Album: Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts

Album: Demolished Thoughts
Matador
Release date: May 24, 2011
Rating: ******** (8/10)

Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth's good-natured wild boy, has an impressive diversity of output. The tonal/atonal experimentation of Sonic Youth as well as the band's more straight-forward pop and punk moments, free jazz and noise with various avant garde collaborators and hushed folk as a solo artist. The content of Demolished Thoughts, an acoustic album produced by Beck, is not a shock. It's acoustic guitar and Thurston's frank, boyish voice, surrounded by a fair amount of orchestration and nuanced arrangements. What is slightly surprising is that it's this good.

Demolished Thoughts may not surpass Moore's previous best solo efforts (i.e. 1995's Psychic Hearts and 2007's Trees Outside the Academy). Then again, maybe it does. It's really good. Every song is beautifully written, every voice is carefully arranged and masterfully mixed.

Moore can pull off some cheesy stuff, like a dang harp on several tracks, because everything about the songs is unassuming. His voice is plain and conversational and might make you wonder what sort of lullabies Moore sang his daughter when she was a baby. It's a lullaby voice because it sounds more personal than performed but it's not a raw, soul-baring jumble of personal trauma like Neutral Milk Hotel or Will Oldham. It's just songs, sung by Moore, for you.

Moore's tone aside, though, it's not all lullaby fare. The lyrics hint at a dark (if loving) sexuality and while the songs are comforting, they also point towards the dark things that cause a need for comfort. The opening track sets the tone for the album, a gentle, reassuring folk song that sounds as though it was written to bring peace to a troubled loved one. But there's also something darker there; the lyrics rather cryptically warn, "You better hold your lover down / and tie him to the ground."

A few tracks are even as anxiety-ridden as Sonic Youth (only acoustic). "Circulation" is the clearest example with it's dark layers of sound, contrasting traditionally pretty string parts with unsettling noise and tense guitar that subtly strays from the key and gives the sense that something is wrong. The minor-modal "Mina Loy" is even a bit ominous.

The high point of the album is probably the seven minute "Orchard Street," which twists like the sweetest of folk music has been refracted and misinterpreted. The entire album exists like this, though, suspended in the space between the pure 60's folk it recalls and the atonal raw nerves of Thurston's other music. It invites you in, but once you're in there, you will find yourself disoriented. And as you feel the music protecting you from danger, you may find it was the album that put the danger so close to begin with. At once simple and perplexing, comforting and haunting, earthy and otherworldly - and it proves that this boyish 50-something still has some tricks up his sleeve, some thirty years after he first started reinventing popular music.

Live: Dinosaur Jr. + Jeffrey Lewis

Woah, tumbleweeds rollin' through this place. Sorry for the long absence. I've had some personal stuff going on.

When: 1/18/10
Where: Brooklyn Bowl

First things first. This was my first time at Brooklyn Bowl and let me tell you, I do not like this place. It's got a creepy corporate vibe. The stage is set up behind and perpendicular to the bowling alleys, so off to your right, you got people who don't care about music bowling. It might be a hip place for hipsters but it's not a place gives a crap about music.

Jeffrey Lewis opened. His set was far too long, so long that my fantasy about beating him up after the show grew ridiculously complex. The guy is one of those K Records wannabe indie folksters who thinks singing about things like moving out of his apartment and mosquitoes makes him super special. Lets get it straight. Being a wuss was bold and edgy when Calvin Johnson did it back in 1988, because at that time, punk had lost its way and been taking over by macho jerks who had no idea the real meaning of hardcore. Punk music and indie music, which were once one and the same, were about making people challenge their assumptions, open rock music to new ideas, open every door that was shut by the 60's and 70's. The door isn't shut to wussy manchild types and hasn't been for a long time. So son, you're making a fool of yourself, making music that hundreds of people have already made. It's unoriginal and easy.

