Spotify "Water" Playlist

Stay Hydrated

It's hot out there.  For all my MonCo paisanos...

We Need Water

Tell it, Roger!

State of emergency here resulting from a water main break at the reservoir.  No lawn watering, clothes / dish washing, pool filling until further notice.  And no drinking or brushing teeth with water that hasn't been boiled.  Feels like it could be a while.

In the meantime, it's bottled water -- if you can get it -- and... ...other drinks.

Maybe The Who can get us through this.

Dinosaur Jr. Song Premiere

"Watch the Corners"

Rolling Stone has an exclusive premiere of what will be Track 2 on Dinosaur Jr.'s upcoming I Bet on Sky (due 9/18 on Jagjaguwar).

I love everything this band has ever done, but I think they are at their best when in pop, or even pop-ballad mode (see:  "Freak Scene," "Pond Song," "I Live for that Look," "Get Me," "See You").  "Watch the Corners," I think, falls into that category combining J's trademark vocal style, guitar shredding, and even an acoustic break with some chunky chords, fuzz, and good rhythm work from Lou and Murph.

Dinosaur Jr. have just about perfected the formula they came up with in the 80's.  Now if they would just add a NY/NJ metro show to the fall tour...

Update (7/4/12):  Here's the stream:

Fleetwood Mac Tribute Album

Just Tell Me That You Want Me

Sounds like a really good concept:  Get a bunch of indie bands to do Fleetwood Mac covers for a tribute album.  Fleetwood Mac have produced some of the greatest pop songs of all time, and the idea of a bunch of acts that I enjoy covering their songs is almost a dream come true for me.

Over the last several days, to tease the album's official release on August 14th via Starbucks's Hear Music/Concord, some of the tracks have been released on the Internet.  Let's just say I'm looking forward to it a little less than I would have thought.

Here's the best of the bunch so far.  It's Lykke Li covering "Silver Springs."  There are some definite vocal similarities between Lykke Li and Stevie Nicks, and this is one of the covers I've heard so far that doesn't drain all of the emotion out of the original (the other being The New Porographers' version of "Think About Me.")

New Antlers Single

"Drift Dive"

The Antlers have released the first track from their upcoming Undersea EP (7/24, Anti-).  "Drift Dive" is a dreamy, atmospheric track featuring horns and Peter Silberman's lovely falsetto.

Their debut album Hospice was one of my favorite records of 2009.  It was both beautifully depressing and depressingly beautiful.  Last year's Burst Apart is another excellent album that dispelled any thoughts of a sophomore jinx for the band.

The Antlers are one of the acts I'm most looking forward to seeing at this fall's I'll Be Your Mirror festival in Asbury Park.

Head over to the Anti- Records Soundcloud to take a listen to "Drift Dive."

Update:  Just after I finished posting this, I noticed that All Songs Considered posted a Summer Music Preview Playlist that includes another track from Undersea:  "Crest."  They've also got new Cat Power, Divine Fits, JEFF the Brotherhood and more.

Tanlines, Mixed Emotions, 2012

Sunday Run Album Review

We like to think that the world of music has been democratized by things like Apple's GarageBand and the Internet.  Even my guitar teacher and I were discussing the other day, in the context of my maybe trying to make some of my own music, how easy creating and recording music is nowadays.  You don't even need to know a drummer or a bass player to bring your compositions to life.  You can post the fruits of your labor onto sites like YouTube, Bandcamp, or SoundCloud and start building a fanbase.

There have been success stories that followed that formula.  Justin Bieber comes to mind.  But even his ultimate rise to stardom came with the backing of a major label.  When I hear albums like Tanlines' Mixed Emotions, I begin to understand the stranglehold that the major media companies and their radio station partners have on what becomes popular music.  As I ran along the Long Branch Promenade yesterday listening to Mixed Emotions, and as CoolMom and I later bopped around during our dinner preparation like Kramer and Newman cranking out homemade sausage, I wondered why all those people looking for danceable pop music have to listen to LMFAO instead of Tanlines.

