Category: Uncategorized

lifted, or the story in the soil

‘Conor Oberst is a sad little boy. He carries his melancholy like a cross, hanging on hunched shoulders and a slouched back. Hands in pockets, thumbs out. It is a portrait he paints of himself throughout the record.

He succeeds in aligning himself with his audience to gain the empathy of all ?with no solution but to love and to be loved,? as he sings in the album?s second track, ?Method Acting.?

The most appropriate description of the Conor and crew is displayed in the following track, ?False Advertising? which is reminiscent of Jeff Buckley?s ?Hallelujah.?  In this song, Conor chimes in somewhere between whimper and wail with ?Onto a stage, I was pushed, with my sorrow well rehearsed. So give me all your pity and your money. Now.?

Undoubtedly, he suffers from a prodigious case of a Christ complex and is making a living off of it. Oh, the irony.

?Lifted? is the third Bright Eyes album on a linear path in which the distance between point A and point B is rather short. In addition, Conor lends his musical ingenious to a slew of projects, including the now defunct bands Commander Venus, Park Ave, as well as the still-touring Desaparecidos.

The lineup of Bright Eyes seems to change with each song penned. The band is fronted by Conor?s acoustic (and occasional electric) guitar and nasal voice which, at points, comes close to a young Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes). Somewhere in the background noise is a cast of well-over thirty characters, including two choirs (one country, one drunk) and an orchestra.

Although Bright Eyes invariably comes off as Conor?s project, it is the entire ensemble of musicians that gives credibility to the album. The songs are very well structured and each note on the album is intentionally planned out, whether it is tight, or it sounds like a mistake. The choirs and orchestra round out the album and give it a very full sound. The best examples of this are ?False Advertising,? the white-boy hip-hop ?Lover I Don?t Have to Love,? ?Laura Laurent,? and the country tune ?Make War.?

On the whole, this album is much better than most of the music produced in 2002. The lyrics may be written with one too many tears in Conor?s eyes but the music more then outweighs this negative. The positives reign supreme as an overall observation.

Regardless of what any critic has to say, though, in the album?s final track ?Let?s Not Shit Ourselves,? Conor points out ?I do not read the reviews. No, I am not singing for you.? Hmmm. What could prompt a statement like that from someone who does not care about critique? A musician spurned by the press?

Well, don?t worry, buddy, there?s nothing too harsh here. Consider this a proverbial pat on the back.

muted

‘Ambient music can be the cold, undead genre of the music world. For all the effort put into deciphering a drum machine and keyboards, it can be too technical, too soulless. There is an excessive amount of effort involved for a product that seems predestined to sound like the soundtrack to an intense drama or sci-fi show. As may often be the intent, the music comes off as spooky.

The possibility of coming across a talent who can get around that barrier is slim when you consider the percentage of people who have abandoned traditional instruments in hopes that a laptop or a turntable can be their redeeming musical tools. Unfortunately, not every titanium-Mac-G4-laptop-wielding kid has latent musical talent. It just means that person probably has or comes from more money than the rest of us. So heed this advice: go buy some records instead of making them.

After such a lengthy diatribe, Alias’ case seems doomed. Not necessarily. This is just too subjective a matter and too new of a genre to be reviewed by a person who would trade a hi-fi, well-produced CD for a worn-out cassette tape any day.

In Alias’ defense, there is something inherently intelligible in his music. Albeit abstract, the thought behind “Muted”‘s compositions is evident. The textures are arguably not basic progressions run through multiple filters until something novel was produced. There are strict blueprints for each song.

Alias grew up a drummer affected at an early age by hip hop music. Being from Maine, hip hop was most likely hard to come by, but he made the effort to find and study it. As a result, he has earned the respect of some of the finest beat-makers in the industry, including The Roots, with whom he has toured, and The Notwist, who’s helping hand was lent during the creation of this album.

