Album Of The Week: July 29-August 4, 2013

My Album Of The Week for the week of July 29th-August 4th, 2013:

Paul Westerberg - Stereo

I've been a fan of Paul Westerberg's solo stuff for quite some time and I'll be the first to admit that his solo catalog doesn't contain a lot of variety.  Pretty much every album is filled with mid-tempo, most acoustic indie-folk.  Each album is good for one or two pretty good singles, some great "kiss-off" lines and that's about it.  To be completely honest, if Westy was just another singer/songwriter type and not "the guy behind The Replacements" I probably wouldn't have given his albums near as much time to grow on me.

However, he is the guy behind The Replacements and being able to follow his career from the early 80's up through today has been a richly rewarding experience as a whole (even without much variety).  Stereo is one of those albums that I've had for years but hasn't received many spins.  Frankly, it's just about the most mundane of the Westerberg solo albums I own.  80% of the songs on this one don't even have bass or drums, just some guitars and Westerberg's nasally singing.  Whenever I'd try to listen to this one casually I'd find myself checking out halfway through because each song pretty much sounded like the last one.

Fortunately, that's why I do these Album Of The Week things.  Albums that seem drab or mundane tend to reveal themselves if you're willing to put in the time.  Spending a week listening to this one first thing in the morning will (hopefully) bring the differences in each song to the forefront and give the album a bit more color.  Hopefully.

Newest Industry Presents: Flatbasset Radio - Episode #18

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

My family knows I only iron once a year...

Hello again, free music fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #18!

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 edition Droogsy gets sweaty, explains why Liam Gallagher is a "Capital 'R,' Capital 'S'" Rock Star, puts an alt-rock icon on blast, admits that an appliance is his best friend, celebrates an album's twenty-year anniversary by struggling with the concept of time, plays Tom Gilbert's theme song, implores us all to embrace the big, stupid, cornball single and much, much more !

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #18 by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

Here's how Episode #18 plays out:

01. Beady Eye - Flick Of The Finger
02. Run The Jewels - Sea Legs
03. Edison - My Modesty, Your Venn Diagram
04. Open Mike Eagle (w/Busdriver) - Degrassi Picture Day (Hellfyre Jackets)
05. Pixies - Bagboy
06. Loudman - Ghana
07. Sage Francis - Zero (Update)
08. Down By Law - Air Conditioner
09. Bad Religion - American Jesus
10. Dessa - Icing Burns
11. Treetop Flyers - Things Will Change
12. Sugar Ray - Someday

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  He can also be found right here on Newest Industry reviewing new tracks in our weekly Songs Of The Week column. Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio can be found at TCDroogsma's 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 & legit way to support the blog.

Songs Of The Week #49

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

Jonny Fritz, Boards Of Canada, Sonny & The Sunsets, Susanne Sundfor, & First Communion Afterparty...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #49!

For those of you who are new to the SOTW column, here's the deal: TCDroogsma has been a devoted fan of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast since its inception back in 2007. Droogsy is also kind of opinionated and has a lot of free time. As such we figured we'd put him to work reviewing the songs given away each week. 49 weeks later and he's still doing it.

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 the songs a spin or two we encourage you to cast a vote for your favorite Song Of The Week in the poll to the right side of the page. The artist with the most votes receives the validation of winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Jonny Fritz – Trash Day (from the album Dad Country)

TCDroogsma:

     Back in May I reviewed Jonny Fritz's song "Goodbye Summer" for Songs Of The Week #40.  Admittedly, I was not a fan.  I gave that track a final score of 1.5/5, calling it, "A pretty standard country rave-up could have legs if there was a story to be told, but really, "Goodbye Summer" sounds an awful lot like a genre exercise and not much more."

     You can imagine, then, that I wasn't particularly excited about reviewing another Fritz track just two months later.  Based on "Goodbye Summer," I assumed I was in for another character sketch-type track that was heavy on details but slim on purpose.  Fortunately, I was way off the mark.

