Heartache With Hard Work

I don’t casually toss around the “album of the year” phrase, so when I say something is in the running for that title, even in May, there’s a good chance it’ll stand the test of time.

With that in mind, let me say that The Midnight Organ Fight, the sophomore effort from the Scottish Trio Frightened Rabbit, is my favorite record of the year so far.

Trying to write about this band is difficult because they’re very hard to classify. No, strike that. The problem is really that they’re all to easy to classify. You just point out the Scottish brogue, churning guitars, melancholic lyrics, and some dreamily orchestral folk. If you want to get specific you bring up The Twilight Sad, and maybe mention Snow Patrol if you’re feeling impish.

It’s not that anything I just wrote is wrong per se, it’s just…not enough. It would be like trying to explain the structure of the universe without mentioning dark matter. You can do it in a manner that will satisfy a lot of folks, but for anyone who really wants to delve deeper, it’s an agonizingly incomplete description.

Because underneath the easy comparisons are many others. To start, this is a tremendously strong percussive record. In that respect, it reminds me a great deal of The National. There’s “I Feel Better” which would fit perfectly on Alligator, shot through as it is with a throbbing drum line that ricocheting wildly, but firmly tethered. And then there’s “Fast Blood” guided by the same trype of drum-blitzkrieg. It tears through you like a tornado, leaving you scattered, bewildered.

Elsewhere, the achingly gorgeous “Good Arms vs Bad Arms” calls to mind Okkervil River with its delicate interplay between swooping slide-guitar and punctuated bass notes. And if that’s not enough, there’s the guitar interlude starting at about 3:10 which leaves you waiting breathlessly for a Will Sheff vocal to leap out. And then there’s the ramshackle backyard-folk feel of “Old Old Fashioned” which sounds like standing in the shoals of a clear mountain stream.

On another note entirely is the very short “Extrasupervery” which rolls like a fog down the Northern hills, and conveys atmosphere far better than many bands who do this sort of thing exclusively.

But comparisons can only take you so far. I can’t think of another band in the world right now who could have found quite the balance of this record. There’s a terrible fragility that courses through it. Part is in the timbre of the vocals, which enables lines like “I might not want you back, but I want to kill him” or “it takes more than fucking someone you don’t know to keep warm” to sound entirely believable.

Another part is in the songwriting. One showcase song here is the late-album highlight “Poke,” which may their most perfectly constructed song, if not necessarily my favorite. It’s incredibly intimate, like being deep down in the soul of someone – a place that even they can’t fully tap into. It keeps you absolutely spellbound, as you get sucked into the tragedy, the deep regret, the pain that feels like it will drag you under. I can feel it in every bone of my body, the way memories flood back (“Should look through some old photos / I adored you in every one of those), and you wonder just how you’re going to find your way back.

Another highlight in this respect is “Backwards Walk,” which is gut-wrenchingly beautiful and ragged. It’s driven by a single guitar line that holds you tantalizingly close. And is topped off by a final line that is overwhelming in its expression of self-loathing: “you’re the shit and I’m knee-deep in it.” Songs like these convey a sense of the agonizing clarity that can accompany our worst decisions, as well as the kernel of hope that we hold on to in order to keep ourselves afloat.

This becomes most apparent when you reach the album’s centerpiece, the absolutely masterful “Head Rolls Off.” It driven by an easy jangle – and perhaps the best hook they’ve yet managed – absolutely unique to them. It’s a quiet strength, a resoluteness of will that can only be expressed in the context of the general bleakness of the record. In the midst of a series of tales of the downtrodden and depressed, this is the return home. And when the first chorus hits, it’s a moment of absolute joy, of contemplation, and of clarity.

When it’s all gone
Something carries on
And it’s not morbid at all
Just when natures had enough of you…
When my blood stops,
Someone else’s will not
When my head rolls off
Someone else’s will turn
And while I’m alive, I’ll make tiny changes to earth

And it’s all right there. The meaningless of grand plans, the temporality of our lives. The fear this inspires in us, but the fundamental optimism of it all. We are temporary, but there is more to my self than mere existence. My friends, my family, my loves, my hopes, my tiny contributions…these are all shared and they continue long after me. What we used to look for in God we now see reflected back in the world around us, in the eyes of a million hopeful souls, living, loving, singing, dancing, touching hands, writing stories.

In the end, if human existence is to be justified in the face of all the misery and pain we cause, it will never be because of any grand cause or achievement. Instead, it’s because we fall in love, because we paint pictures, and write songs simply for the joy that comes from making something beautiful. These small kindnesses and shared attempts to pay back one tiny share of the beauty we are all treated to, these are what prove our worth.

