I don't really know much about Fightstar but they've had the top indie album in the UK for the last couple of weeks according to the BBC's Radio 1 website so I thought that earned them a spot in The Tryout. I don't know much about them but after listening to the first few songs, they seem like the British Nickelback. So what do you think?
No new releases really caught my eye so I decided to go with an old, overlooked favorite. Mad Season was a "superband" formed in 1994 by members of the Seattle grunge movement, most notable Alice in Chains' Layne Staley and Pearl Jam's Mike McCready. "River of Deceit" is one of my favorite songs of all-time and the rest of the album grows on you. I wasn't a huge fan when I first listened to it but the songs really grew on me. The sequencing of the album is a little strange. "X-Ray Mind" is kind of a throwaway song; I would probably swap it with "I Don't Know Anything"
It's a very interesting first album and I really wish we had had a chance to hear a second take by these guys. Alas it never materialized and Layne Staley passed away in 2002.
"Tinted Windows" gets the slot as this week's Tryout simply for being arguably the stangest supergroup ever. Most times people from different bands come together, there seems to be a legit connection. In this case, we have members of Cheap Trick, Hanson, Smashing Pumpkins, and Fountains of Wayne. I guess they are all poppy outfits but I don't think anyone would have called this matchup even five years ago, nevermind way back when the bands were actually popular.
Who knows it if will be any good but it's at least worth a try, no?
Another week, another struggle to find a legit Tryout. I'm more than willing to take suggestion for the upcoming weeks because I'm really not loving the music scene so far this year. The Doves albums was OK but what a floater, the kind of music that just falls into the background and when the album's over you forget that you ever listened to it. For this week, I decided to give Bat for Lashes a try since she seems to be getting great reviews and I kind of liked the little bit of the first songs that I heard.
Overall though, I'm having a hard time figuring out what I'm missing with some of the critically acclaimed artists of this year. Animal Collective did nothing for me and I have no idea how people find Dan Deacon's music appealing. People can't stop talking about his last album which did nothing for me besides give me a headache. I'm also not a fan of the stripped down production movement of late. Instead of feeling more intimate, it just sounds more like noise. But maybe that's the new move that will get my generation hating the music of the youth. Everyone wants to think that they'll be the hip adults that get it but listening to some of this new critically acclaimed music, I can only think that I'm getting old or music reviewers are trying too hard to be edgy.
Doves is one of those groups that I thought was going to break out but then they disappeared. They finally came out with a new album so let's see if they are ready to make the leap or if they are just going to settle into their niche of being an interesting indie band. This first song was not at all what I was expecting so this might be one of those albums that takes a few listens to to really appreciate.
Well, I tried to listen to Pitchfork's suggestions for best recent music and it just further cemented my feeling that I have nothing in common with their reviewers. They already fooled me into buying one Dan Deacon album so I wasn't going to fall for that again. They also suggested Fever Ray but the first few songs were worse than former Best New Music disapointer Burial so I didn't bother listening to the rest of the album.
I decided to stick with the ambient tone and go with Eluvium. Some good background music. They don't ever really come to the soaring highs of Explosions in the Sky or Mono so it's more low key but I'm still a fan.
Keeping with the instrumental music theme of the week, The Tryout is the new album from one of my favorite bands, Mono. Their music is described as "post-Rock" but it's somewhat like Explosions in the Sky (but more meandering). It's guitar-based ambient type music and is great for background music when writing. It's not really "ambient" though because there are some heavy guitar/drum crescendos; you probably wouldn't here this at the local mellow coffee shop.
I was anxiously awaiting the Chris Cornell/Timbaland pairing. I thought that Timbaland had done some interesting things with Justin Timberlake and that perhaps he could take a step towards rock-pop with Chris Cornell.
Boy was I wrong.
The first song of "Scream" is just a terrible track. There's really nothing else to say. I did like that the songs flowed into one another, something I thought more hip hop CD's should do but it didn't make the songs any better. "Time" was a little better than "Scream" but it wasn't good. It sounded like Cornell was completely out of place and that Timbaland essentially just made a Justin Timberlake album with him. Very disappointing. The bigger issue is that everything just sounds cheap. When you're used to listening to a live band, the digital stuff just sounds cheesy. It's like expecting Rage Against the Machine and getting The Polyscis. Not that there's anything wrong with The Polysics but they're no Rage (nor Audioslave for that matter).
By the third song, "Sweet Revenge" I've pretty much given up hope. With Justin and some more work this could be a decent club song but it's not working for me. Maybe my head is in the wrong place but these songs just aren't clicking. They seem like the worst of both worlds. Cornell isn't belting with any emotion and Timbaland's not deliver the head nodding beats you're used to. It's almost like Cornell/Timbaland knew that people weren't expecting much so he didn't work as hard on the songs.
My mind wanders and I start trying to remember what "Scream", the disappointing Michael and Janet Jackson collaboration sounded like. it sounds like this:
I have to be honest, I think it might be better than anything on this album.
Ooh wait, "Ground Zero" starts off as an actual catchy Justin Timberlake track. Maybe it could work. Meh. It's OK but it didn't really move me. Could have been better as a slower song with real instruments sung by D'Angelo.
"Never Far Away" is a bit better but it's still not worth listening to. Again, with more emotion and live instruments it could be more moving but it's just kind of there. This album kind of feels like a rough draft of an actual album. Just an outline. They'll add the real vocal and fill out the sound later but this is just an outline of where the album is heading.
"Take Me Alive" solidifies my belief that this is actually just a bunch of temp tracks for a b-side Justin Timberlake Album. This would have been better as a collabo with Craig David.
"Long Gone". I am. Stopped listening.
