(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)
Los Campesinos!, Diego Garcia, Blood Orange, Tennis, & Red Mountain...
Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #70!
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. Los Campesinos! - Avacodo, Baby (from the album No Blues)
TCDroogsma:
My knowledge of (and relationship with) Los Campesinos! has been built entirely through the SOTD podcast. This is the sixth time the band has appeared in my weekly rotation. This means that I'm currently in possession of what could probably be called a "Best Of..." EP. It also means that I'm liable to have missed the little evolutions of the band, with each song coming as a fully formed dispatch as to where Los Campesinos! are now.
Following along as the band went from poppy, hook-laden upstarts who relied almost solely on energy to the somewhat disillusioned, a little less poppy, more mature and still hook-laden space they occupy now has been a rewarding trek. "Avacado, Baby" opens with the type of textured guitar hook that's indicative of how much more thought goes into the songwriting from an instrument standpoint. Once the verse kicks in, however, we're reminded that singer Garreth Campesino's melodic snarl is still the star of the show.
Lyrically, "Avocado, Baby" is not in a good place. The third verse in particular is an example of well-crafted, psuedo-literate vitriol. It also stands as a testament to just how well Garreth can twist pronunciation in order to rhyme a couplet. The yelled out hook explaining just why he's called "the avocado" is pretty fucking corny, but it's delivered with a mix of anger and braggadocio to sell the whole thing. Push comes to shove, I'm a sucker for spiteful lyrics, boy/girl harmonies, and hooks on hooks on hooks.
MinneSarah:
A band out of Wales should not be called "Los Campesinos!," it's misleading. Otherwise, this band sounds a lot like pop punk acts like Panic at the Disco! The lyrics are brooding but childish - they sound like the spoken word diary of a angsty teenage boy. Though I know dance alt pop punk was a big deal ten years ago (who didn't have that Killers album), I had no idea that a song like "Avacado, Baby" could be relevant in today's music scene.
While I'm a huge fan of British music, I would have pegged the lead singer as faking this accent (shows how much I actually know), but again, it draws comparison to all those bands in the early 2000's that actually used that tactic. The end of the song features a children's chorus and or cheerleaders? The takeaway from this song is that avacados shouldn't be used as metaphors.
Final Score - TCDroogsma: 4/5
MinneSarah: 1.5/5
02. Diego Garcia - Start With The End (from the album Paradise)
TCDroogsma:
Quick sidenote for anybody who reads these columns regularly: I couldn't help but laugh when the bongos come in at the beginning of this song. MinneSarah's been railing against bongos in indie rock all year and I'm sure hearing them at the start of this Argentinie-styled song made her angry even though it's an Argentine-style song.
Alright, back to the plot. "Let's start with the end and stay 'til the end," is the opening line of this song. Garcia spends the rest of the song arguing the virtues of living in the moment, staying friends, and the circular nature of the universe? Time travel? It's tough to say. Even though I kind of like the song, the lyrics seem willfully cliche, which detracts from Garcia's pleasant sentiment.
Garcia has a warm, pleasant voice that fits the song's style. He's not passing down hard-learned lessons, but rather making suggestions that he thinks are probably, y'know, a pretty cool way to approach life. I"m not totally sure I'm buying what he's selling, but he certainly put a lot of work into the wrapping paper.
MinneSarah:
Fun loving Diego Garcia wants us all to relax, enjoy some fancy Latin guitar, and enjoy our lives. From my cynical perspective, it seems a little rose-colored to think that most relationships are not going to become monotonous or sour, but Diego promises that by pretending to start at the end, we'll be better to each other. The soothing buttery cello and vocal optimism almost convinces me that I've been doing everything wrong my entire life - but as the end is still ahead (or behind?), we've all got a little time.
Final Score - TCDroogsma: 2.5/5
MinneSarah: 2.5/5
03. Blood Orange - You're Not Good Enough (from the album Cupid Deluxe)
TCDroogsma:
Blood Orange is just one of the aliases of Dev Hynes. While I'm not super-familiar with his work, I know that his song "All My Friends Are Listening To Crunk" under his Lightspeed Champion moniker is still one of my favorite SOTD tracks. "You're Not Good Enough" has none of that songs strummy humor, but rather lays some ice cold lyrics over some warm, bouncy synth lines.
