Mt. Rushmore: Singers

 

     I've already spoiled my Mt. Rushmore of singers over the course of the series, but I wanted to make it official and mail in a post. Sorry, I've been very busy lately but I still want to post everyday. Generally, I don't care much about singing as a skill. I don't watch American Idol, I don't care about Mariah Carey's range and I hate opera. Even in the context of rock music I don't value the lead singer's vocal skills. I like Wayne Coyne as much as Freddie Mercury. And don't make me explain why I like Tom Petty, but can't stand Zimmerman. My top four are pretty good, though. I think what they have in common is their voices have character. I can't define it, but I know it when I hear it. Oddly, three of them are Americans and one is a Brit. I didn't rank them, so in no particular order here's my Mt. Rushmore. 

     Jay Farrar is the voice of God. It's powerful and cuts right to the soul. It puts the country in alt-country. His songs in Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt are largely about struggle and fighting to get by. His voice is a rock in a raging river that you cling to for survival. "Standing in the neutral zone, living on sleep deprivation". "Whiskey bottle over jesus, not forever, just for now". "As soon as we're out, we're kickin' our way back in". "Nothing's free in this country and there's no place to hide". So good. 

     The singer I enjoy listening to because of his voice is Jackson Browne. It's beautiful, but you can tell he has lived some real shit. "Running on Empty" is a top five song in the American Songbook. "Running into the sun, but I'm running behind". He's an artist that I only know the hits, but someday I will dig into the albums. It gives me something the look forward to. 

     I can't put a finger on what I love about Evan Dando, but The Lemonheads are my security blanket. No matter what kind of day I've had, hearing Dando's voice puts everything right. I hope his singing is as healing for him as it is for me. 

     Finally, the great Ray Davies of The Kinks. He was the most English of the British Invasion singers. He was clever and cheeky. There was so much character in songs like "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" and "Well Respected Man". "Lola" was way ahead of its time. And there was the raw power of "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night". "Waterloo Sunset" is beautiful. "Til the End of the Day" is a rocker. My personal favorite is "Do It Again". "Standing in the middle of nowhere. Wondering how to begin. Lost between tomorrow and yesterday, between now and then. And now it's back where we started. Here we go round again. Back where we started, come on do it again". Peace. 

Mt. Rushmore: Drummers

 

     I've had a long day of trying to find a hip-hop album from the 2000's to post about in an attempt to expand my musical horizons. No luck with Ludacris, The Roots or Outkast. Missy Elliott is still a possibility. Anyhow, I decided to throw together my Mt. Rushmore of drummers to feel like I did something today. It's not a typical Mt. Rushmore. These are four drummers that I feel are important for various reasons, not the four best. 

     My favorite drummer is Keith Moon. He was the heart of The Who. His style was unique and can't be duplicated. The way he and Pete Townsend played off each other was magic. Too bad he had to die before he got old.

     The best drummer was Neil Peart of RUSH. He never stopped trying to be the best, even after it was clear to everybody else. Glad I saw him multiple times. Also glad they were inducted into the Rock Hall while he was still alive. 

     The most underrated drummer is Bun E. Carlos, formerly of Cheap Trick. He's tremendous, but never got credit because he looks like an old, chain smoking accountant. He was the engine that powered Cheap Trick. If you don't believe me, go watch At Budokan. Too bad I never saw them until after he was kicked out of the band. 

     The drummer who was most important to his band is Bill Berry of R.E.M. He single-handed got the band off the ground with his connections to IRS Records and by threatening to join Love Tractor if the other guys didn't get serious. He was key to their sound and was it's most vocal defender. Just listen to the albums after he had to retire. Peace.

Tommy Keene: Crashing the Ether (2006)

 

     It sucks that I had never heard of Tommy Keene until he teamed up with Robert Pollard for their Keene Brothers album in 2006. It was released shortly after Tommy Keene's own fantastically jangly album, Crashing the Ether. The only time I ever saw Keene perform was as Pollard's side man in his band The Ascended Masters, which also included Jon Wurster and Jason Narducy. It was at St. Andrew's in Detroit, also in 2006. I dragged my pregnant wife to the show. There was no seating and people were smoking like chimneys. However, what annoyed her most was me not talking to Robert Pollard when he walked by us multiple times during the opener's set. I never know what to say. Sorry. My wife was a champ, but we did leave early. I'm not a monster. 

     Tommy Keene had been a solo artist since 1982 and had been in many bands, including The Nazz, before that. In 1984, he released a song called "Places That are Gone", that in an alternate stream of the Multiverse may have been a huge hit, but not ours. Ten years later, he performed that song on the Conan O'Brien Show, but there would be no Big Star style revisionism for his career. It took Robert Pollard introducing him to indie pop fans to finally generate some buzz for Keene. Crashing the Ether came out at this time and that's where I started my deep dive. 

