Live on iTunes

Although I will probably continue to complain about the inevitable demise of the CD industry, there is something I love about iTunes: it has artists releasing music they probably wouldn't otherwise release at all.

Case in point: U2 just released Live From Paris, a 1987 live show, on iTunes. Despite being a legendary live act for over 25 years, they have never been able to come up with a solid live release. For 12 dollars, you get 80 minutes of U2 at their best; it has over half of Joshua Tree, their 80s hits, and a few surprises such as "Electric Co." and "40". It also has plenty of self-righteous Bono dialogue and some great in song tributes: he works Bob Marley's "Exodus" into "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" into "With Or Without You".

Better yet, get the free Tom Waits concert off of the All Songs Considered Concert Podcast. Here's a guy who really needs to release a live record. He covers an astounding amount of ground in two and a half hours. A few highlights:

- "Way Down In The Hole" with his apocalyptic Evangelist personna
- "All The World Is Green" and "Hold On" are even more affectionate and beautiful live
- "9th and Hennipen" has some amazing yet terrifying method acting from Tom
- the dialogue before "Chocolate Jesus" where Tom talks about how gas prices prevent us from going to church

Two and a half hours of free live Tom Waits: it's like Christmas came early for me.

One Day As A Lion

I must be getting old: it's already been nine years since the last Rage Against The Machine record. How can the most political band of the 90's (the only one, really) lay out of the entire GW Bush era? There is so much to sing about now! Five years of the Iraq war and we get nothing out of Zach de la Rocha? It's not hard to see why this 5 song EP is one of the most anticipated recordings of 2008.

"Wild International" starts on a familiar note; Zach yells/raps about politics and religion over heavy drums and a low buzz that seems to have replaced Tom Morrello. Then things get really exciting. "Ocean View" is straight up punk with Zach actually singing the chorus. Now you have my attention.

"Last Letter" gets even louder and heavier and features some creepy guitar with a ringing echo effect. He returns to rapping for "If You Fear Dying". Those of you who great up with sayings like "fear is your only God!" will be shouting along with "if you fear dying, than you're already dead!". Good to have you back, Zach.

The guitars squealing on "One Day As A Lion" (the song, not the EP) sound like Tom Morrello might have snuck back in, but this is not a Rage album. This is something new, original, and exciting that will make you wonder how we made it through the last 8 years without this guy. Maybe we won't get anything else out of this project, but it is satisfying enough for now to have a concrete product.

At the end of this brief 20-minute record, I think you'll scream along with the last words: "we'll show you what war is good for!". And then you'll want to play it all again.

I'm back.. a few random notes...

Sorry I haven't written anything in a while; I took off to Miami for a week on business. A few notes from the last week and a half:

- If you are a big Hold Steady fan, there are two great clips from the David Letterman show you should see. The first is their performance of "Sequestered In Memphis"
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7RO0y1-ZAE).
The second is a hilarious skit making fun of Craig Finn's geek appearance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWlWCgSUgzg&feature=related).
I've watched each clip about 10 times. Enjoy.

- There are only two albums I care about in August or September. Connor Oberst's solo record comes out August 5, which could be brilliant (like Lifted or I'm Wide Awake It's Morning) or a complete disaster (like Cassadaga). Better yet, Okkervil River already have a new record on September 9. Since their last two records were brilliant and Shearwater already has one of this year's best albums, I'm very excited for this one.

- Zach de la Rocha (of Rage Against The Machine fame) finally has some new output! His new project is called One Day As A Lion, and you can hear a track at (http://www.myspace.com/onedayasalion).
I was excited, but this song seems a little sluggish and it still hasn't grown on me. It's nice to hear him doing something again. I'm going to get the new EP on iTunes; I'll review it soon. If fans of rap-metal still exist, it's a good day for you!

Have a good weekend.

The Hold Steady!!!

I'm sorry, I was wrong. It happens; I'm not perfect.

First, I complained about the early release on iTunes. They responded by giving CD buyers three excellent bonus tracks. Than I complained about the fast demise of great American bands I've had high expectations of (Wilco, Flaming Lips, My Morning Jacket, etc.). They respond by giving us another stunning masterpiece of an album. It's great to be wrong.

