Monday, December 27, 2010

Review: Shout Out Louds: Work [B-]

Artist: Shout Out Louds
Album: Work
Released: February 2010
Label: Merge Records
Genre: indie rock

Purchase date: 04 May 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: eMusic

I got a free month's worth of eMusic downloads in May as a loyalty bonus, so I bought a few extra albums that month. One of these bonus albums was the third full-length album from the Swedish indie band Shout Out Louds.

I heard a concert by this Swedish indie rock band broadcast on the All Songs Considered Live Concerts podcast, and the show gave a brief positive review of the album. I decided to give this studio album a try. All-in-all, this is a pretty solid album, and a good listen. The best track is the opener, "1999." The band doesn't really break any new ground. They sound like a solid late-aughts indie rock band, and while I do enjoy this record, the music just doesn't have all that much distinctiveness to it. It's one of those albums that you like well enough, but never think to spin up very often.

Rating: B-


Artist no longer available on eMusic


Flashback Review: Black Mountain [C-]


Artist: Black Mountain
Album: Black Mountain
Released: January 2005
Label: Jagjaguwar
Genre: hard rock / stoner rock

Purchase date: 04 May 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: eMusic

I was a big fan of this Vancouver-based hard rock act's 2007 sophomore album In The Future, which made my top-10 end-of-year list for that year. I was even more impressed with the 2009 release of the Black Mountain spin-off act Lightning Dust. So I decided to buy the band's 2005 debut album without listening to much of it first. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

Black Mountain is heavier, murkier, sludgier, and a lot less distinctive than the band's later release, and leans more toward stoner rock. Song titles like "Druganaut" highlight this. The un-ironic retro-70's heavy metal vibe, which I liked so much about In The Future, is mostly missing from this release. It is also much less polished and far less ambitious.

So, while I do give a lukewarm recommendation to Black Mountain fans (who probably already have this record) and to stoner rock fans, everyone else can probably pass.

Rating: C-



Saturday, December 25, 2010

Unconventional Christmas Songs


Merry Christmas, everyone! To BOTH of my readers!

It's a little after 9:00 PM on the night of Christmas 2010. Our Christmas party has been over for a few hours, and we've cleaned up after the party. My other half is coming down with a cold, and has gone to bed. Our kid is up in her bedroom reading one of her new books. I'm sitting in front of the fire with a glass of Calvados and a slice of pumpkin pie. My cats are beside me on the couch, and my iPod is still playing my Christmas music mix on the stereo.

I love Christmas music. I love the Christmas classics: Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Johnny Mathis were all staples from my childhood, and Christmas is all about traditions. However, regular readers of my blog also know that I'm really into new music, so of course I have a lot of nontraditional or unconventional songs in the mix. I'd like to share a few favorites.

Just about everyone in my generation knows the 1984 British fundraiser by Band-Aid, "Do They Know It's Christmas," featuring just about every British pop star from the early '80s. Well, last year, the Toronto-based punk band Fucked Up released their own version featuring a who's who of indie artists. This version is not a parody, and has a much harder edge than the classic version, and I really liked it. Proceeds from the sale of this one go to several charities in Africa that empower women and aid those displaced by the numerous conflicts that continue to plague the continent.

On a much sappier note, I am embarrassingly fond of the 2003 Christmas single "New York Christmas" by Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas. It's kind of by-the-numbers, but the song has an emotional resonance that just gets to me, especially coming out just two years after 9/11.

It's not technically a Christmas song, but the final track from Cloud Cult's 2008 release Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes), "Love You All" works very well as a Christmas song. It's a song about love, and family, and the eternity of the soul. It's one of the most uplifting songs I've heard in a long time, and one of the best uses of a vocoder I've ever heard.

180 degrees from there is Tom Lehrer's 1959 satirical classic "A Christmas Carol," which always makes me chuckle. The song came out more than 50 years ago, but the sentiment that Christmas has gotten over-commercialized still rings more true than ever.

Another song I've always associated with Christmas is Gordon Lightfoot's 1967 release "Song For A Winter's Night." Most songs about winter get associated with Christmas-- and this one even has sleigh bells. I've always love the wistfulness of the lyric and Lightfoot's delivery about being home alone on a winter night while the one he loves is far away and won't be back for some time. (But please avoid the 2006 Sarah MaLachlan cover. She sounds more suicidal than wistful in that version.)

