Album Club Review: Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years

Dark Days/Light Years disappointed me a little.  The songs worth listening to ended too soon and the rest of the songs lasted much too long.

As the album begins I felt like the songs were pleasantly upbeat, stuff that I found myself bobbing my head to.  It wasn’t ingenious music but it was enjoyable.  I felt like it would make good ambient music at a party or something.  It’s the kind of music that you don’t hate, would sound good in the background at a party, but at the end of the night you’re not going to be asking the DJ who it was and you won’t be heartbroken if you never hear them again.

Then after the first four songs were done SFA’s modus operandi began to become apparent.  Each song title also happens to be the most repeated word or phrase of each song.  In the first few songs you forgive SFA for doing that because you’re sure that not all the songs will be like that.  And then as you listen on, you discover that, sure enough, nearly every song does the same thing.  And it gets old fast.

I found myself thinking that the songs from Dark Days/Light Years would sound good in short spurts, say in a commercial or something, but anything longer than that becomes very repetitive and annoying.  By the second half of the album my interest had waned and it all kind of blended together.  It’s a shame really.

But credit must be given where credit is due.  I think they are talented musicians and they produced some quality songs.  I liked Mt., Moped Eyes and Where Do You Wanna Go?, but for the most part, the songs were kind of forgettable.

May’s Album: Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years

 

Dark Days/Light Years

 

So this month I get to pick the album again and, I’ll be honest, at the time of my choosing there wasn’t any particular album that was an obvious pick for me.  So I embarked on a search through recently well-reviewed albums and came across the Welsh band, Super Furry Animals.  

At this point I feel obliged to admit that I sort of judged this book by its cover.  Aside from picking an album that has received mainly positive reviews, I wanted to pick an album that grabbed my attention.  Well, Super Furry Animals fit the bill.  After seeing the band name and the psychedelic cover artwork I gave it a brief preliminary listen and I was impressed enough that I decided it would be a worthy album for the month of May.

That being said, Dark Days/Light Years was not a completely arbitrary choice.  I read the reviews; I looked into the band’s history.  What I found is that Super Furry Animals have been around for a long time, 9 albums to be precise, but have continually escaped mainstream success despite consistent critical acclaim.  The reviews for DD/LY seem to suggest that that trend will continue, that is, high critical acclaim, low mainstream acceptance.  I feel that as a responsible music listener I have a duty to reward such consistent, and apparently good, musicianship with a dedicated listen, even though, or maybe especially because, they may not be palatable to the general public.

So the critics like them; they say DD/LY, which is still less than two weeks old, is some of SFA’s best work in nearly five years.  And they seem like they will be a fun band to listen to (they even have a song written in Welsh!).  Definitely something unique and, I feel, worthy of a month of the Album Club’s attention.

April Review: Dear Science

 

Dear Science

 

So some of you might know that I’ve always had a bit of a love affair with rock music from the 90s.  And sometimes it’s hard for me to get over that music and give modern rock the credit it deserves.  Well, this month I discovered that TV on the Radio is a perfect example of what’s great about modern rock!  I loved every second of their album Dear Science.

Beginning with the very first track, they hooked me.  What’s evident from the very start is that the percussion/rhythm is unique and is a major part of what makes this album so catchy and memorable.  And every song that follows confirms what you suspected after listening to only the first song.  Every song promises a beat that grabs you and pulls you into the song in a way not many songs can do.

Another thing that is immediately evident is the vocal skill of the band.  Solid vocals all around, from high falsettos in many songs to some surprisingly pleasant bass in the song Family Tree.  I was impressed.

I was sitting contemplating what else about this album made it so enjoyable and I decided that it’s because Dear Science makes excellent use of dynamics and instrumentation to guide their songs from start to climactic finish.  Every musician tries to do that but there’s something about TVOTR’s efforts here that stand out to me.  In many of their songs they make it seem like it’s a departure from the standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus pattern.  I’m probably not doing well at explaining myself here, but I know that Dear Science took its songs seriously and produced some high quality music as a result.

Overall, a great album!  Songs like Dancing Choose, Golden Age, Halfway Home and DLZ continue to get a lot of attention on my music players.  I could listen to the beginning of Red Dress over and over, just cause I want to yell along with it.

High points of the album are the great rhythm and beats, catchy melodies, skillful instrumentation and song construction which, all together, makes for some very unique and memorable songs.

Low points are few but I will mention this, some of the slower tempo songs, while still beautifully showcasing the musical talent of TVOTR, I felt detracted from the upbeat feel of the album that was introduced by its first song and that I felt should have made up a better portion of the album.  But that’s just a selfish desire of mine.

Great album!  4.5 stars out of 5.

April’s Album: TV On The Radio – Dear Science

TV on the Radio’s website bio begins with a quotation from band member David Sitek, “A lot of bands have something to say, we have something to ask.”  Well, I have something to ask, too!  How did TVOTR’s album Dear Science become the 2nd best album of 2008 according to The Hype Machine, the third best reviewed album of 2008 on Metacritic.com, the 6th best album of 2008 according to Pitchfork and much more?  

