Album Review: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

The debut album from Seattle’s Fleet Foxes seemingly came out of nowhere to quickly become one of the more critically acclaimed albums of 2008. While many compare the album to The Beach Boys’ classic Pet Sounds (with its earthy feel, rich harmonies, and consistently great songwriting) simply confining their sound to this is both an injustice and simply inaccurate. Fleet Foxes confidently combine indie folk, Baroque pop, and even elements of Medieval music to create a wholly organic sound that will grow and flourish from your speakers. The band is led by Robin Pecknold who resembles Tom Hanks’ character in Castaway in his unkempt appearance, but more significantly by being completely immersed and in touch with the environment around him (which I’ll explain more later on). Although Fleet Foxes is a five-member band, the other members essentially orbit around Pecknold by backing him instrumentally (guitar, bass guitar, piano, drums, and the occasional mandolin) or vocally (with staggering harmonies).

With this self-titled release, Fleet Foxes have created a stunningly fresh sound for modern music. When we think about past artists that are credited for having pioneered a new sound for rock/pop, the majority did so by skillfully implementing new songwriting techniques, mixing up instrumentation roles, or by using the newest technological advances. Whatever path they took, most of them were intending to capture the sound of that particular era. We have seen this over the past 50 years of rock and continue to see it today. Take for example the Arcade Fire, who over their first two albums have written very anthemic, thunderous songs that can be said to embody the general dissatisfaction with the Bush-era United States. Or take LCD Soundsystem, a musical vehicle that implements electronic instruments alongside guitars and drums to mirror the technologically inundated lives we live. What’s most astonishing about Fleet Foxes is that they are pioneering a new sound for rock not by drawing from today’s world, but rather from a past world. As we listen to these solid, reverb-drenched songs, it’s almost as if we’re listening to an echo that was first generated centuries ago rather than the sound of music being created today.

One of the most remarkable aspects of listening to music in general is its ability to act as an escapist medium. Music has the ability to take us out of our hectic daily lives and into a different, more desirable environment whenever we want to go. As we listen to music, we constantly choose different spaces to inhabit. This space can be familiar or unfamiliar, cheerful or mournful, densely layered or incredibly desolate. More than almost any other album in recent years, Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut makes you feel as if you are being swept away to a new, entirely different environment than the one most of us live in. As we listen to the album, we feel as though we’re following the band through a rural, unpopulated landscape. Throughout the album we find ourselves marveling at a beautiful sunrise (“Sun It Rises”), strolling over a mountain pass (“Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”), and eventually walking by a river valley and rescuing an abandoned baby who floats beside us in a cradle (“Oliver James”).

Moreover, the Fleet Foxes have created a piece of work that invites us in to explore for 40 minutes, in the end leaving us ultimately empowered by its splendor. It’s difficult to predict how successful the Fleet Foxes' next album will be (which is slated for a late 2009 release). However, what is certain is they have already created a career-defining classic, one that will be cherished and revisited by avid music listeners like myself for as long we still want music to help take us away from the mundane and into the marvelous.

Key Tracks:
White Winter Hymnal
Ragged Wood
Oliver James

Final Verdict: 9.6

Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood

Album Review: Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams

Destroyer is a solo project created and embodied by the wildly talented, Vancouver native Dan Bejar. Since 1995, Bejar has used Destroyer as an outlet to carefully craft and refine his mighty and enigmatic songwriting tendencies. Although falling primarily under the genre of independent rock, Destroyer definitely should not be confined to a single sound. His influence stems from an assortment of past, well-grounded musical roots. Listening to Destroyer, one can hear the musical theatricality of Bowie, the cryptic and poignant sonic touches of Pink Floyd, and the stream-of-consciousness lyrical approach of Dylan. While partially borrowing from these musicians, Bejar adds his own signature to the mix. Some may initially be put off by Destroyer’s sound, especially those who find his vocals a bit too whiny or unsettling. However the deft listener will give Bejar time to settle into their bloodstream before casting him aside, and will most likely be rewarded for doing so.

