Destroyer - Your Blues

Dan Bejar is amazing! He's the front man for Destroyer and is also a member of the New Pornographers. His songwriting is superb and his talk/sing vocal style is as captivating and powerfully emotional. Both create an unmistakable sound and style that is uniquely Bejar, his tracks on New Pornographers albums always stand out, and they are typically my enduring favorites as his songs offer plenty of depth to keep you coming back for more. I just bought an earlier album of his called 'Your Blues' and thought I would share some of the highlights from that album. Rubies is a more recent effort and is also fantastic. His music is not always so accessible so keep an open mind, this is not pop music, there are seldom obvious hooks... if you don't like it at first come back to it in a few days, it will probably grow on you it has certainly grown on me.

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Reviews:
Pitchforkmedia's Matt LeMay - 8.6/10.0 Ultimately, though, it's the most initially vexing aspects of Your Blues that prove the most endearing, memorable, and surprisingly touching. Like Bejar's 2002 release This Night, Your Blues constitutes a fundamental challenge to deeply ingrained conventions of sincerity and emotional honesty. The record's conceptual brilliance lies largely in Bejar's ability to craft deeply moving passages out of ostensibly artificial and contrived elements, subtly suggesting that all music, if not all human expression, is in effect some sort of artifice. Bejar's critical engagement with codified aesthetic techniques certainly renders Your Blues a less immediately "accessible" record, and can at first come off as kitschy or detached. But the album's unique and defiant expression makes this the most holistically accomplished album Bejar has released to date.

Indieworkshop's Grant Capes What this album has going for it are factors so numerous, it will be difficult to enumerate and illuminate, but I shall press on nonetheless. The first and most important strength is Bejar's innate gift for songwriting, in whatever mode or medium he chooses. Eschewing the rock-n-roll tint of his earlier works, "Your Blues" embraces the already expected lyrics of this poetic genius and combines it with an almost childlike love of 80's pop mechanics and synthwork. No matter what instrumentation he chooses, the magic of his lyrics and the strength of his delivery shine through.


Exercises for the reader:
Notorious Lightning
It's Gonna Take An Airplane
New Ways of Living

Malajube

I came across Malajube listening to CBC radio 3. They are an interesting mix of genres sometimes pop, but complex enough to avoid the negative connotations of that descriptor. To be honest I'm not even sure what pop means anymore, I've been so far removed from popular music for so long that the word has lost all context for me... They're pop in my world which according to Brian Howe makes them resolutely of-the-moment indie rock. They may be just that, but I think they're at least equal parts trend setting and trend tending.

They sing in French, a language I'm told people speak in la belle pays of Quebec. Although it helps to know some French I don't think it's essential, the songs are beautiful and engaging, with lush arrangements and varied vocal styles, certainly enough to leave you content if all the lyrics remind you of a strangely melodic version of blue nuit.

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Reviews:
Pitchforkmedia's Brian Howe - 8.2/10.0 It's not that they're derivative-- the inventive arrangements and zealous intensity of their second album make it difficult to countenance any suspicions of opportunistic hit-knitting. But their approach to indie rock is so resolutely of-the-moment that it seems filled with hyper-modern allusions. Malajube's music is labyrinthine, filled with multi-directional trapdoors-- some drop down to lower landings of the songs; some let out into realms recently conquered by other indie heroes (particularly of the Polaris Prize-nominated variety).

Exercises for the reader:
Montréal� 40 °C
La monogamie
Fille à plumes

Lotus Child

Keltie bought this album recently, which was great because Lotus Child lives in an overlapping region of our musical tastes. Not that the region is small... it just isn't that large?!? In any event I finally got to listen to the whole album and I'm very pleased with what is essentially an unadulterated pop album. The lyrics are interesting and the arrangements, though pop, are not boring and repetitive.
The band is very local, and the only brick and mortar stores carrying the album are in Vancouver, plus one in Calgary, though you can find it on amazon.ca. The group's website, http://www.lotuschild.com/home, is the only place I found any press information on the band! Check out this link for a pdf version of a local paper reviewing the album.
The album is perhaps at times too radio friendly, too formulaic crap pop, too emo drenched... but these moments are counter balanced by those of truly inspired song writing, uplifting beats, novel instrumentals, provoking arrangements, and all around enjoyable music.

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Exercises for the reader:
Had To Laugh
Gossip Diet
Run Away Persephone

Matthew Friedberger

I'm not sure what makes 'Matthew Friedberger's' music appeal to me. It's got solid beats, guitar work, woodwinds and horns in places, lots of keyboard, and a bit of techo. It feels very lush, like 'Sufjan Stevens' but much more bad-ass.

