles. Einsturzende Neubauten has never been a dance band, and that seems kind of tragic to me with all their rythmic capabilities. When they turn down the volume, the results are a bit more hit and miss. "Nagorny Karabach" is about as unmemorable a track as they have ever written. But "Ichhatteein Wort" is about as pretty as songs come these days.

My biggest moment of disappointment comes at the end of this album. "Ich Warte" was featured on a recent live album the band released, and live, the song is extremely powerful. It starts with a quiet melody and then when the percussion joins in and Blixa Bargeld sings with the full power of voice, the song really carries a lot of energy. But on this album, the song feels almost lifeless. The climax just doesn't have any punch to it. And the song hasn't been substantially altered. I can't figure out what's wrong. Was Blixa feeling sick that day they decided to record? Could they just not figure out how it should sound? I just don't get it.

I can't help but wonder what "Von Wegen" would have been if Einsturzende Neubauten's fans had been left out of the creative process. The song starts quietly enough before building to an orchestral climax. But there's this part in the middle where Blixa sings "Von Wegen" over and over that doesn't fit in at all with the rest of the song. It sounds like something the band decided didn't fit, but fans decided sounded cool and as a result got left in. It does sound cool, but it also just doesn't belong. Then again, I could be completely wrong.

I bought this album when it came out in January. I really haven't listened to it much since then. Listening to it again for this review, that seems like kind of a shame. There's lots of good music on here. But I guess something about it leaves me cold. I admire Einsturzende Neubauten for their tireless experimentation and committment to expanding their creative process. Unfortunately, I just can't get too worked up about the results.

Well shit. According to Allmusic.com, this album came out last October. Well I've come too far not to post this.

The Airing of Greivances by Titus Andronicus is the best album of the year

I started this one a while ago, but for whatever reason I couldn't finish it. I've bought my last new CD of the year (The Orchard by Fire on Fire), and I can say with supreme confidence that no album this year has excited me more than this one. I fell in love with this band within the first ten minutes of hearing them live for the first time. Live, they can be a chaotic sloppy experience, but on this album, they actually manage to reign things in just enough to deliver one of the most effective and compelling rock albums I've heard in a while.

Opening song "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah NJ" basically seals the deal by itself. Opening with Patrick Sickles alone on guitar and vocals sounding as if he has a long hallway between himself and the microphone, the song kicks into gear with a rousing cry of "Fuck you!" and blasts off with about a minute and a half of furious rock music with the second half of the lyrics sung with the full band behind him. Then the music falls back to allow a guitar riff to rive above the wreckage. Eventually the rest of the band joins in again to the end, and they sprint to the end of the song. The only thing I don't like about this track is the barely intelligible spoken word bit at the end, but every other moment is flawless.

And the album is full of similarly great songs. "Joset of Nazareth Blues" sounds like it should be a Mekons song (highest compliment I can give a rock song), Parts 1 and 2 of "No Future" are both spectacular as well. Part 1 is especially interesting, because it's probably the slowest and quietest song on the album. Sure it features plenty of loud guitars like the rest of the tracks, but as fun as that is, the quieter beginning is done so well that I never get impatient for the song to kick into high gear.

Songs like "Arms Against Atrophy" suffer only by comparison to the numerous great rock songs on this album. And that's really the one drag of listening to The Airing of Grievances, the songs I love stand out so strongly from the rest, that 3 of the 9 songs almost feel like filler. But all in all, this is the most exhilarating and exciting rock album I've heard in a long time. Exhilarating because...well duh, I just told you. Exciting because ....well there is also the obvious for this one. But there's also the fact that this album shows so much promise. Titus Andronicus could become any sort of rock band they wanted judging from this album. They could be the rowdy sloppy rock band that I first thought they were. They could be a loud guitar-rock band. Shoe-gaze, punk, country or whatever else they wanted. This album shows promise in so many ways.

But so much of this album is about being young, angry and disillusioned that I wonder if these guys can keep it up as they grow up. If the next 4 Titus Andronicus albums are like this, it'll get really old really fast. But there are 6 of them. Maybe someone else will pitch in on song writing duties. Or maybe Patrick Sickles will continue to amaze us. Whatever it is, I'll want to stick around at least for the sequel.

Tuesday December 17, 2008, Brooklyn Masonic Temple: Walkmen and The Dodos

And it's another pictureless review. Pictures should be back in time for my review of the Akron/Family New Years Eve Spectacular. So for this one, you'll have to find pictures somewhere else.

First, the venue: The show was held at The Brooklyn Masonic Temple which seems like somewhat of an unlikely place for a show. Once inside, it doesn't seem like that much of a stretch. Sure, it's not a regular concert venue, but it looks like it's used as a community/recreation center, so concerts for the Brooklyn hipster community make sense. It's also conveniently located 4 blocks from my apartment. Unfortunately, this didn't mean that I was home shortly after the concert was over. I made the mistake of checking my coat, and despite leaving during the last song to beat the crowds, I was stuck in line for nearly an hour waiting for my coat. So that sucked.

I also missed the first song of The Dodos' set because it took longer than expected to check my coat. Point is, don't check your coat there. But at least I only missed one song of The Dodos set, and I was lucky that it wasn't one of my favorites ("Red and Purple"). The Dodos put on a strong high energy show. The band is a three piece of guitar/vocals, drums/vocals and added percussion/viberaphone (I think). So just by virtue of their interesting instrumentation, The Dodos have an interesting sound.

I already reviewed their album earlier this week, and while I liked it, I wasn't able to form a very strong opinion of it. Fortunately, I had no such difficulty with their live show. Despite being seated, the lead singer/guitar player plays with a lot of energy, and the emphasis on percussion gives the songs lots of kick. His guitar playing is strong enough that it doesn't need accompaniment by another guitar to fill in the empty spaces. There were a couple of non-album songs that were good but didn't live up to the strongest moments on the album. But then again, this was the first time I heard these songs, so it's hard to judge. The set was just about perfect for me. Other than "Paint the Rust", they played all of my favorite songs on the album, and they closed with the track I was most dying to hear ("The Season"). So that was a lot of fun. Approximate set list that is probably about 70% wrong:

Red and Purple
Eyelids
Fools
Joe's Waltz
Unknown song
Unknown song
Jodi
The Season

And up next were The Walkmen. After seeing them last February, I'd pretty much given up on seeing these guys live. I skipped a series of shows they had earlier in the fall, and I probably would have skipped last night's show if not for The Dodos. The Walkmen do not play $20 worth of music live. For a band with 4 albums of original material, there is no reason for them to play just 15 songs. But that's about all you get from these guys. I could maybe understand/excuse if the songs were longer or more exhausting to perform, but for the most part, the band looks pretty relaxed on stage. Which would be fine IF THEY PLAYED LONGER. When I first saw them, I thought they put on an intense show. Those days seem to be over.

I don't really know what else to say. Song by song, they do fine, but I don't really get why they play live. They don't seem to enjoy it that much. I was especially disappointed last night that they left off two easy croud pleasers ("Little House of Savages" and "Thinking of a Dream I Had"), and I generally try not to let my enjoyment of a show be determined by the band's set list. Because, what would you rather hear? Your favorite songs performed poorly as a chore or songs that the band can get truly fired up playing? Some of my favorite shows of all time have even been dominated by songs I'd never heard before. But with The Walkmen, I can't find anything about their shows to make them more than the sum of the songs they play. So on a night like last night when they don't play my favorites, I go home feeling cheated.