Trouble In Dreams marks the 8th LP release from Destroyer, an album that fans of the band will quickly understand is more of an extension of the form of his last release than a movement towards new territory. In 2006, Bejar moved away from his past psychedelic and wildly over-ambitious sound to create an album that brought him back down to Earth with a more traditional rock band sound. Akin to Dylan’s classic Highway 61 Revisited, Destroyer’s Rubies (my favorite album of 2006) was the sound of a fully-fleshed out band producing rootsy rock that backed the delivery of incredibly literate and thought-provoking lyrics. With Trouble In Dreams, Bejar uses the same formula and often achieves equally successful songs.

This album is essentially a sequel to the aforementioned 2006 release, picking up right where the last left off. Take for example the opening moments of the first track “Blue Flower/Blue Flame”. Bejar begins the album by exhaling the opening line “Okay fine, even the sky looks like wine,” as if he is continuing a thought from earlier on rather than starting a clean slate. Throughout the album, the lyrics continue to puzzle and intrigue us as they always have. In the same vein as some of rock’s past great poets, Bejar has the ability to write incredibly visual and potent lyrics and support them with music that more often than not matches in quality and effectiveness.

One of the biggest draws for me with Destroyer’s sound is the unique role that his guitar serves throughout the tracks. Many of Bejar’s songs use a distorted, super-charged guitar sound that both completes and complements his vocals in a very lyrical fashion. The guitar tears through the mysterious environment that his voice paints and gives us incredible hooks to latch onto, essentially serving as a second voice to steer us through the unfamiliarity of the rest of his sound. Songs like “Dark Leaves Form A Thread” and “My Favourite Year” prove to be good examples of this formula.

While many songs on his newest album could definitely have warranted a spot on his 2006 masterpiece, there is no denying that Trouble in Dreams stumbles in spots. “Shooting Rockets” simply becomes a repetitive bore, while “Plaza Trinidad” is a bit too over the top for its own good. “Libby’s First Sunrise” is a decent but ultimately lackluster closer, ending the album with an ellipses rather than an exclamation point (or even a definitive period). However, more often than not Dan Bejar succeeds in creating a solid follow-up by using the recipe that he concocted with his masterpiece Destroyer’s Rubies. After all, what did we really expect? Sequels are rarely ever as good as their predecessors.

Key Tracks:
Dark Leaves Form A Thread
My Favourite Year
Introducing Angels

Final Verdict: 7.4

Destroyer - Dark Leaves Form A Thread

Sauw's Top 10 Albums of 2008

1.) For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver
Link to my album review

2.) Dear Science, TV on the Radio
Link to my album review
Link to my concert review of TV on the Radio @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple 10/14/08

3.) Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Link to my album review
Link to my concert review of Fleet Foxes @ The Grand Ballroom 10/4/08

4.) Stay Positive, The Hold Steady
Link to my album review
Link to my concert review of The Hold Steady @ McCarren Park 6/29/08

5.) The Seldom Seen Kid, Elbow
Link to my album review

6.) Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
Link to my album review

7.) Visiter, The Dodos
Link to my album review

8.) Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust, Sigur Rós
Album review coming soon...

9.) Harps and Angels, Randy Newman
Link to my album review

10.) You & Me, The Walkmen
Album review coming soon...


Honorable Mention:

Evil Urges, My Morning Jacket
Link to my album review

Consolers of the Lonely, The Raconteurs
Link to my album review

Only By The Night, Kings of Leon
Album review coming soon...

Sauw's Top 25 Tracks of 2008

2008 was as good a year as any for music's current best acts to deliver a bountiful basket full of great foot-tappin', knee-slappin' music to our doorsteps. Here are the 25 songs that I personally enjoyed the most...maybe you'll enjoy something here as well.

1.) "Skinny Love" - Bon Iver

2.) "Lord, I'm Discouraged" - The Hold Steady

3.) "Golden Age" - TV on the Radio

4.) "Look At You" - My Morning Jacket

5.) "Ragged Wood" - Fleet Foxes

6.) "Time To Pretend" - MGMT

7.) "Walking" - The Dodos

8.) "A-Punk" - Vampire Weekend

9.) "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver" - Elbow

10.) "Vid Spilum Endalaust" - Sigur Ros

11.) "So Everyone" - Bonnie "Prince" Billy

12.) "Souled Out!!!" - Conor Oberst

13.) "Carolina Drama" - The Raconteurs

14.) "My Favourite Year" - Destroyer

15.) "Manhattan" - Kings of Leon

16.) "For Emma" - Bon Iver
17.) "Violet Hill" - Coldplay
18.) "Same Old Thing" - The Black Keys
19.) "Pity and Fear" - Death Cab for Cutie
20.) "On The Water" - The Walkmen
21.) "The Time Has Come Again" - The Last Shadow Puppets
22.) "On The Edge Of A Cliff" - The Streets
23.) "Leviathan Bound" - Shearwater
24.) "Laugh and Be Happy" - Randy Newman
25.) "Profanity Prayers" - Beck

