The Duke Spirit
Neptune
February 4th 2008
Shangri-La
This British five-piece has influences from all over the place, but their special spark endows their music with a sort of badass fascism. The Duke Spirit’s Neptune is tinged with retro late 80’s/early 90′s British invasion guitar riffs and is speckled with the occasional My Bloody Valentine noise wall and Jesus and Mary Chain backbeat. Even so, their subtle homage does nothing to discount their definition amongst the myriad of chick fronted car wrecks that have plagued so-called indie rock bands for a while now. First off Liela Moss’ voice has a seductive working class quality. She sings about love and loss with equal commitment. But this ain’t no one lady show. The fuzz bass and crunchy guitar make their style incredibly voluminous, cradling Moss’ words. Each part does not compete with the other. The strong personalities within the band do not self destruct.
“When nothing’s fluid, you drink yourself through it”
The solidarity in purpose that The Duke Spirit displays is however tempered and relegated by their inability to transgress multiple contexts. I can’t complain, but what else are they good for besides a good time? At times Liela Moss sounds like Sheila Nicholls with thigh-highs and a neat whiskey. Fortunately, even with all the abundant emotion, The Duke Spirit never attempts to be deeper than an afterthought. Neptune describes a life where two weeks is a million years and problems last only as long as you are consciously able to think them through. This band has toured relentlessly and certainly deserves attention. The Duke Spirit might however be doomed to burn out before they fade away or even worse to transform from an exciting fascination to that drunken bitch that never leaves you alone. But I’ll love them for now.
Other Music
Darling You’re Mean EP- 2003
Roll, Spirit, Roll EP- 2003
Relieve the Distressed EP- 2005
Cuts Across the Land- 2005
Covered in Love EP- 2006
Ex-Voto EP- 2007
Tour
May 7th 2008 @ Conan O’Brien- New York, NY
May 8th 2008 @ Crystal Ballroom- Portland, Oregon
May 10th 2008 @ The Troubadour- Los Angeles More Dates on Myspace
Head of Femur
Great Plains
March 25th 2008
Greyday Records
Beyond the band’s weirdness and artsy veneer, Head of Femur has a core spirit that has captured the imagination of thousands. The journey they have undertaken, from inception to contemporary form, underscores their unique and enduring qualities. Their narrative is a sort of mythos, inspirational in its own way, yet filled with difficult challenges. Great Plains, more than any other record in their catalog, portrays Head of Femur as the pioneers they are. With it they continue their uncompromised ethos, but over the last two years they have had the time to reflect on their situation and the willingness to move forward, adjust and absorb events that ultimately shaped the band’s present incarnation.
Since the release of Hysterical Stars in 2005, the boys of Head of Femur have taken it upon themselves to rework their operation. The mid-section of this decade saw great things for the band. They christened the first ever Intonation Festival and traveled across the country in support of Hysterical Stars. Head of Femur received favorable reviews from tastemakers such as Pitchfork for Ringodom or Proctor and Hysterical Stars. They released the EP Leader and the Falcon in October of 2007, the same month that they had a great showing at the CMJ Music Marathon. Expectations for their subsequent release were high.
Between 2005 and 2007 founding member Ben Armstrong (hear, hear!) and keyboardist Tyson Thurston left the band for other pursuits. Each contributed to Head of Femur’s newest release and remains part of the Head of Femur family. Colby Starck now attends to the bands percussive needs and Eathan Janney has transitioned perfectly on keys. As anyone who has witnessed will attest, their live show is not to be missed. They have been touring for the better part of two years with material that is featured on their Leader and the Falcon EP and their newest record Great Plains.
It is not that a revolving roster of musicians is new to Head of Femur. That has been the norm since the bands beginning. In fact that has been one of the defining characteristics of the band whose extended musical family numbers well over a dozen. Head of Femur has scaled down the magnitude of instrumentation with Great Plains. Some have said, “Head of Femur‘s Great Plains sheds the excessive glory of past efforts and focuses on immediate melodies.” But this line does not aptly describe the transition the band has undergone. The style and fashion that the band projects can at times be eccentric and schizophrenic, but that is not the monolith by which they should be defined.
