For Those About To Rock

Our Music Year #153: Feist, "Let it Die"

Feist
Let it Die

Year: 2004
Format: Spotify
Grade: C+

Nova Scotian singer/songwriter Leslie Feist flew a little more under the radar when she made Let it Die, her second LP.

Her third, 2007's The Reminder, catapulted her into stardom on the strength of "1234" and "I Feel it All," two hooky alt-rock pop ditties.

Let it Die catches her less dressed to impress. "Inside and Out," a retitled cover of the Bee Gees' "Love You Inside Out," does everything it can to remake it into a Feist song without losing the spirit of the original, but the effort to do so drags it down.

"One Evening," too, comes off a lot closer to smooth jazz than anything on Reminder or 2011's Metals would, making the record worse for it. Most of the second side is covers, including "Inside and Out" and takes on Rox Sexsmith and Bob Haymes.

Nothing her touches "Mushaboom," a frollicking, acoustic-guitar-driven number that much more defines the style which followed Let it Die than many of the other tracks here.

It's one of the original tracks, which makes one wonder why she made so many concessions to a voice that wasn't her own when, as subsequent records show, she has a perfectly intriguing sound by herself.

Tomorrow's entry: Ween, The Mollusk

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook

Our Music Year #152: Regina Spektor, "What We Saw From the Cheap Seats"

Regina Spektor
What We Saw From the Cheap Seats

Year: 2012
Format: Digital
Grade: B-

Moscow-born singer Regina Spektor is known for her quirky piano pop and idiosyncratic songs.

"Oh Marcello" from her latest, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, shows this, awkwardly trying hitching an Italian pop affectation with the chorus from The Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."

Spektor takes risks and throws plenty of sounds into the pepperpot. Her tongue is firmly planted in her cheek as her metaphor in "Ballad of a Politician" connects the political profession to the oldest one. It swings too close to cutesy to be taken seriously.

That's about as biting as Spektor gets. She has serious moments, too, as "Firewood" and "All the Rowboats" show, the latter conveying a sense of secrecy.

She also revisits some of her earliest material on Cheap Seats, rerecording "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)" from her second LP, 2002's Songs.

Its inclusion has the effect of showing that Spektor knows her voice and is interested in expression more than progression. But for fun piano pop, Spektor has a firm grasp on her multi-lingual milieu.

Tomorrow's entry: Feist, Let it Die

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook

Our Music Year #151: Sun Kil Moon, "Among the Leaves"

Sun Kil Moon
Among the Leaves

Year: 2012
Format: Spotify
Grade: C

Mark Kozelek said he was trying not to be a perfectionist with Among the Leaves and the relaxed atmosphere shows.

The songs aren't as tense and whispery, though no less moody than we've come to expect from Kozelek's Sun Kil Moon moniker.

It's not all simply a man and his guitar, as "King Fish" shows, with brooding bass and a timepiece snare snap to set the tone. There are plenty of tones other than bleak — "The Winery" has a sunny disposition, and "The Moderately Talented Yet Attractive Young Woman vs. The Exceptionally Talented Yet Not So Attractive Middle Aged Man" carries a hopeful melody.

While it is far more digestible than, say, his rote collection of Modest Mouse covers, Tiny Cities, the problem with Among the Leaves is there's too much of it. North of 73 minutes, there's so much to absorb and, in Kozelek's true fashion, his tones are variations on a theme, which grows weary as the time drags.

However, as someone who's grown weary of other Sun Kil Moon efforts, too, this would probably make a good starting point, which suggests striving less for perfection may make Kozelek come closer.

Tomorrow's entry: Regina Spektor, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook

Our Music Year #150: Glen Phillips, "Tornillo"

Glen Phillips
Tornillo

Year: 2010
Format: Digital
Grade: C-

Recorded in Tornillo, Texas, and intended as the follow up to his debut solo LP, Tornillo arrives more than half a decade later as a collection of alternate versions and also-rans from Glen Phillips, the frontman from from Santa Barbara's '90s alternative rock outfit Toad the Wet Sprocket.

