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Deer Tick – Piece By Piece and Frame By Frame

On 03/14/2011

In live music, mp3, music, photos, show review

Rare is the occasion when you can find a triple bill of bands touring together where all three deserve to headline every night. The trouble is, naturally, that only one band can truly headline. When two headliners share the stage for multiple dates together the decision on headliners is sometimes an evenly split rotation from night to night or occasionally a luck of the draw. When it’s three bands though, how does such a decision get made? In the case of Deer Tick, Dawes and Middle Brother, there are special circumstances that make the entire process easier. First and foremost, as members of both Deer Tick and Dawes are part of Middle Brother along with Delta Spirit’s Matt Vasquez, the supergroup takes precedence and closes out the evening because of the collection of talent. Secondly, Dawes have really made a name for themselves in the past few months by scoring a radio hit courtesy of their song “When My Time Comes”. Deer Tick, by contrast, have put out a couple albums and built a strong fan base but haven’t quite scored a genuine hit yet. They do have at least one high profile fan in the form of NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams though, who featured them on his inaugural edition of music-based interviews known as BriTunes. The thing about these three separate but equal bands playing together though is that they all really get along well with one another and are great friends. The dynamic of it, the way it’s all presented, matters less than simply going out, having fun and putting on a great show for people. Funny enough, that’s exactly what they did when their tour ran through Chicago on Saturday night, and you’d probably consider yourself foolish if you skipped even a minute of it.

Deer Tick have always been a force to be reckoned with live, and a venue like the Metro only enhances that intensity. They came flying out of the gate with their naturally playful energy that the crowd was more than happy to eat up. There was bouncing, there was swaying, there were saxophone solos, and there were covers. From the beginning, a number of people mentioned in just general crowd chatter that John McCauley’s vocals were placed too low in the mix because much of what he was saying seemed unintelligible. Considering that the Metro is one of the best-sounding concert venues in Chicago if not the world, they don’t really ever screw up mixing like that. In fact it was more McCauley’s voice with its rather nasal, Bob Dylan charm that made things a bit muddy. That’s no fault of his own, and such a thing should not have prevented most if not everyone from getting a little something out of Deer Tick’s set. They jumped all over their catalogue, from “Something to Brag About” to “Smith Hill” to “Choir of Angels” to “Ashamed” and the massive “Christ Jesus”. There were a handful of new songs too, leaving something to look forward to whenever they get around to putting out another record. The band also started what would become a theme throughout the night, which is the spirit of collaboration. Mid-set they brought out Delta Spirit’s Matt Vasquez to take the lead on a few songs, perhaps in part because the rest of his band was not on this tour. He sang a new song along with a pair of covers – Bruce Springsteen’s “Racing in the Streets” followed by Nirvana’s “Scentless Apprentice”. The transition from The Boss to Nirvana was jarring and weird, but hot damn does Vasquez do a great Kurt Cobain. Deer Tick is playing a set of Nirvana covers at SXSW this upcoming week under the name Deervana, and if Vasquez joins them (he likely will, among others), keep an eye out for some killer YouTube videos. On the whole, it was yet another excellent Deer Tick set in a long line of excellent Deer Tick sets, providing more proof that they’re one of the more engaging live acts around today.

Buy Deer Tick’s “Black Dirt Sessions” from Amazon

After a brief break, Dawes came out to do their thing. It’s hard to believe that their debut album “North Hills” came out in 2009, but it’s taken this long for them to get really noticed. They’ve been paying their dues though, consistently touring and playing music festivals whether you’ve known it or not. After a couple quick songs from that first record, they played a new one about their hometown of Los Angeles. What’s moderately funny and also just a touch disappointing is that they’ve already written a couple songs about L.A. before and at some point it just becomes excessive. Still, despite the subject matter the song was good, as was their entire set. One of the best moments came courtesy of their new song “Fire Away”, as frontman Taylor Goldsmith tried something new and got the crowd to sing in divided-by-gender harmony. Not to boost some egos, but it sounded quite good. With just the one album and a couple new songs to play over the course of their hour-long set time, Dawes kept up with the collaborations by bringing their friend Jonny Corndawg out on stage to sing a few of his original country tunes. If you are unfamiliar with Jonny Corndawg, he can often be found wearing the traditional cowboy hat and boots, and he’s got a relatively large catalogue of songs that are both bizarre and heartfelt at the same time. You’d think the guy was a parody of country singers if he didn’t carry himself so earnestly. Yet there’s a sly, oddball sense of humor that permeates his lyrics and makes you sit up and notice what might otherwise be just a collection of country standards. Dawes loves the Corndawg, as does Deer Tick and one would assume Delta Spirit by proxy. They all share a lot of the same qualities, even if their approaches are a little different. After performing 5 of his songs with Dawes, a whole bunch of people rushed the stage, including Matt Vasquez and members of Deer Tick for a set-closing rendition of the Dawes hit “When My Time Comes”. Yeah, it was one massive sing-along where everyone on stage eventually turned their microphones out to the crowd to take over. The collective release of energy was something that had been building all night to that point, and when it finally happened there was such catharsis you knew it wouldn’t be topped.

