Rock + Roll Progress Report, Spring Semester
Buying albums is addictive. This spring, I got into the habit early, and bands I like kept releasing albums, and I wound up with a pile of new CDs. I've discussed some of these in passing before (this list stretches back to February), but extra time can be illuminating. You could make album of the year yet, Built to Spill!
Belle and Sebastian
Last Album: Dear Catastrophe Waitress, in which B&S sulk a little less and put on a show.
This Album: The Life Pursuit isn't quite as good as Waitress mainly because Waitress finishes in a blaze of glory and Pursuit is top-heavy in that classic Blur-album way. Fortunately, most of those Blur albums are pretty great.
Strengths: The entire first half. I was initially cool towards "Dress Up in You" but it turns out to be beautiful.
Weaknesses: Nothing after "Funny Little Frog" really kills, especially not the put-the-album-to-sleep closer "Morningtown Cresecent."
Development: Solid. No indication that the creek o' good albums will be drying up anytime soon.
Grade: B+
Neko Case
Last Album: The Tigers Have Spoken, a live one mostly composed of covers and rarities. Also kind of her best album.
This Album: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, dark folk-country tales in the vein of Blacklisted… but less boring!
Strengths: The whole thing sounds more distinct than Blacklisted, where every song seems to begin with the same dirge-chord. "Hold On, Hold On" and "Margaret vs. Pauline" are particularly good.
Weaknesses: She's curbed her rambling a bit, but not entirely.
Development: Neko is still a better singer than a songwriter, as evidenced by the fact that she's never written a single song as good as anything she sings lead on for the New Pornographers. But this is probably her best proper album that I've heard.
Grade: B
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Last Album: Fever to Tell, which had the distinction of being overhyped and underrated simultaneously.
This Album: Show Your Bones, more polished and a perfect companion to Fever, converts me from merely defending their first album to actually loving the band (despite the fact that only their drummer has non-annoying hair).
Strengths: "Gold Lion," "Phenomena," "Cheated Hearts," "Dudley," "Mysteries," "Turn Into"
Weaknesses: Two early tracks, "Way Out" and "Fancy," are surprisingly wan, but the album rights itself.
Development: Progress rocks. The YYYs are now officially better than anyone from that early-aughts garage scene except the White Stripes.
Grade: A-
The Flaming Lips
Last Album: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: great songs, great concept, some filler.
This Album: At War with the Mystics offers more of the same. Inventive, sound-expanding songs surrounded by slow, dippy stuff that plays to the Lips' (relatively) newfound hippie following. The lackluster middle is like the boring songs from Yoshimi on steroids, because it seems to last longer and have worse lyrics.
Strengths: "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song," "Free Radicals," "T.H.E. W.A.N.D.," "Going On"
Weaknesses: The middle (tracks 4 through … 7? 8? It just doesn't stop!).
Development: Not disastrous, but troubling. This is the album that took almost four years to come out?
Grade: C+
Rainer Maria
Last Album: Long Knives Drawn, an ambitious, occasionally abrasive nine-song set.
This Album: The barely-promoted Catastrophe Keeps Us Together drops the nine-song format RM rocked for its first four records! Though it should be noted that of the twelve songs here (including the secret track), two are not very songy and one is a cover. So they're keeping the tradition alive in spirit.
Strengths: "Catastrophe," "Life of Leisure," "Clear and True," and the lovely "Terrified."
Weaknesses: Occasional repetition and lack of imagination manifest themselves most clearly towards the end with "Southpaw," using a tired and half-hearted relationship/boxing metaphor
Development: The band cleans up its sound, and mixes fast and slow and loud and soft songs with skill, but the results aren't as memorable as their last few albums.
Grade: B
Built to Spill
Last Album: Ancient Melodies of the Future, three great songs with a long, boring EP stuck in the middle.
This Album: You in Reverse, another former-indie-rockers-become-hippies-on-Warner album. Seriously, why haven't they toured with the Flaming Lips yet?
Strengths: Less plodding than Melodies, especially on "Conventional Wisdom" and "Mess with Time."
Weaknesses: The vocals and lyrics seem secondary to the guitars, both in terms of quality and their presence in the mix. Even as the playing is energetic and epic, some of the songs manage to come off half-assed. Like on the last Ben Folds album, there are spots where the perils of writing the music before the words become apparent.
Development: It's an improvement, but it may be fair to ask if Built to Spill's best days are behind them.
Grade: B-
The Fiery Furnaces
Last Album: Blueberry Boat, which I find surprisingly close to unlistenable, and which was followed by EP, a collection of stray singles and B-sides that's way, way better.
This Album: Bitter Tea is like a less maddening Blueberry Boat; the songs still routinely top out at five or six minutes, but (some of) the weirdness is less boring and better-developed.
Strengths: After a bunch of typically hot-and-cold, overlong tracks, they find the right balance of weird and engaging with "Teach Me Sweetheart," "Waiting to Know You," "Police Sweater Blood Vow," and "Benton Harbor Blues."
Weaknesses: The Fiery Furnaces write the bridges from hell: they still have a major weakness for stopping songs cold and going into simplistic, tuneless keyboard parts that sound improvised.
