The Shins- Wincing The Night Away

The Shins have always crafted shimmery pop ballads that alternate between fun, energetic musical hooks and a haunting unique voice. The duality of the two moods make the music captivating and sonically fascinating. Natalie Portman's character in Garden State even declared The Shins as "music that will change your life", and I can't argue.

Wincing The Night Away doesn't lack the beauty of The Shin's previous albums, but after opening with two brilliant songs, "Sleeping Lessons" and "Australia" the rest of the album sometimes fails to live up to the standards the band set for themselves.

"Sleeping Lessons" begins shyly as if the music isn't ready to let loose, but Mercer's amazing voice suddenly burst through the stagnation, and by the end of the song music is crashing into your speakers. "Australia" is probably one of The Shin's best just because it's so damn fun, one of those jangly numbers with a hint of mandolin. It puts a smile on my face every time I hear it.

But Wincing fails to keep the energy with the third song "Pam Berry", a minute long waste of a song named after the lead singer of The Black Tambourines. Why ruin the flow of energy by throwing a cog into the wheels? It's a good thing that their hit single "Phantom Limb" follows up the third song dud. "Phantom Limb" is so good that it's unreal. The thing about The Shins is that they create songs that seem like nostalgic classics, music that ought to make you think of kissing your girlfriend on the banks of a summer pond- pure innocence, and just a hint of sadness.

Fans of Morrisey will like "Sea Legs", but I think the drumbeats are redundant and the tone is whiney. But once again, the band follows it up with two catchy well-written hits "Red Rabbits" and "Turn On Me" both of which hint at the band's flirtation with alt country.

In the second half of the album there are more dreamy delicate numbers needing some caffeinated rock n' roll, but the entire album is very semisomnambulant- perfect for an introspective night's drive. In other words, don't look to The Shins to fulfill any hard rock ants-in-your-pants dance numbers. This music is like lace, intricately textured and softly produced, and it requires devoted ears to appreciate it's complexities.

You can listen to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at their web site's home page on the music section to the right. This is the link...

http://clapyourhandssayyeah.com

And you can listen to (download) an MP3 of The Shins single Phantom Limb at this link...

http://pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/2007/1/31/The_Shins_Wincing_Debuts_at_2#40847

Check out the amazing video to Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna single "Promethian Curse" here...

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/40586/Of_Montreal_Exclusive_Premiere_Of_Mo

The Arcade Fire- Neon Bible

One of the best new bands of the new century is The Arcade Fire. To see them live, is to see a force of music sieze the stage and capture the audience with well-crafted rock anthems. Their songs are both simultaneously massive and delicate, a multi-instrumental band playing angelic church hall rock backed by Win Butler's hesitant vocals that strain to catch up with the power of the songs.

Neon Bible kicks down the door of your speakers, forces it's way into your ears, and holds your senses hostage. The tracks are cathartically good, enough so that you might be tempted to forget their debut album Funeral, which was inspired perfection.

The opening track "Black Mirror" rumbles into existence from deep percussion to a crescendo of vocals to a metric piano beat and builds organically to a sonically lush conclusion. It's a song so plump with rhythyms and layers that you can almost gourge yourself on it's intensity.

Arcade Fire wastes no time ramping up the energy with their standard anthem track "Keep The Car Running". It's a song so good that it raised my blood pressure.

The title track "Neon Bible" chills things out with dark and ominous ballad, but lowering the intensity does not drag down the beauty of the songwriting. In fact, this track completes a trifecta of pop perfection.

God bless The Arcade Fire because the fourth track "Intervention" jacks it back up with another song that blasts off like a damn rocket. And if you listen carefully to the protest lyrics, it might make you think twice about being a proud American. This Montreal band has their finger on our shortcomings, but it isn't the middle one; it's the one holding a guitar pick.

I really must continue on and issue heaps of praise on the next two songs "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" and "Oceans of Noise". "Black Wave" really underscores the interplay of male and female vocals; the track opens with Regine Chasaggne's delicate vocals, and by the time Win Butler's vocals enter, the song has completely morphed to compliment him.

"Oceans of Noise" could be considered the band's perpetual description, and this song is just rubbing it in our face. It's another brooding orchestral storm of a song. Something ominous is hinted in the slow build to the hopeful lyric, "We're going to work it out!" repeating into the distance.

The songs on this album are so well-constructed, so decorated, so fierce. I could describe every song as one of the best I've ever heard, and that makes this album an instant classic. I don't know how else to describe it. Give Neon Bible a test run, listening to it exclusively on headphones the first time, and you will understand why my arm hairs are stiff, my ears are satiated, and my heart is happy.

The Hidden Cameras- Awoo

Indie rock's dirty little secret is Toronto band The Hidden Cameras. They write catchy well-crafted and cute pop songs typically with the type of homoerotic lyrics that would make your grandmother blush. Let it be a fair warning to homophobes, jocks, and any man who drives a camoflauge pickup with deer antlers and a "git 'er done" bumper sticker that you might prefer something with a bit more testosterone (that goes for most of the music I like, but especially this band). The Hidden Cameras are the music equivalent of a Dan Savage sex column.

