Pulled Apart By Horses – Tough Love

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

This review was originally published at Listen Before You Buy.

I think it is very good practice for music writers to get outside their genre of expertise, their niche of comfort on occasion. I think they can get so caught up in their own favorite genre of music that perhaps they forget that entire universes of other sounds and emotions are being generated, and with quite a bit of talent at that. So that’s why this little suburban raised white girl who usually listens to folk music is writing about British punkers-sometimes-even-screamers Pulled Apart By Horses. You see, I also wrote for another blog called Musical Mathematics and the posts/statuses/cries of delight by the UK punk-metal-rock loving guys who run that publication over this release were too overwhelming for me to completely ignore. I had to see what all the fuss about their latest record “Tough Love” was really about.

Hailing from Leeds in Britian, the band is composed of four members and are often dubbed “post-hardcore” which pretty much just means still hardcore and the term hardcore was invented so long ago that music bloggers got tired of using it and tried to make it sound newer again. This is their second album and it was produced by Gil Norton, the same man who produced the Foo Fighters and The Pixies, which explains the overall loud, clean sound on some songs and fuzzy woozy rock on others.

I imagine that the process of actually pulling someone apart by horses was a torture device, bent on ensuring a slow and painful death. Elements of the intensity of this experience exist in their music, and they often write about pain and with anger, but the experience of listening to this band is actually extremely enjoyable. Starting off with the fuzzed- out track ‘V.E.N.O.M’, the leaps between pace and shout-sung spelled out chorus lead into the rest of this rip-roaring record. Often when I listen to music of this caliber, I feel like the anger and intensity in the songs is directed at me, as if I the listener somehow joined in the grand conspiracy against the band, but I will say as a compliment to PABH that I always feel like I am on their side when I listen to their music. The pure, unabashed passion in this record immediately won me over to empathize with their complaints, experiences and plights.

One of the strongest features of their songs is the way that the pace changes several times within the span of one song. This works especially well on ‘Wolf Hand’ which alternates from a relatively slow and talk-sung verse to an anthem-like chorus backed by heavy guitars and then later melts into a complete sound free-for-all.

I won’t try to tell you this record isn’t heavy, it certainly is. But it is heavy with a purpose, it has an artistic direction and contains content both lyrically and musically that progresses outside the realm of just metal or just punk. I would even call it thoughtful at times, like on ‘Night Of The Living (I’m Scared Of People)’ in which they poke fun at the idea of zombies by contrasting them to the actual mayhem that living humans can create too. Speaking of song titles that are jokes, ‘Bromance Ain’t Dead’ always makes me giggle, although the song by no means makes me giggle, more it just makes me bang my head back and forth and pretend to be a hardcore twenty-something British guy.

I think my favorite track might be the album closer ‘Everything Dipped In Gold’, which features echoey spaced out guitars in parts that are reminiscent of The War On Drugs, along with the same passionate choruses and other intense guitars that mark the rest of the record. Certainly check “Tough Love” out if you listen to alternative/punk/metal-/rock/post-hardcore… I bet you will love it. Also check it out if you realize that the last ten albums you bought probably all fall into the same genre and you want to expose yourself to other types of music. I was pleasantly surprised how much I admired the band for this record and how much I enjoyed listening to it.

Get to know Pulled Apart By Horses: Facebook | Twitter | Website

No stream available for this album, but you can buy it here

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Elijah Ocean – Tumble & Fall

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

Can you imagine you’re sitting in the apartment of a man (and I say man because he’s married, which is one of the things that transforms boys  into men in my mind) and he suddenly becomes a voice? Singlehandedly changing from another regular guy just shooting the shit and giving you some wine, into this treasure chest of music? I’m talking about Elijah Ocean in case you didn’t read the title of this post for some reason. That’s his real name by the way, perhaps he was imbued with the desire to be a singer/songwriter early on simply because his name is tailored perfectly for the job.  Aside from thankfully getting a copy of his album handed to me by my ever resourceful roommate Kyle Garnett (you should check out his art right here), I had the further pleasure of being present for the live session Elijah and his band mate Eric recorded in a Brooklyn living room for GoldFlakePaint. By this time I had already listened to his new record “Tumble & Fall” approximately 37 times, so I could focus on how the live experience differed from the recorded music, which is one of the things I really like focusing on.

