04th May2012

Album Reviews: Alvin Pingol – Make Them Walk Like a Robot

by nickwan

Generally, I feel weird reviewing albums from close friends. The whole objective review sort of gets thrown out the window when you try to play softball with a friend’s album. Luckily, Alvin Pingol, most popular on the web for his instrumental covers of remix artist Pogo, doesn’t really need my help garnishing popularity or praise. Nor will he take offense to my snarky comments about his album. Rather, Pingol’s debut instrumental album Make Them Walk Like a Robot seems to stand alone from the “albums from friends” pile.

Check out what made Alvin famous below.

I’m obviously a proponent for instrumental jams. I mean… look at my track record. I’m a pretty easy guy to please. Normally, as I’ve discussed before, the hype music culture via YouTube sensationalism isn’t really effective in forming something more than just a cash cow. Rather, it’s a delivery system that feeds off the same energy the radio does: over produced tracks with shitty live performances. Usually the bottom of the barrel stems from the people who get famous off of a cover and then fail to impress with their original music. A few bands from the early 2000s come to mind: The Ataris and Alien Ant Farm both had huge radio rock hits from updated renditions of popular 80s songs. However, both groups never were able to surge past their cover song stardom with a follow up single that was equally as large or larger. Some acts are able to seemingly pull through, for better or for worse. Limp Bizkit‘s rise to fame was initiated by their TRL smash cover of “Faith”. Of recent memory, Karmin was able to take a step onto a larger stage after their ironic-yet-on-point cover of Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now”. Of late and most notably, Aretha Franklin and “Respect”… well, you get the picture.

The large problem with cover-ers and their “style” is that they usually get pigeonholed by just doing covers. Take Pingol’s YouTube channel for example. With his home movies aside, the music he is promoting are his covers. There isn’t a mix of original tracks and some covers on the side. It’s a tragedy if you end up typecasting yourself. So, making it out of this hole you’ve begun to dug seems to be quite the feat.

Make Them Walk Like a Robot is definitely a way out. Self-described as alt-rock and indie pop, Pingol threads a needle through an eclectic set of styles and sounds using practically every instrument available to him. And that is something I don’t have to guess at, since I know Alvin’s bedroom studio and instrument library is limited to the equipment in his home, a baby grand piano at another friend’s home, and random doo-dahs he has Craigslisted. In all, Pingol’s debut album is seemingly an attempt to separate himself from his YouTube self — the professional artist versus the hobby artist.

Check out the entire album below!

The Pros

Alvin Pingol doesn’t fail to impress in terms of multi-instrumentation. It’s obviously not extremely uncommon to see a single artist play every instrument on the record, and Pingol is no exception. However, the separation of being able to do it and being able to do it with care is fairly large — one that takes a different set of skills, like patience and discipline and knowing what actually works and what actually is shit. This album seems to be well pruned, both on the player’s side and the producer’s side. The voicing instrument throughout the album is guitar, which would be an easy guess if you’re familiar with Pingol’s cover work. The accompanying instruments aren’t just a slathering of electronic pish-posh, which one may have guessed as his affinity for Pogo is something of note. Rather, it’s a mixed beast between a full-band set of instruments and some synth and pad drum accompaniment.

I would argue the album truly starts with track two, “Alan and the Blue Whale”, as it showcases the meat and potatoes of the album pretty clearly. Pingol’s guitar work isn’t based around being a total shredder, riffing up and down the fretboard. He’s a bit more precise as a guitarist. The pop styling doesn’t give rise to any slasher solos, so the emphasis on interesting melodic riffs plays a premium in keeping the listeners attention. For the most part, where the guitar lacks the piano helps out. Pingol’s jazz-fusion piano style plays into the whole package, as he is really trying to go for more of a bouncy and fun album rather than a think-and-dwell instrumental adventure.

The underlying tone of the album rests in this partially electronic pop and partially pop guitar rock vibe. What layers over are tons of different genres and styles. Pingol is relatively fearless in trying to incorporate a myriad of genres with his backbone guitar pop, ranging from instrumental hip hop, to folk, to flares of glitch pop and ambient pop. He cleans up most of his signal through some heavy post-production, incorporating those glitchy pans that Pogo is known for. In essence, “Careless Air Removal Specialists” is more of a dedication to the man who Pingol has become popularized by. whereas tracks like “Fizzy Root James” and the title-track “Make Them Walk Like a Robot” is more of Pingol’s strength.

The Cons

The creativity falls upon the artist, of course. And a single artist in his room alone with his thoughts may not be the strongest drummer or bassist, especially when you’ve played guitar and piano for the majority of your boredom. With that, the cons really do fall upon the rhythm sections of the album. At times, it’s real cheesy. GarageBand like. Pingol does try to freshen up the sound by incorporating both TR-808 clones mixed with his own set of acoustic drums but the steady 4/4 rhythm and all-too-easy predictability of the jam makes the drum and bass really fall into the background in a bad way. It’s no coincidence that the front instruments of piano and guitars are normally the most complex, but leaving the complexity out of the rhythm section turns this album from being something extremely interesting to just a solid listen-through. This isn’t to say Pingol lacks in drum or bass skills, as a handful of the tracks do show off his subtle cymbal pattern intricacies as well as creamy bass lines (“Alan and the Blue Whale”; “Catpaw Smooth Vegetable”), but it is to say that the idea on paper might not have been the best idea in application.

The pacing of the album is also a little off. The album really jumps around in terms of track listing. The track listing may have been a far after thought, as Pingol probably didn’t have many (or any) b-sides for this album. For instance, “Paradise Gardens Marinade” is so awkward sandwiched between “Larsen’s Biscuits” and “Alan and the Blue Whale”. That track on it’s own doesn’t really hold as much water as the other two that sandwich it either, which may have been reason to turn it into b-side if Pingol had either 1) the wherewithal to 86 a track from his self-made debut album or 2) a third-party producer. Many instrumental albums that I normally give a thumbs up to usually pay very close attention to track listing and/or pacing, as it can turn your album from a work of art to playlist fodder. Unfortunately for Pingol, shuffling the tracks on the album or throughout a playlist doesn’t change the overall meaning of the songs in a set. Although, if Pingol was wanting such an eclectic set of songs in the first place, he might not mind being playlist shuffle fodder.

