On a first listen to Native’s newest record, I was immediately impressed at (firstly) the quality of the new record. After listening to We Delete; Erase a few hundred times it was rather refreshing being able to hear lead vocalist Bobby Markos quite well. Native spent three months in writing and preparation for this album, then traveled to Seattle, Washington to spend 10 days recording at Red Room Studios.

The album is energetic yet controlled throughout the entire album, yet you never quite know what the 4-piece will throw at you at any given point in time. Right out of the gate Backseat Crew gets the energy level set high as drummer Nick Glassen let’s loose to start the song off. Native has a great feel for how to deliver passion and energy, whether it be live or on the record. The album is just as fast paced and laced with perfectly timed breakdowns just as I had hoped, but then I was absolutely floored by Five Year Payoff. The music slows down, Markos’ voice relaxes, and it creates what is, in my opinion, the highlight of the album.

“A lot of different things went into the song writing, but we wanted to make sure all the parts fit perfectly, like a puzzle, rather than do anything flashy for the hell of it.” says guitarist Ed ‘O Neill. “The main objective of the album, as far as I am concerned was to show where we were musically now, rather than a year ago. We have all grown in so many ways, and I just hoped that the music would be able to represent that.” ‘O Neill continues.

To think that such a powerful record could come from a band that formed only two years ago in the summer of 2007 is rather astounding. It’s quite clear that these guys have all worked their asses off for everything they’ve gotten, and for a band only two years into their career to be signed to Sargent House Records with the likes of Maps & Atlases, This Town Needs Guns and Tera Melos deserves recognition all in itself.

The album will be available at all of Native’s shows and the digital version will be available at Sargent House Records‘ website on October 30. The CD will officially be available on January 26, 2010, which is when you’ll find it on iTunes and all major digital stores. It will also pre-release at http://native.bandcamp.com starting October 28.

Written by Lucas Carter

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Sleeping At Last is releasing Storyboards, their fourth full-length independently this week. This Chicago three-piece has intertwined their sound with a string quartet, more than their previous two albums that showcased the same quartet. Sleeping At Last is preparing for a national tour this fall; details are pending.

Storyboards is a delicate and emotionally moving album, opening with Porcelain where Ryan O’Neal sings a line that is reflected throughout the album, “and everything I loved was made of porcelain, ready to break.” The texture of the guitar’s nylon strings carries the song, and feathery strings lift the song thirty seconds into the opening.

The inflections of Ryan’s vocals implore you to take notice of the urgent reflections Ryan is making. Birdcage Religion is a great example of this, “So soften these edges and straighten out my tie. Help me remember the hope that I have compromised. Please be the broken record for me.”

Chandeliers is constructed around a floating piano melody that eventually gives way to Rhodes. Naive is slow moving and continues the broken metaphor, “God knows we have been naive, and a bit nearsighted to say the least. It’s broken glass at children’s feet, that gets swept aside unexpectedly.”

Side By Side picks the album up, with well defined layers of acoustic and mandolin fingerpicking. Slow and Steady asks questions about the soul, “Maybe the soul is the suitcase that holds the backup plan. Collection of keys and the patience we need to start again.”

Clockwork opens with an gorgeous and complex string arrangement, and sustained through the entire song. Unmade follows with delicate fingerpicking that doesn’t build dynamically as most Sleeping at Last songs do, but it doesn’t need to. “I believe that we’ve got it wrong, got it wrong. We realize when it’s said and done that in our words we lost so much more than we’ve ever won. It’s in our nature to complicate, but in the end it’s the casualties that carry on the weight.”

Sleeping At Last – Porcelain

Related Posts:

• October 9, 2009 — Sleeping At Last: Green Screens video

Husband&Wife

Dark Dark Woods opens with Comp Jam, which sets the mood of the album, waiting two minutes before Mike Adams asks in a melancholic melody, “What do you need to go for? I don’t know.” They follow the intro with Haven’t Got A Friend. This song carries the album into deeper introspection, with climaxing lyrics, “You sound like everybody else when you say you haven’t got a friend in the world.”

I Got Fat brings the album to a lighter moment with a melody that will stick in your head. The melodies are solid and you find yourself adding to the tight harmonies, “You aren’t the only one to tell me I’m wrong about love.” I particularly enjoy the trumpets, buried xylophones, and guitar slides. “I meant to take you to the bank, but I got fat instead.”

Red Cross Fever is yet another beautiful song, making full use of sizzling cymbals to paint the background. I enjoy the experimentation in the post-verse build up. It shows that not every song should follow the verse/chorus structure.

Husband&Wife is a prime example of the DIY attitude in indie rock. They manage their own label, Crossroads of America from their homes in Bloomington, Indiana and their label has released 16 albums prior to Dark Dark Woods, working with Chemic, Rodeo Ruby Love, Alexander the Great, Away with Vega, and Maps. This spring Crossroads of America will release a limited vinyl run of Starflyer 59‘s momentous Silver album. They’re also active in recording/producing bands in the Bloomington area.

