Review: Dragon Turtle, Almanac

(Originally posted on Blogcritics.org)
"Casualty," the opening track on Dragon Turtle's Almanac, starts out as mellow bedroom folk, not unlike Iron and Wine. Around the four-minute mark, discordant guitar squalls and feedback are introduced, and continue for another ear-splitting four minutes. What began as a gentle idyll turns dark, sinister, and unsettling.

Causality - Dragon Turtle

This contrast continues throughout the entire album, including the album cover imagery of a double helix ablaze. Just as fire can be both comforting and destructive, Almanac can be soothing and disturbing. There is a constant tension between tranquility and violence, and harmony and chaos in their music. It's like watching a mild-mannered person explode into rage; you are forever wary that beneath the calm exterior there is a pool of anger bubbling up. It puts you on edge, so that even during quietest moments of the album, you are waiting for the discord.

The band is made up of Brian Lightbody and Tom Asselin, and rounded out by several contributing musicians. Lightbody lives in Brooklyn and Asselin lives in rural Pennsylvania, explaining the bipolar nature of their music. The chaos and noise of New York City is contrasted with the peace and quiet of the boonies.

The Brooklyn connection makes sense, since like fellow Brooklynites Grizzly Bear, Dragon Turtle uses folk music as a jumping off point for experimentation. However, rather than going in a psychedelic, harmonizing direction like Grizzly Bear, Dragon Turtle embraces ambient music. They describe themselves as "Ambient-Winter-Calypso-Space-Folk," which isn't that far of the mark.

"Island of the Broken Glass" starts off with acoustic guitar and heavily reverbed vocals, then adds congos, electric guitar, and other instruments. Each sound is stacked on top of the other, so that the initial melody gradually devolves into bedlam. "Belt of Venus" is a ghost of song that is slowly filled out during it's three minute lifespan. "Hourglass" takes the same concept, only stretches it out over ten minutes, filling out the initial musical idea with more and more strata of sound.

Island of Broken Glass - Drago...

Hourglass - Dragon Turtle

"Moon Fallout" goes in the opposite direction. It begins with cacophony and whittles down so that the feedback and wailing saw become part of the melody. There are moments that are incredibly delicate: "Organ Fallout" takes a simple piano melody and backs it with washes of noise, samples, and other eerie sounds; "Hometime" is three minutes of lightly plucked acoustic guitar.

The key word that comes to mind while listening to Almanac is texture. While the core of song may be a simple melody played on acoustic guitar with vocals buried deep in the mix, they are layered with instruments, sounds, and ideas.

Asselin is credited with providing "atmospheres" to several tracks, and congas, trumpets, pianos, hammond organs, saws, cellos, a sax, and an erhu are layered into the nine songs on the album. The eleven-minute-long "Hourglass" even credits two people as "dancers."

The result of all of these contributions are songs with depth and complexity. Rather than pop songs, they are compositions, offering the new discoveries and experiences with each listen.

Almanac can be a challenging record. Adding elements of noise into an ambient record might be invigorating for listeners who are into chaos, but discordant tracks like "Casualty" and the apocalyptic "Apophis" can be annoying, jarring contrasts to the calmer tone of the bulk of the album. Also, the sense of dread and disquiet running throughout the album can make it hard to digest.

I've been listening to Almanac over and over, and I hear the album a little differently each time. So much of pop music has been clinically perfected, it's refreshing to hear an album that avoids that sterile spotlessness and doesn't give away all of its secrets at once.

Review: Nouvelle Vague - 3

Originally posted on Blogcritics.org

"Nouvelle vague" translates to "new wave" in English and "bossa nova" in Portuguese. It's also the name given to the group of young filmmakers who popped up in France in the early 60s, including Truffaut and Godard. The band Nouvelle Vague plays with all of these meanings, doing bossa nova covers of New Wave songs in the spirit of 1960s France.

The group is made up of producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, who work with a revolving cast of young female singers. The idea is that the singers aren't familiar with the original songs, and so give a completely original and naive interpretation. 3 is their third album, following their 2004 self-titled debut, and 2006's Bande A Parte. Both of those albums kept pretty strictly to the formula of bossa nova New Wave, offering mellow versions of songs by artists like the Clash, Joy Division, and the Undertones. They've expanded their palette with their latest release.

Road To Nowhere - Nouvelle Vag...

It starts off with a twangy, country take on Depeche Mode's ode to bondage, "Master and Servant." They also give a light country shine to the Talking Heads' "Road To Nowhere," and reimagine Plastic Bertrand's "Ca Plane Pour Moi" as a ska song. "Blister In the Sun" appears as a groovy jazzy jam, and Brazilian singer Eloisa's lack of command of English adds to the charm.

The second half of the album is more in the template of earlier Nouvelle Vague albums: bossa nova riffs on "Heaven," a torch song take on "Say Hello Wave Goodbye," the quiet acoustic guitar of "Our Lips Are Sealed." I enjoyed songs that kept to the Nouvelle Vague formula more than their experiments in country and ska, although I appreciate that they are coloring outside their self-imposed boundaries.

While knowing the originals is part of the thrill, it's not essential to appreciating Nouvelle Vague. I wasn't familiar with Soft Cell's "Say Hello Wave Goodbye," but I loved Sophie Della's sultry interpretation. Likewise, I'm not a fan of Simple Minds' "The American," but I did enjoy the acoustic version with Silja. It strips out the cheesy 80s production and melodramatic bombast of the original, and replaces it with something prettier and more palatable. The Psychedelic Furs "Heaven" also benefits from being stripped down, and I prefer Nouvelle Vague's adaptation to the Furs'.

