Faronheit

If you’re in or around New York City right now, I hope you’re getting a chance to catch some cool CMJ shows. I went a few years back and it was a blast (and makes me want to go again). Pick Your Poison is pretty good today, as it is most days. Notable songs come from Andrew Bird, Jookabox, Matthew Dear, and Wilder. Also, Chromeo fans might want to check out the remix below too.

Andrew Bird – Hot Math

Chromeo – Me and My Man (Gin Joints Remix)

Daniel G. Harmann & The Trouble Starts – The Horse & The Sistine Chapel

Dinowalrus – Phone Home From The Edge

Fresh Millions – Monty (ZIP)

Jookabox – Worms

Keith Kenniff – Aerial

Matthew Dear – Innh Dahh

Rebekah Higgs – Little Voice

Sean Finn and the Royal We – Patient Heart

Suzanna Choffel – Archer

Wilder – Skyful of Rainbows

Anybody that has been closely following Kings of Leon since they first emerged in 2003 with the album “Youth & Young Manhood” knows how the band has progressed in the last 7 years. They’ve gone from largely bearded and plaid-clad deep-fried Southern rock to cleaned up anthemic rock stars with enough mojo to headline a major music festival. Recent reports have the band members showing up to a festival show in separate, tinted SUVs while coming close to blows with other artists after being taunted for it. To call them big shots these days somehow doesn’t feel too out of line. They’ve gone from humble Southern gentlemen to capital letter Rock Stars thanks to finally permeating mainstream culture with their last album “Only By the Night”. The hits “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody” topped the charts and they’re still riding high on it. Yet for all those indie kids that supported them when “Molly’s Chamber” came around and impressed, Kings of Leon have lost their way. The small glimmer of hope left is the thought that maybe the band will return to their roots and go “old school” now that they have a much larger audience hooked on the line.

If you’ve heard Kings of Leon’s new single “Radioactive”, then you should already know it’s made from the same U2-style ingredients they’ve been working with recently. That was reason enough for long-time fans of the band to worry even before the full length “Come Around Sundown” came out this week. The scenario plays out almost exactly how you’d expect it to. Now that they are selling out giant venues and are making enough cash to sustain a much more comfortable lifestyle, there’s little to no intention of returning to those fledgling days of a struggling American rock band that was only a success in Europe. The new songs need to accurately reflect how their newest legion of fans have come to perceive them, so backing off big melodies and ultra-slick production would be detrimental to their popularity. Choruses are repeated at least three times per song, but often many more than that. They use relatively simple words and phrasing for easier memorization and sing-alongs. Matthew Followill’s guitar work is like listening to a widescreen landscape, with the reverb-touched sound just spreading out clear into the open area ahead. Caleb Followill’s vocals often soar into the upper registers, and he prefers to stretch words out like taffy now rather than cram a bunch into a small space like he used to. So the elements are all there for what feels like the setup for a sequel to “Only By the Night” under a different name.

The small surprise on “Come Around Sundown” is that there seems to be some half-hearted attempts to break away from the mold that churned out a couple of massive radio hits. They’re not leaning backwards exactly for this, but they’re continuing to try new things to broaden their stadium appeal. The first couple tracks on the album are nothing we haven’t heard from Kings of Leon before, no doubt designed to create an instant comfort zone by establishing a clear bridge with the last album. “Mary” is the first indication that something is just a little different, as there’s an almost 50′s-inspired shuffle with a modern twist happening. It’d be considered ahead of its time at an old fashioned sock hop, and just a little backwards-leaning today. Boys throw on your bow ties and girls throw on your poodle skirts and put your heads on each others’ shoulders for this slow dance. As an ode to their early days and perhaps a nod to those fans, “Back Down South” incorporates plenty of down-home slow Southern charm matched with some violin and a touch of banjo. It’s kind of like a sonic cousin to “Aha Shake Heartbreak”‘s “The Bucket”, only slower and safer aka pretty ineffective. Bass guitar dominates all over “Beach Side”, and the carefully picked electric guitar work brings out the hazy surf-and-sand vibe the title suggests. It’s one of the few songs that actually plays off a mood and feeling rather than aiming for the easy-exit chorus. And apparently “Mi Amigo” earns that Spanish title only because there’s a small splash of horns in an otherwise plain melody. It’s like cutting up a bunch of tomatoes, putting them in a bowl and calling it salsa. You need peppers and spices to give it a more legitimate edge, which is what this track doesn’t have.