As I was saying, the transformation was particularly good in the case of Elijah. I’d met him once before and been like “huh what a nice bro” which is kind of the same vibe I had this time, until he started singing. American-Folk-Alt-Country music is kind of my thing, so when he busted out the triple threat whiskey-tinged-voice-guitar-playing-harmonica combination on me I got a little excited. ‘Girl From The Hill’, the song featured in the Gold Flake Paint video is easily my favorite on the record, and it perfectly showcases Ocean’s writing style. A style that is highly subjective and yet manages to convey a message deep enough and universal enough that I can easily imagine this song was written about me, and it is so good that I wish it was.

In addition to Ocean’s voice, the record is littered with harmonies by Eric Ambrose, and the complementary way their two voices meld is a rare feat. Especially on ‘The Diplomat’ and  ‘Her Eyes Don’t Lie’ I am continually impressed upon each listen how well the two flow together vocally. Released on the label that Ocean himself started, New Wheel Music, and recorded entirely in analog at Dirt Floor Studios, the record came out in the beginning of April and has been in constant rotation for me ever since.

Warm, smokey, laced with honey and rough around the edges like a piece of cedar siding, Elijah Ocean’s voice couldn’t have come into my life at a better time. Isn’t that how most great things come to us? Out of the blue and without any announcement except that feeling of rightness. That confirmation that yes, there are still people out there making the kind of music that resonates, that is made for a purpose beyond money or fame. That is made simply because it must be made. All Americana and musky, emotion-ridden tunes, Ocean sings sad songs without being pathetic and sings happy ones with the grin of a troubadour. You can stream the album via Soundcloud below, but I’ve tried both, and it sounds much better on vinyl.

Get to know Elijah Ocean: Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp | Website

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Nice To Meet You – Of Monsters And Men

Posted on May 22, 2012 by

This was originally written for Listen Before You Buy. Since then the band’s full-length album “My Head Is An Animal” has been released and received wonderful acclaim. You can buy it here, here & here.

With a charming penchant for anthemic chants, Icelandic based self-dubbed “six pack” Of Monsters And Men are bursting onto the worldwide music scene with a joyousness that’s hard to resist. Just one more reason for me to be depressed that I’m not attending SXSW 2012; the group will kick off their US tour with a performance there.

Little Talks’, which can be streamed and downloaded via Soundcloud below, is one of those songs that instantly gets under your skin. I think I listened to it six times the first day I heard it, like a salty snack I just had to have more and more. I mean, it really has everything I’ve ever loved, duets between male and female vocalists, a fanfare of horns, lovelorn desperate but hopeful lyrics, kicking drums and a “hey!” shout … and I’m not making any of this up! It really has all those parts, and even more. I dare you to only play it one time, I doubt that will be possible.

The rest of their EP, “Into The Woods”, flows in a similarly addicting manner. The second track, ‘Six Weeks’ continues the thumping drums at the forefront of the song. There is an urgency to this track, a victoriousness in their singing and a strength that is rare to hear in such a young band. Building off the drums, adding in layers of vocals and guitars that mimic the melody line the song slowly crescendos into a dramatic undertaking.

Then, dissolving into the balladic ‘Love Love Love; the band hits a lower register, both with female member Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir’s lovely gritty vocals, and, despite indications from the title, some more somber subject matter. Finishing up with ‘From Finner’ which strikes a balance between the earlier delightful rock-out jams and the more mellow tunes, the EP is well-balanced, finely tuned and certainly addicting. It is easy to see why KEXP dubbed these six musicians “easily the most buzzed about band” at Iceland Airwaves.

Don’t let Iceland and indie Seattle radio experts keep all this international music to themselves, stream ‘Little Talks’ and ‘Love Love Love’ right below, and check out the fantastic video for ‘Little Talks’ as well. This is a band that will soon be leaping off their little island straight into the mainstream radio, so keep your ears peeled for them, as their full length album “My Head is An Animal” will be released on April 3rd, 2012 via Universal Republic.

