7/6/15

Can Brand New just show us what they've been working with already? Jesus Christ, enough with the roll out.

No matter how pissed off that makes me, though, I can listen to "The Devil and God..." and forgive all of their damning publicity decisions, because it just never stops Feeling Relevant. You could ask a dozen people who like modern rock music about Brand New and maybe 30-40 percent have heard of them? All of whom probably really love them, or have some attachment to the band even from their "Your Favorite Weapon" days. For me, "Deja Entednu" will forever hold a place on my desert island five (Deja, Clarity, Rumours, Abbey Road, ???) and was really a milemaker for the scene and its ascent, but I think "The Devil And God..." cuts a little deeper sometimes, somehow, finds the wounded dark places and exacerbates the pain. It screams and pleads and begs more, it gives up and falls down harder, and I can think of no better soundtrack for a day or decade's worth of fervent aggression.



"Hey hey hey, Mr. Hangman,
Go get your rope
Your daughters weren't careful,
I fear that I am a slippery slope
Now even if I lay my head down at night
After a day I got perfectly right
She won't know...
She won't know.
She won't know."
~You Won't Know
Brand New, The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me

6/30/15

"I swear I'll never let you down again."



Is there anything - anything - better than the solace of an incredible new song from an incredible band about to put forth an incredible new album? I am still so in awe of "The Greatest Generation" that I was holding my breath a little bit on what we might hear from The Wonder Years this year, but after hearing "Cardinals" I feel this will be amazing, when Dan Campbell continues to write such phenomenal words and pull out these devastating truths ("We're no saviors/If we can't save our brothers") and the band supplies such layered melodies and frenzied rhythms. I stayed at work an hour later than usual, because I didn't want to be without it on the drive home and haven't bought the pre-order yet. The hook is so good, and so telling of what this band can do. Can't get over the drum part in the chorus, it's too tricky for me to count but I love how it ascends, and then the gang vocals at the close, something of a trademark for this six-piece-plus, tie the whole thing together. Putting out a single this soon makes me think there will be another one or two before the album drops in September - or at least, that's what I can hope for, because new songs and new sounds and new feelings are all that I can hope for on the horizon, even better when they're grown from the same favorite spots I always founds them.

6/29/15

Currently celebrating the fact I had the wisdom to make the spontaneous purchase of Elliot Smith on vinyl a few months ago. Called "An Introduction to Elliott Smith," it has some of my most favorite tracks including the original "Miss Misery" and "Twilight." After a weekend with rained-out plans and little to do but listen to the storm and my head and the music, I put this on and heard Smith the closest to the way I did when I first discovered his work: closed up, locked up and searching for serenity.

People will tell you he is sad and melodramatic. He certainly can be those things,  but listening to his music has such a profound, uplifting effect when you're already mostly down. It's partly his playing style, patient and plucky, and largely his vocal delivery, as delicate and withdrawn as he was. His heat so obviously broken always  - even when he's a little more aggressive about it, or when it's barely beating. He's a songwriter's songwriter, when it comes to the simplicity he displayed. The best lines that punch you in the chest are the ones that come with the least anticipation, like in this little two-verse lament. The rhymes are elementary, accessible, as they toss around these concepts of love and loss and death and lucidity.

There's something so somber-pleasant about his work, like wildflowers plucked off by the wind.

"I'm waiting for the train
Subway that only goes one way
The stupid thing that'll come to pull us apart,
And make everybody late.
You spent everything you had
Wanted everything to stop that bad,
Now I'm a crashed credit card registered to Smith -
Not the name that you called me with.

You turned white like a saint,
I'm tired of dancing on a pot of gold-flaked paint.
Oh we're so very precious, you and I.And everything that you do makes me want to die,
Oh I just told the biggest lie.
 
I just told the biggest lie.
The biggest lie."
~The Biggest Lie
Elliott Smith, Elliot Smith
 

6/22/15

"There's something about you
That reminds me of all those times
When I wasn't sorry, when I wasn't blue
The cherry moon it shone down on us
Under the stars shining down every one for you
If I could count them all
I would circle the moon
And count 'em back to nothing
Till I got to you."

Is "Cold Roses" really a decade old, somehow, this year? I'll take it - I'll take any excuse I can to indulge in this indulgent Americana exercise. It's a damn brilliant record.

I know "Cold Roses" like I know the bottom of my feet, in the sense that I could tell you what they look like without sacrificing the potential surprise. I love Ryan Adams, and this was among the first full-lengths of his I really got into. For a double LP, it is incredibly memorable, with a sound and style that truly carry in the same frame throughout. I like how it sounds on vinyl- no, love, because the track order is different a bit and it still keeps you guessing then. I bought this on vinyl, in Austin, before I had a record player, because I knew that even though I didn't have one I'd known then I would want it later.

That was 2012. Sounds farther away than it was, really, time passes so fast and full. This track, "Meadowlake Street," passes up too, it goes so fast without much of a command before the snare, and everything changes to the ear except the melody, which is familiar by this three-quarters through point. That theme picks up later in the album, "Beautiful Sorta" with a more up-front swing, then the title track's own solo frenzy. In the same vein is "If I am a Stranger," though the softer takes of "Now That You're Gone" and the blues-tinged "Life is Beautiful" are of a softer touch. I don't ever tire of his guitar sounds, lyrical subtleties or finer points of naivete indulgence. Bring it - that's the only way you learn, Given that ten years out we're all still talking about Ryan Adams, I'd say he's not the worst as far as following your inspirations is concerned.

"Something in you dies, when it's over
Everybody cries sometimes
If loving you's a dream
That's not worth having
Then why do I dream of you?"
~Meadowlake Street
Ryan adams and the Cardinals, Cold Roses

6/16/15

My summer of spontaneous concert opportunitues continues to shock and amaze me - tonight I get to hear the reincarnated works of the Smashing Pumpkins, and assess once and for all how I really feel about Billy Corgan.

I'm no superfan, though my heart breaks every time I hear "Disarm" and "Today" is one of my go-to morning commute jams. I remember first listening to Mellon Collie when I was a sophomore or junior in high school, maybe, intimidated by its epic reputation and wondering if I was going to "get it" the way I was supposed to as a concept album (one that will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this October). I was pretty enthralled, intrigued by the thundering, aggressive beauty that seemed so much harsher and also darker, than my pop punk interests. I latched onto "Siamese Dream" shortly after, and thus began a lasting respect for one of modern rock music' most enduring acts.

The tour is billed as electro-acoustic. I'm expecting to hear new songs, as they're promoting a recent release that so far seems O.K. I'm crossing my fingers for the stripped-down classics, which remain relevant and real and moving, no matter the decade or circumstance.

"Mother weep the years I'm missing
All our time can't be given back
Shut my mouth and strike the demons
That cursed you and your reasons
Out of hand and out of season
Out of love and out of feeling so bad."
~Mayonaise
Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream