popwreckoning

In the Noughties, the British music scene was littered with female blue eyed soul singers; the ones that stood out in front were bad girl Amy Winehouse, doe-eyed lass Duffy, groovy Joss Stone, and the wild card, Adele, who managed a breakout hit here in the U.S. with “Chasing Pavements.” The London soul singer is back in 2011 with her second album. Like 19, her debut album released in 2008, this one is named 21, for the age she wrote these songs. Kind of unimaginative. Well, this is a woman who writes mostly ballads…and this album went straight to #1 on its first week of release in the UK in mid-January, and when it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I feel it necessary to start this review by saying Adele has a great voice. She really does. The problem I have with 21 is that all the songs are too similar. There are essentially two types of sound on here: there are delicate acoustic tunes, and there are over the top, over-orchestrated ones with backing soul singers. Then there’s only so many times you can hear a woman singing the sentiment, “what did I do wrong? I’ll change, if you [come back / stay with me].” See “Don’t You Remember,” “I’ll Be Waiting,” “One and Only,” and “He Won’t Go.” It’s not that I’m a cold, heartless stone. I’ve loved and lost, I can relate to the feelings, generally. I’m no feminist, but I chafe at hearing another woman singing how she’s going to give up everything for her man to get him.

Then there’s the opposite emotion, which I think comes across as more real. “Rolling in the Deep” was chosen as the lead single. And with good reason. The tempo is upbeat (thudding drums and banging piano chords), and when it comes to emotion, there’s nothing like a woman scorned. When she sings, “we could have had at it all / rolling in the deep / you had my heart and soul / in your hands / but you played it / to the beat” and “you’re gonna wish you / had never met me,” you feel it. Maybe it’s no “You Oughta Know,” but it’s close. “Rumour Has It” is cut from the same cloth, but the shouted “rumour has it!” over and over gets annoying after a while.

The strength of Adele‘s voice comes across winningly in “Someone Like You”; this is the one song on here I can overlook the cloyingness. Also included on this album is an inspired cover of the Cure‘s “Lovesong.” This could have gone terribly wrong, but Adele gives the ’80s classic proper reverence with a bossa nova interpretation that Robert Smith should be applauding. Like sappy ballads? This one’s for you.

21 by Adele will be released on XL Recordings on February 22. She will be touring North America in support of this album on the dates below.

Track Listing:
01. Rolling in the Deep
02. Rumour Has It
03. Turning Tables
04. Don’t You Remember
05. Set the Fire to Rain
06. He Won’t Go
07. Take It All
08. I’ll Be Waiting
09. One and Only
10. Lovesong
11. Someone Like You

Tour Dates:
May 12 – 9:30 Club / Washington, DC
May 13 – Electric Factory / Philadelphia
May 15 – House of Blues / Boston
May 16 – Olympia Theater / Montreal
May 18 – Kool Haus / Toronto
May 19 – Beacon Theatre / New York City
May 23 – Royal Oak Music Theatre / Royal Oak
May 24 – Riviera Theater / Chicago
May 26 – First Avenue / Minneapolis
May 28 – Ogden Theatre / Denver
May 29 – Depot / Salt Lake City
May 31 – Commodore Ballroom / Vancouver, BC
June 01 – Showbox at the Market / Seattle
June 03 – Crystal Ballroom / Portland
June 04 – Warfield Theatre / San Francisco
June 08 – Humphreys Concerts by the Bay / San Diego
June 09 – Wiltern / Los Angeles
June 12 – Stubbs Waller Creek / Austin
June 15 – House of Blues / Dallas
June 17 – Tabernacle / Atlanta
June 18 – Orange Peel / Asheville
June 20 – Ryman Auditorium / Nashville

Adele: website | myspace | Adele Announces May and June North American Tour, Album Stream Available on NPR

For two sold-out nights, Londoners The xx proved that a minimalist approach can work, when it’s done well.

Having just arrived on the scene in 2009, The xx have earned a great deal of buzz and, judging by the crowd response, a sizable faction of ardent fans. Appearing shy, unassuming and a bit goth in their solid black attire, Oliver Sim on vocals and bass, Romy Madley Croft on vocals and guitar and Jamie Smith on percussion played to a packed house at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall.

To start the show, I was excited to see Phantogram, a New York duo that I have been hearing so much about lately. I had heard about comparisons to Portishead, influences from Serge Gainsbourg and descriptions of their energetic live show. Based upon the crowd response, I don’t think I am alone in my assertion that the performance was a disappointment. The band’s point of reference seems good but there was simply no cohesion and each track seemed sloppier than the one before. There was no trace of an energetic live show and their lighting, which consisted of little more than the incessant, annoying flash of strobes, certainly didn’t help things.

