School of Seven Bells - "Ghostory" (LP Review)

David Byrne has a TED talk about music in context: how music is shaped by the environment in which it is intended to be experienced.  Music intended for the outdoors, dive bars, concert halls, etc. are best experienced in those environments and do not necessarily translate well into other environments.

There is more to his argument and I encourage you to read it (his blog is always engaging on a variety of topics, only a few of which are about music), but I'll use context as the motivation for this review.  Less than a year ago I was driving in my car and listening to 96.1, pretty much the only local option for alternative music on the radio, not counting specific shows on public radio like "Out of the Box".   Now keep in mind that the definition of "alternative" is contextually dependent as well.  96.1 is a pretty good station, but they have to sell commercials like everybody else and the Hampton Roads market isn't that big, so there is a definite limit to just how "alternative" things get. 

So when I heard "Lafaye" (it was either that or "Love Play") from School of Seven Bells on the car radio, it caught my attention.  I fired up my iphone app to find out who it was and made a note of it for future exploration.  "Ghostory" is the third LP from the band, but somehow I had not heard of them.  The band has an interesting story: originally Benjamin Curtis and identical twins Claudia and Alejandra Deheza, "Ghostory" is their first LP without Claudia.  I did some reading and sampled some YouTube videos, and then added the LP to my next Amazon order. 

So here's the point about context: the threshold for "cool" and "alternative" is apparently much lower in my car radio than it is in my home collection.  "Ghostory" is not a bad LP, and there really aren't any bad songs.  But what sounded so engaging while driving around town is really just a by-the-numbers imitation Cocteau Twins, albeit with productions values updated by 20+ years.  I love the Cocteau Twins (and the whole 4AD sound) but if you have some of the more accessible Cocteau Twins LPs like "Heaven or Las Vegas", you're not going to hear anything new on "Ghostory".  It's all there: ethereal vocals, otherworldly soundscapes, the dreamy soundtrack for some yet-unmade film; the notable exception is that Alejandra does not convey the joy that Elizabeth Fraser brings to the Cocteau Twins.

Somehow, reviews by Pitchfork, Drowned in Sound, and Stereogum all miss the CT/4AD similarity. To me it could not be any more obvious than if they had named the LP "Remixed Ghosts of Heaven or Las Vegas".  One of the reviews points out that "Ghostory" is a concept LP about a woman named "Lafaye" and the "ghosts" in her life... screw it, I'm already bored.

Standout songs: "Love Play", "Lafaye", "Scavenger" (live, acoustic version). 

Other songs: most are available in this YouTube playlist.

Skip 'em songs: none.

Final score: 6/10.  With a nod to David Byrne, "Innovative in Michael's Car" != "Innovative in Michael's Home".  Suitable for background listening.

Cocteau Twins Bonus links: "Heaven or Las Vegas", "Frou Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires", "I Wear Your Ring" -- see my point?

DJ Shadow - "The Less You Know, The Better" (LP review)

First, let's get this out of the way: at the risk of damning with faint praise, "The Less You Know, The Better" is much, much better than 2006's dreadful "The Outsider".  Second, owning easily a linear foot or more of his considerable discography, I'm no casual DJ Shadow fan.

OK, now I'll begin with a slight detour.  A while back we watched Kevin Smith's storytelling special "Too Fat For 40".  Paraphrasing from memory, Smith said something to the effect that classic films like "Clerks" (1994) and "Chasing Amy" (1997) were the kind of films the he could make in his early- and mid-20s, based on who he was and where he was but the successful, 40 year old Kevin Smith simply can't make those kinds of films again.

I can't help but compare Kevin Smith to Josh Davis, aka DJ Shadow.  Perhaps DJ Shadow simply can no longer make landmarks like 1996's "Endtroducing....." or 1994's "What Does Your Soul Look Like", both of which Davis also made in his early- and mid-20s.  DJ Shadow has stated many times that he wants to move on from "Endtroducing....." and not be stuck in that rut.  I get & respect that; however, it has just occurred to me that's he stuck in another rut, an anti-"Entroducing....." rut.  "The Less You Know, The Better" is simply "The Private Press", take 3*.

"The Private Press" is where Shadow introduced his current stripped-down, sparse sound.  It wasn't as dense, and incorporated fewer samples and instead focused on more subtle changes (not unlike Plastikman).  It worked on "The Private Press" (which I admit didn't fully make sense to me until it was paired with 2003's remix LP "The Private Repress"), in part because all the songs had a unified vision (which I can only describe using words like "clinical" or "antiseptic").  "The Outsider" continued that sound, but with an unfocused or unclear vision and too many guests, many of whom were -- let me check my desk reference, yes I can use this phrase -- "sucka MCs".

