What an absolute masterpiece of a record. Before hearing this, I was only familiar with his late ‘60s solo material, but honestly, though I like that stuff a lot, I prefer this. It’s some of the darkest, starkest music I’ve ever heard. It scares the hell out of me yet I’m attracted to its heart of darkness. This is a truly emotionally compelling work.
MILES DAVIS once said something to the effect that he aimed to make music that shook your entire body and that got underneath you. I can’t think of anything that I’ve heard lately that would fit that description except for this. Listen to it on headphones late at night for the full effect.This is the best American rock record released this year so far and I doubt that anything will beat it. Go buy it if you like intelligent, driving, skull-crushing rock and roll!
For a record that’s described as her “country” record, this is really a great indie-pop record in disguise. Although I hear similarities between this and the recent NEKO CASE and JENNY LEWIS solo albums, to me it more resembles the lo-fi indie-pop of early ‘90s bands like THE SPINNANES. Plus, there’s an atmospheric element here that’s a nod to Millan’s professed love of BRIAN ENO.
Regardless, I like it a lot.
Although on the surface, this Leeds-based band mines the same territory as bands like BLOC PARTY and HOT HOT HEAT, they have more twists and turns in their less-straightforward material to the extent that it has an almost prog-rock or perhaps more accurately math-rock feel to it. I know that may not sound plausible, but that’s the impression that I get, at least on the first few listens. Either way, they seem like they’d be a really fun live band. Oh and you have to like a band whose record label name comes from a line in a JOY DIVISION song.
I’ve seen this wonderful Lp described as a “primitive, Moog-driven goof-fest”. You know what, though? That’s what makes it great! This is BRIAN WILSON at his loopiest and most child-like. I know I’m probably in the minority here, but I enjoy this as much as his much more venerated ‘60s work and I think it’s one of their best albums. It would make a great two-fer with the unfortunately unreleased but mind-blowing Adult Child, but as now it’s paired up with its predecessor, the much more successful but also much inferior, oldies-dominated 15 Big Ones.
A great CD of re-recordings of old Rocket from the Tombs classics, many of which would later be used by spin-off bands PERE UBU and THE DEAD BOYS. I’m normally against bands re-recording their old songs, but in this case it’s justified since these songs were never recorded properly in the first place, so the only recorded evidence of Rocket from the Tombs’ existence prior to this came in the way of The Day the Earth Met the Rocket from the Tombs, a rough-sounding collection of rehearsals and live tracks. While that collection captured Rocket from the Tombs in all of its ragged, mid ‘70s glory, Rocket Redux is infintely more listenable. RICHARD LLOYD does a great job filling in for the deceased PETER LAUGHNER on guitar and other principals DAVID THOMAS, CHEETAH CHROME, STEVE MEHLMAN and CRAIG BELL all sound great, too.
A great double-bill featuring two completely different bands. The sprawling indie-rock of Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos blended well with Film School’s epic shoegazer jams. What a terrific night of music!
Contrary to what you might expect, this isn’t the first time that Costello and Touissant have collaborated. He produced Costello’s 1983 version of YOKO ONO’s “Walking on Thin Ice” as well as a few tracks on 1989’s Spike featuring THE DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND. This record features only two songs that were previously known to me. I know the title track from the performance that I saw a few weeks ago at BAM and the cover of “All These Things” was originally recorded (in a completely different version) as an outtake from the 1986 album Blood and Chocolate and finally released on disc two of Rhino’s 2002 reissue of that magnificent album. As for the rest, however, partly it’s a Touissant songbook record (what Costello had originally envisioned it as) and the rest of it consists of new songs that the pair wrote together. Touissant’s unique piano playing and Costello’s soulful delivery will remind astute listeners of songs like “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror” from the 1989 album Spike (on which Touissant was one of the many players and collaborators) as well as Costello’s more recent rock and soul-tinged work like 2004’s The Delivery Man. Overall, this is quite good, but it doesn’t scale of the heights of his better recent work like 2002’s When I Was Cruel. Still, I enjoy it for what it is and it’s yet more proof that Costello isn’t willing to rest and sit on his well-deserved laurels.
Hopefully they’ll make it here to New York next week, where they are scheduled to play two sold-out shows and a third one at Brooklyn Lyceum that was just announced. Based on recent evidence such as “this performance of “Mountain Energei from a few days ago in Los Angeles, the new band is really gelling, so I have high hopes for the Knitting Factory show on Thursday night.
More proof that Art Brut is one of the best new bands around, they managed to turn the back, coffee-house portion of Sound Fix into a sweaty nightclub! They sounded great and as always, there was Eddie going into the crowd and at one point climbing on top of the bar counter while singing. He and Art Brut’s songs just radiate humor, energy, fun and liveliness!