Development: I have a feeling that if I get Gallowsbird's Bark I will think it's their best proper album and wonder why they don't do that anymore. But if they're going to fuck around, Bitter Tea does a better job of it than Blueberry Boat.
Grade: B
Belle and Sebastian
Last Album: Dear Catastrophe Waitress, in which B&S sulk a little less and put on a show.
This Album: The Life Pursuit isn't quite as good as Waitress mainly because Waitress finishes in a blaze of glory and Pursuit is top-heavy in that classic Blur-album way. Fortunately, most of those Blur albums are pretty great.
Strengths: The entire first half. I was initially cool towards "Dress Up in You" but it turns out to be beautiful.
Weaknesses: Nothing after "Funny Little Frog" really kills, especially not the put-the-album-to-sleep closer "Morningtown Cresecent."
Development: Solid. No indication that the creek o' good albums will be drying up anytime soon.
Grade: B+
Neko Case
Last Album: The Tigers Have Spoken, a live one mostly composed of covers and rarities. Also kind of her best album.
This Album: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, dark folk-country tales in the vein of Blacklisted… but less boring!
Strengths: The whole thing sounds more distinct than Blacklisted, where every song seems to begin with the same dirge-chord. "Hold On, Hold On" and "Margaret vs. Pauline" are particularly good.
Weaknesses: She's curbed her rambling a bit, but not entirely.
Development: Neko is still a better singer than a songwriter, as evidenced by the fact that she's never written a single song as good as anything she sings lead on for the New Pornographers. But this is probably her best proper album that I've heard.
Grade: B
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Last Album: Fever to Tell, which had the distinction of being overhyped and underrated simultaneously.
This Album: Show Your Bones, more polished and a perfect companion to Fever, converts me from merely defending their first album to actually loving the band (despite the fact that only their drummer has non-annoying hair).
Strengths: "Gold Lion," "Phenomena," "Cheated Hearts," "Dudley," "Mysteries," "Turn Into"
Weaknesses: Two early tracks, "Way Out" and "Fancy," are surprisingly wan, but the album rights itself.
Development: Progress rocks. The YYYs are now officially better than anyone from that early-aughts garage scene except the White Stripes.
Grade: A-
The Flaming Lips
Last Album: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: great songs, great concept, some filler.
This Album: At War with the Mystics offers more of the same. Inventive, sound-expanding songs surrounded by slow, dippy stuff that plays to the Lips' (relatively) newfound hippie following. The lackluster middle is like the boring songs from Yoshimi on steroids, because it seems to last longer and have worse lyrics.
Strengths: "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song," "Free Radicals," "T.H.E. W.A.N.D.," "Going On"
Weaknesses: The middle (tracks 4 through … 7? 8? It just doesn't stop!).
Development: Not disastrous, but troubling. This is the album that took almost four years to come out?
Grade: C+
Rainer Maria
Last Album: Long Knives Drawn, an ambitious, occasionally abrasive nine-song set.
This Album: The barely-promoted Catastrophe Keeps Us Together drops the nine-song format RM rocked for its first four records! Though it should be noted that of the twelve songs here (including the secret track), two are not very songy and one is a cover. So they're keeping the tradition alive in spirit.
Strengths: "Catastrophe," "Life of Leisure," "Clear and True," and the lovely "Terrified."
Weaknesses: Occasional repetition and lack of imagination manifest themselves most clearly towards the end with "Southpaw," using a tired and half-hearted relationship/boxing metaphor
Development: The band cleans up its sound, and mixes fast and slow and loud and soft songs with skill, but the results aren't as memorable as their last few albums.
Grade: B
Built to Spill
Last Album: Ancient Melodies of the Future, three great songs with a long, boring EP stuck in the middle.
This Album: You in Reverse, another former-indie-rockers-become-hippies-on-Warner album. Seriously, why haven't they toured with the Flaming Lips yet?
Strengths: Less plodding than Melodies, especially on "Conventional Wisdom" and "Mess with Time."
Weaknesses: The vocals and lyrics seem secondary to the guitars, both in terms of quality and their presence in the mix. Even as the playing is energetic and epic, some of the songs manage to come off half-assed. Like on the last Ben Folds album, there are spots where the perils of writing the music before the words become apparent.
Development: It's an improvement, but it may be fair to ask if Built to Spill's best days are behind them.
Grade: B-
The Fiery Furnaces
Last Album: Blueberry Boat, which I find surprisingly close to unlistenable, and which was followed by EP, a collection of stray singles and B-sides that's way, way better.
This Album: Bitter Tea is like a less maddening Blueberry Boat; the songs still routinely top out at five or six minutes, but (some of) the weirdness is less boring and better-developed.
Strengths: After a bunch of typically hot-and-cold, overlong tracks, they find the right balance of weird and engaging with "Teach Me Sweetheart," "Waiting to Know You," "Police Sweater Blood Vow," and "Benton Harbor Blues."
Weaknesses: The Fiery Furnaces write the bridges from hell: they still have a major weakness for stopping songs cold and going into simplistic, tuneless keyboard parts that sound improvised.
Development: I have a feeling that if I get Gallowsbird's Bark I will think it's their best proper album and wonder why they don't do that anymore. But if they're going to fuck around, Bitter Tea does a better job of it than Blueberry Boat.
Grade: B