Rock Is Dead... Long Live Rock!
CoolDaughter #2 just got on the bus for what will be her last day of school. CoolDaughter #1 finishes up next Friday. Summer is upon us.
I thought about doing a mid-year list similar to the one I did last year, just listing my favorite records of the year so far. Instead, I thought I'd focus on something I've been noticing lately: It's been a good year for rock and roll.
It's easy to miss. If, like me, you spend much of your day listening to Sirius XMU, you may not have even noticed it. The National, Vampire Weekend, Ducktails, and Waxahatchee, to name a few, have all produced records this year that I love. None of them are really a rock record, though. The So So Glos and The Bronx definitely gave us some high energy, high octane sounds, but I'm calling those punk. mbv may be my favorite album of the year. Shoegaze.
What I'm talking about here is almost the sound of classic rock: guitar solos with lots of string bends, the hint of some country twang or maybe some 70s glam, heavy on pop sensibility. Sure, most of these records display some punk influence here, some grunge there. But each of them, I think, has roots in what we all used to hear on 102.7 WNEW or 92.3 KROCK back when I was a teenager biking to the beach.
So, in chronological order of release, here are 5 albums to keep you rocking all summer long.
California X, California X. The self-titled debut from this Amherst, MA band draws heavily on the sounds of the 1990s: Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr. All of those bands, though, employed some tricks from Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix. Those earlier influences may come through most clearly on opener "Sucker," but you can hear them all through the record if you dig past the grunge. Almost every song here hides a radio-ready pop gem beneath all of the noise.
Wolf's Law, The Joy Formidable. Every great rock single needs a memorable guitar riff, and "Cholla" has, probably, the most memorable riff of the year so far. It's clear that this Welsh trio has arena aspirations, and don't be surprised if their proggy style, led by Ritzy Bryan's guitar, carries them all the way to that 20,000 seat arena show, broadcast live on the Internet by American Express.
New Moon, The Men. Sludgy, shoegazy, noise punk. That describes the sound of the early records from The Men. With New Moon, the band take what they started on Open Your Heart and expand upon it. "I Saw Her Face" is a twangy masterpiece reminiscent of Neil Young and The Rolling Stones. You'll get your Brooklyn punk here, but you'll also feel the space of the rural setting where the band recorded on many of the songs.
Cruise Your Illusion, Milk Music. Like California X, this band from Olympia, WA draws heavily from the same pool of influences that ended up producing much 1990s alternative rock. There are definitely similarities here to the sounds of many of Milk Music's Northwest forebears. You have to go back about 20 additional years, though, to find the Seattle artist who most heavily influences up-and-coming indie guitar hero Alex Coxen. Something about Coxen's tone gets fleeting images of Jimi Hendrix running through the mind for most of the record.
...Like Clockwork, Queens of the Stone Age. The band reached number 1 on the Billboard charts for the first time with ...Like Clockwork, their first record in six years. Leader Josh Homme combines all of his influences -- 1970s AOR like Bad Company, Bowie-style glam, Elton John (who appears on the record) -- with his distinctive personality to produce potential rock classics in songs like "If I Had a Tail" and "My God Is the Sun."
Sure, I enjoy my share of bleeps and bloops or jangle pop or surf pop or twee or punk. Sometimes, though, you just want to sit back in your chair, sunglasses on, watching the waves pound the shore with some rock and roll pumping in your headphones.
Have a safe, productive and rockin' summer.
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