Sorry For the Long Delay

Hey to everyone reading.  We're still here, just a lot going on in our lives as of late, so we'll leave it at that to explain the lack of posts.  Not to worry though, we (Heath and I) are returning by the end of this week with some exclusive reviews in our ongoing "Pre-Screening" segment.  Heath will be telling you all about Skeletal Lamping by of Montreal, and I'll be diving into Censored Colors by Portugal. The Man.  I know, all very exciting stuff.  

The "Pre-Screening" feature will probably be continuing on a once a week basis, along with my "Buzz" and Heath's "Track of the Week".  The special project noted at the beginning of the month should also be starting up in the next week or so.  Heath and I plan on talking about our favorite 25 albums, respectively, going from the bottom of the list, up to the top.  Stay tuned, as it's a 50-day project.  Also, a little further down the road, we'll be dedicating all of October 10th to the one year anniversary of the release of In Rainbows by Radiohead.  If you're not a fan, sorry to hear, but that's still all that's going to be happening here on that date.

Track of the week: Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

I know what you're thinking: "God, Heath, that song is more than a decade old."

Yes, I know. And that's exactly why it's my track of the week for this week.

"Fake Plastic" was by far the best song on Radiohead's 1995 effort, The Bends. The album may not stand out as the band's best after Thom & Co. have given us some masterpieces (OK Computer, Kid A, In Rainbows), but this song has endured.

It's been featured prominently on the band's current North American tour, getting the fireworks treatment at Lollapalooza and a night at All Points West this weekend. Watch the videos. Be blown away. It's clearly still a crowd favorite, a masterpiece hidden in a flawed album, if flawed only when compared to the band's other work.

It's a soft song at first, delicate and careful with acoustic strumming and Thom Yorke's soothing crooning about a woman living a life she doesn't want, feeling fake. And "it wears her out."

Then the song builds and builds until it finally explodes with full-force guitars as Thom realizes he loves the girl who "looks like the real thing, she tastes like the real thing. My fake plastic love." And you can't help but feel a bit of heartache when the song and Thom go soft again at the end and he pleads: "If I could be who you wanted, If I could be who you wanted, all the time."

Still, after all this time, this song gives me the chills.

Better late than never, they always say.

Fleet Foxes have been one of the most-blogged/talked-about bands of the year. Their debut, self-titled LP that dropped in June was highly anticipated and much hyped. I didn't jump on the bandwagon immediately. I tried to get into them but just couldn't wrap my mind around the harmony-laden indie folk group.

But I gave them another shot this week. And I have a new obsession.

Fleet Foxes is a marvelous record, one of the best of the year so far, with beautiful harmonies complimenting strong melodies on tracks part of what seems to be a thriving new genre: indie folk. (See: Grizzly Bear, My Morning Jacket, Panda Bear, Okkervil River.)

I'm not going to write a huge review for the album since it's been out for more than two months already. But I urge you to check this band out. Even if you listened before and for whatever reason didn't like them, give them another shot. I did. And I can't believe I was missing out on this.

New of Montreal - "Id Engager"

The ever-so-happy psychedelic pop rockers are at it again. Last year's effort by of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, was one of the best records of the year. The bass line of "Gronlandic Edit" and the craziness of "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" were looped on my playlist for days.

I was surprised to hear of Montreal had another record set for 2008. As the details started pouring in -- Kevin was going to use his alter ego more often, the album would be comprised of tons of tiny different bits, transitioning into each other -- I got excited. Then came the weird album art and, finally, last night came the Skeletal Lamping's first single, "Id Engager."

It's indie pop rock at its finest. Complete with choruses of "ooh"s and "ahh"s. There's some synths, a killer bass line again and, of course, some weird lyrics. ("Ninjas! Prove it! Right?" What?)

Skeletal Lamping should be awesome. It's due out Oct. 7 on Polyvinyl.

Stereogum's got the "Id Engager" mp3 here.

Going solo

Artist: Conor Oberst
Album: Conor Oberst
Release date: August 4
Label: Merge

Gather round, it's story time.