Outside of the couple songs that sonically break from huge melodies and at least gracefully attempt to explore new directions, there’s a fair portion of “Come Around Sundown” that revels in lethargy and uninspired balladry. After the first few tracks, not a whole lot gets Kings of Leon energized, and it makes the second half of the record just a little bit of a sleeping pill. It’d be a positive thing, reducing the size and scope of so many tracks, but that strategy only works when the alternative has something significantly fascinating to hold your interest. Most of the slower songs are as cookie cutter as the energized anthems, the difference being those bigger and quicker ones give the listener at least the push to dance or sing along. If first single “Radioactive” doesn’t turn into a massive hit the way “Sex On Fire” did, there’s little to nothing else on this record that works any better. No matter how much they want to keep their popularity streak alive, even more recent fans of the band might walk away disappointed by the proverbial hangdog shoulder shrugging mood that permeates much of the album. Whatever the reason for how this final product turned out to be so uninspired, “Come Around Sundown” tries to be everything to everyone but yields little to nothing instead. “Easily forgettable” is the two word phrase that best describes the record, and if the mainstream music lovers out there feel the same way, it could be the words to describe Kings of Leon in a year as well. If utter failure is what it takes to reinvigorate this band to the high levels we all know they can perform at, then bring it on.

Buy “Come Around Sundown” from Amazon

It’s CMJ week in New York at the moment, which pretty much means that every record label and band promoter is out there at the moment catching shows and possibly listening to panels. What that means for Pick Your Poison is simply a more difficult time providing mp3s for you the next couple days. My inbox is about half as full as it usually is, and much of it is also CMJ-related, recommending artists to go see or reminders about certain showcases. The good news is that I keep a back-up supply of music just for such an occasion. Recommendations today are for The Brute Chorus, Filthybird, Jookabox, U.S. Royalty and Wow & Flutter. Girl group The Suzan also crafted a very interesting cover of a Kanye West song.

The Brute Chorus – Heaven

Filthybird – Hiders

Fukkk Offf – Brain Rock
Fukkk Offf – Worldwide (ft. Hazel)

Home Video – Every Love That Ever Was (Montauk Vacation Mix)

Jookabox – You Cried Me

Kermit Ruffins – Hey Look Me Over

La Strada – My New Home
La Strada – Starling DNR

Lumerians – Orgon Grinder

The Suzan – Paranoid (Kanye West cover)

U.S. Royalty – Equestrian

Wildildlife – Give in to Love

Wow & Flutter – Scars

Good stuff in today’s Pick Your Poison includes new tracks from Finn Riggins, The Hush Now, The Mommyheads, Pigeons and Seafarer. If you’re not familiar with these artists, now might be a good time to give them a look/listen.

David Berkeley – George Square

Finn Riggins – Dali

Foxes In Fiction – Jimi Bleachball

Hissy Fit – Outdoor Life
Hissy Fit – Crosstrainers

The Hush Now – Please Mephistopheles Leave Me Alone

Joey Wright – Genius

The Lines – Tracey

Lupe – Shake (Tom Trago edit) (note: this is NOT Lupe Fiasco)

The Mommyheads – Work

Oh Land – Sun of A Gun

Pigeons – Race

Sara Radle – Baxter Hill

Seafarer – The Archipelago

For a Monday, Pick Your Poison is literally packed with music, and there’s so much good stuff. There’s so many highlights, I’m hesitant to name them all. Be sure to check out songs from Bridges and Powerlines, I Was A King, Liz Janes, Martina Topley-Bird, Pomegranates, and Robbers on High Street. There’s also a song from Wilco’s own Nels Cline, and Max Justus does an interesting cover of a Patrick Swayze “classic”.