“Muted” is an album that, regardless of personal taste, commands respect. If for nothing else, it would make a pretty kick-ass soundtrack to the TV shows “Alias” or “24.”rn

Getting pretty deep

‘When you think of female musicians who can rock out more than most modern male rock stars, what names come to mind? No, not the trendy wonders of the late ’90s such as Alanis Morrisette or Jewel or Fiona Apple. We are talking someone who has been around long enough to have proved themselves worthy of the title “Queen of Rock & Roll.” We are talking Tanya Donelly here.

Tanya began to make a name for herself when she was sixteen. She was co-founder of the breakthrough rock group, Throwing Muses, along with her half sister Kristen Hersh. She put together the Breeders with Kim Deal. She saw Belly through their beginnings with hits like “Feed the Tree” and “Now They’ll Sleep” until their until their well intentioned yet premature end a few years ago. Now she is on her own way down the road of rock stardom all by herself. She has taken on a backing band and decided it was time to focus solely on her songs in her first solo release “Lovesongs for Underdogs.”

“Lovesongs for Underdogs” is a well written compilation of songs as diverse as the musicians who play on it. Tanya remained in full creative control of the writing of this album by her choices of who she was going to bring in for what part. From my own personal opinion, Rich Gilbert (Human Sexual Response/Zulus/Concussion Ensemble) was the best possible addition to compliment Tanya Donelly’s sound. His guitar work is very innovative and he adds everything from accordions to saws to her songs. When it comes to live shows too, what more can you say than we are talking about Tanya Donelly here. The woman just rocks. There are no two ways about it. Yes, she can be soft and mellow and make you feel comfortable in a slow paced arpeggiated tune but her overall stage presence is commanding.

“Pretty Deep,” the first single off of the album is a good representation of the overall work. The pace of the song is somewhere in between hard rock and soothing, and all of the instruments blend well together. The best song on the album, though, is “Lantern.” This song is the hardest, most dissonant song on the album, but it does also have its calm parts to it. When played live, though, it is on a level all its own. There is so much that could be said about Tanya Donelly in her past, present, and future exploits that it is hard to cover all of it. In a recent interview with Tanya, I tried to fill in some gaps and be brought up to date on her musical (and personal) whereabouts.

ME: How is life without Belly? I am sure that you are constantly being reminded of them. Does it bother you that people constantly scream “Feed the Tree” and “Geppetto” a concerts?

TANYA: Well, I don’t know. They are some of my best friends, and are part of my life anyway. So, it is not as if I am trying to erase them. I just ignore people when they say things like that at the shows.

ME: On recording “Lovesongs for Underdogs” you brought in whoever you wanted, whenever you wanted them. How did you decide who was best for what song? How did you decide who you would take as your touring band?

TANYA: I just kind of knew. Especially where the drummers were concerned, I knew who I wanted. David Narcisso was always my first choice, but was in the Muses. So, when the Muses broke up, I asked him to come on tour with me. Dean bassist, Juliana Hatfield Three) is my husband, so that was an obvious decision. Rich has been a friend of mine for years. Elizabeth (keyboardist, Count Zero) and I met through a mutual acquaintance. She is actually a music teacher and has done a lot of studio recording. God, that woman is a professional. I do not think that she has ever made a mistake in her life.

ME: Did your marriage to Dean Fisher influence your decision to record with him and take him on tour with you? Does your personal life play into your song writing?

TANYA: Yes, it did. He left Juliana Hatfield around the same time that Belly broke up. At first, we were trying to avoid working with each other because we thought it was just so corny. Then, we kind of realized that it was ideal for us to be in that situation. My personal life does play into our music but I am able to separate the two fairly well. I get inspired by real life events that may happen (between us) and I will just take it from there and embellish, embellish, and embellish.

ME: Your live show is much more powerful and commanding than your CD. Is that on purpose? Why does the mix seem lower on an album in comparison to how you can explode in concert?

TANYA: I think that it is natural. It just happens. It is one of the struggles of my life. I feel like I have never been fairly represented on tape. I am proud of everything that I have done, but I have never really gotten in the studio what I get on the stage.

ME: Star was written mainly by you, and King was more of a collaboration. Is there any connection between this and how it is said that you began to stifle each other around this point in time?