Album Review: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

The Hold Steady are one of those bands that it seems absurd that more people don’t appreciate now, yet if you know their music you’ll know that 20 years from now twice as many people will be listening to them. The Hold Steady is the creation of singer/songwriter Craig Finn, who at first glance you might expect to see in the cubicle next to you rather than leading one of the most inspired and cathartic bands in existence. While the band owes a lot to past rock powerhouses (in this album explicitly paying tribute to The Clash’s Joe Strummer and Led Zeppelin), the band only uses the teachings of these past greats as a launch pad to take off from. In doing so, they have began an entirely unique juggernaut force of a band, not once stumbling in any of the four albums they’ve released over the last five years.

Their newest album is certainly their most ambitious, and debatably their most successful. Months before the album was released, Finn was reportedly taking voice lessons to help tidy up his often sloppy and slurred vocal approach, a first sign that Finn and Co. were shooting a bit higher this time around. There’s also a noticeable inclusion of new instrumentation in a few of Stay Positive’s songs, including harpsichord on “One For The Cutters”, moog on “Navy Sheets”, and even some Frampton-esque talk box guitar on “Joke About Jamaica”. While furthering their sonic reach, the band is still most effective when sticking to their classic rock band sound, featuring electric guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, and occasional horns, and capturing the spirit of bands as like The Rolling Stones or The E Street Band.

One thing that all Hold Steady fans know is that Craig Finn is a storyteller through and through. He has used his songs over the last three albums to essentially create a universe of youthful characters (better known as Charlemagne, Hallelujah, and Gideon) that interact with each other and all live for one single thing, rock and roll. Of course, there’s plenty of baggage that comes with being a die hard rock fan, ranging from sex, drugs, and alcohol, to love, lust, and often enlightenment. Stay Positive adheres to this lyrical subject material, yet throws a fascinating curve ball into the mix. Throughout the 11 tracks, there is a recurring narrative motif that alludes to the ambiguous murder of two teenage boys which binds the songs together and grounds the euphoria that these characters live for by the weight of life, death, and reality. While more and more details are revealed of the murders through the songs, we are never truly sure as to what has exactly occurred.

And so, while the stories Finn tells of these rock-propelled individuals are often ambiguous, the band reinforces clarity with incredibly powerful and inherently inspiring music. Stay Positive easily has some of the most melodic songs Finn has ever composed. While “Sequestered In Memphis” dictates the hazy details coming from someone in an interrogation regarding the murders, the song's hookiness overpowers the uncertainty with an empowering chorus that's nearly impossible not to embrace and sing along to. “Lord, I’m Discouraged” is the most effective track, standing as the true centerpiece of the album and one of the crowning achievements of the band’s career. The song is told from the point of view of a man torn apart by the disheveled state that he now finds the girl he loves in. As he looks to religion for some sort of guidance, he explains how after spending time with new friends she is continually distancing herself and only coming back with sunken eyes and noticeable sutures and bruises. Around the 3-minute mark, (underrated) guitarist Tad Kubler tears the entire song in half with an unspeakably amazing guitar solo, creating a trememdous example of music's ability to be used as catharsis. It is the single most empowering 45 seconds of music that you’ll hear this year.

And so with their fourth album, The Hold Steady once again legitimize themselves as an incredibly consistent and commanding rock outfit. When I think of how to put their greatness into words, I am reminded of a Jack Kerouac quote from his classic novel On The Road (from which the band derives the title for its third LP Boys and Girls In America). In a passage at the beginning of the novel, the narrator talks about the type of people that interest him, describing them as “the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’”. And so, with Stay Positive, The Hold Steady continues to dazzle and amaze, continuing to hold their status as one of the most invigorating and visceral bands around today.