Fortunately there are no sucka MCs on TLYKTB.  But the lack of focus is still a problem; it is almost as if Shadow approached this LP like it was a mix LP and points were awarded for clever genre-bending.  In comparison, 1998's "Psyence Fiction" was a grab bag of guest artists and their different styles, but the unifying theme could be classified as "the soundtrack to the weird sci-fi movie that only James Lavelle can see".

On TLYKTB, rather than prove his command of his record collection by sampling from various genres for the creation of something entirely new, he's "adding to this pile, whether [he] wants to admit it or not".  Some examples:

• "Border Crossing" -- this sounds like the kind of uninspired hip-hop / metal cross over stuff that formed the basis of 1997's surprisingly bland "Spawn: The Album".  This song is very similar to "Artifact" from "The Outsider" (that's bad); sadly this just doesn't slam like "Drums of Death" from "Psyence Fiction"

• "I Gotta Rokk" -- songs that talk about rocking typically don't; this does not compare favorably to, say, "The Number Song" which really does rock

• "Sad and Lonely" -- this (and the remix, "(Not So) Sad and Lonely") would be right at home on Moby's 1999 LP "Play"

• "Warning Call" -- featuring Tom Vek, this could easily be Bauhaus and Simple Minds collaborating on a track for a John Hughes memorial LP  

• "Scale It Back" -- technically this is Little Dragon guesting on a DJ Shadow song, but this could easily be the other way around

Some of the songs are pretty good:

• "Stay The Course" -- a pretty good song featuring Talib Kwei and Posdnuous, but I can't help but compare it to prior Solesides offerings like "Alphabet Aerobics"

• "I've Been Trying" -- this first appeared on the 2010 "Def Surrounds Us" single; as I noted then this sounds a lot like "Broken Levee Blues" from "The Outsider"

• "Back To Front (Circular Logic)", "Tedium", "Redeemed", "Run For Your Life", and "Circular Logic (Front To Back)" -- all good songs, and all would be comfortably at home on "The Private Press, esp. "Fixed Income", "Monosylabik", "You Can't Go Home Again

The worst song on here is "Give Me Back The Nights", based on a spoken word, teenage screed of unknown origin.  I can't tell if it is supposed to be serious or a humorous Corey Flood tribute, but it doesn't work in either context.  In 1994 he used a fevered prison recording in the break for "Lost and Found"; it made no sense either but was used to better effect.

In summary, this is a good but not essential record. It does remove the bad taste of "The Outsider", but when I compare "The Less You Know, The Better" to recent innovative releases from artists like Andy Stott (e.g., "We Stay Together", "Passed Me By") or Balam Acab (e.g., "See Birds"), I can't help but think of a 40 year old Kevin Smith.

Standout songs: "Stay The Course", "Back To Front (Circular Logic)", "Tedium", "Redeemed", "Run For Your Life", "Circular Logic (Front To Back)"

Skip 'em songs:  "Give Me Back The Nights"

Summary: 6/10

Bonus Link: DJ Shadow giving a track-by-track summary for Billboard Magazine

Bonus Reviews: NPR, Spin, Pitchfork, Metacritic

* = An unkind reading of some of the song titles ("Stay The Course", "Tedium", "Going Nowhere", "I've Been Trying") suggests that at some level he knows he's recycling material.

Waxing Poetics - "Blue-Eyed Soul" (forgotten song)

Danette and I went to the Waxing Poetics reunion show on December 30, 2012 @ The Norva.  They put on a really good show in front of a large crowd, and at nearly 2.5 hours long they must have played every song from their three studio LPs.

If you don't know, the Waxing Poetics were a Norfolk-based band active from 1983-1991.  Periodically they do reunion shows (here's an article about their 2003 reunion show), but for the most part they are dormant.  They had a few hits on the radio and were poised to make it big, but for some reason it never happened. The Virginian Pilot has a nice article explaining the history & significance of the band, and their relation to R.E.M. & Carol Taylor.
 
I never saw them live back in the day, so I was excited to finally see them, albeit ~25 years late.  Our first thought at looking at the band -- and the crowd that came to see the band -- was "who are these old people?!" It's a good thing we're not that old...

Their biggest LP was 1988's "Manakin Moon", and that LP featured their biggest single was "Baby Jane".  My personal favorite song was "Blue-Eyed Soul" (also from the same LP), which they did a crunching version of near the end of their first set.  And for a brief period, it was 1988.

Blue-Eyed Soul: live 1990, studio

Zomes - "Earth Grid" (LP Review)

About a year ago I covered the 2008 self-titled debut LP "Zomes", the drone alias for Asa Osbourne.  His second LP as Zomes, 2011's "Earth Grid" is very similar in structure, but with minor differences in the resulting sound.  I have to confess I liked the fuzzier, more distorted sound of the first LP, but really these two LPs are interchangeable.  I still haven't thought of a better description than from last year's review:

If Kevin Shields, Brian Eno, and Phillip Glass listened to a bunch of Ramones and Iggy Pop LPs and then went on a weekend recording bender, it would sound like this.