Bridges and Powerlines – Blue Sky

Butterflies – Goodbye (Like A Stranger)

Envy – A Breath Clad In Happiness

I Was A King – Nightwalking

Liz Janes – I Don’t Believe

Martina Topley-BIrd – Baby Blue (Badgerbrown remix)

Max Justus – She’s Like the Wind (Patrick Swayze cover)

Mon Khmer – Birthplace

My My My – War Party

Nels Cline – Don’t Threaten Me With Your Threats

Pomegranates – 50s

Robbers on High Street – Electric Eye

The Sleep Ins – Angelina

White Belt Yellow Tag – Remains

Here’s what’s fascinating: when tickets for Sufjan Stevens at the Chicago Theatre went on sale a couple months ago, it had been a few years since he’d released any new music. Sufjan had gone on the record saying he wasn’t feeling particularly productive and began to question whether or not the album was a viable form of releasing music anymore. In other words, Sufjan announced tour dates and sold thousands of tickets, all on the assumption that he’d be playing virtually 100% old material. How quickly time flies. Less than an hour after tickets went on sale for the Chicago date of his fall tour (one week after most other cities), there was suddenly a spark of life that came in the form of the hour-long “All Delighted People” EP, immediately released in digital format via Bandcamp. So, suddenly the chances of Sufjan playing some new material on this tour increased exponentially. Then came the second surprise, the announcement of a new full length album, “The Age of Adz”, the release date of last Tuesday perfectly coinciding with the start of the tour. And so it was, over 2 hours of new Sufjan music released before his date at the Chicago Theatre, with the show pretty much sold out before most anyone was aware it existed.

So it was with another collection of very good album reviews and a certain measure of excitement that crowds packed into the Chicago Theatre last Friday night to see what Sufjan Stevens would do. With a sheer screen lowered at the front of the stage to somewhat hide the band, they emerged and launched right into an incredible version of “Seven Swans”. Given it’s extremely precious and sparse arrangement on the record of the same name, the full band rendition gave the song an entirely new life that was at least equal to, if not greater than, the original. Shapes and objects were projected onto both a screen behind the stage and the one in front of it, which was raised near the end of the song. Post-”Seven Swans”, Sufjan greeted the crowd and noted how he was excited to be able to perform some new songs for all of us. Whether or not the crowd was equally excited to hear them was another matter. What followed was 10 songs in a row, 8 of them from “The Age of Adz” and 2 of them from the “All Delighted People” EP. There’s servicing a new album, and then there’s SERVICING a new album. Sufjan chose the latter, and with the likely possibility that at least half the crowd hadn’t heard the majority if not the entirety of it. If you bought a physical copy of the album, you only had a couple days to become familiar with it, unless you streamed it online in the couple weeks prior to its release. Basically, this show was your full introduction to the new stuff, and Sufjan was more than happy to shove you in the pool without any life vest on.

While a majority of confused faces looked on, song after song passed by and Sufjan did his best to keep things lively and interesting. There were about 10 people in his backing band, two drummers, two horn players, two or three guitarists, a keyboard/piano player, and two women singing backup vocals and dancing. Sufjan himself switched around between banjo, electric guitar, keyboards, piano and a couple other instruments, and at one point simply grabbed the microphone and wandered around the front of the stage just singing. There were projections on the screen at the back of the stage the entire time, and occasionally the sheer front stage screen would come down and add more projections. Shapes and space and planets and UFOs all flew around haphazardly, and as Sufjan explained mid-set, it was all inspired by the little-known artist Royal Robertson, whose art graces the cover of “The Age of Adz”. Apparently during the last couple years when he was “creatively challenged”, Robertson’s art spoke to him and snapped him out of that slump. The guy was a paranoid schizophrenic and had some wild ideas about the end of the world, aliens and numerology. It also made for some interesting musical choices on Sufjan’s part, and either listening to the album or simply seeing it performed live will prove that to you. And though there was a clear disconnect between what the music happening on stage and the audience filling the seats, a few moments really did strike home. “I Walked”, the first “single” and a free download from “The Age of Adz”, hit hard probably for those exact reasons. Also, the sheer shock of thet 25.5 minute “Impossible Soul”, complete with Auto-Tune breakdown, caused an intense burst of enthusiasm from the crowd with applause and cheering that was at the level of about 5 songs combined, because that’s essentially what it was. If you’re going to play the city of Chicago though, and you’ve got a song with that exact title that turned into your biggest hit to date, people would have been near-riot angry had Sufjan not played it. Naturally, he saved it for the end of the set, and everyone got out of their seats and sang along. It was a rendition virtually verbatim with the one that appeared on “Illinois”, but when you’ve got the crowd eating out of the palm of your hand going off script into an extended version of a classic song isn’t the best route to take. So with the two older songs sandwiched at the beginning and end of the set and everything else new in between, Sufjan Stevens and his band said goodnight…but not without an encore first.