To call their music excessive rebuts the very movement that their prior records sought to establish. As much as minimalist 3 piece rock bands have become standard fodder for music halls everywhere, Head of Femur has asserted their belief that composition and orchestration have a place as well. They have reduced their instrumentation, resulting in more manageable live shows, but do not think for a second that they have resigned only to what is immediate, forsaking their multitude of multi-phonic, multilayered, tempo driven textures.
Mike Elsener impressively sings lead on Jetway Junior and Where’s the Fire, two of his best vocal tracks ever. Covered Wagons is one of the finest crafted songs of the season. Between it and Isn’t It a Shame, Head of Femur has definitively asserted themselves as serious song writers. Their oddness does not corrupt their talent. The narrative that the band presents in their music reflects their adventures from Omaha and Lincoln Nebraska, to the neighborhoods of Chicago, where they are not simply transplants, but are ingrained into the art and music scenes.
This Message reminds me of Chicago and my Midwestern experience. The track will never get old and is among the best they have ever written. While it doesn’t quite capture the intensity of their live show, the looped riff from Napoleon’s Boots is phenomenal. Elsener’s chops are appropriately featured on this record. Song after song presents a band that knows exactly how they want to sound; they are not confused about the aesthetic they emit. However, they seem to be unaware of their greatness. If a criticism could be leveled against them, it would be that they should tour ceaselessly. Head of Femur‘s music is endearing and crisp on record, but their music is infectious and consuming live. Come see Brooklyn bitches!
Other Music
Ringodom or Proctor- 2003
Do The Tavern and Other Tall Tales iTunes EP- 2005
Hysterical Stars-2005
Leader and the Falcon EP- 2007
On Tour
April 11th 8:00PM @ Shubas- Chicago
May 15th 10:15PM @ Uptown- Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 17th 8:00PM @ Busted Lift- Dubuque, Iowa
May 18th 6:00PM @ Iowa City Yacht Club- Iowa City, Iowa
May 19th 10:00PM @ Box Awesome- Lincoln, Nebraska
May 20th 11:00PM @ The Waiting Room- Omaha, Nebraska
After a decade-long hiatus, Portishead will release their third record in late April. I was very glad to have had the chance to listen to their new material. At first I wasn’t won over. I went back and listened to 1994’s Dummy and 1997’s self-titled release to contrast where this band has come from with where they are going. It occurred to me that when everyone was listing to Portishead in the States back in 96-97, the band bridged many genres. Their fan base was rooted in so called trip-hop, but had cross-overs from house, goth-industrial, psychedelia, hip-hop, fem-rock, and of course the precocious indie-kid prototypes. You had Alanis Morissette lovers coolly bobbing their head to the beat while standing next to dudes named Wraith with eyeliner and facial tattoos. Portishead had cast a wide net when attracting fans.
When speaking of Portishead, suits working in Manhattan have exclaimed, “Ah yeah, I remember them. I love them.” When listening to their new genre bending concoction Third, remember their predicament in reclaiming an audience. Fond memories aside, can Portishead produce anything relevant to reverse their fans’ genre dispersal or attract new listeners who may not have been around for their first two records? Portishead has answered with a resounding yes.
Third opens with a series of tracks that remind us of their dark experimental heritage. Silence, Hunter, and Nylon Smile are in the best sense traditional Portishead, albeit without the emphasized vinyl mixing. No where on this record will you find the turntable scratching of Western Eyes or Only You. Clearly Portishead is not trying to recapture elements of their past. The lyrics are depressed and relaxed, sexy and sad, and in true form this relaxation is not brought on by contentment or happiness, rather it sounds opiate induced. It conjures the image of a dim room with the yellow haze of a poppy parlor. Hunter would be a great song to accompany the opening credits of a modern 007 film.
Rip begins the next series of songs on the record that emphatically asserts Portishead’s attention to modern music trends. A simple acoustic guitar track transforms and builds into a song layered by Nintendo quality synthetic melodies and a straightforward beat. Plastic follows, reintroducing their DJ aspect, but with a decidedly electronic component. The beat and melody line from We Carry On oddly enough seems like something right out of Trent Reznor’s library. Not to suggest that they have become derivative or unoriginal. Conversely, this only highlights the changes in texture and instrumentation that Portishead have made. The series ends with a beautiful track called Deep Water that lasts all of 1:39. It is the musical antithesis of what has come to be expected from Portishead, yet it strongly maintains their aura with the sensuous voice of Beth Gibbons, a ukulele, and the faint backup vocals that hum like a distant steam engine whistle.