Even if there were some merit in the genre, Jeffrey Lewis ain't the guy to find it. Even though it's a exceedingly simple kind of music to make, he messed it up a lot, particularly with regards to rhythm. His little rap song, set to handclaps, fell of the rails more than once. I don't really like it when people make a mockery of music. I suppose I should say something nice. Well, he had some strong melodies. Stayed on them for far too long, but at least they were good. Not everyone can write a good melody. So he's got that. [MySpace]

OK, time for the main act. Dinosaur Jr positively killed. J Mascis, the man who put lead guitar back in indie rock, was in fine form, while Lou Barlow slammed out his most excellent bass lines. They played some songs off their new record, which is good since all those songs are good. They also ran through all the best songs from their first three records. It was a very, very long set and every minute was well spent.

What can I write about this band? They've been playing the same style with the same greatness consistently for a very long time. J Mascis is gray and a bit pot-bellied now. He plays with the same cool he always did. His rips out massive, high-speed solos with no fanfare. His bass player and famous frienemy Lou Barlow stays on the other side of the stage, rocking out as usual, with his dark mop of hair covering his face.

The long set was followed by a long encore. I thought by this point, the band had played everything I really wanted to hear, but then, at the very end, they started playing something very familiar, but that I hadn't heard in a very long time. It took me a while to realize what it was - the cover of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven" that closes Live Through This. It was the first Dinosaur song I ever heard, but I hadn't listened to it in years. And I doubt I was the only person in the audience whose relationship with the band came full-circle that night. It was just one of those sets that brings back everything you love about the band. And with Dinosaur Jr, that's a lot. [MySpace]

Live: The For Carnation

When: 12/17
Where: Knitting Factory

Mountains openned the show last night. They play ambient, instrumental noise-folk with acoustic guitars and crap ton of electronics. At first, I enjoyed the rise and fall, the noisy dissonance and the sheer volume. However, with no melodies, no rhythms and no real surprises, I got pretty bored and left after ten minutes. [MySpace]

I came back just in time for The For Carnation, the band of ex-Slint/Squirrel Bait experimental rock genius Brian McMahan. Squirrel Bait's hardcore punk forshadowed Nirvana-style grunge back in the 80's. By the time Nirvana started changing in the indie scene, McMahan had moved on to the highly experimental, angular, sends-chill-down-your-spine music of Slint, helping spark (for better or worse) the post-rock movement.

After Slint, McMahan formed TFC and began creating much more subdued, gentle music. That may sound like a terrible direction, but it isn't always bad. When TFC is at its best, it has the same disturbing tension of Slint, but without ever providing release - the music just retreats further into its own sinister mystery. Unfortunately, TFC hasn't been that consistent - in fact, there's so much variation, I have to give you a song-by-song review.

Songs #1, 4 and 8 were TFC at its best. Minimal, desolate pieces with hints of jumpiness, these represent the logical sound of grown-up Slint. Song #7 was similar but got a little dreamer and sweeter in places. But still, something unsettling was lurking beneath the surface.

Song #2 was a bluesy number with an almost avant-garde guitar solo. Not my favorite.

Song #3 was folky and featured McMahan's lyrics sticking way out in front. They were about finding stuff in your house that reminds you of your long-gone wife. It would be banal even if it weren't cliche.

Song #5 sounded like Yo La Tengo being extra chilled out. Yawn.

Song #6, I've just forgotten.

The hit-and-miss set was made worse by McMahan's choice in bandmates. Certainly, with his reputation, he could put together a good band, right? But instead he's playing with these guys. The bass player seemed pretty solid and did a lot of strumming very well, which isn't easy to make sound good. Because of the style of music, I couldn't figure out the guitarist's skill level, but at least he didn't do anything offensive.

The real problems were the synth player and the drummer. The synth occasionally worked, but at other times, it stuck out like a sore thumb. It basically destroyed the last song (#8, which otherwise was great). Holding down the root in a hyper-oscillated, slow-attack setting just distracted from the music. Maybe if I didn't know about synthisizers, it wouldn't have bothered me so much, but I just kept imagining what was going through the keyboardist's (or songwriter's) head when he thought that'd be really cool. I love me a good slow attack, but because the sound itself was so stark, fading in on every note just drew attention away from the song itself.

And worst of all, the drummer! Brian McMahan, why are you playing with this guy? The dude is awful, seriously awful. Okay, I have a hang-up about playing cymbals with timpani mallets because it sounds like crap. You don't have to be a trained percussionist to listen to something and realize it sounds terrible. Even when he hit the cymbals with real drumsticks, they sounded bad. The toms also sounded like shit, and he abused his hi-hat in a way I haven't seen since high school (i.e. using it as a crash cymbal). I know I sound like a snob, but this isn't about following arbitrary rules, it's about making the instrument sound good.

