Album Review: "Dear Science" by TV On the Radio

If you can't handle a praise-fest, stop reading right now. TV On the Radio's new album, Dear Science, is SO GOOD that it'd be impossible for me to write a balanced review of it. There's just nothing bad I can say about it. I don't say this lightly either. There are very few albums by even fewer bands that I think have made an album worthy of this treatment. OK Computer, Nevermind, Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not...maybe a handful of others in the last 20 years.

My point is, this is a fantastic album. I think TVOTR have forced themselves into the conversation of "best active band in the world" (with my personal criteria being: if every band in the world released an album tomorrow, whose would be the best?). Before I listened to Dear Science, I'd have said Radiohead without much hesitation.

This album delivers on the promise of the Brooklyn five-some's first two albums, which had some great singles ("Staring at the Sun", "Wolf Like Me", etc.), but lacked cohesion, direction, and got a bit boring at times. They've stuck to the same mix of instrumentation: distorted, buzzy guitars and synths, soulful and funky bass, driving drums, horns, sax, "loops", some strings, and the wicked wailing of Tunde Adebimpe.

Their sound is more mature now. They seem more confident. They've dropped the outright melancholy and added a touch of light and hope. It's not like they've turned into Belle and Sebastian; they've just breathed a new liveliness into their songs.

The result is a collection of gradually intensifying symphonic rock anthems, beautifully constructed electro-ballads, and furiously funky dance tracks. Everything they try on this album works. Adebimpe's voice is controlled chaos, laid over precise beats and intricately crafted melodies that actually go places, unlike a lot of other bands' songs.

Key tracks:

"Golden Age" - The album's first single. This funky little number with a funky bassline and retro brass chorus has the feel of an anthem while also moving airily and freely.  

"Family Tree" - Coldplay wishes they could write sentimental ballads with this much depth. This track features strings and synths, with subdued vocals pouring out syncopated beauty. 

"Crying" - A good example of their newly positive sound. The funky little guitar riff and Adebimpe's falsetto make the song light. It moves, it grows. It's the new TVOTR at its best.

"Dancing Choose" - This is my personal favorite. Its frantic rock-rap verses give way to a slick, smooth chorus, which gives way to even more frantic verse with saxophone harmonies that build in intensity throughout the song. It's an absolute instant classic.

"Love Dog" - This is stunning track featuring strings, synths, driving beats, syncopated falsetto, and some heart-wrenchingly beautiful chord progressions.

Rating: 10/10 - An absolute classic. This album will define this band and maybe even all of rock music for the decade, as OK Computer did for the 90s.

Concert Review: The Dodos at Sonar - 9.28.08

I thought Baltimore's music scene was supposed to be so hip, especially compared to DC's. Why didn't this show sell out? The Dodos are a damn good band, and they were playing at a very intimate venue for not much money. What else do you want, Baltimore?!

The openers for this show were a surprising treat. Wye Oak, a duo from Baltimore, played some good old timeless electric guitar rock music that borrowed a little from Tom Petty and Sheryl Crow. Their songs were very well written and well performed. I'll certainly be checking them out. The second band, AU, were a duo too, but they didn't borrow from any classic rockers. That band consisted of a really talented pianist and drummer who couldn't be bothered with conventional things like melody and time. I commented to a friend after their first song that they sounded like Animal Collective if they sucked. That was harsh. They definitely grew on me as the show went on. I amend my statement to, "They're like Animal Collective if they were slightly less good." And I love Animal Collective. I find myself comparing a lot of bands to them, and I should stop doing that. I guess what I really mean is that they are kind of out there, psychedelic, and have a lot of strange noises and rhythms melded into an interesting and sometimes beautiful sound.

Then came the Dodos, the third duo of the night! Ok, they had a third guy join in on half of their songs. They played a short set because Meric Long, the singer/guitarist was sick with mono. They didn't even play an encore. But what they did play was enough to convince me I was overly critical of them in my review of their album, Visiter. These 2 (sometimes 3) have some SERIOUS instrumental skills. I wouldn't have thought 2 people could make a sound so full, especially the percussion. The guitar was precise and lively. The drums were even more precise, and even more lively. The singing was better than I expected, especially considering Long's illness ("creepy crawleys in his throat"). I'm wondering whether the off-pitch parts of the album were the result of poor standards of the producer or band in the studio.

