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Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Listening Booth: Guns n’ Roses, “Chinese Democracy”

by Jeff Vrabel

Guns n’ Roses – Chinese Democracy (Geffen, 2008)
purchase this album (Best Buy)

Unless you’ve spent a lot of time in the company of William Shatner, Chinese Democracy will likely be one of the most ridiculous audio recordings you ever come across. It is sprawling and stupid and ludicrous and hilarious and will make you shoot milk out of your nose and cringe and it is not very good and sometimes extremely terrible, and just when you think things cannot possibly get any more extraordinarily strange, that’s when Axl Rose drops the MLK sample on you.

Originally slated for release in 1948, Chinese Democracy comes out Sunday exclusively for people shopping for Black Friday-sale plasmas at Best Buy, a wise promotional stunt and kind of an all-in proposition — if putting this record out this week doesn’t create interest or move units, nothing will. Because one thing is sure: the songs won’t sell it.

The final, finished, ostensibly archival version of Chinese Democracy is a fucking mess, a haphazard, stop-and-go Transformer of rap-metal parts, ideas, sketches, Chester Bennington riffs, lyrical crimes, la la las, and ridiculous electronic touches and twists that only occasionally resemble completed songs; in what will be the least surprising thing you’ll read all week, it sounds like what happens when you dicker around with something so long it stops making any sort of cohesive sense. Tracks like “I.R.S.” and the absurd “Riad n’ the Bedouins” barely begin accelerating before they veer into left-field guitar solos, tempo shifts, distracting vocal tricks, and Axl’s never-far-afield need to drop in something robotic. These songs build no momentum, create no wave. It’s more like Axl’s “A Day in the Life”; you feel like he cut up the tape, threw it into the air, and sticky-taped together the results.

(more…)

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Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Listening Booth: Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, “Cardinology”

by Ken Shane

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Cardinology (2008)
purchase this album (Amazon)

It’s been fashionable for the last few years to slag Ryan Adams at every turn. There’s no doubt that he’s brought some of this animosity on himself by virtue of some less than discrete behavior, notably at his live performances.

I’ve always been one to believe that the proof is in the grooves, or whatever they call the equivalent on a CD. When judged by this criteria, it’s hard to think of another artist who has created the sheer volume of music that Adams has in recent years, while maintaining reasonably high standards. Sure, he’s shot and missed, but his misses are generally more interesting that a lot of other artists’ hits.

Word has it that Ryan Adams wanted this album to be billed as being by the Cardinals, without his name involved. In interviews he’s said that he is happiest just being a member of the band, and at live shows he has lined up with the other band members, and not claimed his spot as the frontman. It appears that a compromise was reached with his record company. The new album, Cardinology, carries the credit Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Apparently Adams got his Cardinals, and Lost Highway got their Ryan Adams. (more…)

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Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Listening Booth: Tipsy, “Buzzz”

by Jeff Giles

Tipsy – Buzzz (Ipecac, 2008)
purchase this album (Amazon)

They call their music “drunktronica,” explain the seven-year layoff between this and their previous release by saying they were “distracted by commercial corporate money music for hire (as well as occasional substance abuse),” and are the new kids on the block at Ipecac Records, the imprint founded by noted rock & roll madman Mike Patton. Clearly, whatever else Tipsy might be, it isn’t boring — and neither is their third album, Buzzz.

Honestly, although I can often appreciate this sort of thing in principle — and I freely admit it would take me a lot longer than seven years to build something sensible out of the chopped-up bits of music Tipsy works with — anything -tronica usually turns me off; I can’t think about club music without remembering things like the time I woke up to the sound of a friend banging on my window, pre-dawn, to ask me if I’d help him wash some girl’s puke out of his car so his mom wouldn’t know he’d been at a rave all night. Even when the DJs manage to mix some melody in with the beats, I can’t help tuning out — I’m a lyrics guy, and I want some narrative with my noise.

All that being said, I found Buzzz to be an enjoyable listen. It’s a sonic tour through a strange world that sounds exactly like its garish cover, but there’s too much going on for the listener to get bored, and it’s so artfully assembled that you can admire it even if you can’t dance to it. Listening to each track is like staring at an immense mosaic — you’re constantly torn between taking it all in and dissecting it. It’s also got a sense of humor, as evidenced by catchy tracks like “Chop Socky” (download) and the lovably schizo “Swingin’ Spaceman.” Rather than relying on a monolithic barrage of beats to get their point across, Tipsy gambols in the rusty playground between analog and digital, playing on the tension between man and machine, old and new, drunk and sober.

