Sound Salvation Army

This post sees its author mired in conflict!

It’s mostly mental though, so don’t fret over my personal safety or anything. See, I’ve written at length, fairly significant length (probably as much as anyone really), about Papermoons, the dreamy melodic indie-rock band from Houston, Texas. I’ve adored their limited output so far and recommended it to all who will listen.

Yesterday I got a note in my inbox from Deep Elm Records, which happens from time to time. It heralded the news of their latest release, the majestic debut full-length from Houston, Texas’ Papermoons! Which seemed odd, because it’s been out for over a year. If you clicked through in the above paragraph, you’ll note it even made my “Best Of” list for the year.

A few e-mails to Deep Elm and to Aaron Danger, the man behind Team Science Records (which originally released New Tales), revealed that the band moved the digital sale of the album to Deep Elm for some reason or another. Danger says it was done in anticipation of a tour, which is cool. I wish this band got out more, as I was crushed when talk of a potential Canadian tour earlier this year didn’t pan out.

Its probably a smart move for the fellows. Even after lying dormant for an extended period of time while they sorted some stuff out, Deep Elm probably has a higher profile than Team Science. If it helps their music reach more people I’m certainly all for it. I think New Tales is a fantastic record that deserves to be heard by as large an audience as possible.

Still, if country music and my prairie upbringing has taught me anything its that you you dance with the one that brought you. I feel kind of sorry for Danger because I know he doesn’t do a lot of releases and he doesn’t put out anything he doesn’t believe in 100%. I hope he isn’t taking the move too personally because he really believed in these guys.

But hooray for Papermoons! If nothing else they’re getting more attention and that’s a very good thing. If you’ve somehow ignored my pleas or are new to the site CHECK OUT THIS RECORD. It is beyond phenomenal.

 

 Papermoons - Bad Notes: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Papermoons - Follow The Su [3:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Team Science still has copies of the limited CD pressing of the album available through its website. It looks like Deep Elm does as well, in addition to the digital release. Digital monolith iTunes has it too.

Pat entries Aaron Danger, Deep Elm Records, indie rock, melodic rock, Papermoons, Team Science Records

I’ve never really been a huge fan of so-called “positive hardcore” or the seemingly growing trend of punk bands that focus on a “posi” message. Call me cynical, say I have a dour world-view, but I find music inspiring enough without cloying lyrical treatises. Like Christian punk, “posi” bands generally seem to rely on a pastiche of trite lyrical tropes that feel more like posturing than anything and almost never succeed in saying something new.

Having started out on a severely non-posi bent, lets turn things around. There’s a lot of really good things happening on Anchor Down’s new EP, Steel To Dust. The sophisticated songwriting on this album should easily position them as the standout act on their record label, the universally-posi Solidarity Recordings.

The arrangements are severely melodic, bringing to mind the work of pop-punk luminaries like Jawbreaker or Dillinger Four and new-school heroes like the Lawrence Arms. They’re varied and clever enough to constantly demand your attention, but without having to rely on neck-snapping tempo changes like A Wilhelm Scream or the gothic machinations of Alkaline Trio. The quartet boasts two seriously capable guitar players that have crafted some engaging tunes with sharp hooks, all buoyed by some muscular riffing.

Lyrically, however, things are not quite as strong. Don’t get me wrong — they do a fairly marvelous job of saying something outside of what one might expect in the posi-core genre. There is a fair amount of genuine self-reflection and insight contained within, which is good. But there are also occasional missteps where the words just don’t quite seem to add up (like in “Bromancing The Stone,” featuring a somewhat-clumsy attempt to craft something new out of the old “skeletons in my closet” metaphor). “World War I” particularly comes not only dangerously close to the more-predictable trappings of posi-core bands, but some of the lyrics and phrasing are also clearly cribbed quite heavily from the Gaslight Anthem’s early releases. It feels the least organic of the half-dozen songs here and most starkly displays some of their songwriting influences.

As you may have read earlier in this site’s history Solidarity is a brand new label started up by an extremely nice and decent fellow who clearly has a knack for discovering extremely talented young bands that are really starting to find their sound and set themselves apart. Anchor Down is a hell of a find and the two should have a long, prosperous relationship.

 

 Anchor Down - Bromancing The Stone: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Solidarity has got itself an actual website for purchasing records! Excellent! You can also find their stuff at several other distros. It’s been released on CD and digital, as well as good ol’ iTunes.

But seriously, young punk bands, can we cut it out with the ‘anchor’ band names already? Anchor, Anchor Down, Anchor Arms, Anchor Set, Anchors Away…its a bit exhausting.

Pat entries Anchor Down, melodic rock, posi, punk rock, Solidarity Recordings

At the risk of repeating myself, this is a serious contender for album of the year.

In previous posts that discussed the Gaslight Anthem, I talked primarily about the promise they showed on their debut LP. I emphasize promise, because that album is only 3/4 great and doesn’t back up the hyperbolic praise that the vast majority of their fans heaped upon it. Where the follow-up EP revealed even more of that promise, this is the album that finally fully delivers on it.

The band continues to pay tribute to it’s musical heroes in both tenor and tone; the subtle and overt nods to Springsteen are more evident than ever in the generally quieter and more subtly-distorted guitars and the compulsive story-telling the band uses as its hallmark.