Then again, the idea that your album is just a bunch of good, solid songs you wrote in your bedroom doesn’t necessarily make the album a good album. In my listen through, it took me a really long time to decide whether these songs would be mediocre in comparison to the other instrumental songs I have on my playlist. In short, yeah they would be. I wouldn’t mind listening to this, but compared to something like Toe or Sharks Keep Moving I feel that Pingol may just be literally the opener songs before the big boys come on. This isn’t to say it’s a bad deal for Make Them Walk Like a Robot, because in a general sense… it’s good enough to be thrown on a playlist with those bands and a strange assortment of instrumental and ambient music (Vince Guaraldi Trio, Anamanaguchi, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros to name a few), and that’s quite the accomplishment in my opinion. On the other hand, the division between a good listen and a home run hitter is a fairly large one for this album. One can only hope the next time Pingol finds the time to track out another handful of songs, he’ll really push the limits for all angles.

The Verdict

As a friend, this album was awesome. As a reviewer, you could have done a lot more. You know this though.

Does this put Alvin out of his YouTube cover shadow? No. If he has collected any fans (most likely he has) through his channel, this album will be a nice listen. But the divide between this album and his covers are also pretty large. This album showcases Pingol as a extremely strong musician whereas his covers showcase what some guy could do if he had some free time and played guitar well. That’s not to take anything away from his covers, as they took probably hours and days to put together (video and all), but let’s be honest… I’m sure many of you readers can think of a friend who is a very talented musician that could do what Pingol did in his covers. What Pingol did on his debut album is something the friend you’re thinking of most likely wouldn’t have done, which is what really puts Pingol in a new light.

In general, the album’s lack of creative rhythm sections at least rising to a complexity that the piano and guitar have to offer really pumps the breaks on the album. The guitar work and piano work is fantastic, and I would love to see Alvin Pingol pair up with an equally gifted pianist/guitarist to take this act on the road, but an addition of a bassist and drummer wouldn’t be necessary. Something to relate this to would be one of my all time favorites, Owen. The Owen studio albums are truly complete works of art, where Mike Kinsella showcases his guitar work and vocals first with a rich backing of accompanying instruments, many similar to the ones Pingol uses on his album. However, those tracks live are just played with Kinsella on the guitar and singing. All the songs take on a completely different vibe and feel live. For Pingol, I don’t believe I would get that same feeling, albeit being very impressed with his guitar playing and piano playing live. I would hope that the next outing expands as much as he expanded on his guitar and piano work for all the other areas he may have missed out on.

 

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17th Mar2012

Album Reviews: The Shins – Port of Morrow

by Blake

I saw The Shins open for a Beck concert when I was younger. At the time I was impressionable and thought they were an indie band and the word “indie” was a pretty broad term (and it still is). As soon as James Mercer was on stage, my mind changed immediately. The guy barely moves and the energy is overwhelming. I love their music and still listen to them. That is why, while they are a bigger band now, I have taken it upon myself to review their new album for 402 – out of loyalty. Also, he totally looks like Kevin Spacey and Google Images just told me that my thought wasn’t an original one:

A Taste

The Pros & Cons Together!

If you haven’t heard, Mercer basically fired the entire band after deciding to release the new album on his own record label. This was unfortunate because the band didn’t need to be changed and they were all really fluid. If you’ve ever seen them live, you know how their bassist only dances with his head and those quirks that made their sets so chilled out. Yet, after Broken Bells, he decided to bring on the drummer from Modest Mouse (Joe Plummer), a guitarist from Beck, and some others. Regardless of this major change to guide the band in a different direction, this album is still The Shins we all remember with little change, which is why I’m a little bitter about him pulling a prima donna a la Billy Corgan.

“The Rifle’s Spiral” opens the album with a new upgraded hi-fi sound that is reminiscent of Mercer’s work with Danger Mouse and worried me for a moment. Yeah, it sounds great, but I want The Shins, not Broken Bells. I have no regrets in admitting that the Bells’ album was a disaster and I hated it. THEN! 3:30 later, music slowly fades in with a similar melody that I’m used to. The Shins are starting to reemerge. But, wait, this is weird – I feel like I’ve heard this song before…

This next bit cannot be “unheard”. If you want to enjoy the single “Simple Song” again without having this looping in your head, don’t click this link. I put this together myself because I spent the entire day driving myself bonkers trying to trick myself otherwise. I’m sorry, but it is a melodic doppelgänger to “Gone For Good”.

The Comparison

Now that I have that out of my system…

“It’s Only Life” is a pretty classic acoustic track I can mosey to. “Bait and Switch” starts with spacey (you see what I did there?) synth and leads into…classic Shins, again. Seriously! The song see-saws through classic riffs and synth with not a whole lot of difference between the stylistic portions of Wincing The Night Away. Truthfully, this album is exactly like their others and doesn’t have any “wow” moments. More than anything I wonder why he had to sacrifice his entire band for the exact same sound. According to the drummer, he was essentially “fired” from the band in the most sugar-coated way possible.

This is 40 minutes of a band we all know, with Mercer adding in synth to a few tracks and drowning his vocals in the ocean on a few others – nothing Wincing the Night Away didn’t have.

Verdict

This album was like a lukewarm soda: it has carbonation, it has sugar, but it isn’t quenching. You’ll end up buying this album if you’re a Shins fan, but probably won’t feel swayed by any particular song. The Shins always got me with the 60’s falsetto hooks, but now they don’t feel as powerful. Maybe it is the production, maybe it is too much of the same, or maybe I just wanted to hear The Shins actually produce new material. All I got were a bunch of forgettable tracks that were good for one play through, but lost their appeal upon deletion. Maybe you’ll experience something different.