It's a shame that the lyrics are so dirty because this is the type of music that younger kids would love. But with atypical songs about golden showers (like on their inventive debut The Smell of Our Own) you might just feel awkward playing these songs at all. Not that there is anything wrong with golden showers!

With that out of the way, if you are still with me then I have a fun pop album to recommend. The one overall flaw seems to be an emotional detachment, meaning that there isn't enough passion to grip me, but The Hidden Cameras excel at melodies, which you will find in every song. Awoo is much more laid back than the Camera's first two albums. Don't get me wrong, there are some jittery guitars and bouncy rhythyms, but you'll feel a slight tone of melancholy underneath the peppy beats. A good example of this rainy-day tone comes from the title track "Awoo".

"Death of a Tune" opens the album with a galloping beat and a song so patently Hidden Cameras that you would think the band were covering themeselves. In other words, go to http://www.thehiddencameras.com/html/music.html and sample this track as a music video, and if you don't like it- you will be sure that The Hidden Cameras are not your band.

"Lollipop" steals from R.E.M.'s "It's The End of The World As We Know It" so directly that Michael Stipe should consider a lawsuit. Joel Gibb lifts Stipe's fast forward meter, but he manages to ignore "End Of The World's" repetitive titular hook. So, you're left with a song that almost runs itself off the track with its frinetic pace.

"Fee Fie" is a good example of what seperates The Hidden Cameras from the rest of the pack. The answer to this distinction is Joel Gibb's voice being used as the lead instrument. You'll find his voice more integral to the melody than any of the guitars, xylophones, or metal chiming triangles, and tdhat's a good thing.

Awoo closes out with several satisfactory pop songs. Very few of them stand out, save for the distracting misfit instrumental track "Heji" and the album's happy closer "The Waning Moon". I'm still absorbing this album, and it might take a while to let it saturate, but it seems to be falling short of The Smell of Our Own and Missasagua Goddam. It seems to be missing musical and emotional diversity (soul), but I love it for all it's superficial qualities, and for the fact that I'm finally reviewing an album that isn't so intense and musically intricate that it's distracting.

This is the last in the series of indie rock reviews. I will begin a new series in the future when there is another round of worthwhile album releases. Thanks for listening, y'all.

Please do. That would be great!

Wilco has had a rolling momentum on it's side for years. Jeff Tweedy, the band's rust throated leader, pioneered a new direction in rock with his first band Uncle Tupelo; they rooted their sound in Americana (Folk, Bluegrass, Country, and Rock) that forced the world to invent the term alt-country and retrofit the new genre to classic songwriters such as Johnny Cash and Gram Parsons.

The Wilco sound has evolved over the years from the solid foundation of their original album Being There with a seemingly ever-changing line-up. One problem is that the band has drifted away from the rollicking river of hooks that saturated their second album Summerteeth. Their new sound that has been in effect for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost is Born, and their latest Sky Blue Sky is hard to capture and quantify, but it's safe to say that the ethereal music, if it were a phase state, would be gasseous and smokey- like a low-hanging fog of sound.

Sky Blue Sky will be loved by many. It will be revered as one of the year's finest album. Nothing I can say will deviate the accolades heaped upon this numingly bad stage in Wilco's stellar discography- their momentum cannot be slowed at this point. All I can say is that this album, while promising in many places, can only be described as Jam Band Easy Listening. I think a little bile came up in my throat as I wrote that about one of my favorite bands.

This album is very chill. Good ol' boy college kids who wear hemp sandals and polo shirts, and who hang out on the porch drinking cans of pabst blue ribbon as they watch the sunset will LOVE the songs. Sky Blue Sky's major flaw is a lack of diversity- each song is limp, stretches on too long with amateurish guitar noodling, and a yawn-inducing pace.

The lyrics, for the first time since the band's most popular single "Heavy Metal Drummer", are so easy to access that it's distracting. Anyone familiar with Wilco are used to lyrics like "I dreamed about killing you again last night, and it felt allright to me." Now you will find lyrics like "I was thinking about singing this song for you" or "If you're trying to paint a picture, just paint what you feel, don't let anyone tell you you're wrong." It isn't that blunt lyrics are so awful. What really bothers me is that Jeff Tweedy has allowed the songs the clunky meter of poetry- the type of poetry with big pauses at the end of each line. It's as if the structure of the songs are naked and unadorned, the rhymes are cleverless, and that this is all fits a purpose of blunt simplicity- only this is not my style.

Sky Blue Sky opens with a very promising "Either Way" that is probably the poppiest song of the album with piano that sounds like Velvet Underground and gorgeous guitar. The second song is probably a left over from the band's previous album A Ghost Is Born because it fits the style of a breezy little tune that ruptures at the seems with jarring dissonance.

