popwreckoning

It’s almost not fair that the U.S. never got to experience Glen Hansard before 2007’s “Once,” because as of 2009, he has a 15-year history of making great bluesy-folk Irish rock with his band The Frames. And his experience mixed with 21-year-old Czech songwriter Marketa Irglova’s unsullied piano and vocals, the two once again creative a dynamic and poignant album, Strict Joy, following their 2007 Oscar win for “Falling Slowly” from the film “Once.” On their second record together, The Swell Season has expanded their musical and emotional repertoire without going too far out of their original intention.

Strict Joy opens on a bluesy Van Morrison-like tune, “Low Rising,” which was an odd choice to open the album, as its somewhat repetitive melody doesn’t hit me with a strong sense of what the album is going to encompass. And to be honest, the rest of the album doesn’t sound a whole lot like “Low Rising.” It’s a cool instance of showing the breadth of Hansard and Irglova’s songwriting, but I would have embedded it in the record as a nice change up, and started the record on track number two, “Feeling the Pull,” as it sounds to me like a sunrise. Like waking up to a sunny day with frost on the windowsill. That shows more what the album is – joyful, but still with those cold moments.

“The Rain,” “Feeling the Pull,” “High Horses” and “The Verb” provide the upbeat core of Strict Joy, which is what makes it different than The Swell Season’s first effort in 2006. This album isn’t nearly as melancholy, although it does have its moments. Stand out-tracks include the choir-laden acoustic ballad “In These Arms,” “Fantasy Man” led by Irglova’s slow lilt, and the Frames-esque throwback “Paper Cup,” which features a great guitar solo that almost sounds like Spanish finger-picking and Hansard’s soulful rasp.

Strict Joy also features a diversity of instruments and mixing, with more strings, harmonica, and even some more high-tech mixing on “Two Tongues,” and an almost Celtic-folk vibe on “I Have Loved You Wrong.” Strict Joy shows how an unlikely pairing can come together in such a way that makes perfect sense. Hansard and Irglova don’t sound like a couple of people who just got together to make music, they sound like they’ve been making music together for much longer than you’d expect because of Irglova’s age. But that may be just a sign of the group’s musicianship and undeniable chemistry. Strict Joy isn’t quite as fresh as the Swell Season’s first effort back in 2006, which people forget preceded “Once,” but just as beautiful. I’d like to see where they go next, now that the songs aren’t as strongly ingrained in our minds as the story of “Once,” whether it is fact or fiction.

Track Listing:
01. “Low Rising”
02. “Feeling the Pull”
03. “In These Arms”
04. “The Rain”
05. “Fantasy Man”
06. “Paper Cup”
07. “High Horses”
08. “The Verb”
09. “I Have Loved You Wrong”
10. “Love That Conquers”
11. “Two Tongues”
12. “Back Broke”

The Swell Season: website | myspace

If you’re a first time listener, a few things most likely won’t surprise you.

1. These boys are UK-made and thriving
2. These boys are huge on the radio waves
3. These boys have seen serious family heartache

With Athlete’s first hit album, Vehicles and Animals, listeners heard more electric-tinged motion, and it included a quirky ditty, “El Salvador” that popped up on The Last Kiss soundtrack and gained quite a fan base. Fast-forward to year 2009, and Athlete is now releasing record number four, and has been mood music to “One Tree Hill” four times.

So what can we amateur Americans liken Athlete to? Well, critics seem to agree that Coldplay’s mellow swells and slows are here, and the sweethearts of popular indie success, Snow Patrol, would dig this. Lead vocalist Joel Pott has a voice made for proclaiming tender life lessons with backup from echo-ey (not acoustic or biting) guitars, symphonic synth, and moments when the arena-jammed fans are wailing “ohhh wooahhh ohh” right along with him.

Black Swan seems to have a steady plot; the whole arrangement was named appropriately for life and its cataclysmic turns. “We read an article about Nassim Nicholas Taleb and his book The Black Swan,” as Pott puts it. “He was saying that our lives are made up of a handful of significant shocks, good or bad. That’s exactly how our journey has been over the last six years. We’ve had lots of unexpected highs and lows, as a band and as people.”