    
     Over a low-key shuffle Fritz crafts three succinct verses in "Trash Day."  In the first he laments that he forgot to take the trash out and that his woman will be upset with him.  In the second he explains that his neighbors never forget to take their trash out, they never fight, and, "I hate them."  In the third he reminds himself that tonight is the night that he needs to take the trash it.  Cleverly, he ends each verse with a refrain of "Oh my god..." delivered with varying levels of sadness, anger, & resignation.

     What Fritz does so brilliantly in "Trash Day" is sum up the exhaustion of the little things in life.  The small responsibilities that serve to cause the cracks in a person's whole life.  He smartly ends each verse with snarling guitar solos that somehow manage to capture that anger better than any lyrics ever could.  As a lament on the mundane pressures of being a regular dude in America you won't find many better songs than this one.

Final Score: 4/5

02. Boards Of Canada – Reach For The Dead (from the album Tomorrow's Harvest)

TCDroogsma:

     A few years back I dated a girl who was a big Boards Of Canada fan.  She tried desperately to get me to appreciate their first somewhat iconic album Music Has The Right To Children.  At the time I was even more pop-oriented than I am now and the sparse, glitchy album held absolutely no appeal for me.

     Well, as the years have passed it seems that Boards Of Canada and I have met somewhere in the middle.  As I mention here frequently, I've developed a much deeper appreciation for the mood & structure of instrumental music.  For their part, with "Reach For The Dead" BoC has left behind any vocals or "found sounds" and left me with a very moody, slow-burning instrumental.

     After spending a week with "Reach For The Dead," I can't help but think that, much like Marijuana Deathsquads' "Wade" a couple weeks back, it makes a lot more sense as a piece of a larger album.  Taken on its own it comes off a bit meandering.  Still, it's nearly impossible to listen to the song and not feel the sense of dread that they were no doubt aiming for.  It takes nearly two minutes of bass drum & static his before a synthesizer line finally starts to break through the mist, but as it comes closer and closer to the fore it brings with it the energy of a chase moving from suspicion to a brisk walk to a dead sprint.  I've no idea what's suppose to chasing me (or what the literal harvest of the album's title implies), but it seems terrifying.

Final Score: 3.5/5

03. Sonny & The Sunsets – Void (from the album Antenna To The Afterworld)

TCDroogsma:

     Growing up a fan of punk rock I never had much time for anything that could be considered "psychedelic."  That whole late-60's, early-70's sound, with its instrumental freakouts and acid-damaged lyrics did nothing but annoy me.  To this day I still hate The Doors.

    
     Fortunately over the last seven or eight years the retro-ideas of psychedelic rock have mated with the stripped down energy of good old punk rock.  Bands like King Khan & The Shrines & The Black Lips have managed to craft a new, exciting sound out of two genres that were pretty much running on fumes.

     Enter Sonny & The Sunsets.  Taking a cues from both Syd Barret & The Dead Milkmen, "Void" comes on with a sort of casual immediacy.  That's not a term that's easily describable, but opening a song with lines like, "When I look into your eyes... though you're trying hard to hide... you know it's a funny kind of sad joy, I see the void..."  Much like the term "casual immediacy, those opening lines are the kind of lines that make no sense yet are immediately relatable.

     Sonny & The Sunsets spend the rest of the track building on the template laid out over that first.  More passionate vocals, more fuzzed out guitar, & some hoots and hollers continue to build the song before it finally comes to brief climax of an organ solo.  On its surface it seems like none of this should work, but that was true of mixing those aforementioned genres from the very beginning.  "Void" is a great summer single that should appeal to anybody who enjoys guitar rock, hooks, and just a bit of "WTF?"

Final Score: 4/5

04. Susanne Sundfor – White Foxes (from the album The Silicon Veil)

TCDroogsma:

     "White Foxes" stands as my introduction to Susanne Sundfor and my first impression was that she sounds like Fiona Apple.  While, a bit of Google searching turned up that not only do their share a sound, but Sundfor created stir during an award acceptance speech in her native Norway claiming, "I am first and foremost an artist, not first and foremost a woman."  That's not quite, "This is all bullshit," but the sentiment is certainly there.

     "White Foxes" opens with an atmospheric low end hum before Sundfor's voice cuts through the noise, claiming clearly and aggressively, "Poses, poses... that's all you are to me.... Roses, roses, that's all you're offering me..."  Clearly, this is an artist with no time for moral victories or trivial awards.

