Pants on fire - Liars; JJ; We Have Band

Sisterworld (Deluxe version and Rough Trade bonus tracks) - Liars

Back in December, my husband and I went to the Barbican’s Twisted Christmas mainly, if I’m being honest, to see Richard Hawley do something haunted and beautiful with a Christmas carol neither of us would otherwise have heard before.  And while dear Dickie didn’t disappoint, the rest of the evening was far more challenging than I was expecting. My husband is no big fan of Christmas tradition so I had thought that TC was going to be a happy middle ground for us to share.  I thought indie artists and perhaps a Rachel Unthank type would be covering God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and that would be it.  It ended up being more a manifesto on atheism and death and I wasn’t very into it as a result.  And Liars – well, for similar reasons, I’m not so sure on this one. 

I’ve had Sisterworld for weeks and have found it very hard to reach a verdict. Liars are one of those bands that you hear and think for the entire length of the album that you must be listening to a Beck album you somehow missed.  And you’re drinking at some friend of a friend’s house and you’re too embarrassed to admit you have no idea what you’re listening to.  This is the way of the poser.  In fact, I had to fight with myself to prevent me from writing that I knew their earlier albums; I didn’t until an hour ago. 

I read a review on the BBC about these guys and I have to say, I think the writer was swept away by the folklore.  He/she rightly mentions the dark shadows present on the album but attributes these to genius whereas I see self-indulgence.

Apparently there were shootings and drug deals gone wrong and a move to Berlin all to prove they were so over the LA thing.  I find this a little funny as once again this is simply artist raging against the roots; they were born there.  Over the years, my accent has gone a bit funny, but I’m still a New Yorker and I always will be . Their spin on why they felt compelled to write this thing is foggy, all platitudes and moods wrapped up in poetry but it doesn’t really say a damned thing.  And hey, if denial is your thing, I think they do it relatively well.  But once again, it’s dismembered dollparts meets Jesca Hoop – you can take the band out of LA but you can’t take LA out of the band.

The best bits of this deluxe version of the album are the remixes at the end – Atlas Sound’s version of “Here Comes All the People” is wonderful and “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant” by Tunde Adebimpe is also great.  The best mainline track is the simple and aching “Too Much Too Much” bringing to mind Peter Gabriel in his early years.  Just lovely.  And I don’t know – it’s possible that this will grow on me but for the most part it just seems like a bunch of arthouse snobbies pretending to be in a Brooklyn gallery instead of a stripmall on Sunset. Anyway. ***

jj n° 3 

Now here we go – pretentious?  Yes, a bit.  But I really believe that these guys come up with the goods.  Like a soundtrack to a late 80s movie no one remembers or a moment in time out of the shop Instant Karma where I used to go to buy crystals during my New Age phase when I was 14 (go ahead and laugh - I am).  Beautiful vocals.  Beautiful plinky plonk organs and techo with a depth that you can’t quite identify. 

“Let Go” has had a bit of radio play but you can’t find any real singles on this album.  Still the entire thing is hugely listenable and oddly calming.  There’s nothing showy or rash about it.  What I hear is a band who just makes music because they want to and the fact that it is this good is a strange, unintended side-effect.  They also seem to have a proclivity for writing biography in verse but unlike Liars, these guys are actually eccentrics from Sweden.  For this reason alone, I will allow them their quirks.  ****1/2

iTunes free single - We Have Band

We Have Band is the free iTunes download this week and as it happens, it is also part of my Rough Trade package this month so I’m going to look at the whole album instead of just the single.  The fact that I adore it only makes my job a bit more enjoyable.

This is really good.  Full-on dance music that you swear you should have heard before.  It’s not that the album is samey, it’s that the flavours throughout are very familiar.  With Gareth Jones of DM producing, that’s no accident.  The band’s own glib statement says that they’re aware of their similarities to Hot Chip, the Rapture etc but I think they’re selling themselves short. 

While they are definitely of an ilk, that doesn’t mean that they don’t do it really well.  You know when “Blue Monday” starts because everyone instantly knows it and are ready to go.  Go where?  It doesn’t matter – the power of that intro just propels people.  I think WHB has a similar (albeit greener) power.  They will only get better and this album is freaking great.  ****

Windsock it to me... Euros Childs; Lou Barlow; Japandroids; Mumford & Sons

Son of Euro Child – Euros Childs - kkkk 1/2

In 1998, a friend of a friend made me a mix tape.  He declared himself to be a concrete poet (that’s the kind where they write things in shapes – like a poem about frogs written to look like a frog) and he always wore a silk cravat with blue jeans (not in an ironic way, mind, but just because he did).  When he walked, I remember him flouncing and I’m pretty sure he was responsible for the night we went to the party with the windsock installation. He slept with Buddhist monks and television personalities.  He spoke in verse.  He looked a bit like Oscar Wilde meets Hollywood from Mannequin.  Hopefully that has painted a basic picture.

