Chairlift - Something (Everything)

Like many of their fellow New York based pop duos, Chairlift has carved out it's own little niche.  While Phantogram pursued a dreamier, Cocteau Twins like sound and Sleigh Bells mastered the art of brutally sweet pop, Chairlift has opted for an artsier, more bohemian sound.  Featuring songs titled "Le Flying Saucer Hat" or "Evident Utensil" their 2009 debut Does This Inspire You definitely had it's own thing going on.  While it had a couple of drop dead perfect pop songs in "Bruises" and "Make Your Mind Up", there were some rough moments on the debut.
With their brand-new album Something, Chairlift went on a really, seriously major eighties kick.  And if you're going to channel the eighties, it doesn't hurt to have Alan Moulder - who produced or mixed such slightly well known bands as My Bloody Valentine, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nine Inch Nails back in the day - as a co-producer.
Something bleeds 80's alternative pop right out of the gates.  "Sidewalk Safari" starts off with a classic noisy synth line followed by a quirky beat throughout. "Wrong Opinion" features the soft synth lines crossed with crashing percussion parts that harken memories of "Black Celebration" era Depeche Mode.  The middle part of the album slows down a bit some mellower songs such as "Take it Out on Me" and "Cool  As A Fire".  This part of the album drags a bit but not nearly as much as the rougher spots on "Does This Inspire You".
On the latter part of the album, Chairlift comes roaring back. Despite it's odd title, "Amanaemonesia" is a knock-out track that shows the full range of vocalist Caroline Polachek with well timed vocal assistance from her partner in crime Patrick Wimberly.  As with Bruises on their debut, "Met Before" is a perfect pop song, reaching back to the California pop of the 60's as their influence here.  To finish up their sophomore effort,  Polachek and Wimberly switch to a dreamier tone with "Turning" and "Guilty As Charged" Both of these tracks bear the trademarks of Moulder's work with shoegaze legends Ride and Curve.
While Chairlift has an serious fixation 80's alt pop, Something never sounds annoyingly revisionist.  Much of this can be attributed to the songwriting skills of Polachek and Wimberly who are becoming master popmeisters quickly.  They embrace their influences without needlessly drowning their songs in nostalgia.   Co-Producers Moulder and Dan Carey help to keep the songs lean and mean.  It always comforting to see a band not rest on it's laurels and come back with a superior work the second time around.

And if this wasn't cool enough - only 3 more weeks until the new Sleigh Bells album!!!
  

Happy BDay To The King and The Thin White Duke

Birthday greetings to two members of Rock and Roll Royalty. Elvis Presley helped create this little old thing called Rock and Roll and David Bowie took it pushed it numerous different directions. Here are a couple of songs to celebrate - Happy Birthday Gentlemen


This one requires no introduction.



A great, under-appreciated from Bowie's last album Reality

American Idiot - An Appreciation

On my way home from work today, was scrolling through the iPod figuring out what to listen to and happened upon Green Day's American Idiot.  For whatever reason, the over exposure the band between the Broadway musical, their over the top stage show, and their metamorphosis into uber Rock Stars turned me off so much that I stopped listening to them for a long time.  So, I don't what it was that behooved me to listen to them today, but I took the plunge.  After that first riff of American Idiot, it all came back to me -  this is amazing record - arguably the best of their 20 + year career.

Now, in the eyes of many punk purists still steaming that they left the confines of the Gilman Street punk scene nearly 10 years before, there is nothing that Green Day could do to ever win them back - ever.  The ironic thing about American Idiot is that, in a number of ways, it's taking that same Descendents-style pop punk prominent on their indie releases like Kerplunk and just refining the formula.

The album storms out of the gates with "American Idiot", a three minute bomb that throws just a few subtle jabs at the administration that was in charge at the time along with the general apathy that was so pervasive then.  Featuring some of Billie Joe Armstrong's most blistering lyrics, this would be the best song any other Green Day album - except this one.

Coming out of left field, Green Day took the concept of the mini-rock opera immortalized in The Who's classic song "A Quick One While He's Away" and punked it out - literally.  "Jesus of Suburbia" is a five part rock opera that sounds effortless for a band that had specialized in two minute pop punk tunes.  And they liked it so much they did a second one "Homecoming" to finish the album.

The rest of the album is filled with pop punk nuggets and a couple of more traditional rock tunes, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends".  While I think these two songs are probably the weaker songs on the album, they did expose Green Day to a new audience who probably wouldn't have seen them at 924 Gilman Street back in the day.  To show their indie cred is still at least somewhat intact, "Letterbomb" features a cameo appearance from Riot Grrrl extraordinaire Kathleen Hanna (a.k.a. Mrs. Ad Rock).

All told, American Idiot represents a pinnacle for Green Day.  It's a perfect mix of pop-punk, politically charged lyrics that would make the editors at Maximum Rock and Roll reconsider their eternal disdain for anything on a major label, and, dare I say it, epic rawwwwwwkkkk songs.  While I may never go see the Broadway musical,  the album has flown back into my active rotation.  

Here's a clip of them performing Jesus of Suburbia.  Enjoy

Sleigh Bells is back and bringing the pain again......

Sleigh Bells is not a band for the faint of heart.  Their 2010 debut "Treats", a lethal combo of Derek Miller's nuclear metal guitar parts and Alexis Krauss'  interchanging vocals/screams, was possibly the loudest album ever made.  Despite the crushing volume, Sleigh Bells managed to write some some really catchy melodic songs along the way.

