(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
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