As Sufjan came out by himself for the encire, he played the lovely but brief “Illinois” piano track “Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois”. That was another straight version, before he brought his two backup singers out to do “Decatur”. As an introduction to the song, Sufjan pretty much said, “I hate this song, it’s a real tongue-twister, but we’re here so we have to do it.” That turned out just fine too, as did “Casimir Pulaski Day” right after that, The really questionable move he made was to play “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” solo to end the night. As great as that song is, part of the also-great “Illinois” album and a historical legacy of the state, one can’t help but wonder if there was a better, less depressing serial killer-ish choice that could have been made before walking off the stage. Instead it was a somber end to a night that in an ideal world would have been far more upbeat.

If you haven’t noticed by now, this isn’t a rave review praising Sufjan Stevens for his musical brilliance both on and off the stage. The fact of the matter is, the guy is so prolific and talented that he’s raised the bar to a point beyond which even he can reach. The one thing he’s failed to realize in this tour so far is that while people are excited to hear your new stuff, they’re still more passionate about the old stuff. In some recent interviews, Sufjan made some comments about leaving the “cutesy” days behind and presenting a far more mature show than he ever has before. Back in 2005, touring for a few months after the release of “Illinois”, he had cheerleaders and wore a train engineer’s cap and played the banjo. It was such a joyous and happy experience – clearly one he has no intention of repeating anytime soon. As nice of a guy as Sufjan is, and as great as his music might be, he’s very much started to take on the temperament of the tortured genius. Whether it’s the enormous pressure he’s felt from all the critical acclaim and mainstream success he’s achieved thus far, or it’s simply a matter of burnout, the smile seems to have been erased from his face. There was nothing technically wrong with his show at the Chicago Theatre last Friday, everything sounded exactly as it should and the new stuff is pretty excellent as well. A set list where the majority of the songs are from “The Age of Adz” and the “All Delighted People” EP isn’t necessarily frowned upon, but at these early stages when the new material is still seeping into people’s brains, perhaps more of a balance would leave the crowds more satisfied. Then again these are the perils that come from being a relatively popular musician, the pressure to give in and “play the hits” rather than try something new. Sufjan Stevens gets credit for largely ignoring what could have been a very eclectic and satisfying set by challenging the audience with all this new music. That doesn’t give much excuse for the relative disdain for which he played songs from “Illinois” during the encore, but better to play them halfheartedly than not at all. Once “The Age of Adz” and its companion EP have been around long enough to earn some genuine sing-alongs, Sufjan’s live show will reach solid ground once again. At the moment though, he’s running far ahead of the pack and refusing to slow down with the hope that everyone else will catch up with him eventually. Let’s hope that’s sooner rather than later.