I was only shocked once, by "God Save the Queen." Here's a song that caused a sensation in the U.K. 30 years ago, and got Johnny Rotten beat up in the process, and now it's being sung by a whispy female singer over a simple acoustic guitar accompaniment. It's both beautiful and a little creepy to hear her intone "no future for me." The highlight of the disc is Nadeah Miranda's run through of the Police's "So Lonely." It captures the loneliness and isolation of the Police's song, while managing to improve upon it.

God Save The Queen - Nouvelle ...

The original male singers show up on several tracks. Martin Gore contributes backing vocals to "Master and Servant," Terry Hall sings on "Our Lips Are Sealed," Ian McCulloch appears on "All My Colours," and Barry Adamson lends a Hetfield-esque growl to "Parade." I liked Terry Hall's contribution, but the rest did more to detract than add to the songs. It sort of defeats the purpose of Nouvelle Vague to have the original singers participate.

So Lonely - Nouvelle Vague

From a critical perspective, Nouvelle Vague are a gimmick, and one that's threatening to run its course. From a listener's perspective, it's a brilliant gimmick, and a lot of fun. From my perspective, it combines three things I absolutely love: new wave music, acoustic covers, and French female singers. I'm not sure how much more mileage the band can get out of their schtick, but I'm enjoying 3 too much to care.


(speaking of Nouvelle Vague, here's the traffic scene from Godard's new wave freakout, "Weekend," about a yuppie couple on a killing spree.)

Girls Album Review

Originally posted on Blogcritics.org
Christopher Owens, lead singer of San Francisco band Girls, has one of the best back stories of any musician in a while: he was born into the Children of God cult, where his mom prostituted herself and his baby brother died because of the cult's lack of belief in medicine. Owens fled at 16, was a homeless punk for a while, got taken in by a rich dude, moved to San Francisco, and formed Girls with JR White. Take that, Kings of Leon!

I don't know what kind of music you'd expect someone with such a fucked-up upbringing to make, but it's not the music on the Girls' debut, Album. Girls mix 90's Britpop, 60's beach rock, and indie quirkiness. It's all complimented by Owens sneer, for which he should probably pay Elvis Costello royalties, or at least buy him some drinks.

"Lust For Life," their debut single, is one of the best songs of the year. The joyous, jangly guitar hides some pretty dark sentiment, as Owens sings:

"I wish I had a boyfriend
I wish I had a loving man in my life
I wish I had a father
Maybe then I would have turned out right
Now I'm just crazy
Fucked in the head."


The rest of the disc doesn't always live up to the potential of "Lust For Life." There's an odds-and-sods feeling to Album as if the group hadn't quite found their sound and threw all of their early experiments onto the album. The acoustic "Goddamn" sounds like Owens fucking around with his acoustic guitar in his bedroom. It's immediately followed by the fuzzy surf guitar of "Big Bad Mean Motherfucker," which sounds like the Girls covering Jesus and Mary Chain covering the Beach Boys. "Morning Light" is 90s shoegaze, and "Darling" is alt-country. This stylistic jumping is disorienting, and detracts from the overall effect of the album.

The flipside of that is that the band is clearly not a one-trick pony. For all of his snottiness, Owens can be heartbreakingly sincere, as on "Hellhole Rat Race." "I don't want to cry my whole life through," he sings. "I wanna have a laugh or two/So come on and laugh with me." It's moments like these that Girls prove that they are worth the hype they are getting.



Is Album as good as everyone says it is? Of course not. No record could be. What it does do is perfectly capture the boredom, confusion, and exuberance of being young. It's enough to make you want to drink cheap beer and pick up on art students.

For twenty somethings, Girls will be a cathartic experience, and for those of us on the wrong side of thirty, Girls are a safe way to reminisce about your glory days, handily referencing the bands you listened to when you were young and cool. Album may be uneven and overlong, but Girls deserve credit for capturing the feeling of NOW.

(Version of video for "Lust For Life" with nekkid dudes.)

D. Focis-The Be Strong LP Review

My review of D.Focis's The Be Strong LP is up at RapReviews.com.

He had worked on the Bobby Creekwater EP, which I liked, so he sent me a link to his solo album.It can be downloaded at his website. I was into it. Grown up hip hop with a positive message. He's dropping a greatest hits on Black Friday, so keep an eye out for that.

Here's a video for the song "Miracle" featuring Bobby Creekwater.

D.Focis feat Bobby Creekwater - Miracle from Entreprenegromovies on Vimeo.

Review: Port O'Brien, Threadbare

The cover for Threadbare, the third album by Oakland-based Port O'Brien, is a shot of a flowery hillside disappearing into the fog. It perfectly captures the beauty, sadness, and almost overwhelming sense of loss that permeates the album.

Threadbare was recorded after the recent death of singer/songwriter Cambria Goodwin's younger brother, and the album is filled with her mourning. It begins and ends with "Without Hope," whose line "mourning's never linear" became a mantra for Goodwin as she tried to deal with her grief.

Songs like the delicate "(((Darkness Visible)))" and the tragically gorgeous "Next Season" are almost difficult to listen to because they are so full of despair. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one will recognize the feelings that these songs, and the album as a whole, produce. It's like being punched in the gut, like being unable to breathe, a pain so acute and all-consuming that it's impossible to think of anything else.

