Hey look, I just wrote this yesterday...a review of Silver Jews' Early Times, up today at Dusted.
Silver Jews
Early Times
Label: Drag City
Early Times compiles Silver Jews’ earliest out-of-print recordings: 1992’s Dime Map of the Reef and 1993’s The Arizona Record, a 7” single and an EP made while Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus was still a regular member of Silver Jews. Really terribly recorded – on a boombox or answering machine, depending on who you ask -- these noisy, haphazard songs are interesting mainly as a document of the development of two of 1990s indie rock’s definitive bands. Inside the murk and chaos, you can hear bits of Silver Jews’ incipient slanted attack on Americana and traces of Pavement’s intelligence and erratic tunefulness.
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Showing posts with label Silver Jews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Silver Jews. Show all posts
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Catching up on my Blurt stuff
My not entirely positive review of David Berman’s graphic book, The Portable February
My take on Choir of Young Believers’ This Is For the White In Your Eyes
“Not exactly a choir, but rather like one angelic voice defines this Danish orchestral pop project. The voice belongs to Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, once the guitar player for synth-poppy Lake Placid, now part of experimental psych outfit Mit Nye Band. But even if you're a habitué of Copenhagen's indie rock scene, those names will hardly prepare you for Choir of Young Believers. Think instead of the fragile soul-stirring of Talk Talk's quiet moments blowing up somehow into giant Coldplay-ish pop triumphs. Through it all, there is that voice, cool in tone, fluttery with feeling, embellished at times with blue-eyed soul slides and flourishes and at others cutting through masses of strings with the high, melodically charged certainty of an indie Roy Orbison.”
"Action Reaction"
A review of the second collaboration between Helena Espvall of Espers and Masaki Batoh of Ghost. It’s called Overloaded Ark.
“A year ago, the self-titled collaboration between Espers' Helena Espvall and Ghost's Masaki Batoh looked a lot like mom, bucolically serene, folk-centric and gentle. Now little brother Overloaded Ark comes along and rights the balance, bearing a stronger resemblance to Ghost's impish rhythmic gambols and tending more towards unstructured, unvocaled free improvisations than songs.”
“Suenos Con Serpientes”
My take on Choir of Young Believers’ This Is For the White In Your Eyes
“Not exactly a choir, but rather like one angelic voice defines this Danish orchestral pop project. The voice belongs to Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, once the guitar player for synth-poppy Lake Placid, now part of experimental psych outfit Mit Nye Band. But even if you're a habitué of Copenhagen's indie rock scene, those names will hardly prepare you for Choir of Young Believers. Think instead of the fragile soul-stirring of Talk Talk's quiet moments blowing up somehow into giant Coldplay-ish pop triumphs. Through it all, there is that voice, cool in tone, fluttery with feeling, embellished at times with blue-eyed soul slides and flourishes and at others cutting through masses of strings with the high, melodically charged certainty of an indie Roy Orbison.”
"Action Reaction"
A review of the second collaboration between Helena Espvall of Espers and Masaki Batoh of Ghost. It’s called Overloaded Ark.
“A year ago, the self-titled collaboration between Espers' Helena Espvall and Ghost's Masaki Batoh looked a lot like mom, bucolically serene, folk-centric and gentle. Now little brother Overloaded Ark comes along and rights the balance, bearing a stronger resemblance to Ghost's impish rhythmic gambols and tending more towards unstructured, unvocaled free improvisations than songs.”
“Suenos Con Serpientes”
Friday, September 12, 2008
Silver Jews, Oneida and Espvall Batoh
Yesterday was jackpot day at blurt-online.com...with a whole bunch of miscellania, some of it pretty vintage, showing up on the site. The big thing, though, and the piece most likely to get missed by everyone, is this review of last week's Silver Jews show.
Silver Jews + Mike Flood 9-4-08
Iron Horse · Northampton, MA
By JENNIFER KELLY
Tonight's the night when traditional forms -- folk, country, protest, blues -- get truly weird. Silver Jews' David Berman says he gets nervous when he songs seem a little too straightforward and right away has to do something to twist them around a little. Opener Mike Flood probably never has that problem. His stuff starts out left of center and goes over the hills and far away from there.
Flood is onstage when I arrive, a skinny, close-shorn guy in a camo hat, looking a little like Ed Harris gone feral. He's a local fixture from back in the days when Northampton was supposed to be the next Seattle. The final track on Sebadoh's Bubble & Scrape bears his name, and when he admits that his first attempts at songwriting were mostly to "figure out what Gaff" was up to, he's talking about Erik Gaffney. He also does a fairly wicked imitation of Lou Barlow mid-set, taking his Guthrie-vintage staccato strum way up high and dissonant, so that his guitar all the sudden sounds like something off an old Shrimper cassette. Inside humor, but funny.
Go to Blurt.com for the rest
"Strange Victory, Strange Defeat"
And a couple of short-ish reviews, also from Blurt.
Oneida
Preteen Weaponry
(Jagjaguwar)
www.jagjaguwar.com
Oneida's last two albums, The Wedding and Happy New Year, were unusually subdued and song structured, a far cry from the band's pummeling, mind-bending live show. Now with Preteen Weaponry, reportedly the first of three linked records, Oneida lets its krautrocking, freak flags fly with three extended meditations on rhythm, repetition and drone. "Part One" dives deep into cool tones, its rattling, clattering drums subordinate to Tortoise-y, laid back guitar. "Part Two," the only cut with vocals, is classic long-form Oneida, Kid Millions hammering out slow, ritual drums against firestorms of feedback, ghostly chants buried under undulating walls of tone. All three cuts circle relentlessly around reiterated ideas, intermittently transforming repetition into revelation.
The problem: though repetition occasionally leads to satori, there are times when you just want it to stop. As such, Preteen Weaponry is far too difficult to expand the circle of O-lovers much, but still essential for the hardcore fellow travelers.
Standout tracks: "Part Two", "Part One" JENNIFER KELLY
"Preteen Weaponry"
Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh
Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh
(Drag City)
www.dragcity.com
Folk music is normally shaped, even defined, by sense of place. So, what to make of this geographically indeterminant collaboration of Espers' Helena Espvall and Ghost's Masaki Batoh, which draws from traditions as distinct as Scandinavian sea songs, Japanese traditional music, American blues, Celtic laments and free-jazz improvisation? Beginning in "Polska"'s throbbing, cymbal-clashing skirl, and winding through mournful modal melodies and sorrowful baroque flourishes, these songs seem to exist outside time and place, in a misty, mythical world. Espvall presides over the Nordic melodies of her girlhood, while Masaki adds Ghost-ly experimentation and effects. The one for the mix tape, though, is "Death Letter," a Son House cover lent otherworldly sheen with wild swathes of cello and weirdly reverbed vocals.
A member of the No Neck Blues Band once insisted to me that every country, every culture has a blues, whether it follows the standard 12-bar progressions or not. This sounds like the blues of a place that maybe only existed in imagination, at least until it was laid to tape here.
Standout Tracks: "Death Letter," "Jag Vet En Dejlig Rosa" JENNIFER KELLY
Here they are at Terrastock 7
Silver Jews + Mike Flood 9-4-08
Iron Horse · Northampton, MA
By JENNIFER KELLY
Tonight's the night when traditional forms -- folk, country, protest, blues -- get truly weird. Silver Jews' David Berman says he gets nervous when he songs seem a little too straightforward and right away has to do something to twist them around a little. Opener Mike Flood probably never has that problem. His stuff starts out left of center and goes over the hills and far away from there.
Flood is onstage when I arrive, a skinny, close-shorn guy in a camo hat, looking a little like Ed Harris gone feral. He's a local fixture from back in the days when Northampton was supposed to be the next Seattle. The final track on Sebadoh's Bubble & Scrape bears his name, and when he admits that his first attempts at songwriting were mostly to "figure out what Gaff" was up to, he's talking about Erik Gaffney. He also does a fairly wicked imitation of Lou Barlow mid-set, taking his Guthrie-vintage staccato strum way up high and dissonant, so that his guitar all the sudden sounds like something off an old Shrimper cassette. Inside humor, but funny.
Go to Blurt.com for the rest
"Strange Victory, Strange Defeat"
And a couple of short-ish reviews, also from Blurt.
Oneida
Preteen Weaponry
(Jagjaguwar)
www.jagjaguwar.com
Oneida's last two albums, The Wedding and Happy New Year, were unusually subdued and song structured, a far cry from the band's pummeling, mind-bending live show. Now with Preteen Weaponry, reportedly the first of three linked records, Oneida lets its krautrocking, freak flags fly with three extended meditations on rhythm, repetition and drone. "Part One" dives deep into cool tones, its rattling, clattering drums subordinate to Tortoise-y, laid back guitar. "Part Two," the only cut with vocals, is classic long-form Oneida, Kid Millions hammering out slow, ritual drums against firestorms of feedback, ghostly chants buried under undulating walls of tone. All three cuts circle relentlessly around reiterated ideas, intermittently transforming repetition into revelation.
The problem: though repetition occasionally leads to satori, there are times when you just want it to stop. As such, Preteen Weaponry is far too difficult to expand the circle of O-lovers much, but still essential for the hardcore fellow travelers.
Standout tracks: "Part Two", "Part One" JENNIFER KELLY
"Preteen Weaponry"
Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh
Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh
(Drag City)
www.dragcity.com
Folk music is normally shaped, even defined, by sense of place. So, what to make of this geographically indeterminant collaboration of Espers' Helena Espvall and Ghost's Masaki Batoh, which draws from traditions as distinct as Scandinavian sea songs, Japanese traditional music, American blues, Celtic laments and free-jazz improvisation? Beginning in "Polska"'s throbbing, cymbal-clashing skirl, and winding through mournful modal melodies and sorrowful baroque flourishes, these songs seem to exist outside time and place, in a misty, mythical world. Espvall presides over the Nordic melodies of her girlhood, while Masaki adds Ghost-ly experimentation and effects. The one for the mix tape, though, is "Death Letter," a Son House cover lent otherworldly sheen with wild swathes of cello and weirdly reverbed vocals.
A member of the No Neck Blues Band once insisted to me that every country, every culture has a blues, whether it follows the standard 12-bar progressions or not. This sounds like the blues of a place that maybe only existed in imagination, at least until it was laid to tape here.
Standout Tracks: "Death Letter," "Jag Vet En Dejlig Rosa" JENNIFER KELLY
Here they are at Terrastock 7
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