Songs they played mostly not in order:

Donde esta la Playa
In the New Year
Louisiana
Red Moon
Four Provinces
New Country
All Hands on the Cook
On the Water
The Rat
They're Winning
Seven Years of Holidays
Red Moon
Canadian Girl
Long Time Ahead of Us
White Christmas
Another One Goes By

Black Mountain: In the Future plus bonus disc/EP

Operation review all albums I bought in 2008 is moving full steam ahead. This one came out in January. Since it's now December, this review seems a bit late. But something should be said about this band and this band.

Specifically: Fuck Black Mountain. Or fuck Stephan McBean. Or fuck their fans. I don't know. I'm being overly harsh, but something about this album kind of pissed me off.

I'm not entirely sure why I hate this album. Black Mountain's debut album was one of my most beloved albums at the time of its release. And I had really enjoyed the first Pink Mountaintops album (another band from lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Stephen McBean). A part of my backlash is the idiocy of having 2 bands for one songwriter. The Pink Mountaintops appear to be just McBean and whoever he can bring along for the ride while Black Mountain seems to have a set lineup with distinct roles for each band member. BUT IT'S STILL THE SAME GODDAMN SONGWRITER FOR BOTH BANDS. HIS SONGS ARE NOT THAT DIFFERENT. Sorry...got a little excited there.

But it's not just the multiple band names that have soured me on Black Mountain. Although I think that does play a major roles in revealing the weaknesses of both projects. While the Pink Mountaintops are unfocused and unpolished, they are also energetic and less predictable than Black Mountain which may benefit from tighter musicianship but can be completely lifeless.

And lifeless is the word that I'd use to describe too much of the music on this album. It opens with enough promise. "Stormy High" is a solid rocker even if repeating the title of the song over and over seems like a pretty weak refrain. And "Angels" is a nice mellow classic rock tune. But then things start to go wrong, and they just get worse as the album progresses. "Tyrants" attempts to be some sort of 70s prog-rock epic, but the final jam feels totally forced and empty. Singer Amber Webber does her best to howl some life into the tune, but it just never comes.

Things seemed to pick up with "Wucan", but that song is still a just a less interesting "Druganaut" which wasn't even my favorite track to begin with. And with "Queens Will Pay", the album delivers another totally lifeless (that's the theme for this review) attempt at a rock epic. The song sounds alright for most of it's duration. The problem is that at the end when they're supposed to be rocking out, it really doesn't feel like it's picked up very much. The climax is a giant let down.

But if you take 9 of the album's 10 songs, I'd still say maybe 4 out of the 9 are keepers. And the track I'm leaving out is 16 minutes long. So it were a keeper, then Black Mountain would be doing pretty well in my book. Well it's not. In fact, the song in question, "Bright Lights" is probably one of the low moments of the album. Which is sad since each of it's sections could have held some promise, but taken as a whole, the song is just a prog-rock mess. It opens with acoustic guitar and moaning vocals from McBean and Webber. I like nonsense lyrics just fine, but they don't work so well when the vocals are put right at the front of the mix. After a few minutes of this nonsense, the rest of the band joins in with a briskly paced stoner groove. This all sounds pleasant enough, but it doesn't really go anywhere until the song fades to pleasant white noise around the 8 minute mark. That gives way to a slow sludgy bass groove that eventually gets joined by electric guitar. Eventuaally, the song reaches its inevitable climax and it's all over.

When I saw Black Mountain late last year before this album was released, they closed with this song. McBean said they had one last "short" song. I guess he thought he was being cute. The whole time I was listening, I kept wondering when it would end. I wish it had been a short song. None of the individual sections are bad, but they never work together coherently, and the middle part just feels like a waste. The other time I saw this group live, McBean was wearing a Grateful Dead T-shirt. After listening to this album, that feels like some kind of joke. His musical influences don't like with the Grateful Dead or any other band famous for jamming. Despite it's long length, there's really no jamming on "Bright Lights" or any of his other tracks. Maybe some noodling, but none of his songs are written to provide room for improvisation and unpredictability.

Black Mountain is a prog-rock band. Maybe that isn't a bad thing, but I've never had a taste for the stuff, and I don't see much fun in reviving the music of the poorest regarded rock music of the 70s. I'm done with these guys.

Saturday December 13 at the Knitting Factory: Oneida Fest 08 with Pterodactyl, Oakley Hall, Parts and Labor and Oneida

There were a lot of other bands, but those are the only ones I saw. Actually saw a little bit of Knyfe Hyts, but I wasn't into it, so we didn't stick around for more than 5 minutes. I didn't go to this show with my girlfriend, so there are no pictures. I'm pretty incompetent with a camera, so if she's not there to take pictures, it doesn't happen. And really at this point, I think I have plenty of pictures of Oneida. Maybe it would have been nice to have a few of Oakley Hall's new lineup, but whatever.

Apparently I was alone in this sentiment, but I was really really irritated that The Knitting Factory didn't have a coat check last night. It was below freezing outside, and everybody there brought a coat. It's kind of hard to dance around and have fun when you have to carry a heavy coat around with you. At least it is for me. Really don't get it. They could have made an easy 200+ dollars if the coat check room had been open. Assholes.

Anyway, I got in right as Pterdactyl started. Walking in, I was amazed at how much the song sounded just like the album. Especially since I'd seen them twice before buying their album and didn't recognize any songs from their live set. Also, they were playing on one of the smaller stages, so you would have expected shittier sound. But it was pretty good. Unfortunately, the stage was pretty small, so I had to get pretty close in order to see. The set included some songs that weren't on the album, but there was plenty for me to recognize this time. They closed with "Esses" and "Polio", the two strongest songs on their album. That's as close as you're going to get to a set list.

Next were Parts and Labor on the main stage. The band was a four piece with a guy playing keyboard/other electronics and singing in the middle, another guy singing and playing bass on one side and a female guitarist who didn't sing on the other end. And of course a drummer...who was actually really good. And holy shit. I just realized I know that girl in the band. Sort of. She's from Austin. Well that's interesting. To me. But I should hurry up and say what I thought of them.

...Which is that I'm not sure. The songs weren't band, but they weren't that great either. There were several interesting moments in the show, but I kind of had a problem with the singers voices. I just didn't like them. Which feels like a shitty reason not to enjoy a band since it's not really their fault. Yeah, not sure if I have anything else to say about that. It was pretty good indie rock that was enjoyable enough, but nothing I feel like I need to hear again. But I could see myself changing my mind about that group...either way.

Next we saw Knyfe Hyts. Well we didn't really see them since we were so far back and the stage was practically nonexistent on the bottom stage. And all we heard was noise. So we left.

Up next was Oakley Hall on the same stage. This time I was smart enough to make sure I had a spot close to the front where I could see. Last time I saw them, all of the members of the band I've known were present for the entire set, except for their drummer who was replaced by STEVE GOULDRING FROM THE MEKONS (sorry, I'm still impressed). This time they had their new regular drummer back with the band. Fred Wallace was also present, but Claudia Mogel wasn't. Instead, they had the woman from Company playing violin and singing, one of the other members of Company playing guitar and two other musicians playing a harmonium and electric piano.

