(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)
Superchunk, Islands, Daughter, Laura Veirs, & The Starfolk...
Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #55!
For those of you who are new to the SOTW column, here's the story:
TCDroogsma and MinneSarah are both fans of The Current's Song Of The Day
podcast. They're also both opinionated and have access to computers.
Seeing an opportunity to let them indulge in their MP3 habit and put
them to work writing reviews we created the Songs Of The Week column.
Over a year later later and here we are.
As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself. It's free and it's fun for the whole family!
To that end, once you've given each song a spin or two, feel free to
cast a vote for your favorite song of the week in the poll to the right
side of the page. The artist who accrues the most votes wins the
validation that comes from winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably
the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.
As per tradition TCDroogsma and MinneSarah have not read each other's reviews prior to posting
So... Droogsy, Sarah... thoughts?
01. Superchunk - Me & You & Jackie Mittoo (from the album I Hate Music)
TCDroogsma:
I can't tell you how excited I was to see the new Superchunk single in this week's songs. I'm a big fan of their older work and I thought their comeback album,
Majesty Shredding, was pretty damn excellent for a reunion album. All the reviews of their new record,
I Hate Music, had a point of mentioning "Me & You & Jackie Mittoo" as a standout. Again, I was excited.
Perhaps I'm a victim of my own expectations, but after spending a week with this one I still feel very "Meh..." towards it. It definitely has some sizzle to it. Those same old Superchunk hooks are still there, but the edges have definitely been softened a bit. The song sticks to a pretty mid-tempo groove (which is fine, Superchunk was never defined by speed), which lets the song hang on Mac McCaughn's performance. I like the guy, but this whole thing seems kind of rote.
Frankly, this song sounds more like what I would have expected from
Majesty Shredding. Perhaps their hiatus had let them build up enough good ideas that
Majesty Shredding was bound to be a strong record. "Me & You & Jackie Mittoo" definitely sounds like a band that has lost just a bit of the fire. Throw in the fact that the song's lyrics hinge on memories and loss, and perhaps
I Hate Music will go down as Superchunk easing into middle age while
Majesty Shredding will stand as the last gasp of youth.
MinneSarah:
Color me excited - new Superchunk! The opening line, "I hate music, what is it worth?" could be the subtitle on any number of these songs of the week reviews, but doesn't set the song up for enjoyment as much as dampens the mood. Especially when followed by, "But I've got nothing else, so here we go." - doesn't really pull the listener in.
This song does have all the crunchy indie guitars and youthfully energetic vocals one would come to expect from this band. However, the lyrics are confusing at best - I can't explain Jackie Mittoo's place in this song - unless Superchunk is about to make the assertion that music is responsible for a Jamaican soul singer's untimely death. It's poppy and light, but it seems a little too poppy for a band that has been riding this wagon for the past twenty years.
Final Score: TCDroogmsa - 3/5
MinneSarah - 2.5/5
02. Islands - Becoming The Gunship (from the album Ski Mask)
TCDroogsma:
I really, really like "Becoming The Gunship." The song is built of some subdued-yet-potent vocal work, a military-drum style groove, and a hook most musician's would kill for. Islands definitely know their way around a mixing board too, as that hook has layers & layers of Jeff Lynne-esque echoing vocals.
I did a bit of googling and found out that the typical definition of "gunship" these days refers to an airplane with guns mounted laterally. The definition my brain jumped to, however, was that of an old naval ship (though the line, "Run away, cannonball..." probably had something to do with it). With that in mind, "Becoming The Gunship" becomes a lament of sorts, with singer Nick Thorburn explaining to us that, "I had a heart, but it was torn apart, now I'm the gunship..." Goodbye to those innocent, trusting days. Thorburn's now protected & armed. He didn't want it to come to this, but it's a war out there.
MinneSarah:
This song was darker than I had expected. My expectations for this band are set on their preceding group, Unicorns, who's upbeat, tongue in cheek, silly lyrics sound nothing like Islands. The lyrics are a metamorphosis of sorts, but confusion set in when I realized that I'm not sure what a gunship has to do with anything. The guitar effects resonate against deep cello strokes which give the song a solid movement. Military drums carry the song through verses, bringing the listener to a more maritime mindset. It's a solid song on it's own, and I'm glad to see those poppy Unicorns I adored in college as grown as I am.
Final Score: TCDroogmsa - 4/5
MinneSarah - 3.5/5
03. Daughter - Youth (from the album If You Leave)
TCDroogsma:
Spending the week listening to "Youth" following "Becoming The Gunship" was not a particularly fair deal to Daughter. In many ways, they're very similar songs. Both songs deal with that same sense of heartbreak that comes from a particularly vicious break-up. Where Thorburn took the masculine tact of arming himself as a gunship lest anybody come for his heart again, Daughter takes a more solidly feminine approach, with singer Elena Tonra, expressing remorse (though not guilt) over the situation and longing to be the lucky ones who are still breathing while she's left, "heaving through corrupted lungs."
