popwreckoning

Sympathy from Chicago’s Scattered Trees is a beautiful headphones record that almost didn’t happen. After becoming staples of Chicago clubs, time passed, and the band members began to drift. Then fate intervened- singer Nate Elseland’s father passed away and he started to write the songs that became the album. Sometimes loss fuels great creativity. Like Hospice by The Antlers or Leave Ruin by Strands of Oak. this is a beautiful album born of great pain.

The album’s first track, “bury the floors,” starts with a droning sound, and then a vocal against a single piano key, plinked softly. A chorus of harmonies play behind the lead vocal and against a tambourine. Most of the song is this simple, very reminiscent of an old Beach Boys song.

The next song, “A Conversation About Death On New Year’s Eve” is much more interesting. It starts with simple drums, bass, and keyboards. Soon the vocals kick in, followed by a fantastic, catchy chorus. “Everybody’s falling apart” sings Elseland. It’s slow, sad, and somber, but oh so beautiful.

Most of the album continues in this mode. The third track, “Love and Leave,” is a little faster, but still sad, and still featuring a great chorus. “Every day you love and leave me”, is sung but it sounds like there’s a smirk behind the whole thing.

“Sympathy” makes it obvious that there’s a theme behind these songs. They’re full of leaving, and loss, and desperation. The whole thing is produced very well, and the sadness belies a pop sensibility. It’s fantastic stuff in a lot of ways.

“I Swear To God” is probably the best thing here. The lyrics are nakedly honest in a way that’s a little scary: “now my father’s dead, and still you haven’t shown”. The “where are you Jesus” is a little hokey, but if you can get past that, it’s a great song. Brian Wilson referred to Smile as a “teenage symphony to god”, and the same thing is going on here. The song is a plea to god, and that could be the key to the album.

After that song is “On Your Side” where Elseland seems to make peace with the lover he seems to be disagreeing with throughout the album. It could be god, or his father’s ghost, or simply a woman. It’s a fascinating coda to an album that is kind of fascinating as a whole. Then the whole thing is over, and all you can do is listen to it all over again.

Track listing:
1. Bury The Floors
2. A Conversation
3. I’m in a Panic
4. Love and Leave
5. Four Days Straight
6. Sympathy
7. Five Minutes
8. Where You Came From
9. I swear to God
10. On Your Side

Grouplove‘s humble beginnings sound like something from a Hollywood script. Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi, the band’s principal lead vocalists, met by chance in New York City and instantly felt a connection. So much so that the two shortly went to a little island in Greece together, where again serendipity stepped in, allowing the two to meet their future band members: London guitarist Sean Gadd and two childhood friends from California, Andrew Wessen and Ryan Rabin. These five people couldn’t have been anymore different, but they felt such a strong bond that they all packed up from their respective homes and went out to Los Angeles to try and record an album together. The result is the Grouplove EP, six songs that prove their friendship translates to musical harmony.

The EP opener, “Colours,” is currently on BBC 6music‘s playlist and getting a lot of airplay, a coup for any band. Zucconi’s lead vocal is brash yet fun, an indication of things to come, and it’s augmented by Hooper’s winsome harmonies. I’d seen the song title a long time ago, assuming that the band had to be British. The band recently supported Northern Ireland’s Two Door Cinema Club and Welsh indie band the Joy Formidable this past autumn, and while I missed their appearance with Two Door in DC, I did catch their energetic set in November with the Welsh rockers. Imagine my surprise that 4/5ths of Grouplove was American.

My next hesitation about Grouplove was that here in front of me was another band trying to cash in on the American / California surf pop boom of 2010, a movement that I’ve generally avoided like the plague because everyone sounds like retooled Go-Go’s (girl-fronted bands) or Beach Boys (boy-fronted ones). The difference with Grouplove is that here are five friends who really enjoy each other’s company and making music together, and this is obvious when they play live. They don’t sound like they’re trying to ape some other band’s catalog. Sure, there is the sun-dappled cheerfulness of “Naked Kids,” which has angelic vocals that make you think of ’60s surf pop bands; it’s the perfect tune to queue up on your convertible sound system on the way to the beach.

But there’s also more meditative moments, like “Gold Coast,” a melancholy look back at one’s life, and “Getaway,” another slower one where Yosemite Sam lookalike Gadd takes lead vocal duties. Despite its title, “Giddy” is anything but: it’s a slow, swirly, enjoyable track. But the best moment on this EP is “Don’t Say Oh Well,” the song I can totally see as soundtracking this summer with a raucous count-in and all of its hand clapping, foot stomping, free-wheeling guitar pop glory. Grouplove are the kind of friends everyone wish they had as best mates.

Tracklisting
01. Colours
02. Naked Kids
03. Gold Coast
04. Getaway
05. Don’t Say Oh Well
06. Giddy

The Grouplove EP will be released on January 25 on Atlantic / WEA.

Grouplove: website | myspace

With ominous clouds looming overhead and the threat of a tornado, it seemed that only the most dedicated of music fans trekked to Liberty State Park in New Jersey for the second annual All Points West Music and Arts Festival. The festival, organized by the same crew who run Coachella, has struggled to define itself as an East Coast contender, this year boasting a noticeably heavier and more hip-hop inspired lineup.