Whatever it is, I'm sold, his latest release is two discs, the first 'Winter Woman' is what has me grooving right now, it's not quite as surreal and techno as the other disc 'Holy Ghost Language School'. Not being a big fan boy of the techo genre, it isn't surprising that I enjoy the lush instrumental numbers more than their synth-soaked brethren... the techno is growing on me, but I've got some progress to make yet :)

I should note that Friedberger is one of the key members of 'Fiery Furnaces', this is his first solo effort. I highly recommend reading the pitchfork media review by Rob Mitchum it seems remarkable objective and accurate.

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Reviews:
Pitchforkmedia's Rob Mitchum - 5.0/10.0 It has come to my attention that people hate the Fiery Furnaces for any number of reasons: too many keyboards, fleeting pop moments lost amidst elaborate arrangements, unusual vocals, wordy lyrics, the insulting concept that an album might grow better with time rather than be immediately accessible. Suffice it to say that I don't agree with any of those arguments, but I'm certainly not so fanboy-blind as to foolishly believe the Friedbergers' music will or should be universally accepted. Yet what has become abundantly clear over the band's prolific four-year existence is that it's averse to compromise, despite the divisive response that attitude tends to breed.

One might suppose that solo album(s) from the chief Furnaces songwriter Matthew Friedberger would magnify his flaws/assets, and in the case of Winter Women and Holy Ghost Language School, one would be correct. The first albums released under his given name reflect an even less compromised vision than the comparatively commercial (chortle) work of his day job. Alone in the studio (save some drum parts from Tortoise's John McEntire), Friedberger is free to indulge his obsessions with offbeat production and musical storytelling, to different degrees of success between the two records.


Exercises for the reader:
Up The River
Becha Don't
Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company Resignation Letter

Rich Hope and His Evil Doers

Not a lot of free time these days, but I wanted to post something so here we go.

Of all the music I have heard in the past couple of months it's really hard to think of 'the one' that really stands out... Sufjan Stevens has released Avalanche, which I happen to love despite it being a bit on the monotonous side, and despite it being accessible... since when was that a bad word anyhow. The Decemberists' latest is quite good, people are screaming big label sell out because it's not quite as ethereal as previous works... again too accessible?
I've listened to some older fair, stuff that didn't quite grab me at first, 'OK GO' is a good example of this. Overly upbeat glam-indie-rock... perhaps, but it's so damn catchy, and miles ahead of most shit you'll hear on top 20 pop lists. 'Elliot Brood' comes to mind as well, vaguely folkish alterna-rock is an apt descriptor, at times fast and catchy at others soul bearing, very good stuff.
There is one song by 'Rich Hope and His Evil Doers' that sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it. The longing in his voice is palpable, and the sincerity with witch he delivers the chorus is astounding.

I'm alone again
and this time I know I've lost a friend

The song is 'Love or Death' and it is certainly the most emotional song on the album. This is what I would most like to share... I hope you enjoy it.

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Exercises for the reader:
Love or Death
Sweet Vanilla
Shake This Joint Around

Xavier Rudd

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Xavier Rudd... I don't know much about him, but I know his 2004 album Solace has been running non-stop since I obtained it a few days ago. He has a new album as well 'Food In The Belly' which I listened to at Zulu but passed on buying right away (I've been spending too much on board games these days, it has made my music shopping a little more selective). Wanting to give the album another try I attempted to download it, but instead found Solace, and I am now fully sold on Xavier Rudd!

His music is firmly rooted in rock, perhaps a bit of folk and country find their way onto some tracks, but what is most appreciated is the didgeridoo and mouth organ present on some tracks. Didgeridoos can sometimes be abused as a novelty instrument, but Rudd incorporates it into his music seamlessly, he is obviously a veteran player of the instrument. The deep mystic elements it adds can not be mimicked by any other sound... but Rudd does not just drone out some sad slow melody instead he includes it in some of the most racing rock tracks on the album (e.g. G.B.A).

This album it one of the best I've heard all year (second perhaps to Sufjan Steven's latest release Avalanche), I can't recommend it highly enough!

Exercises for the reader:
Shelter
G.B.A
Let Me Be

Neko Case

Neko Case is a member of the New Pornographers (I bloged about their latest here), but her solo work is much more soulful, less poppy and in general a more fulfilling listen. Her latest effort, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, strings together alt-country and folk-rock styling with her much acclaimed vocal ability to create an album steeped with emotion, lush vocals, a few hooks, and tons of spirit. But enough stupid words, I can't do her justice, scroll down and listen!