Flash back to March, 2005. It was a rainy day. It was the day I would say goodbye to my dying great-grandmother at the hospital.

I had time to kill before I met my mother at the hospital, so I went to a local record store called The Gallery of Sound. I was browsing through the CDs and saw Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. I had heard good things, so I bought the album and went to the hospital for one of the hardest two hours of my life.

When I got back in my car to drive home in the pouring rain, my windshield wet with my eyes, I put the album in and there, in Conor Oberst's music, found warm comfort.

Death will bring us back to God
Just like the setting sun.

Those lyrics, from the first song -- "At the Bottom of Everything" -- pierced through me and brought a sense of closure to the situation I had just endured.

I tell this story now because there is no way any album released by Conor Oberst -- under the Bright Eyes moniker or not -- could ever live up to Wide Awake for me. I have too much invested in that album, too many emotions and too many memories for anything to ever surpass it.

That aside, Conor Oberst is a near-perfect album. The songs we get here from Mr. Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band are simple, elegant, emotional, personal, beautiful, haunting and memorable. We get an introspective Oberst on this album, with soul-searching we haven't heard since at least Wide Awake, maybe not since Lifted.

It all starts with the acoustic "Cape Canaveral," a catchy tune with a heartbeat that is brilliant in its simplicity. With the first lines we know this album will be about Oberst looking for deeper meaning in everything -- life, politics, death.

Oh, oh, oh, brother totem pole
I saw your legends lined up
And I never felt more natural
Apart, I just came apart.

It's songs like this where Oberst really shines. It's just him, a guitar and his take on the world, his thoughts, his feelings, his emotions. And it's a treat. And it comes full-circle on the album's closer, "Milk Thistle."

I'm not scared of nothing
And I'll go pound-for-pound.
I keep death on my head
Like a heavy crown.

And in between we get Oberst, who has battled comparisons to Bob Dylan since he started recording music more than a decade ago, at his most Dylan-esque. He and the Mysic Valley Band get all folksy on "Sausalito," "Souled Out!!!" and "I Don't Want To Die (In the Hospital)."

But the best song on the album, "Moab," meets somewhere in the middle. It's a ballad with a folk twang, a thumping piano and an important life lesson: "There's nothing that the road cannot heal," Oberst croons. But it's also a heart-breaking song, about going back home again when everything goes south:

They say the sun won't burn forever
But that's a science too exact.
I can prove it -- watch, we're crossing the state line.
See those headlights coming towards us?
That's someone going back
To a town they said they'd never, yeah,
They swore it all their lives.

I think those Dylan comparisons are finally valid. Oberst was set free with this record. He was able to take it wherever he wanted. And what we got is a masterpiece.

Score: 9.5/10
Stand-out tracks: Cape Canaveral, Danny Callahan, Moab

***

Track of the week:
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks (Live on David Letterman)

Those indie darlings Grizzly Bear have been hard-at-work on their full-length follow-up to 2006's behemoth Yellow House. They chose Late Night with David Letterman Wednesday night to debut one of their new tracks, "Two Weeks."

It's a poppy, bright, sunny track with a pulsating piano that sounds like "Hard-Knock Life." This sounds really good for such a new track. Needless to say, I'm waiting for the next Grizzly LP with a newfound sense of excitement after hearing this.

Stereogum's got the ripped MP3 of the performance here.

This Week's Top 10: Albums of 1998

Originally, we had planned to do a few articles looking back at albums from 1998 this week, so that was the inspiration for this.  Even without them though, we can still fondly remember the best music from a decade ago.  So, with that, enjoy the staff's picks for the best albums of 1998 (in alphabetical order).

1. In Casino/Out, At the Drive-In  Submitted by J.R.

In J.R.'s opinion, this is the band's best album, and I'd tend to agree.  One of the best bands of the 90s is oft-forgotten by mainstream music commentary, but not by us.  We'd rather pay respects to the group and its hard-hitting excellence which aided in setting the stage for many bands on the scene today.  If you're nostalgic for these guys, grab this record, or perhaps, if you're looking for something a bit more current, nothing wrong with listening to Sparta and The Mars Volta, the two bands which formed out of their ashes.  Either way, At the Drive-In stands the test of time.