Key Tracks:
Sequestered In Memphis
Lord, I’m Discouraged
Yeah Sapphire

Final Verdict: 9.4

The Hold Steady - Lord, I'm Discouraged

Album Review: The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed

In 2002, Mike Skinner under the name “The Streets” emerged with a confident strut from the depths of a London garage and released one of the most brilliant debut albums of the last ten years, titled Original Pirate Material. His sound was loosely derived from the emerging British 2-step style and garage rap genre, complemented by his signature white boy rap vocals filled with hilarious banter, biting social commentary, and occasional heartache. It was an invigorating and exciting release, one that took England by storm, but unfortunately hardly made an impact in the states. His second release A Grand Don’t Come For Free was equally impressive, which essentially plays out as a continuous narrative from start to finish of a hedonistic (yet sentimental) girl-chasing, 20-something Londoner in search of a missing 1,000 quid. The album solidified his status as one of the most important and innovative artists of the young century.

In the accordance with this newfound rise into celebrity, Skinner released a third LP titled The Hardest Way to Make a Living, which unfortunately brought his hot streak to an abrupt halt. With songs about the misfortunes of fame backed by uninspired beats and melodies, the album was more of a chore to listen through than anything. This brings us to his fourth and most release LP release Everything Is Borrowed, which is as much of a departure from his past efforts that we could ever have expected.

After the first pass through Everything is Borrowed it seems as if Skinner has set down his pint of beer and exchanged it for a book on philosophy. Rather than explain the trials and tribulations that take place on the cruel streets he inhabits, he has lifted himself hundreds of thousands of miles away from the earth, enabling him to broaden his scope and evaluate his existence on a universal stage. Take for example the opening track "Everything Is Borrowed", from which the album gets its title. The song boasts along on a triumphant horn loop and firm, steady beat while Skinner and backing vocalists sweetly sing:

“I came to this world with nothing,
And I leave with nothing but love,
Everything else is just borrowed.”

Many songs are equally bursting with life and energy, leading us to believe that Skinner’s overall outlook on life is positive. “On The Edge Of A Cliff” further validates this assumption, which is a fantastic track that truly shows off Skinner’s gift for vocal and lyrical phrasing. Within three quick minutes, he packs in a tale about a man who is pulled away from suicide by a mysterious, philosophical bystander. The man validates the protagonist’s existence by explaining to him that we were all brought to this world as a result of a marvelous chain reaction of serendipitous ancestry and heritage. Other songs examine big issues that were nowhere to be seen in the matters that Skinner formerly rapped about. Who would have guessed that the beer-toting, club-hopping Londoner from a few years ago would now be rapping about life and death, human sustainability on earth, and the misleading nature of the Bible?

Although Everything Is Borrowed is more successful than not, there are a handful of tracks that are unquestionable filler material. “I Love You More (Than You Like Me)”, “Never Give In”, and “The Way of the Dodo” are all flops, weakly carried by poor melodies or simply annoying and boring lyrics. One of the most cherished parts about The Streets’ first two albums was how incredibly consistent they were, without a single lacking song from beginning to end (at least in my opinion). However, Everything is Borrowed is certainly an improvement over his last release. Skinner’s decision to take his lyrical content and sound into a new direction is an admirable move. While the album is nowhere near the caliber of his initial output, there’s a wealth of contagious inspiration and optimism here, which is more than enough reason to give it a listen. After all, isn’t that what life's all about?

Key Tracks:
Everything Is Borrowed
On The Edge Of A Cliff
The Escapist

Final Verdict: 7.5

The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed

Album Review: The Dodos - Visiter

The Dodos' debut LP begins with one of the most instantly hooky and likable opening tracks of the year. "Walking" struts along to a steady beat, guided by light banjo-plucking and effectively harmless vocals, perfectly easing the listener into an album that will soon lead them into very unfamiliar and often salient territory. Avoiding a fade of any sort, "Walking" rolls right into "Red and Purple", the first track to actually begin to reveal the band's full M.O.

Dodos is an experimental pop duo that hails from San Francisco, sparked in 2006 by the uniting of musical forces between two innovative, out-of-the-box talents. While singer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Meric Long lends his boyish vocals and country-blues fingerpicking and rhythmic acoustic strumming, drummer Logan Kroeber equally contributes to the sound with an endless library of experimental, syncopated rhythms. Culminating these two very unique musicians' play styles generates a formula that is wildly creative. Although it may be foreign to some, it's ultimately grounded on great pop hooks that lend to its accessibility.

