Auditory Roadtrip

Perhaps I am a bit late to realize this but, that "radio" button on iTunes is one nifty little feature. I started messing around with it about a week ago and had the good fortune of stumbling upon one station listed as "alternative." It was WFNX Boston and I have to say, I was quickly hooked. During one run between commercial breaks, they played Sublime, Rogue Wave, Shiny Toy Guns, Spoon, Nirvana, and Modest Mouse, to name a few. It was refreshing to hear this one type of music that appeals to me in one place-- no bouncing around from myspace page to myspace page because I don't have the CD, or having to commit to listening to a whole album by one band when I've got auditory ADD at the moment. Not to say that there's not a station around where I live that doesn't have a similar format-- if there is I haven't been listening, but the idea of tuning into a different city and glimpsing life there is kind of exciting. It even makes the commercials more tolerable. It's like driving through a city on a roadtrip and briefly imagining what it would be to call yourself a resident in that place.

If you haven't made a similar discovery, do some exploring when you get a chance.

The Hold Steady Stays Positive

It feels as though I just bought The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls of America and already the band is working on their fourth release, Stay Positive. No word on when it's actually going to hit stores. When I first read the news, I realized I wasn't that excited. The original review I wrote of Boys and Girls was good, but in the months after writing it, their album sank into the oblivion of my record collection. True, quite a few new albums have been added since, but there's got to be some difference if Heavier Things took years to get old and Boys and Girls fizzled after weeks. A review written after a month or so would have been a different one, perhaps. They can't all be dynamite.

I still think the lyrics are clever and very literary but the songs themselves proved to be for the most part, forgettable. Obviously, with any yet-to-be heard album, the potential is endless, but if we're in for another round of boozy lyrics and rock stumbling dangerously close to formulaic...I think I might pass.

Jack Johnson: Sleep Through the Static

The Sleep Through the Static review is finally here! And I've got a few things to say. Since it's release on Feb. 5, there have been several lukewarm reviews, faulting Johnson for attempting to tackle some bigger issues like Iraq, but not really taking it far enough. I don't really agree with that. I see the album as classic, island Jack with flashes of sobriety coated in surfboard wax. If the guy felt the need to make a statement, wouldn't the best way for him to do that be the best way he knows how? He's never going to put out an angry, bitter, resentful, record. He's going use his mellow stylings, his guitar, his snappy, breezy lyrics. So what if he didn't write a follow up to "Eve of Destruction?" I wouldn't imagine his fans would want that.

That said, his lyrics and messages have my approval, from protest to sweet sentiment. As far as everything else, Sleep Through the Static is not In Between Dreams, but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable... perhaps just not as satisfying. The music is still strong, holding the line of appropriate production. Not too stripped, not over done. Standout tracks are "Hope" (though the opening is reminiscent of "Don't Worry, Be Happy"), "If I Had Eyes," and "Go On." Maybe Jackson could have scrapped "Adrift" which is adequately named because it wanders and it's on the slow side. I'd rather he not dabble too much below the range of mid-tempo.

Overall, it's a good album and all this poo-pooing by critics is ridiculous and bored whining from people trying to write an edgy and snobby review at the expense of someone who doesn't deserve it.

The Grammys Were...

After several years of sheer suckiness, the 2008 Grammys pretty much fell right in line with its predecessors. Awards shows are hard to take but the prospect of a gathering of so many artists can be tantalizing enough to make me keep hopelessly tuning in. It's gotten to the point where it feels like some unattainable dream, seeing power performances for free, one right after another without idiotic speeches and mind-numbing banter in between. Here's how it went down.

THE GOOD

YAY! FOR WINO: Despite an irony laden performance of "Rehab," Amy Winehouse sounded pretty good and hers was one of the few performances of the night that actually lived up to the hype.

TINA REMINDS US SHE'S BETTER THAN BEYONCE: No contest there, kids. A logical pairing but in the end...Turner is a powerhouse. Points for being able to move it like that at 68. There are 40 year olds who would not have survived the song.

