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This was my first time seeing Nick Lowe and he didn’t disappoint. Playing in a venue incredibly well-suited for his more recent, more mature work, this was a masterful solo show focusing on his impressive run of four straight solid records stretching from 1994 career reinvention The Impossible Bird to the recently released At My Age, which qualifies as one of his best albums ever. Despite this, he didn’t refrain from playing his ‘70s and ‘80s material as well, or from infusing some of those aforemetioned classics like “I Knew the Bride” and “All Men are Liars” with his trademark sly, sarcastic sense of humor that’s sometimes easy to miss on the recorded versions.
The addition of opener Ron Sexsmith, who is currently touring with Lowe, was a nice surprise as well. He also played solo, confirming his status as a great songwriter material ranging from “Secret Heart” (which was recently covered by FEIST) to more recent material from last year’s Time Being.
I listened to this again this past week after seeing him live and though I liked it a lot when I first heard it, I think I’ve really grown to appreciate it more after seeing these songs performed live. All of it is excellent, but “People Change” is the current standout for me. No one these days writes better lyrics.
This one has always been my favorite of his recent albums and right now, it’s about neck and neck with At My Age. In particular, the first half of the record really stands out with the astounding “Indian Queens,” “Only a Fool Breaks His Own Heart” and “Lately I’ve Let Things Slide”.
Despite the fact that their setlist contained mostly of new material on their forthcoming full-length (due out early next year) and that consequently, the show was less energetic than usual, Metric still played a great set that made me look forward to the release of their new album. Openers Crystal Castles had some nice electro beats, but their vocalist didn’t quite do it for me.
This one barely missed my best of 2005 list, but it wasn’t by much. I think this is by far their best record to date and it was a treat to hear “Handshakes,” “Poster of a Girl” and “Monster Hospital” live the other night.
Their long lost first record, out of print for years because their label Restless was bought out by Rykodisc, they got the rights back and put it out this year with a slightly different track listing. This is still recognizably Metric, but overall much less heavy and more trip-hop and electronica influenced than their official debut Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? and their 2005 breakthrough album Live It Out. In fact, it’s easy to tell that some of this material was recorded in the late ‘90s. Regardless, the pop hooks that would show up on their next few records were already there on songs like the title track and “Torture Me”.
There aren’t that many things you can count on happening every two years in odd-numbered years (unlike say, in even-numbered years where you can expect an election for the House of Representatives as well as other seats depending upon the year), but since 2003 one of them has been the release of a great New Pornographers record. This is the 2007 version. It’s just a shame that so many have dismissed this as “too mellow” since the more raucous highlights like “My Rights Versus Yours” and “All the Things that Go to Make Heaven and Earth” mesh so well with most of the rest of the album.
A great night for anyone who loves THE FEELIES and their various off-shoots, headliner and founding Feelies member and mainstay Glenn Mercer played a main set divided by solo material from his new Wheels in Motion and Feelies classics like “It’s Only Life,” “Higher Ground” and “Crazy Rhythms”. During the encore, he memorably covered TELEVISION’s “Glory” and THE VELVET UNDERGROUND’s “What Goes On” (which The Feelies also covered on their 1989 album Only Life). As for the openers, The Successful Failures played heavy power-pop in the mold of THE SMITHEREENS or MATERIAL ISSUE while WILD CARNATION, the other band I really wanted to see, played a terrific set concentrating on their excellent new album Superbus.
When I told a friend about this band the other day, I remarked that this is the best STEREOLAB album since Emperor Tomato Ketchup. In truth, perhaps that description isn’t very fair to this great New Jersey trio (formerly a trio, they have added organist ANNE HOPKINS), but there’s more in common there than with The Feelies, who they are on offshoot of (bassist/vocalist BRENDA SAUTER is The Feelies’ former bassist), on their first new album in 12 years. This combination of poppy melodies, smart lyrics (see “Saab Story”) and a sense of drone and repetition (aided nicely by Hopkins’ organ on this record) that reminds me of German bands like NEU! could easily compete with other similar bands like the aforementioned Stereolab or ELECTRELANE, so it’s a shame that they’re not as well-known. In fact, I think this is a better record than Electrelane’s No Shouts, No Calls.
Alt-country tinged indie-rock that reminds me a little of YO LA TENGO, this is another fine release from the Transit of Venus label, the same label that is releasing the new TROLLEYVOX double-CD set next month.