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27th Feb2012

Album Reviews: Cursive – I Am Gemini

by nickwan

Something I normally discuss in my reviews — teeth. Having an album that really sinks it’s teeth into your being usually is indicative of a good album for me. There is something to be said of that sort of fresh-wound feeling I get when something really lays into me. Cursive did this a handful of times to me. Domestica and Burst and Bloom were introduced to me at the same time, right around when Burst and Bloom came out. The Ugly Organ followed shortly after. All three dominated me for the following months after being introduced. The Good Life came out with Album of the Year, which also engulfed my life. On a weird note, I ended up buying the limited edition acoustic version and had no idea that the album was a full band effort. That went on for… four or so years. In my opinion, these four releases were hallmark for albums with teeth.

As a handful of Cursive fans will relate, the albums mentioned above (and, for some, the inclusion of Happy Hollow) seem to be where Cursive will stand in people’s minds, whereas their previous album Mama, I’m Swollen may have fallen short of expectations. This latest album, I Am Gemini, is yet another concept album — seemingly a stream of thought, as Kasher speaks of how he wrote this album track-by-track, from the beginning to the end of the album. The album itself details two twin brothers, one of good and one of evil. They are separated at birth but end up finding each other back in a home together. The album’s release comes with a manuscript of a play (which I thought were just lyrics, but it seems it’s a bit more than that). We’ll discuss that and more after the jump.

Listen to “The Cat and Mouse” below!

 The Pros

I think a huge pro for this album was the fact that Cursive came out with a new album. Although 3 years isn’t necessarily a long wait in terms of albums being released, especially if you’re Tim Kasher and splitting your time between two successful projects, it’s a time where hiatus and extremely long waits for albums or tours exist. Take it from former Cursive member and current leader of Criteria, Steven Petersen — last tour they went out on was well over four years ago and their last album was in 2005, and yet… they are still considered a current and active band on the Saddle Creek roster.

Some true good qualities of this album lay in the particular instances within songs, where some of these parts are some of the most aggressive Cursive jams I’ve heard. There is definitely something to be said about a track like “Drunken Birds,” which doesn’t exactly fall into the cookie cutter Cursive ideology I’ve come to love but brings to the table something almost evil. Not exactly teeth, but something else… like a very exotic piece of flare.

The songs themselves seem to have a more progressive nature attached to all of them, with many songs swimming through traditional verses or choruses. This is no doubt the work of Kasher’s latest writing style, and at times it really gets interesting. The focus ends up falling on the lyrics for me, as the instrumentation around the vocals becomes too chaotic to follow unless you’re completely blocking out Kasher’s story.

The album ends up feeling sort of disjointed at times, and that works to a sort-of advantage. There is no lack of creativity in Cursive, and this album is a great argument as many of the best qualities of this album come in very tiny bites, and sometimes only once throughout a song (much less, a single time throughout the entire album). This sort of style of writing assumes you’ll be overwhelmed with awesome music from different arrangements that you just won’t know what the hell to think until it’s too late.

The Cons

The ADD nature of the album’s song structuring is definitely hit-or-miss. At times, the short bits and song-within-song style works and feels fun and exciting and I feel like the lyrics pop out of my speakers due to this. However, nothing settles in. Nothing digs down and buries itself into my mind. I find it unfair to compare past albums of the same band to their latest, but it turns out that Cursive stands alone in the weird piece-wise concept album category… so, comparing this to other Cursive albums, I find it lacks the proverbial teeth I’ve mentioned. It’s as if there are genius songs within this album that haven’t been pieced together correctly — as if the album has this sort of Lego-like ability to reform itself into something potentially better than what it is with all the same parts. Some parts are just too short and should have elaborated upon, like the end of “Twin Dragon/Hello Skeleton”, and some parts feel too familiar, like the end of “Wowowow”. I think the only take-away song from this album is “Drunken Birds”, as it’s the only song that made me feel complete after listening to it.

However, maybe my cons are something of a musical troll on Cursive’s part. Maybe the awkward, uncomfortable feeling that resonates throughout the album is a ploy to further put you into this house with Cassius and Pollock. The idea behind the album seems to focus around the uneasy tension between these brothers, so what better way to exhibit that than actually making you feel uncomfortable when listening to the album? If this was intentional, then Cursive and Tim Kasher may be headed into a new era of Cursive and the concept album. If this wasn’t intentional, then I basically just said this album was a complete mess.

The Verdict

After seeing them perform a heavy chunk of this album live last week, it’s easy for me to say that many of these songs live were simply more interesting than what is presented on I Am Gemini. The aggressive and pulsing nature contrasted between these very mellow and overly-simple lulls for lyrical accent felt really great live. Coming back that night and trying to re-experience this album in that light just did not fall right. At times, it was a stretch for me to even think the same song on the album was the same song live. There was something that just ate me whole with some of these tracks live that didn’t happen when I had the headphones on. It’s not a knock on the production, as Matt Bayles performed some wonders making this album sound huge albeit only five people. It’s not a knock on the songs themselves, as they sounded a million times better live. Maybe it’s just the new style? I can’t pin point what I don’t like about the album, but there is something that is missing. All the pieces very well may be there, but the organization might be lacking… or… hrmm. I’m not sure. This was a hard one to figure out.

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02nd Dec2011

Album Reviews: Seatraffic – S/T

by nickwan

Seatraffic impressed me a few weeks ago at SFStation + BAMM.tv‘s SFLineup show. Their single for “Speed Limits” was the first (and only) song I heard from these guys, and needless to say… I was won over. It’s something about that slowcore shoegaze sound that gets me, especially if it’s done right. It was also a huge plus that Seatraffic is a local band for me. And now with this new EP out, I’m hoping to see more from them around town.

Check out all of their self-titled EP below!