The highlight of the show was "Jodi", which was their last song. Before the song, Long said, "I do apologize, but this is gonna be our last song. It's called Jodi, and it's in the key of H." It was just as fast and frantic as it is on the album. I guess I'm happier to have seen them go balls to the wall for 45 minutes than to play a subpar, less energetic set of regular length. I felt like I got more quality show for my money because of the openers anyway. I can't wait til they come by again when they don't have mono.

Friends Rockin Out, Me Getting Sentimental

Tonight, I watched 3 of my best and oldest friends play "Rock Band" at a party. No one else was in the room. They faced the TV with their plastic "instruments", and I faced them from the corner of the room. I wish I had a video recording of those couple of minutes they were playing Nirvana's "In Bloom". Watching them play (and I mean play like children play, not play like bands play) gave me such a pure and simple joy. I want to remember them that way forever.

Five Guys: A Beautiful Thing

Oh, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, how I love thee.

The best place for burgers and fries
Is the restaurant called Five Guys
Your heart will be hopping
At the sight of the toppings
Give their founders the Nobel Prize

I'm a relatively recent convert to the famous DC burger chain. I'd heard some rumblings about it a couple years ago. I thought it was just another chain. Burgers are good, but they never really excited me that much unless they came from nice restaurants. My roommates insisted that I was destined to love Five Guys, since they regularly witness my love for delicious greasy food. And damn it, they were right. I first went a few months ago, and angels sang as I took my first bite. I don't know what they put in those burgers, but they're like heaven in beef form.

For the uninitiated, the place only sells burgers, hot dogs, and fries. You can get 2 patties or 1. And you can get all the toppings you want. And they have boxes of peanuts for snacking on while you wait. That's it. That's their business.

But the burgers are a miraculous achievement in human history. They're juicy (ok, greasy) and flavorful, and once you start eating it, you're committed to not putting it down, because it will disintegrate otherwise (not that you'd want to put it down anyway). And then there are the fries, which are like boardwalk fries, and come in 2 sizes. You can get them cajun. You should get them cajun. Then drown those fuckers in vinegar and ketchup.

Unfortunately, I cannot eat Five Guys as often as I'd wish, because I want to live past the age of 30. It is not a place for the health conscious. Don't even bother looking at the nutrition facts posted on their website. But as a reward for a hard week of blogging while I should be doing work at work, I'll go to the new location in Columbia Heights and get my fix. And then I'll go home and write poems about how much Five Guys means to me. Thank you Five Guys.

Concert Review: Sigur Ros at United Palace (NY) - 9.18.08

Ah yes, the long-awaited Sigur Ros review. Even though I've been to two shows since this one, this one is still freshest in my mind. It was quite the spectacle. Those Icelanders know how to put on an ambient show... fo sho.

First, the setlist, copied from the Sigur Ros message board:

***********************

01 svefn-g-englar
02 glósóli
03 ný batterí
04 fljótavík
05 við spilum endalaust
06 hoppípolla / með blóðnasir
07 svo hljótt
08 heysátan
09 viðrar vel til loftárása
10 inní mér syngur vitleysingur
11 sæglópur
12 hafsól
13 gobbledigook

encore:
14 illgresi
15 popplagið
***********************

For most of you, and for myself, a self-proclaimed Sigur Ros fan, those song titles mean next to nothing. They certainly don't make it easy for their English-speaking audience. (This is the band that released an album called "( )" with all untitled tracks!) Suffice it to say, they played a bunch of beautiful, trippy, almost supernatural music to an adoring crowd. The venue, an old converted church I believe, was stunning in appearance and acoustics. It was an emotional experience for a lot of people, I think. I definitely heard a few sniffles. 

Lead singer Jonsi's angelic voice did things I didn't think were possible, like sustaining the last beautiful high note of the opening song for what seemed like an hour and still putting a little flourish at the end of it. The instrumentals were what they had to be, but not spectacular. The violin bow on the guitar makes such a cool sound, it makes me wonder why more bands don't do it. 