So I'm not going to try to improve on it.   Fortunately, there are a number of effusive reviews that do a better job at capturing the essence of this LP: Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, and Thrill Jockey.  And to be fair, here's a review from Spectrum Culture from someone who doesn't care for the genre. 

Standout songs: Again, this kind of LP doesn't lend it self to picking out individual songs.  The entire LP is available on GrooveShark, and only a few selections are on YouTube: Pilgrim Traveler, Alec's Anthem

Skip 'em songs: none

Final score: 8/10.  I gave the first LP a 9/10, and since I have a slight preference for the first LP I'm giving this one an 8/10. 

Bonus link: live 2010. 

Matt and Kim - "Daylight" (spotlight)

I was recently telling a friend about Matt and Kim's upcoming show at the Norva. She wasn't familiar with them, so we started talking about their song from the Bacardi commercial, etc. I wish I was cool enough to say that I had heard of them before that, but alas...

"Daylight" is the lead single off their 2009 sophomore LP "Grand" (the single itself was released in 2008).  This song is just pure joy set to music, and the video is equally clever and charming (check out the stop motion work starting at ~2:12).

Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino have a formula, and as a drums & synth DIY duo there is a limit to the variation you get from them, but it's a good formula and their attitude is infectious so why mess with what works.  Their YouTube channel is filled with gems, but "Daylight" is a good place to start.

Daylight: official video, live on the Daily Habit, live 2012, 2009 live debut, 2010 live.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - "Time Out" (LP Review)

I've been meaning to include some jazz classics in the blog, but I've always been intimidated: 1) I'm a jazz dilettante, and 2) is there any genre of music with a greater ratio of "words written" to "minutes recorded"?  And since "What Michael Doesn't Know About Jazz" is a pretty long book, what could I possibly say that hasn't been said before?

I had been thinking about "Kind of Blue", "Sketches of Spain", or "Blue Train", but Dave Brubeck's passing today made the choice of "Time Out" an easy one.  If you want to read about why this LP was such a leap forward and how it became a universally accepted classic, read the Allmusic review or the Wikipedia page.

Instead, I'll tell you my involvement with this LP goes back to an early teenager rifling through my father's LPs and ultimately commandeering it for my collection.  If I recall correctly, he got this LP from one of his brothers; Jack is older, but Douglas was the family audiophile.  Even as a teenager (knowing even less about jazz than I now do) I was captivated by "Blue Rondo a la Turk".  Much later in life I read about the rarity of 9/8 time, but ~30 years ago I just knew it sounded unlike anything else I had heard.  It was even later in life when I realized that the LP's real masterpiece is the smoky, cool "Take Five".  That's not to slight the other songs on this LP, but you haven't really heard jazz until you've heard these two.

This is one of the few LPs that I have on both vinyl (from the early family collection) and CD.  It might have been soon after college when I purchased the CD (I'm not entirely sure, but I probably had to have had a job to afford the luxury of purchasing a CD for something I already had on vinyl), but I still recall my first time hearing the vinyl.  50+ years later, this LP still sounds modern.

Stand out songs: "Blue Rondo a la Turk" (live 1962), "Take Five" (live 1966)

Full LP: YouTube playlist, grooveshark

Final Score: 10/10

The Beach Boys - "Heroes and Villains" (forgotten song)

For most people, The Beach Boys discography mysteriously ends in 1966 with "Good Vibrations".  Largely forgotten is the single that followed, 1967's "Heroes and Villains", conceived as the center piece of the aborted "SMiLE" project that devolved into the less ambitious "Smiley Smile".  The single failed to duplicate the success of "Good Vibrations" and Brian Wilson's subsequent disappointment brought a messy end to the friendly competition with The Beatles.  It's a good song, but it really only makes sense in the larger context of SMiLE's cryptic theme of "journey across America".

Poking around on YouTube the other day, I was surprised to find the number of different videos for the song that most people don't know exists.  It turns out that Capitol Records held a video contest for 2011's (re-)release of SMiLE, and many of the submissions found their way onto YouTube.

There are many arrangements, demos, outtakes, etc. of this song, but basically they fall into 2 general categories: the simpler, ~3 minute version from Smiley Smile, and the more complex, ~5 minute version from SMiLE.  The latter has the "cantina" break, and is often prepended with two opening acapella tracks "Our Prayer" and "Gee". 

Smiley Smile version:

• studio version with surfing clips from Peter Clifton  ca. 1969
• live version ca. 1972/1973 (Mike Love manages to ruin this version)
• live version ca. 1978
• live version 2012 (not great, but you have to enjoy the reunion performances before Mike Love ruins those too)

SMiLE version:

• Brian Wilson solo live arrangement ca. 2004 (exceptionally good)
• live action contest entry 
• winning contest entry (with obvious "Yellow Submarine" influences)
• a surprisingly violent live action, possible contest entry