Set List:
Seven Swans
Too Much
Age of Adz
Heirloom
I Walked
Now That I’m Older
Vesuvius
Futile Devices
Get Real Get Right
The Owl and the Tanager
Impossible Soul
Chicago
\**ENCORE**/
Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!
Casimir Pulaski Day
John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

Buy “The Age of Adz” from Amazon

Checking back through my personal, handwritten archives of this here website (see: Google currently is disabling my access to 3+ years of online archives), it looks like I featured The Walkmen on a Live Friday session back in May of 2009. They were still out supporting their last album “You & Me”, and put up a great set of material from that excellent record. Well, here we are a year and a half later and they’ve got a brand new album out ,”Lisbon”, and it’s one of 2010′s best. I’m pleased to share this session with you from the band as they do 4 songs from that record, recorded just over a week ago. There’s also an interview you can stream below, where the band talks about the origins of the “Lisbon” title, and whether or not each new album is a response to the one before it. Enjoy.

The Walkmen – Blue As Your Blood (Live on WXPN)
The Walkmen – Angela Surf City (Live on WXPN)
The Walkmen – Juveniles (Live on WXPN)
The Walkmen – Woe Is Me (Live on WXPN)

Stream the entire interview/session 

Buy “Lisbon” from Amazon

Friday’s edition of Pick Your Poison is pretty well custom designed to get your weekend started right. A hefty stack of mp3s for you, many of them being excellent. Highlights you’ll want to definitely check out from Ben Weaver, James Husband, Kelley Stoltz, Nicole Atkins and William Ryan Fritch. I purposely grouped those singular artist names together. The band The War On Drugs is also worth your time, as is a remix of a Holy Fuck song. Enjoy your weekend.

Ben Weaver – East Jefferson

Brent Amaker and the Rodeo – Pocket Calculator (Kraftwerk cover)

Holy Fuck – Stay Lit (Bishop Morocco Remix)

False Positive – Strike Up the Band

James Husband – Window

Jump Clubb – Futile Devices (Sufjan Stevens cover)

Kelley Stoltz – I Remember, You Were Wild

Mikix the Cat – The Key

Nicole Atkins – Vultures

Panico – Icon

The Sewing Room – Kill Me

Travel By Sea – Eventually

The War On Drugs – The History of Plastic

William Ryan Fritch – When the Ground Is Numb

In the last five years alone, Antony Hegarty has been more productive than he has in all the years prior. To put it more clearly, since 2005′s “I Am A Bird Now”, he’s taken a bit of a star turn on the debut album from Hercules and Love Affair and put out two new records and two EPs. If it seems like it’s only been a minute since there was an Antony and the Johnsons record, you’d be right. Last year Antony and his band put out “The Crying Light”, and a couple months ago came the “Thank You For Your Love” EP. Now there’s yet another album out this week from Antony and the Johnsons titled “Swanlights”. If you’re enough of a fan, a limited edition version of the record comes with a 144-page art book that features paintings, photography and writing by Antony. The two are intended to compliment one another, even if most people will only get the music half.

What helps make Antony Hegarty such a compelling musician is the way he combines that gorgeous falsetto of his with delicate instrumentation to compliment the impassioned words that are being spoken. Unlike so many bands that can get away with a catchy guitar riff or bouncy chorus, Antony and the Johnsons albums are designed for close and hushed listens, the kind where you lay on the floor with headphones and try to both decipher the poetry in the lyrics while allowing the gripping emotions in Antony’s vocals to create additional depth to that. A song like “Thank You For Your Love”, which repeats the titular phrase dozens of times, is an excellent example of how even the simplest of lines can change the entire tone of a song based solely on how it’s sung. The horns, piano and percussion help to round out one of the most accessible Antony and the Johnsons songs to date, but by no means are those things essential the more you listen to it.

While it’d be nice to say that if Antony went a capella that these songs would be just as great, the truth is that the myriad of instruments on “Swanlights” help provide the necessary structure and commercial viability a record like this requires. Compared to past Antony and the Johnsons albums, this new one is actually the most varied and exploratory in terms of song structure and genre. Pop isn’t the right word to describe any of the songs on “Swanlights”, but certain moments are easier to digest than others. Much of the first half of the record appears devoted to the previously mentioned experimentation, though these songs aren’t so much challenging as they are simply revealing a different side of Antony. “The Great White Ocean” is intensely restrained, devoted almost entirely to Antony’s vocals with just a sparse acoustic guitar to aid him in holding down the melody. Compare that with the lush “I’m In Love” just two songs later, which incorporates organ, piano, strings and a tempo that’s upbeat but not quite toe-tapping. It’s almost night and day when you examine how both tracks were constructed. The title track only dabbles for the first 30 seconds in backwards recording, but that’s also virgin territory for the band. It makes you wonder why after a few short piano bits and a line or two of vocals things flipped to the normal forwards.