     Tommy Keene, in retrospect, gets lumped in with power pop. In reality, he writes mostly guitar-driven indie pop. The most exquisite example is the second track from Crashing the Ether, "Warren in the '60s". It has a Gin Blossoms vibe. Keene's vocals are laid back and the guitars are jangly. "Wishing" is another strong guitar track with a great singalong chorus. "Eyes of Youth" is a rocker with great drum work that teases a hooky chorus, but takes off again instead. "Driving Down the Road in My Mind" is beautifully languid. He even makes an XTC reference about his senses working overtime. And the guitar runout is tremendous. The most muscular tracks in this set are "Alta Loma" and "I've Heard That Wind Blow Before". They are his most powerful vocals on the album and the guitar and drums are right in your face. There's not a bad song on this album.

     If you're interested in Tommy Keene, there was a 2 disc compilation released in 2010, Tommy Keene You Hear Me. which is a great sampler of his career up to 2009. He also put out an amazing covers album in 2013, Excitement at Your Feet. His cover of The Who's "Much Too Much" is worth checking it out. He also covered the excellent Guided by Voices song, "Choking Tara". Sadly, Tommy Keene passed in 2017, but he left behind an impressive catalog of songs. Peace.

Kasabian: The Alchemist's Euphoria (2022)

 

     Why am I posting about the new Kasabian record instead of the debut or Empire? I'm not sure. I guess I'm trying to process everything that has happened with the band over the past few years. I've been a huge fan of Kasabian since I first heard "Clubfoot" from their self-titled debut in 2004. A couple years ago, Kasabian went through a seismic upheaval when lead singer Tom Meighan was involved in a domestic violence incident with his then girlfriend and current wife, which lead to his dismissal from the band. The Alchemist's Euphoria is the first Kasabian album since the incident and features songwriter Sergio Pizzorno on vocals. Pizzorno had always been important to the sound of Kasabian, but not as the front man. The new album is pretty much a Sergio production and is a departure from their previous catalog. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The last couple albums were alright, but not at the level of their first three releases. 

     As they began releasing singles from The Alchemist's Euphoria, I was concerned about the direction of the band. Sergio is an okay singer, but lacks the gravitas of Meighan. The new album is pretty heavy handed with the vocal effects. Also, there seemed to be a lack of guitars and a surplus of electronics. When the album finally came out it went straight to the top of the U.K. charts. It took a couple weeks for my record store to get it in stock, so I had to stream it at first. I finally got to listen to the LP yesterday. My first impulse was to question why they didn't just scrap the name Kasabian and start fresh. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's not a Kasabian album. It's adventurous and sounds modern. It's rhythmically interesting and has some world music influence. If you're young and hanging out at the club it's fantastic. If you're an old dude who likes anthemic arena rock it's a curiosity. 

     The closest they come to a rock track is "Chemicals". This song has some modern elements, but the guitars and drums are more up front. Had the whole album taken this approach it would have been a good transition to whatever Kasabian is going to become in the future. The album closes, oddly, with a mostly acoustic song, "Letting Go". It's on tracks like "The Wall" that Sergio struggles as a lead singer. In his defense, some of this might just be the production. I do like some tracks, like "SCRIPTVRE" and "ALYGATYR". Yes, those are the spellings. Like "Chemicals" they are a combination of the old Kasabian swagger and modern electronics. I have only listened to The Alchemist's Euphoria fout times, so I'm not writing it off yet. However, I am looking forward to hearing Tom Meighan's solo album when it's finished. He is married and seems to be working on his personal problems and I am pulling for him. We need to reach a point as humans where we can resist the urge to erase anyone who makes a mistake in their life. Next time it might be you. Peace.

The Weakerthans: Left and Leaving (2000)

 

     The Weakerthans are another band, like The Mountain Goats and Neutral Milk Hotel, that I discovered from listening to WRUW; the college radio station at Case Western Reserve University. They hail from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and are fronted by singer-songwriter and poet laureate of The Great White North, John K. Samson. Ok, he's not actually the poet laureate, but he should be. Few bands have more literate lyrics than The Weakerthans. Their style ranges from punk pop to pedal steel tinged country to sparse ballads to indie rock. Samson's vocals sound like a combination of the Schoolhouse Rock guy and the singer from Treblecharger. So...pretty good. I titled this post as an examination of their 2000 album, Left and Leaving, but it will cover their whole catalog, plus some solo stuff, because it's all equally great. I think Samson's world view is best understood in the song "Longitudinal Centre" from his solo album Provincial. "The Atlantic and Pacific are the very same, far away". Winnipeg is the isolated, landlocked centre (center) of Canada. Isolation is a dominant theme in The Weakerthans discography. Only Samson could write "Plea From a Cat Named Virtute", a song from the perspective of a cat whose owner is depressingly alone and sedentary. I especially like the outro, "All you ever want to do is drink and watch tv and frankly that thing doesn't really interest me. I swear I'm going to bite you hard and taste your tinny blood if you don't stop the self-defeating lies you've been repeating since the day you brought me home. I know you're strong". 