The Pros

Seatraffic is a great example of capitalizing on what you can do without excuses. It’s a two-man band. They sound like some 4-piece bands I’ve heard. Their sound resonates those slower tracks from Action Action, The Radio Dept, or even the really good version of How to Dress Well (minus the hip hop, however). I think the most apt description of these guys would be what David Bazan‘s former project Headphones would have became if he continued producing Headphones. Headphones was a two-piece band as well, but much more lo-fi in production than Seatraffic. Seatraffic maximizes their sound, mostly in part to some great synth layering and heavily filtered vocals.

It’s clear that Seatraffic doesn’t suffer from an identity crisis. They don’t waiver between two types of genres, or even two styles within their synthy dreamy mix. In general, they are what I like to call “streamlined”. That is, they know exactly what they are doing. You know what you’re going to get from track one. It’s how they thread together tracks 1 through 5 that make it really interesting. In this case, fairly interesting. They have this very big sound that cuts through all of their tracks, as if they were filling out some sort of arena. I’m not too sure if this is by design or by happenstance, but it’s something that gives them an edge on most other acts that are similar. Using Headphones as an example, that was more of a singer-songwriter take on synth-based indie music with a clear focus on a more intimate or living room type feel to all the tracks. In Seatraffic, they are almost opposite in feeling, with a huge live drum feeling and a decent amount of reverb on all the other instruments. This doesn’t take away from that more unspoken affective component — that deep, heart-wrenching feeling emoted through song.

Maybe something that is most important here is the slow resurgence of dream-pop, shoegaze, and slowcore back into the Bay Area. There is a clear lack of a scene for that type of music here, and Seatraffic is a very prototypical shoegaze type band that can begin rooting themselves in a relatively unclaimed area. I have a sense that Seatraffic and this genre may be on the up-and-up, much akin to how that whole indie surf rock thing was popular earlier this year and all of last year.

The Cons

A less direct con of this album is that it is clearly overshadowed by the dream-pop album from M83, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, that was released this year as well. It’s obvious that M83′s album is one of the best dream pop albums many have heard, and in terms of synth-centric music they easily lead the pack this year. In terms of Seatraffic, I see these San Francisco guys more like the Mineral to M83′s Jimmy Eat World. Yeah… weird 90s reference right there.

A more direct con is that this suffers from what some other bands, particularly post-rock acts, suffer from: there is a well-built musical wall that is attacking, but the texture seems relatively the same. From start to finish, there isn’t a real hint of variation. This is a case of walking a very fine line between being streamlined and good and streamlined and flat. Streamlining your band is something that is essential in the beginning, as it beckons identity and flavor from the first meeting, but can pigeonhole you into a specific “type” of band. Based on this album, would I fall in love with Seatraffic? Probably not. But I did have the privilege to see them live before I heard an album proper from them… and that was definitely what sets them apart from other synth groups. They take their sound to the stage; this album does them no justice at all.

The Verdict

It’s sad because I know this band is great. I just didn’t feel it coming through this album. They couldn’t capture the essence I wanted them to capture. It was sort of like reading a book and then seeing the movie and realizing the book was way better. I had that exact same experience with the book-gone-movie Sideways years ago. Literally, I thought the movie was horrible. However, it was one of the best films of that year from what I recall. The thing that irked me was the portrayal of the two main characters in the book was seemingly more like two bad asses, rather than in the movie where they are just two assholes. The worst was that the screenplay was written by the same author, which initially got me pumped up for the movie but then completely let down when it was trash.

Seatraffic’s album isn’t that extreme in harshness, but it bears recommendation to see them live before judging them based on these five songs. That’s not to say this EP is bad (it is no where near bad) but it’s just not flooring. I look forward to the LP when it comes out, but until them I’m holding my breath.

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25th Oct2011

Album Reviews: Stephen Gordon – So Young Now

by nickwan

Sometimes I completely forget that radio friendly music exists. That’s not to say I don’t listen to the radio (I think I might be one of the last out of my friends to listen to the radio) but the world of radio music and the music I usually write about never seems to mingle. That’s usually because a good chunk of music written for radio is written by someone that isn’t the artist playing it. In reality, artists are much more creative and daring — unlike much of the music over the radio. However, there are a select few who still hold on to that flavor in their own spare time…

Enter Stephen Gordon, a Bowling Green, KY self-described singer/songwriter and folk artist. He draws very strongly upon what most would consider radio-friendly folk/country music. It’s definitely no pop-country, but it’s not too far off.

Listen to the entire thing below!


The Pros

I mean, let’s be honest… this guy is sitting and waiting for someone to pick him up. This music is just what most radio folk and radio country stations are looking for. I have such little experience with mainstream folk and country that I can’t even name an artist that Gordon sounds like. However, he definitely resonates something familiar. I can’t really pin point it. But at times, it is refreshing that this is still under that “indie” umbrella.

It wouldn’t be a complete surprise if you found Gordon opening for a bigger act, like Ryan Adams. However, I wouldn’t lump him anywhere near the indie folk stylings of Kevin Devine. That’s just too far from what Gordon really is.

Breaking down the innards of this album, Stephen Gordon is a great singer. The vocals will really be the driving point for this guy if he can break through to the next level. Instrumentally, it’s solid. It’s not unpleasant. However, it’s a bit… “stock”. Production wise, this is one of the best quality indie albums I’ve received. It’s super polished. No harsh clipping or any of that lo-fi crap that comes through my inbox some times. There’s a lot of pride in this album, and you can definitely hear it and feel it.

The Cons

I might be just misinformed, but this isn’t necessarily what indie music is heading towards when we think about indie folk. Indie folk itself is going further back into even more bluegrass and roots styles. I mean, if you take Mumford & Sons, the most mainstream “indie” folk out there, they have twisted it into this rockish banjo-twanging roots kind of sound. I don’t know what to even think of that style, but I do believe that Mumford & Sons is the coming of a saturated genre. With that being said, Gordon isn’t even near that and his sound is sort of tainted by so many other country acts. With the right mindset, this guy could turn it into some sort of Bon Iver act. I mean, you can hear that vibe from the song “Chemical”, arguably his best song off the album. However, that one song is surrounded by this extremely static sound of radio friendly country.