The song builds to a piercing crescendo in the middle (complete with its own military drums) as Tonra, rather than firing shots at everybody, takes specific aim at her former lover with a cry of, "...You caused it, you caused it, you caused it..." She then spends a third verse protecting her heart by deciding that she has not heart worth protecting, claiming, "I've lost it all, I'm just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget..." Like Thorburn's gunship, she'll fight her fight too. Unlike Thorburn's, hers will be fought within herself.
MinneSarah:
I honestly can't tell if this is Feist or not...is it Feist?
Maybe not, but Daughter is a ringer for the same genre, though the lyrics are a bit more bitter than I'd expect from Canada's darling. The singer goes on about the lovers she has lost until the drums kick in like the animals storming the African plains in
The Lion King. It's another of these major folk transitions that aim to make a girl and a guitar sound much bigger and more impressive. I found the song to be too whiny, though ask me after I get my heart broken next and maybe I'll identify with it more. At this point, I just don't have time in my life for a folky Feist derivative or to waste crying about being the lucky one because I'm still bleeding. Yes, that's the level of drama in this song.
Final Score: TCDroogmsa - 3/5
MinneSarah - 2/5
04. Laura Veirs - Sun Song (from the album Warp And Weft)
TCDroogsma:
There are some things to like about "Sun Song:" It's
strummy guitar work is pleasant enough. The distorted guitar work that follows the verses is a nice touch. Veirs definitely knows how to use her voice effectively.
There are some things I don't like about "Sun Song," too: Namely, it's literally about the sun. And the magic of shadows. When not directly addressing the sun the lyrics take a quick spin through Joni Mitchell 101 territory ("Matches inside your golden hair, catch all the light, I fight to death, I swear... As all the other mothers would remember, stalked by winter solace in a small, warm hand...") Let's just say the level of surprise that registered in my mind when I found out that Laura Veirs was from Portland was somewhere between, "There's a heat wave during the state fair" and "This is the Vikings year!"
MinneSarah:
I could predict how this song was going to sound from the title. A little bit country, a little bit folky, female singer/songwriter. Yup. However, the song did grow on me as I listened through the comically twangy guitar and violin. Laura's voice is not in itself country/folky and is beautiful and she knows when to vacillate between wispy and assertive. The lyrics can certainly be enjoyed by any Minnesotan - they detail the sun shutting down winter like cops at a barn rave. If you're loving this end of summer spurt, put this song on your next March playlist and remember these days.
Final Score: TCDroogmsa - 1.5/5
MinneSarah - 3/5
05. The Starfolk - To The Gate (from the album The Starfolk)
TCDroogsma:
It was all the way back in October of 2008 that The Current gave away a song by The Starfolk called "Wake Up Machine." It's a pleasant enough song even though it definitely sounds more like an idea for a song than a fully realized single. Having never heard of the band (and having never heard from them again), I assumed The Starfolk was probably a short-lived side-project or one-off of some sort.
You can imagine my surprise when a new song by the group turned up this week along accompanied by an in-studio performance and a write-up in the City Pages. Turns out this group that I'd basically dismissed nearly 5 years ago was actually a going concern. While they won't come out and call The Starfolk a side-project, Allison LaBonne & Brian Tighe, the principle members of the band, have their hands in many different things. It's easy to understand, now, why "Wake Up Machine" seemed so half-assed.
Well, evidently the band is now using their whole ass, as "To The Gate" couldn't be further from "Wake Up Machine." The song rides a muscular bass line and some strangely dissonant (yet articulate) guitar work fills in the blanks. LaBonne & Tighe stick to the lower, whisperier (yeah, it's a word) end of their register, opting only to open up during some "Oooh-oh-ooohh" bits after the chorus. With "To The Gate," The Starfolk comes off a bit like BNLX covering Belle & Sebastian (yeah, that's an apt comparison). I say this is a good thing!
MinneSarah:
"To The Gate" is a hauntingly catchy tune. It has a low-fi sixties feel with the guitars and drums, and female/male vocal duet, yet has a modern spin. Not surprisingly - the group features the lead singer of the Hang-Ups. Cello is a theme this week, and it's inclusion on this track makes it sound richly embellished while letting the nostalgia carry the melody. While the lyrics sound serious and even brooding, the melody is catchy and full of surprises. I'm a big fan of well done "ooohs," and this song has them. Definitely check this one out!
Final Score: TCDroogmsa - 3.5/5
MinneSarah - 4.5/5
Well there you have it, everybody! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, and filed away!
As always, we ask that you 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.
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