The set focused a lot on newer and quieter material. And while it was nice to see that they're actually playing songs from their new album, mellow mid-tempo country rock wasn't what I was in the mood for. Also, with all of the musicians on stage, there was way too much down time between songs. I left before the last one or two songs because I wanted to get a spot towards the front for Oneida. The set list I remember:

Marine Life
Volume Rambler
Color the Shade
Burry Your Burden
song I don't know
Free Radicals Lament

And then finally. The main attraction. The mighty Oneida. They opened with a cover of Throbbing Gristle's "Discipline" with a guest singer. Bobby played bass, and the whole band was loud. It was pretty cool for about five minutes. It went on for ten. From then on, it was mostly a mix of covers and originals, with the originals sounding better than the covers. The covers were still pretty cool. They played "Hit it and Quit it" by Funkadelic and "She Cracked" by the Modern Lovers. Papa Crazy (also known as Pat Sullivan from Oakley Hall) joined them for "She's Cracked", and it was pretty awesome.

That was all over in about forty minutes. Then came their final jam. It was just tribal drumming and noise. For twenty goddamn minutes. I tend to enjoy Oneida's longer songs on albums, but when they jam live, sometimes the songs can get away from them. I can't really say with this one since it was the first time I'd heard it, but it really never worked for me. And there was no encore or anything after that. Kind of left me disappointed. The set list as I remember it:

Discipline
The River
Hit it and Quit it
Ghost in the Room
She Cracked
I will Haunt You
Final Jam

Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paradiso UFO: Glorify Astrological Martyrdom

This year AMT and the Melting Paradiso UFO has really let me down. The live shows were lackluster compared to the shows last year, and both albums I've bought from this version of the band have been nearly unlistenable. I'll try to get to the other one, but for now, I want to talk about this one.

But before I rip into it, I just want to say what an awesome album cover and title. It's probably one of their best ones ever. I just couldn't resist even though I know perfectly well that about half of their albums are really not worth listening to.

And the music? The album has just three tracks and all three are pretty awful. The opener "Phantom Utopia Or Suicidal Star Warriors" is probably the worst of the three. It barely has any melody or energy. Instead, Kawabata cranks up his guitar as loud as he can and just blasts it for 20 goddamn minutes. The second track, "Cosmic Soul Death Disco" is slightly better in that it actually has a recognizable groove that the track centers around. Unfortunately, the tune just isn't that good, and the guitar playing is as uninspired as it was on the last track. The album mercifully closes with a shorter song "Stargate of the Hell" that is my favorite simply because it's 15 minutes shorter than the next shortest song on the album.

This is the second total turd I've heard from this version of Acid Mothers Temple. And this one is actually just a shittier version than it's predecessor. There have been at least two other albums released by them this year, so maybe there are stronger moments on those. But as far as I can see, Kawabata is doing his best to prove that The Melting Paradiso UFO is out of ideas. This is a shame since he's made so much great music with these guys. Since he's the only member of the MPUFO that isn't in the Cosmic Inferno, the first instinct would be to blame Tsyuama Atushi. But I don't think that's the problem. All Acid Mothers Temple projects are basically Kawabata's band. Rather, I think the problem here is a lack of collaboration. AMT&TMPUFO's string of great 2007 albums came after bringing a new female singer to the group and including saxophonist/flutist Ono Ryoko in their sessions. This album just has the core 4 members of the group. Without his female muses to inspire him, Kawabata Makoto seems completely adrift.

The Dodos: Visiter

Well a lot of people seemed to like this one. It'll probably appear on Pitchforkmedia's best albums of the year list, and maybe a couple others. I guess I get it. These guys manage to deliver a lot of strong and distinct tunes with just one guitar and drums. There are a some guest musicians, but for the most part it's just guitar and drums on this album. But then again, I also get why a friend of mine said he didn't "get it". Visiter could either be a sign of great things to come from these guys, or an interesting and enjoyable first album that will fade as time goes by.

....

So that paragraph was written yesterday, and then I tried to write a 2nd one and couldn't really come up with anything. And this is after deleting an already begun review of this album. I don't know why, but I'm having a hard time thinking of what to say about this album. I like it. I have listened to it a fair amount, and I always enjoy it. The first song "Walking" is a nice little introduction to "Red and Purple" which I like alright, but doesn't quite live up to the promise of it's opening. But then things start to get interesting. "Fools" is an enjoyable frantic song. And "Joe's Waltz" pretty much shows off all of The Dodos' strengths. It opens with a pretty nice haunting melody before taking off, being constantly driven by a bluesy riff and a refrain of "You need help!"

And that's not even halfway through the album. Some of the songs are kind of forgettable. I don't really remember what "Winter" or "God" sounds like. And I remember "It's That Time Again" only because it's pretty short and easy to remember (half of the words are in the title). But there are enough good songs on here that I have trouble picking any solid favorite. "Jodi", "Paint the Rust" and "The Season" are all candidates along with "Joe's Waltz".

But I'm still not sure how I feel about the album as a whole. It's a bit too long given the lack of anything to tie the tracks together. It's about an hour long, and it goes by pretty quickly, but it feels like a bit much for a debut album. But I guess they've probably been playing and writing songs for a while now and decided to put as many out there as they were able to. This is just my speculation...

I'm seeing The Dodos this Tuesday, so I'll probably have a better idea then if the success of this album is a fluke or a sign of great things to come. Still not sure, but after this album, I'm definitely open for more.

Retribution Gospel Choir: S/T

There's a part of me that kind of wants to hate the Retribution Gospel Choir. It's a much less substantial Alan Sparhawk live project compared to The Black Eyed Snakes. In fact, the band is basically Low without Mimi and with a different drummer. And two of the best songs on this album are also Low songs. And I really miss The Black Eyed Snakes, and it doesn't look like they're coming back anytime soon. It also doesn't help that this album just doesn't sound as good as the two Black Eyed Snakes albums or any Low albums.

But that's about as far as my complaints with this album go. Clocking in close to 30 minutes, there is not enough time to find much to complain about here. With the Retribution Gospel Choir, Alan Sparhawk has created his most straightforward rock project to date. As a three piece consisting of guitar, bass and drums, The Retribution Gospel Choir deliver 2-4 minute powerful rock songs. Two of the album's strongest moments are re-worked Low songs. Both "Breaker" and "Take Your Time" fit the rock format better than the more challenging approach of Low's last album Drums and Guns.

But not all of the album's strong moments are re-worked Low songs. "Destroyer" and "Holes in our Heads" are also similarly dark and powerful rock songs. "Holes in our Heads" features some really nice guitar playing at the end, further reminding me why Alan Sparhawk is one of my favorite guitarists of all time.

For the most part, this album sticks to gloomy territory. Most of the songs are about as bleak as the material on the last Low album, but with programmed beats, guitar loops and pianos being replaced by a straight-forward rock set up, the anger and despair of "Breaker" comes through even more strongly here. But it's not all gloom and doom on this album; "Hatchet" (also appropriated from Low) and "Easy Prey" are pleasant upbeat rock songs that don't really do anything new or interesting, but still manage to entertain.

With 30% of the material recycled from the last Low album and only one band member who doesn't play with Low, Retribution Gospel Choir feels more like an Alan Sparhawk solo project than an actual new band. Some of these songs would not work with Low, and I'm glad he cared about them enough to record them and tour with them. And given how well both of his recent side projects have worked, I've started wondering if Low is holding Sparhawk back. I wonder if he'd make better music if he didn't confine himself to the name and the band which doesn't allow him the range that he seems so clearly capable of. But so far he hasn't released a disappointing album, so why should I complain?

Primal Scream: Beautiful Future

I'm back, and this time I won't be leaving. I'm going to try to review all the albums that came out before I started this blog. And at least one more that's coming out before the end of the year. It's a review a day, so we'll see if it actually happens. First up is the new Primal Scream album.