The xx, on the other hand, conveyed exactly the opposite effect. Stacking detached, hazy vocals and thumping bass parts along with “live” drum machine beats, each sound seemed as it were specifically selected to enhance the vibe. Sounding like something that Robert Smith, Ian Curtis and Peter Hook might have cooked up in long-forgotten shed during the wee hours of night, The xx delivered an hour-long set consisting of most of the songs from their eponymous 2009 album. From the syncopated, overlapping lyrics of “Crystalised” to the half-awake “Islands” and “Shelter” the band gave the crowd a peek into their natural, more-mature-than-it-should-be style. The set continued with “VCR,” the R&B influenced “Basic Space” before closing with an energetic version of “Infinity.”

The show felt very intimate, as if the crowd was voyeuristically peeking into their dilapidated practice space while the band played simply for their own late-night enjoyment. That’s really what is so striking about The xx and their music: it’s seductive and tense there’s nothing pretentious about it. You’re left feeling fortunate that you’ve experienced it unfolding before you, as if it could vanish in an instant. Showing the band’s great mastery of restraint, all of the parts have an organic space between them, letting the tracks breathe and evolve in a very satisfying way.

It’s certainly impressive to see such a young band have such a brilliantly realized sound. Making unique noise from pedestrian instruments, these newcomers just might be on to something.

Welcome back, readers!  Last week we noshed on Sacramento’s finest CAKE and had ourselves a little e-ball (well, I sure as hell did.  You may have too).  This week’s post was about as contrived as an unplanned pregnancy scare considering I recently stumbled upon Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore‘s 50 First Dates, their second RomCom collab since The Wedding Singer (one of my all-time favorites), and I definitely drew inspiration from it.  In fact, the movie was surprisingly enjoyable and dare I say cute as hell.  Normally, I enjoy the RomCom’s that require you to think with a more intellectual heart (See: High Fidelity, About A Boy… basically, anything that was once a Nick Hornby novel), but this no-brainer’s killer soundtrack effortlessly kept me from hitting the power button off.  Maybe it was the fact that the movie takes place in beautiful Hawaii, but the entire soundtrack consists of sunny cover versions of songs that were originally recorded in the 1980s.  If this weren’t intriguing enough, all the delightful interpretations are upbeat and of the reggae and/or ska persuasion.  What?  My once hepcat ass was reeling as I made it through the movie cataloging which songs they chose for each scene.  It’s a good thing the film was actually worthwhile because if it was half as awful as I’d originally suspected, 50 First Dates would have climbed very high on my “Movies That Should Have Gone Straight To Soundtrack” list.

Considering the fact that my 50 First Dates viewing pleasure was recent, I did not have sufficient time to properly listen to the entire soundtrack, so you know what that means.  Yes, this will be a 2-parter.  And what better way to satiate my readers than kicking things off by getting the heavily commercialized 311 cover of The Cure‘s “Lovesong” out of the way.  And to the folks at home, mahola nui loa for reading…  and, as always, stay tuned.
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The Cure’s “Lovesong” (original: 1989)
Quasi-Cure fan, über-Cure fan or just plain musically oblivious, I could probably never have a meaningful friendship with someone who has never, at the very least, heard this classic love song.  You’re probably looking at a superficial connection at best.  Hell, the chances of a potential relationship would basically be DOA, too.  Yeah, that’s really a testament to how incredible this song really is.  Written for then fiancee Mary Poole as a wedding present, lead singer Robert Smith once again sets the relationship bar very high for clueless men who think half-assed pick up lines will do just fine.  I’ve read that Poole not only inspired “Just Like Heaven” as a friend, but got “Lovesong” too… just for being more than his friend!?  Sigh, what an honor.  “However far away, however long I say, whatever words I say, I will always love you…” Damn, that’s romantic.  And a much more eloquent way of assuring your lady that you won’t cheat on her when your band is on tour, no matter how much boy band ass is lined up outside the tour bus.  Teenage Twi-hards probably think Robert Pattinson is responsible for putting the brooding, British male on the map.  Ahh, silly youth of today.  I wholeheartedly disagree since Smith’s been making a career out of this for several decades and probably looks twice as good in guyliner than Pattinson.

