The Best New Thing You Haven't Heard Of This Week: Seth Colter Walls and Maura Johnston On The New Newness, Strange Jazz, And The Semi-Return Of Hole
Seth: Do we also wanna say Tracey Thorn's upcoming record — Love and its Opposite — is the sleeper release of next month? Everyone will be talking National Pornographers Social Steady, but this is the one to not sleep on?
Maura: YES. it is AMAZING. She has a deep, world-weary alto that communicates aching like few other singers can. The songs on Love that she wrote (there are two covers) are full of these novelistic details that can flesh out characters within the space of maybe five words.
Seth: I'll tell you what I was thinking on first listen: usually things that are this "arranged" in the chamber-pop indie tradition feel a lot more fussy. This has some feeling of open-space-y-ness to it.
Maura: Yes!
Seth: And then when a song takes a surprising turn toward the end, you don't have this feeling of… oh, here's some more filigree! It's like the weather changing in a really pleasant but not-too-intense way.
Maura: Totally!
Seth: You knew who I thought of, also? Not on the level of "their sound worlds are similar" but more on "they are working with craft and form in really smart ways"? Shannon Wright.
Maura: Ooh. I see this parallel!
Maura: On Thorn's record, all of the arrangements on the songs are barebones. Nothing more than what's necessary, so all the emotions can breathe. Which is good, because there is a lot of sadness on the record.
Seth: Yeah, though it's like mid-period Bergman sadness, the sadness you need to feel to exorcise the pain and have a shot at happiness again.
Maura: Right. Hence it ending with this really hopeful song "Swimming."
Seth: So on that hopeful note, what are you looking forward to most — besides Janelle Monae (which everyone will love) and LCD Soundsystem? (which everyone will love)? (In both cases justly, I expect.)
Maura: Mmm. Big Boi! And Robyn.
Seth: Is Big Boi actually coming out? Like, do we have pre-Cuban Linx II-level confirmation?
Maura: July 6! I guess that means there is still time for it to be pushed back, BUT I BELIEVE.
Seth: So yeah, everybody who hasn't heard of Big Boi… you're probably not reading us.
Seth: The Robyn record I'm going to wait and get an advance of, but "Dancing On My Own" was grand as fuck.
Maura: It's gorgeous, right? Those are my favorite songs of hers, the ones where she is singing about being sad. Not because I want to see her be sad! But she communicates that sort of ambivalence one feels when one is rejected very well.
Seth: About The National, though. There's this way, if you're a guy and not totally tone-deaf, that you can very easily make fun of the National brand.
Maura: Oh?
Seth: You just go into your baritone voice, and then pick up something, anything. Like the warning label on a hairdryer. And just sort of sing sentence fragments from that in a lullaby way.
Seth: "Do not use while sleeping or unconscious."
Seth: And then repeat it twenty times, but steadily building each time.
Maura: Hahaha.
Seth: Imagining a sort of crescendo of shimmering little guitar figures. And then a drum starts beating to let you know that the MEANING is coming.
Maura: Aahahhahaha!
Seth: As with any band or act that has real strengths, there's also something prototypical about them that's able to be mocked. It's the same thing that allows them to be distinct in our insanely over-stuffed culture conveyor belt, or something. And with the National it's this sense of — well, anything can sound dolorous if you treat it that way. "It's a terrible love, and I'm walking with spiders?" What are you actually telling me about human experiences here?
Maura: Right.
Seth: So when The National bandwagon started rolling, I recoiled a bit from what I took to be too much of a formula approach. But then long story short, I listened in a more forgiving way with this one, went to their live show at Bell House, and came away rather convinced that they're onto something. (Critical insight of the year, right there.)
Maura: Ha. (At your parenthetical.)
Seth: Heh.
Seth: So basically, one more white person on board. And uh, let's see, a couple days ago I thought I had a good joke for the chat that I was gonna try and drop in all casual like, but now I can't remember it.
Maura: That's OK. We covered a lot of ground! And we had some good jokes! A good fun!
Maura: Er. *Run*!
Seth: Whew.
Thank you Maura and Seth! I love love loved the last Tracey Thorn album and am eagerly looking forward to the new one! Stoked on all the amazing material that Robyn has released lately and I hope that she can maintain quality over her 3 planned releases this year.