Well, this month we’re going to answer that question.  We’re going to find out how TVOTR has topped so many lists and received such rave reviews.  My own interest has been piqued by the few tracks I’ve heard on the radio and the brief research I’ve done on the band.  It promises to be a rewarding experience.

So album clubbers, let’s get excited for this month’s album, Dear Science!  And perhaps, as we listen to TVOTR’s latest, we’ll be able to figure out what they’re asking us, too.

                          ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

And for those of you for whom buying the album is a less than ideal option, my album club partner, Randal, has found a solution.  As a club, we are all going to share a membership at LaLa.com where club members will be able to stream all the album club music for free!  Once you’ve decided to participate, get in touch with Randal or me to get the login information for LaLa.com.  Once you’ve logged in, go to the “All songs” link under “My Collection” and there you will find the album club music, past and present!  

We would ask that all those who choose to use LaLa please do not abuse the account!  LaLa.com allows users to browse music and download music and other stuff.  For the purposes of the club we won’t need any of that stuff, so DON’T do it.  Randal and I will have the album club music ready for you in the “My Collection” section.  Anyone who abuses their account privileges will be denied access to the account in the future.

Please also note that LaLa.com will mainly be used for music that cannot be streamed elsewhere without an account of some sort.  For example, this month’s album Dear Science can be streamed in its entirety on the Hype Machine’s website (just scroll down to the number two album).

AC2: A Mountain Is A Mouth

Did you know that Bruce Peninsula is an actual peninsula located in Ontario?  I didn’t.

Bruce Peninsula is indicated in red

 

I enjoyed Bruce Peninsula’s A Mountain is a Mouth.  My first thought was that they were very unique.  A unique and pleasant combination of voices and instrumentation.  And the result is very good.  But, sadly, not super.

There are a lot of voices in BP and that leads to some really amazing stuff and some not-so-amazing stuff on A Mountain is a Mouth.  First, I think my favorite thing about BP is the pseudo-gospel backup chorus.  It gives the music a unique, haunting feel.  In fact, the music in general has a beautiful, haunting feel to it.  The chorus also compliments the lead vocals very well, and even works with the lead male vocals, which I wasn’t a huge fan of.  However, I was quite disappointed to find that effects of the chorus began to seem repetitive by the end of the album.  And there were moments when they chose to be intentionally discordant, which contributes to the unique feel of their music but which, for me, detracted from the enjoyability of the music.  Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the chorus aspect of AMIAM.  Some of the best examples of the chorus’s contribution are in the songs Steamroller, Crabapples, and Drinking All Day.

As far as instrumentation goes, I was impressed at the variety and versatility that AMIAM showed.  I suppose with as many band members as they have, it’s much more plausible to incorporate such a wide variety of sounds.  The instrumentation they chose, whether it was clapping, wind sounds, banjo or more typical rock instrumentation, always seemed to add to the effect of the song.  Very well done.

Another thing I would like to point out is that the album has a great studio sound – the technical tweaking in the studio surely served BP well on this album.  It has great potential for a live show, but it really makes me wonder how they would pull it off in person so that the songs still maintain the emotive edge that is so appealing about their music.  But then, I’m supposed to be reviewing the album, not a live performance, so I’ll drop it here.

Overall, the album connects on a fair number of songs and misses on some others, like the short, throwaway songs Satisfied and Northbound/Southbound.  Some of the songs toe the line between hit and miss, but the album is generally enjoyable.  There are definitely a few songs that will be on a regular rotation in my music collection.

So the positives include the uniquely pleasant sounds of AMIAM and my enthrallment with their backup chorus which created some very strong, memorable songs.  The negatives include some repetitiveness and some unimpressive songs.  After weighing the evidence I will say that I enjoyed the album and I will give it 3.5 stars out of 5.  

While I feel that my rating accurately reflects my feelings about the album, I want to add that I really think that it is worth listening to.  It’s a pleasant diversion from the mainstream.

 

Don’t forget to check out my new Album Club page that has general info on the Album Club and past albums!  You can find the link to it at the top of the page next the Home and About Me links.

5 Star Albums

I’ve been thinking about this new album club that I’m a part of (and that you, hopefully, will be a part of, too) and I came to an obvious yet important conclusion.  Everyone has different tastes in music.

I often don’t agree with others’ musical preferences.  Sometimes the musical fare of the masses leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.  For example, popular musical phenomena like Britney Spears or Lil Wayne.  At the other end of the spectrum are the trailblazing music fans who value their unique, progressive musical taste and are often of the type who would stop listening to a band when they become too popular (or at least rub it in people’s faces that they knew them first!).