In the background was some creepy, grainy, blurry footage of children and dolls, and occasional close-ups (also grainy) of the band members' hands and instruments. They definitely have a strange aesthetic. In addition to those images, the drummer was wearing a crown of some sort, and Jonsi's coat had what looked like tinsel hanging from it. More power to them, though. They'd be nothing without their creativity and eccentricity.

They closed the show with an energetic rendition of "Gobbledigook", with members of the opening band banging away at drums and the audience clapping along. Actually the clapping ruined it for me. Audiences can not be depended on to have rhythm or keep time, especially for a song with so many time changes. It's distracting to hear the ever-quickening claps fall out of sync with the band.

I enjoyed each and every track of the set, though, until the encore. I could've done without both of those. The first one was one they'd supposedly never played live before, and featured three of them on acoustic guitars. They dedicated it to one of their crew members who was sick. The song was pretty boring. They're not the same without their sound effects. The second song was one of those ridiculously long building crescendo pieces that always annoy me for displaying the band's self-indulgence. Encores are extra, though. The rest of the show was very nice. It was most definitely worth the trip to New York to see it.

Bonus:

Gobbledigook lyrics and translation!

(thanks Shanie)

(also thanks to jen lemen for the picture)

smoke smoke smoke

On Friday, I will have gone six months since quitting smoking cigarettes. I'd been smoking off and on for about 6-7 years. Camel Lights. I'm very pleased with myself. I haven't had ONE cigarette in that whole time. I intend to keep it that way for the rest of my life. I loved smoking, but the health risks are just too much. I knew that when I was smoking too, but I just told myself I'd quit soon, and I'd be alright. And then I did. I hope I'm alright. Before you read on, let me make clear that I definitely would discourage anyone from smoking, and I would encourage any smoker to quit as soon as possible. That being said...

Nobody needs to hear a diatribe against cigarettes. The scientific evidence is overwhelming, and we're beaten over the head with it every day. Yes, we get it, smoking is bad. What interests me right now is the fact that millions of people still smoke, even though they know damn well about the health consequences. From my own experience of quitting, I can confidently say that for some people, the addictive aspect of smoking is not why we do it. It wasn't that hard for me to quit once I decided to. Obviously, everyone has different levels of self discipline and is affected differently by chemicals.

But why did I smoke? It wasn't only nicotine addiction for me, and I doubt it's the entire reason for most smokers. And smokers are not all idiots or bad people. No more so than non-smokers. No one seems to want to admit it because of the huge backlash against smoking these days, but there actually are benefits to smoking. Certainly not health benefits, that I know of anyway. Social benefits, which, in the grand scheme of things, are just as important, aren't they?

Human beings don't exist merely to live as long as they can. At least some of us exist to experience life and its infinitely various pleasures. And smoking happens to be a pretty good tool for that in some ways.

First, there's the interpersonal factor. Being a smoker can get you into or out of a lot of conversations. Smokers share a bond, perhaps because they know they're partners in telling all their health conscious friends to go fuck themselves. There must be billions of conversations that have started as the result of asking a stranger for a cigarette or a light. Some of those conversations must have ended up in happy marriages and lifelong friendships. Smoking is almost as useful for getting out of conversations too. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten bored at a party or bar and was able to excuse myself to go out and have a cigarette. They're a useful tool for getting away with things you might've looked awkward doing otherwise.

Then, there's the fact that it breaks up the day. Going out for a smoke was often a time when I could take a step back and reflect on my day or my life in between the regular activities of life, especially work. It's a way to hit the pause button on the day so you can get a fresher start when you hit play again. For some people, this is a very important ritual to have. Looking forward to these breaks can be motivation to work harder to get to them. Of course, smoke breaks are probably just as often used for procrastination, but I look at that as a wash, because procrastinators will do anything to avoid their tasks for a while, not just smoke.