Fleet Foxes
Before the storm hit, Fleet Foxes took the main stage looking gorgeous in full grunge regalia, wizard beards and tattered flannel, and pulling somewhat of a Déjà vu on us as they sweetly echoed the lush harmonies of Crosby Stills and Nash. Some say Beach Boys circa Pet Sounds, some say CSN–either way, I was in lust with the ornate detail in their rising, earthen sound; more hopeful than haunting. As the first light drops of rain began to fall and we donned our fancy five-dollar ponchos, the atmospheric, ethereal hymns of Fleet Foxes warmed me despite the murky mud my feet were slowly sinking into.

Ra Ra Riot
I was downright giddy when Ra Ra Riot, who have become one of my favorite bands of the past year, hit the stage with their triumphant cover of Kate Bush’s “Suspended in Gaffa”. The perfect marriage of quirk and skill, Ra Ra Riot and Kate Bush equal crazy genius. With a fully plugged in string section, Wes Miles’ chirping, blue-bird balladry and princely presence, Ra Ra Riot is a kind of modern day band of minstrels, redefining indie-pop as we speak. Was that a bagpipe I saw on stage? Wait, a flageolet?

Interlude 1: Happy Hippy Techno Trance Dance Party
All throughout the park there were “Burning man raised” and inspired sculptures that became makeshift rain shelter spots. Hordes of people, including myself a few times, sardined themselves under tiny winged tarps attached to tepees made of glowing branches. Inside one of these pulsing tepees was a DJ spinning a house, trance, pop goulash. It was the dance party that didn’t stop. At any point throughout the weekend you could walk by and find hundreds of people giving it all they had in the mud.

The National
My expectations for The National and the gift of Matt Berninger were extremely high. Before Friday, I had never seen them live and I, among many, hold The Boxer near and dear. For years friends have been telling me that live, The National will blow me away. They did not lie. It couldn’t have been a more perfect setting to take them in for the first time. Berninger’s baritone seemed to call the darkening rain clouds in closer and it began to downpour as the band tore through their set with certainty. The rousing intensity of the music and the heaviness of the rain began to make sense. The whole scene was gritty, rough, and completely anti. There was something romantic about committing oneself to the music despite the threatening sky as Berninger sang apocalyptic melancholy with menace.

Pharcyde
I was excited to finally see the complete and original Pharcyde crew performing together after all the breakups and makeups the band has gone through. I have fond memories of listening to “Passin’ Me By” while passing a… With my baby bro, once again by my side, we rocked our plastic hoodies with pride as we “raised ‘em up” respectfully. The reunion of these hip-hop legends had the boys throwing rhymes in the face of “those who thought we’d never sing together again.”

Interlude 2
As the rain got heavier, bulleting and beating us down, we took refuge in the State Farm tent. While wringing out our socks, Vampire Weekend announced that due to the rain, all Friday ticket holders have a free pass to attend the festival for one more day. All Points West: good peeps.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
A definite highlight and I’ll fight you on this if I have to. If you haven’t seen Karen O jujitsu posturing, body thrashing, equipment trashing, going completely psychotic, crazy, melt-downing on stage in front of you, well, you just don’t have the ammo I’m afraid. Yeah (yeah yeah!) this lady is cra-hazy, but she’s nuts in the way that ground breaking, mind-bending, authentic art is conceived. After watching her perform standouts like Heads “Will Roll”, “Zero” and “Maps”, it’s clear that she rocks with her heart on her sleeve, in every awkward yet honest moment she’s on stage. There’s a kind of rawness to both the sound and the performance that is rare. That juiciness is usually tapped by the time artists are throwing giant eyeball balloons off the stage and headlining festivals. My fingers are crossed that this chick stays bananas, for arts, our, sake.

Interlude 3
The rain is off the charts at this point. People have traded moshing for belly flopping in giant mud puddles. It’s a hipster wet tee-shirt contest if I ever did see one.

Jay Z
While most performers gave a shout out or two to The Beasties and MCA in particular, no one shouted quite as loud as Hova. By the end of day one, my feet were literal bricks of mud. As the rain subsided a chill moved in. Still soggy and beginning to lose steam, this last set of the night needed to be huge. People bought tickets to see The Beastie Boys and Jay definitely had some super sized Adidas Campus’ to fill. With the twinkling Manhattan skyline and Lady Liberty as his backdrop Jay Z stormed the stage and opened his set, a full band behind him including a three-piece horn section and two drummers, with “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”. Exactly. Car alarms, cats, the entire crowd, and pretty much the whole state of Jersey went absolutely feral. MCA, I hope you were watching ‘cause we love you. This much I know for sure: Jay Z is a certifiable superstar. With tributes to both Obama and MJ, classics plucked from across his entire catalog, and graphics of autotone machines blowing up on the Jumbotron screen, Hova owned the night.

All Points West: website

Photos: Dese’Rae Stage