This theme is engaged quite literally to end the record with “Floating in the Forth.” In the midst of a pain that feels almost unbearable, you reach a breaking point, a moment of decision. And you say to yourself: Take your life, give it a shake / Gather up, all your loose change / I think I’ll save suicide for another year. The pain doesn’t go away, but it becomes something else, a reason to keep breathing, a catalyst. And so, after all the heart-rending, you emerge, shyly, into the sunshine, squinting a bit at the bright lights but with a smile beginning to form. It’s a delicate subject and in the hands of another band could easily feel cloying or artificial. But here, as a conclusion to this marvelous album, the hope doesn’t feel false.

Head Rolls Off – Frightened Rabbit
Poke – Frightened Rabbit

It’s a tricky dance, negotiating the terrain of uptempo post-New Wave power-pop. You want to be playful, but you don’t people to taste the cotton-candy. You love Joy Division so much that you can’t help but cover them, but you also want to make heads bop. When you strike gold, you end up with an absolutely killer tune, but when you emphasize one element too much the whole thing sort of falls apart.

I mention all this because I’ve been listening to the new record from The Motion Sick, from close-to-home Boston. It’s called The Truth Will Catch You, Just Wait… and it demonstrates pretty clearly many of the pitfalls inherent in this sort of effort, while also demonstrating how well it can work on occasion.

First, the lows. There aren’t really any bad songs, but there are more than a few entirely forgettable ones. Start with “The Owls Are Not What They Seem” – wonderful homage in the title notwithstanding – and album opener “Jean-Paul” which I think it supposed to be sinister and dark, but which comes off to me as dreary and poorly-paced more than anything else. Oh, and that Joy Division cover turns out to be a pretty straightforward version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”

On the other hand, there is the delightfully airy “Walk on Water.” It’s guided by a bouncing, almost alt-country riff and features a chorus which may lose a point or two for corniness but makes it all back up and more for its sheer joy.

And there’s there’s the final track, “30 Lives (Up-Up-Down-Dance Mix)” – yes, that’s the Konami Code, which anyone who also grew up in the 90s will surely recognize. This is a remix of the album’s second tracks, and it is one of those remixes that is sure to divide folks evenly into two categories. The first will insist that it completely ruins a great song. The second will absolutely adore it.

I fall firmly into the second category. Sure, it’s totally ridiculous, but I just can’t resist the exuberance of this version. Anyone can crank out a nice pop melody, but this has a certain joie de vive that is really rare in music.

Walk on Water – The Motion Sick
30 Lives (Up-Up-Down-Down Dance Mix) – The Motion Sick
The Day After – The Motion Sick (from 2006’s Her Brilliant Fifteen)

Holiday In Cambodia – Dead Kennedys

Okay, last week I asked if there was anything more stupid than the recent spat about Obama’s “bitter” comments. In the last several days, that question has been answered. By far the silliest thing yet to happen in this neverending primary season are the gas tax “holiday” proposals from McCain and Hillary.

Beyond just the absurdity of the proposals themselves, there is the very terrifying thought that such pandering actually could prove effective. I find it hard to believe that people could be bamboozeled by something so transparently stupid, but I also can’t imagine that Hillary’s campaign would deliberately shoot itself in the foot, which means they think they have a winner here. Double yikes, all around.

For one thing, it clearly wouldn’t work. It’s not like there’s tons of excess supply. Prices are this high because there’s a finite amount available and people are willing to pay this much. Lower the tax and most of the gap will simply be filled by the producers and retailers raising the price. But even if it did work, it would be mere peanuts compared to the pointless stimulus package (which also won’t work) they already passed.

But most importantly, it gives credence to the idea that gas prices are unfairly high and that gas taxes are an unreasonable imposition on normal people, when precisely the opposite is true. Gas taxes should be higher because we have a clear case of costs (environmental, security, etc.) which are not being properly captured by the market. Taxes should be higher and the new revenue should be recycled into programs that will help resolve oil dependency in both the long and short term. Better public transit, R&D for alternative energy options, more efficient vehicles, etc.

As tensions have run high this primary season, it’s been easy to become disillusioned in the other person, but I’ve already tried to keep in mind that I love both of these candidates a lot and would be ecstatic to see either in the White House. That said, this gas tax thing is the first time I’ve felt the urge to just throw up my hands in despair.