Portishead has made an exceptional record that is unconstrained. Earlier records attracted a large following utilizing a relatively consistent and unique formula. Portishead was Portishead. As mentioned earlier, they attracted listeners from a variety of musical subgroups, but they operated within a fairly rigid structure that defined their unique style. Ten years later they have offered a record that is unabashedly multifocal and multimodal. Look out for juxtapositions like the industrial electronics of Machine Gun and the psychedelia of Small, two songs from the latter half of the record. It is this exhibition of range that makes their new music so sweet. Portishead has engaged their audiences outside of their standard form without pandering or over extending their vast talent.
Born Ruffians
Red Yellow & Blue
March 4th 2008
Warp Records
This Toronto trio has finally released a full length. While they receive relatively little press, Born Ruffians deserve volumes. Red Yellow & Blue has a lot of the same charm as their intensely hip 2006 self-titled debut EP, even if it is less quirky and more refined. Not to say these guys take themselves too seriously. Quite the opposite is true. The glossed nature of Red Yellow & Blue comes completely from production quality. If their self-titled is The Velvet Underground & Nico, then Red Yellow & Blue is Transformer.
Guitarist and singer Luke Lolonde has an obsession with quaint and extended utterances like “whoa,” “oh,” and “ho!” There is hardly a song that neglects this tendency. At points the extended vowels seem not to be much more than vocal gymnastics aimed at annoying the unfamiliar ear, but these persistent melodiums give Born Ruffians a stylistic distinction that lacks in so much of today’s up-and-comers. Lolonde’s high pitched croon solicits a knee-jerk compulsion to move to the groove of the motha fuckin’ music. He unassumingly plays his guitar like a drum. Rather than play separate and complimentary parts, the drum, bass, and guitar combine into a focused and purposeful beat, all telling the listener to do the same thing. Dance bitch!
Red Yellow & Blue is long enough to include a few soft songs like Little Garçon played to the melody of a French squeeze box and harmonica. The slower, more subtle tracks of the record give it more variety than the blanket high energy of their 2006 release. The only real mistake of the record was the needless reworking of Hedonistic Me, which is the only song harvested from their debut EP. The original was grittier and comparatively raw, but its newest incarnation does not improve it. So why reuse it?
Born Ruffians are fun, creative, and original. They are wholly representative of our generation and yet they are entirely unepic. Red Yellow & Blue may not be quite as delicious as their first EP, but it definitely doesn’t disappoint. Born Ruffians are a great band and have as much of my attention as their ADHD brains can handle. When they return to New York City I promise they will be greeted enthusiastically by the masses. These guys are good and you should listen to them- even when you aren’t drunk.
Shows
Mar 14th 11:00PM @ SXSW- Austin, Texas
Mar 15th 9:00PM @ Hailey’s- Denton, Texas
Mar 17th 9:00PM @ Rhythm Room- Pheonix, Arizona
Mar 18th 9:00PM @ Casbah- San Diego, California
Mar 19th 9:00PM @ Echo- Los Angeles, California
Mar 20th 9:00PM @ Bottom of the Hill- San Francisco, California
Mar 21st 9:00PM @ Holocene- Portland, Oregon
Mar 22nd 9:00PM @ High Dive- Seattle, Washington
Mar 25th 9:00PM @ Lucky Bar- Victoria, British Columbia
Mar 26th 9:00PM @ The Media Club- Vancouver, British Columbia
Mar 28th 9:00PM @ The Velvet Underground- Edmonton, Alberta
Mar 29th 9:00PM @ The Hi Fi Club- Calgary, Alberta
Mar 30th 9:00PM @ Amigo’s Cafe- Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Mar 31st 9:00PM @ West End Cultural Centre- Winnipeg, Manitoba
Apr 1st 9:00PM @ 7th Street Entry- Minneapolis, Minnesota
Apr 2nd 9:00PM @ Empty Bottle- Chicago, Illinois
Apr 3rd 9:00PM @ Grog Shop- Cleveland, Ohio
Apr 4th 9:00PM @ Pike Room- Pontiac, Michigan
Apr 10th 9:00PM @ Casbah- Hamilton, Ontario
Apr 11th 9:00PM @ Ford Plant- Brantford, Ontario
