3.) Rock N Roll - Ryan Adams (ST. PATTY'S 2008)

RockNRoll

Ryan Adams
Lost Highway Records.

SCQ Rating: 78%

Maybe it’s because Ryan Adams released five records during my university years (likely the most social years I’ll ever have) that I have such clear associations between his work and my life. While I would’ve adored his records at any age, those recorded during that period always remind me of particular street corners, bar booths, resident bedrooms, good friends or girls. And Rock N Roll wasn’t even supposed to exist; Adams hastily recorded it in spite after Lost Highway refused to release Love is Hell as his proper follow-up to the much-hyped Gold. Adams wrote and recorded the album in two weeks, dwelling in his friend’s bar basement, and paid for its recording on his VISA to keep the label clueless. So I find it humorous that Rock N Roll constantly reminds me of, well, me; some twenty-one year old arts student, who would wait until his parties were at their loudest before sneakily putting this record on for my own enjoyment. Believe it or not, I sold a few people on Ryan Adams this way.

You can feel Adams’ hurt in some cases – the ridiculous lyrics of ‘Wish You Were Here’ are practically sneering at the label that established him as a poetic song-writer – and his inebriated excesses are present the rest of the time. The Strokes-influenced ‘She’s Lost Total Control’ is as raucous an example as one can offer to someone who hasn’t heard this side of Ryan Adams; the Black Flag, Husker Du obsessive who once claimed he became a country singer because “singing punk was too hard”. That may be true, but Mr. Adams pulls it off here, giving his voice a convincing gravel on ‘The Drugs Not Working’ without abandoning his well-earned reputation as a song-bird on album highlight ‘Anybody Wanna Take Me Home’.

When Adams combines his rock sensibilities with that trademark voice, we get ‘So Alive’; a bonafide classic. Even critics who panned this album (there were many) must at least respect how compelling Adams presents his case; to make a riff-heavy rock record, paying homage to his favourite bands (which was coincidentally why critics hated it). For an artist who excels at writing mid-tempo songs with sad lyrics, Rock N Roll is an unexpected triumph.

2.) Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady (ST. PATTY'S 2008)

Boys and Girls in America

The Hold Steady
Vagrant Records.

SCQ Rating: 85%

Acclaimed lyricist/singer Craig Finn has crafted three album’s worth of characters who impulsively drink, kiss, gamble on the impossible, skirt religion, blow off parental authority, do a ton of drugs and learn about life without necessarily learning from it. During these turbulent highs then lows of boys and girls, I can’t help but think The Hold Steady are making music to be played during each of those parties, make-outs and life lessons. I’m sure eternal dork Finn wishes his records were around when he was a depressed teen. Surrounded by a band that resembles Springsteen’s E Street Band back when Bruce let them play, The Hold Steady is considered the best bar band in America for good reason, with classic rock riffs, gorgeous piano and lyrics that justify any drunken desires.

“Now we just need something to celebrate/I wanna open some bottles up,” Finn sings on ‘Same Kooks’, while any number of quotables from Boys and Girls… confetti-littered liner notes turn to drinking when the pulse starts racing. That the band can keep up with Finn’s nasally speak-singing and compliment his lyrical strength with flawless arrangements make this album unparalleled as a party album, and unlikely to be successfully covered by anyone else. The two slow-burners on disc are equally majestic; ‘First Night’ is a piano-led number for the boozed up blues that rises from its ashtray for a sensational close of guitar and strings, while Finn chants “when they kiss they spit white noise”. The second, ‘Citrus’, is all acoustic for a Saturday sunset; romanticizing the souls who gather at local taverns and new lovers who make it out at closing time.

A record that doesn’t waste a word or note, Boys and Girls in America was made for day-long celebrations like St. Patrick’s Day, where for twelve or so hours, we all have a role to play in Finn’s twisted tales. A ‘Massive Night’, if nothing more.

1.) Sound of Silver - LCD Soundsystem (ST. PATTY'S 2008)

Sound of Silver

LCD Soundsystem
DFA Records.


