Secrets - Secret Wedding

Got secret married today. shhhhhh.

BYO Split Series: Alkaline Trio and One Man Army

Have you guys played the Emo Game? its a pretty awesome web based game, I think its still online. The game posited a rule of Emo: the rule of two. Supposedly Emo bands are so bitchy that they can only stand to be around each other for two albums, and if they stay together beyond that the albums start to blow totally. This delicate balance is maintained by all Emo people having special Emo ovaries. 

I was a huge Alkaline Trio fan. "Maybe I'll Catch Fire" and "From here To Infirmary" were like the only good things about my high-school years. I don’t know if they were ever really “Emo” per se, but they were getting big at around the time that everyone who was hard to classify and sang in any way about relationships was getting classified as such. I always thought they were only an Emo band because they got drunk at the hotel bar and wandered into the convention. They were this weird Old School Punk/ Emo hybrid that rocked really hard. While the rest of the Emo genre was either fleeing the label or becoming really mediocre pop-emo hybrids, Alkaline Trio spent two albums rocking exceptionally hard. They had an earlier album, "Goddamnit", that I hear is good but cant seem to find. Anyway, then the rule of three set in, and their album “Good Mourning” didn't rock very hard. They didn't become more Emo, but they became less rock. The result was lukewarm. 

So this album is a split CD made by Alkaline Trio and a band called One Man Army between “Good Mourning” and “Crimson.” You know how I spent all the last entry complaining about compilations? I have no problem with split CDs. Yeah, they often do not present music in its original context, but they usually contain new material that is organized to sound good in some way that allows you to sink your teeth into the material, while still introducing you to another band. The bands do not necessarily have anything to do with one another, but I can understand the need for promotional material and I’d rather get the chance to form my own opinion by listening to a split than be forced to watch an advertisement on YouTube.

This happens to be a particularly well done split. BYO Records are an independent punk label from southern California (where else) that is actively seeking to put portray punk in a more positive light. The split series was specifically intended, not to promote their label, but to create bonds between groups of fans in the punk scene. As opposed to other albums in the series, which are mostly covers, this album has only one cover (of a Damned song).  Some of the material did end up on later albums, but some of this is unique to the split.

So This is a good value if you like the music. How I feel about the music comes down to how I feel Alkaline trio does here, and after several listens I say they do well. On my first listen I was pretty afraid that being on a split would show up how much they do not rock as much. Instead this felt like more of a return to form. Maybe “Good Mourning” was a fluke. I had asked friends about their other albums and heard bad things, but after this I may check out “Agony & Irony,” if for no other reason than the Harvey Danger reference.

One Man Army were discovered by Billie Joe Armstrong and their first two albums were put out by his record label before they moved to BYO for one album, and then broke up. They are a pretty solid punk band. The vocal delivery is in the vein of Guttermouth: they singer has the oddly scratchy voice that still is well able to carry a tune. They manage to avoid the Republican sympathies, thank god. When combine with the fun delivery the lyrics come off as very good. Word play is somewhat limited, but they flow naturally and take interesting angles on everything from nothing being on TV to enjoying playing punk rock music. How SoCal punk can you get? TV party anyone?

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this for the first listen or two but it has really grown on me. I am definitely keeping this. If you like or liked Alkaline Trio I would recommend this, and I will probably be checking out other stuff by One Man Army.

Asobi Secsu - Hush

Ahh, another super melodic, post-rock, avantly anti-structuralist ethereal indie band. Asobi Seksu were once called Sportfuck. I like that name more, but to justify it they'd need to be a ball-stapling post-hardcore version of Hurrah Torpedo. Instead they are pretty well characterized as "dream pop." Sort of vaguely danceable beats are dreamily sung over by Yuki Chikudate, the lead singer for the most part. Even when she isnt doing lead vocals the singing is very ethereal. The music is fast enough to keep things interesting, but only just. The production values are slick, but that works pretty well here. Kind of like if Polyphonic Spree smoked a ton of weed and then acted as a backing band for the Vienna boy's choir. Or if Enya got lost and became interesting and listenable.

Oh god, why did I say that? Why did that happen? I was kind of really enjoying this but now, I dunno. That's maybe a bit far. I am super addicted to indie, but if I just like anything I hear that is played even half competently do I have any taste at all? what is the point of even doing these reviews if I like someone that reminds me of Enya? I mean, this is fun and enjoyable, but even Enya had that one fun song. But actually choosing to listen to Enya? Is that where indie is going?

