Loney Dear’s second LP serves as a reminder that, despite myriad ups and downs, synth pop remains a vital genre. Dear John combines crisp, effervescent arrangements with lyrical hooks. The synthesized oscillations and punchy bass lines of “Airport Surroundings” and “Violent” are both well-crafted and headily visceral. The high level of clarity and production values belies the notion that home-recording necessitates a ‘lo-fi’ aesthetic.
While Loney Dear (Emil Svanängen) capably evokes melancholy inflections – as on the affecting “Harsh Words” – this is hardly downtempo IDM. Instead, he has created an all too rare synergy between sophisticated electronica and the concision and appealing sweep of good pop singles. Even songs such as the title track and “Harm,” where the atmosphere is more spacious and the textures more varied, still keep the continuity of the vocal lines, and their achingly delicate traversal of poignantly spun elegies, as the foremost concern.
M. Ward creates music that makes sonic ‘antiquing’ an art form. For long, ‘distressed’ covers signified irony in pop music, but Ward is one of a very small number who can tackle another artist’s song in off-kilter fashion while still remaining respectful of the original rendition. On Hold Time, he sometimes reminds one of Howe Gelb (Giant Sand) both artistically – casting about amidst a varied pile of musical styles to create pleasant patchworks – and, increasingly, in the growling baritone inflections of his singing voice.
A case in point is his slowed down, bleary-eyed version of Sonny West’s “Rave On;” it brings a low-fi, alt-folk ambience to the tune, all the while maintaining the ebullience of its anthemic chorus. “Never Had Nobody like You” evinces a similar affection for old time rocking that underscores Ward’s quirky yet earnest selection of the West song.
Zooey Deschanel has become a frequent collaborator of Ward’s – their 2008 project She & Him was captivating. She appears here too, adding vocals to buoy the proceedings on both of the aforementioned songs. Lucinda Williams and Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) also guest.
On “One Hundred Million Years,” the approach is more influenced by acoustic folk roots music. “Shangra La,” featuring sepulchral sub-octave doublings, also adopts this soundworld – simultaneously venerable and utterly fresh.
It’s hard to believe that this is the twentieth installment in Red Hot’s benefit compilation series to raise funds for and awareness of people with HIV/AIDS; how time flies and, regrettably, illnesses stubbornly persist. While the Red Hot series has often mustered star-power, it has never been this consistent in its musical inspiration. This is certainly in part due to excellent curating by the National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner. Dark was the Night features two discs of recordings by indie’s finest, including imaginative covers and special collaborations.
David Byrne and the Dirty Projectors, are lovably quirky and rhythmically buoyant on “Knotty Pine.” Kronos Quartet provides an instrumental rendering of the Blind Willie Johnson song that is the collection’s namesake; the unusual juxtaposition of blues and string quartet indicative of the imaginative pairings found throughout. Books and José Gonzalez deliver a multilayered rendition of Nick Drake’s “The Cello Song.” Antony Hegarty and Bryce Dessner supply a touching, homespun version of Bob Dylan’s “I was Young When I left Home.”
There are very few people I’d prefer to hear singing Vashti Bunyan than Vashti herself, but Feist and Ben Gibbard create a cozily atmospheric version of “Train Song.” Beirut continues its lustrously sung love-letter to France with “Mimizan.” Stuart Murdoch sans Belle and Sebastian is still endearing – lopsided, lyrical, and sweet-voiced – on “Another Saturday.
And this is hardly the half of it. Dark was the Night is mandatory listening – how often do you hear that about a benefit CD?
Avant jazz (free jazz/out jazz/ecstatic jazz – pick your flavor) often thrives in lithe groupings; but bassist William Parker has long been known for leading large ensembles in adventurous music-making; noteworthy among them: Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra. While not dubbed an orchestra, sixteen musicians premiered Parker’s long form composition Double Sunrise over Neptune at the Vision XII festival, held at the Orensatz Center in New York City in 2007. Portions of this were sonically compromised; the musicians reconvened the next day and rerecorded the work. AUM’s CD compiles the latter performance and the better half of the premiere into a full length album.
Given Parker’s dual gifts – as a rhythm section player and leader – it’s not surprising that the proceedings are groove-centered. Undulating bass-lines and a plethora of percussion instruments lay down a solid foundation, over which a number of NY’s most creative jazzers unleash effusive solos. While there are a number of fine contributions, guitarist Joe Morris and saxophonists Sabir Mateen and Rob Brown are especially thrilling.