Top Track:

2. Mutations, Beck  Submitted by Heath

Well, first off, it's Beck, so I think it's understood that the music will still be relevant a decade later.  The appeal of this album may not be as great as the Grammy-winning Odelay, to which this album followed, but that doesn't mean it loses any of its luster.  Mutations, as with most Beck material, bounces without being too loud, and provides a fun energy, coupled with the charm he seems to execute all of his songs with.  You'll be happy you listened, but sad that it's over...feel free to just press play again.

Top Track: 

3. The Boy With the Arab Strap, Belle & Sebastian  Submitted by John

This is a great album in the sense that Belle & Sebastian hadn't taken the form of the much-goofier indie pop band they would become later on.  The catchy, energetic tunes on this record take on a more-polished vibe, seeming to use the great feelings from 1996's If You're Feeling Sinister (probably one of my favorite 30 or so albums ever).  If you've never heard this one, or its aforementioned predecessor, I'd highly suggest picking them up as soon as possible.  Everything they made after this one is up to your own discretion whether to purchase or not.

Top Track:

 

4. Mermaid Avenue, Billy Bragg & Wilco  Submitted by Heath

I never have enough to say about this album, and the great story behind it.  For those who don't know, Woody Guthrie, country-folk legend died in 1967.  Years later, his daughter was looking for an outlet for the nearly-1,000 songs which he had written, but never recorded, and reached out to Billy Bragg and Wilco front man, Jeff Tweedy.  Bragg and Wilco collaborated to form a collaborative tribute to Guthrie, which in my eyes is one of the coolest album concepts of recent memory.  The songs, all done in the spirt of Woody himself, make for a great listen, for long-time fans, and newcomers alike.

Top Track:

5. Something About Airplanes, Death Cab for Cutie  Submitted by Matt

Before Death Cab was the band we all know them as know, they were a small-time Seattle solo project of Ben Gibbard.  For those who have never heard, this version of the band is much more stripped-down, has a much different approach to energetic songs, and overall, bares a solid resemblance to The Get Up Kids.  For more evidence of this, feel free to check out You Can Play These Songs With Chords, featuring one of my favorite DCFC songs, "New Candles", as well as demos of many of the songs on this superb record.

Top Track:

6. Midwestern Songs of the Americas, Dillinger Four  Submitted by J.R.

"One of the most influential punk/hardcore bands today, " says J.R.  How can I argue with that?  Every song on this record just screams out its affects on the music of the current scene.  If you felt like it, you could probably pick through each song and list a bunch of bands that used it as their main influence.  Regardless, I'll stop there, so as not to depreciate the praise I'm heaping on these guys.  If you enjoy energy, and some good, old-fashioned meaningful hardcore, looks like you've found it.

Top Track: 

7. XO, Elliott Smith  Submitted by John

I suppose I understand why people criticize this album (major label, etc.), but I can't help but appreciate it, because it's one of my favorites by the late Mr. Smith.  I wouldn't try to pass this album off as happy, or anything like that, because, well, it's Elliott Smith, so it's not.  I will say though, that there isn't a bad song on this album, from start to finish, you get a great, dare I say, chill, experience.  No song is too short, no song is too long.  It's just good, reflective art.

Top Track:

8. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Neutral Milk Hotel  Submitted by Matt

I would've submitted this one, if Matt hadn't called it already.  My favorite album of 1998, and one of my top five albums of all-time, I could just go on and on about it, but I'll spare everyone that day-long rant.  Jeff Mangum, of the now-defunct NMH, had dreams about Anne Frank, saw ghosts in his closet, and had tons of other weird, really trippy experiences, leading up to the creation of this fantastic sonic experience, which plays upon so many emotions, it becomes difficult to explain.  The success of this drove Mangum crazy, as did life in general, so there has never been a follow-up.  In fact, very few people have even seen the man behind this music for the past decade, besides close friends.  I wish they'd come back.

