Pre-Screening: Lightspeed Champion's Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You

Album: Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You

Artist: Lightspeed Champion

Label: Domino Records

Rating: 8.0

For long-time listeners of Lightspeed Champion, the artist may not necessarily be recognizable when you first hear Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You. Refined, focused and precise, Dev Hynes abandons his more raw, damaged persona for a new direction entirely on his latest release. Not only does he nearly eliminate his former penchant for rampant profanity, but any less-than-pristine arrangements from his previous efforts seem to be gone as well. For all intents and purposes, Hynes appears to be a new man, and a new artist here. And yet, even with all of that change, he couldn't have put together an album much better than this one.

What's most striking is the immediate sense of depth one gets within seconds of the first track "Dead Head Blues." The song is filled with layered emotions and instrumentation, as Hynes has seemingly found his voice within his music. Though he still manages to amble off into his hokey storyteller mode at times, he has learned how to better choose his spots by this point. For most of Life Is Sweet!, he allows the music to tell the story for him, only interjecting when necessary. This shift is mostly made possible by the superior musical arrangements Hynes places on all 15 songs, whether entirely instrumental or not. From a more extensive strings section, to expert keyboard sounds or the more polished vocal pipes Hynes sports, the sound has somehow matured by leaps and bounds in a short amount of time.

One of the album's other strengths happens to be its sense for the dramatic. No, you won't hear an overcooked solo, or some half-baked attempt at falsetto crooning. However, as far as theatrical approaches go, when Hynes makes an effort here, it's dead-on. "Faculty of Fears" is about as poppy a song as he's ever put together, the track motoring along on the legs of driving guitar riffs and strong group of strings. Songs like "The Big Guns of Highsmith" and "Middle of the Dark" actually end up leaning on the most subtle homages to bands such as Queen, who thrived on theatrical presentation. Though you won't hear Hynes attempt to imitate Freddie Mercury any time soon, the comparison in the musical composition, specifically when employing the likes of all-male choruses, or some spiraling (yet appropriate) guitar solo.

On the more conventional side, Hynes displays his talents for musical composition without the assistance of words as well. Both intermission tracks are just showcases for some light experimentation with guitar and keyboard, yet they come off as so much more than that. He even tries his hand at a classical piano number, and succeeds with startling positive results on "Etude Op. 3 'Goodnight Michalek'." Experimenting with electronic effects and the like, "Smooth Day (At the Library)" acts as a soft jazz number, then an electronic ballad of steady lament. There's even a track for doo-wop fans, as "I Don't Want to Wake Up Alone" discusses loneliness with more of a tidied up Motown vibe. Though this author certainly wasn't averse to his previously crass approach, the cleaner lyrical content does allow for a much tidier sound overall, and helps speak to the true maturity of this record.

The strides taken by Lightspeed Champion on Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You can be overwhelming to longtime fans. Many knew that he had always had something like this in him. Hell, if you listened to any portion of the 10-minute epic "Midnight Surprise" from Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, you'd be well aware of this fact. But, still, this album manages to catch us off guard. It's not as if he's refined just one portion of his skill set. Everything is different, and thus, it's almost like we're listening to a different artist. And Hynes actually ends up being better off for it. As much as we'll miss the downtrodden heartbreak of tracks like "Galaxy of the Lost," the harnessing of all of the potential contained within it is a fair trade off. If he continues making music up to this standard, there's no telling how many accolades he'll eventually receive.

Best Track: "Faculty of Fears"

[Previously on Animal Noises: Tuesday's Release (2/16): Now Streaming]

Tuesday's Releases (2/16): Now Streaming

Hopefully this collection of records is just the beginning of what should be a decent week for music listening. Among those unrepresented at the moment are Dan Black, Tindersticks and Peter Gabriel (amongst others)-- but with luck, this will change, and we'll be sure to update this section as it does. The album streams below are brought to you courtesy of Spinner, unless marked otherwise. As always, credit for the original idea goes out to LargeHeartedBoy.

• Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You. -- Lightspeed Champion (via MySpace)
• Gorilla Manor -- Local Natives (via NPR)
• Everybody Knows -- The Go Find
• Journal of Ardency -- Class Actress (out February 9)
• Back to Light -- Bomb the Bass (out March 2)

[Previously on Animal Noises: Tuesday's Releases (2/9): Now Streaming]

The Big Picture: The Art of Record Packaging

Before the age of digital music, one of the most important aspects of marketing a new record to the buying public was its packaging: a physical presentation of the artist's work that not only functioned as a holder for the record, but as a visual companion to the musical recording itself which you could hold in your hands. Whether it be eye-catching cover art, an engaging lyric booklet, or the actual record case; it all lent itself to the complete audio-visual experience intended by the artists for the listener.

Now that owning physical copies of music is becoming more and more rare (retailers like Best Buy and Starbucks have even started selling digital albums in their stores), many bands are trying to find new ways to make the visual representation of their work help them stand out in the changing landscape. One band that took the extra step in recent years was Long Island's own, Brand New, on their 2007 release, "The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me". With it's particularly striking and conceptually fitting cover art, and a layout consisting mostly of obscured photographs, fragmented sentences, and simple drawings, they managed to create a visual aesthetic that fit perfectly with its sonic counterpart. The band also opted to use an old school card-stock sleeve over the typical jewel CD case; managing to create something that felt good in your hands, and was a piece of art in itself.

Another band that got people talking recently was Bishop Allen, with their "EP Project" in 2006. Every month of the year, starting in January, the band released a 4-song EP; each named after the month of its release,with its own unique themes and artwork; meant to work together with the other 11 as a collectible set.

This year's new releases (even a couple of which were previously highlighted in our Best of 2008) are no exception. The two words I would use to describe Lightspeed Champion's, "Falling Off The Lavender Bridge", are simple and vulnerable. What could be more simple and vulnerable than placing songwriter/musical mastermind Dev Hynes in front of a solid sky-blue background, cradling

a small black rabbit in his arms? Another recent release which perfectly pairs audio and visual is Death Cab for Cutie's "Narrow Stairs". The cover's rigid mosaic of colors, seemingly taken from various photographs, holds the structured diversity of America's west in the days of Jack Kerouac; frontman Ben Gibbard's favorite author, who has become an inspiration for Gibbard's own writing; most notably in the song, "Bixby Canyon Bridge". A great deal of the new album was actually written in and around the late Kerouac's Cabin at Big Sur, where Gibbard went to find clarity in his life.

Then of course we have the biggest release of the year so far (the physical release), and possibly of years to come, both aesthetically and musically: Radiohead's "In Rainbows". The initial buzz of this record came from the fact that a) they're Radiohead, and b) they were basically giving it away (recently repeated by both Nine Inch Nails and Girl Talk, respectively). After hearing the news, people immediately flooded to the band's site, where they were greeted with an oil slick-esque rainbow of colors, noted with mysteriously systematic patterns

of letters and symbols; thus launching some of the most innovative and effective digital record packaging that music has ever seen. It not only served as a visual component to the album, but as the key turning in the ignition of the "In Rainbows" hype-machine, which was followed by hidden messages to fans in binary, and a series of live performance/distopian future vignette podcasts; setting a standard for every record yet to be released. With a bar that high, who knows what we'll see next, and from whom? Here's to the future.

Our Top Albums of 2008

The Year 2008 is halfway over.  With that in mind, we figured we'd discuss what we thought were the top 10 albums of the year so far.  Note: Though we loved In Rainbows, we're not going to include them in this, since it was considered by many (including us) to be the best album of 2007 already.  Anyone who didn't hear it by the end of last year obviously wasn't paying much attention.  Anyway, here goes...

1. Narrow Stairs, Death Cab for Cutie

Ben Gibbard and the gang rightfully start off this list with their best work since Transatlanticism.  The album maintains the somber mood which Death Cab always keeps, while still delivering a bright sound at the same time. Remorse never sounded so good.

