Just in...Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz

    Well, Sufjan keeps evolving, and combining genres better than anyone else. The Age of Adz, the latest release is no exception. This album is actually not slated to release in the U.S. until Oct. 12th, but a digital download was offered today to those who pre-ordered the album on the Asthmatic Kitty website. The album artwork is a nod to schizophrenic artist Royal Robertson, and the "Adz" is a reference to his apocalyptic paintings, which heavily inspired the thematic content of the album as well. The booklet insert includes some of Robertson's work. We've already talked a bit about who Sufjan is, since this is the first artist I have double posted about, so we're going to skip straight to the album itself. And if you want to hear every minute of the 1:14:47 album, check it out on NPR here: http://entertainment.ie/music/news/Sufjan-Stevens-Streams-New-Album-Online/51278.htm (EDIT: no longer available).
    Alright, to start, some of the skeptics of Sufjan's electronica Enjoy Your Rabbit (2001) may be fearful because of rumors that The Age of Adz is another foray into computer electronic inspired sounds. I say, bring an open ear to this album, and then for some songs bring your old ears and you'll be just fine.
    The first song, "Futile Devices", for example, is gorgeous--perhaps one of Sufjan's most beautifully written compositions to date. It is gentle and ethereal (literally with vaporesque vocals brought on by slight reverb effect), folk inspired and the violin pizzicati are the perfect touch.
    The next song, "Too Much", has been available for streaming on Sufjan's website (along with "I Walked") for a couple weeks now. It starts with a bang, let's say, and may require the greatest amount of grace, as the glob of electronic sounds is odd and begs to be skipped. But, the song progresses nicely; even still with electronic beat sounds dominating over lush string writing, trombones and wind flourishes at points, plus the chorus we have come to be accustomed to since the All Delighted People (EP). By the climax, it is hard to determine whether Sufjan has overdone the electronic, I guess I'll leave that up to your discernment.
    The title track, "Age of Adz", is more of "Too Much" but tries to sound more heroic, or diabolical, and is definitely, imo, influenced slightly by hip hop with the break beats style. I guess you could call it--similarly to baroque pop--hip hop pop. Enjoy the sleigh bells too!
    "I Walked" is another echo machine track. I would say it even tries to be trip hop with its underlying dirge-like and dusty beat over the harmonized "ahs".
    Back to a gentler rhythm, "Now That I'm Older" is another ethereal, ambient vocalise. Sufjan truly pushes the reverb effect on this and records his voice multiple times for this track to sing melody and harmony also.
    "Get Real Get Right" is reminiscent of the Chariots of Fire soundtrack, with the driving electronic beat, but has beautiful wind flourishes and brass bandy punches. The final trombone chords are brilliant!
    "Bad Communication" is a meld of ambiance, electronic fast repeated notes akin to a bad electronic piano version of flutes, and brass chords that expand. I don't know if it is meant to create an unsteady feeling, a trippy delirium, perhaps to further signify "Bad Communication".
    By this point in the album, with the track "Vesuvius" I think I'm starting to think that the electronic sounds are just too aggressive or unedited, idk. One interesting aspect of this song is the Renaissance pop with the recorder (remember those beige clarinet like instruments you used to play in general music as an elementary school child?) choir, tambourine and something that reminds me of a bad sounding oboe or shaum.
    "All for Myself" is like a skipping track, with noticeable breaks left in, which actually creates a cool repetitive anxious but forward motion. It also sounds like Sufjan shook giant pieces of sheet rock metal and recorded it, or just somewhat grand but odd electronically generated gestures.
    Typical upbeat Sufjan ingeniousness is "I Want to be Well". The wind flourishes are refreshing and a drum set is used, which has been mostly delegated to the sidelines this album. The middle section is very interesting, with chattering noises and a growing chorus, building to a false and then true climax. Sufjan also uses the F word in this song, saying "I'm not F***in around," which is repeated a lot as the text of the chorus.
    The final song, "Impossible Soul", starts with a Radiohead chord similar to "House of Cards" from In Rainbows (2007). What can I say about this 25:35 minute track? It is a true overture and exposé into just about every style of more modern Sufjan music. A few notable instances: an electronic solo that reminds me of the experimental progressive rocker Omar Rodriquez-Lopez (from The Mars Volta); Sufjan uses voice modification software at one point, like many rappers or Daft Punk; and about 17 minutes in sounds like one of the TV network's football anthems (can't remember which). If there was one flaw to this album, this track typifies it: eclecticism. But, then again, that may not be a bad thing, as it will appeal to many different people in one way or another. I just hope they stay long enough to learn to enjoy all aspects of Sufjan's latest opus. For now, enjoy the track "Get Real Get Right" in the MixPod player!

