Songs Of The Week #33: TCDroogsma

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

Wooden Wand, Ducktails, Ulrich Schnauss, Foxygen, & Strange Relations...

Well hello again, everybody! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #33!

For those of you who aren't quite sure what you're looking at, here's the scoop: Each week we ask two of our contributors to download the songs given away via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast. After spending a few days with them, we as them to write a review of each song and give it a score of 1-5.

As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself. It's free music! To that end, we've also posted a poll to the righthand side of the page. Please vote for whichever of this week's songs was your favorite. The artist with the most votes at the end of the week receives the peace of mind that comes with winning an anonymous poll on a blog. High stakes!

Now, if you've been following the Songs Of The Week column at all, you'll know that we've been unable to find a second person to review the songs. Who knew it would be so hard to find a blogging music critic in the Twin Cities?

So, yet again, all we can offer you is the perpetually available TCDroogsma and his take on the tracks.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Wooden Wand – Supermoon (The Sounding Line) (from the album Blood Oaths Of The New Blues)

TCDroogsma:

      “Supermoon (The Sounding Line)” is a tough song to pin down. Wooden Wand (essentially singer-songwriter James Toth) has made a career of left turns and “Supermoon” is yet another.

      To those who are not overly-familiar with Toth's work (like, say, myself), this doesn't prove to be a benefit. If you've been a fan for him, I'm sure the airy-spaced-out country vibe he's hitting on here is just another intriguing guise for a man who's built a career out of them. For the rest of us, however, it's just an airy-spaced-out country song, and not a particularly compelling one at that. Without that frame of reference, what are we supposed to make of this?

      The actual song is a bit charming enough, if not confounding. The titular “supermoon” is a reference to the time that Toth and his significant other fell off. The line leading up to the chorus, “No one's gonna climb this sounding line,” lends an air of dread to the fallout from this supermoon breakup. Down past, “the Mark Twain at two fathoms... the Deep Six at six fathoms...” we expected to find something more sinister than just Toth's emotional struggles. Sadly, that's all that's waiting at the bottom of the water. Frankly, they probably could have just stayed there.

Final Score: 2/5

02. Ducktails – Letter Of Intent (from the album The Flower Lane)

TCDroogsma:

      I'll be honest, I had never heard of Ducktails before this song. Turns out it's the solo work of Mathew Mondanile, guitarist for Real Estate. It took me a few listens to finally “get” “Letter Of Intent.” Secretly, I was hoping it was a song about the struggles of committing to a college as a high school football player.

      Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Fortunately, we are treated to 80's-style, synthed-out groove that's one half Madonna and one half Hall & Oates (or, I guess, one quarter Hall & one quarter Oates). For about the 1,000^th time here on Songs Of The Week, my love for boy/girl vocals is going to trump any other factor in song evaluation, and Ducktails does it surprisingly well. To their credit, they ride the female's lead (sorry, I don't know their names) as far as her charming voice can take before a bridge built around the Molandile's voice. This vocal trade-off lends the song a lot of color.

      Really, that's where the appeal of “Letter Of Intent” lies. Stripped down, it's an average-to-good song, but Ducktails do a remarkable job of adding just enough little things to reward repeated listens. A keyboard flutter here, a vocal affectation there, and just enough room to breathe that “Letter Of Intent” sounds tailor-made to be the spring anthem of every skinny, awkward kid saying goodbye to his first crush at the end of freshman year.

Final Score: 3.5/5

03. Ulrich Schnauss – I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance (from the album A Long Way To Fall)

TCDroogsma:

      This is the second week in a row that I've been tasked with reviewing an instrumental track here on Songs Of The Week. Unlike last week's song from Mister Lies, with its club-ready drums and keyboard blips, Ulrich Schnauss takes a little more time to stretch his legs out with “I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance.”

      (Sidenote: That's a brutal title for an instrumental song. For better or worse, the title is going to set the mood of a track, moreso if it's lyric-less. Calling a song “I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance” comes off as condescending at best. However, that's only an initial take that, for the most part, leaves your brain after a few listens.)

      “I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance” is not built for sweaty clubs. Oh, it acts like it is. The keyboard buildup at the beginning of the song is just begging for that pause... DROP moment. Wisely, it never comes. A lot of electronic music seems built for people on ecstasy. “I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance” sounds more like it was made for someone who's had a few bowl hits.