     Gun to my head, Left and Leaving is probably their best album. My favorite track is "Aside". I am tempted to post the entire lyrics, but there's a lot. So here's a sample that I really relate to, "Terrified of telephones and shopping malls and knives. We're drowning in the pools of other lives. Rely a bit too heavily on alcohol and irony. Get clobbered on by courtesy. In love with love and lousy poetry". The track "Watermark" is a bittersweet track about a relationship, "I've got this store-bought way of saying I'm okay. And you learned to cry in total silence. We're talented and bright, we're lonely and uptight, we've found some lovely ways to disappoint". Another great track is "This is a Fire Door, Never Leave Open". "I still hear trains at night when the wind is right. I remember everything. Lick and thread this string that will never mend you or or tailor more than a memory of a kitchen floor. Or the fire door that we kept propping open". 

     Much like Franz Kafka and Prague, John K. Samson can never seem to escape Winnipeg. The title track to Left and Leaving begins, "My city's still beathing, it's true, but barely, through buildings gone missing like teeth. The sidewalks are watching me think about you, sparkled with broken glass". The song "My Favorite Chords" begins, "They're tearing up streets again, they're building a new hotel. The mayor's out killing kids to keep taxes down". Perhaps, The Weakerthans best known song is their homage to Winnipeg, "One Great City" from their album Reconstruction Site. Apparently, the title came from the billboard when you enter Winnipeg that proclaimed it "One Great City". It's a love-hate song with the refrain "I hate Winnipeg". "The Guess Who sucked, the Jets were lousy anyway". Ironically, they recorded a show at the Burton Cummings Theatre. Of course, Samson doesn't hate Winnipeg, but some days it's a thin line. 

     So, to wrap up this post before it gets too long. let me list some of my favorite Weakerthan songs that I couldn't squeeze in here. Maybe I will revisit them in the future. Wellington Wednesdays. Diagnosis. The Last Last One. Anchorless. The Reasons. Reconstruction Site. Psalm For the Elk's Lodge Last Call. Our Retired Explorer. A New Name For Everything. Tournament of Hearts. Sun in an  Empty Room. 

     I would like to close with a another section from "Longitudinal Centre" that may be Samson's finest bit of songwriting. "So the sun pulls me out a bit and lets me go. I'm a vacuum power chord in the back of a van full of kids cleaning carpets for the Lord. And I make a list of sounds I found have comforted us in the past; the roar of the rumble strips and the Mennonite meter of the flood forecast. Oh how the wind strums on those signs that say the Atlantic and Pacific are the very same, far away". Peace.

The Long Winters: When I Pretend to Fall (2003)

 

     The 2004 benefit album Future Soundtrack For America was an oddly significant release in the development in my taste in music. It was here that I first heard Jimmy Eat World's cover of "Game of Pricks" by Guided by Voices, which lead me down the Robert Pollard rabbit hole. It's also where I discovered artists like Clem Snide, Nada Surf and The Long Winters. The Long Winters track was "The Commader Thinks Aloud", which is in the tradition of "A Space Oddity" and "Rocket Man". Although it was an interesting song, it didn't fire my curiosity like "Game of Pricks". I soon forgot The Long Winters. Years later, I was listening to the  Judge John Hodgman podcast and his guest judge was John Roderick of The Long Winters. "Hey, that's that band from the thing", I thought to myself. During the segment, John Hodgman promoted John Roderick's podcast with Merlin Mann, Roderick on the Line. I became an avid listener of RotL and soon began listening to The Long Winters albums. My clear favorite is 2003's When I Pretend to Fall. 

