Monthly Archives: September 2013

Night Music: Ellen Foley, “Torchlight”

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Watched an episode of 30 Rock tonight in which Kenneth, needing something he’s yearned for, asks for a reunion of the cast of Night Court. And Tracy delivers! Ellen Foley (who was the other voice, not Meat Loaf nor Phil Rizzuto, on Paradise by the Dashboard Light) isn’t involved in the reunion, but this put me in mind of this duet she sings with her boyfriend of the time, Mick Jones, written by Strummer/Jones and backed by the Clash, on an album called The Spirit of St. Louis. I have to say, I hated that show, but in spite of its pretensions, I like this album.

First Take: Insta Pop, Kings of Leon, Nirvana

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I’m a fan of Icona Pop‘s “We Love It,” which is a deft melding of Jesus and Mary Chain guitars with cheesy Europop rhythms and bleats and other goofy sounds, topped with a cheerleaderish infectious chorus. To their credit, too, the current single, “All Night,” is plenty catchy if not nearly so fresh. But listening to the album is a little like eating pop rocks while hopping on a pogo stick. The thing that makes the mostly-twinned vocals on “We Love It” sound so happy, enthusiastic, and attractive, in a small measure, quickly causes overdose as the same vocal timbre reappears, hardly wavering, on song after song after song. Recommended in small doses at lunchtime or afterschool discos.

I’ve never been a fan of Kings of Leon, who always seemed to have way too much reputation for the unrelenting dullness of their sound. I would read about their southern-rock style, I’d think of Skynrd or Tucker and give them another listen, only to be bewildered by why anyone would play this boring stuff a second time. I mean, if you’re going to make dull rock you better have killer lyrics, and they didn’t. They didn’t come close. Yet, spurred by a growing audience (and no doubt ambitious management weasels), they puffed up and went kind of U2 or Coldplay, full of arena grandeur—without a thought in their atmospheric heads, and that didn’t go so well. Now, after a couple years off they’re back, supposedly leaner and meaner. Nah, and not smarter either.

I remember the first time I heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” while driving through Rhode Island one sunny day, which was the first time I became aware of Nirvana. I remember the second time, too, at the Palladium with a bunch of friends, waiting for Jimmie Dale Gilmore and the Mekons to play. We commented then that it was a helluva song. A really good video came out and lots of other people thought so, too, and one of the music’s historic bands was created out of sudden pop flames. In Utero, which has been rereleased in a 20th Anniversary deluxe set, was the followup to Nevermind, the album that couldn’t contain “Smells,” if you know what I mean. It was, it turned out, the last collection of Kurt Cobain songs released while he was alive. It has been remixed by Steve Albini, who says he really just added back in some tracks that were left off by accident originally. It also contains the 1993 original Albini mixes of Heart Shaped Box and All Apologies, which had been cleaned up by the record company because they were to be the elpee’s singles. That and lots of other extra stuff is of interest, of course, but hardly essential or revelatory. To my taste, each Nirvana record got more self conscious, and I prefer my heavy navel-gazing hard rock less self conscious than more, but all three albums (and Incesticide, too) are brilliant, essential rock albums by a band that somehow managed to make hard challenging sometimes radical sounds embraceable.

Night Music: The Kinks, “Berkeley Mews”

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I’ve been reading Zadie Smith’s novel NW, which is set in Willesden, in NW London, which reminded me of the Kinks corny country song, “Willesden Green,” and which I always imagined (because I didn’t look it up) as the locale for Village Green Preservation Society. (It turns out that isn’t true, the Village Green is really in the country, call it Devon.) Willesden is a part of London that was once kind of middle class, but is now a hodge podge of old timers and immigrants, some middle class and lots of poor. Smith’s story, similar to her fantastic first novel, “White Teeth,” is about how the old ways have been overcome by the new ways, just like the Kinks were saying 35 years ago.

Well, Chapter 6 of NW starts: “We are the village green preservation society…” and proceeds until its end as a collage of Kinks lyrics, which got me to thinking of this song, Berkeley Mews, which I know from the odds and sods and some hits compilation double elpee, The Kinks Kronikles. I’ve always liked the tempo changes and the way that it rocks when it wants to, plus the catchy lyric, “I stagger through your shitty dining room, but I don’t blame you, I don’t blame you.” Still, it’s certainly of the post-rock Kinks era.