Get to know Of Monsters And Men: Facebook | Twitter | Website | Tumblr

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Nice To Meet You – Suburban Dirts

Posted on May 22, 2012 by

This was originally written for Listen Before You Buy.

Sometimes when I listen to music, I know I am getting a piece of the artist’s heart right there in the song. That feeling is nearly matchless. That’s how I felt when I first heard Suburban Dirts. Rockabilly rock hasn’t sounded this raw yet well-delivered in a long, long time.

Frontman John Wheatley sings like he grew up during the same era as our grandfathers, with a hint of our time around the edges grounding him. Alluding to everything from the Cold War to Dostoevsky, only on ‘Tacho Breakdown Blues (Part 2)’, the first song, Wheatley never sounds like he’s trying to be from the past, it just suits him.

Heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, this record is clearly made by artists, and I don’t use that word lightly. Wheatley and the rest of the band co-wrote most of the songs and it shows. Everything from the echoey, buzzy recording style to the intricately played rag time piano, unrelenting bass and Wheatley’s own down-home vocals make it hard to believe this band is British, of all things! I could’ve sworn they were straight out of Alabama myself.

Wheatley uses the same chilling irony in his writing that Dylan used – lyrics chock full of allusions from every walk of life and phrases so arresting they both confuse and amuse the listener. This is certainly displayed in ‘Lost In Transcription’, a track that even an infrequent Dylan listener will note draws on ‘Highway 61 Revisited‘, both in lyrical style and musically. One of my favorite lines, when Wheatley says “That’s when I discovered I was in a movie scene/ Jimmy Stewart makin eyes at Bruce Springsteen” creates a connection so visual, so culturally salient, that I laugh every time.

Departing from this overarching style of song into a more personal realm, both ‘Stuck On You’ and ‘Someday, Baby’ delve into matters of the heart with a shovel so sharp it could break through even the most thickened skin and turn up the soft, mushy center of love that surely must lie at the center of every human being. ‘Someday, Baby’ is also certainly worth a listen, using classical strings and an instrumental break in a manner that somehow remains in the same vein of “dirty country blues” that the band dub their sound.

A record like this is always a welcome find to me, as I tend to always lean a little toward the folksy, bluesy and country realms of the auditory palate, but something about Suburban Dirts juts out above the the crops and crops of bands sprouting up with these influences. They are raw, but not undercooked; they are drawing on the history of sound in this genre without actually stealing from it; and they span a multitude of topics and themes without ever losing focus on simply using music to tell the experience of life, with imagery that inlays itself in your mind like a mosaic.

Stream their entire album as a continuous stream on Soundcloud while you’re at it.

Get to know Suburban Dirts: Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud

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Sharon Van Etten – Tramp

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

This review was originally published at Listen Before You Buy.

The release of  Sharon Van Etten’s third album, “Tramp”, couldn’t have come at a better time, as it arrives almost simultaneously at the same time as another newer female musician releases her first, yet highly anticipated album, that is Lana Del Rey’s “Born To Die”. I couldn’t help but note some interesting contrasts and comparisons between the two, as I recently read a piece over at Spin that defended Lana and I felt it impossible to keep silent on the subject.

But first, lets take a moment to truly acknowledge the victory that this record is. Van Etten plays out imaginary scenarios in ‘Give Out’ like we all do when we really really love and we wonder if it would kill us or heal us to just go for it. She both heals and kills in this record, taking us to the very edge of heartbreak but also soothing us, ironing the cracks in our hearts back into a whole with hopeful songs like ‘We Are Fine’.

Van Etten has a haunting voice, and she clearly writes from a place of pain, love, and courage, but even that isn’t what makes this album so spectacular. Van Etten is us, she’s our culture and where we live, she reflects everything that’s wrong with Brooklyn, America, England, Asia or anywhere. She confronts the confusion and misunderstanding we face in life, the evil in people in ‘Serpents’ and the sad control we allow people to have over us in ‘Ask’. In short, Van Etten achieves the kind of impact and cultural critique on this album that Lana Del Rey supposedly wants to create. Van Etten actually possesses the experience and technique to portray the problems of this modern age in an artful, compelling way instead of resorting to insipid cliches and washed-up sexual fantasies.

