popwreckoning

Portugal. The Man have explored their distinct post-rock vision across (now) six full length albums; and that vision is full of promise. This new album, American Ghetto, is experimental, but “experimental” in the safest sense of the word. Fans of previous offerings will find much to celebrate and new listeners will have a great starting point.

Whereas The Satanic Satanist had a more dominant guitar sound, the name of the game for American Ghetto is layers. “60 Years” is propelled by a distant acoustic guitar hook that is enshrined with lead guitar, synths and drums—with varying degrees of percussion interspersed. “Fantastic Pace” centers mostly on a head-nodding piano part before bringing in familiar layers. These textures bear resemblance to Remain In Light: a core is established and instruments drift over the soundscape.

While the hip-shaking appeal of previous albums remains, hips will be shaking to new-wave- dirges. Many of the songs float with an airy creepiness, often aided by Zoe Manville’s haunting backing vocals and emblazoned through lyrics that focus on shallowness and washed up idols. Case in point: “Dead Dog” kicks the album off with a halting break-beat and a cautionary tale—

I gotta warn you/these people/ they didn’t try

And they lie/the lie/they lie

The level of production brought by Anthony Saffrey and Adam Taylor creates the notion of a more mature sounding band. American Ghetto is thick. The producers (who also handled mixing with the assistance of Paul Kadrie) bear mentioning if only due to the amount of time it must have taken to give each instrument its own voice within the mix. There is a sense of cohesion, perhaps aided by the appearance of a familiar character on the album cover.

Each Portugal. The Man release captures the band at a different point while retaining similar elements. American Ghetto is a welcome addition—a release that purrs with layers of vocals, synthesizers, and guitars. No lie.

Track Listing:
1. The Dead Dog
2. Break
3. 60 Years
4. All My People
5. 1000 Years
6. Fantastic Pace
7. The Pushers Party
8. Do What We Do
9. Just A Fool
11. When The War Ends

There is the notion of the band seasoned through tour: a group of musicians so comfortable in the nuances of their songs that they perform with an effortless cool and incite a room full of people to forget everything, but the precise moment-the now. That’s a Dr. Dog show.

The band took the stage at the Pike Room on Wednesday night and the audience became a moving form dotted with cell phones and cameras hurriedly trying to catch the moment. The set was comprised mostly of material from Fate, but songs from We All Belong, Takers and Leavers, and a few songs—which will presumably be on the forthcoming Shame, Shame—appeared. The new songs (no titles/set list stolen) continue to mine similar territory: tight vocal harmonies, tight rhythm, engaging guitar hooks, Garth Hudson styled piano…but a more refined version that displays greater comfort and awareness.

During the final song of the set, “The Rabbit, the Bat, and The Reindeer,” a group of people broke into a spontaneously choreographed dance complete with mimed vocals. Being par for the night it was clear that Dr. Dog has a metro Detroit following. The same is true of Ann Arbor, where the band will be performing in April. While this Blind Pig show is worth attending, some of the intensity Wednesday night was certainly owed to environment itself.

The Pike Room lends an intimate quality to performances. The backstage area is located behind the bar and about as far away from the stage as you can be. In getting to the stage the band must first pass through the crowd. It’s akin to a sporting event—the home team triumphantly taking the field.

This element also creates a good barometer for the show. When the band plays their last song the audience can either disband or if they really liked the show (and want to block the band’s exit), stand there like a personified brick wall demanding more. The latter happened and Dr. Dog obliged, playing for another half hour and returning to Takers and Leavers, Easy Beat territory: “Die, Die, Die,” “Ain’t it Strange” and “Oh, No!”

At this point the audience relented. The band worked their way through a sea of back patting, congratulations and general cheering. The sold-out performance ended.

The band has a few more February dates with a March show at the Harvest of Hope Fest and then a brief respite before a tour in support of Shame, Shame starts in April. That album comes out on Anti- Records April 6th. The springtime of Dr. Dog soldiers on.