I also really like the song "Your Christmas Whiskey" by The Minus Five, which came out in 2007. It's about the other kind of Christmas spirit-- the kind you drink.

And finally, I've always had a soft spot for Dar Williams' "The Christians and the Pagans" from her 1996 release Mortal City. It's a story-song about two female pagans traveling over the holidays whose car breaks down near the home of the uncle of one of the women-- a man who has raised his own family to be devout Christians. It's a song about love, tolerance, and how family trumps religious differences. It always makes me smile. Plus, it's really catchy.

Between getting up at 6:00 for presents, hosting an afternoon Christmas party, the warmth of the dying fire in my fireplace, and my second brandy, I'm getting a little drowsy here, and I think I'll sign off.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Vintage Review: Serge Gainsbourg: L'histoire de Melody Nelson [A-]


Artist: Serge Gainsbourg
Album: L'histoire de Melody Nelson
Released: 1971
Label: Phillips Records
Genre: French pop

Purchase date: 04 May 2010
Source: Amazon
Format: MP3 files

This is a classic album that I'd never encountered until this last winter. The guys on Sound Opinions interviewed Charlotte Gainsbourg, the Anglo-French actress and singer about her 2009 album IRM, and her role in that year's psychological horror film Antichrist. Part of the interview turned to her father Serge Gainsbourg, and they played a couple of excerpts of L'histoire de Melody Nelson in the background. From the moment I heard the slow-burning, blusey riff with Serge's growling yet unctuous sing-song spoken French, I knew that I had to get my hands on this album. Amazon listed it as a $5 download a few months later, and I bought it. The whole ablum tells a single story in songs: The protagonist narrates (in French) of how he accidentally ran his Rolls Royce into a 14-year-old American girl on her bicycle, then how he took her back to his house to tend her injuries, and how the two then had a torrid affair. The Lolita-like story is creepy enough, but Gainsbourg's deadpan delivery over a simple-yet-searing music line grabs your collar and pulls you in. This is a very disturbing story, but the music is trés cool.

Rating: A-


Not available on eMusic at this time.

Review: Broken Bells: Broken Bells [A]


Artist: Broken Bells
Album: Broken Bells
Released: March 2010
Label: Columbia Records
Genre: alternative rock / electronic

Purchase date: 07 April 2010
Source: eMusic
Format: MP3 files

A collaboration of Brian Burton (better known as celebrity producer Danger Mouse) and James Mercer (frontman of The Shins), this is one of those bands that shouldn't work but does, and spectacularly. Mercer's dark lyrics paired with upbeat melodies take on new life under Burton's production: swirling psychedelic electronics, atmospheric effects, and vintage synths. This record doesn't break any new ground, but it has a whole lot of great songs. The high point is the opening track, "The High Road," but the music sustains an emotional wave throughout. This is another record I keep putting on over and over throughout the year, and I expect it will likely make my top 10 list.

Rating: A


Friday, December 17, 2010

Review: Bear In Heaven: Beast Rest Forth Mouth [B+]


Artist: Bear In Heaven
Album: Beast Rest Forth Mouth
Released: October, 2009
Label: Hometapes Records
Genre: experimental rock / electronic

Purchase date: 07 April 2010
Source: eMusic
Format: MP3 files

I bought this album after hearing a single track on the All Songs Considered podcast about the 2010 South By Southwest Music Festival. Bear In Heaven is somewhat difficult music that's worth the effort. They are an experimental rock band from Brooklyn NY that incorporates a large amount of electronic and synthesizer effects into their music. The result is spacious, noisy, large-sounding, music that is still very melodic. There are nods to instrumental post-rock, and I could definitely hear some '70's Kraut rock influence (e.g. Neu!, Kraftwerk). This music is unlike most of the music I listen to, and I had a bit of trouble with that. The first time I listened through the album, I felt disappointed that I'd spent the money. However, the music touched something in me that compelled me to give the record repeated listens. For me, it was worth the effort to get to know this music, as it's now on high rotation on my playlists.

Rating: B+


Flashback Review: Okkervil River: Black Sheep Boy [B]


Artist: Okkervil River
Album: Black Sheep Boy
Released: August 2005
Label: Jagjaguwar Records
Genre: indie rock

Purchase date: 07 April 2010
Source: eMusic
Format: MP3 files

I was so enamored of Okkervil River's last two albums, 2007's The Stage Names and its companion record The Stand Ins, which came out the following year, that I decided to buy this record from their back-catalog without ever hearing a single track. It's a good record, with strong hints of what will be coming (notably the track "Black" -- the album's high point), but it's clear from listening to this record that the best from this band is yet to come.

