20 Minute Loop: Famous People Marry Famous People
August 18, 2008
Formed by singer-guitarist Greg Giles in 1997, 20 Minute Loop is surely one of the longest running bands in San Francisco indie rock, having outlasted late-nineties peers who have either moved out of the area, broken up, or both. Perhaps the group’s secret is pacing itself; their latest album, Famous People Marry Famous People, released last month, is their first CD in three years, but it reintroduces them as pop songsmiths of the highest caliber, adept at crafting idea-packed tracks that are clever, catchy and wholly engaging. [More...]
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Okay: Huggable Dust
July 28, 2008
It’s often the case that good music is filled with paradoxes. Whether it’s a calmly beautiful folk song that portrays an almost militant political message or a song that’s so sparse instrumentally but somehow expresses a complex subject, these songs achieve something spectacular. Such is the case with Okay‘s new album Huggable Dust (2008, Absolutely Kosher).
The Fremont band, which is essentially one man – Marty Anderson – and friends, has caught the ears of the members of Deerhoof and many passionate and adoring fans throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Huggable Dust, a followup to the double-release of Low Road and High Road in 2005, is characteristic of the sound Okay fans have come to know and love, but with a few extra kicks. [More...]
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Last of the Blacksmiths: Young Family Song
July 1, 2008
In the mid-1990s, a Houston DJ named DJ Screw gained widespread attention for pioneering a unique style of remixing known as “Chopped and Screwed,” in which he would use a turntable to shift an existing rap or R&B song’s pitch significantly downward and drastically slow its tempo. While the pitch adjustment added an unsettling and occasionally menacing effect, the slowed tempos provided an exaggerated abundance of room for the songs to breathe, and sounds or lyrics previously obscured in the mix were unveiled to listeners under the screwed-up microscope. When it worked, it could be moving or downright revelatory.
Young Family Song isn’t a rap album, and it certainly hasn’t been Chopped and Screwed, but San Francisco’s Last of the Blacksmiths filter their folk-rock through a slowed-down approach that similarly maximizes the impact of every detail. The album is the group’s second, following a 2005 self-titled debut which drew numerous favorable reviews comparing them to artists like Son Volt and The Band, from whose Cahoots album the Blacksmiths draw their name. Beyond the nominal connection, LotB share their predecessors’ love for warm multi-part harmonies and an inclination toward genre-melding jams that incorporate elements of Americana, country, blues and R&B for a sound that feels equally recognizable and unique.
Utilizing a diverse arsenal of styles and sounds, the Blacksmiths build and deconstruct some seriously hypnotic grooves. The first song, “Autumn Vacation,” alone has three distinct movements: a lonely piano-backed introduction, which morphs into a slowcore-touched rock ballad, and then into a horn-punctuated swell. Others aren’t quite as structurally ambitious, but their moments work just as well, like the beautiful guitar solo that closes “The Records,” or the evolving interplay between guitar and organ throughout “Beard Tongues.” Things remain pretty stripped-down throughout, but the Blacksmiths have the skill to make each subtle shift matter.
While the music is moody, the alternating feelings of mournful and wistful reflection that pervade are driven by the lyrics, through which the band looks back on once-loved records and once-loved lovers with an eye for fragmentary moments and details. The vocals weave in and out of the music, sometimes lost in the sound, or soaring through some beautiful, fragile harmonies. On “Giving Up,” perhaps the album’s most fully realized distillation of R&B mixed with droning rock, the singer’s caution that he’s not giving up on his lost love floats vulnerably above the thick bass and organ tones that cement the mood.
There are a number of hummable and more immediately accessible moments on this album too, but I think it’s best to give Young Family Song a close listen and just get lost in it, as every spin seems to reveal new details to enjoy. That might be too heavy a burden if you’re just looking for some background music, but there’s a real joy to continuing to unfold new layers from this album, and I don’t expect to have it fully figured out any time soon.
This post was originally written for and republished from KQED Interactive.
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Port O’Brien: All We Could Do Was Sing
May 13, 2008
Port O’Brien, claimed by both the Bay Area and the Central Coast as their own, has been continuously growing in popularity as their music moves beyond the college radio curcuit and across the country. The band’s indie-infused folk tunes are painfully catchy, tugging at heart strings and boot straps alike.