Things go downhill from there. The next few songs are like Grateful Dead, meaning that they are insufferably mellow and unable to conclude in a tidy way. The title track is included among these flaccid tracks. It's a song so lazy that you want to smack it. Then he has the nerve to include a jaunty folk track called "Please Be Patient With Me" with flat vocals that ruin it.

The song I connected to the most was "Hate It Here" which talks about staying busy by mowing the lawn, keeping the house tidy, and washing the dishes to distract from the fact that you're lonely. There is an honesty in the song that I can relate to as an at-home dad.

We only get a new Wilco album every few years, and I usually like the previous one so much that I give each new one a free pass. This time I can't do it. Jeff Tweedy seems very happy with the band citing confidence and cooperation in the songwriting. I don't doubt that this version of the band is probably a collective of master musicians, but if I see Wilco in concert I will be hoping for them to apply those talents to the back catalog.

It's a damn shame.

You're absolutely right about A.M. I actually forgot about that album (I didn't like it very much). I also left out their excellent collaborations with Billy Bragg on Woody Guthrie's unscored lyrics- don't forget that too.

I don't like my reviews to be influenced by professional critics, so I purposefully only include information about the band that I'm familiar with. Otherwise, I'd be reading what everybody else is writing about them, and it wouldn't come out honest. It's hard to get details of the recording process without having a press packet or reading somebody else's review.

I think the music should be heard on it's own merits. The listener rarely cares about the fact that Tweedy had panic disorder and was hooked on meds. All they hear is the music, and that's what I try to focus on- how their back catalog has lead them up to this moment, and what this moment sounds like.

That's mean to essentially call me a poser. I mean, it's true, but it hurts my feelings. I never claimed to be a professional critic. I am trying to practice my writing skills in the process, and on that end, I actually do appreciate the criticism. So never mind. :)

I love wilco! Did you miss when I wrote that they are one of my favorite bands? This album just wasn't any good. A few songs were good, but what happened to them? They sound castrated!

I'm actually glad to have your response. It's nice to get another perspective.

And you're right about the Grateful Dead comment because I don't really know much about their music; I just have this image in my head based on limited assumptions. Plus, I had heard an early reviewer connect Sky Blue Sky to Grateful Dead in a positive way, but it instead totally soured listening to the new album for me. You see what I mean about other reviewers being bad influences?

I think I'll review Amy Winehouse next.

Who is Ryan Shaw, and why is he being reviewed in the indie-rock thread? I have no f@#%^ing idea who he is, and that is exactly why he is being reviewed as an indie rocker. But this guy ain't no grungy wuss-rock musician, he's a bad ass soul singer.

God bless him! His voice is rapturous, soulful, and powerful. This guy sings with such passion and happiness that you are literally forced into a fit of smiles. The songs are an overwhelming sugar high of uplifting vocals that just couldn't get any better.

He seems to channel the black legends of the sixties and seventies: Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, and Ben E King. And Ryan Shaw, whoever the hell he is, deserves his own top ranking among that list of motown icons that he can be compared to.

He belts out hits like "I Found A Love" and the absolutely perfect "I'll Be Satisfied" with such energy that the songs just knock you on your ass.

Ryan Shaw deserves all the hyperbole I can heap on him because, unless I've been in a cave, nobody's heard of this dude. Well, now you have, and if your a fan of R&B, soul, and motown, go to the apple store and download this album right now.

Go to:
http://www.thisisryanshaw.com/
or
http://www.myspace.com/thisisryanshaw

to listen to some of his songs streaming on the net.

I don't have time to write out a review (nap time is almost over!), but if you've not checked it out I HIGHLY recommend looking into the new record by The Sea and Cake. This Chicago band has long been a favorite of mine and their latest album, Everybody, has totally become the soundtrack to my first summer as a dad. I can't say enough about how smooth this music is and what a great vibe I get listening to it.

Been looking forward to the new New Pornographers' CD for a while now. From what I've heard of it I'm afraid I'm going to view it a bit like I did the 2007 Arcade Fire and Shins discs- not the worst thing I've ever listened to, but not something I'm likely to put on more than a couple of times after I first get it.

So far, for me the best 2007 releases are from The Sea and Cake and Modest Mouse (which surprised me because I didn't care for "Good News..." or the single released for this one). Oh, I also liked some parts of the new Rush CD, but that's not exactly indie rock.

The latest one is called "Everybody"... very good.

Other new favorites are:

Okkervil River- Stage Names- the sound of Wilco colliding with Pulp... in a good way

Papercuts- Papercuts- the sound of Radiohead colliding with Clientele...in a good way

Jens Lekman- Night Falls Over Kortedala- the sound of Rufus Wainwright colliding with Magnetic Fields and Andrew Bird...in a good way

Spoon- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga- like the sound of Spoon...in a good way

Check out The New Mastersounds, the name says it all. These guys are the real deal. Had a chance to see them this past summer, one of the better shows I've seen in years. I'm sorta partial to the older school Indie rock bands, but this one ranks right up there. New release this May. More at...

http://www.newmastersounds.com