     When I Pretend to Fall finds Roderick being assisted by members of R.EM., Death Cab For Cutie, The Posies and Harvey Danger to create The Long Winters most accessible album. The opening track, "Blue Diamonds", has an infectious chorus; "Cause you're so good at waiting, I'm just saying". The next song, "Scared Straight" is an up-tempo number with great horns. "Shapes" employs one of my favorite songwriting devices. During the middle instrumental section, Roderick shouts out to the band, "Let's go". It's almost as good as a count in. "It'll Be a Breeze" is a beautiful acoustic song about someone who was in an accident. At one point he sounds like Jeff Mangum. In the bridge he sings, "I'm fading in and out and I don't mind. I try to let you know I'm fine and I can hear you crying". "Stupid" is one of my favorite relationship songs. "You have no idea how stupid I would feel if 15 years from now I'd see her and she says why didn't it happen between us stupid". "New Girl" has one of the best lines ever, "Twice you burnt your life's work; once to start a new life and once just to start a fire". The best song on this album is "The Sound of Coming Down". It has anonther of those great repeating choruses, "Hey, you know nobody's chasing us". The most powerful and poignant song is the closer "Nora". "Now I don't feel she feels the same way about me. She wonders if I will ever be who she dreamed I'd be. But she never says "I love you" til I say "I love you". Like we're exchanging hostages". Wow. 

     While I enjoy the Roderick on the Line podcast, I wish Roderick would finish his next album. I also hope he puts out a 20th anniversary vinyl reissue of When I Pretend to Fall next year. I'm going to attach the video for "Blue Diamonds", but it has a bunch of exposition at the beginning, so you may want to skip the first part. Peace.

Wet Leg: Wet Leg (2022)

 

     Last year I was looking up some kitschy, mid-century ultra lounge music and stumbled across a reference to a group called Chaise Lounge. So naturally, I went to You Tube looking for something by Chaise Lounge to check out. What I immediately found was a video with a couple young ladies dressed up like Amish dancing around singing about buttering muffins and warm beer. It was interesting, but I had other fish to fry. Fast forward a month or so and one of my co-workers asked me if I had heard Wet Leg. I thought for a second. I asked if that was the Amish girls with the chaise longue song. It was and I had. He was fired up about them, so when I got home I got online and really dug into Wet Leg. At the time, they only had two songs, "Chaise Longue" and "Wet Dream". I was struck by the great songwriting from this weird group with two songs on the internet. The lyrics were smart and funny and confident. It was refreshing to hear a female singer, Rhian Teasdale, so brash about sex and relationships. There is no innuendo or double entrendre. "What are you doing sitting down, you should be horizontal now". "Hey you in the front row. Are you coming backstage after the show?" "I was in your wet dream, driving in my car. What makes you think you're good enough to think about me when you're touching yourself?" "You climb onto the bonnet and you're licking the windscreen. I've never seen anything so obscene. It's enough to make a girl blush". 

     Over the following months, Wet Leg would periodically release a video for a new single. They were all fantastic. Finally they announced an album for Spring 2022. As Rhian and her bandmate Hester Chambers began doing interviews, they seemed surprised, but cheeky, about the hype. Whenever they would perform "Chaise Longue" they always smiled at each other during the "excuse me...what?" part, like they were getting away with somethng. They are from the Isle of Wight and apparently Wet Leg is a term from riding ferries. Not what I assumed. 

     I was at the record store the day they got the album in stock. Wet Leg is clever, provocative and the playing is incredible for a new band. My only small gripe is "Chaise Longue" should be the opening track. "Being in Love" is a good song, but not a lead track. "I Don't Wanna Go Out" lifts the guitar riff from "The Man Who Sold the World" to great effect. One of the album highlights is "Angelica". Teasdale juxtaposes "Angelica" and herself at a party. It gives the listener a great sense of the point of view of the album. "Angelica was on her way to the party.She doesn't need to wait for anybody. Knows exactly what she's doin' . I watch as she commands the room. The ambience is overrated at the party. I want to run away before it's even started. I look at my feet, then I look at the door. Can't find my friends, so I just take a bit more". 

     One of my favorite tracks is "Oh No". It's a fun commentary on modern life. "I went home, all alone, checked my phone, oh no. Oh my god, life is hard, credit card, oh no. You're so woke, diet Coke, I feel gross, oh no. I went home, all alone, I checked my phone and now I'm inside it". The closing track, "Too Late Now", also has a great bit about technology and media. "I don't need a dating app to tell me if I look like crap, to tell me if I'm thin or fat, to tell me should I shave my rat. I don't need no radio, no MTV, no BBC. I just need a bubble bath to set me on a higher path". Sounds like the Wet Leg Manifesto. Peace.

