Daily Album Digest: February 2015

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you know that for the month of February I participated in the hashtag Music Writer’s Exercise (#MWE). The premise was to listen to a new (for you) album each day and then write one tweet about it. A really neat idea, so I decided to jump right on once I found out (a day late, which is why February 2nd has two tweets) and it’s a habit that I want to keep up with. But I realize that given how social media can be that things get buried, so I’ve decided to make digests of the tweets with more thoughts and maybe why I chose those records.

This first digest is for the entire month of February (and quite long), but going forward the digests will be biweekly.

2/2: I Hate Kate's Embrace the Curse: Mostly just... okay, but "Story I Can't Write" & "I'm in Love with a Sociopath" are highlights.

- I chose this record because it was on the top of my recommendations on Spotify. If you’re into poppy punk stuff it’s fine. Not much to write home about though. I can’t see myself going back to much of it.

2/2: The Rural Alberta Advantage's Mended With Gold: Beautiful & grand without feeling forced. Track "Not Love or Death" sums this up best.

- I watch a lot of sketch comedy troupe LoadingReadyRun and at the end of 2014 they made a few podcasts with their favorites for the year. They included a ton of recommendations for artists and albums, which I want to listen through. The Rural Alberta Advantage’s Mended With Gold is just one of the albums members of the LRR crew mentioned. I recall enjoying this, but I also remember thinking that it’s a slow burn that I might grow to love more with time.

2/3: Fifth Harmony's Reflection: Some weak moments, but at its best (like "Sledgehammer") it feels like r&b/pop girl groups from the 90s.

- I’ve been making it a point to listen to a new release every Tuesday and I chose this one because I have a soft spot for girl groups. It really did remind me of 90s r&b (some of the first music I loved), so that was cool. However, some of the lyrical content was cringe-worthy and might end up making it more dated in the long run. Also, while I’m mixed on the end result, it was interesting to hear “Always Be My Baby” by Mariah Carey used as a sample.

2/4: Sparks' Sparks: Doesn't feel as instant as later work like "Propaganda," but their distinctive personality is already present.

- I’ve been making my way through Sparks’ discography in preparation for their collaboration album with Franz Ferdinand. I enjoy most of it so far, but not this particular album. In fairness though, the album was only their first and as I said, already had marks of their distinct personality. Not part of my go-to Sparks, but not offensively bad.

2/5: Clean Bandit's New Eyes: Classical & electronica often polarize, but this fusion is accessible with lovely melodies & promise.

- Todd-in-the-Shadows put Clean Bandit’s “Rather Be” on his Top Ten Best Pop Songs of 2014. Add to that my love of strings and I was very curious about this album. It’s a lovely record, but it didn’t grab me as much as I wanted. That’s okay, though, some records take time to grow on you and this may well be one.

2/6: Fall Out Boy's American Beauty/American Psycho: FoB once said, "Songs you grow to like never stick at first." This time I doubt it.

- Of all the tweets I made this month, this was the one I worried the most over, because (1) I feared backlash and (2) it pained me to pan this album. I love Fall Out Boy and have for years. This, however, was a huge disappointment. It reminded me way too much of the experience of listening to Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, where everything I love about FOB (melodically, vocally, even lyrically) was buried under needless screaming and noise. When your band has a vocalist like Patrick Stump it makes no sense to have him sound like he’s singing from his ass Chad Kroeger. Straight up, it’s a fucking waste of his considerable talent. The good that is present in the album just isn’t enough to make me see beyond disasters like the title track.  Also, I wish they’d done more with the Beauty/Psycho thing, but they seemed to rely too much on the “psycho” and didn’t leave much room for “beauty.” But of course, I’m one of those freaks that love Folie à Deux, so maybe I’m the minority here.

2/7: Phoenix' Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix: A fantastic mood pervades the record that strikes a perfect balance between pensive and joyful.

- One of my long-time twitter friends, Laura, loves Phoenix (she even co-runs this tumblr), so I’ve been meaning to check them out for quite a while.  I’ve had “1901” on loop frequently since listening to this. The song can’t be denied, it’s just effervescent. I really liked the record in large part because I love records that can create a mood from start to finish. Also, most records that can achieve that tend to be rather melancholy (Pet Sounds, Wind in the Wires, etc.), but this one has such a joy underneath it all that makes it stand out in that regard.

2/8: Vampire Weekend's Contra: Fitting this lost to the Black Keys. Not bad in any technical sense, but not much stands out either.

- Yeeeesh. As I said on Twitter, I remember quite liking their self-titled, so I was really stunned by how much I disliked Contra. It bored me to fury. Also, I’d like to elaborate on the Black Keys comment. Contra and Brothers were both up for Best Alternative Album at the 2011 Grammys and of course, Brothers won and it’s fitting, in a way, because Contra and the Black Keys both give me the same vibe.  In that, I have no real complaints technically about them, they don’t do anything atrocious or offensive, but they just don’t do anything for me. Not bad, exactly, but nothing that strikes me as particularly good or great either and lacks life or personality. But I know I’m clearly in the minority on this and practically committing music geek heresy by saying it. Oh well.