And to pick on Gordon himself a little, this album really does feel stock. I have no inclination to listen to this again. As a musician, Gordon is fantastic. As an artist, I have no feelings for him. Every song is consistent with his own tone and style, but that’s just not me. I really wanted to believe in this, but from the beginning to end “Chemical” was the only song I would even consider to put on a playlist… and even then, that’s a far stretch. It isn’t smashing down any doors. It isn’t twisting my arm. It’s just there. In a really sad sense, it’s a rain drop in an ocean. The world of country has a million Gordons. I hope this Gordon doesn’t get lost in a very large crowd.

The Verdict

It’s not really a bad album, all things considered. I personally wouldn’t listen to it again, but that doesn’t make it unlistenable. It’s still a decent album for the avid and hardcore country lover. I would recommend it to those fans. It’s also the first that has crossed my inbox that has been so… pop sounding. It’s not pop. It’s no where near the soccer mom country out on the radio now, which is a great thing. However, it is near what all those other hopeful-mainstream-country artists perceive themselves to be… and that is not good. I hope Gordon can reach into his bag of tricks and find something more unique to include, because the uniqueness is definitely the faltering factor in this equation.

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20th Oct2011

Album Reviews: Warren Teagarden and The Good Grief – S/T

by nickwan

Something I’ve been lacking has been the home towners. The Bay Area is vastly underrepresented on this website, which is completely bogus seeing how 1) the headquarters is here in SF, 2) the majority of us grew up in the Bay Area music scene and 3) we all still live here. Aside from Finley (Seattle), Ryan Gabos and Nate (Pittsburgh, PA), the San Francisco’s rep on this site goes as far as the venues we do live interviews at and not much more. So, when Warren Teagarden dropped this one in my inbox I was elated.

Warren Teagarden and The Good Grief (WTaTGG) is a self-described punk act wrapped in indie rock inside of a singer/songwriter. The music itself ranges from the strange and absurd to the reflective and intricate. There is a vast array of sounds coming from this self-titled album that a brief synopsis can’t really do Warren and the guys justice so we’ll jump into it after the samples.

 Listen to “Urethane Mile” below!

The Pros

This album resonates many different flavors and profiles from previous bands and artists. Initially there is that B-52‘s “Rock Lobster” kind of vibe, which sort of plays into the whole indie surf revival that’s been happening over the past two years. There are slight remnants of At The Drive-In a la Acrobatic Tenament sprinkled throughout, especially on the track “Quite the Tiger!” (my personal favorite). The band obviously doesn’t front punk like post-hardcore punk but rather a Talking Heads or The Clash mid 80s type punk. There is some rude boy attitude laced throughout, including a skank instrumental “Country Livin’”. Not to take away from the DIY attitude of this album, the last four or so tracks tone the punk down and turn up the slowcore vibe, at times reminiscent of early Pedro the Lion.

Something WTaTGG does well is the minimal style and filling out each song. Lately, many bands have sent me what would normally be considered minimal or lo-fi, but that usually wasn’t by design… rather because of amateur production quality. There is no debate that the production quality of this album is lacking, but the raw playing power of this band does a lot to carry their sound through from beginning to end. Usually, a track won’t exceed a single tracking of vocals with single tracks for all the instruments. No overlays or doubling of anything here. This could be due to cash-out-of-pocket expenses were too much for everything they wanted to do in the studio… or because they were all jacked up in their garage or living room when they were recording this on Audacity or something and wanted to press the album ASAP. Whatever the reasoning, the quality of the record seems like the Best Coast EP and 7″s prior Crazy For You.

Something that also works to their advantage is that 90% of it is care-free and supposed to be silly and fun. The majority of the lyrics are about relatively mundane topics (i.e. “Typewriter” being about trying to find a typewriter) that seem to try to expose the instrumentation as more of a vehicle of the dance pit than to be reflected on deeply. That cognition allows for some cushion when noticing the somewhat absent production quality and lack of multitracking. Much more to WTaTGG, the quality might be because they are recording analog… but that’s just a guess and a hopeful assumption. If so, more to you guys.

The Cons

I would rather not admit punk is dead, but I wouldn’t be outside of the box when I say this kind of punk is dead. Each song offers something to chew on but there are only a handful that hold me the entire length. Many songs seem to have parts that are either unnecessary or too repetitive. But… I would be lying if I didn’t think a lot of this type of punk holds unnecessary or repetitive ideologies. During lulls on the album, I find myself itching to hit the next button. And when I find myself hovering over it, some intense burst of amazing comes through that holds me long enough to stay on the once-unwanted track.

The lead guitar riffs that lay over many of the tracks at first were really cute (“Urethan Mile”, the video above, is a good example), however on second and third listen they became fairly boring or unnecessary. The lead guitar is relatively simple in melody, and not in an interesting way. Rather, it’s sort of like excessive frosting on something already too sweet. The music itself already is this simple, no need to add something just as simple for people to overlook. Either more interesting riffs, maybe effect pedals, or a completely different instrument altogether might freshen that lead up. Your “sound” is one thing but it shouldn’t impede the quality you want to attain.

With all of these cons, it really boils down to better production. A third party away from this band could have tightened up many of these songs. Granted, the album duration may be cut in half due to the amount of lulls throughout, but 15 minutes of great music would be much more to chew on than 30 minutes of mediocre or bland music (just ask matt pond PA). I would assume that if WTaTGG get into the studio for an LP again, they’ll bring along a friend from a different band to try to tighten some odds and ends up. In my opinion, a handful of these songs fit a completely different theme (“Quite the Tiger!”, “Run Away”, “Best Thing”, “On the Walk to Crissy Field”) and would work either as a completely different project or a very different EP of some sort.

