Album Of The Week: December 9-15, 2013

My Album Of The Week for the week of December 9th-15th, 2013

Allan Kingdom - Talk To Strangers

Talk To Strangers is another album that I downloaded after checking out Erik Thompson's excellent 10 Twin Cities Acts Who Deserve To Be Famous column.  Though, I should note that this wasn't the first time I'd come across Allan Kingdom's name, it was the first time it was the first time I said, "Oh yeah, I gotta check that out."  Thanks to Erik Thompson (or his editors) for putting the link to Kingdom's Bandcamp page in the column.

As such, click on Allan Kingdom's Bandcamp to check out Talk To Strangers for yourself at whatever price you see fit.

I'm excited to spend the week with Talk To Strangers because, frankly, I need to hear more new voices in the Twin Cities hip-hop community (and I say that with all the love possible for the old voices I've been listening to for years).


After a couple of spins, Talk To Strangers makes for an interesting listen because Kingdom doesn't seem to be straining himself to fit in with the hipster set, which is refreshing, but he's also not presenting any sort of myth-building version of himself.  Honestly, he just sounds like a dude who's rapping over some laid back beats because it's fun to just kick back and rap over some laid back beats.  Definitely a welcome change of pace.

If you're interested in checking Kingdom out in person, he's part of a lengthy list of artists playing First Avenue on Saturday, February 15th for the release of the 5th The Best Love Is Free compilation.  Gotta believe that's a show worth checking out.

Newest Industry Presents - Flatbasset Radio: Episode #23

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

Everything's gonna be alright...

Hello again, free music fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #23!
 
For those of you who are unaware of the Flatbasset Radio format, here's what you're looking at: TCDroogsma is our resident MP3 junkie. As you've probably noticed in his Songs Of The Week column, he's not always the most positive music fan. In an effort to prove that he is, in fact, a fan of music, we give him an hour each week to play the songs he's digging and talk a little bit about them. Once he's recorded his podcast we put it right here on the website for free to stream!

In this week's episode Droogsy plays us a song that helps him get through the day, debuts the new feature: Cover Of The Week, discusses his favorite late-90's glam rock film, gets an answer to the question: Does San Diego have an underground music scene, fawns over the Turf Club, declares a band that didn't even fill the Turf Club "An American treasure, mispronounces another artist's name, and wishes his dad a happy birthday!

You can download the podcast for free by clicking the episode's title or stream the episode by clicking on the Mixcloud player below.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #23

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #23 by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01.  The Cloak Ox - Josephine
02.  Sage Francis (w/B. Dolan) - You Can't Win
03.  Total Slacker - Keep The Ships At Bay
04.  Jason Lytle - Get Up And Go
05.  Holy Ghost! - Hold On, We're Going Home
06.  Lakutis - Body Scream
07.  Grant Lee Buffalo - The Whole Shebang
08.  Octa#Grape - As Long As I Forget
09.  SIFU Hotman - Outnumbered, Outgunned, Outmaneuvered, And Winning
10.  Sebadoh - Soul And Fire
11.  Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia

There you have it, music fans! Enjoy!

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  He can also be found right here on Newest Industry reviewing singles in our Songs Of The Week column. Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.

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 #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.   

My Six Year Last.fm Anniversary

December 1st marked the six year anniversary of me signing up for a Last.fm account and thus beginning my descent into madness

For anybody who doesn't know, Last.fm is a website that presents itself as a social media for music junkies.   It keeps track of all the music you listen to on your computer/iPod/iPhone by "scrobbling," which is basically a fancy way of saying counting.  It keeps track of all the songs, artists, and albums you listen to and then creates charts and counts based on your plays.