Visiter catapults the listener into the unknown, delivering a sound that shifts between familiar and unfamiliar, native and exotic, creating a constantly invigorating bipolar approach. As we delve further into the heart of a given song, we soon realize that things aren't quite as we anticipated them to play out. The basic song structure (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, etc.) is often discarded. The timbre of the instruments and vocals jump back and forth from clean to canny, gentle to harsh. The overall tone of a song can unexpectedly switch from subdued to threatening (e.g. "Joe's Waltz"). This idea of "expect the unexpected" is what makes The Dodos such a thrilling listen. One of the triumphs of the album is how, despite its wild and chaotic nature, it is still very approachable for the average listener. At face value the album is immediately welcoming, with its innocent child-drawn cover artwork and cutely misspelled album title.

The Dodos are an incredibly promising new band who, despite a few missteps, successfully pull off the much sought after feat nowadays of creating something completely original, exciting, and stunning. The band manifests a fully fleshed out sound despite only having two members. Visiter is an album that certainly takes time to adjust to and accept. It took me about five or six complete listens to fully become accustomed to the sound. However, I've actually found that my favorite albums of all time are those that I hated at first just because they were so foreign. In my opinion, this is what being a good music listener is all about, forcing yourself to give new material a chance despite how different it might sound from everything else you've ever heard. This is certainly the case for The Dodos, a band that doesn't look like it's going to be extinct anytime soon.

Key Tracks:
Walking
Fools
Ashley

Final Verdict: 8.7

The Dodos - Walking

Album Review: Sun Kil Moon - April

Mark Kozelek is the sole heart and mind behind Sun Kil Moon, which is essentially a continuation of the formula from his last band, the critically acclaimed Red House Painters of the 90s. Throughout Kozelek's career, he has been known to use his songs to paint lush portraits of sorrow and yearning onto a canvas with intimate acoustic ballads that feature his tender, sheltered vocals. While his songs are often mournful, Kozelek usually sheds just enough light onto the darkness to keep us mesmerized rather than distanced. His guitar playing can be simply stunning, as is the case when he delicately plucks and strums with a level of beauty that often stops us in our tracks. The most intriguing aspect of his music is its ability to unravel and reveal itself more and more with each successive listen. While at first many listeners may just hear his songs as being settled and repetitive affairs, more listens reveal how the songs will shift to and fro to expose the innate complexity of the human heart as expressed through music.

I was first exposed to Sun Kil Moon after a spontaneous purchase of Ghosts of the Great Highway at my college’s radio station CD sale. This 50 cent purchase turned out to be one of the best steals I’ve ever been able to pull off. Ghost of the Great Highway is Kozelek's first release under the moniker Sun Kil Moon and marked an undeniable (and sadly overlooked) achievement in 21st century songwriting. While his songwriting was often somber, it never seemed to push the listener away. Rather it drew the curious listener in even further by integrating occasional glimpses of hope and enlightenment. At times on the album, Kozelek also effectively plugged in his guitar to achieve a heightened sense of inner revelation and invigoration through thunderous solos (as heard in the brilliant, Yo La Tengo-esque “Salvador Sanchez”). The album presented Kozelek as a cryptic figure, but one that we could learn more about with repeated listens, as well as one that we actually wanted to make an effort to learn more about.

This marks the main difference between Ghosts and his follow-up April, which arrives five years after his last. While songs on Ghosts often drifted lazily along to a fairly repetitive song structure, they were much more efficient and had just enough subtle deviation to keep us intrigued. April never achieves the lofty heights of his first release, and simply settles into a dreary space that rarely escapes its own dark tone. While the songwriting can be similarly beautiful to Ghosts, the songs themselves are far too repetitive to maintain interest. When listening to a song on the album, there are many instances when we think that Kozelek has gotten as much as he can out of a melody, only to find that he will continue playing it for another three, four, or five minutes. Listening to April reminds me of looking at something beautiful and cyclic in nature. While at first you can’t pull yourself away from studying it and taking in its splendor, after several minutes have passed and you’re still just watching the same thing it can actually take away from the beauty and becomes incredibly boring.