On a more subjective note, “Flesh, Blood, and Bone” was just completely confusing. I like the idea, sort of like an inspired version of “I’m So Tired” by Fugazi. The problem here is that “I’m So Tired” wasn’t awkwardly strange as a part of Instrument Soundtrack since this album was a descent from the Fugazi stylings heard on other more popular albums such as 13 Songs. “Flesh, Blood, and Bone” seems to come out of the left field of a completely different stadium. It is a definite descent from what the brash, raw, punkish underpinnings offer — but even more so, it is a definite descent from even the slower “singer/songwriter” labeled songs. Because of this, I feel like the direction of this band is much confused. If this is really a band, and not the musical scribbling of Warren Teagarden himself, I believe they would be most influenced by not just the power of a studio producer but the power of concept. The creativity is wonderful, but streamlining it towards an ultimate goal might be much more interesting than splattering this talent willy-nilly.

The Verdict

I went to try to find “I’m So Tired” and ended up coming back to 13 Chambers by Wugazi. This mash up actually provides a fairly important commentary to the likes of Warren Teagarden and The Good Grief. When I first started to blast Wugazi, I was sort of sad that only a handful of Fugazi hits were represented on this mash up, whereas a good amount of Wu-Tang Clan‘s hits were all over the album. On my reflection of this, there was almost an infinite possibilities to attack a Fu + Wu mash up. You could have been Wu heavy or Fu heavy. Then, you could have been representing the popular tracks from either band. Then, you would have to find the creative way to mash selected songs together without tampering with the tracks so much that they become indistinguishable. And then all of these other possibilities became apparent when thinking about how I would do it. What ended up happening is that Wugazi did it right when prioritizing The Wu as the lyrical bed and Fugazi as the instrumental bed. Select only a handful of very strong and seemingly classic beds from Fugazi and properly assess the vocal melodies from Wu-Tang Clan to match those beds. Other combinations could work, but not as well.

With that analogy, Warren Teagarden and The Good Grief’s self-titled release is one of the many possibilities this band could exist as. In some iteration, they exist as the best this combination of minds and creativity will allow… but this time is not this album. Unless their fan base is already galvanized as a crazy party anytime they play, I wouldn’t expect these guys to be selling out Bottom of the Hill anytime soon. If they do want to sell out The Hill soon, they might have to rethink what the band is truly all about. Either way, there is a lot of potential to be had but also a lot of work to be done. Hope to see the next iteration of these guys soon.

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12th Oct2011

Album Reviews: Hey OK Fantastic – S/T

by nickwan

That band you saw in some bar? Yeah, they put out albums. Some bar bands are definitely better than others. I remember once I saw this guy Alexis Harte and his band play at Aroma Roaster’s in Santa Rosa, California once (coffee shops count too, right?) and he blew me away. Ended up buying his then-recent album Sunlight Loping, which is a somewhat consistent playlist mainstay. Other bands I’ve ran into are just… it’s something wrong. Like, sometimes I wonder if this is a joke and they aren’t getting an actual cut from the bar. There was a band from my home town that I recall that was just horri-bad. They would play this bar I went to all the time… at the time, it was the only place in town with cask ale, so I was sort of limited on options of available cask releases. This house band would just destroy any passerby’s ideas of walking through the door. Just horrid music.

Hey OK Fantastic has that bar-band vibe. Maybe it’s the mastering and production? They seem to be very active in the live local circuit of Knoxville, Tennessee, citing a hundred or so gigs they’ve locally played. That murky, dark feeling you get from entering a bar and hearing a band fill out the room is definitely how this album starts out for me.

Listen to most of the album below!


The Pros

The album has this sort of western/folk feel mixed in with a rock twang. They are really consistent with that sound, actually. One thing that sort of reminds me of a bar band is the whole tone of the band. It’s really straight-forward: acoustic guitar with a backing band, the distorted guitar lead every so often, an “in-the-background” vocal arrangement. After the layers start peeling back, you can really tell this is a crew of battle-tested pros. They’ve been together for three years but they sound like they’ve all been playing music together in various forms for the past decade or so. It’s a sort of chemistry that isn’t necessarily picked out of the album as an instrument or a track or a certain part of a song but rather the entire culmination of all the songs together. The real bottom line at this point: this album is just fun.

Many of the songs are nonsensical or silly, based around unreal or unusual stories.  They range from childish (“Tale of the Turning Tide”) to weird (“Lookin’ for a Lizard”). Sprinkled throughout are some songs that are lyrically vague but err on the side of serious (“Something New”, “Headin’ South”). In a weird way, the seriousness does flavor the band as something that is a little more complete than just some rip-off of Tenacious D, which you might easily mistake them for. Rather, Hey OK Fantastic is more of a mix between The D and Umphrey’s McGee.

The Cons

The bar schema isn’t necessarily the thing most bands want to hear they sound like when they get a review written for them. The major driving force there is the production value of the album. The vocals literally sound like they are coming out of a karaoke play-and-sing speaker that is positioned behind all the other amps with all the reverb settings at max. It’s as if someone was screaming lyrics about some dream they had to me from an auditorium, and I’m located in the parking lot. And it’s not like Alex Minard, the vocals and guitar for the group, is a bad singer… he is actually a great singer. Which is why this strikes me so hard… why would you master your album like this? The scene I get throughout the album is me walking into a bar with that band in the corner of the room, crappy PA and a low ceiling, with the vocals muddy from poor leveling, and barely anyone paying attention. The murky mix of the vocals bleeding into the guitar and bass gives that cool effect of the vocals as an instrument, but if the album’s crux is the lyrical content then this does a pretty horrible job at spotlighting the most important part of the album.