      Those keyboards that sound like a buildup at the beginning eventually turn into a canvas for Schnauus to paint on. Melodic keyboard lines show up and then disappear just as quickly, giving the listener the sensation that a lot is happening, when, in actuality, there's so much less to it than you think.

      “I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance” can be framed as a two-part suite. The pulsing of the keyboards is eventually replaced with actual percussion in the second half of the song, but again, it's not a Drop moment. In fact, the second half of the song is almost like sequel to the first half. Not as good, lacking the subtle rewards of the first, but a necessary climax.

Final Score: 3/5

04. Foxygen – No Destruction (from the album We Are The 21^st Century Ambassadors Of Peace And Magic)

TCDroogsma:

      Woah, woah, woah... Put down the copy of Nashville Skyline and step away from the turntable...

      Listen, when it comes to Bob Dylan, there's a difference between “influenced by,” and “hero worship.” When it comes to Foxygen's “No Destruction,” the only question left on the table is spit or swallow?

      I should note right off the top that I'm predisposed to hate shit like this. Growing up on punk rock taught me that the idealism of the 60's was a fool's pursuit, self-centered and fruitless. Evidently, Sam Francis and John Rado did not grow up on punk rock. “No Destruction” is drowning in long-dead tropes like, “the door of consciousness, San Francisco,” and a world of, “no destruction in the waking hour...” The fact that the most rebellious action they could come up with in our post-OWS world is smoking pot in a subway gives them away as aping their idols rather than updating the message.

      And then, just in case the weezing vocals and middling lyrics weren't bold enough signposts, the harmonica shows up to take us out. The title “No Destruction” is brutally appropriate. Those idealistic hippies from the 60's were concerned with the destruction of a flawed system. Foxygen seems concerned strictly with leaving the system intact and ringing every last cent from the bloated corpse of those same hippies.

Final Score: 0/5

05. Strange Relations – Endurance (from the EP Ghost World)

TCDroogsma:

      Remember last week when I reviewed Fury Things? If not, I lamented how the key to a really good shoegaze-pop song is giving the listener something new to discover each listen. You can't just turn up the reverb and hope that's enough.

      To that end, Strange Relations has done their homework. “Endurance” got better and better every time I listened to it. Coming off like the bastard child of Gospel Gossip, Solid Gold, and Night Moves, there's a lot of things going on in “Endurance” and all of them are being done very well.

      The guitar doesn't squall so much as it lingers like a fog, with random leads rising up like steam from a sewer. The rhythm section is deceptively tight, conjuring up a danceable groove that can, I'm assuming, be turned into a monster live. Add to that mix a vocal line that takes half a dozen listens to really reveal itself and Strange Relations comes off like your older brother's impossibly cool girlfriend, cigarette hanging between jet black nails and the smell of whiskey following her up the stairs.

Final Score: 4/5

There you have it, music fans! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, and filed away!

As always, please bear in mind that neither Newest Industry nor its contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or MPR. We're just music fans with laptops and a little too much time on our hands.

For more TCDroogsma he can be found on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio.

For more Newest Industry we can also be found on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1). Give us a follow 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.

Singles Mixer #6: "Lady, You Shot Me" by Har Mar Superstar

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

You broke my one rule, you treated me cruel...

Hello again, music fans! Welcome to Singles Mixer #6!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Singles Mixer column, here's the story. On the occasion of Minnesota musicians releasing singles of note, we ask one of our regular contributors to give us their take on the song. As is the case with our Songs Of The Week column, the song is reviewed and then given a score of 1-5.

Last week Minnesota native Har Mar Superstar released the song “Lady, You Shot Me,” the lead single from his new album Bye Bye 17. We asked the perpetually-available TCDroogsma to give us his thoughts on the song.

So, Droogsy, thoughts?

On first listen to “Lady, You Shot Me,” the question that comes to mind is, “has Har Mar Superstar finally grown up?”

Now, that's not a fair question. Anybody who's been around the Twin Cities music scene long enough is well familiar with both sides of Sean Tillman. As Sean Na Na ,Tillman has been making poppy, hook-laden indie pop sporadically for years. And over the course of three full-length albums and a handful of EP's he's proven repeatedly that he is capable of subtlety, nuance, maturity, and a keen eye for observation. Unfortunately, this often-brilliant work has led to little more than cult fandom and headlining gigs at places like The Kitty Kat Club & The Whole.