However, there are definitely some tracks that deserve recognition. The opening track “Lost Verses” ranks among one of the more amazing pieces that Kozelek has ever composed. Despite exceeding the 9 minute mark, it maintains its intrigue through a deviating song structure and a stunningly beautiful chorus, featuring backing vocals from Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard. “Unlit Hallway” is also a highlight, which also recruits the help of backing vocals, this time from Bonnie Price Billy's Will Oldman. However, on the whole April is a long-winded affair that favors floating, repetitious songs over the more concise and directional approach that Kozelek took on his previous release. To listen to it from beginning to end requires a huge amount of patience, which makes it much better in small doses or as relaxing background music. I feel like this is the type of album that I will pick up and listen to 10 years from now and completely fall in love with. But for the time being it just doesn’t strike a chord with me like his masterful 2003 release was able to. Take my advice and hold off on this one until you’ve gotten your hands on Ghosts of the Great Highway. If you’re still itching for more Sun Kil Moon, maybe this one will satisfy your thirst more than it did for me.

Key Tracks:
Lost Verses
Unlit Hallway
Harper Road

Final Verdict: 6.5

Sun Kil Moon - Lost Verses

Album Review: Randy Newman - Harps and Angels

Most people my age probably know Randy Newman best for his unforgettable songs from the film Toy Story (or maybe during the brutal representation of him in the Y2K episode of Family Guy). I was once in the same boat as well, that is until I gave a listen to his albums Sail Away and 12 Songs from the beginning of his career in the early '70s, now both commonly considered to be classics in modern singer songwriting history. At surface level, these albums are simply collections of New Orleans-based rhythm and blues delivered through Newman’s trademark, sloppy vocals and lighthearted piano playing. The songs on these albums were often light-hearted affairs, including a range of fantastic characters including the Yellow Man and Simon Smith, who was accompanied by his amazing dancing bear.

However, what Newman is most admired for is his ability to subtly mix in bitingly satirical commentary into much of his seemingly innocent material. For example, while the happy-go-lucky “Political Science” at first glance seems like a bouncy, jovial tune, we soon realize that he uses the song to essentially petition the dropping of atomic bombs on various areas of the world (but don’t worry, he doesn't want to hurt the kangaroos in Australia). It is this undercurrent of cynicism and comical attacks on society that set Newman apart from many of his contemporaries.

Now, over 35 years have passed since Sail Away and Newman has released an album just as bewildering and fantastic as anything he’s ever put out. Harps and Angels brings back all of the elements that made his past classics so cherished and more. First of all I have to mention how stunningly similar voice sounds at 64 compared to when he was 28. While he has always had a distinctive, more elderly sounding voice than appropriate for his age, it has never seemed more appropriate than now. The sincerity of his voice and the frailty that older age brings gives even more weight to ballads like “Losing You” and “Feels Like Home”.

There's also a whole grab-bag of wild, lively songs that are just, plain fun to sit back and enjoy. While “Laugh and Be Happy” sounds like it came straight out of a classic Disney movie (think bluebirds chirping, singing sunflowers, and rolling green hills), there are also fascinating stream-of-consciousness tracks that sound like a rambling Abe Simpson that we actually want to keep listening to. “A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country” is a hilarious rebuttal towards people all over the world that constantly accuse America’s horrific leadership under Bush by citing even worse terrors invoked by other political leaders of the past (Hitler, Stalin, etc.).

While Newman is adhering closely to his past success formula, Harps and Angels is even richer than past efforts in terms of instrumentation and backing vocals. Songs like “A Piece of the Pie” and “Korean Parents” exemplify this best, with a whole range of fascinating sonic flourishes popping up and decorating the space around Randy's piano. Instrumentation varying from blaring horns to light woodwinds to accompanying strings, creating a lush and often intriguing atmosphere of sound.

With Harps and Angels, Newman has not just added a cherry to the top of a legendary and influential career, but rather added substantially to the base of his portfolio, creating an even more firmly standing body of work. There truly is not a single bad song on this album, however this isn’t necessarily saying that it’s a perfect album either (as some songs could have been a bit less long-winded). Nonetheless it's an album that, once you've adapted to his style, can become a wonder to listen to from beginning to end. Now at age 64 (with his 65th birthday arriving at the end of the month), we cannot help but predict that this may be one of the final efforts of Newman's lengthy career, and what better way to end a long, wonderful musical journey than with a group of compositions that is both touching and hilarious, both cynical and hopeful, and alternates from wildly eclectic and beautifully bare with startling results.