Tapestry of Webs is the debut album from Past Lives. Recorded in the summer and fall of 2009 and to be released at the end of this month, the album is a collage, well…more a tapestry of songs exploring styles within a post-punk theme.

Past Lives formed in 2007 out of the break-up of the Blood Brothers—in fact the band is the Blood Brothers minus Johnny Whitney and original guitarist Devin Welch back in place of Cody Votolato. Not that Past Lives is Blood Brothers-light. This is a new band, a new sound, and there is a clearer connection to a Gang of Four swagger and an updated focus on textures.

“Falling Spikes,” may be the most single ready song; angular guitars paired to asymmetric rhythms and the clearest vision of pop songs with dynamic builds. Harmonies dodge in and out and there are plenty of opportunities to hear the interplay between Welch’s guitar and Henderson’s baritone guitar. There is lyrical talent throughout—this particular song being about the dangers of falling spikes—but they come to the fore on the same-name-as-the-band-song “Past Lives”; the band reaches the hypnotic balance between music and vocal.

It’s clear the Seattle-based group is trying to create aural landscapes juxtaposed with ‘rock-ier’ portions. Sometimes they may just stay in the aural landscape portion of the song (particularly on “Deep In The Valley”) and other times they may just stay in the ‘rock-ier’ portion (like “K Hole”)…not a bad idea. Each song has unique identifiers but common elements create a cohesive album feel.

On initial listen the stylistic jumps can be jarring, but repeated listening bears out an almost Zappa-esque worthy comparison. In short, the band has put keen effort into creating song structures and song order and—if nothing else—that makes the album worthy of the aforementioned repeated listens.

The band is performing a string of shows, with most of my interest being on their Detroit (3/27) and Grand Rapids (3/28) shows. The group bears a similar chemistry to Ghost Heart and these two shows should almost be performed in tandem.

The album closes with the track, “There Is A Light So Bright It Blinds.” The song sprawls across six minutes, making it an apt closing track. Ideally, this is the direction that Past Lives will continue to take: longer passages that stretch into each other, some parts Delta 5, some parts Swell Maps but a good listen that makes the listener ponder future releases.

Track Listing:
1. Paralyzer
2. Falling Spikes
3. Past Lives
4. Don’t Let the Ashes Fill Your Eyes
5. Deep in the Valley
6. K Hole
7. Hex Takes Hold
8. Vanishing Twin
9. Hospital White
10. At Rest
11. Aerosol Bouquet
12. There is a Light So Bright it Blinds

The gauntlet was thrown early in the year, at least so far as festivals are concerned, by the Elbo Room. Their annual MittenFest (now on its fourth installment) is a concise recipe: three parts great bands, two parts great sound, one part booze and…voila!—good times.

MittenFest wins out simply with its narrow scope. It’s not trying to be as large as something like Dally in the Alley or the Hamtramck Blowout. There aren’t multiple stages. It isn’t held at multiple venues. It’s great.

Each night of the festival was arranged loosely by style. New Year’s Eve was skewed more towards folk rock groups: This Is Deer Country, Annie Palmer, Elle and the Fonts and Chris Bathgate—to name a few; the remaining nights filled out by notables such as Prussia, Child Bite and Frontier Ruckus. All proceeds went to 826Michigan, a non-profit writing and tutoring center in Ann Arbor.

New Year’s Eve offered the best overall lineup but the best band of the festival—Ghost Heart—performed the following night, January 1st. The band stood out performing like a blend of Kid A, Pink Floyd Saucerful of Secrets and, by virtue of locale, SRC. It worked like this: Cedric Canero and Timothy Broderick occupied a combination of drums and a bicycle wheel. Troy Reimink and Justin Gray added interweaving guitar parts and performing occasional percussion duties.