I didn't know anything about this album until I saw a review on Pitchforkmedia. I guess everyone has written them off after their last turd, Riot City Blues. Which is a shame, because while that album generally sucked, it had some fun moments, and Primal Scream have recorded plenty of exciting music to earn the right to release one bad album without being written off.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that Beatiful Future may be shitty album #2 for these guys. I honestly haven't made up my mind, but a lot of the problems that were present on Riot City Blues are present here. This was somewhat unexpected for me since Beautiful Future is sonically much closer to Vanishing Point and Evil Heat than the retro-rock of Riot City Blues. features a return to the electronic music that has given us many of Primal Scream's best moments. But the problems on Riot City Blues went much deeper than their return to retro-rock. Specifically, Primal Scream sound like a band that are running out of ideas. They've reinvented their sound so many times that there really is no way of knowing what the "real" Primal Scream sounds like. Like Riot City Blues, Beautiful Future is a forced shift in style that never sounds genuine and is only intermittently entertaining.

My problems with this album started immediately with the opening title track. "Beautiful Future" ranks up there among the most boring songs Primal Scream has ever done. When I heard that this album featured a return to electronic music, I was hoping for another Vanishing Point, but instead, this song let me know that I was in for something else entirely. For the first time in a long time, Primal Scream sounded upbeat and happy, and I hated it. Things got worse with "Can't Go Back" which is just a straightforward rock song that just makes Primal Scream sound old. They're trying to summon more angst than they really have.

Unfortunately, one of the album's strongest moments can't even be properly credited to Primal Scream. The song "I Love to Hurt (You Love to Be Hurt)" features a collaboration with CSS's Lovefoxxx. I didn't even know who she was until I bought this album. After checking out a few clips on Youtube, I'm pretty convinced I would hate that group if I listened to them anymore. But her seductive voice adds a level of energy and interest to a song that would just feel pathetic if Bobby Gillespe was the only one singing. The song is one of the most heavily electronic pieces on the album, and I have a feeling that it's not too far from irritating the fuck out of me, but whatever ballancing act they pulled off on that song worked. The same can't be said for the rest of the album.

This isn't to say that there aren't other enjoyable moments here. The soulful chorus backing the group on "Zombie Man" manages to make that a rather fun song. "Suicide Bomb" also works as a strong mid-temp rock song. But too many of the songs on here are literally forgettable (there are at least two songs that I simply can't recall what they sound like), and too many of the rest are just not very interesting. Even when the album works, it's the sound of a band with no idea what it wants to say or how it wants to say it.

Parplar by Larkin Grimm

I might as well follow up my review of her performance with one of the album I bought at the show.


Strangely enough, Larkin Grimm was actually more engaging and dynamic live with just her guitar and banjo than she is on this album. Usually, a solo performance without a backing band tends to suffer for me, but she more than made up for it by singing loudly. Album opener "They Were Wrong" was captivating live. On the album it's just haunting. So while it's not bad, it suffers by comparison to the live version. This is generally true for most of the songs that I heard live.

But that's my one complaint about this album. Otherwise, this album is near flawless. For someone who keeps things pretty quiet, Grimm shows a lot of range. She certainly has her freak-folk weirdness on display in tracks like "The Dip" (a song that is woefully too short at just a minute and six seconds) and "Parplar". But on songs like "Be My Host" and "Fall On Your Knees", she sounds very folksy. And "Ride that Cyclone" is something else entirely. I'm honestly not sure how to describe that song. I'd like to call it psychedelic, but that word is meaningless. It manages to somehow be intense and relaxing, lush and focused at the same time. It's not necessarily my favorite song on the album, but to me it defines the album because it synthesizes so much I love about her music.

Grimm is joined by a fair amount of guest musicians, but she is always at the center of the songs on this album. Even though her vocal delivery is much more restrained than it was in her live performance, her voice still manages to do wonders. She excels at both the high notes, the low notes and the weird notes. Her lyrics are full of so much joy that you can't help but overlook or even enjoy some of the most awkward lines. She even sings about unicorns!

So I wrote this whole review thinking that this was her first album (because really, there aren't that many smaller labels than Young God), but apparently she's already released 2. I don't know why, but that kind of disappoints me. Although I am curious what they sound like....anyway, I'm giving up on this review.

Friday November 6, 2008, Mercury Lounge: Holly Golightly, New York Times and Larkin Grimm

So I'm back, but the quality of my reviews is substantially lower (if that was possible). Mainly cause I'm spending less time on them. But really, the last few shows haven't been remarkable enough for me to write that much. Friday night was no different with one exception.

We arrived around 9:30 while the first opener was finishing his set. He closed with a Hank Williams song and used lots of guitar loops towards the end. It was alright. I don't know his name, and I honestly don't know how to look it up at this point.

Up next was Larkinn Grimm. She's on Young God Records, and in case you don't know, that's the label that Michael Gira (Swans, Angels of Light) founded and continues to run. Through his label, he brought us Devandra Banhart, Akron/Family. I'd argue that he's more responsible for the freak folk revival than Devandra Banhart (both because he descovered Devandra Banhart and because his Angels of Light project clearly bears a lot of similarities), but not everyone would agree. Anyway, given his track record, I try to give every artist on his label a chance.

Going in, I wasn't especially excited about Larkin Grimm. I had listened to some clips of her album, and while some of the material was promising, the music just wasn't anything that I would typically seek out. Not enough "rock" I guess. Live, she was very poised and confident, something not always found in "new" artists. Her singing was also substantially louder than it is on the album which I think helped give the songs the extra push they needed. The first couple of songs were played on the banjo and while they weren't bad, they weren't especially captivating either. The show seemed to pick up around the time she played "Dominican Rum", a song that she dedicated to Paris Hilton who she called a "svengali". The lyrics are kind of awkward and humorous, and she seemed to appreciate the audience's laughter.

For the 2nd half of the set, she was joined by a friend of hers she called "Snowflake" who accompanined her on acoustic guitar and some large stringed instrument that I've only seen in Kung Fu Hustle. For the final song, "Ride That Cyclone" she also had a female friend join her for backing vocals. It was a great ending to a set that just got better as it went on.

And then The New York Times played. I won't say much about them other than that they were unbearably boring and didn't fit the bill at all. Out of the four groups that night, they were the only full rock band, and their sound didn't fit at all. It was bland middle of the road indie rock. This seems to be a pattern at these Bowery Entertainment venues: they put bands together that have no business playing together. They've done this to Akron/Family twice, and it's really gotten old.

And then there was Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs. Or Holly Golightly and Lawyer Dave since those are the only two people in the "band". I'm not the biggest fan of this new project of hers. Holly Golightly needs a band behind her. While her country/blues forays aren't necessarily bad, they aren't that good either, and they really don't translate into a fun live show. There's just not much to dance to when the drummer is playing a kick drum set while playing guitar. She opened with "Crow Jane" which was pretty promising since it's one of her livelier songs, but for the most part, there wasn't much to move to in the set. The kind of long breaks between songs didn't help either.

So we left early. I guess there's more to say about the show, but I was too tired to really absorb much of it. And so I think that's all the reviewing I'll do for now.

Saturday November 1, 2008 Secret Project Robot: Brahloween featuring Oneida, Awesome Color, Dirty Faces and Pterodactyl

There were other bands playing that night, but we arrived too late for Nurse and Soldier, and were too tired to stick around for Knyfe Hytes. Our timing couldn't have been much worse since we missed the $5 admission by about 3 minutes. And then they lowered the price again after 11:40 when the place was probably way past capacity anyway. Fucking hipsters.