The music is definitely more laid-back as a whole, with only a pair or so of the driving punk tracks that marked their early efforts. The slightly-echoed vocals go hand-in-hand with the chiming, cleaner-sounding guitars. Although singer/guitarist/songwriter Brian Fallon remains an expressive but limited singer, his gravelly tone suits every song in this set remarkably well without showing the strain that marked some of the “punker” songs on their debut. He seems to be attempting to cultivate a more soulful delivery, as is clearly evidenced in some of the cues in their recent set lists. Where he shines brightest is in constructing vivid imagery and tales of American folklore centering around ferris wheels, “outlaw cowboy bands,” and roadside diners.

My personal favourite examples of this can be found below. I’d call special attention to “Miles Davis and the Cool,” a track that’s spiritually reverential of Davis’ seminal album Birth of The Cool, that music serving as the backdrop for the shared experience of the song’s characters. I’ll be damned if I can explain why, but half the time I hear Fallon sing, “So I’ll lay a kiss on this stone/toss it upside your window by the roof/before you change your mind/Miles, bring in the cool” I end up nearly crying.

The explicit mention of Miles Davis is just the touchstone of another slew of tributes, nods, and “borrowing” on the band’s part. Davis, Tom Petty, the Counting Crows, Buddy Holly, more Springsteen, Dickens, Elvis, Casablanca, Tom Waits, and possibly more are all referenced in some fashion.

It may be little more than simple melodic rock with an old-school flourish, but this is the right album at the right time and it’s connecting with an immense audience right now. This could potentially be one of the defining albums of the 00’s.

Only time will tell.

 

 Gaslight Anthem - Great Expectations [3:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Gaslight Anthem - Miles Davis and The Cool [4:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can hear the ‘59 Sound here:
Vinyl Collective: Precious, precious vinyl.
Side One Dummy: Has CD’s for buying.
iTunes: Everything you’ll need when you don’t need to put your hands on something.

Pat entries Americana, Gaslight Anthem, melodic rock, reverence, Springsteen influence

This is a serious contender for best album of the year.

I can’t say I ever really expected to make such a statement, at least not before actually laying hands on a copy of On Parallels. While some would argue there’s pedigree by the pound here, thanks to frontman/songwriter Jason Shevchuk’s involvement in (the awesome) Kid Dynamite and (the often bland) None More Black, I wasn’t biting. I just couldn’t get into most of the None More Black material, and by all reports it was going to be pretty much the complete opposite of Kid Dynamite so what was there to be excited about?

Well get psyched: this is one of the most well-written pop rock records of at least the last five years, hands down. The trick is that it might not seem too readily apparent because of the minimalism of the instrumentation and Shevchuk’s incredibly gruff, raw vocals (though on some tracks — especially “According To My Notes” and “Silently Just” — he manages to throw those out the window and inject some honest-to-goodness smooth, not-gravelly singing into the mix).

I think I’d liken this release to Jets To Brazil’s debut. Blake Schwarzenbach had broken up Jawbreaker prior to the release of Orange Rhyming Dictionary and made it everything he had been criticized for towards the end of that band’s career: slower, more cerebral straight-forward rock with better singing, more accessible hooks, and glossier production. While the production on On Parallels seems flat in some places, the rest of it is there in spades.

It also sees Shevchuk’s songwriting moving into territory he hasn’t explored before: horns and strings find their way into the mix, “Silently Just” features acoustic guitar, and “Two Shotguns” centers around a chord progression that is equal parts blues and punk rock. Both are equally stirring in very different ways and serve as polar examples of what this band is capable of.

I suppose I should say was capable of; the group officially disbanded several weeks before the album was even officially released, the result of the inter-band tension that frequently crops up when band members are also dating. But a tragic end to a project filled with promise also serves as a disconcerting backslide for the band’s principle songwriter, as Shevchuk has decided to put None More Black back together in LaGrecia’s wake. Hopefully he won’t be afraid to expand that band’s sonic palette in a similar fashion, as it would be a shame to put a damper on his emerging pop sensibilities.

 

 LaGrecia - According To My Notes [3:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 LaGrecia - Two Shotguns [2:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 LaGrecia - Silently, Just [4:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Suburban Home/Vinyl Collective is your exclusive purveyor of this album in all the best (physical) formats, available here. Suckers can try iTunes as well.

Pat entries Jason Shevchuk, LaGrecia, melodic rock, None More Black, orgcore, punk rock

As you can probably tell from the other posts on this website that I’ve authored, I generally like to take my time with things. I like to spend a good amount of time with an album, get to know it inside and out before I attempt to pass judgement on it. Today I just can’t help it — I’m jumping the gun.

The new album from Montreal’s The Stills came out on Tuesday and it’s quite good. They sort of blew up five years ago as the first signee to Vice Records, making a splash and getting some pretty lauditory reviews with their first album, Logic Will Break Your Heart, and a few of the accompanying singles. I think I might be the only person in North America that actually liked the follow-up, Without Feathers. It actually got no stars in at least one review I read, the critic saying it was like their first album only boring and not good at all.

Well I’m not entirely sure what the critics might say about this one, but when I’m listening to “Everything I Build” I really couldn’t care less. It’s new territory for the band, the majority of it nothing more than a couple of repeating, palm-muted, plucked guitar notes, a few keyboard flourishes, and some gorgeous vocals about everything going wrong. I’ve listened to it about ten times more than any other songs on the record. Hell, I like it so much I’m writing this at work (which I never do) while I ought to be working. The rest of the album is good, but goddamnit this is a centerpiece if ever there was one.

 

 the Stills - Everything I Build [3:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pick up the new release, Oceans Will Rise, from the band’s new label, the renowned Arts & Crafts:
Physical: Expensive vinyl!
Digital: the fabulous Zunior site

Pat entries Arts & Crafts, Canadian content, indie rock, melodic rock, the Stills