(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)
Whitehorse, Wake Owl, Amor De Dias, & Carroll...
Well hello again, MP3 junkies!
Welcome to Songs Of The Week #26!
For those of you who are unfamiliar
with Songs Of The Week, here's the scoop. Each week we ask two of
our regular contributors to download and review the songs given away
via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast. As always, we strongly
suggest that you click here to subscribe to the podcast yourself.
Playing along at home is fun for the whole family! Assuming, of
course, that your family likes middling indie rock.
As you may have noticed last week
(and will notice again this week), we're still down to one reviewer.
TCDroogsma will continue to fly solo here at SOTW until one of our
other contributors is available to play along. Until then, sorry
everybody, you're stuck with TCDroogsma.
As always, there is a poll to the
righthand side of the page. Feel free to vote for your favorite of
this week's tracks. The artist with the most votes receives the
honor of validation by strangers on the internet, arguably the
highest honor a musician can receive.
So, let's get into this one.
Droogsy, thoughts on this week's songs?
01. Whitehorse
– Devil's Got A Gun (from the album The Fate Of
The World Depends On This Kiss)
TCDroogsma:
There's a pretty short list of things an indie rock song can do that
will immediately make me like it. First off,
hooks-on-hooks-on-hooks. Ya'll know where my heart lies. The
second: boy/girl vocals. I have no idea why I have such a soft spot
for the multi-sex vocal approach, but I do (and it allows me to use
terms like, “multi-sex vocal approach." Win/win!)
Whitehorse does a masterful job using western-sounding guitars and
bongos to build up the verse before busting out a go-for-broke hook
on the chorus. Beef up the guitars & keyboards and replace the
boy/girl vocals with some suffocatingly over-acted British vocals and
this is a Muse b-side. I don't know if Whitehorse is aiming for
anthems, but they come awfully close with “Devil's Got A Gun.”
Final Score: 3.5/5
02. Wake Owl –
Wild Country (from the EP Wild Country)
TCDroogsma:
On Twitter yesterday Andrea Swensson (@LocalCurrent) went on a bit of
a mini-rant because somebody had referred to the state of folk music today
as the #Luminera (brutal hastag, I know). She proceeded to say the
this era of platinum-selling folk artists (Mumford, Lumineers,
etc...) had been around for years already and that it was stupid to
call “right now” the Luminera. She punctuated a couple of tweets
with the question “What's next?”
Now, you all know that I pretty much loathe all Americana/folk music.
Like any genre, it has its bright spots (Bon Iver, the new Jim Ruiz
album, maybe half a dozen Mason Jennings songs), but for the most
part it just makes me angry/sleepy. I bring all this up because The
Current's obsession with “What's next?” is disgusting. First of
all, they are pretty much responsible for this wretched “Luminera”
since, as Swensson mentions, they were playing Mumford & Sons
four years ago. So, thanks for that, MPR. Act like you weren't
circle jerking all over that first Fleet Foxes album. Second, in the
ceaseless search for “What's next?” they risk dismissing songs
like “Wild Country” out of hand, which is a shame.
As I mentioned, whatever “folk music” is defined as, it's
typically not my cup of tea. However, it seems that Wake Owl has
cracked the code of making this music tolerable to me. If you were
to look at my list of all-time favorite songs they would all have one
thing in common: hooks. To that end, the bridge/chorus of “Wild
Country” hits the sweet spot. I could do without the flatline
melody of the verses and my anti-fiddle stance dates back nearly 20
years. But that chorus... the questions asked by the bridge (“maybe
this is my heart/maybe it's yours”) are answered quickly and
brutally in the chorus (“If I want to leave, I will/Stand on my
feet, I do...”). A rare moments of lyrics with a spine and an
earworm of a hook in a “folk” song. Dismiss “Wild Country”
at your own risk.
Final Score: 3/5
03. Amor De Dias –
Jean's Waving (from the album The House At Sea)
TCDroogsma:
There's a lot of 90's to be found in “Jean's Waving,” which, of
course, means I'm immediately attracted to it. The guitar shares the
same bouncy quality as something like “Brimful Of Asha” and the
vocals never sound forced or intentionally quirky. Basically, Amor
De Dias seems to realize that they've written a gem of a song and,
instead of drowning it in bells and whistles, they should just play
it and let it work its magic.
Maybe its just the Midwesterner in me, but the fact that the song
stays modest with its charm appeals to me. Some female vocals in the
chorus & a few plunked keyboard notes are all the song needs to
sound perfectly complete. Amor De Dias never goes over the top to
sell the song and they reap the rewards of the old “less is more”
approach. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Final Score: 3.5/5
04. Carroll – Lead
Balloon (from the EP Needs)
TCDroogsma:
There's a lot going on in “Lead Balloon.” Noodling guitars,
swooshing guitars, a keyboard that drops in and out of the mix,
lyrics that, at times, are literally about balloons...
All things considered, “Lead Balloon” is a charming, if somewhat
forgettable song. Carroll sounds like they're trying to be
everything to everyone (and, admittedly, they come closer to pulling
it off than most bands), but it leaves them sounding like they're
pretty good at most things, but not excellent at any one thing.
Final Score: 2.5/5
There you have
it, music fans! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed,
and filed away.
Please
remember, neither this blog nor its contributors is in any way
affiliated with the artists reviewed, The Current, or Minnesota
Public Radio. We're just music fans with keyboards and too much time
on our hands.
For more
TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He
can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our weekly
podcast Flatbasset Radio. His podcast was recently described as
“sarcasm... brilliance mixed with non-sense.” We couldn't
describe it better ourselves.
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