Not because I think it’s the biggest deal in the world. I mean, Iraq, health care, etc. obviously matter far more. But I’m just terribly depressed by what this pandering says about Hillary the candidate. It’s a stand-in for all the things that scare me about her, and a clear example that I am right to worry. Chris Bowers says it all pretty well here, if you want to know all the ins and outs.

Now, as someone who voted for Obama, plays frisbee regularly, and has eaten arugula more than a couple times in the last month, I recognize I’m not exactly her target audience. But still…there has to be a point at which you take a look in the mirror and ask yourself: even if I can win this way, would it be good to do it?

I suggest that if being a Democrat or a progressive is supposed to mean anything, it should mean an encouragement of good arguments, or intelligent debate, of supporting policies and ideas that will make life better. It should be a dismissal of the politics of obfuscation, of trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the electorate. You can stumble from election to election playing that game and win more than a few, but ultimately this country will be a better place if the Left is more interested in making life better for the world than it is in winning at all costs.

Polls close in Indiana and North Carolina in a few hours, so I guess tonight we’ll get to find out if the people have any interest in holding Clinton’s feet to the fire on this preposterous issue.

Another one of those teaser posts, but I just can’t resist. The new record from Mates of State is due out on May 20, and surely will deserve a lengthy review then. But for now, here’s the lead track.

Get Better – Mates of State

I often end up disappointed at follow up records – a band will have my album of the year with one release, but the next won’t strike me nearly as perfectly. It’s perfectly understandable – tastes are extremely fickle and it’s a very rare band who can routinely catch lightning in a bottle.

So I have some trepidations about a new release from Mates of State. After all, they only finally found the perfect refinement of their sound on Bring It Back. Can they replicate it here, without it sounding like a pale imitation? Can they bring in something new without losing the charm and exuberance?

If this track is any sign, the answer is an emphatic yes. It sounds big, and the gentle incorporation of strings adds another layer of depth to the always-excellent keyboard/drums interaction. In this respect they remain among the finest sonic artists around – dabbing chords here and there, building choruses with broad strokes. It’s an impressionist feast that bursts forth into your ears with the lightness and warmth of a summer day.

But there’s also something more, a wonderful tension in the theme: “forget all your politics for a while.” It’s an injunction, but also a plea…can’t we just lose ourselves in everything beautiful? But we can’t help but wonder if the tradeoff inherent in this escapism is worth it. After all, there’s a certain darkness in the central refrain: “everything’s going to get louder, even if it never gets better.”

The record is called Re-Arrange Us, and it’s out May 20, from Barsuk.

In the Night – Basia Bulat

Basia Bulat‘s record came out last year, but I never really got around to giving it a listen until recently. It turns out to be one of the most comfortable, warm, and hummable records in a while. I’m a sucker for this sort of backyard strumming sound (particularly when ukuleles are incorporated), but she has a voice that makes this something a little more special. It’s breathy, sultry, and just a little bit dusty.

A sepia-tinged memory of your childhood home. It’s close to your heart – you came from here after all – but you also know that memory is far from perfect. If you actually stepped back in, you’d be put off by how low the ceilings are, you’d think was the fireplace really over there? and you’d feel just a little bit sad that real life has rudely interfered with a perfectly happy illusion.

Or, to put it another way: you remember the first time you heard 10,000 Maniacs, how Natalie Merchant’s voice struck you as incredibly intimate but simultaneously far removed? Yeah, listening to Basia Bulat reminds me of watching MTV unplugged as a 12 year old kid and wondering just what exactly was going on.

Oh, My Darling came out last year, but didn’t get a US release until this year.

A Small Good Thing – Into Flight

This track is one of the nicer pieces of ambient rock I’ve heard in quite a while. You’ve got all the usual elements: quiet intro, swirling guitars, a wordless chorus, and layers upon layers of churning sound. And, most importantly, it bucks the trend of a lot of music that touches in these genres in that these guys sound like they are having fun. Too often shoegaze acts take the name a bit more literally than they ought to, resulting in music that leaves you feeling listless where it tries to make you soar.

Not here. This is a smiling face lifted to the stars, a voice ringing out through the wide expanse, guitars that each strive to out-do the others. And more concretely, it turns out to be exactly what its name promises: a small good thing that reminds you of the joy in being alive.

Into Flight are a five-piece band out of Norwich, London, who walk the line between poppy shoegaze and atmospheric space rock. They’ve just signed with Pit Viper, and are recording some new tracks, which I’m excited to get my hands on.