     The song builds with piano and further impassioned vocals until Sundfor let's loose with a chorus of, "You gave me my very first gun, I'll go out and hunt, with white foxes..." With a line like that it's hard not to view the metaphorical "gun" as one of the spotlight afforded to her via one of those trivial awards, the metaphorical "hunt" a feminist demand.

     Of course, it's entirely possible that I'm missing the point and than these aren't metaphors at all, and that Sundfor has a stable of white foxes she brings with her while hunting.  Given the barely concealed anger of the song that's an intriguing concept.  Regardless, being compared to Fiona Apple is certainly a compliment and not one that I would dole out casually.  Sundfor's passion is clear as a bright, Norwegian winter morning.

Final Score: 3.5/5

05. First Communion Afterparty – Jesus Told You (from the album Earth Heat Sound)

TCDroogsma:

     My knowledge of First Communion Afterparty is not particularly extensive.  I've seen them live a couple of times and, via it's appearance as a Song Of The Day, am very familiar with the song "Twenty-Five."  When they turned up on the MPLS landscape a few years back they were met with plenty of deserving hype.

    
     As I've lamented many times before, the Twin Cities used to be awash is precious, arty, keyboard-pop bands.  Don't get me wrong, it still is, but a couple of years back their wasn't really anybody just turning up their guitars and creating a racket.  That's why FCAP was such a breath of fresh air back then.  These days, however, the pendulum has swung back towards the middle and the city is once again populated with shaggy-dog rock n roll bands.  Unfortunately for FCAP competition hasn't seemed to cause them to bring their sound up to the next level.

     "Jesus Told You" is a fine tune, make no mistake.  The shoe-gaze guitar drone & boy/girl spaced out vocals are still a unique sound in the Twin Cities.  Unlike, say, Sonny & The Sunsets up above, FCAP doesn't look to take an old sound and give it a new twist as much as they just want to embrace an old sound and bring it back.

     Not to bring up Marijuana Deathsquads again, but FCAP suffers from the same problem that's plagued that band for years: finding a way to take a sound based far more on texture, repetition, and volume than hooks and put it to tape.  Both of these bands are awfully close to cracking the code, but neither is quite their yet.  I'm certain that in a venue like 7th St. or The Turf Club "Jesus Told You" is an epic, chest-rattling tidal wave.  As an MP3 single it loses that extra oomph.

Final Score: 2.5/5

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 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 playing the songs he loves while 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

Album Of The Week: July 15-July 21, 2003

My Album Of The Week for the week of July 15^th-July 21^st, 2013:

Edison – No Sun No Food

For those of you unfamiliar with Edison, he's a producer out of San Francisco. His previous records were filled with busy, percussion heavy beats that seemed to thrive on a this-could-go-off-the-rails-at-any-point energy.

I first found out about Edison via Aesop Rock's blog 900 Bats. Edison posted a handful of roughly half-hour-long beat tapes to the blog and gave them away for free (his Free Willy tape is a stone cold classic in my book). Those tapes tended to swing between very energetic, hook heavy moments and slow-burn sections seamlessly. They're the kind of tapes that are perfect for walking around while the snow falls.

Anyway, hopefully most people here in the Twin Cities know Edison from the split EP he did with Lazerbeak titled Kill Switch. In fact, give this video for “A Cure For A Case Of The Wealthies” for a good example of what Edison sounds like:

Now, the reason I'm excited to spend a week with No Sun No Food is that on this album Edison completely stayed away from the faster, busier moments and focused solely on the slower & moodier side of his sound. I hate to use the term “downbeat” to describe No Sun No Food, because it's not a depressing record by any stretch. If anything, it's just a more relaxed, content version of Edison's sound. It's a laid-back, summertime album.

There aren't a lot of artists that can change up their sound and end up with an album that stands up on its own. Some of my favorite (and therefore best) artists have tried and failed, ending up with albums that stand up only from a, “Huh, isn't this curious?” perspective. No Sun No Food has a lot more going for it than that “Huh?” response.

