Bon Iver
For Emma, Forever Ago
Jagjaguwar
originally published February 20, 2008
Bon Iver's debut For Emma, Forever Ago, is an extraordinary specimen. And, amazingly enough, it's an album that has no filler. All nine songs on For Emma can stand alone, each strong in its own particular way. If For Emma had been produced by less talented hands, it might have edged over the fine line between sorrow and self-pity to become trite both musically and lyrically. However, Justin Vernon, the singer-songwriter behind Bon Iver, manages to reign in the obvious pain that went into the album's conception and through doing so, enables his audience to experience his heartbreak and loss without drowning them in it. It's soulful folk, and fans of Iron & Wine owe it to themselves to give Bon Iver a shot.
The story of why and how the record was made is nearly as intriguing as the album itself. Vernon (formerly of the now-defunct Wisconsin/ North Carolina band DeYarmond Edison) moved back home after his band and his relationship with a long-time girlfriend both broke up in quick succession. In the dead of winter he moved into his father's log cabin, where he lived for three months, alone in the woods, recording for 12 hours a day.
For Emma is a fine example of how circumstances that appear to have gone horribly awry can turn into something magnificent. Thank whatever deity you might pray to for that terrible year Vernon experienced. Without it, For Emma might not exist. And, as Vernon himself sings in "Wolves Part I & II," his gorgeous falsetto rising and falling over the acoustic strum of his guitar - "what might have been lost."
Quiet Hooves
No Mare O' Mine
Independent Release
originally published February 20, 2008
One thing can be said for certain about Quiet Hooves' No Mare 'O Mine: it is a serious downer. The 10 tracks loll and languish through melancholy phrasings and downbeat verses with rarely a respite into the poppy, uptempo melodies many Athens bands make their signature. Certainty, however, doesn't come easy to the rest of this bizarre but captivating album of jazz-influenced indie-rock.
That jazz influence can be heard in everything from Mercer West's loose but on-time drumming to the subdued horn arrangements. The first half of No Mare 'O Mine is more musical than the second, with great (but morose) tracks like "Your Body" and "Your Troubles." Both songs feature gorgeous horn bits to revive the listener from the gloominess that permeates the rest of the album.
Before the band can be accused of being too serious, however, singer Julian Bozeman morphs his vocals into goofy self-parody, or there's a silly country piss-take like "Mystery." Even if Quiet Hooves doesn't fully take its record seriously, at times the vocals border on grating because of their goofiness. Bozeman can probably sing just fine normally, why bother mocking yourself?
No Mare 'O Mine is a short album at 25 minutes, but it can seem never-ending at its bleakest. Still, it's an engrossing listen, and one that many could find solace in during the dreary winter months.
Quiet Hooves is playing at the 40 Watt Club on Thursday, Feb. 28.
Dillinger Escape Plan
Ire Works
Relapse
originally published February 20, 2008
They got away with it! I mean the record's pressed, it's out in stores, on online distributors, and they were able to compose the most brutally unified and piercing mathematical metal outbursts sandwiched with accessible heavy rock anthems without compromise and curtailing their sound to fit a box.
This is the band that came out with the unforgiving The Running Board and now this: singing with falsetto, melodramatic piano, and electronic-infused ballads? Wait, that sounds… fresh! It's refreshing to know a band is out there carving niches solely for itself. It's a bonus to have it resonate and be recognized by any kind of audience. Sound architects.
There's nothing more ferociously dazzling when the band opens this latest disc with a track titled "Fix Your Face," exercising their staple signature sound like an old trade from an old hand that never fails to keep steady. Guitars fulminate in staccato while an infuriating snare blasts away, then without warning this all gets swallowed. A radio frequency quietude overtakes, severely capping the amplitude for a moment's time, a piercing drum fill cuts through, guitars surge forward at full volume for a couple bars, and then it's unification!
The riffing that follows is bliss coming from an unnatural beast. It stems from parts of that, but now it's no longer noodling. It's colossal and roaring rock. For a moment, Dillinger boogies with power chords and all. And that's only half a minute into the record.
