The Kills - Midnight Boom 10.26.11 - 11.3.11

I kicked around a few different possibilities debating what album to upload this week. There were the newer 2011 candidates that are still bouncing around my mind ( Fleet Foxes' Helplesness Blues, DJ Shadow's The Less You Know The Better and St. Vincent's Strange Mercy). There were also some classics (Zappa's Roxy & Elsewhere), and important albums for my personal musical maturation and exploration (The Secret Machines' Now Here Is Nowhere).*  However, the simplicity and badassedness of the Kills are what ultimately influenced me.

 Sitting on my couch sipping Almond Milk and listening to The Kills seems oxymoronic.  My almond milk (it is actually chocolate almond milk) is an exotic creature comfort, an opulent gift to myself. It is a product I don't understand (where are the nipples on almonds?), marketed at an age and income bracket above myself, sold by a company that decided to distinguish their products by baptizing themselves "Silk".

The Kills I understand. A singer and a guitarist laying down hard and rhythmic lines and riffs. The lyrics don't need to be understood or considered to enjoy the song.**  It is the wailing guitar. The heaviness of the beat. The quick recognition that the name of the band is a dead-on description of the music. Hand-clapping, foot-stomping rhythms accompany almost every song. The songs are made to energize us. To occupy our bodies and minds. Influence our actions and propel us through the tedium of waiting for the bus or grocery shopping. The Kills are our youthful vigor. Our desire to run through the streets. To dance. To scream and sing at the same time. I am very sorry that I missed them when they rolled through PDX a few months ago. I bet it was a kick ass show. Because that is how I feel when I listen to this album. I bob my head and feel ready to do some parkour or kick ass and just have a good time.  So on the next nice Autumn day grab a flannel, a friend, some whiskey, and head out to the park to enjoy the weather, your youth, and some fun, badass music

-Brooks



* I highly (very highly, actually) recommend all these albums, and may end up finally deciding to post them someday...
**Black Balloon and Goodnight Bad Morning notwithstanding. And I do feel that no matter the artist all lyrics have meaning. Even purposely nonsensical ones.

The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient 10/19 - 10/25

I don’t listen to lyrics much. I hear them, of course, I hum along with them, sing them loudly and mostly inaccurately. But the content of the lyrics – what is actually being said – rarely registers. Listening to this album was no exception.

Paying little mind to the words being sung, I still heard in this music the distinct sounds of restlessness, regret, and relief; I saw flickering neon lights, crumbling urban landscapes, and rusted railroads leading no where; I felt aimless and stranded yet carefree and cocksure alike. I sensed the definite presence of Dylan, Springsteen, The Grateful Dead, The Killers, and Deerhunter. I wanted to go with the album on a long, windows-down joy ride through the American Southwest, but I didn’t have a car. I considered instead hopping a freight train headed anywhere, but I didn’t have the guts. Hitching a riverboat downstream would’ve worked as well, but it was raining so I just stayed home.

I decided the sound should definitely be labeled “Ambient, blissed out, reverberating Americana folk rock,” mostly because that sounded cool. I noted that the album works best as just that, an album: The tracks – which, it seems relevant to note, alternate between buoyant, sun-burnt, sharply-hooked psych pop; mellow, meandering singer-songwriter fare; and droning, hypnotic instrumental interludes – melt into one another from both ends, occasionally bursting into flames.

Then I realized I had just burnt through every adjective I could muster to describe the sound. So, never having written about music before but being familiar enough with the form, I knew I had now to turn towards the lyrics.

So I played the album again, this time with pen and pad in hand, and tried to hear – no, listen to – the words. I found, perhaps not surprisingly, that their mood and imagery echoed exactly that which I’d gleaned from the instruments alone. And I mean the words literally echoed; lead singer and band creator Adam Granduciel’s voice seems at all times to be escaping from a wet cave, the syllables chasing after each other like trails of light across your retina.

In this distant, hazy way, you variously hear him sing: “I’ve been ramblin’,” “I’ve been movin’,” and “I’ve been strugglin’,” and those aren’t even lines from the same song. You hear countless references to geography and transportation:He’s been “down by the sea” and “up in the highlands”; crossed roads, taken trains, cruised on freeways, and spent time around harbors. He’s passed the “fog of city debris,” and felt “strong winds blowing through my mind.” He feels “a thousand miles behind with a million more to climb,” and wonders where all his friends are going, “and why they didn’t take me.”

These are no doubt the words of a restless man – geographically, psychologically, socially. Yet not a discontented man. In “Come to the City,” one of the catchiest tracks, Granduciel tells us for the umpteenth time, “I’ve been rambling, I’ve been driftin’.” This time, the angst is followed by a cathartic, carefree “Woohoooo!” at the top of his lungs, and as the “oooooo”s fade away like a yell from a passing train, you realize he doesn't seem all too worried about being lost and uprooted. Maybe, even, he relishes in it.

But you don’t need him to tell you so to know it. Just listen to the sounds.

...tj

I Can Only Give You Everything: Unholy Rhythms 10/12-10/19

"unholy rhythms" is a groovy compilation of various retro french bands covering US oldies. My favorite is the french cover of "baby love"

I was introduced to the album by my friend Schuyler about a month ago when I was visiting her in Seoul. A week later, I was in Oxford visiting a lover, and this album was the soundtrack to our romantic getaway weekend of bicycles, nice breads, punting, sheets, and champagne. It was our last weekend together. I flew back to Dhaka Sunday morning (where i work) and she stayed in Oxford to finish her PhD. I hid a love note before I left. Hopefully she will save it and read it from time to time when she is upset with her future marriage. She will think back to our weekend. I remember that weekend every time I hear this album.

This album is not only for the jet-setting romantic whose career choice won't permit long term relationships. Its also perfect for late nights with the closest of friends, picnics, beaches, first dates, impressing that special someone, or Hipster scenes, etc.

Sweetest dreams,

Ravid

Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost 10/5-10/11

The album that is new to us all, while we’ve heard it all before...
To start out I will say this is one of best albums I have heard in some time. I realize making a statement such as this is just asking for backlash, (I know I probably would give some… but I have also been called argumentative.) but I hope after I explain my opinion we will all be in agreement and the ACTW community will be able to say this as well… Because how awesome would it be for all of us to have just listened to an album and be able to say something like “MAN! That was awesome!”… Unlikely I know. But a guy can dream cant he?

So back to “The album that is new to us all, while we’ve heard it all before…” Simple enough idea… and personally if I read that I would most likely assume the album is unoriginal and/or played out stylistically. Whether it’s a band that has ripped off another’s sound or released an album identical to one of their previous releases, most of us have experienced the dissatisfaction resulting. (I know I have.) However when it comes to “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” a unique situation arises. Now it is no secret that Girls have a sound similar to many one might hear on their local “oldies” station, and (trust me) this album is no different. I would say not only is the sound similar to many great bands of the past, but many of the songs are so similar they feel as if you have already heard them.

When I listen, I hear many of my favorite bands from past generations. I hear sounds of the Beatles, Elvis, Pink Floyd, Elliot Smith, Brian Wilson, and many more which I couldn’t nail down. Wait… What is this, an oldies compilation fall 2011? … Anything but.. Yes when you listen to “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” you may hear a few if not many bands from the past you’re familiar with. However the unique beauty of the album and its success in my opinion is Girls ability to incorporate all of these iconic sounds while never losing their identity. Each and every song is truly their own.

The sound is rich. The style diverse. The writing of Christopher Owens stimulates without fail.

Hope you all enjoy it.
AJ