Anyway, Edison posted it on his Bandcamp page as a Pay-What-You-Want and I strongly suggest that you head over and grab a copy. Perfect “Summer Of 2013” type of record.

Songs Of The Week #48

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

Treetop Flyers, Smith Westerns, & Standish/Carlyon...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #48!

For those of you who remain unfamiliar with the SOTW column, here's the scoop: TCDroogsma has been a devoted follower of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast since its inception back in 2007. He's also opinionated and owns a laptop. Seeing an opportunity to put him to work (while also allowing him to indulge his addiction for new songs), we asked him to review each week's batch of new tracks. Forty eight weeks later and here we are.

As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast for yourself. It's free and it's fun for the whole family!

To that end, once you given each of the songs a listen, please cast a vote for your favorite in the poll on the right side of the page. The artist with the most votes at closing time receives the validation that comes with winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest goal a modern musician can achieve.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Treetop Flyers – Things Will Change (from the album Mountain Moves)

TCDroogsma:

     Well, well, well... what a little treat "Things Will Change" turned out to be.  Every time I think that I'm over jangly-breezy-indie rock somebody like Treetop Flyers shows up (with their debut no less) and reminds me why I fell for this type of stuff in the first place.

     
      Honestly, "Things Will Change" doesn't so much harken back my teens as it does to my childhood when my dad had a tape containing both "Ventura Highway" and "Horse With No Name" that we would listen to with the top down in his Volkswagen Rabbit.  Treetop Flyers may have been aiming for this "America" (the band, not the awesome country) sound or maybe it's just a coincidence, but I'm inclined to believe the former (especially considering they took their name from a Stephen Stills song).  For that they deserve credit, as almost no band in the history of music has been as uncool as America.

     "Things Will Change" traffics the country-folk vibe that was emanating from post-Summer-Of-Love California and pulls it off with authenticity, which is no small feat considering they're a group of 20-somethings from London.  "Things Will Change" is rich in harmonies, hooks, and the kind of sunny guitar line that calls to mind an idealized California that perhaps only exists in the minds of people who have never been there.  Definitely a summer treat.

Final Score: 4/5

02. Smith Westerns – Varsity (from the album Soft Will)

TCDroogsma:

     Smith Westerns had their coming out party back in 2011 with their album Dye It Blonde.  On that album the Chicago band shone brightly with a mix of hooks, idealism, and just enough left turns to keep the listener interested.

    
     With that previous success in mind, it's always interesting to see if bands can live up to their newly-attained status as something worth following.  If "Varsity" is any indication Smith Westerns are going to be a going concerned for quite some time.

     "Varsity" comes on with a swirly syth/bouncy bass combo that aims straight for the pleasure center of my brain.  Just in case that doesn't grab your interest singer Connor Omori comes on cooing, "Ya thought I was a loner until I went out on my own..." with the confidence of a man who's more than willing to step into the spotlight.  When the chorus bursts through, with all the jangling guitar, hooks, and harmonies you'd expect from a Chicago band trying to sound like a British one, it's clear that now that Smith Westerns are standing firmly in the spotlight they've little intention of leaving any time soon.

Final Score: 4/5

03. Standish/Carlyon – Gucci Mountain (from the album Deleted Scenes)

TCDroogsma:

     What the hell is going on, Australia?  Back in May it was that brutal Alpine song and now I'm tasked with reviewing this?  You used to be cool, Australia.

    
    Standish/Carlyon is a side-project of Devastations Conrad Standish & Tom Carlyon and sounds every bit the part.  Over some vague blips and pointless atmospheric swirls Standish turns up the falsetto and aims for full on Casanova mode.  He comes off sounding a lot like you're younger brother trying to tell you about The Weeknd by singing one of their songs (which would be adorable).  Unfortunately, Standish isn't your adorable little brother, but rather an aging Aussie hipster with a mustache that may or may not be ironic.  Frankly, I doubt even he knows at this point.

     It's really a shame to waste a song title as great as "Gucci Mountain" on a song as bad as this.  Sadly, there's just nothing redeeming about this genre exercise.  If it's a joke it's not funny and if it's an honest attempt a spaced-out PBR & B it fails miserably.  Given the title and mustache, I'm leaning toward unfunny joke.

