Heartache With Hard Work

Okay, back to the music. Let’s begin with a record I’ve been sitting on for almost a year Liberation by Austin’s AM Syndicate. I put it in the “to review” stack last December, when it was brand new, and have just kept pushing it back. Until now.

First things first, as much as I like the record, there is a reason why it’s taken me this long to talk about it. Namely: it’s a nice album, but it lacks a certain oomph, never really developing its influences in any meaningful way.

It’s most reminiscent of any number of late 60s bands (think Strawberry Alarm Clock): driven by bright tunes with just enough revolutionary zeal (the refrain of “we the people must fight them” in Hang Your Fears At The Door And Join Your Future) to keep things from running off the rails into the la-la land of pop symphony. Or to give it a more modern spin. Imagine Animal Collective, except not weird. Or Arcade Fire, except without the passion. Or The New Pornographers, except without the big hooks.

You see what I mean? There’s a lot of good stuff here, but it’s all the things that are leftover in great bands if you remove their core element.

It makes for a very weird experience, where you know its enjoyable and good listening, but you just keep waiting for them to really wow you without it ever quite being fulfilled.

All The People Under the Sun – AM Syndicate

State of the Union – David Ford

Okay, I promised myself no more politics for awhile, but I just can’t help myself. If you don’t care about this stuff, don’t worry – I’ll be posting something normal and milquetoast within the hour.

But before I do, let me just express my general state of dismay. The last two weeks of this presidential campaign have pushed me quickly through the stages of confusion, disbelief, frustration, irritation, and outright depression. Our country can’t really be this stupid, this obsessed with absolute pablum, this completely dismissive of basic and fundamental questions like “how would each side govern?” “what issues will they focus on?” and “is there any reason to believe a single word that comes out of their mouths?” Can it?

If the best we can do is pretend there’s a controversy over the lipstick on a pig reference (it’s a common phrase, it was about their [lack of] an economic plan, McCain himself said it about Hillary, etc.) or a debate about whether Palin said “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere or earmarks (she didn’t, like at all), then I really do have to wonder. Any country that can become so thoroughly entangled in this idiocy is ripe for the picking. A few years ago I commented about the thoroughly oppressive social structures of Edwardian England as symbolic of the larger decline of the British Empire:

It’s a small microcosm, to be sure, but seeing just how obsessed these people were with maintaing strict social hiearchies, with adhering to rules of etiquette, and with honoring their past reveals a lot about the state of the British Empire. … Obsession with etiquette did not cause British power to collapse, but it certainly helped things along. When they could have devoted their efforts to expanding their power, developing new technologies, modernizing the economic and political environment, instead they strove for stagnation.

I can’t help but wonder if future historians will look back on the early years of the 21st century as the time when America conclusively began to collapse in upon itself.

A country which seems thoroughly committed to choosing its leaders using the framework of high school elections is one that has grown tired of its immense power. A country where (if the election was held today) would elect a vice-president who literally has not even heard of the Bush Doctrine is one which appears uninterested in righting its course.

It’s not that Palin is stupid, or constitutionally incapable of running the country (though given what I’ve seen so far, I’d really prefer to give her a couple more years to get up to speed), or the worst in the world on earmarks (she’s bad, but honestly who really cares?). Neither is it that McCain has bad policy ideas (though he does). It’s that they don’t even seem interested in trying to rectify or resolve those issues. They’re going to keep repeating the lies despite getting called on it because they actively want the election to be about this stuff instead of about real issues.

The only conclusion I can draw is that, for all we’ve heard about “honor” and “seriousness,” McCain is running one of the least honorable, least serious campaigns for major office in American history.

And yet no one seems to care.

UPDATE: And don’t even get me started about the interview. I’ll just defer to publius on that one.

Westward Bound – The Fairline Parkway

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon, which demands the appropriate soundtrack. For today, it’s this track from The Fairline Parkway. Sounding like an old Mojave 3 b-side, or a track from The Clientele on one of their less mournful days, it’s got the gently ebbing tones and hushed percussion to keep you endlessly enthralled. The problem I often have with this kind of quiet folksy music is that the melody ends up drowned by the slow pace and dearth of peaks and valleys. No worry of that happening here. Where many would run the risk of fading into gray, The Fairline Parkway throw open the windows and let the gentle summer sun shine through.

The album is called A Memory of Open Spaces, which is precisely what it sounds like.

So what is there to say about the Sarah Palin selection that hasn’t been said by countless other folks already? Not much really. In terms of strategy from here on out, I think it’s a mistake for people on the left to go after her on the issue of experience. Not because I think there’s any reason to believe she’s “qualified” to be president (whatever that means) but because that narrative has already sunk in and done its damage. The more it gets talked about from here on out, the more I think its likely to backfire by reinforcing the idea that “experience” is an absolute positive, a legitimate method for judging candidates that trumps other questions. After all, if it’s a choice between McCain and Obama we all know who wins the “experience” battle there.

