The Fiery Furnaces Widow City (2007)
I was so happy to hear a real drummer in the opening of the new Fiery Furnaces album. When I heard they had a new album coming out I was hoping to hear more of their rock sound like on Gallowbird’s Bark. The first song “Philadelphia Grand Jury” has some typical Fiery Furnaces piano playing, but also a section with some heavy guitar distortion. The ending section is a long instrumental segment that is a duo between the drums and guitar that sounds Deerhoof inspired to me (I wonder). The song “Duplexes of the Dead” has a cool psychedelic, slow rock feel, then it transitions into “Automatic Husband,” which starts out with a snyth beat and some pseudo-rapping from Eleanor (a more typical Fiery Furnaces sound) . But then, the chorus involves a heavy and dark guitar driven rock out, something I haven’t hear this band play before. From the first few tracks one can see how this band loves flawless, almost schizophrenic, transitions between songs. And also another thing this group seems to like now is heavy, progressive rock guitar playing. One of the best examples of this is in “Clear Signal From Cairo.” This also one of the best tracks on the album because of some its complex rhythmic patterns. The band even shows their punk rock character on tracks like “Uncle Charlie.” “Right By Conquest” is by far one of the most inventive songs in the album. Eleanor sings beautifully, and her voice blends wonderfully with the distorted bass that is playing along. In “Wicker Whatnots” the band plays some of the freest sounding music they’ve ever put out. By the end of this album you realize that all around this is a brilliant rock band. I highly recommend this record.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Nels Cline Singers Draw Breath (2007)
Nels Cline – Guitar
Devin Hoff – Double Bass
Scott Amendola- Drums, Live Electronics
Glenn Kotche – Percussion (On “Squirrel of God”)
When this trio comes together insane things happen. Throughout this whole album one can hear influences from jazz names like John Coltrane and Bill Frisell, and rock influences like Jimi Hendrix and Sonic Youth. I would call the sound a free jazz/noise rock fusion, because Cline has a knack for playing rock guitar with the musical complexity of jazz. The second track “Attempted” is the most jazz sounding tune on the album. The opening swings and bassist Devin Hoff plays a walking style bass line. Eventually the track turns into a very noisy rock sounding section, but when Hoff plays a solo it sounds like it could be taken from a straight ahead jazz tune. The track transitions into another very noise based section after heavy rock hits interrupt Hoff’s solo. “Confection” on the other hand starts out with blaring, cool, prog rock guitar from Cline, accompanied by somewhat surf style drumming from Amendola. When Hoff starts playing his bass with a bow in a very pretty section someone listening will be surprised, and come to realize how wide a range of music this group can play. The track ends with a rock feel, and is one of the coolest moments on the album. Fearing that his music maybe too catchy, I think that Cline includes tracks like “An Evening at Pops’” which is fairly standard noise jazz, but does contain some of the best soloing from Cline when the tune peaks. At the end of the track there is a very impressive, drudgingly slow yet heavy rock section, which cleverly precedes a pretty, quiet ambient portion that closes the track. Amendola is the only member of the trio that I don’t know much about, but his use of live electronics is really essential to this group’s impact. At one point in the tune “Mixed Message” Amendola drives the tempo without his drums, but a with his electronics which pan from left to right and bend pitch up and down. Another great moment in the album is on the track “Squirrel of God” where percussionist Glen Kotche plays some very dark, yet beautiful bells to accompany some more bow work by Hoff. Later on he adds to eeriness of the track by making all sorts of clicks and dings while Cline and Amendola make frightening ambiance with pedals and knobs. But oddly enough the album ends with a fairly uplifting sounding unison moment. This album, and group, is really fantastic and even though the noise is heavy at portions, I think it has something that everyone can like.
Points of Interest:
Nels Cline is in Wilco, and has also played with Sonic Youth and Mike Watt
Glenn Kotche is the drummer from Wilco
Devin Hoff recently rejoined the band Xiu Xiu
Nels Cline – Guitar
Devin Hoff – Double Bass
Scott Amendola- Drums, Live Electronics
Glenn Kotche – Percussion (On “Squirrel of God”)
When this trio comes together insane things happen. Throughout this whole album one can hear influences from jazz names like John Coltrane and Bill Frisell, and rock influences like Jimi Hendrix and Sonic Youth. I would call the sound a free jazz/noise rock fusion, because Cline has a knack for playing rock guitar with the musical complexity of jazz. The second track “Attempted” is the most jazz sounding tune on the album. The opening swings and bassist Devin Hoff plays a walking style bass line. Eventually the track turns into a very noisy rock sounding section, but when Hoff plays a solo it sounds like it could be taken from a straight ahead jazz tune. The track transitions into another very noise based section after heavy rock hits interrupt Hoff’s solo. “Confection” on the other hand starts out with blaring, cool, prog rock guitar from Cline, accompanied by somewhat surf style drumming from Amendola. When Hoff starts playing his bass with a bow in a very pretty section someone listening will be surprised, and come to realize how wide a range of music this group can play. The track ends with a rock feel, and is one of the coolest moments on the album. Fearing that his music maybe too catchy, I think that Cline includes tracks like “An Evening at Pops’” which is fairly standard noise jazz, but does contain some of the best soloing from Cline when the tune peaks. At the end of the track there is a very impressive, drudgingly slow yet heavy rock section, which cleverly precedes a pretty, quiet ambient portion that closes the track. Amendola is the only member of the trio that I don’t know much about, but his use of live electronics is really essential to this group’s impact. At one point in the tune “Mixed Message” Amendola drives the tempo without his drums, but a with his electronics which pan from left to right and bend pitch up and down. Another great moment in the album is on the track “Squirrel of God” where percussionist Glen Kotche plays some very dark, yet beautiful bells to accompany some more bow work by Hoff. Later on he adds to eeriness of the track by making all sorts of clicks and dings while Cline and Amendola make frightening ambiance with pedals and knobs. But oddly enough the album ends with a fairly uplifting sounding unison moment. This album, and group, is really fantastic and even though the noise is heavy at portions, I think it has something that everyone can like.