Final Score: 0/5

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

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

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

For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors. More importantly, we have a Facebook page here. Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a “Like” is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.

Songs Of The Week #47

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

Gold Panda, Natalia Clavier, Alela Diane, Lightning Dust, & Marijuana Deathsquads...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #47!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the SOTW column, here's the scoop: TCDroogsma has been a devoted fan of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast since its inception back in 2007. TCDroogsma also likes to talk about music. Seeing an opportunity to satisfy his vices while simultaneously putting him to work we had him start reviewing those Current Song Of The Day tracks. 47 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 & it's fun for the whole family!

To that end, once you've given the tracks 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 with the most votes receives the validation that comes with winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Gold Panda – Brazil (from the album Half Of Where You Live)

TCDroogsma:

     As I've written in this column many times, I've come to genuinely appreciate instrumental music over the last 3 or 4 years.  While the pop music fan in my head craves hooks and melodies, as I've gotten older I've found myself enjoying the subtle movements that come alone with instrumental music in general and producer-based instrumental music in particular.

    
     Also, as I've written in this space many times, when a song lacks lyrics or vocals I find myself using the title of the song to color the song's meaning.  I'm not completely certain this is a fair, however, the artist could have called the song anything they like, so the title should carry some weight.

     Which brings me to "Brazil" by London-based producer Gold Panda.  For better or (mostly) worse, "Brazil" is an instrumental track that contains vocals.  Sadly, those vocals are just the word "Brazil" said repeatedly with little to no variation.  This repetition is so numbing that it's nearly impossible to focus on the movement of the music underneath, rendering only a brutal ping-pong ball percussive sound as the only thing that actually sticks in my brain.  Basically, by adding these lyrics Gold Panda has taken any narrative away from the title and made the literal word "Brazil" the focus of what could have been an interesting track.  What's left is just a smattering of noise that seems to start and end with no discernible reason.

Final Score: 1/5

02. Natalia Clavier – Trouble (from the album Lumen)

TCDroogsma:

     With "Trouble," Natalia Clavier makes her attempt to fill the neo-pop-soul void left behind by Amy Winehouse.  "Trouble" has a all the hallmarks of the late Back In Black singer.  The vocals are both strong and vulnerable.  The music's bouncy bass & horn combo is so spot on that Mark Ronson could probably be awarded compensation in a copyright suit.  Hell, the song even opens with the line, "I know I've been bad, real bad, still I think I'm gonna do it again..."

    
    So, taken as its own original creation, "Trouble" fails miserably.  There is nothing here that you haven't heard (and heard done better) before by the likes of Winehouse & Sharon Jones.  It's only moment of originality comes courtesy of a horn solo that sounds like it was transported from The Specials "Ghost Town" with the formerly on-the-dole musician playing with the enthusiasm of finding a well-paying job.

     Taken as a bid for the throne, however, "Trouble" carries some weight.  It's certainly got the swagger & sexiness to make people to dance.  I'd imagine it sounds phenomenal when played live, the kind of song that would instantly grab anybody in attendance and convert them immediately.

     Sadly, I'm hearing it live and I was never much of a fan of this new soul sound anyway.  Great horn solo, though.

Final Score: 2/5

03. Alela Diane – About Farewell (from the album About Farewell)

TCDroogsma:

     The first few times I listened to "About Farewell" I was pretty dismissive.  It seemed to be a fairly rote entry in the world of "tender singer songwriter" and offered little to distinguish itself from its thousands of peers.

    
     However, "About Farewell" proved to be a grower as the week went on.  I was finally struck by the instrumentation of the song.  First off, it is completely percussion free.  Cleverly, a charming little guitar figure opens the song and reappears several times, giving the song a dynamic structure that's difficult to attain without a drummer.  As Diane laments both the mental approach to saying farewell and the literal act of saying farewell, what sounds like flutes (or keyboards approximating flutes) liners underneath everything, streaking through the time signature and mirroring the fact that rationalizing a goodbye doesn't make the act any easier.  When Diane delivers the line, "So honey, I've got to let you go..." these flutes are used to remarkable effect, echoing the sound of a train pulling away from a station.