A fun little record, in other words, and suitably strange for anyone looking for new frontiers in machine-assisted pop music. Heck, I may even find myself listening to it again — and for a grumpy old lover of acoustic instruments like me, that’s really saying something.

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Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Listening Booth: Rosie Thomas, “A Very Rosie Christmas”

by Jeff Giles

Rosie Thomas – A Very Rosie Christmas (Nettwerk, 2008)
purchase this album (Amazon)

Okay, yes, I know — everyone hates Christmas music, and anyway, we’re about to bombard you poor bastards with 25 days of the stuff during Mellowmas III: Season of the Bitch. Honestly, it wasn’t my intention to even talk about holiday music until Mellowmas kicked off on December 1, and I certainly didn’t plan on reviewing any of the new yuletide titles that were released this year. And that goes double for A Very Rosie Christmas, an album that, at first glance, left me thinking that a certain pumpkinheaded former co-host of The View was cutting duets with Elmo again.

Life is full of surprises, though. This silver platter came to me courtesy of our pal Nell at Nettwerk, bundled with a little note that said “Hey Jeff, thought you might enjoy this.” I promptly shoved it to the bottom of my “in” pile and snorted a silent snort at Nell — you thought I might enjoy this? You don’t know me at all! AT ALL! I mean, shit, the cover photo makes it look like one of those post-ironic song poem compilations, and I need to listen to another album by someone described as a “Seattle-based indie darling” like I need a hole in the head. Matter of fact, I only listened to this because I thought there was a small chance it might contain some Mellowmas contenders.

And you know what? It turns out Nell knows me better than I thought she did. I owe you an apology, Nell from Nettwerk, and a promise to never silently snort at you again, because A Very Rosie Christmas is actually sort of awesome. I’m not kidding, holiday music haters! It’s honestly one of the best Christmas albums I’ve heard in a very long time. It doesn’t rank up there with Phil Spector’s classic compilation, but it’d definitely go on my list of top seasonal albums, which is a very short list indeed, because my relationship with Christmas music is, as Facebook would say, “complicated.” (more…)

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Monday, November 17th, 2008

Listening Booth: Miranda Lee Richards, “Light of X”

by Jeff Giles

Miranda Lee Richards – Light of X (Nettwerk, 2009)
purchase this album (Amazon)

She took guitar lessons from Kirk Hammett and R. Crumb was her godfather, but don’t expect shredding or off-color humor from Miranda Lee Richards; her second full-length effort, Light of X, is as heavy on the gauzy L.A. vibe as you’d expect for an artist who has worked with the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Jon Brion/David Campbell studio mafia. It’s pretty, vaguely country-tinged stuff — sort of like Mazzy Star and Concrete Blonde thrown in a blender with the Innocence Mission and early Linda Ronstadt.

It is also, as you may have already guessed, very heavy on vibe, and somewhat light on actual songwriting. Light on X plods along at a middling gait, feet shuffilng, eyes glued to the floor; it’s the aural reflection of its cover photo, which depicts Richards backlit by a pastoral sunset, standing next to a horse. Hooks aren’t Richards’ primary concern — she seems to think it doesn’t matter if you remember the song as long as you remember how you felt while you were listening to it.

And here’s the funny thing: she’s mostly right. Light of X wafts in slowly, envelops you in a thoroughly pleasant haze, and wafts back out again, and even if it leaves you with the impression of one long, autumnal ballad, it’s all put together so beautifully that it’s hard to argue. I doubt I’d be able to stay awake for all of a Miranda Lee Richards concert, but something tells me I’ll be playing Light of X on many a Sunday morning. The album won’t reach stores until next February, but you can pre-order it now at the link above; in the meantime, give “Early November” (download) an advance listen, and watch the video for “Long Goodbye”: (more…)

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Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Listening Booth: “Warren Zevon” (Collector’s Edition)

by Ken Shane

October 30, 2002 – It was close to the end when Warren Zevon made what everyone knew would be his final appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. The cancer had already taken a tremendous toll on him, and every small movement was an effort. Letterman loved Warren’s music, and had supported his career for years. I like to think that it was because Dave recognized that Warren was willing to cross a line that Dave could only approach before retreating. During the Q & A that night, Dave asked Warren what the one thing was that he wanted people to know. The dying songwriter famously replied, “enjoy every sandwich.” Less than a year later, he was gone.

