Songs Of The Week #69: TCDroogsma & MinneSarah

(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)

AgesandAges, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, & Sebadoh...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies!  Welcome to Songs Of The Week #69!
 
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. AgesandAges - Do The Right Thing (from the album Divisionary)

TCDroogsma:

     AgesandAges are a band out of Portland, Oregon and boy, they really are.  Only such an ambiguous, dull city could produce an ambiguous, dull message like "do the right thing."

     While I certainly appreciate that these guys want me to do the right thing, I just don't feel like they genuinely give a shit.  More accurately, "Do The Right Thing" sounds like a pre-emptive defense that they, themselves are doing the right thing.  Now, if the "right thing" involves boring, circular melodies and dated, cliched platitudes, and the type of choir vocals that would make Edward Sharpe think, "Oh shit!  Do we sound like that?!?" then you can just go ahead and put me in the "doing the wrong thing" category.

MinneSarah:

     What a positive motivational song? Although AgesandAges fail to describe what the "right thing" may entail, they expect that you just do it, and that you do it all the time - lyrics that could well be taken straight from a page of a propaganda pamphlet.  The building choral style vocals make it sound as though you are in the middle of an intervention featuring a violin and tambourines - and lots of them.

     The rest of the song is pretty run of the mill adorable alternative and doesn't really offend one way or the other.  The vacuous simplicity of the positive message and its delivery is annoying.  To steal a line from the song..."if you love yourself you better get out now."  Unfortunately for AgesandAges, this song made me feel that the right thing was to never listen to this song again - and yeah, that does make me feel better already. 

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 1/5
                              MinneSarah: 1.5/5

02. Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside - Lips N Hips (from the EP Summer)

TCDroogsma:

     Last January I reviewed Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside's song "Party Kids."  I didn't care for it, eventually saying, "It's all the mindless fun of 'Talk Dirty To Me' updated for the indie set."  Compared to "Lips N Hips," "Party Kids" is "Strawberry Fields Forever."

     Where "Party Kids" was basically disposable, stupid pop, at least it was catchy and well performed.  "Lips N Hips" finds the band abandoning decent melodies and relying solely on "surprisingly" blunt sexuality.  Even that might have given "Lips N Hips" some redeeming quality, but the whole thing is sunk by Sallie Ford's vocal performance.  I mean, when was the last time you heard a female singer struggle with the low end of her register?

     Lyrically, Ford abandons subtle seduction quickly and aims for the cheap payoff of flatly offering her body to a potential lover. It's a perfect approach for a generation that's accustomed to sending dick pics and nudezzzz, but, to paraphrase C. Montgomery Burns, call me old fashioned, but women were sexier when they kept their clothes on.

MinneSarah:

     "Lips N Hips" is the dirtiest of these California surf rock revival songs I've heard.  However the sentiment, though serious, comes across comically augmented.  The lyrics start out "Hey there, fella."  Ummm, is this a Mae West movie?  Additionally, the lyrics rhyme "really know you" with "really know you."

     While it feels like the song is trying to convey a sense of raw desire, the mood actually made me feel out of place and uncomfortable, like overhearing old people making love or reading a feeble sexting conversation between a couple of teenagers.  Combine that level of unease with the resolute fact that if I never heard a song that sounded so "retro California" I wouldn't lose any sleep.  Dud.

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 0/5
                               MinneSarah: 1.5/5

03.  Sebadoh - I Will (from the album Defend Yourself)

TCDroogsma:

     Confession:  MinneSarah & I went and saw Sebadoh at the Turf Club last month.  She's been a huge fan of these guys since high school, so the show was probably less revelatory for her than me, but it sent me down a Sebadoh wormhole that I've yet to totally recover from.

     That being said, "I Will" is a brilliant, unflinching single.  Barlow wraps his softening-with-age voice around the aftermath of a relationship ending.  The song is filled with brutally honest lyrics.  I mean, it opens with, "Can you tell that I'm about to lose control?"  It's that feeling that hits several days after "the big fight,"  when the reality of life apart from this person hits like a ton of bricks.  As a 31 year old guy, I know that feeling well.  Perhaps because of my age (and, frankly, relationship history), the line, "So I make a plan and start to move" is the most poignant of the song.  Barlow's been down this road before and, even though he's freaking out on the inside, he knows the routine, which is just about the most crushing thought of all.

     (I was going to give this one a 4.5/5, but I bumped it up to my first "5" ever because Barlow uses the same title as one of Paul McCartney's most beloved, schmaltzy love songs.  Lou's got a great sense of humor.)

MinneSarah:

     "I Will" is one of Lou Barlow's emo songs - not that I can find anything wrong with a grown man sharing his innermost feelings - we all know that Lou would punch a nun in the face if she gave him the reason - he's the toughest guy in indie rock for certain.

     That having been said, "I Will" deals with the difficult subject matter of realizing you just aren't that into a relationship anymore.  The lyrics are delivered matter of fact and are uncannily relateable.  Unlike some of Sebadoh's Barlow driven songs, this one doesn't dwell on the acoustic, but turns the guitar amp up.  Sebadoh is a band I've loved since high school.  As a long time fan I'm happy to report that this song embodies the raw rock music that drove me to the band in the first place but also adds a layer that we're all different people than we were in 1995...and we're probably all better for it.

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 5/5
                               MinneSarah: 4.5/5

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 MinneSarah be sure to give her a follow on Twitter (@MinneSarah).  She can also be found right here on Newest Industry filing reports out of St. Paul for our Big Day Out column




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.   

Songs Of The Week #24: TCDroogsma

(THIS POST ORIGINIALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)

Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Low, Yo La Tengo, Bleeding Rainbow, & Thomas Kivi & The Immigrants...

