Published by James May 31st, 2006
in Singles and Review.
While it really isn’t a single it is one of my favorite cuts by Tyner. “Love Samba” appears on the 1974 album Atlantis and has been regarded as one of Tyner’s last works to be heavily influenced by his old band leader John Coltrane. I am so taken by the track partly because of the modal style that Tyner weaves and swirls about with his piano and how Azar Lawrence’s raspy soprano sax swoops, laughs, and howls its way through each solo as well as the churning bottom end being held up Joony Booth. But in the end it is the frantic rhythm section of Wilby Fletcher and Guilherme Franco that truly draws me in. Their energy and drive to keep the tempo moving at such a breakneck pace, even when they pull back for the bass solo. It makes the song ignite and burn ever so hotly.
If you are a fan of Coltrane and haven’t heard Tyner’s solo work than grab this album. If you are unsure of Jazz but like things that move and stretch like a cat darting about the house than give it a listen. You won’t be disappointed as the track is a tightly coiled work of art that manages to sound loose and free.
Both eMusic and Amazon have the album for sale.
Published by James May 30th, 2006
in Album, Review and 2006.
The first thing that struck me about the album happened long before I cued it up for listening: the album cover. Aside from the obvious comparisons to Smell The Glove the stark and odd choice for artwork is no indication of the the soft, serene Country brushed songs nestled inside. To Find Me Gone is a soft yet crisp summer album that floats along in a reminiscent manner, channeling the work of The Band and at times Neil Young’s work on Harvest though it maintains a distinct voice that marks Vetiver as it’s own entity and demonstrates how Andy Cabic has been evolving the group’s sound beyond the confectionery psych-folk sound that marked the first album.
“Lost & Found” is a perfect example of the slow, breezy sound of the album as the drifting strings and breathy vocals capture the sensation of laying on your back picking shapes out of the clouds passing over head while the bright pop and squeak of the guitar so closely mimics sparrows flitting from tree to ground and back again. It is undemanding yet beautiful, with quiet melodies that slowly lull care and worry from your mind, like the cascading pedal steel work on “Busted” which adds a layer of expansiveness to the snug production.
Not all the tracks possess a somnolescent quality. “Red Lantern Girls” rounds the midpoint to explode into wall of sound with the lead guitar grinding out endless sustains on waves of distortion while the drumming steps up out of hushed percussive elements to pound out the back beat. It is at once a surprising turn and a refreshing one like jumping into a cold river on a hot June day. “Won’t Be Me” maintains the pace with a sweetened retro-flavored country number that swings and sways with the reverb turned up just enough to give the feeling that you are in surrounded by dancers on a late Saturday night in a local dance hall.
To Find Me Gone is wistful, sweet with just the barest taste of bitterness for substance, and is the perfect compliment to lazy summer days. While it is not a demanding album that challenges the listener with depth in lyrics and breadth in arrangements it is a finely crafted work that is comfortable in its fondness for the folk rock of the Seventies. Recommended. You can pick it up at either eMusic, which has “Busted” as a free track at the moment, or Amazon.
*Note*
There seems to be some debate as to the track titles and arrangement on the album, most notable are the write-ups referring to the scorching end of “Red Lantern Girls”, track nine of the limited release CD and the eMusic release, however it appears that the eMusic copy is fairly well screwed up with both the tracks and the labeling having been shuffled all over the place. Having spent the better part of the weekend trying to tease out what track is what, a enormously difficult task, I might have it right thanks to a kind user over at eMusic and some samples detective work (streaming at Vetiverse wasn’t working). Corrections, however, would be most appreciated.
Published by Scott May 29th, 2006
in Album, Review and 2006.
Okay, so there’s nothing new here. It’s your basic verse/chorus/verse solo-in-the-bridge type rock. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a strong, memorable album. Coxon knows how to write hooks that stay with you long after the songs have ended. At fifteen songs and about an hour long, my only complaint is that it’s a bit too long. Sure, there are a handful of gems and nothing smacks of filler, but it’d probably have been even better just a few songs lighter. Then again that just may be a reflection of my forty minute max attention span.