Warren left us with a beautiful farewell album that he called The Wind, and he laid out his final wishes on the emotional closing track:

Shadows are falling and I’m running out of breath
Keep me in your heart for awhile
If I leave you that doesn’t mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for awhile

And so we have kept him in our hearts over these last five years. For many of us, hardly a day goes by that Warren doesn’t remain a presence. When his sandwich metaphor is applied to his music, Warren made sure that we would enjoy every sandwich. It’s not just about his music though, any more than our memories of Hunter S. Thompson, surely a kindred spirit to Warren, are just about his writing. In their too-short lives, both men managed to find a freedom that few of us will ever know. (more…)

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Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Listening Booth: The Cure “4:13 Dream”

by Ted Asregadoo

The Cure – 4:13 Dream (2008)
purchase this album (Amazon)

For bands like the Cure, that have been able to stick it out for 30 years of recording and touring, one must ask: “Is there anything left for these old codgers to say that’s musically refreshing?”  No one really does the pain of love lost like Robert Smith, and 20 years ago, when I was in college, his songs certainly struck a chord with me because, you know, college is full of love lost/love found moments, and songs like “Just Like Heaven” or “Six Different Ways” strike just the right note.  But does the Cure’s new music appeal to the same sense of desperation it did 20 years ago? If I were playing with my Magic 8 Ball while asking that question, it would say:  “Signs Point to Yes.”

4:13 Dream is not quite the masterful pop of Head on the Door, or the dense atmospherics of Disintegration, but at times it comes close to combining the two. The lead track, “Underneath the Stars,” has a long intro and a dreamy feel that reveals something novel for a Cure album:  beefed-up drums and a raw-sounding guitar.  Smith’s vocals are delayed and echoed to create an ethereal quality to match the lyrics — which center on intertwined lovers lost in passion under a canopy of stars.  Unfortunately, the effect is overdone, and what could have been a passionate song of the oneness of love comes off as kind of creepy.

Fortunately, Smith’s love affair with studio tricks is tempered on the pure pop sound of “The Only One.”  But lyrically, the song definitely ventures into racy territory: Oh I love I love oh I love what you do to my skin/When you slip me on and slide me in …Oh I love I love oh Iove what you do to my bones/When you slide me off and slip me home … It’s the crush, oh yeah! If you’re not really paying attention to that fact that Smith is talking about a variety of sexual acts, you might just be nodding your head and enjoying the pop goodness of the music.  I don’t know about you, but for me, the thought of Smith gettin’ busy and writing lyrics about it is antithetical to the “I just want to hold you forever and love you” persona Smith has cultivated as a passionate, but ultimately, asexual being. (more…)

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Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Listening Booth: Cheap Trick, “BUDOKAN!”

by Jeff Giles

Cheap Trick – BUDOKAN! (Sony/Legacy, 2008)
purchase this album (Amazon)

On the surface, I grant you, this looks like a terrible idea, especially if you’re a Cheap Trick fan. Sony went back to the well with the band’s classic At Budokan album 10 years ago, expanding its (already perfect) 10-track length to include material from the historic concert that was clipped from both the original and 1994’s Budokan II. Now that fans have At Budokan, Budokan II, and At Budokan: The Complete Concert to choose from, what else could possibly left to dredge up from a 30-year-old series of concerts?

Quite a bit, as it turns out. In fact, BUDOKAN! fills three CDs and a DVD — which is really pretty absurd when you hold it up against the perfect blend of power and economy that was At Budokan, but as a collectors’ item, it does pretty well on its own merits. Most importantly to diehards, Legacy has included video footage of the show the band played two days after At Budokan, previously unseen to all but the lucky few who watched it the single time it aired on Japanese television. It’s nothing revelatory, but it’ll prove a powerful lure for diehards — especially when you consider that Amazon is selling the box for $37, well under the $49.98 MSRP.

Also included is audio from the DVD performance, as well as the requisite double-disc remastering of At Budokan: The Complete Concert, plus a few stray extras on the DVD, including a pair of performances (”Voices” and “If You Want My Love”) recorded at Budokan earlier this year, and new interview footage.