Top Track: 

 

9. The Shape of Punk to Come, Refused  Submitted by Tom

I'll let Tom take the wheel here.  "It should go without saying that Refused and their ideologies were so pungent and widespread amongst a generation of listeners, that they came from a small brooding aggressive Swedish band to counterculture and hardcore fans.  It's due to this release, blending elements of hardcore, post-hardcore, electronica, and even jazz to create a sound spectrum so vivid that, even with the advances in post-production of today, most artists can't even dream to recreate.  The record is a 55-minute expose into a deeply sophisticated group of talented individuals who may have ben so consecrated that it eventually led to their demise in 1998.  This record will change the way you listen to music, and I don't just mean hardcore.  I mean all of it."

Top Track: 

10. Can't Slow Down, Saves the Day  Submitted by Tom

Once again, I'm going to let Tom take this one.  "I'll start by telling you that Saves the Day is my favorite my favorite band of all-time.  Understanding that, please take with a grain of salt the bias you're about to encounter.  The band's first release under the Saves the Day moniker was put out on Equal Vision records, at the time, a decidedly hardcore label.  The band broke this mold, releasing Can't Slow Down.  The record was melodic, catchy, fast, and rambunctious, and since this release, Saves the Day's songwriting has matured in content and texture substantially, which is to be expected after ten years.  While the lineup on this album is far from today's, they had a crucial punk rock sound, not far from their heroes in Lifetime.  With this record, Saves the Day boarded the rocket, and with their next releases, they would subsequently take off and land on another planet.  I love this record with all my heart, and you should too."

Top Track:

Positively wonderful

Artist: The Hold Steady
Album: Stay Positive
Release date: July 15
Label: Vagrant Records

The driving guitars and piano that open "Constructive Summer," the anthemic opener on this thrilling album, you know you're in for a ride. And lead singer Craig Finn lets you know it: "We're gonna build something this summer/We'll put it back together, raise up a giant ladder/With love and trust and friends and hammers/We're gonna lean this ladder up against the water tower/Climb to the top and drink and talk."

The parallels and similarities to the Springsteen rock anthems that permeated clubs and bars in the 1980s goes without mentioning. This is music to party to -- dirty music, in a good way. It's great, grungy, angst-filled rock. It's music to play on warm nights drinking with friends or blazing summer days soaring down the highway. No wonder they chose that summer anthem as the first song.

This record grabs you in with that opener and doesn't let go. The next song -- "Sequestered in Memphis" -- is a humorous drunken sing-a-long about a hookup with a girl on the run with the law. This song is The Hold Steady in their element -- thunderous, piano-driven, fun rock.

And the rest of the album follows the same path. It flows by without warning, hitting you hard from every angle and by the time the closer, "Slapped Actress," rolls around, you'll be begging for more.

And that's the real charm of this record: as similar as some of the songs may sound and as hard as it may see this band is trying to evoke Springsteen, you want more at the end. You'll press repeat and listen to it again. Because the music is that good.

And not just the piano arrangements or the thumping guitars, but the lyrics that examine a broad range of topics from domestic abuse ("Some nights it's entertainment/And some other nights it's real" on "Slapped Actress"), suicide ("When one townie falls in the forest, does anyone notice?" on "One for the Cutters") and romance ("I know you're pretty pissed/But I hope you'll still let me kiss you" on "Magazines").

If this band keeps it up, they'll be legends just like The Boss.

Score: 9.0/10
Stand-out tracks: Magazines, Sequestered in Memphis, Slapped Actress

***

Track of the week:
Albert Hammond, Jr. - Miss Myrtle





On my first listen through Albert Hammond, Jr.'s terrible-Spanish-grammar-titled ¿Cómo Te Llama?, this track was the immediate standout.

The quick, tiny picks of the guitar dive into a Jamaican afro-beat jam about Hammond's angst and inability to tell what signs a girl is sending him.

"Tomorrow is long overdue/I'll be thinking of you and/Lights go out, I know it's you/I'm just like you: easily confused."

