The New Pornographers - Together

The New Pornographers are not breaking any new ground with Together. The album is full of their usual excellent pop gems. And I mean every one. To me though, to operate in the pop rock realm and pull it off well is probably one of the most difficult things you can do without mimicking other artists...but c'mon with pop, that is exactly what you do unless you are The Beatles or Phil Spectre.

The New Pornographers are a Canadian supergroup and the only one I really know out of their group is alt-country singer-songwriter Neko Case, who I would gladly drink her bathwater. And she isn't even Canadian. Together, is reminiscent of their first three albums. I was struck though how much they really mine The Beatles. But on songs like the Crash Years we get treated to Brian Wilson via Pet Sounds. This is a strong complement. The next song following this, Silver Dollar Jenny, we get treated to the Neko Case's breathy 'wa-wa-wa-wa' sounding like that old pop easy listening classic Teach Me Tiger.

If You Can't See My Mirror is a swirling, swimming diamond ruby combining the male lead singer and brainchild of the group, A. C. Newman with Neko Case, in a cross between a Laurel Canyon Mamas and Papas and every middle 80s British faux gay alt-pop I have ever heard).

Their typical convention of making you think that you are getting verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus is turned on its ear, as they may change this completely in on itself. I don't know if it is because they are primarily Canadian, but it sure seems like you hear a lot of Euro-pop in here too. Guitars are sparse, but plenty of pianos and all kinds of Eastern European brass (especially the great brass arrangement on Daughters of Sorrow). In the classic pop sense, they let the voices of the various lead and harmony singers serve as the lead instrument. This is a great listen.

Be aware, that subsequent listens will turn you into an ear candy addict.

Belatedly, The Knitters

It was on May 15, 2010 that I saw them, but I forgot to mention that I saw the legendary band The Knitters. They are comprised of all the personnel of the seminal L.A. punk band X except for Billy Zoom on guitars. They do country music. When The Knitters are together, their staff guitarist is none other than the legendary Dave Alvin on guitar. Too bad he didn't get to sing as he has a great baritone like John Doe.

But I digress. The concert was terrific. And I forget how excellent of a guitarist Dave Alvin is. The primarily did music from their 1986 project called Poor Little Critter on the Road and their other traditional country album Modern Sounds of The Knitters (probably a play on words for Ray Charles seminal country album of similar name Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music).

In any event, before Jason & The Scorchers, before Uncle Tupelo, there was The Knitters. They are and were a punk band doing more than competent Americana, bluegrass, and Country and Western. The concert was excellent. There was much inter-band banter especially by former married couple Exene Cervenka and John Doe. Except for Dave Alvin's great surfabilly playing, it was primarily a rollicking acoustic set. I was particularly fond of the their cover of Rank Strangers. All in all a great concert where the whiskey flowed and the fun was had.

We also got to spend a little time talking to the great John Doe who came out to greet people and autograph CDs on the way out of Columbia, MO Blue Note venue.

Drive-By Truckers The Big To-Do

Ahhh yes, Southern rock. I love it. And no one does it better than my current-favorite-for-some-years now, The Drive-By Truckers. I have had The Big To-Do for a couple of months already. They have performed at my current city of Columbia, MO already. I have just hesitated reviewing for some reason. A Southern picture as always; hot, humid, political, rawking...these hard rock singer/songwriters never cease to amaze. As always, I never understand why they are not incredibly famous and popular. They can WRITE a song that kicks most other bands in the balls. This album is no different. In fact, shedding a lead guitar gave them a tougher, rawer sound on this album.

It kind of reminds me of a serious Pizza Deliverance. And that album had plenty of seriousness to it as well. I am so fascinated with a band that can continue to evolve and keep loyal to an incredible goal and sound that keeps the South so honest and raw and rural and urban even. As usual their Fualknerian ability to not explain away the duality of the South, but to embrace one of the only bits of cognitive dissonance I can possibly tolerate. Never apologists, only reporters this great piece of Rock & Roll and Southern Rock in particular keeps moving them forward.

The songwriting which has been great for years now just gets better. This album has dropped one of the lead guitars from 3 to 2 which makes it more muscular. They hopped from the New West label to ATO and chose to lean this bitch up a little. They also give their great rhythm section Shonna Tucker another two songs to sing on as well. My favorite album since The Dirty South I just never get over how much this band continues to grow and evolve. I can also never get over why they are not selling out stadiums because they have the 'tude of all the great Southern Rockers 10 fold!

