Rating: 5.5
Is is really that complicated Art Brut? You write a rock song. You write lyrics to go over it. In the lyrics you talk about nostalgia, and growing up, and awkward moments of a relationship – that sort of thing. You do about 10 of these bad boys, take it to a producer who makes it sound really pretty. You call the album It’s A Bit Complicated. You go on tour. You call trucks lorries.
Rating: 7.0
Six LPs into their career, Austin’s Spoon has become pretty ubiquitous for an indie rock band. Their singles, including “I Turn My Camera On” and “The Way We Get By” turn up all over the place, including an enlightening video of a dancing robot on YouTube. Spoon has also provided the soundtrack for a movie (Stranger than Fiction) and has done commercials for Jaguar. While the awful truth may be that the majority of fans at a Spoon show would list the O.C. as their point of entrance, Spoon’s songwriting has been consistently good for a decade: look no further than Girls Can Tell (2001) or Kill the Moonlight (2002) for proof.
The Underdog [mp3]
Rating: 9.5
Thank Jesus, Allah, the Easter Bunny or any other minor deity that Young God Records have just re-released Lisa Germano’s 2003 masterpiece, Lullaby for Liquid Pig as a 2xCD reissue with an extra disc of home recordings and live tracks. The original version went out of print quickly as the initial record label that put it out went bankrupt. This stunning piece of music was originally released after a five year hiatus in which Germano pondered the idea of ceasing to make music altogether. Luckily, she did eventually come around and in doing so recorded this album, which is a crimson cascade of wine, broken glass and sheer beauty. Lullaby for Liquid Pig was conceived as a record about alcohol dependency and the subsequent acceptance of both her addiction and depression. It is a gorgeous album that flows like a late night lullaby, which features some hazy production and gentle ripples of intoxicating psychedelia.
Rating: 8.0
When one thinks about light or music that is brimming with it, Shannon Wright hardly comes to mind. A few adjectives that spring up when pondering her back catalog are: cathartic, desperate and intense. These words are even intensified that much more if you have seen her live. To paraphrase a press release statement of hers, with her new release she wanted to write some songs that were direct and simple. Bob Dylan’s devastating masterpiece “Sara,” a kind of forlorn afterthought written before he was actually separated from his wife, was the ultimate type of composition that she was aiming for when writing this material. Once again, Shannon Wright releases a fair amount of her emotional burden with Let in the Light, but this time around the piano is her main instrument, and that actually makes for a wonderful record.
Best Dressed
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra at Neumo’s, Thursday June 21
I’ve noticed that in terms of big underground music scenes in the northwest, afrobeat doesn’t exactly take the cake. Nevertheless, whenever and wherever the Brooklyn-based Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra rolls through, I’ll make it my business to be there, and so will you if you know what’s good for you.
Rating: 6.0
The artwork on David Bazan’s EP Fewer Moving Parts depicts Bazan-as-lumberjack, walking through the woods. He approaches a tree, and in the span of six pages he chops it down. Upon closer inspection, there is a little heart visible on a close-up of the tree, with the initials DB and TW inside of it. It doesn’t take a detective’s training to deduce what is going on here, and I quickly surmise that the DB is Bazan himself, and that the TW is TW Walsh, friend and former conspirator in Pedro the Lion. Without Googling a word I realize that Bazan has created a breakup album, and that the breakup is between him and his old band (which was pretty much just him anyways), and that his new sound is going to be totally unprecedented. Though I feel pretty confident about my assertion and even begin writing this review, I decide to give the album a listen, which is a pretty advanced protocol as far as usounds is concerned. The results of my investigation will horrify you.
Cold Beer and Cigarettes [mp3]
Seattle, WA – A Long, Long Time Ago @ Neumo’s (June 1st)
Unfortunately we were really late for All Smiles due to shows starting early and on time these days in Seattle. Also, I felt trapped at the dive bar across the street listing to some mangled-looking, old-man-river guy talk to me about the history of plumbing. He started the timeline over 2800 years ago when King Minos of Crete created the first flushing water closet complete with a wooden seat and everything. I was like, fuck, how are we gonna cover 2800 years of plumbing in ten minutes? But not wanting to be rude and perhaps needing a “safety” piece of ass sometime in the future, we powered though it.