More than half of the songs appear on subsequent releases and some of them are the better for it. While the level of polish was unnecessary on 2005's Winter Pays for Summer, Phillips plucked the best songs from Tornillo for it, including "Courage," included here with an alternate third verse.

"Thankful," a single from Winter, benefitted from the upgrade in production, ditching the piano that gives it a child-like quality on Tornillo Others will recognize "The Hole," tucked away on an EP, from its inclusion in the AMC series "Breaking Bad." Here, it goes for spooky and doesn't quite hit its aim.

In too many places in Tornillo, Phillips feels lifeless, like he's not sure he wants to be in the studio laying these tracks down, making the record inessential for anyone except Toad/Phillips diehards.

Tomorrow's entry: Sun Kil Moon, Among the Leaves

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook

Our Music Year #149: Drudkh, "Eternal Turn of the Wheel"

Drudkh
Eternal Turn of the Wheel

Year: 2012
Format: Spotify
Grade: B-

Ukranian metalers Drudkh lost a lot of fans when they steered toward blackgaze with 2010's Handful of Stars.

The elusive group continues with elements of atmospheric sludge and blackgaze on their latest LP, Eternal Turn of the Wheel, a title which speaks to the changing of the seasons.

The record has five tracks: An introduction and then the other four each serve as a sign post for spring, summer, fall and winter.

The songs are long and veering. The bass and drums lock step and throttle their way through blistering paces early in "Farewell to Autumn's Sorrowful Birds" as well as "Breath of Cold Black Soil."

While the band shows concept, the songs sometimes slide into a directionless feel. "When Gods Leave Their Emerald Halls," presumably representing summer, slips into a quiet middle section that recalls Opeth's efforts toward hard rock instead of black metal. The record is constantly rising and falling, changing mood and tone.

And maybe that's the point of Eternal Turn of the Wheel. To everything, there is a season, right? The album begins and ends with the sound of wind blowing, a sign that this, too, shall pass.

Tomorrow's entry: Glen Phillips, Tornillo

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook

Our Music Year #148: Laura Marling, "Alas, I Cannot Swim"

Laura Marling
Alas, I Cannot Swim

Year: 2008
Format: Digital
Grade: B

Laura Marling was 18 when she cut her debut album, 2008's Alas, I Cannot Swim.

While the growth she showed on I Speak Because I Can and A Creature I Don't Know is impressive in even a few years, she did not arrive without a higher musical ambition than others her age.

While he voice hasn't fully ripened yet on Alas, she is in full Joni Mitchell bloom on "My Manic and I," a waltz dramatized by a bed of strings.

Musically, she is just beginning to find her voice and her ability. "You're No God" bites as much as British folk can, though the music deceives the lyrical message.

I loathe continuing to mention her age, but it's hard to believe music of this quality came from a high school senior.

It's no Creature I Don't Know, but Marling started at a level few artists ever get to.

Tomorrow's entry: Drudkh, Eternal Turn of the Wheel

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook

Our Music Year #147: Marilyn Manson, "Born Villain"

Marilyn Manson
Born Villain

Year: 2012
Format: Spotify
Grade: D+

In 2000, it was dangerous to be Marilyn Manson. Proclaiming himself a "born villain" would've been daring and accurate.

In 2012, it's old, tired shtick. Heck, it was tired shtick on 2003's The Golden Age of Grotesque. It's not that he/they haven't shown attempts to reinvent themselves: "Heart-Shaped Glasses" was an attempt at dark romantic, but all it did was give people the creepers about Manson and his then-girlfriend, Evan Rachel Wood.

That relationship kept his name in the public conscious on a tabloid level, which is sort of where he's always subsisted. He's always been a step above a circus act.

The thing about being a shock rocker is that, unless you're Howard Stern, shock has a limited appeal. We're initially fascinated and then we're over it.

