- joiezabel in Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head it really is brilliant, scott. i hate you.
- hotshotrobot in Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head Goddammit, Borch, now how am i supposed to review this? I can’t top that!
- Borch in The Avett Brothers - House of Blues - May 14th Good Lord, that’s a beautiful song! The Avett Bros. were in Chicago? Why wasn’t I notified?!
Having read Zak’s review of this album in which he compares it to a smoking hot Swedish girl, I listened to this album half-expecting it to sound like Roxette, perhaps performing their never-released album of Strokes covers. Do I have a tendency to interpret metaphors literally? Maybe. *insert shifty eyes here*
Anyway, it doesn’t sound like that at all, but it does give me a chance to talk about the difference between a very good album and a great album, which is pretty much why — aside from the fact that I promised Joie that I would — I’m writing a review of an album that’s already received a review on this site. Make no mistake, Wincing the Night Away is a very good album, the kind that might show up on 2007’s year-end list, depending on how stiff the competition is. It is not, however, a great album.
Listening to the album for the first time, I was struck by how strongly I felt like I had heard every song somewhere before. This is not a compliment. “Australia?” That one sounds kind of like an old Smiths B-side, probably from when they were going through their weird Meat Is Murder phase. “Black Wave?” I think that was one that Radiohead got about halfway through writing before they decided they already had better songs for OK Computer. “Sea Legs” and “Turn on Me” could have shown up on any late-90s Britpop album without raising any eyebrows — I’m thinking Blur and Oasis, respectively, are the best fits. “Pam Berry?” Okay, that one doesn’t sound like anything. They can have that one, all 56 seconds of it.
Now, these are pretty solid touchstones, and The Shins execute each one about as well as anyone could have hoped for — the songwriting is well above average. That’s very good. It’s enough to make them pleasant, even a joy to listen to. If I didn’t already have an advance copy of this thing, it would probably be enough to make me buy it. But it’s difficult to be truly, greatly memorable when you remind your listeners of other people instead of yourself, even when those other people are tremendously talented musicians. I listen to this album and thing, “Wow, The Shins really do this kind of thing well.” I don’t listen to it and think, “Wow, The Shins, they’re really full of ideas, and they’ve got a lot to say.”
Now, every album doesn’t need to change the world. (For that matter, every album can’t change the world. Superlatives lose their meaning if they’re applied to everything.) I recommend that you listen to it, buy it, share it with your friends. But I can’t help feeling faintly disappointed, because I think The Shins have it in them to be great — but instead, they’re just very good.
Release date: Jan. 23, 2007
Rating: 8/10. Very good, but not great.
The next participant in the shiny new 5 Questions series is Sal, the self-described ”egotistical lead singer & bassist” for Chicago rock band The Goldstars. His 4-piece garage-rock band includes former and current members of the Krinkles, New Duncan Imperials and Poi Dog Pondering. They just released their second full-length album Purple Girlfriend, available for sale on the Goldstars myspace page. Going by the photos on their website, they put out quite the live show as well…Sal’s antics on stage are legendary in certain circles.
1. When historians listen to your most recent CD 1000 years from now, what will they say?
“They would definitely say “WOW, these guys are WAY ahead of their time!” Ok, just kidding. Probably more like, “ereik! jkxie cdiekwor diek! Translation: “Holy shit! I can’t believe rock bands today are still playing the same old rock-riffs from 1000 years ago!?!”
2. If you could play a show with any band/musician living or dead, who would you pick and why?
“I’d love to open for Insane Clown Posse, have all the juggalos boo, spit & throw shit at us, then come back out during their encore wearing all the shoes, shirts, hats & crap they whipped at us during our set and help them sing “Pass Me By”. Why? Man, I’ve got some serious self-deprecating issues.”
3. What is the strangest band-related dream you have had?
“I have a re-occurring dream about somehow pissing off one of my band mates (Dag, Skipper or Goodtime) and them wanting to kill me. I then anxiously worry about them hurting me really bad like knocking my block off or something (I’m a big puss). I usually have to kiss their ass or lie to make things better. This dream coincidently has come true.”
4. What do your fans look like?
“Usually M.I.L.F.s in their mid-late 30s with pretty-big tits (Hi Holly!).”
5. What bullshit do you run into at most every show that makes you think “man, this bullshit again?”
“Wow, what a loaded question! Man, I could go on for hours and hours about my sad-sack tales of rock ‘bullshit’, but why bore your readers to tears? Just please keep in mind that most entertainers/musicians out there (like myself) don’t HAVE to be in a band. I wasn’t chosen by Satan to do this, it’s totally my choice. But hey, who doesn’t love to bitch and moan, right?
Bonus question: why won’t you forget to tip your bartender?
“Hey, I’m a lot of things but I ain’t no bloody hypocrite…ever hear, “…and please don’t forget to tip your waiters and waitresses!? “
When I was a sophomore in high school, a Swedish foreign exchange student moved to town and immediately joined my class. This girl arrived completely unexpectedly, caught a few peoples’ attention and was generally very affable, but nobody knew exactly what to expect from her – I mean c’mon…she was foreign. Well, the Shins are exactly like that Swedish girl.
