Fleetwood Mac - Gypsy (1982)

There was a time when I blogged every day. I'm trying to get back into the habit, even if it's lazy blogging....

As of 14 July, I am officially 'of no fixed abode'. This is only notable because it provides the very tenuous excuse for me to post my all-time favourite Fleetwood Mac song, Gypsy:

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (2005)

This album is bliss for the lilting-alt-country-folk starved soul. I do love lilting-alt-country-folk, and if such a genre existed, this album would nail it. It makes me smile on the inside. I can't get enough of it.

I don't buy the 'Next Bob Dylan' argument - I think Conor Oberst is terribly clever, but I don't think he's the next Dylan (then again, maybe I just don't know him well enough.) With this album, however, he does manage that rambling little journey of an album that reminds me of Dylan's work. I'm also not interested in comparing this album to Bright Eyes' other work (no, not even its companion album 'Digital Ash in a Digital Urn'.) I'm sure there's an entire comparative analysis thesis to be written, but I'm more interested in the album as it stands, on its own.

Part of me is tempted to be irritated by the opening monologue, which seems a little melodramatic without adding much value to the album. But, irritating though it may sometimes be, it leads flawlessly to the joyful, classic country opening riff of "At the Bottom of Everything." Something in the monologue strikes me as very 'Violent Femmes' - one of my alltime favourite bands, many of whose recordings also have seemingly pointless little vocal interludes. And once I'd drawn that initial comparison, I found similarities all over the show - most notably the loosely raucous riffs, and lyrics that scream of teen-angst-learnt-to-talk-about-politics-and-gone-got-grown-up.

Over various albums and tours, Oberst has pulled some impressive collaborations - Neil Young, David Rawlings, Gillian Welch, Steve Earle et al. Most notably on this album, of course, is the magnificent Emmylou Harris, who brings an extra touch of joy to my favourite track, the jaunty, hillbillyesque, 'Another Travelin' Song'.



I realise I've unintentionally said 'joy' a lot (well, twice) in this entry. And, despite everything, this is a jubilant little album. I particularly like that the closing track "Road to Joy" takes its opening riff from Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Is it a little bit cheesey and contrived? Yes. But it's cute and to me it works. Although this is an album that tries at times to deal with complex political and social themes, I think its real strength is in its optimism; its lovely ballads, pure folk songs, and animated country tracks.

I don't love this album for its dripping, poetic lyrics. I don't love it because it heralds a bright new era for Bright Eyes. I don't love it for its commentary on All Things American. And I don't love it because Oberst is a child prodigy who's god's gift to 21st century music, a hero for my generation. I just don't really believe any of those things.

What I do believe in, is uncomplicated folk songs. So I do love it for its relaxed riffs, for its gentle use of slide guitar, for its laid back country charm, and for its exuberant 3-chord candor. I love it because it is an album packed full of well-written songs - excellent individually and as a collective, cohesive album.

I love it because all is most definitely not well in the world, and Conor Oberst knows it - but what I love most about this album is that I can spend 46 easy minutes with it, and walk away feeling a little bit brighter about the world.

Biffy takes Rihanna

Ahhh, Biffy....

Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (2007)

I've been pondering this for a while. I've struggled, and yet persisted, with Beirut. As already well-catalogued, I find Gulag Orkestar to be a bit obvious. Part of my irritation with this is because it's like being struck across the head with a big "LOOK! It's DIFFERENT" hammer - I won't traverse old ground, but the Eastern influence is clear (too clear), and I really do wonder how necessary it was to opt for song names like "Bratislava" and "Postcards from Italy" and "Rhineland". I love different sounds and influences from various interesting places but.... well, give the listener some intellectual credit. So, I've struggled with the obviousness of it all from day one, but recently have found myself listening to the album more and more. Perhaps controversially, I blame / credit Fleet Foxes - another band I initially struggled with, and now can't imagine living without. (Currently listening to their Sun Giant EP (2008) which is love at first listen.)

I don't resile from my original comments that I find Gulag Orkestar a condescending album. I still find it to be exactly that, but I've recently found it to be much more listenable - in fact the first five or six tracks have been on my ipod pretty much non-stop recently. I still occasionally find it irritatingly blunt, but as I think I said initially, regardless of whether it offends some wanky intellectual sensibility me, the sound is actually very good. I have persisted with Beirut for longer than any other band I can think of, and it's beginning to pay off. Like lots of things in life, sometimes the most rewarding bands are those we have to work really hard to love.

Subsequent to my recent Beirut revival, a friend recommended I try the second album, The Flying Club Cup. Said friend appears to have generally very good taste in important things, like life and music, so I took the advice and tried it. And I listened to it twice in a row. Each time I was struck by 'Guyamas Sonara', a song no less caucophonous than many Gulag tracks - plenty of mournful horns, interesting cymbals and bells, and Condon's quite lovely voice - but somehow more subtle, more distinct, more unique. It's followed by 'Le Banlieue', which concludes with some truly stunning piano - which struck me as a new and mature element to the Beirut sound - and 'Cliquot', which returns to the polka influenced oom-pah-pah style of Gulag Orkestar, but has toned it down into a more Mediterranean feel. And it's actually a really good song.