Dawes – When My Time Comes

Buy Dawes’ “North Hills” from Amazon

Middle Brother began their set with “Blue Eyes” after yet another short break, and it was a smart choice over the beautiful but very slow opening track “Daydreaming” off their debut record. Most bands like to start their sets with the first track of their latest album, but in this case a bouncier and catchier song won out. Of course “Daydreaming” would pop up a few songs into the set anyways, mostly because Middle Brother played every song they’ve put out thus far. But McCauley did an exceptional job with hjs lead vocal on “Daydreaming”, making it one of the evening’s brightest spots. Highlights also included Taylor Goldsmith’s intense vocal performance on “Blood and Guts”, which was heartwrenching on record but even moreso live. The rollicking single “Me Me Me” has been getting a little bit of radio airplay in town, and probably went over best with the crowd during that particular set. The stage completely cleared out as Goldsmith took on “Wilderness” completely on his own, which was nice to have that short respite from the balances and imbalances that having such a collection of talent together at once. As for Matt Vasquez, he was great when sharply rocking out on guitar for most of the night, but also did a more than admirable job taking lead on “Theater” and “Someday”. If anybody was underused or underrepresented not just during Middle Brother’s set but all night it was Vasquez, but that also makes a bit of sense given that his main band Delta Spirit is significantly less alt-country/folk than Deer Tick and Dawes are. He’s an essential part of Middle Brother, no doubt about that, he’s just more of the quiet one that sits in the corner quietly blowing everyone away rather than sucking up the spotlight (not that McCauley or Goldsmith are begging for attention, they’re probably just more outgoing). Of course everyone came together at the very end of the night, including Jonny Corndawg and the guys from Deer Tick and Dawes to perform the song “Middle Brother” and then an encore that included their cover of The Replacements’ “Portland” and a supremely round-robin version of The Band’s “Down South in New Orleans”. That’s how the night ended, with about 15 people on stage and random band members grabbing the microphone and belting out verses in the most theatrical and spectacular ways possible. For a brief moment it felt like one massive gospel and blues show, with new surprises emerging at every turn.

The ability to not just pull one, but multiple rabbits out of a single hat is a big part of what makes a good show great, and by that count every band nailed it Saturday night. I had a great admiration for all three bands that were on the bill Saturday night, and even the one (Delta Spirit) that wasn’t, but I couldn’t honestly say that I loved any one of them. As a result of this show, every one of them has sharply risen in my esteem. The spirit of collaboration and friendship completely overflowed on stage, really bringing out the best in each act and helping to create great memories for everyone that was in the room. There wasn’t anything earth shattering or epic that happened, but sometimes it’s the little things, the personal connections and a love of good music that make for the best times.

Middle Brother – Me Me Me
Middle Brother – Middle Brother

Buy “Middle Brother” from Amazon

Click past the jump for more photos!

Pick Your Poison: Friday 3-12-11

On 03/11/2011

Bikini – American Mourning (WIN WIN Remix)

This weekend is a little celebration better known as St. Patrick’s Day (Observed). Because the actual St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Thursday, many are taking the weekend before to drink their green beer and just get sloppy drunk. If that’s your idea of a good time, enjoy. Pick Your Poison today is exceptionally enjoyable. My personal choices include songs from Early Winters, Grieves, James Legs, Phil Cook (of Megafaun), Ponytail, The Wrens and Yuck. In the Soundcloud section there are also great songs from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and Generationals.

Daniel Knox – Ghostsong

Early Winters – Tough Love

The Echelon Effect – We Will Spin Forever

Family of the Year – Stupidland

Grieves – Lightspeed

James Legs – Drowning in Fire

The Owsley Brothers – Under the Shade of a Live Oak

Phil Cook & His Feat – Ballad of a Hungry Mother

Ponytail – Easy Peasy

Rimer London ft. Cata.Pirata – Love Dagger

Ryan Driver – Am I Still Too Late

The Shondes – Nothing Glows
The Shondes – Make It Beautiful

This Year’s Model – No Miracles

The Wrens – As I’ve Known

Yuck – Get Away

SOUNDCLOUD

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – Morning Thought

Dry the River – New Ceremony

Generationals – Ten-Twenty-Ten

Pick Your Poison: Thursday 3-10-11

On 03/10/2011

Anti-Social Music – Bitter Suite (Fear)

It’s Thursday, and Friday is just a day away. That weekend is so close you can almost taste it. Let’s get right into Pick Your Poison for today. Top choices, among others, come from Afrobeta, Electra, Jeniferever, Morning Claws and Tiger Bones. There’s also a new cut from Heidecker & Wood, the music project of Tim Heidecker and Davin Wood, both best known for “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” where the titular Tim stars and Davin is the show’s music composer. Also in the Soundcloud section you’ll find a new song from Oh Land, which is simply delightful.

Afrobeta – Nighttime

Beni – Yeah (Mickey Remix)

Dan Bern – Grandpa

The Del McCoury Band and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band – One More Fore I Die

Electra – I Feel Love (Donna Summer cover)

Headless Horseman – Wavlngth

Heidecker and Wood – Right Or Wrong

Jeniferever – Dover

Klaxons – Echoes (Steve Aoki Remix)

Lianna La Havas – Final Form (Everything Everything cover)

Metronomy – The Look (Ghostpoet Remix)

