John Maus: We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (2011)

(Ribbon Music)

RECOMMENDED

Read my review at Metro Times Blogs.

M. Ward: Transfiguration of Vincent (2003)

(Merge)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This record is new to me, and I'm delighted to discover that this and not Transistor Radio from a couple of years later is Matt Ward's artistic breakthrough. On his third album, he proves himself already a master of texture and a cinematic, dreamlike mood that is completely irresistible. From the opening sound of crickets chirping, these fifteen admirably concise tracks whisper in and out but never collapse under their ambience, and provide a showcase for both Ward's humongous guitar gifts and his attraction to bedroom-pop production in the vein of Nick Drake without succumbing to the gimmicry that often marred his prior effort, End of Amnesia.

"Transfiguration #1" is a piano-complemented Floyd Cramer imitation, a stage-setter of sorts, before Ward sets in with stirringly pretty ballads that easily compete with his influences, from the singer-songwriters of the '70s to Yo La Tengo. Ward's resistance to cop to pure sentimentality is a welcome change from his earlier work; whereas "Vincent O'Brian" might once have finally come across as mawkish, he buries under enough electric guitar and drums to make its nostalgia endearing and welcome, never cloying. At his best, though, he is unafraid of a stomping folk-rock that, on "Helicopter" and "Fool Says," verges on psychedelia. He's also unexpectedly witty; witness the filtered drone of the Johnny Cash burlesque "Sad, Sad Song," the jazzy barroom charm of "Poor Boy, Minor Key," the thrilling fusion of country-blues and chamber pop on "Get to the Table on Time."

The record doesn't divide itself convincingly into songs, but they're here if you need them; the melodies here are more persuasive than is usual for Ward's output, before or since (with a brighter arrangement, "A Voice at the End of the Line" could work as a She & Him track; "Let's Dance" is unabashed prom night stuff). It's more likely that you'll find the ambience so enjoyable that you'll simply let the whole thing play through. And that's certainly a virtue not to be taken lightly. Just don't assume that just because the thing is pretty, it's passable purely on that basis; pay close attention and you'll find this no less rewarding.

[SEE ALSO:]
Duet for Guitars #2 (1999)
End of Amnesia (2001)

Moby: Destroyed (2011)

(Mute)

RECOMMENDED

Read my review at Metro Times Blogs. (scroll down!)

Aimee Mann: Magnolia OST (1999)

(Warner Bros.)

!! CAUTION !!

Here's a good example of the ways that eleven years can change you. When I saw the movie Magnolia a few months after its release, I thought it messy, unfocused, and dramatically aloof, not to mention overlong. It was a frustrating film because there were elements of it I loved -- the performances by Tom Cruise and John C. Reilly, some of the sequences dealing with the child-prodigy quiz show, and above all the songs by Aimee Mann, which seemed then to me so much more graceful and eloquent than the movie itself.

I haven't seen Magnolia in at least ten years now. But I've maintained some nostalgia for its soundtrack. To my surprise, when I pulled it out recently, I found it a horror. Mann's vocals are woefully inexpressive, and less forgivably, her songs themselves strike me now as directionless and bland. The cover of Three Dog Night's "One" is just as bad as every other version of that awful, overrated piece of tripe, and it's actually downhill from there. Various selections abound from Mann's records I'm with Stupid and Bachelor #2, the latter of which I at one time found knowing and beautiful. I was wrong.

The two songs Mann wrote expressly for the feature, "Wise Up" and "Save Me," are Lilith Fair pap, though the latter contains more hooks than the rest of the disc in its entirety. "Wise Up" is maudlin and grating, "Save Me" simply carries its pretentious harping on simplistic emotions too far, rambling on for nearly five minutes. That the disc closes with a few Supertramp songs adds to the insult, though Jon Brion's theme tune is, of course, lovely.

On the whole, I don't know what I was hearing back then; this is junk. Does this mean that I would love the movie Magnolia if I saw it now? I'll try to find out next time I can spare six hours or however the hell long that thing is.

AraabMUZIK: Electronic Dream (2011)

(Duke)

When did nocturnal party music become so goddamned dour? Between AraabMUZIK's depressive decadence and the Weeknd's landscapes of urban squalor, you'd think the economy had taken a toll on the American Friday night. But actually, if you play this in a club, everyone will hate you and ask for more Whispers. Or Journey.