What do others think? Was I just in the wrong mood or expecting something different and that jaded my view? Will this album make any noise or just fade away like Chris Cornell's previous solo efforts? When's Soundgarden getting back together?
I was late onto the Neko Case bandwagon. I didn't really notice her until The New Pornographers became popular. I liked their songs so I decided to check out Neko Case as well as her partner Pornographer A.C. Newman. I get that Newman is supposed to be this indie pop dynamo but he doesn't really do it for me. It's kind of sugary hipster shit that people say is poppy but it's seems too focused on being technically proficient to really break out. It's good but most of it just isn't all that catchy.
Neko Case, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care about pop affections which makes her songs all the more interesting. She still doesn't eclipse the only alt-country group I really ever listened to, Cowboy Junkies, but she does deliver the kind of music that I find myself listening to on repeat. The music does a bit of a background music element to it with the single "People Got a Lotta Nerve" being the most obvious single but it's a bit of a fan. I wouldn't rush out to buy her new album but I'm always interested in giving in a quick listen whenever she comes out with something new.
I'm not sure if "Middle Cyclone" will help Neko Case break out and become a huge star but it should help get her name out, win her some more fans, and keep her fanbase coming back for more.
It should be interesting to see how the hard core rappers of America react to K'Naan. His look is anything but tough, he has guests like Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and old school hip hop MC Chubb Rock who says he doesn't need to use the N or the B word. Seems like an easy target. Of course, there is the larger fact that K'Naan came from Somalia and knows what struggling, poverty, and war really means.
In the opening cut off of "Troubadour", K'Naan basically lays down the law. He says that his people in Somalia and Nigera think US MC's come off as pussies and adds, "We don't give a fuck about your groupies." Even in interviews, he's not afraid to call our American gangster rappers little more than jokes.
"Where rocket-propelled grenades are fired around you on a daily ... a guy bragging on TV talking about how gangster he is?" K'Naan says. "For us, it's more a source of entertainment. It's more like a comedy or something we watch. Say, 'Oh wow, that's kind of cute of American gangsters.' But it isn't hardcore, it isn't that bad. Let's get things in perspective, you know?" from NPR
Thankfully, K'Naan is more than just braggadocio. He hopes for peace in songs like "Waving Flag". A song like "ABC's" will hopefully let Americans realize the opportunities they have. That being said, let's not pretend that the underclass of America should be sitting around happy. We still have a lot of work to do to make sure all children have the same chance at reach the American Dream. The song "America" with Mos Def and Chali 2na also bemoans the US mindset.
Hopefully, K'Naan can help usher in a new era of hip hop that isn't just about throwing money around. The Flossin' Era needs to come to an end. Let's get some more intelligent rap or at least a mix of more subjects than booze, babes, and how bad you are.
To check out the album, clock on the link on the top right of this page (SoulHonky Recommends). Here's a video from his first album:
I couldn't really find an album that I really liked this week so I decided to go with one of Pitchfork.com's choices for Best New Music. Personally, I find The Pains of Being Pure at Heart to be techinically proficient but emotionally empty. They kind of remind me of a suburban garage version of The Cure. Learned but emotionless, the songs sound like they should be catchy but they just kind of lay there.
My brother and I always called these kind of songs "floaters". The poster child for these songs was "This Used to be My Playground" by Madonna. That song almost immediately jumps into the background. There's nothing wrong with that song but if it's playing my ear will jump to any noise rather than focus in on the song.
In other news, Phoenix put up a pretty neat looking website for their new single 1901. I was thinking about putting their last album as this week's Tryout but that album is more hit-or-miss than the Pure of Heart's.
Thanks to an old college buddy Matt Trombley for suggesting this band to me. I loved the album after one listen and cooled on it a bit after a second but I still dig it. I'm very interested in the group's second album which is supposedly coming out sometime in March. Three years between albums, it better be good.
jen & abby are friends of a friend and I've seen them live a few times. They have a Lilith Fair feel to them. I'm not really sure exactly who to compare them to, maybe Natalie Merchant/10,000 Maniacs? The Indigo Girls? Now that I write that, I'm realizing that I don't actually know what Natalie Merchant, 10,000 Maniacs, or The Indigo Girls sound like. But if they sound anything like jen & abby, they must be pretty good.
Anyways, jen and abby seem like cool ladies and their shows are always fun, if just to watch Abby shake her hands furiously as she sings. But don't worry, it's the good furious. (I'm not sure if that makes sense although "The Good Furious" would make a good band/album name)
They are playing a free show at Jennifer's Coffee Connection (in Studio City) today and they'll be at Hotel Cafe in March. If you don't live in L.A. none of that means anything to you so you should just listen to their album over on the right, then buy their album and support indie music. Check out their website while you're at it. And all of you slacking boyfriends can buy your ladies some jen and abby merchandise to go along with the record you should be giving your valentines.
How can you not love a band that boasts 30 members? I'm From Barcelona had one of the catchiest debut albums in recent memory and I'm just getting around to checking out their second album "Who Killed Harry Houdini?" While Mama Mia! kept ABBA as Sweden's #1 entertainment import, perhaps this band could carve out a little niche for themselves in the global landscape.
Here's the song from their first full length album that introduced them to most of the world.
While I'm not sure I get the buzz around Animal Collective, I can tell you that I totally get the lovefest around up and coming indie rocker phenomenigmanlymachineoflove known as Trey Green. How do I know? Well, I went to high school with him. All bias aside... No, I like my bias on this one. So take a listen over on the side and then buy four or five albums and share them with your friends. Well, share the word with your friends, not the albums; they have to buy their own.
Check out the website over here.
There's also a link to his latest forey into visual audio sciences in the Watch It section (lower right).
Enjoy.