forkcast tracks

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

"Stuck"

Norah Jones
"Stuck"

[Blue Note/EMI]

6

We expect a certain brunchiness from Norah Jones' music, and even though her new album is being characterized as a more hard-edged "rock" endeavor, she's still in her comfort zone of mellow, cozy sounds that pair very nicely with mimosas and Eggs Benedict. That said, this album track co-written with Okkervil River's Will Sheff is less like a farm-fresh frittata and more like the greasy bacon and eggs you choke down at a diner at 4 a.m. after a long night of heavy drinking. The lyrics describe an awkward encounter at a bar, and feeling paralyzed in the presence of some pestering dude, and, though it's unclear what the back story with this guy could be, the ache and desperation comes through loud and clear whether he's an annoying bro or an ex with a complicated history. The guitar chords clunk along with an appealing degree of heft without overwhelming the airiness of the vocal, and the disconnect between the two elements nicely captures the feeling of staggering about in a stupor, trying to muster just enough sobriety to make it home, or keep from bursting into tears. To a certain extent the lyrics convey details that could just as well be implied in the music, but as it is, "Stuck" evokes a vivid scene and emotional state without getting overwrought or too obvious.

[from The Fall; out now on Blue Note/EMI]

— Matthew Perpetua, November 24, 2009
Share
"Alexander"

Charlotte Hatherley
"Alexander"

[Minty Fresh/Little Sister]

7

Charlotte Hatherley is a curious case. Pound for pound, the ex-Ash (and current Bat For Lashes) guitarist's solo jams typically pack more hooks than a tackle box-- check 2004 single "Kim Wilde", a crash course in catchy that doubles as a thesis in pop economy, with nary a "bah-bah" too many nor too few. As a songwriter, Hatherley's sharp but never ponderous, and as a guitarist, she consistently churns out melodies with an instant appeal and an original edge. Somehow, none of this has stopped widespread fame from eluding her thus far.

Hard to say whether "Alexander", the new single from Hatherley's third album, New Worlds, will serve to buck this unfortunate trend. Like her best tracks, it's full of twists and turns, continually redefining itself as it goes: first a ruminative acoustic ballad, then an acrobatic exercise in compound choruses, then a sassy talk-sing-along. As names go, "Alexander" is quite a polysyllable to cram into a pop hook, but Hatherley pulls it off with characteristic ease. Perhaps it's all a little too busy or serpentine to buzz with the masses-- it's certainly too intricate and in-your-face to politely melt into the background of this week's token teen television drama-- but Hatherley knows what she's going for and she gets there.

[from New Worlds; out now on Minty Fresh/Little Sister]

— Matthew Solarski, November 24, 2009
Share
"Stillness Is the Move" (Dirty Projectors cover)

Solange
"Stillness Is the Move" (Dirty Projectors cover)

[Self-Released]

7

With as much inherent pop-accessibility as Bitte Orca has, it's kind of surprising something like this hadn't already happened in the six months since Dirty Projectors' latest dazzler saw release. And while part of me is curious as to what it would sound like if the older, less-quirky Knowles sister were to give it a go, Solange's sleek and sexy approach realizes its potential. Recording multiple vocal tracks that occasionally overlap, Solange nicely replicates the skewed harmonies that Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian love so much, providing space to ad-lib and play around with the stuttering drums and tambourines. Neatest trick: Dave Longstreth's batty guitar hook is swapped out for an equally juicy one, from Soul Mann & the Brothers' "Bumpy's Lament" (notable for anchoring Dr. Dre's "XXplosive" and Erykah Badu's "Bag Lady"). It's a brilliantly sly take on a great song that reflects the malleability of Dirty Projectors' music as well as Solange's impeccable taste.

Stream:> Solange: "Stillness Is the Move"

[self-released]

— Zach Kelly, November 24, 2009
Share

Monday, November 23, 2009

"Animal Tracks"

Mountain Man
"Animal Tracks"

[Self-Released]

7

Yeah, a group of three girls called Mountain Man. They sound as old as the hills and as current as some micro-genre that doesn't have a stupid name yet. With woodsy acoustic guitars and lilting, reverbed harmonies, the Bennington, Vt.-based trio of Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, and Amelia Randall Meath set up camp between the old-timey lilt of Alela Diane or Fleet Foxes and the laid-back lo-fi vibes of Underwater Peoples pals like Real Estate or Julian Lynch. All that said, nothing about Mountain Man's nostalgic underneath-the-stars simplicity really grabbed me until I heard a cover of "Animal Tracks" by Alex Bleeker and the Freaks. Where Bleeker's version rides in on enough Crazy Horse-type guitar to inspire another three Kurt Vile albums, Mountain Man's unadorned original foregrounds earnest vocals, concrete sensory details, and an equally sturdy melody; "The sweat will roll down our backs," the Mountain women sing. When you get far enough from civilization, hygiene isn't important.

