SOUNDTRACK: DARK WAS THE NIGHT-That Disc (2009).
The second disc in this set is a somewhat more raucous affair than the first (which was pretty much all acoustic performances). On the surface, this seemed like the better disc of the two. I like so many bands on this disc: Spoon, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, The New Pornographers, Stuart Murdoch, Blonde Redhead.
And the disc starts out really great. The Spoon track, “Well Alright” may just be my favorite song on the whole compilation. The Arcade Fire are typically great. Beirut, whom I’d not heard before have a great track and My Morning Jacket’s song is very good, in a mellow sort of way.
From there, though, the disc kind of goes downhill. The Sharon Jones track is okay. Dave Sitek’s (of TV on the Radio whom I love) track is fine. It’s very basic, especially for him. It has grown on me somewhat, but it’s nothing too exciting. The New Pornographers track is catchy but nothing amazing. Even the Stuart Murdoch (who has never done a bad track) song is mild at best.
But Riceboy Sleeps, which is a side project from the amazing Sigur Rós just kills the disc in its tracks. The thing about Sigur Rós is that if you’re not in the mood for them, they are too ponderous by half. So, in the midst of these kind of rocking songs, this 9 minutes ambient instrumental is just death. And, it’s followed by a dreadful version of “amazing Grace” by the usually delightful Cat Power.
And then comes the Conor Oberst song. This is the second song by him that I’ve listened to in a short period of time (the other was on Future Soundtrack of America). And I just don’t get this guy’s appeal. I feel like I must be a crotchety old man thinking this but I’ll say it: he sounds like a total knockoff of Paul Westerberg. And the weird thing is, he sounds like a 19 year old P.W. singing the songs of the middle-aged P.W. “Lua,” the track on here has some clever wordplay, but the melody of the song is pretty much note for note of The Replacements “Sadly Beautiful.”
And at this point in the disc I never even give Blonde Redhead and Kevin Drew a fair chance.
Track sequence means a lot, and I fear they do a disservice to the disc on this one. I’m still a fan of Disc One and there’s a number of great tracks on Disc Two, but I was rather disappointed by this one.
[READ: December 22, 2009] Love as a Foreign Language Vol. 2
This volume concludes this engaging romance from Oni Press.
I was a little concerned as the volume opened because the Joel-Hana budding romance is derailed by a couple of silly misunderstandings. (I was afraid we were heading towards TV-slapstick territory). But, they proved to be just a few moments of comic relief in what was heading into a pretty emotional conclusion.
There’s also the sudden realization/crisis that his fellow teacher, the fun and flirty British woman also has a thing for Joel (what’s a guy to do with two women into him? And realistically a British romance seems more feasible than a Korean one). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 