Music critics arise from all across that range of musical taste and their critiques reflect that.  Generally speaking, I would say that those who judge music for a living are relatively objective in their judgments but no one is free of the influence of personal taste.  Therefore, I think a critic’s words should be held up in the light of the material they enjoy and compared to the music you, the reader of the review, enjoy.  If I was interested in knowing about a new rock album I would be less inclined to look to a Britney Spears lover for an opinion than to a Pearl Jam fan.  At the same time I think it is important to keep an open mind and be willing to let an informed reviewer show you something new about a particular piece of music or about music in general.

All of that being said, I thought I would do my future review readers a favor and illuminate for them some of my favorite albums, albums that I would consider “5 star” albums, or at least, albums that I enjoy very much.  Hopefully this will shed some revealing light on my reviews to come and be informative in some way.

So here are a few examples of my favorite albums:

Our Lady Peace – Clumsy

Metallica – Black Album

Oasis – What’s The Story Morning Glory?

Collective Soul – Collective Soul

Goo Goo Dolls – Dizzy Up The Girl

Michael Buble – It’s Time

Amos Lee – Amos Lee

As you can see, there’s a heavy 90s rock influence among my favorite albums.  But I think these albums do well to approximate my musical taste.  I’m certainly not a close-minded music lover and my tastes are always evolving, these albums simply come to mind easily because they’ve stood the test of time.  I love getting to know new music.

And there you have it.  Some of my faves which have influenced my present musical tastes.

AC1: Merriweather Post Pavilion

To start off with I should say that I’m new to Animal Collective and I also don’t have a lot of listening experience within whatever genre Animal Collective fits, so bear that in mind as you read my review. However, I did enjoy Merriweather Post Pavilion.
First thing I want to say about the album is that the album artwork is remarkable. It is a veritable feast for the eyes; very colorful and unique.
Now as I get to the music I need to add another little preface here. When I listen to new music for the first few times the lyrical content plays very little into how much I enjoy the music. For me the voice is first, an instrument and second, a storyteller. Eventually the lyrics become important to me, but initially I have a hard time paying attention to what is actually being said. While I’m trying to learn to pay more attention to the lyrics, for now this is the way it is and my review will reflect that.
Okay. What struck me about MPP was the complexity of the music. Every song had a lot going on in it, which could have been disastrous, but in this case Animal Collective definitely appeared to have the talent to make every piece of the music belong where it was at. My favorite song of the album, My Girls, was an excellent example of this complexity. And in this song it was also quite transparent. The song begins with little instrumentation and gradually adds more and more layers of music with each layer contributing to rather than detracting from the experience of the song. Excellent song.
As Randal noted, the album was very electronic and yet very real and earthy. I use the adjective earthy because, for me, the music often inspired some very beautiful natural imagery. For example, in In The Flowers the music caused me to imagine myself exploring some sort of swampy wilderness on a starry night. Call me weird, but I like when a song evokes something in me. Several of the songs incorporated an effect that sounded like water dripping in a cave. And Lion In A Coma had some didgeridoo in it and didgeridoo always says nature to me.
In all there were some fun songs, some reflective songs, some very melodic songs, some songs that were a little too long and repetitive for me, and some songs whose combination of sounds, while skillfully produced, I did not find particularly enjoyable. My favorites were My Girls, it was very melodic and creative; Summertime Clothes, it made me happy; Bluish, the vocals stood out to me in this one; Lion In A Coma, fun song, made me happy; and No More Runnin’, lots of emotion and a very melodic and memorable chorus.
In summary, the positive points included the mostly complex and melodic music, plenty of enjoyable songs, great album artwork, and great musical imagery. The negative points included some songs whose parts didn’t fit together as well as I would have liked, some songs that were overly repetitive and the fact that, in general, the album departed from my typical musical genre preferences. Perhaps that last point seems unfair but, like it or not, the degree of enjoyment I experience is greatly influenced by the degree of departure I perceive from my typical musical cuisine. But overall, I enjoyed Merriweather Post Pavilion and give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Album Club on Peter’s Blog!

“P” is for Peter is proud to announce a new partnership with Randal Miller’s blog, This Blog IsA Typo.  Last month Randal created an Album Club that would allow his music-loving readers to enjoy and discuss a new album every month.  After the first month Randal suggested that we team up in order to increase participation in the club and I was happy to comply.  For instructions and details about the club please see Randal’s original Album Club post and his follow up post. 

But the quick rundown is that every month an album will be chosen, each participant should find an opportunity to listen to the album in its entirety in a high-quality, private setting and then, at the end of the month, share your thoughts on the album on either Randal’s or my blog in the comments section of our reviews of the album.  Don’t feel like you have to write a lot about the album, we would just enjoy your participation, period.

The first Album Club album was Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion.  To see Randal’s review of the album see the post here.  My review is in the comments section of that post and I will also post it here on my blog immediately after this post.  Also, the introduction to the album for the month of March is already posted on Randal’s blog and will shortly be on my blog as well.

I hope many of you will choose to join us in the Album Club and listen to some great music!  If you have any questions don’t hesitate to send Randal or me an email.  Rock on!