Click title to play
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Stars of Leo
Artist: M. Ward
Album: Hold Time
Year: 2009
And speaking of workout music, how awesome is this track?
M. Ward? Workout music? I know, it doesn’t seem to match up, especially when his usual soft strumming and cracked voice drifts over the speaker. But wait until the energetic handclap backing comes in. This spring, when I first discovered I could run more than a couple miles and actually enjoy it, this song was on repeat on my headphones, propelling me down the East River, over the Manhattan bridge into Brooklyn, then back over the Brooklyn bridge while I dodged tourists wandering into the run/bike lane.
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Young Adult Friction
Artist: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Album: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Year: 2009
Despite sounding exactly like what they are, i.e. Brooklyn hipster music, this band reminds me of Belle & Sebastian. I’m not sure why; it may be Kip Berman’s voice. This track was on my workout mix for quite a while. Again, I’m not sure why; it may have been the driving drum + “don’t check me out” chant at the end.
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Sweet Talk
Artist: Spiritualized
Album: Songs in A&E
Year: 2008
A work friend turned me onto this album from last year. It was his description that intrigued me:
“‘Songs in A&E’ does not refer to the keys of the songs themselves; rather, Jason Pierce (the man behind the band) nearly died several years ago, and this album is about his time in the accident and emergency ward of the hospital. These songs about life and death take on new meaning in that context.”
Certainly “Death Take Your Fiddle”, with a ventilator serving as the backing, is plenty haunting once you learn the background of the album. This track, all gradual build and swelling crescendos, serves as a nice counterpart to the raucous-to-quiet structure of the last track.
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Early Aubade
Artist: Roman Candle
Album: Oh, Tall Tree in the Ear
Year: 2009
Roman Candle’s forthcoming release looks set to continue what the North Carolina-based band started with The Wee Hours Revue back in 2006. What exactly did they start? I’m glad you asked, as their debut album was overlooked for some unknown reason, despite being packed with plenty of strong singles. You could do worse than listening to “Something Left to Say”, or “New York This Morning”.
This song’s tale of taking down, packing up, and moving out is matched by its deconstructionist progression. Check it out, then check out the full album after its May 12th release.
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Swans
Artist: Camera Obscura
Album: My Maudlin Career
Year: 2009
Similar to much of the excellent music coming out of Scotland recently, Camera Obscura mixes upbeat music with lyrics exploring the sharp jutting angles and dark corners of relationship failure. Although their specific style is markedly different to, say, Frightened Rabbit, the happy/sad dichotomy is just as effective. Taking cues from ’60s doo-wop, and with lead singer Tracyanne Campbell’s trademark lilting voice, the forthcoming “My Maudlin Career” is a solid improvement on 2006’s “Let’s Get Out of This Country”.
“James he came to the door, wanting to know for sure why love gets up and goes”, she sings on “James”. Elsewhere, against a backdrop of one of the sunniest, most cheerful melodies this side of Jamaican roots reggae, she laments “I’ve been spending half a year in a plane going up and down / and you’ve been seeing other people from a nearby town / being obsessive and getting depressed about us”, before detailing her failing struggle to build walls: “I’m in training to become as cold as ice / I’m determined to protect my feelings”.
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Running to Stand Still
Artist: Elbow
Album: War Child: Heroes
Year: 2009
Cover songs are risky business. The best tactic is usually to go for a little-known track by an obscure artist, thereby avoiding preconceptions. Covers of classic songs are almost by definition destined to fail — these songs are classic for a reason, after all, and any re-recording will likely be a pale imitation of the original.
In taking on one of U2’s best known tracks from one of their most-heralded albums, Elbow have indeed set themselves up for embarrassment (or rather, U2 have, as they themselves asked Elbow to cover their song). However, Guy Garvey’s Mancunian accent and the delicate musical arrangement combine to achieve the rare feat of producing a cover that is at once faithful to the original, as well as wholly marked with the band’s own sound. Like the rest of Elbow’s music, it feels like northern England: grey skies, rain, and stained concrete buildings. A stunning example of why the band has been receiving acclaim all over the UK in the past year. After 8 years of releasing records, that attention must be satisfying indeed.
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Talking Hotel Arbat Blues
Artist: Handsome Furs
Album: Face Control
Year: 2009
What starts out sounding like a drumbeat and handclaps made by a cheap Casio keyboard turns out to be Clash-inspired punk with crunchy guitars.