Top Track: Cath...

2. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

Indie, Baroque-inspired, afro-beat pop?  A year ago, nobody would have a clue what you were talking about.  Now, chances are people would start up a conversation with you about Vampire Weekend, those Columbia University over-privileged youths who are about to be launched into the MTV stratosphere by the head ass clown himself, Pete Wentz, & Co.  Until that nightmare fully takes shape though, enjoy all the fun this band has to offer.

Top Track: Oxford Comma

3.með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, Sigur Rós

Hopelandic (n.): a term used to describe the gibberish sung by the band Sigur Rós (Wikipedia paraphrase, 2008). What the band lacks in grammatical structure and normal lingual conventions though, they have in sensibility, and their concept for the post-rock genre which they are near the forefront of. Oh, and they like being naked a lot too...weird.

Top Track: Ára bátur

4. The Odd Couple, Gnarls Barkley

To be honest, we felt St. Elsewhere was kind of hit-or-miss, but this album is a triumph, through-and-through. If you're looking for something easy and enjoyable to listen to, find yourself a copy of this energetic and intelligent recording. You won't be disappointed.

Top Track: Going On

5. Elephant Shell, Tokyo Police Club

Another fun record for this year. These Saddle Creek-ers have a similar sound to Death Cab for Cutie, sans regret, but with a great dose of energy. The record is a quick listen, but chances are, you'll just hit repeat when it's over anyway.

Top Track: Your English Is Good

6. Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, Coldplay

At first we thought that Chris Martin was trying to desperately to make his own Kid A, to which I would have laughed. However, it ends up it bares little resemblance to Radiohead's fourth studio album, and instead simply sound like Coldplay going in a different direction. This could all change if it ends up they stole "The Songs I Didn't Write" from Creaky Boards though (haha...sorry, had to mention it).

Top Track: Viva La Vida

7. Falling Off The Lavender Bridge, Lightspeed Champion

Dev Hynes is one weird dude. That said, he knows how to make music, and make it well. Though admittedly whiny at times, it doesn't feel wrong to like it, and it doesn't feel wrong to say that it sounds right. He's also honest, which is getting harder and harder to come by these days. His penchant for profanity also seems to be a positive, rather than a negative, and doesn't take away

from anything.

Top Track: Midnight Surprise

8. Weezer (Red Album), Weezer

When first hearing Pork and Beans", we were ecstatic. The return of the old Weezer, a return to what made them great (or at least good), and their re-establishment in the hearts and minds of music aficionados everywhere. And then, of course, I heard the rest of the album. What used to work as "so bad, it's good" now functions as "so bad, it's still just kind of bad". Outside of the previously mentioned Pork and Beans, there are smatterings of positives here. Enough to get it onto this list, but not enough to get it onto the year-end list, I'm sure.

Top Track: Pork and Beans

9. Water Curses, Animal Collective

Either this is on here or N*E*R*D's new album gets thrown a bone. We decided that "Water Curses" (the song) alone, gave this four-track release enough street cred to make the grade and get on the top 10. All the songs are a bit stripped-down, reminiscent of their pre-Strawberry Jam style, and all of them get you thinking, which we believe is one of the main purposes behind their music.

Top Track: Water Curses

10. Tha Carter III, Lil' Wayne

I'll usually truly enjoy one new hip-hop record per year, and since we won't count Gnarls Barkley as hip-hop, I guess this is Lil' Wayne's lucky day. Great rap acts usually weed out the hit-or-miss type stuff by the third album, and for the most part, Weezy delivers, save a song or two. He is a great rapper though, so at least he's got that up on one Kanye West.

Top Track: Mr. Carter

And there it is. If you wanted to know, N*E*R*D's Seeing Sounds was #11. Also, just a note: we don't endorse MySpace, but had to use it as the link for some of the artists who didn't have songs up from their respective new albums on Last.FM. Enjoy, and see you on Wednesday.