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Reviews:
Pitchforkmedia's Ryan Dombal - 7.7/10.0 Nobody today does eerie dust-bowl balladry and anachronistic rustic-murder milieu quite like Case. Combining country, folk, and old-school rock, she faithfully invokes scenes of late-night wandererings illuminated by a jalopy's lone functional headlight. As a refined version of Blacklisted, Flood provides alluring riddles and obsessive desolation, Case subverting her easy-access vocals with difficult abstractions and heady projections.

What other bloggers have to say:
An Aquarium Drunkard - I highly recommend purchasing this album in it's entireity, and of course see her Live if the opportunity presents itself. That voice of hers is even more spell-binding in a Live setting.

Ashcan Rantings - After posting about Neko Case this morning, I had a chance to listen to the majority of her NPR performance and was amazed. I bought a copy of her new album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, this afternoon and it's solid from top to bottom.

*Sixeyes - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, and the accolades began to roll in. I'm not a fan and even though some profess that Case has moved away from the alt-country siren leanings, I can hear wopping dollops of by-gone country queens in every thing she sings... and more than a touch of '50s torch seeps into her songs here and there.


Exercises for the reader:
Hold On, Hold On
Teenage Feeling
The Needle Has Landed

Controller.Controller

I'm a little behind the times folks... I discovered Controller.Controller only a few months ago. They have a new album titled X-Amounts which is good, but not as astounding as their 2004 release History.

This is one of the most concise and engaging albums I have ever heard. At ~25 minutes it is more of an EP than an album, but the quality of those 25 minutes is remarkably high. That is, the density of good music is quite large.

Their music is some form of beat driven electric rock. At times ethereal but never far from a high energy chorus with blaring guitar work and pounding drums. It's the beat freak in me that is most engaged by this music, I can crank up the volume and thrash my head around, stomp my feat and just enjoy the rhythm.

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Reviews:
Pitchforkmedia's Joe Tangari - 8.3/10.0 The opening title track states the band's intentions to move you in every way possible with copious hi-hat, scratchy, clean-toned guitar chords and Basnayake's Byrne-ish sing/speak admonitions, "You need to make corrections/ You need to pay attention." And that's just one of the nearly constant highlights as the band grooves through a half-hour of sharply honed post-disco, shuddering through the frenetic and dramatic chord changes and buildups of "Silent Seven", and slipping on the viscous rhythms of "Disco Blackout". Controller.Controller have pulled together a deftly funky debut, as full of thoughtful songcraft as pure kinetic energy. And that's really what separates History from the dance-rock pack-- it's not just something to sweat to, it's something to sing along to, and something to come back to.


Exercises for the reader:
History
Silent Seven
Watch

Silver Jews

I love the spiritual folk-rock that permeates the Silver Jews' latest effort Tanglewood Numbers.

Reviews:
Pitchforkmedia's Brian Howe - 7.9/10.0 Tanglewood Numbers is probably Silver Jews' most fun album to date, with its riotous guitars and rambling sing-along hooks, it's also their saddest, an outsized hangover that makes everything into sharp edges and toe-stubbing impediments, with a patina of dizzy anxiety on every blaring chord.

What other bloggers have to say:
SkatterBrain Doesn't say much but has another song to listen to :-)

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Exercises for the reader:
Animal Shapes
How Can I Love You If You Won't Lie Down?
There Is A Place

Brilliant and Silly Bits of Belle and Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian... who are these people?! How do they manage to mix so many genres together, and why does the end result appeal to me so much!?! I can't even begin to list all the bands Belle & Sabastian remind me of, 60s rock, 70s easy listening, 80s synth rock, all mix with modern doses of indie fare, poppy hooks, and bubblegum. This is not a band to miss out on, even if your imagination isn't enticed by their bizarre blend of music, I think you'll be a better person for having listened to them.

Reviews:
Pitchforkmedia's Scott Plagenhoef - 7.5/10.0 ...Dear Catastrophe Waitress ranks as one of the most delightful surprises of the year, although that's primarily because I'd completely given up on them. [...] It's not at all what one might call a "return to form"; rather, it's a large step toward a new, more appealing direction than the band had otherwise been heading. At present, they're almost a new entity entirely...

What other bloggers have to say:
EJ at SceneStars.net offers some kind words and a stream of their latest album The Life Pursuit.

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Exercises for the reader:
Step Into My Office, Baby
Lord Anthony
Roy Walker

There are so many other gems on this album, the last song in particular "Stay Loose" is brilliant, the beginning of the song goes like this:

I was choking on a cornflake
You said “Have some toast instead”