Har Mar Superstar, on the other hand, has always trafficked in synth-y, funk-y, sex-drenched rave ups. Oh, the songs are still packed with hooks (the man knows how to make a song stick), but the lyrics have, on occasion, veered close to novelty. On the strength of those hooks, bump-and-grind jams, who's-in-on-the-joke curiosity, and the eternal appeal of a chubby guy in a Speedo, Har Mar Superstar became, well, a star (especially in Europe), finding his way to headlining gigs in New York City and buddying up with the likes of Karen O.

Even though the two sides of Sean Tillman rarely met in the middle, they always shared one common trait: killer hooks. Neither of these two acts would have succeeded if Tillman didn't have a knack for earworms that most songwriters would kill for (he was famously enlisted to write a song for Britney Spears, the excellent “Tall Boy,” which she rejected and he eventually just recorded himself.)

True to form, “Lady, You Shot Me” goes for the gusto right off the bat. One quick drumroll and next thing you know the horns are blaring and Tillman is wrapping his voice around the latest in a long line of classic hooks. The surprise is in the lyrics to the chorus. “Lady, you shot me, on top of all the tears you brought me. You broke my one rule, you treated me cruel,” is devoid of any sort of irony or detachment. After a career built at least somewhat on setups and punchlines, “Lady, You Shot Me” is refreshing in that, for the first time I can remember, people downloading the “new Har Mar Superstar single” and waiting for the joke are going to be disappointed. More than likely, they'll be surprised the the guy who wrote “Almond Joy” could put out something like this.

While that chorus is what grabs your attention, it's the verse that gives the song its staying power. The tempo picks up, there's some nifty guitar pickin', and Tillman sounding like the happiest heart-broken guy ever. Perhaps the most telling line in the whole song comes in this verse, as Tillman tells his ex, “I'll get back in line behind the other guys, there's a chance you'll let me back into your heart.” The Har Mar Superstar we all know would never have taken this approach, likely choosing to walk away, tell her that she's the one missing out, and then having sex with her sister.

The track as a whole has a definite throwback feel to it (a marked departure from the dance-funk that makes up most of the Har Mar Superstar catalog). Tillman finds the soul in his voice that he's only hinted at in the past (notably on another jilted-lover track, “Alone Again (Naturally)”) and spends most of the song sounding like Julian Casablancas doing an Otis Redding impression. That's a compliment. He sounds assured & confident, knowing just where his voice can go and how to use it best. Vocally, he's come a long way from Dance 'Til Your Baby Is A Man.

Still, in addition to Tillman's excellent vocals, the song's texture is provided by the musicians manning the horns and guitar. Both instruments sound like they came straight out of Nashville circa 1975, bold yet rough, aware that they're playing a role. Stars but not the star. Despite the Nashville sound, they don't call to mind old Al Green records as much as The Replacements “Can't Hardly Wait,” another song that featured an artist making an unexpected push toward maturity. Maybe that's just a Minnesota thing, but I don't think so. Much like Paul Westerberg found a new voice in some old soul (and the old soul in his voice), Tillman sounds like he's reaching for something and the horns are there to push him along.

The title of Har Mar Superstar's new album is Bye Bye 17 and it's easy to see why “Lady, You Shot Me” was the first song released off it. I can't help but think that the “17” in the title is less about Tillman growing up (he's done plenty of that as Sean Na Na) and more about the average age of his audience. Trust me, I was a young man when “Baby, Do You Like My Clothes?” came out. It was a blast then, but not something I find myself listening to at 31. “Lady, You Shot Me” definitely gives me the impression that Bye Bye 17 is the first Har Mar Superstar album I can listen to as an adult and make a connection with. I didn't need another version of “Body Request” to drunkenly sing along with anyway.

“Lady, You Shot Me” stands out as the closest Tillman's two personalities have come to sharing a song. Is he growing up? Not necessarily. More accurately, he seems to be growing into his skin, letting his “personalities” finally blend together. By letting a bit of Sean Na Na seep into the Har Mar Superstar side of things, maybe it'll finally get to the point where Tillman is known more for his remarkable talent then his schtick. If not, well, Speedo's are cheap and plentiful.

