Opeth - Watershed (2008, Roadrunner Records)

3 out of 5

Opeth is a band that I used to make fun of, not for what they are or what kind of music they play, but rather, because of a kid that I knew that listened to them. And that's unfair. Because they're actually kind of good...sometimes....and this record is good....sometimes....

Watershed is Opeth's second record for Roadrunner, ninth overall, and first without longtime guitarist Peter Lindgren and drummer Martin Lopez, and I don't want to say it's apparent, because apparently frontman Mikael Akerfeldt has always been the primary songwriter, but there is something different happening here.

The record starts with "Coil," which sounds like a Medieval ballad, and not a very good one, before moving on to the first of the album's 7+ minute songs (6 of the 7 songs on the record are, actually), "Heir Apparent," which is definitely heavy, and has some great parts, but some, like the last 1 1/2 minutes, seemingly come out of nowhere. And, when you're writing a nearly 9 minute song, you want some coherence.

And speaking of nearly 9 minute songs, the next track, "Lotus Eater," is probably the best on the album, blending the band's progressive music-nerd sound with the cleanly sung/articulately growled vocals that they've steadily used more and more on each album. But, about the halfway mark, there's a full-on folk music breakdown that kills the pace of the song, even though it is followed up with an amazing carnival-funk from hell solo/interlude. But, from there, we go to "Burden," a big, slightly epic, slightly awesome and slightly boring, Jethro Tull-ish song (and I like Jethro Tull) that fades out to the sound of guitars being detuned while playing the same riff for a good minute, and "Porcelain Heart," despite starting with a doomy-riff and slo-mo blast beats (and re-visiting that riff throughout), ends up just being 60-75% dull tights-and-tunics folk. I know it seems like I'm hating on folk, which I don't, at all, it just feels completely out of place in this instance.

I want to like this record, I really do, because I really like some of it, and I even gave it plenty of chances, seeing how long it took me to get into their last record, Ghost Reveries, but when it comes down to it, this album isn't great, even if parts of it are.

=james

Weezer - Weezer (2008, DGC/Interscope)

Alas! A new Weezer release! Why, Rivers, do you make us wait so long? First of all, before I get to the music, I must say that the red looks quite spiffy. The four of them lined up once again as they did for The Blue & Green Albums, as well as Make Believe. Even if you've never heard a single Weezer song, you can see that they've changed and matured just by viewing the succession of these covers. The cowboy hat threw everyone for a loop, but that's exactly the point. I think Rivers wanted to visually address the fact that this is an experimental, branching out of sorts type of album. As for the future? He could have dreads on the Yellow album. Just wait!

As with most Weezer albums, the first track opens up with a crisp, attention-grabbing diddy. This one's called "Troublemaker" and is arguably the best opening track for Weezer since "My Name is Jonas." It's hardly experimental, though it did hit my soft spot. The lyrics explore more of Rivers' penchant for disliking cliques, normality, and fakers, while sarcastically (or perhaps not) exploiting his own fame. I predict I'll be singing this song - albeit with incorrect lyrics - hours after I finish listening to this disc.

As the disc spins into the heart of track two, I'm purely delighted. I'm loving this! I might be able to describe in detail how awesome this track is, but I'm still busy picking pieces of my mind up off the floor! This is like Weezer's take on Sgt. Pepper's or Pet Sounds!!

The lead single, "Pork and Beans" proves that Rivers can sit down and write a hit song whenever he wants. I guess he proved that a while ago. These lyrics so far are tickling me the right way. My only concern is if I might become a little jaded with him being so facetious and overly stuck up. I do love how they act as a great reflective parody of what kids buy into nowadays. I mean, seriously. Have you read the lyrics of Billboard's top 5 singles?

"Heart Songs" is one of those songs you wish you wrote and could take credit for. We all have our songs that influence us. Most musicians will borrow some riffs, adapt some styles, change a few notes of a melody. Rivers decided to name names in this track, citing artists and songs that he grew up listening to and became fond of. I mean, that's where true love really exists, right? What a great ode.

"Everybody Get Dangerous" is like downing a giant Pixie Stick, chasing it with 6 Red Bulls, then being given a chainsaw in one hand and a stick of dynamite in the other. I look back to my own childhood years and wonder how I ever made it through as well. This song would have been the soundtrack to many a wild night! Love the killer riff in the chorus as well as the battle at the end between members of The Blue Man Group and Stomp!

"Dreamin'" takes a similar progression from "Why Bother" off of Pinkerton and slows it down a bit. The tempo changes keep the song from being a little too repetitive. This one will probably be the track that will have to grow on me after a while. I do like the concept and the lyrics, though.