Stay Positive starts off with "Constructive Summer", a punk blast with shout-along lines like "We can all be something bigger!". Without even breaking momentum, they dive into their catchiest single ever: "Sequested in Memphis" is an early E Street Band party complete with smooth saxophone and squealing keyboards. Remember when rock bands made songs that make you want to dance?

On the third track, things start to get weird. "One for the Cutters" is a harpsichord waltz and "Navy Sheets" features and 80s pop synthesizer. Fans of Boys And Girls In America will love "Lord, I'm Discouraged", maybe their best power ballad. It sounds like Bob Seger closing a bar, and it has the greatest hair metal guitar solo since the Guns N' Roses broke up.

After the dark folk ballad "Both Crosses", the album peaks with the title track, a pounding rock jam that summarizes the theme of the record: it's hard growing old. Craig Finn does his old man rant about how it's going to be years from now when his band is old, irrelevant, and worn out, while making numerous references to the Hold Steady's past songs ("Massive Nights" and "Postive Jam" are referenced).

Make no mistake - this band isn't going anywhere. The Hold Steady are America's best band in 2008.

Notes on Las Vegas

Every time I visit a major American city, I try to learn about important musical landmarks that occurred there. Here are a few notes from my Las Vegas weekend:

- I visited the corner of Kovul and East Flamingo Street. Why is this important? This is the corner where 2Pac was murdered. What was there? Absolutely nothing. Would somebody please spearhead a 2Pac memorial project at that corner? It was a long time ago; give him something!

- It's really interesting which burnt out musicians end up doing shows in Las Vegas: I saw signs for Bette Midler and Morris Day and the Time. If I go to Vegas 20 years from now and see signs for the Flaming Lips, Wilco, and Fiona Apple, I might kill myself.

- If you are ever in Ceaser's Palace, stop by the Elton John store. Can anybody else wear those clothes?

- Jimmy Buffet and Toby Keith own restaurants on the strip. Crappy pop stars get shows in Vegas, crappy country stars get a restaurant in Vegas.

- If there is one thing music lovers should do there, it's the Cirque du Soleil production Love. If you grew up listening to the Beatles, it's nice to see somebody do something so artistic, original, and beautiful with their music without altering it considerably. The visual sensory overload they produce on every track look like what John and Paul might have been thinking when they wrote these songs, drug hallucinations and all. The album Love really is only worth buying if you've seen the show, but it is a fascinating mix of tidbits of their song and it beats putting out another greatest hits record. So if you in Vegas, Love is worth every bit of the 100-150 dollars per ticket.

When great artists do bad records

I’ve become convinced that American bands are only good for about 2 great albums. I don’t know why that is – are bands incapable of doing great things once they have been told by the masses that they are geniuses? Are American rock critics killing innovative bands such that we can never have another R.E.M – i.e., an American band that creates consistently great music for more than a decade running?

Instead of writing about the masterpiece albums these bands have made, I’m going to mention a few disappointments. Here are a few recent letdown records from artists who were following up great records:

Flaming Lips – At War With The Mystics: The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi And The Pink Robots are still talked about years later – but does anybody remember this one? The pop songs drag on until catchy becomes irritating and the spaced-out jams are only there to entertain those who either do drugs or listen to Phish. They spent four years after Yoshimi making this?

Wilco – Sky Blue Sky: Wilco says goodbye to edginess, experimentalism, and being the thinking man’s alt-country band – it’s time for an album of background music for the dentist’s office! Some of the songs on this album sound like rejects from the last Eagles album. Ouch.

The Strokes – First Impressions of Earth: Their debut record was a classic. Their second album was a fast-driving fun follow-up with some great moments. This album ran about as long as those two combined, contained more “serious” and “personal” songs, and proved that more is less when you are a catchy garage punk band. Then they broke up, which was good news after this one.

Bright Eyes – Cassadaga: Please, let me know if there are people out there who can stomach “Make a Plan to Love Me”. Returning to the dense instrumentation of Lifted wasn’t a bad idea, but the songwriting on this album is just plain embarrassing.

My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges: I think I already said enough about this one in the past few weeks. Let’s move on.

Next week, the new Hold Steady album comes out. Right now, they are one of my favorite American rock bands. They’ve already given me two great albums (Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday) and one classic (Boys and Girls in America). They are good for another one, right? They aren’t out of ideas like these other bands, right?

I'm going to Vegas for a few days; I'll be back next week and review the new Hold Steady album. I've also got albums by John Cale and Primal Scream coming in the mail. Have a good weekend.