This month Husband&Wife recorded four songs at Daytrotter! You can download them for free and read the article. Husband&Wife also filmed videos of the band performing three songs from Dark Dark Woods. Please support this band.

Husband&Wife – I Got Fat

husband&wife – Haven’t Got A Friend from Crossroads Of America Records on Vimeo.

Related Posts:

• October 16, 2010 — Husband and Wife: Proud Flesh, and a Mike Adams solo album
• January 22, 2010 — Husband&Wife: Don’t Stop zero inch
• November 3, 2009 — Frank Schweikhardt: Life But No More
• January 26, 2011 — Sleeping Bag: Slime
• September 26, 2010 — Bro. Stephen releases EP and embarks on tour
• September 14, 2010 — J. Tillman: Singing Ax

I’m going to make an important distinction: musical talent is different from song writing talent.  When I think of musical talent, I think of technical expertise, music theory, and terms like phrygian mode – the kind of food that a music student is fed.  John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats does not eat that food.  In fact, he doesn’t even go to restaurants that serve that food.  (Can I make wild metaphorical claims like that about a person I don’t know?  Well, I just did.)  Darnielle doesn’t compose, he writes.  His music has always been about story telling, and this is what distinguishes him as a song writer.

The latest Mountain Goats album, Heretic Pride, which has been out since February, gives us the next foot forward in Darnielle’s gradually evolving sound.  Prior to Tallahassee (2002), he had been recording himself in single-mic-to-living-room-stereo fashion, giving his albums the characteristic lo-fi background hiss.  Since Tallahassee, he has been recording in studio, often under the production of John Vanderslice, and with a collection of fellow musicians.  Many early supporters have been reluctant to appreciate the studio sound, criticizing Darnielle for abandoning his style, but I must interject and offer compliments.

I think he has been allowing his sound to evolve.  As a kid, why did you continue looking at the puffy cumulous clouds even after you saw a dragon?  Because you could see new shapes as the wind remolded the sky.  Knowing full well that Darnielle is capable of filling my imagination with language, I am willing to go where he wants to lead me, even if it means imagining new shapes, or shifting my focus in another direction.

While I wouldn’t say Heretic Pride is an example of The Mountain Goats at their best (for that, I would point you to Tallahassee), it is nonetheless a great album.  Peter Hughes joined Darnielle on the bass, Jon Wurster on the drums, Franklin Bruno on the keys, and Erik Frieldander handled all of the string arrangements.  There are even a few whisps of female choir voices in “Marduk T-shirt Men’s Room Incident” and taking background harmony in “New Zion.”  Songs like “Sax Rohmer #1,” “San Bernardino,” and “Tianchi Lake” sound stylistically reminiscent of the Tallahassee/Sunset Tree era, and “New Zion” and “Sept 15 1983” explore a quasi-reggae sound that suits the group well.  And I simply cannot forget the rocking “Lovecraft in Brooklyn,” which stands out as the only song on the album with an overdriven electric guitar.

But that’s not all John Darnielle has been up to.  He wrote a book for the 33 1/3 series, all books of which are themed around influential albums.  His album: Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality (be sure to check out the music video imbedded in this link’s page).  Darnielle also writes frequently about metal for Decibel Magazine, and maintains (at least?) two blogs/things: 1) Last Plane to Jakarta and 2) JohnDarnielle.com (also called Mus Mus Tail).  And here’s his Flickr site.  And here’s a mildly outdated yet humorous interview of Darnielle conducted by The Believer.

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If you don’t know Ed Harcourt, he’s been around. He was on EMI in the UK and reached as far as #6 on the charts in Sweden. And he’s versatile. He’ splaying piano mainly but he branches out into other instruments like guitar and drums. (Supposedly those drums were recorded in some, as I imagine it, dank dark hallway in Ed’s own house.) You’ll also find on this album accompaniment by strings and some brass and all arranged beautifully.

But like I said this isn’t some pick up, put in, don’t think, and let your mind enjoy album, even though some tracks like its opening, Whirlwind in D Minor might take you that way. It’s got some brooding, some deep dark tones. Some of these tracks aren’t quite loveable. They are more like spicy IPA’s, acupuncture, or difficult relationships. They’re a little complex and take a little pain.

I can tell you when it happened to me. There’s a place, and I can’t tell you where it is because I don’t know what road I was on or where exactly in the expanse of Montana I was, but as I was driving across emptiness, no cars, no people, just grass over a hill came possibly one hundred giant wind turbines. If you’ve never seen them up close there is something beautiful about them, something simple like giant spinning orchids. I can’t exactly explain to you what seeing them in the middle of nothingness is quite like but maybe it’s a little like Ed Harcourt’s album. Maybe there is something simple and beautiful in the soul of this album that you can’t quite see, that seems a little out of place, that needs just the right moment for it to expose itself.

I don’t know if that’s true but Ed has created something worth enjoying here even if it takes a little work and time.

Related Posts:

• August 14, 2008 — Ed Harcourt: Until Tomorrow Then (video)