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The men of Built to Spill have taken 5 years to create an album. After such an extended haitus, we should expect nothing less than brilliance...right? Right. Well thankfully, we have not been let down. Built to Spill's latest album, "You In Reverse" is an amazing display of talent and guitar "goddotry." From start to finish, the album grabs you by whatever spare appendage you have and pretty much forces you to listen.
As the album unfolds, you realize something: there's not a whole lot different on this album than other Built to Spill albums. Yeah, pretty much. However, this should not discredit the album at all. Any hardcore Built to Spill fan (they exist) will not be disappointed by "You In Reverse." On that same note, any casual Built to Spill listener may be a bit upset that the formula has remained essentially the same. Regardless, it would be insane to just brush this album off as a death rattle from a band that, by all logic, should have died years ago. This is a solid, solid album!!
Everything you've grown to love about Built to Spill is here. The guitar-driven songs are all here, the "how-do-you-do-that-on-a-guitar" guitar riffs are still here, Doug Martsch's poignant lyrics and strangely gratifying vocals are still here. This IS a Built to Spill album. So now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the tracks. They are amazing. They are brilliant. The album begins with the near-9-minute "Goin' Against Your Mind," which, if anything, proves that Built to Spill is far from dead. The album then careens in and out of composition and composition, giving you the aforementioned familiarities and a huge chunk of creativity and musical genius.
The song "Mess With Time" is particularly enchanting and is definitely a standout track. It begins very heavily, with one of the coolest guitar riffs of recent memory with a latin flair and what I can only describe as a "Secret Samadhi" influence. It then slowly builds and, for lack of a better word, spills into a heavily Santana-ish latin outro that both surprises and delights. It is the perfect example of what this band is capable of and how much work they put into this album.
This album very well could be Built to Spill's best album yet. It is solid, inspiring, and worth dozens of repeat listens. Sure, "You In Reverse" isn't a revolutionary album. It will not redefine Built to Spill or bring them to new levels of rock and roll stardom. However, at 7 albums and 13 years into their career, this album is an amazing statement and showing from the little band that could. And make no mistake about it, Built to Spill definitely can.
Recommended for Built to Spill fans and anyone who needs guitar inspiration .
Key Tracks:
1. "Goin' Against Your Mind"
2. "Traces"
3. "Wherever You Go"
4. "Conventional Wisdom"
5. "Mess with Time"
Friday, April 14, 2006
(Music) Built to Spill: "You In Reverse"
Posted by Cale at Friday, April 14, 2006 0 comments
Labels: Review
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
(Music) The Boy Least Likely To: "The Best Party Ever"
Take 1 part Animal Collective, 1 part Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and 1 part The Shins and mix it up and cook on "fun" for about 40 minutes. This is the recipe for England's own, The Boy Least Likely To, perhaps England's greatest export since Oasis. I've been stuck on this album for the last week or so, listening to it non-stop, and I honestly have no idea why. I mean, it's good music, it's very poppy-rock music, and it's fun. Maybe that's it. Maybe this is one of the most fun albums I've heard in a while. Actually, forget maybe....this IS the most fun album I've heard since Of Montreal's "The Sunlandic Twins."
I don't know much about The Boy Least Likely To, other than that I read about them a few months ago in my Under the Radar magazine and have been trying to get my hands on their album since then. Unfortunately, until recently "The Best Party Ever" has only been available to the United States through import. So when Best Buy lists it as being $26.98 on their website, well...I lose interest. But now it's available to everyone. Yay!
Like so many other bands I've reviewed as of late, The Boy Least Likely To is, in fact, two boys. Given the recipe for their sound which I've already described, all you need to know is that this album is fresh, original, and...yes...fun. The first song on the album begins with a one-bar xylophone solo, which just reminded me of Schatzi's "Death of the Alphabet," which I still love. The xylophone continues through the songs but the group adds in some mandolin, some steady drums, and light-hearted vocals. It's a phenominal start to an album and immediately hooks you in.
