Neurosis is a band that makes me glad to be alive right now, at this point in musical history. This feels like an album that could only be made today.
Something has been changing, evolving, in the primordial stew of hardcore punk and metal. It's finally crawled out on to the land. Previous albums were like a single green, scaly Swamp Thing arm thrust up from the murk into the swirling mist. Now, on Given To The Rising, the beast is among us, knocking us down, cracking open some skull and feasting on the nutricious brains within.
The degree to which theyve evolved is staggering. Those aformentioned roots of hardcore and metal are but one color in the tapestry, along with folk storytelling and ambient noise. Other bands use the same instruments and styles they do, but here every element joins together to form a singular whole. There is not a single word or sound or note out of place, no one member vying for the spotlight. There is just the entity, the ALBUM. No sick finger tapping solos, bro, sorry. This is not a band you'll be seeing in Guitar Hero, ever.
The compositions are layered and melded together with soul, fury, and an organic flow. This is the all encompassing peak of their writing abilities, incorporating the most potent essence of the 4 previous albums. I would give this album to any music fan with an attention span, without a second thought.
Notice I said "attention span" there. Not to pidgeonhole this as "smart" or "intellectual" music, but...it is. This is music that will reward your full efforts to integrate it within your mind. It may certainly be difficult, and a little scary at first, but within 3 or 4 listens you'll begin to see the truth.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Over The Rhine, and also their new album "The Trumpet Child"
Over The Rhine is a fairly obscure band that should be much more popular than they are.
They have the surface elements of most of the crap that clogs the radio waves, innocuously pushes air molecules in Starbucks, and buzzes about in the stuffy clogged up brainspaces of indie web tastemakers. But they also give you real, beautiful human soul and songwriting that burns permanent marks all over you. Sales numbers and media coverage be damned, they will endure beyond vanilla fluff like Norah Jones and KT Tunstall ("Do you guys haff dat CD wif da "woo-ho" songonit???").
If your musical worldview is limited to popular media, you'd think most female fronted groups are merely a pleasant diversion, or made solely for consumption by teenage girls. There is still a bizarre social stigma that keeps women musicians that truly pour their heart out in a ghetto. You have to really dig deep and search if you want to find the unfiltered female musical perspective, even though they consist of about half the world population last time I checked.
I'll save a more fully formed look at this problem for another time, and get to talking about the meat of Over The Rhine's music.
Their sound has been unique and instantly recognizable since their debut, even as they gain and lose band members and flirt with a range of genres and production styles. They are on a journey, constantly searching, never looking back, while still holding strong to the American musical roots that raised them.
Folk, blues, old school rock n' roll, R.E.M., jazz, country, poetry, Neil Young, Velvet Underground, our savior Jesus H. Christ, Bob Dylan, and a whole mess of other things playfully step across the stage of their lifelong drama. They let their influences shine through clearly, proudly displaying what makes them who they are. Yet these roots never overpower or distract, they are the origin point of each album's road trip.
Their lyrics are full with humor, honesty, love, compassion, and appreciation of all life's beautiful highs and lows. Books, dogs, fine wine, and our good pal Jesus make frequent guest appearances as well. While they get frequent coverage from Christian media outlets, no way in the blue flames of Hell are they a "Christian band". In the Over The Rhine world, he's an occasional supporting character, a shadow of a ghost of a lingering memory. They use him for their own purposes, and don't necessarilyexpect us to join in on the worshipping.
Jumping ahead to the present (the back catalogue will recieve coverage on some other wonderful day), they have a new album, "The Trumpet Child". This one is all about, in capital letters, JAZZ. More specifically, that kind of vocal pop jazz that Billie Holiday made way back when.
Brass has been making brief appearances in OtR music since their first album, but here it's the star of the show. This is a playful, sexed up, drinkin' moonshine under the revivial tent (whatever the fuck that is, we don't have it in Rhode Island) and cuttin' some rug (dancing, not vaginal mutilation) album.
This feels like the imaginary album they've been making in their heads for years, to sit on the vinyl rack alongside their old favorites. The flipside of that is it's a very specific consistent mood, with less variety than earlier albums.
Karin's singing is at a peak of maturity and effortless control
The last two tracks on the album, however, must be approached with extreme caution. Track 10 features the shocking, brutal return of Linford(the male half of the OtR partnership)'s spoken word stylings. You thought you heard the last of him on the demos collection "Good Dog, Bad Dog"? You were wrong. Simply put, the man should keep his mouth the fuck away from the microphone. His words are poison, his mashed potatoe mumble drenched in sickening white gravy. The fact that his voice is mixed as the loudest part of the song, with Karin wailing (in pain?) far in the distance certainly doesn't help matters. The song is a Tom Waits tribute, copy, homage, or something. I'd advise excercising your right to vote with the skip button.