SCQ Rating: 91%

St. Patrick’s Day, 2007

I was going to start with where I woke up but I no longer recall. I was living between cities and my parents were in the process of moving houses, but I think I slept on the couch of my friend Patrick’s haunted apartment. The three of us (Patrick, his girlfriend Kait, and I) had a variety of things to collect before we took off to Toronto to celebrate the Irish holiday with friends. In charge of getting a variety of chips, pop, Blarney Stone, etc., Kait and I also picked up two essentials for the day; for her, a pair of green sneakers, for me, the new LCD Soundsystem.

I had been mildly pleased with James Murphy’s LCD debut but it played out like a compilation or best-of (the second disc was, to its credit) and I never found reason to put it on repeated-listen priority. We met up with Andy in the early afternoon, scooped up Emily, and on that highway from Hamilton to Toronto it became clear that Sound of Silver was an entirely different record. ‘Get Innocuous!’ opens with a nearly identical beat as his underground hit ‘Losing My Edge’, then transforms into a keyboard heavy dance-track featuring mightily improved, Bowie-esque vocals by Murphy (C'mon, his name is MURPHY, for godssake). It’s a breathtaking seven minutes that feel like three. ‘North American Scum’ had been implanted between our ears after two listens, and we were already beginning to sing along as we parked outside Leith and Nic’s.

Their apartment was swimming in green, strands dangling from the ceiling like vines and balloons waiting to be batted around. The decks of cards were still spotless, the fridge couldn’t even digest the liquor it had to hold, and we still believed our Blarney stone to be stone, not a snow-covered slab of concrete. Yes, the day was young and by the end of it, we all had heard Sound of Silver countless times; the funky vocals of ‘Time to Get Away’, the electronic glow of its title track, and of course, that cut-up piano ecstasy of ‘All My Friends’. The vines and balloons were floor-bound, and the fridge was ready to be gutted. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, people.

Cove - A Weather

Cove

A Weather
Team Love Records.


SCQ Rating: 78%

Nothing will grab you about Cove if you’re not listening for it. There’s nothing particularly striking about Aaron Gerber or Sarah’s Winchester’s vocals either; his Sufjan-esque earnestness rarely wises above a mumble, whereas her voice could be just about anybody’s. Yet once you’ve heard the record four or five times (which isn’t hard to do, trust me), a chemistry between Gerber and Winchester ignites – one part subtlety, one part intimacy – that beefs up these songs; the way her voice hovers over his off-kilter, punctuating lyrics in ‘Pinky Toe’ or when they trade off lyrics, verse by verse, as in the power-pop of ‘Small Potatoes’. It’s when you let your guard down that these nine quiet songs creep up on you, leading to sudden stare-offs in parks or passenger seats.

The arrangements are most striking in their barrenness, focusing almost entirely on guitar, electric piano and the heavy thudding of Winchester’s drums. You’re never unaware of a sudden organ humming in the corner of your speaker (on ‘It’s Good to Know’), or an extra acoustic ruminating in the shadow of the other (the beautiful ‘Shirley Road Shirley’). Such stark recordings render every moment notable, and that these songs sport enough muscle to justify their expansive time-slots (most hovering around five minutes) says something for A Weather’s songwriting prowess. ‘Spiders, Snakes’ illustrates this patience-pays-off aesthetic perfectly, opening the disc with a painfully slow pound of a drum-beat, the vocals and keyboard shuffling within the confines of that percussive dirge, which is then temporarily set free by a chorus, featuring simple guitar and the duo letting their voices rise beyond a mesmerized chant.

This strict obedience to song structure would damn most quiet, emotively acoustic bands, and it’s an obstacle that A Weather don’t successfully clear on every song. ‘Pilot’s Arrow’ lacks any of the record’s tension, and because that strain is one of the band’s great strengths, the song is visibly weaker. There are other slight flaws but they’re hard to pinpoint, as if you’re ready to judge it before a chord changes and suddenly that flaw turns out to be right as rain. The folky, organic flow of Cove feels painted in greens and grays; ideal for approaching April, but because it’s all cut from the same palette, its lulls threaten to become dull more than once.

Regardless, this record is fresh, if not sonically than certainly lyrically. Gerber gives us romance from tiny moments, dissecting the sounds a lover makes in the night (‘Oh My Stars’) or daring a friend to leave her clothes on his bedroom floor. Sung plainly without poetry, Gerber’s daydreams illustrate these unassuming tunes with deeper resonance. Released tomorrow on Conor Oberst-associated Team Love Records, A Weather might be the moody breeze to carry us sensitive folk-sters into the Spring, or anyone still crying over American Analog Set breaking up.