Tanlines are percussionist Jesse Cohen and guitarist / vocalist Eric Emm.  Mixed Emotions has been out since March.  I stupidly kind of avoided it, thinking it would be too much dance-oriented, synth pop for my taste.  This, despite the fact that the album opens with two of my favorite tracks of the year.  "Brothers" has a driving 80's beat with Emm singing, "I'm just the same as I ever been / But I'm the only one who doesn't notice it."  The keyboard riff, the build-up to, and the payoff of the chorus on "All of Me" make that song as catchy to me as any this summer.  "Yes Way," "Real Life," and "Cactus" pair African beats with the synths to achieve an even more danceable version of Vampire Weekend-like pop.  "Nonesuch" closes the album, sounding almost like a lost Roxy Music cut.  Overall, I wouldn't quite call Mixed Emotions an 80's revivalist album.  But the synths, Emm's vocals, and the sadness in some of the lyrics all do combine to give the record a distinctly 80's feel.

I don't automatically dislike everything that achieves mega-popularity.  I just wish some of it were better.  Even The Song of the Summer of 2012, Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," which isn't bad, could use another verse or something to make it sound less repetitive toward the end.  If the world were set up so that a band like Tanlines could really get their music to the mega-masses, I'm sure we'd be seeing tribute / parody / mashup videos for "All of Me" all over YouTube.  And I like to think I'd still enjoy Mixed Emotions just as much as I do now.

Lessons in Tech Shopping

I Do These Things So You Don't Have To

Update (7/5/12):  Did a few tweets back and forth with @samsungsupport today.  You can see at least my half of the conversation in the Twitter widget on the right.  I have to say, having someone log onto a database and read the same information back to you that you can read yourself on the web isn't really satisfying.  Phone support does the same thing.  So where things stand now is that Samsung is still waiting for a part.  There is no estimated date for the repair.  Replacement phones "are not covered by the warranty."  And I still have no phone.  I have no phone other than the rock-solid, backed by a real company that cares about its customers and image iPhone 4 that is.

Update (7/1/12):  After I shipped my phone, on June 25th via UPS Ground, to Texas, Samsung finally acknowledged receipt four days later.  Received a note yesterday that my repair is on hold for parts, with an estimated repair date of July 6th.  The phone will be repaired and shipped promptly as soon as the parts come in.  Apparently, just shipping me a working phone isn't an option.  If I didn't have this iPhone 4 lying around here, this would mean I'd have no phone until all of this was done.  Nice job, Samsung!

What good is it, having a blog, if you can't use it for some personal ranting once in a while?  The "Sunday Run Album Review" for this week will have to wait while I get this off my chest.

On May 19th, I received my Galaxy Nexus Android phone from Google.  This was awesome.  I paid not much more than an on-contract iPhone for a phone that would accept the SIM from my two-year-old iPhone 4.  I could let my contract lapse and live the good life of the non-contract mobile phone customer.  The newest Android version measured up nicely to iOS, and I would get to keep my grandfathered, unlimited data plan.

Sure, there were some things I knew I'd miss:  free iMessaging to all of my iPhone-owning friends, a few iPhone-only (or just iPhone-better) apps.  Surely, though, that would be worth it to free myself from contracts, the boredom of the seemingly never-changing iOS interface, and the horrendous piece of junk that is iTunes.

Turns out there were some things I didn't know I'd miss as well:  customer service and quality control.  I've experienced excellent customer service before, so I know it when I see it:

Amazon:  I once ordered a gift for someone on Amazon, and paid extra to have it delivered overnight. They were leaving the next afternoon, you see, and we wanted to hand it to them personally.  UPS then began sending me messages telling me that my object wouldn't be delivered for several days.  I complained to Amazon (though, I'm not sure it was really their fault), and they gave me a $30 credit toward future purchases.  Then the thing showed up on time anyway.  When I tried to give the $30 back (??), they said, "Keep it.  Thanks for being a loyal customer."

Band That I Will Not Identify Publicly (to keep them from getting in trouble):  I was thinking of buying the vinyl release of a particular album, but the packaging didn't indicate whether or not a download code was included.  I contacted the band directly, and they responded that, "No, for various reasons, we couldn't include a download with the album.  Here are the files, though.  Thanks for supporting the band."  I hadn't even bought the record yet!  I went right back to their website, though, and ordered directly from them.  The transaction ended with an email that said something like, "Thank you!  You've done something wonderful for us, our families, and the city in which we live!"

