Happy 30th B-Day Dinosaur Jr.

We wrote a long article for @glidemag to celebrate Dinosaur Jr's milestone of turning thirty this month. You can Read it Right C'here!!!

It was a pleasure to go back through the bands discography and pick one song from each of their albums to highlight. What was really staggering was how there was very little drop off from disk to disk; the band never made a bad album.

Album Review: Ryan Adams- Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams

** out of *****

When an established artist decides to self title an album at some point in their ongoing career it means one thing, rebirth. The artists want to make a statement that this is who they are now and going forward. It can be successful or fall flat but there is no doubt that self titling means a lot more then: just couldn't think of a clever album name.

Except in Ryan Adams case...

When asked about the title he was quoted as saying:

"I could not think of a name for this record. Everything I came up with sounded so stupid. Everything sounded like a King Crimson album title, some convoluted shit. [...] I was like, I can’t call this Shadows or something, I just can’t do it."

Well exception to every rule I guess.

As for the music contained on the self titled release, all of the tracks are straight out of Tom Petty B-Cuts bin circa '82. The whole album is nailed into that time and space and would make great adult contemporary FM radio staples if that thing still existed; that isn't a good thing.

The opening track "Gimme Something Good" takes that Petty sound and mimics it, constructing a full sounding track with co-producer Mike Viola helping out along with (coincidentally?) Heartbreaker Benmont Tench on organs. It ends up the best all around effort (the Elvira video doesn't hurt) but all of the other tracks on the disk are in this style. "I Just Might" goes a bit of the Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire" route while the Steve Winwood light "Am I Safe" has some questioning emo-influenced lyrics over a pure pop vibe.

Lyrically Adams stays generic, smack dab in the middle of the road on every track. He's tired of giving up, you're his wrecking ball and there is comfort (or fear?) in the shadows. Nothing new or very memorable on the lyric front but the music deserves a bit more attention. 

The album gets an extra half of star to the rating because of the immaculate production and sound that is alive on this disk. Sure the early 80's weren't a great time for music but if the albums during that period had this crisp clear deep sound, things would have been better. Whether stripped down simple six strings or deep bass and organs the sound is lush and full. Self produced, Adams has displayed (as well as on other releases) his expert production touch proving PAX AM studios are a sonic delight.

If he wants to be the next Tom Petty that is well and good, Petty won't be doing it much longer, but the one thing Petty had was hits in bunches and unfortunately at the end of Ryan Adams not one tune sticks with you.
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Support the artist here, buy the album here and peep some video below.

Album Review: Beck- Morning Phase

Beck 

Morning Phase

***and1/2 out of *****

Even before the music rises on Morning Phase the album art recalls Beck's most introspective release 2002's Sea Change. It is also being marketed as a companion piece to that album and instantly sets the reflective mood. In 2014 Beck is more nuanced but not much more upbeat; there is a melancholy feeling that seeps into everything here.

What can't be over stated is Beck's growing stature as a producer. The music, production, texture and layering of various instruments voices and sounds is astonishing; this is simply an amazing sounding album. While the song writing seems stuck in an icy box of loner-ism the music (provided by his long time collaborators guitarist Smokey Hormel, bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, keyboard player Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and drummer Joey Waronker) comes alive, supported as well by layers of strings and vocals constructing a musical depth that requires repeated listens to soak it all in.

Beck has said he wanted to make a "California music album" when discussing Morning Phase. While tracks like "Blackbird Chain" resemble the country ease mixed with pop that California has been known for, there is a distance that is more reminiscent of Neil Young's On The Beach, recorded in Cali, but not always thought of when "California sound" is mentioned.

"Wave" is the albums centerpiece and built on a humming string foundation Beck repeats the phrase "Isolation" coldly over and over again in a foreboding manner. This doesn't feel like a lost soul it presents someone who has chosen to be isolated. Same can be said for "Don't Let It Go" which comes from a place of experience, yet Beck by design never seems to let the listener in as if he is already too far gone.