     "About Farewell" stands up well because Diane manages to undertake the concept of "farewell" from several different angles and manages to sound sincere in each approach.  All without drums.  A lovely, if hearbreaking, tune if given room to breath.

Final Score: 3/5

04. Lightning Dust – Loaded Gun (from the album Fantasy)

TCDroogsma:

     Lightning Dust is the side project of Amber Webber & Josh Wells of the Vancouver-based Black Mountain.  I'll spare you from another of my rants about a Canadian boy/girl group crafting meticulous indie-pop songs, just know that, yet again, I find myself reviewing a song by a Canadian boy/girl group that crafts meticulous indie-pop songs.  Stick with what you know, The Current.

     Anyway, Lightning Dust is slightly more intriguing than the usual songs in this genre simply because the goal of this side project is to scale everything down rather than cram as many bells, whistles, voices, and hooks into one song and most of the other Canadian pop songs I review.  To that end, "Loaded Gun" does a nice job.  Taking the percussion from Nine Inch Nails "Closer" and giving it some burbling-but-danceable bass work creates a fine palette for Webber & her double tracked vocals.

     The track does not deviate much from the kick-snare-kick formula and that serves the song well.  Adding different elements as the song goes on (keyboard squiggles, second and third vocals, the odd crescendo...), "Loaded Gun" stays consistently interesting despite never really adding a hook.  An interesting song, but clearly the work of people exploring a new genre and their own self-imposed restrictions.

Final Score: 3/5

05. Marijuana Deathsquads – Wade (from the album Music Rocks I & II)

TCDroogsma:

     If you're at all familiar with Marijuana Deathsquads you can immediately understand why reviewing them in the context of a "singles" column is pretty much useless.  To be blunt, MDS does not traffic in singles.  They occupy a strange world of multiple drummer, muddied vocals, glitchy-synths, and whatever strikes Ryan Olson's fancy during largely improvisational performances.

    
     All that said, I did spend a week with Music Rocks I & II earlier this month, so I have the benefit of at least knowing how "Wade" fits into the whole of that album (an album which doesn't feature any breaks between songs, but rather functions as one long, live movement).  Hell, I even tackled this earlier this month when I played "Remembories" on the Flatbasset Radio podcast as it has the most immediate hook on the whole album.

     Well, "Wade" is indicative of Music Rocks I & II as a whole.  The band has mastered the art of the build-drop-climax better than just about anybody.  The fact that they get to do it with two drummers gives that climax an extra push that most bands could only dream of.  Issac Gale's vocals serve mainly as a place holder on "Wade," giving the song some verse-chorus structure, but not much.  This is going to sound super corny, but Marijuana Deathsquads doesn't want to you to hum along.  Hell, they don't even want you to think.  The goal here is to get lost in the sound & fury.  This makes for a hell of time in forty-minute, multi-song-suit doses.  Doing it for a mere five minutes will likely just leave the casual listener confused.

    I highly recommend downloading Music Rocks I & II.  It's free here at the Totally Gross National Product site.  Within the context of the album "Wade" is a fine track (though the track it leads into, "GhostCop 2," is an instant classic).

Final Score: 4/5

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

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 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.

Album Of The Week: July 8-July 13, 2013

My Album Of The Week for the week of July 8th-July 13th, 2013:

Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels

For those who have somehow escaped this album, Run The Jewels is a collaborative album between El-P and Killer Mike.  It was released on Fool's Gold Records and is free to download at their site.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't mildly obsessed with El-P's music.  Nobody does the paranoia/fear of the modern world thing better than him, harnessing equal parts fear, anger, and, in his darkest moments, resignation.  I've been on the bandwagon ever since 2007's I'll Sleep When You're Dead, a modern masterpiece of post-9/11 America.  When he returned for a proper follow-up in 2012 with Cancer 4 Cure I joked that even though it had been five years I was still busy traveling down the wormholes of ISWYD.

(Sidenote: Super props to El-P for repping for the ginger set all these years!)