Apr 12th 9:00PM @ Call the Office- London, Ontario
Apr 17th 9:00PM @ Zaphod’s- Ottawa, Ontario
Apr 18th 9:00PM @ Grad Club- Kingston, Ontario
Apr 19th 9:00PM @ Casa- Montreal, Quebec
Apr 24th 9:00PM @ Vinyl- Guelph, Ontario
Apr 26th 9:00PM @ Lee’s Palace- Toronto, Ontario
The Magnetic Fields
Distortion
January 15th 2008
Nonesuch Records
Despite my doubts about the new album Distortion from The Magnetic Fields, I was fortunate enough to be outsmarted by my neighbor, who insisted I give it a chance. Distortion is just as its name implies; it is framed in an early 80’s gothic-rock style and flooded with metallic reverberations and cavernous melodies. The Magnetic Fields have clearly drawn influence from post-punk innovators Joy Division/New Order. Much of this comparison is directed at the production of the record itself. The slightly distant and droney tone of Stephin Merritt is highly reminiscent of Mark Smith of The Fall. Hello Bend Sinister, meet Closer. At times it seems as if the zygotmatic pre-thoughts of Talking Heads wandered into the love child of The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine ala Factory Records. In short this shit is potent!
The Magnetic Fields’ similarities and analogies to other bands have their down side too. Till the Bitter End has a Blonde Redhead quality that reminds me of just how much I want another Blonde Redhead album. Somehow I don’t imagine they were counting on the subliminal advertising of Magnetic Fields tunes. Drive On, Driver cannot be reconciled with the rest of the record. It is like a hot chick with bunions or a hump back (for the record, I have nothing against bunions or hump backs). But songs like Please Stop Dancing and Zombie Boy are unmistakably brilliant. Their detached and defuse pop appeal is inspiring. In a strange way they embody everything Stars want to but can’t because they are too narcissistic. The Magnetic Fields on the other hand are extremely self-reflexively aware of Distortion’s influences and have taken steps to ensure that they do not appear to take themselves too seriously. This awareness not only saves the record from obsolescence, but it is exactly what makes it so relevant to how the music industry navigates itself forward, sometimes stopping to reflect on the nostalgic moments of its past.
Other Music
Distant Plastic Trees- 1991
The Wayward Bus- 1992
The House of Tomorrow EP- 1992
Holiday- 1994
The Charm of the Highway Strip- 1994
Get Lost- 1995
69 Love Songs- 1999
i- 2004
On the Ground is a record to listen to and absorb as we exit the gray days of winter. It records Peasant’s negotiation of gloomy emotions and difficult situations. Many have compared him to Elliot Smith, and he has to some extent ratified that comparison, but rather than misery, his less self-deprecating style tastes of bitter-sweetness. Songs like The Wind and Exposure tap into the lingering darkness of unspoken fears and doubts that distract our daily lives. As we contemplate these moody thoughts, our experiences and unclear abstractions are reified by Peasant’s words.
I have said previously that Damien DeRose’s voice is flawless, but his ability to bottle that beauty is remarkable. Usually such criticism is approached from the opposite angle. People rarely question what can be recorded after seeing such satisfying live performances. I have written at some length about Peasant’s talent and couldn’t be happier with this release. On the Ground offers 13 tracks without sounding repetitive or exhausting my patience and tolerance for sensitivity, which is rare these days. Peasant accomplishes this in part by keeping his songs under 3 minutes, making sure that the bitter moments do not overstay their welcome.
Peasant is a hard working independent artist whose organic music stands apart from the ridiculous number of singer songwriters standing in line for their songs to make it in the annals of recorded greatness, and depending on how hard Peasant pushes himself and his music, I am entirely convinced that he will make it. If not, no one can say that On the Ground wasn’t great. Peasant’s music is as sweet as a mulberry and as perfect as a rainy day. Where he goes from here, I cannot wait to see.