That being said, there are definite winners in the mix, and then moments where it just seems too FM-ready. For instance, “The Getaway” is the first single and massive fan favorite in the U.S., and one listen will bring you to the conclusion that yeah, it’s perfectly produced and breathtakingly well balanced. The lyrics, starting with, “I never really know who you are/you could be a ghost for all I know” let you know that this is the track you want motivating your all-too confusing and bipolar love life. However, the cheesy clincher explodes later in the song, “please break my heart/just so I can feel.” Come on…cue the montage.

But not all tracks sound like a band-backed Matt Nathanson, Howie Day, Travis, Damien Rice, enter-any-other-young-adult-nighttime-soap-indie-band-here. “Love Come Rescue” really is beautiful, on any facet. From the finger plucking of the acoustic, to the resonating crooning of Pott’s voice, and even the tender lyrics that aren’t made for crowd pleasing; these are the lyrics that seem to be talking only to the subject, whoever that is. This should have been the single, in all its honesty and secrecy. But it’s a short track, at under three minutes. And so I elect another, “Superhuman Touch” to grace the radio for a while. It’s fun, and still has moments that, although not too innovative, seem unique.

The album is good enough to pass with a thumbs-up, but it should come with a warning to indie-absorbed snobs like this writer—overplay is an absolute possibility, if not guarantee. Come next spring, this sucker will be in ALL the bars.

Track List:
01. Superhuman Touch
02. The Gateway
03. Black Swan Song
04. Don’t Hold Your Breath
05. Love Come Rescue
06. Light The Way
07. The Unknown
08. Awkward Goodbye
09. Magical Mistakes
10. Rubik’s Cube
11. Black Swan

Athlete: website | myspace

Irish rockers The Script are currently on tour with David Cook. They’ll also be on the Late Show with David Letterman on November 17.

The Script: website | myspace

As they wrap up their tour supporting Taking Back Sunday and dive into more headline dates on the west coast, fun. debut a brand new video for “All The Pretty Girls,” – the popular track off their critically acclaimed debut album, Aim And Ignite.

Now, in the midst of more headline shows, fun. announce their first set of tour dates in 2010, joining Jack’s Mannequin on a 12-city tour across the country (with more dates being added!).

Don’t miss fun.

Tour Dates:

Headline shows

Nov. 11 – Chain Reaction / Anaheim, CA
Nov. 13 – Troubadour / West Hollywood, CA

Tour dates w/ Jack’s Mannequin

Feb. 5 – The Showbox / Seattle, WA
Feb. 6 – Roseland / Portland, OR
Feb. 7 – Knitting Factory / Spokane, WA
Feb. 9 – In the Venue / Salt Lake City, UT
Feb. 11 – Cal State Union / Sacramento, CA
Feb. 12 – House of Blues / Las Vegas, NV
Feb. 16 – The White Rabbit / San Antonio, TX
Feb. 17 – House of Blues / Dallas, TX
Feb. 19 – The Beaumont / Kansas City, MO
Feb. 20 – First Avenue / Minneapolis, MN
Feb. 24 – Egyptian Room / Indianapolis, IN
Mar. 5 – The Norva / Norfolk, VA

fun.: website | myspace

In sunny North Carolina, Merge Records’ celebrated their twentieth birthday this year with 33 bands over four nights. Brian Vetter documented the festival, which we called XX Merge.

Though the actual party is over, the fun doesn’t have to stop. Babelgum.com has a special channel for Merge Records’ XX festival that you can see here and we’ve got some Merge records gear to give away as a part of it.

To our first place winner, we have a Merge t-shirt and tote bag. To second place, we have a t-shirt.

All you have to do to win is be one of the first to correctly comment with a valid email address and name 3 bands that played the birthday party.

Merge Records: website

An intimate gathering of Weezer fans greeted me at the entrance of the Hollywood Palladium in eager anticipation of KROQ Presents Weezer and Wax. The line twisted around the block; garnished by Weezer tee shirts and multi-colored converses. Controlled chaos reigned supreme; courtesy was common, but the amount of positive energy was outrageous, unharnessed, and completely apparent.