"You're Not Good Enough" actually comes off like a morning-after version of Daft Punk's ubiquitous "Get Lucky." The Nile Rodgers-esque chka-chka guitars and bouncing bass aim for the same dancefloor, but where Pharrel was up all night to get lucky, Hynes is dealing with the aftermath (specifically, forty-nine days later) and probably questioning the definition of "lucky." A chorus of, "I never was in love, you know that you were never good enough..." leaves little to the imagination. The spark of lust may have been extinguished, but that's no reason to stop dancing.
MinneSarah:
Funky, bass-y songs that sound like they would soundtrack a detective show from the 80's are an actual genre in 2013. This song doesn't even sound out of place, and blends nostalgia with catchiness. As far as lyrics are concerned, "You're Not Good Enough" goes for the jugular. If you've ever wanted to tell someone that they were a mistake, you've never actually loved them and they were horrible in bed, this might be the song to put on the stereo in lieu of an awkward talk. Girl/Boy vocals can be hit or miss, but both singers sing at the same time, making it sound almost like one congruent voice. Despite the fact that I love a good revenge song, I became despondent while listening to it - it might be too mean unless you are in that mind state already.
Final Score - TCDroogsma: 3.5/5
MinneSarah: 2.5/5
04. Tennis - Mean Streets (from the EP Small Sound)
TCDroogsma:
Tennis is the husband & wife duo of Patrick Riley & Alaina Moore out of Denver. As you may or may not recall (the hype machine runs so quickly these days), they were all the rage for a couple of weeks back in 2012.
"Mean Streets" starts as a character portrait, which we join halfway through with the opening lines, "Summer up in the Catskills, baby, singing just for the thrill..." Oddly, however, that's just about as far as our protagonist's story goes. Over a spry keyboard bounce, Tennis aims for ambiguity with the chorus and hits its mark dead on, letting us (or, possibly, her?) know that, "whatever's left, you'll find you've got to give it what you got." You can choose your own meaning for that chorus.
Lyrical ambiguity aside, the song swings along like with a warmth that makes me wish I was spending summer in the Catskills. "Mean Streets" is warm & catchy in a way that seems to come very naturally to Tennis, leaving enough room to breath that I found myself liking it more & more as the week wore on.
MinneSarah:
"Mean Streets" is chill and jazzy. Piano mixes with drums, showcasing the singers vocal range from sultry to bubble gum. The lyrics are about a girl gone good, singing on the mean streets until she has ubiquitously become a star. The lyrics start out with the line "Summer up in the Catskills," which sounds like a far cry from the mean streets. While the song is about a rise to success, the origins are covered, then the success, but how this primadonna got to where she is still is fuzzy. "Mean Streets" is an enjoyable listen, and has a certain sophistication that would place this song in an upscale boutique or hip restaurant, but don't try and read too far into it.
Final Score - TCDroogsma: 3.5/5
MinneSarah: 2.5/5
05. Red Mountain - Put Me Through (from the album Scowl Lightly)
TCDroogsma:
Red Mountain is a band out of Duluth and, before I go any further, I'm going to take a second to acknowledge that Scowl Lightly is arguably the most Duluth-ian title for an album that I can possibly imagine.
Red Mountain opens "Put Me Through" by stacking harmonies that verge on white-boy doo-wop over a simple keyboard line. When the song springs to life at the 1:20 mark, it doesn't break out the way you'd expect. The drums turn up to shuffle along, giving the song a pulse that seems both nervous & resigned. By the time the trumpets show up a minute later, it's become clear that "Put Me Through" is not headed for any Day-Glo payoff, but, like anybody who's going to survive in a Duluth winter, Red Mountain puts their heads down and presses forward, selling us on the same well-crafted hook that opened the song.
MinneSarah:
The levels of genuine longing and melancholy pull this song together. Vocals are sung in a round of one during the intro, but then have an echo chorus behind them. "Put Me Through" builds continuously, and adds just the right touch at every change. While usually, trumpets, cello, cowbell, and a chorus of "ahs" detract from a song, these components actually work to add emphasis.
Lyrically, "Put Me Through" is about the longing associated with wanting to be with someone you just know would not work out in the long run. Written from a realistic perspective, the possibility of dying alone is thrown in for good measure. These are our options, love is not always pretty, but this song highlights those not so pleasant aspects and makes you happy to be able to experience the full spectrum of human emotions.
Final Score - TCDroogsma: 3.5/5
MinneSarah: 4/5
Well there you have it, MP3 junkies! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, & filed away!
As always, please keep in mind that neither Newest Industry nor our contributors are in any way affiliated with the artists 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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