Love Travels at Illegal Speeds includes many different shades of the umbrella term “rock.” There’s bound to be something here that pleases anyone that purports to like be a listener of that genre and its many sub-genres. There’s a Brit-pop feel on “Standing On My Own Again” that ratchets up a notch on that scale with acoustic based strummers “Just a State of Mind” and “Don’t Believe Anything I Say.” The riffs on “I Don’t Wanna Go Out” would probably appease a Motley Crue fan. “Flight to the Sea (Lovely Rain)” is a nice lighter waving ballad. A friend said this album sometimes reminded him of Tom Petty and damned the torpedoes if “You and I” and “Tell It Like It Is” don’t make me think the same. “What’s He Got” and “Livin” betray a strong roots rock influence and the organ heavy “You Always Let Me Down” would be right at home on one of Little Steven’s underground garage shows. If there’s one overriding style of the album it’s the heavily indebted to the Buzzcocks punk found on such songs as “I Can’t Look at Your Skin” and “Don’t Let Your Man Know.” Coxon has put together a crowd pleaser to be sure, but fortunately it never feels crass or calculated.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Coxon is Blur’s former guitarist. Listening to one of his solo albums makes you realize just how much he contributed to their output. To borrow another friend’s comment: “Damon who?” That, of course, is a bit of an exaggeration. While Love Travels at Illegal Speeds may not rival his former band’s best material, it’s definitely a fine album in its own right.
And here’s where I introduce something new to my reviews. I’ve mentioned before that I’m in a mix trading group so I’m always on the lookout for songs to include on my next mix. I even mentally tag them as “mixtape worthy.” So if somehow you got a chance to sample a song or two from a given album, the ones I designate for this section are a cut above the rest. In other words, they’re my favorites!:
Mixtape tracks- “Don’t Let Your Man Know” and “Don’t Believe Anything I Say”
Published by Scott May 28th, 2006
in Meta-Chatter and Album.
Only listened to a couple of full albums yesterday:
764-HERO - Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere (2002)
I was very happy this popped up on eMusic the other day. I’m familiar with their first three but had never heard this final release. It’s excellent. They sound kind of like a cross between Built to Spill and Versus. AMG calls them “emo-core,” which is a label I do not understand. To me anything labeled “emo” sounds like something I should avoid. I’d say they’re “indie-rock” but what do I know? John Atkins is also half of both The Magic Magicians and The John and Spencer Booze Explosion. I wonder if either of those projects are still going?
Holly Golightly - The Main Attraction (2001)
One of these weekends I’ll run out of Holly Golightly albums to write about. Or maybe I should just give up now. What else can I say except that all of her albums are consistently good? Here’s another collection of 60’s influenced, somewhat garagey pop-rock. This was her second album, which means it was probably originally released around 1996. “Just Once” is one of my favorite songs by her. Great stuff.
Published by James May 25th, 2006
in Album, Review and 2006.
While it might seem early to release a retrospective, especially given that Kaskade has only released two full length albums, however due to Ryan Raddon’s prolificness there is more than enough material to mine since he has been busy over the years pumping out remixes, singles, and compilations for Om Records. Here and Now is a two-disc collection that covers both of his albums as well as some remixes and assorted tracks from the Om catalog which is a boon and a bust at the same time.
If you are an Om junkie and completest like I am, furiously snapping up each and every release, than Here and Now will likely find its way into your collection. The bust is that most of the tracks are familiar, though this is not to say they aren’t often outstanding like the infectious soulful snap of “It’s You, It’s Me” with it soft pads and driving House back beat which is by far one of my favorite songs. Now if you have only heard a handful of Kaskade’s cuts than this set is a boon as it covers nicely his career up to date hitting all the high points and skipping the fluff.