Moonlight Towers – Heat Lightning

Saint Motel – Puzzle Pieces

Satellite Stories – Helsinki Art Scene

Morning Claws – Slack Magic

Tiger Bones – Eyeliner

SOUNDCLOUD

CHOO CHOO – Bits+Pieces

Oh Land – Wolf & I

Pick Your Poison: Wednesday 3-9-11

Amor De Dias – Bunhill Fields

On 03/09/2011

In mp3, music, photos

For all you Christians out there, welcome to Lent. It’s a time of sacrifice and reflection, all leading up to Easter when we break out the jelly beans and Peeps while putting images of bunnies and colored eggs everywhere. Pretty righteous, isn’t it? Anyways, more on that later. Let’s get right to Pick Your Poison for today. Packed to the gills with songs, many of them excellent. What I can vouch for are tracks from Alela Diane, Amor De Dias (which counts The Clientele’s Alasdair MacLean as a member), Boats, Grand Atlantic, Here We Go Magic, Leverage Models, and Memory Map. The Dogs are also a pretty cool up-and-coming band from Chicago you might want to look into as well. In the Soundcloud section, you’ll find great new songs from Oupa (the side project of Daniel Blumberg of Yuck) as well as Sondre Lerche.

Alela Diane – To Begin

Anni Rossi – Land Majestic

Boats – TV Scientist

Dave Depper – Dear Boy

The Dogs – Dance More
Name Your Price for The Dogs’ album “Camping”

Grand Atlantic – Poison to the Vine

Here We Go Magic – Hands in the Sky

The Hit Back – Me and the Kid

Killed By 9V Batteries – Impulse Control

THE KNØCKØUT – Ruthless Efficiency)

Leverage Models – Tonight When I Burn

The Mannequin Brides – The Story of Abby

Memory Map – Sunburnt & Blown

radioseven – Explorers
radioseven – Don’t Think

Snow Patrol ft. Martha Wainright – Set Fire to the Third Bar (ConRank Drumstep Remix)

Stricken City – Some Say

SOUNDCLOUD

Belleruche – 3 Amp Fuse

Oupa – Forget

Sondre Lerche – Domino

Album Review: Wye Oak – Civilian [Merge]

On 03/08/2011

Buy “Civilian” from Amazon

Wye Oak is a band that has been teetering on the brink of indie stardom for a few years now. Their debut record “If Children” established the Baltimore duo of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack as both deep and dark thinkers, crafting sublime folk melodies with extreme splashes of loud electric guitar violence and shoegaze tropes. It all feels really organic and heavy too, refusing to succumb to anybody’s common labels of a cutesy male-female band that does a lot of love and relationship stuff. This isn’t Mates of State, nor is it the blues-inflected rock of The White Stripes. If Wye Oak has earned an extremely high number of comparisons to Beach House, it’s because of the aforementioned duo thing, and also Wasner’s voice has a deeper, smoky vibe that Victoria Legrand’s also espouses. The overall sounds are relatively similar as well, in that both Beach House and Wye Oak make subtle, dream-infused pop music, though Wye Oak most definitely goes darker and louder. The internet has been kind to Wye Oak for the most part, helping to generate a fair amount of hype for their two albums to date. Touring around a bit with The Decemberists also helped them out a bit, scoring them new fans and shoving new ideas into their heads. So after several months of writing and recording after putting out a pretty smart EP last year, Wye Oak returns for their third full length “Civilian”.

“Civilian” opens with crowd noise – lots of people having multiple conversations in a large room. It’s the sort of thing that happens at a concert venue between bands, where there’s a lot of voices but you can’t really make out what any single one of them is saying because it’s all just collected cacophony. But as the crowd dies down, the first notes of “Two Small Deaths” creep in – some held down keyboards and other electronic elements that rise together like a collective symphony of indistinct loudness; a parallel to the crowd noise that came just before it. The that shimmering quickly fades to unveil a carefully plucked deep electric guitar melody along with some nicely paced taps on the drum rim. It’s all pretty signature for Wye Oak, that is until the chorus strikes. Wasner’s vocals get doubled over into harmonies, some cymbals and other bits enter the melody, which surges forth with color and life in spite of the grim subject matter. Bits of descending keyboards flutter around the second verse and continue to hold the discreet and subdued charm of the track, which legitimately begins to feel like the auditory approximation of small streams of sunlight rising from the horizon at the start of a day. The song is just the start of something new for Wye Oak – music that bears all of their familiar marks, yet pushes beyond the traditional darkness of their arrangements towards something more vibrant and fascinating.

One of Wye Oak’s vices has always been and continues to be the stasis created by a singular guitar riff or melody. They always choose interesting chords or progressions, but there’s very little deviation once they settle into a certain groove. When it falls flat, as it has on numerous occasions, it becomes easy to get bored and want to move on to something else. “Civilian” holds to the same pattern, but with a few more sidetracks to keep you guessing. “The Altar” works pretty well thanks to that mentality. A flurry of a guitar solo competing with some smooth bass lines and swirls of electronic noise all meet in the middle of the track just after Wasner’s vocals soar while getting buried in a pile of static. Speaking of which, the noise ratchets up significantly on “Holy Holy”, with the electric guitars working up into a fuzz-filled 70’s garage fury and Wasner pushing herself to compete behind the microphone. It makes for one of the most thrilling and legitimately fun rock songs on the entire record. “Dog Eyes” definitely tries something different by attempting to balance what feels like two different personalities across a single track. The song moves from a delicately plucked and relatively quiet verse into a very loud power chorded instrumental section before working the quiet-loud dichotomy one more time, with the final minute completely laying waste to everything that came before it. There’s something inherently impressive about it, but the transitions within the song are a bit jarring and there’s very little structure to the track on the whole, which is a problem. Better laid out is the title track, settling into a nice guitar and organ piece while getting progressively louder into a pretty fierce guitar solo at the coda.