The great thing about this album is that it's almost always upbeat. Lines like "I can't sleep cause I see spiders when I close my eyes" absolutely fill the album, and it's kind of hard not to instantly fall in love with it. Even when it slows down for more serious tracks ("The Battle of the Boy Least Likely To" or "My Tiger My Heart"), you still feel as if you're listening to a carefree song because the band's style is so enchanting, and you know that one is always waiting for you on the next track.
Though I'd love to say more, it would really be fruitless. All I can say is that I'm in love with this band, and you should be too. Is this The Best Party Ever? Maybe...just maybe.
Recommended to fans of The Shins, Animal Collective, and Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah (of course), and anyone who would like to smile for a prolonged period of time.
Key Tracks:
1. Be Gentle With Me
2. Monsters
3. I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star
4. Sleeping With a Gun Under My Pillow
Posted by Cale at Wednesday, April 12, 2006 0 comments
Labels: Review
Sunday, April 09, 2006
(Movies) Lucky Number Slevin
If most con movies are smart, "Lucky Number Slevin" is remedial. What starts off as a touching, smart, and funny movie quickly dissolves into all-out chaos. And not like a "Fight Club-part of the movie" chaos, but more like a "What Dreams May Come-wow we totally butchered this" kind of chaos. Like a slow kid trying to wow his classmates with his algebra skills, the movie falls apart in an attempt to prove just how smart it is.
It starts out nicely. In the 70's a man and his young son have a day out at the race track, the man having gotten the all-too-cliched "sure thing" tip on the horse race. As the chiche goes, he bets a lot of money on this "sure thing" and soon loses it as the horse "Lucky Number Slevin" falls down right before the finish line. As a result, the man, his wife, and his son are all murdered by some bad men and bookies who know that he cannot repay his debt. Fair enough.
As the story progresses, we entern modern day Chicago (I think) where we meet Josh Hartnett as the hunky Slevin Kelevra (coincidence? hmmm....) who, while staying at his friend Nick Fisher's apartment, meets the adorable Lucy Liu. As it turns out, a couple of rival mob bosses confuse Slevin for Nick Fisher and begin using him for their own gain. From there, as most con movies go, the story get deeper and more complex. It also gets very confusing. Of course this isn't a bad thing. I like to be confused only to be surprised by the truth and explanation at the end of the movie. Well, most of the time...
"Lucky Number Slevin" is an example of a movie where I don't like the truth and explanation. This is primarly because the movie reveals who's who about 45 minutes before the end. So what happens in that 45 minutes? The long, drawn-out, boring details of how the con was pulled off. "Confidence," my favorite con movie, does this in a good 2 minutes and lets you figure out all the details on your own. That's part of the fun. "Lucky Number Slevin" kills that fun. I am seriously not kidding when I say it takes 45 minutes for them to explain the con and tie up loose-ends. This is where the movie goes wrong. It's painful to sit in the theatre for 45 minutes and watch Josh Hartnett explain what you already know. It's painful to watch 20 places where the movie had a great opportunity to end peaceful but then have it say "Oh well did I mention how we pulled this off?" It's not good.
Though that really sucks, I can honestly say I enjoyed the rest of the movie. Josh Hartnett gives, in my opinion, his best performance yet and I don't think I'd be stretching to say that Lucy Liu also gives one of her best performances as well. She's way too cute in this movie. Like Natalie Portman from "Garden State" cute.
Overall, however, I'd be lying if I said I didn't exit the theatre a little disappointed with my experience. I don't think I'll be enticed to watch it agian, but Lucy Liu makes it tempting.
See at your own risk.
Posted by Cale at Sunday, April 09, 2006 2 comments
Saturday, April 08, 2006
(Music) Sia: "Colour the Small One"
You always feel a little behind-the-pack when you first hear an album 2 years after it's intial release. Concordantly, you feel like a bigger tool when you review an album 2 years after it's initial release. That, however, is precisely what I am doing. In my defense, the album wasn't released in the United States until January 10, 2006. I think there's a good 4 month window where it is appropriate to review a piece of work and I generally follow that rule of thumb. So, seeing as how I have never been outside of the United States of America, I finde it more than appropriate to review Sia's 2004 album "Colour the Small One."
