watching jarvis cocker’s commanding performance of “cunts are still running the world” to a thrilled audience at the 2008 pitchfork festival, one thing becomes clear: he has emerged post-pulp as a formidable live act. enter, further complications, an album recorded with producer (or whatever he does), steve albini, shortly after cocker’s appearance at the festival in chicago.
while his first solo disc, jarvis, might’ve been more stylized (perhaps the result of cocker co-writing a lot of the music with richard hawley), further complications is much more in-your-face rock ‘n’ roll— surely an impulse to encapsulate that kind of vitriolic energy his recent performances have been known for by employing a more live-off-the-floor approach to recording (ala albini). in a sense, cocker has pulled a grinderman; he’s offering a dirty, sweaty, bearded album, but unlike nick cave, his song-writing isn’t up to snuff, making further complications sound unfinished as much as it sounds raw and relentless. cocker’s boisterous persona can make up for the lack of good songs here, but it unfortunately can’t carry the album on its own.
once again big business have made an album that turns metal on its head. the band has pushed themselves further into unfamiliar territory by bringing a third member, guitarist toshi kasai into the fold. kasai helps disturb the back and forth between bassist jarred warren and drummer coady willis, and his wailing leads accentuate the already driving and thunderous music. while warren and willis remain the principal songwriters, kasai’s influence is easily heard: the band is no longer just a simple sludge-metal outfit, they’re drawing from a much wider range of musical influences that bring the theatricality of prog together with the blistering urgency of punk, all under a mighty heavy hailstorm of some excellent sludge riffs. uber-fans may be put off by willis’ clean vocals, but the fact that they sound like an odd choice make them all the more necessary for such an idiosyncratic act to remain true to themselves.
in what sounds to be a project forged in the murkiest of bongwaters, omar rodriguez-lopez has released another noodly solo album, but this time he has enlisted the help of some fellow voltas as well as hella’s zach hill and jon hischke; however, like most of the mars volta’s (and mars volta spin-offs) output since 2005, there are only a few songs on this release that are really worth investing time in.
the main problem here is that this group doesn’t do much to unseat the listener’s expectations of how a meeting between rodriguez-lopez and hill might sound. often chaotic, complex and overwhelming, there are only a select number of times where the band sounds like they’re playing together. hill is an incredible drummer, but does not make an excellent foil to rodriguez-lopez for the simple fact that they sound like they’re playing over top of one another. blaming hill for the lack of synchronicity on the record would be unfair though, after all, he’s more than proven his ability to compliment other performers’ styles as a frequent collaborator with the likes of marnie stern, and more recently, no age. even though cryptomnesia is a rodriguez-lopez solo effort, he rarely seems to be at the helm of things, nor are his contributions the most interesting. in fact, hill and hischke provide the most pivotal moments on cryptomnesia when they are left to their own hellish devices. the standout songs are few and far between here, but when they’re good, they’re very good, which makes it all the more upsetting to hear how terrible the rest of the album is.
animal collective/grouper @ sound academy – may 16, 2009
i wasn’t planning on going to see animal collective last night, but a couple of friends of mine offered me an extra ticket of theirs last-minute, and i decided to go against my better judgement. it’s been well documented that i’m not the biggest fan of animal collective’s more recent work, but i thought the concert would be a good opportunity to see how the songs from merriweather post pavillion held-up live, and a chance to expose myself to a side of the band i had never seen.
grouper opened, and while i like her music, i don’t think she was well suited as an opening act. she has the psych-folk element to her music that makes her a logical connection to the headliners, but last night’s audience was made up of people wearing keffiyehs soaked in LSD who had no interest in droney psychedelic music with no beat to it. also, the abysmal sound at the sound academy made grouper’s set a little more unbearable than it would’ve been otherwise— a fact made clear by the large hissing noise emanating from the PA system that was audibly distinct from the effects grouper was employing on stage. those factors didn’t help anyone who actually tried to enjoy grouper’s set, as anyone disinterested with her performance carried on as if nothing was happening. medium sized venues like the sound academy just don’t have the same kind of intimacy required for an act like grouper. i could see a band like high places having a better chance in that kind of setting.