Apple:  This one is most relevant to our discussion.  About a month after I got my iPhone 4, it stopped connecting to the mobile network and said something like "SIM Error."  I called Apple.  The tech on the phone said, "Hmmm.  Your 30 days of free support have lapsed.  Well, let's see what we can do anyway."  Turns out, all he could do was make an appointment for me at the Apple Store.  That's a bit of a drive for me; but when I walked in, the "Genius" on duty swapped my phone for a new one fresh out of the box, no questions asked.  I didn't have AppleCare.  Now I realize that I brought the phone in for a hardware failure, but in a testament to Apple's quality control, that phone was rock-solid for the next two years.  In a further testament to Apple's quality control, the phone I upgraded from was a refurbished iPhone 3g that I passed on to a family member and is still in use to this day.

Now to discuss Google / Samsung.  As I said, I purchased my Samsung Galaxy Nexus directly from the Google Play store a little more than a month ago.  It shipped promptly, and I had it in my hands within two days.  Yesterday, it stopped charging when plugged into the wall and it stopped showing up as a device when connected to my computer.

Google's tech support is available 24/7 and they are very friendly.  All they could do, though, was tell me to pull the battery and, when that didn't work, tell me to perform a factory reset.  When the factory reset didn't work, they connected me to Samsung for warranty service.  Warranty service consists of shipping my phone, via UPS ground, to Texas so that Samsung can diagnose the problem.  If the problem is covered by warranty, they'll fix / replace the phone at no charge.  If not, they'll tell me what it will cost me.  Turnaround time for this is 5-10 days, "not including shipping time."

Who knows?  Maybe everything will turn out fine, and I'll get a working phone back from Samsung in less than two weeks.  Even if that does happen, though, Google has a lot to learn about dealing with customers and standing behind their products.  Their initial customer base may have consisted mostly of people like me -- technophile, early adopters who don't like asking for help.  But if they'd like to make the most of their Motorola acquisition and get into the handset business, then they're going to have to become a little more customer-friendly.  They could learn a lot from Amazon, Apple, and a not-so-small indie rock band.

I won't suffer too much without my Galaxy Nexus, though.  My iPhone 4 still works just fine.

Dent May's Dead Cover

"Shakedown Street"

Oh, you know how I love the cover songs...

Non-album track from Dent May, whose Do Things is out now.

My Old Stomping Grounds

Los Campesinos! at Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY, June 22nd, 2012

Nearly a quarter-century ago, when I arrived as a freshman at NYU, the campus was in a bit of upheaval.  Along with the implementation of a new schedule, which meant that classes would be in session during the Jewish High Holy Days in early September, NYU’s administrative staff were on strike for my first week or two of classes.  Together, these situations meant that professors had some decisions to make.  Professors canceled classes that met on one or the other of the holidays.  Many professors also held classes off campus so they wouldn’t have to cross picket lines.

In my case, the strike meant that my first-ever class at NYU took place at the headquarters of some union local near campus.  Many of my friends had their first classes in more interesting places:  cafes, restaurants, The Bottom Line, and The Village Gate.  I always think of that when I hear or read about The Village Gate – how cool it was that I was going to school at a place where professors could just move a class there.  I thought about it again last night as CoolMom and I headed into Le Poisson Rouge, which sits on the old site of my friend Bob’s first class at NYU, to see Los Campesinos!.

This was going to be an early show.  I think there was a DJ set or something scheduled for later at night.  So CoolMom and I had to rush a bit for what I thought would be around an 8pm start for the headliners.  We walked past most of the Campesinos! sitting on a bench in front of the merch table as we entered, so we knew we were ok.  We arrived in time to catch the second half of the set from Yellow Ostrich, and watched from the rear of the crowd.  Tom Campesinos! was watching from the same location, as it turned out, and he seemed to be enjoying it.

I can understand why.  What we saw was very good.  Yellow Ostrich are a trio that play noisy pop, featuring lots of overdriven guitar and an occasional horn.  They did an excellent job getting the energy level of the crowd up in preparation for Los Campesinos!  Last night was my first exposure to Yellow Ostrich, and I’ll be spending some time today checking out their catalog.