His beats were also pretty lame, though not as bad as his tone. He wasn't the world's steadiest, but I only heard him screw up the beat badly once. As a time-keeper, he was perfectly adequate, but there were so many missed opportunities for better beats and fills. Sadly, his failings distracted me from the music and cost me a lot of enjoyment.

McMahan, on the other hand, is great. He's been in music long enough that he seems semi-comfortable singing, but still delivers a lot of his vocals in vaguely tuneful spoken monologues. I've never heard anyone pull this off but him, and he still does it, just like he did with Slint. His voice is simple and soft and his manner of speaking renders the songs even more uneasy. With Slint, he established himself as an enigmatic, haunted figure, and with TFC, when they're good, he's only buried himself deeper in his psychological darkness. He's still the real thing. [Fan MySpace]

[Note: I accidentally spelled Brian McMahan's last name "McMahon." It's been corrected now. Brian McMahon was a guitarist in the Electric Eels, also an amazing but obscure experimental musician from the heartland, but definitely a different dude.]

Album: Pants Yell! - Received Pronunciation

Album: Received Pronunciation
Slumberland, 2009
Rating: ******* (7/10)

After a slew of really disappointing albums, it was nice to finally come across one that exceeded my expectations. Of course, it helped that my expectations were fairly low - I have tried to get into Boston-based indie poppers Pants Yell! a number of times and have always ended up bored and confused. I'd heard good things about the band but never managed to find a worthwhile melody among their songs.

But on Received Pronunciation, you'd have to try pretty hard to find even a minute without a strong melody. This is unmistakably what indie pop should be, sweet and understated, but catchy, youthful and fun. There's nothing edgy here, not even the seamless distortion of their labelmates, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart - in fact, there's no distortion at all. Sure, that means this album isn't really my thing, but it succeeds in what it sets out to do. Andrew Churchman's voice is clear and in-tune but unextravagant, in the best of indie-boy tradition.

My main complaint about the album has to do with the lyrics, which should be a clue that I don't have any big complaints - lyrics, as long as they aren't unbearable, are pretty irrelevant to my enjoyment of music. But with such clear, out-front vocals, it would be nice if Churchman would just tell us what he's talking about. His songs seem like straightforward stories, but stories I couldn't quite follow, and I was left wondering if certain lines were related to one another or just happened to rhyme. On the other hand, he addresses one very empathetic song to a spider ("Spider"), so it's not all bad!

I wouldn't call this music twee, though a lot of people want to. It's just not that young or playful. It's mostly about liking girls who have boyfriends who are assholes, but not about kittens, rainbows and cupcakes. It may be young and innocent, but it doesn't play at being childish. And that's a good thing.

This ain't the album of the year, but for people who like lovely little restrained pop songs, it's a small treasure-chest without a bad song in the bunch.

[MySpace]

Live: My Best Fiend

When: 2/20
Where: Zebulon

I completely forgot to run this review until now! Better late than never, though.

My Best Fiend is a band I ignored for a long time because of their name. But after a while, I realized they've got the respect of folks like A Place To Bury Strangers and might be worth checking out. And they definitely are.

The Zebulon set, however, wasn't your typical MBF. The small bar is not exclusively acoustic, but it's certainly more of a cafe feel than a rock show. Accordingly, the band turned down and calmed down, sitting and playing a relatively clean, quiet, "unplugged" version of their music.

While MBF are much better plugged in and turned up, seeing them play without effects allowed their musicianship to come to the fore. All four members, as it would happen, are exceptionally skillful at their instruments and its clear that when the band does use volume and effects, it's not because they need to hide behind anything. Stripped down, the music sounds like the earliest Smashing Pumpkins demos (I know that doesn't mean anything to anyone but me) - jumpy, rhythmic and ringing.

The only real problem with the set were the vocals. They seemed particularly out of key, though I suppose they are just more palatable with louder, fuzzier accompaniment. There's just enough punk rock in this band that I wouldn't expect a melodic, perfect vocal line, but the first couple of songs were simply high and grating. After that, the band seemed to settle in and the rough vocals approached what they should be - edgy but not painful.