If you know me at all, you know I'm obsessed with my Last.fm account (and not in a healthy way).  I'm the type of person who loves looking through accumulated numbers, whether they're hockey stats, product movement reports, or scrobbles (though, for the record, math can go fuck itself).  I've tried repeatedly to get my friends to sign up, which they did, but they refuse to maintain their accounts.  Imagine if you're a car junkie and your friend buys a nice car and then refuses to change the oil, rotate the tires, fix their squeaking brakes,etc...  That's what it's like.  So, for the record, I strongly suggest that anybody who likes music head over to Last.fm, download the scrobbler, and play along.  I swear to God, it's really fun if you're a music fan with no social life and a borderline obsessive personality.

Anyway, this being the six year anniversary (it would have been eight if I hadn't aborted my initial attempt to sign up), I thought I'd post another one of those album collages that I post each month.  This time, however, instead of my Most Played Albums Of The Month it's my Most Played Albums Of All Time! Or at least, my Most Played Albums Since December 1st, 2007!  If this thing went back to high school Lagwagon would probably be my most played artist.

Regardless, here's another stupid collage that only I enjoy! (Larger pictures indicate more plays)

So here's the Top 50 with number of plays in parenthesis:

01.  P.O.S. - Never Better (580)
02.  The Cribs - Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (558)
03.  Why? - Alopecia (472)
04.  Doomtree - Doomtree (455)
05.  Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (453)
06.  Felt - Felt 3: A Tribute To Rosie Perez (449)
07.  The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant (431)
08.  Paul Westerberg - Besterberg: The Best Of Paul Westerberg (430)
09.  Morrissey - Years Of Refusal (428)
10.  Kanye West - Graduation (416)
11.  Doomtree - No Kings (398)
12.  Sims - Bad Time Zoo (397)
13.  Atmosphere - You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having (396)
14.  The Killers - Sawdust (363)
15.  Cecil Otter - Rebel Yellow (352)
16.  Jake One - White Van Music (341)
17.  Mike Mictlan & Lazerbeak - Hand Over Fist (336)
18.  DOOM - Born Like This (335)
19.  El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead (332)
20.  The Smiths - The World Won't Listen (329)
21.  Why? - Eskimo Snow (328)
22.  Atmosphere - Seven's Travels (326)
23.  Eyedea & Abilities - By The Throat (323)
24.  Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (308)
25.  Murs - Murs For President (304)
26.  El-P - Cancer For Cure (300)
27.  The Cribs - The New Fellas (294)
28.  Aesop Rock - Skelethon (292)
29.  P.O.S. - Audition (287)
30.  Doomtree - No Kings (284)
31.  Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine (281)
32.  The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (276)
33.  Building Better Bombs - Freak Out Squares(273)
34.  Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon: End Of The Day (272)
35.  The Cribs - In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull (271)
36.  Dillinger Four - C I V I L W A R (264)
37.  Blur - Parklife (263)
38.  Kanye West - Late Registration (263)
39.  BK-One - Rádio Do Canibal (263)
40.  The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (261)
41.  Kanye West - 808's & Heartbreak (261)
42.  Plain Ole Bill - Student Of The Old, Teacher Of The New School (257)
43.  Morrissey - Vauxhall & I (257)
44.  The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (253)
45.  The Smiths - The Smiths (250)
46.  Felt - Felt 2: A Tribute To Lisa Bonet (245)
47.  Buck 65 - Secret House Against The World (241)
48.  Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (241)
49.  The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come (240)
50.  Shad - TSOL (240)

There it is.  Those are my Most Played Albums Of The Last Six Years.  Obviously, these aren't necessarily my favorite (or even most played albums) of my life.  I can promise you I've listened to The Smiths first album far more than Kid Cudi, but most of that took place before 2007.  Regardless, men lie, women lie, numbers don't.

Album Of The Week: December 2-8, 2013

My Album Of The Week for the week of December 2nd-December 8th, 2013:

The Persian Leaps - Praise Elephants

The Persian Leaps were brought to my attention by, well, The Persian Leaps.

My friends and I have been working on our Twin Cities blog Newest Industry (and it's predecessor All Tensed Up) for over two years to complete indifference from the public.  Then, a couple of months ago, one of the members of The Persian Leaps contacted me and asked if I'd give Praise Elephants a listen.  Being one of the international leaders in the field of procrastination, I had a responsibility, nay, an obligation, to do absolutely nothing about this request.