Los Campesinos! took the stage at around 8:30.  I think there’s a difference between “pop punk” and “punk pop” if that makes any sense.  Los Campesinos! fall firmly into the latter category as far as I’m concerned.  What surprised (and delighted) me last night was that, during their live performance anyway, the “punk” component of their musical DNA becomes much more prominent.  Lyricist / lead singer / glockenspieler Gareth Campesinos! commits utterly to the songs, even some of the crowd-pleasing older material that he must be a little tired of by now.  The audience, which on this night included one of the tallest people I’ve ever seen, knows every lyric to every song and shouts right along with him.

The band opened with “By Your Hand” from last year’s Hello Sadness and continued with “Romance Is Boring.”  “Death to Los Campesinos!,” one of those songs that I and the rest of the crowd loved from their debut full-length, Hold on Now, Youngster…, followed.  By that time, the moshing and crowd surfing (including the super-tall guy) were in full swing.  I’ve got to admit that it surprised me a little as I’d never thought of Los Campesinos! as inspiring that.  CoolMom pointed out to me that she saw people doing it at the Real Estate show, though, so I guess it’s just what the kids do these days.  Gareth even commented from the stage, “Don’t want to be a killjoy or anything, but that circle pit down there, it’s kind of lame.  From here you just look like a bunch of dudes bumping into each other.”  CoolMom and I remained safe towards the back.

The rest of the set was fantastic and drew on material from the entire Los Campesinos! catalog, including my personal favorite "The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future."  The energy of a seven-piece band combined with the clever – and numerous – lyrics, and the bits of "choreography" that accompany many of the songs make for an excellent live show.  For the final song of the encore, “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks,” Gareth came down from the stage and sang and danced with the crowd.

At the end of the show, the whole band went directly from the stage to the merch table.  As CoolMom and I walked out we saw all of the Campesinos! chatting, signing and taking pictures with fans.

Le Poisson Rouge is a nice place for a show.  One side of the space has a nice, long bar where, last night, the servers were unusually friendly and attentive.  Unless you’re behind a post or the tallest Los Campesinos! fan on earth, visibility is good and you’re very close to the action on stage.  The way things were set up last night made it almost impossible to walk around the venue and not interact with the performers on some level.

One minor drawaback:  There’s virtually no AT&T reception in the below-street-level performance space, which makes for a small amount of stress for coolparents relying on a babysitter.

It was nice to get out with CoolMom to see an act that we both really love in an area that has a lot of memories for me.  We even got to enjoy a late Thai dinner before hopping the PATH back to the car.

Le Poisson Rouge Edition

Friday Night

CoolMom and I are braving the elements to head into the big city for Los Campesinos! at LPR.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime,

Rock on...

Mid-Year List Time

My Favorites of the Year So Far

The halfway point of the year:  It provides a nice opportunity for a lazy blog post about my favorite music so far.  If you run a particularly evil and annoying site, it also provides a nice opportunity to post one of those "slide show" list-type articles in which you force readers to click forty or fifty times in order to read the whole list.  I'm restricting my list to five albums, and I'm placing them all on the same page.  For anyone who comes here regularly (Thank you!), this list shouldn't come as much of a surprise.  Apparently, I really like guitars, pop/rock, and New Jersey.

5.  Tramp, Sharon Van Etten
Van Etten's haunting vocals and confessional songwriting leave an impression that's hard to shake.

4.  Ugly, Screaming Females
More than any of the other albums by this New Brunswick, NJ band, Ugly captures some of the scorching energy of the band's -- and guitar hero Marissa Paternoster's -- live performances.

3.  Open Your Heart, The Men
They're a Brooklyn punk band, but this album makes it clear that they know their Stones, Mats, and Velvets.

2.  Hospitality, Hospitality
If I based this on sheer number of listens, Hospitality would have been #1 by a wide margin.  This is an excellent debut album from a band that also puts on a pretty good live show.