"Thought I Knew" has Brian Bell singing lead. Although I would never guess that this is a Weezer song, it does give the album some variety and it's not that bad of a track. Don't skip this one and give it a chance. There's more than meets the ear here.

Scott Shriner almost comes off as a creepy stalker in "Cold Dark World." Almost? Haha. Well, I'm sure he's sincere. I think you just need to know him before you make that judgment. Once again, he touches on a familiar Weezer theme, writing about reaching people who feel unreachable. He's connecting with an audience that desperately needs connecting, although is afraid to admit it.

Well, don't think they'd just leave the drummer out! Pat Wilson gets a chance as well to sing lead. It's definitely not the best track, but "Automatic" sounds like 90's vibe produced with today's technology. There's a chunk of substance really missing from the song, though the shimmering and overlapping sounds try their best to fill the void.

As with The Blue Album, our last track here clocks in as the lengthiest. Cuomo laments here like only Cuomo can. But rest assured, this is more about finding a balance. This is the most philosophical track, though it can be interpreted in many ways. I was going to attempt my best guess here, but maybe I'll just let it be. It's a peaceful song that doesn't need my thoughts to paint it. This black and white song is best left alone to be the most effective representation.

On first listen, the first half of the disc was more sinfully pleasing for me, while the second half urged me to be more mature. I feel like I've gone through some up's and down's in my life, all the while feeling like I've always been true to myself. I've never had any regrets, but I've always had a certain urgency to push forward and explore the world as well as my emotions. Maybe this is why I can related so well to The Red Album, or even their whole discography. Growing old with Weezer has never seemed so succinct until now.

(4 of 5)

~Robert

A (Slightly) Dynamic Duo of Reviews

Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008, Atco)
3 out of 5

Why is everybody hating on poor Scarlett? This album isn't nearly as bad as everyone says it is. How much of that has to do with fact that it's 9/10ths Tom Waits songs? Probably a bunch (though the lone original here, "Song for Jo," is actually a really enjoyable paean to youth). Is it that after her entirely un-charming singing in Lost in Translation and on-stage with the Jesus & Mary Chain, she has too much to prove? Probably; Zooey Deschanel, the other hip young actress with an Indie-influenced record out this year, had already kind of won us over in Elf (as everyone and their mother has mentioned at this point).

But, needless to say, it's not as bad as you've likely read elsewhere. Producer Dave Sitek made one of the wisest production choices of the year in burying Johansson's vocals in the mix (we'll see if Metallica can top that later this year with a better drum sound than St. Anger), and getting David Bowie to sing back-ups on a couple of the songs (including first single, "Falling Down") is another check in the "Win" column. The "Green Grass" here, with its spooky carnival vibe and echo-laden production makes it sound a bit like an episode of Scooby-Doo meets Lost in Translation, and "Fawn," the only track without vocals (insert sigh of relief) is a brilliantly noisy combination of the E-Street Band and a Gospel song, but "Anywhere I Lay My Head" isn't close to being as good as Bomb The Music Industry's version (off of 2006's Goodbye Cool World) and "I Don't Want to Grow Up" doesn't even rifle through the Ramones' trash, though the song is so ridiculously appropriate for them, I don't know if anyone else could ever do it justice. The aforementioned reverb-y production does kind of make the already languid songs blur together a bit, and most of the criticisms of Scarlett's voice (that she can't carry a note, that she's slightly tone-deaf, etc.) would hold up in a court of law, and as engaging listening, you could do a lot better. BUT, as vaguely familiar background music? You could to a LOT worse.


Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch (2008, Warner Bros.)

3 out of 5

Why does everybody love this record so much? Is it because it's Tom Petty? Well...yeah. The first single, "Scare Easy," is almost as good as any of Petty's solo (or with the Heartbreakers) work, and "Oh Maria" is a country-boy rock ballad in the vein of the Allman Brothers. It's just, the rest of it isn't really as good. You can hear the age in everyone's voice (particularly those that aren't Petty, who's always kind of sounded like he's looked: skeletal and sharp), and "Crystal River," is phaser-fried 70s slowdance rock (think Nazareth in the rec hall scene in Dazed and Confused), but moreso, kind of boring, especially at 9 1/2 minutes long.