The Whigs
Mission Control
ATO
originally published February 20, 2008
Why mess with what works? That idea rings true on Mission Control, the second release from Athens' local boys made good. And after years and years of hearing the band play the same songs that would turn into the debut album Give 'Em All A Big Fat Lip, it's absolutely refreshing to sink into something new.
Parker Gispert hasn't lost his raspy shout, though he chooses to temper it more with a smoother - though no less distraught - croon. Julian Dorio's drumming is crisp and whomping, and in it you can find the Whigs' greatest strengths and most glaring weaknesses; it's exciting, it's unrelenting, it's energetic, but it's also always all of those things. There's not enough space to breathe in many of The Whigs' songs; that can be immediately thrilling, but tiring in the long term.
Though the band still sounds more like Archers of Loaf or Pavement than it sounds like itself, and its primary strengths are with a charismatic live show, The Whigs are moving in a rewarding direction. A few flourishes of horns and pedal steel point to potential paths for exploration, and suggest at a more dynamic sound bubbling below the surface. The Whigs remain a local band to keep an eye and ear on; expect (and demand) more of 'em. Good stuff, with better to come.
The Whigs perform on NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" on Wednesday, Feb. 20.
The Exit Strategy
City of Microphones
One Percent Press
originally published February 20, 2008
City of Microphones is the second release from New York residents, The Exit Strategy. What follows from the album is a weird and energetic conglomeration of melodies and harmonies that keeps eyebrows raised as much as it keeps toes tapping. It almost seems that the members of The Exit Strategy pilfered and pillaged all the best sounds from punk, post-rock, ska and alternative rock, put it all in a blender and then flung the concoction straight in your eyes.
These boys push the needle in every direction, sounding like Fugazi one minute, Sparta the next and The Aquabats squeezed in the middle. The band has developed a unique balance of dissonance and melody, directing the loud and fast hardcore aspects into a more modest, indirect form of aggressive absolution. Tackling the tough subjects of personal and professional injustices, singer Mark Constantino has a lot to say, especially considering the fact that he's a police officer. This puts a unique perspective on things; more so on tracks like "Fake Trigger," when Constantino intones, "This is stand-by. This is stand-by. So shocked you're still breathing, after stealing away so much innocence."
City of Microphones holds a few stand-out tracks, such as "Addiction by Subtraction," "What the Fuck is Low Art?" and "All Circuits are Dead." The only complaint: its sad length of a mere 40 minutes. But then again, what do you expect from punks and cops?
The Puppini Sisters
The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo
Verve
originally published February 20, 2008
Nostalgia can be a tricky thing to negotiate, but for the most part London's Puppini Sisters escape its most obvious pitfalls. Three-part vocal harmonies and a 1940's jazz style are the name of the game on The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo, the group's second full-length album.
That they're retrofitting a mostly American style with a little continental flair - it's tough not to think of the catchy track "Belleville Rendez-Vous" from 2003's acclaimed French animated flick The Triplets of Belleville - is appropriate enough; there's always been something about Brits recontextualizing American sounds from an outside perspective (all the way from the Beatles to Winehouse, really). Band founder Marcella Puppini's an Italian by birth, too.
The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo, though, is at its best when breaking from the mold. Too many songs feature the Andrews Sisters-styled harmonies and nothing else - when either Puppini, Stephanie O'Brien or Kate Mullins takes the solo vocal lead, it provides a refreshing contrast and makes those harmonies sweeter, as on the Puppini-penned "I Can't Believe I'm Not A Millionaire" or the Duke Ellington classic "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)." And speaking of classics, '60s band Classics IV find their track "Spooky" successfully opening the album, and a version of Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" is winningly peppy. A version of the Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian," however, falls flat due to some unfortunately limp phrasing of the most memorable line. It's not enough to kill the album, but it's also not enough to keep 'em coming back over and over again. For genre fanatics, The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo should be rewarding; for everyone else, it's a pleasant-enough diversion, but not a lasting one.
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