Some More Recent Acquisitions
Spoon
Gimme Fiction
My Short Take
If Spoon is not the best band in the world right now, they are at least in the conversation. Kill The Moonlight was a great record, but dgags loves him some Gimme Fiction, too. "The Beast And Dragon, Adored" is a mere bunt single of an opener, but after that it is all extra bases -- sprayed to all fields (can you tell I went to the Sox game last week?). The next seven songs are as good a stretch of consistent greatness as I've heard in quite awhile.
Others Write
"Gimme Fiction is actually a wildly diverse album, almost schizophrenic in its composition, vacillating between acoustic ballads, a bubbly, synth-tinged number ("They Never Got You"), handclaps, strings, and a whole lot of blue-eyed soul. It feels like rock action only because the album's finest moments-- for the most part-- are in the sublime climaxes of guitar-driven tunes, notably the heart-swelling, tambourine-ringing relief of "Sister Jack" or the beautifully spare "I Summon You". But calling them "rock songs" feels like an oversimplification: The term implies a simplicity that just isn't present even in the most direct offerings on Gimme Fiction."
Pitchfork
"As a destined classic, Gimme Fiction doesn't announce itself like we expect "classics" to, beating its chest and assuming its superiority; instead, it transmits its ideas in clandestine asides, on scraps of graph paper passed around the room, through a generous give-and-take of modestly elastic proportions."
Pop Matters
"Each song glows with infinitesimal joys, tiny pointillist production flourishes noticeable only under close scrutiny. But in rounding out their sound, they brought the viewer close enough to see the brushstrokes and the smudges."
Stylus
"A dark, theatrical album seething with late-night tension and menace, Gimme Fiction is a bigger-sounding affair than Spoon's previous work, with lots of keyboards, guitars, and strings parts courtesy of the Tosca Strings. But, even with the album's bigger scope, the band keeps its eye for detail."
All Music Guide
Andrew Bird
The Mysterious Production Of Eggs
My Short Take
Andrew Bird is indeed a rather odd one, and aptly named. His sound is defined by his multi-instrumental talents -- guitar, violin, voice -- but most memorably by his whistling. From his Fortress of Solitude somewhere in Western Illinois comes a truly idiosyncratic set of songs.
Others Write
"Andrew Bird's voice is the spoonful of sugar that makes this medicine go down so smooth. Much like his violin playing and his whistling and his songwriting, Bird's voice is versatile, simultaneously recalling Paul Simon's conversational croon, Rufus Wainwright's self-aware drama, and Thom Yorke's mournful wail."
Pitchfork
"While it's true that Andrew Bird has a background in classical music, plays the violin, spends an inordinate amount of time whistling, and plays the glockenspiel, I defy anyone listening to his remarkable The Mysterious Production of Eggs to easily identify any of those traits/sounds. Even harder to identify is exactly what Bird is doing on The Mysterious Production of Eggs. Is it alt-country, jazz, folk, classical? The answer is that it is a bit of all these sounds fluidly combined into a unique album that makes good on all the promise of Bird's early work from Weather Systems to Fingerlings 2."
Pop Matters
"Starting with the smooth acoustic guitar and lightly tapped drums of “Sovay,” Bird sets the mood that will pervade the record’s length: a sort of laid-back ease that rarely shows much of what it is doing to the casual ear, but one that rewards the attentive one. All the better to hear the innovation in the band’s sound to vocal multi-tracking and Bird’s first forays into wholly guitar-led pop music."
The Mysterious Production Of Eggs
My Short Take
Andrew Bird is indeed a rather odd one, and aptly named. His sound is defined by his multi-instrumental talents -- guitar, violin, voice -- but most memorably by his whistling. From his Fortress of Solitude somewhere in Western Illinois comes a truly idiosyncratic set of songs.
Others Write
"Andrew Bird's voice is the spoonful of sugar that makes this medicine go down so smooth. Much like his violin playing and his whistling and his songwriting, Bird's voice is versatile, simultaneously recalling Paul Simon's conversational croon, Rufus Wainwright's self-aware drama, and Thom Yorke's mournful wail."
Pitchfork
"While it's true that Andrew Bird has a background in classical music, plays the violin, spends an inordinate amount of time whistling, and plays the glockenspiel, I defy anyone listening to his remarkable The Mysterious Production of Eggs to easily identify any of those traits/sounds. Even harder to identify is exactly what Bird is doing on The Mysterious Production of Eggs. Is it alt-country, jazz, folk, classical? The answer is that it is a bit of all these sounds fluidly combined into a unique album that makes good on all the promise of Bird's early work from Weather Systems to Fingerlings 2."
Pop Matters
"Starting with the smooth acoustic guitar and lightly tapped drums of “Sovay,” Bird sets the mood that will pervade the record’s length: a sort of laid-back ease that rarely shows much of what it is doing to the casual ear, but one that rewards the attentive one. All the better to hear the innovation in the band’s sound to vocal multi-tracking and Bird’s first forays into wholly guitar-led pop music."
"'The result is an utterly mesmerizing and magnetic album, almost unfair in how incredibly ambitious and impressively pulled off the whole thing is. Of course, the release of Mysterious Production of Eggs brings to mind the unfair question, "What could possibly come next?" before the album has had the chance to even completely sink into its own place in Andrew Bird's baffling catalog."