1.  Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger, River City Extension
Home-field advantage maybe?  Who knows?  But anyone who knows me understands that comparing any album to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or The Monitor is not something I would do lightly.  This Toms River, NJ eight-piece has made nothing short of a fantastic album.

For something with a bit more diversity, here's the Spotify playlist I've been maintaining of my favorite tracks of the year (that are available on Spotify).

New Single From Divine Fits

"My Love Is Real"

Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner (Handsome Furs/Wolf Parade), and Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks) collaboration, Divine Fits, have made their debut single available for streaming for the price of a Facebook "like."

In what has got to be one of the coolest parts of this whole announcement, the single, due on July 31st via Merge, will include "I Was Born in a Laundromat" as a B-side.  Add this to Superchunk's "Cruel Summer," and Merge have really been feeding my appetite for interesting covers this summer.

You can head over there and pre-order "My Love Is Real" b/w "I Was Born in a Laundromat."

Kate Nash Is Changing Things Up

I Kind of Love This

Nash threw this up onto YouTube yesterday after, apparently, composing and recording it over a twenty-four hour period.  I think its brilliance is proven by the fact that, at this moment, "dislikes" are currently outnumbering "likes" by a small margin.  What's the purpose of rock music, after all, if it isn't making the heads of a few people explode?

Maybe "Under-Estimate the Girl" is a quickly-penned attention grabber to kick off the cycle for her upcoming album, and the rest of the record will mirror her earlier catalog.  Whatever the case, you will not be able to convince me that this, coming from her, is not awesome.




In case you don't remember, I think Kate's loyal fans were expecting more like this.

Stream DIIV's New LP

Oshin

The Z. Cole Smith fronted DIIV have been getting a lot of publicity lately.  So far, the pre-release album cycle has included a name change -- from Dive -- and some tasty tidbits like the excellent "Doused."  Now, the band have made a full-album stream of their debut full-length available via The Hype Machine.

Oshin (not sure yet if that's another creative spelling or something else) is due out next week, June 26th, on Captured Tracks.

New Cat Power

"Ruin"

I've been in love with Chan Marshall's work as Cat Power since  2002's decade-defining You Are Free.  Today, she released the first single from her upcoming album, due September 4th on Matador.  The album will be her first original music since her excellent 2006 release, The Greatest.

I've been looking forward to Sun since Marshall announced the completion of the album, which she performed and produced herself, via Twitter.  "Ruin" hasn't done anything to dampen my enthusiasm.

River City Extension, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger, 2012

Sunday Piscataway Run Album Review

Did you ever notice that when an act is from New Jersey, that fact becomes a huge part of their identity?  I could just be missing something, but it feels like it's less common to hear bands from other parts of the country referred to as XYZ Place's Such-and-Such.  California and Brooklyn, sure.  Maybe Athens, Georgia.  New Jersey, though, seems to impart its own terroir to music produced by artists as diverse as Bon Jovi and Count Basie, The Feelies and Dionne Warwick, Screaming Females and Whitney Houston, The Wrens and The Four Seasons.  Maybe it's some combination of so many people living on top of one another, in the shadows of two of America's largest cities, with the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean on the doorstep, that results in some of our favorite music.

I thought about this yesterday while making my "run" for the second straight day between CoolDaughter #1's swim meet in Piscataway, NJ and home.  I turned River City Extension's Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger way up in the car and immediately felt a connection with this Ocean County eight-piece.

If last week was "Heaven" week, then this week was "Mid-Atlantic Americana" week (It could also have been "Canadian guitar-drum duo" week, but that's a review for another day).  River City Extension are a very different animal, though, from the subject of Thursday's review, Heyward Howkins.  While singer/songwriter/guitarist Joe Michelini produces his share of intimate acoustic numbers, the album really comes to life when the band is pumping at full force.

"If You Need Me Back In Brooklyn" starts like one of those intimate, singer-songwriter tracks and builds to an Arcade Fire-esque finale.  "Welcome To Pittsburgh" is a great pop tune featuring one of my favorite lyrics* on the record: "But I learned every line I need to know / To help a person change and grow / I don't rehearse them for people like you though."  On "There and Back Again," Michelini starts off by saying, "I live by the ocean, but I don't feel free," and sums up that whole New Jersey feeling I was talking about earlier.