One of the biggest issues with “Swanlights” is how unevenly paced/sequenced things are. With such a wide variety of sonic experiments, the constant jumping around takes you out of the full album experience just a little bit. You want the quieter piano tracks next to one another, the big orchestral numbers close by, and the higher gear uplifting stuff in a group. At least that way you can argue that there are various parts as you journey through the record. To surround a more upbeat horns track “Thank You For Your Love” with the delicate piano and strings of “The Spirit Was Gone” on one side and the standout/standalone piano and vocal acrobatics duet with Bjork “Fletta” on the other is just madness. Taken one by one in single song format, all three tracks are excellent, they just lose a lot of their power because of how and where they’re placed in the album.

It stands with little contention that Antony and the Johnsons have been on something of a prolific streak with all of their recent releases. They espouse a certain sound and have ably maintained it since “I Am A Bird Now”, with the twist here and turn there to keep everyone fully engaged and wanting more. With “Swanlights” there’s an even greater extension of that trademark sound into territories unknown, and virtually all of the little experiments work tremendously well. The issue is less with the individual songs themselves and more with how the entire record comes together. Specifically, when listened to from start to finish this album sounds like one large transitional phase, in which the band is just throwing a bunch of different stuff at the wall to see what sticks. If these songs were represented by foods, one would be a chewed piece of gum, another would be peanut butter, and a third might be maple syrup. You like all these foods, and depending on what you have a taste for will eat them in delicious fashion. But does a peanut butter, gum and syrup sandwich sound at all appetizing? No it does not. You want to eat one at a time. “Swanlights” goes for the combo sandwich and it winds up a bit iffy. The best choice is to pick one thing and make a full meal out of it. That’s what’s worked for Antony and the Johnsons in the past, and hypothetically speaking, should work for them again in the future.

Antony and the Johnsons – Thank You For Your Love

Buy “Swanlights” from Amazon

We’re getting so close to the weekend you can almost taste it. Today’s yet another packed edition of Pick Your Poison. Plenty of songs to choose from, and also plenty of highlights. Check out new tracks from Breathe Owl Breathe, Callers, and the great Surf City. You can also download a song from the classic band Cex, learn a little something about N.A.S.A. offshoot project FuzZ, and smoke a bit of Truman Peyote.

Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck – Dawning  (ZIP)

Breathe Owl Breathe – Across the Loch

Callers – Life of Love

Cex – Freq

Fenech-Soler – Lies (Doctor P Remix)

FuzZ – Marshmallow

Generationals – Trust

The Glass – Four Four Letter

Lights On Moscow – Lord, Let Me Know

Shellshag – Resiliant Bastard

Surf City – Kudos

Toby Richardson – King of All the Moves

Truman Peyote – Turn Into Feathers (ft. Emily Reo)

Woodsy Pride – As Always A Good Thing

If two individuals break away from their well-respected bands to form a new one together, does it constitute the formation of a supergroup? It’s a good question, though the answer is most likely the easiest by simply saying yes. With just two people though, it might be more accurate to call them a superduo rather than a supergroup. This week in superduo formations, Blue Water White Death is the name that Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater and Jaime Stewart of Xiu Xiu came up with for their new project. Their self-titled record is out this week, and if you’re a fan of either of these two guys, there’s something for you here.

