Neutral Milk Hotel

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea AND On Avery Island will be reissued on vinyl? Yahoo! So what if it's been over a decade since they've released a song? I'm still excited for the reissues and am placing the disks on my Wish List. (Also on the Wish List is a record player, but hey, one conquest at a time.)

The day Neutral Milk Hotel announces pre-production, the music world will cream their pants in giddy joy. And for once, I will join the masses in this feat.

I decided to pick up those albums mentioned in the last post. Brand New. Monster of Folk (even though I got the leak two weeks ago, but here's to supporting music). Or, the Whale. Islands. Of the records acquired, I recommend the latter two albums. Strictly for the face that both albums are amazing. Nuff said.

Gone and Back

Sorry for the hiatus, work has done a disappearing act on all of my free time. In the meanwhile, here's a playlist of current favorite songs:

• Orenda Fink - High Ground
• Conor Oberst & MVB - The Reason #2
  
• Rural Alberta Advantage - The Dethbridge in Lethbridge
• Friendly Fires - White Diamonds
• Fleet Foxes - Your Protector
• The Choir of Young Believers - She Walks

And now for a list of yet to be released albums I'm looking forward to hear:

• "Daisy" by Brand New
• "Vapours" by Islands
• "Ask the Night" by Orenda Fink
• "Earthly Delight" by Lightning Bolt
  

Finally, a list of artists with albums slated for this year that I'm slightly intrigued by but won't necessarily go out of my way to listen to:

• Dashboard Confessional (those songs about heartbreak and self-loathing better play over more than 3 chords or I'm giving you the "one trick pony" card, Chris Carrabba)
  
• Backstreet Boys (seriously??)
• Creed (wow, I guess Scott Strapp got tired of being poor and wants to bang the Christian anthem for more money)
• OK Go (produced by David Fridmann and entitled "The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Color of the Sky?" Bring on the Flaming Lips comparisons!)
• 30 Seconds to Mars (hahahahaha, you're a band?)

And with Pavement announcing their reunion tour, I wonder which Britpop bands from the 90s are left to reunite? Blur's back, Oasis is halved, and Jarvis Cocker is enjoying his tweed art professor look too much to reunite Pulp. So Suede's left. Really, that's it?

Congratulations Courtney on being smarter than the average bear. Gold star!

The Wooden Birds

If the American Analog Set had an older, more mature cousin, it would be the Wooden Birds. It's Andrew Kenny's new brainchild, so don't be surprised if you recognize the similarities in the songwriting. The sparse, dreamy sound of AmAnSet pervades Magnolia but it's not a hindrance. Kenny builds on it so we're given a 38 minute lullaby of rich harmonies (with Leslie Sisson's assistance) backed by layers of percussion. Each plucked note is crisp like the crunch of autumn leaves beneath footsteps. The vocals have a instrumental role versus a storyteller. And did I mention the harmonies? These are twelve tightly wounded songs; what more do you need?

The stand out track for me is "Seven Seventeen," which musically seemed like a cute song. Until I looked at the lyrics and realized that I now have a favorite song about pedophilia. Oh, young romance and your statutory age laws. But really, take the song from a rose-tinted glasses view and assume it's about meeting cute. Instead of my dark, To Catch a Predator stance.

They're currently on tour with Great Lake Swimmers, who I believe everyone should also check out. In the meanwhile, here's a video for "Hometown Fantasies":

Monsters of Folk

Monsters of Folk.

Monsters. Of. Folk.

Let's try that one more time: Monsters of Folk. Okay, I still don't believe the so-called supergroup named themselves as such. Sure, it's a testimony to their status in the indie folk community but it also seems like the most expensive inside joke. MOF comprises of Conor Oberst, M. Ward (also in She&Him), Mike Mogis (of Bright Eyes), and Jim James (of My Morning Jacket.) Their back story finds the four musician playing on each other's set five years ago that a collaboration was eminent.

Here we are in 2009 and from the songs released so far, it sounds like somebody put together a Bright Eyes/M. Ward/My Morning Jacket mesh. There doesn't seem to be a cohesive feeling on the tracks leaked so far, hence my disappointment. Individually, each track has it merits as well as faults. "Dear God" rolls over this lush drum loop. "Between The Sandman, The Brakeman, And Me" carries a jaunty guitar line under smile-worthy harmonies. "Temazcal" must have been left off the track list for Outer South while the chorus in "Magic Marker" shows their songwriting as their weakest. "Say Please" trails as a continuation of "Handle with Care" from Jenny Lewis' debut album. Basically, we've got the Travelling Wilburys stretched out on fifteen tracks.