I think the real boon from the Palin selection is that it neutralizes one of McCain’s most annoying (and effective) routes of attack. They’re clearly not going to stop harping on Obama’s lack of experience, but you’d have to think that the cognitive dissonance created by this VP selection happening simultaneously with constant claims of “putting the country first” and “the judgment and experience to lead” is eventually going to be too much for some people to handle.

Watching the GOP convention I was struck by just how blatant their tactics have become. Rail about Obama not providing any specifics in the midst of a convention that includes no details. Talk about Obama being out of touch while virtually ignoring the single most important issue on the minds of most average voters (the economy, stupid). Make snide, sarcastic comments about a cult of personality even as you’re doing everything you can to build up the image of John McCain – the one we’ve been waiting for, the man who was born to be president. Talk about how Obama isn’t serious enough about doing what’s best for the country even as you pick a VP who you could not possibly with a straight face claim is “prepared” to be president by any metric you’ve been harping on for the last 6 months. Insist over and over that Palin was against the “bridge to nowhere” when she wasn’t, claim that Obama wants to raise taxes on average people when he doesn’t, deliberately lie about the competing policies on health care, nuclear power, you name it. Talking about “reform” and “change” while pretending they haven’t been in power for 8 years, and pledging to continue the policies that got us where we are. The willingness to make the most patently absurd claims with a straight face (“she has foreign policy experience because Alaska is near Russia,” she has executive experience from running a small town and a small state that compares meaningfully to running a national campaign for president, etc.). And so on.

The lies and contradictions are right there in plain sight and eventually people are going to be repulsed by it, as long as the Obama campaign and its surrogates take the right approach to make it clear. And that means not letting up on attacks against McCain, combining all of these issues into one overarching story: that he is willing to compromise any principle to be elected.

I think what’s become extremely obvious in all of this is how explicitly political the McCain campaign is. The most damning thing about the Palin selection is not that she isn’t ready to be president, it’s that it demonstrates just how completely they are willing to abandon supposedly heartfelt principles of “experience” which had been the talking points all summer. It demonstrates that they are willing to make a political move and pick a candidate they don’t know and haven’t vetted to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. It’s a decision that’s breath-taking in its cynicism and its disregard for the general public interest. She may very well have the character and fortitude to be president but there’s simply no way that McCain could have known that when he made his decision. And that’s the real crux of this.

I think Steve Benen put it best:

Palin’s qualifications are, to a very real degree, secondary to the issue at hand. What matters most right now is John McCain’s comically dangerous sense of judgment. He picked a running mate he met once for 15 minutes, who’s been the governor of a small state for a year and a half, and who is in the midst of an abuse-of-power investigation in which she appears to have lied rather blatantly. She has no obvious expertise in any area, and no record of any kind of federal issues. McCain doesn’t care.

Sensible people of sound mind and character simply don’t do things like this. Leaders don’t do things like this. It’s the height of arrogance. It’s manifestly unserious. It’s reckless and irresponsible. It mocks the political process. Faced with a major presidential test, McCain thought it wise to tell an imprudent joke of lasting consequence.

If we play this right, all of this (the Palin selection, the blatant lies, the endless flip-flops, the refusal to let the campaign be about issues) can become more than just “character” attacks, and can become a demonstration of an underlying pattern that makes it clear how unfit this guy is to run the country.

Two footnotes. First, perhaps the most perplexing element of all of this is the way that both Giuliani and Palin in their speeches treated “community organizer” as an epithet. What’s next: trying to spin honored military service on a swift boat in Vietnam as a negative, too?”

But in all seriousness, this is just crazy. The Obama campaign has already sent out an e-mail about this, but they really should make it a big deal. How easy would it be to run a quick ad on this? Show some pictures of MLK, of Church groups, of idealistic young folks hoping to make a difference and old folks giving something back to their community. Have a voiceover emphasizing Obama’s personal commitment to community service, and the way he’s made it a signature issue. Then put up the sarcastic quotes from the GOP convention and repeat the quote from the campaign’s e-mail “Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies.”

Second, let’s not forget in all of this that Palin is about as far out there as you can get on a number of important questions. She wants to ban abortion in all instances, no matter what. She wants to teach creationism. She is opposed to contraceptive use by a married couple. She doesn’t think global warming is anthropogenic. This stuff matters both because of what it says about her, but also because of what it says about who McCain thinks he has to appease, and who he’ll kowtow to if he does get elected. He may not be a cultural crusader in his heart of hearts, but that’s irrelevant. All that matters is that he thinks he’s beholden to them and will govern accordingly.