Whatever happened to the wave of synth-rock bands? A few years ago, you couldn’t turn around with running into a wall of The Killers, The Bravery, etc. I guess that stuff became passe pretty quickly, which is too bad. I bring it up because I’ve been catching up on some of my favorite blogs and came across a post at Music Of the Moment with an absolutely fantastic new new wave track from Your Vegas, a strong entry in the genre which absolutely blew me away.

In My Head – Your Vegas

It’s all here: a firm, insistent beat, synths and guitars which are the oxygen and fuel, and a chorus line that sets off the spark that blows the whole world apart.

Their debut record is called A Town and Two Cities, and I know this sort of music is deadly to my indie cred, but God help me if it doesn’t sound great.

Ugh, I am so ready for primary season to be over. And yesterday’s result was almost perfect to maximize the annoyance. If Hillary had won resoundingly, it could have actually signaled the return of a real contest. But instead, she won by enough to ensure that she’ll continue running for (probably) months without really doing anything to improve her chances of winning.

The reality is that she has very little chance of winning. And if she does win, it will almost certainly come in a fashion that will incite serious (and justified) anger. Which makes me wish that she would simply state that fact, call on her supporters to unite behind Obama, and let us all focus on beating McCain.

I know this attitude is frustrating for Clinton supporters, so let me explain. First of all, while it’s hard to prove a counterfactual, I can pretty firmly say that if the roles were reversed I would be just as strident in calling for it to be over. I’m an Obama guy, and have been for quite a while, but ultimately I’m a Democrat and a progressive and I want what’s best for the country, not for one person I’ve become invested in. So if it were opposite, if Obama had a virtually insurmountable deficit and was hanging on past his expiration date in the hopes of some stunning comeback, I really think I would ready to call for him to give up.

The problem is that of course there is a case to be made for Hillary sticking around, and of course it’s not “fair” to ask her to bow out when there’s still a non-zero chance of the nomination. And beyond that, it’s difficult to make a case that a candidate should give up when she’s still on track to WIN primaries in big states. But, all that said, there has to be a point when a good person sacrifices for the sake of others.

In order to run for president, you have to have an intense ego and an absolute belief in yourself. But at some point that has to be tempered by a recognition that elections are about 300 million people (or 6 billion people, really), not just 2 or 3. And yes, there is an impressive coalition of die-hard Hillary supporters, but ultimately it’s smaller than Obama’s support. Not much smaller, but there’s a big enough difference in results we’ve already seen that it’s conclusive, clear, and real.

She obviously won’t pull out now, and shouldn’t. But if May 6 goes Obama’s way, I think the case will be strong that it’s time to move on.

An End Has A Start – Editors

I never did get around to reviewing that Editors album last year, did I? Well, you probably know the score already. Ripping off Joy Division (or paying homage to them, depending on your perspective), and doing it very well. And there’s a chance that this album will mark the point where Editors pulled ahead of Interpol in this genre, by the way.

I’m moving to Santa Cruz next year to start my Ph.D., so in honor of the area I thought today would be a perfect day to discuss an artist from that area I’ve been meaning to cover for months now. Reed KD is a Northern California native, whose been around for quite a while, but only came to my attention with the release of his new record The Ashes Bloom.

It’s another entry in the long tradition of acoustic folk-pop, but one of the stronger ones I’ve heard in a while. In particular, it really reminds me of that great Old Canes record from a few years that I absolutely adored. Acoustic instruments, a harmonica, blending together to make a romping tune for a backyard on a summer evening.

Easily my favorite song on the record is “Road Flares,” which is sounds like 60s folk-rock at its most infectious and is driven by a beautiful mandolin riff. But there’s plenty beyond that, from more traditional folk tunes, gentle guitar lines and quiet, introspective vocals (“Travel Sick Blues”), to breezy tunes that teeter on the brink of too-much-pop without quite tumbling over (“You Can Call Me”), to the bluegrass-infused picking of songs like “Three Long Years.”

There’s nothing earth-shattering going on here, but if you’re looking for a nice summer record in the folk tradition, it would be hard to go wrong with The Ashes Bloom. Reed KD is playing all across the country in the next few months – check here for tour dates.

Road Flares – Reed KD

White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes

I love a song where you can tell exactly what it sounds like just from the title. This effort from Seattle’s Fleet Foxes is just such a song. It’s a gorgeous, warm, and bluesy tune that calls to mind My Morning Jacket at their most joyful. It’s an ode to a white blanket of snow, as a pane against which all the merry colors of winter can vibrantly stand. It has that wonderful sense of a round – a wide open sound that still manages to stay enclosed in a gentle arc.

This song is off their upcoming debut album, set for release on June 2 from Sub Pop, but they’ve got an EP out right now to tide you over.