At the same time, there is also a certain joy in the album; Goodwin had to have loved her brother very much to feel his loss to deeply. Like a good wake, Threadbare has its moments of celebration.

More than anything, though, Threadbare is about picking up the pieces and trying to start over. The majority of songs are slow and somber. Even uptempo songs like "Leap Year" and "Sour Milk/Salt Water" are weighed down with heavy sadness.

"This too shall pass," they sing on "Oslo Campire," and "Tree Bones" has the line "Mama, we'll no longer be/On this land by the sea/Push away, I beg and plead/We'll no longer come with thee." The baroque folk and off-kilter sea shanties of last year's excellent All We Could Do Was Sing are muted or absent. Goodwin takes a larger songwriting and singing role than on previous efforts, and singer Van Pierszalowski's voice is approaching a Neil Young croak.

Threadbare is a beautiful album, and one of the best musical documentations of loss that I've ever heard. It's further proof that Port O'Brien are an important band, and is one of my favorite albums of the year. My only wish for the band is that their next album allows them to concentrate on more uplifting and positive emotions; they've clearly had their share of heartbreak.

Originally posted on Blogcritics.org

Threadbare - Port O'Brien

XO Review

I reviewed the mixtape Monumental by DC rapper XO on RapReviews this week.

Neon Indian Review

Originally posted on Blogcritics

There's a great scene from Breakfast At Tiffany's where George Peppard's character Paul comes to a party at Holly Golighlty's apartment, and agent O.J. Berman asks him if he thinks Holly is a phony. Paul says he doesn't think so. "She is," Berman says, "But on the other hand you're right, because she's a real phony. She honestly believes all this phony junk."

Adam Palomo's Neon Indian project is, in some respects, phony. It's all predicated on retro synth sounds, and echoes 80s video games and has-been New Wave artists whose music has dated worse than their haircuts. Neon Indian is also part of a genre that has been given the tremendously irritating name chillwave. I want to kick my own ass every time I type that. Palomo didn't come up with the name, of course, and you can't fault him for an adjective some over-Adderalled blogger came up with, but still. Chillwave. Yuck.

Neon Indian is real phony, because Palomo honestly believes in the phony junk he's doing. Behind his phony veneer he actually means what he's doing. Any kid with a computer and neon Ray Bans can channel some Tron sound effects and cop an attitude of bemused irony. That's not Palomo's deal. Yeah, he's using a cheesy sound palette just this side of chiptunes, but he's using it to write actual songs with actual emotions.

Exhibit A: "Deadbeat Summer," whose goofy synths are redeemed by the melancholy singing of a lovesick boy stuck inside on a hot summer day doing bong rips and pining after a girl he can't have. In fact, the whole album is imbued with the ennui of a recreational drug user who gets high because he can't get laid. There is a hazy, druggy, bored quality to Psychic Chasms, which is fitting: The first song Palomo wrote for the album, "I Should Have Taken Acid With You," was about a canceled appointment to drop acid with Neon Indian's visual artist, Alicia Scardetta. That song would be immensely lame were it not so damn good. What could have been a cheeky, winking nod to LSD becomes a bittersweet lament about missed opportunities. This is largely due to the longing in Palomo's voice, which comes across in the same pretty but muted way as Kevin Shields' vocals in My Bloody Valentine.

Palomo's influences are pretty obvious. The title track could be a New Order cover, "Terminally Chill" could be a B-side off of Daft Punk's Discovery and "Ephemeral Artery" could be any number of New Wave bands that hit it big on MTV in the 80s. All that means is that he's got good taste. I'll admit that part of the fun of this record is noticing all of those antique sounds that you haven't heard since your Speak & Spell ran out of batteries in 1986, or you upgraded from the NES to the Super Nintendo in 1991. Of course, Palomo was born in 1988, so this album isn't so much a nostalgia trip for him as it is an exploration of an era that he missed out on. In that sense, it's not much different than Jack White playing analog rock n' roll or the Animal Collective riffing on the Beach Boys. The artists are using the sounds of a bygone era as a jumping off point for their musical explorations.

While the dated synths may be a selling point of Neon Indian, the real reason to buy Psychic Chasms, however, are songs like "6669 (I Don't Know If You Know)," with its gorgeous melody and haunting refrain of "But you wouldn't understand." It's proof that Adam Palomo is more than just a smart-assed stoner with vintage gear. The vintage gear is decoration, complimenting strong songwriting that makes Psychic Chasms, much more than a THC-laced trip down memory lane. Neon Indian may be phony, but they are real phony.

Applejaxx Review

I reviewed Applejaxx's debut, Back 2 the Future, on RapReviews this week.
Sort of like Black Eyed Peas meet Neputunes meet Lil Wayne only Christian. The beats were futuristic, and he had some nice off kilter lyrical moments. Worth checking out.

Applejaxx Music Video from Fadacy on Vimeo.

Rita J., Dat's Gospel, and Wax Tailor Reviews

I have three new reviews up at Blogcritics. First off is Rita J.'s Artist Workshop.

She has a YouTube clip of her performing at something called the Estrojam.



Then I reviewed Dat's Gospel Mixx 2, a Christian street rap album. It was not half-bad, and I found myself liking it a lot more than I woulda though, given that I'm not a fan of Christian rap or street rap. They have a blog. Not really my thing, but pretty impressive nonetheless.

Finally, I reviewed Wax Tailor's In the Mood For Life, which I really like. Portishead meets DJ Shadow, only French.

