For Those About To Rock

This Week, Nick Would Buy ... #17

R.E.M., Accelerate (Warner Bros.)

Georgia trio R.E.M.'s decade-plus since the departure of percussionist Bill Berry has been hard miles. While seemingly as popular as ever in Europe, delivering chart-topping albums and singles, the group's floundered in its home country. R.E.M.'s 2005 offering, Around the Sun, moved fewer than 300,000 units in the U.S., and none of the record's singles cracked Billboard's Top 100.

Sun gave up its rewards slowly and quietly, but it did have them — "Final Straw" is a pacifist ethos for the post-9/11 era, and "Leaving New York" sparkled with pop sheen. However, in America, the sad commentary on the post-Berry era is that its pinnacle remains "The Great Beyond," which tapped the same Andy Kauffman pool for creative inspiration that "Man on the Moon" did. "Great Beyond" typifies the arty, spacial R.E.M. that followed its percussionist's departure.

That explains why Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol, Green Day) was brought in as producer. If lead single "Supernatural Superserious" is an indication, Accelerate will tread the paths of an older, rockier R.E.M. (Hear a minute-long edit of the song on the band's MySpace.) Though the band may face declining sales and poor critical reviews in America, R.E.M. is arguably the greatest rock 'n' roll band this nation has spawned. That's a mantle deserving of some respect, and at least a listen.

If I Were Really Rich ...
— The Black Keys, Attack & Release (Nonesuch) — Danger Mouse seems an unexpected choice behind the boards for this Ohio garage rock duo.
— Van Morrison, Keep it Simple (Lost Highway) — Irish legend's second album for the Nashville, Tenn., label is first record of all-original material in nearly 10 years.
— The Rolling Stones, Shine a Light (Interscope) — Available in single- and double-disc formats, Shine, the soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese film set to release this week, collects every song from a two-night stand in 2006 at New York's Beacon Theatre.
— Victor Wooten, Palmystery (Heads Up) — Flecktones' uber-talented bassist works with Keb' Mo' and Karl Denson on fifth studio record.

Others
Anti-Flag, The Bright Lights of America (RCA)
AZ, Undeniable (Koch)
Blue Man Group, How to Be a Megastar Live! [CD/DVD] (Rhino)
Dream Theater, Greatest Hit ( ... and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) (Rhino)
Fall Out Boy, ****: Live in Phoenix (Island)
Glasses Malone, The Beach Cruiser (Blu Divisio/Hoo-Bangin'/Cash Money/Universal)
In Flames, A Sense of Purpose (Koch)
Kathy Mattea, Coal (R.E.D. Distribution)
Ministry, Cover Up (13th Planet)
Moby, Last Night (Mute)
Muse, H.A.A.R.P. [CD/DVD] (WEA/Warner)
Willie Nelson, One Hell of a Ride [4CD box set] (Sony)
No Use For A Name, The Feel Good Record of the Year (Fat Wreck)
Joe Satriani, Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock (Sony/BMG)
Sevendust, Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow (7 Bros/Asylum)
George Straight, Troubadour (MCA Nashville)
Sun Kil Moon, April (Caldo Verde)
Theory of a Deadman, Scars & Souvenirs (604/Roadrunner)
Trina, Still da Baddest (Slip-N-Slide Records/EMI/DP Entertainment)

Festivus Maximus (aka Bonnapaloozarella)

If the sudden surge in the nation’s number of large-scale music festivals is any indication, it’s going to be easy to start my own.

All I need is a diverse roster of artists and a kooky name with lots of vowels and that crooks eyebrows.

So, saddle up, Sally, and prepare yourself for my concoction, Bonnapaloozarella. Huh? Huh? Doesn’t that name have you quaking in your little rock ’n’ roll space booties?

The roster features artists I’ve never seen live before: Kanye West, The White Stripes, R.E.M., Beck, Arcade Fire, Jay-Z, Daniel Lanois, Smashing Pumpkins, Modest Mouse, The Decemberists, Sigur Ròs, and Flight of the Conchords.

Whaddya think? Huh? Huh?

All right fine. I’ll come clean. I’m lying.

There is no Bonnapaloozarella. Sorry ’bout that.

But the point about the abundance of music festivals remains. There are so many new ones this year I'm convinced the project at Burning Man will be to resurrect Jerry Garcia so the Grateful Dead can do a three-day odyssey of booze, broads and boxes of rain.

All kidding aside, one of the bigger festivals in its first year is San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival. Radiohead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jack Johnson, Beck and Wilco top the bill, just to name a few. They and undoubtedly thousands of patchouli-drenched, tie-dyed hipsters will descend Aug. 22-24 on Golden Gate Park. I’m stoked about this, despite its hefty $225 price tag.