TANYA: No, I think the collaboration worked out really well. I am specifically fond of a lot of the songs that we did together. It would have worked out great if we had our act together enough to record another album. Working with other people stretches me into a different voice. The words that may come out some times are not words that would have come out otherwise.

ME: Did you leave the Breeders after “POD” and “Safari” because Sire would not let you have creative control over more than one band?

TANYA: Originally, the plan was for Kim to write the first album and I was to write the second one. That was in the very early stages of the band. Sire would not let me do much. I had just left the Throwing Muses, and Kim was still in the Pixies. I wanted to work on the band full time, but it ended up just being a side project for a while, so I left.

ME: Do you still talk to Kristin Hersh at all? Have you ever considered a reunion of Throwing Muses, even for just a couple songs?

TANYA: Chemistry changes in a band. I also wanted to do songs that the Muses was not in the right format for. Kristin and I always said ‘it’s just a band.’ Our hard-core fans were devastated, but it is just a band. I would like to do something with Kristin. Unfortunately, the Muses broke up so a reunion is not too likely, though.

ME: Catherine Wheel? How did you end up doing a song with them?

TANYA: Rob Dickinson and I met a festival about a year before we did the record and we hit it off. They came over to Boston and we just did the song (“Judy Staring at the Sun”). I love the band. They are dolls.

ME: How are you inspired to write your songs? For example, “Lantern” shifts a lot. How do you go about putting these pieces together?

TANYA: Well, Lantern was actually much more complicated than it came out. It was like pulling teeth to keep parts of the song in there. It was like a rock opera at one point. I get bored easily. I like to listen to things that shift around a lot. I am always looking for something that surprises the listener.rnME: At the concert, you said that “Pretty Deep” was about the potential of finding a dead body. What is the story behind that?

TANYA: I had a conversation with a woman at a party. We talked about how strange it would be to find dead guy on the beach. I took it from there and embellished, as I do with most of my music. From there, it became about how the world is full of bad images and voyeurism.

first ep

‘This can’t be Mock Orange. Is it Mock Orange? No, it can’t be.

But it is.

How can it be? It sounds so much like Matthew Sweet. No, no, Mock Orange, say it ain’t so.

There’s clapping on the album. Damn. Well, at least there’s no cowbell or tambourine. Maybe it’s low and the mix and I’m in denial, though.

Ryan, buddy, what happened to your voice? Have you been watching too much TRL recently? Oh, and those heavily distorted solos, where did they come from and why did you put them there?

The guys in the band seem to be a group of really nice people, which makes digging into the album difficult. Singer Ryan Grisham even lets us know that he “is generally a nice guy,” on “Crash and Die,” the second song of the EP.

The quality of this release is curious because they are, in fact, proficient musicians. The band’s two full-length albums, “Sixes and Nines” and “The Record Play,” are great albums. They have a mid-’90s Texas is the Reason, Mineral, American Football-sort of sound to them. It’s pre-Casket Lottery math rock arpeggio progressions – and Grisham’s voice is appealing, though nasal. Now, it is just nasal.

Then again, if the theory put forth by Emogame.com is accurate, Mock Orange, as with all other good emo bands, is destined to put out slew of bad music from here on out. The third album is always the demise of a good emo band, according to Emogame.com.

Musically, the band is as tight as always. There is just less complexity for the band to be tight around.

According to Deaddroid Records, the songs on this EP “are going to change the face of modern indie-rock.” Fearfully, that change may just be another nail in the coffin.

So consider this a plea, guys, to stick with the formula that worked for the first two albums. Both records were highly worthy of praise.

The new full-length, which is done and should be out very soon, is said to follow the pattern of the “First EP” and all fans of this EP will love the album. So, if you are a fan of it, by all means, pick up a copy of the album when it comes out.

The rest of us that are left in the dust for now will just have to wait and hope that our wish for the Mock Orange we know and love will be back soon.

will work for diapers

‘Whoa. This is Jeff Ott? The guy from super-activist punk rock band Fifteen? No way. I can’t believe it.