Anyway, this guy, let’s call him Francis, Francis decided at some point to make me a mix tape.  The cover had a picture of people dancing at a Bar Mitzvah.  And most of the music on the tape was so esoteric that it was almost unlistenable save a Glen Campbell song, one by Leonard Cohen and this rare Echo and the Bunnymen.  I remember how upset he was when I mentioned I had previously heard and liked the Echo song as apparently the whole point of the tape was to be completely esoteric, unknown and unlistenable.

Anyway listening to the new Euros Childs (yes that is really his name – take that Francis – and if you can pronounce it correctly, you get double points) album reminded me of the first time I listened to that mix tape.  At first, you’re greeted with HAL generated bee-da-ba-boo noises which somehow become what can only be described as circus music.  The tracks are incredibly varied and in places, so downright opposed to one another that it’s sometimes difficult to see how the album could have been made by the same artist. “gently all around” sounds like Hefner; “how do you do” is George Harrison meets the Cars; “look at my boots” is strangely like the Who.  But though the Beatley vocals create the only discernable through-line, it all seems to hold together quite nicely.  My only real criticism is that there are definite moments where Childs sounds like Phish.

Most people know Childs as the frontman of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci though I confess that other than that, I pretty much knew nothing of him at all until I listened to this album.  Now here’s the thing.  I will be completely honest and say that there is no way I would have bought this album because not only did I know nothing about Childs but more importantly, the initial listen would have put me off.  But as luck would have it, I didn’t have to buy it as Childs made it available to all his fans for free.  It’s an interesting juxtaposition as without signing on to his webpage to become a fan, you can’t have the album for free so I was officially a fan before having ever heard a note.  But though I was perfectly prepared to write it off once I heard the circus music, it is surprisingly listenable.  In terms of the comparisons, I feel about it the same way I felt about Hefner’s We Love the City.  It seems like something critics will like without appealing to listeners, except that upon closer inspection and given a bit of time, it is surprisingly listenable.  So much so that I have found myself listening to it on a loop this week.  Highlights include the very funny “look at my boots” seemingly about people from Hoxton (my interpretation, not his) and “carrboro.”  Anyway I highly recommend that you become a fan and give it a listen as in places, it smarts of understated excellence, something Francis could never hope to achieve.  ****1/2

Goodnight Unknown – Lou Barlow - kkkk

And though I hadn’t planned on reviewing it, I can’t help but note: who would have thunk it?  My hero, Mr. Lou Barlow of the wonderful Sebadoh and the beloved if not lovely Dinosaur Jr has released a new album.  Ah so sweet.  This is much more the former than the latter; it is like finding a timecapsule sealed in Sebadoh’s heyday. 

The songs on Goodnight Unknown are more mature, certainly, but don’t come across as bitter or disappointed nor do they cross into the I’m-a-parent-so-I-understand-the-world realm (erhem Liz Phair).  They find their centre in the bittersweet with such roses as “The One I Call” (my favourite) and “I’m Thinking.” Strangely Barlow sounds very much like Bob Mould circa Sugar on the track “The Right” but the title track and “One Machine, One Long Fight” are back to the basic Sebadoh sound of fuzzy guitars and grouchy toned lyrics.

Though essentially a non-singer in terms of vocal training, few vocalists have the depth and soul Barlow can convey in a few sweet notes.  Worth every penny and moment spent.  Four stars.

Recommendation from Ron – Japandroids - kkk 1/2

If anyone remembers the energy of the earlier Jawbox stuff, Japandroids has captured it.  From the first few riffs of “The Boys are Leaving Town,” to the height of fuzz-box and hot drums on the intro to “Sovereignty,” they basically had me at hello.   Though the vocals are kind of basic neo-punkrock boy, the music itself elevates the whole to higher ground.  I’d be interested to learn more about these guys as their drums are mixed at a particularly high volume compared to the rest of the music.  I wonder if that was intentional.  But whether it was or not, it works.  The music is loud but not unpleasantly so and very few recent punky bands have good enough drums to merit a showcase.

I’d like to see these guys live because I’m guessing it would be pretty volatile.  They sound like a live band trapped within the confines of an album.  I’d like to set them free and see what they can do.  They have conveniently set up a whole slew of London shows  - 27.10.09, 21:00 at Madame JoJos; 28.10.09, 19:00 at Rough Trade East; 29.10.09, 21:00 Hoxton Square; 30.10.09, 21:00 Barfly – anyone want to go?  Probably Barfly for me. Three stars

The iTunes free download of the week – “Sigh No More” by Mumford & Sons – kkk 1/2

With songs in the vein of Sufjan Stevens, Mumford & Sons is a good outfit and “Sigh No More” has lovely smooth harmonies coupled with a super build and good use of banjo.  I read one review that got huffy at their God-speak and preachy tone, but I’ve always been of the opinion that music should be about that which you are passionate.  While I am not religious, if Mumford & Sons want to praise God with their banjos, I say more power to them.  Four stars.