Here's my favorite song from the album, "No Pity."

Rakes Review/Rakes Break Up

British new wave punk band the Rakes have decided to call it a day on the eve of an American tour for their new album Klang. Bummer.

At least they went out with a good album. My review of it is up at Blogcritics.com.

Here's the video for "1989," the first single off of the album.



Here's the video for "Strasbourg," off their first album, which I reviewed for Clamor magazine.

Brother Ali-Us Review

My review of Brother Ali's new album Us is the featured review at RapReviews this week. I loved it. Here's the video for "Us."



Here's the review, originally posted on RapReviews 10/20/09. I'm proud of it,so I'm reposting it
:
I first heard Brother Ali last year on "The Truth" off of Jake One's "White Van Music." I had heard of him, but only knew that he was a white albino Muslim. Then I heard him rap and I was sold. "Hungry pacing in a bus station with my nuts hangin/But I never sold base, motherfuck Reagan/ Shit just wasn't in my upbringin!" he rapped, sounding like a combination preacher and boxer, full of righteous fury and ready to give you a verbal beatdown. From that verse, I knew I had to get educated about Brother Ali.

"Us" is his fourth full-length, coming two years after "The Undisputed Truth," and seven months after the EP "The Truth Is Here." The album starts off with the intro "Brothers and Sisters" featuring Chuck D. and Stokley Williams, who proclaim that Brother Ali is "a soldier in the war for love." That may sound cheesy, but he means it, and he makes it work. In the liner notes he explains that the working title of the album was "Street Preacher," because a fan told him that he didn't just perform music to entertain, but also to spread the Gospel of "love yourself and stay connected to the world."

And preach he does. Brother Ali uses the mic as a pulpit to preach against the ills of the world, from slavery ("The Travelers") to inner pain ("Babygirl"). One of the most touching songs is "Tight Rope," about various people trying to walk the line between two worlds. The first verse is about a Somalian Muslim in Minnesota trying to fit in to Western culture while still staying true to her faith and culture. The second verse is about a child from a broken home, and the third verse is about a gay kid in a fundamentalist household. While other rappers are busy calling each other faggot and saying "no homo," Brother Ali raps:

"Daddy says people go to hell for being what he is
And he certainly believes him
Cause there ain't no flame that can blaze enough
To trump being hated for the way you love
And cry yourself to sleep and hate waking up
It's a cold ass world, y'all
Shame on us"

Here's a deeply religious man performing in a very homophobic genre taking a strong stance against homophobia. That is a true test of bravery and conviction. He also makes it about "us" not "them," making it clear that all of us are complicit in allowing injustice to continue. "Us" is not just the title of the album, it's the recurring theme. This album is about the good and the bad of the human experience, and Ali continually makes the point that we are all part of the same family. "The world's getting too small to stand in one place," he raps on album closer "Us." "It's like we're roommates sharing the same space." This message of unity and togetherness is welcome in a scene and country and world that seems so divided at times.

Ali's message raps are effective for one basic reason: he is a rapper first, and preacher second. He started out trying to be the baddest MC there is before deciding to use his mic skills to address serious issues. A lot of message-based rappers are focused on the message first and the art form second, which makes for mediocre music. Ali would be an incredible rapper if he was rapping about bullshit; the fact that he addresses such righteous themes only makes his music that much more powerful.

It's not all message raps on "Us," though. Ali also lets loose and has fun. "Fresh Air," the first single, celebrates his recent marriage, making domesticity sound like more fun than a limo full of strippers. "I'm the luckiest sumbitch that ever lived," he jubilantly raps. "I spend my life doing shit I love." Freeway and Joell Ortiz join him on "Best@it" to take out sucker MCs with so much fury you almost feel bad for the poor rappers they set their targets on. These tracks let the listener know that Ali has a lighter side, which makes him seem that much more human, and in turn makes his messages that much more effective. He's not holier than thou; he's one of us, full of foibles and flaws, and willing to make fun of himself and other rappers.

There's another "us" on this album, and that's Brother Ali and producer Ant, better known as half of Atmosphere. Every track on the album is a collaboration between the two. Ant is refining the more musical sound of Atmosphere's "When Life Gives You Lemons..." There are seven musicians listed in the credits, and it sounds like a lot of the music here is from live instruments rather than samples. That gives the album an incredible energy. Songs like "The Preacher" and "Fresh Air" practically jump out of your stereo, and their funky sound reminded me of Lyrics Born. The tracks that aren't constructed entirely out of live instruments still use a guitar lick or piano as a basis for the beats, which adds a nice feel to the entire disc. The downside of this is that, as with "Lemons," there are a few too many downtempo tracks, which cause the second half of the album to drag a bit. Still, I was a big fan of "Lemons," and "Us" is a continuation of the mature sound and mature themes of Atmosphere's album.

"Us" is uplifting, thought-provoking, funny, heartbreaking, and bootyshaking. It's one of the few hip hop albums you'll own that gives shout outs to mother-in-laws and home ownership. Ali may be preaching, but he's not dogmatic or judgmental. "Us" is further proof of Ali's amazing skills on the mic, and proof that hip hop can be mature without being boring.

Us - Brother Ali

Imaad Wasif Review

My review of Imaad Wasif's new album, The Voidist, is up now at Blogcritics. He has toured with the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, and is on the soundtrack for Where the Wild Things Are.

Here's the video for "the Redeemer," which is, as I say in my review, freaky seventies L.A. hippy weirdness. Also, nekkid ladies, so NSFW.