Anyway, we arrived in the middle of Pterodactyl song. Since I saw them last (more than a year ago), they've added another guitarist, and the bassist has started to play guitar in addition to bass. The band members showed an impressive commitment to staying in costume that probably didn't help the music much, but it was an overall fun energetic performance which I think is what you can generally expect from this group. These days they actually sound more like the Ex-Models did 5 years ago than the Ex-Models do, but they're still a more direct band. Not sure why I haven't bothered to pick up their album yet...

Up next were The Dirty Faces. Ugh. Apparently the members of Oneida really like this group. I don't get it. The lead singer's voice lacks any musical properties, and the original songs they played were completely forgettable. They opened with a version of "Addicted to Love" that substituted "drugs" for "love" that was actually pretty good. They closed with Aerosmith's "Sweet Dreams" but by then, I had gotten fed up and left to sit outside.

Up next were Awesome Color. For some reason I had them confused with some really boring experimental group I've seen a couple of times. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were a hard rocking three piece (drums, bass and guitar) band. The first song really just had one bass line, but it was damn good bass riff, and the energetic drumming and inspired guitar playing matched it perfectly. The set sort of dragged in the middle. They covered a Misfits song, which I guess I would have enjoyed if I'd ever listened to the Misfits. For the final song, they were joined by Shahin from the Ex-Models and Oneida. It might have been better than the first one. Can't tell. Both were pretty awesome. Too bad I have no pictures...

And then the main attraction (for me at least). The previous 4 times I've seen Oneida, they've played Pre-Teen Weaponry, which is fun, but since it's taken up about 90% of their set time,I've sort of missed hearing their other songs. That night there was no Pre-Teen Weaponry. Instead it was a pretty typical Oneida set, focusing on "new" songs that haven't been released yet. But having seen them nearly once a month this year, I knew all of the songs they played. I don't have a setlist, and I'm sure I'd get the order wrong, but here's an approximation:

I will haunt you
The River
Ghost in the Room
Up with People
Snow Machine (oh yeah, that took about 20 minutes).

And then we left. I really don't have much else to report. Oneida was predictably good, but I'll probably have more fun at their December 13th show at the Knitting Factory. Stay tuned!

My one CMJ show: Oakley Hall at The Mercury Lounge on Saturday October 26, 2008

So I haven't updated this thing in about two weeks. That's pretty lame. But I haven't been to any concerts in a while, and that's usually what I write about. But I have some CD reviews I've been working on. Basically I've been lazy.

But I went to a concert last night, so I should write that one up. Even though I have no pictures. But it was part of CMJ, and there were lots of photographers there, so I'm sure you can find plenty of pictures.

I think there were about 5 bands on the schedule last night, but we arrived in time to only see two of them, and to be honest, that was about 2 too many for me. I didn't catch the first two bands' names, and I'm really not interested in looking them up. Not really much to say about them. They were two very bland middle of the road indie rock groups that each had about 2 catchy songs. Somehow they both had fans. Whatever.

So how was Oakley Hall? I haven't seen them since their February show at the Knitting Factory which is too long for a band that supposedly lives in the same city as me. At the last show, violinist Claudia Mogel and guitarist Fred Wallace didn't join the band until the 2nd half of the set. I was lucky enough to get a chance to speek to Rachel Cox (vocals, guitar, piano) before the show, and apparently they aren't really in the band anymore. Which is a shame, since they're both pretty awesome. Thankfully they were in the band last night for the entire set. Also included in last night's lineup was Steve Goulding from The Mekons. I don't have much else to say on this subject other than that it was really cool. He was also a more interesting drummer than the other two I've seen play in Oakley Hall. Well no shit. He's played with Graham Parker and The Mekons and has decades of touring experience.

The set was surprising for how unsurprising it was. Here's my best recollection of the setlist:

Highway
Light of My Love
Lazy Susan
No Dreams
Rue The Blues
El Dorado
Confidence Man
Livin in Sin in the USA
Volume Rambler
New Song?

Looks mostly right. I think I might be leaving something out, but that would be one song, tops. Anyway, pretty much all of the songs were ones I've seen them play at least several times, and with maybe two exceptions, the set included all of my favorites. It definitely included all of the good songs I usually expect them to play. And there wasn't anything in the set that I disliked.

As for the performance, I was pretty pleased. The band seemed a bit more animated than I'd seen them recently, and there was a bit more musical improvisation on a few of the songs (especially "Volume Rambler" than I'd seen previously. I thought the last song could have benefited from an absence of drums, but it was nice to see Steve Goulding keeping up with the band and clearly improvising his way through a few sections successfully. It was a fun show. If only these people would play more shows, we'd probably see something truly exciting.

No Virgina by The Dresden Dolls and Who Killed Amanda Palmer? by Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer's had a busy year. She's released 2 complete albums of new (for me at least. The Dresden Dolls album includes outtakes from Yes Virginia) material. It all seems kind of silly to me. She writes (except for the occasional cover), sings and plays piano on every Dresden Dolls song. And she writes, sings and plays piano (most of the time) on every song on her solo album. So why the hell couldn't she play those songs as The Dresden Dolls? Is this division really necessary?

I could puzzle over this some more, but I won't be able to resolve this. By all appearances, there hasn't been any falling out with the other 50% of the Dresden Dolls, Brian Viglione, so I guess she really felt like some of her songs didn't fit with her band. This is frustrating to me since the last Dresden Dolls album, Yes Virgina, suffered because the band was clearly limiting themselves. Additional musicians were far less present than they were on the debut album. As a result, No Virginia was a weak follow up for me. There's only so much you can do with just two instruments, and while The Dresden Dolls certainly do all they can with piano and drums, there are some clear sonic limitations.

Because of this, I thought the solo album might hold the most promise. And playing them side by side, Who Killed Amanda Palmer opens light years ahead of No Virginia. WKAP opens with "Astronaut", a song with a driving piano melody backed by strings. Palmer played this at the in-store performance I saw last month. It was easily the best song of the night, and it kills "Dear Jenny" easily. "Dear Jenny" opens with an inevitably jarring combination of piano, drums, vocals (and maybe even bass) that turns me off before I have a chance to warm up to the song. By the end, it redeems itself, but it never reaches the heights of "Astronaut".

And for a while last week while I was listening to both of the albums, I thought this would be the dominant theme. On the first few listens, it seemed clear that WKAP was the more diverse and challenging album. Songs like "Leeds United" and "Guitar Hero" show a strong pop sensibility that is sometimes too often lost with The Dresden Dolls. But WKAP is dominated by slower, more contemplative songs like "Amersand" and "Blake Says" that just feel like downers.

And while No Virginia gets off to a rough start, it picks up dramatically with tracks 3 and 4, "The Mouse and the Model" and "Ultima Espiranza" which both show off what The Dresden Dolls are best at. The first is one of those powerful slow burn songs that picks up steam by the end while "Ultima Esperanza" is a briskly paced number that manages to pack a more efficient punch. And while No Virginia continues to offer little surprises throughout --especially, the haunting song "The Kill" which seems to borrow lyrics from "Anarchy in the UK", WKAP decends into either bland pop music "Oasis"or tedium "What's the use of wond'rin".

So despite Palmer's interest in providing a more diverse sonic landscape on her solo album, she's saved her strongest material for The Dresden Dolls. Looks like they'll be around for a while longer. I hope they invite some friends to the party.

Tuesday September 30, The Stone: Michael Gira

First the setlist. I didn't write it down, but I'm pretty sure I have all the songs here, and the order is mostly right.