The first single "Blue Moon" is the most upbeat track here, along with "Heart Is A Drum" but things are still very very mellow, his first line in "Blue Moon" says it all, "I'm so tired of being low". There are flashes of drums and strums but things all over Morning Phase are sleepy and relaxed, moving too easily into distant and cold. The production and sonic sounds are stunningly gorgeous yet Beck still seems to be on the outside looking in emotionally.   
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Honestly? We never dug on Sea Change and until that point, loved Beck. Morning Phase is well constructed, professional, and serves a purpose...just not sure how often we are going to go back and listen to it. The rating and stars for this one is tough, waffled between 3 and 3 and 1/2 but in the end it doesn't matter...  

That said support the artist here, buy the album here and peep some video below:

Album Review: Tomahawk -Oddfellows

Tomahawk

Oddfellows

***and1/2 out of *****

This thirteen track disk from the famous collection of players is the fourth release from Tomahawk but the first to feature new bassist Trevor Dunn after the departure of Kevin Rutmanis.   Recorded in Nashville with core members and fellow rockers Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle), Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard) and John Stanier (Helmet) the foursome seems to have gelled quickly on Oddfellows.

Perhaps hearing this title and knowing the artists involved your thinking that this disk will be some out there freaky music. That is really not the case as all of these players have released more experimental work in the past; this is a rock band.  The title track is a straight ahead (if extremely dark/heavy sounding) alt-metal tune punctuated by Patton's glorious vocal chorus while the first single "Stone Letter" plays as a radio friendly hard rock workout. Even an on-the-edge driving punk tune like "South Paw"dips mellow with the verse and lyrics before getting freaky with the lyrics.

The band isn't as easy to classify on all of the tracks here, it wouldn't be an album from these artists if they were.  "White Hats/Black Hats" is spastic,"A Thousand Eyes" features great bass lines from new member Dunn and "Waratorium" contains some aggressive/dirty funkiness that borders on industrial. 

The most successful of their more experimental efforts is "Rise Up Dirty Waters" with its jazz like intro, space vocals, tempo changes and overall eerie tone; tracks like this make Tomahawk a band always worth checking out. Oddfellows overall could do with some more odd touches to the finished product, however this album is certainly accessible enough for new fans to enter their world, come on in.
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This is a weird disk on one hand I thought this would be pretty crazy stuff, it isn't very experimental. On the other hand, everything presented here works well.  Gave it 3 and 1/2 stars, which I think fits our rating system, but almost dipped it to 3, check it out for yourself.

Support the group here, Buy the album Here, and peep some samples below:
"Oddfellows" (cool as hell video)

"Rise Up Dirty Waters"

Album Review- Saint Saviour - Union

Hey all,

Got a new review up on Glide.

Read it Right C'here!!!!

It is of Saint Saviour's debut full length release, Union. 

One of my favorite things about reviewing albums is going outside of my comfort zone when it comes to music and trying to approach things with a fresh mind.  I can safely say I will personally not listen to this album again, but that shouldn't effect how I review it critically, at least I don't think it should. 

If you are a fan of electro-pop, singer-songwriters, this could be for you. As I mention in the review the songs take risks at times and can come alive, I just know this style doesn't do much for me in my free time.  The 2 and half star rating is supposed to represent this: It’s pretty good.  Has some high points.  You wouldn’t listen to it everyday, but it’s alright.

There you have it, feel free to agree, disagree, whatever.  Support the artist and check out a few songs from this release here:

"I Call this Home"


"Fight" live

Glide Review - Nils Lofgren - Old School

Hey All

Got a new review up over at Glide.

Read it Right C'here!!!!

It is of Nils Lofgren's newest release Old School and safe to say I won't be going back to listen to this all that often...if ever.

I pretty much say it all in the review above, so I won't belabor the point, things just don't feel right when Nils wants to pump up the energy.

The "rockers" presented here are woefully misguided, I guess it is an attempt to reach out to people his own age, and I never begrudge aging rockers, hell some of them are still my favorites, but these songs just sound petty. 

If the album had more of a focus on the ballads it would have went over better.  "Love Stumbles On" and "Irish Angel" (which is a cover originally written by Bruce McCabe) are both very pleasing and fit his style well.  1 and 1/2 stars states on the rating scale states "If someone hasn't heard it, they aren't missing anything - skip it" that sums it up nicely...those stars do come in handy sometimes...

Some tracks to sample:
"Old School"
 

"Irish Angel"


"Love Stumbles On"

Glide Review - Male Bonding - Endless Now

Afternoon all,

I have a new review posted by the nice fellas over at Glide

Give it a read right C'HERE!!!!