Final Score: 4/5

There you have it, folks. “Lady, You Shot Me,” the lead single from the new Har Mar Superstar album Bye Bye 17 reviewed and filed away.  Bye Bye 17 will be released April 23rd.

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 weekly Flatbasset Radio podcast.

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 #32: TCDroogsma

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

Ladyfinger (ne), The Cave Singers, Gliss, Mister Lies, & Fury Things...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #32!

For those of you who are still not quite sure what you're looking at, here's the scoop: Each week we ask two of our regular contributors to download the songs given away via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast. We ask them to spend a couple days with the songs, get to know them, perhaps even love them. We then ask them to write up a review of the songs and give them a score of 1-5.

As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself. It's free music and it's fun for the whole family. We also strongly encourage you to vote in our poll to the right side of the page. The winning artists receives the validation of winning an anonymous poll on a blog, arguably the greatest achievement any artist can hope for.

Regrettably, our search to find a second contributor who is available to review the songs each week has been fruitless. For better or worse, you're all stuck with consistently-available TCDroogsma and his thoughts on the songs.

So, Droogsy, what'd you think of this week's batch?

01. Ladyfinger (ne) – Dark Horse (from the album Errant Forms)

 
TCDroogsma:

      Ladyfinger (ne) is a Saddle Creek band and, at least in the case of “Dark Horse,” they give you exactly what you'd expect from that label? Confessional lyrics? Check. Meticulously “ragged” musicianship? Check. A slow burn buildup? Check. Catharsis? Check.

      It's not that I dislike this song. In fact, I like it in the same way I would like an album of Pedro The Lion b-sides. The arc of the lyrics, from a cynical young man who was a, “wild horse out to stir” to an adult with with a child on the way, no doubt speak to many of us who have grown up with the Saddle Creek family as a soundtrack.

      Sadly, the recklessness and excitement that marked both that label's early work and the young man in this song have given way to a level-headed practicality that sees that young man of the songs settling down and Ladyfinger (ne) (and by extension, Saddle Creek) coloring firmly within the lines.

Final Score: 2.5/5

2. The Cave Singers – No Tomorrow (from the album Naomi)

 
TCDroogsma:

      I've spent four days with “No Tomorrow” now and it's just not taking. It's built around a fine-enough country bounce, but the lyrics about forgiveness and letting go ring hollow. It's not that this is a bad song, just a relentlessly average one. The music doesn't drop or build, it just keeps bouncing. The chorus doesn't pop. The singer seems neither happy nor sad with his chosen pass. To put it bluntly, nothing happens.

      While there is still plenty of mining to be done in this genre (see: The Growlers or Akron/Family), with “No Tomorrow” The Cave Singers offer nothing bad, but nothing great either

Final Score:

03. Gliss – Blur (from the album Langsom Dans)

 
TCDroogsma:

      It takes all of thirty seconds to realize why this song is called “Blur.” The opening lyrics (after a wave of reverb-drenched guitar & girl group harmonies that sound like they're being beamed in from the moon), are “I'm falling out, out of love, again... and again...”

      There's an inherent contradiction in the way the lyrics imply sadness over this breakup and yet the song bounces along in a haze of guitars & coos. “Blur” lives in the moment a relationship ends and the happy confusion of starting fresh trumps the sadness & conflict of the breakup

      It's hard to believe that Gliss could take these seemingly disparate parts (keyboards, cooing harmonies, a breakup lament, & a wall of reverb) and turn them into a coherent whole, but they've created a lovely song that rewards repeated listens.

Final Score: 3.5/5

04. Mister Lies – Align (from the album Mowgli)

 
TCDroogsma:

      As recently as two years ago I would have checked out of a song like “Align” after thirty seconds. It's an instrumental that has no tempo change and only, to my then untrained ear, would've sounded like a collage of sounds thrown together by people who either can't or won't write a decent melody.

      However, that was two years ago and my exposure to Moon Glyph Records (and specifically Food Pyramid) have given me a real appreciation for tracks like this. Yes, the beat comes in at a certain tempo and never changes, but if you use that as the canvas, a lot of interesting things are happening in this one.

      There's the fuzzed out bassline that comes in after about thirty seconds, the off-beat piano blinking that drifts in and out of the mix, a great buildup (around the one minute mark) that echoes the sound of hearing a song from outside a club and then opening the door (Copyright: The beginning of “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”). Once all the sounds become clear, the percussion jumps around the headphones, the piano drifts back in, and you find yourself lost in the far off voices. “Align” was built for anything from headphones at night to warehouse parties to one of those awful English rave festivals.