Little Mouth (New)
Opium (New)
Reeling the Liars In (New)
Promise of Water
Blind
I Crawled
My Brothers Man
Destroyer
Nations
New York Girls
Sometimes I Dream I'm Hurting You
To Live Through Someone
God Damn the Sun

And now a few words about the venue. One word really sums it up: Tiny. When we got to the door and saw people sitting around, I thought maybe we were in the lounge area at first. But no. That was the performance space. It was easily the smallest one I've ever been in by far. There couldn't have been much more than 100 people there (if that), and they were crammed in. There wasn't even a stage, and because of the shortage of space, we ended up right in front of Michael Gira, sitting right at his feet. This might seem cool, but it actually wasn't. In order to see him, I had to look up, and my neck quickly became sore. As a result, I was pretty uncomfortable for the entire set. Also, the lack of air circulation made the place stifling by the end. The humidity forced Michael Gira to tune after nearly every song.

Pictures also weren't allowed. So what you see above is all we could get before they shut us down.

But one cool thing that happened was that the show basically started as soon as we sat down (not that there was no waiting. We had to wait in line outside until they were ready to let us in). As you can see by the setlist, Michael Gira opened with three new songs, one of which (I think it was "Little Mouth") he claimed to have just finished that day. "Little Mouth" and "Reeling the Liars In" were somewhat soft even by Gira's recent standards. "Opium" sounded like something that could be a strong rock song with a band behind him. Or not. It was by far my favorite of the new songs. Before playing it, he asked the audience if anyone had ever smoked opium. When no one said yes, he called us all pansies and bragged that he started smoking it at 15.

The set pulled from all of the Angels of Light albums except for the first one. And he included an acoustic version of "I Crawled" that I certainly wasn't expecting. It translated to the solo-acoustic performance better than you might expect. A lot of his Swans material does. The last time I saw him perform, he played a version of "I am the Sun" that could stand alongside both the live Swans version and the album version.

In fact, it's the Angels of Light songs that sometimes don't translate as well without a full band behind him. Both solo sets that I've seen have included a version of "Sometimes I Dream I'm Hurting You", and that song just doesn't work as well for me without that bass line that's on the album. However, "Promise of Water" actually became more agressive and forceful with Gira stomping his foot, yelling and playing his guitar as loud as it would allow while still sounding good.

The most interesting part of the night for me had nothing to do with the music. Norm Westberg, probably the most famous former Swans guitarist, was in attendance and sitting right behind me. I didn't know he was there until Gira dedicated the entire set to him. During pauses between songs, Gira would and Westberg had a few brief conversations about Swans not getting paid for shows back in the day. I usually don't say this, but I wish we had gotten more story time last night. From what little I heard last night (and what I've read), I have a feeling that those early shows were extremely interesting. I probably would have been happy just sitting and listening to the two reminisce for an hour.

But instead we got music for an hour. And as good as it was, by the time he played "God Damn The Sun", I was ready for it to be over. I think he was too. Every time he asked how much time he had left, he seemed distressed at how much he had. I kind of shared his feeling. Not that it was a bad set, but I was extremely uncomfortable by the end, and it was getting kind of hard to enjoy the set.

Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno: Journey into the Cosmic Inferno and Pink Lady Lemonade -You're from Outer Space

They're back! The Cosmic Inferno is finally back! And just in time. Kawabata Makoto introduced the Cosmic Inferno in 2005 when he felt that The Melting Paradiso UFO was becoming stale. What followed were 2 brilliant albums (and 3 or 4 not quite brilliant but still pretty cool albums) from AMT and The Cosmic Inferno. Then when he reformed The Melting Paradiso UFO and released some spectactular albums with them in 2006 and 2007.

What's the difference between the two bands? It's really not as much as you'd think, but it's just enough to make the difference. As far as the live show, the only difference I've seen between the two bands is the bassist/singers. Not that this is unimportant. Kawabata Makoto relies heavily on both Tabata Mitsuru and Tsyuama Atushi as lead vocalists and collaborators.
The Melting Paradiso UFO features longtime collaborator Tsuyama Atushi while The Cosmic Inferno features Tabata Mitsuru on bass and vocals. The first incarnation of The Cosmic Inferno included two drummers, but one of them could not get a visa to the U.S. because of a criminal record "for drugs". So while on album, The Cosmic Inferno made good use of two drummers to add a lot of rythmic intensity and complexity, live, they were basically the same band with a different bassist.

But apparently the two drummers is an important part of The Cosmic Inferno. So when drummer Okano Futoshi left the Cosmic Inferno, he was replaced by Afrirampo's drummer, Pikachu. As a drummer, she doesn't quite keep up with Okano. On "Anthem of the Space" and "IAO Chant from the Cosmic Inferno" created rythms that were punishing in their intensity. Pikachu's percussion just seems to add more noise to the mix. This is of course always welcome, but not quite as interesting.

But I'd still take Pikachu over Okano Futoshi any day because in addition to banging the drums, she sings. And as a vocalist, she's the best Kawabata's found since Cotton Casino left the group. In fact, she's a perfect replacement for Cotton, and I really hope she'll be invited to join TMPUFO.

Journey into The Cosmic Inferno is one of those AMT albums that threatens to be a conceptual mess but is partially saved by Pikachu. While the six tracks are called movements, there's not much to tie them together. The opening riff of "Master of The Cosmic Inferno" reappears at the end of "Ecstasy into the Cosmic Inferno" but that's about it. Usually these albums lack memorable jams and include too many frustrating and indulgent tracks. The 22 minute jam "Master of the Cosmic Inferno - Heart of Earth" opens with a strong riff but then becomes a disappointingly formless jam....until the 2nd part ("Heart of Earth" I presume) where Pikachu takes over. The band drops out and she begins to sing, chrip, cluck (not really sure what to call all of the noises she makes) a pretty but haunting melody. Slowly the band takes shape around her, and the song reaches a liesurely conclusion.

3rd movement, "Ecstasy into the Cosmic Inferno" wastes no time. It starts with the two drummers gently playing a beat and from there instruments are slowly layered over. First there's a guitar riff, then an organ drone. And then more guitar, sitar, synths, bass and what appears to be every instrument the band has available. A lesser group would become overwhelmed, but the jam never falls apart. After 11 minutes, Pikachu's vocals come in, and the song becomes even more frenzied. When the band finally cuts the pace in half and plays the riff from "Master of The Cosmic of Inferno" it feels like a relief. A very loud relief.

But the most surprising moments of this album come towards the end. Penultimate track, "Usisi" is about 8 minutes of acoustic guitar and incomprehinsible vocals (maybe this is just because I don't know Japanese. You never know with these guys). It's just one repetitive melody, but its simplicity is its genius. The track feels completely effortless but I never find a reason to hold that against them. And the closing track "Shalom Cosmic Inferno" provides a nice climax to the album. The band sings together and Kawabata unleashes a crazed but focused solo. Maybe the songs tied together better than I thought.

Pink Lady Lemonade - You're from Outer Space features basically the same lineup, only they've added longtime sporadtic vocal collaborator Audrey Gineset. Pink Lady Lemonade is AMT's trademark jam. Every version of the band plays this song live. It first appeared on their first album in a very simple version that just doesn't compare to the awesome beauty of the live version. Since then, there have been a few attempts at putting this piece on an album, but they have all fallen short. For some reason, Kawabata is incapable of recording the song as it's played live.

And with the opening track, AMT appear ready to fuck it up again. The first track is a 23 minute version of Pink Lady Lemonade, but the first ten minutes sounds nothing like the jam AMT fans know. Instead it's a totally different melody that's light and enjoyable, but when they finally start playing the song as it's known, it feels like too little too late.