Upcoming Show Dates
Feb 28th @ Piano’s in New York, New York- 8PM
Feb 29th @ John n’ Peter’s in New Hope, Pennsylvania- 9PM On the Ground Release Party
Mar 1st @ The Classic Cigar Parlor in Doylestown, Pennsylvania- 8PM
Mar 7th @ Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York- 8PM
Mar 8th @ Emancipation Rocklamation in Moorestown, New Jersey- 10PM
Mar 10th @ Union Hall in Brooklyn, New York- 7:30PM
Mar 15th @ Lucky Lounge in Austin Texas- 12AM
May 27th @ Café Glockspee in Hanover- 8PM
May 28th @ Intersoup in Berlin Germany- 8PM
Múm
Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy
September 14th 2007
FatCat Records
To make a longish story shortish, twins Kristín Anna and Gyða Valtýsdóttir formed a band with Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason, two musicians who are heavily involved in the Icelandic music scene. They called themselves Múm and produced experimental electronic concoctions that received the attention of indie music scenes in Britain, Continental Europe, and The United States. Attention had been paid to Iceland largely due to a surge in creative output such as independent films like Nói Albínói in 2003, the notoriety of friends Sigur Rós on the international art-media scene, and of course the long sustained reverence of Björk in the music world. Iceland had produced artistic figures that succeeded across the media spectrum.
Icelandic bands like Múm began to appear in important CD players owned by important people, much the same as Sigur Rós had in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Gyða left in 2002 and her sister Kristín Anna followed in 2006 apparently over stylistic differences, leaving few original members. Those who remained decided to keep the moniker Múm but they recorded an album that broke away from their heavily electronic style, emphasizing a large selection of acoustic and traditional instruments fused with drum sequences and synthesized textures. The result of this decision was Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy. Whatever provoked the change in style led to a nicely contoured and improved experience of the music. Múm in all its incarnations by and large seeks to create music that is experiential. It is apparent that some in the band felt that the contrast between organic instruments and fabricated beats would give the band better control over the soundscape through which the listener would travel.
The album title and track names fit the stylistic change emphasizing the idea that Múm views Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy as a conceptually cogent work. Naturalistic elements such as brambles, frogs, berries, marmalade, rhubarb, and winter are used to construct a bucolic atmosphere and a dreamy mood. For the first time male vocals can be found on a Múm record. The beautiful instrumentation of Moon Pulls is tied to the grace and whimsy of Marmalade Fires by a masculine voice and sprightly melody. The childish nature of Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy is largely defined by its display of innocence, fantasy, excitement, and openness, rather than a childishness of conceit, immaturity, or irrelevancy.
Importantly, I should not understate the electronic presence throughout the record. It is not necessarily the lack of electronic sounds that delineates Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy from previous records, but its contrast with more traditional instruments. Dancing Behind My Eyelids is a perfect example of this juxtaposition. This track has become one of my all time favorite electronic pieces. It is a synthesized masterpiece with the brightest sequencing I have heard since Xiu Xiu’s 2006 release Air Force. It is followed by Schoolhouse Misfortune, which begins as a seaside ditty and then transforms into a flurry of melodic whistles, bells, and harp strings backed by a mechanized type-set. The record then eases into a cool and dark track called I Was Her Horse, which reminiscent of New Orleans slow jazz, perfectly fusing late night smoky horns with a dirge hollowly echoing in the streets of the French Quarter. When all is said and done, Múm has committed a feat of excellence and whoever among them had the instincts to revise their style saved the band from fading away due to redundancy; a fate they were fastly approaching.
Band of Horses
Cease To Begin
October 9th 2007
Sub Pop Record
Band of Horses might be compared to the bizarro countryesque version of The Beach Boys, and lead singer Ben Bridwell might be accused of washing his vocals with 200 gallons of reverb in an attempt to perfect the recording technique used by My Morning Jacket vocalist Jim James. I say why argue about semantics on this one. Sure there is a mid-seventies pop-rock quality, but the fact of the matter is that Band of Horses wins on this release. Cease To Begin, the follow up to 2006’s Everything All The Time, achieves greatness, in spite of the departure of guitarist Mat Brooke. It is what it is. Critiqued in context, Band of Horses is an easy love affair. They are a good rock and roll band with a romantic spirit and an innocent demeanor.
