The Killers: Day & Age

A friend of mine once said that if you want to fake your way through the discussion of an album you haven't heard, all you have to say is that the first half of the album was good but after track six, it just went downhill. While I can't vouch for the effectiveness of this strategy, I can say that those words came to mind upon listening to the Killer's third release, Day & Age.

Last year when Sawdust came out, I remember saying that "Tranquilize" sounded like the place somewhere in between Hot Fuss and Sam's Town, all the band's nostalgia and love for the west, dipped in 80's synth. Day & Age occupies that space exactly.

"Losing Touch" gets it going, featuring synth as well as some other unexpected instrumentation, like saxophone, making its first and definitely not last appearance. It's 80's sax. You know exactly what I mean, the kind that makes you think of blazers with the sleeves rolled up.

Next up is "Human," the much-debated single, tinged with brooding synth and questionable lyrics. On it's own, posing the question "are we human, or are we dancer" seems pretty forced, a weak attempt at depth, but within the context of the album, it works. Between the album artwork and that synthed-out desperado vibe, Day & Age is like someone drove out to the desert at sunset, parked the car and started having a minor emotional/mental/spirtiual crisis.

Even though Flowers hasn't donned eyeliner in a while, there's a drama to the Killers that means you just have to roll with it and take the music for what it is and from whom it's coming. The "dancer" line has gotten so much attention, no one has acknowledged the preceding line which says "and I'm on my knees looking for the answer." It's the most earnest and most relatable line of the album. In any case, "Human" begs multiple successive plays.

That said, "Spaceman" tops it. Alien abduction never sounded so cool. You just want to sing along as Flowers does some of his best uncertain warbling and straining. There are definitely shades of "Read My Mind" in there amid the blips. This is undoubtedly the best song on the album.

After that powerful trio comes "Joy Ride," an energetic, galloping south-of-the-border type tune followed up by "A Dustland Fairlytale." That's the line where the album starts losing steam. The latter tells a good story, points for the line "he looked just you'd want him to, some kind of slick chrome American prince," but ultimately "Joy Ride" is the last real kicker.

This is not to say that the listener should just kill the album after the fifth track, but the shift in quality is most striking because the best songs came one right after another instead of spread out.

While "Human" and "Spaceman" live up and even surpassed their hype, "Neon Tiger" falls short. It's fairly bland, forgettable, and unimpressive. Album-closer "Goodnight, Travel Well" is just too dark and foreboding, detracting from the record's overall stylistic cohesiveness. Sounds like someone was having a bad day. Plus, it's nearly 7 minutes long. Day & Age probably could have done without it.

Lately, it's cool to hate on the Killers, so I'll say this: there's good and mediocre on this album, tracks that buzz and bleep in 80's infused glory and tracks that simply underwhelm. Potentially the most important fact though, is that those really great tracks are solid enough to make anyone commit to the group and tell the snobs to go screw themselves. If you like a band, own up to it. They're yours. Deal with it.

Even if feathers have no place on epaulets.

The National Get Going on New Album

Billboard delivered some good news yesterday. Brooklyn-based orch-pop group The National has started writing a new album and plan to record in April. No word on a release date just yet, but it's good to know the band has got something in the pipeline.

Just a year ago they were on the cover of Paste with Boxer voted top album. It should be interesting to gauge not only their fan base's growth but loyalty. Boxer was a "career-best," according to Billboard. 147,000 copies is pretty respectable.

In any case, TMI is looking forward to it.

Their Hearts Were Full of Spring...Err...Winter

I got a press release a little while ago and then a follow up email Monday regarding Their Hearts Were Full of Spring. It seems this lovely band has got themselves a bit of an ongoing project, recording season-appropriate songs for giveaway this year. You can check/get those here. I haven't gotten a good chance to listen to the covers of Fleet Foxes' "White Winter Hymnal" and Neil Young's "Winterlong," but I've got high expectations for these folks. The other part of the deal is that you can buy the limited-edition cds at their shows, but for those of us on this side of the Atlantic, the downloads will have to suffice.

I like the idea, it suits them well and also it means that there's more from THWFOS on the way. Can't complain about that. Someday it would be terrific to walk into a record store (you know what I mean) and lay hands on an LP. In the meantime, apparently they have a blog as well, so sit tight and we'll keep our fingers crossed.

The Killers review should be up sometime tomorrow and of course, TMI Top 10 Discoveries of 2008 will follow shortly after.

Peace

Santa Better Bring Some Death Cab

Death Cab for Cutie re-issued their first album, Something About Airplanes, on the 25th of November and I just found out this morning. I am ashamed. Also, disproportionately excited. Between new artwork, new liner notes, and a second disc with a 1998 performance at Seattle's Crocodile Club, this promises to be the only present under the tree that I care about this season. Ben Gibbard talked with (that rag) Entertainment Weekly and the interview is actually quite interesting, not so much for the interviewer's skill but for Gibbard's stories and general ability of expression. Anyway, there's today's reason to dance a little bit.

TMI Mini Mix

If you use Blogger, you might have seen that iLike now has a widget for blogs, so in essence you can stick your tunes right on your blog and readers can listen without leaving the page. I think it's a terrific little feature, so I'm doing away with the Inclined Toward sidebar and replacing it with the TMI Mini Mix. Inclined Toward was basically a links list of 10 songs that I'd been listening to. Due to the number of songs and my absent-mindedness, it wasn't getting updated as often I'd have liked. It would get stale, in other words.