Some of the instrumentalist use ethnic instruments such as oud and doson’ngoni, giving the music a globalized flavor. The star of the show is vocalist Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay, whose melismatic runs rival the fastest utterances of colleagues’ strings or winds. What’s more, Parker’s compositional organization and direction assure that the piece flows with direction and clarity. Apparently, as long as you have players like these, avant jazz works well writ large!
MYSPACE MUSIC EXCLUSIVELY PREMIERES U2′S NEW ALBUM NO LINE ON THE HORIZON
Entire Album Available for Free Streaming on February 20, Over a Week Before Hitting Stores
MySpace Music (http://www.myspace.com/music), the world’s premier online music portal, announces the exclusive world premiere of No Line On The Horizon, the new studio album from U2. Beginning on February Feb. 20, MySpace U.S. users will be able to stream the album in its entirety from U2′s official MySpace Music profile at www.myspace.com/u2, giving fans a chance to preview it before the U.S. release on March 3. No Line On The Horizon will be available for purchase on MySpace Music starting on March 3.
U2 recently premiered their latest video for the hit single Get On Your Boots on MySpace Music to fans around the world. No Line On The Horizon is the group’s highly anticipated 12th studio album and their first release since How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb came out in late 2004. Recording sessions for No Line On The Horizon were held in various locations around the world, including Fez, Morocco, the band’s own studio in Dublin, New York’s Platinum Sound Recording Studios, and Olympic Studios in London. Long-time U2 collaborators Brian Eno and Danny Lanois produced the album, with additional production by Steve Lillywhite.
For more information about U2 and to stream No Line On The Horizon, visit their MySpace Music official profile at: http://www.myspace.com/u2.
Influential indie label Touch and Go Records announced a radical restructuring today, paring back their release schedule and closing their manufacturing and distribution arm. The imprint provided these services to a host of indie labels, including Atavistic, Merge, and Kill Rock Stars.
Touch and Go’s influence on both the direction of the Chicago music scene and the national rise of Indie rock to a place of prominence in pop culture during the 90s and 00s cannot be overstated. This is a severe blow for music lovers of many types of ‘out’ pop and avant jazz. There’s more on the story over at Pitchfork.
Grooving atop jubilant African polyrhythms and rumbling bass lines, Extra Golden revels in sparkling vocals and solos that are one part prog and another folk-melody. While numerous World Beat offerings have somewhat acclimated Western ears to the band’s sound world, there’s no dilution here. At its best, Extra Golden is reminiscent of David Sancious and Ladysmith simultaneously. The rhythm section will slay you every time they take up another intricate pattern; its music dares you not to move. Thank You Very Quickly is an all expenses paid express flight to exotic, ecstatic musical environs!
To celebrate Valentines Day last year, Mobius Band (Peter Sax, Noam Schatz, and Ben Sterling) released an EP of covers entitled Love Will Reign Supreme. This year, they’ve repeated the gesture with a new EP, Empire of Love, featuring covers of songs by TV on the Radio, Kanye West, the Everly Brothers, the Dixie Chicks, and more. The songs are available from the band’s website (linked above). My personal favorite is their noisily burred, affectionately alt-rock version of “Love Hurts.”
Nothing banishes greeting card holidays like Indie rock!
Antony and the Johnsons’s latest LP, The Crying Light, has already won them a great deal of acclaim and success; it went #1 in Europe during the last week of January and has been the subject of plenty of buzz stateside as well. The attention is well-deserved; it’s an excellent recording.
Building upon the gorgeous vocals and neo-Romantic piano balladry ubiquitous on 2005′s I am a Bird Now, vocalist Antony Hegarty and company make successful new experiments, expanding their sound world. “The Johnsons” are a talented supporting cast; the band achieves an improbable crossover balance: including a host of players in full arrangements without ever overwhelming the proceedings.
The most intriguing effects are found on the title track. Antony is capable of wide vocal vibrato; here he accentuates this feature to a warble. The beats are used both as modes of articulation and to create a generalized blurring. Thus, the foreground vocal also becomes an accompaniment figure to the more straight-toned supporting vocals which are later overlaid: a fascinating juxtaposition.
“Daylight and the Sun” embodies the new Romantic sensibility, with lush, angst-filled piano harmonies and layers of soaring singing; while “Her Eyes are Underneath the Ground” inhabits modal regions: adopting a more pastoral, alt-folk cast. “Kiss my Name” creates a rousing affect; simultaneously bluesy and ethereal, with a proggy coda. The Crying Light is Antony’s most daring, and most satisfying, release to date.
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