Broderick did a majority of the “singing,” a sort of trance-y howling while the remaining members offered their own trance-y howls at intermittent distances from their respective microphones. The boys from Grand Rapids offer a textured live sound that changed as they segued song to song.

The question remains can MittenFest maintain what they’ve got going. What will be in store for 2010’s MittenFest? I’m eager to find out.

It’s easy to overlook the classics—especially, when at the time of their release, they were never recognized as classics. Over the past ten years there has been a rediscovery of Neil Young’s post-Harvest albums. For whatever reason, Time Fades Away, On The Beach and Tonight’s the Night weren’t as well received as Young’s previous offerings (the re-release history may speak for itself: On the Beach was at least re-released in 2003, Time Fades Away and Tonight’s the Night have yet to receive a re-release. While these albums have become a part of the hipster vernacular they have yet to find a larger audience).

Certainly the material on these albums is darker; and it doesn’t get much darker then “Revolution Blues.” Written from the perspective of Charles Manson the song seemingly follows the mass murderer’s descent into madness, inherent paranoia and obsession with fame and guns. The closing lines of the track go as follows:

Well I hear the Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars/

But I hate them worse them lepers and I’ll kill them in their cars

While much of On the Beach is comprised of slower moving odes to despair, “Revolution Blues” is a march through anger—led by a sort of super group: David Crosby plays rhythm guitar, while Rick Danko and Levon Helm of the Band play bass and drums, respectively. Ben Keith joins in on slide guitar while Neil delivers one of the album’s stronger guitar performances.

The song is haunting in performance and nature but more than anything the song carries a dark sense of humor: suggesting the need to accept the facts and understand their origin.

Take a listen: .“Revolution Blues”

My favorite part of Lou Barlow is that he can make a song go both ways. He’ll craft an indie-rock classic that sounds great fast and loud or make it sound equally at home with the indie-folk arrangements he has become notorious for. Manson Family Picnic, from Brooklyn, appears to have stumbled across the same formula.

Their song “The Mistakes” seems to efface the slacker attitude—bringing up questions that are answered with callow joy. “What’s all this commotion about dying? Look at the ocean we’re all lying.” The message is centered on the ebb and flow of life.

The musical arrangement is centered on the band’s use of unique instruments (in subjective descending order of uniqueness): charango, glockenspiel, accordion, violin, banjo. The result is akin to the Carter Family playing indie rock. Similar to the Carter Family, Manson Family Picnic takes advantage of vocal harmony—in this way “The Mistakes” derives much of its appeal. You really feel like you’re getting a true band effort. It sounds fun and seems to say, “You will sing along.”

“The Mistakes” appears on the band’s self titled album along with six other songs that should instantly be listened to. Check out their stuff by visiting CDBaby or MySpace.

Listen here: .“The Mistakes”

Top 3 Albums of 2009:

• John Frusciante – The Empyrean

The Empyrean opens with an extended guitar solo workout that recalls Pink Floyd Meddle-era. Thus begins a journey that is equal parts rock and folk meshed with flourishes of electronica. Each new release has found Frusciante recording at a different stage in his career; right now he has at the “Dude That Records Masterpieces” stage.

• The Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand

The Black Lips are one of a few bands that seem truly committed to making interesting music. Part of the appeal in this album is at least marginally owed to the band’s approach to live performances and aspirations in general. 200 Million Thousand is filled with doo-wop and rock songs that seem to have been passed through a punk filter.

• Reverend Peyton and His Big Damn Band – The Whole Fam Damnily

The Reverend plays a brand of country-blues that could be considered illegal in some states. In wrapping lyrics that are pure social commentary around slide guitar, washboard, and bucket he created one of the more engaging albums of the year. It is neither the DT’s nor the Devil that make me shake, it is the Reverend.