Rating: B



Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Vintage Review: Nirvana: Nevermind [A-]


Artist: Nirvana
Album: Nevermind
Released: September 1991
Label: SubPop Records
Genre: grunge / alternative rock

Purchase date: 15 March 2010
Source: Angry Mom Records
Format: CD (used)

I picked up a used copy of Nevermind on CD at the local used record store for a buck. I'd been planning to buy the MP3 of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from iTunes for a 90's playlist, and now I had the whole album for the same price.

What can I say about this groundbreaking record that hasn't been said before? It came out in 1991, my senior year in college. My roommate at the time had a copy, and, honestly, I wasn't sure of what to make of it when I heard it. I heard the anger and violence of punk, the depth of sound of hard rock, and the rough edges of a garage band, but through it all was the emotional pull of Kurt Cobain's lyrics and his haunting voice. Cobain could snarl, growl, and shout like punk icons Iggy Pop or John Lydon, but then could deliver heartbreaking vocals on slow tracks. This was music that defied categorization, but was impossible to ignore. I dubbed a cassette copy from my roommate's CD, but it never entered high rotation-- I was in my Progressive Rock phase at the time. Later that year, the bottom-of-the-line car stereo in my beat-up Dodge Omni ate my cassette copy, and that was that.

So, it had been close to 20 years since I'd listened to Nevermind as an album, and now I understand why it was so groundbreaking. Looking back, I really let a major trend in music just pass me by.

Rating: A-



Review: Shearwater: The Golden Archipelago [A]


Artist: Shearwater
Album: The Golden Archipelago
Released: February 2010
Label: Matador Records
Genre: indie rock

Purchase date: 07 March 2010
Source: eMusic
Format: MP3 files

Jonathan Meiburg is the creative force behind Shearwater, a hard-to-describe indie rock band from Texas. The band's music can be quiet but intense, noisy yet lyrical, and melancholy while life-affirming. I first encountered this band while listening to All Song Considered "Best of 2007" year-end show, and they played the track "Seventy-Four Seventy-Five" from that year's Palo Santo album. I was blown away, and bought the album the same day. Two albums later, the band has lowered the intensity and increased the complexity. The Golden Archipelago is a rich and complex music experience, intended to be experienced as a whole album rather than as a collection of beautiful songs. While the album doesn't have the searing rock tracks that gave Palo Santo or 2008's Rook their visceral high points, the whole work is a captivating journey through an imaginary island chain. There really isn't a weak track on this album.

Meiburg's voice has an eerie timbre to it that's quite captivating. His articulation is just loose enough to make you not exactly sure what all the words are, but compelling enough to make you want to figure them out. This is a gorgeous recording, and is one of my favorite albums of the year.

Rating: A


No longer available at eMusic

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Review: Spoon: Transference [B]

Artist: Spoon
Album: Transference
Released: January 2010
Label: Merge Records
Genre: indie rock

Purchase date: 07 March 2010
Source: eMusic
Format: MP3 files

I don't think I'm young enough to be a hipster (and if I was, I'm not sure I'd want to be), but my music tastes seem to run along hipster lines. Consequently, I was very excited for the new Spoon record when it came out in January 2010, and I got it as soon as my eMusic account refreshed after it was posted to the site.

As indie bands go, Spoon is one of the most successful, with a strong following and much critical acclaim. Their previous release, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, was one of my best picks for 2008.

Transference, the band's seventh full-length studio album, is much more of a mood record than its predecessor. The band dialed down a lot of its energy to produce music that's dark and brooding, while retaining Spoon's legendary intensity. This is very much a "headphones" album: best appreciated ann you can really focus on it, like in your bedroom with dimmed lights while wearing high-end headphones.

Unfortunately, the music doesn't really hold up to repeated deep listens. I did like this record, just not as much as I'd expected. While certainly a respectable album, I didn't like it as much as the previous one. I guess that's a problem with following bands you really like: sometimes they let you down by being good instead of great.