Now, the key to maintaining a reputation as an expert procrastinator is to get around to everything eventually.  This week that means making Praise Elephants my album of the week.

Honestly, the timing worked out brilliantly.  For the last couple of months I've been listening to a lot of shoegaze/fuzzed out rock n roll music.  Putting on Praise Elephants was like switching from AM to FM radio.  Where most of the bands I've been listening to lately list atmospherics over melody, The Persian Leaps go the opposite way.  At their core, the songs of Praise Elephants are good, old-fashioned power-pop.  Listening through the EP a couple of times they have 90's-esque sound that aims for the sweet spot of my nostalgia-tinged mind.  In face the first band that came to mind was the Gin Blossoms.  If you know me, you know that is a sincere compliment.

If you'd like to give it a listen for yourself it's available as a "Name Your Price" download over at The Persian Leaps Bandcamp page.  The band is also playing a show at Cause on December 19th with End Quotes & Brilliant Beast.  You can read more about that on their website here.

Most Played Albums: November '13

My Most Played Albums for the month of November, 2013:

(Larger picture indicates more plays)

(Roughly left to right)

01. Graham Coxon - The Sky Is Too High
02. The Underachievers - Lords Of Flatbush
03. Later Babes - LISA
04. Mystery Jets - Seratonin
05. Guante & Big Cats! - You Better Weaponize
06. Prolyphic & Buddy Peace - Kraftwerking Man
07. Ginkgo - Manopause
08. The Current - November '13
09. The Everywheres - Slow Friends
10. Placebo - Once More With Feeling: Singles 1996-2004
11. Guante & Big Cats! - Don't Be Nice
12. Portastatic - Some Small History
13. P.O.S. - WDELH/MDS/RMX
14. Action Bronson & Party Supplies - Blue Chips 2
15. Mally - Strange Rhythm
16. Nallo - Mechano & The Trees
17. 12 Rods - Split Personalities
18. Big Cats! - Lesser Lights
19. The Suburbs - Chemistry Set: Songs Of The Suburbs 1977-1987
20. Dr. Frank - Show Business Is My Life
21. The Weeknd - Echoes Of Silence
22. Wiping Out Thousands - Reaction Machine
23. Dead Wives - Buzzy Fuzzy
24. Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On The Edge Of Town
25. Steddy P & DJ Mahf - Breakfast With Gonzo
26. Baishe Kings - The Eyes Of Mark Mixtape
27. The Kinks - Something Else By The Kinks
28. Alpha Consumer - Honey Effigy
29. Ras Dude -  #0000
30. The Central Division - 3 Songs
31. Luna - Best Of Luna
32. Gorillaz - Demon Days
33. Panther Ray - Parallel Motions
34. Frankie Teardrop - Tough Guy
35. Budo - The Finger & The Moon
36. Depeche Mode - Singles 86-98
37. The Underachievers - Indigoism
38.  Allan Kingdom - Talk To Strangers
39. Joey Bada$$ - Summer Knights
40. JonWayne - Cassette 3: Marion Morrison Mixtape
41. Death Grips - Government Plates
42. Cult Choir - Beautiful Funeral
43. Wiping Out Thousands - Closer
44. Strange Names - Five Songs
45. Capital Steez - AmeriKKKan Korruption
46. Mystery Palace - Sleepless
47. The Central Division - Neighbor Of The Beast
48. Wild Ghosts - No Coast
49. Octa#Grape - As Long As I Forget
50.  Sebadoh - Bubble & Scrape

All info via Last.fm

Songs Of The Week #68: TCDroogsma & MinneSarah

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

La Luz, Shearwater, Songs: Ohia, Cate Le Bon, & Frankie Teardrop...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies!  Welcome to Songs Of The Week #68!


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.  La Luz  - Pink Slime (from the album It's Alive)

TCDroogsma:

     La Luz is an all-female surf rock outfit out of Seattle.  Living in Minneapolis, it's hard not to notice the garage/psychedelic/surf sound has really gained some traction.