Arriving the same week as Cancer 4 Cure was Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music, which was produced entirely by El-P.  Now, like most 30-something white dudes, my knowledge of Killer Mike was pretty much limited to his verse on Outkast's "The Whole World" and nothing more.  Still, if El-P was behind the boards I couldn't help but give the record some time.

Now, obviously, we can probably all agree that R.A.P. Music is one of the great hip-hop records of the last 5 years.  The collision of El-P's dense, jittery, NYC beats and Mike's Atlanta-bred, righteous southern flow turned out to be a perfect match.

I remember playing the title track "R.A.P. Music" on the podcast near the end of 2012 and I came to the conclusion that, while a fantastic album, it would be difficult to replicate due to the surprise factor of the unlikely pairing.  Turns out I didn't have to wait too long to find out, as last week Run The Jewels turned up.  While it's difficult to consider this a proper album since, even by their own admission, the idea was for El & Mike to get together and make music that they wanted to make without any sort of commercial agenda.  Still, these guys are pros about their craft and even a tossed-off, free album is going to be worth digging into with both hands.  Should be a fun week.

Songs Of The Week #46

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

Rogue Wave, The Besnard Lakes, Dark Horses, Imaginary Cities, & Alison Rae...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #46!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the SOTW column, here's the scoop: TCDroogsma has been a devoted fan of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast since its inception back in 2007. He also has an incredible amount of free time. Seeing an opportunity, we've put him to work reviewing the songs he downloads each week.

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 invite you to vote for your favorite song of the week in the poll to the right side side of this page. The artist with the most votes at the end of the week receives the validation that comes from winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Rogue Wave – College (from the album Nightingale Floors)

TCDroogsma:

     I'll be honest, I spent the first three days listening to "College" and trying to figure out why I didn't like it.  Then I remembered that Rogue Wave and Longwave are different bands and I should probably recalibrate my expectations.

    
     Spending the next four days with my new expectations my opinion of "College" changed from, "this is no good" (which it isn't if you think it's supposed to be a Longwave song) to "relentlessly average."  Lead singer & songwriter Zach Schwartz has built whole verses out of lyrics seemingly designed to be cryptic & deep but come off like nonsensical indie Mad Libs.  This is the first verse:

     When we go home keep to ourselves
     From all those gutter eyes
     Ending down in the ground because it always was
     And it always is
     The shadow we come out and it helps with our outside

     The fuck am I supposed to make of this?  It's utter gibberish.

     For better or worse, this Mad Libs approach is adopted for the music & hooks too, which standup pretty well, but offer nothing that hasn't been heard hundreds of times before.  Everything from the stuttering chorus to the quiet breakdown-slow buildup-last chorus is entirely predictable, which makes "College" the perfect fit for a radio station that claims to be open minded but understands that selling people the same thing repeatedly one of the first rules of business. 

Final Score: 1/5

02. The Besnard Lakes – People Of The Sticks (from the album Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO)

TCDroogsma:

     Back in Songs Of The Week #42 I fell into the trap of judging the Gold & Youth single "Jewel" partly through the lens that they're a Canadian band and they sound very much like tons of other Canadian bands:  Clean sounds, hooks, keyboards, lyrics that are sharp like a pillow...

    
     Obviously, this isn't a totally fair thing to say as plenty of Canadian bands do not sound like this.  And hell, I'm from a city that leads the nation in synth-pop bands per capita (take that Brooklyn!).  Still, I think that statement contains some validity because, as I explained in that review, my opinion that they sounded "Canadian" came organically, as I drew that conclusion before finding out that they are, in fact, Canadian.

     Why do I bring all this up?  Well, The Besnard Lakes are from Montreal.  They play indie-pop that's soaked in keyboards, has a sneaky good hook, male-female vocals song by a husband/wife duo, and fails to linger in my head once the song ends.  I'm no longer capable of judging whether any of these songs is better or worse than the others, so I'm just going to give it a 2..5 out of 5 and move on.

Final Score: 2.5/5

03. Dark Horses – Alone (from the album Black Music)

TCDroogsma:

     I had never heard of Dark Horses before spending the week with "Alone."  After failing to see its appeal for a couple of days, it finally hit like a flash flood.