Sure the cover looks like it belongs to him. His daughter is proudly portrayed with a gun in one hand and a flower in the other with a T-shirt that says “I’m a Full-Time Job.” That’s typical Ott.

What happens once you put the CD in is not. It’s, umm, what the Barenaked Ladies would sing if they played the School of America’s Watch at Fort Benning every year.

CD highlight: song title “911 Is Still A Joke.” Nice Public Enemy reference.

The messages of public service, justice and goodwill still serve as the inspiration for Ott’s songwriting. It’s a noble cause. The medium in which he chooses to convey those messages though are a bit questionable. At the very least, it’s different. It’ll have you reeling for a while, trying to digest it all.

the district sleeps alone tonight

‘From an artist’s perspective, the beauty of EPs and singles are that they provide limitless possibilities for remixes and other such toying around with pre-established songs. Pan vocals left, raise some ambient noise to a forefront level, add interesting harmonies to the chorus.

This process may be a bit more tedious for the listener. It can be hard to listen to a variety of versions of the same song. It depends on how much you enjoy the band or on how deep a level you listen to music. The avid fan can dissect the song into parts and enjoy it from a sheerly novel point of view. It gives a different insight into the creative mind at work. To the somewhat obsessive or overly analytical fans, this is an opportunity to deconstruct songs. It may even serve as an impetus to boot up your computer’s music software and to attempt your own remix.

To the casual listener, though, this is a completely different ballgame. Hearing the same song played two or more times in a row is nothing but a mistake. It’s as if the record’s skipping. It does not move forward until an entirely different song begins.

This makes remix records a hit-or-miss trap. It’s not the easiest way to hear a band for the first time. If you are a true fan of the band, though, the record becomes a playful rendition of your favorite tunes, just waiting to be split into cross sections.

That being said, the first three tracks on “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” are definitely the brightest of highlights from The Postal Service’s full length, “Give Up.” The remixes are slower and, yes, the beat is persistent. The beats have a dance feel to them but the tempo tells you not to bother getting out of your seat.

Add a fourth new track and some amazing artwork to the single and you’ve got a high-quality companion piece to “Give Up.” While “The District” shows a different side to The Postal Service, this does not stand on its own so much as it is an addendum to the full-length.

The only thing you need to decide before buying this is how big of a Postal Service fan and what kind of a music listener you are.

Don’t forget the face

‘Isaac Asimov once said, “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition in between that’s troublesome.”

The members of the Dismemberment Plan intend to prove him wrong.

As the Plan heads across the country on their last tour, after making the decision to break up in 2002, they are finding a release from pressure. Everything is going smoothly, and if it isn’t, there has been no mention otherwise.

“I think an element of creativity and focus that wasn’t there before is back now,” began lead singer Travis Morrison. “We were in a bit of a holding pattern, which is not why anyone joins a band. It’s been great to get the creative juices flowing again.”

The expectations have been washed away. From the way Morrison speaks, on this tour, the Dismemberment Plan is no longer a band but a collaboration of creative and amiable minds.

“We are not obsessed with a grand final statement, but as a band we reached a cogent decision to part ways,” said Morrison.

From beyond the grave, the Plan already has intentions to make their voices heard. In September, DeSoto Records will be releasing “A People’s History of the Dismemberment Plan.” This record will consist of sound files of previously released Plan songs. It is not a straight-up best-of compilation, though. These mp3 files have been downloaded from the Internet and remixed by both established musicians and fans interested in the idea of remixing songs. The Plan is an apparition, the fans the curious mediums, and the CD is the Ouija board.

The concept of posting files and having people interpret their songs started as a joke to the band. Once the files started pouring back in, though, Morrison admitted that the band was thoroughly blown away by how good some of the songs were. The covers were done in ways that they never could have anticipated and it reassured the band that the art of song covers was still alive.

“The history of covers has really taken a beating in the rock era. Once upon a time you didn’t get mocked for singing other people’s songs. There were interpretive artists and they were very creative. Then something happened and those people started getting viewed as idiots. It’s really melancholy because it takes away some of the magic of putting a spin on pre-established works. Most of the world’s most interesting art was created like that.”