The album as a whole wobbles on unsure feet of where to walk: Do we go with a Oberst song or a James song? Maybe we'll throw Ward's vocal over Oberst's lyrics? Monsters of Folk teeters and totters on potential only to topple underneath old ideas and familiar territory. Worst yet, these are four very talented men and three come with weighted musical histories. I'm not surprised by my disappointment in a sense. Their collaboration doesn't work as we're rehashing An Evening With Jim James, M. Ward, and Bright Eyes. People can shit bricks over this album but I'm going to wipe my ass and walk away. Let me know when each respective band releases their next album as these tracks might as well be b-sides to old records.

If you must, listen at their myspace.

Mismatched?

Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johannson? Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourg? My expectations are officially set to low for their collaborative albums. For a number of legitimate reasons:

1. Pete Yorn hasn't released a decent song since his debut musicforthemorningafter. That was in 2001.
2. Did anyone actually listen to ScarJo's Anywhere I Lay My Head? No? Don't worry, you weren't the only one. Limited vocal range overwhelmed by the production. Only one original song amidst the Tom Waits covers. It's frustrating because she had Dave Sitek and Nick Zinner among other backing musician on this album, yet we're still left with her dispassionate drone.
3. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck are on opposite sides of the music field. He gave us Sea Changes, which I loved and can't fault him. She gave us 5:55, which was a much more decent version of ScarJo's debut.

Maybe this just means actresses shouldn't become musicians. Though I now wonder if Jared Leto will team up with Cat Powers. That would be the best practical joke ever. Next to Ryan Adams marrying Mandy Moore.

Wait, Adams and Moore ARE married? What an odd, odd pairing.

Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson's Break Up is set for release on September 8. Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourg's IRM is out January of next year. I'll be shaking sleeping in my boots in anticipation.

Alela Diane

From the Northwest, I bring Alela Diane who channels the 1960s Joan Baez and today's Joanna Newsom in her voice, which in my book is two thumbs up. The Pirate's Gospel caught my eye one day and while expecting jaunty tunes (with an album title like that, how could you not?), I was surprised to find a songbird with only a guitar backing her voice. To Be Still was released this year on Rough Trade so it fortunately received the production quality Pirates deserved. Pirates holds a DIY status in my heart but with tracks like "Age Old Blue" and the opener "Dry Grass & Shadows," I'm glad To Be Still did not play like unpolished demos.

With lap steels, strings, and drums to occasionally back Diane's warm voice and guitar, she elevates above a street busker as these instrument add a sharp emphasis on her voice. The clang of a cymbal reinforces her regret. The vibrato of the steel strings lulls us into her lyrical tales of wandering love, her childhood, and family. The cello's bow sweeps one back and forth on "White as Diamonds" as she croons how "our lives are buried in snow." It's an album to play on a cloudy Sunday afternoon as you curl up with a book.

So if you enjoy the folk scene or slightly intrigued by what it has to offer, Alela Diane is a good start. Then you can work your way backwards to Guthrie, Seeger, Dylan, and Baez. Best track is "Age Old Blue." Start there if anything.

To Be Still - Alela Diane

P.S. Off to see Conor and the gang tonight. If you don't hear from me, I've strapped myself to the bottom of their tour van and have talked my way into their hearts to be their merch girl. But really, photos/reviews/lavish praise of the show on Monday.

Friendly Fires

Vocalist Ed MacFarlane is a hip swiveling, dance fiend. Thus, adoration in its purest form is reserved for him. For a band who started off as postpunk hardcore ten years ago, it's amazing to see how the Friendly Fires have developed into their current state. Their self-titled debut album is a frenzy of pop and electronica with bass lines brought to the front. A friend of mine wasn't too pleased with their live show, stating if he wanted to hear their music, he would listen to A Certain Ratio instead. It's easy to see the influence as any band backed by horns with looped guitars and synths could illicit the comparison but Friendly Fires doesn't capture the lo-fi vocals of A Certain Ratio, nor do they try to. FF relies on, oddly, cowbells. Listen to any track and they're prominent along with Edd Gibson's fuzzy guitar.

I didn't plan to review their self-titled album as that's what Spin, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone are for. (But if you read Rolling Stone after 1990, you don't have a soul as that paper is only good for wiping your ass.) But how else will I convince any to listen to Friendly Fires without praising their debut? I originally planned on posting my favorite tracks but my exuberance from Sunday night's show has exceeded my sense of logic. That aside, my favorite tracks: "White Diamonds" and "Photobooth." The former channels Depeche Mode while the latter track loops a disco drum and bass line. Lyrically, none of these tracks will be awarded a Nobel in literature. The underlying message to nearly all of the songs is: Boy and Girl are good friends. Cross the friendship line and you have heartbreak and regret.

