Seeing Ron Sexsmith live and listening to him on record is a very different experience. In person, the intent of Sexsmith’s music shines clearly. On record, more often than not, the power of Sexsmith’s songwriting fails to be established due to spotty production. His last effort, 2006’s Time Being, was different though. That album found Sexsmith working again with producer Mitchell Froom, who many have cited as a perfect match for his music. I am not familiar with Sexsmith’s early work with Froom, but I was certainly impressed with Time Being and felt that it contained many of Sexsmith’s best compositions to date. Unfortunately, Froom is nowhere to be found on Exile Strategy Of The Soul, Sexsmith’s tenth full length release, an album that doesn’t utilize his strengths.
Exit Strategy, was produced by Martin Terefe, who also worked with Sexsmith on 2002’s Cobblestone Runway. I wasn’t fond of the production on that album either. The production on Exit Strategy is too hollow and so is the horn section that appears on many of the tracks. It just feels like a bad match for Sexsmith’s songwriting. It would be unfair to place full blame on production though. There are superb moments on Exit Strategy, but it simply isn’t Sexsmith’s strongest collection of songs, especially in comparison to Time Being. Notable exceptions include “Ghost Of A Chance” and the utterly perfect “Brandy Alexander,” which was co-written with Feist. There are just too many songs that lack the emotional impression that Sexsmith is capable of making. The album does begin and end beautifully with “Spiritude” and “Dawn Anna,” two tracks that are essentially instrumental. If only everything inbetween worked as well.
It is hard to write about The New Year without referencing Bedhead, the band that Matt & Bubba Kadane fronted from 1992 to 1998. There is no reason to skirt the topic though. Bedhead were a brilliant band and many of their trademarks are still present in The New Year’s music. The New Year are no slouches though. Their last album, 2004’s The End Is Near, was among the Kadane’s best, thus setting a high bar for their new self titled effort. The New Year finds the Kadane’s building heavily on the piano flourishes of its predecessor. Although it doesn’t pack as many punches as that album, it should be no surprise that The New Year is another consistent entry in the Kadane’s catalogue.
The Kadane’s are notorious for long instrumental sections followed by brief moments of poignant lyrical insight. Guided by the steady drumming of Chris Brokaw (Codeine, Come), “Folios” begins the album in this fashion. This track is followed by “The Company I Can Get,” the album’s first single and one of its best moments. “The Company I Can Get” is as accessible and compact as the Kadane’s have ever been, but it works remarkably well. If there is one song that sticks out in a negative light, it has to be “The Door Opens.” Not to split hairs, but it is simply too repetitive and I’m not a big fan of the the intro. “MMV” ends the first half of the album and is one of several tracks to focus heavily on the piano.
I was a bit underwhelmed by this stripped down approach at first, but it definitely succeeds in helping to establish the album’s mood. “Body And Soul” and “My Neighborhood,” two similar tracks, are even more effective and show that the Kadane’s can do more than lead a guitar assault. The album ends with “The Idea Of You,” a perfect closer that releases the tension of the previous nine songs. When the words “It’s not that I’m dying to be younger” are uttered, you’ll realize that The New Year is a logical extension to The End Is Near and a fine one at that. There’s more piano, but the themes of nostalgia and regret are still intact, as are the sonic fingerprints that the Kadane’s have been building on for the last sixteen years.
The New Year are on tour this fall and will be at DC9 on October 21st.
Soft Airplane begins with two of Chad VanGaalen’s finest compositions to date, but only serve as a precursor for the surprises that his third full length packs. “Willow Tree” perfects the intimate folk that VanGaalen has tinkered with on his previous releases. The song segues immediately into “Bones Of Man,” a mid-tempo rocker that adds more fuel to the frequent Neil Young comparisons that are tossed VanGaalen’s way. The first five songs on the album visit familiar, yet refined territory for VanGaalen. It isn’t until Soft Airplane arrives at “Phantom Anthills” that he decides to throw a true curveball.