As performers, the band did an admirable job. Their decision to keep things toned down for the venue was certainly wise. But just because they were seated didn't mean they didn't engage - each poured over his guitar with intense concentration and passion for the music. It was certainly a commendable show.

I'd highly recommend checking this band out when they aren't holding back. When you do, just remember that the noise isn't a cover-up, they really just are that good.

MBF on MySpace

Upcoming Shows: Thurston Moore, Gunfight! + more

Friday, January 30

Gunfight!, Soundscapes and Quiet Loudly @ Vanishing Point - Bushwick, Brooklyn
Three bands I love (along with two bands I know nothing about) are playing at Vanishing Point on Friday. I'm going to recycle old descriptions of each band from previous posts: Gunfight! is basically hipster-party garage rock revival with a country-western bent. The Soundscapes are what it would sound like if Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore joined Yo La Tengo. Quiet Loudly features percussive rhythms, masterful blues-inflected guitar solos and awesome walking bass lines. This is going to be a fun show.

Sunday, February 1

Thurston Moore @ Glasslands - Williamsburg, Brooklyn - $7
Thurston Moore. The guy from Sonic Youth. Enough said.

Monday, February 2

Frightened Rabbit @ Le Poisson Rouge - Greenwich Village, Manhattan - $15
This is an acoustic, request-only set, which sounds like it could be really fun! Frightened Rabbit are a poppy alternative rock band from Glasgow who can be a bit whiny, but are forgiven because their songs are pretty darn good.

*GUEST RECOMMENDATION*
"Hortense", a guest contributor to Radio Flyer Review, recommends Lykke Li, the oddball Swedish pop singer who's been hailed as a slightly saner version of Bjork and one of the best break-out musicians of 2008. She plays Webster Hall on February 2 and the Music Hall of Williamsburg on February 3. Both shows are sold out, but you can probably find tickets on Craigslist. Be careful though - last time I recommended looking for tickets on Craigslist (Animal Collective at Bowery), a bunch of people got scammed. So do your homework before you fork over the cash!

Live: Sharon van Etten

When: 1/25
Where: Brooklyn Women's Shelter Benefit @ Vanishing Point

First off, let me say that this show was a benefit for the Brooklyn Women's Shelter, collecting money, clothing, food and books for homeless women. I can't find much information online, so if anyone wants to send me information about how to donate, I'll post that here. In the meantime, I did find this page for volunteers, so please consider giving some of your time.

Now, on to the music! As regular readers might guess, I'm not into singer-songwriters at all. I find the genre to be very limiting for musicians, with every available creative alley explored a thousand times over. I catch plenty of fair-to-middling singer-songwriters as opening acts or such but it's a very rare occurrence that I would actually seek one out.

But I sought out a chance to hear Sharon van Etten, because I've heard her name so many times, in so many contexts. She contributing vocals to the forthcoming Antlers album (March 3, 2009), which, as I've already hinted, is one of the best and most important records since the 90's. She's played with a number of my friends and a number of bands I love, but I'd never seen her before and I figured it was finally time.


Sharon van Etten
And I can see why so many people lover her. Yes, she's still a singer-songwriter and isn't at the cutting edge of anything. But she's got an outstanding voice - rich and confident but a faint rough edge that conveys the sincerity of her lyrics. She delivers her lines with passion and simplicity, and unlike many young singers (including some who shared the stage with her Sunday), she never adds unnecessary frills.

As a guitarist, Van Etten is certainly able, and moreover, in her compositions, she uses unusual chords, harmonies and progressions, which make her songs stand out from the pack. Her denial of pop conventions gives her music a slightly sinister and certainly emotionally powerful undertow.

As a performer, she's shy, humble and slightly uncomfortable with attention. That would have the potential to be damaging, but she doesn't let it impact the confidence of her songs. In fact, in a way, her vulnerability enhances her performance and certainly leads to a set entirely conscious and respectful of her audience.

If you're wondering whether this has changed anything, no, I'm not won over to the singer-songwriter camp. Far from it. But if I had to pick a songwriter with an acoustic guitar to check out, Van Etten would certainly be near the top of my list. And next time she's on a bill with one of the bands I love, I'm definitely getting there early to catch her set!

