Monday, November 28, 2005
Posting on music
I think I'd like to continue putting my micro reviews and thoughts of music.
I am the first to admit that I don't have much education in music: a few years of piano lessons constituted the background of my music theory, and includes the backbone of reading music and understanding basic use of time signatures which served me well enough to play French horn in high school and to sing hymns in church. I never had a music theory class, though I think it would help for as much as I like music.
I also don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of any particular type of music, as my process of music discovery has been intuitional and fungal, spreading from one adjacent surface to another, perhaps without any overarching guiding purpose except to continue the hunt for more and more wonderful music.
Every month I spend a lot of time on "the hunt," and if this serves as nothing better than a chart of my progress, it will fulfill enough of a purpose. Telling you what I've found is as much a catalogue of the evolution of my personal taste, a map of my discoveries, than it is anything else. I am always asking the people with whom I talk about music if they have heard of Such and Such or their latest So and So. So excuse the utter lack of refinement as I articulate my findings--at best, perhaps you'll find something that strikes your own fancy, or share with me a suggestion of your own. That's what this is all about anyway, right?
I am the first to admit that I don't have much education in music: a few years of piano lessons constituted the background of my music theory, and includes the backbone of reading music and understanding basic use of time signatures which served me well enough to play French horn in high school and to sing hymns in church. I never had a music theory class, though I think it would help for as much as I like music.
I also don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of any particular type of music, as my process of music discovery has been intuitional and fungal, spreading from one adjacent surface to another, perhaps without any overarching guiding purpose except to continue the hunt for more and more wonderful music.
Every month I spend a lot of time on "the hunt," and if this serves as nothing better than a chart of my progress, it will fulfill enough of a purpose. Telling you what I've found is as much a catalogue of the evolution of my personal taste, a map of my discoveries, than it is anything else. I am always asking the people with whom I talk about music if they have heard of Such and Such or their latest So and So. So excuse the utter lack of refinement as I articulate my findings--at best, perhaps you'll find something that strikes your own fancy, or share with me a suggestion of your own. That's what this is all about anyway, right?
Rosebuds
Birds Make Good Neighbors (2005)
on AMG
on Pitchfork
I'm not exactly sure how I stumbled onto this album, but it's possible I tried it out from the review on Pitchfork, because there's no way I would have picked up the album after reading the AMG review. I am not familiar The Rosebuds's first record, which all sources indicate was an upbeat and peppy affair with great hooks. Now, I'm not necessarily against upbeat with great hooks, but usually I'd sooner claw my eyes out than listen to "peppy," which makes my recent attraction to The New Pornographers utterly baffling. Even so, from the sound of it The Rosebuds got a bit sick of peppy, as well, and injected a heap of gloom in their 2005 offering, Birds Make Good Neighbors.
There are plenty of hooks in this album, which is why I can't get the songs out of my head. And perhaps it's a bit too much to say that a "heap of gloom," as the record doesn't really strongarm me into a melancholic mood, and doesn't quite have the pathos of an Interpol or Arcade Fire record--it sits somewhere just above Antics, perhaps, in terms of mood. But the sadness that is present, combined with the relentless catchiness of the songs, pushes them deep into the brain. I really like this record. Its up-tempo numbers drive forward great and emotive melodies, and Howard's voice is superlative--expressive in longing, but never weepy or distant. Howard and Crisp share vocal duties evenly enough--including in several songs through backing group vocals--and though they don't include a true duet in the album their voices are even enough in tone to prove wonderfully complimentary, two things that belong together.
So while it retains its sadness, Birds... never lets up enough to make me think I'd want to take it out while cruising down the highway, and its emotional tone would make it perfect for a drive during the days when the first leaves are starting to fall.
on AMG
on Pitchfork
I'm not exactly sure how I stumbled onto this album, but it's possible I tried it out from the review on Pitchfork, because there's no way I would have picked up the album after reading the AMG review. I am not familiar The Rosebuds's first record, which all sources indicate was an upbeat and peppy affair with great hooks. Now, I'm not necessarily against upbeat with great hooks, but usually I'd sooner claw my eyes out than listen to "peppy," which makes my recent attraction to The New Pornographers utterly baffling. Even so, from the sound of it The Rosebuds got a bit sick of peppy, as well, and injected a heap of gloom in their 2005 offering, Birds Make Good Neighbors.
There are plenty of hooks in this album, which is why I can't get the songs out of my head. And perhaps it's a bit too much to say that a "heap of gloom," as the record doesn't really strongarm me into a melancholic mood, and doesn't quite have the pathos of an Interpol or Arcade Fire record--it sits somewhere just above Antics, perhaps, in terms of mood. But the sadness that is present, combined with the relentless catchiness of the songs, pushes them deep into the brain. I really like this record. Its up-tempo numbers drive forward great and emotive melodies, and Howard's voice is superlative--expressive in longing, but never weepy or distant. Howard and Crisp share vocal duties evenly enough--including in several songs through backing group vocals--and though they don't include a true duet in the album their voices are even enough in tone to prove wonderfully complimentary, two things that belong together.
So while it retains its sadness, Birds... never lets up enough to make me think I'd want to take it out while cruising down the highway, and its emotional tone would make it perfect for a drive during the days when the first leaves are starting to fall.
