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Monday, May 4, 2009
CD review: St. Vincent
St. Vincent
‘Actor’
(4AD)
B+
There’s a great song from good old 1995 by the (currently Austin-based) songwriter Bill Callahan, aka Smog, called “Prince Alone in the Studio.” Broad and epic, with dramatic strings and stately pace, it imagines Prince perfecting a song. (“It’s three a.m. Prince hasn’t eaten in eighteen hours … It’s four a.m./ And he finally gets that guitar track right.”)
One pictures Annie Clark, former axwoman for the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, alone in the studio working on “Actor,” hour after lonely hour, adding layers of guitar, sometimes heavily distorted, sometimes sparkly. (There are a few additional players here and there, but much of the album was played by her.) You picture Clark double tracking woozy vocals, adding blippy drum machines, wordless choral chants and ethereal synths until it’s just right.
This is a dense, busy album disguised as a languid one, alternately beautiful and gritty and too often too fussy by half. It feels and sounds precisely done, the sound perhaps going through her head on the faintly creepy album cover, where Clark resembles a very lifelike android.
Opener “The Stranger” mixes choirs and smeary amp overdrive, a catchy chorus that goes “Paint the black hole blacker” and this chunky riff that sounds shipped in from a whole other song. “Save Me From What I Want” pulls the same choral trick with glassy, rainy guitar over breakbeats and spacey synths. It’s proggy stuff, indebted to (or recalling) such disciplined rock composers as Robert Fripp, Jim O’Rourke or Bjork.
There are straight-forward moments: “Marrow” futzes with a stiff digital funk, “Actor Out of Work” pounds along Krautrock style, while the chilled-out piano ballad “The Party” channels her inner Carole King. But most of the time, when things get too pretty, she crashes the party with some quick-cut noise guitar or deep focus percussion, as on the creepy, soundtracky “The Bed.”
“Actor,” which hits stores tomorrow, performs complicated moves that reward with multiple listens. Like Callahan says of Prince, “And when it’s all complete/ He feels like a hunter on the street.” Wouldn’t be surprised if Clark did, too.
(‘Actor’ listening party, 5 p.m. Tuesday at Mohawk.)
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CD reviews: Telekinesis, Conor Oberst
Telekinesis
‘Telekinesis!’
(Merge 2008)
B
Seattle-based pop-rock outfit Telekinesis is the brainchild of Michael Benjamin Lerner, who provides vocals and plays all of the instruments on the band’s full-length debut. Lerner comes across as a rosy optimist, especially when he’s belting out lines like “I know we’ll make it through the really hard parts,” on “Look to the East.” Musically, he’s not exactly a depressive either. There is an airy feel to many of the songs, which is due at least in part to producer and Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, who has also produced Portland-based pop rockers the Decemberists, among others. Airiness doesn’t always work in Lerner’s favor, however.
“Awkward Kisser,” a twee ode to young love, falls short compared with stronger rockers such as “Coast of Carolina,” with a more aggressive guitar part that balances out the sweet-sounding vocals.
(Telekinesis plays May 23 at Mohawk).
Conor Oberst and Mystic Valley Band
‘Outer South’
(Merge 2009)
B
With Ryan Adams on hiatus, Conor Oberst has reclaimed the title of ‘most prolific singer/songwriter,’ following up last summer’s self-titled shedding of his Bright Eyes moniker with “Outer South.” The Mystic Valley Band gets a more prominent billing this time around, with other members sharing singing and songwriting duties. “Outer South” also finds the band straying from its country-rock roots, with mixed results. The playful pop of “Air Mattress” and the electric blues of “Roosevelt Room” seem slightly out of place next to the catchy mid-tempo stomper “Nikorette,” where we find Oberst singing, in his own lust-for-life style, “I don’t wanna wear no dead man’s suit.” Another highlight, the haunting “White Shoes,” adds a bit of needed gravity in the spirit of Oberst’s earlier work. “Outer South” isn’t Oberst at his best, but it’s enough to satisfy fans and maybe even earn him a few new ones.
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ACL 3-day passes sold out!
Three-day passes to ACL Fest have sold out in record time, but single day tickets have gone on sale for $85 each.
Here’s the breakdown of who’s playing each day.
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Seeger grants rare interview to O. Henry student
O. Henry Middle School 7th grader Richard Swafford hoped to get a couple of interviews for a student film on Pete Seeger this past weekend when he flew to New York to attend Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. He had no idea that on Saturday morning he’d be interviewing the folk legend himself at Seeger’s home in Beacon, New York.
Seeger doesn’t usually do interviews anymore, but he told Swafford he made an exception because of the director’s youth. “He told me that young people are the future of society and that’s where the change will come from,” said Swafford, 13, who was accompanied to New York by his father Robert, an Austin attorney.
Seeger greeted the Swaffords warmly and offered some fresh-baked apple pie. “It was amazing to talk to him because it was like reading out of a book,” Swafford said. “He was quoting Plato and Nietzsche.”
The interview with Seeger was set up by a bed & breakfast owner in Beacon who is a friend of a friend of Robert Swafford. Saturday evening, young Swafford also interviewed Emmylou Harris for his film, which is entitled “Pete Seeger: When Music Changed History.” An earlier version of the documentary took second place in a regional National History Day contest. Swafford has two weeks to work the new material into the film before the statewide competition.