Kaskade’s work is best described as big, rounded, summery House music. The beats and the grooves are clean and minimal with the focus on setting a mood, lulling the listener into a dreamy smile filled trance where one cannot help but tap one’s feet and sway one’s hips. The vocalists sing in hushed, breathy tones like they are whispering in your ear while the synths swell and swirl about your head like a breeze. “Everything (Big Room Mix)” is a superb example of Kaskade’s ability to build a song up from layers of simple beats and melodies while finding the right place for such delicate vocals to still pop out of a thick blanket of sound.
The four remixes are the highlights of the set as they give a good sense to how Kaskade works tracks to create club friendly tracks as well as how he’ll blend them to create transitions between each track. While most of the four are built up over beats “Soundtrack to the Soul (Extended Mix)” instead constructs the track using the vocals as the foundation using various sections in loops he creates a late night mix filled with energy but holding back just enough to leave the listener with the anticipation that bigger sounds are to come. Sleeping deeper into the evening is “I Like the Way (Troydon Mix)” which throws things back with a loping, retro-feeling 2-Step Garage number with a slippery synth loop, crisp drum programming, and a stuttering vocal loop that gives just enough for the listener to hang their ear on.
If you are a fan of House music than this set is a must for you, especially if you have a penchant for that warm summer sound that Om Records is known for releasing. While this is a repackage of his work with nothing new it is still a must for those new or familiar with his work as Kaskade is at the top of his game and this set proves it. You can pick it up at either eMusic or Amazon.
Published by Scott May 24th, 2006
in Album, Review and 2006.
On Monster of the Absolute, Detroit three-piece Paik plays atmospheric instrumentals draped in murky sheets of feedback and distortion. Their music has a contradictory feel to it, cold and distant but couched in warm shoegaze drones. It’s an intriguing combination that makes for an interesting listen.
“Phantoms,” the first song after a brief intro, has a wall of gauzy intensity tempered by a rock groove that doesn’t quite come across successfully. An uninspired repetitive bass riff leads to nowhere and the whole thing comes across as a jam that falls flat. Too bad the band chose that song as the first full track because the rest of the album is much better.
“Snake Face” treads similar ground but does so far more effectively. It kicks off with a driving bass line over which the guitarist’s strings get a full whammy workout. After a few minutes there’s a chord shift that ratchets up the tension and leads to a wicked complementary bass/guitar riff payoff. That they don’t dwell on the moment somehow makes it all the more satisfying.
The last three songs (not counting the outro) mostly ditch the rock grooves in favor of ambience. Paik is truly great at conjuring up swirls of beautiful noise. “October” could provide the perfect soundtrack for a ride aboard an orbiting space shuttle as it hurtles in free fall around the earth. And “Countessa” is an impressionistic wash of mellow feedback and gentle droning. Sandwiched between those is the nearly ten minute title track that intensifies gradually as it weaves a trippy hypnotic spell consisting of pounding rhythms and squalls of feedback.
Disregarding the pointless intro and outro, there are only five tracks on the album. Toss out “Phantom” and you’re left with a strong four song EP. But even in its entirety Monster of the Absolute is a decent album sure to fulfill the needs of shoegaze and space rock fans.
Published by Scott May 23rd, 2006
in Meta-Chatter and Free Tracks.
I just want to call attention to a new music blog called Southern Shelter by esteemed Athens area taper and scenester, Sloan Simpson. I’ve grabbed many live recordings from Sloan over the past few years at various trading sites (Sharing the Groove, Dime a Dozen) and he always has high quality, interesting stuff. At his blog he’ll be spotlighting local Athens artists by sharing pictures and mp3’s taken from their shows. That city has a vibrant music scene and I’ll be especially interested in hearing songs by bands I’ve only read about.
From his initial offerings, definitely check out Kenosha Kid’s cover of REM’s “Camera.” I wasn’t crazy about Liz Durrett’s tracks but you might dig her if you’re into Cat Power. And Producto sound like they’re a really cool (and hard to categorize) art punk band. The singer, Ane Diaz, used to be in The Causey Way. I’ll be looking forward to what Sloan puts up next.
Thanks to The Day Jobs for pointing this one out.