Port O’Brien’s new album All We Could Do Was Sing (released Tuesday, May 13, 2008) is a fantastic collection of songs written while the band was living on a fishing boat in Alaska for the summer. The album is exhilarating and refreshing, yet cold and lonely at times, reflecting the idyllic setting in which it was written.
The opening track “I Woke Up Today” feels like a modern day “We Will Rock You,” only with a much less forceful message — the kind of tune that you and might sing (or yell) along to while cruising the sidewalks or jumping for joy. These anthemic group vocals have popped up many times in recent indie music, and while it’s not hard to see it getting old, Port O’Brien certainly does it best.
It takes a moment to get past some of the clearly out-of-tune (I suppose “dissonant” is a kinder word) vocals in songs like “In Vino Veritas,” but it’s evident that they’re trying to make that a style of sorts — slightly flawed recordings that feel real and not plastic. Listen to it a few times and the tinge of discomfort fades.
A highlight of the album is “Close the Lid,” a tune that builds from a simple, stripped-down melody to a danceable, guitar solo-injected rock tune. Some of the lyrics are heart-wrenchingly cute: “I’m not afraid to die / as long as you’re by my side / we can sleep the whole year through.” But this song is the perfect example of the somewhat ambiguous themes that pervade the album — switching between this familiar bliss and the isolation and conflict of being alone: “…we are on the brink / of a long civil war / between my heart and yours / we will fight by ourselves.”
This ambivalence is repeated many times throughout the album, with a recurring theme of true love conflicted with isolation, cold, and what goes through your mind when your mind is all you’ve got. The effecting melodies and lyrics are supplemented with simple string parts and lots of percussion. On the lighter side of the album is the stunning “Will You Be There,” the kind of achingly sweet song that sticks with you for days.
For the live shows, guitarist/vocalist Van Pierszalowski leads the band with an Elvis-like snarl and an excess of charisma. The band’s chemistry and love of the music comes out in full force.
This post was originally written for and republished from KQED Interactive.
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The Dodos: Visiter
May 6, 2008
For the past several years, guitarist Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber — collectively The Dodos — have been criss-crossing the country, delivering audiences the propulsive folk-rock sound that has made them one of 2008′s most acclaimed bands. Propulsive might actually be an understatement to describe the two, as the group’s dynamic songs often find Long fingerpicking and strumming his acoustic guitar at a feverish pace while Kroeber channels his background in heavy metal into a thundering percussive racket. For an audience member, it feels like there’s always the potential for the whole thing to fly off the rails, but the two have developed such a chemistry that instead the group excels, weaving deftly between tender moments and furious crescendoes.
Released in March on French Kiss Records, the band’s new album, Visiter, captures this chemistry wonderfully, offering a very strong collection of songs that is rightfully earning them international critical praise. Smart production helps capture much of The Dodos’ big live sound. Kroeber’s tom-tom drums sound particularly thick as they guide the songs, while liberal reverb intensify the clang and frenzy of vocals, guitar, and drums alike. Smart use of layered instrumentation, stereo and space make Visiter a record that richly rewards detailed listening with a good pair of headphones.
As Meric Long sings in “Fools,” The Dodos are indeed “wandering” musicians, touching a number of different styles of rock music over Visiter’s hour length. Fans of the group’s first album, Beware of the Maniacs, will welcome the melodic folk-pop found in a number of songs, but they might be surprised by the band’s willingness to delve into more progressive and psychedelic heavy rock terrain as well. Several tracks clock in at over six minutes, showcasing the band’s ability to write multi-movement pieces buoyed by performance skills that keep them moving at a brisk pace. Long’s lyrics, meanwhile, are relatively restrained, offering sketches of personal relationships and introspective self-examination that allow for multiple listener interpretations.
While the album’s sonic breadth keeps it challenging, the CD may suffer a lack of overall cohesion. It’s a feeling that diminishes with repeated listens, although the latter half still retains a little bit of a pinball feel, bouncing between more challenging prog songs and more immediately accessible pop ones. Kroeber and Long succeed most when they find a balance between the two extremes, as terrific songs like “Jodi” prove that they can use psychier elements and sophisticated composition alongside thoroughly hummable melodies. All told, there are a ton of great songs here, and fans of psych rock, folk and pop will find much to like in this excellent release.
This post was originally written for and republished from KQED Interactive.
