tUnE-YaRdS - Gangsta

"What's a girl to do if she'll never be a rockstar?"
Well with Tune-Yard's new album "w h o k i l l" Merrill Garbus has officially become a rockstar, or as much as someone can become in this fragmented musical climate of ours. This song, more than any other shows why Garbus is totally deserving of this title. This song, more than anything else is powerful, almost overwhelming. However in toeing the edge of complete madness, Garbus crafts a song that is edgy and infectious at the same time. The hip-hop gun emulating drum beat, fuzzy as shit bass, and newly added horn section create a confusing, beautiful mess of noise which is almost impossible not to move to. However, it is Garbus' voice which will be most noticed and divisive. With every "Bang Bang Bang!" she commands the listeners attention, while her own vocal samples lie in the background, deceptively complex. All in all, this is the best song on one of the year's best albums.

Yuck- Get Away

Ah the 90's...how I have missed you. Yuck is a 4 piece band out of London that distills the sound of the American indie scene from the early 1990's. "Get Away" is a love-lorn song centering around the line "I can't get away" which repeats about a million times. This is far from annoying, however, as it is sung with such conviction that it sounds more like a insistant cry for help than mere whining. The main draw of the song though is a huge, melodic Dinosaur Jr. -esque guitar riff which has been stuck in my head for a week. Seriously, beware of how catchy it is. While this band may get put down for lack of originality, the songs are good enough to rise above their 1990's trappings to live comfortably in 2010.

Yuck- Get Away

Kurt Vile- Peeping Tomboy

Apathy is a strange feeling. What do you do with yourself when you want to do nothing, including doing nothing. Kurt Vile takes this problem and inserts it into one of the best songs I've heard this year. The song begins with an acoustic classic rock feel, the fingerpicking style dropped straight from the late 60's and early 70's. When Vile begins to sing however there is no mistaking the modernity of the song as Vile's wonderfully listless voice gives voice to the youthful apathy which clearly resides in the last few decades. Vile's apathy is broken by a tomboy. Vile becomes a peeping tom cleverly turning a phrase to add wry humor to the song. Melding the dull urges of apathy with the sharp desires of love creates an indescribable feeling to the song which gives voice to the youth who want more but cannot remove themselves from the couch to find it. We're all peeping toms.

Way Yes, Stepdad, This Is My Suitcase at Carabar

This Tuesday, two of the more popular pop acts in Columbus, Way Yes (who I have already raved about) and This Is My Suitcase joined up with Grand Rapids band Stepdad at Carabar. This turned out to be one of the better local shows I've been to recently. Way Yes kicked things off with a per usual (aka great) performance, busting out more from their "Herringbone" ep than I have seen in a while. What was cool is that it seems this band is finally starting to get a good following. The bar was packed most of the night and it was pretty sweet to see many people dancing to their weird rhythms.

Stepdad wants to be Dan Deacon. And maybe Passion Pit. They have great stage presence and really catchy songs. But I had a qualm with how only the bassist played (sometimes poorly) his instrument. Also, while stuck in the sweaty gyrating throng that was the crowd during their set, I was hoping for a an inkling that this band was more than just a hook and bright colors, but I never saw that. Basically, Stepdad wants to be Dan Deacon. I want that too.

This Is My Suitcase closed the show with a set full of all new material. While initially I groaned at this, I was pretty happy with their new songs. They seem to go into a way less cutesy, more punk driven direction. This showed during the times when they were playing. Joe has alway been a little on the insane side, but he pulled out all the stops, playing some really sick pop hooks while jumping around the stage like some insane marionette. I do wish they would have talked less in-between songs (guitar tuning issues mainly to blame), but when they played, they did so with more emotion and enthusiasm than any band in Columbus. Overall a great show.

Here's a vid of the new song "At Least the Geese Survived" from Tuesday

Dum Dum Girls- He Gets Me High

I got really excited when I heard that Dum Dum Girls were releasing a new ep. Of the new garage-rock girl groups that seem to be popping up everywhere recently, I think this band consistently has more interesting songwriting and more complex songs in general.  "He Gets Me High", the title track off of the ep, is no exception to this rule. The song centers around a crunchy riff reminiscent of "I Will Be" standout "Bhang Bhang, I'm A Burnout".  However, Dee Dee's voice hovers above the distortion calmly calling out her impulsive devotion to her love. Love songs about unthinking devotion should not sound this badass.


Dum Dum Girls- He Gets Me High

Peter Silberman- The Antlers

Today, I had the pleasure of being in a class that got to interview Peter Silberman of The Antlers. Aside from being an all around cool guy, he had some interesting things to say about his album, "Hospice".  I wouldn't feel right about divulging all that he said, but I will share some stuff that I thought about the album based on the conversation. First of all, I think it is interesting to look at the two story lines that run through the album, one of an abusive relationship and the other of a woman dying in a hospice. I think the discussion about whether one is a metaphor for the other is a tad pointless as it doesn't really change the meaning or affect of the album. It is cool to see how Silberman relates sickness spreading to a diseased relationship and how that affects the speaker, even down to his sense of identity.

The other thing I found interesting was the way in which Silberman writes songs. He told me he likes to set limitations on himself to spawn his creative process. That makes sense as I have always admired "Hospice" for its unrelenting emotion, but also the restraint in expression which does not make the emotion gratuitous.  The album does not fall prey to the flaws which haunt such musical genres as emo. "Hospice" does not fall prey to the mopey, excessive posturing that run through many albums with equally literate, verbose songwriters (Cassadaga? anyone??). Anyways if you have not listened to this album you should and if you have you should take some more time with it as it has many more nuggets that become apparent as more time is invested.

Two- The Antlers

Girls- Heartbreaker

It has been a few days since I posted anything.  Such are the perils of college. Learning to do what you want makes it harder to actually do those things. (I'll quit bitching...)

The Broken Hearts Club ep (which is fantastic) came out last year but I think is still worth talking about. Girls here go further into their late 50's early 60's aesthetic crafting  pop songs that feel like they walked out of an episode of Happy Days. However, it is unlikely that you can listen to this song and feel especially happy. This song is sad. Christopher Owens sings, "There's a voice in the back of my head that says you're always going to be alone/Go turn the tv on, turn off the telephone" This sense of isolation and regret pervades the song, and most of Girls' work in general. I think that framing this sense in an anachronistic musical style is a brilliant choice, making the songs feel familiar yet not losing the poignancy of newness that can be lost in exploring older styles.

Girls- Heartbreaker