animal collective took the stage shortly after grouper, and started things off with “chocolate girl,” a song that i was unfamiliar with, but one that helped set the mood for the evening quite well with its throbbing bass and avey tare’s often explosive vocals. i had heard that animal collective were playing some of panda bear’s songs on tour, but i was nevertheless surprised when “comfy in nautica” was played next. that moment was probably a personal favourite, and it was well received by others as well, but nothing could compare to the utter frenzy that took place when people heard the opening bars to “my girls.” overall their set was pretty diverse and not too MPP-heavy. it also stayed at a pretty constant pace, with minimal amounts of psychedelic noodling. frankly, they could’ve jammed away all they liked if they had simply ditched the “trippy” visuals that bombarded the audience at every opportunity. while i certainly enjoy the visual component of concerts, the 4:20/dorm room wall poster styled kaleidoscopic lightshow hurt their cause more than it helped. it felt like they were catering to the drug aesthetic more than necessary. yes, i know you’re a psychedelic band, you don’t need to show me.
it was unusual being at a concert for a band i really didn’t care for, but i enjoyed myself more than i thought i would. i also found it interesting to witness the different groupings of “stans” varying from the utterly devout, the plaid indie rocker, to fans who only cheered for the MPP songs (not sure where i fit in there). on a related note: this experience didn’t shed new light on the MPP material, however, it did make me more curious to mine more of animal collective’s older records.
i first heard angel deradoorian’s gilded vocals in dirty projectors, where she provided much of the supporting vocal gymnastics to dave longstreth during this performance of their songs from rise above, an album that reimagines black flag’s damaged through varying disparate genres. having not been quite acclimatized to longstreth’s unique vocal style, i clamoured for the moments when deradoorian and her accomplice amber coffman joined in accompaniment. now, long after having grown accustomed to longstreth’s delivery, as well as having devoured the brilliant rise above, i’m ready for anything related to dirty projectors. mind raft is the first ever solo offering from deradoorian, and a promising glimpse at what is to come from this talented singer. on her own, deradoorian’s music is much more laid-back and folksy, but what’s consistent here with her work in dirty projectors is her unyielding voice and r&b-inspired vocal style, which are most apparent on the song “you carry the deed.” i like EPs because they’re more informal as introductions to an artist than full albums, and deradoorian takes advantage of that by releasing a work that sounds unpretentious in its simplicity yet one that is wholly realized in it’s potential to whet one’s appetite.
(this audio for this video is very quiet, but it’s well worth turning up)
proving to be their most cohesive and enthralling album to-date, isis’ wavering radiant finds the band in a much leaner head-space, building on the atmosphere from in the absence of truth and shedding much of their slugdy impulses without sacrificing their characteristic heaviness.
by the end of their last record, in the absence of truth, isis had entered the “garden of light”— a song that makes for a logical bridge between that album and this one in that it has a much more patient, deliberate, ethereal feel. yet while the sound of wavering radiant was anticipated by “garden of light,” the album stands apart from the rest of the isis catalogue with ease. here, they’ve focused their energy on their pummelling rhythms (the breakdown on “20 minutes/40 years” is unbelievably good), which keeps their songs economical, but all the more driving and purposeful. as the groove on “stone to wake a serpent” can attest to, there’s much more going on here than a simple soft/loud dynamic; isis’ penchant for rhythmically complex songs allows them a great amount of freedom in terms of songwriting. the band have made radical improvements in other areas as well: aaron turner’s voice might be buried in the mix once again, but his vocal performance on this record is perhaps most grating i’ve heard from him in a very long time.
the improvements made on wavering radiant might be the result of isis working with producer “evil” joe baresi, but nevertheless, these changes sound natural, and more importantly, they contribute to one of the strongest statements isis have ever made.