The second half of the album can pretty much be classified as more of the same things established in the first half, though it tends to blend together into more of an amorphous blob with fewer standout moments. The lush way that “Plains” teems with possibility and only flashes mere seconds of loud guitars makes it individually compelling, and “We Were Wealth” has Jenn Wasner proving that she’s a scary talented vocalist with a power and range the band has only begun to fully explore. Outside of the general sound of the record though, the lyrical side of Wye Oak has always been one of their strongest suits. Of course it’s also been the main source of their dark and depressing side. “Hopeless light darkens my door/so I cannot cry”, Wasner opines on opening track “Two Small Deaths”, a song that is about what the title describes. The title track is perhaps the most interesting piece lyrically, starting out immediately with “I am nothing without pretend/I know my thoughts/Can’t live with them” and then going slightly creepy by saying “I still keep my baby teeth/on the bedside table with my jewelry”. Actually that second part may be a little endearing if you think about it. But it’s not all darkness and odd teeth fetishes. “Holy Holy” tries to put a positive spin on things with “all human joy is precious/and I for one should know this”, but really what she’s saying is that she wasn’t careful and lost the joy in her life. Perhaps my favorite lyrics of the entire record come on “Dog Eyes”, with the pure poetry of “a deep hole, a secret, in order to feed it/a season of growing into everyone knowing”. It’s lines like that which make Wye Oak a very special and cool band, even if there’s a focus on the morbid side of things.

The best thing that can be said about “Civilian” as a whole is that it’s an improvement. The duo has progressed forwards and are making strides in the absolute right direction. It’s interesting because unlike so many bands that catch on at their debut albums and spend the rest of the time trying to regenerate that same sort of praise and hype, Wye Oak are only building more momentum with each new release. They’ve yet to reach the point where one of their records shoves them outright into the spotlight, but they keep getting closer and closer. Unfortunately “Civilian” is probably not going to be the one that does it for them, even though it is their best to date. There are a couple of so-so songs that don’t have the same magic or mojo as the others, and it’s enough to keep the buzz at bay for just a little longer. What’s most exciting about this new album though is how the arrangements stick out in a more riveting way than ever before, breaking free of the ever-present darkness to expose small cracks of light. While noisy, fuzzed out shoegaze-inspired guitars are part of their signature, throwing any normal grooves or folk-inspired melodies off-kilter in the most unique way possible, trying to flesh out and organically generate some of those moments instead of jumping in head first might make Wye Oak a better band. Of course who am I to be giving them tips on what to do next – given their track record of building up with each new release, it’s highly likely they’re going to get exactly where they need to go without anyone else’s help.

Wye Oak – Civilian

Pick Your Poison: Tuesday 3-8-11

On 03/08/2011

Adam and Darcie – 2 Cities

Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras. These things are going on today. If you’re Polish (or just like tasty pastries), pick yourself up a paczki and enjoy it while it lasts. I already had one last week, but will naturally indulge again because they’re so good. Also because I’m Polish, but that’s neither here nor there. If you’re in New Orleans, I hope you’re having a lot of fun (but not TOO much fun if you know what I mean). Indulge in all those wonderful things you’ll be potentially sacrificing in the coming 40 days, if you do that sort of thing. Best of luck to you all, and I’ll try to be more solemn on tomorrow’s Ash Wednesday. Anyways, Pick Your Poison has some…interesting tracks in it today to be sure. Fill up on them now, this version’s a little FATTER than normal because of the date. I will recommend tracks from Adam and Darcie, Parenthetical Girls, powerdove, Rich Bennett, and The Sound of Growing Up. Everything in the Soundcloud section is worth your time today, with new music from The Chemical Brothers, Crystal Stilts and Wild Beasts. All three of those are awesome.

Amtrac – Take Your Throne

The Angry Years – Dress Yourself As Someone Dead

Arrange – Turnpike

Bullmeister – Baby

Chromeo – Fancy Footwork (Haydn Hoffman Remix)

Eureka Birds – That Mountain Is A Volcano
Eureka Birds – There Was Light

Hourglass Sea – Tubbs & Crockett

Parenthetical Girls – The Pornographer

powerdove – Resting Place

Rebirth Brass Band – Do It Again

Rich Bennett – Wild Ride

The Sound of Growing Up – Drifting

W-H-I-T-E – Fountain (Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe Remix)

SOUNDCLOUD

The Chemical Brothers – Container Park

Crystal Stilts – Through The Floor

Wild Beasts – Albatross

Pick Your Poison: Monday 3-7-11

On 03/07/2011

Call Me Kat – Bug in a Web

Hope your weekend was excellent. If you didn’t grab your three day passes to this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, I have bad news for you – they’re all sold out. Single day tickets are still available though, you’ll just be paying a bit more if you want to go to all three days because you have to buy them separately instead of in a single package. But yeah, Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes, Dismemberment Plan, TV on the Radio, James Blake, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Odd Future, Yuck and a whole lot more will be there. Just under half the lineup has been announced thus far, and I know there are a couple more surprises on the way so keep an eye out. Alright, so your Monday edition of Pick Your Poison is pretty gigantic. Lots of mp3s, nothing to stream. Here are my picks to click: Call Me Kat, The Coathangers, Haushcka, Lab Coast, Planningtorock and Seapony.