When the Shins broke onto the scene with Oh, Inverted World, they caught a few of the more observant peoples’ attention, just like my foreign exchange student. They were well-liked by pretty much anyone who did happen to hear them, but nobody knew just what they were up to…a decent start for a little-known band.
Junior year, my little foreign exchange girl was rolling along - ‘in the groove’ you might say. She was accepted as just another girl, far from a social pariah, but hardly the prom queen. Nobody really thought bad of her and the most positive thing you ever heard anyone say was, “She’s definitely got something about her.†That was until she went to prom with the jackass captain of the football team. All I’ll say about that night is that my little Swedish girl went into the date innocent and came out a steaming heap of damaged goods.
The Shins popped out Chutes Too Narrow and everyone felt great. The band had followed-up on a solid first album with more of the same. People liked that. They had hardly “hit it bigâ€, but they had their fair share of devoted fans. That is until jackass Zach Braff came along with his wannabe indie flick and ruined it all. All I’ll say about Garden State is that the Shins went into the film a viable under-the-radar band and came out a commercially raped pile of “Hey, you mean the guys from Garden State?†Damn Zach Braff, damn anyone who doesn’t damn Zach Braff, and damn anyone who doesn’t stay up all night damning Zach Braff.
Senior year rolled around and you would think my sweet little damaged Swedish girl would have shrunk into the bowels of high school society. Or maybe even packed up her bags and sailed back to BF, Sweden. Hell no. Girl had gumption. Girl had grit. Girl came back full-blown hottie. A nice big “up yours†to the entire football team.
Enter the Shins’ third album, Wincing the Night Away (dropping january 23, 2007). I consider this to be the full-blown Swedish hottie of Shins albums. I’ve already had people liken songs on this album to both seeing a long-lost friend and falling in love. Funny, because when I talked to Jimmy Mercer he told me the album was all about running over squirrels in his 1988 Mercury Tracer and playing Parcheesi with illegitimate Estonian children. I kid, i kid.
The albums kicks-off with “Sleeping Lessons,” a dreamily bouncing, turned straight-ahead rocking song that’s one of the few in the world that makes me actually want to watch the ridiculous visualizations of Windows Media Player. This makes way for “Australia,” which ironically sounds like it opens with some sort of German jibber-jabber, but is actually just those wacky Shins being zany. I’m still going to pretend it’s Germans mumbling – those damn krauts never enunciate. ANYWAYS, the song’s quite the playful little tune, but that betrays the lyrics calling out an unrequited something or other: “You’d be damned to be one of us, girl/Faced with a dodo’s conundrum/Ah, I felt like I could just fly/But nothing’ll happen every time I try.” Well put, James.
The middle portion of Wincing the Night Away is undeniably solid and up to and beyond your usual Shins sounds, which definitely says something. Whereas the Shins’ first two albums had a slightly cold feel, this album warms up to you like a toilet seat that was in use mere moments before you graced it with your own best side. This is no clearer to me than on the closing track, “A Comet Appears,” a slowed-down acoustic gem. It’s classic Shins in the best kind of way. Again, the lyrics betray that warmth, but who the hell wants to hear people sing about gumdrop dreams anyways.
And there it is, the best album in an already solid Shins discography – the full blown hottie. People tried to stunt their growth; tried to stop their upward climb; tried to pull them down into the infinite abyss, but the Shins were having none of it. Up yours, Zach Braff.
Noise music is not for everyone. Noise music that sounds like an army of blood-thirsty sewer rats screaming and fighting over the mangled stump of your firstborn’s leg while a homeless guy vomits uncontrollably into a flaming trashcan nearby is definitely not for everyone. But if that’s the type of noise that gets you going, then Wolf Eyes is your new favorite band.
Their fifth studio release, Human Animal, picks up right where 2004’s Burned Mind left off - in a claustrophobic hell hole, soundtracking your worst nightmares, essentially. Wolf Eyes scares the crap out of me. And I love it.
Noise is still such a misunderstood and under-rated genre of music. How does one measure the success of a noise record? I’ve always struggled with this, so I base my assessment of a noise record on two very important questions: 1) does the noise sound as though it were carefully orchestrated and planned, or is it just diarrhea of the laptop? 2) is the noise obnoxiously loud, disturbing, new and/or different from anything I’ve heard previously?
Wolf Eyes’ new album receives a resounding ‘yes’ to both questions, so I know this is quality stuff. But quality does not mean that this is a record you should take out of its sleeve and jam on a sunny Sunday morning (unless you’ve been up all night). It should be reserved for times when you want to be blown away in a very harsh and frightening way, and those days just don’t come very often. You wouldn’t want to have a terrible nightmare every night, would you? Listening to Wolf Eyes on a daily basis is the equivalent to that. With teeth.