2/9: Real Estate's Atlas: Lovely and atmospheric record that flows and floats along easily.

- Another LRR recommendation. I liked it well enough, but I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I would’ve liked as much if Contra had bugged me so much. A lot of things Contra failed at, this album succeeded at, I thought, so it was a much more pleasant experience. Maybe if I revisit it that will change somehow, we’ll see.

2/10: Father John Misty's I Love You, Honeybear: A title like "Bored in the USA" suggests a work bland & trite, but ILYH's moving & genuine.

- A Tuesday release, but I don’t recall why I chose this one specifically. Due to Twitter limits I couldn’t say the first thing I really wanted to, which is that “The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apt.” sounds like Pet Sounds if Brian Wilson were a total cynic. That isn’t an insult, by the way. I actually find it quite impressive and that song is one of my favorites on the album. Also impressive, the song corrects someone’s grammar in a way that’s actually funny.

2/11: A Flock of Seagulls' A Flock of Seagulls: Not a flawless gem, but with tracks like "Space Age Love Song" & "DNA" a gem nonetheless.

- A while back Todd-in-the-Shadows did a One Hit Wonderland episode on “I Ran (So Far Away)” and ever since I’ve been curious about this one. Overall I loved it, but one big problem with it is that the lyrics can be too repetitive at times. The song “Telecommunication,” for example, is almost nothing but the word telecommunication. Still, when it’s great the album is really great.

2/12: Sparks' A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing: This album contains a rock cover of "Do-Re-Mi" and that's not even its weirdest moment.

- I’ll have to revisit this one soon. Woofer is only their second record, but definitely moving in the direction of works like Propaganda. Not a favorite, but I liked it well enough.

2/13: Bedhead's Transaction de Novo: Before this album I didn't know the term "slowcore." It's so sedate I'm at a loss of what to say.

- Another LRR recommendation. This really proved shoegaze and the like just aren’t for me. It’s funny though, in my reading on this album various critics claim that this album was Bedhead at their most uptempo. If that’s true their previous material was probably as inert as a sedated sloth.

2/14: Sparks' Terminal Jive: Great disco with a sense of humor and highlights like "The Greatest Show on Earth" and "When I'm With You."

- I’m always up for some good disco, so I dig this.

2/15: St Vincent's St Vincent: Allow me to add to the veritable chorus of praise this has received. It is simply impeccable.

- Another LRR recommendation.  I’ve put off checking out St. Vincent for ages and I’m not sure why, especially after listening to this album. The limits of Twitter really made it difficult to sum this album up. There is so much on it that’s fantastic and should be heard.

2/16: Owen Pallett's In Conflict: The restrained vocals contradict lyrics about reconciling life as it is with the life one may never have.

- Another LRR recommendation. Fittingly, I feel conflicted about this record. That is, it’s good and has so many things I tend to really like (such as the main themes of growing older and growing away from a variety of things, which resonates with me at the moment) but I feel like if I wasn’t already such a big fan of Patrick Wolf I might like this record more. Despite that I would like to hear more of Pallett’s work, because that initial impression may be wrong on my part.

2/17: Ibeyi's Ibeyi: Captivating rhythms with haunting and sweet vocals. It can be a bit slow, but still an impressive and promising debut.

- A Tuesday release. Their bio intrigued me, particularly the mentions of singing in Yoruban and the label “doom soul.” They can be melancholy, but I don’t know that “doom” really enters into their work very much, at least not here. I don’t know if this is a weird comparison or not, but listening to this reminded me a great deal of my first listens to Fiona Apple’s debut Tidal; the moodiness, the rhythms, prominence of piano, the tendency to be slow for maybe too long, and despite any flaws full of promise. I look forward to what they do next.

2/18: LIGHTS' Little Machines: A pleasant enough 80s-inspired listen, but it mostly blends together & buries anything that might stand out.

- I think for album I went into my recommendations trying to find a female artist. Sadly, I wasn’t thrilled with this album. The individual songs aren’t dynamic and beside each other there isn’t much variety either and as I said, it all blends together. I’ve heard that her earlier album Siberia is more experimental and interesting, so I want to check that out.

2/19: The Posies' Frosting On The Beater: An album of 60s harmonies and melodies from 90s Seattle with highlights like "Solar Sister."

- Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol mentioned this album early on that day, so I decided to check it out. The influence the Posies have on Snow Patrol became apparent very quickly. I was very surprised to find out they were from Seattle and this was released in 1993. They aren’t at all the sound most would associate with that time and place. They also reminded me a bit of the Gin Blossoms, which is always cool.

2/20: The Hollies' Butterfly: The title track's strings & melody create something simply enchanting & make it the stand out on the album.

- My friend Sierra is a huge Hollies fan. (She runs this Instagram dedicated to them.) Also, the Hollies were listed as a big influence on the Posies, so I figured I should finally dive more deeply into them.  I know tracks by them like “Bus Stop,” so this album was more psychedelic than I was expecting from them. 