Xiu Xiu are a notoriously tough band to get into, primarily because Jaime Stewart seems to really like abstract and challenging melodies. He’s not afraid to get weird, and that’s been to both the benefit and detriment of the band. Shearwater, on the other hand, are well known for their carefully and gorgeously composed songs, implementing strings and a host of other instruments to get the point across. It’s highly dramatic and Jonathan Meiburg’s voice can go from cowering to soaring at the flip of a switch. What’s pretty fascinating as well is how much Meiburg and Stewart sound exactly alike the majority of the time, though Stewart seems to prefer yelping and screaming rather than smoothly soaring. That’s probably because it serves his end purpose better. Vocals aside, it would seem that these two guys and their bands have little in common with one another. so how a collaboration would play out is an interesting concept. Blue Water White Death turns that hypothetical situation into a reality, and surprisingly it plays out how you might expect it to.

Beautiful experimentation are the two words to best describe Blue Water White Death’s debut, as Meiburg carefully handles the beautiful part and Stewart takes care of the experimental part. The album’s first single and longest song at 6+ minutes is “Song for the Greater Jihad”, and it perfectly sums up what to expect from the record. There’s a quietly picked acoustic guitar that comes across as shimmering, and matched with Meiburg’s delicately forceful vocals it could be a Shearwater song. But then there are the obtuse and loud bass guitar hits every so often, coming across like somebody is smashing the guitar with a mallet. There’s also a power drill that makes a violent appearance somewhere close to the middle of the track, for no apparent reason than to create more odd cacophony. These things don’t exactly ruin the track, but they do feel just a little forced, like they both listened to the song and said, “it sounds too precious and clean”. That seems to be the motive or manifesto for most of the record, calm beauty occasionally interrupted by noises that clearly don’t belong. Over the album’s 8 tracks, that pattern is largely repeated time and time again, to the point where things start to blend together a little and standout moments are hard to come by. “Grunt Tube” is nice, and paired up with “Song for the Greater Jihad” they form a nice 1-2 punch. The same goes for the two closing tracks “Gall” and “Rendering the Juggalos”, the former taking on some more psychedelic elements while the latter splices together a series of noises to excellent effect. In between those relative bookends there’s a gray area that’s more okay than it is great.

Meiburg and Stewart chose to name their band after a documentary about shark hunters, and listening to this Blue Water White Death debut makes perfect sense when considered in that context. Meiburg represents the Blue Water half of the band, crafting melodies that soundtrack the relative calm and mystery of the sea. Stewart takes the form of White Death, like a predator shark prowling those quiet waters and attacking prey at will. That being said, the combination may be unique but it lacks real purpose. Not much comes off as revelatory or particularly worth your time, especially when comparing this project with the two members’ main bands. Perhaps the album’s problems have something to do with the fact that they wrote and recorded it in only a week, entering the studio with no instruments or set plans. It’s no wonder that most of the tracks feel somewhat haphazardly thrown together or not entirely complete. The thought was good, the execution was not. For fans of Shearwater and/or Xiu Xiu, Blue Water White Death is something worth at least giving a try, just to see if it strikes you in the right way. Most everyone else will struggle and probably give up on it. This debut has given us enough of a reason to see that the pairing of these two dynamic artists can yield strong results, it just might take a little bit of time and care to nurture the project into something healthier for mass consumption.

Blue Water White Death – Song for the Greater Jihad

Buy “Blue Water White Death” from Graveface Records

Lots o’ music in today’s Pick Your Poison, a little more than normal. That just means more highlights for you to download. My personal picks for today include tracks from So So Glos, True Womanhood and Weekends. There’s a brand new cut from Deerhoof as well, definitely worth your time, and Philadelphia Grand Jury do a remarkable cover of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems”.

The Amplifetes – Fokker

Blonde Summer – Cathode Ray

Dearling Physique – Discipline Your Hands 

Deerhoof – The Merry Barracks 

Gamma Gamma Rays – Roam

Giant Sand – Fields of Green

Head Like A Kite – Diamond Paint

KAV – Mr. Nice (ft. Howard Marks)

Philadelphia Grand Jury – 99 Problems (Jay-Z cover)

So So Glos – Fred Astaire

True Womanhood – Dream Cargoes

We Can’t Enjoy Ourselves – Put Your Blue Dress On
We Can’t Enjoy Ourselves – A Charming Man

Weekends – Jerk Center

Whitey Morgan and The 78s – I Ain’t Drunk