The whole record is much more country-influenced that Petty's other work (a plus), and, unlike one would guess from Petty's pale countenance, it's easy to tell this band is from Florida (by way of California). Maybe Petty's tenure as the voice of "Lucky" on King of the Hill put him back in touch with his Southern roots. But, "Six Days on the Road" is right up there with the utter ridiculousness of "East Bound and Down" as one of the all-time cheesiest songs about trucking and/or running from the law (are there any that aren't?), and "Queen of the Go-Go Girls" is a painfully awkward-sounding ode to a stripper.

This record definitely doesn't make one wonder what could have been (Mudcrutch is the band that Petty was in in high school and before he went on to form The Hearbreakers), but it's a worthy detour into a sound that's clearly influenced Petty, but that doesn't necessarily always show up in his other work.

=james

Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vol. 3 & 4: Air & Earth (2008, Vagrant Records)

EDIT (way after the fact....)
I'm ashamed that I didn't realize this before, seeing as how I knew and loved the song several years ago, but "The Earth Isn't Humming" is actually an old Frodus song. Thrice's version is still pretty awesome, and the rest of my statements about the sound below still hold true.

4 out of 5

This is the second part of Thrice’s two-(or technically 4-)part series, The Alchemy Index, originally conceived as a series of four EPs, each representing the feel and sound of one of the elements. Last year’s Vol. 1 & 2: Fire & Water was an uneven affair, with the heavy and aggressive Fire seeming entirely at odds with the electronic and much quieter Water. Perhaps if they had mixed the sounds a bit instead of stacking them on either side of the record (which, to be fair, was released as two separate discs), but instead, especially in this constant-stream-of-music iPod culture, it felt like one album and one that wasn’t very well sequenced.

By contrast, this year’s Vol. 3 & 4: Air & Earth is much more consistent and a better listen from beginning to end. The crunch and electronics of Vol. 1 & 2 are mostly replaced here (though they do make appearances) with much more experimental (at least for Thrice) acoustic instruments, hand-claps (and other digit-al percussion), piano, wind-instruments, and wind chimes.

The first half, Air, is, of course, hypnotic and airy, and makes the personal political, exploring the fear, paranoia, loss of innocence and growing up that people do in a post-9/11 world from the perspective of the head of a family. “A Song for Milly Michaelson” sounds like a Thursday track pre-bombast, and “Daedalus,” a warning/lament from father to son Icarus, is reminiscent of the guitar orchestratics of Japanese instrumental band Mono, hinting that it would be just as interesting without the vocals. The echo on the guitars in “As The Crow Flies” even makes it sound somewhat like a harp.

The second half then is just personal, sounding much earthier (it’s called Earth, duh…) and much more - in a word - “Appalachian.” In fact, the folk-y influence of singer/guitarist Dustin Kensrue’s solo album is written all over this half, and it’s nice to see him bring that part of his musicality to the Thrice fold. “Moving Mountains,” is full of banjos and tambourines, and “Digging My Own Grave” is Tom Waits-ian piano-bar noir.

Those worried about the loss of the urgency of early-Thrice need not worry too much, as “The Earth Isn’t Humming” is like a super-heavy Page & Plant No Quarter acoustic caravan (and makes me wonder what an episode of Unplugged starring Thrice would sound like), but it’s great to see the band explore and expand on their sound, and do it well. The last song on the album, “Child of Dust,” ends with the music going muffled beneath a sound like dirt hitting a coffin lid, which, while terribly appropriate for the vibe of Earth, hopefully doesn’t mean that Thrice will be burying this part of their sound any time soon.

=james

M83 - Saturdays=Youth (2008, Mute Records)

4 out of 5

“Paging John Hughes. John Hughes to the Maternity Ward.” See, that’s a joke. Because John Hughes, writer/director of such 80s-movie classics as Weird Science, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club, just had a baby with some hipsters and they named it M83’s Saturdays=Youth. This record is everything anyone could want out of the soundtrack to their very own teen romantic dramedy if everything you could want happens to have taken place in the decade of neon, Republican presidents, post-punk, and synthesizers…wait…is it the 80s?

But I digress, this really is a good album. Reminiscent of the all-encompassing fuzz & drone of My Bloody Valentine, the icy Northern Lights atmospherics of Sigur Rós, as well as the slightly Goth synthesizer-pop of The Cure, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, The Cocteau Twins, Saturdays=Youth is hypnotizing and every bit as late-afternoon-sun-shining-through-the-trees as the album cover art suggests.