And with Born Villain, we're so over it. The song titles say everything: "Hey Cruel World," "Murderers Are Getting Prettier Every Day," "The Flowers of Evil."

Appropriately, the name of one near the end: "Breaking the Same Old Ground."

Exactly. Born Villain proves that if Manson's career development were a tree, it would be a stump.

Tomorrow's entry: Laura Marling, Alas, I Cannot Swim

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook

Our Music Year #146: Gentleman Jesse, "Leaving Atlanta"

Gentleman Jesse
Leaving Atlanta

Year: 2012
Format: Digital
Grade: C

Jesse Smith — Gentleman Jesse — took three years to deliver his sophomore effort, a process lengthened after being beat in the face with a chair leg while changing a car tire and dealing with the deaths of several friends.

Since they happened after Smith recorded Leaving Atlanta in his basement, there's a sort of clairvoyance in the music: "Ooh, we gotta get outta here," he sings on the closing track, as though urgently nodding to a friend that it's time to skip town.

Smith's songs are power pop rock and, for a record made in his basement, are surprisingly sunny and clean recordings. This isn't really garage rock, save for the Ramones flavor of "You Give Me Shivers."

The rest of the cuts are hooky, but also struggle with a sort of sameness. After arriving at "I'm a Mess," we get the sense Smith finds melodies in the same vein and mines them for all he can.

There's nothing groundbreaking or revelatory on Leaving Atlanta, but there's nothing offensively bad, either. As power pop records go, at least the music sounds fun even if the emotional undercurrent isn't.

Tomorrow's entry: Marilyn Manson, Born Villain

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook

Our Music Year #145: Sigur Rós, "Valtari"

Sigur Rós
Valtari

Year: 2012
Format: NPR First Listen
Grade: B

After five records that showed Sigur Rós' progression from ambient drone through the condensed pop of 2008's Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, one of Iceland's greatest exports dropped the H-bomb: "Hiatus."

Many bands that go into hibernation never came back. In the interim, lead singer Jonsí Birgisson teamed with his boyfriend, former Parachutes member Alex Somers, to produce Riceboy Sleeps, a minimalist effort that harkened back to Sigur Rós' debut. It was beautiful, but it also dull, a stubborn refusal to manifest full-fledged songs.

Valtari reads as an icy cousin of Riceboy rather than a natural progression from Með suð í eyrum. Its vast, ambient, icy landscapes require dedication and commitment.

Sigur Rós' sixth and latest LP does reward, however. "Varuð," for example, recalls the majesty of the band's breakthrough ( ).

It's for dark, lonely late nights wallowing in one's own sadness, feeling isolated and disassociated from the world.

Because it requires seeing beyond its smirking, wintry face to dissect its complexities, it takes time to absorb. It's entirely possible that if readers come back a few months from now, this record could warrant a higher grade.

Tomorrow's entry: Gentleman Jesse, Leaving Atlanta

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook

Our Music Year #144: John Mayer, "Born and Raised"

John Mayer
Born and Raised

Year: 2012
Format: Digital
Grade: B-

After 2005's Try! and 2006's Continuum, John Mayer seemed to have jumped into maturity as a songwriter and was prepared to enter a new phase of his career.

In '09 came Battle Studies, which felt like a regression, afraid to leap toward the blues persona he'd been crafting.

Born and Raised, released Tuesday, is Mayer's most relaxed effort to date. In "Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967," he sounds closer to Jack Johnson than Eric Clapton, for example.

Mayer seems mature — the only cringeworthy lyric of "Your Body is a Wonderland" proportions is "Love is a Verb," a statement which was naughtier in the hands of Incubus' Brandon Boyd. That maturity also runs the dangerous risk of making him seem like he's playing it safe.

Mayer is not out to impress anyone or make any bold statements with Born and Raised. There's a comfortable air throughout it, mixing his pop, rock and blues influences.

He feels right at home, but Born and Raised also feels like he's trying to figure out where to go next.

Tomorrow's entry: Sigur Rós, Valtari

Follow Nick on Twitter or Facebook