Bing Ji Ling – Everybody

The Coathangers – Hurricane

Cornershop – Supercomputed (Old TImemachine Version)

Dynamite Walls – Blood On My Hands

Eatliz – Sunshine

Goddamn Electric Bill – Girl From School (alternate reality instrumental take on Hot Chip’s “Boy From School”)

Grand Pianoramax – Roulette (ft. Black Cracker and Karsh Kale)

Haushcka – Ping

The Idle Hands – Socialite Death Squad

Jake Mann + The Upper Hand – Get What You Came For

Lab Coast – Really Realize

Planningtorock – Doorway

Seapony – Dreaming

Skeletons – Grandma

Torpedo – Waiting for the Fall

Twiggy Frostbite – Written Within

Album Review: Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes [Atlantic/LL Recordings]

On 03/04/2011

Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers (I Follow You Tyler the Creator’s Remix)

Inquiring minds want to know – has Lykke Li ever smiled? Her music isn’t what one would call happy, though her first album “Youth Novels” had a fair number of intense club bangers on it. Through it all and the music videos she’s put out, never once a smile. I’ve seen her perform live twice. No smiles there either. According to a number of studies, Sweden is one of the 10 happiest countries on Earth. It’s where Li calls home, even if she doesn’t spend as much time there these days. For her sophmore record, she spent a fair amount of time writing and recording in the U.S., jumping between New York and Los Angeles, among other places. Those “other places” were primarily deserts, where she isolated herself from humanity and the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It was in the desert, starring in a short film for a director friend, that she finally found the inspiration she was looking for to create that new album. And though “Wounded Rhymes” may have been born out of isolation and depression, it’s ultimately soulful and escapist fare, a window into her dark world that’s hopefully more intriguing and inspirational than anything else. At the very least you can dance to a lot of it.

The three minute club banger opening of “Youth Knows No Pain” almost comes off like the rallying cry the title suggests. When we’re young, we’re invincible, and if you knock us down, we just get right back up again. The older we get, the more baggage we carry around, and the harder it gets to recover from those everyday stressors inflicted upon is. The positives and negatives of relationships are some of Lykke Li’s favorite topics, and “I Follow Rivers” is the first of many on the album about exactly that. At its core, the track is about the similarities between rivers and her man – how the wild and untamed natural majesty of rivers is so attractive. The music video for the song is pretty much exactly as just described, with a bearded, outdoorsman foreign-type walking alone through an empty landscape while Li follows closely behind. It also makes for a good pop song, with a strong hook and interesting percussive elements bouncing around. Similarly, “Love Out of Lust” is a more ballad-type track of the highest order, vigorously passionate and filled as much with sweeping drama as it is positivity. It’s a healthy reminder that love can be fleeting and temporary, so be sure to express it fully when it comes around, because you never know when it will again.

Things take a turn for the sad on “Unrequited Love”, but while the lyrics are as the title suggests, the way the song is put together really shines through above all else. With just a lone finger-picked guitar and percussion that amounts to no more than slapping on a knee, the track is more a showcase for Lykke Li’s voice and words. There are harmonies built upon harmonies and bits of “shoo wop shoo wop” going around as well, whipping out the classic 50s and 60s girl group style. Because of this, the track actually has a timeless feel to it in the kindest sort of way. Then like the flipping of a switch, the beats get huge again courtesy of some massive bass drum, the guitars ripple with a touch of surf rock, and Li turns from wounded to the attacker via “Get Some”. Many have and will continue to misinterpret the lines, “I’m your prostitute/you gon’ get some” as sexually demeaning or crass. The point is more the aggression and empowerment than it is giving men the idea she wants to be used and abused. It just so happens the song also has one of the best and strongest hooks Li has ever written. The heavier guitars and garage rock atmosphere of “RIch Kids Blues” are about the only good things about the song itself, which sets itself up as a near class warfare song about the poor choices in priorities that wealthy children tend to have. It’s about the sadness and emptiness that comes from having all the material possessions you could ever want, but not a lot else. Actually, it kind of makes sense then that this track has some good instrumentals going for it and not much else, which is sad and empty. Speaking of sad, “Sadness Is A Blessing” blows out a standard Lykke Li ballad into something huge, complete with piano, organ and bells. Yet again it does as the title suggests, in that it takes darker lyrics and sends them skyward as if to show what positivity can come from them.

Things go very quiet again when “I Know Places” shows up with just an acoustic guitar and Lykke Li’s vocal. It’s her moment to go folk, and it gives creedence to the thought that she excels at whatever musical style she tries – more than just your heavy-beat pop jams. The final two minutes of the song descend into a dreamy electronic haze punctuated with spots of guitar that’s eerily reminiscent of Chris Isaak’s classic “Wicked Game”. When the song itself is about escaping to someplace to be alone, that extra instrumental bit tacked on at the end feels like that goal has been accomplished in a very serene and beautiful sort of way. The solitary vacation is over as quickly as it started thanks to “Jerome”, a great mid-tempo track that offers a wide variety of percussion from rumbling bass drums to drum machines to wooden blocks to handclaps, tambourines and shakers. The touches of keyboards are nice too, but it ultimately comes down to a skilled vocal performance to carry the track beyond the vast wasteland of beats. The bass gets really low on closing track “Silent My Song”, echoing out over a massive space like a speaker hanging down from the clouds. Lyrically the song is low too, descending into sadness as Li sings about a man that puts her down at every turn. It’s like The Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb” from the perspective of the woman underneath it. What’s ironic about the track is how beautiful and vocally strident it is. Li’s voice is raised far above everything else in the mix. So while she sings about her voice going silent, the reality is anything but. It marks just one final complexity across a record packed full of them.