Si Para Usted Review

My review of Si, Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba Vol. 2 is up at Blogcritics.com now.
It's a collection of funky Cuban music from the 70s. Worth getting. Here's my favorite song:

El Sueño de Andria - Various A...

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robison Review

I reviewed Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinsons' new album Summer Of Fear at Blogcritics this week. And compared it to Blood on the Tracks.

Here's him opening for TV on the Radio, being talked over while doing "Summer of Fear."

The Heavy Review

I reviewed the Heavy's House That Dirt Built on Blogcritics. I dug their more soulful stuff, but wasn't a fan of the two harder rock songs they had. Maybe I missed the point.

Here's "Sixteen."

Sixteen - The Heavy

And a video for "How You Like Me Now."

The Heavy - How You Like Me Now? from Ninja Tune on Vimeo.

Skyzoo Review

I reviewed Skyzoo's album Salvation for RapReviews. It's one of the better rap albums I've heard in a while. Good beats, solid lyrics, and he handles all 16 tracks himself.

One of my favorite tracks was "Maintain."

Maintain - Skyzoo

Here's a video for "Beautiful Decay."

What I'm Listening To

So I started writing for Blogcritics in September, thinking it would be a way to write about something besides music. I've done a book review and two DVD set reviews, but mostly I've just been writing about non-hip hop music. I still do a review a week or so for RapReviews, but with Blogcritics, a new world has opened up. This is because I contact PR folks directly, rather than being sent stuff to review by someone from the site. This means that they'll ask me to review stuff for them, and right now I'm like a kid in a candy store. You want to send me a zip file of the new Heavy album? Ok. Hey, I kinda like that Imaad Wasif song in your PR blast. Can I review the album? And two minutes later it shows up in my inbox. Awesome, right? Being on the mailing list for good American indie labels and Astralworks? The problem is, now I have six albums that I should review....by next week, plus another two or three that I should do sooner than later. I did four reviews this weekend, which is four times as many as I normally do. Normally I like to sit with an album, and then take long time to ruminate over what the album means to me. Now I'm cranking 'em out, which is good, in that it forces me to get shit done, but potentially bad, in that it could lead to sloppy mistakes. Whatevs.

I can't help thinking of the days of my youth when I was lucky to hear one new album a week, much less get five good albums in the span of a few days. So here's what I'm listening to:

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Summer of Fear
Port 0'Brien - Threadbare
Girls - self titled (I think)
Imaad Wasif - The Voidist
Si Para Usted comp (funk music from Cuba from the 70s)
The Heavy - (new album - my itunes thinks it's Heavy D and the Boyz)
Rita J

And I may be forgetting some...

I'm excited about the Port O'Brien. I really loved their last album, and I am going to make every effort to see them at Bottom of the Hill on Thursday, Nov. 5. Here's the video for their new song.


And a video for "In Vino Veritas," one of my favorite songs from their last album.

Jamie T Kings and Queens Review

Kings and Queens is the second album from Wimbledon born musician Jamie T. His debut, Panic Prevention, was nominated for a Mercury prize, which is like a British version of a Grammy, only based on artistic merit rather than commercial potential.

The 23-year-old, born Jamie Alexander Treays, plays a combination of punk, folk, and hip-hop. Vocally he sounds like Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys channeling Joe Strummer, spitting out heavily accented lines with a gravelly slur. Lyrically, he shares the documentary lyrics of Turner, the Streets, or Lily Allen, combined with a political bent that again brings to mind Strummer.

The album explores several genres, some more successful than others. His attempt at hip-hop works on the poppy "Touch the Sky," in which he talk-sings rather than raps over a lazy beat. "Sticks and Stones" is another winning stab at folky hip hop, but when he goes for a harder rap edge on "Castro Dies," he falls flat.

He's better on folkier material like "Spider's Web" where he rants about terrorist paranoia over a gentle acoustic guitar riff. The single "Emily's Guitar" is essentially a folk song, with Jamie singing over an acoustic guitar. The delicate music is contrasted with Jamie's snarling voice, giving the song an edge not unlike a young, cockney Bob Dylan.

Jamie's strongest point are his lyrics. His songs paint pictures of the daily life of 20-somethings in London, capturing little details with eye of a poet.

"I'm still travelling trains," he sings on "British Intelligence," "Delayed in the rain on a Monday morning/Watched by surveilance teams/Business men live out their dreams and sleep with secretaries/In stockrooms overflowed with coffee and machines."

He also seems to be veering into stream-of-consciousness Dylan territory at points. On "Sticks and Stones" he sings "Well the jokers looking over as he pulling an ace/The militia take cover under my staircase/Witches in the kitchen bitching and itching/While two old school friends haunt the hall ways." It's not quite "Tom Thumb's Blues," but it's in the same vein.

While I liked Jamie's voice, his lyrics, and the way he mashes up different genres, his experiments are not always successful. The songwriting is sometimes lacking, especially on the first third of the album. There are a handful of songs here that are great, but a lot of the tracks don't quite hit the mark.

As a result, Kings and Queens has the feel of an artist exploring his sound but not quite reaching his potential. Kings and Queens is worth listening to for "Touch the Sky," "British Intelligence," "Emily's Guitar" and "Spider's Web," but the best is yet to come from Jamie T.