New Crystal Castles is great too. I'm confused about whether Roisin Murphy is going to actually release an album or just more singles?
Ted Leo, LCD Soundsystem, The National = Cool dad rock.
/brb listening to Charles Hamilton.
That *is* a good song to be listening to on Friday afternoon. Carry on!
Yes, the Janelle Monae tune is tight. That bass line. And the classic horn line (real horns smoothly meshed with the best of digital!?!). TIGHT.
and so innocently happy sounding! joyous even
Is it too much to hope for a "Tightrope" dance craze this summer?
Good lord. Riches abound.
FYI here's some great smaller-scale stuff from this year (give or take):
John Bellows, "Clean Your Clock"
Jerusalem and the Starbaskets, "Battle of the Orchids"
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears "Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!"
Moon Duo, "Escape"
John Martyn, "Battle of Medway" (reissue)
Wolf People, "Tidings"
Yellow Swans, "Going Places"
The Last Rapes of Mr. Teach "Solid Body"
This Wolf People album is interesting, thanks!
Big ups for big-upping Jason Moran. Heard him with Greg Osby and Nicholas Payton and dude kills it.
Still not buying The National as anything more than formulaic retread. Saw them in the rain last year at APW (an apropos setting for The National) and we came up with that very same mock-technique.
I'm *really* into this Titus Andromicus album. Playing it over and over.
SECONDED!!
Unclear why the end of the music industry as we know it doesn't also mean the end of caring what music journalists say about what we're supposed to listen to now?
robyn's body talk pt.1 is really excellent; the back half even has this kinda reggae dancehall riddim thing happening
I have a friend who's a huge The National fan. I may send this to him.
On the other hand, I am INCREDIBLY excited for the new The Hold Steady album (Next week squee!! It's already streaming on NPR!!!) so I am not sure if I get to be judgy. But I am sort-of sad it wasn't worthy of a mention here.
That Janelle Monae single is fan-bloody-tastic, thanks for introducing me to it.
Though why on earth is it five minutes long? Be twice as good at half the length (and without the obligatory, stapled-on rap part)
Disagree x100. We don't need more short songs.
I'm not against extended 12" versions for clubbing (I own a lot of those) but for the "radio" or wherever people hear "records" these days, keep it short.
Uh…why? Because you personally have a short attention span or because you perceive the public to? And in either case, there's nothing about this composition that is repetitive in any way. It seems there are simply elements of it that you dislike? In which case, how can something 'fan-bloody-tastic' also reach levels of dullness?
I'm asking but I know the answer I guess. Maybe I confused because the amount of effort and musicianship and talent and time that went into making this song, and your contradictory response amounts to both "it is awesome" but then also: "tl;dr." Which is odd because if it is awesome and you like it…why does the length bother you? And if it is too long, why would you like it.
For example, there are elements of the Lord of the Rings movies I like, but holy fuck those movies are godawfully long and filled with repetetive gooble-gobble and overemotional garbage. But I would never say those movies are good. Conversely, the Dark Knight could have been 24 hours long and I would have just sat there forever and loved every minute.
I've experienced situations where something is good and short, and sometimes it is good because it is short. But never is something good but too long. If I start getting bored by it, then it is not doing it's job. Especially a dancey song. Do you also dislike 'Hey Ya'? It follows a very similar structure to this song.
djfreshie, we can agree to disagree about LOTR and The Dark Knight (which couldn't end soon enough for me), but I agree about long songs. If they're good, who cares if they're 2 min. or 8?
Of course, this could be a purely economic reaction to iTunes – I want my money's worth for my $0.99 (or $1.29), dammit!
Obviously tastes are relative…but the point is…if the thing is good, then length is (somewhat) irrelevant, as long as it is non-repetitive. If it is short, then great! Thanks for the short nice thing. But if it's long, it's long. You don't get to choose just the solo from Stairway. Either you accept the whole or the none.
And itunes value, obviously :)
It is perfectly possible to think a record is great but also think it would have more impact if it was shorter. The length doesn't "bother" me I just thought it was unnecessary as the record says most of what it has to say by the time Big Boi appears. Put it this way, for me it became a bit less fan-bloody-tastic by the end. OK? Get it?
I thought Dark Knight was 24 hours long. Least that's how it felt.
That Janelle Monae and the Hanoi Janes just put a big smile on my face. Nice!