#24 (The Fierce Urgency of Nice Edition)

The Rest are a seven piece ensemble (pronounced "onsombluh" though not from Quebec) from Ontario. The band just released its second full length, "Everyone All At Once" to little notice--thus far--in the US. Their bombastix, theatrix, and maple-leaf fountainhead(atrix) attract Arcade Fire references aplenty. There's something there. The guitar chug anthemix, the desparate urgency in the singer's voice, and both bands' penchant for parenthetical titles makes for a good comparison. The Rest plays with nontraditional forms. Please listen to their song "Walk On Water (auspicious beginnings)." They build gradually throughought the song to an apparent crescendo but then... woah... 2:09... CURVEBALL! Fear not, crescendo aficionados. Your time will come. And it does, it's just postponed by some fun island lightheartedness. 3:40 allows for a brief, emotional respite, then BLAM TO YOUR FACE for some concentrated G-G-Guitar Chug. Notice us, Americans, they plead. I have. Maybe the rest of us will soon, too.

Willfully Walking on Water,

N

Walk on Water (auspcious beginnings) - The Rest

#23 (More Sigh Than Sing Edition)

Laura Gibson

We're trained as listeners to appreciate singers who project, who have voices that abound, that can break glass, that can match Pavarotti in operatic resonance. Virtuosos, most say, have lions' voices. Life and music are not always declamations, however. Sometimes a sigh steps over a shout. Such is the case with the following two songs off recent releases from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Laura Gibson. Both Karen O of the YYYs and songwriter Gibson suspend on a wispy cloud of vocal ether far above the grounded instruments. Enjoy their transcendence and enjoy the temperate temperatures.

Plentiful Penumbrae,

Nick

Laura Gibson, "Shadows on Parade" (live)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Little Shadow"

#22 (Daring You Not To Bop Edition)

I quintuple dog dare you, gentle(wo)men, to listen to the following songs and not bounce, nod, juke, shake, shimmy, and/or bop. Roughly half of the songs that end up in this space are the result of recommendations from friends. This is the first case where three friends recommended the same band in one week. With that sort of groundswell, I really had no choice.

Phoenix is a French rock band that would sound as comfortable in a stadium as they would in a basement rock club. They live within the hi-hat drum snap dance band genre while also working atmospheric synth parts into their cocktail. Vocals? Yelpy and with urgency. My jeans are get tighter, my v-necks deeper cut, and my kicks more neon with every listen of these guys.

Phoenix's fourth studio album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix comes out in the States May 25th.

Boppingly Yours,
Nick

Phoenix, "Lisztomania"

Phoenix, "1901"

#21 (Dutifully Duetiful Edition)

Not to get all heteronormative, but I really like coed duets. Usually this format offers artists a way to cover a wide melodic range while also maximizing vocal harmonic opportunities.

"Train Song" presents Feist and Deathcab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard covering Vashti Bunyan's 1966 song of travel, love, and distance. The song has power for me beyond delicate lyrics and a typically transcendent vocal performance from Feist. Namely, I love that the two sing in octaves for the duration of chorus only to add two differentiated voices (one males, one female) during the last line of the chorus. This makes for a striking and unexpected harmony on "it's many hundred miles and it won't be long." The moment represents pure beauty, as does the song.

Enjoy.

Feist and Ben Gibbard, "Train Song"

#20 (Get Your Face Outta My PROG Edition)

Four Score and 20 blog posts ago, I kicked off a weekly email to friends with a sip from the golden chalice of classic prog. Today we answer the question, who is progging with the proglords these days? Hmmmmm? Who is?

Answer: THESE GUYS!

Late Of The Pier are a four-piece from England who have the most befuddling band name I've heard since '89. Then again, they also title a song "Bathroom Gurgle." Maybe naming just isn't their thing. Their thing is writing exquisitely fun and consistently dancey progressive rock songs heavy on bass, percussion, and synths. Their 2008 album "Fantasy Black Channel" was on many critics' top albums of the year lists. It's understandable why. The band is rare in that they create sonically and rythmically complex music that still manages to be danceable. You don't usually think of proggers getting the dance floor moving. Late Of The Pier pulls it off somehow. Take their song "The Enemy Are The Future." It's almost inconceivable that this could be a dance song, but it is...particularly when you have The bassist and drummer taking the time signature hostage at 1:32...but then 2:30 hits and zoinks, uncontrollable head nodding action! It's dancey prog! Beware the bass sound at 3:30! And somehow we come out of this crazy acid trip with the band sounding like Franz Ferdinand at 4:57. Awesome.

If you don't mind, I'm going to go listen to this song on repeat while watching Bowie's performance in Labyrinth on mute.

Late Of The Pier, "The Enemy Are The Future"

Too much hard work. Not enough easy life.
N

#19 (Strum Once, Land; Strum Twice, Sea Edition)

There's urgency in your voice, friend, and it's wrought with anguish, and it's imbued with inspiration.

You sound like you're choking on words because you want to get them out so bad. They (the words) fight to be released roundabout your adam's apple, creating a bottleneck (in your neck) of intensely built pressure. When the words do squeeze free they are shot like a musket ball at unsuspecting ears. Much like old guns, the word projectiles lack precision but carry the threat of bayonet incision.

Joe Pug was a playwriting student at UNC about to enter his senior year when he moved to Chicago to try his hand at songwriting. He tried his hand, and the glove fit. His 7 song EP "Nation of Heat" crackles with the raw tenacity of a songwriter freshly unchained. Speaking in the wide strokes of nation, hope, destiny, sin, and spiritual reclamation, Pug is a natural and I wait in anticipation to see what he does next.

Someone once said of Bob Dylan that he used to strum his guitar with such abandon that it would "startle" the audience because it looked and felt like he was attacking the instrument. Mr. Pug lives in that camp as well. Acoustic guitar is not from the string family, he says, it's from the percussion family, and I will beat the crap out of that percussion instrument. Please enjoy two of the better songs I've heard in years.

Joe Pug, "Nation of Heat"

Joe Pug, "Hymn #101"

Songwriterly Yours,
Nick

PS. Thanks to Pujam and Earl for today's selections

#18 (Beyond Lovely Edition)

Some singers share unfairly beautiful voices. Neko Case (of solo and New Pornographers fame) is one of those chanteuses. I thought when I heard her song "Vengeance is Sleeping" from her new album "Middle Cyclone"--out this Tuesday--that it was beautiful...and then I heard a live recording of her performing the song...and she was even more transcendent than on the album. Neko carries unbridled emotion in her voice and a sharp, at times caustic wit in her lyrics. With lines like "I didn't know what a brute I was" and "I'm not the man you thought I was," Case takes on the guise of a solemn and self-conscious, if guilty, lover. For a woman who once said she could never write love songs, her new album is chock full o' them. That's OK with me though, particularly if she is going to continue to use vocal harmony half-step hammer-ons (1:19 and end of song). For that moment alone (and for a heavy dose of lovely fingerpicking), this song gets the full Friday showcase.

Enjoy.

Neko Case, "Vengeance is Sleeping"