Fortunately, the band redeems themselves in their next two tracks, "Message From Outer Space" and "Take me to The Universe" (yes, there's a theme here), featuring Pikachu and Tabata on lead vocals respectively. Both songs are perfect companions to Pink Lady Lemonade. While each song reaches its own frenzied climax, they both start with simple beautiful melodies, and are just gorgeous sounding. What makes Pink Lady Lemonade so unique among AMT's jams is how relaxed pleasant it is. Sure, the solos are always frenzied, but the melody at the core of the jam is exceedingly simple and pleasant. A rarity for this band. And for this album, The Cosmic Inferno maintain those good feelings for more than an hour, even when they aren't playing Pink Lady Lemonade.

The concluding version of Pink Lady Lemonade should satisfy all fans. While it's just over 10 minutes long, far shorter than the live version, it wastes no time. For the first few minutes, the band chants "Pink Lady Lemonade" while the guitar melody plays. And then Tabata howls "you're so sweeeeet" and the drums come in and the song takes off. Kawabata begins his solo shortly, and doesn't let up until the end of the song. This version wastes no time in knocking listeners off their feet.

In the AMT catalogue, these may be minor works. Except for Pink Lady Lemonade, none of these jams will become standards in their live set. Nevertheless, these are 2 of the most consistent AMT albums you can find. And apparently The Melting Paradiso UFO is back and has released 2 new albums...stay tuned.

Pictures of Low at Bell House on 9/24/2008

Tuesday September 23, 2008 at Bell House: An Evening with Low

First the setlist:

Soon
Last Snowstorm of the Year
Like a Forest
Canada
Belarus
Lion/Lamb
Sunflower
Breaker
Pretty People
Point of Disgust
LaLaLa Song
BREAK
Do you know how to waltz?
Violent Past
That's how you sing Amazing Grace
Hatchet
Starfire
Unknown Song
Lordy
Pissing
Laser Beam
ENCORE
Santa is Coming
New Song

As you may be able to see from the setlist, Low played a pretty diverse set, covering most of their stuff all the way back to The Curtain Hits the Cast. This was a surprise to me since every time I've seen them, the set has been mostly focused on new material (I've seen them on their tours following Trust and Destroyer and I saw a Christmas show that was heavy on Drums and Guns material prior to its release). I could easily think of ten more songs I would have loved to hear, but that didn't really bother me since they played for about 2 hours and included more than twenty songs. I'm wondering if their show the previous night at the Mercury covered a totally different set list. I'm kind of betting it did, and I sort of regret missing that.

The new bassist might actually be my favorite. I saw him earlier this year playing bass guitar with the Retribution Gospel Choir, so I was somewhat surprised to see him playing standup bass last night. It was a nice touch for a lot of the songs, especially when he played it with the bow. A couple of songs were played differently than I've heard them.

But as usual, the main attraction was Alan Sparhawk. Whether he was shredding during "Lordy" (shredding may be a bit much. It was a pretty relaxed solo--still, very effective), warming up "Canada" with feedback and droning or almost-shouting during "Breaker" and "All the Pretty People", he was the center of attention. And that's probably my only complaint. The bass seemed a bit low in the mix, and Mimi Parker's voice was usually burried under his. She only sang lead vocals for one song. It's pretty clear that Alan Sparhawk is the genius (yes, I said genius) behind Low (and at least two other bands), but Mimi Parker is still responsible for plenty of their finest moments. Unfortunately, those are fewer and fewer these days.

Beyond that, I'm not really sure what to say about this show. It was a strong performance by one of my favorite bands. Every Low show I've been to has had some awkward audience banter between Alan Sparhawk and the audience. This show wasn't an exception, but at least it was kept to a minimum. I have a friend who refused to go see Low because she thought their music couldn't possibly be as engaging in a live setting. This drove me crazy, because to me, Low is one of the more exciting live bands around. Sure, most of their songs aren't very danceable, and they are one of the quietest live bands around (but they can unleash their fair amount of noise as they did last night), but Low knows how to sell every single not of every single song. That's not something every band can do. And they can inspire an entire audience to remain quiet enough to hear a few plucked guitar notes. That's something special.

Evil Urges by My Morning Jacket: A brilliant new direction, or a band that's lost its way?

By now My Morning Jacket fans have stopped scratching their heads in confusion and settled somewhere between two camps: those who hate Evil Urges and those that love it. While My Morning Jacket has already showed an interest in funk and prog rock, I doubt many fans anticipated some of the directions this would lead the band in. A friend of mine who is a pretty strong fan of the band was pissed off when he first heard this album. He described it as "yacht-rock" and said it sounded like Ween. A couple weeks later, his opinion was echoed in Pitchforkmedia.com's review of the album.

But not everyone has hated this album. Rolling Stone gave it four stars. But Rolling Stone gives everything four stars. Because Pitchfork's was the only review I'd read, I went into this review assuming that it's been pretty tepidly received. But Metacritic has the album receiving a 7.0--mostly positive reviews. But I hadn't read any of those when I started to listen to this album.

And right from the beginning, MMJ seems ready to to shatter the expectations of fans. Opening track, "Evil Urges" brings up memories of Z until Jim James starts singing. For this song he sings in a high falsetto that will be instantly grating to some listeners. The song features some interesting guitarwork towards the end, but ultimately fails to live up to its promise. Probably the most jarring song is "Highly Suspicious" where the falsetto is again on display, but this time he's backed by bizarre monotone vocals. This song makes me think of Prince. And I hate Prince. The solo towards the end is muted and wasted. Some might see MMJ going in a new funk and R&B direction with this song. I hear soft rock instead.

And then it gets worse. "I'm Amazed" is a downer because it's the first song on the album that sounds like MMJ, and it just makes me want to listen to one of the earlier MMJ albums. It's a pretty rock song that doesn't come close to matching their best work. And then there's "Thank You Too!" From the start, this song doesn't sound that different from MMJ's quieter more restrained songs. But when I got to the chorus, the yacht-rock accusations made perfect sense.

But halfway through the album, the quality dramatically picks up. "Librarian" is a haunting acoustic guitar driven song that holds up quite well. And for "Aluminum Park" and "Remnants" MMJ decides to be a rock band again, delivering two brilliant rock songs, bursting with energy. And then for the final two songs, "Smokin from Shootin" and "Touch me I'm going to scream pt. 2", they finally make their prog-rock sensibilities work for them. Both songs start quietly and build to a strong finish. If their other experiments had been as successful, they would have made a truly great album.

Pictures of Amanda Palmer at Soundfix Records on 9/19/2008

Friday September 20, 2008, Soundfix Records Bar area (?): Amanda Palmer free in-store ...I guess

I still don't get how it's an in-store performance if it's actually in a bar. But apparently Soundfix is that Williamsburg hipster-heaven that has a bar in the back of the CD store. Or a CD store at the back of the bar...not sure.

I would have been pissed off if I had paid for this. As a free show however, it was just a somewhat amusing disappointment. Amanda Palmer never seemed focused, and spent more time talking to the audience than playing. At times it was nice to observe the easy connection she forged with the audience. However, long waits between songs meant that the set was very short on actual music. And while I enjoyed hearing about her crazy mother and about how Ben Folds would drag a baby grand piano to every show he played, I found myself growing bored and restless.

I think she had some difficulties arriving. While I was browsing in the CD store, I overheard the manager speaking with her on the phone. The show was supposed to start at 8pm, but she walked into the building just a couple of minutes after 8. We were able to observe her entrance since we were seated right at the back next to the door.