Michelini has written some deeply personal songs about substance abuse, freedom or the lack of it, and personal change that are enhanced by the drums, banjos, handclaps and group vocals you'd expect in rootsy Americana.  But there are also plenty of production flourishes that give the songs a modern sound.  I can see Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger becoming a longtime favorite of mine like two albums that I found myself thinking about the whole time I listened:  Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and The Monitor by Titus Andronicus (that would be New Jersey's Titus Andronicus).

In this part of New Jersey, we've got the beach.  We've got Springsteen.  It's hard sometimes, though, not to gaze across the river or out into the ocean and think that you've got to be destined for bigger things.  The dreams of those bigger things and, maybe, the feelings you get when they don't quite come true can really produce some great music.

People in my neck of the woods can check out River City Extension on August 17th as part of WBJB's Songwriters in the Park series.



*A quick word about lyrics:  I don't comment much on lyrical content in these reviews for a few reasons.
1.  Most of the time these are first listens, and I don't really have time to dive too deep.
2.  I feel like trying to interpret someone else's lyrics is a good way to make myself look like an idiot.
3.  Initially anyway, I experience songs as a whole package, and dissecting the lyrical content might take something away from that for me.

Doublewhiskeycokenoice Edition

Friday Night

School's out.  Do something constructive this summer.

Rock on...

   

Heyward Howkins, The Hale & Hearty, 2012

First Ever, Unsolicited Artist Submission

So I've been doing this for the last three or four months.  I have no illusions of ever reaching BrooklynVegan, Pitchfork, or Stereogum status, but I do like to think that people are paying attention sometimes.  Imagine how excited I was, then, to receive my first-ever unsolicited album from an artist.

That artist is Philadelphia-based Heyward Howkins.  This is Howkins's first solo effort after stints as lead guitarist for The Trouble With Sweeney and as a founding member of choral group The Silver Ages where he worked with members of other Philly outfits like The War On Drugs and Dr. Dog.  The Hale and Hearty is a pleasant surprise, and I'd be happy if every day brought discoveries like it to my inbox.

I'd describe the sound as jazzy Americana  -- finger-picked guitar, strings, piano, the occasional horn and some really lovely vocals.  Based on those vocals and the sometimes inscrutable lyrics, it would be easy to compare Howkins to Bon Iver, but Howkins's style is less, I don't know, spare than Bon Iver's.

The production on tracks like "Sugar Sand Stitched Lip," "The Raucous Calls of Morning," or "The Live Oak" echo some of Wilco's early aughts work.  "Hudson Piers" has an early twentieth-century sound reminiscent of Beirut.  "Waist High or Dry" and "Flash Mob" show that Howkins can also do the pop thing.  The title track moves along on a mellow almost lounge-y vibe.  Together, the collection brings some flavor to a genre that I've got to admit I usually find a little boring.

I've said before that one of the most rewarding things about maintaining this blog has been discovering music or artists that I may have never considered before.  Howkins's style definitely differs from most of what I've been listening to lately, so it was nice to be redirected a bit.  The Hale and Hearty is really a pretty record, and I'm glad we met.

The Hale and Hearty is due out on June 26th.  You can check out some of the tracks over at Heyward Howkins's website.

Dinosaur Jr. Announce New Album, Tour

I Bet On Sky Scheduled for September

Dinosaur Jr. have announced the release date and track listing for their upcoming album I Bet On Sky along with dates for a fall tour.  The album will be available in the U.S. on September 18th and is the band's third since reuniting the original line-up.

I absolutely loved both comeback albums:  2007's Beyond and 2009's Farm.  Dinosaur Jr. have always fused elements of modern/alt/indie rock with elements of classic rock in a way that I don't think many bands do.  It's hard, fuzzed out indie rock with a good pop sensibility and lots of guitar solos.  I hadn't realized until I started trying to learn songs on the guitar how rare the guitar solo is in much of the music that I listen to these days.  Dinosaur Jr., though, have kept it alive all these years.

Sadly, as of right now, the closest the tour comes to me is Philadelphia, PA.  I may have to engineer a visit to the in-laws in Houston or a business trip to Dallas come October if nothing changes.