It's a quick, beautiful and great song that's unfortunately easily lost on the back end of the album.

This Week's Top 10: Covers

This week's Top 10 will focus on the staff's favorite cover songs.  What constitutes a great cover song?  Well, in my opinion, it has to keep the spirit of the original song, while still making itself part of the cover band's library.  It's a tough task, but one that the following songs seem to accomplish.  They are in alphabetical order by artist, rather than rank, since each staff member has two submissions in the list, and I didn't feel I could judge them fairly.  Enjoy listening to them all, courtesy of Imeem, which will now be a mainstay at the site.

1. Pieces of Me (Ashlee Simpson), Almost Better  Submitted by J.R.

No lie, this is hilarious.  But still great.  It's probably better because of the controversy that flew around Ashlee Simpson at the time the song came out.  For those who don't remember, the now- Mrs. Wentz decided to lip-sync her performance on SNL, making for some amazing spoofs, and pop culture fodder for weeks to come.  Anyway- this one's suggested simply for the nostalgia factor, and the fact that you can smile to yourself and remember that you're not married to a guy who once called himself "half-gay".  Win.

2. Bitches Ain't Shit (Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg), Ben Folds  Submitted by Heath

One of the most-talked about covers of the past 15 years or so, there are very few people who haven't heard this one.  Ben Folds, world's biggest white boy, sings about guns, prison and "hoes", and somehow gets away with it.  The song was actually recently retired by Ben, who apparently has some new material coming out soon.  Not sure if I'll be buying, but interesting just the same.

3. Don't You Forget About Me (Simple Minds), The Bouncing Souls  Submitted by J.R.

Made for the film, The Breakfast Club, the original seems to take you back to high school, even when you were still there.  Maybe The Bouncing Souls enjoyed high school a lot.  Maybe they enjoyed The Breakfast Club a lot.  Either way, they pay a solid tribute to the song, and a solid tribute to Simple Minds, who apparently released an album in 2006 (news to me).

4. King of Pain (The Police), Brandston  Submitted by Tom

Everyone enjoys a good Police cover now and again, and why shouldn't they?  The band's catchy pop melodies are fun, interesting, and appeal to a broad range of listeners.  Whether you enjoy The Police's actual work or not, Brandston hits the nail on the head with this one, and captured the essence of the original while still making it their own.

5. This Charming Man (The Smiths), Death Cab for Cutie  Submitted by Matt

The original version of this one is a good time, but a bit more mellow.  Death Cab fires through the song, keeping it in line with their own recordings of the time, and if I didn't know otherwise, I'd say it was theirs.  Still, I've always liked this one myself, because of its flawless entry into the Death Cab repertoire of tracks.

6. Float On (Modest Mouse), Goldspot  Submitted by John

The first time I heard this one, I was actually at work, and I was shocked to hear anything that resembled Modest Mouse blaring over the sound system at Old Navy.  Of course, this sounds nothing like the Modest Mouse version of the song, and I suppose that's what I can appreciate about it.  It's bright, cheery and fun, sounding more like indie pop than its predecessor, and it may be the most-different song on this list.

7. Simple Twist of Fate (Bob Dylan), The Honorary Title  Submitted by John

Alright, this is probably my favorite cover of all-time, and one of my five favorite THT songs as well.  I'm also not a Bob Dylan fan, which further adds to how great this song is.  When an artist can take a song by an artist I'm not particularly fond of, and turn it into one of my favorites, a miracle has been performed.  So for that, The Honorary Title find themselves on the list.

8. Young Folks (Peter Bjorn & John), The Kooks  Submitted by Matt

Matt feels that these guys are the masters of covering songs.  This might be true, considering their other cover-related work includes some awesome renditions of Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, and more recently, Violet Hill by Coldplay.  Sadly, we could only pick one of them though, so this high-energy jam seemed to beat out the others.