Another con would be the context of this band in general. Is it that fun, happy-go-lucky joke-song band or is it something else? Am I missing the point? I don’t feel alone if I am. It doesn’t seem like a concept-y album. It doesn’t seem like their gimmick is one-dimensional either. But to their chagrin, it’s sort of like wearing too many hats. One song is some heart-felt road tripping song… one song is about how you’re pissed off at some lizard… you got that Office Space look for your promo image, but you also have this zoot-suit set up as well in this video. If you could pull it all off really well, I don’t think I would have a problem with it. But as of right now, it’s mediocre. If these guys streamlined an album around a big concept, I bet it’d be amazing.

The Verdict

There’s a lot left on the plate after listening to Hey OK Fantastic’s self-titled album. They do a great job in showing their range but they don’t do a great job in showing what they are great at. If the muddy sound is what they are going for, then they definitely nailed it… but I have a feeling that they want a bigger sound than that. The potential for greatness is a few notches higher than the potential for disaster, as all of the members of this band sound like well-oiled machines. I would only hope that they piece themselves together like a well-built machine.

 

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26th Aug2011

Album Reviews: Nehedar – Power Plant Beach

by nickwan

I mean… you could just guess this was going to be another one of those indie beach jams. I mean, “beach” is in the title. And the first track had that Chevy Bel-Air flavor to it, which didn’t hinder the stereotype. But something strange happened on this album half way through the first track. Some subtle things start to bloom if you listen closely. And not too long after the first track “They Lied” there is a great variety of tracks that are amusingly and entertainingly unique. Quirky would be the most appropriate word, but even that doesn’t describe it in full.

Listen to the entire thing below

The Pros

Things that really turn me on to an album like this: 1) underproduction. That might seem sort of weird, but there is nothing more charming than hearing raw vocals. This entire album consists of little-to-no filters over the vocals of Emilia Cataldo, aka Nehedar. I think the most you’ll hear as far as vocal filtering is concerned is some reverb. And even then, that might just be the nature of the room they were recording in. I could rant on and on about how so many other acts have all sorts of vocorder/Auto-Tune/etc all throughout their albums… I mean, Jay-Z let Kanye use Auto-Tune on Watch the Throne. Didn’t Jay-Z put out “D.O.A.” aka “Death of Autotune”??? Anyway, the point here is that Cataldo as a singer is a breath of fresh air.

2) It’s not beach shit. Two years ago, before all of this indie surf stuff exploded, I guessed with Real Estate that indie surf would be the next thing. It was, but to an nth degree I never could have imagined. Now, indie surf seems a dime a dozen. Even treading on the edge of beach anything or surf anything these days makes me think of the hundreds of indie surf acts out there right now. Saturation kills. So when I get something like Power Plant Beach, you could bet that I’ll be turned off by this if it sucks by any means. However, track two really opened the entire album up to me. “Make the Sun Come Up” has this sort of Pinkerton Weezer meets Math the Band — very not beach or surf anything. Throw in some slower jams and a handful of pop-punk sounding tracks and you have something that is more lined with sand rather than covered in it.

3) Blunt. Sometimes, things like this should come in the form it was meant to be — a hammer. Sometimes people try to doll their tracks up, like some Michelin-star chef dolling up a cheese plate. When it comes down to it… it’s just cheese. Call a spade a spade. When you have a production like Nehedar’s, maybe the smart thing to do is to just play your heart out. No need for weird effects. No need for super-deep lyrics. No need to reinvent the haiku. Stick to the plan. Brash, punk attitude. Maybe that’s all you need. Do it well and you get something like Nehedar. Songs like “They Lied” and “My Roommate is an Assclown” sum it up fairly simply. And sometimes, simple really is better. Even if that means a punch to the face.

Some smaller tid-bits about Nehedar: She’s put out an album each year. That’s outstanding. She’s gigged around the NYC area for the most part. That’s great too. Something that is really interesting is the fact that Nehedar really is just Cataldo and her thoughts. Throughout her entire discography, there is really only one or two studio musicians used, and only one or two songs that are co-written by Cataldo and someone else. For the other 40 or so songs she’s put down in a studio, it’s just her.

The Cons

She’s been in the studio with this guy Craig Levy for all four albums she’s done. If he’s the one mastering these tracks, maybe he should spend a bit more time leveling them out more. The vocals are way louder than all the other tracks on the album. It’s like it’s obscure karaoke at times. I get the idea of promoting the singer-songwriter, but this is really just promoting the singer and lazy production.

Another thing that irked me was some of the lyrics. Some seemed a bit cheap. For instance, “My Roommate is an Assclown” has rhymes that are fairly childish and bland. “Why you always hanging round my door/I don’t want you there no more” isn’t exactly a lyrical opus. There is more of this kind of scheme throughout the album. To Nehedar’s strength, she spruces all of her lyrics up with really interesting vocal melodies. So if you aren’t a lyric analyzer, then you could probably see past this con fairly quickly.

The Verdict

Nehedar is a real fun project. Nit-picking aside, this is really just music you can jump around to. Nit-picking included, I think there needs to be a few more collaborators to really fill out the big picture. And there really is a big picture for Nehedar. Throw in a backing band and maybe we could see a huge improvement in all fields. Not saying that what exists right now is bad (it’s far from that) but there is always room for improvement. Maybe the quantity of releases should come back so the quality of releases can increase? EPs instead of LPs? Whatever the solution is, Nehedar is heading in the right direction. She just needs the right walking shoes to get there.

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23rd Aug2011

Album Reviews: The Wine Thieves – Hot Hor D’oeuvres

by Blake

The hip-hop underground scene has melded into slam poetry put over a ghetto beat. Folks like Sage Francis and Aesop Rock have made their way into a more “visible” underground by doing it really well. The Wine Thieves both have the voices to pull off a decent record, their flow is decent, but the lyrical delivery isn’t there.