Jesus its true. Ever since rock slipped, sad and pathetic in its rap-rock masturbatory explosions, and became enmeshed in self congratulatory artistic endeavors, that indie, awesome as it is, was going to lead us down the path that has already been tread by Jazz and classical. Popularity left behind, all that’s left is pretentious subcultural appreciation by people who never abandon the trappings of their youth culture long after they enter the workforce and begin to droop.

BUT WHAT CAN WE DO? Asobi Seksu are really good. Much like those other indie gods, Polyphonic Spree, they have an attractively persistent earnestness, dreamy tonality, and unmistakable talent that is nonetheless usually hidden under music that has the texture of fluffy white clouds. There are a few tracks that break this mold, and I am informed that their earlier work was more of a shoe gaze kind of thing. I also have to say, as an album this is very good. the songs have an order and a purpose that builds intensity and actually builds you interest as it goes on. this kind of attention to how the album as a whole hangs together is wonderful to see in the kids these days.

gah! This is where we are going, folks. We have gotten to the point as a subculture where I really like something that also reminds me of Enya. We are fucking boned. Might as well just start sleeping with your secretaries and dabbling with increasingly fear driven politics. Invest in a girdle for your man boobs and long hair. The end is neigh.

Alice In Chains - Alice In Chains

A good chunk of doing this blog is having to psychoanalyze myself. Did I dislike this album because of inherent issues, or is it something about my childhood? Was I just having a bad day? Conversely, do I like a band just because it is indie? All these are serious possibilities, as I often cant trust my first listen. This is one of those situations.

This album is self titled, but I am told it is referred to colloquially as “tripod” by fans due to the three legged dog and guitarist on the front and back of the jewel case. My research tells me this was the last album to be put out before the band (Staley) kind of self destructed. I have not really listened to Alice In Chains before, other than the singles, so this is kind of coming in at the end. So much is not how I feel about this album.

On my first listen I really didn’t care for this album. Thought the drumming is often fast, the music comes off as painfully slow and lethargic. I compared it to the sound of a depressed middle aged obese man going to the refrigerator in the middle of the night for a sandwich, then just eating a few slices of cold turkey rolled up and shambling back to bed. I also called them the Everclear of the Grunge world, as I felt they said yeah a lot. I think the song “So Close” made me say that. What was my problem? A lot of people I respect love this band, and some of their bigger singles are on this album, which seems to be well regarded in its own right. But when I listen to it all I hear is a pile of uninteresting sludge. Sludgy music.

I think my problem is that I have already heard almost all that Alice In Chains has to say. In high school, back when I still listened to the radio, I listened to New York’s rock station, which played what became an increasingly repetitive cycle of early Ozzy songs, Alice in Chains, and AC/DC. This would be punctuated by interesting songs that would not be repeated. Worse, they filled the spaces in between with Nu-metal. Whn not getting lost in masturbatory rap-rock fantasies, Nu-metal all sounds like the wannabe, no-talent offspring of Alice In Chains, a car battery, and a brick of balsa wood. There is a remarkable lack of virtuosity in the music. People often say that grunge is a combination of punk and metal. If so, Nu-metal has combined Punk's virtuosity with Metal's songwriting, and they all seem to draw from Alice IN Chains’ well. So though it is unfair for me to judge the originator of a genre by his or her spawn, I feel like I have heard every Alice in Chains single to the point of hatred.

I posted this rant on Google+. I have gotten comments from a few people that made me want to give the album another listen. It was pointed out that all their albums are different, though that doesn’t help me with this one. I was told that this is their heaviest album. People seemed to really like this album. So I gave it another listen.

There are some pretty fun moments here I guess. “Again,” with its backup singers, is kind of hilarious. I feel like the band is joking a bunch in here, which makes me more sympathetic. Some of the performances do seem more energetic on my second listen. So I can listen to this without feeling pure rage. But the music is still very conventionally structured with very few pop hooks and no cool metal moments. It is unremittingly heavy, but without movement the heaviness just sounds lazy or oppressive.

I have moments where I want heavy music. I can see myself wanting this sometimes. This leaves me not sure what to do with this. There are some interesting things here. I might be able to get into this with some repeated listening. But my problem with this is that I have already listened to it too much. I am pretty sure I will be selling this back. I know a lot of people like this band, and I can understand why, but I really do not like them.

Almost Famous: Undiscovered Modern Rock Hits.

I have a conflicted relationship with compilation albums. On the one hand they are a cheap way to introduce oneself to a bunch of new bands, and as a result have played a key role in the creation of genres since genre creation was a thing that happened. Since the advent of home recording, first on audio cassettes and now on CDs and playlists, amateur compilations have, in particular, had a subversive quality, and their consumption was often a direct attack upon the mainstream recording industry and the marketing machine that powers it. For indie record labels, a yearly compilation of their best acts was a key way of letting their fans know what was out there.