The tunes are all great too, plenty of working man ennui starting with the power chord on Daddy Learned to Fly, the alcoholic paean The Fourth Night of My Drinking and the destined to be a classic This Fucking Job. Well done boys (and girl)!

Also don't miss Shonna Tucker's on-line southern cooking show.

IT'S RECORD STORE DAY

It's record store day, today April 17, 2010. Grab a fistful of your hard-earned cheese and buy some new music as well as helping out an independent business.

Times are changin'

I didn't have a chance to acknowledge the death of the great Alex Chilton. I am a huge Big Star fan and like Alex's back catalog quite a bit. I did not get 2009's box set of Big Star. I think I had quite a bit of what was on it anyway.

Alex Chilton was a great pop song writer. In the vein of The Beatles, Marshall Crenshaw, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, or many, many that came before and after his mark is indelible. R.I.P Alex. I thought you were terrific. It is a shame more people don't know who you are. You knew the South, the U.K. New York and L.A. You even knew New Orleans and for that alone you are the best. You were another Rosetta Stone that does not live, but still a Rosetta Stone which makes you important, very important.

Tonight, I am listening to the very underrated Pink Floyd Album The Final Cut. A lot of folks may not get what a companion album it was to The Wall. I bought it when I was probably 17. I've been listening to it for close to 30 years, eh.

I recently ordered all of Blondie's' back catalog. Tremendous. I am always fascinated with how late 70's and early 80's punk barrows so much from 50's Rock & Roll, 60's girl group and doo- wop. In any event these are cheap, masterful recordings. Seminal, really.

I will review The Drive-By Trucker's The Big To-do here shortly. Great.

Galactic ya-ka-may

As the header states on the liner notes "THIS IS NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER'S NEW ORLEANS RECORD." This really captures the attitude of New Orlean's own bounce-style band(the term for the New Orleans hip-hop sound) Galactic on their new album ya-ka-may. Knowing a little about ya-ka-may will help though a little.

As so much of New Orleans culture is based around food, ya-ka-may (a bastardization of Ya Ka Mein) is a loose set of ingredients used in an Asian soup done New Orleans style. For this album it just means a mixture of all kinds of fun stuff musically. Funk, jazz, blues, R & B, rap/hip-hop are just the starting point for this terrific album. We got some heavy hitters too. If there is a single on this album it would have to be Irma Thomas singing the song Heart Of Steel. She belts this out in her great New Orleans funky style. Boe Money features the standard New Orleans brass style of The Rebirth Jazz band. Legendary New Orleans bandleader and producer Allen Toussaint appears on the song Bacchus.

This album sounds so new stylistically, but it is firmly rooted in New Orleans. Hip-hop in general owes much to New Orleans. A lot of hip-hop out there samples New Orleans beats (especially The Meters, who are one of the most sampled bands in hip-hop besides James Brown!)

I give this album two funky-butts up!

Surfer Blood Astro Coast

Start with The Beach Boys Pet Sounds, multiply by The Jesus & Mary Chain (if you can't find it, The Dandy Warhols are fine to substitute for the J&MC), fold in a large scoop of British Sea Power and sprinkle liberally with Yo La Tengo and you have the jangly surf pop of this Florida-based band. I really like their debut album Astro Coast A LOT! I liked it immediately too from beginning to end. Those jangly guitars can turn fuzzy and dark though real quick. So don't be fooled by the shiny sheen you might hear on first listen.

The lyrics are fun and airy and they even sport a fun instrumental tune called Neighbor Riffs. It is absolutely made for driving down the highway Dick Dale style. That is if Dick Dale was Johnny Marr. This album should be loved by any fan of American 60's garage pop or Euro-pop. Their cool contrast tunes called Fast Jabroni and Slow Jabroni stick some more of that surf garage guitar stuff at you. So quickly in this music though it can change to that British informed no wave; sometimes even in the same song.

I just love their little punky guitar riffs. Can you tell? And the studio treatments they give lead vocalist John Paul Ptts are just wonderful...sometimes as fuzzy as the guitar.

Grab it up, sure to be on my Top 10 for 2010.