John's Track of the Week: "Levon"

Song: Levon

Artist: Elton John

Album: Madman Across the Water

Year: 1971

Like many of the great artists over the past 50 years, so many of Elton John's songs stand out.  However, to me, "Levon," is one of his best efforts.  Chronicling a three-generation father-son dynamic, as well as the struggles and questions that accompanied life in the late-1960s to early-1970s, John provides some of his strongest vocals here, to fit with its powerful piano backing.  I feel it's pieces like this that really help to preserve a time period for future generations.  Yes, I know that John's "Daniel" would probably be a better choice in this regard, as it discusses the Vietnam war much more directly, but overall, this song and many others function as a time capsule.

Whether you love Elton John, hate him, or have no definitive feelings either way, this track can be an enjoyable, pleasant listen- one that lets you appreciate what music used to be.  Today, no one could put out something like this and expect success.  On the contrary, a song, and an album like this would almost undoubtedly crash and burn in today's music scene, even in the pop realm.  So enjoy Elton John, and artists like him, for the simplicity and nostalgia that they may provide.  Even if just for five minutes or so, I think it's worth the effort.

Manchester Orchestra Unplugged at Spin Magazine

Continuing with our recent news about Atlanta-based Manchester Orchestra, lead singer Andy Hull did a live acoustic performance of some of the band's new songs in Spin's NYC offices.  It's four songs, including "I Can Feel A Hot One," "I've Got Friends," "My Friend Marcus" and "100 Dollars".  Though hard to derive the exact nature of the tracks from stripped-down acoustic versions, I'd say the band is taking a slightly different approach.  If their new video for first single, "The Only One" is any indication of where they're headed though, I'd have to agree with Matt and say we're looking at a reincarnation of Neutral Milk Hotel.  We'll see though, I suppose.

Check out the live set for Spin here.  Manchester Orchestra's new album, Mean Everything to Nothing, will be out April 21st via Sony.

New Grizzly Bear Tracks, "Southern Point" and "Cheerleader"

Lots of stuff to hit upon today, but I suppose I'll start out with this news.

As you all probably know already, Grizzly Bear's new album, Veckatimest, leaked, and is fantastic.  A review will be up closer to the release date, but until then, the band has been previewing tracks for fans at a higher quality than the 128 kbps the leak appeared in.  Ed Droste discusses everything in detail at his Twitter feed.  Currently up for download/preview on various websites are album opener "Southern Point" and other standout, "Cheerleader".  Now, these songs may appear to be some of Grizzly Bear's best work to-date, and they are, but the scary thing is that I could name at least three songs on the album better than both.  For those who may not have gotten the hint already, I think Veckatimest is pretty legit.  

Anyway- below is a link for "Cheerleader," (courtesy of Stereogum) and an Imeem preview for "Southern Point".  Enjoy, and be sure to purchase Veckatimest, out May 26th via Warp.

Grizzly Bear- "Cheerleader"

New Manchester Orchestra, "The Only One"

Manchester Orchestra's new album, Mean Everything To Nothing, is scheduled to be released on  April 21st, and the first bits of new material are just starting to surface across the interweb.  Yesterday, the brand new video for the album's first single, "The Only One", was posted on the band's official YouTube channel.  It sets the story of a woman escaping a mental hospital, to a backdrop of grainy, old, home video-style footage, and includes captions in assorted retro typefaces.  It's an interesting concept that goes strikingly well with the band's new sound, which is much more raw than what we heard on I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child.  At times, it even sound sounds like a modern Neutral Milk Hotel.  If the rest of the album is anything like this, I think we're in for a real treat.  Check it out below.

Matt's Track of the Week: "Accident Prone"

Song: Accident Prone

Artist: Jawbreaker

Album: Dear You

Year: 1995

Oh 1995, what an innocent time.  I can't honestly say that I even had any idea who Jawbreaker was when this record came out (I was 6 years old), but I have since made collecting music a full-time job, and I haven't skipped any of the classics.

Even though I would have to agree with most in saying that Dear You, as a whole, doesn't really stand up to their prior work on Bivouac and 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, "Accident Prone" is one of the band's all-time shining moments.  It highlights the full range and diversity of their sound, on an album full of fairly straight-forward 90s punk.  It has a perfect balance of energy and emotion that brings me back to the days when it wasn't uncommon to hear Brand New's Your Favorite Weapon and The Get Up Kids' Something To Write Home About blaring alternately from my bedroom.  Check it out below.

Pre-Screening: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

Album: Advance Base Battery Life

Artist: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

Label: Tomlab

Due Out: March 10th

With each release, Owen Ashworth of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone has progressed the band from its Lo-Fi roots, to a sound which has gradually given his music a little more room to breathe. The most notable departure from the mold occurred with his 2007 effort Etiquette. Where in the past, we heard songs that were constructed almost exclusively of multi-layered recordings from small, battery-operated keyboards and sub-par vocal microphones, there was a new clarity and definition, as well as the increased use of guitars and other instruments. On his newest release Advance Base Battery Life, he continues in that vein, further pushing the limits of the band. He even brings a new intensity to his at times sleepy and always laid-back brand of glitch electronica.