Final Score: 3.5/5

05. Fury Things – Vapors (from the EP EP2)

 
TCDroogsma:

      For years and years I've made a point of listening to all five SOTD tracks to start each day Monday through Friday because some songs take repeated listens to reveal their charms. Typically this a very rewarding approach.

      Sadly, I experienced the opposite with “Vapors.” As the week wore on, the song became less and less interesting. I know what you're thinking, “Droogsy, you love shoegaze, pop-rock, & hooks. You should love this!”

      That's a valid hypothetical point, hypothetical person. On first listen, I did enjoy the song. The problem is that, while yes, it is a fuzzed-out, hook heavy, shoegaze pop song, it lacks the little nuances that makes those things work. A good fuzz-pop song should have something that feels found. A little guitar bit, a vocal tick, hell, even putting the guitars in either speaker of the headphones. For a good example of what I'm talking about, put on any Polara album.

      Fury Things seem to have taken the approach that just turning up the volume of the guitars is enough. It's an intriguing enough sound that I'll definitely keep an eye on this band in the future. I wouldn't be surprised to find that, in two or three years time, Fury Things will look back on “Vapors” as a nice building block, but not much more.

Final Score: 2.5/5

There you have it, everybody! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, and filed away!

As always, please remember that neither Newest Industry nor its contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or MPR. We're just music fans with laptops and a little 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.

Newest Industry Presents: Flatbasset Radio - Episode #14

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

I roll with clever broads with goals like Federov...

Well hello again, music fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio – Episode #14!

For those of you who don't know quite what you're looking at, here's the story. Each week TCDroogsma participates in our Songs Of The Week column reviewing the tracks given away via The Current. Since he tends to be overly negative in those reviews we've asked him to put together a weekly podcast for the blog to prove to us that he does actually enjoy music and has valid thoughts about contemporary artists.

Once he does that we pass his hour-long free podcast on to you in the hopes that you'll listen to it and enjoy Droogsy's jams and commentary on said jams.

On this week's episode TCDroogsma compares the new Atoms For Peace album to Thom Yorke's solo work, revisits a pop-punk classic, plays a song he knows nothing about, claims Iggy Pop is “Mick Jagger with peanut butter,” gets a little too excited about his new favorite Minneapolis band, embraces a “fuck you” attitude toward pretty much everything, shines a light on his second-favorite Canadian rapper, and finds solace in the outlook of the British. It was a strange week.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #14

(Click that link above to download the podcast, click the player below to give it a listen)

Here's how Episode #14 breaks down:

01. Iggy Pop – Tell Me A Story

02. Isaiah Toothtaker – SouthWest Testament

03. Atoms For Peace – Stuck Together Pieces

04. Micranots – 141 Million Miles

05. Face To Face – Disconnected

06. Careful – Quite

07. Freeway & Jake One – Know What I Mean

08. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – So Good At Being In Trouble

09. Ghostpoet – Survive It

10. Eels – New Alphabet

11. Shad – Keep Shining

12. Gloss – Ian's Dream

13. Blur – Blue Jeans

There you have it, everybody! New, free music! Enjoy!

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found here on Newest Industry reviewing songs via Songs Of The Week and reviewing the news via Trendsetting.

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 #31: TCDroogsma

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

Dog Bite, DRGN KING, Jose James, The James Hunter Six, & Bad Bad Hats...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #31!

For those of you who aren't totally sure what you're looking at, here's the story. Each week we ask two of our regular contributors to download the tracks given away via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast.

After spending a few days with the songs, we ask our contributors for a brief review of the songs and a score of 1-5.

As always, we highly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast for yourself. It's free music, people!

To that end, we've also posted a poll to the right side of this page. Vote for whichever one of this week's songs was your favorite. At the end of the week the winning artist will receive the sort of validation that can only come from winning an anonymous internet poll. Obviously it's pretty important that you vote.

As those of you who've been following this column over the last couple of week's know, we've been unable to find a second person to join TCDroogsma in writing this post. Remarkably we just don't seem to know any judgmental music fans who are willing to commit. So, to the the chagrin of pretty much everybody, TCDroogsma flies solo once again.

Let's get into it. Droogsy, thoughts?