Are Cheap Trick and Legacy soaking the band’s fans here? Yeah, probably. They could have released the DVD on its own, for one thing, or as a CD/DVD combo, rather than lumping it in with yet another reissue of the complete concert. Devoted Popdose readers know I’ve spent most of ‘08 with my nose firmly implanted in Legacy’s buttocks, but BUDOKAN! is one release I think they got wrong — there are certainly fans who already purchased At Budokan, Budokan II, and The Complete Concert, and those are the people who will be most tempted by the prospect of seeing the band in all its ‘78 glory. The price point isn’t as prohibitive as it could have been, but even a classic live album doesn’t need a deluxe reissue of its deluxe reissue, does it?

Me, I still think the original At Budokan — currently available for the low, low price of $6.99 — is the best of the lot. And I’ll tell you another thing: I’m not writing “Budokan” again for at least a year.

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Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

Listening Booth: Eric Hutchinson, “Sounds Like This”

by Jeff Giles

Eric Hutchinson – Sounds Like This (2008)
purchase this album (Amazon)

Nine times out of 10, I’ve got to believe that a singer/songwriter who got a crucial career break from Perez Hilton would rank at or near the bottom of the list of things I’m interested in hearing — but even a broken clock is right twice a day, and as I rinse the taste of crow out of my mouth, I’m forced to admit that Hilton was on to something with Eric Hutchinson’s Sounds Like This.

Sounds Like This has been out for awhile now — a long while, if you count its original incarnation as a self-released title — but to their immense credit, Warner Bros. has taken the slow-build approach to Hutchinson, staggering its pitches to AAA radio and media outlets, the upshot being that I’m just now spinning the shit out of an album that’s been out since April.

Better late than never, because Hutchinson is a songwriter worth hearing. Yes, he’s just another dude with a guitar — and yes, he does bear a passing, superficial resemblance to the similar-sounding artists you love to hate. But where the great majority of Hutchinson’s peers imitate classic pop’s form without getting close to its function, Sounds Like This offers 10 punchy, effortlessly memorable tracks that cover all the bases, from tearstained ballads to handclaps-and-horns uptempo tracks.

Best of all, by sticking to his 10 best cuts, Hutchinson avoids getting stale; Sounds Like This comes and goes in a hair under 38 minutes — just enough time, in other words, for you to decide you want to hear the whole thing over again. I wouldn’t exactly call the album eclectic, but the songs are varied enough to keep things interesting, and the production carries a classic pop vibe that’s damn near impossible to resist — loads of electric piano, touches of brass, and the requisite stacks of harmony vocals abound. (Special kudos are due producer Will Golden and mixer Neal H. Pogue for delivering an album that doesn’t sound like it’s had its dynamic range squeezed out by a sausage press.)

I don’t know that I’d go so far as to say Eric Hutchinson is one for the ages, but what I can tell you is that I’ve listened to what feels like nine dozen albums by young singer/songwriters this year, and Sounds Like This is easily the best of the bunch. Give “You Don’t Have to Believe Me” (download) a try, and see what you think.

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Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

Listening Booth: Red Wanting Blue, “These Magnificent Miles”

by Ken Shane

When I was in my early 20s, I worked for a major concert promoter here in New Jersey. I recall that each time I walked into his office, I would see cartons on the floor, full of the latest LP releases from the record labels of the day. I also recall wishing that someday I could get on the label’s mailing lists so that I would get their new releases every month. As the stacks of CDs threaten to overtake my small space here, I’m reminded of the old adage “be careful what you wish for … “

It’s no secret that music writers get a lot of free CDs from artists, PR firms, and record labels. It’s one of the perks of the job, along with concert tickets, and a free drink now and then. Many jobs have perks. If you work at MacDonald’s, you probably get free fries. If you work at a Wall Street investment bank, you get to rape the taxpayers of this country. If you are the President of the United States, apparently you get to enrich your friends with the sweat of working people.

Despite the fact that I get a lot of music for free, I still get music from the Internet. That’s right, I’ve been known to download a song or two, and if you’re a regular visitor to Popdose, you have too. I believe strongly that the major labels have been ripping off consumers for years, and now the chickens have come home to roost, but I try hard not to download music by hard working independent musicians, unless they invite me to do so. Sometimes that approval is tacit, as most indie bands welcome the promotion that having songs posted at blogs like Popdose can bring. They tend to understand the value of sharing their music more than the majors ever will.

I know the struggle that these artists face all too well. I’ve seen it up close and personal. Living in a van for weeks at a time, on the road away from family and friends too much of the time, trying to scratch out a living when it’s like trying to find water in the desert. If I see an indie band that I like in a club, I make it a point to buy their CD. It’s really the very least I can do. (more…)

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