CD Review: "In Rainbows"

I know, I know... everyone and their mother reviews Radiohead. It wouldn't be far from the truth to assume that Thom Yorke could literally sling mud at a microphone and people would hail him as the new Jesus (again), but lucky for us, he has a little more pop in the depths of his soul than that. And it is this return to his pop-melody skills that are showcased on this newest cut from Radiohead.

The progressive marketing approach aside, this album is really the end of a musical journey for Radiohead. From their pseudo-grunge tinged "Pablo Honey," they moved forward into their classic pop-rock-space-prog-electro-diddy period with "The Bends," "OK Computer" and "Kid A." With the latter album, they moved forward into a new realm of spaciness which would follow through into "Amnesiac" and then into "Hail to the Thief" with a greater reliance on grating electronic sounds and daring song forms. "Hail to the Thief" has many echoes of what would become this newest iteration. There were some songs that, taken over by the right (wrong?) people, could ALMOST (but not quite) be turned into something marginally radio-friendly. But who would want that, right?...

After a long hiatus, out pops "In Rainbows," a gem of an album, possibly one of their most easily accesible outings since "OK Computer." The first two tracks seem to lure the listener into a false sense of unease with the appropriately titled "15 Step" and the raucous "Bodysnatchers." These two tracks seem to indicate to the devotee that we have again entered the hallowed halls of bizarre, paranoid and unintelligible.

However, after being beaten into submission, the band allows the listener to sink into a lilting ballad ("Nude") that instructs the listener not to "get any big ideas, they're not gonna happen." With that admonition, the band then proceeds to make the "big idea" happen. The album waltzes along with more midtempo numbers that rely more heavily on the bands superb playing than their mastery of electronics. There are still typical Radiohead quirks on each track, some that work and some that don't. (The percussion on "Videotape" seemed to distract from the simplicity of one of the most beautiful melodic lines this band has produced.)

Aside from their pioneering approach to making music, the thing this band should be remembered for is simply their knack for creating sublime soundscapes (production by Nigel Godrich). Though they create a much more organic sound on this album, this band knows their way around a synth choirs and string sections, something I personally think you can't have enough of.

There isn't a single weak track on this record, the standouts include "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," "Reckoner," the soon-to-be-released single "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and the above mentioned "Videotape." The latter is the last track on the album and deserves your special attention as the sort of emotional resurrection moment. "No matter what happens now, you shouldn't be afraid because today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen." While this song still finds itself focused on the signature brand of dreary this band has developed, it seems to be more about letting go and accepting what may come. And for a band who has severed ties with it's label and left the financial fate of this venture up to the pricing whims of listeners, this is not a sentiment they take lightly.

CD Review: "Easy Tiger"

I was introduced to Ryan Adams through the persistent amorous protestations of a certain friend of mine who insisted that I have all three of the mix tapes she'd made me of both Whiskeytown and Mr. Adams' solo work. I have to admit, that after exploring the full albums of some of the songs Molly had included on the mixes, I had really received a sort of greatest hits collection with better track ordering than anything a label would have put together.

My personal Ryan Adams history aside, I recently picked up a copy of Adams' latest outing, "Easy Tiger," a strong album that remains firmly planted in the alt-country/rock niche that made Adams famous in the first place. The album is certainly lacking in some areas, but produces some excellent tracks that probably would have found their way into the aforementioned faux-greatest hits. Anyone who knows Ryan Adams at all knows about his highly publicized (and musically announced) troubles with both the drinkables and the smokables. Apparently, having kicked the monkey off the hipster cowboy hat slung jauntily over his shoulder, Adams released this disc of familiar musical settings coupled with surprisingly forward-looking lyrics, something short of a miracle for an artist who was so recently wallowing in his own musical mucky muck, exuding countrified despair and popping out now and then for infamously hit-and-miss live shows. However, his new-found personal triumphs seem to have taken something out of Adams' lyrical skills. I always found it incredible that this man could work such complex metaphors and pseudo-cliches into a sub-genre that often had a hard time treading the thin line between it's country/western roots and it's indie attitudes. On this project, Ryan Adams seems to have chosen to err on the side of cliched lyrics and simply maintain his incredible musical integrity, occasionally floating recycled lyrics over a great foundation of varied song forms and tight backing instrumentation.

