Songs Of The Week #43

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

IO Echo, Bonobo, Bored Nothing, & Dan Israel...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #43!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the SOTW column, here's the scoop: TCDroogsma has an MP3 problem. Each week he downloads countless MP3's just to try to find something that suits his curmudgeonly taste. Droogsy has also been slavishly devoted to The Current's Song Of The Day podcast since its inception back in 2007. Seeing a pretty obvious opportunity, we put him to work reviewing those songs. 43 weeks 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, we also encourage you to give each song a listen or two and then vote for your favorite Song Of The Day in the poll to the right side of this page. The winning artist receives the validation of winning an anonymous internet poll on a blog, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

01. IO Echo – Ministry Of Love (from the album Ministry Of Love)

TCDroogsma:

     Taking a song title from the fabled home of The Party in Orwell's 1984, IO Echo sets the bar awfully high for themselves.  Fortunately, they not only leap the bar, but they leave room to spare.

     
     "Ministry Of Love" starts off with the kind of fuzzed-out guitar rumble that would make Kevin Shields so happy that he's sit on it for 15 years.  As singer Ionna Gika hovers her way through the first verse, it's easy to think that this song is going to be more of a My Bloody Valentine homage than anything else.

     But then the song lilts upward ever so slightly, hinting that there's a payoff coming.  Keeping the 1984 reference going, that pre-chorus buildup is the moment Winston Smith realizes Julia is corrupt, the moment they lean into each other that first time.

     All of this would be for not if the chorus didn't match the exploding heart rebelliousness of that forbidden kiss.  IO Echo does not disappoint.  The chorus soars with the strength of a Max Martin track, Gika repurposes the title, claiming, "this is our ministry of love!" as the song suddenly seems bigger and bolder than anything I've heard this year.  A gem of a single.

Final Score: 4.5/5

02. Bonobo – Cirrus (from the album The North Borders)

TCDroogsma:

     Over the past couple of months I've harped on the way that instrumental tracks are easily hemmed in by their title.  Without any lyrics to guide the listener, it's easy to take the title as the box and try to find a way to jam the song inside.  Lord knows I've done it repeatedly here in this column

    
     "Cirrus," however, presents a challenge for me because, going into this review I had no idea what the word "Cirrus" meant (turns out it's kind of high-altitude cloud, which I kind of suspected.  All those years in meteorology school for naught...).

     Well, "Cirrus" doesn't sound much like a cloud to me.  In fact, with its wind-chime & ping-pong ball noises it has a bit of a "found sound" vibe that didn't grab me immediately.  The song is nearly six minutes long and it takes two of those minutes doing.... something?  Kind of, but not really.  Finally, at that two-minute mark a bass line shows up and gives the song a much needed forward thrust.

     Unfortunately, rather than build on that push, the bass drop back out a minute later and we're left once again with wind chimes and ping-pong balls.  There's a half-hearted attempt at another build-up/climax in the last 90 seconds of the song, but it's just not enough.  Bonobo has some good ideas at play here, but not enough to make "Cirrus" much more than background noise.

Final Score: 2/5

03. Bored Nothing – Let Down (from the album Bored Nothing)

TCDroogsma:

     "Let Down" is my latest, greatest example of why I make sure to listen to these songs seven times over the course of a week before I sit down to hammer out these reviews.  It's built on the kind of slow-revealing charm that can only be fully realized after at least half a dozen listens.

     On first listen, however, it was tough to know what make of this one.  The song is built on a bass/drum shuffle that sounds beamed in from Gordon Berry's Motown, which makes the eventual arrival of some shoegazey guitar and shoegazier vocals (yeah, it's a word) a bit of a disappointment.  The swing of the intro seems lost never to return.

     However, as I mentioned, upon repeated listens it becomes clear that the swing never goes away.  Fergus Miller's vocals may live in the middle of the mix, but give them a close listen and you'lll see just what an ear for melody the guy has.  Sure, he buries it under a couple waves of guitar, but once you hear it you can't un-hear it.  "Let Down" is a pop song at it's heart, but it's one that you have to work a bit to enjoy. 

Final Score: 3.5/5

04. Dan Israel – Live On (from the album Live On)

TCDroogsma:

     This may sound like a dig, but trust me, it's not.  When I saw that this week's Minnesota Artist was Dan Israel, I knew that I could probably write this review without even listening to the song.  Again, that's not a dig, but it's the truth.

     
     Over the course of six years now The Current has passed along 5 of Dan Israel's songs via the Song Of The Day podcast and each one, while unique, is pretty much equal to the other.  Israel traffics in the kind of catchy, simple, well-constructed pop that made Ron Sexsmith a household name (assuming you live in an incredibly cool and/or Canadian household).

     "Live On" rides some shuffling drums, some tumbling piano, and a harmonica through Israel's very-midwestern sentiment of reminiscence.  His overall lesson:  "Realize the days just flee without a trace..."  The good, the bad, they all come and go.  It's important to just live on.  A modest request from a talented and modest songwriter.

Final Score: 3/5

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

As always, please keep in mind that neither Newest Industry nor our contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or Minnesota Public Radio. We're merely music fans with laptops and a bit too much time on our hands.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio.

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