Disclaimers aside, this is a beautiful album. Being, as the Europeans would say, a narrow-minded American, you have probably never become acquainted with Sia, at least in the personal sense. Fans of the group Zero 7 can immediately distinguish her voice as a frequent guest vocalist for the group, including the song "In the Waiting Line" from the Garden State soundtrack. Her voice is soft, intimate, and painful. A random assortment of adjectives, yes, but it accurately depicts the heart and soul of this album.
At first listen, you'll love it. This is not a stretch. But listen to it again, focus on the lyrics and you'll be entering Sia's world, where her most intimate thoughts and emotions are revealed. It's a refreshing experience, but at the same time, a frightening one. So rarely does an artist open up and become frank with her audience. It's as if Fiona Apple softened her voice and made an entire album of the song "Parting Gift."
Sia begins the album by proclaiming "You don't know me/You can't hold me/I'll slip through your hands/I am one single grain of sand." However, by the end of the album you'll feel as if you know her better than herself, and in truth, you just might. Indeed, with tracks like "Natale's Song," it's hard not to feel like you've known this girl for years ("She barely speaks/But I hear her breathing/That's all I need...Momentarily, she brings peace to me").
"Colour the Small One" is best summed up as Sia beautifully sings "I can't detach from the past and all of the pain/I need to learn, start from scratch begin again." As you listen to this album you realize what a cathartic experience this must have been for the artist. Though she makes herself immensly vulnerable, it is particularly comforting to know that when it's all said and done, she has grown as a person and as an artist. As listeners, we can only thank her for letting us all partake in that experience.
Recommended for fans of Tori Amos and Feist. Don't pass up this album.
Key Tracks:
1. "The Bully"
2. "Natale's Song"
3. "The Church of What's Happening Now"
4. "Where I Belong"
Posted by Cale at Saturday, April 08, 2006 0 comments
Labels: Review
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
(Music) The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "Show Your Bones"
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs second LP, “Show Your Bones” is a beautiful mess of an album. What is immediately noticeable on this album is the influx of acoustic guitars that flood and fill out the album quite nicely. But though it’s a welcome addition to the electric-guitar madness that has become the Yeah Yeah Yeahs signature, it’s still a flood. And floods are bad.
“Show Your Bones” begins as a heavily produced piece of rock greatness. The band manages to play as a unit without one member out-shining the other. It’s great! It’s a band working as a band, not relying on a sole-member. As a result, Karen O just seems to fit into the music that her bandmates have created, like the missing piece to a puzzle. It’s a beautiful chunk of music.
However, as the album progresses, this all falls apart. When Karen O sings “I think I’m bigger than the sound,” well, she is. The second half of the album is largely underproduced and features O’s vocals becoming harsher, tougher to deal with. While she is capable of singing at the level of Metric’s Emily Haines, she opts to screech her way through many of the album’s later tracks over minimal instrumentation. By the way, the songs “The Sweets” “Warrior” and “Turn Into” are back to back to back near clones of each other. Like a bad Linkin Park song, they all follow the same formula: start of with soft acoustics, end the song in blazing electric and insane drums. And while it works once, it is excused when done twice, and garbage the third time through, especially when done back to back to back. Despite these drawbacks the album ends in a blaze of hell fire with the song “Déjà vu,” a song that can only be described with the word “wow.”
Though it really falls apart towards the end, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Show Your Bones” is a fairly decent showing from a band that is sure to have many good years ahead of ‘em. When they are good, they are really good. They capture rock music at it’s core, choke it, and leave it beat up in the street. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs may very well be the future of mainstream rock…well, we can only hope so.
Recommended for fans of rock music, especially chick rock. Oh, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans too.