My favorite cuts so far are tracks 1, 3, 5 and 9, with the latter being a real gem of a song, old-timey (a la anything from "O Brother Where Art Thou?") yet straying from anything that might be misconstrued as trying too hard to recreate or mock the style. Ryan Adams owns this song and the style of playing music it represents. Simply produced with mandolin, banjo, guitar and superb vocal harmonies, this track breaks up the somewhat monotonous string of cookie cutter alt-country tracks Adams seems to have rolled of the production line.

Songs like "Rip Off," (how ironic...) "Two Hearts" and the low-point of the album for me, "Off Broadway," kind of beat the listener into an indie-hick stupor, waiting for something new to come along. And of course, something new does come along, but it doesn't take away from the sheer miss factor of some of the tracks. I literally had to fast forward through "Off Broadway" for fear of putting my foot through my iBook. I applaud Mr. Adams for really trying to do something with musical motifs, but there comes a point where I can't listen to one more "I don't know where that is...anymore..." without wanting to drive out, find the boy and give him a map so he can find whatever it is and shut up about it already.

Though some of the verse lyrics are a bit trite, the opening cut, "Goodnight Rose," has some really great musical pizzazz that really sets the tone for the album. Even though I have to cringe every time I hear, "who knows, maybe we'll win the whole shebang," Adams nails the repetitive title of the song that forms the chorus, I certainly found myself singing along by the end of the first listen. Track number 5, "Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.," really caught my attention with its near-explicit description of people having sex next door in a seedy hotel and really lovely guitar work. One gets the impression that, if this really was personal experience for Ryan Adams, he was struck by the sort of sadness and shame that paralled his own story. "If I could fold myself away like a card table, a concertina or a Murphy bed I would, but I wasn't made that way."

In the end, "Easy Tiger" feels like a transitional album for Ryan Adams. He doesn't seem to feel fully comfortable in his new, sober(er) life and this translates into his music. He is still Ryan Adams and still has a powerful command of the genre that he has really taken to its limits, but seems to have found himself on the edge of going into even more uncharted territory and can't quite decide who he wants to be when he takes that leap.

CD Review: "The Reminder"

As a newbie when it comes to the (apparently) wide world of Canadian indie-pop superstars, Feist would probably be at the top of my list (if I was to have one) of people to study in depth in my research of the music of the Great White North. After hearing about the release and success of Ms. Leslie's newest album more than a few times on several NPR podcasts, I decided it was time to start my Feist-ian homework.

...and I was not disappointed. This album, "The Reminder," is quite frankly, one of the best overall albums I've come across in recent history. Where it lacks in consistency, it makes up for in quality and sheer depth of sound. With the longest track on the album clocking in at around 4:30, it's hard to believe the palette of colors Feist manages to utilize in each of these cuts. Most of the numbers float along at Leslie Feist's usual lilting manner, but a couple of the tracks reach out and smack you around a bit, letting you know (if you didn't know already) that this woman is a force to be reckoned with.

The standout track is undoubtedly the pseudo-spiritual rendition of the Nina Simone classic, "Sea Lion Woman." Opening with frantic handclaps, gospel backing and noodly synth sounds, this recording truly jumps out and dances around a bit as compared to the quiet, ultra-downtempo-groove feel of the previous track, "The Water." The sonic quality of most of this album gives the impression that Ms. Feist is sitting at a piano in a big church sanctuary somewhere in snow-bound Canada, singing into an old 8-track recorder. (One does wish that the vocals would have a little variation in the tonal quality sometimes, but the sound is at least very consistent on this album and anything but unpleasant.) The distorted guitar and bombastic drums on the track give it even more of a homemade sensation that tends to make me clap along every time it pops up on ye olde iTunes randomizer.

"The Park" and "I Feel it All" also stand out, each giving something that is both completely unexpected and yet perfectly cohesive with the rest of the album. "The Park" contains some truly amazing lyrics that carry powerful weight despite the simplicity of the metaphors. Again, the song benefits from excellent track placement, sliding in sidewise, feet first, into "The Water." "I Feel it All" has a great coasting-with-the-windows-down drive that lays a nice bed for some neat melodic tidbits (check out the line "I'll be the one who'll break my heart, I'll be the one to hold the gun, I love you more..." It's been stuck in my head for weeks). Track 9, "1234," wanders into Sufjan Stevens territory with its banjos and jaunty horn sections, but still manages to pull off some characteristic Canadian word play. (Or is it number play?)

