(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)
Typhoon, The Lower 48, Willy Mason, DIANA, & Sonny Knight & The Lakers...
Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #56!
For those of you who are new to the SOTW column, here's the story: TCDroogsma and MinneSarah are both fans of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast. They're also both opinionated and have access to computers. Seeing an opportunity to let them indulge in their MP3 habit and put them to work writing reviews we created the Songs Of The Week column. Over a year later later and here we are.
As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself. It's free and it's fun for the whole family!
To that end, once you've given each song a spin or two, feel free to cast a vote for your favorite song of the week in the poll to the right side of the page. The artist who accrues the most votes wins the validation that comes from winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.
As per tradition TCDroogsma and MinneSarah have not read each other's reviews prior to posting
So... Droogsy, Sarah... thoughts?
01. Typhoon - Young Fathers (from the album White Lighter)
TCDroogsma:
When I would listen to "Young Fathers" each morning over the last week I was struck by two things: First, with its stop & start intro I thought my computer was broken, which was annoying. Second, my Last.fm Scrobbler would show me a picture of these guys and remind me that they were voted "Best Band" in Portland, which was even more annoying.
Now, I'm sure in some circles being known as the best band in Portland carries a bit of weight. I do not reside in those circles. In fact, being named the best band in Portland is like being named the most attractive monkey in the monkey house. Sure, it's a nice achievement, but you're competing against a bunch of other fucking monkeys. Congrats.
Anyway, "Young Fathers" embodies pretty much every terrible stereotype you'd expect from a Portland-based eleven-piece (!?!) act. The aforementioned intro is a brutal way to start a song, dropping in and out of the headphones with some cooing, an electric guitar, some strings, I think there's some cinnamon in there... From there the song only gets worse. Lead singer Kyle Morton does an admirable impression of every uselessly quirky indie kid you've ever met while lending paternal pseudo-gravitas to lyrics like, "Now I'm as old as you when you had me, should I be afraid?" & "I just called to say 'learn from your mistakes,' you were my inspiration..." Then a female voice comes in for a while, then a breakdown with some strings, then Morton, then the group... It just goes on like this...
MinneSarah:
"Young Fathers" starts with a trick opening - it drastically cuts to silence after three tries, reminding me of a Beavis And Butthead line, "I mean, it sucked, but at least it was short." But I digress, as that is not the case with this song on either front.
Although this is another band that has over ten members, a healthy string majority, a whistling gallery, and a folky electronic feel, it also has some lyrics that are a refreshing new take on the "world is a scary place" theme. One of which, "think of the children, and the imagine the world that we've willed them, is populated with weirdos that kill them, and break their hearts" makes the band breaking into a barroom chorus later in the song more than tolerable.
Final Score: TCDroogsma - 1/5
MinneSarah - 3/5
02. The Lower 48 - That's What I'll Say (from the album The Lower 48)
TCDroogsma:
My only interaction with The Lower 48 prior to "That's What I'll Say" came back in October of 2009 and their song "Miles From Minnesota," a strummy, folky affair about the joy of the open road. It was a slight but pleasant tune.
Well, all of those miles from Minnesota led to The Lower 48 calling Portland home & embracing a more muscular, British Invasion-esque pop sound. While I certainly can't get behind decamping to Porty Pie, the change in musical direction seems like a kind of progress. "That's What I'll Say" starts out with a guitar riff straight from the west coast (think Buffalo Springfield), before taking a Byrds/Herman's Hermits turn during the chorus, with plenty of "do-do-doo's" and "Oooh-oooohs" to give the hook some extra heft.
Lyrically the song isn't really about anything at all as far as I can tell. There's a brief romance that ends with our protagonist laughing at a young woman asking if they're in love. Whatever. The goal of this song seems to be jangly guitars and hooks and that's a mark The Lower 48 can certainly hit.
MinneSarah:
"She fell in love with the sixties, and we broke her heart," pretty much sums up this catchy tune from the Lower 48. The song's incessant tambourine, upbeat guitar, and raw drums hearken back to the sixties, but the singer vacillates between Rick Okasec and Lou Reed. There are some well placed do-do-do's and ahh-ahh-ahhs, and generally this song is a fun blast from the past as interpreted by the future (at least by 80's standards).
I'm amazed that it takes kids born in the 90's to bring back to feel of the 60's into the popular music scene, but I'm also quite glad. They are far enough removed from the situation to create a great homage without sounding completely derivative. Go youth!