The Welcome Wagon: Welcome to the Welcome Wagon

    I looked into a lot of Asthmatic Kitty produced bands this past week, and I was not disappointed, surprised to find DM Stith, David Stith is an individual I know personally and have played board games with actually, putting out LPs under Sufjan's brain child label. But, I was very interested in The Welcome Wagon, namely because Sufjan sings, plays banjo for, produced and arranged the hymn tunes that Presbyterian pastor Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique chose for their premier LP in 2008. Vito was a self proclaimed agnostic before converting to Christianity at the age of 20, went to theological seminary and now preaches at Resurrection Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, NY.
    Their music is simple and straight forward, but definitely not void of Sufjan influence, with trombones, melodic lines that are pleasant and catchy. There is also points of flourish and compositional genius, like at the beginning and end of songs in typical Sufjan style. The Welcome Wagon at the core is a gospel folk indie group; but, the underlying element that sets The Welcome Wagon apart from any contemporary gospel artists (not solely referring to the CCM genre) is that its members are made up of a community of friends that often enjoys meals together and then sits in the living room and plays their music together. They do so for the fun of fellowship, but also with, to quote Asthmatic Kitty's bio of The Welcome Wagon: "the simple desire to know their Maker--and to know each other--more intimately".
    The hymn tunes chosen are probably not well known, perhaps in some liturgical traditions they are more than others. But, The Welcome Wagon hails from the Midwest, which also differs liturgically in the sense of being slower and more laid back from the Northeast where they have now settled. I think this is beautifully reflected in their music. Not knowing the tunes themselves, they may not even be the original melodies, as Vito was not a musician when his desire to play hymns erupted with creativity as he has often made up his own melodies. The Welcome Wagon's follow up to Welcome to the Welcome Wagon is the EP Purity of the Heart is to Will One Thing (2009), five songs that were basically outtakes from their debut; and the proceeds of which on iTunes go to Freeset, a fair-trade organization working with women in Kolkata, India. I've uploaded track 5 of 12, because it best displays the Aiuto's folk simplicity, Sufjan's additional doctoring and the sometimes sing-a-long style choruses.

Just in...Mice Parade: What it Means to be Left-Handed

    Mice Parade is a group that hails from NYC, led by percussionist Adam Pierce. Hardly coincidence, Adam Pierce is an anagram for Mice Parade. Other members are from various groups: Doug Scharin (HiM or His Imperial Majesty), Dylan Cristy (The Dylan Group), Rob Laakso, Caroline Lufkin--who I assume is the female vocals--, Dan Lippel and Josh McKay (Macha). Mice Parade is on the Fat Cat Records label, and has a fairly extensive discography dating back to their first release in 1998. Pierce also used to have his own record label, Bubble Core Records, which has produced albums for HiM.
     Mice Parade is a trifecta of interesting styles: indie post-rock, shoegaze and flamenco. Their album released today, What it Means to be Left-Handed, has, however, expanded their sound to also include tidbits of plain old indie rock and electronica too. What defines Mice Parade, though, is their driving complex at times rhythms, soft even wispy vocal tones and brilliant use of hemiola and mixed meters. The influence of flamenco is evident there and the use of folk, world instruments (i.e. ukulele, hammered dulcimer, mallet percussion, etc.), or simply mixing their guitar sound to resemble such is fresh and well implemented. The other groups certain members are a part of--HiM, The Dylan Group, Macha, as well as the experimental post-rock group múm from Iceland that has close ties to Mice Parade are all similar in their use of experimental instrumentation and combining of various styles.
    Other albums I also enjoy are Bem-Vinda Vontade (2005) and self-titled Mice Parade (2007), but I have not really listened to the earlier releases. It is interesting that their earlier compositions seem more eclectic than they are now, but unlike many groups that lose their identity and grow stale, I think Mice Parade has improved its focus and created an even better sound as a result. I'm tired of writing out entire track listings, and I don't think anyone cares that much anyway, unless I discuss specific songs, so I'm not going to anymore. Instead, go to this site and hear the entire 13 track album on the Fat Cat Records release page:
http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/release.php?id=329. I believe their whole discography can be previewed there as well, full tracks even--worth checking out. (EDIT: they have since updated their website, check here instead, and listen to clips of, not full songs--sorry!)
    I've also uploaded the seventh track, "Old Hat" to the MixPod player. It thoroughly displays the talent and ingenious use of hemiola, almost poly-rhythm, with the post-rock influenced looming electronic chords in the background, and the underlying acoustic foundation. The drum set laying down the duple and the guitars in triple, plus the piano in fours sometimes is really quite brilliant and this group deserves a lot of props for their ingenuity. When I first heard Mice Parade almost a year ago, I knew they were special, but I didn't know they could possibly become one of my favorite groups. We'll see.