Not one to waste an opportunity, the Brooklyn based duo are set to release their second album in February and to kick off the new year the right way, here's the first single.  If this song is any indication, they've taken some big strides in terms of their songwriting but still manage to retain that tuneful sledgehammer sound that made Treats such a great record.

Merry New Year and Enjoy!!!!!!

The Fiend 10 (plus or minus a few) - Top Albums of 2011

In a year of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the really, really, insanely ugly, some artists managed to release some pretty damn good albums.  Here are the fortunate few that made it to the Fiend's Fave List.

The Top 10 (in no particular order)

1.  The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar:  Wales' finest took classic 90's shoegaze and dream pop influences like Lush, My Bloody Valentine, etc and turned on the blast acceleration. 
2.  TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light:  Brooklyn's finest take a left turn from their new millenium style prog-rock and produce a mellower feeling but by no means less substantial work.
3.  The Roots - undun: Questlove and the coolest band on Earth make one of the most equisite sounding hip-hop albums ever. 
4.  Office of Future Plans - Office of Future Plans:  J Robbins comes out with another monster power pop album with a brand new secret weapon - cellist Gordon Withers.
5.  Anthrax - Worship Music: Apparently the thrash legends jumped back into the time machine to make this album because it sounds like it came straight out of 1989. 
6.  Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee - Part 2: It's always comforting to know that Mike D, Ad Rock, and MCA haven't embraced that concept of growing up yet.  This is just a fun record to listen to.
7.  Real Estate - Days:  Just a great, dreamy yet totally substantial pop album chock full of hooks.
8.  Machine Head - Unto the Locust:  The Bay Area thrash legends follow-up to their epic The Blackening is a brutal, uncompromsing metal epic.  Oh The Pain...
9.  Wugazi - 13 Chambers:  Minnesota mash-up artists Swiss Andy and Cecil Otter do the ultimate - mix Ian MacKaye and Old Dirty Bastard on the same album.  Download immediately.
10:  Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (Experience Version):  The 2011 re-release features a number of previously unreleased live and studio tracks that are amazing.  Check out the original version of the title track with jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.

The Best of the Rest:
The Kills - Blood Pressures
Battles - Gloss Drop
The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Phantogram - Nightlife
Liturgy - Aesthethica
Das Racist - Relax
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Le Butcherettes - Sin Sin Sin
The Sweet Ones - Big Mistakes

A big thumbs up to "Love Goes To Buildings on Fire", Will Hermes' document of the music scene in NYC between 1973 and 1978 and "Beats, Rhymes, and Life - The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest",  Michael Rapaport's documenatary. 

 That's it for 2011.  Hope you had as much fun listening as I did and we'll see you next year. 

Lets have a party - Metallica's 30th Birthday

When many bands hit their 30th anniversary, the conventional wisdom is to commence prepping for the retirement/retread circuit.  Metallica, as is their M.O., opted to do otherwise.  The Big 4 tour, featuring the Bay Area legends plus fellow thrash pioneers Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth, had a successful second run this year including a grand finale at Yankee Stadium.  Conversely, their collaboration with Lou Reed, Lulu, managed to offend everyone on the planet along with a few neighboring galaxies (although I still insist there was a redeeming moment or two).

As a grand finale to their 30th year, the Godfathers of Thrash announced a series of intimate, fan-club only shows at the Fillmore in their native San Francisco.  The minute the shows were announced the speculation started as to what they'd play, who would show up, would Dave be there, how about Jason, etc??  As shown over the past week, these were shows that won't soon be forgotten.  While the shows were a celebration of Metallica's storied career,  the band, in many ways, took a step back and put the spotlight on their influences, friends, and bands that they cut their teeth with back in the day.

Here's a breakdown of who was there each night:

December 5th: Apocolyptica, Jason Newsted, Biff Byford (Saxon), John Marshall, Brian Tatler/Sean Harris (Diamond Head) -

December 7th: Armored Saint (opening band), Marianne Faithful, Ray Haller (Sweet Savage), John Bush (Armored Saint), Kid Rock, Lou Reed, Jason Newsted, Mercyful Fate

December 9th: Laaz Rockit (opening band), Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains), Animal (Anti-Nowhere League), Gary Rossingon (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Pepper Keenan (COC, Down), Jim Martin (Faith No More), Glenn Danzig (Misfits/Samhain/Danzig), Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Jason Newsted

December 10: Death Angel (opening band), Bob Rock, Jason Newsted, Ozzy Osbourne (who this guy), Geezer Butler (Ozzy's partner in crime), Hugh Tanner (James' original bandmate), The original Metallica (Hetfield, Ulrich, Dave Mustaine, Ron McGovney + Lloyd Grant).  

As you can tell by the participants, these were shows transcended even the host band.  This became a living, breathing history of heavy metal going back to those ominous rain drops and church bells on side 1, song 1 of Black Sabbath to current day metal.  For 30 years,  Metallica has always worn their influences proudly on their sleeves and for these four shows, they offered up their stage to them.

"We never stop, we never quit, cuz we're Metallica"

For Dime and John

Today marks the unfortunate anniversary of tragic deaths of two rock icons.  31 years ago, John Lennon was gunned down just outside of his New York City apartment building.  Nearly a quarter of a century later, former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was shot on stage just as his band Damage Plan was starting a show in Columbus, Ohio.  Two legendary figures, representing different ends of the musical spectrum, forever linked by a date that may be the darkest in Rock and Roll history.  It has, does, and will always suck.

Rest In Peace Dime and John.  Here's hoping you're throwing down a BlackTooth Grin on the other side. For the rest of us - here's a couple of songs to remember these legends by: