It is often difficult to gain a balanced perspective on an album after reading a single summary of the music. Bias can tilt the review, as can personal taste, history and just about everything else that is unique to the person writing it. So in an effort to offer an expanded perspective on the music here are four reactions, four impressions, Four Takes on Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion.
A loop of a robotic voice repeating the phrase “You can dance” greets listeners at the beginning of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, the bands ninth release, and easily one of the most anticipated records of 2009 for the indie set. And it’s a mantra that fans should take to heart while listening to the album, which is quite dub-heavy, propulsive, and indeed danceable at times. There is an optimistic tone to this album that I was drawn to upon first hearing it, and that has stuck with me through repeat listens—perhaps it was just a desperate need to latch onto anything “sunny” during these cold winter days, maybe it was just the fact that this album became the breezy, dreamy soundtrack to a string of idle days. Whatever the case may be, I’ve been playing this album continually for days, and it has won me over with its textured layers of Beach Boys-influenced buoyant pop, bass-driven dub, jumbled psychedelia, and dynamic sound excursions. “My Girls” is as straightforward and coherent a song that Animal Collective has ever released, and while that might vex fans of the bands more experimental earlier work like Sung Tongs, it’s really hard to deny the appeal of this track, with Panda Bear singing heartfelt lyrics about not caring for superficial things, but still wanting to provide a proper home for his girls. And the band continues the strong start of the record with the bold, innovative “Also Frightened,” my favorite track from the album. It’s five minutes of bliss, despite the unsettling lyrical undertones. Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist are still taking chances musically, albeit slightly smaller ones than earlier in their career, and expanding on the sonic parameters that seem to apply to them, and them only. The second half of the record is a bit more onerous and dense than the slightly more conventional (for Animal Collective, at least) first half, with the lyrics becoming less meaningful and forming more of a collage with the music, and finds the band toying with the boundaries of sound and structure. The result is a captivating sonic experiment that rewards more upon repeat listens, with pliable songs that provide plenty of depth and spectacle. Merriweather Post Pavilion is sure to land on many year end Top Ten lists, despite being released so early in 2009, and deservedly so, for this record delivers on many different levels, and lives up to, and in my mind exceeds, the lofty and often preposterous expectations of the blogosphere. [Erik Thompson](more)
First he collaborates with Atmosphere on last year’s When Life Gives you Lemons… and now Tom Waits is lending his growl to N.A.S.A.’s “Spacious Thoughts,” (alongside Kool Keith no less). How long before we can expect a full length Hip Hop record from the old man? You gotta hand it to him though, he knows how to pick em’. N.A.S.A. (North America/South America) is the partnership of soon-to-be superstars American DJ Squeak E. Clean (Sam Spiegel) and Brazilian DJ Zegon (Ze Gonzales). The duo utilizes a shared love of old school Brazilian funk to create masterfully crafted hip hop beats, and have partnered with a huge number of serious talents for their upcoming record. “Spacious Thoughts” presents a meeting of two of America’s most eccentric musical personalities in Waits and Keith. The union proves that not only does Dr. Dooom still have it, but Tom Waits can actually rap (sort of). He mostly grumbles/sings through his parts in his typical style (but come on, no one really wants to hear Tom Waits yes y’alling and shouting out to his homies). The backing beat is a pretty funky brass jam, but really only window dressing for Waits and Keith doing what they do best: being oddball geniuses.
Approach Influenza as a series which serves to help give insight as to where music is born; these are the thoughts, influences and the inspirations directly from the mind of the artists. Here, Ian Anderson of Minneapolis’ One For The Team dissects the spiral of thoughts which formed the theme to one of the group’s most recent singles from their latest release, Build It Up.
On “Best Supporting Actor”:
I wrote “Best Supporting Actor” after one of my buddies drunkenly slapped me on the back and said, “Ya know dude, you’re a really good boyfriend.” I always thought it was a funny thing to say to someone, because, after all, how would he know? I mean, sure, he may have formed that opinion based on the stellar boyfriend-ish things I’ve done for my lady, but he wouldn’t really know the intimate details. However, there was more to it. He continued to explain that I was almost such a good boyfriend, that it was a fault. That I ended up neglecting my needs and own well-being in order to put the relationship first. This shocked me and we began to dissect my role in my bf-gf relationship at the time. I came to realize that, in fact, I moved my life around quite a bit to accommodate the relationship. (more)
Delroy Wilson, one of the founding pioneers of the Reggae and Rocksteady styles, has sadly largely been forgotten in contemporary music history. The volatile singer got into the business at age 13, and left his mark in the single “Run Run,” one of the best jams of the era. Though originally recorded for longtime collaborative producer Clement Dodd, it was a late sixties re-working of the tune with producer Keith Hudson that perfected it. The song’s lyrics are simple threats, “you better run run…I’m gonna get you,” but they are backed by a world class 4/4 rocksteady beat, congas, and a horn section. Whether the song was a socially conscious threat to seek out injustice, or simply a warning to his enemies (which included another of the genre’s pioneers, Prince Buster) is up to interpretation (the most likely explanation is that Wilson was actually directing it towards the ladies he was going after). Whatever the reason behind it, it’s a classic, and one that shouldn’t be forgotten.
“Crack A Bottle” was first dropped on Big Mike & DJ Neptune’s 4th Quarter Pressure Part 2 mixtape last month as “Number 1,” but a few days ago a cleaned-up version of the track leaked, sans mixtape shout-outs.
Presuming that Relapse comes out before October, Shady is going to be 36 when it drops. Oh, how time passes… I remember when “My Name Is” was first getting heavy rotation, and I couldn’t help but think that Eminem was a passing gimmick. He was an angry white kid spitting aggressive, taboo-ridden lyrics in a time when aggressive white kids were getting behind white bands with aggressive lyrics. But not only has he outlasted the Fred Dursts of the world, he now plays the role of a generational elder, not too distant from the role Dre held when he first helped break Eminem… but hell, Shady passed that years ago when he broke 50 Cent. This year is going to be big for both men, with both Relapse and Detox (theme?) expected to finally see release. With this version of “Crack A Bottle” Shady changes tones between rapping his verses and those expected to be filled in by Dr. Dre on the final version… whose album it’ll end up appearing on, I don’t know (can someone enlighten me here?) - but it’s solid enough in its unfinished state to lead me to believe that Shady is going to bring some bounce to his lyrics this year.
Since “Crack A Bottle” is a completely unfinished track though, and will probably end up sounding far from the original, it’s a little out of line to judge it. I will say this however, if you’re listening to it and are really getting into the beat, it’s coming directly from Aesop Rock & Del The Funky Homosapien’s contribution to 2005’s Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture. If it’s been a while since you’ve revisited that album, or worse, if you’ve never heard the album at all - you’ve got to do something to change that. Aesop’s verse here is one of my favorites of his, and the beat explodes, generating far more energy than in Eminem’s track. This leads me to the believe that “Crack A Bottle” is just using it as a stand-in for something else, just as Shady stands in for Dre’s verses, because with the combined production talent of the two MCs, there’s no reason to dig so deep into someone else’s pockets.
Indie darlings Deerhunter, led by resident genius Bradford Cox, had quite an interesting 2008. After Cox took time away from the better-known Deerhunter to release his excellent Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel under the Atlas Sound moniker, Deerhunter came back into the spotlight in a big way. They finished their latest album, Microcastle, only to have it leaked almost instantly months before the intended release date. The band could have very easily been bitter and disavowed the record, but decided to instead add a bonus for the people who went out and bought the physical release of the album. This bonus came in the form of another amazing record, this time being Weird Era Cont. EP, which came with each copy of Microcastle when it was finally released. The bands’ spirit of giving continued recently when they recently released a mixtape cassette titled On Platts Eyott Island. Cox said that they made the tape in the style of an in studio performance using vintage gear and made the mix in honor of the late John Peel. (more)
I just heard that Minneapolis’s own Radio K will be recording a live broadcast with one of my favorite Austin bands SUNSET this spring at the SXSW Music Conference in the band’s hometown. I am not sure if Bill Baird’s project is still under the radar, totally hyped, or last year’s news. Regardless, they are good. They touch on influences from pretty much every decade since the 1960s but still sound remarkably fresh. In the same vein as Of Montreal (but sounding completely different) SUNSET produces experimental, art-pop that is still completely accessible to the unpretentious ear (i.e. hipsters don’t have to just pretend to like them). “When Perfect Flames Expire” sounds to me like Lou Reed woke up with a junkie hangover and drafted Andrew Bird, Zach Condon, and Nico to help him express his disgust. Of course the beauty of Sunset is that assessment is completely wrong because they don’t really sound like anyone else at all.
Local maniac Mark Mallman pulled out all the stops at his annual New Years Eve show at the Varsity Theater Wednesday night. Mallman, playing with members of the Melismatics and joined by various guests throughout the show, played his usual highly energetic set to a raucous and well lubricated crowd. If you never have had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Mallman live, his theatrics include, but are not limited to: straddling (read: humping) the keyboard, performing fellatio on the microphone, standing on his keyboard stool and crawling around on the stage wailing into the microphone. He supplemented his upbeat piano rockers with some great covers that the crowd really ate up, including “Kids” by MGMT, “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire and “Cut Your Hair” by Pavement. (more)
Back in 1968 the “Bob Dylan of Brazil,” Caetano Veloso released one of his finest works on the first of his many self titled LP’s. Though largely ignored outside of South America at the time, Veloso eventually came to be regarded worldwide as one of the greatest and most influential musicians of the century (though in the U.S. he still isn’t perhaps as widely known as he should be). The single “Tropicalia” is a great example of how Veloso was able to fuse Bossa Nova, Rock and Roll, and Bahian folk tunes, almost single-handedly creating a new genre of music that heavily influenced artists from David Byrne to Devendra Banhart. While so called “World Music,” sometimes has a lame reputation in the Indie music world (best epitomized by Tim Robbins’ character in High Fidelity), it should be realized that there is a lot of music out there, past and present, that really fucking rocks. This isn’t the Putomayo “Global Celebration” stuff playing at your local handmade craft shop, this is shit that will make you sweat.
Eclipse Records is holding a CD release party for MC Harv tonight - the bill also features Yakub and Megacat. Additionally, tonight will be the first time that El Guante and Big Cats! perform together… here’s a quick word from El Guante:
This will be the first show where me and producer Big Cats will be playing together, backed by a great band (including members of Dragons Power Up). He’s worked with Sage Francis, Jolie Holland and others, and you’re going to hear a lot more about the stuff me and him have been putting together this year. As a music writer myself, I know you can’t trust what an artist says about his/her own work… but man, the music we’re making is WILD, unlike anything anyone in town is doing, and this show will be the first step in something very cool.