Just in...Röyksopp: Senior

    You have probably heard Röyksopp before. You just don't know it. But, remember that Geico ad on TV with the caveman riding on the moving sidewalk in an airport and he starts walking backwards because he sees a picture of a Geico poster on the wall? Well, the music in the background is Röyksopp. Check it out here if you need to jog your memory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H02iwWCrXew.
    Röyksopp is actually a duo, Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland, Norwegian house group formed in 1998. The name Röyksopp is a stylized version of the Norwegian word for the puffball mushroom, or in the band's own words it could elude to a nuclear mushroom cloud as well. They came out of the Tromsø Techno Scene and the Bergen Wave. A little explanation: Tromsø is the "techno capital of Norway" and has been the origin city for many electronic bands in Norway; Bergen Wave is a term used by the Norwegian Press to describe Norwegian bands that made it big, event internationally, during the 90's and 2000's, two other examples being the Kings of Convenience and Sondre Lerche (coincidentally). Röyksopp originally was on a small Norwegian label in Bergen, Tellé, but are now on the Wall of Sound, a British label known for producing electronic music, and Astralwerks in the U.S. out of NYC.
    Röyksopp's music genre most closely fits into the term downtempo, a style of electronica that evokes elevator music, but with a dance beat, no soprano saxophone and less ambient at times. But, this group also includes synthpop and trip hop. Listening to Senior, just released today, (which can be heard in its entirety completely endorsed by the band here: http://hypem.com/artist/royksopp EDIT: does not exist anymore?) is much slower and of possibly back ground music capacity than their previous albums, especially Junior (2009), which I like quite a bit.
    The track listing is: (1) ...And the Forest Began to Sing (2) Tricky Two (3) The Alcoholic (4) Senior Living (5) The Drug (6) Forsaken Cowboy (7) The Fear (8) Coming Home (9) A Long, Long Way (hidden track) Final Day. From the titles, you can see that this album involves themes of senior citizenship, or at least it could be perceived as such. Some are unrelated, however, like "Tricky Two", which is a remix of sorts of "Tricky Tricky" from Junior (I recognized the similarity immediately). The title "Forsaken Cowboy" makes me think of Cowboy Bebop, but the music is quite different than anything the anime show's soundtrack offered. In all, as advertised, Senior is a much slower pace than Junior and, let's say, won't be played on my iTunes as much. I've uploaded "The Fear", which has more trip hop quality and I chose it over "Tricky Two", perhaps the best track on the album, because you need to listen to "Tricky Tricky" first.

Sondre Lerche: Heartbeat Radio

    OK, Sondre Lerche deserves a huge tip in the jar. Like Sufjan Stevens, he is a multi talented, super original songwriter that definitely improves the sometimes sorry state of the pop/rock world. What I mean is, there is no one quite like Sondre Lerche, nor could anyone create what he does with as much prowess. The combination of Sondre's plain acoustic guitar to the full on rock, excellent vocals and instrumental additions is truly unique. The resulting genre, I think, could fit into the niche of anyone that likes the crooning Frank Sinatra style songwriting, the delicate but jazzy/folksy Norah Jones or the funky sweet Steely Dan.
    Sondre Lerche may be best known for the complete soundtrack music for the 2007 film Dan in Real Life. But, he has a number of quality albums and EPs out extending back to 2001: Faces Down (2001), Two Way Monologue (2004), Duper Sessions (2006), Phantom Punch (2007), and more recently while on tour he had available an exclusive record Polaroid Pool Party (2008) for the west coast tour and Polaroid Pumpkin Party (2008) for his east coast tour. Sondre was discovered at a young age in Bergen, Norway, while playing underage at a bar his sister worked at. A producer at that time introduced him to more styles of music, in addition to the Brazillian (i.e. Bassa Nova) he was learning at the time in his guitar lessons, 80's pop and groups he listened to as a child: A-ha, the Beach Boys and Prefab Sprout.
    The track listing for Heartbeat Radio (2009) is: (1) Good Luck (2) Heartbeat Radio (3) I Cannot Let You Go (4) Like Lazenby (5) If Only (6) Pioneer (7) Easy to Persuade (8) Words & Music (9) I Guess It's Gonna Rain Today (10) Almighty Moon (11) Don't Look Now (12) Goodnight
I've uploaded "Words & Music", which is most like the style Sondre has produced throughout his album career; with the rhythmic driving, the lo-fi piano and quality chord progressions. The rest of the album, I'd say is much more 80's pop and reminds me of Steely Dan a lot sometimes. But, go find out for yourself!