The album rises to a slow crescendo of terror. Each track is like a scenario that you have to battle through in order to reach the final, culminating track, “The Driller.” If you are brave enough to live “A Million Years” so that you can wade through the “Lake of Roaches,” if you can survive the “Rationed Riot” and face the “Human Animal,” if you can withstand the “Rusted Mange” and then go on to do battle in the “Leper War” - if you can do all of that then I applaud you. Because this isn’t easy listening, people.
The songs are omnipotent, atmospheric and just plain scary enough to create their own reality around you, and it’s your job to make it through. Sonically, you’re in for a treat. There’s more talent in this band than anyone knows what to do with. Many would say this is not “talent” at all. But noise music is underground. It’s a sub-sub-culture, way off any sane person’s radar. It’s an art, and therefore it is a craft. It takes talent to do it right. Make no mistake - there is badly made noise music out there. But it’s not on this record. Wolf Eyes owns this genre, but take them in small doses. For your own sanity.
Release date: September 26, 2006
Record Label: Subpop
Rating: 7/10
holy crap! the czars (<3 <3 <3) have announced tour dates for early 2007. i will be at as many of these shows as i possible can...their 2002 album the ugly people vs. the beautiful people has a coveted place on the list of joie’s 10 favourite albums of all time. john grant’s voice is like a razorblade wrapped in unsweetened whipped cream…listen and don’t miss the show if it comes to your town. or if you miss it, at least don’t tell me. i thought we were friends.
2/16/06 Providence, RIÂ AS220Â
2/17/06 Syracuse, NYÂ The 855Â
2/18/06 Burlington, VTÂ 242 MainÂ
2/19/06 Cambridge, MAÂ TT The Bear’sÂ
2/20/06 New York, NYÂ The DelanceyÂ
2/21/06 Washington, DCÂ DC9Â
2/22/06 Chapel Hill, NCÂ Local 506Â
2/23/06 Charlottesville Twisted Branch Tea BazaarÂ
2/27/06 New York, NYÂ The DelanceyÂ
3/2/06 Kalamazoo, MIÂ Kraftbrau Brewery (postponed)Â
3/3/06 Lansing, MI Mac’s Bar (with Saturday Looks Good To Me)Â
3/5/06 Newport, KYÂ Southgate HouseÂ
3/6/06 Columbus, OH High Five Club (with Mi & L’au)Â
3/7/06 Indianapolis, INÂ Indy HostelÂ
3/8/06 Chicago, ILÂ Empty Bottle (with Ester Drang & The Minus Story)Â
3/9/06 Champaign, ILÂ Cowboy MonkeyÂ
3/10/06 Madison, WIÂ King ClubÂ
3/11/06 Des Moines, IAÂ Vaudeville MewsÂ
3/12/06 Lawrence, KS Lawrence, KS at Tap Room (with Ghosty) 3/14/06 Houston, TX Walter’s On Washington (with Asobi Seksu)Â
3/15/06 Austin, TX SXSW World’s Fair Showcase (with The Flaming Lips, Midlake)Â
3/17/06 Austin, TXÂ SXSW Urban Pollution/Austin Mopeds/Progress Coffee day Party (with Say Hi To Your Mom, The Mendozas Line, Zykos and more)Â
3/19/06 Norman, OKÂ Opolis (with Kiss Me Deadly)Â
3/20/06 Columbia, MOÂ Mojo’sÂ
3/22/06 Pittsburg, PAÂ Garfield ArtworksÂ
4/9/06 Denton, TXÂ Wall Of Sound Festival (with Okkervil River, Starlight Mints, Low, David Bazan, and more)Â
4/23/06 New York, NY Joes PubÂ
Today’s participant in the new 5 question series is Pennsylvania’s Safari So Good. Here’s what I know about them so far: They’re kinda emo-y (mp3’s available for download at the link so check ‘em out for yourself). They have a song cleverly entitled “Tom Cruise Control.” They sound more like Jimmy Eat World than Jimmy Eat World does.  And they are obviously men of few words.
1. When historians listen to your most recent CD 1000 years from now, what will they say?
“It’s hard to believe that the best free form latin jazz/polka fusion band of the 21st century started out like this.”
2. If you could play a show with any band/musician living or dead, who would you pick and why?
“Texas Is The Reason.”
3. What is the strangest band-related dream (one of) you have had?
“I think it involved all the whole band sumo wrestling “Queen” on MXC that show on Spike. We of course won.”
4. What do your fans look like?
“All super hot. Like the kind of hot that you’re like “I dunno if I can play tonight cause there are so many fly hotties in the crowd”. Then you start sweating, and your knees shake, it’s really quite unnerving.”
5. What bullshit do you run into at most every show that makes you think “Man, this bullshit again?”
“Waiting around… being in a band is 10% doing fun stuff, and 90% waiting around to do the 10% of stuff.”
Bonus question: Why won’t you forget to tip your bartender?
“Because our guitarist is a bartender so we would all get our rears whipped if we didn’t tip well.”