Also, although haters scoff at the notion of smoking being cool, it definitely is cool, to certain people anyway. It completes an image or persona in a way that few other things can. This may not make logical sense, but to say it's not real is to be in denial. I'd certainly been told by more than one girl that I looked sexy with a cigarette. Tell me that isn't a benefit!

It also tastes and smells good to some people. "Ew," some of you are probably thinking, but I bet you drink diet soda or eat liver or fruit-by-the-foot, to which I say to you, "Ew." Then there's the fact that cigarettes give you something to do with your hands and mouth, for those of us with uncontrollable oral and manual fixations. I fidget a lot, and it gives me a very subtle comfort to be doing something with my fingers. Smoke itself is also aesthetically pleasing. It looks cool when it blows around and changes the look of things, like clouds on a small scale.

The list could probably go on and on for a lot of people. As I said before, I'd hate to be misinterpreted as encouraging smoking in any way. I do not! All I'm trying to say is that unilaterally judging smokers as ignorant, disgusting addicts is too simplistic. We make progress through understanding problems. Understanding and validating certain aspects of smoking can help ingratiate you to someone you are encouraging to quit. Judging and repeating well-known facts usually won't do the trick. If you truly want to help someone, let go of your anger and establish a connection of understanding. Be a friend, not a judge.

Concert Review: Built to Spill at 9:30 Club - 9.23.08

It's not everyday you get to hear one of your favorite albums played in its entirety. Yesterday was one of those days for me, and I rather enjoyed it.

I'll get to the rest of my comments on Built to Spill's performance of their 1997 masterpiece Perfect from Now On, but first a few words about the opener, the Meat Puppets. I was vaguely familiar with them as an early alternative band from the 80s or 90s. I'd forgotten that some of their songs were performed by Nirvana on the now-legendary MTV-Unplugged album. That was one of my favorite tracks on the album. Also, it turns out two of the Meat Puppets' members backed up Nirvana on a few of the tracks on that live record. So, the 9:30 Club crowd was treated to a performance by someone who was respected by a legend, but I don't think most people noticed or cared until they played "Plateau", which was the only song that anyone in the crowd sang along to (after I got there anyway, maybe midway through the set). Their performance was nothing special. Nineties-folk-country-alternative has not aged well. During one song, though, they brought out a cardboard cutout of our sitting president and ripped his head off. The crowd seemed to like that. It felt a little bit like the eve of the revolution.

When BTS front man Doug Martsch and his band mates (3 guitarists including DM, a bassist, a cellist, and a drummer) came on the stage, it was hard not to notice how out-of-style and outdated they appeared. Martsch wore a baggy orange t-shirt (with a picture of Kurt Vonnegut - that is cool) and baggy blue pants, and he was sloppily bearded and balding. He looked like somebody's unemployed, alcoholic, uncle. Bizarre.

Then they started playing the first familiar chords of "Randy Described Eternity", and everything made sense again. His innocent, high, pleasantly whiny voice sang out his insightful lyrics over intertwining guitar melodies:

Every thousand years, this metal sphere ten times the size of Jupiter floats a few yards past the Earth. You climb on your roof and take a swipe at it with a single feather; hit it once every thousand years. Til you've worn it down to the size of a pea. Yeah, I'd say that's a long time, but it's only half a blink in the place you're gonna be. Where you gonna be? Where will you spend eternity? I'm gonna be perfect from now on. I'm gonna be perfect starting now.

Gotta love those lyrics. The album is full of witty, ironic, deep lines. It's also full of excellent guitar-work and song-writing. And they played the whole damn thing. It was quite a treat. Perfect differs from other albums in that the songs are longer and more musically ambitious than their other more poppy albums (which are still very good). They were very faithful to the recording, except for a few missing guitar solos (most notably on "I Would Hurt a Fly"), which was a little disappointing. Otherwise, Martsch and company did exactly what they came to do: play a decade-old modern classic from beginning to end. The guitar melodies were crisp, the cello fills were rich, and Martch's singing got stronger as the night went on.