It is of Male Bonding's newest release Endless Now. 

I alluded to it in the review, but I can not get behind that bands name.  Granted names for bands are trickier then actually writing songs in some cases, I mean there have been some horrible band names to have hit songs...(Note to RtBE that is a future blog post) and Male Bonding is pretty blah.

The group themselves are intriguing playing a brand of lo-fi punk that is very catchy, and usually I find myself more drawn to these types of bands.  While I recognize the album is well done and stands up for it is suppose to bring across (hence the 3 and 1/2 stars) it is hard for me to really say I love these songs or will listen to them much in the future.  I think that is one of the hardest things about reviewing music, recognizing positive attributes in albums you don't particularly care for.  It would have been unfair to rate the album any lower on the Glide rating scale, but I doubt it ends up on my year end "Best of" list.

The album is solid, not spectacular, give a listen to some of the tracks here:
Album Preview from Sub Pop:

"Tame The Sun"
"Bones"

Friday Funday - Shufflin' Stars and Bars

My friend and coworker Lauren just recently posted and interesting piece regarding iTunes Star Rankings and the dreaded Shuffle over on her personal blog.  It got me thinking and checking up on a few things regarding iTunes.  First a bit of background, I was very slow coming to iTunes and Apple products in general having a budget no-name MP3 player for many years and being quite happy with it was one reason.

Not my exact one, but very similar

Lately however (like Lauren) I purchased an iPhone and unlike Lauren I went for the big one deciding I am going to put a bunch of my music on it, thus I have been using iTunes much more then I have ever have in the past.  Unfortunately my laptop can't keep up (it is full) so the vast books and stacks of CD's are still waiting to get uploaded into the phone...   

However I never use the star system in the slightest and that may be weird considering I use a Rating System for all of my reviews that I write.  There is actually only 1 song that has a rating out of the 2873 currently on my phone and that is The Hold Steady's "Stevie Nix", which has 5 stars.

While I love that tune, it certainly isn't my all time favorite, and I am guessing I clicked the stars by accident, but it is odd that I never once used them, I could say that I just have way too many to rank, but I am not sure that is a valid excuse because I am sure people have more and use the ranking system.

I like Lauren's proposed system for ranking, "Gym", "Party" etc, but my brain is so warped with music that I would probably end up limiting myself.  I used to love to work out to the Grateful Dead, (especially a good "Dark Star" for cardio) and I can just as easily party with Sepultura

as I can with  Jorge Ben and those are just two Brazilian groups that popped into my head.


Also as anyone can attest to the "Late Night" ranking for me would just be The Band's Last Waltz...over and over...god I want to hear/watch it right now!


The shuffle embarrassment aspect is another interesting concept.  Personally I rarely/if ever use shuffle, I am 99% an album person and proud of it.  For some reason Shuffle has never appealed to me, I love to be in the mood for the artist and hear their thoughts over the course of a full release, always have, never went for singles at all and it is one of the main things I hate about iTunes; making the single a viable commodity again where artists put out one good song and 8 filler tracks.  Then again I shouldn't be too old man grumpy about this as it has given Weird Al a career re-birth, and that is always a fun thing... 

(Pretty sure Jack loves this...and kinda surprised he never covered it...)

How do you feel about Stars and Shuffle?  Do you use them at all?  Think they are a nuisance?  Thanks again to Lauren for getting me thinking about this.  Feel free to comment and enjoy your weekend...

Glide Review- Built to Spill

Hey There,

My newest review is posted over on Glide.

It is of Built to Spill's newest release, There Is No Enemy.






Check it out here!

More thoughts and Music Clips after the jump

Rating System

When it comes to Album Reviews, I am going to stick with Glide’s (old) Star Rating System, to go along with the writeup.  Sometimes the star ratings come easy, some other times not so much, but I think having some sort of guide to refer to is a good thing.  Basically it breaks down like this:

No Stars- Why was this made?!

1 Star- Bomb-riffic

2 Stars- Meh

3 Stars- Good

4 Stars- Great

5 Stars- Boosh!!!!!

There will be half stars tossed in there as well just to mix things up.

Some examples of past albums I rated using this system and the official breakdown of half stars etc. after the jump....