While Is There A Ghost might best exemplify the stylistic energy created by the band’s music, other tracks like No One’s Gonna Love You (More Than I Do) relate so well to our experiences as imperfect people that it results in a feeling of shared understanding. The first half of Cease To Begin tends to be faster paced with a more solid guitar presence, but it concludes with tender and intimate ballads like Marry Song and Window Blues, which retire the record into quietude. It lulls the audience as the music plays, leaving them content and satisfied.
In comparison with Band of Horses’ debut, Cease To Begin seems to further emphasize the bands southern roots. Band of Horses manages to be a little twangy without the trite themes and purposeless lyrics that so often accompany even the most independent and alternative renovations of country music. Bridwell’s lyrics are smart, they are meaningful, and they augment the radiant melodies that structure every song. Cease To Begin is a sorely needed dose of feel-good rock and roll. Improving on the last, Band of Horses‘ new effort by far exceeds expectations.
Other Music
Band of Horses EP- 2005
Everything All the Time- 2006
Cease to Begin- 2007
US Tour Dates
12/28 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
12/29 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
12/31 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
01/20 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm
01/21 – Norfolk, VA – The Norva
01/22 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore At The TLA
01/23 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
01/24 – State College, PA – State Theatre
01/25 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
01/26 – Louisville, KY – Headliner’s Music Hall
01/27 – Newport, KY – Southgate House
01/29 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
01/30 – Memphis, TN – Hi Tone Cafe
01/31 – St. Louis, MO – Gargoyle
02/01 – Norman, OK – Meacham Auditorium (U Of Oklahoma)
02/02 – Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom
02/03 – Austin, TX – La Zona Rosa
02/04 – Baton Rouge, LA – Spanish Moon
02/06 – Birmingham, AL – Bottle Tree
02/07 – Tallahassee, FL – Beta Bar
02/09 – Orlando, FL – Social
02/10 – Orlando, FL – Social
02/12 – Mt. Pleasant, SC – Village Tavern
Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew
Spirit If…
Arts & Crafts
September 18th 2007
Spirit If… has a message for me louder than the music. Kevin Drew is the heart of my affection for Broken Social Scene. With the Broken Social Scene Presents project underway, various members are releasing albums centered on the individualistic contributions to the whole. Broken Social Scene has always been associated with big shows with a dozen or so music makers romping the stage, instilling a fervor and zeal in the audience rarely witnessed outside the confines of an evangelical church. Some bands find ways to individualize their traditionally collective sound by striping off some of the layers, exposing the bare bones of the focal band members. Other times band members get involved in a series of solo projects, wishing that their musical prowess be recognized in and of itself. After a few years of collective recognition and association some musicians yearn for their own identity. Sometimes validation can only occur under a spotlight, away from the muddling impositions of others’ ideas. Still other bands go the way of Outkast and Broken Social Scene, releasing albums that deliver the full effect of the collective band, but under the direction and as an expression of one member. While the direction originates from a defined personality, many members of Broken Social Scene have come together to realize the vision of the popped collar king.
Suicides and fucked up kids dominate the lyrical themes of Spirit If…. This, as much as any layered instrumentation, is a part of Broken Social Scene’s genetics. The album begins with the droney, off center, and coterminally lumpy and charming song Farewell to the Pressure Kids. The first track introduces the psychedelic environment in which Mr. Drew constructs his warped reality. Too Beautiful to Fuck follows as an intimate love song and a beautiful exhalation expressing a calm adoration of beauty with a sweet and crude realism. The most progressive and impressive track on Spirit If… is Frightening Lives. His vocals are purposefully intense and the dingy guitars are fortified with synthesized rhythms and casiotone accents. I will remember every word to this song and play it at every party. While it is important to evaluate a solo endeavor on its own merits, and to resist using previous collaborations as a criterion or point of comparison, Spirit If… illustrates the difficulty in ignoring how much Broken Social Scene’s identity is rooted within Kevin Drew, not the other way around.