Drawing on other avant-garde type female vocalists like Cat Power and Joanna Newsom, Van Etten dips and swings through society’s woes as effortlessly as a bird in the sky. Both ‘Kevin’s’ and ‘Leonard’ are non-surreptitiously dedicated to men, and the album itself is called “Tramp”, invoking a whole host of feminine stereotypes and connotations along with the traveling, misplaced and impoverished. The ignored and doorway leaning of the culture – the ones that can’t be made to fit anywhere really and tumble around instead.

As most of Van Etten’s songs revolve around love and relationships, at first glance it may seem that this record is just another slice of lovelorn rock, to be happily consumed by hipsters in the know enough to have heard of Van Etten. However, just a few spins will reveal that she packs much more of a punch than your typical heartbroken singer. The cascading intricacies of her voice and the barren night elements of her songs combine to make the listener simultaneously feel lonely and comforted. It is this dichotomy in her music that I keep returning to, the double edged sword that Van Etten points at her listeners, and then uses on herself. She happily cuts her heart open simply to create, to sing and to contribute to whatever message musicians try to get through to us.

Lana claims to want to have something to say to girls and the world, but what does she talk about? Video games, Diet Mountain Dew, how much she loves (hates) her fame and money… the same senseless subjects that Madonna, Britney, Christina and all the rest have dallied with until it seems as though any female vocalist who becomes famous inevitably turns to this subject matter. Beating a horse that is already dead, Del Rey just contributes to the already prevalent and fucked up ideas girls have about how they should look and what they should care about. As Sharon would say, “It hurts too much to laugh about it, man”.

Van Etten’s album is subjective, eclectic, a discussion of her life and failed love, an attempt to move on, a conversation, a human reaction, laughing, waiting, hesitating, coming of age… in short it is a reflection of a human being experiencing life. What more is music supposed to be? Sadly, “Tramp” will remain perhaps slightly above the tide between indie and well-known, and soon be swept under the waves to reside under the sea, while baby-princess Lana Del Rey will still paper the sites of Spin and Fader and the bedroom walls of pubescent teen boys.

I for one, will be lip singing to ‘Magic Chords’ as I walk to the subway. I still believe in magic and the power of a chord, and I still believe someday the world will become a place that venerates the true artists like Sharon Van Etten. I’m not including any streams to any songs because I think this is a record you should go buy. Immediately. It is that good. You know how.

Get to know Sharon Van Etten: Facebook | Twitter | Website | Jagjaguwar (Label)

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Nice To Meet You – Max And The Moon

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

I can never say enough about how much I owe to Listen Before You Buy, not only for getting me hooked on blogging, supporting me in my own endeavors, and introducing me to some of the greatest music I’ve ever heard. One such band that I recently found through LBYB editor Frank’s careful curation is Max And The Moon. They are a Los Angeles based pop-rock band that leads me to ask for the millionth time, where were all these bands when I lived in LA?! Anyway, the more I listened to the this little four song set entitled “The Way I See”, the more impressed I was.

In my mind, their sound is a combination of Local Natives and Passion Pit, and that is an indie rock, harmony and pop sound marriage that is too beautiful to pass up. The opening ahhs of ‘Lighthouse’ drop straight into a synthesizer-studded jam built on rock solid pop sensibilities. I really hear the Passion Pit elements on ‘Out Of My Head’ which uses male-female duet vocal cues to direct the perfect summer love obsession song.