“Skin of the Night,” which pretty much sounds exactly like its title would suggest, would be an ideal over-dub for Jason Patric & Jami Gertz’s love scene in The Lost Boys, and the follow-up track, “Graveyard Girl,” is perfect Psychedelic Furs rock meets Morrissey lyrics. It’s what the soundtrack to Lost In Translation would have sounded like if it were made in 1986, even if the spoken word interlude is incredibly cheesy and calls to mind the overly dramatic teenage poetry of Lost… director Sofia Coppola’s breakthrough feature, The Virgin Suicides (but also the sunny earth-toned nostalgia of the same).

“Couleurs” is the most beat-centric track on the album, and sounds like New Order’s “True Faith” and “Blue Monday” mashed-up/remixed/appropriated by Brooklyn-and-critic darling LCD Soundsystem. And, after the Madonna by way of vampirized Tori Amos “Up!” and the Bono fronting The Cure “We Own the Sky,” the album does start to drag for the last few tracks.

“Highway of Endless Dreams” actually feels endless (which, at 4 ½ minutes isn’t a good sign compared to the 8 ½ minute long “Couleurs”), and the final track, “Midnight Souls Still Remain,” might as well be 11 minutes of fade-out with just two alternating chords to its name.

With lyrics like “Like a wall of stars, we are ripe to fall,” “Death is her boyfriend, she spits on summers and smiles to the night,” and “Everything is wrapped in grey, can you hear me in the void,” this is a deceptively dark album, sounding as it does perfect for a sun-bleached Volkswagen commercial (complete with Indie-looking girl sprawled on the back seat with her feet out one window and her wind-blown hair out the other). But, after all, what perfect teenage life isn’t?

=james

Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords (2008, Sub Pop)

5 out of 5

This record is phenomenal. It combines humor with great songwriting in a similar way to last year's Dethalbum from Adult Swim's favorite Death Metal sons Dethklok, but instead of amazingly heavy Metal, Flight of the Conchords is White-boy folk-funk for dorks with the deadest of deadpan sense of humor. And, unlike HBO's other acoustic-comedy duo, Tenacious D, one of Flight of the Conchords doesn't take a backseat to the other. In fact, there isn't even a hint of Jack Black's overpowering personality on this record, and that's not a bad thing, though one of the songs sounds like an overly caffeinated Jack Johnson (though nothing about him is overpowering...).

Filled with loving tributes to arists from Serge Gainsbourg and Air ("Foux de Fafa") to the Pet Shop Boys ("Inner City Pressure"), Marvin Gaye ("Think About It"), Barry White ("Business Time"), and David Bowie (um...."Bowie"), these two Kiwis deserve every bit of hype that they're getting right now.

"Inner City Pressure," the aforementioned faux-Pet Shop Boys song, is very reminiscent of the note-perfect series of "Fake" songs off of Liam Lynch's album Fake Songs ("Fake Bjork Song," "Fake David Bowie Song," "Fake Pixies Song," "Fake Talking Heads Song," and the best, "Fake Depeche Mode Song") and features the amazing couplet "You know you're not in high finance, considering second-hand underpants."

"A Kiss Is Not A Contract" is the duo at their folkiest, while "Robots" is them at their most, well, robotic, with a chorus that sounds like it's sung by Ben Gibbard from the Conchords' label-mates the Postal Service, and a "Binary Solo!"

"The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room)" is the funniest and folkiest song that Prince never wrote (and the best fake Prince song since "Debra" off of Beck's Midnite Vultures), and "Business Time" takes Barry White's "Love Supreme Orchestra" style down to a slightly more realistic tone. It's a first-person account from the male half of a couple who has settled into an hilarious (if not a little depressing) routine, and makes lines like "I remove my clothes very, very clumsily, tripping sensuously over my pants/Now I'm naked except for my socks and you know when I'm down to just my socks what time it is...It's business time," sound oddly sexy. It also gave rise to one of the best t-shirts I've ever seen.

The biggest downside to this album, if you HAVE to find fault is that it doesn't have all of the songs from the first season of the Conchords' show, but if you HAVE to find an upside, that also saves what is an amazing 42 minutes from seeming forcedly long, with songs and greatness getting lost in the shuffle.

It also gives me an excuse to post this clip from the show:

=james

The Rolling Stones - Get off of My (Back) Cloud (1965, Decca)

Audiences are never satisfied. Even when a new band comes along and cranks out a legendary yet simple rock riff, adds a searing, sexual innuendo-laced vocal, piles it high with attitude and glues it all together with a hypnotizing drum pattern, audiences get their fix and say, "I need more to fill my appetite. Give me more."