Here's one of my favorite videos from 2009.

Japandroids, Celebration Rock, 2012

Sunday Run Album Review

At the end of last year, I saw this New York Times article snarkily lamenting the almost-death of major-label rock music.  Just as I was starting to become indignant at the focus on major-label, Wal-Mart rock (Foster the People, Nickelback), I came across this sentence:  “The fringes remain interesting, and regenerate constantly, but the center has been left to rot.”  So Jon Caramanica had heard The Hold Steady, Fucked Up, Wild Flag, and probably Japandroids.

I’ve been listening to Japandroids’ Celebration Rock almost exclusively since it started streaming at NPR’s website, and I bought the album on the day of its release last week.  Just to be sure I didn’t miss anything, I listened to it during my run yesterday along the Promenade in Long Branch.  As an aside, Best Coast can say what they like about California being “The Only Place,” but this Brooklyn-born, New Jersey-raised guy will take a sunny day on a New Jersey boardwalk any day of the week.

Japandroids are Brian King (guitar, vocals) and David Prowse (drums, vocals) and hail from Vancouver, BC.  In 2009 they released Post-Nothing, intended as the swan song for a band that they felt was going nowhere.  That album, a collection of pop-punk, almost emo anthems, received wide acclaim and extended the life of Japandroids.  For Celebration Rock, Japandroids have turned their focus a little bit away from themselves, and the result is a magnificent rock and roll record.

Heaven has been a theme around here for the last week or so.  The subject of last week’s review, The Walkmen’s Heaven, comes from the point of view of a veteran band who have been making albums for over a decade and whose members now have families and children.  Celebration Rock concerns itself with heaven as well.  Only this time, we get the perspective of a young duo, at the beginning of their career, who sing lyrics like, “Busting my guts on a riot dose of paradise.”

The album opens with the sound of fireworks.  From there, “The Nights of Wine and Roses” opens with the question, “Don’t we have anything to live for?”  The answer:  “Well of course we do, but until they come true / We’re drinking!”  It pretty much goes on from there.  On both “Fire’s Highway” and “Evil’s Sway” with its Petty-esque “Oh yeah! Alright!” you get the feeling of being part of the audience shouting back at the band.   The cover of The Gun Club’s “For the Love of Ivy” doesn’t work as well as the band’s own songs, but the album’s second half, featuring soon-to-be classics “Younger Us” and “The House that Heaven Built,” is as good as any stretch I’ve heard on an album this year.   At the end of album-closer “Continuous Thunder,” we get those fireworks again.

The influences of bands like The Replacements, The Hold Steady, and even Bruce Springsteen are obvious, even though the songwriting has a way to go lyrically before it measures up to Westerberg or Finn.  For some, the one-note sound of power chords and drums could get tiresome, but Japandroids have kept Celebration Rock to a manageable thirty-five minutes.  For me, a recovering rockist, the emotion and how real it feels is enough to carry Celebration Rock and to make it feel, well, celebratory.

Head over to Polyvinyl Records for a full album stream, and see what you think.

Kids Today

Bringing Up Daughters

When did the music that the kids listen to become so, I don't know, uncool?

I've been trying to introduce my kids to the music that I like in the hopes that the corporate pop machine won't latch onto them like some facehugger from the Alien films.  This effort has been met, mostly, with failure.  CoolDaughter #1 does love Belle and Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister and the occasional song here and there that she hears on the old satellite radio.  CoolDaughter #2, on the other hand, is having none of it.  She is a pop princess through and through and knows the lyrics to most of the songs topping the charts.

It's pretty sad when the best thing I can hope for is that they'll prefer Avril Lavigne or Kelly Clarkson to Karmin or Cobra Starship.

Anyway, once CD #2 gets a load of this, I expect to hear, "Play it again, Daddy!" about a thousand times this weekend.

I don't hate this song at all... ...yet.

Happy Friday.

"Rock" on...

New Gaslight Anthem Video

"45"

Still not quite sure where I'm at with the Gaslight Anthem.  On the one hand, The '59 Sound is a really good album.  On the other, they've got what I would describe as the type of 90's alternative rock sound that I liked well enough as a young man, but have been kind of over for a while.  They're from New Jersey, though, so I've definitely got some home-state affection for them.