Starting off, we have "Old Panda Days (W/ Dan Krgovich)", a great opener that feels like waking up to the sun after a storm that raged for days and nights, or maybe a series of relationships gone horribly wrong. As usual, with this band, the focus is on being painfully alone. Next, is "Leslie Gore on the T.A.M.I. Show (Version)", a reworking of an older song from Pocket Symphonies for Lonesome Subway Cars. In essence it is the same song, but with trance synths and crunching drums taking the forefront over the dated electronic strings of the original, and a new female vocalist instead of Ashworth being featured. Sometimes redoing a song can be pointless, but this one gets my approval. The same female vocalist is also featured on the next track, "White Corolla", a song with one of the more danceable beats on any CFTPA album.

Something I immediately noticed while listening to Advance Base Battery Life is that Ashworth's usual, frankly half-sung/spoken vocals have a newly pronounced melodic nature to them. He's actually singing in a way that makes him seem emotionally invested in his subject rather than emotionally drained by it. The next track, "White on White" is where you really start to notice it. It's still relaxed and true to what we've become accustomed to, but he's definitely taking more risks than in the past. This is followed by another reworking, this time with a more poignant version of "Holly Hobby"from Etiquette. It's overall more biting than the original, and is one of the album's real standouts. After that, is the Postal Service-esque "Lonesome New Mexico Nights", and the short and dark "The Only Way To Cry". A rare break in the synths comes with the next song, "It's A Crime". An acoustic guitar-driven song, that sounds like what could happen if David Bazan were to cover Bright Eyes' Lifted or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground.

We transition into one of Ashworth's experimental vignettes with "Missoula", and then the next two tracks are a bit puzzling. "Hot Boyz (W/ Dear Nora)" and "Born in the U.S.A. (W/Concern)" seem to have just been thrown in for the joke, considering that the former is a hip-hop banger, with a female singer reminiscent of a less innovative M.I.A. on "Paper Planes", and the latter is yes, a Bruce Springsteen cover, but with Daft Punk-style vocoder vocals. Knowing the band's prior work, it is clear that Ashworth has a sense of humor, and likes to break up the seriousness with experimentation, but my only question is, with a fifteen track album, why drop two completely out of place songs in the middle of an otherwise exceptional string of tunes? It seems like they would have been better suited for a b-sides release.

"Streets of Philadlephia (W/ Concern)" picks up where the beginning of the album left off, and then leads us straight into the epic "Graceland". This song is one of the biggest risks on the album, but it is still a classic CFTPA track. It rises slowly, and becomes more emotionally strained, until finally overdriven guitars and the song's hook carry it to the close. This is followed by "Sunday St", the last full song on the album, which continues in the mood set down before it. And we finally come to the end at the instrumental "Voice Of The Hospital", an instrumental that comes in at less than a minute, but packs an emotional punch and serves as an epilogue to the record.

On first listen, I am already a big fan of this album. It's a natural progression from the last release, and it adds some new dimension to CFTPA's overall body of work. Even with the two tracks that I felt may not have fit in as well as planned, there's still very little to complain about as far as quality here. This is an artist who is growing and changing, and letting it show in his music. He's keeping the listeners interested with consistent releases, while never giving us the same thing twice. I'm excited to see where Ashworth can go as an artist from here. This album accomplishes what I believe Etiquette was intended to, and it feels like a turning point that could very well set off a whole other side of things we have yet to see.

Rating: 8.5/10.0

Best Track: "Holly Hobby"

Matt's Track of the Week: "Standing Next To Me"

Song: Standing Next To Me 

Artist: The Last Shadow Puppets

Album: The Age of the Understatement

Year: 2008

The nostalgia factor of The Last Shadow Puppets is unmatched.  Heavily influenced by the sounds of the 60s, The Age of the Understatement takes listeners back to a simpler, more romantic time, whether they originally lived through it or not.  Another thing that's so striking is that their sound is so unlike that of Alex Turner's work with Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane's work with The Rascals.  It's a true side-project for the two that serves as a completely new outlet for their combined creative energies.

Like much of the album, "Standing Next To Me" is infectiously catchy.  This is one of the main reasons why it has been in constant rotation on my iTunes for the past week.  My favorite aspect of it, is how even the vocals sound aged.  It's something that is easily achieved with the right recording technology, but even the melodies feel like a throwback to something you have heard before, but can't quite put your finger on.  There's a sense of warmth to it that can't be explained.  That, coupled with cinematic string arrangements by Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy, it sounds like part of a score from a Hollywood classic.  Check it out below.