Heading a bit more in the rock direction for the track that shares a title with the EP, “The Way I See” proves that this band has chops beyond just frothy pop, with building drum solos and a spiraling climactic ending with enough tension to fill a stadium. I also really love this lyric snippet from this song: “When I look in my heart / I want to find / Memories to tell my grandchild”. This seems like such an overlooked reason to make good memories, or take risks, to pass them down to future generations. It makes me think of my grandpa and all the stories he used to tell me of when he was young and how fantastic they seemed, life was completely different then. It seems like people my age have lost sight of what we will tell not only our children, but our grandchildren as well, the stories we will have and the memories we will pass on. I love to hear a pop band dropping such a serious little gem into a track.

The last song on the EP, “The Walk”, is really different from the first three, it begins much more slowly and even though it still builds into a beautiful crescendo, the serious note is maintained throughout the build up. This song begins with “I’m on the outside looking in / Do you care if I go for a walk to find my body once again?” and swirls wonderfully around this admission, turning the song itself into part of the search for something lost.

If you’re in search of something, namely some sparkling summery tunes, look no further than Max And The Moon, they won’t disappoint.

Get to know Max And The Moon: Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp

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Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

This review was originally published at Listen Before You Buy.

This record hit 2012 like the spotlight hits an old lounge singer in a seedy jazz club. With hushed, husky vocals, Leonard Cohen sounds a bit like a reformed prisoner who has just returned to the outside world from jail. While this is his first record in eight years, and though it may be riddled with puzzles, it is by no means disappointing. Cohen has entered that group of singer/songwriter legends who are standing in the doorway of death. Perhaps this is why he religious, superstitious and grave in a way that he never has before. Actually, the feel and sound of this album remind me in many ways of Dylan’s “Time Out Of Mind”, the record he released after a similar break of about seven years without any new material.

“Old Ideas” starts with a overtly titled track called ‘Going Home’ that threads a third-person narration of “Leonard” his faults, flaws and hopes are discussed in relation to his life, death and accomplishments. He sings “He will speak these words of wisdom/ Like a sage, a man of vision / Though he knows he’s really nothing/ But the brief elaboration of a tube.” The paradox he creates here is one of puppet and puppeteer, of import and insignificance, poetry that moves me to consider echelons higher than the one I normally find my thoughts dwelling. This poetry that sets Cohen apart is back in full force. Invoking imagery in the same breath from rehab and a church pew on ‘Amen’ Cohen deftly combines the threads of life into songs that prick and pique my interest like never before.

One of the puzzles of the record is why in the world Cohen allowed the thick coating of female back up singers on his songs. Almost every song feels draped in streamers as soon as these voices show up, which is astonishingly often, and they turn every track into a song that sounds like a parody of itself. Sometimes he leaves off vocally altogether and the chorus of gospel-bound harmonies bounces right over and through his poetry without any recognition of what it stands for, what it means. I found this to be a facet of the record that actually disgusted me, it felt cookie cutter but it also felt inconsistent.

Filled with curve balls, even after a solid few days with the record I keep uncovering new twists and turns. My favorite track is ‘Banjo’ near the end of the record. Although still filled with these chintzy female back up singers (really it is astonishing how often they show up), they almost feel appropriate on this track. First Cohen declares “There’s something that I’m watching / Means a lot to me” and after this intriguing opening goes straight into what could be a line from Mother Goose “It’s a broken banjo boppin’ on the dark, infested sea.” The bopping nature of this song and Cohen’s own hint of a smile in his pronunciation make this track a delight to hear.

The themes of death and growing old appear in most of the tracks, including ‘Darkness’ which almost sounds like it could be off of “Time Out Of Mind” with its heavy dose of organ and Cohen’s vocals at their lowest and most foreboding. Love and growing old seems to be another irreconcilable topic for Cohen as both ‘Crazy To Love You’ and ‘Different Sides’ deal with twisting effects that time have on love and what a relationship becomes.

Sometimes he sounds straight out of a saloon, sometimes he sounds like a like a pulpit-pounding preacher, sometimes he could be a cheerful grandfather singing his grandchildren a silly ditty, and sometimes Leonard Cohen sounds like a veritable legend. Whatever your degree of contact and connection with this record, it becomes apparent even upon a cursory listen, that despite its flaws, this collection of songs is the work of a musical genius and a true legend.

Get to know Leonard Cohen: Facebook | Twitter | Website

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