Originally posted on Blogcritics.org

French Miami Review

This is the self-titled debut album by San Francisco trio French Miami. The band combines synthesizers and angular guitar riffs, resulting in sound that is early-80s post punk meets 90s math rock. Opening track "God Damn Best" is the most complete realization of their sound. Jagged guitar lines mix with Roland Curtis's synthesized bass notes, Chris Crawford's propulsive drumming, and Jason Heislelmann's impassioned yet slightly monotone singing. As with most of their songs, "God Damn Best" focuses on patterns and repetition, cycling the same lyrics and notes over and over again. It's hypnotizing and energizing, the kind of song that makes you want to flail around. It's no wonder that their live shows are said to be amazing.

Crawford is the linchpin of the band. His incessant drumming keeps the songs moving, and there is an abandon to his beat that counters the sterile precision of the music and vocals. His drums have a heavy, analog sound, and you can feel every cymbal crash and hear the rattle of the kit with each beat of the kick drum. This lends an organic feel to music that might otherwise feel too robotic. Even when they use a drum machine, like on "S.F.O.," the drums still add an additional kick.

They don't quite hit the high-water mark set by "God Damn Best" on the rest of the album, but they do come close. "Multi-Caliber Rifles" is a four-minute exercise that starts out with a simple guitar riff and keeps adding layers on top of it. "Science Fiction" pits a manic guitar line against a synth wash as Heislemann sings "And then we'll make it out cuz I'm not jealous anymore." His vocals sound a little like Ian Curtis, and the overall sound of the records recalls the desolate feel of Martin Hannett's production on Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures.

The one drawback to French Miami's sound is that all of the repetition gets, well, repetitive. They have a tendency to work the same riff and lyric over and over again, and it doesn't always work. The more straightforward songwriting on "S.F.O." is a good sign that French Miami are expanding their musical range. Even with some missteps, this album remains one of the more invigorating and exciting debuts I've heard in a while. It's great to hear a band referencing 80s post-punk without the jokey irony or hipsterism, and I'm looking forward to seeing what French Miami does next.

Originally posted on Blogcritics.org

Basement Jaxx Review

My review of the Basement Jaxx new album is up at Blogcritics, here:
http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-basement-jaxx-scars/

I thought it was a return to form from the boys, or maybe just a reminder for me of how good they are. Like Daft Punk, they combine dance and pop with enough brains to make the music snobs happy too.

Here's a video for "Scars"


My favorite song on the album is "My Turn" featuring Lightspeed Champion. It's a sad indie song that gets a house boost:

My Turn (feat. Lightspeed Cham...

Lightspeed Champion is trying to watch all of the worst movies on IMDB here.

I also really liked "Feelings Gone" featuring Sam Sparro, that seems like a pretty good pride anthem.

Feelings Gone (feat. Sam Sparr...

Overall, a Scars is a good album. Go buy it.

Flying Lotus Review

My review of Flying Lotus's Los Angeles is up at RapReviews here. Glitchy futuristic electronica. I was under the impression it was hip hop, but really it has more to do with Tosca than Dilla. Only a lot more fucked up.

You can find an R-rated video for one of his songs here,
and a video for my favorite track, "GNG BNG" featuring footage from RAD below.

Flying Lotus - GNG BNG from Ryan Paterson on Vimeo.

Bon Iver at the Fox Theater, 9/24/09

I just got back from seeing Bon Iver at the Fox theater in beautiful downtown Oakland. Megafaun opened for them. I've just downloaded their CD, which sounds pretty good. Watching them do their folky hippy beardy thing, I suddenly wondered if all these indie bands are really just as hippy and boring as the Grateful Dead. Between Animal Collective, Megafaun, and Fleet Foxes, you could keep the folks at Bonaroo tripping balls and hacky sacking for hours. Just a thought.

Bon Iver had four members and two drum sets. That's a lot of people to rock so lightly. it's an odd band, in that Justin Vernon essentially wrote the songs himself while he was holed up in some cabin, so they were never meant to be played in front of a packed house. The songs are delicate, quite, and there was a whole lotta shushing to keep the chatty tipplers from yapping during the set. But you know what? It may not have rocked, but it worked. He opened with "Flume," and it was gorgeous. "Blood Bank" was fairly rockin', and for "Wolves" he had the crowd chant along and then scream. They did two songs for their encore, finishing up with a folky sing along with Megafaun. it may have been mellow as hell, but it was still a good show.

Some random observations:

Bon Iver has a small but vocal Bro fan base.

9/10s of the people there seemed to be couples. And white. and between the ages of 26 and 35. They should have been marketing cars and appliances to us.

Number of African Americans in the audience that didn't work at the Fox: 0.

The guy behind me was on a date. His date loves Bon Iver. He whistled along. Thanks, dude!

The people that own the Curiosity Shop were standing next to us. They seem super hip.

Justin Vernon needs a damn haircut.

For a dude that wrote a sad album in the woods or whatever, he is a remarkably personable and nice guy. I kinda wanted to go get a beer with him after the show. If he were a mopey fuck, his music wouldn't be half as interesting to me.

It took me less time to get from Oakland to my apartment than it does to get across SF on some days.

John Forte and Nosaj Thing Review

I reviewed John Forte's new seven-song EP StyleFREE on RapReviews this week. It's soulful hip hop or (hip hopful soul) that deals with love, loss, and getting out of prison after an 8 year stint from drug trafficking. And you thought your life sucked. I wasn't into the alt-rock feel of some of the tracks, and I found the somber mood a downer, but dude's got a great voice, and the songs sound really, really good.
Here's my favorite track, "Nervous."