MP3:> Mountain Man: "Animal Tracks"

[from Mountain Man; out now and self-released]

— Marc Hogan, November 23, 2009
Share
"White Russian Doll"

Lucky Soul
"White Russian Doll"

[Ruffa Lane]

6

Tragic car crashes...plans for the dance gone awry...the first kiss...the thematic palette for girl-group-style pop is well defined. The same motifs emerge so often that it becomes relatively easy to tune out the lyrics and home in on the high-stepping beats and careful orchestrations that launched this corner of pop to venerated heights. British sextet Lucky Soul might have fallen into this trap with "White Russian Doll", save Ali Howard's voice, which (although polished) sounds a bit like that of an adolescent. Because she sounds so young, her vocals lend what might otherwise be some overly familiar lyrics ("I will always be there when you call/ No pressure at all/ White Russian doll") a sinister depth. In a sensual, mature voice, these sentiments might sound knowing, but Howard's girlish coo launches these lyrics into a slightly creepy realm. Another layer emerges during the refrain: "Inside, there is you/ Inside, there is you/ Inside, there is you," a subtle and clever metaphor for matryoshka-- nesting Russian dolls, the person-within-a-person concept that I've always found unsettling. We often like our pop music with a high-gloss veneer to smooth over the dark underpinnings, and "Doll" certainly fits the bill-- content that toes the line of propriety, bested by a tuneful sound that makes you forget about those social mores.

Stream:> Lucky Soul: "White Russian Doll"

[from the "White Russian Doll" single; due 01/11/10; also from A Coming of Age; due March 2010; both on Ruffa Lane]

— Susannah Young, November 23, 2009
Share
"What Would I Want? Sky"

Animal Collective
"What Would I Want? Sky"

[Domino]

10
 

The only thing that stays the same with Animal Collective is change. Even if you don't think they're consistently brilliant, at least they're consistently different-- they have an open-minded, progressive attitude that I find more admirable as their profile grows. Like most of January's Merriweather Post Pavilion, "What Would I Want? Sky"-- from the forthcoming Fall Be Kind EP-- doesn't sound like anything the band recorded before it, but it still sounds like Animal Collective (call it style, call it voice-- they just manage to color everything they touch).

"Sky" is probably one of the more legible, straightforward pieces of music the band has released, and is also among the most immediately appealing: three minutes of lightly overdriven drum breaks and vocal lines dissolve into three minutes of high-gloss folk-pop. The guitars are audible, the percussion is recognizable. They probably could've made it easier to bob your head to; instead, they put it in a tricky time signature that feels like the meter infants learn to walk in. There's something here that reminds me of new age or yoga or the 1990s, but I can't put my finger on it-- whatever it is, it's appropriate coming from a group that has, through no specific positioning of their own, become the jamband for people who profess to dislike jambands.

Oh, on jambands: "Sky" samples-- and takes its title from-- Grateful Dead's "Unbroken Chain" (incidentally, the first-ever cleared GD sample). Considering the Dead are probably personae non gratae with a good chunk of the A.C. demographic, the sample comes as a nice band-fan challenge (personally, I've never been a big Grateful Dead fan, but my objections are musical, not social). In the original song, the lyric is "Willow sky/ Whoa, I walk and wonder why." In Animal Collective's version, the lyric is flipped: The end of the line becomes the beginning, and "Whoa, I walk" is deliberately misheard as "What would I want?" I mention it because it's what this band has always done for me: take a sound and turn it inside out to make something new, but something recognizable, even familiar.

[from the Fall Be Kind EP; out now digitally and due 12/15/09 on Domino]

— Mike Powell, November 23, 2009
Share

Friday, November 20, 2009

"Norway"

Beach House
"Norway"

[Sub Pop/Bella Union]

9
 

Just a year ago the Baltimore-based duo was squatting at an emotionally chilly latitude. Songs like "Gila", from the group's sophomore record Devotion, were driven onward only by the glacial ticking of a paper-thing drum machine and Victoria Legrand's smoky voice. Had David Lynch required a house band to play in "Twin Peaks"' Black Lodge, Beach House would have been a shoo-in.

But "Norway", the lead track from Teen Dream, the duo's Sub Pop debut, raises the temperature a few degrees. A percussive intro yields to an explosion of twinkling guitars and a chorus of woozy backing vocals. The core elements of Beach House's sound-- the drum machine, the thrift store keyboards-- are still present; they're just a few ticks faster. This makes a big difference. As it turns out, Beach House goes from dour to exuberant in just a few BPM.