Other festivals just in the San Francisco area include the Bay Area Indie Music Festival, Treasure Island Music Festival, Download Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the already passed annual Noise Pop festival, and my personal favorite, even if it’s a bit small to be considered a true festival, the annual Bridge School Benefit. And that’s just scratching the surface.

This is normally the time where I would say this is a bad thing and too many festivals dilutes the concert-going market.

But I find myself feeling surprisingly laissez-faire about this. There’s the possibility that this year’s festival push is going to stretch Joe Concertgoer’s dollar a little thin -- I know I can’t afford Vegoose, Bonnaroo, Mile High Music Festival, Outside Lands and Coachella, which makes me quizzical how attending more than a few would be possible. However, as a dutiful, obedient slave to live performances, I will pick what’s within my budget and head for the fan-demonium.

That seems to be the primary aim of these festivals. With so many of them, the national appeal lessens and the regional demand rises -- I suppose this why Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play Mile High and Outside Lands, or My Morning Jacket, a Bonnaroo fixture, is also on the bill for Coachella.

The regional appeal of Outside Lands might take a few fans away from an existing, big-time gig such as Bonnaroo, but could be a boon for San Francisco’s untapped, big-time rock festival market.

All this talk about dollars and cents distracts from the larger picture, which is that it’s hard to find something wrong with Radiohead, Wilco and Beck being on the same bill within an hour’s drive of Solano County.

From that notion emerges a more fitting maxim in a foreign language about large-scale music festivals and economics: Caveat emptor, baby.

This Year, Nick Would Attend …
Here are five large-scale music festivals Nick would attend if time, money and being in two places at once were no object:
• Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio. Headliners: Roger Waters, Portishead, Jack Johnson, Kraftwerk, The Verve. April 25-27. http://www.coachella.com/.
• New Orleans Jazz and Music Festival in New Orleans. The Neville Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Sheryl Crow, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. April 25-27 and May 1-4. http://www.nojazzfest.com/.
• Mile High Arts and Music Festival in Commerce City, Colo. Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, John Mayer, Black Crowes, O.A.R. July 19 and 20. http://www.milehighmusicfestival.com/.
• Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. Pearl Jam, Metallica, Kanye West, My Morning Jacket, Chris Rock. June 12-15. http://www.bonnaroo.com/.
• Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco. Radiohead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jack Johnson, Wilco, Beck. Aug. 22-24. http://www.sfoutsidelands.com.

This Week, Nick Would Buy ... #16

Dave Matthews Band, Live Trax Vol. 11 (Bama Rags/RCA/Sony BMG)

As an avowed DMB diehard, I can say there are better Dave Matthews Band shows, even within their own Live Trax series. This is their 19th live album against just six studio efforts. If you want to see the band in its tight, hungry youth, grab Live at Red Rocks, 8.15.95. Wanna see how well guests can compliment their sound? Live Trax Vol. 7, where Bela Fleck and the Flecktones drop in for most of the second set, is your bag.

What you're going to get here is a glimpse of the band during its 2000 summer tour at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The 2000 dates backed an album which was never issued — months locked in their Virginia studio in early '00 yielded the aborted Lillywhite Sessions, which would leak to the internet in March 2001. Only a few months after Live Trax Vol. 11, the group's namesake would enter the studio with producer Glen Ballard and churn out songs for the ill-received (at least, among the DMB faithful) Everyday. Most of the Lillywhite Sessions material was re-recorded and issued in 2002 as Busted Stuff.

This means Live Trax Vol. 11 — which is not available in stores, but for purchase here from the band's online store — includes Busted Stuff's "Grace is Gone," "Bartender" and "Digging a Ditch" in their pre-release infancy. Even unreleased Lillywhite leftover "JTR," which includes a whirlwind closing jam, gets some much-deserved lovin'. It's probably not necessary for those beyond the diehards, but a casual fan would find it as a nice stocking stuffer.

If I Were Really Rich …
— Counting Crows, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings (Geffen) — Berkeley septet — do they still claim their reppin' NorCal? — pushes its first platter since '02's Hard Candy, which had its biggest hit with a Joni Mitchell cover.
— Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple (Atlantic) — The Felix and Oscar of neo-soul, Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse, try to measure up to their debut and that catchy, hook-tacular "Crazy" s***.
— The Raconteurs, Consolers of the Lonely — Jack White's other band (don't call it a side project!) seeks to escape the trappings of music critics who are quick to point out he's kind of The Man in this other, bigger band, The White Stripes.