Another year, another horrible Beck album

Do you remember when Beck was one of the most important musicians alive? After Mellow Gold, Odelay, Mutations, and Sea Change, I thought he could do anything. Rap, country, punk, folk: anything he wanted to do, he could and did on those albums.

He capped this run off with Sea Change, one of the most unexpected surprises any major label musician has ever released. A heartfelt and perfectly paced update on Dylan's Blood On The Tracks, it remains one of my favorite records of this decade. But after that, he's had a hard time sounding like he was interested in making music. Whereas his new brooding, drained vocal style worked great on Sea Change, it has ruined his ability to make the whiteboy rap/funk that made him famous in the first place.

Now that working with Nigel Goodrich (The Information) and the Dust Brothers (Guero) have failed to help him recapture old magic, he brought Danger Mouse on board. Unfortunately, no produced can make him sounded interested again. Even the spy-theme funk rhythm on "Gamma Ray" makes me wish it was Cee-Lo on the mic instead of Beck.

I don't know what it will take to revitilize Beck - at 38 years old, he isn't nearly as old as he sounds (Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, both past 60, has more spunk and life). So forget Modern Guilt: pull out Mellow Gold and Odelay and remember the golden age of Beck.

Shearwater's Rook

I read a review in Blender that referred to Shearwater as a "moodier offshoot of Okkervil River" and I could help wondering how Okkervil River could get any moodier. The album Black Sheep Boy is my new definition of over dramatic. The Stage Names seems tame and resigned in comparison: that is, until the end, when their singer sings the Beach Boys "Sloop John B" like he has a gun in his mouth. How can anybody top that?

Shearwater's new record, Rook, is more dark, symphonic, and even more dramatic than Okkervil River's records. The opening track, "On The Death Of The Waters", has one of the most surprising blasts of noise I've ever heard in a song - don't play this record too loud. The title track follows and actually approaches a pop-rock tune until the violins and trumpets overtake the guitar. Most songs are built around a harpsichord, a piano, or violins; guitars make appearances mostly in the background.

Several tracks are written as epics that only work in the album but not alone: this isn't a record to shuffle on your iPod. Songs like the waltzing "Home Life" and the building "Snow Leopard" are multi layered epics that can only work in this context. The albums lone conventional rock song, "Century Eyes", comes and goes like a two minute burst of adrenaline - you might find yourself wanting another verse to break the silence for a few more minutes. All this happens in an album that is only 38 minutes long, which is amazingly restrained for a brooding indie-folk record.

The instrumentation and dynamics are great, but like Okkervil River, it's singing and lyricism that make me want to keep hearing this album. Shearwater has a haunting Jeff Buckley effect to his voice that makes it obvious why he wanted his own band. His lyrics take time to sort out - allusions to birds give the album a theme, and how he uses that to describe loneliness and fear is up to you to figure out.

Rook is a masterpiece - an even better record than Black Sheep Boy (and that's saying something). While it might be too dramatic for mass consumption, this is a must-hear for anybody who loves Okkervil River, The National, or Sufjan Stevens. It's a standout album in a year already full of them.

A few quick reviews

Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair: Antony (of Antony & The Johnsons fame) does an outstanding vocal performance on this DFA released dance/disco release. However, he only sings on about half the tracks, and some of the instrumentals drag on too long for this album (although I'm sure they are just long enough in the club). If you are already a fan of current New York indie dance music, get this album. If not, this might not be the place to start.

Bill Frisell - History, Mystery: Calling this album jazz is oversimplifying - like all of his best albums, it combines American folk, country, jazz, and classical. It sounds more like a soundtrack to a dark Coen brothers movie that hasn't been made yet. If you love any of those aforementioned genres or you love music that is challenging while still being peaceful, try this one out. However, if you can track down his 1992 album Have A Little Faith, try that first.

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer: This is what I've come to expect from an anticipated sophomore release: less adventurous, more streamlined, fewer weak moments, but also less highlights than the debut (in this case, no gems like "Grounds For Divorce" or "I'll Believe In Anything"). Albums like this always take me a while to decide on: I could end up loving it like I did Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, or I could end up hating it like Gnarls Barkley's second album. I'll get back to you on this one...

July brings us new records by Beck and Hold Steady. Have a great Fourth of July weekend!