Listen to A Weather here.

**Atlas Sound Concert Review**

Atlas Sound
Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto, ON
February 28th, 2008.


Bradford Cox pulled across the Canadian border last Thursday with his Atlas Sound band in tow to support his solo debut Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel. When I first heard teases for the record, I was excited for Cox’s laptop compositions mixed with some organic instrumentation, but once word spread about his tour band (featuring Adam Forkner of White Rainbow and Honey Owens of Valet), I knew I couldn’t miss this show.

Emily and I arrived halfway through Valet’s set and found her droning rock and whispered vocals appropriate for the surprisingly laid-back crowd. First off, the Horseshoe was still half empty; something we didn’t expect after arriving an hour and a half after doors opened. Secondly, much of the crowd who had braved the weather to come out were sitting on the floor, a good few yards from the stage. Even Forkner, immediately recognizable with long dark hair and closed eyes, was lying flat on the floor. We settled into the end of Valet’s set, crossed-legged next to Forkner, and warmed up to her washes of sound perforated by Brian Foote on electronics and Bradford himself on the drum-kit.

Next up was White Rainbow, who explored the stage by striking individual drums then looping it, creating a live-off-the-floor rhythm from nothing. For those audience members unaware of his music, White Rainbow asked for no fanfare, barely recognizing his own presence and playing none of his recorded material (he would later tell me that he prefers creating songs on the spot over performing his catalogue). Hunched down onstage with a guitar and electronic equipment, White Rainbow’s introduction was impressively bombastic, humble, and unfortunately, too brief.

Honey Owens and Forkner returned within ten minutes alongside Bradford Cox and the rest of the Atlas Sound band (Brian Foote and drummer Stephanie Macksey), who together launched into a spacey set of loose, dreamy psychedelics. Although fans of Cox are familiar with his unpredictable showmanship, the man behind Atlas Sound was jovial and professional, delivering many of Let the Blind…’s best tracks without wearing any dresses (which would’ve also been pretty memorable). By now the crowd had filled in and most everyone was standing (if not dancing) at the foot of the stage. The band effort did justice to Cox’s laptop recordings, piling noise onto ‘Recent Bedroom’ and ‘Cold As Ice’ while retaining the ambient leanings of those album stand-outs. In a few instances, the band renovated electronic numbers into shoegazey rock songs, as heard in the aggressive ‘Scraping Past’ and show-stopper ‘Winter Vacation’, which brought the set to a ferocious close and hypnotized everyone with its propulsive beat.

Cox became more talkative throughout the set, discussing the severe cold of Canadian winter and countering it later with the shock that the venue was hot enough to make him sweat (no small feat, considering he admittedly doesn’t possess any body fat), and by the time the band reconvened for an encore, Cox was ready to just hang out. Testing the crowd, he played out a Dirty Projectors riff he couldn’t finish and engaged in conversation about a variety of songs he couldn’t be bothered playing. This was a great opportunity to hear a few of his countless (and awesome) unreleased tunes, which have been accumulating on his busy blog over the past year. Cox encouraged us to shout out requests, and I was lucky enough to hear two of mine: ‘Activation’ (well, half of it), from the Orange Olms Glow EP, and ‘Requiem to All the Lonely Teenagers with Passed-Out Moms’. The latter was another show highlight, that climaxed in a duel guitar stand-off between Forkner and Cox that was mind-blowingly well-executed considering they weren’t expecting to play it.

While a few critics would label such an encore unprofessional, it summed up a great show where it was evident that both band and audience were enjoying themselves. Cox has made clear through numerous interviews, blog posts, and albums that he has nothing to hide, and by blurring the line between stage and crowd, he succeeded in sharing his musical genius, challenging and morose as it is, to a crowd that genuinely needed to feel it.

(Gig Photography by the one and only Em Pascoe)

RIPPED OFF '07

The following are fantastic albums that were denied entry into my TOP ALBUMS OF 2007 because, alas, they were released in a year prior to when I discovered it. While I actually worked out where each of these would’ve placed on my finished list (and what they would’ve replaced), I’ll just list them in order of Ripped Off to Truly Ripped Off.