Points of Interest:
Nels Cline is in Wilco, and has also played with Sonic Youth and Mike Watt
Glenn Kotche is the drummer from Wilco
Devin Hoff recently rejoined the band Xiu Xiu
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Shellac Excellent Italian Greyhound (2007)
Within the first few minutes of the opening track “The End of Radio” one will know Shellac is definitely one of those post-rock bands. The opener sounds like something Slint would put out. Throughout the verses of the song the drummer and vocals don’t necessarily fall in tempo with the chords the bassist hits. The verses of this tune tend to get monotonous and when the band plays together on the chorus they sound very much like Slint. The second tune “Steady as She Goes” is more punk rock, but tends to get repetitive. The album starts to catch my interest with “Be Prepared,” the opening portion uses some cool intentional sloppiness and guitar tones and then transitions into a cool rock out portion. After a good, but not fantastic, drum solo there is a cool bridge where Albini uses some very cool guitar tones. One of the best tracks on the album is “Elephant” where Albini actually sings instead of screams. The drummer’s beat over a six feel is very interesting, and throughout the whole song it is difficult to determine if the tune has steady time signature. The longest track on the album is “Genuine Lulabelle” which opens with just vocals and guitar, and is actually quite melodic. The heavier portions of the tune serve as a bridge between each player soloing. When Albini sings for a long portion in the middle of the tune, it sounds more like a man singing to himself in the shower, than a rock album. The only times this sound is interrupted is when there are different vocal tracks thrown in randomly and at the end when the band does what it does best, rock loud. “Kittypants” is a short track that isn’t anything more than a rock song really. “Boycott” fits its name, being another very punk song on the album, although much better than “Steady as She Goes.” “Paco” has a very heavy opening, which goes into a guitar interlude that is probably on of my favorite moments on the album. The band joins in with the guitar the band plays a cool unison syncopated riff, which turns into a cool instrumental portion for the rest of the song. The closer “Spoke” has an upbeat, moderately funky, drumbeat over a lot of screaming. The song is a lot of fun and provides an unexpected wrap up of the album. As I listened through Excellent Italian Greyhound it caught my interest more and more. It isn’t great, but I didn’t mind listening.
Points of interest:
Steve Albini is in Big Black
Within the first few minutes of the opening track “The End of Radio” one will know Shellac is definitely one of those post-rock bands. The opener sounds like something Slint would put out. Throughout the verses of the song the drummer and vocals don’t necessarily fall in tempo with the chords the bassist hits. The verses of this tune tend to get monotonous and when the band plays together on the chorus they sound very much like Slint. The second tune “Steady as She Goes” is more punk rock, but tends to get repetitive. The album starts to catch my interest with “Be Prepared,” the opening portion uses some cool intentional sloppiness and guitar tones and then transitions into a cool rock out portion. After a good, but not fantastic, drum solo there is a cool bridge where Albini uses some very cool guitar tones. One of the best tracks on the album is “Elephant” where Albini actually sings instead of screams. The drummer’s beat over a six feel is very interesting, and throughout the whole song it is difficult to determine if the tune has steady time signature. The longest track on the album is “Genuine Lulabelle” which opens with just vocals and guitar, and is actually quite melodic. The heavier portions of the tune serve as a bridge between each player soloing. When Albini sings for a long portion in the middle of the tune, it sounds more like a man singing to himself in the shower, than a rock album. The only times this sound is interrupted is when there are different vocal tracks thrown in randomly and at the end when the band does what it does best, rock loud. “Kittypants” is a short track that isn’t anything more than a rock song really. “Boycott” fits its name, being another very punk song on the album, although much better than “Steady as She Goes.” “Paco” has a very heavy opening, which goes into a guitar interlude that is probably on of my favorite moments on the album. The band joins in with the guitar the band plays a cool unison syncopated riff, which turns into a cool instrumental portion for the rest of the song. The closer “Spoke” has an upbeat, moderately funky, drumbeat over a lot of screaming. The song is a lot of fun and provides an unexpected wrap up of the album. As I listened through Excellent Italian Greyhound it caught my interest more and more. It isn’t great, but I didn’t mind listening.
Points of interest:
Steve Albini is in Big Black
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