I mean, seriously. This ticket wants not only to overturn Roe. They want a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.

UPDATE: One last thought riffing on that quote from Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, that “This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.”

Can this be the moment when we collectively as a nation finally give up the ghost on this preposterous notion that Obama never follows through on specifics? I dare anyone who makes this claim with a straight face to watch his speech and McCain’s, to check their respective campaign websites, or to simply pick a relevant issue and delve into it. Put even the slightest bit of work into this and it’s clear that the gulf in details, policy prescriptions, promises for implementation, tactics, and strategy is enormous and it’s in Obama’s favor almost across the board.

Hey all, it’s been a slow summer around here, but I should be getting back into the swing of posting over the next few weeks. To ease myself in, I’ll start with something easy and formulaic: a lament about a record that fails to live up to the hopes inspired by one fantastic song.

This time around the culprit is Love Psychedelico. Half Japanese-half British, drawing heavily from both languages, with bright hooks and pop explosions. I fell in love with them a few years back on hearing “Your Song” which drew together the very best of all those components.

So I was excited to hear they had a new album This Is Love Psychedelico which was getting some very positive reviews. Sadly, when I investigated further, it turned out to just be a compilation of tracks from their old albums (all of which I’d sampled but none of which I own) packaged for an international release. Even more sadly, as I listened I realized that I don’t really like the band so much as I just adore the one track.

Apart from “Your Song,” it all falls a little flat for me. There’s nothing strictly wrong here. It just feels a little bit too heavy. Maybe it’s a deliberate choice that just doesn’t speak to me. Many of these songs draw much more from the 70s classic rock genre than the far more J-pop friendly space occupied by “Your Song.”

But even where the genre differences fade, there’s still something missing that’s difficult to define. It’s always sad when you realize just how hard it is to capture that perfect sound – to make a song delve into you so deep that it makes your whole body sing. The best songs sound effortless, but if it were that easy they would be easy to reproduce. And sadly, there are a lot of bands who strike gold once but can never quite capture the same lightning in a bottle again.

Perhaps, for me at least, Love Psychedelico is simply one of those bands.

Your Song – Love Psychedelico

Sarah Palin? Really?

Anyways, I’m finally in California getting settled in. Posting will probably resume on a semi-regular basis in about a week, including a travelogue of my trip out west, with pictures and a soundtrack. Exciting, no?

Kick This City – Kara Keith

My review of the latest effort from The Headlights is on its way, but in the meantime, here’s a song from Kara Keith that would have slotted in wonderfully on their 2006 gem Kill Them With Kindness. It features a bluesy piano riff, synthesizers to provide some atmosphere, and a chorus that comes crashing back at you like a volley from Roger Federer.

Trials and Errors – Dogs Die In Hot Cars

The kind of slow-building, easy-moving song that never surprises but satisfies by providing every element in precisely the right dose. And I also am a sucker for that late-80s George Harrison guitar sound. Dogs Die in Hot Cars broke up, but then they didn’t. So now they’re working on their second album, and want some help producing the final version.

First Kiss – They Might Be Giants

Strange to say, this is the 500th post here. This is particularly exciting since at my current posting pace, I’ll not going to reach 1000 until somewhere in mid-2013. For now, I just thought it would be interesting to go back to the very first thing I wrote here: my top albums list for 2005 – see how my opinions have changed over the years and to see how well the sounds of a few years ago have stood up. And, since virtually all of these acts have released their follow-up in the intervening time, it’s useful for me to think about how they are progressing as artists.

Not sure if this will be interesting for anyone but me, but feel free to skip onto something else if you want.

1. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Absolutely. If anything, my opinion of this record has grown. Really, the only flaw was revealed when he released the outtakes a year later and we got a chance to wonder how he possibly could have left “The Henney Buggy Band” off this one.

2. Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy
Another record which has only grown in my estimation, mostly based on hearing them live and experiencing the raggedness and raw power of these songs more personally.

3. New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
4. Stars – Set Yourself On Fire
Both very good (and far, far better than their successors), but as time goes one, I find myself only really listening to five or six tracks on each with any regularity. And “The Bleeding Heart Show” is one of a handful of songs that is in competition for song of the decade.

5. British Sea Power – Open Season
6. Decemberists – Picaresque
7. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning
What was I thinking? Good records, for sure, but no way these should have been ranked this high. The first two followed up with better albums, while the new Bright Eyes record was fairly dull.

8. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary
Still a very singular record. Has stood the test of time well.

9. The National – Alligator
The first one to be severely underrated. Honestly, this would likely be my #3 for the year now. Okkervil River is clearly the best (and most consistently good) band in the world right now, but The National have a good case for being #2.

10. Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree
“This Year” is a truly fantastic song, but the rest of the record has faded a little bit for me.

11. Mendoza Line – Full of Light and Full of Fire
Another one that should have been rated higher, based almost solely on the strength of two songs: “Catch a Collapsing Star” and “The Lethal Temptress” – both of which are among my favorite songs of the past five years.

12. My Morning Jacket – Z
The first serious mistake. What in the world was I thinking? I haven’t listened to this record in over a year, and have no desire to now. Everything I found uninteresting about Z was made clear in the trainwreck that is their newest record. Anyways, this was my first taste of buying into the hype. Lots of people said this was a good record and I had liked some of their earlier stuff, so I just assumed it was. Meh.

13. Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
As I mentioned yesterday this one has grown on me a lot. I gave it another chance on Beth’s recommendation and discovered it was a lot more sophisticated and appealing than I had thought. Still a bit of a drop from the heights of their earlier work, but Plans is nothing to be ashamed of.

14. Eels – Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
15. Cardigans – Super Extra Gravity
A perfect couple records for #14 and #15 – nothing to astonish you, but a lot of nice songs.

16. The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday
I agree with my assessment from the time in all respects but one: I drastically underrated “How a Resurrection Really Feels” which in one five minute song encapsulates everything that The Hold Steady has wanted their last three or four records to be.

17. Bruce Springsteen – Devils and Dust
Not as good as some of Bruce’s other recent records (Magic and The Rising), but substantially better than the similarly themed Ghost of Tom Joad.

18. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
19. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Meh. I listen occasionally, but can’t say these flavors of ‘05 have stuck with me much.

20. Aimee Mann – The Forgotten Arm
I was hesitant to include this one then, and really shouldn’t have. It’s okay, but I haven’t really loved anything from Aimee Mann in a long time.

And on Honorable Mention that I got totally wrong:
Sleater-Kinney – The Woods.
How in the world did I leave this one so low? It’s (to my ears) their best record. “Modern Girl” is amazing, “Let’s Call It Love” and “Entertain” are colossal. And there’s virtually no weak moments. Should’ve been in the top 10.

Cath… – Death Cab for Cutie

I passed judgment too quickly on their last album (the slightly lackluster but often beautiful Plans), so I’m going to wait a long time before I officially declare this one a dud. But in the meantime, let me just suggest that the latest effort from one of my favorite bands of the early aughts is…well…a bit of a dud. Death Cab has always been a band who mixed in their fair share of washouts along with the great songs. But up until now they’ve kept the balance firmly on the positive side. There were the virtually flawless records (The Photo Album and the Forbidden Love EP), and those that mixed some weak tracks with at least one track that could leave you speechless (“Title Track,” for example, which completely made up for the dull points over the rest of We Have the Facts…)

This time, though, the noise to quality ratio has tilted strongly in the wrong direction. The one thing you’re likely to get from almost any review of Narrow Stairs is a mention of how they’ve moved back to some of their more lo-fi dark indie rock roots. Gone is the wall-to-wall mainstream feel that infused some of their more recent works. However, what many reviews seem to gloss over is that the stylistic revival has not been accompanied by the quality of songwriting that characterized those early records.

To make things worse, they’ve held onto some of the more annoying efforts to liven up their sound. “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” for example, is like a bad 2001 Death Cab song combined with a bad 90s jam-rock band. “I Will Possess Your Heart” begins with a preposterously long introduction that is tedious within the first 45 seconds and agonizing after four and a half minutes when it abruptly ends and feeds into a song that wants to wants to make you feel the beat but can’t bring even an iota of warmth. “No Sunlight” sounds to me like a b-side throwaway from the Transatlanticism sessions.

Going back even further, Narrow Stairs features a number of songs that remind me a great deal of Something About Airplanes, but none even remotely approach the bite of a “Champagne from a Paper Cup” or the delicate power of a “Your Bruise.”

Combine this with the painful sweetness of “The Ice is Getting Thinner” and “Your New Twin Sized Bed” and you are left with a record of two minds. One that is cold and lifeless – another that tries much too hard to pull your heartstrings. What made earlier Death Cab albums so fascinating was Ben Gibbard’s talent at bringing these two worlds together. This time around, however, it is mostly a failure – like a 13 year old kid and his father’s business partner sitting alone at a table trying to avoid making eye contact while the parents are in the kitchen.

The one clear exception to all this being “Cath…” which has quickly become one of my of favorite Death Cab tracks. Here, the impeccable timing between the percussion and guitars, the bass and vocals, creates an immense buildup. It is a strong addition to their catalog and demonstrates that Gibbard still knows what a perfectly constructed song sounds like.

All that said, I expressed dismay at Plans around this time three years ago and much later came to appreciate it a lot more. So we may have to wait and see on this one, too.