01. Dog Bite – Forever Until (from the album Velvet Changes)

TCDroogsma:

     With "Forever Until" Dog Bite walks the line between nostalgia and current sounds or is a wholly unoriginal song.  Which side of that line it falls over depends almost wholly on the knowledge and mood of the listener.

     I, for one, thinks it does a fine job of staying on the "nostalgia" line while sort of staying in line with current indie rock sounds.  They take a tried-and-true page out of the British Invasion of the early 60's by finding a guitar riff that works and riding it for a whole song.  If it worked for bands like The Beatles, The Stones, and Cream it'll work for Dog Bite.

     Vocally they're taking their cues from the early 90's, with the shoegaze-y, far off vocals sounding like Bob Pollard fronting My Bloody Valentine.  As someone who is a die-hard 90's fan I can definitely get behind that.

     What really keeps me engaged with "Forever Until" is the way that the chorus doesn't just ride the echoed vocals to a woozy feeling, it actually has a moment where the instruments seem to drop half a note.  This makes the complete lack of a vocal hook moot, as I spend the chorus just trying to find my bearings.  Fortunately, balance is restored when that guitar hook comes to start the next verse.  Proof positive that all you need is one good guitar riff and a working knowledge of rock n roll.

Final Score: 3/5

02. DRGN KING – Wild Night (from the album Paragraph Nights)

TCDroogsma:

     It took me a bit to figure out why DRGN KING sounds so familiar even though, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time I have heard them.

     It finally hit me.  I've never heard these guys before, but I've heard them a million times before.  In every Taking Back Sunday or Thrice album I ever played back in the early 2000's.  Listen closely to the dual vocals in your headphones in the chorus, the "moment-in-time" intro, the way the song breaks down after the second chorus with everything going half-time before building to the last chorus, the the melody-abandoning moans that appear after the last chorus... hell, even lyrics like, "if we make our mistakes together is it any less stupid?" sound like they came straight off a Yellowcard record.

    They really drive the point home with the chorus, "You could take me on a wild night, I don't ever want to go home, it doesn't matter if it's ever right..." is right out of the "frustrated small town kid" punk rock playbook.

     Fortunately, DRGN KING balances is this off with a bouncy keyboard & bass combo and enough falsetto "Woo-ooh's" to imply that their was a copy of Parklife next to Tell All Your Friends in their first car's six-disc changer.  Basically, I can't foresee pursuing this band much further, but I'll be damned if "Wild Night" isn't a fun trip down memory lane.

Final Score: 3.5/5

03. Jose James – Do You Feel (from the album No Beginning No End)

TCDroogsma:

     I'll be honest, "Do You Feel" was fighting an uphill battle from the moment I saw that the title didn't have a question mark.  Throw in the fact that it's seven and a half minutes long and it would have to be really good to win me over.

     Well, it's not, but I did struggle over the last couple of days trying to figure out what to make of this one.  On its surface, "Do You Feel" is every Harry Connick Jr. song ever.  A smooth-voiced, soul singer over a lounge-y piano riff lamenting whether or not a woman could be the one.  Hell, this sounds like the song Harry Connick Jr. would have written to soundtrack the Will & Grace episode where Harry Connick Jr and, um... Grace have a fight and then reconcile.  Yes, its that vanilla.

     Two things jumped out at me about this song.  First of all, pace is the trick.  If you're not going to break any new ground with a style of song, you better dress it up and give me a reason to stay engaged.  Instead, Jose James waits a whole three and a half minutes to abandon the vocals and allow the piano, bass, and drums to do their thing.  Why didn't this happen after the second chorus?  You've got me.  Adding insult to injury, some horns finally show up to break up the monotony, but not until 6:45 into the song!  It's a great idea, but it would have been better if they'd turned up after my imagined piano break going into the third verse.  It may not seem like much, but little things like that are why Burt Bacharach is a legend and I had to check Jose James name twice before writing this review.

     The second thing that came to mind when reviewing "Do You Feel" stems from that last point.  Namely, at its core, this isn't a bad song.  If Sondre Lerche had put this song on his Duper Sessions album it would have been tossed off immediately as a genre-excercise (much like the rest of that clunker of an album).  Of course, if Andre 3000 had sung this song as the centerpiece of The Love Below it would be universally recognized as a highlight of a Grammy-winning album and the moment when Three Stacks revealed himself to be maturing as a man and an artists.  This song could be great depending on the setting and the arrangement.  Instead, we're left with the definition of, "Meh."