Rating: B

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Concert Review: NYS Baroque - "The Festive Concerto"

Artist: NYS Baroque
Concert Date: 12 Dec 2010
Venue: First Unitarian Church, Ithaca NY
Genre: Classical

I'm just getting back from an amazing local concert by NYS Baroque, one of the premiere early music ensembles in the Northeast. They specialize in the music of the Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical periods, and perform on period instruments. A bit of disclosure: the artistic director, Heather Miller Lardin, is based here in Ithaca, and my kid is currently one of her private music students.

The concert was an all Baroque show, featuring works by Corelli, Telemann, Muffat, Locatelli, and JS Bach. The concert was magnificent: the musicians are all top-notch and their musicianship is astounding. Hearing early music performed on period instruments is a real feast for the senses, as period instruments have a distinctly different sound quality than their modern counterparts.

The only work I'd heard before the concert was the Bach piece: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Honestly, I much preferred the version I heard tonight over any recording I've ever heard of this piece.

If you ever have an opportunity to see NYS Baroque, I strongly recommend that you take it.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Review: Midlake: The Courage of Others [B+]


Artist: Midlake
Album: The Courage of Others
Released: January 2010
Label: Bella Union
Genre: folk-rock

Purchase date: 04 Feb 2010
Source: eMusic

I'd never heard of this band until Jim and Greg reviewed this album on Sound Opinions. 2009 and 2010 seem to have been big years for the return of folk-rock to the scene, with acts like Fleet Foxes, The Dry Spells, and Midlake bringing in accolades from fans and critics alike. Midlake is an acoustic folk-rock band from Texas in the vein of Steeleye Span or Fairport Convention. Their music is earnest, simple in instrumentation, with great depth in complexity and emotion. They may be from the desert, but their music invokes the green primeval forests of a Britain that only exists in legend.

Rating: B+

Flashback Review: Rilo Kiley: More Adventurous [B+]

Artist: Rilo Kiley
Album: More Adventurous
Released: July 2004
Label:Beaut/Brute Records
Genre: indie pop

Purchase date: 4 Feb 2010
Source: eMusic
Format: MP3 files

I'd heard of Rilo Kiley for years, but had only noticed them once or twice on the local college radio station. Then they started showing up frequently on some of my Pandora channels, and I started to pay attention to them. Then All Songs Considered played a recording of a concert, and I realized that I'd been missing out. I decided that I needed to take a chance, so I downloaded this five-year-old album of theirs with some "loyalty bonus tracks" I'd accumulated from eMusic.

Led by singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis, the band tends to pair upbeat, catchy melodies with very dark and sometimes disturbing lyrics. For example, the opening track of More Adventurous, "It's A Hit," sounds like a breezy love song, but is really a biting indictment of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq. Lewis has a very pretty and expressive voice, which often completely contrasts with the words she's singing. The music is playful, and the band has a lot of fun with the witty juxtaposition of music and lyric. It's fun music, with a cutting edge. Recommended.

Rating: B+

Friday, December 10, 2010

Big changes to eMusic-- and not to my liking!

Ever since I returned to the world of music geekery, my favorite source of legitimate music downloads has been eMusic.com. I've been a member since mid-2005. The site was a treasure trove of amazing music from independent labels and provided wonderful music discovery services through extensive editorial reviews. It was also significantly cheaper than iTunes or Amazon, with tracks costing between $0.30 and $0.60 per track, depending on the level of your subscription plan. I had been an enthusiastic evangelist for this service, recommending it to all of my musically-inclined friends whose tastes ran against the mainstream.

They opened their doors to the Sony back-catalog (i.e. anything older than 24 months) in June 2009. That added about 200,000 tracks to their catalog, but also brought some changes to their price structure that increased subscription fees and upped the per-track costs for most users. While I grumbled a bit, as I thought that this was turning their spotlight away from the independent labels that made the site so wonderful, I thought it was still a better deal than the competition, and was still a great source for indie labels. I thought it might also attract some users interested in major label artists that would then be exposed to more indie acts.

eMusic made another big change in late November of this year, and I am much less impressed with things now. They added about 300,000 tracks from Universal music, but that deal required variable pricing, so their old "X number of tracks per month" model had to go out the window. Users now have a dollar amount to spend on variably-priced tracks. Long-time users like myself have access to "preferred plans" that kick in a small bonus per month, but this new pricing plan still represents a significant price increase.