It's not that Electronic Dream is a total failure musically, just that its mood seems curiously labored and off-key. Its eleven tracks, spread over a half hour, let samples and sounds weave in and out but really amount to one DJ session that harps on the same idea throughout. AraabMUZIK himself is a producer who's worked with Jadakiss and Busta Rhymes, but his debut album as a performer has nothing to do with hip hop and R&B except in terms of its deceptive slickness.

Like a lot of mood music, the album has a devotion to sound that ultimately renders it flat and emotionless. If you want to capture the feeling of walking the city at night alone, try Marquee Moon, and note that it is not interrupted every few minutes with an extremely grating announcement that "you're now listening to Television."

The Kinks: The Kink Kontroversy (1965)

(Pye [orig] / Legacy [reissue])

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

If you're hunting for treasure in the pre-Face to Face Kinks catalog, it's Kinda Kinks you need, the only Kinks abum in the garage-band mold that has the songs to back up the attitude. But Kontroversy is a great secondary option; you know the singles are all flawless and there are plenty of ways to get those, but whereas Kinda just captures the Kinks at a blissful early peak, this is the record that points onward. For most fans of any Kinks period, it will offer much satisfaction, even if the quantum leap was still a year in the future.

You get the Kinks going all-out with impressive blues rock on the thunderous "Milk Cow Blues," attacking a killer riff on the very Brit-invasion "Gotta Get the First Plane Home," tackling grade-A Beatle balladry on "Ring the Bells" (I Can't Believe It's Not from Help!), and upstaging the Stones with a sizzling "It's Too Late." "When I See That Girl of Mine" could easily have been a hit single, and the same goes for the apathetically desperate sleeper classic "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" -- brimming with a kind of dejected anger the band had previously only expressed musically. The bitterness and sarcasm on "Good Times," complete with sardonic "Yesterday" quote, offer the Kinks at their most bruising, all of its lyrics observant and biting, the music pointed and fiery. In its mature rejection of its generation's follies, the song shows itself leagues ahead of the Kinks' peers, a decade ahead of rock & roll even. Who until the punk era would openly display such skepticism of pop mythology? Or of authority and empty nostalgia -- "Ma and Pa look back on all the things they used to do / Didn't have no money and they always told the truth / Daddy didn't have no toys / And Mommy didn't need no boys."

Davies converts will be searching for hints on Kontroversy of the prizes to come and they will find them in the sweetly delicate ballad "I Am Free," tinged with powerful piano and 12-string and an incredible vocal from Dave; he is equally haunting on the unexpectedly desperate "What's in Store for Me." The melodic "The World Keeps Going Round" builds to a roaring midsection with some confrontational lyrics -- "What's the use of worrying 'cause you'll die alone" -- typical of his later work. In fact, the Kinks are almost invariably skeptical of romance, their songs from "Fancy" to "Waterloo Sunset" celebrating solitude in every form, exemplified here by the delightfully deadpan "I'm on an Island." There is an important exception.

The album highlight and a career landmark, "Till the End of the Day," is one of the Kinks' most potent early singles; its lack of chart success is criminal. The brilliantly raw arrangement defies the poignantly romantic lyrics for a juxtaposition both exhilarating and touching. As exciting as "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night," this song is a firecracker that still retains all of its bombastic intoxication. On a record that closes with a Randy Newman-prophetic song called "You Can't Win," you can tell what song is more genuine by which one is infused with more passion. The only other item resembling a hit is the classic bonus cut Castle includes with their CD (and Sony with their new two-disc collection), "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," here along with an adorably stupid song called "Sittin' on My Sofa." Both work decently with the LP's context.

Fans who've been deprived of the early Kinks will have no trouble growing with this even if they're not obsessed with the prime British Invasion music of which this is the absolutely perfect example (right down to the cover). And the folks who love the sound of the radio hits and want more will be in heaven. Is it slight in comparison to the works to follow? It's too much fun for that to matter. For all their stylistic shifts, the Kinks were always the Kinks, and Ray Davies indeed may never have made a smarter, more cutting observation than "Yesterday was such an easy game for you to play / But let's face it, things are so much easier today."

[Note: This is a modification of a review I posted in an older venue in 2004. Also, I wrote a piece for Metro Times about the recent Sony reissues of the first three Kinks albums, this one included, a few months back. Here it is if you're curious!]

[SEE ALSO:]
The Kinks (1964)
Kinda Kinks (1965)

Mates of State: Mountaintops (2011)

(Barsuk)

Read my review at Metro Times.

I love this band, so I feel kind of guilty that I've now basically trashed them in print. Please note that I am one of the few dissenting voices about the new record.