311 – “Lovesong” (cover: 2004)
Don’t you love it when a reggae-meets-alt-rock band like 311 scores a #1 hit on the Modern Rock Track chart with a Cure cover when the original only made it to #2 on the same chart back in its heyday?  WTF?  Just another non sequitur of the modern music world that makes it hard to keep the faith (or whatever’s left of said faith) alive.  In keeping with the tropical, ethereal feel of the movie, lead singer Nick Hexum takes things down a notch with a slower-paced, melodic “Lovesong” that fits in seamlessly with their catalog of easy, breezy stoner surf-rock.  I expect nothing less than relaxing reggae-rock from the band that brought us the beautifully hazy “Amber,” a song that practically serves as the musical equivalent to laying in a hammock in an island paradise.  This Cure cover is dripping with heavy mood and contains all the same longing, yearning, promising, and professing of the original.  The shreds of guitar cut through the track like a knife, the bass line could lull the sleepless better than Ambien, and Hexum’s lazy vocals calm the stormiest of souls. If a pot-smoking couple is looking for a song to soundtrack that fleeting moment when you are admiring your significant other’s sparkly eyes and dilated pupils in the moonlight (regardless of the fact that his/her inability to yet master the “puff, puff, pass” etiquette grates on you), this lovely song is probably as good as it’s going to get.

Like a long-lost love that magically finds his/her way back into your life, my favorite indie rock-meets-emo band The Get Up Kids are showing a little East Coast love this weekend playing two area shows for their tri-state fans: Friday, May 1st at the Gramercy Theatre in New York, as well as playing the Bamboozle Festival the next day in New Jersey.  Having been four years now since I saw them rock the stage at their farewell tour in 2005, this recent musical development is definitely Something To Write Home About. 

To know these guys is to love their music and their performances always hit the mark.  With hardcore fans and an enviable discography to boot, it’s so great to know I will be seeing them again.  I teared up last time due to the utter emo-ness of their performance, the fact that they’re one of my favorite all-time bands, I wasn’t ready for their break-up, and they were playing “Long Goodnight” (one of my favorites).  The audience’s mood was bittersweet and the band itself seemed uneasy about calling it quits.   Life has been a bit of a drag ever since and their hiatus may explain why “I’m a Loner Dottie, A Rebel” is what I feel forced to say to newer indie bands that unsuccessfully try to take their place.

The Get Up Kids really are the musical equivalent to “the one that got away” for me and I am nothing short of excited to play indie rock catch up with them on Friday night.  No more tears, it’s time to celebrate a homecoming that is long “Overdue.”  In 2001, these rockers released the phenomenal rarities collection, Eudora, almost a de facto covers album mixed in with alternate takes and B-sides, and some of these tracks were really memorable and worth sharing.  So, welcome readers to a little sneak preview I call Under Cover: The Get Up Kids collection, Part I.
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.“Beer For Breakfast” cover (original: The Replacements)
Anyone who has mad love for singer Paul Westerberg and/or The Replacements is a person after my heart.  The Get Up Kids took their respect for alternative punk rock to the highest realm possible and expressed it through a cover song that is as energetic, raw, and cocky as the original.  It’s to the point and leaves little to the imagination; not to mention, the message is pretty simple.  Take some jagged guitar hooks, an upbeat danceability, brash vocals, mix it all together and you’re left with “Beer For Breakfast”.  At barely 2 minutes long, it starts as quickly as it ends and you almost need to listen to it a few times just to make out all the lyrics that are really just scattered fragments of thoughts.  My favorite is the “All I wanna pick is your nose honey, hi!” Alright then.  Who knew something so gross could actually be sweet?
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.“Close To Me” cover (original: The Cure)
You don’t have to be the biggest Cure fan on the planet to enjoy the magical “Close To Me“.  In fact, it’s hard not to enjoy Robert Smith‘s emotive vocals, the sonic quirkiness from the keyboards, or the playful drumming in the original.  The Get Up Kids pay homage with their adorable cover that captures all the same cuteness (I apologize for using the word ‘cute’ but I’m sorry, it really is cute) of The Cure’s version while still adding a bit more edge.  The keyboards are replaced with guitar riffs, the vocals add a tinge of emo, but this version is decidedly upbeat and just as easy to enjoy.  “Close To Me” is almost the quintessential “getting ready” song that you want to blast when you’re, well, getting ready… for anything.  The lyrics speak of “making yourself sick” with anticipation, waiting, getting excited, and waiting for the wait to be over until it’s finally time… “I never thought this day would end, I never thought this night would ever be so close to me.” “Time for what,” you may ask?  That’s up to the listener.  But for me, that would be seeing them play this live again!
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Stay tuned next week for Part II as this reunion enthusiasm will definitely be spilling into next week!

The Get Up Kids: website | myspace