The airfare to New York and tickets to Seeger’s 90th birthday party celebration were; gifts from Richard Swafford’s grandmother Wanda of Odessa, a former history teacher.
Swafford’s favorite moment of the concert was when the full cast of performers, including Bruce Springsteen, Taj Mahal, Harris, Joan Baez and many more came out to sing “Happy Birthday.”
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Bob Dylan tells Rolling Stone that Texas is the reason
Bob Dylan really isn’t kidding about the Texas thing that’s all over his new album.
In the May 14 issue of Rolling Stone, Dylan talks at length about the role Texas plays in the new album.
On border towns: “You feel things and you’re not quite sure what you feel. But it follows your every move.”
On the music: “Texas might have more independent thinking people than any other state in the country. And it shows in the music….Texas is so big; it’s a republic, it’s its own country.”
On Billy Joe Shaver, who comes up in a lyric: “Waylon and me played (Shaver’s) ‘Ain’t No God in Mexico’ and I don’t know, it was quite good….Shaver and David Allen Coe became my favorite guys in that [outlaw] genre.”
On Doug Sahm: “Doug was like me, maybe the only figure from that period of time that I connected with… Doug a heavy frequency…It’s like what Charley Patton says, ‘My God, what solid power.’ I miss Doug.”
It is not on-line, so, perhaps needless to say, Texas music fans really should pick the issue up. It’s a stellar interview.
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Review: Death Cab for Cutie at Austin Music Hall
Seattle, Wash.’s venerable indie-ethos rock band Death Cab for Cutie busted out their best Austin show in years Friday night at Austin Music Hall.
Between South by Southwest, Austin City Limits Festival and regular album support tour stops, Death Cab has always put on perfunctory performances, but rarely have they been “one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life.” Seemed it always took them at least half their set to get warmed up. Once during a two-night-stand at Stubb’s on their “Transatlanticism” tour, they didn’t really begin to gel until their final song.
This time it appeared Death Cab had stepped up all elements of their tour production into a multi-bus, multi-semi-trailer truck affair. The PA’s sound engineering was on point (except in the far back) and the stage lighting was choreographed to accentuate the mood and tenor of the songs, creating displays that highlighted crescendos and emotions.
Another noticeable difference in the band’s performance was the depth of their catalog, allowing them to perform a crushingly emotional song-cycle. Frontman Ben Gibbard has always been a songwriter’s songwriter, and more than 10 years of crafting some of the most beloved melancholy indie-pop in the genre has built the band’s song collection into something deep and overwhelmingly powerful. All those years of touring (with basically the same lineup) has also allowed the band to become tighter than many of their peers. The members of Death Cab for Cutie have matured into consummate rock ‘n’ roll professionals.
Gibbard appeared more svelte than in past shows, performing with a relaxed air of assuredness. Highlights included the Los Angeles send-up “Why’d You Want to Live Here” and the dusted-off gem “Photobooth.” The coup de grace encore was delivered with two of their best songs, “A Movie Script Ending” and “Transatlanticism,” Gibbard’s mellifluous voice pulling at heartstrings like a blustery winter break-up.
Setlist:
The Employment Pages
Your Heart Is An Empty Room
The New Year
Why’d You Want to Live Here
President of What?
Crooked Teeth
Photobooth
Company Calls
Grapevine Fires
I Will Possess Your Heart
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Title and Registration
Cath
Long Division
The Sound of Settling
Soul Meets Body
Scientist Studies
Encore:
A Diamond and A Tether
A Movie Script Ending
Transatlanticism
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ACL line-up broken down by days, three-day passes sold out
To wit, in re: headliners and bigger bands:
Friday: Beastie Boys, Kings of Leon, Thievery Corp, Mos Def, Lilly Allen, Coheed and Cambria, Andrew Bird, Phoenix, Bassnectar, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Avett Brothers Reckless Kelly
Saturday: Dave Matthews Band, John Legend, The Levon Helm Band, Ghostland Observatory, the Decemberists, Flogging Molly, Citizen Cope, STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9), Bon Iver, !!!, DeVotchka, The Scabs
Sunday: Pearl Jam, Ben Harper and Relentless7, the Dead Weather, Sonic Youth, Toadies, the B-52s, Arctic Monkeys, Clutch, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Girl Talk, Passion Pit, Heartless Bastards
Check it all out here
Perhaps not coincidentally, ACL folks also announced today that three-day passes are sold out. Single-day tickets are still available for $85 each.
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New Austin music venue
It’s the Amsterdam, a Euro-style club at the corner of West 8th and Colorado Streets. There’s a parking lot at 9th and Colorado that’s free after 5 p.m. Here’s the music schedule:
5.06.09 Rick Busby’s Songwriter Stage (6:00)
5.07.09 Jodi Adair & Shelley King (9:00)
5.08.09 Arthur Yoria (7:30), Mysterious Ways (10:00)
5.09.09 Katie Mariah (8:00), Dennis Welch (9:00) Francis Levoy (10 p.m.)
5.14.09 Nakia & Derek (9:00)
5.15.09 Earl Poole Ball, Casper Rawls (6:00), Driftwood Moon (9:00)
5.16.09 Jodi Adair (9:00)
5.21.09 Noëlle Hampton (9:00)
5.22.09 The Atlantics - Two Shows (9:00) (11:00)
5.23.09 John Neilson (9:00)