The final track is a Political Song. The lyrics are an attempt to playfully put forth those opinions (Hey wouldn't it be great if Neil Young was a senator even though he's friggin Canadian!?), but no amount of country sugar can help to swallow this bitter pill. Somehow, the band knew this, putting it at the very end where it can only cause minimal damage.
So, just make sure to activate that Eject button after song 9 and you're all set. This is far from OtR's best album (2003's "Ohio"), but it is 9 great songs, and worthy of their name. If they keep making unique albums in specific styles like this, the musical world will be all the better for it. I even feel bad for devoting 2 whole paragraphs to the negative aspects; it's just that they've set such high standards with their previous work, and this doesn't have quite as much meat. Still, an essential listen.
They have the surface elements of most of the crap that clogs the radio waves, innocuously pushes air molecules in Starbucks, and buzzes about in the stuffy clogged up brainspaces of indie web tastemakers. But they also give you real, beautiful human soul and songwriting that burns permanent marks all over you. Sales numbers and media coverage be damned, they will endure beyond vanilla fluff like Norah Jones and KT Tunstall ("Do you guys haff dat CD wif da "woo-ho" songonit???").
If your musical worldview is limited to popular media, you'd think most female fronted groups are merely a pleasant diversion, or made solely for consumption by teenage girls. There is still a bizarre social stigma that keeps women musicians that truly pour their heart out in a ghetto. You have to really dig deep and search if you want to find the unfiltered female musical perspective, even though they consist of about half the world population last time I checked.
I'll save a more fully formed look at this problem for another time, and get to talking about the meat of Over The Rhine's music.
Their sound has been unique and instantly recognizable since their debut, even as they gain and lose band members and flirt with a range of genres and production styles. They are on a journey, constantly searching, never looking back, while still holding strong to the American musical roots that raised them.
Folk, blues, old school rock n' roll, R.E.M., jazz, country, poetry, Neil Young, Velvet Underground, our savior Jesus H. Christ, Bob Dylan, and a whole mess of other things playfully step across the stage of their lifelong drama. They let their influences shine through clearly, proudly displaying what makes them who they are. Yet these roots never overpower or distract, they are the origin point of each album's road trip.
Their lyrics are full with humor, honesty, love, compassion, and appreciation of all life's beautiful highs and lows. Books, dogs, fine wine, and our good pal Jesus make frequent guest appearances as well. While they get frequent coverage from Christian media outlets, no way in the blue flames of Hell are they a "Christian band". In the Over The Rhine world, he's an occasional supporting character, a shadow of a ghost of a lingering memory. They use him for their own purposes, and don't necessarilyexpect us to join in on the worshipping.
Jumping ahead to the present (the back catalogue will recieve coverage on some other wonderful day), they have a new album, "The Trumpet Child". This one is all about, in capital letters, JAZZ. More specifically, that kind of vocal pop jazz that Billie Holiday made way back when.
Brass has been making brief appearances in OtR music since their first album, but here it's the star of the show. This is a playful, sexed up, drinkin' moonshine under the revivial tent (whatever the fuck that is, we don't have it in Rhode Island) and cuttin' some rug (dancing, not vaginal mutilation) album.
This feels like the imaginary album they've been making in their heads for years, to sit on the vinyl rack alongside their old favorites. The flipside of that is it's a very specific consistent mood, with less variety than earlier albums.
Karin's singing is at a peak of maturity and effortless control
The last two tracks on the album, however, must be approached with extreme caution. Track 10 features the shocking, brutal return of Linford(the male half of the OtR partnership)'s spoken word stylings. You thought you heard the last of him on the demos collection "Good Dog, Bad Dog"? You were wrong. Simply put, the man should keep his mouth the fuck away from the microphone. His words are poison, his mashed potatoe mumble drenched in sickening white gravy. The fact that his voice is mixed as the loudest part of the song, with Karin wailing (in pain?) far in the distance certainly doesn't help matters. The song is a Tom Waits tribute, copy, homage, or something. I'd advise excercising your right to vote with the skip button.
The final track is a Political Song. The lyrics are an attempt to playfully put forth those opinions (Hey wouldn't it be great if Neil Young was a senator even though he's friggin Canadian!?), but no amount of country sugar can help to swallow this bitter pill. Somehow, the band knew this, putting it at the very end where it can only cause minimal damage.
So, just make sure to activate that Eject button after song 9 and you're all set. This is far from OtR's best album (2003's "Ohio"), but it is 9 great songs, and worthy of their name. If they keep making unique albums in specific styles like this, the musical world will be all the better for it. I even feel bad for devoting 2 whole paragraphs to the negative aspects; it's just that they've set such high standards with their previous work, and this doesn't have quite as much meat. Still, an essential listen.
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