It may be that I'm just more used to the Beirut sound, so this album takes me less by surprise. But I actually think it is generally a more subtle, mature album - proving, I think, that it's possible to draw in elements and influences from all over the world, but that you don't need to bash your listener with them. I'm not sure that I'd describe this as a more accessible album - in fact I think the accessibility of Gulag Orkestar is its major downfall - but it is a gentler, more subtle listen. It seems to allow more space for his impressive and dinstinctive vocals (once again I can't help but draw a comparison with David Byrne here - for lots of reasons, but mostly because they're vocally so similar.)

It wasn't until I'd reached the conclusion of the album and my itunes automatically switched over to the next album (Gulag) that I realised the major difference is that this is a much more relaxed album. Where Gulag is uptight and trying to prove something, this is calm, collected, not over-thought, more mature in its treatment. This is not to suggest there's less complexity to the sound - I actually think there's more - but the songs are better arranged, allowing more space for various subtle elements to complement each other. To poach a line from a review: "It's the sound of Condon and his band shedding its layers of self-packed cultural baggage."

I already knew what a Polish polka sounded like. But now I finally feel like I know what this intricate and clever band called Beirut sounds like too.

Blackwater @ Mighty Mighty, Thursday 2 June

One of the things I loved the most about growing up in Dunedin was seeing new bands giving it a go. A couple of weekends ago at the Battle of the Bands in Dunedin, I realised how much I missed it - there's something kind of awesome about watching bands experiment and grow. The Ethnomusicologist accused me of being patronising, but it's far from it: it's one of my favourite things to watch new bands find their sound.

I've fallen off the wagon a bit in experimenting with new bands in Wellington, so was determined not to miss newcomers Blackwater, playing Mighty Mighty's Wanted Sessions last Thursday night. (As an aside, I applaud the concept of the Wanted Sessions - a fortnightly country evening at Mighty and a delicious way to spend a Thursday evening.)

I suspect this was one of Blackwater's first gigs. A 5-piece (bass, 2 guitars, a little set of drums and a lap steel) they are a lot of people when trying to create a delicate, intimate sound. Fronted by bold female vocals including, at times, some quite lovely 2-part harmonies, their first few numbers were quieter, experimental tracks. Unfortunately at times the bass overpowered the real star, which was the lap steel. The lead vocalist has a nice voice but was also occasionally overpowered by her band. I'd love to hear them with just an acoustic guitar and lap steel.

But a few songs into the short set saw the acoustic guitar let loose - and things got all kinds of awesome. This upbeat, more country-inspired vibe was an infinitely better sound. The band grew into their set, and were at their absolute best when their versatile little lappy player grabbed an acoustic and a mic and led us through some fantastic country ditties. In contrast to the earlier numbers, this was upbeat, vibrant and not at all over-thought; just gorgeous straightforward country tunes. When they stick to this style, nothing gets lost, the numerous instruments complement each other, everything fits; it's raucous and loud and excellent.

This band is not perfect, but they're really good fun. I'll see them again, and I hope as they grow they'll realise their strength is in upbeat, not intimate, numbers. It was a short and sometimes confusing set; I walked home not quite sure what I'd just encountered, but certain that whatever it was, it'd left me with a big goofy smile on my face.

Foo Fighters, In Your Honor (2005)

An ambitious double-whammy: an in your face rock album followed by a chilled acoustic album. Kind of a risky combo if you ask me, but this one works, and the true test of this album - or of these 2 albums really - is that I just don't want to leave either of them unfinished. Neither disc of this album is a particularly challenging listen; it's anthemic American rock at its most American, followed by easy acoustic guitar at its... well, easiest. But I think it's the contrasting styles, and the fact that this album pulls them off, that is the real genius here.

The first album is pretty classic Foos stuff: intense aggressive drumming, brash vocals, guitar-driven rock. It's easy and populist, but it's good solid music. I like it, a lot, but there's nothing really that remarkable about it as far as Foos albums go. It's the second, acoustic, half of this offering that is the defining, memorable part.

I was inspired to listen to the second album again recently. I remember listening to it on the coast of Croatia, desperately homesick, about 5 years ago. In the final few days of a mind-blowing six weeks backpacking through some weird and wonderful places by myself, totally broke, I spent a few days with a beautiful Croatian couple. It had been a challenging few weeks, and this album was my soundtrack at the time. Sometimes there really is a place for easy music, and the quiet restraint of the second part of this album is as comforting as it is clever.

The acoustic half of the album is gentle, and has that guy-with-a-guitar vibe that I am a bit of a sucker for. 'Friend of a Friend' - for obvious reasons - sometimes reminds me a little of Nirvana unplugged. But Dave Grohl is superb in his own right. He's a fantastic drummer, but, as this album demonstrates, he's also way too talented to just be one of the best drummers in the world. In this album, we get a healthy dose of a side of him, particularly vocally, that we hadn't seen much of previously. And it's beautiful.




I saw the Foo Fighters live in 2003 (among, incidentally, one of my favourite Big Day out lineups, incluing Jane's Addiction, Queens of the Stone Age, and Kraftwerk among others) - and they have an incredible energy. I think they're a pretty special band. And the fact that they can pull this heavily contrasting album off is, I think, testament to their talent.

Lovely.