     While this sort of music makes for very compelling shows, it just doesn't do it for me on record.  "Pink Slime" comes on with an uptempo beat & some girl group-esque cooing, but ultimately doesn't go much further.  La Luz adds some reverb to the vocals and plays it with an innocent-yet-knowing angle, singing romantically "every time I feel your hand in mine all I can think of is pink slime..."  I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what I meant, but I'm telling the truth when I say that, even after spending a week with this song, I had to sit down and listen closely to the lyrics for this review because, ultimately, this song is very forgettable.

MinneSarah:

     This California garage rock trend is driving me insane.  Not a week goes by that the Songs Of The Day doesn't include something from this genre.  Girl groups that add doo-wop are a new twist on this trend, and the 60's feel of this song makes it a fun and a halfway unique listen.

     "Pink Slime" would do well as a movie theme in which the lady bandits are winning a chase after a heartwarming day of mischief.  While I'm not as jazzed about this song as I would have been if it had been at the beginning of this 60's West Coast garage rock trend, it still stands up to the toe tap test.

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 2/5
                              MinneSarah: 3.5/5

02.  Shearwater - A Wake For The Minotaur (from the album Fellow Travelers)

TCDroogsma:

     Reading Pitchfork's review of Fellow Travelers, the new covers album from Shearwater, it was mentioned that Shearwater have a very distinct sound that typically leads to either devoted fandom or complete indifference.  Listening to "A Wake For The Minotaur," I'm pretty sure I fall into the latter category.

     "A Wake For The Minotaur" is not a cover, but rather a collaboration with Sharon Van Etten.  The song moves along at a glacial pace, making the mistake of relying on Van Etten & lead singer Jonathan Meiburg's  errr.... "unique" voice to carry the song.  Frankly, it doesn't work.  Meiburg's wraps his "Antony-lite" falsetto around lyrics like "A glorious light, a ladder along the clouds, a spy in the sun, a shout in the street below..."  What does that mean?  Fuck if I know.  It's probably just the type of shit you say at a wake for a mythical beast.  Van Etten fares little better, her voice too similar to Meiburg's to be distinct and her lyrics ("paper in dusk, a river below the lake, I ride the flood") somehow manage to make even less sense.

     Now, maybe if you've already bough into the whole Shearwater experience this is a unique and compelling collaboration.  For those of us who haven't, "A Wake For The Minotaur" comes off as little more than artists indulging an idea that may have been compelling in theory.  Of course, in theory, communism worked.  In theory.

MinneSarah:

     Let me start with a closer - there is nothing redeeming about this song.  While I realize that there are people on this earth who would be all about this song, I am not one of them.  The only people who have Minotaurs in their immediate consciousness are Greek mythology professors and D&D enthusiasts.  While I can't place where Shearwater fit in on this spectrum, their interest comes off a little creepy.

     On first listen to this song, I wanted to turn it off at ten second intervals as soon as I zoned out from the "must try to listen to this" mindset, my hand went immediately to the skip button.  Upon a few more forced listens, I couldn't find any redeeming factors.  The music is acoustic, fairytale-like, and the male/female vocals are as falsetto and grating as could ever be imagined.  If I were a minotaur, I'd much rather have Rage Against the Machine play "Bulls on Parade," at my wake, and that ain't saying much.

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

03.  Songs: Ohia - Farewell Transmission (Demo) (from the album Magnolia Electric Co. (Ten Year Anniversary Edition))

TCDroogsma:

     It's almost unfair to be asked to review this demo version of "Farewell Transmission" after Jason Molina's death.  Make no mistake, I'm almost entirely unfamiliar with Molina's work, which means that I have no context for "Farewell Transmission" other than "this guy died too young."