Nervous - John Forte

I also reviewed Nosaj Thing's Drift.
If you are a fan of electronica or instrumental hip hop, you gotta check this out. It's Danny Elfman doing a hip hop video game soundtrack. Glitchy as hell but kind of beautiful.

Here's the whole album. You should buy it.

Drift - NOSAJ THING

Mariachi El Bronx Review

My review of Mariachi El Bronx is up at Blogcritics.org.

I'm not totally sure if it's "Mariachi El Bronx" by the Bronx, or if the project is called Mariachi El Bronx, or what. Whatever. It's the mariachi version of the punk band the Bronx. I was really into this album. I like Mexican music but never really listened to it, so maybe I appreciated this more accessible version. Or maybe it's really good. Or maybe I'm a jackass. Take your pick. Basically, it's like a Mexican Pogues. How could you not love that?

Here's a video of them playing "Cell Mates" live.

Mingus

I've been listening to Charles Mingus lately. I got a bunch of free credits at Emusic, so downloaded Ah Um, and was inspired reading Lester Bangs' biography to give Black Saint and the Sinner Lady another spin. This at the same time I've been listening to more abstract electronica, and the two genres seem kind of related. I'm also not smart enough to really get either, but since when do you need a degree to appreciate music? An ex once read me an essay some academic had done about why Satie's music was so joyous. It seemed to defeat the purpose to me to write a dry academic article on why music was so good. Bah. Says the guy whose hobby is writing about music.

I swear I'll write a longer piece about how I feel about Mingus later, but for now I just wanted to post "Black Saint." I don't quite get it, but I'm enjoying trying to figure it out. What do you think?

The Black Saint And The Sinner...

Teleseen Review

I reviewed Teleseen's Fear of the Forest this week on RapReviews.com. It's sort of dubstep, or minimalist techno dub, or I don't know what. My complaint in the review was that it lacked bottom and was hard to grab on to. That doesn't mean I didn't like it. It was a nice change of pace, and one of those records that rewards repeated listenings. It is also an example of how expensive getting free albums is, because I then went out and bought Flying Lotus's last album, and the new Nosaj Thing, inspired by Teleseen. So that free CD has now cost me ten bucks and twelve Emusic credits. It's worth it, though.

Here's "Black Monday"

Black Monday (feat. Jah Sight)...

Adam Arcuragi Review

I reviewed Adam Arcuragi's new album, I Am Become Joy, for Blogcritics this week.

He's a singer songwriter from Pennsylvania who sounds a little like a countrified Andrew Bird. I liked it. Here's a video of him playing "Bottom of the River" live in NY:


He also has some songs you can check out on Daytrotter.com That's a site worth investigating - they do a lot of sessions with indie musicians.

Jae P Review - Unsigned and Hungry

I reviewed Unsigned and Hungry by Jae P/Kobi Onyame for Rapreviews last week.

I was into it. He sounds like Dizzee Rascal, only smoother and less agro. You can check out his blog at greengreengrasses.wordpress.com. The album was done under the moniker Jae P, but he changed his stage name to Kobi Onyame because there were already other rappers named Jae P. There you go.

Book Review - I Have Fun Everywhere I Go

My review of gonzo journalist Mike Edison's memoir,Book Review: I Have Fun Everywhere I Go is up at Blogcritics. He's a current writer for Spin who got his start writing about wrestling, porn, and pot. He was also in the Pleasure Fuckers, a Spanish garage punk band from the 90s. It's a highly entertaining read.

I know of the Pleasure Fuckers only from this incredibly gross album cover.
Blech.

Looptroop Rockers - Good Things

I reviewed Looptroop Rockers Good Things this week on RapReviews . They are a Swedish rap group, but you'd never know from their lyrics. I was pretty into it. It reminded me of all the lefty kids I went to school with in Pavia. Here's the video for "The Building."

Scientist - Best Dub Album In the World

I reviewed Scientist's Best Dub Album In the World on RapReviews.com this week.

It's some trippy shit. I love it. You can't find a legal copy of it, but if you do a search for it, I'm sure you can find a kind soul willing to share their copy. Here's "Scientific."

Sitars and Soundscapes

My cousin Justin just started a new blog about ambient and world fusion music called Sitars and Soundscapes at etherealworlds.blogspot.com. It makes sense, since even as a kid he was into movie soundtracks. I'm not very familiar with either ambient or world fusion, so it's a great starting point for me.

"This next song is the first song on our new album"

The latest Spin has an article on Cheap Trick titled "This Next Page Is the Last Page In Our New Magazine." It references the line "this next song is the first song on our new album" from Cheap Trick's Live In Budokan, which the Beastie Boys sampled on Check Your Head. That line was iconic when I was in college. When you said it, everyone knew what it came from. Most of my friends had spent time with Check Your Head, so when we quoted it, everyone knew what you were talking about. In turn, the Beastie's had spent enough time with Cheap Trick's Live at Budokan that they could reference it in their album, and a lot of people would understand where the line came from.

I'm not sure the same thing could be said today. There is so much more music available now, and people don't have as much time or inclination to sit with an album long enough to really absorb it. That same snippet from Live At Budokan would go by at 100 miles an hour to a contemporary listener, immediately forgotten under the crush of new albums, new songs, new experiences, all half-listened to and half-experienced while multitasking (which is another way of saying "doing many things badly at once").