The Palladium housed the crowd comfortably (I had enough room to air guitar solo to “My Name Is Jonas”) and by the time Wax ascended the stage, the balconies were teeming with anxious fans. For those who are unfamiliar with Wax, I don’t blame you. This particular show was their first live set in 14 years, and marks the reunion of Weezer and Wax sharing the same bill since they toured the same LA circuit in ’92 (Both bands moved to LA the same year). But, it sure didn’t seem as if they had lost their touch over the past decade plus. Their ska-studded set was energetic and efficient, despite the fact that the crowd hadn’t the faintest idea where this band had materialized from (I would guess the 90’s from the sound of their set).

But, the main attraction was yet to come, and it was blatantly acknowledged in the restless arena as Wax put up the Weezer “W” and gracefully bowed offstage. In between sets, the energy level heightened considerably. A horde of little girls donning Weezer gear skipped gleefully around the Palladium chanting the headliner’s moniker, and a roar went up in the arena once a KROQ crony had sufficiently introduced the band. And then there was Rivers. Rivers Cuomo has to be one of the greatest entertainers I have ever had the courtesy of observing from two feet away mid-performance. His gestures were overdramatized, leaving girls squealing with every awkward lunge of his limbs.

Appearing in matching white sweat suits, the band also sported a minor change of roster: drummer Pat Wilson armed himself with a bass for the set so that accomplished drummer, Josh Freese, could join them on electric drums (Freese has played with A Perfect Circle, The Vandals, Devo, and NIN). Their performance was nothing less than fantastic. Rivers made use of several props (a trampoline, a football, and his water, just to name a few), and smashed his acoustic guitar at the end of “Undone” after dragging it behind him while crawling on the brink of the stage. Rivers definitely glows in all of his delightfully geeky splendor. The set list included several unexpected covers including Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and Blur’s “Song 2,” as well as, several new tracks off of their new album Raditude (one of which included a guest appearance by Sara Bareilles for a duet with Rivers). The band is swiftly heading East in support of the new album; their next show is scheduled for December 1st at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.

Weezer: website | myspace | @ maryland heights | Raditude review

(Entertainment Weekly) — Thirty-four-year-old Gerhardt “Jerry” Fuchs, a beloved fixture of both the New York and Athens, Georgia, rock scenes who played with LCD Soundsystem, !!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk), Turing Machine, MSTRKRFT, and The Juan MacLean, died Saturday night in a fall after attempting to crawl out of a broken elevator shaft at a benefit party in Brooklyn.

Fuchs, who also freelanced at Entertainment Weekly, was a house drummer of sorts for progressive record label DFA, as well as a member of long-running Athens post-rock outfit Maserati.

On the Juan MacLean Web site, MacLean wrote: “Jerry was one of my best and most loyal friends. He was hands-down the best drummer I have ever played with or seen for that matter … He was utterly sincere and fiercely loyal.”

According to The New York Times, the accident occurred at about 12:30 a.m. on November 8, when Fuchs became stuck on a freight elevator between the fourth and fifth floors. When he attempted to jump out of the stalled car, his jacket got caught and threw him back towards the elevator shaft, while another unidentified man in the car with him leaped safely to a fourth-floor hallway.

At a gathering for Fuchs’ friends on Sunday night, LCD frontman James Murphy called him “one of the only people we all knew who was literally great at what he did.”

And longtime friend Jon Fine noted, “He could play metal, prog rock with multiple time signatures, aggressive indie disco. … His passing puts an enormous hold on the Brooklyn music scene. The world of independent music has sustained a really significant loss.”

Originally posted by Entertainment Weekly.

Want to go to a show that has it all?

Go see Emilie Autumn.

Seriously. Go. Right now.

Autumn’s “The Asylum Tour: The Key,” promised to bring her Asylum experience to fans who have been waiting to see it for the very first time. Autumn and her sexy, witty all girl band, the Bloody Crumpets (Aprella, Naughty Veronica, The Blessed Contessa and Captain Maggot), instantly grasped and held the devoted audience”

Autumn’s stage set was as elaborate and intricate as the performance that evening. A large, cream colored clock sat at center stage, while a tea and bakery set sat stage right, and Autumn’s Harpsichord sat stage left. Deep reds and light pinks accented the drapery and Autumn’s Asylum signage.

The Crumpets took the stage at 8:15, wearing embellished Burlesque inspired attire. Each woman was dressed distinctly, and wore a corset. One was red; the others were white, black and pink. The Crumpets were covered in frills and lace, and wore stripped socks and ripped fishnets.