ROCK GODS JOIN THE MORTALS: Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and John Fogerty brought a bit of clout to the show which hardly had any of the old guard present to show all these young'uns how it's done. Where was Chuck Berry?!

RHAPSODY IN BLUE: So excellent...but Herbie Hancock's win? Who saw that coming? Admittedly, I was rooting for Amy WInehouse. The more I think about it, the more I think she got robbed.

THE BAD

ANYTHING KANYE: The man is a walking ego trip-- scratch that--walking, glowing, ego trip. All swipes directed at West were well received here at TMI.

MAYER AND LEGEND GET SHAFTED: In possibly the most thankless roles in Grammy history, John Mayer played for all of 30 seconds at the end of "No One" and John Legend accompanied the(at best) mildly talented Fergie. What a waste.

THE BEATLES GET SHAFTED: 40 years after Sgt. Pepper and we've got circus freaks and a performance of a song off an album that wasn't supposed to be released in the first place? It would seem that if the Grammy people could get Ringo to show up, they'd ask him to perform because, you know...that would have been AWESOME and potentially redemptive.

ARETHA WON'T SHUT UP: Yes, she's super talented. Yes, there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing." No, a choir is not the most original concept executed at the Grammys

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS: So, here we have some of the greatest musicians to grace the planet and all we can afford them is a name mention and a five second montage. Can you feel the love?

WHO THE %$^%$# IS ELDAR?: I half expected a hobbit to traipse out on to the stage and sit at the piano. Oh, the levity...and lack of last name, apparently.

Good grief, I'm done. Stay tuned for a Sleep Through the Static review coming your way hopefully within the week.

The National: Boxer

After waiting for months and jumping through hoops to find this album, I wasn't sure if I'd want to hear it for fear of realizing that it wasn't going to be what I was expecting...which was something as introspective and musically adept as a Death Cab album with the grace just short of a symphony. At this point I'd say that what I was expecting was fairly accurate. It's hard to avoid repeating that same observations that reviewers have already made, whether it's comparing Matt Berninger's voice to various liquors or discussing the obvious theme of growing up, as in standing at that point in life where you have to abandon your Converse for something clean and shiny, a shoe that hurts more than your feet when you walk. However, the latter is a worthy topic and I can imagine there are many who can relate to the lyrics in "Mistaken for Strangers" which paint a melancholy picture of life's inevitable progression.

"Showered and blue-blazered...you get mistaken for strangers by your own friends...another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults." Or there's the familiar jarring effect of growing out of your group of friends-- from "Green Gloves--" regardless of what you intend and even though it seems to be only you with this problem. "Falling out of touch with all my friends are some where getting wasted, hope they stay glued together, I have arms for them." Imagery plays a big role in this album making discussion of the mundane seems anything but. It's elegant yet tragic and best summed up in a line from "Slow Show," "everything I love gets lost in drawers."

You won't find cohesive, complete narratives but Berninger does a good job of creating tableaux from these glimpses of life.

At times the instrumental layers are reminiscent of Greetings from Michigan by Sufjan Stevens-- intricate and intriguing, with a light coating of sophistication. As it turns out, Stevens actually played piano on two of the tracks. Glancing down the liner notes reveals the use of bassoons, cellos, violas, organs, and a French horn for good measure. Several tracks, like "Squalor Victoria" feature strong drumming which makes for an interesting contrast against songs that delicately rise and swell from nowhere and wind up pinned down under said drums.

One standout is "Apartment Story," about a couple giving in to their normal, unremarkable existence. There's a smidgen of distortion, a bit of buzz which makes for welcome dose of edge. Other favorites include "Slow Show" and "Start a War," but picking them proves challenging because of how consistent Boxer is. There's not a song that clearly sits apart form the rest and there is certainly not a song that should have been left off. It really is quite an album and it just begs for close inspection, musically and lyrically otherwise much would be missed.