It's a dance/rock album so, I say dance. Save the intrigue for the follow up album as I'm hooked on the synthesizers and loopings for now. All the more reason for me to see them play again in November with the xx at the El Rey.

In total DIY creativity, Friendly Fires' first music video:

Excuses

Wow. Caught Islands, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, the Phenomenal Handclap Band, and the Friendly Fires this week, so I'm scrubbed around the ears with sound. I'm going to need some time to digest all this audio.

From the bonnie bank o' Loch Lomond

A few weeks ago, Loch Lomond performed for me and 12 other people. Any other night, I think they would have had at least twice or triple that number of people but 1) it was Sunday night and 2) all the hipsters were at the Hollywood Bowl/Rilo Kiley show. Bad scheduling on someone's part but it did not dull the stage banter or sway the four part harmonies that could rival Bon Iver.

I have high hopes for this band within the next few years, but for now, they're maintaining their roles as show openers. And if they keep opening songs with lyrical allusion to the Elephant Man and how "the sound of children laughing makes my ears bleed," they should be able to stick around.

For the "sounds like" details: the Decemberists, Arcade Fire, and Sufjan Stevens.



P.S. Sunset Junction is happening this weekend for folks in the LA area. Go see Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Mica Miko, Islands, the Submarines, and many other class acts. Or catch the Friendly Fires with me at the Glasshouse.

Love Will Tear Us Apart

I have a slight tremendous obsession with Ian Curtis and Joy Division. My first vinyl was Unknown Pleasures by them. I cried at the end of Anton Corbin's biopic Control, even though I knew how it would end. So it's all the more reason to include a cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart," done by Broken Social Scene.

Sadly, I'm not a fan of this cover. Grandiose piano opening with such potential until you hear Kevin Drew's voice and you wonder how drunk was he while recording the vocals. The vocals are bearable until halfway into the song when he's taken to the bottle too heavily and sounds like your uncontrollable crying friend after a messy break up. I would love this version a lot more if I didn't want to slap Drew and tell him: Man up, pussy.

Listen and hear the piano difference.

Love will tear us apart

Omaha's prodigal son

Warning: I have an unhealthy obsession with Conor Oberst. I won't discuss the length of my fanatic adoration but be prepared for many entries related to him.

I also have the Conor Coachella Curse. Three years running that I've been to Coachella, I've missed his set each and every year due to circumstances beyond my control. I think it's God ongoing joke with me, except he's the only one laughing and I'm the punchline.

On his early stuff, there was the noted "Conor yelp" that greatly divided new listeners into returning listeners or abstainers. Outer South is his latest release, featuring songs from his band mates as well. Unfortunately, the album's dragged down by Taylor Hollingsworth, who should stick to looking cute while playing the guitar. He's a tremendous finger picker but his voice beguiles his appearance. Nik Freitas and Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley and the Elected's drummer) have noteworthy songs that deserve a listen. Nik Freitas, especially, is on my list of favorite new artists. And I never knew Boesel could be a songwriter.

On to the song with their wonderful Midwestern twang, it features Conor and Nik on vocals. So. Enjoy. And neat guitar solo at 2:59.

Nikorette - Conor Oberst and t...

P.S. Visit Nik Freitas or Conor at their websites or iTunes.

Train Song

First post, which means that my first song to endorse should be a grand reflection of my musical tastes. However, most people might find my choice of the Ghostbuster end credit song to be off putting. I would find it endearing. So let's start off with a cover:

Train Song by the darlings of the indie mainstream world, Ben Gibbard and Leslie Feist. He's a man who can't write a bad love song, if you discount Photobooth and Tiny Vessels. She was on my blacklist for years until I heard this song, which is a cover and was originally sung by Vashti Bunyan. The cover doesn't stray far from the original but the harmonies nails the wistful longing.

Train Song - Ben Gibbard, Feis...

Introductions

Hi. I'm Cammie. I like music. A lot.

I like it enough to dedicate web space to my love for it, or rather my hopes to share my love with other folks. Album reviews, cover songs, and favorite steel guitar licks will be posted amongst other finds. No promises on staying current as there are so many other sites that will do so* or writing in complete sentences. No ratings or stars will be given. Instead, a "me like," "me no like," or a detailed opinion in between those spectrum will be awarded.

Onward!

*Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Pitchfork, and Prefixmag are good go to sites.