Final Score: 1.5/5

04. The James Hunter Six – Minute By Minute (from the album Minute By Minute)

TCDroogsma:

     I face a dilemma every time I'm supposed to review soul music.  Namely, I don't listen to soul music.  Much like somebody who's never been to a play thinks every play is great, I tend to thoroughly enjoy the soul music I listen to in this medium (I discussed this when I reviewed The Valdons last year too).  Being forced to listen to "Minute By Minute" six times provided me the opportunity to let its charms and flaws reveal themselves.  Still, I know for a fact that if I actually bought this album I would lost interest after three songs.  My ability to judge soul music is dependent almost completely obligation and quantity.

     That being said, "Minute By Minute" sounds like Bobby Womack fronting Spoon.  This is an awesome thing.  For all the Bruno Mars and Toussaint Morrison's in the world, there just aren't enough James Hunters.  Sure, those other guys will show their "warts" lyrically, on their terms.  There's no hiding Hunter's voice when it can't quite hit those high notes.  His vocals are charming in a, "chain-smoking between songs" kind of way.  And the "Six" work up a nice groove behind him.  Standing on its own, "Minute By Minute" is a fine time.

Final Score: 3.5/5

05. Bad Bad Hats – Super America (from the EP It Hurts)

 
TCDroogsma:

     Over the last couple of years the Twin Cities scene has been dominated by two poorly-monikered, quirk-heavy, actual-song-devoid female-fronted band.  Lucy Michelle & The Velvet Lapelles Lapelles and Caroline Smith & The Good-Night-Sleeps.  I don't know if Bad Bad Hats is making a play for some of their turf (they nailed the poor moniker), but they failed in the best way possible.

     Make no mistake, "Super America" is heavy on the quirk.  I almost wrote this whole thing off when they left in the giggling & playful banter underneath the bridge (Note to new bands: Seriously, DO NOT do that.  We get it. You're friends having fun.), but all things considered, Bad Bad Hats has a lot more in common with my favorite female-fronted band of the last few years, Total Babe.

    Where as Lucy Michelle & Caroline Smith and Their Cast-Of-Every-Hipster-You've-Ever-Mets have only rough ideas for songs that are then drowned in quirkiness, Bad Bad Hat has a full, strong sound.  The production (minus the giggling interlude) is well done and the chorus is definitely muscular.  I don't really know what's going on lyrically, with singer Kerry Alexander rattling off a list of things that could literally be bought at Super America, but the song does contain the line, "I want you more than I want the things you lack," which is just about the sweetest thing somebody could say to somebody else.

Final Score: 3/5

So there you have it, folks.  Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, and filed away!

As always, please remember that neither Newest Industry nor its contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or Minnesota Public Radio.  We're just music fans with laptops and a little 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.

Songs Of The Week #30: TCDroogsma

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

Veronica Falls, The Spinto Band, John Grant, Big Harp, & Van Stee...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #30!

That's right, folks, it's the big 3-0 for Songs Of The Week. For those of you who have missed the previous 29 installments, here's what you're looking at:

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 spending a few days with them we ask that they send us a review of the tracks. Each track also receives a score of 1-5.

As always, we strongly urge you to subscribe to the podcast yourself by clicking here. It's free music and it's fun for the whole family! Plus, it will give you added time to properly digest the songs and vote for your favorite song of the week in our poll to the right of the page. At the end of the week the winner of the poll receives... well... the validation of strangers on the internet. It's a pretty big deal.

As has been the case for the last couple of months, only one of our contributors has undertaken the Songs Of The Week task. So, for better or worse, you're stuck with TCDroogsma flying solo again.

So, Droogsy, thoughts?

01. Veronica Falls – Teenage (from the album Waiting For Something To Happen)

TCDroogsma:

      As James Murphy once said, “sound of silver, talk to me, makes me want to feel like a teenager...” From the title of this song to the title of their album to the name of the band (at least to me “Veronica” will always call to mind Archie's perpetually-teenage counterpart), Veronica falls makes no secret of their desire to inhabit those rose-tinted memories of confusion and excitement that come with adolescence.