Others
— The B-52s, Funplex (Astralwerks)
— Lindsey Buckingham, Live at the Bass Performance Hall [CD/DVD] (WEA/Reprise)
— Cavalera Conspiracy, Inflikted (Roadrunner)
— Day26, Day26 (Bad Boy)
— Heavy, Great Vengeance and Furious Fire (Counter)
— Lemonheads, It's a Shame About Ray [Collector's edition] (Rhino)
— Mike Oldfield, Music of the Spheres (Decca)
— Panic at the Disco, Pretty. Odd. (Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen) [No more! exclamation point in the middle of the name?]
— Pennywise, Reason to Believe (MySpace)
— Silver Mount Zion, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons (Constellation)

Music Notes

Ever mishear a lyric and prefer what you thought it was in the first place? After last week's Nine Inch Nails post, I was listening to "The Hand That Feeds" and finally Googled the lyrics to learn the start of the second verse is not "What if this whole crude shape's a charade?" It is, however, "What if this whole crusade's a charade?" I liked my version better, though the correct lyrics add to the political purpose of the song in a much better way.

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Speaking of music and politics, I have some interesting music-related suggestions for Barack Obama's campaign.

The first is that he should unearth Steve Miller Band and put them on his bus. At every campaign stop, he can roll them out and Steve can sing "Keep on Barackin' me, baby."

As long as we're turning his name into a bad pun, the second idea turns this into some serious political coin. If he nabs the Democratic nomination, at the party's convention in August, he should roll out the reunited Led Zeppelin: "Been a long time since I Baracked and rolled!" It'd make the donkey party get all weepy eyed and think of the time Bill Clinton helped encourage the return of the (Fleetwood) Mac.

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If Eddie Vedder and Nick Drake had some secret, unlikely love child, it would be named Oren Lavie, who sounds exactly like a cross of the two of them and can be heard in this new commecial ...

This Week, Nick Would Buy ... #15

She & Him, Volume One (Merge)

Just the bill makes this collaboration an intriguing one.

The Him is Portland's M. Ward, a singer/songwriter who's worked with Cat Power and Bright Eyes — the latter's lead singer once endorsed Ward for president while on "The Late Late Show." The She is actress Zooey Deschanel, who you saw in Almost Famous, The Good Girl, Elf and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Deschanel is the singer here, also adding piano and banjo; Ward is relegated to guitar work and producing. A handful of mostly original tunes is joined by covers Smokey Robinson and The Beatles. You can check out the lead single, "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here," from the Merge Records site.

If I Were Really Rich ...
— Joseph Arthur, Could We Survive [EP] (Lonely Astronaut) — First of four EPs planned from "In the Sun" author.
— Flo Rida, Mail on Sunday (Atlantic/Poe Boy) — The Sunshine State's own drops his debut after Step Up 2 the Streets' single "Low" exploded.
— Daniel Lanois, Here is What Is [CD edition] (Suma) — Better known as a producer for U2, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Dashboard Confessional and Peter Gabriel, the multi-faceted Canadian's fifth studio album doubles as the soundtrack to the 2007 documentary of the same name.

Others
Sara Bareilles, Little Voice [Bonus disc edition] (Sony)
Be Your Own Pet, Get Awkward (Ecstatic Peace)
Black Tide, Light From Above (Interscope)
The Bravery, The Sun and the Moon Complete (Island)
Bury Your Dead, Bury Your Dead (Victory)
Destroyer, Trouble in Dreams (Merge)
DeVotchKa, A Mad and Faithful Telling (Anti)
The Hush Sound, Goodbye Blues (Fueled by Ramen/Decaydance)
The Kills, Midnight Boom (Domino)
Sheek Louch, Silverback Gorilla (Koch/D-Block/Ruff Ryders)
Lydia, Illuminate (Linc Star)
The Matches, A Band in Hope (Epitaph)
New Found Glory, Hits (Geffen)
Rocko, Self-Made (Rocky Road/So So Def/Island Urban)
John Zorn, The Dreamers (Tzadik)

States of Insanity

 

Go ahead and skip to about the 1-minute mark to see Sufjan (pronounced Soo-FEE-uhn) Stevens and band playing the hypnotic sad "Casimir Pulaski Day" for KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show. Stevens has (had?) a quest to record an album about each of the 50 states. This makes me think of the words of one of the great philosophers of our time, Chris Rock: "Whatever happened to just plain crazy?"

Admittedly, the Michigan singer/songwriter's goal is ambitious, even admirable. If he shows the same dedication to detail he showcased with Illinois and Michigan, they're bound to be chock full of esoteric, historic references.

But the likelihood of him achieving the goal is unlikely. It's just mathematically improbable. He's 32 and he's written two.