To make matters worse, several of the larger indie labels did not appreciate the changes to terms that Universal made to eMusic, and have pulled out of the partnership. Labels that have pulled out include Merge Records, Matador Records, Rough Trade Records, 4AD, XL Recordings, and Domino Records. These labels collectively removed about 10,000 tracks-- but 10,000 of the most popular, critically-acclaimed artists on the site.

I just filled out eMusic's "top 10 eMusic albums of 2010" form, and I found that 7 of my top 10 picks, including all of my top 5, are no longer listed on eMusic.

An additional kick in the teeth is that they no longer let subscribers re-download tracks that had been previously purchased.

So-- a whole lot less for more money. What a deal!

All-in-all, these changes have made eMusic a far less desirable service than it had been. I have just suspended my subscription for 60 days, in the hopes that some of these so-called improvements will be reversed.

If not, as much as I hate to say it, I will probably cancel my subscription.

As Joni Mitchell wrote, "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." They paved eMusic and put up an ersatz iTunes.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Review: The Magnetic Fields: Realism [A]


Artist: The Magnetic Fields
Album: Realism
Released: January 2010
Label: Nonesuch Records
Genre: indie pop / alternative folk

Purchase date: 04 Feb 2010
Source: iTunes

Realism is the tenth studio album from singer/songwriter Stephen Merritt and his band The Magnetic Fields. It is also the third album in their "No Synths" trilogy, following 2004's i and 2007's Distortion. Merritt's musical style runs all over the map, often going in different directions on the same album. Realism has a pristine sound overall, a stark contrast from the grungy fuzz of their previous album. The songs are all heartfelt, touching, funny, and poignant, often all at the same time. The opening track, "You Must Be Out of Your Mind" is the strongest in my opinion, and it really illustrates Merrit's sense of humor, such as the line, "You can't just go 'round sayin' stuff/ Because it's pretty / And I no longer drink enough / to think you're witty." A marvelous album, it would have been hard to pick a better "first album of 2010."

Rating: A

Review: If These Trees Could Talk: Above the Earth, Below the Sky [A]


Artist: If These Trees Could Talk
Album: Above the Earth, Below the Sky
Released: March 2009
Label: self-published
Genre: post-rock

Purchase date: 27 Jan 2010
Source: iTunes
Format: AAC files

I found myself listening to this instrumental post-rock album over and over again. The music is heavily layered with guitar, and has a mesmerizing complexity and wide dynamic range. Songs can start out spare and ambient, then build to a heavy rock crescendo, only to sonically disintegrate before your ears. This is a real "headphones" album: best experienced with your eyes closed in a dark room through high-end headphones. Outstanding music: at times intense and raw, others quiet and contemplative. The sonic theme is man vs. nature, but with no lyrics, you are left to fill in the storyline. I really loved this album, and continue to listen to it over and over again.

Rating: A

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Review: Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [A]


Artist: Phoenix
Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Released: May 2009
Label: Glass Note Records
Genre: indie pop

Purchased: 27 January 2010
Purchased from: iTunes

The fourth album of this French alt-pop quartet is a whole lot of fun. The music is upbeat, accessible, and very radio-friendly. It's a very bright and cheerful album, and is more pop-oriented than a rock album. The standout track is "1901." Another darling of of the rock critics, this album deserved all the praise it got. Like other of my top picks, this album really stands up to repeated plays. It works less as a deep listen album (you know-- put on your best headphones and turn off the lights), than an album you can put on and cheerily do something else while bopping your head to the rhythm.

Rating: A


(not available from eMusic as of this writing)

Review: The Dry Spells: Too Soon For Flowers [A-]


Artist: The Dry Spells
Album: Too Soon For Flowers
Released: January 2009
Label: Antenna Farm Records

Genre: Folk-Rock

Purchase date: 07 Jan 2010
Purchased from: eMusic.com

A folk-rock band from San Francisco, The Dry Spells have an early-70's vibe reminiscent of one part Fleetwood Mac and two parts Sandy Denny-era Fairport Convention. You can really feel the English folk-rock vibe on their version of the traditional English ballad "Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair." I've always been a huge fan of '70s English folk-rock, and this band does it really, really well. The haunting female three-part harmony vocals and crack instrumentation put this album on high rotation on my iPod. The one stumble they make on the album is their cover of "Rhiannon" (originally by Fleetwood Mac). It's a competent, faithful cover that really doesn't fit with the rest of the album.