Best Show of 2009:

• Beggars, Halloween Show at the Ferndale Public Library

As you get older, you realize that holidays are really for the kids. Halloween is a prime example. Beggars got into the Halloween spirit playing for a mixed audience of twenty to thirty-somethings and kids under the age of ten. The result was great. Held in the performance space at the Ferndale Public Library, the band ripped through a set of their usual songs while Steve sang lyrics about candy and tummy aches—occasionally passing out candy, too. The result was a pleased audience of adults and children alike.

Most Anticipated in 2010:

• Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part 1

The early released tracks from Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 sound pretty interesting. Of those released so far, “Lee Majors Come Again” has the band using Check Your Head-style punk, while “Too Many Rappers” is the Beasties and Nas working over a great backing track. The album has expanded to become two parts and Bob Dylan lends an appearance, making the release of Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 all that more tantalizing.

Most Overrated in 2009:

• Paramore – Brand New Eyes

To be overrated a band must be receiving undeserved praise—feasting on inept youth and the self gratifying nature of the music press. I read this review where Spin called Paramore’s lead singer rock’s Holden Caulfield. That at least ranks as the worst use of hyperbole in 2009. The band generates a sound on this album similar to overly produced oatmeal. Think Evanescence. I can sort of see how a teenager might enjoy this, but if I caught my child listening to Paramore I’d beat the crap out of them until they came out liking the Dead Boys.

Favorite Musical Memory of the Decade:

• Pearl Jam, October 3 2004 at the Deltaplex, Grand Rapids(Vote for a Change Tour)

Back in 2004 the world was shaping into its current condition and it seemed like there might be a chance to draw some true awareness or at least affect our country out of its narcissistic, bullying angst. The election was nearing and I really thought John Kerry would win and steer us straight. On October 2nd I drove to Grand Rapids with my girlfriend and then on the morning of October 3rd she became my fiancée. That night we went and saw Pearl Jam, who were appearing as part of the Vote for a Change tour, at the Deltaplex. The night was a magical three hours: McCready leaping with each strike of his guitar, Veder screaming and rolling on the ground, and a set list that created a true sense of community inside one of the crummiest hockey arena’s in Michigan.

Whenever my mind turns to a band I want to see, my thoughts invariably turn to Bear Mountain Picnic. It’s unfortunate that my thoughts do so since the band broke up well over two years ago. Like a lost loved one they stay in my thoughts. Their only release, a five song EP called Happiness in the Dybosphere, remains in my constant rotation and their songs rank as some of the best driving around music of all time.

The band’s name is owed to the song from the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series, volume 1. “Bear Mountain Picnic,” the song, comically details a man who purchases phony tickets for a phony event and the eventual letdown. Bear Mountain Picnic, the band, matched the attitude of this song beat for beat.

The group wrote true blue indie-rock songs on par with the Black Lips or Wowee-Zowee-style Pavement. The songs were well constructed snippets with vocal arrangements that seemed to come right out of Big Pink. The band declares on “Silent Trade,” the opening song on Happiness in the Dybosphere:

My father was a military man/he went down in a blaze of glory

I’d like to tell you everything about him/but it’s just too gory of story

A short moment later they nail a great melody over a Dylan-esque guitar part on “Brain Tonic” and then merge that folk guitar with a strong Pixies influence on “Your Cousin’s Neck.”

Many of the band’s finest songs don’t appear on the EP. At live shows they broke out classics that teetered on the edge of pure punk before falling back into pure indie-rock. The most memorable of that group was “Bear Mountain Picnic Blues,” a song the band used to open sets shortly before the break up. The song gave a quirky twist on the band’s ‘current’ situation—most noticeably being blacklisted from the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor.

The band members have carried on. Reagan (bass and vocals) carries on in the acoustically geared Long Whisker and Lucas (guitar and vocals) has moved onto the Chicago scene where he plays in Hospital Garden. The results of both bands are great and worth hearing, but if you build a time machine set it for Detroit between 2003 and 2005.