The beauty of Spirit If… is its clarity. While Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff, and the rest of the gang are important to Broken Social Scene’s makeup, Kevin Drew’s effort best distills the mode in which Broken Social Scene operates. The lyrics are quirky and delicious. Even careless strings like “They say size doesn’t count but my heart is a house” make me jealous of Mr. Drew’s ability to transform awkward phrases into meaningful supplications. The drums are loose, metronomically switching between the snare and high hat. Nearly all of my favorite aspects of Broken Social Scene are encapsulated in this record. Kevin Drew hasn’t sounded this tender since You Forgot It in People. It is almost as if their self titled record, while fucking amazing, incorporated so much that Drew’s soft and tender voice was lost amongst a symphony and Spirit If… has surfaced to reclaim that space once occupied and delimited by his own creative moments. In 2008 Brendan Canning will release his own record. I am sure that as other albums are released, I’ll be similarly impressed by the manner in which the essence of Broken Social Scene is captured. Perhaps it is true that the parts make a whole, but Kevin Drew has certainly claimed a large piece for himself.
Immovable Objects “hoping it stays just this broken”
September 25th 2007
Hawnyawk Records
After listening to this record over and over again, I have concluded Immovable Objects has committed musical acts of nearly if not completely perfect proportions. It would be a shame if Matt Gagin, the orchestrator and creative force behind Immovable Objects, peaked in his career after only his first track off a debut record, “hoping it stays just this broken.” But these are the risks one takes when one decides to open strong instead of saving the best for last. Beginning with an ideal accumulation of pleasing bell beats, Raindrops in Morning Traffic introduces Gagin as an upstart who is certainly destined for greatness. In the most respectful way possible, I feel this song is directly related to Yes’ gorgeous song Soon. There is no mistaking the similarity in the beautiful vocal sensitivities of Jon Anderson and the female vocal arrangement that bursts through, fashioned with metallic and washed out guitars. The song builds upon itself with an excruciating sadness tempered with sober contemplation, resulting in one of the most artful and attentive constructions I have ever heard.
Fortunately Immovable Objects continues the record with a series of intricate shoegazing songs that legitimize the boundless nature of the first track, substantiating the extent to which Gagin has developed not only his writing abilities, but also how he conceives his music in relation to the songs themselves. While he has said that he never meant to write this record, it was indeed Gagin’s ability to delineate a very cohesive and complimentary set of songs from what might have otherwise been an unassociated and incongruent heap of shoe-goo trash that allowed “hoping it stays just this broken” to be presented with such confidence.
Like the slightly uneasy experimentation of various Icelandic bands or Canadian post-rockers, Immovable Objects utilizes dynamic and textured melodies juxtaposed with noises that ascend the tonal scale, heightening the tension and increasing the ultimate payoff when they are finally released in a wall of beautiful sound. It also seems that Mr. Gagin has learned a few lessons from My Bloody Valentine. The prime importance of atmospherics is shared by these two bands, along with other environmental disciples such as Chicago’s Airiel. The drum sequencing throughout the record is sharp and never incompetent or excessively demanding. I would suggest Immovable Objects contact Jimmy LaValle and schedule a tour or collaboration, because while Gagin’s work is not identical by any measure, he would interface extremely well with The Album Leaf.
Gagin is said to have perfect pitch and a knack for an unmentionable number of instruments. While this may be true, it is certainly not central to the thesis developed by “hoping it stays just this broken.” Gagin was injured as a child resulting in an abnormal yet formative ability to recognize pitches produced by household vacuums. While this is a skill that has its advantages in identifying a physicality or structure in music already made, it does not necessarily contribute to an artist’s ability to hear or internalize the sounds that ought to be made. Who knows what relationship Gagin’s perfect pitch has to his vision for Immovable Objects, but I would say that his heightened perception is not the sole secret to his success. This attribute originates from a creative center and is expressive rather than impressive.
I am very pleased with “hoping it stays just this broken.” It shows that the music’s creator not only knows how to execute his design, but also how to enlist contributors to provide a denser flesh and a thicker blood to his vision, intended or not. When Gagin arrives in New York, I will certainly attend his show to see how his music translates from plastic to staged passion. Successful or not, Immovable Objects is an unrelenting testament to the importance and relevance of individual creativity. I anticipate that Immovable Objects will have much more to contribute. I for one encourage others to pay attention.
