SOUNDTRACK: WILD FLAG-Wild Flag (2011).
For reasons unclear to me now, I wasn’t psyched when I heard about this band. Despite the fact that it was 2/3 of Sleater-Kinney and the force behind Helium joining together, I didn’t jump for joy. But now that I have listened to the album a million times, I can say that it is one of the best albums not only of that year, but of many years. Man is it good.
Sleater-Kinney was a great band, they were melodic and tuneful but also abrasive and occasionally off-putting. Who knew that the majority of the adhesiveness came from Corinne Tucker (well, she was the screamer, admittedly). It’s pretty clear that Carrie Brownstein is bringing a ton of melody (and a wee bit of amativeness) to the mix. Mary Timony always included trippy imagery and a weird kind of whispered/loud singing voice. The tunes are so catchy so strong, so singalongable.
There’s little moments in each song that are amazing. The backing vocals (and the pitch shift in the chorus) in “Romance”. The way “Something Came Over Me” sounds so different from “Romance” (and is clearly a Timony-sung song). I absolutely love the guitar “solo” that begins each verse and how it stands out but fits in so nicely as a baritone guitar sound (I assume from Carrie?) “Boom” is just a full-on rocker with some great guitar pyrotechnics and Carrie’s more extreme vocals. And man is it catchy.
“Glass Tambourine” is a cool trippy psychedelic workout that’s still catchy and interesting. “Endless Talk” has a strange British retro vibe. (Carrie seems to be singing with a kind of punk British voice). And there’s lot of keyboards. It’s great that the album has so many different sounds, but still sounds cohesive. “Short Version” has some great guitar soloing in the front and back. “Electric Band” is like a perfect pop song–great backing vocals, great poppy solos and a cool video to boot. “Future Crimes” is another amazing tune, with a keyboard solo!
“Racehorse” is probably my least favorite song on the disc. It’s got some cool parts and some interesting swagger (and I like the live versions where they really jam) but the album version feels a little dragged out (although the chorus is really hot). The disc ends with the wonderful “Black Tiles” which could easily be a Helium song, but which still sounds very Wild Flag.
And, I can’t say it enough, Janet Weiss is amazing on drums. I feel badly because I tend to leave out the keyboardist–because I don’t know who she is or the band that she came from. But her keyboards play an essential role in the music. They fill out the spaces that the two guitars don;t always fill. They even introduce the opening of the album.
If you go back through previous posts you’ll see I’ve mentioned them 3 times already because they have special bond with NPR and three of their concerts are available there. I can’t wait for more from them.
[READ: May 8, 2012] Grantland 2
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Grantland #1. So I was pretty excited to get Grantland #2. #2 has all of the elements that I loved about #1–non-sports articles about entertainment (video games, music, TV), and sports articles that are short and digestible for a non-sports fan. This issue also features a number of really long articles about basketball. I like basketball fine, but I can’t say I paid any attention to the lockout. Thus, much of this was lost on me. It probably doesn’t help that I don’t know any sports people either.
I may have said this last time, but I will reiterate for Issue #3–for those of us who don’t follow sports, or those of us who may not remember back to September when most of these articles were written, or heck, for people who are going to read this in ten years’ time: For certain articles, can you give us an epilogue about what happened after the article was written. If you speculate about the lockout. Have an epilogue to say about how the lockout turned out. If you talk about a game 5 of a series and the series didn’t end, have an epilogue that tells us how the series ended. It doesn’t have to even fit the style of the article, just a few words: so and so ended like this. It can show how prescient the writers were. And it can help us complete the stories.
So, despite a few articles that I thought were too long, (although probably aren’t if you love basketball) I really enjoyed this issue of Grantland, too. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: RALPH STANLEY-Tiny Desk Concert #31 (October 13, 2009).
Ralph Stanley is apparently a living bluegrass legend, although I’ve never heard of him. He plays a clawhammer banjo (and apparently has for 63 years).
I Just Read About That... 