Legrand, whose vocals have been saddled with Nico comparisons, can finally breathe a sigh of relief, too. The 1960s chanteuse's shadow is nowhere to be found here. "You let us in the wooden house/ To share in all the wealth," sings Legrand over a carsick slide guitar riff. No, "Norway" is radiant with the sunshiny 70s pop vibes. It's Stevie Nicks territory, for sure. Climate change has come to Beach House, and the weather suits them beautifully

MP3:> Beach House: "Norway"

[from Teen Dream, out 01/26/10 in the U.S. on Sub Pop and 01/25/10 in the UK on Bella Union; also from the "Norway" single, out 01/11/10 in the UK on Bella Union]

— Aaron Leitko, November 20, 2009
Share
"Internet Warrior"

Oh No Ono
"Internet Warrior"

[Morningside/Friendly Fire]

7

A band name as silly as Oh No Ono and a song title as dubious as "Internet Warrior" seems to invite skepticism, but this is no joke. As with every track on the Danish ensemble's forthcoming album, Eggs, "Internet Warrior" is immense, ornate, and majestic. The arrangement suggests an epic scope, but unlike a lot of orchestral rock, the music is not weighed down with unnecessary layers of unearned grandeur. It's just the opposite, really. The song may be rich in detail, but the sound is rather light and delicate, like a Fabergé egg. (Maybe that's where the album title comes from?) Though the vocals may grate on some listeners-- they sound as if they were recorded on a planet with a helium atmosphere-- the androgynous quality lends itself rather well to the piece's balance of fragility and bombast. The high, feminine tone paired with the sweeping arrangement brings to mind Mercury Rev at the dawn of this decade, but whereas Jonathan Donahue and company were achingly sincere and straightforward, it's harder to find the emotional center of "Internet Warrior". This isn't to say that the song is lacking in feeling or overly obscure, but that a big beating heart is hidden somewhere in the fog of this densely arranged tune, and the listener has to do a bit of work to get to it.

Stream:> Oh No Ono: "Internet Warrior"

[from Eggs; out now in Denmark on Morningside; due in the U.S. 01/16/10 on Friendly Fire]

— Matthew Perpetua, November 20, 2009
Share
"Wonderful Life" [ft. Playboy Tre & Scar]

Sean Falyon
"Wonderful Life" [ft. Playboy Tre & Scar]

[Self-Released]

7

It's essentially comfort-food rap, what these guys are doing. There's no risk in husky, wizened grown men grumbling hard-earned aphorisms over loping, bluesy beats. It's not going to rearrange anybody's ideas about music. It just exists, and it's nice. Playboy Tre's already put out a couple of great mixtapes of unforced real talk, so he's firmly in his own wheelhouse here, talking about living through your kids in the same verse that he cautions about trifling chicks, all in that unforced nasal twang. Falyon, a Philly transplant to Atlanta, matches up nicely, his heavy boom playing baritone to Tre's tenor. He tells the same street-life warnings and lamentations we've heard a million times, but he does them right. Onetime OutKast associate Scar, singing the hook, has a honeyed croon that seems custom-designed to get Sam Cooke comparisons. The beat pairs rolling pianos with murmuring guitars. And while it's on, you don't even necessarily have to think about what anyone's saying; you just have to sink into the pleasant haze of it all.

Stream:> Sean Falyon [ft. Playboy Tre & Scar]: "Wonderful Life"

[from the forthcoming Sean Falyon BE Everywhere]

— Tom Breihan, November 20, 2009
Share

Thursday, November 19, 2009

"When I'm With You"

Best Coast
"When I'm With You"

[Black Iris]

8
 

Even among the rich beach-pop/chillwave choices this summer, Bethany Cosentino, aka California's Best Coast, stood head-and-shoulders above most of the fuzzed-out records with "Sun Was High (So Was I)". It was a certifiable monster, but perhaps because "Sun Was High" was so mercilessly genre-entangled, Best Coast weren't automatically guaranteed a callback, and one-bloghit wonderdom seemed to be Cosentino's lot after her kinda meh follow-up. But now she returns with "When I'm With You", the A-side of her terrific new 7" on Black Iris. Turns out the scuzzy production wasn't some convincing cover-up: Here, Cosentino's voice sounds confident and perfectly smart-assed ("When I'm with you I have fun," she preens unconvincingly, recalling shades of early Liz Phair), now backed by a proper band eager to help wean her off the four-track and gussy-up the shoreside shimmy and shake. Jammy and self-assured, "When I'm With You" connects, autumn be damned.

[from the "When I'm With You" 7"; out now on Black Iris]

— Zach Kelly, November 19, 2009
Share

Next Page >


Recently