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Saturday, May 24, 2008

Brain Notes - Volume 2
 

Bossman Johnny Boy Laird seemed to dig the overwhelmingly, er, not negative response to my first edition of "Brain Notes" so he’s asked me if perhaps I could make it a more regular part of my weekly postings.  I can’t promise you a weekly thing, but I can say that I enjoy combing through the tangle of my musical thoughts every week and dropping at least a few on you unsuspecting bastards. 

So, again, the basic jist of "Brain Notes" is a weekly clearing of the mess that is my mushy brain.  A lot of shit rattles around up there over the course of seven days and I’m usually pretty happy if I can remember a fifth of it.  Thus, each week (or something along those lines) I’ll purge my musical stomach for your perusal.

As always, thanks for reading!

- My Morning Jacket - Progressive Or Adult Contemporary? -

The new My Morning Jacket album, Evil Urges baffles me.  I’ve listened to it five or six times all the way through and I honestly can’t wrap myself around the damn thing enough to even formulate an opinion.  I think I like it, it certainly sounds nice, but I can’t shake the slightly disturbing feeling that also sounds somewhat like a modern day Hall ‘n’ Oates album.

Now, I’m a firm believer that a band needs to progress, and an even firmer believer that bands should challenge themselves by pushing the boundaries of what they consider music, but I just don’t get Evil UrgesZ was such a slow-burning gem, an almost Caribbean feeling response to the darker, scarcer edges of It Still Moves - honestly, I was hoping Jim James and crew would come back with a second serving of that goodness.

Instead, Evil Urges pushes the boundaries of...adult-contemporary music?  I’m not just being Mr. Snarky Blogger Man right now, there’s a decidedly mid-day FM radio feel to a lot of the tracks on this album.  I’m Amazed sounds like late-90s John Cougar Mellencamp; Thank You Too could be the soundtrack to the final dance scene in a John Hughes flick - a John Hughes flick scored by John Hall and Darryl Oates.  In truth, the overall sound of Evil Urges is, well, ridiculous. 

So here’s my question: is this just MMJ pushing the boundaries of music in a very very bizarre manner or have they just hit a point in their musical careers where they’re closer to the world of adult contemporary?  These guys are selling out massive venues these days – they’re huge and only getting huger.  Does this mean My Morning Jacket is making a slow evolution in to the likes of say, U2?  Probably not, but you get my point.

On final analysis, I do like this album.  I like MMJ and I like what they aim to do, I’m just not as enthralled with Evil Urges as I was with say, Z

Thoughts?

:My Morning Jacket - I'm Amazed:



- No Age VS Times New Viking -

Against all normal Sanders-thinking, I’ve come to absolutely love the new No Age record Nouns.  On the surface it’s a dirty, sleazy little bundle of distortion and Dean Spunt’s almost sickly croon.  Repeated plays unearth what makes No Age so fantastic, the subtle balance of pop and grime that lays just centimeters from the oily-top layer.  Every time I start to tire of the crunching march of guitars, somewhere in the mix a touch of melody appears, just enough to draw me back in.  It’s more than intriguing, it’s near brilliant.

Before giving either band a true chance, I always equated Matador’s Times New Viking with No Age (for a while I thought they were the same band) and to be honest there’s plenty or reason.  Both bands use noise as a protective covering for their more poppy-aspirations.  The difference?  No Age’s noise is more of an atmospheric cloud, a fog of sound that envelopes the melody.  Times New Viking on the other hand shoves their noise in your face, demanding that you accept them as noise before you’re given access to what lies beyond.  Which, in truth is also pretty amazing, somehow Times New Viking manages to straddle the line of experimental and listenable.  Yes, some of the songs push to far in to immature fiddling for this guy, but in general the album is impressive.

My personal taste falls on the side of No Age, but I don’t need to tell you that both are well worth a listen.

:No Age - Teen Creeps:  |  :Times New Viking - Drop Out:
 

I had another thought to dig in to but I think I’ll save it for later.

Until next week.


Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The Attic and a contributor over at Sound On The Sound.   If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his writings here at Side One: Track One then please do so here.

- Noah Sanders -



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