(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)
Sylvan Esso, Tinariwen, Sally Seltmann, Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes, & K.Raydio & Psymun...
Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #85!
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.
Unfortunately, this week MinneSarah took the week off due to what could kindly be called "Current-based fatigue." Trust us, her words were considerably more harsh.
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.
So... Droogsy... thoughts?
01. Sylvan Esso - Coffee (from the single Coffee/Dress)
TCDroogsma:
As mentioned up above, MinneSarah is not joining me this week. We traded text messages earlier this week and she told me that she just didn't have the energy or the patience this week to slog through another batch of Current songs. I could definitely understand. If you didn't read last week's reviews, I hit a similar wall with that Yellow Ostrich song. Spending years with these SOTD tracks has taught me that, more often than not, you're just going to get stuck with very, very average music that aligns with The Current's definition of "relevant" or "trendy." As such, you have to sift through a lot of sound-of-the-moment bullshit to find the gems.
Why do I bring all of this up? Because "Coffee" is just such a gem. Sylvan Esso is a collaboration between vocalist Amelia Meath of The Mountain Men & producer Nick Sanborn aka Made Of Oak. On "Coffee," Sanborn works up lovely, synth-heavy canvas for Meath's vocals. His production hinges on keyboads that create a backdrop for crystal clear plinks, plunks, & percussion. It's a brilliantly laid back production that perfectly matches Meath's matter-of-fact vocals.
Meath, in turn, puts together a stellar performance, painting a picture of falling in love from the perspective of somebody who's probably fallen in love a few too many times. Her vocals are weary, yet hopeful. When she pulls out the tired hip-hop trope of , "Get up, get down.. get up, get down..." it's tellingly delivered as old news, yet, obviously, always a crowd pleaser. "Coffee" ebbs & flows brilliantly, with both members of Sylvan Esso sounding absolutely essential.
Final Score: 4/5
02. Tinariwen - Chaghaybou (from the album Chaghaybou)
TCDroogsma:
This is Tinariwen's second appearance as a SOTD track. Their first, a song called "Tenere Taqhim Tossam" was a peculiar song that found success by mixing in airy vocals and guitar work that left plenty of room to breathe. They caught a nice groove and rode it for over 4:00.
"Chaghaybou," unfortunately, brings none of that subtlety to the table. The guitar work on this song is similar to "Tenere Taqhim Tossam," however it's significantly more claustrophobic than before. Lyrically, not a word is sung in English. While it's completely unfair to criticize a band from Mali for not singing in English, that doesn't change the fact that songs I can't understand do not appeal to me. Were "Chaghaybou" an even mildly interesting song, I could understand its appearance as an SOTD track. However, it's not. Frankly, the fact that The Current is pushing a 30 year old band from Saharan Africa reeks of the kind of, "They're great, you've probably never heard of them..." music snobbery that pervades just about everything The Current does these days.
Final Score: 1.5/5
03. Sally Seltmann - Seed Of Doubt (from the album Hey Daydreamer)
TCDroogsma:
You may know Australian singer-songwriter-producer Sally Seltmann better by her former stage name New Buffalo. Or, if you're like me, you may not. No matter. "Seed Of Doubt" is lovely, if somewhat cliche-riddled song.
As I've mentioned many times before in these reviews, sometimes sequencing is everything. I spent the week listening to Sally Seltmann's middle-of-the-road piano-pop immediately after that pointless Tinariwen song. As such, it's familiarly warm hooks and lyrics of relationship confusion felt like putting on a warm, familiar sweater. Seltmann's vocals are clear & pretty. When she sings, simply & plaintively, "I love you, I love you, I love you-ooh..." in the last 30 seconds of the song, it's delivered with such little pretension that it's difficult not to become immediately smitten with Seltmann. Sure, "Seed Of Doubt" sounds like it was meant for the next Cities 97 compilation, but so what? Great pop is great pop.
Final Score: 3.5/5
04. Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes - Sun Goes Out (from the album Kid Tiger)
TCDroogsma:
Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes is a Nashville-based band, however, Mr. Ellsworth hails from the Land Of 10,000 Lakes (many of which are great, though only one is labeled as such).
"Sun Goes Out" actually sounds exactly like a Minnesota boy leading a Nashville band. The hooks are sharp, but the performance is loose & open. Lyrics like "I don't know why we fight just to get along..." sound like they're coming from a man who knows the true definition of "Minnesota Nice." The song remains sunny as the band builds to a rock n roll chorus and finally explodes with an odd, wordless group vocal bridge. While not a particularly memorable song, "Sun Goes Out" is a pleasantly familiar four and half minutes that takes small risks & yields small rewards.
Final Score: 2.5/5
05. K.Raydio & Psymun - Joyride (from the album LucidDreamingSkylines)
TCDroogsma:
I was very excited to see a new single from K.Raydio & Psymun in this week's batch of songs. If you're a frequent reader of SOTW, you should already be familiar with K.Raydio's voice from MaLLy's "Good One" & Homeless' "Get Gone." If you're a frequent reader of my Flatbasset blog or listener of my Flatbasset Radio podcast, you may know that I spent the first week of February with Psymun's excellent Heartsick as my Album Of The Week and played their single "Jupiter" on Flatbasset Radio: Episode #24.
So, for better or worse, I'm already exceedingly familiar with K.Raydio & Psymun's sound. That said, "Joyride" does not disappoint. Psymun builds one of his brilliantly off-kilter beats around percussion that drifts from speaker to speaker, a twinkling keyboard figure, and saxophone bursts. As is typically the case with Psymun, the beat aims for the stars and hits the mark (even the inherently risky use of saxophone pays off big time).
It should be noted, however, that for 2:50 seconds of the 3:12 song, the beat doesn't really go anywhere. It doesn't push or pull or really have any say in the song's hook. As such, K.Raydio (who's voice has proven so adept at selling hooks) is left to craft her own melody. Fortunately, she's up to the task. While she never crafts the kind of hook that will have you humming, she returns to the same melody enough times that the song maintains a structure. While this sort of song could lend itself to vocal embellishment, she manages to keep her vocal flourishes strictly in the "tasteful" column. Frankly, much like Sylvan Esso up above, K.Raydio & Psymun both bring their own ideas to "Joyride" and manage to compliment each other exquisitely.
Final Score: 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.
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 free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio
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