TMI Mini Mix differs in a few ways. For one, it will be brand spanking new at the start of every month. Also, it's a mix (no kidding) so I'll be indulging my secret love of putting together mix tapes (more like playlists and cds these days) to create a combination of songs that go well together in some respect.

This month, I found on iLike a song by Their Hearts Were Full of Spring called "As long as the Sun Shines" that I hadn't heard. You can get it as a free mp3 from iLike, FYI. I love this band greatly, so I just built the mix around their instrumentation and overall sunniness.

Feedback is always welcome. Enjoy.

Imagine

I was just weeding through my RSS feeds when I saw on Rolling Stone that today is the 28th anniversary of John Lennon's death. Obviously, this is a yearly occurrence, but for some reason this time around I couldn't help but think that 28 years is really a long time.

Part of my reaction to this though, stems from a documentary I watched a few weeks ago about the 60s. In one section it talked about Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Keith Moon with regards to how young they died. Granted all their deaths were drug-related unlike Lennon and I don't think I'd put him in a talent level on his own with Hendrix, but still I was wondering what would have happened if these folks had even made it to 40. Think about it. Talent-wise, they were so far ahead to begin with, imagine 30, 40 years of tours and albums. Especially with Hendrix, it hardly seems as though he could have gotten any better. What's deeper than basically being one with the guitar? I'm sure we'll never know.

Peace, kids.

Adventures in Bustin' Out of the House

I've always wanted to be that person who has an arsenal of quirky cool stories, the kind that start out, "this one time in college," or whatever the case may be. Honestly, those stories aren't terribly difficult to come by, it just takes stepping outside your front door, preferably after 10 p.m.

That said, when my friend asked me if I'd like to go with her to this funky little coffee house (that I don't go to as often as I'd like) to see a friend of hers play a gig, I didn't even hesitate. For one, this coffee house is the type of place where the cool kids go. In high school these people were the strange artsy ones with massive Sharpie collections and no interest in anything remotely close to Top 40. They were they forgotten tribe in the corner of the cafeteria but these days we're living in the city where the jocks and the preps are uncultured and merely vanilla. That's not to say that's all who frequent the place, but the scales are tipped in their favor.

We arrived at some point in the 10 o'clock hour and it wasn't particularly packed. Things don't really get jumping until it's past what the average older person would deem a respectable bedtime. After snagging some hot chocolate and forking over $5 for a three-act evening of Jesus-friendly hip-hop (I kid you not). We met up with my friend's friend, a compact bundle of constant motion who goes by the stage name James Fate. After making some room on the bench next to the band, I was ready for some serious people watching.

From here, there are a couple roads to take.

A) The Place- The show was in the Back Stage Bar. There were some tables set up and our red bench on the side wall. It was the kind of room you expect to have been filled with smoke and smelling of beer, but only the latter was true and to a small degree. Dim lights, the glow of neon, and not enough room to take my jacket off. There's not much between the performer and the audience.

B) The People- The people were the best part. You had said artsy types, a kid at a table selling art work (namely alligators wearing hoodies and girl jeans), looking like the intersection between indie scene and urban. There were the kinds of people who were probably at Bonnaroo this summer, dreads, circular dance moves and all. One girl in particular....we weren't really sure if she was drunk or just really...ehh...you know the type. I'll put it like this, for the first two acts, she was the only one dancing. Then there was the photographer and his girlfriend who were sitting next to me. Slightly above the median age, but so ready to get in the middle of the music.

That was one thing that struck me, a few months ago I read some editorial complaining about how some people don't dance at concerts. I say it's none of my business, but it did make me tune in last night to who was acting how. In a couple cases, the music started up and even if it wasn't that great, there was this willingness and readiness to just sink into it regardless. The head bobbing and grooving with closed-eyes, submerging in the meaning of every beat. For me, I do little more than tap my foot. I operate like a radar at these things because I know I'll be writing about it. The photog's girlfriend on the other hand was searching for some musical catharsis and community, periodically turning to me to make a comment and always moving with the sounds in her own little space. They looked happy.

C) The Music- Like I mentioned, The Holla, which is a hip-hop night type thing. Our buddy there, James Fate was the Jesus-friendly part. The other two? I couldn't understand enough lyrics to know. (EDIT: my sources tell me all three were Jesus-friendly, in fact.)

First up was a guy calling himself 247 and his band the Three65s. He was funny, one of those people who states the obvious but with quirky comedic flair. You have no idea why you are laughing. Anyway, with only a bass player and drummer, it was really stripped down. It started off pretty cool but there wasn't enough variation between each song. Still, 247 had a good stage presence. You can watch a clip here.

Second was a guy (W-T the Musical Mastermind-- wouldn't go that far) who looked like Steve from the Sarah Silverman program. I've never seen anyone break a sweat that quickly. He was very intense, but given the fact that he was the middle act, the crowd only seemed mildly interested as he tried to start up some audience participation.

Last was James Fate (né Nate James). What a character. He did his best to "show love" to the other performers. One song in particular is pretty catchy, "Just a Dream" which is basically every musician's inner thoughts about how great it would be to make it and leave behind the day job etc. It's more Maroon 5 than hip-hop, though (think "Tangled"). He definitely and undoubtedly was the crowd favorite.

Anyway, this entry is longer than I intended, but it was a good night and it was great to go out and hear music that I normally would not listen to. There's more to tell, but your attention span is probably on the wane right now. Spice of life, folks. Here's to bustin' out of the house.

The Killers review is coming soon. Stay tuned, kids.