Rating: A-



Thursday, December 2, 2010

Top 10 Albums of 2009

Well, it's December 2010, and I'm only a week into my re-started blog, so it's high time to let you know my Top 10 Albums of 2009.

According to my records, I bought 38 albums with a 2009 release date. Here are my 10 favorites.

#10: Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Label: ANTI-

Between her solo career and her work with New Pornographers, singer-songwriter Neko Case was very busy in 2009. Recorded at her new home studio in Vermont, Middle Cyclone is a showcase of the alt-country artist's talent and maturity as a songwriter and as a singer. Her powerful voice retains an expressive emotional pull, and the music is haunting yet playful. This album got a lot of praise by critics, and I don't have much to add other than this is an album that I've played a lot.

#9: Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Label: V2 Records


#8: Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Label: Graveface Records

It's hard to put a label on the sound or genre of this enigmatic band from rural Pennsylvania. I'll go with "psychedelic electro-folk." BMSR plays electronic music on classic analog electronic instruments, including Moogs, theremins, and heavy use of vocoders. Sonically complex, and frequently veering into unexpected directions, this album is mellow and laid-back, but with a distinct undercurrent of dark weirdness that's both compelling and a little creepy. The stand-out track is the opener, "Born On A Day The Sun Didn't Rise," the title of which says volumes about this band. Not for everyone, but it really works for me.

#7: Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong
Label: In The Red Recordings

The sophomore album from this all-girl lo-fi punk band from Brooklyn. While it didn't completely floor me like their eponymous debut, this is yet another album that just does not get old. Their musicianship has improved and their sound, while not bigger, is more refined and a bit tighter. Crank up the treble and blast it!

#6: The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
Label: Capitol Records

I've been a big fan of The Decemberists since their debut full-length Castaways and Cutouts came out back in 2002. Their fifth album, and by far most ambitious, The Hazards of Love is a 1970's progressive rock concept album. While broken up into songs, the album is intended to be listened to from start to finish as a complete piece of music. It tells a strange story of a doomed love between a human woman and a shape-shifting forest spirit some time in 19th century Europe. Setting aside the fact that it's a concept album (a love-it-or-hate-it music form), it's hard not to admire the ambition. This band proved that it can really rock out on earlier dalliances with prog (e.g. their 2004 EP The Tain and their 18-minute suite "The Island" from 2006's The Crane Wife), but they really hit their stride here.

#5: The Dry Spells - Too Soon For Flowers
Label: Antenna Farm Records


#4: If These Trees Could Talk - Above The Earth, Below The Sky
Label: self-published through CD Baby


#3: Metric - Fantasies
Label: Metric Music International

Musically, this album really struck something in me. A female-led indie rock band from Canada, Metric's sound is high-energy with a complex chord structure and witty lyrics. Another album that found itself on high rotation on my iPod. Excellent sound.

#2: Visqueen - Message to Garcia


#1: Lightning Dust - Infinite Light
Label: Jagjaguwar

A folk-tinged indie rock band from Canada, Lightning Dust was formed by Amber Webber and Joshua Wells, who are both also members of the hard rock band Black Mountain. The lush, yet simply melodies coupled with Webber's plaintive vocals give this music a wistful and nostalgic air that is simply beautiful. My favorite album of 2009.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Review: Visqueen: Message to Garcia [A]


Artist: Visqueen
Album:
Message to Garcia
Released: September 2009
Label: Local 638 Records
Genre: alternative rock / punk pop

Purchase date: 07 Jan 2010
Source: emusic.com

I guess it goes back to the alternative grrl bands of the '90s, but I've always had a fondness for female-fronted rock. Hailing from Seattle, Rachel Flotard is the creative force and frontwoman of Visqueen, an extremely talented pop punk trio. Their third album, Message to Garcia loosely chronicles Flotard's relationship with her father during his long battle with terminal cancer and Alzheimer's. The album isn't a concept album in any sense, but the songs do paint a picture of love, loss, frustration, and ultimately the beauty of the human condition.

But you don't need to know the backstory to rock out to the driving guitars, catchy hooks, and the sheer joy of Flotard's confident and emotive vocals. Visqueen's sound is something like Janis Joplin fronting Green Day. Standout tracks include "Hand Me Down," "Ward," and "Beautiful Amnesia." This is a record that I find myself coming back to again and again, and was one of my favorite albums of 2009.



Rating: A