(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)
Hurray For The Riff Raff, Thievery Corporation, Pink Mountaintops, Spottiswoode & His Enemies, & Little Man...
Well hello again, MP3 fans! Welcome To Songs Of The Week #92!
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. Hurray For The Riff Raff - I Know It's Wrong (But That's Alright) (from the album Small Town Heroes)
TCDroogsma:
The story of Hurray For The Riff Raff's lead singer & songwriter Alynda Lee Segarra is a long & winding tail. She's of Puerto Rican descent, was raised by her aunt in the Bronx, spent her teen years indulging in the punk scene on the Lower East Side, started hopping trains at 17, came out as a lesbian, picked up a banjo, and started writing songs.
That's quite a journey. As such, "I Know It's Wrong" has a ramshackle quality to it. Segarra's vocals bounce along a piano line straight from a spaghettie Western while pedal steel guitars & banjo licks provide some color to the proceedings. For better or worse, though, "I Know It's Wrong" is a pop song (and not a particularly interesting one). The melody is catchy, but doesn't offer any surprises. Lyrically, Segarra's journey has left her with the same problems as all of us: love, lust, loneliness, and the always romantic I'd-break-the-rules-for-you dream. It's a pleasant enough, but instantly forgettable.
Final Score: 2/5
02. Thievery Corporation - Depth Of My Soul (from the album Saudade)
TCDroogsma:
From the very beginning, the idea behind Thievery Corporation's core members Rob Garza & Eric Hilton has been to create something that sounded both modern & timeless. They lean heavily on scratchy samples, insistent vocals, & some live instrumentation to achieve this goal consistently.
"Depth Of My Soul" continues their winning streak. Turning their focus to something that wouldn't sound out of place in a smoke-filled, stylish club (or, I suppose, a commecial for high-class liquor), they've enlisted Shana Halligan to croon soulfully over strings, piano plinks, & sorta-hip-hop sounding percussion. The end result is a beautiful, soulful, lyrically vapid song. Considering that Thievery Corporation has never been about lyrics and more about mood, there's nothing wrong with that. "Depth Of My Soul" would sound best in one of those aforementioned clubs, where all anybody would notice are the strings, drums, and singing.
Final Score: 3.5/5
03. Pink Mountaintops - Ambulance City (from the album Get Back)
TCDroogsma:
Pink Mountaintops is the side project of Black Mountain's Stephen McBean. Despite Black Mountain's penchant for psychedelic rock, Pink Mountaintops are allegedly a "more psychedelic" outfit.
Whoever wrote that must have missed the memo regarding "Ambulance City." McBean ditches most of the psychedelic's (though he can't help himself with the vocal reverb) and bangs out a good old fashioned punk rock song. As far as I can tell the lyrics aren't anything but placeholders (and the fact that the third verse doesn't even contain any vocals speaks to that theory). Those verses, however, act merely as a buildup to the screaming catharsis of the chorus. "Ambulance city, station to station!" means something, maybe, or maybe it doesn't. I don't know. Frankly, they could have recorded this song in German and it would have been just as good. Nobody ever said rock n roll had to be smart.
Final Score: 3/5
04. Spottiswoode & His Enemies - No Time For Love (from the album English Dream)
TCDroogsma:
I'll throw this out here right from the jump: If you're going to give your band a name as stupid as Spottiswoode & His Enemies you're already starting with one strike against you. It's not personal, but the same rule has been applied to poorly named bands in the past (The Magnetic Zeroes, TuNe-YaRds, etc...) and typically strikes two and three come quickly. Sorry, Spottiswoode. Blame your peers.
To their credit, "No Time For Love" is nowhere near as bad as anything Edward Sharpe or Merrill Garbus has put their name on (then again, it's nearly impossible for anything to be that bad). The band aims for both epic & personal with this piano-based stomper and, for the most part, hits the mark. It's smartly devoid of universe-conquering declarations and insufferably specific details. Rather, it's an ode to sacrificing some personal happiness in the name of spending that time trying to create something bigger. I can't help but think that's subject matter Spottiswoode & His Enemies are familiar with intimately.
Final Score: 2.5/5
05. Little Man - Medicinal (from the album Original Face)
TCDroogsma:
It's been two months since Little Man last appeared on SOTW, which means we're long overdue for another track.
With "Medicinal" (his SIXTH SOTD track), Chris Perricelli sticks with the same formula that has built up his following in the Twin Cities. While I can't help but suspect that his dogged adherence to playing clever, T. Rex-inspired pop has also led to a glass ceiling of sorts for his popularity, there's just no arguing with his hooks. "Medicinal" was released as an SOTD track the same week that Minnesota legislators OK's marijuana use for medicinal purposes. Whether that was a move by Perricelli or the jackasses running The Current is unknown to me, but considering how "har, har, this will be clever" the whole thing seems, I'm willing to blame MPR. Nobody likes pretending they're clever more than those folks.
But I digress... "Medicinal" is either an ode to marijuana in the same "no, it's about a significant other" way that Paul McCartney's "Got To Get You Into My Life" is or, in our post-everything world, it's a clever turn of ideas and is really a love song that people would initially think was about pot. I'm not smart enough to figure out which is which, but given Little Man's previous work, I'm just going to assume it's about weed. Doesn't really matter. Smart, snappy, hooky... It's everything you want from a Little Man single. See you in another month or two, Chris.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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
For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors. More importantly, we have a Facebook page here. Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.