Sharon van Etten on MySpace

Split Single: "Stomach Worm" - It Hugs Back and "Wolfie" - Ray Rumours

Spilt Single: "Stomach Worm" / "Wolfie"
Too Pure Singles Club
Rating: ******* (7/10)

Lately, I've been trying to expand my new-music horizons beyond New York City, and it was this endeavour that brought me to the UK's Too Pure Singles Club. Though it sounds like a screwed-up dating service, it is in fact the last surviving fragment of the Too Pure record label, a very small branch that sends its members new music by limited edition 7" vinyl every month and that seems to have a good track record of highlighting promising UK up-and-comers.

This month, the club releases a split single between It Hugs Back and Ray Rumours, each covering other Too Pure bands.

It Hugs Back decided to cover the catchy tune "Stomach Worm" by Stereolab. Stereolab is known for their quirky, pattern-driven pop and IHB's version of "Stomach Worm" matches the original in the rolling, pulsing beat. As a general rule, the best cover versions involve reinvention of a song, so I was initially disappointed that IHB retained so much of the original. That said, if you're going to do a copy-job, Stereolab is not easy music to recreate and this single does an admirable job of capturing the original spirit and complexity of the song.


It Hugs Back
More importantly, there are ways in which IHB makes this song their own. Of course, their slightly-raw indie male vocals stand in contrast to the odd-but-polished female vocals of the original. More importantly, thanks to their guitars, their version is fuzzier, noisier and rougher around the edges. Sure, we've all heard more exciting covers, but by slightly circumventing the bubbly sheen of the Stereolab version, IHB have created a single that's fresh and fun.

Ray Rumours, the indie folk songwriter also know as Ros Murray, selected the song "Wolfie" by Scout Niblett as her contribution to the split. It's not a very risky choice - another female singer-songwriter armed with guitar. (How cool would it have been if she had done the Stereolab cover instead?!) But Murray goes further than IHB at reworking her chosen song - while Scout Niblett's version is aggressive and openly bitter, Murray's interpretation is gentle and more mournful than anything.


Ray Rumours
It's not my favorite pick for a song because it hinges more on its lyrics than its melody, which, while subtly pretty at first, is limited and rather dull by its tenth or so repetition at the end of the song. Murray's version does well given the restrictions of the song, though. Replacing Niblett's sparse electric guitar with a tightly finger-picked acoustic, she delivers the song with a softness, giving the words a sense of introspection that you'll find nowhere in the original. Overall, her unique voice and particular guitar technique makes this "Wolfie" distinctly a Ray Rumours song.

As a split, it's an all-around solid release, and well worth a couple bucks to download (I am under the impression that it will be available on iTunes soon) or even to get on the vinyl if you're into that. For more information, check the Too Pure Singles Club MySpace page.

It Hugs Back - MySpace
Ray Rumours - MySpace

Live: Longwave

When: 11/9
Where: Sound Fix Lounge, Williamsburg

When I heard Longwave was doing an acoustic set at a cafe this weekend, I certainly raised an eyebrow. If you're not familiar with Longwave, you'll have to trust me that they are not an acoustic band. They are known for their wall-of-sound, effects-laden guitar music. Unplugged, I was curious what would even be left.

As it turns out, a lot. Acoustic sets by electric bands usually involve everyone strumming their acoustic guitars just like electric ones and hoping the audience can imagine what effects would kick in where. But unlike so many bands, Longwave took the time to write new arrangements for the show, transforming their songs into something completely new but equally beautiful. Replacing overdrive pedals with ukulele and a full drum-kit with shakers and a snare drum, the band's acoustic set-up allowed their songwriting to come to the fore.

All of the members showed great restraint in never overplaying, even when members had to sit out. The set was refreshingly short and while I would have loved more, it's nice to hear a band limit themselves to the songs that they know are good for the show. I left the concert impressed not only with this band's musical talent but also with their outstanding respect for their fans. If all musicians were as considerate as these, concert tickets would be worth their prices and the world would be a much kinder place.

[I should mention that this show was in support of Longwave's new album, officially released tomorrow. I'm going to try my best to get an album review up very soon, so stay tuned.]