      Over a some beautifully fuzzed-out guitar work (the type that recalls the discovery of rock n roll as a teen while retaining the hooks that appeal to the pre-teen), singer Roxanne does a tremendous job romanticizing those moments when everything is being done for the first time. From the sexual potential of “driving late at night” to the ultimate teen sacrifice of giving up control of the dial, it seems that the characters in the song won't be waiting for something to happen much longer.

      To paraphrase another cultural icon, Jacques from the Simpsons, it's not the deed, not the memory, but rather, the moment of anticipation. In the excitement of the shared harmonies of the boy/girl combo (Clifford and, I'm assuming, guitarist James Hoare), “Teenage” reminds us of those times when every emotion was heightened, every passing glance was a sign, and every hand held felt like it would never let go. It may not happen that way in real life, but I'll be damned if it doesn't feel good to remember it this way.

Final Score: 4/5

02. The Spinto Band – Shake It Off (from the album Cool Cocoon)

TCDroogsma:

      The Spinto Band occupies a peculiar space in my head in the sense that (including “Shake It Off”) I only know three of their songs and all three of those songs have come via this Song Of The Day podcast.

      The first song I heard by them was “Summer Grof” from November of 2008. It was an upbeat number that hung on some great vocal hooks (which masked the bitterness of the lyrics). In July I was treated to the track “The Living Things,” which slowed things down considerably, sounding both more professional but less urgent.

      Which brings us to “Shake It Off.” The band sounds more polished in this one than either of the other two and that's probably not for the best. Where “Summer Grof” was a bundle of mean-spirited energy and “The Living Things” was a plea for recognition, “Shake It Off” is the sound of the excited, angry young man of "Summer Grof" settling into the expected disappointment that comes with the end of one's 20's. Nick Krill does his best to sound like he cares when he sings, “Shake it off, I'm leaving...” but it's clear that he's not feeling much. Shake it off, tomorrow's going to be 95% the same as today, he just won't be there.

Final Score: 3.5/5

03. John Grant – Black Belt (from the album Pale Green Ghosts)

TCDroogsma:

      To finish a thought from earlier... “Until you remember the feelings of a real, live, emotional teenager...”

      John Grant is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore! On “Black Belt” he's lashing at, um... Preppie girls? Misguided English majors? Reblogging Tumblr girls? Gold diggers? It's never really established, but he's going to try his damndest to put them in their place.

      Unfortunately, his scattered targets leave for scattered shots. Ending the first couplet of each verse with, “Would you not say that you agree?” brings to mind another Simpsons character, the preacher leading the tent revival (“People, the answer I'm looking for is 'yes.'”). I'm as big a fan of a good kiss off as anybody, but a chorus of, “What you've got is a black belt in b.s., but you can't hock your pretty wears up in here anymore / hit your head on the playground at recess, Etch-A-Sketch out of this one reject” leaves nothing but questions. What 'pretty wears?' Up in where? A playground? How would someone Etch-A-Sketch there way out of something?

Final Score: 2/5

04. Big Harp – You Can't Save 'Em All (from the album Chain Letters)

TCDroogsma:

      Ever wonder what the Silver Jews would sound like if David Berman drank some codeine and tried to write a sea-shanty? Turns out its pretty average.

Final Score: 2.5/5

05. Van Stee – Color In The Paper Planes (from the album We Are)

TCDroogsma:

      It was exactly a year ago that Van Stee made their first appearance as a Song Of The Day with the song “We Are.” That song was a synth-y, groove-based heavy track that sounded like Halloween, Alaska without the nuance.

      Fortunately, they've come a long way with “Color In The Paper Planes.” This song moves Van Stee away from the precise-sounding keyboard scene that threatened to ruin the Twin Cities indie rock scene and aligns them with a new breed of bands that focus on hooks, energy, poppy-profesionalism, and electric guitars. This track snuggles up nicely against band like Carroll, BNLX, Nallo (though less scruffy) and Gloss (though less music-nerdy). All in all, I say this progress. “We Are” was a track that I was bored with by the end of the week. “Color In The Paper Planes” is a sugar rush that's not wearing off.

Final Score: 3.5/5

There you have it everybody! Another week's worth of songs listened to, reviewed, and filed away!

As always, please remember that neither Newest Industry nor its contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or Minnesota Public Radio. We're just music fans with laptops and a little 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 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. Stopping by and giving us a “Like” is a free and legitimate way to support the blog.