9. We Will Become Silhouettes (The Postal Service), The Shins  Submitted by Heath

How can one band cover a song by another band that sounds so much like them?  Somehow The Shins pull this one off, putting together an even poppier version than the original, and throwing their own spin onto it.  My favorite version of this song is actually Ben Gibbard's, but since that's not a cover, it doesn't have a place here.

10. Tiny Cities Made of Ashes (Modest Mouse), Sun Kill Moon  Submitted by Tom

In the future, we'll try to avoid doing this (doubling up on an artist), but here's another great Modest Mouse cover, courtesy of Sun Kill Moon.  The band does a nice job of capturing the mood of the original, which is off of The Moon & Antarctica (recently named as one of the 100 best albums of the past 25 years by Entertainment Weekly).  Thank you to Tom for making me aware of this one, which I had not heard until preparing for this post.

Guilty as charged

Artist: Beck
Album: Modern Guilt
Release date: July 8
Label: Interscope Records

I need to stop expecting Beck to make a record as good as Sea Change. The dark, mellow Sea Change was one of the, if not the, best albums of 2002. So to expect Mr. Hansen to match that is unfair.

But with his new, minimalist homage to psychedelic records of the 1960s, he comes oh so close. Produced by Danger Mouse, Modern Guilt is a quick (33 minutes), fun and, most importantly, great album from Beck.

The album’s cover says a lot about the way this record sounds and the way Beck wants it to be perceived. Nothing but skinny jeans and pointy boots. Minimalist, just like the 10 sometimes-folksy, sometimes-downtrodden, sometimes-trippy songs on Modern Guilt.

The first half of the album is a masterpiece. When I got to the toe-tapping, too-catchy title track, I thought he had done it. I thought he had surpassed himself. “Modern Guilt” is far and away the standout track on this album. Like all of Sea Change, this song gives us an afraid, hurt and exposed Beck: “I feel uptight when I walk in the city/I feel so cold when I'm at home/Feels like everything's starting to hit me/I lost my bet ten minutes ago.”

The songs that precede “Modern Guilt” are up to snuff with some of Beck’s best stuff, too. “Gamma Ray” is a bouncy track with a thumping guitar about the end of the world: “Trying to hold, hold out for now/With these ice caps melting down.”

“Chemtrails” is an airy ballad about, again, poor Beck feeling all alone and wondering about the afterlife: “So many people/So many people/Where do they go?”

But after the greatness of “Modern Guilt,” it’s hard to really get into the rest of the album. They’re not bad songs by any stretch of the imagination. “Walls” – a poppy ditty about hunger for war – is some of Beck’s best songwriting on the entire album: “You got warheads stacked in the kitchen/You treat distraction like an ancient religion.”

But the back half of this album was just a let down after the perfect opening four songs. It’s still by far his best work since Sea Change, but it ends up being half perfection, the rest just great.

Score: 8.0/10
Stand-out tracks: Modern Guilt, Gamma Ray, Chemtrails, Walls

***

Track of the week:
Girl Talk – Still Here



Pittsburgh-based DJ Gregg Gillis decided to go the pay-what-you-want Radiohead route with his latest collection of mashups, Feed the Animals. It is one of the best albums of the year so far, and this track is a perfect example of why.

Imagine this: BLACKStreet’s “No Diggity” mixed over the synths of Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” then over the percussion-heavy intro of Radiohead’s “15 Step.” Then all of a sudden you segue into The Band’s classic “The Weight” mashed up with the shouting of Webbie’s “Independent” and Young Joc’s proclamation of “We’re Goin’ Down.”

And that’s just a minute-and-a-half section of this song. And if you get confused about what exactly it is you’re hearing, don’t worry, the music nerds at Wikipedia have you covered.

This is music ADD and it’s mind-blowing.

To hear the track, go here and pay what you want for Feed The Animals.

A(nother) brief intro

Hey all, Heath here. I was going to wait until my first post Friday to introduce myself to you all, but I figured I'd follow Tom's lead and say hello now.

As of right now, I'll be writing on Fridays, focusing on album and track reviews. Slated for this Friday is my take on Beck's new record, "Modern Guilt."

I'll see you then.