2/21: Stars' No One is Lost: The theme of mortality is too on the nose at times, but there's enough great melodies & synth to make it work.

- Another LRR recommendation. I think this tweet came out much harsher than I intended, because I liked this record and feel I could really grow to love Stars. 

2/22: Sparks' Big Beat: Danceable at times yet not really catchy. Nothing stands out and it seems rather generic, especially for Sparks.

- More Sparks. I didn’t like this one. Given what I’ve come to expect from Sparks this was just too generic. It sounds like almost any band in the seventies could’ve made it. And from what I’ve read they also felt it lacked personality, which led to the recording albums like No. 1 in Heaven and Terminal Jive, albums I vastly prefer.

2/23: No Doubt's No Doubt: The album doesn't quite reach the awesome heights funky "Let's Get Back" promises, but it's a decent debut.

- One of those records I’ve been meaning to get to for ages, so I just picked it out of one my Spotify lists. I have a big weakness for anything with a horn section or great bassline, so much of this record is laser-targeted for me. I also really liked the tracks “Paulina” and “Sometimes,” which are complete opposites of each other in terms of tone. That said, it might not be for you unless you’re a hardcore No Doubt completionist or you’d like to hear them sound like a band again.

2/24: MisterWives' Our Own House: Sunny & purposely optimistic (ex:"Reflections"), which makes somber moments like "Coffins" more powerful.

- A Tuesday release, which I chose based on the coolest cover art. But, man. This. Album. I really wanted to love this album. The music’s on point. The lyrics are on point. The vocals grate at me way too often and it just kept pulling me out of it. But honestly, that’s probably just a matter of personal taste and how certain voices or types of voices hit me. Maybe with more listens it will grow on me. I hope so.

2/25: George Harrison's Thirty Three &1/3: For better or worse, he had his own style, which mightn't be for all. "This Song" is fantastic.

- This record was chosen in honor of dear George’s birthday. As I said, George had a very distinct style, in terms of both music and lyrics. As someone else put it, he had an “aural fingerprint” and you know George Harrison guitar when you hear it. It’s so distinct that it’s also quite easy to pick out those inspired by him. George’s style also consisted of his own “pet” themes and topics and a not-unnoticed tendency to get blunt and preachy in his lyrics. Not a style for everyone, but I don’t think this particular record falls prey to those faults quite as much. And even though he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it’s a good thing that George was around to do what he did, because again, it was special and uniquely him.

2/26: Sparks' Introducing Sparks: The album's best summed up with one of its lyrics: "I'm not at my best today." (Except for "Goofing Off.")

 - Somehow even more bland than Big Beat, but at least it has “Goofing Off.” “Goofing Off” is the wonderfully ridiculous stuff I love and expect from Sparks. Also, it kind of reminds of “The Mamushka” from The Addams Family and anything that conjures images of Raul Julia dancing is just delightful.

2/27: The Killers' Day & Age: I thought Sam's Town killed my interest in the band, but songs like "Spaceman" and "I Can't Stay" may reignite it.

-  I still have to give Battle Born a listen, but I think I might be back on the Killers’ train. I have some friends who are diehard Killers fans and I got to thinking that I wasn’t being fair in letting Hot Fuss loom so large and just writing them off as I did. Musically the album is fantastic, but still exhibits the lyrical weaknesses the Killers have had from the beginning. Far back as “All These Things That I’ve Done,” they know how to make music that sounds moving and emotional, but write lyrics too vague to mean anything clear or substantial (as Pitchfork put it: “[S]ignifying everything but saying nothing.”)  As I’ve said before there’s nothing wrong with being obtuse, abstract, or surreal, but Flowers obviously wants these words to have a resonance that they don’t often live up to. Maybe he does put much of his heart and his experience into his words, but for me at least, it’s detached and distant. But, like Hot Fuss, everything else works so well here that I can forgive any weaknesses.

2/28: Vampire Weekend's Modern Vampires of the City: Engaging, contemplative, and fun without feeling overly dreary or careless.

- For the sake of completion I wanted to listen to this record, but I wasn’t itching to do so anytime soon. But, after Day & Age proved I could dig another Killers’ record, I figured why not? And I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it’s because I have a soft spot for existential contemplation with a great beat, but I loved this album. It’s a big departure from Contra and that is a great thing. When I expanded on Contra earlier I said that it didn’t have life or personality and I think most of that was due to the vocals. In his video on Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song” Todd-in-the-Shadows explains why he hates white dudes with acoustic guitar music, in part, because it “is music made for and by people without any problems.” Ezra Koenig’s vocals on Contra embody exactly that for me and they bring down the entire thing. On Modern Vampires of the City, he sounds engaging and engaged and dynamic, like his vocal “Diane Young” has a goofy, Buddy Holly sort of vibe. Also, with "Hannah Hunt," I feel like I could probably write an entire essay just on the line, "As we made our way from Providence to Phoenix." I don’t know that Vampire Weekend’s other two albums really warranted the hype around the band, but this album does.