We thought that was going to be our only chance to see her since the place was extremely crowded, the stage was low and Amanda has to sit to play piano. Thankfully, Amanda made everyone sit on down for the performance. As a result, we had a perfect unobstructed view of the stage. At least until she decided to move over to the house piano after the first song. Apparently her keyboard didn't sound very good on stage. From where we were sitting it sounded fine. The second song was much more energetic than the first. As a result, when she polled the audience, they voted for her remaining at the acoustic piano.

She maybe played 2 or 3 more songs (one of them on ukulele) before inviting her friend (Jason Webley?) to join her for a sing. They got about a minute and a half in before they were shut down. Apparently the fire department was on their way to shut down the show. This struck me as odd since it was only 9:30 and the loudest thing there was the applause. Amanda Palmer promised to continue the performance outside on the street, but I was too tired to wait for that. So I went home. Just didn't seem worth the trouble.

Diary of a Superfan: Acid Mothers Temple - an introduction

So far, I'm not doing a very good job at my Diary of a Superfan entries. I haven't done much besides review a concert and an album. And that's a shame because my relationship with the music of Oneida and Centro-Matic is way too deep for a simple album or concert review. That sounds kind of stupid, but what I'm trying to say is this: because I've listened to both of those bands so much --both live and on album-- any reaction I have to their music is inevitably going to involve comparisons to previous albums/concerts and my strong personal connection to their music.

This probably makes for a better and more informative review than one written by someone who's just a casual listener or has never listened to the band before. But I'd like to go beyond just reviewing the music. What else I would do, I'm still not exactly sure. But our relationships with music is more than just a thumbs up/thumbs down review. At least mine certainly is. And while I was somewhat late to the party with Acid Mothers Temple, they have become one of my biggest musical obsessions over the past several years.

I had heard of the band in college, but never bothered to check them out. To me, they were one of those weird experimental bands that were somehow beyond me. I had heard of them referred to as a collective, so I assumed it was a very large band. And then for some reason in 2005, I decided to finally check them out. At this time, Acid Mothers Temple were touring under the name Acid Mothers Temple and The Cosmic Inferno. All that I knew about this incarnation was that it was supposedly a harder rocking version of the band. Beyond that, I really had little idea what to expect.

So I went to my first Acid Mothers Temple show. And I was totally blown away. The band played no more than four songs total that evening, three of them lasting well beyond 20 minutes. I will probably never forget the opening of that show. The keyboard player/guitarist Higashi Hiroshi started the set by making (what I have now learned are his typical) space age sound effects with his keyboard. Lead guitarist and leader of all versions of Acid Mothers Temple, Kawabata Makoto noodled about on electric sitar. The bassist, Tabata Mitsuro made strange percussion noises with his bass guitar and joined in the free-form jam. And the drummer just sat there. Until Kawabata suddenly started playing major chords on the sitar. And then all hell broke loose.

For the next hour and a half, I was subjected to some of the loudest music I had ever heard. And at one point I even took my earplugs (actually just toilet paper) out so that I could hear more of it. It was that good. And then my ears hurt too much so I put them back in. And somehow when I stepped closer and put my head in the direct path of the lead guitarists amp, it got even louder. At the end, in the middle of a breakneck fast song, Hiroshi suddenly became disgusted with his guitar, threw it to the ground and moved over to the keyboard where he proceeded to go apeshit. Kawabata finished his bit by swinging his guitar around and hooking it on one of the speakers above. The drummer and bassist continued to play for a good couple of minutes after the other two had left. And then it was over. I had fallen in love.

Since then, I have seen Acid Mothers Temple in various forms seven times. I have bought 29 of their albums. And I have spent countless hours of my life dancing around like an idiot in my room while listening to their music turned up as loud as I dare. Just by the numbers, Acid Mothers Temple are one of the most rewarding bands around for someone like me. I love loud, long songs. No one plays longer or louder. They tour and record constantly, sometimes releasing more than 5 albums in a year. A fan of this band never runs out of music to listen to.

And then there's the music itself. Sure, there's a reliance on extended guitar freakouts, but there's also so much more there. Band leader Kawabata Makoto never ceases experimenting, and bringing new contributors to the fold. The musicianship is nearly flawless. I say nearly, because Acid Mothers Temple can be one of the most deliberately sloppy bands on the planet. No song is ever played the same way twice.

And while Acid Mothers Temple is clearly Kawabata's show (he is a member of every incarnation of the band that I know of except for one. And that one has only one album to its name), he definitely lets his supporting members shine. Tsuyama Atushi, the bassist of AMT and the Melting Paradiso UFO in addition to being a great bassist, is also a great singer (when he decides to be. His gibberish freakouts are a staple of the live act). Former singer and keyboard player Cotton Casino may have looked like a drunk burnout, but she had the voice of an angel when she was in the band. Kawabata shares the songwriting credits with his band members, and the collaborative nature of the music is always in display.

But none of this would be possible without the crazed genius of Kawabata Makoto. He usually has about 5 instruments credited to him on every album, but it's the guitar he was made for. Watching him play guitar is a revelation. He swings it around, holds it up to the air and moves his fingers all over the fretboard with almost no effort. But it never sounds like aimless noodling. Somehow he manages to hit every right note even at his fastest and most reckless. He has written several times about communicating with the cosmos with his music. To the uninitiated, this sounds like the talk of a mad man. To those of us that have heard him, it sounds like the only reasonable explanation.

The New Year S/T

It's usually a sign that something's gone wrong when a band releases a self titled album that isn't their first. The only exception I can think of is Camper Van Beethoven's 3rd album. Can released a self titled album shortly before falling apart. Weezer's released 2 new self titled albums since their comeback. Both have sucked. There are more examples, but I'll leave it at that for now. If anyone has any albums that they'd like to add to prove/disprove this rule, please post.

Anyway, The New Year's latest album is self titled, and it's almost as bad as that would indicate. The wonderful minimalism of Matt and Bubba Kadane's previous band Bedhead is almost nearly gone. I say nearly because opening track, "Folios" is about as minimalist as they come. The song opens with gently strum acoustic guitar and takes its full five minutes to build. Unfortunately, by the time the song has really captured my attention, it's almost over. This is true for most of the album's best moments. Album closer "The Idea of You" basically ends a minute after it finally picks up steam. "Seven Days and Seven Nights" promises one of the Kadane brothers classic guitar crescendos but ends way too soon.

As Bedhead, Matt and Bubba Kadane were one of the strongest minimalist rock groups out there. At the time, they made Low's sound look weak and unfocused. But while Low has consistently challenged themselves and taken their sound in wildly different directions, Matt and Bubba Kadane have changed just enough with The New Year to avoid accusations of repeating themselves. Adding piano to the mix served them well on their previous album, and it also lends some strength to their latest effort, especially on "The Company I Can Get". But for the most part, the album offers nothing new that I actually enjoy hearing. "The Door Opens" sounds like a song from a less interesting indie rock band, and it just gets on my nerves.

Another problem is the vocals. Bedhead had a tendency to bury the vocals in the mix. This was a smart decision. Neither of the Kadane brothers have an especially tuneful voice, and the lyrics to most of their songs aren't especially interesting or clever. But for some reason The New Year has decided that the vocals should be front and center in the mix. This does the band no favors.

But I guess I understand. The band seems to know that they have no memorable melodies for us. Except for "Folios", none of the songs stretch much beyond three minutes. There's nothing here with the ability to stun listeners like Bedhead classic "Rest of the Day". And absent a good melody on guitar, Matt and Bubba Kadane are no longer exceptional. They're just a disappointingly ordinary rock band.