During the birth of the non-rock derived underground genres, Rap, Hip-Hop, Electronica and all its varied spawn, the mix tape was a key feature. Given the shady legal ground on which sample-heavy art-forms stand, those creating without the resources of a legal department often had no way to bring their creations to the public without staying under the legal radar. As modern fans of Danger Mouse and Girl Talk can attest, a lot of the best sample-based music is still created under the legal radar, since the current sampling legal structure tends to stifle creativity, though that is a discussion for another album.

So I understand the need for compilations, and I can appreciate much of what they have stood for historically. But they also go against everything I look for in an album. Often made cheaply with little attention payed even to the song order, comps give me nothing to sink my teeth into. One song is not enough to determine much about a band, a fact that explains a lot about why I do not listen to the radio anymore. Instead compilations flit from one artists to the next, often with a bare connection between them. There is often no explanation of why these artists were chosen for the album.

Today’s album was released by Lakeshore Records, the musical arm of Lakeshore Entertainement, that paragon of modern film culture that brought us such classics of our time as “The Runaway Bride” and the Underworld Franchise. I bought it because it has a song by Alien Crime Syndicate on it, and I thought maybe they might be ok. As sometimes happens at Princeton Record Exchange, the liner notes had been removed. If your expectations are low that is about how I felt about the album as soon as I got it home, thus my not listening to it for over a decade.

So this is an over-glossy compilation by a faux-independent record label that was created to self release sound tracks. Perhaps that is why they named this with a reference to the film, Almost Famous, even though this is not a soundtrack for that film, which was also not released by Lakeshore Entertainment. From what I can tell this album was created as a promo for the label, which sought to snooker people into buying it by including songs by more famous bands from other labels. It is kind of a sad day when you use an Alien Crime Syndicate song to trick someone. But that’s the level of sophistication we are dealing with here.

The funny thing is that the Alien Crime Syndicate song on here is way better than the stuff on their album. This makes me think I will have to buy some of their other albums. Still selling that piece of shit back. Also selling this one back (spoiler alert!). the music on here is. Well its not bad. It is by and large decent rock music. If you find this somewhere and you want decent rock music and it is in the one to two dollar range, go ahead. Nothing about this makes me want to look up any of these bands. Most of it is pretty middle of the road post-grunge, with one or two nice chick rock highlights. I will say that the music on here is better than most of what was on the radio in 2002 when this came out. But my cat had a run of explosive diarrhea that was more sonically pleasing than most of the radio in 2002.

AM Syndicate - Empire

Did you know they have a Grammy for album packaging? It is true, in fact the “crafts” section includes such gems as “Best Historical Album,” “Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package,” “Best Album Notes,” and “Best Recording Package.” In case you were wondering, “Best Historical Album” is an aware for the quality of packaging on the re-issue of an old album. Paul McCartney won this year for the re-issue of “Band on the Run.” I’m not sure, but I don’t think he had to beat up Rihanna to get it, which makes it a bit more legitimate than the R&B award.

So I kind of think that’s crazy. That they have awards for packaging and liner notes. I mean, that should be a design award, really. Though it is super important. And the designers work really hard and they should get recognition. And packaging is a key part of the listening experience for me. And I love reviewing the packaging. But cumon.

I guess I hate this because this is the Grammys, the award show that represents everything backwards and stupid about the recording industry. It defines shallowness and pointless glorification of those who are already past their primes. And also because it means that not only am I not the only person in the world quirky enough to care to pay attention to this stuff, it means that my compatriots are a bunch of balding old has-beens who, between looking at liner notes, get their jollies suing orphans for copyright infringement.

And the really silly thing is that packaging isn’t going to be important for long. It is a method of branding that only makes sense if you have a physical album. We may keep listening to albums for a while, but as digital formats replace physical ones that branding will make less and less sense. I think that’s a shame, mainly because of the lovely artworks that so often adorn these things, and because of my attachment to physical media, but why so completely ignore change by giving awards, at the Grammys, to album art designers?

            AM Syndicate’s album has some nice artwork on the front, kind of a watercolor painting of a wrought iron fence that is simultaneously gothic and childish, in the vein of an Edward Gorey work. It is cardboard and I am not sure I like that but I will discuss that in another entry because it is time to get to the music. Oh! That’s another reason the award pisses me off. So much about the Grammys serves to distract us from the quality of the music, almost like an admission that they don’t care. Focusing on packaging during a music award show just seems to rub the audience’s face in it.

Kind of like writing a page in a blog about an album and mentioning it once.

Right.

