notes - archives - february 2005

2.1.05
I finally made my first new CD purchases of the year last week: Bright Eyes' simultaneously released I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, the Fiery Furnaces' collection of singles and b-sides, EP, and ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead's much anticipated new full-length, Worlds Apart.

I've been listening to all of these for about a week now, so I have a pretty good feel for them at this point, and I'm going to spend the rest of the week doing quick reviews of each record, starting today with Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake.

It's been nearly 3 years since the last full-length from Bright Eyes, the stunning Lifted, or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ears to the Ground, and given Conor Oberst's (who IS Bright Eyes) past prolificness, it's not a surprise that he has managed to complete two full albums in that time. They're not a traditional double-album, meant to be heard together, but rather part of the more recent Sweat/Suit trend where an artists releases two records that are very different stylistically. (Incidentally, even though Oberst only released one record under the Bright Eyes moniker in 2002, he pulled this same trick then by also releasing a harder-edged indie rock record under the name Los Desaparecidos which came out a couple of months before Lifted. It should tell you something that both records made my top 10 that year.) I'm Wide Awake is supposed to be the more traditional Bright Eyes record, although Oberst has explicitly stated that it's supposed to emphasize the country/western tendencies that have generally boil just below the surface in previous Bright Eyes outings.

And I'm not really sure why Oberst decided to stick to the alt-country/folk-country formula so rigidly, because it doesn't really work; each individual song is decent, with a few standouts here and there (I'm fond of "Lua" and "Poison Oak", and there are a few nice duets with Emmylou Harris, most notably "We Are Nowhere and It's Now"), but the overall composition of the album is fairly bland and doesn't have the epic, tattered grandeur of Lifted and his earlier releases. All the quirks have been smoothed out, all the idiosyncracies tamed, and the songs are a lot more radio-friendly, but it was the oddities that made Bright Eyes so interesting in the first place.

The only song that comes close to recapturing the raw emotion and barely-in-control feel of Lifted is the closer, "Road to Joy", which is not coincidentally also the only song that doesn't fit firmly into the folk/country mold. While not quite as powerful and moving as "Let's Not Shit Ourselves", the 10+ minute final track on Lifted, it's got the same vibe, and it gives me some hope that, now that he's gotten this whole Sweat/Suit thing out of his system, Oberst might be able to continue to develop the unique Bright Eyes sound in future releases, rather than trying to force elements of that sound into a stylistic box.

2.2.05
Even though most other critics have found it the lesser of the two discs, I found Bright Eyes' Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, the electronica-themed companion album to the country-themed I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, to be the better of the two records. Yes, I thought Conor Oberst was trying a little too hard to introduce electronic beats and buzzes on some of the tracks, and yes, there are a couple of songs that are ripoffs of the Postal Service (not surprisinig, since Jimmy Tamborello, one of the members of the Postal Service, collaborated with Oberst on this record), but the record is a lot more playful and textured than I'm Wide Awake. I still wish Oberst hadn't set himself on releasing albums boxed in by a particular musical convention, but Digital Ash is definitely the more successful of the two——it feels a lot less forced.

2.3.05
Whenever I write something negative about an album by a band whose previous releases I've really liked, I always feel guilty about it and end up listening to the record a lot more to make sure I wasn't being overly harsh (not that anyone cares about my opinion anyway). So I wrote something pretty negative about ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead's new CD, Worlds Apart, and now I'm not sure if I really want to post it, because some of the songs are really good and the rest of them have been growing on me a little. So I'll make up my mind by tomorrow and post a mini-review then, and a review of the Fiery Furnaces' EP after that (in case you want a quick appraisal, that one is absolutely awesome).

2.4.05
New Beck EP on iTunes. To buy or not to buy...

2.7.05
I don't care what Apple says, the iPod definitely plays favorites when you use the shuffle function. I randomly played all the songs in my library this weekend, over 6100 tracks at this point, and 3 of the first 15 were by the same artist. Not only that, they were from the same album, even though I have four or five records from that artist loaded. And I know that clusters like this will sometimes occur no matter how good the randomization algorithm, but it happens EVERY TIME. Not the same artist, not the same album, but there's always some weird cluster in the first dozen or so tracks, no matter how big the playlist. I just think it's easier for Steve Jobs to parrot the company stance that shuffle works as it should than to reveal that he's found a way to put moods into a piece of hardware.

2.8.05
I did end up buying that Beck EP from iTunes, Hell Yes, but I haven't listened to it much yet. What I have heard sounds good, although his Odelay!/Midnite Vultures stuff always sounds good the first time you hear it, but it tends to age a lot faster than his acoustic Mutations/Sea Change material. I'm also right on the edge of buying an EP from Rogue Wave that includes re-recordings of several songs from their debut album, Out of the Shadow, along with a cover of U2's "Seconds".

2.9.05
If you like Bright Eyes, you should fire up iTunes post haste and download the free exclusive track they released a week or two ago, "When the President Talks to God". If you don't already like Bright Eyes, don't bother, because this track won't change your mind and it's not really the best introduction to their stuff, either.

2.10.05
iPod was in the mood for Beth Orton today. And the good Beth Orton, too, the early Beth Orton. Man, what happened to her? I thought she'd be one of my favorites for years.

2.11.05
The first track I ever bought off of iTunes was Romeo Void's "Never Say Never". I was never a fan of Romeo Void before, but after seeing them perform this song on VH-1's Bands Reunited, I had to have it, and I still can't get enough of it a year later. Best 99 cents I've spent in the last year.