And I'm a sucker for any video that is full of images of Asbury Park.

 

New Grizzly Bear

"Sleeping Ute"

Grizzly Bear have released the opening track from the follow-up to their 2009 masterpiece Veckatimest.  "Sleeping Ute" brings back a lot of the perfectionist production, layered psychedelia, and vocal beauty of many of the tracks on the last album.

CoolMom and I disagreed wildly on Veckatimest.  She found it cold and boring, while I was really taken in by the attention to detail.  Whichever side of the fence you fall on, it doesn't sound like you'll be converted by the new record, which still awaits a title.

The Walkmen, Heaven, 2012

Sunday Run Album Review

Dad rock.  It’s a phrase I’ve been reading a lot lately.  I’ve come across it in connection with Wilco and The National.  Just last week, I think, I saw an interview in which The Walkmen answered a question along the lines of, “How does it feel to be a band that plays what many consider to be dad rock?”  They were ok with it.  I am, too, but I’m not sure I’m supposed to be.  The phrase is usually, I think, meant as a criticism or a snark.  Those are bands I really love, so who cares what it does to my street cred?

It started me thinking about what dad rock is, though.  I think when you see it written by a music journalist, they’re usually referring to a sound that draws pretty heavily on guitar-based classic rock.  I’m not sure if it’s a pre-requisite, but most dad rock bands also seem to be composed of men over thirty.  The Walkmen fit both of these, but I noticed something else about them as I listened to Heaven on my run yesterday that makes them, maybe, the only true dad rock band out there.

I mentioned to CoolMom the other day that I’ve had this weird kind of feeling for the last few months now.  It’s hard to describe.  Being settled into a routine with work and kids, though, gives this feeling of moving forward without ever really going anywhere.  Waiting for something to happen.  Anticipation that something’s eventually got to give.  Tension.  And tension is the best word I can think of to describe The Walkmen’s sound on Heaven.

The jangly, reverby guitars are a familiar sound in rock music.  I always describe the sound and the feeling of it as what you’d hear in the score of a Quentin Tarantino film.  And the vocal technique I usually associate with that sound is something like Urge Overkill’s version of “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” or Edwyn Collins’s “A Girl Like You.”  The Walkmen’s lead vocalist, Hamilton Leithauser, has a quality, an urgency, to his voice that, when paired with the music, just builds the tension.  You get that same feeling of waiting, straining for something just to resolve itself, and The Walkmen just leave you there.  It’s pretty cool.

Lead single “Heaven” may be the best example of this on the album.  The guitars just keep jangling along while Leithauser belts the lyrics.  The combination actually makes me crane my neck and tilt my head a little like a guitar player feeling for that string bend.  The album contains example after example of this:  “Heartbreaker,” “The Love You Love,” “Nightingales.”  More subdued songs like album-opener “We Can’t Be Beat,” “Song for Leigh,” “Jerry Jr.’s Tune,” and “Line by Line” still get you to the same place of longing, just with a slower build.

The themes on Heaven are pretty grown up, too:  mostly loyalty and sticking it out through long-term relationships.  But it's the sound that pushes things along and provides the emotional weight.

The Walkmen have been on a roll.  Their last two albums, You and Me and Lisbon, were fantastic, each producing classic tracks like “In the New Year” and “Angela Surf City.”  Heaven continues their evolution, and the title track is another masterpiece.

Over the last few years, I’ve felt emotional connections to the music of several bands of twenty-something kids.  With Heaven, though, a group of guys nearer to my own age have created something that I think really captures the essence of being a cooldad.  Don’t be ashamed of liking dad rock.  It’s something the kids just won’t understand for a few more years.

Recital Day

Awaiting CoolMom's Text

In think I've figured something out. These kids' dance recitals aren't really that bad if your kid doesn't go on until after intermission and there's a bar with a fantastic view right next door. You've also got to have a wonderful wife who's willing to text you for the big moment.

So, here I sit, listening to the waves and 90's rock in Asbury Park. And all is right with the world.

Jubilee Edition

Friday Night

Rock on...

I mean it, man.