Well hello again, mp3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #24!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Songs Of The Week column, here's the deal. Each week we ask two of our regular contributors to download the songs given away via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast. After giving the songs a good listen, we ask them to review the songs and give them a score 1-5.

Unfortunately, MinneSarah's computer went south on her this week, so, much to the chagrin of everybody involved, we're left with TCDroogsma flying solo this week.

For those of you who would like to play along at home, be sure to click here and subscribe to thepodcast yourself. Download the songs (or give them a listen here) and vote in the poll to the right side of the page for which was your favorite. The artist with the most votes wins the credibility of anonymous internet opinions, the most valuable resource this country has to offer.

Now, on to the songs! TCDroogsma, thoughts?

01. Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside – Party Kids (from the album Untamed Beast)

TCDroogsma:

     I've been struggling for three days trying to form and opinion on this song and, I'm sorry, nothing's coming to me.  I mean, the band works up a nice 'Tilly & The Wall' type of groove, I suppose.  The lyrics, as far as I can tell, are an anthem for feminists partying as hard as frat boys?  Is that a fight worth fighting?  It should be noted, it's possible that I'm missing the entire point and that's not what they're about at all.  Seems that Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside set out to write a hip-shaking, good-time-party-time, indie rock jam.  Mission accomplished.  It's all the mindless fun of "Talk Dirty To Me" updated for the indie set.

Final Score: 2.5/5

02. Low – Plastic Cup (from the album The Invisible Way)

TCDroogsma:

     You know the old saying, "It's always the dumbest person in the room that wants to talk politics?"  What's that?  That's not an old saying, it's just something Facebook reminds me of every day? Oh, regardless...

     
     "Plastic Cup" finds my beloved Low taking aim at the widest possible target: privileged, upper-middle class Americans who have no real concept of the struggles going on around the world.  All this set to a pretty straightforward acoustic strum and the lovely Sparhawk/Parker harmonies that we all know and love.  Now, if "Plastic Cup" is meant to be heard as some sort of larger critique on the role of America in 2013, I'm sorry for missing the point.  Based on the condescension in Alan Sparhawk's voice, though, I don't get that sense at all.  Frankly, he comes off like Chan Marshall in that awful "Ruin" single.  "You can always count on your friends to get you high, you could always count on the 'rents to get you by..."  That doesn't sound like a "universal" critique to me at all.

     I wrote about this earlier when I reviewed "Just Make It Stop," but one of Low's best traits is their ability to speak in broad, nearly cliche terms and somehow make them feel both universal and brutally personal.  Evidently that kind of approach works much better when it comes to human emotion and not geopolitics.  My expectations for "The Invisible Way" keep dropping with each new song that's released.  I blame Jeff Tweedy. 

Final Score: 1.5/5

03. Yo La Tengo – I'll Be Around (from the album Fade)

TCDroogsma:

     I should note two things before I start reviewing this song:  First, I'm not a Yo La Tengo fan.  I mean, I'm not anti-Yo La Tengo, I just mean that I don't really know them very well.  They have a pretty good-sized cult following and any one of those people would probably be able to give a better perspective on this song.

     Second, I never totally got over my initial disappointment that this was not a cover of The Spinners.  That would have probably been awesome. (Update: Yup. Awesome.)

     So, what I'm left with a slow burning song whose first half consists of Nick Drake stoner poetry and a second half that builds with some acoustic guitars and keyboards to a climax that is ultimately kind of anti-climactic.  Now, that may sound like I don't like the song.  That's not the case at all.  In the right place and in the right mood it's possible that this is one of the best songs I've heard this year.  When neither of those criteria is in place, however, this is background music.

Final Score: 3/5

04. Bleeding Rainbow – Waking Dream (from the album Yeah Right)

TCDroogsma:

     After somehow resisting my initial inclination to savage a band that calls itself "Bleeding Rainbow," I was able to embrace the awesomeness that is "Walking Dream."  This song drips so much 90's that I wouldn't be surprised if it was written by Juliana Hatfield (note, that is a wholehearted compliment).  It always makes me happy to hear a band write some good hooks, go loud/quite/loud, and let the feedback fill in the blanks.  Somewhere Levar Burton & Courtney Love are smiling (and barely aware of each other's existence).

Final Score: 3.5/5

05. Thomas Kivi & The Immigrants – Cops & Crims (from the EP Thomas Kivi & The Immigrants)

TCDroogsma:

    Thomas Kivi & The Immigrants almost had me.  Despite the fact that we've all heard this song 100 times in some form or another actually made me like it more.  Call it the comfort of familiarity (act like you didn't know exactly how the guitars were going to come out of the chorus.  Or what the vocal melody was going to be 15 seconds into this one).  This would make a great Nada Surf b-side.

     In fact, I was pretty much all in on this one until the same mindless political cliches that sunk Low popped up.  "So you see, ain't nothing new, this whole wide world is red & blue, it was made in China, man, and Afghanistan's drowning in the Bible..."  I cringed more typing it than I did hearing it the first time.  That ham-fisted adding of "man" to make the lines rhyme is even worse than using the term "Crims" to make the chorus work.

Final Score: 2/5

Well there you have it, everybody! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, listened to, reviewed, and filed away never to be heard from again.

As always, we'd like to take a moment to point out that neither this blog nor its contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or Minnesota Public Radio. We're just music fans with keyboards and little 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 hosting our weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio. Frankly, between those two things, that should be enough TCDroogsma.

Of course Newest Industry also has a Twitter home (@NewestIndustry1). Give us a follow to stay up on the work being done by all of our regular contributors. More importantly, we have a Facebook page here. Stopping by and giving us a “Like” is a free & legitimate way to support the blog. Every little bit helps, ya heard?