2.18.05
No Grammy for Modest Mouse. But that's probably for the best.

2.21.05
So, Scott, you purchased one of the records from my 2004 top 10, the Walkmen's Bows and Arrows, and you love it. I'm not sure how much else on that list you would like (as you pointed out in your email, my tastes are a little too left-field for you sometimes), but there are some records from the past couple of years that I think you would like a lot but which I'm betting you haven't heard yet. So here are some recommendations:

Spoon——Kill the Moonlight
Great little record, by far their best work. They're supposed to release a new one in the next couple of months that I'm betting will get a lot of attention, so if you hurry and get into them now, you can avoid the bandwagon.
Ted Leo——Hearts of Oak
His latest, Shake the Sheets, isn't bad, either, but Hearts of Oak is really amazing. Punk-pop, but not in the Green Day way, in the Clash/Elvis Costello way. I'm betting you'll really love this, and it won't be too long before you pick up Shake the Sheets and The Tyranny of Distance as well.
The Decemberists——Her Majesty the Decemberists
The Decemberists are currently running neck-and-neck with the Fiery Furnaces for my favorite new band, but whereas I'm not sure what you'd think of the Furnaces, I'm pretty sure you would dig Colin Meloy & Co. All of their stuff is great, but Her Majesty is a good place to start.
Badly Drawn Boy——The Hour of Bewilderbeast
Damon Gough went seriously downhill on his latest, One Plus One Is One, but before that, I was a pretty big fan/defender (there's a real love/hate thing with Gough in music critic circles). Bewilderbeast is his debut and still his best record, but if you like this, I'm betting you'll like Have You Fed the Fish? as well.
Beulah——The Coast Is Never Clear
It is a crime that Beulah couldn't make enough money in the current coporate radio climate to stay together. This album is so good that it causes me physical pain every time I hear it and realize that they aren't making music anymore. Sunny California pop with some dark undertones; I think you'll love it, if you can still manage to find a copy.

Okay. That should keep you busy for a while. If you're feeling adventurous, you might want to also pick up the Fiery Furnaces' EP, which is more mainstream than Blueberry Boat but just as good; as I recall, you were quite a Meatloaf fan in high school, and the Furnaces' stuff sometimes has that same kind of epic, operatic quality to it that you might appreciate. Let me know if you pick up any of these and what you think of them.

2.22.05

Mixtape: 1987

Track 11
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
The Joshua Tree
U2

I know, I know——you've heard this song a million times and you're sick of it. Well, I thought I was, too, even though I would have still readily acknowledged that it was a great song despite being overplayed in its prime. But when was the last time you went back and listened to this song, or anything from The Joshua Tree? I know you've got it sitting there in your CD collection, gathering dust; we all do. It's so familiar that in your mind you don't ever have to listen to it again, you already know it so well. That's how I felt until I started listening to the record again in preparation for making this mixtape, and let me tell you, it's downright shocking how good this album sounds after all these years, and how vital and fresh it feels even though I know it like the back of my hand. I like to think that The Unforgettable Fire is U2's best work, because that was the first U2 record I really fell in love with and it has such startling insights into the American character, but in the less emotional parts of my brain, I know that The Joshua Tree is their real masterwork. So clean off the cobwebs, pop it in the CD player, and try to forget that you've heard every track hundreds of times. It won't take long for you to remember why you listened to it that much in the first place.

2.23.05

Mixtape: 1987

Track 12
"Hymn to Saint Jude"
All Fools Day
The Saints

There are those who still speak in reverent tones about the Saints' early career, when they were viewed as kind of the Beatles of Australian punk, but I've never really listened to the stuff from that portion of catalogue. In fact, this is really the only Saints record that I love; despite occasionally nuggets of goodness buried on their other releases from their later recordings, they would never even come close to recreating the sustained brilliance of All Fools Day.

"Hymn to Saint Jude" isn't the best song on the record, but it has the best line: "I have done my time on that island/And I'm not going back again." Maybe it's just my southern fondness for aphorisms, but I fell in love with the line the first time I heard it, and I love it just as much today. I've been trying to get it into the popular lexicon for years, with little success, but it gives me joy every time I'm able to work it into a conversation.

Anyway. If you can find it, All Fools Day is a wonderful little record, every bit of it. It's got that timeless quality to it——it could have been released anytime in the past 40 years and sounded like it belonged to that time, and yet there's nothing that sounds quite like it. If I had a choice between a 20-year career filled with mediocre albums or a single shot with one brilliant record, I'd choose the latter as long as the record could be as good as this one.

2.24.05
I really hope the Unicorns aren't done making music together.

2.25.05
These lines from Beulah's "Gene Autry" pretty much sum up my feelings about work, about my hobbies, about life in general recently:

I'm waiting
for something to give
I'm waiting
I hope it's not me

After recommending it to Scott last week, I've been listening to their brilliant The Coast Is Never Clear almost non-stop (mixed in with the Unicorns off-kilter meditation on death, Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?), and those lines, which I've always liked, have really stuck with me.

2.28.05
I've been listening to Beck's Hell Yes, the preview EP for his upcoming full-length, and so far I like it a lot better than the tedious Midnite Vultures, which is my least favorite of his. It's got his typical lo-fi electronica sound, but this time it's mixed with a nice dose of latin flavor and all the tracks are short enough (under 3 minutes) that he doesn't beat his ideas into the ground.

Here's the problem with Beck: he needs to stop this alternating weird-electronica/quiet-acoustic album thing he's got going and find some way to make records that have a good mix of the two styles. I like most of Beck's individual songs, but listening to his albums can turn into a ponderous chore because of his insistence on 10 brooding mostly-acoustic songs in a row or 10 hipper-than-thou indie dance tracks. If he could learn to be a little less bi-polar, he might once again become one of my favorite artists.