So after two records we definitely know that Lykke Li is not exactly a happy person, but “Wounded Rhymes” does leave us with are more questions. Like most people, she has had her share of heartache and heartbreak, but also deep passion and love. She covers every single one of those bases on this album, and the tracks are arranged in such a haphazard way that you’re never quite sure which emotion on this rollercoaster you’ll be turned onto next. And while that is a problem, it’s equally an asset. Instrumentally speaking, the mixture of hot dance numbers and ballads helps to justify each one’s position on the final product. See, you never want too much of one or the other packed together, so after you get all worked up thanks to a great beat, in comes the softer, slower stuff to mellow you out. No worries though, because before things start to drag, another uptempo track comes in to save the day. It’s smart in that each song feels earned and there’s never too much of a good or bad thing. The next question left hanging is whether or not Lykke Li is a hero or a victim. As the styles bounce back and forth, so do her lyrics, one minute wrestled into control by a man and the next taking control of him. She primarily played the role of the shy girl that just wanted a man on her debut “Youth Novels”, but she’s grown greatly on “Wounded Rhymes” – not only lyrically but vocally too. She’s got some powerhouse pipes that really get shown off for the first time on this record, and they help make most every song better than it would have been otherwise. It’s also a huge reason why this new album is an improvement over her first one. There may not be any songs as overtly amazing as a “Breaking It Up” or “Dance Dance Dance”, but what’s sacrificed in big pop numbers is more than made up for in an overall solidity that only leaves you asking for more.

Buy “Wounded Rhymes” from Amazon
Click through the jump to stream the entire album (for a limited time)

Pick Your Poison: Friday 3-4-11

On 03/04/2011

Adele – Rolling in the Deep (Johnny Lawson Remix)

Happy Friday everyone. Hope you’ve got a grand weekend coming up. The weather’s starting to warm up, so it’s okay to venture out a little more than usual. Especially if you live someplace where the threat of snow is all but gone by now. Pick Your Poison highlights for this Friday include tracks from Big Wave Riders, Hungry Kids of Hungary, I Was Totally Destroying It, Simon Says No, and Therapies Son. Also the Soundcloud section is really bringing it today with tracks from Guillemots and Junip, among others (see the Queen mashup as well, off the forthcoming “Sucker Punch” soundtrack).

Big Wave Riders – Skate or Die

Duologue – Get Out While You Can

Fizzle Like A Flood – Killshot

Flash Fiktion – Capsules of Sun (DID Remix)

Hungry Kids of Hungary – Wristwatch

I Was Totally Destroying It – Control

The Knocks – Ain’t Too Proud to Beg (Temptations cover)

Moddi – Ardennes (Kontaktor Remix)

Pegasuses-XL – Sea Mountain Island

Simon Says No – Solitary Rush

Skysaw – No One Can Tell

Therapies Son – Touching Down

SOUNDCLOUD

Boombox Saints – Bringin’ The Boom Back

Guillemots – Walk The River

Junip – Näckrosdammen

Queen with Armageddon Aka Geddy – I Want It All / We Will Rock You Mash-Up

Sarandon – Big Trev

Pick Your Poison: Thursday 3-3-11

On 03/03/2011

Ayah Marar – Follow You (Youth Kills Remix)

Just to remind everyone in case you were interested, tickets for this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival go on sale tomorrow. There’s been some strong lineup rumors going around, and while I’ve been dropping hints via Twitter the last couple days, expect a couple of huge surprises when the first batch of acts are announced. Honestly, from what I’ve seen, it’s the festival lineup to beat so far this year. But we’ll know more once the whole thing is out there and public knowledge. Okay, so Pick Your Poison today has some decent songs in it. Personal thumbs up go to Blueprint, David Kilgour, Freddie Gibbs, and Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death. In the Soundcloud section you’ll find a new song from Cat’s Eyes, a cool band from Faris Badwan, frontman for The Horrors.

Blueprint – So Alive

Blue Skies for Black Hearts – Majoring in the Arts

Campfires – Dusty Mansions

Clara May – Hyderabad

David Kilgour – Diamond Mine

Dimbleby & Capper – Let You Go (Animals on Wheels Remix)

Display – Play This
Display – Level Up

Freddie Gibbs & GLC – Heads of the Heads

Metal Mother – Billy Cruz

Star & Micey – Back to the Night

Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death – Let’s Leave the Elephant in the Room

Zoo Bombs – Highway A Go Go

SOUNDCLOUD

Cat’s Eyes – Not A Friend

Golden Glow – Adore Me

Toro Y Moi – Talamak (Robot Science Remix)

Pick Your Poison: Wednesday 3-2-11

On 03/02/2011

Buried Beds – Ivory Towers

A delightful set of songs for you today as part of Pick Your Poison. You should most definitely check out tracks from Craft Spells, Joan As Police Woman, Low, Parts & Labor, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and Vandaveer. Neon Trees’ remix of a Jon Fratelli song is also pretty solid. Of course those are just my personal recommendations, and honestly there’s a whole lot more great stuff in this pile that I hope you’ll discover on your own.