Pre-Screening: Cursive

Album: Mama, I'm Swollen

Artist: Cursive

Label: Saddle Creek

Due Out: March 10th

After all of the internet buzz, and random song streams on Entertainment Weekly's website, as well as Absolute Punk, it's just days before Cursive's new album, Mama, I'm Swollen, hits stores. It's been three years since the band's last full-lentgh, Happy Hollow, was released in 2006 to mixed reviews, and besides some touring since, no one's really heard much. Following each record, Cursive has a habit of going on hiatus for a little while, something I feel helps in the cases of many bands, which accounts for the lack of news. Still, here we are in March, eagerly awaiting Tim Kasher & Co.'s latest effort, in the hopes that maybe, one of these days, the band will be able to produce something that lives up to 2003's The Ugly Organ.

As always, the band knows how to set a mood in the opening track, and this record, like their others, gives us a sense of melancholy, daydreaming, and a questioning of life and the religious establishment. Though the observations still carry some weight since Cursive first introduced their views to the listening public, you can't help but feel as if you've heard these themes one time too many. "In the Now" is the type of introduction to a record you might not mind listening to, but could probably do without. From there, "From the Hips," picks up with an upbeat discussion about self-worth and relationships, among other things, which may end up being one of the album's best tracks. Between that and the following track, "I Couldn't Love You," which was streamed to the public in advance, you can see the essence of the album, as well as its first two singles. The songs both come off as a bit down on things, but overall, are fairly lively and engaging.

What's interesting about the post-cello version of Cursive (cellist Gretta Cohn left the group in 2005) is how easily they've seemed to be able to adapt their sound to the change in instrumentation. Their recognizable guitar riffs are now supplemented by an energetic injection of horns, as well as a steady dose of keyboard when necessary. "Donkeys," which looks to slow it down as we approach the album's midpoint, would have been a prime candidate for cello intervention earlier in the decade, but still survives with its obvious allusions to Pinocchio's Pleasure Island. "Caveman" inserts a fiddle, to create a spaghetti-western feel, though may miss the mark with spoken word interludes.

As we continue, parts of the album may seem to be better-suited for Kasher's side project, The Good Life, but in no way does that take away from them, most notably in, "We're Going to Hell". My biggest question about the record though asks if Kasher has made the two separate projects (both of which he is the main creational force behind) too similar to one another? What made both bands existences work out in the past was how they were very unlike each other. Not to take away from the tracks on Mama, I'm Swollen, but it appears that difference is becoming slimmer over time. From beginning to end, what we see here is a band sticking to a formula and executing it with success.

Admittedly, after hearing this album, I was a bit disappointed. It was not a bad effort in anyway. On the contrary, it's a good album. My problems with it, however, lie in the fact that it does not do much to change what Cursive is as a band. As I said, the band sticks to a formula start to finish, but that formula is not all that different from what has always existed for them. I'd liked to have seen them stretch the boundaries and definitions of the group, and maybe take a risk or two. Believe me, I don't hate the record- in fact, if it was any other band, it would probably be considered great in my eyes- I just would have liked it to be a bit more daring. Still, much credit goes to these guys for another good album amongst a collection of many others, for both them and the Saddle Creek record label. For similarities, check out the aforementioned Good Life, Bear vs. Shark (in music only) and, at times, Sunny Day Real Estate.

Rating: 5.5/10

Best Track: "From the Hips"

New Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, "Statues"

So Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (who I thought was done making music) was on Jimmy Fallon's show last night.  For a lot of people, the band has sort of fallen off of the map due to a subpar sophomore effort, as compared to their self-titled debut in 2005.  Still, I'm sort of encouraged by the effort they put forth on television, as the track seems like a more natural progression of their original sound.  Feel free to check the video out below, and/or check out their website to download the song, "Statues," free of charge.

John's Track of the Week: "New Year's Eve"

Song: New Year's Eve

Artist: The Walkmen

Album: Bows + Arrows

Year: 2004

Before their 2008 hit album, You & Me, and 2006's A Hundred Miles Off, The Walkmen were just a little-known member of the New York City rock scene.  On 2004's Bows + Arrows, you notice the more gruff, and less polished, nature of the band. Lead vocalist Hamilton Leithauser seems to growl more than shout, as compared to his penchant for shouting on later records.  Perhaps a sign of more angst and vulnerability for the then-younger singer, but effective nonetheless, as it provided a retro sound, to go with the band's vintage instrumentation, to stand out in a crowded music scene.  Today, this vintage appeal is central to the group's success, and one of the reasons I enjoy their records.

"New Year's Eve", like most Walkmen songs, involves Leithauser collecting his thoughts about a female.  Here, she's of the one-night stand variety, as he briefly discusses what they're doing and the conversation they should probably be having.  Like many of their other songs, you're left wondering about the outcome- see "Canadian Girl" as another great example.  This simple melody, worked through on piano, is a short one, but something that a lot of listeners can probably relate to.  It also captures the mood of New Year's Eve very nicely, as its stripped down nature and quiet and timid vocals can lend to a variety of feelings normally associated with that night.  Check it out below.