At that rate, he's written one every 16 years, which means he'd be done in the year 2776, when he was 768 years old. If people were laughing about the Rolling Stones' longevity in their 40s and joking their 1989 album should've been called Steel Wheelchairs, Stevens would be Methuselah's age when he finally dropped that dull Delaware album.

But that rate is a tad unfair. But even at the ungodly speed of two per year, he'd be done in 24 years at age 56.

It's an unbelievable undertaking, especially given the extensive research and care that he brought to each of the first two installments.

An unnecessary wisecrack would involve speeding up the process by suggesting song-title brevity. At 2 minutes and 14 seconds, it takes more time to say "The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!'" than it does to listen to the song.

I'm rooting for him to complete the project, but I also think he's just plain crazy.

This Week, Nick Would Buy ... #14

Kaki King, Dreaming of Revenge (Velour)

Kaki King is so money.

Just watch her perform live. She’ll find some gentle or haunting lick on the guitar, loop it, add a bass part to join it, loop that, and then head to the drum kit and hammer out a rhythm. Band? Why have a band when you can single-handedly win a one-woman a**-kicking contest?

Some of the vibrancy and vitality of her live act was lost in the translation to her 2006 album, … Until We Felt Red. Though it did show the Georgian virtuoso trying to tackle new ground, it showcased her talent but not the pizzazz that makes her a live gem.

After collaborations with Tegan & Sara and Foo Fighters last year, King and Canadian producer Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois) set out to make a catchy, melodic album. After the relative flatness of Red, there’s only hope that Dreaming does King justice.

If I Were Really Rich …
— Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Eleventh Hour (Definitive Jux) — Straight outta Richmond: Del returns with his first full-length solo album since 2000’s underappreciated Both Sides of the Brain.
— Presidents of the United States of America, These Are the Good Times People (Fugitive) — Seattle group’s first record in four years features new guitbassist Andrew McKeag.
— Snoop Dogg, Ego Trippin' (Geffen) — A rap legend and star of the E! show “Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood,” Long Beach legend Snoop Dizzle drops his second album in 16 months.

Others
Alkaline Trio, G******it (Asian Man)
Fat Joe, The Elephant in the Room (Virgin)
Jeff Healey, Mess of Blues (Ruf)
Ill Nino, Enigma (Cement Shoes)
Kelis, The Hits (Jive)
Meshuggah, Obzen (Nuclear Blast)
Shawn Mullins, Honeydew (Vanguard)
Mike Patton, A Perfect Place (Ipecac)
Q-Tip, The Renaissance (Universal Motown)
Rick Ross, Trilla (Def Jam)
Various Artists, Now, Vol. 27 (Sony)
The Vines, The Best of the Vines (Capitol)
White Lion, Return of the Pride (Frontiers/King)
Why?, Alopecia (anticon.)

The Hand That Feeds: Reznor is a trailblazer

Whatever may be the future of the music industry, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor seems determined to be instrumental in finding it.

Reznor — who works alone in NIN — always marched to the beat of his own drum machine. See the “scenes missing” video for “Closer” or his five-year cycle between each of his first four albums as further evidence.

In the past 12 months, Reznor’s shown even more moxie. He has:
— Parted ways with his long-time label, Interscope Records, with no plans to join a different one, making him rock ‘n’ roll’s biggest unsigned act;
— Issued Ghosts I-IV, a collection of four, nine-track instrumental EPs available here, the first of which can be obtained gratis;
— Released his dystopian opus, Year Zero (cover at right), which injected human growth hormone into the veins of the concept album. The centerpiece of an alternate-reality game, Zero turned NIN fans into clue scavengers, deciphering coded messages on T-shirts and even searching restrooms at shows for tracks leaked on USB thumb drives;
— Issued Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D, a remix of the Zero album.

Considering NIN turns 20 this year, one sees Reznor turning his eye to ascending new peaks. With a No. 1 album, chart-topping singles, and legions of adoring fans already, there’s little left to prove.

He’s cultivated such an image, the Nails logo — the initials of the group, with the second N backward, outlined by a black box — is iconic.

Up-and-coming independent artists don’t have such images. That’s where labels prove their continued relevance and necessity. To shun their favor would be to bite the hand that feeds. They provide marketing, advertising and other support to help an artist make its name.

Only an artist with Reznor’s history, fans and level of notoriety can attempt a project as massive as Zero, leave his label and issue a collection of instrumental tracks on his own.

For even doing the Zero game and album, Reznor deserves kudos. Whether it worked, he stands alone in even a willingness to tie an album’s release into an alternate-reality game.