Key Tracks:
1. Gold Lion
2. Fancy
3. Mysteries
4. Déjà vu
Posted by Cale at Tuesday, April 04, 2006 0 comments
Labels: Review
Monday, April 03, 2006
(Music) The Flaming Lips: "At War With The Mystics"
"At War with the Mystics" is the second great album of the year. If The Flaming Lips were Michelangelo, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" would be the statue of David and "At War with the Mystics" would be the Sistine Chapel. Simply put, The Flaming Lips have crafted their best, most solid, album to date.
The Flaming Lips have created their masterpiece.
The first listen through AWWTM is a journey from up tempo "Yeah Yeah Yeahs" to the slow, atmospheric songs that have made them famous, back to psychadelic-funk-Prince-ish songs, and then once more to the huge atmospheric productions. With the exception of "Free Radical," there's not really a song on the album that differs hugely from the types of music the Lips have made since 1999's "The Soft Bulletin." However, what The Flamings Lips do on this album is build on the formula that has risen them to the heights of rock stardom over their 21-year career.
Song for song, "At War with the Mystics" is the most solid Flaming Lips album I've ever heard. It starts of strong and it doesn't let up....ever! Whereas "Yoshimi" hit's its climax at about song 5 and then putters out, this album does so at about song 10 but manages to close the album out strong. The standout song on the album is without question "The W.A.N.D." which blends an unquestionably rocking guitar riff with so many cool electronic vocal effects and solid drumming that you will be dancing in no time....or at the very least banging your head or tapping your foot.
Of course it would be foolish to overlook the obvious symbolism in the album regarding the War in Iraq and other modern issues, considering the title and all. And though the Lips come of strong at points with lines like "You think you're radical, but you're not so radical. In fact, you're fanatical!" or "Everytime you state your case the more I'd like to punch your face in," they still manage to shake off all their strong emotions with amazingly crafted music that will allow you to overlook their lyrical blunders and overstatements.
As I stated before, this album is pretty much flawless. I've listened to it about 10 times or so, and I still love it and find new things to love every time I pop it in the ol' CD Player. I will be listening to this one for a very long time.
I strongly recommend this title to anyone who loves The Flaming Lips (especially the album "The Soft Bulletin") or anyone who is tired of hearing Nickelback songs.
Key Tracks:
1. "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"
2. "The Sound of Failure"
3. "The Wizard Turns On"
4. "Haven't Got A Clue"
5. "The W.A.N.D."
Posted by Cale at Monday, April 03, 2006 1 comments
Labels: Review
Saturday, April 01, 2006
(Music) Pink: "I'm Not Dead"
Pink's new album "I'm Not Dead" is without a doubt her most accomplished album to date. To be honest, it quite possibly could be the best album to have released thus far in 2006. For serious! This album has it all. In addition to Pink's soulful voice, you also get insightful lyrics, amazing melodies, and top-of-the line production and music.
If you've been watching MTV like I have, you know her first single "Stupid Girls" is funny because it's true, and great because it rocks! But that song doesn't even compare to great songs like "U + Ur Hand" or "Conversations with my 13 year old self." Those songs contain both the heart and soul of Pink, a side we've all grown to embrace over the years. The album also features some great collaborations with the Indigo Girls and even Pink's father, which I thought was a particularly touching moment. In fact, if you are going to listen to a song on the album, make it be that one ("I Have Seen the Rain"). It is beautiful.
The lowest point on the album is a song called "Dear Mr. President" which I'm sure you can all guess isn't thanking President Bush for his tax cuts or Patriot Act. Though I don't agree with the message, it is still a top notch song, much like Stars' "He Lied About Death" or Bright Eyes' "When The President Talks to God." Needless to say, I love this album and it deserves to be listened to by everyone who isn't deaf (because deaf people can't hear). Do yourself a favor and buy it without listening to it. If there's one review you can take me for my word at, it's this one
Key Tracks:
1. Nobody Knows
2. U + Ur Hand
3. Runaway
4. I Have Seen the Rain
Posted by Cale at Saturday, April 01, 2006 2 comments
Labels: Review