Track Listing:
01. Brain Tonic
02. Gold
03. Headlines
04. Silent Trade
05. Your Cousin’s Neck

Bear Mountain Picnic: website | myspace

If my beloved Democrats had heard of Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band we would probably have a big damn health care package. The band’s latest album the Whole Fam Damnily opens with a blistering country-blues titled “Pay the Bill.” The song should’ve been used in a series of campaigns that would explain the plight that many of us in the Midwest see. Peyton sings it best:

Lord keep me strong/Lord keep me strong

Build my endurance/Build my endurance

I can’t afford the health insurance

Not that the album is all politics. Peyton promptly follows this indictment of our current affairs with “Mama’s Fried Potatoes.” The song blows in with slide guitar and vocals that howl about the wonders of home cooking. Both songs are delivered with an intense passion that fills the whole album. If emotion has ever been recorded it is certainly present on this release—available on CD and vinyl.

The arrangements bely the name Big Damn Band. In addition to the Reverend, present are wife “Washboard” Beezy Peyton on (naturally) washboard and Jayme Peyton on drums and bucket. The three combine on songs that are times at serious (like “Pay the Bill” and “Wal-Mart Killed the Country Store”) and those that seem directly titled for humor, i.e. “Your Cousin’s Cops.”

Few people are gifted with the ability to so clearly state their thoughts, let alone do it across 13 songs. There truly isn’t a weak spot to be found. There is even a great recipe for Persimmon Pudding.

Track Listing:
01. Can’t Pay The Bill
02. Mama’s Fried Potatoes
03. Worn Out Shoe
04. DT’s Or The Devil
05. Your Cousin’s On Cops
06. John Hughes (The Water Tower’s Heart Is Sore)
07. The Creek’s Are All Bad
08. Them Old Days Are Gone
09. Walmart Killed The Country Store
10. I’d Love You Baby
11. Everybody’s Getting Paid But Me
12. What’s Mine Is Yours
13. Persimmon Song

Get more details on the Reverend and his Big Damn Band by clicking here.

Getting together with friends is important: you can catch up, re-acquaint over times gone by, and create new memories. A good split-disc functions in much the same way. Two bands come together to share a common space and, hopefully, create some pretty memorable sounds.

The Sanderlings and The Dashburns have now entered into this familiar territory with the aptly titled The Sanderlings/The Dashburns. Friends for years, the two bands lend three songs each to this split-disc released by Ark Royal Records.

On the disc and at live shows the Sanderlings occupy the Beatles/Apples in Stereo role while the Dashburns fulfill the Rolling Stones/Grifters part—music that utilizes harmonies and  intricate song craft and music that is propelled by energy and rhythm.

The first three tracks belong to the Sanderlings. They open with “Oh Darlin” and “Chicken Pox.” “Oh Darlin” is the poppier of the two while “Chicken Pox” comes through with an epic, tango feel. Both showcase the band rocking through tightly crafted songs with the voices of Josh Evans and Ben Masters skillfully working around lyrics that are at times reminiscent of They Might Be Giants.

The stand out track is “Reptoids.” It opens with a raucous riff and then expounds on the theme of strange reptilian creatures that may or may not control the world. With tight harmonies and lyrical content it is a polished rock ‘n roll spin.

The Dashburns portion of the disc starts with “Second Coming.” The guitars are distorted, creating a layered effect that draws on the sound of Spacemen 3. The vocals are more often screamed than sang, imbuing shoegaze-y songs with the power of the Stooges.

“Scrimshaw” may be the best song for that reason alone; however on “The Wheel” the band goes on a different tangent. They blend two parts of varying tempo to create a solid contrast. The whole thing leads into a closing jam with each band member producing tightly syncopated parts that bring the disc to finish.

Track Listing:
1. Second Coming
2. Scrimshaw
3. Wheel
4. Oh Darlin
5. Chicken Pox
6. Reptoids

The Sanderlings: myspace
The Dashburns: myspace