Sunday, May 17, 2009

The past few weeks have been somewhat dry in new music, at least from where I’m sitting - that is, cooped up in a room strewn with papers, jewel cases and the odd styrofoam Whataburger cup (Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich is back, and it is dealbreaker ladies!).  A few select gems did manage to sneak into my hermetically sealed vacuum, and I’ve more-or-less been brooding over them for some time now.  The first of these gems are a bunch of Feelies records (that’s for another blog), and the second are two local self-titled records by Jude/Ross and The Great Nostalgic, respectively.  Let’s get eponymous:

Jude/Ross - Self Titled

Says lead singer Michael Ross of the album, "Jude/Ross is the sound of a rock'n'roll band playing 10 songs in 26 minutes."  Couldn’t have said it better myself.  And let me tell you, when you’re used to being bombarded with press releases bearing headlines such as "like Brahms meets Metallica in a blender!", the idea of listening to something so unassuming is wildly appealing.  And the general sense of those 26 minutes is just that: a tight rock quartet laying down skillfully engineered tracks that push with just the right amount of artistic leeway but never assume so much as to pass the 4 minute mark with a drone of a genius hook beating itself to death.  Minimal overdubs and a clean Jon Brion-like softness give the record the feel of an on-the-porch concert happened upon by a rogue 8-track, put to tape by our good luck.  Each melody is intricately reliant upon the guitar tracks that both carry the songs, and add an extra edge when called upon to spice things up.  The album’s first song, The Knife, begins "in the morning I’ll awake on fire, and I’ll blame it on the sun" (take that Fire Island!) which segues right into what is perhaps the album’s true theme: "Be who you are, and you can be born again, and again."  Jude/Ross are very good at being exactly who they are, and it makes for beautiful permutations at every turn on this new album.

:JudeRoss - The Knife:
 

The Great Nostalgic - Self Titled

The Great Nostalgic is a very different record compared to the simplicity of the Jude/Ross album.  A dirge of a piano line echoes its way onto the scene as the albums first track, Grace, develops into a gothic mist of echoes and dreary vocals.  Some explanation is offered in the following track, The Kingdom.  "Echoes of the past from the Kingdom of Youth," it begin s, but haunting memories or not, time still passes: "We are growing old."  The rest of the song, and a good portion of the album, laments the pains of a similar transformation.  And while the greater artistic community have been debating similar themes since the chicken or the egg or whatever, The Great Nostalgic succeed in mimicking this struggle effectively in their music, which shores up in concentrated, howling crescendos, but subsides into an overgrown sonic landscape where sounds clamor and clash.  Smart lyrics bring together this ebb and flow with a number of different images, especially the "Kingdom" landscape, but by joining them with music so well, The Great Nostalgic create an album that both invites, and can stand up to more than a few deep listens.  They’re also touring the Northeast right now, so if you live nearby, Austin is coming to you this month.

:The Great Nostalgic - The Kingdom:
 

- John Michael Cassetta -



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