The electronic blips of “Phantom Anthills” represent the beginning of VanGaalen’s most experimental song cycle to date. There are softer moments scattered around (the haunting “Molten Light” and the forgettable Destroyer-esque “City Of Electric Light”), but the second half of Soft Airplane is anything but quiet. “TMNT Mask” is a such a trip that any attempt at a description would fall short. However, I can reveal to you that TMNT does equal Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles, in case you were wondering. These sonic explorations climax with “Frozen Energon,” a closing instrumental that would make Thurston Moore grin proudly.
Despite how much the album jumps around, VanGaalen retains a high level of consistency. His previous effort, 2006’s Skelliconnection, had some trouble with this. When I interviewed VanGaalen prior to that album’s release, he admitted to me that he had a great deal of trouble sequencing it. I am curious to know if he encountered similar issues with the adventurous Soft Airplane. Regardless, it does a much better job of balancing his singer/songwriter and experimental tendencies. VanGaalen continues to prove that he is one of Sub Pop’s most dynamic artists and Soft Airplane is only further confirmation.
Tour
9/21/08 - New York, NY - Blender Theatre @ Gramercy (with Giant Sand)
10/2/08 - Ottawa, Ontario - Zaphod Beeblebrox (with Women)
10/3/08 - Montreal, Quebec - Ukrainian Federation (with Women and Julie Doiron)
10/4/08 - Toronto, Ontario - The Mod Club (with Women)
10/9/08 - Vancouver, BC - Richards on Richards
10/10/08 - Victoria, BC - Sugar Nightclub
10/11/08 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge (with Giant Sand)
10/12/08 - Seattle, WA - Triple Door (with Giant Sand)
10/17/08 - Edmonton - McDougall United Church (WCMA CBCRadio3 showcase)
10/25/08 - Calgary - The Uptown Stage
Lackthereof is comprised of Danny Seim, the drummer of Portland’s fantastic Menomena. The natural reaction would be to assume that Lackthereof is a side project for Seim, but that wasn’t initially the case. Seim began making music under the Lackthereof tag in 1997, three years before Menomena formed. Seim independently released six Lackthereof albums before signing with Menomena’s old label, FILMguerrero. Two more Lackthereof albums would follow before Seim, like Menomena did with 2007’s Friend And Foe, would make the transition to Barsuk Records. His first release for the label and ninth overall is Your Anchor.
In comparison to Menomena’s output, Your Anchor is obviously more straightforward, yet fans of Seim’s other band should enjoy what he has done here. Seim composed and performed Your Anchor entirely on his own and this personal approach is evident. The songs are never too muscular or too skeletal, opting instead for a melodic, mellow sound that lies somewhere in-between. Seim’s vocals have a cool sense of self-consciousness about them. Sometimes his lackadaisical approach dulls down the music, but it fits perfectly on tracks like “Fake Empire,” Seim’s beautiful, hazy take on a song from The National’s Boxer album.
Many listeners will be immediately drawn to “Last November,” the song that probably sounds most like Menomena. While I believe this is a great song and a fitting single if it were chosen as such, my favorite track is actually “Chest Pass,” a song that sums up everything Seim tries to accomplish with Your Anchor. It echoes the hazy vibe that I hinted at earlier while discussing Seim’s version of “Fake Empire.” In fact, much of Your Anchor sounds like the result of numerous 3 A.M. experiments, which is really part of its charm. Some of the late night diversions on Your Anchor aren’t fully realized, but the album shows that Seim is fully capable of running his own outfit. More importantly, it indicates just how much of a vital part of Menomena’s success he truly is.
Paul Westerberg hasn’t released a new album since 2004’s uneven Folker. He hasn’t released new material since contributing a handful of songs to 2006’s soundtrack to the animated film Open Season. Despite this, 2008 has been good to Westerberg fans. In April, The Replacements’ Twin/Tone catalogue was reissued and expanded by Rhino. Last week, it was revealed that Rhino will drop reissues of the Mats’ four major label efforts for Sire on September 23rd. Over the weekend, Westerberg fans received an unexpected surprise that skyrocketed their 2008 from good to great.