The flip side of this is that it is a lot easier to be exposed to a lot of different kinds of music. I've probably heard more music in the last 8 months than I did during my entire high school years. Of course, I knew my record collection inside and out when I was 17: every chord, every lyric, the track order, everything. Now I know the first five seconds of whatever is on my Ipod, because that's how long I listen to it before I decide I want to move on to something else. Maybe less is more. Maybe more is more.

My new favorite site

I stumbled upon Nevver today. It's a blog that posts a song and a still from a movie every day. Brilliant. Now I wanna go see a bunch of French New Wave films.

The Lyrical Maze Review and Pohectic Reviews

My review of The Lyrical Maze's (TLM) Acronyms is up at RapReviews. She's a female rapper who does soulful hip hop in the vein of Lauren Hill. I was impressed. Here's "Me and My Guitar" featuring, yep, her and a guitar.

Me And My Guitar - TLM, THE Du...

I also reviewed a compilation by indie rap collective Pohectic. I wasn't blown away by it, but there were some highlights, including CO2's song "P.O.W." about a kid growing up in the Iraq war.

P.O.W (Product of War) - CO2

Mount Eerie Review

My review of Mount Eerie's Wind's Poem is now up at Blogcritics. It's bedroom folk inspired by black metal. At it's best, it's like My Bloody Valentine or Mogwai. At it's worse, it's sort of a hot tranny mess, like Bon Iver backed by a metal band.
It's definitely not your typical folk album. I was into a lot of this, but I'm not sure how much I'm going to listen to it. I'd recommend checking out Gravenhurst's Flashlight Seasons, which nails the cavernous, delicate folk, but without the noise. If you are in the mood for something challenging, Wind's Poem is worth your time.

Wind’s Poem - Mount Eerie

What I'm Listening To: Hippy Shit

For some reason I got struck by the spirit of Haight Ashbury this week and downloaded four very Haight songs.

The first was the Jefferson Airplane's "It's No Secret." I bought their greatest hits about twenty years ago, along with Metallica's "And Justice For All." My mom had taken me to the Warehouse at 41st Ave in Capitola, and she looked at my CD's and said, "Really?" She was surprised to see me veering away from punk rock. It would be another ten years before I got into Dylan, so she had a ways to wait before we could swap albums.
"It's No Secret" is an awesome little pop number. I put it on a mixtape to my high school sweetheart.

It's No Secret - Jefferson Air...

Then I downloaded TWO Grateful Dead songs: "Shakedown Street" and "Casey Jones." My future father-in-law loves the Dead, and he's always playing "Shakedown Street" when I go visit them. It's a catchy song, and I like that farting bass. I'm still embarrassed to own it.

Shakedown Street - Grateful De...

I also downloaded "Casey Jones." I love the chorus of this song, and I own "Workingman's Dead' on vinyl, but I've never been able to finish the song. I think because I don't smoke pot.

Casey Jones - Grateful Dead

Finally, I downloaded Sly and the Family Stone's "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey." I had heard a version with Perry Farrel and Ice T, but I wanted to hear the original. It's kind of heavy.

Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey -...

So yeah, hippy shit.

What I'm Listening To/Writing About

I've been listening to a mountain of new music lately. I just wrote a review for RapReviews of TLM's album Acronyms, which I'll post tomorrow. The album comes out tomorrow, and is worth a listen. I'm also working on a review of a Pohectic comp for them, probably next week. Thanks to blogs like Soul Sides, I'm getting into old soul, and hope to do some writing about Darondo and the Temptation's Psychedelic Soul. The music on that album kills me, especially tracks like the funky "Message From A Black Man."

Message From A Black Man (Albu...

Didn't I - Darondo

I'm also getting into dub reggae, and have been listening to King Tubby and Scientist, whose 1980 Best Dub Album In the World is aptly named. That got me back into the Clash, when I realized that they did a lot of dub songs, including their song with Allen Ginsberg, "Ghetto Defendant."

Ghetto Defendant - The Clash

Dub's interesting because it strips down each instrument, and it is excellent music to go to sleep to or ride the bus to (or smoke pot, if you are so inclined, but I'm not).

Then Bill Withers was on the Sound of Young America. It's an amazing show:
The Sound of Young America

...and it made me go pick up a cd of his first two albums, totally worth the money for "Use Me" alone.

Use Me - Bill Withers

THEN I downloaded a copy of the Antler's new album, which I haven't had time to listen to, and I got my fiance St. Vincent's new one and Linda Ronstadt's greatest hits. Finally, I got Mount Eerie's new CD to review for BlogCritics. It's pretty awesome, sort of Mogwai meets Iron and Wine. But heavy.



Finally, Retro Music Snob posted an MP3 of Hex Dispenser covering Devo's "Gates of Steel."
It's a good version, and made me remember how much I love the original. So here it is.



That also means I got a shit-ton amount of stuff to write about. I decided to concentrate more on movie and book reviews for Blogcritics, and the occasional new non-hip hop album I'm excited about. I've also started up a non-review centric blog where I pose short prose pieces, mostly about San Francisco. It's called Where I Belong.

Mantronix Review

I did a back to the lab review of Mantronix' first album this week for RapReviews.com.

It's a classic old school hip hop album, and one of the more innovative of the era. I'm still not a fan of that clunky 808 sound, but that's just my opinion.

ALBUM THE - Mantronix

Phenomenal Handclap Band review on Blogcritics

I just got my first review published on Blogcritics.org, a review of Music Review: The Phenomenal Handclap Band. I wanted a venue to do some non-hip hop writing, so that's my plan, Pakistan. I love the album, by the way.