Autumn appeared on stage after the Crumpets performed a dance number. Autumn wore a pale, rat mask and an embellished corset. A bright red heart was stitched on the fabric.

Every song was brought to life with performance art. For example, during “Liar,” the Crumpets playfully dismembered Autumn with hatchets and knives while she flailed in a wheelchair. The women brought her back to life using humorous, unenthusiastic resuscitation.

In-between songs the ladies took part in a vivacious tea party where members of the crowd were sprayed with “tea” and various backed goods. Autumn and the Crumpets performed vaudeville inspired comedy bits, too. The dialogue between the women was filled with wit. Some of the Crumpets also entertained with fire breathing, stilt walking, feather fan dancing, burlesque, aerial flying, and acrobatic performance.

The ladies interacted with the audience during the show. They asked for advice, responded to random comments, and invited two lucky young ladies on stage to participate in Veronica’s “Rat Game.”

Autumn’s “Victoriandustrial” music is unique. Autumn masterfully plays the electronic violin and harpsichord. The delicate sound of the violin and harpsichord almost float over each song’s driving industrial beats, while her singing voice and girlish, yet menacing growls, bring each song together in a slightly demented, but beautiful package. Many of Autumn’s songs tell stories of pain and anguish. Her lyrics are incredibly vivid. Listeners can almost feel the performer’s anger and frustration.

Towards the end of Autumn’s performance, she told the audience that earlier in the day she was told that no one was going to be at the show that evening. Autumn normally tours in Europe with stellar results. She said she was surprised and pleased with the show’s turnout. She plans on returning very soon.

Hear, hear, to that.

Set List:
Best Safety Lies In Fear
4 O’Clock
Opheliac
Liar
The Art of Suicide
I Want My Innocence Back
Shalott
Dominant
God Help Me
Unlaced
Dead Is The New Alive
I Know Where You Sleep
306
Misery Loves Company
Face The Wall
Mad Girl
Bohemian Rhapsody
///
Thank God I’m Pretty

Thanks to Emilie’s forum for the set list. While this wasn’t the exact one from the Lawrence show, the order looked similar to the songs’ names I recorded.

Emilie Autumn: myspace

We love this Butch Walker cover of Taylor Swift‘s “You Belong with Me” right down to the annotations. This is a video you don’t want to miss.

Butch Walker: website | myspace | Sycamore Meadows review | interview with | @ grog shop | @ hotel cafe

Expecting a return to the days of the Blue album or Pinkerton from Weezer?  Quit living in a world of naivety. Weezer doesn’t want to be that band. They’ve been there; they’ve done that. This new change in direction is due to Rivers Cuomo’s new found flair for pop music , allowing the touch of Butch Walker and a cast of pop/rock masterminds such as Tyson Ritter of All-American Rejects. I’m here to pose the question that’s the elephant in the room, and that would be, is that really such a bad thing? Here me out now, Weezer was always at their best with crunchy guitars and geeky hooks and with this album they offer a glimpse into the promise they can have in a new found world of making pop music.

While I prefer the Weezer of old, like I’m sure most of you do, I can’t help but appreciate Rivers and gang for taking a big, big chance with this change in style demonstrated to a T with the incredibly catchy single “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To.” Weezer was never one to add too many things to the melting pot, so with these new found collaborations, one can only imagine the random Rivers has in store for us. I’m referring to those Spinner performances with Kenny G (yes, Kenny G, Chamillionaire and Sara Bareilles which you can see here

While the flair for pop doesn’t always work, I’m looking at you “Can’t Stop Partying,” the pop shines through when they let the whoa’s fly in “The Girl Got Hot.” One gripe I have is that some of the lyrics are a little too tongue in cheek with their references to partying, clubbing and simple premises, but this definitely is their best album in quite some time following the so-so Red album of 2008 and Make Believe of 2005. For those who lost faith, this album could make you a believer again.

Simply put, Weezer just wants to have fun, won’t you join them?

Track listing:
01. (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
02. I’m Your Daddy
03. Girl Got Hot
04. Can’t Stop Partying
05. Put Me Back Together
06. Trippin’ Down the Freeway
07. Love Is the Answer
08. Let It All Hang Out
09. In the Mall
10. I Don’t Want to Let You Go

Weezer: website | myspace | @ maryland heights