Final Score: TCDroogsma - 2.5/5
MinneSarah - 3.5/5
03. Willy Mason - Restless Fugitive (from the album Carry On)
TCDroogsma:
The first few times I listened to "Restless Fugitive" I did not care for it at all. The song has a vaguely reggae-ish vibe that is just not my scene and Willy Mason's back story (child of two folk singers, grew up on Martha's Vineyard, direct descendant of philosopher William James) gave the song an air of being a put-on. Throw in the fact that the archetype of the "restless fugitive" is about as old as storytelling and this six and a half minute song didn't offer much.
However, as I've mentioned dozens of times, there's a reason I listen to these songs every day over the course of a week. Sometimes these songs are slow-blooming and "Restless Fugitive" eventually revealed its charm. I'm still not sold on Willy Mason telling the story, but the idea of Willy Mason playing a bluesman telling the story of the titular restless fugitive has some legs.
Mason's tale of the fugitive is pretty trivial with images of heaven, fled towns, burning, forgiveness, etc... The genius of the song, cleverly, rests with that groove that Mason works out. Yes, it's reggae-ish, but the electric guitar squiggles give it some color. More importantly, it's mellow & consistent the whole way through, implying an even-keeled single-mindedness that would allow the "restless fugitive" to look back at all those aforementioned topics without getting too high or too low, merely cold & collected.
MinneSarah:
Deconstructed reggae beat. Does this draw you in? How about over six minutes of said beat, which sounds a little Jungle Book-esqe? Now, do you like Randy Newman? Excellent. I have nothing else to say about this song but that this may be your jam.
Final Score: TCDroogsma - 3/5
MinneSarah - 1/5
04. DIANA - Perpetual Surrender (from the album DIANA)
TCDroogsma:
I really, really enjoyed "Perpetual Surrender." DIANA tackles so many things that could have gone very wrong in this song and somehow turns it into a brilliant tune. They're Canadian, so of course there's boy/girl vocals throughout the chorus, but rather than go the poppy-New-Pornographer route that's driven me to ranting like so many other Canadian artists, DIANE takes a cue from fellow Torontonians The Weeknd.
"Perpetual Surrender" is smartly-paced and resists the urge to ever give us the big payoff. Rather, we're treated to a sneaky synth-line, some drums that sound like they're coming from the next house over, and finally, a saxophone solo that retroactively justifies the last year's worth of terrible sax solos as building blocks to this moment of triumph. Singer Carmen Elle comes on like Emily Haines if Emily Haines wasn't a caricature while the band is clearly content to construct a canvas around her performance that rewards the listeners focus no matter where it's directed.
MinneSarah:
Yes, the eighties are coming back! Imagine a steamy Miami Vice night, with more modern female vocals. It's got bongos, sultry backing vocals, stutter drums (think 21 Jump Street) and a full on sax solo! The lyrics are about not giving into the temptation of a fling, and the delivery is a little loungy. The whole feel is a very chill, but also has drama from the well placed elements above. Certainly unexpected, it's not a genre I expected to hear resurrected.
Final Score: TCDroogsma - 4/5
MinneSarah - 2.5/5
05. Sonny Knight & The Lakers - Hey Girl (from the Hey Girl single)
TCDroogsma:
Is this just something we're going to do once a year? Alright, those Secret Stash guys unearthed another lost gem from the pre-Prince era of Minneapolis soul music and are now releasing it on vinyl. I'm not trying to be an asshole here. I do genuinely believe those Secret Stash guys are doing a service to the Twin Cities music community by finding these old songs. Frankly, however, I'm not going to get excited about this every year. I thought that Valdons track last year was pretty solid, but not much more.
Sonny Knight & The Lakers, despite their genuinely awesome name, sound exactly like what you would expect a lost funk/soul song from the 70's to sound like. The horns are pretty great, the drumming is frenetic, Sonny Knight comes on like he's refrained from masturbating for a solid 7-8 weeks, there's an instrumental breakdown, and bye bye three minutes of your life. Let's be honest here, if this song isn't a "lost gem," but rather was a song that had been easily accessible for the last 40 years, Sonny Knight would have been written off as one of a hundred different artists trying to get just a slice of the James Brown pie. Again, I'm not trying to be an asshole, but that's the truth.
MinneSarah:
It's about to get funkalicious in here! Coming out of that Twin Cities Funk and Soul album that took the Cities by storm last fall, Sonny Knight and the Lakers bring Sonny's soul roots to the present day. While the lyrics are exactly what you'd expect from a funk song, the horns, vocals, and organ are so upbeat it doesn't really matter - why reinvent the wheel? Although I feel a little like I'm being yelled at from a car, I'd rather have this on my iPod than some of catcalls I actually hear.
Final Score: TCDroogsma - 2/5
MinneSarah - 3/5
Well there you have it, folks! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, & filed away!
As always, please remember that neither Newest Industry nor our contributors are in any way affiliated with the artist above, The Current, or MPR. We're just music fans with laptops and a bit too much time on our hands.
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