     Sharing the same synth-dance roots with bands like The Rapture & The Shout Out Louds (but with a slightly menacing edge ala that recent Savages track), "Alone" is a grower in the best sense of the words.  The hooks are more subtle than those aforementioned bands, but the songs rising and falling waves are more rewarding than most sugar-rush hooks.  Unfortunately, the song seems to suffer somewhat from poor production.  With a cleaner sound and a bit more dynamic between the highs and the lows this could have been a really great single.

Final Score: 3/5

04. Imaginary Cities – Bells Of Cologne (from the album Fall Of Romance)

TCDroogsma:

     A bouncy indie-pop song that leans on a great hook, some girl/boy vocals (though, admittedly, the male vocals are resigned to background status), some keyboard work, a nice clean sound... I wonder where Imaginary Cities is from?

   
     Oh, they're from Winnipeg!  Surprising!

    Alright, look, I'm not trying to be an asshole with this.  I have no desire to pick a fight with Canada.  I love Canada!  I love your peameal bacon! I love your pea soup! Your real maple syrup!  Your Mounties! Your Ukranian dancers! Your fiddlers! Your fiddleheads!  I love your moose, and your trappers, and your courer-de-bois! I love those funny little woodland creatures and your hockey players!  Like Wayne Gretzky!  Wayne Gretzky takes Pierre Trudeau into the boards... Trudeau's down... Good!  But I digress...

     I actually like most of these songs too.  "Bells Of Cologne" is actually good enough that I can distinguish it from that Besnard Lakes song.  Though, if I'm being completely honest, if somebody had told me this was a New Pornographers or Stars single I wouldn't have any reason to doubt them.

Final Score: 2.5/5

05. Alison Rae – Hide And Seek (from the EP Hide And Seek)

TCDroogsma:

      Alison Rae's "Hide And Seek" suffers from the misfortune of arriving in my iPod just a week after the stellar From Gods To Gamma Rays song "Burn Me Through."  Both songs linger in atmospheric acoustic guitar and lyrics of longing sung with convincing desperation by a talented female singer.

     "Hide And Seek" actually serves to prove the point I was driving toward in my review of "Burn Me Through."  I commended the production work on that song as it was transformed from a touching-but-average song via murky sounds that burst with clarity when the lyrics & chorus demanded it.  Conversely, "Hide And Seek" is the touching-but-average song that "Burn Me Through" could have been.

     "Hide And Seek" isn't a bad song by any means.  Rae's vocal performance is great, with double-tracked takes used in service of selling the hook and some nice Kim-Deal-Where-Is-My-Mind echoes thrown into the mix.  Combining that performance with a straight-forward guitar strum and some strings for window dressing leaves "Hide And Seek" as a lovely tune with an unfortunate release date.

Final Score: 3/5

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

As always, please keep 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 free time.

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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Most Played Albums: June 2013

My most played albums of June, 2013:

via Last.fm

Album Of The Week: July 1-July 7, 2013

My Album Of The Week for the week of July 1st-7th, 2013:

Dessa - Parts Of Speech

I've been a Doomtree fan for quite some time.  They've been a tried and true source of great music for years.  However, going back to 2008's self-titled album Doomtree something changed.  That album felt very much like a clearing of the decks for something else.

Well, in 2009 P.O.S. released Never Better, in my opinion the first Doomtree album that genuinely required repeated listens to really grasp.  Since that album the group has ventured further and further down the path with Dessa's A Badly Broken Code, Lazerbeak's Legend Recognize Legend & Lava Bangers, Paper Tiger's Made Like Us, & Sims' Bad Time Zoo each demands your full attention and repeated spins to genuinely resonate.

(No offense to Mike Mictlan & his free Snaxxx album, which is a fine album and has some real high points.  It's just not an album that reveals much more depth upon repeated listens.  As the Doomtree member who's raps typically rely the most heavily on immediacy, it makes sense that his album would feel the same.)

Anyway, all of this is just a long way of saying that I'll be spending the next week listening to Parts Of Speech first thing in the morning.  If I were a betting man I'd bet that the last listen will be better than the first.