ok,ok- here's my reviews

You can call me Mr. Contrariety this month- I loved the music.

Field Music- 4.5
I don’t know. When I see “double album” I’m right away skeptical. And on first listen I said to myself yep, filler songs, too long, self indulgent, should have kept it a single album, wah wah wah. Well, every time I listened to it- I had a new favorite song. I’ve gone 180 on this thing. Can’t get it off my turntable. This a great album from some seriously talented people. It’s a record you really have to listen to. Sure it sprawls- but across it’s many varied songs it never fails to surprise and , most definitely, delight. My favorite release so far this year. They remind me of XTC- a band I absolutely love.

VW- 4.0
A solid sophomore release. Their sound is certainly unique- even if they do channel Paul Simon a little. When you get below the surface of these 10 songs you find the band doing some sonic interpretations that showcase a newfound confidence. You still have the catchy lyrics and the catchy hooks, but you also have layers that delve into electronica and a synthesized Afro-pop, ska, punk, kind of thing. All in all- a most enjoyable listen.


Yeasayer- 4.0
Definitely different, but most enjoyable. A band that takes “art rock” to another level. This is a beautifully hypnotic listen. The LA Times said it best- “Odd Blood ultimately reveals that beneath all the weird sounds, tribal harmonies and otherworldly textures, Yeasayer are still a bunch of indie-rock sentimentalists.”


Raging Slab- 3.0
Never heard of this band. Who would have thought these guys were from Pennsylvia. They do southern rock right. The slide guitarist keeps everything kicking. My favorite songs on the album though are So Help Me- which is definitely a straight ahead country tune and Lynne- a great ballad if ever I heard one. Another fun listen- thanks D’Arcy.

Ike Riley- 3.0
Never heard of this guy either. Irreverent rock and roll for sure! His songs all paint a picture in my mind. There’s humor as well. Although the subject matter isn’t always so. The hooks are there and the songs are ok but I feel like Ike is trying a little too hard to be the rowdy, in your face, rock n roller with the loser lyrics and the cathartic nature he tries to inject into every tune. Don’t try so hard Ike.

Contra Salesman Blood Measure Boogie

The Mong - Music Group Commentary - April 2010
- or -
One-Sentence Opinions from Some Guy in Meriden
(Who Has Been Profoundly Busy Lately)

Field Music – “Measure” – 3 Stars
Really good stuff but way too much of it, which seriously diminished the overall impact and strength of the standouts.

Raging Slab – “Dynamite Monster Boogie Concert” – 2 Stars
I respect the effort more than the outcome.

Ike Reilly – “Salesman and Racists” – 1 Star
There’s such a fine line between ‘self-aware meets clever’ and being nowhere near as self-aware and clever as you think you are; here, Mr. Reilly provides the added bonus of being on the wrong side of that line both lyrically AND musically.

Vampire Weekend – “Contra” – 1.5 Stars
Hey, Vampire Weekend, I’ve got a new title for your new CD: “Totally Derivative Music by Pussies for Other Pussies.”

Yeasayer – “Odd Blood” – 2.5 Stars
In my defense, I provided this because it was the only release I had from 2010 (provided to me by Secretly Canadian since I’m on their courtesy list) that I figured no one else (other than maybe D’Arcy) would have but, truth be told, I really liked it.

G’Hits – Pete Townshend
Other than “White City,” I’ve never had much luck going beyond his hits and this reinforced that.

TOPIC
I gather that the topic was, “What band had made/is making the most great music for the most consistent period of time?” Clearly it was The Beatles. Other candidates: The Clash, The Rolling Stones, Wilco, Pavement, The Police, Spoon, Guided by Voices, Neil Young, Radiohead, Black Sabbath, Elton John, The Beastie Boys, The Pixies, The Who, The Kinks, and The Beach Boys (too, I guess).

April's Golden Showers, or New Music That Pisssed Me Off

Vampire Weekend – Self Titled

Is it just me, or did this lead singer overdose on Paul Simon’s “Graceland” before recording this CD? On the positive side, this is a rhythm fest and if you are predisposed to pogo-dancing, it’s probably worth cranking it up, but for me, it’s somewhat boring, other than the two piano ballads that are at best, just OK. I was talking with my wife while listening to this and we were joking about ho we could give it the shortest review ever. She suggested, “Vampire Weekend? No Fangs. I countered with “It bites”. Either way, it’s a 1 ½.

Field Music – Measure

A basic tenet of musical theory is that there are only 12 ‘semi-tones’ within an octave which means that all the good combinations – that is, the ones that are not challenging to listen to and are pleasing to the ear – that form ‘riffs’ that get repeated in rock music have probably been used before this band decided to try to create new ones. The result is that the songs are not easy to enjoy, regardless of the pleasant vocals and instrumentation. My favorite part of this CD was a flash of xylophone I one track that made me long for Ruth Underwood when she played with Zappa, but all in all, the disc I did get through was, as Randy Jackson might say when he doesn’t get something he’s judging, “just aiight” 2.

Yeasayer - Odd Blood

I remember checking out a disc of theirs about two years ago and thinking…hmm, pretty cool guitars but I’m straining to hear the vocals, so I popped this in and …WTF? It’s electronica. And I hate it. I couldn’t get through most of the songs. But I did listen to 2/3rds of each track, if that counts. I won’t go back and listen again anyway…fact is, Mong’s hip-hop mix was more appealing to me than this. Given a choice, I’d listen to Scarlet Johannsson’s Biggest Hits (pronounced “Biggest Tits”) before listening to this again. 1 star since they’re from Brooklyn, but that’s it.