The Stones were in a common, yet potentially detrimental position. How do you follow up a massive hit like "I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)?" They proved their genius by writing one of the best sophomore singles ever: "Get off of My Cloud." The icing on this cake was the mere fact that the song is partially in response to all the people who wondered if they'd be one-hit wonders. The song reached #1 on the charts.

The real point of this blog entry, however, is not to state something that has been known for over 40 years. As you'll come to expect - or shall I say, as you'll come not to expect - this entry has more to do about something trivial, that I will undoubtedly mushroom into something bigger, that will most likely lack a useful purpose in the end.

I want to point out something that's been bothering me for as long as I've known this song. Even before I became a drummer, I sensed that this catchy little ditty felt awkward in parts. I could never really explain it but then again, I never really bothered to analyze it.

But first, let me explain something else. After I started taking lessons for the drums, I noticed something about myself through the hours and hours I spent transcribing drum patterns onto the homemade printed music paper in my teenage bedroom: I have some level of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

I grew frustrated at drummers who interrupted patterns that were normally static for most of the song. Some songs have a fairly simple beat. The drummer is basically keeping time by playing a repeated one to four measure pattern that is occasionally altered with a purposeful fill or drum break. However, I kept running into songs where this pattern would be changed out of nowhere and then continues as if it didn't happen. I couldn't figure out if it was done on purpose for some artistic reason I wasn't aware of at the time. Maybe they were mistakes. Maybe it was just my inexperience. Maybe the drums were more about "feeling" the song and improvising than actually performing an intentional part. I didn't know. Sometimes, when I covered these particular songs on stage, I would "correct" the "mistake" (as if anyone but me would even notice). And if I made a mistake like this while recording, I would immediately stop, probably curse, and have another take at it.

Back to the song of interest. "Cloud" has a very simple, yet memorable two-bar drum pattern. So catchy, The Stones decided to start the song off with it. The structure of the song is also simple. It's basically Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus with a short instrumental intro to each verse and a double last chorus.

Just to state the obvious: Charlie Watts is inarguably an excellent drummer. He's so deep in the pocket he's covered with lint. His restraint as well as his moments of flair are just a few things many young percussionist could learn a lot from.

On this track, he plays a repetitive drum fill that pretty much defines the song. It's just as hypnotic and danceable as "Satisfaction." Well done. It appears that this pattern occurs during all intros (initial intro and verse intros) as well as the verses. The choruses are a straight-forward, no frills (er, or no fills?), pound the beat type of pattern. Notice I say the verse pattern appears to sustain all intros and verses. Remember the points in the song where years earlier I felt awkward? I could now fully explain why I felt so...so...well, unsatisfied. Charlie drops the drum fill in two spots. Let's explore.

Point 1: Last measure of the second verse. No fill. Well, that's not too bad, even though it kind of irks me that the fill was present going into the first chorus but now absent. If anything, I would have left it out the first time and then put it in the second time to create a surprise variation. I'll let this one pass, but....

Point 2: Third verse, second measure (listen from 1:46 at the start of the intro to the third verse). WTF?! No fill here?? There's absolutely no way this could possibly have a point. Okay, so he made a mistake. Richards even admits that the record was "rushed" in order to get the follow up single out as quickly as possible. Or maybe it was intentional? I'd be the only moron on this Earth that would ask him that question if I ever had only ten seconds of his time.

Of course, I've come to realize that songs aren't about perfection. Songs are about a mood. Songs give feelings a voice. Songs reflect life and life isn't perfect. They convey a message - a message that will still come across if you use incorrect grammar. Sometimes, it's just about the groove. Why go back and fix a few loose ends if the take is indescribably magic? There are times in life that are memorable despite the fact that you may have had zits on your face or had uncombed hair or said something stupid. Our flaws should be celebrated because of their reality. Save the special effects for Hollywood. Keep the airbrushed models in the glamor mags. Leave the heavy makeup for the clowns. If you are seriously hung up on a few missed snare drum hits, then you're missing the point.

I could leave this entry at that, and it would have a nice ending. But that's not me. Charlie once bumped shoulders with me or shall I say someone exactly like me. In fact, 10 seconds of the conversation were dedicated to the frustration laid out above. After a brief smile, as if he'd been waiting four decades for a single soul to notice, Charlie chuckled and simply responded with, "Listen to the lyrics...you'll get it."

What did that mean? I knew what the song is about. Was he just making a quip to get off of his back about something so stupid? Damn English people! Then, I looked a little closer and felt a little humbled. The lyrics during and after Point 2 where he omits the drum fill say, "It was so very quiet and peaceful." Charlie had apparently word painted me without me even knowing it! Bastard.

~ robert