     As you might well expect from a song called "Farewell Transmission" from a recently deceased musician, it's nearly impossible to escape the specter of his death.  Considering Molina died from an illness related to alcohol abuse, how could this song come off as anything but I cry for help?  Molina sing-speaks over his dissonant guitar, spitting out lines like "If you don't want us to be a secret out of the past, I will resurrect it" and "The real truth about it is no one gets it right" sounding like they weren't meant to be heard until he had passed.

     Molina ends the song by singing, "The big star is falling, through the static and distance, a farewell transmission..." before imploring us, repeatedly, to "listen."  I mean, that's clairvoyant to the point of suspicion.  Kurt Cobain didn't sound this depressed on Nirvana's Unplugged album.  All those outside factors aside, "Farewell Transmission" is a song who's fate has been drastically altered by its singer's death, heart-wrenching and haunting.

MinneSarah:

     Demo versions are for true fans.  If you are a true fan of Songs: Ohia, you are in for a seven minute, not quite as good as you remember, treat.  However, if you've never heard Songs: Ohia before, then you may tire after about three minutes.

     What really stands out is the singer's voice and a sense of urgency that doesn't quite go anywhere, but as far as I can tell shows promise for the completed version.  This folky tune has some of the deliberately lo-fi elements of music circa ten years ago, which sounds comforting. As often happens when a musician dies, the full catalog of their works is released - even the demos that would never have seen the light of day. We all know that I'm not a fan of folk and may never become one, this song stood on its own.
 
Final Score - TCDroogsma: 3.5/5
                              MinneSarah: 2/5

04.  Cate Le Bon - Are You With Me Now? (from the album Mug Museum)

TCDroogsma:

     A quick Google search of Cate Le Bon reveals that she's a Welsh woman now living in Los Angeles.  Nothing has ever made more sense than that.

     "Are You With Me Now" strums along nicely with some hummable, catchy guitar work indicative of the laid back West Coast lifestyle.  Lyrically, however, it contains the sort of passive-desperation that has made Welsh (and English and Scottish and Irish) music compelling since The Beatles.  When Le Bon asks, "are you with me now?" it's delivered with a California cool that belies its serious, life-altering potential.  She's not asking if this significant other has settled on her (presumably after having several options), she's asking because she sincerely wants the answer to be yes.

MinneSarah:

     "Are You With Me Now?" wins the award for the catchiest song this week.  It's got a 70's sound to it, a little groove to the guitar and bass, and melodic, flowing vocals.  While it's nothing that I'd seek out to listen to on my own, the, "Are you with me..." haunts the memory and is always welcomed warmly when it plays.  Cate's vocals are calm and stoic, but still have an acrobatic range.  Overall, a nice little catchy tune.
 
Final Score - TCDroogsma: 3/5
                              MinneSarah: 3.5/5

05.  Frankie Teardrop - Chicago (from the EP Tough Guy)

TCDroogsma:

     I have two things I have to mention before I dig into "Chicago."  First, I've been known to be swayed (both positively and negatively) on SOTD tracks based on where they fit with the rest of the SOTD tracks of the week.  This week I listened to the Tough Guy EP as my Album Of The Week, meaning I'm familiar with the song in the context of that EP, not this week's SOTD playlist.

     Second, I hate Chicago.

     As such, when Frankie sings that he's, "lookin' out for art kids" and "sleeping on the El Train" it sounds like the worst night of my life.  Now, to be sure, Frankie (with the help of some absolutely shimmering guitars) sells the experience, but all the jangle-pop in the world ain't swaying my opinion New York's younger, more violent, fatter, dumber brother.  Still, solid guitar pop.

MinneSarah:

     Chicago is a hell of a town - and this song encapsulates the love of Chicago from an outsider's perspective.  When you go to the big city to visit, there is a sense of awe that is not yet washed away by the monotony of actually living in the city.  This song features a long background speaking part, but with the high pitched guitar, it makes it sound like an amped up memory.  This song puts me at the Damen street El stop, without even having heard it there - if that isn't a sign of a good song, then I don't quite know what is.

Final Score - TCDroogsma: 3/5
                              MinneSarah: 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 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




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