Their first encore was "Car", a fun little poppy track I really like from There's Nothing Wrong With Love. I was happy to hear it. I wish they'd just ended the show there, though. For their second encore, they played a song I wasn't familiar with, and don't care to be, since it went on for about 20 minutes of self-indulgent, boring "jamming" that I can do without. There were so many fake-me-out almost-endings to the song that I can't help but think they were playing a joke on us. Good one Doug. It didn't take away from the rest of the performance, though.

The show was great. Somehow, it didn't even sell out the 930 club, even though tickets went on sale months ago. What the hell? How does Vampire Weekend sell out two shows in December and Built to Spill not sell out one?! Anyway, if you ever have a chance to see them, please do. Martsch is an indie rock giant in my book. He'll spend eternity in rock heaven.

oodles of doodles

song of the day - 9.23.08: department of eagles - romo goth

Department of Eagles are such a fun band to listen to. They dabble in a lot of different styles of rock and electronic music, and even a little hip-hop, and they do it all shockingly well. These two former NYU roommates don't seem to have much of a following, but they're legit talents. The singer, Dan, is also in the slightly better-known group, Grizzly Bear. Romo Goth is a quick little foray into punk rock that feels more like it's by some dudes with spikey leather jackets and pink mohawks than a pair of indie-rock geeks. Looks like they have a new album coming out in October. Stay tuned.

Concert Review: Mos Def at the Kennedy Center - 9.21.08

What? Mos Def the rapper? At the Kennedy Center? Yup, he seemed as surprised about it as you are (if you're surprised). OK, maybe he wasn't surprised. After all, he's a jack of all trades (rapper, singer, poet, actor, probably a bunch of other stuff), so why should it be a stretch that he performed on the same stage where Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zuckerman performed the night before? It's not. He nailed it. He's as awesome as I thought.

I have to admit, I'm not actually much of a fan of Mos Def, not because I don't like him, but because I don't end up listening to a whole lot of hip-hop. Amongst rappers, he's one of my favorites, though. But I don't have much knowledge of his songs, so, no there's no playlist here. The Kennedy Center's website previewed the the show thusly: "Artist Mos Def explores hip hop, jazz, and soul with his band, drawing from original compositions and material by Miles Davis, Beyoncé, James Brown, and Gil Scott-Heron, among others." Sadly, along with not knowing much Mos, I don't know much by these other artists either, so I'm not sure how much original stuff he played and how much of it was a rendition of an old (or new) classic.

All I can say is, Mos Def really puts on a show. He's talented and smart, hilariously charming, and genuinely sentimental. He had a band called "Amino Alkaline - The Watermelon Syndicate" backing him up. They consisted of piano/keys, guitar, drums, bass, an 8-man brass section, 10-woman string section, and a DJ in a pear tree. They had a projection screen showing old-timey photos, tributes to recently deceased heroes Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac, as well as this awesome picture:


That shot got the crowd really excited. Including me. I mean, damn, what an awesome picture of an awesome moment in American history. Mos didn't shy away from political statements. He even sang his version of the national anthem, featuring a substitution of "and the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" into almost every line of the song. It was funny and poignant, but it wasn't the musical highlight.

He and his band switched it up from jazz to hip hop to rock to spoken word to soul effortlessly, and didn't seem uncomfortable with any of them. Two of the covers I did recognize were Madvillain's "All Caps" and Radiohead's "Reckoner", which both did justice to the wonderful originals.

The venue just didn't seem right, though. People seemed to be uncomfortably wondering why everyone else wasn't getting up and dancing. The sound wasn't great, either. They couldn't seem to get very crisp amplification for the vocals, so his raps were muddled and incomprehensible unless you knew them already. Also, the Kennedy Center staff seemed overly eager to get the show over with. Toward the end, a blond woman who was clearly not associated with the band was quite obviously telling the musicians to pick up the pace. The show started at 7:00 on the dot and let out about two hours later, which, admittedly, with no opener, was a decent length for a show. But Mos and the crowd seemed like they wanted more. There's nothing wrong with the Kennedy Center keeping to a different set of procedures from the 930 club. The venue just seemed to make things a little bit stuffier than most Mos Def fans were probably comfortable with. Or maybe it was just me. Who knows? All I do know is that I saw a good freakin show.