Night Music: Sly and the Family Stone, “Hot Fun In The Summertime/Higher”

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There is a new box set of all of Sly’s music, and today was the last day of summer. What does that make? Magic.

Night Music: Joe Ely, “Musta Notta Gotta Lotta (Sleep Last Night)”

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Somebody in the Greenwich Village scene turned me onto Joe Ely, a Texas songwriter, and then the Clash embraced him, too. It was a reminder that punk was about rock and roll, and that roots music (what demographers call Americana today and what back then we probably called, for example, Texas rock) is a big part of that. Ely was also a member of what was, until their unreleased album was released, a legendary Texas band called the Flatlanders, but in 1978 it was his solo energy and a set of excellent songs that propelled his rocket to stardom.

Song of the Week – Young Fathers, Typhoon

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Last week I raved about the new album by Willie Nile, a guy that released his first album 33 years ago in 1980. Today I’d like to turn you onto another new album, but this time by a more contemporary artist – Typhoon.

Typhoon is an 11 piece band out of Portland, OR that is the creative outlet for Kyle Morton and their new album is called White Lighter. The band has previously released another album and an EP.

You can’t really grasp the full impact of the new set without hearing the back story. As I understand it, Morton has suffered very serious illnesses through most of his childhood, including multiple organ failures (he received a kidney transplant) caused by a serious case of Lyme disease that went undiagnosed for a long time.

In interviews and website letters to fans he has often referred to his numerous near-death experiences and how they affected him. These experiences clearly inform many of the songs on White Lighter. But although themes of death run rampant throughout the set, it isn’t without optimism. The large band that includes a string section, a horn section and two drummers is used effectively to convey a positive message in spite of the underlying grief.

My favorite cut is “Young Fathers” – the SotW.

The song begins with a spare acoustic guitar and vocals but soon builds more layers than a wedding cake. They fit together as tightly as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The intricate arrangements hold your interest because you just can’t predict what’s going to happen next. In that way, this orchestrated pop music reminds me of the best recordings by Sufjan Stevens (Illinoise?).

If your musical taste expands beyond two guitar, bass and drums, 4/4 rock & roll; give this a listen. You won’t be disappointed. The band will be playing the Austin City Limits festival in a couple of weeks. If any of you are attending (and I know some of you are) make sure you go to see Typhoon.

Enjoy… until next week.

Not Night Music: Ant Music!

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For no particular reason at all:

Night Music: Lorde, “Royals”

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Another current hit, it sits at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, after setting some kind of a record for being by a girl on the Alternative Rock chart. I heard this a couple weeks ago and fell for the hard edges of her declaiming, and the song’s clever mixing of working class self-definition with the usual dreams of luxury and love. I’ve since learned that Lorde is 16 (will be 17 in November) and from New Zealand. I’m not sure I see this as Alternative Rock, but it certainly isn’t a Dance track, so whatever. I heard it blasting from a car on the street today, echoing between the buildings, and it’s back in my head. So let’s go to sleep to pop.

Night Music: The Damned, “Neat Neat Neat”

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I never became a Damned fan, meaning I never bought an album, but at the point in 1977 when Neat Neat Neat and New Rose came out on 45 every bit of the new music coming from England was like discovering there were new flavors to be savored. Who knew the elements of music could be rearranged in such pleasing yet odd ways?

Night Music: Ellie Goulding, “Burn”

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We hear a lot of my daughter’s music around the house these days, and she plays no song more often than the new one from Ellie Goulding. Goulding is English, kind of a folkie singer-songwriter who got mixed up with dubstep and Skrillex, grew pop ambitions, and whose songs marry a big drum sound with colorful synths and front her wispy soft voice seducing with sneaky melodies. Like in much of the music world these days, credits on the tunes are something of a mashup of original writer, producer, fixer writers, Ellie and her friends. This is the pop music machine, and Burn is her first single to reach number one on the British pop charts, but I like her music. It is defined by her qualities and talents. What got me thinking about it today was the MGMT album, which sounds like it should be pop music, maybe it wants to be pop music, but isn’t at all poppy. Maybe MGMT, who started out as popmeisters, have withdrawn, but it sure feels like these guys should be marrying whatever other ambitions they have with their skill making popular sounds. Making pop noise without pop pleasing form (and, importantly, craft) seems like a waste. Burn is certainly not a waste and has a big pop form, and while that commerciality may be suspect, I really like the way the production’s prettiness turns anthemic, and when the big drums pound toward the end my heart lifts in a good way.