This is not the only plan in the work either. Morrison refuses to become stagnant. In addition to “A People’s History,” he is working on a solo album, which is being produced by Death Cab for Cutie guitar guru Chris Walla. Walla was originally slated to produce the fifth Dismemberment Plan record, when it was still in the works. The solo album will also feature a few songs by Morrison that would’ve otherwise been Dismemberment Plan songs.

For a band that broke up nearly a year ago, they sure are being productive. You see, the Plan refuses to accept death as peaceful or the transition as troublesome. They intend on making both just as pleasant and active as life.

http://www.amiannoying.com

‘People are overly concerned with themselves and the Internet only enhances this obsession.

The purpose of the communication highway has quickly changed from a useful conduit of information to a narcissistic mirror where everyone can airbrush out their imperfections, spruce up their profiles, and show off these theoretical versions of themselves.

It’s sites like Hotornot.com that provide scraggly, shirtless teenagers with an excuse to photograph themselves with sucked-in guts and flexed muscles. Of course, every time I am in front of a camera, my ever-increasing guts gets sucked in as far as possible, too. It’s a natural human tendency. Everyone wants to look just a little bit better than they do at present, but there’s no reason to flaunt your photos all over them damn web.

For every action, there is a reaction, though. After Hotornot.com debuted, parody sites began popping up all over the place. Some of the more prominent but no longer in existence were sites like Gothornot.com and AmIageekornot.com. Other sites like www.fairvue.com/?feature=amiornot collect links to Hotornot.com parody sites.

There’s even a Monkey Hot or Not site. It can be located at www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0011/monkey.

The site that not only caught our attention but also held it was AmIAnnoying.com. Like the rest of the “Or Not” sites, it provides info, a photo, and a chance to rate how you feel about that person. It also tells you how the public at large has responded to the person in question.

The thing that sets this site apart from the rest is the fact that it is not only a bit cynical, but it is a good social critic. You don’t choose to have your profile up, they choose you.

The site picks on people currently in the spotlight and provides a slightly unbiased look at both sides of the issue before you choose whether you consider that person to be annoying or not.

Some of the recent additions to AmIAnnoying.com include Kobe Bryant, Lance Armstrong, and Goveg.com. It seems safe to say that anyone who has their name legally changed to a website address should be deemed annoying, no questions asked.

http://www.liquidgeneration.com

‘All right, there are a few things that need to be cleared up before this site can be enjoyed at its maximum potential.

First of all, Liquid Generation appears to be run by a few horny men who have a boob fetish. It’s as if the designers had a short attention span and occasionally veered oof from the main topic and into something either breast or sex related. Considering the statistics on how often straigh men think about sex, it’s not surprising…

Sorry, lost track of what I was saying.

Secondly, expect lots of long Flash introductions to anything you plan on doing at this site. There’s no obvious way to bypass the intros.

Now that these warnings are out in the open, we can say that Liquid Generation is a good way to kill time. And really, what is the purpose of the Internet if not to fill up the gaps between sleeping, sex and drinking?

LiquidGeneration.com is packed with games to play, movies to watch and pranks to pull. That’s right, pranks. Under the section titled “Sabotage,” there are different options that are most likely best viewed from home and then sent as links to friends at work. As an example, some of the “Sabotages” start off as normal games or movies and then the internet window expands, shouting out something porn related. What better way to seek revenge or prank someone is there? Just be careful not to also fall prey to this joke.

On their own, the different subsections of this site would not be able to stand alone. Grouped together, though, LG offers to help waste away entire afternoons at a time. You can watch their version of the news, read their blogs, take their quizzes, or even watch trailers to new movie releases.

One subsection of the site even asks the age-old adolescent question of “Who would you rather…?” You can pick from a variety of groups including, celebrity siblings, Hanna-Barbera cartoons or 80’s hair bands.

Axl Rose or Sebastian Bach? You make the call.