I picked up three new albums from iTunes last weekend (yes, I know, you can buy DRM-free MP3's from Amazon now, but I have some iTunes credit to use up, and I haven't steeled myself to download and install the necessary application yet, which I just know is going to irritate me). The three were:
- Reunion Tour by the Weakerthans
- Under the Blacklight by Rilo Kiley
- Challengers by the New Pornographers
I have to say, I was at least a little disappointed in all of these.
Reunion Tour probably fared the best of the lot, as my reaction is basically "Well, it's no Reconstruction Site..." But Reconstruction Site was an absolutely fantastic album, so it's not that surprising that this record falls short. Its main problem is that the songs are a little too mellow, but there's some good stuff, notably "Sun in an Empty Room," "Civil Twilight," "Tournament of Hearts," and "Night Windows."
The other two both suffer from the classic problem of changing sounds. I tend to buy new records by a band because I like the way the last one sounded, but if you're a musician and you record a new album that sounds like the old one, you'll take a beating from the critics. So you have to change something, and that risks losing whatever attracted me to the band in the first place.
Rilo Kiley probably made the biggest change, with several of the songs on the new record flirting with a dance sort of sound, and it really doesn't work for me. I like the stuff that sounds like it could've come off the last record-- most notably "The Angels Hung Around"-- but the new stuff falls flat. "Dreamworld" is OK, "Breakin' Up" and "The Moneymaker" sound like Franz Ferdinand covers, and "Dejalo" started to really get on my nerves after the third time I heard it. "Smoke Detector" has a dippy sort of charm to it, and is probably the most successful song in the new mode.
The change for the New Pornographers wasn't as drastic, but it also fails to work for me. It's really just a change of emphasis-- their previous albums featured odd song sturctures and really elliptical lyrics sung with a clipped and staccato delivery, but mixed them with really catchy big pop hooks, sometimes two or three per song. This album offers the odd structures, weird lyrics, and strange delivery, but not so much the big pop hooks. Problem is, I bought the previous records because of the big pop hooks, and in spite of the strange delivery of weird lyrics.
"Mutiny, I Promise You" is probably the track I like best, and not coincidentally, it's the one that sounds most like it would fit on Twin Cinema. Most of the rest of it leaves me cold, and the bonus track "Fugue State" makes me want to hit A.C. Newman with a brick.
So, it's been an "Enh" week in pop music at Chateau Steelypips. I added the new Springsteen and Kanye West records last night, just to mix things up a little, but I haven't had a chance to really listen to them yet, so we'll see if things improve.
And I'll finally get around to trying out the Amazon this this weekend.
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"All the Things that Go To Make Heaven and Earth" sounds to me like it could have been on Mass Romantic. And how can you not love "Myriad Harbour"?
It took going to a show and listening to the album several times before I started grudgingly liking Under the Blacklight much. I still can't stand "Dejalo" or "Smoke Detector", though. To me "The Angels Hung Around" sounds more like Jenny Lewis's solo work than Rilo Kiley, and that's a good thing.
The Amazon application is a little bitty browser-helper-app (like Acrobat Reader but much smaller). It takes about 8 seconds to download on a fast connection. You are right to be squeamish but there really is no issue with it.
Chad, I warned you that the Rilo Kiley's newest was not as good as "More Adventurous".
As for the Weakerthans' album not measuring up to "Reconstruction Site", well, noone EVER will write a better song than "One Great City!".
You may like the group Georgie James' debut album "Places" that just came out last week. Listen to the track "Need Your Needs" to evaluate.
There's a new Over The Rhine, 'The Trumpet Child' which I thought was pretty good. A little bit of a different direction, a little bit um, 'torchy'?
A.C. Newman's song On the Table from The Slow Wonder is brilliant, but I don't much like much else of his solo or work, or most of the New Pornographers work either. My Rights vs Yours off of Challengers is the exception.
Single track purchases off Amazon's MP3 store is the wave of the future...