All Music Guide
The Mars Volta
Frances The Mute
My Short Take
Omar Rodriquez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (i.e., the two guys with afros in At The Drive In) form the core of The Mars Volta (i.e., the world's foremost extant prog-rock outfit). Frances The Mute borrows something from Yes, Theolonius Monk, John Zorn, Pink Floyd, Ornette Coleman, Genesis and others, but always with a bite -- and they never fall back on a 4/4 beat.
Others Write
"The band's talent is jaw-dropping; we all knew that when Relationship of Command came out, and if there's one band who can restore hope in everything that's great about progressive rock, it's The Mars Volta. They pull out all the stops on the new album, and the way the band shifts from style to style is very impressive, but what I find most distressing about the entire album is its complete lack of focus. It seems that in the process of pulling out every audacious musical trick they could come up with, they completely lose track of where they're going. The technical prowess on the album is undeniable, but the music always seems to meander too much. It feels like Frances was constructed in between bong hits."
Pop Matters
"The roar of Rodriguez Lopez and Bixler's post-hardcore past is fully locked away, replaced by an equally powerful flair for expressive percussion, intricate vocal harmonies, and extended solos for electric guitar (as on the initial part of "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus")."
All Music Guide
"And while you can level all the limp-wristed “it’s too involved,” “it’s too masturbatory,” “the lyrics are too incomprehensible” criticisms at this thing you want, you’re completely missing the point because you’re exactly right. When you’re creating a sonic world or a song-suite seventy-six minutes long, things are bound to get a bit self-indulgent and incomprehensible. Come in if you want, but don’t bang at the door deriding those that want to bother investing the precious hour watching two reruns of The Office. "
Stylus
Frances The Mute
My Short Take
Omar Rodriquez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (i.e., the two guys with afros in At The Drive In) form the core of The Mars Volta (i.e., the world's foremost extant prog-rock outfit). Frances The Mute borrows something from Yes, Theolonius Monk, John Zorn, Pink Floyd, Ornette Coleman, Genesis and others, but always with a bite -- and they never fall back on a 4/4 beat.
Others Write
"The band's talent is jaw-dropping; we all knew that when Relationship of Command came out, and if there's one band who can restore hope in everything that's great about progressive rock, it's The Mars Volta. They pull out all the stops on the new album, and the way the band shifts from style to style is very impressive, but what I find most distressing about the entire album is its complete lack of focus. It seems that in the process of pulling out every audacious musical trick they could come up with, they completely lose track of where they're going. The technical prowess on the album is undeniable, but the music always seems to meander too much. It feels like Frances was constructed in between bong hits."
Pop Matters
"The roar of Rodriguez Lopez and Bixler's post-hardcore past is fully locked away, replaced by an equally powerful flair for expressive percussion, intricate vocal harmonies, and extended solos for electric guitar (as on the initial part of "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus")."
All Music Guide
"And while you can level all the limp-wristed “it’s too involved,” “it’s too masturbatory,” “the lyrics are too incomprehensible” criticisms at this thing you want, you’re completely missing the point because you’re exactly right. When you’re creating a sonic world or a song-suite seventy-six minutes long, things are bound to get a bit self-indulgent and incomprehensible. Come in if you want, but don’t bang at the door deriding those that want to bother investing the precious hour watching two reruns of The Office. "
Stylus
The Frames
Burn The Maps
My Short Take
While I enjoy this album very much, it's hard to deny that The Frames at this point seem a bit caught in the Coldplay/Travis vortex - i.e., another in a seemingly endless series of remakes of The Bends.
Others Write
"The Frames could have used more tracks with consistent, engaging tones. Instead Burn the Maps often sounds like simplicity transformed into bloat in an attempt to sound interesting. It rarely works: Most of these tracks simply move from captivating to frustrating to regrettable."
Pitchfork
"The Frames sound like a folk band at heart, but they structure their songs around steady builds, employing crescendos, electronics, and stadium dramatics to outsize their music. Songs begin slowly, emotion develops, atmosphere happens, and intensity increases. While nearly any song on Burn the Maps works effectively, the album as a whole can't quite maintain its momentum with such structural repetition."
Pop Matters
"The album moves in gasps and groans, with a steady flow to its twelve songs that weaves together like a symphony. Not so much bend-and-don’t-break as fracture-and-heal-yourself-anew, their songs press the pressure points behind their transitions. Rarely content to slip under the pull of fast/slow dynamics, as a simple dichotomy at least, the Frames seem to know just when to let you in on the secret."
Stylus
Burn The Maps
My Short Take
While I enjoy this album very much, it's hard to deny that The Frames at this point seem a bit caught in the Coldplay/Travis vortex - i.e., another in a seemingly endless series of remakes of The Bends.
Others Write
"The Frames could have used more tracks with consistent, engaging tones. Instead Burn the Maps often sounds like simplicity transformed into bloat in an attempt to sound interesting. It rarely works: Most of these tracks simply move from captivating to frustrating to regrettable."
Pitchfork
"The Frames sound like a folk band at heart, but they structure their songs around steady builds, employing crescendos, electronics, and stadium dramatics to outsize their music. Songs begin slowly, emotion develops, atmosphere happens, and intensity increases. While nearly any song on Burn the Maps works effectively, the album as a whole can't quite maintain its momentum with such structural repetition."
Pop Matters
"The album moves in gasps and groans, with a steady flow to its twelve songs that weaves together like a symphony. Not so much bend-and-don’t-break as fracture-and-heal-yourself-anew, their songs press the pressure points behind their transitions. Rarely content to slip under the pull of fast/slow dynamics, as a simple dichotomy at least, the Frames seem to know just when to let you in on the secret."
Stylus
posted by dgags @ 9:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home