As detailed in-depth by Billboard, Paul Westerberg has released a new album digitally on Amazon.com and TuneCore (for non-U.S. listeners). The album is called 49:00 (It is only 43:55 in length though) and it has two twists. The first is that costs $0.49 and the second is that it is a glorious mess contained within a single MP3 file. Westerberg’s manager Darren Hill told Billboard, “He finished it on Monday, sent it to me on Tuesday and it was out this weekend. It’s just wonderful that you can actually do this. The freedom an artist can enjoy these days is fantastic. Can you imagine me pitching this idea to a label?” This is Westerberg on an unrestricted level, ignoring every rule and thriving because of it.
The album does not come with a tracklisting and many of the songs fade in and out of each other or overlap. On albums that skip around or are delivered in a fast pace, reviewers often use an analogy that liken the music to an artist switching stations on a radio. I can’t think of a better analogy to describe 49:00. It even contains a cathartic mash-up of classic rock covers near the end. 49:00 sounds like classic Westerberg, but he comes off as so much more comfortable in this situation where he has decided that the rules simply do not apply. To say the least, it takes Folker to the woodshed. This is the most fun I’ve had as a Westerberg fan in quite some time.
Exit Strategy, was produced by Martin Terefe, who also worked with Sexsmith on 2002’s Cobblestone Runway. I wasn’t fond of the production on that album either. The production on Exit Strategy is too hollow and so is the horn section that appears on many of the tracks. It just feels like a bad match for Sexsmith’s songwriting. It would be unfair to place full blame on production though. There are superb moments on Exit Strategy, but it simply isn’t Sexsmith’s strongest collection of songs, especially in comparison to Time Being. Notable exceptions include “Ghost Of A Chance” and the utterly perfect “Brandy Alexander,” which was co-written with Feist. There are just too many songs that lack the emotional impression that Sexsmith is capable of making. The album does begin and end beautifully with “Spiritude” and “Dawn Anna,” two tracks that are essentially instrumental. If only everything inbetween worked as well.
The Kadane’s are notorious for long instrumental sections followed by brief moments of poignant lyrical insight. Guided by the steady drumming of Chris Brokaw (Codeine, Come), “Folios” begins the album in this fashion. This track is followed by “The Company I Can Get,” the album’s first single and one of its best moments. “The Company I Can Get” is as accessible and compact as the Kadane’s have ever been, but it works remarkably well. If there is one song that sticks out in a negative light, it has to be “The Door Opens.” Not to split hairs, but it is simply too repetitive and I’m not a big fan of the the intro. “MMV” ends the first half of the album and is one of several tracks to focus heavily on the piano.
The electronic blips of “Phantom Anthills” represent the beginning of VanGaalen’s most experimental song cycle to date. There are softer moments scattered around (the haunting “Molten Light” and the forgettable Destroyer-esque “City Of Electric Light”), but the second half of Soft Airplane is anything but quiet. “TMNT Mask” is a such a trip that any attempt at a description would fall short. However, I can reveal to you that TMNT does equal Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles, in case you were wondering. These sonic explorations climax with “Frozen Energon,” a closing instrumental that would make Thurston Moore grin proudly.
In comparison to Menomena’s output, Your Anchor is obviously more straightforward, yet fans of Seim’s other band should enjoy what he has done here. Seim composed and performed Your Anchor entirely on his own and this personal approach is evident. The songs are never too muscular or too skeletal, opting instead for a melodic, mellow sound that lies somewhere in-between. Seim’s vocals have a cool sense of self-consciousness about them. Sometimes his lackadaisical approach dulls down the music, but it fits perfectly on tracks like “Fake Empire,” Seim’s beautiful, hazy take on a song from The National’s Boxer album.
As detailed in-depth by 