Key Tracks:
Harps and Angels
Laugh And Be Happy
Feels Like Home

Final Verdict: 9.1

Randy Newman - Laugh and Be Happy

Album Review: The Black Keys - Attack & Release

In a time when there are only really a couple of well-known blues-rock duos around, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between The Black Keys to The White Stripes. Both bands emerged at the beginning of the decade with minimalist mentalities, understanding that the blues was based on the bare essentials of a guitar and the weeping of a man’s heart conveyed through his vocals. In recent efforts, both bands have begun to evolve their sound as their careers have progressed, although in slightly different ways. While Jack White has steered his ship towards edgier, more frenetic rock innovation, the two boys from Akron, Ohio have tried to elevate their down-to-earth, back-to-basics blues approach to loftier, more atmospheric heights.

With Attack & Release, the Black Keys have enlisted Danger Mouse to produce, picking what would seem to be the perfect man to bring their sound to a daring, new place. Danger Mouse has been popping up all over 2008, including his second LP collaboration with Cee-Lo on their band Gnarls Barkley’s The Odd Couple, as well as producing Beck’s stripped down, crunchy and sometimes brilliant Modern Guilt. Listening through the album, we certainly hear his crafty presence as he struts his stuff with sonic manipulation and instrumentation flourishes. The haunting backing “oohs” on songs like “Psychotic Girl” and “Strange Times” remind us of the desolate soundscapes that he helped create on Gorillaz’ 2005 hit Demon Days. However, his presence is only really noticeable on a handful of tracks, as he seems to be keeping his hands away from the mixing board more often than not.

The album unfolds with the lazy, rolling blues of “All You Ever Wanted” which immediately showcases Dan Auerbach’s strong and soulful voice. The song carries along in a dreary fashion until the last 45 seconds when a tidal wave of organs, electric guitar, and drums come crashing in. The band chugs away throughout the album, alternating between hard-hitting songs led by heavy, fairly straight-forward riffs to slower, soul-soaked blues (see album title for a more concise articulation of this pattern). Auerbach and Patrick Carney (on drums) both sound very tight. However, at times the production seems almost too polished, which actually becomes one of the major faults of the album for me. One of the most treasured parts of The Black Keys’ sound (as also credited to The White Stripes) was their low-fi, raw sound that fittingly matched the stripped down blues they were so respectfully honoring. However, Danger Mouse seems to have cut out the fuzz, revealing the band in stark clarity.

One of the more interesting choices on the album is the pair of tracks in the middle respectively called “Remember When (Side A)” and “Remember When (Side B)”. The first is an atypically trippy blues song that almost floats through a mystic, desolate, percussion-less setting. “Remember When (Side B) is actually just another take on the same song, this time decorated by Auerbach’s most violent wails on the guitar and Carney’s most relentless percussion to appear on the entire album. One can easily see this pairing of songs as a microcosm for the general, two-sided nature of the album, which essentially takes the form of a balancing act between their typical blues rock tendencies and the more otherworldly direction Danger Mouse has taken them in.

There are certainly times when the collaboration with Danger Mouse works wonders. The best pick of the litter is “Same Old Thing”, where Auerbach once again leads with his crooning vocals, while Carney backs with a steady beat, and Danger Mouse crafts his production around a piping flute loop and intermittent, weighty chants that drop with the beat. I also have to mention the most dazzling exhibition of Auerbach’s vocals, which appears on “Oceans & Streams”, with precisely wavering vocals that are simply stunning and which remind us of one of the strongest elements of the band’s success.

The direction that the band has taken on this album can best be summed up by the title of the closing track, “Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be”. It’s obvious that The Black Keys have deviated from their past, minimalist blues rock roots with much more refined production values. Since their 2004 release Rubber Factory, the band has noticeably tried to elevate their sound into a more atmospheric realm, which Danger Mouse seems like the most obvious producer pick for. But in doing so they’ve begun to lose some of their identity as one of the best primitive blues rock bands around today. The album is certainly not a failure, exhibiting some of the strongest songwriting of the band’s career. However it all seems a bit lackluster and misguided in the end, often pushing the listener around a bit but never really grabbing and taking hold of them.

Key Tracks:
Remember When (Side B)
Same Old Thing
Oceans & Streams

Final Verdict: 7.1

The Black Keys - Same Old Thing