Allowing free downloads, such as the first disc of Ghosts (cover at right), is hardly new territory, but it’s still noteworthy. When an indie artist gives away music, it’s called marketing; when Reznor does it, it’s called daring.

That’s what Zero and Ghosts demonstrate. Reznor has to show himself, his fans and the world that he still has eagerness to push himself, that there are still further summits on the horizon.

Whether he’s a success is yet to be seen, but also irrelevant. An artist of his caliber willing himself into innovation is intriguing and worth watching.

After all, isn’t it those who march to the beat of a different drum who often find a new rhythm?

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Check out the video for Year Zero's "Survivalism":
Update: Or, bounce over to For Those About to Rock's MySpace to see the video for this entry's title, "The Hand That Feeds"

Hallelujah!

I'm unabashedly unamused by "American Idol," but anything that suddenly sends Jeff Buckley's rendition of "Hallelujah" to the No. 2 spot in iTunes' Top Songs makes me smile. Making it to the deuce position 14 years after its release warrants a grin, I'd say, since it's one of my all-time favorite recordings. I could just listen to him sing it all day, his voice is so beautiful and fragile.

Here it is, with "Idol" contestant Jason Castro singing the song:

Seeing Buckley's "Hallelujah" in iTunes' list made me do a double take. A Google news search availed me of Castro and his performance. I didn't even know who he was 20 minutes ago. (I still don't care, but now I know.)

Leonard Cohen may have written it, but "Hallelujah" is a Jeff Buckley song, sort of the same way "Hurt" is a Johnny Cash song; Trent Reznor just happened to write and record it first. Ditto this notion for Jimi Hendrix with "All Along the Watchtower," Led Zeppelin with "When the Levee Breaks," Iron & Wine with "Such Great Heights," etc.

Buckley looks horribly out of place in this list: Usher, Flo Rida, Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco and Janet Jackson joined him in the top 10. Fittingly, Jordin Sparks, last year's "Idol," is there. As is Miley Cyrus, who was wearing diapers when Buckley recorded his rendition of Leonard Cohen's tune.

Moral of the story: A beautiful recording is always timeless.

YouTube is giving me the Heisman Trophy pose when it comes to imbedding Buckley's version, so you'll have to follow this link to see him do it live.

Remembrance of Things Past

Whenever I buy a new album by an artist I already enjoy, it invariably sends me running to the material he/she/the band has already released. This is rarely a knock against the new material; it's just a fact.

Just seeing that Flogging Molly was this week issuing its first record since September 2004 had me pawing the click wheel on my iPod, stroking my beard and contemplating, "Flogging Molly, you say, eh?"

There are some artists to which you're always listening. Nary a week has gone by since I first heard Yankee Hotel Foxtrot that I haven't listened to at least one Wilco song. Flogging Molly is not a feast for all occasions — their zesty stew of Celtic folk and punk rock isn't so much an acquired taste as one reserved for certain dining instances.

But when whipping my meaty claw around the iPod dial, I went straight for "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" from their debut, Drunken Lullabies, an album title that no doubt pays homage to the great, historic tradition of Irish sobriety and alcoholic abstinence.

"The Shield" — a gripping, intense FX cop drama it feels I alone will miss when it bows after its seventh and final season this summer/fall — introduced me to "If I Ever Leave This World Alive," a musical choice that no doubt acknowledges the great, historic 21st century tradition of TV shows using music that isn't quite as mainstream so the royalty rights for song usage are cheaper. The artists don't complain — exposure on national TV is hardly something you'll ever hear an artist of any ilk b**** about.

"If I Ever Leave This World Alive" is one of those tunes that culls memories of a certain place and time: Driving down the tree-lined streets of my college town in the springtime of my final semester with the windows of my car rolled down and the decibel level turned up to obscene heights, the song's title a humorous self-acknowledgment of my then-pending graduation. And title's well-constructed malapropism brings to mind that of another mellower Molly offering, "The Worst Day Since Yesterday." I want to see their certification from the Yogi Berra School of Song Titling.

The Counting Crows' Adam Duritz proposes in the song "Ghost Train" that each individual carries behind them a trail of their past relationships — they are the engine and their past successes and failures are cars strung out behind them. A similar analogy can be made to an individual and the associations he or she makes to different songs — if you can compile or remember enough of these instances, you have begun compiling the soundtrack to your own life. It's fitting for the basis of this comparison that Duritz closes the song's final verse with the lines, "Love is a ghost train howling on the radio / Remember everything she said when only memory remains."

And just quoting from it makes me want to revisit "Ghost Train." Maybe in the Marcel Proust sense of things, the right song or the right album can be the madeleine that unleashes a tidal wave of memories spanning your entire life.