Tuneage

Pros

Tunes like The Official Countdown have a trippy scatter of samplings that defies the rest of the albums more linear approach to writing. It has that old school feel to it and I could really get into the flow. The funny thing is, it is probably the most Sage Francis-style tune on the album. Hell, for the most part the beats that lay the foundation are pretty creative and trippy. Everything from radio signals to cobra-charming hypnosis. Powerlines is a good example of a groove that doesn’t so heavily rely on the lyrical content, but sound delivery. The result is pretty fun.

Cons

The final tracks were pretty decent compared to the rest of the album, but I will tell you why this duo will not be successful if they don’t evolve from the sounds I heard off the album. The key to a great hip hop song is either to sell out and create a club track that makes women instantly wet or taking the more difficult route of crafting tracks with clever lyrics – appealing to the dark underground. The reason Aesop Rock and Sage Francis had their successes is due (in-part) to their brilliant songwriting ability. They craft such amazing timing that a lyric punches you in the face and sends chills down your spine. That line becomes popular. The song gets popular.

Example #1: “If the Jesus piece around your neck is bigger than your pistol it makes homicide ‘okey dokey’ and your god will forgive you. Just show the saints at heaven’s gate – you should be on the list – I hear he overlooks manslaughter for a tatooed crucifix.”-Aesop Rock

That is what every rapper should strive for – a line that shoots you into audigasm. There are many examples in the underground scene, but this is a strong one.

Now, I’m not trying to stack this duo up against a massive opponent or belittle them. In fact, I think they have a lot of potential. The biggest issue is that their lyrics do not evoke any passion that lingers or feels like a punch in the gut. After listening I could only recall lines about different drugs and “tits”. If you want to break ground, you have gotta’ do better than that. Unless you light a fire in the audience’s lap, you won’t go anywhere in such a bloated scene.

Verdict

While the album didn’t move me, I sense a bigger picture for The Wine Thieves. With such great beats and slick vocals, I’m surprised their lyrics feel so shallow. Give these guys time to cook up some fiery flow and you might have the next big thing in the hip-hop underground. Until they spike the punch bowl, there isn’t going to be a party.

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15th Aug2011

Album Reviews: Speed the Plough – Shine

by nickwan

 

Speed the Plough definitely caught me off guard. At first listen, it’s not different. Some might consider it refreshing or a throwback… but I mean, call a spade a spade. It’s sort of dated. But for some odd reason… it’s infectious. I sat at my computer for a few minutes trying to figure out a better analogy but it’s sort of like that first time I listened to Weezer’s Blue Album. I mean, it’s not as life-changing but it feels like that.

Speed the Plough is no stranger to indie music either. The New Jersey group have been together since the 80s. I wasn’t able to check out their previous albums but if it was anything like Shine then some A&R reps really missed out…

Listen to “Sea of Tranquility” below
 The Pros

We should definitely highlight some of the more prosocial aspects of this album: all proceeds go towards the Roots & Wings Foundation, which is all about helping foster children transition into adulthood easier. On top of that, Speed the Plough and others on the Dromedary Records roster finished up a festival in support of Roots & Wings, further contributing to this great charity. Obviously, this is a fairly huge “pro” not just for the band or the label but for NJ. I love concert-based fundraising. And it seems like it’s fairly successful.

On to the album. The first three songs have that twangy Weezer-ish taste to it. The large chunk of it, however, is revolving around more of a slow-core sound. Think Pedro the Lion or some of the not-so-brash Mineral tracks. Some other flavors that pop in an out: Umphrey’s McGee, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Honorary Title.

Vocal duties are split between (I’m guessing here because I couldn’t find a clear bio on these cats) Jon and Toni Baumgartner. Toni really gives off that Weezer “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dream“. As for Jon, I get this sort of Fred Thomas vibe from him.

Instrumentally, it’s clean. That’s not a pun on it being mostly acoustic, but it really is just… crisp. One would expect that from a veteran band like this. Guitars aren’t flashy, but sprinkle in tasteful licks here and there. The bass is real smooth. Drums aren’t over-the-top, but they aren’t lazy either. And layered throughout are horns, wind instruments and all sorts of other things that may catch you off guard.

The Cons

There are two things that initially struck me as off about the band. One is the vocal strength. Although I love the music, the vocals seem a little more raw than the polished feel of the instrumentals. Sometimes that is a nice contrast, but a handful of times I felt sort of rubbed a bit harder than I would care to have been. The second thing that was a turn off was the sensory overload on instruments at times. In one of the tracks, I felt like everyone was playing a different instrument, as well as a completely different song. There was some flute off to the right, and the guitar is soloing, and some percussion things are slowly coming in, and… I just didn’t care for it.

Something a lot of people might be thrown off by is the pacing of the album. It starts off strong and driving but the majority of it is a slow pace. I sort of akin it to a waterfall into a slow river. At first, strong and rough. In the end, a floating pace. This isn’t necessarily a “con” but just something I felt on my first time through.

Another point to make is of lyrics. I try not to judge too much on lyrics, mainly because I feel my judgement on lyrics change fairly frequently, but the lyrics on Shine seem not as complex as the instrumentation. Mostly “type A” lyrics that cry like others you’ve heard before… it’s just not as innovative as some of even the most shallow. “In Between Dreams” exhibits a somewhat catchy chorus, but is forgettable and just a general toe-tapper and nothing more. If the vocal melodies were something more interesting, the quality of this album would be completely bumped up. It would be something like adding bacon into your mac and cheese. It’s a relatively simple gesture that makes something just okay to fantastic.

The Verdict

By no means is this album bad in any sort. Definitely worth a listen through. If you’re a lyrical type, then this isn’t the tastiest album in the bunch… but if you can enjoy the musical prowess from a real indie band that has been around since the mid-80s, this is definitely for you. After the few couple times through, I still get that urge to listen to Rachael Haden tunes. For me, it’s an alright album. Although, because this band just seems full of seasoned musicians, I hope someone out there falls in love with this album. I think everyone can enjoy it, but I feel like someone will pick this up and feel inspired to start their own band. I think this album has that inspiring intangible, whether that was by design or by chance. Either way, it’s great.

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