The only thing that didn't quite meet the bar this album set for itself was that some of the later tracks become a little tedious for the close listener. As chillout music, this album is great, but around track 11, ("Intuition"), I started skipping ahead a lot. The remixes featured on the iTunes download were a little disappointing as well, but most listeners will be happy just to have that little bit more from this great album.

After such a great introduction to Feist with "The Reminder," I can't wait to explore her work further and find more gems like the ones I discovered on this great album.

CD Review: "Instant Karma"

As a sucker for all things Apple, I will often nod my head in a submissive, zombified fashion whenever iTunes attempts to ram its music preferences down my slack-jawed gullet. While I'm being very obviously force-fed corporate advertising schemes, I'm usually not disappointed with the suggestions they make. One of the more recent campaigns featured the John Lennon tribute album, "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur." Did I mention I'm also a sucker when it comes to both tribute albums and Darfur?

It's always a good sign when I experience no buyer's remorse after purchasing something from iTunes (although it could have been the warm and fuzzy feeling of social responsibility clouding my usual guilt). This CD has barely left my playlist since, and definitely gets better with multiple listens. The wide range of artists featured on the disc give listeners a good surface skim of the large and varied (and occasionally bizarre) Lennon catalogue and the artists featured on the project parallel the diversity of the music they cover.

Standout tracks on the album include the obligatory U2 title track, "Instant Karma," a worthy outing by R.E.M. on "#9 Dream" and "Real Love" covered by the ever effervescent Regina Spektor. Most of the tracks are very true to the original recordings which to me might be the album's only downfall (except for a few real misses with some of the featured artists). I would have preferred a little bit more of a departure from form for a lot of these (a la Lennon....?). One tends to really lose the excitement and novelty of these bands performing these beloved songs when you listen to the original and the cover side-by-side and realize that many of these are just what they claim to be--covers.

However, there were several truly standout tracks that jump out and attack these songs from a different angle (or perhaps, slide gently in the backdoor for a couple). The Flaming Lips' cover of "[Just Like] Starting Over" is a superbly subtle reinterpretation of what was originally a rollicky sort of sock-hop-esque number. Complete with standard Lips electronic blips and grand synth choirs, this song has an after-hours sort of atmosphere that contrasts much of the band's previous work. Singer Wayne Coyne's voice sometimes leave something to be desired as far as technique and subtlety, but on this track, his imperfections give a depth, perhaps even a melancholy, that adds some very interesting facets to the classic Lennon chart.

Misses on this collection would have to include both covers of "Imagine" (awkwardly assigned to Jack Johnson and Avril Lavigne) and "Cold Turkey," covered by Lenny Kravitz who sort of growls and grunts his way through what could have been a very promising number.

Other tracks to check out include "Gimme Some Truth," simply for the novelty value of putting Dhani Harrison and Jakob Dylan in the same song, and "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," covered by Los Lonely Boys who so completely own this song that it could have appeared on any of their recent albums and been mistaken for an original by all but the most astute John Lennon fans.

Corinne Bailey Rae's rendition of "I'm Losing You" wins huge bonus points for it's groove-tastic Rhodes accompaniment and she sort of lets the engines out to full steam at a couple places on this track, giving careful listeners a glimmer of hope that she might become an honest-to-god force to reckon with in a few albums' time.

"Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur" is out now on hardcopy and on iTunes. There is an extended edition of the album that costs a few bucks more, but looks to be worth the extra dough for a few decent cuts from the likes of Duran Duran, O.A.R. and Yellowcard.

in exordium...

hello out there. obviously, this is the first of (hopefully) many entries. i want to set out why i'm here right away. i love music. it's what i do. it's how i breathe. (i'm going to school for it, one would hope that i like it.) mostly, i'm here to just put out my thoughts on that broad subject, i'll put in album reviews, opinions about the music industry and perhaps a concert review or two. album reviews and such might not be the absolute latest releases, but they should be at least current for the most part. (there may be times when i just feel like digging something out of my cd collection and rambling for a bit.) feel free to leave comments and suggestions, i love criticism!

thanks,
mark