The Strokes: Is This It (2001)

 

     How many years does it take a middle-aged hipster to get past excessive hype for a band and finally listen to their album? The answer is, apparently, 21. Part of this exercise of examining albums from the 2000's is to push back on my music biases. One of my biggest biases was The Strokes. I was vaguely aware that they were Guided by Voices adjacent, but they were so buzzed about and from New York. I guess that was a death sentence for 21 years ago me. Had I known they wrote a song called "New York City Cops", which was pulled from Is This It due to 9/11, I may have been more receptive. Obviously, I have heard "Someday" and "Last Nite". I don't live in a cave. Yesterday was the first time I listened to Is This It in its entirety. 

     It's interesting how Interpol was constantly slagged by critics for ripping off Joy Division, but The Strokes could lean in hard on Lou Reed and ... crickets. Despite the blatant influence, I thought Is This It was pretty good. I also had no idea, until yesterday, that the video for "Someday" features a game of Family Feud, hosted by Richard Karn, between The Strokes and Guided by Voices. How is it possible I didn't know about that? Apparently, they did some opening gigs for GbV and were big fans. Unfortunately, they weren't an influence on their sound.

     After a couple listens, it seemed like what they were doing on Is This It was influential on artists like Franz Ferdinand and Mikal Cronin. Most notably, the tracks "Barely Legal" and "Alone, Together". "Alone, Together" is my early leader for best song on Is This It. It's high energy with insistent, angular guitar strumming and it's a fantastic lead in to "Last Nite". In fact, it made me appreciate "Last Nite" more and it's overt homage to Iggy Popp's "Lust For Life". There are no duds on Is This It, but they also seem to only have one gear. It's a pretty good gear though. I will probably add this record to the collection. Peace.

     I tried to attach the video for "Someday" with Guided by Voices, but it wouldn't come up through my Blogger search. If you are interested, try searching for it on the You Tube site. 

Centro-matic: Fort Recovery (2006)

     2006 was a tumultuous year in my life. We moved from Michigan, where I had spent my first 41 years on this planet, to Cleveland. I had to transfer to a new store. My wife was pregnant with our son. I had hernia surgery. I began using a CPAP machine. However, it was a good year for album releases from some of my favorite bands; like Kasabian, The Flaming Lips, Silversun Pickups and Sparklehorse. By far, the best release was Fort Recovery by Centro-matic. Over the past ten years, I have posted quite a bit about Centro-matic; especially singer-songwriter Will Johnson. In fact, I mentioned him in yesterday's post. I still have a fantasy about being asked to write Will Johnson's biography and I would call it "Patience For the Ride". 

     By 2006, Centro-matic had progressed light years from the ramshackle brilliance of 1996's Redo the Stacks to well produced alt-country. Fort Recovery saw them take another step into straight up indie rock. The band consisted of Johnson on vocals and lead guitar, Scott Danbom on keys, Mark Hedman on bass and the tastefully bombastic drumming and deft production of Matt Pence. Matt Pence was the secret weapon of Centro-matic. I refer to them in the past tense because they broke up about 7 or 8 years ago. However, they recently got together for a couple hometown shows, so keep hope alive. 

     The spirit of Fort Recovery is encapsulated in the soaring closing track "Take a Rake"; "Tell us tales through alcohol eyes. Count the refills until the sun starts to rise". The song rides out with Pence beating the shit out of the drums and Will playing a distorted guitar freakout. It's fitting because the album opens with distorted guitar on the otherwise beautiful track "Covered Up in Mines". This is followed by the chugging power of "Calling Thermatico". When I saw them live at the Beachland Tavern, Will started to introduce "Calling Thermatico" as a "awful" story of baseball and murder, then he stopped and said, "Well, it's not awful. You can be the judge"; or something to that effect. It was a long time ago.

     My favorite song on Fort Recovery, and probably the one that sums up the Centro-matic sound best, is "Patience For the Ride". That is followed by one of Johnson's most poignant songs, "I See Through You". It contains the verse "Don't talk, just listen to all the voices Nature brung. Pray the light will keep you til your final song, because the more I learn about this world the less I find that I'm afraid to die". There's another great run of songs in the middle of the album, "For New Starts", "The Fugitives Have Won", "Monument Sails" and "Triggers and Trash Heaps". "The Fugitives Have Won" has a great piece of songwriting; "If I held you up to fire I would see a reddish frame of rust around your soul's transparency. And you, you with your beauty and I with my spleen. I'll hitchhike to your bonfire in my suit of gasoline". 

     Fort Recovery is a sonic back road through hope and desperation and loss and perserverance. The songwriting is masterful and the playing is inspired. There really isn't a bad song on this album. I actually just went on You Tube and found the video of Centro-matic playing "Calling Thermatico" at the Beachland. It's hard to make out exactly how Will introduced the song, but I will attach it to this post. Peace.