Ike Reilly – Salesmen and Racists

Thank God for this CD this month…I needed a smile after the ‘new’ batch and this was terrific. The songs were inventive, interesting, fun and powerful without being too silly. Musically, they were melodic enough to be memorable, had enough of a dynamic range to keep me involved through the entire disc and if you can’t appreciate a lyrical hook like “Commie drives a Nova”, you probably don’t like Elvis Costello either. 4 stars.

Raging Slab - Dynamite Monster Boogie Concert

A long time ago, somebody said, “These guys are like Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Metallica, There’s no reason to try to describe their sound any more than that. For me, this is a really enjoyable listen as every song rocks, but with southern rock sensibilities, and “Take a Hold” is one of those songs that should have been MUCH bigger than it was, except it was released in 1993 at the intersection of “Grunge and Pop Alternative” which was getting all the rock radio attention at the time. Anyway, this is solid all the way through so 3 ½ for Raging Slab…heh…heh….he said “Slab”….

GH – Pete Townshend

I love the Stones and I love Keith Richards, and I really like the Who and what Pete Townshend brings to them so my revelation here is I have to give even bigger props to Pete Townshend than Keith because when Pete steps aside from “The Who” and delivers solo material, it aces out my guitar hero Keith and not many people can walk away from their respective super groups and do that. I guess the bottom line is Pete is able to create and produce great songs, both musically and lyrically and in large enough numbers so you can have a GH like this.

Topic…The Brackets. Tough decisions all around, but we could have saved ourselves a lot of time by asking, “What band created the most consistent ‘good’ music without having a bad period. That seemed to be the over riding logic of picking winners in crunch time as the criteria of ‘a mixed hour’ as opposed to ‘their best hour’ of music was given much weight. Not really sure if it would have changed to ultimate outcome, but some of the “sweet 16” and “elite 8” and even “final 4” results might have been different.

Surprisingly, all my responses are correct this month

Field Music – Reminded me of XTC, with the semi-pop sound in tandem with a lot of herky-jerky rhythm changes. Like XTC, I was indifferent to most of it. The production was great, loved the sound, but the songs just didn’t hold up. Seemed like they got a little too cute on a few tracks, and had they kept thing simpler, the results would have been better. Not bad, but nothing remarkable. 2.5 stars

Vampire Weekend – 2nd rate “Graceland”, which to their credit is better than anything Paul Simon has done in the 25 years since that amazing record came out. Like “Graceland”, there’s lots of world-music textures and beats, good chops, clever lyrics (yes, I had to google the definition of “Horchata”). The question is why I would ever put this on instead of the original? Some of it is entertaining enough, but most of it sounds cold and calculated. The best song here (“Giving Up the Gun”) pales in comparison to anything on “Graceland” or the first two Talking Heads albums for that matter. If you’re going to as blatant about your influences as Vampire Weekend are, you need to bring a little something else to the table, and ultimately, they don’t. 2.5 stars

Yeasayer – So who let Jen back in the group? Nothing about this disc changed my undying hatred of synth-pop. For further details, see my review of Chemical Brothers, Fischerspooner, etc. 1 star

Ike Reilly – Just a great disc. A unique blend of old school rock and roll with a touch of hip-hop. The lyrics are delivered with tongue in cheek humor and sarcastic self-depreciation in a very Lou Reed-ish style. “Commie Drives a Nova” would have made the list for my favorite songs of the 90’s. The best work to date of a sadly ignored artist. 4.5 stars

Raging Slab – A nice slice of southern rock circa 1980. Can’t help but see this as a combination of Black Crowes, Drivin’ & Cryin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Loved the 3-guitar attack, particularly the slide work throughout the album. Melodies were catchy, but start to sound the same as the disc progresses. 5 star guitar work combined with 1 star vocals. 3 stars

Ghits – As much as I love the Who, I’ve always preferred Pete’s solo material to most of their work. Daltrey is a great rock and roll singer, but Pete’s slightly shaky, vulnerable voice better matches the pathos so often portrayed in his lyrics. It’s sad that he hasn’t done anything worth talking about in 20+ years, solo or otherwise.

This month gets you last months

McCartney

This is an obvious representation of musical masturbation. This plays like a bunch of high school musicians forming in a garage and jamming to see what happens. To be handed this after the Beatles is criminal and if I had actually paid for it I probably would ask him for my money back. Unfortunately this wasn’t a learning experience for him either, as he reproduces the process and the results for back to the egg. Making these two albums quite the representative bookends of this era of his career. 0

Spoon
One of those quirky pop bands that I should like but don’t find all that interesting. Like Franz Ferdinand and all that ilk you get the same thing with each outing. A couple of truly catchy tunes, some songs that are supposed to stretch the artist’s catalog and a bunch of filler. This cd is no different. 1.5

Teenage Fanclub
This is a band I have long thought of doing a greatest hits of. Unfortunately they just have far too many songs to limit to 80 minutes. Whether this is their best cd has led to many discussions as they have many that are just as good. One of Brit pops best bands ever. There use of harmonies of densely mixed but light guitars is brilliant. Truly a great band. 4.0

David Bowie
There is a moment in this set that turned the whole thing around for me. It occurs on the song Life on Mars?. (My favorite Bowie tune) What should have been an over the top moment was turned into a quiet musical time? So the promise of the songs before it where selection was interesting and the band played turned into a quieter subdued second act. Pity because I really liked the first act. 2.5

GhitsAnd interesting choice and an interesting selection of songs. Enjoyed most and actually listened through the whole disc on multiple sittings. Not my representation of Public Enemy but a forgotten gem it turned out to be. Jay zee selection is still just a great tune.