Chamberlin – Fools

Craft Spells – You Should Close the Door

Ed Askew – Deep Water

Icona Pop – Manners

Joan As Police Woman – The Magic

Jon Fratelli – Santo Domingo (Neon Trees Remix)

Kyla La Grange – Courage Free

Low – Try to Sleep

Parts & Labor – Rest

The Rural Alberta Advantage – North Star

Shipbuilding Co. – You Tunguskaed My Heart

Swimclub – What You Want

The Two Koreas – Haunted Beach

Vandaveer – Concerning Past and Future Conquests

SOUNDCLOUD

The Daydream Club – The Record Shop

Poly Styrene – Virtual Boyfriend (CREEP Remix)

Album Review: Middle Brother – Middle Brother [Partisan]

On 03/01/2011

Middle Brother – Me Me Me
Middle Brother – Middle Brother

Here are the fine details that you’re going to read in most every discussion of the band Middle Brother. The trio of guys in this band are the respective frontmen for three separate and more popular bands; John McCauley is from Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith is from Dawes and Matthew Vasquez is from The Delta Spirit. They first got together in late 2009 after Deer Tick and Dawes toured together and had a lot of fun doing so. McCauley and Goldsmith would later get together in Nashville during some downtime with their respective bands and invited Vasquez to join them in the studio. What they really liked about the dynamic was that all of them pushed each other to become better musicians. Originally they called themselves MG&V, the simple combination of first letters from their last names, and played a secret, unannounced show under that moniker during SXSW last spring. It was also around that time period they began to record a debut album, which is what is now showing up in stores this week as the self-titled “Middle Brother”. Given that it’s been about a year and a name change since this “supergroup” first clued everyone in to their existence, what’s been the hold up? Scheduling problems apparently. The guys wanted to have proper time to go out and tour to promote the record but were all busy with their main bands and couldn’t quite commit to it last year. This year though is a different story, and the record is arriving right at the cusp of a cross-country tour that, naturally, takes them right back to SXSW where they first debuted in 2010.

If you’re familiar with all three of the “main bands” Middle Brother pulls its members from, then you’ll know almost exactly what to expect from this trio. The group dynamic is pretty even-handed, in that McCauley, Goldsmith and Vasquez all take turns playing various instruments and handling lead vocals. And even when one guy is on lead vocals, it’s reasonable to expect that the other two aren’t far behind with some strong backing harmonies. The sound is very Americana and rootsy, a healthy alt-country twang amidst a couple of more pop-driven songs. On paper it’s easy to see why Middle Brother should work given the talents behind it, but what truly impresses is just how well it really does. For their very first album after not a long time working together, the album sounds like they’ve been doing it for years, not weeks. Part of that surely comes from being musicians and having their own separate full time bands, but whenever you’re working with new people there are always some hurdles to go over in trying to play to everyone’s best strengths. This is extremely strong from the get-go though, and that lack of a learning curve only immerses you in the listening experience that much more.

“Daydreaming” starts the album with some quiet and folksy acoustic guitar that’s nothing short of lovely, save for the lyrics that begin on the lines, “Early in the mornin’, too hungover to go back to sleep/every sound is amplified, heavy lights so dizzying”. The song is one of many on the record that mentions being hungover, but really once you get past that first half of the verse it becomes about pining after the woman you love, about wishing she could be right next to you in the times she’s not there. The well-placed harmonies only add to the track’s inherent beauty, and one gets the impression that if you listened to this song while staring out the window on a sunny spring day that there wouldn’t be a better soundtrack. Neil Young and Band of Horses meet on “Blue Eyes”, a mid-tempo alt-country song with a touch of player piano and lyrics about what some might consider to be the ideal woman. Sadness permeates “Thanks for Nothing”, an acoustic ballad directed at a heartbreaker, a woman that left a poor guy in ruins. “Now the only girls I meet all look for hearts that they can fix/but mine is more like a kid that has gone missing,” Goldsmith sings in a very defeated way. For every person that has had a partner you were in love with just crush that in the cruelest way possible, there is meaning to be pulled from this song. Things get genuinely fun on the song “Middle Brother” (on the album “Middle Brother” from the band Middle Brother…just to fully clarify), a strong country guitar groove that brings everything from handclaps to tambourines and piano. It’s a rollicking track that’s about being the “forgotten” middle child in a family and doing things like learning to fly an airplane to “make my mama proud” and “get my dad to notice me, even if I have to fly it into the ground”.

The centerpiece of the album is a cover of The Replacements’ “Portland”, which is nice in part because there aren’t nearly enough good Replacements covers out there (seriously). Middle Brother does a fairly standard rendition of the song, but the acoustic guitars shine just a little bit brighter in the mix to give it a very 2011 feel rather than the slightly muddier 1997 original. First single “Me Me Me” is a fast-paced and super fun, combining some serious piano pounding, furiously strummed acoustic guitars, and a raw vocal performance from McCauley. The harmonies are ripe and so is the hook, to the point where this is probably one of the best songs of 2011 thus far. If you want to be sold on this band, “Me Me Me” is where you’ll cash that check. Things take an interesting turn on “Someday”, which with its 60s girl group backing “oohs” and “aahs” and Vasquez’s throaty vocals sounds a lot like a throwback pop number rather than the Americana material that’s come before it. The song is great and worthy of being a future single, but it feels out of character compared to the rest of the record. Then again, if Middle Brother is about allowing the personal styles of all three band members to properly mesh in one singular album, that is a touch of Delta Spirit and makes sense from that viewpoint. Goldsmith delivers his most powerful and intense performance on the six minute “Blood and Guts”, slowly stirring himself into a rage as his relationship quickly disintegrates around him. “I just wanna get my fist through some glass/I just wanna get your arm in a cast/I just want you to know that I care,” he says just before his voice soars out of him with a force that truly does feel gutteral and blood curdling. There’s genuine emotion pouring out of this song and sad though it may be, without a doubt people will strongly identify with it. After the portrait of hard life touring that is “Mom and Dad”, “Million Dollar Bill” closes out the record in acoustic ballad style, with all three guys taking the lead on separate verses and holding up backing harmonies. It’s just a little bit lackluster of a way to end things, but beautiful nevertheless.

When talking about Middle Brother, there are a few bands you can look to for comparison. The Band, The Traveling Wilburys, Crosby Stills and Nash (sometimes Young), and their more modern-day counterparts Monsters of Folk are all apt names to be throwing around here. Funny also that each one of those is a supergroup of sorts with that Americana-type sound. So what Middle Brother is doing on their self-titled debut can’t particularly be called unique. What makes a project like this special are the talents involved and whether or not they’re put to full use. In this case, where not only is there relative equality between band members but also each has their own moment in the spotlight, things seem to have turned out exceptionally well. These guys really do push one another to be better in one aspect or another. There are many moments of brilliant lyrical content and/or vocals that reach exactly the right pitch to perfectly convey the points that are trying to be made. For a record about the overused subjects of women, drinking and life on the road, McCauley, Goldsmith and Vasquez prove there’s more that can still be said in a relatively original way. Is Middle Brother a better project than the three bands each of their respective members came from? Yes in some aspects, and no in others. It’s a highly worthwhile side project, really. Like all those other aforementioned “supergroups”, you can’t deny there’s magic when these three get together, but chances are they wouldn’t exist without their regular day jobs. So after some touring, McCauley will return to Deer Tick and Goldsmith to Dawes and Vasquez to Delta Spirit and such, and they’ll all put out potentially great new records that way. Then somewhere be it a year or five from now, they’ll get back to this collaborative project and hopefully the same chutzpah of this first record will continue on the second. In the meantime, be sure to see Middle Brother as they tour this spring. McCauley and Goldsmith are pulling double duty as Deer Tick and Dawes are playing full sets on the tour as well. Have a look at the dates below, and pick up the album – it’s a folk-driven delight.

Buy “Middle Brother” from Amazon

Tour Dates
March 2 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club *
March 3 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club *
March 4 – Providence, RI – Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel *
March 5 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg *
March 6 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *
March 9 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts *
March 10 – Rochester, NY – Water Street Music Hall *
March 11 – Toronto, ON – Opera House (with Deer Tick only)
March 12 – Chicago, IL – Metro *
March 13 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre *
March 14 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue *
March 15 – Lawrence, KS – The Granada Theater *
March 17 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada *
March 18 – Austin, TX – Brooklyn Vegan, Partisan Records, and KF Records Present: A Free SXSW Day Party at Swan Dive / Barbarella (SXSW)
March 19 – Austin, TX – Auditorium Shores/Ground Control Touring Showcase (SXSW)
April 3 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent ^
April 4 – Santa Cruz, CA – Moe’s Alley ^
April 5 – Santa Barbara, CA – Soho %
April 6 – Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar %
April 7 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo %
April 8 – San Diego, CA – The Loft %

* = with Deer Tick and Dawes
^ = with Blake Mills
% = with Jonny Corndawg

Pick Your Poison: Tuesday 3-1-11

On 03/01/2011

All Tiny Creatures – Glass Bubbles

March roars in like a lion and out like a lamb. The meaning of that classic phrase is only somewhat lost on me, except to say that the quicker we get out of the doldrums of February the better. So hell yes, I’m ferociously excited that we’ve arrived in this third month where Spring finally gets sprung and we can begin the big defrost. Better days are ahead, friends, so let’s celebrate that. Pick Your Poison today is solid, though there’s a couple more Soundcloud tracks than I normally like for a single day. My personal picks include songs from All Tiny Creatures, Baby Dee, Easter Island, Erland & the Carnival, Sam Owens and The Sandwitches. In the Soundcloud section The Fallen Angels do a decent cover of Air’s “Sexy Boy”, and songs from The Last Royals, Outasight and Suck Shaft are worth streaming.

Ancient Astronauts – Worldwide

Baby Dee – Yapapipi

The Boombang – Tobacula

Easter Island – Better Things

Erland & the Carnival – Nightingale

Kinema – My Beautiful Machines (Laubfrosch Remix)

Mesita – Somewhere Else

Sam Owerns – How to Build A Clock

The Sandwitches – Joe Says
The Sandwitches – Lightfoot

Tree Pit – Eleanor Rigby (Beatles cover)

SOUNDCLOUD

The Fallen Angels – Sexy Boy (Air cover)

The Last Royals – Crystal Vases

Outasight – It’s Like That

The Pigeon Detectives – Done In Secret

Suck Shaft – Michal

Album Review: Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will [Sub Pop/Rock Action]

On 02/28/2011