AM Syndicate’s “Empire” is in many ways a by-the-numbers indie album. They have lush arrangements that build a wall of sound featuring a very talented rhythm section that serves to provide focus and energy in what could otherwise be a musical mess. The lyrics are obscure and philosophical while simultaneously being playful and well constructed. The vocals are questionable at times. Lets say 40% of the times. They even have members that were at one time in other, better known acts. The bassist was in …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. The music has, at times, a similar feel to …AYWKUBTTOD, though the influences listed on the band’s myspace page (Blonde Redhead, Simon and Garfunkel, Lady Tron, Neutral Milk Hotel, Radiohead, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Bjork.) are probably as good a guide as I could come up with. Also the keyboardist is a hot asian chick named Golfball. Like, that’s her legal name. I wonder if that was a bet. Usually when I see weird names I think “hippie parents,” but in this case. I mean. Golfball? Not very hippie-ish. Maybe it was a breast size prediction. Cause like, Asians…no. no that’s not funny. I am sorry. That kind of mean spirited humor isn’t appropriate. If I had called them “bazoombas,” it might have been cute enough to be forgivable, but I did not. I apologize to you, my audience, for my tastelessness.

You know. If anyone got lost and read this by mistake.

            So, AM Syndicate is kind of by-the-numbers, and a little lighter on the hooks than others. Yesterday’s album, by the And/Ors, was kind of by the numbers as well, but was replete with pop hooks. AM Syndicate, not as much. But it is a fun listen, and there are some great performances here. The band is definitely more on the side of virtuosic indie, with some great solos that do not show the slavish attachment to blues that Jam Bands do. And though I have called them by-the-numbers, nothing about them seems forced or contrived. In fact the virtuosity and the lush arrangements keeps the music feeling vital and exciting. The vocals suck but we all cant be Pavarti.

            Bottom line, there is some great songwriting here, and a lot of talent. The music may not be a revelation, it will not change your life or let you meet Natalie Portman, but it is fun to listen to and really good music. I am keeping it, and if you are looking for a good indie band I would recommend you buy it.

The And/Ors - Will Self Destruct

Remember that period after Emo imploded, before Indie became all of Rock n Roll, when garage bands were all that were worth listening to on the radio? The And/Ors were the unfortunate spawn of that period in indie rock history. Formed from the wreckage of 90s era indie and Emo bands, the band knit its limbs together into a powerful creature, which got lost in a sandstorm and died yards from an oasis.

To put the story in less melodramatic terms, the And/Ors was kind of an indie super group, being composed of former members of Thee Psychic Hearts, Jejune, Interstate Ten, and Crash Worship, none of whom I had heard of but who I will look up. The album these guys put together is awesome. My knowledge of pre-2004 indie is pretty sketchy, but form what I do know these guys really sound like a transition point between the best of 90s era indie and what became 2004 era indie. I know that may be hard to envisage, given the blanket term tendency indie has. The album has noise jams and sound walls that would make Sonic Youth and Pavement proud. There are regular, well harmonized male/ female vocal pairings that are reminiscent of Sonic Youth and The Pixies. They have the kind of jangly guitars that I have heard in other less well known indie acts (and possibly pavement?). There are even elements that are kind of reminiscent of Dookie-era Green Day. The production values are appropriately lo-fi, and the songs are hook laden, melodic, rocking, and fun. They even have a hot chick bassist

So obviously this is an awesome album. I really liked it on my first listen. Unfortunately, because the band’s page was deleted I have had to do my research for this write up on the blogs of other critics, which is a terrible way to form ones own opinion, especially when the whole point of this exercise is that I have serious gaps in my musical knowledge. And now I have the doubts.

Do I really like them? Are they really derivative of other bands whose albums I haven’t listened to yet? Would I like them less if I had listened to the Screaming Dinosaurs or Female Jr.? What am I doing with my life? I am spending more than an hour per day writing up these reviews that no one reads, and if they did, all I would do is color their opinion, on bands whose music they will probably never find, with poorly founded opinions I am partially regurgitating from Wikipedia! While this does help me organize my thoughts on these bands, what good is that when the bands I am reviewing are so obscure they will never help me actually finish the connections in my historic image of recent rock history? Am I only even writing this blog because job hunting has turned up no real results, and I have a vague hope that I am screwed up and interesting enough to make money from writing bullshit opinions about music no one will ever hear?

Maybe this isn’t the most original album in existence, but, dammnit, it is a lot of fun and is kind of a missing link for the indie universe, but there is one thing about the And/Ors that pisses me off. All computer programs apparently chop the “And” off, and so they are listed as the “Ors” in my music library. That really bugs me. But otherwise I would recommend this album, and I am keeping my copy. Just do not try to write a review of it while in a spiral of self doubt and depression.