Dave Barnes-What We Want, What We Get

Pop is one of the trickiest genres in music. Too bubbly, and the music feels fake and cheesy (Howie Day). Too blunt, and you can be stuck with controversy (Lady Gaga). Too bland, and you just lose you're audience (every boy band ever). There will hardly ever be pop music that pleases everybody, especially in todays day and age. However, one of the most tried and true pop solutions is the singer-songwriter. Every Joe Shmo in a hip coffee bar downtown throws the title around their neck and strums their normally up or down love life through their guitar, and into the ears of the four or five people enjoying their latte's. Heck, I know like five people who call themselves singer songwriters. It's as popular as being called "indie". The difference is that some artists manage to fill the title a little more than others.

Dave Barnes grew up like many singer-songwriters did; in a good family in suburban Mississippi. After high school, Barnes went to Middle Tennessee University where he began writing songs for other performers on campus. When he graduated with a degree in recording industry management, he packed up and moved to Nashville where he put his band together. The band has released four albums, the last of which being What We Want, What We Get.

Dave has always been a guy that I really enjoy hearing, but he hasn't really changed my life. I mean, he's really good, but i've never really seen him as fantastic. But, looking back on it, he is one of the artists I listen to the most. His lyrics can seem kind of cheesy, or far fetched even, but theres a place for that. His music is nice and catchy too. He likes to keep things pretty light and simple, and that pairs like peanut butter and jelly with his song-writing. What We Want, What We Get is a pretty solid continuation of the pop maestro's discography.

The album opens with "Little Lies", one of the most catchy songs Dave Barnes has written. I was singing it for days down in Nashville last week. The lyrics describe a nice down home teenage relationship, and the music is on par. It's what a good pop song should be; fun, light, and catchy (word of the day). There's a few more on the album that have the same effect. "Look So Easy" rides a loose back beat tied together with laid back vocals to give off a sunday morning vibe. I dono, it's hard to describe, I just sense Sunday's through it. Give it a listen down below.

There are a couple of songs that simply aren't as good as others. "Chameleon" has a nice chorus, but it's a forgettable song. The last song on the album, "Amen" tries to sound like country, but with Dave on vocals. It doesn't work quite right. Take out the steel guitar, and we can talk. There are always one or two songs on Dave's albums that I'm not crazy about, but like I said earlier, pop music is going to affect people different ways. Most of the album is very good.

I'm gonna see this guy down at the Bijou tomorrow night, and he usually puts on a pretty good show. I guess Knoxville kind of became a launching point for Barnes, and he plays here a lot. He played down at Sundown just last year, so he's a bit of a Knoxville favorite. Plus, his concerts bring out fine ladies out the wazoo. I'll be sure to let you know how the concert goes, followed by Asher Roth, Floggin Molly, and Passion Pit the Friday night. Until then, ANDY OUT YO!

She And Him-Volume Two

So, we meet again. I took a little bit of a break, but it was much needed. This month has left me all of about three and a half minutes to kick back and relax. If you don't know me very well, I have been Danny in our schools production of Grease. For that matter, I still am Danny until Tuesday, but it is finally winding down. And to top it all off, I've been in Nashville half of this week for All-State (a choir of really fruity dudes and really hott girls(and a few normal kids like me) singing my heart out, so I haven't been able to really write a word, but I have gotten a hold of a few new albums that'll give me some good material to tell you about. The first of which being the next album from pseudo-supergroup She and Him, ever so cleverly titled Volume Two, compared to the original Volume One. I'll give you a heads up, this isn't my favorite. And now, I shall tell you about the group.

The group is actually the brain-child of director Martin Hynes, who was filming The Go-Getter which I have never heard of, but now may see because of the subtly beautiful Zooey Deschanel. Seriously, she is hott stuff. And she's intelligent which is all the more appealing. I can go on for a while, but you don't care, so I won't. The director asked Zooey to sing with M. Ward who was lending a hand to the films soundtrack (which looked pretty good). Apparently the group came into high demand, and they later recorded songs that Zooey had secretly written back in her home in Portland. Thus, the world, including myself, was introduced to She and Him, and like a lot of people who heard it, I fell in love with it. The light flowing jingles instill sunny pictures of fields and beaches, love and heart ache, gain and loss; all in an optimistic perspective. So, um, where did that go?

I bought Volume Two, conveying the same optimism Deschanel inoculated me with the first time around, and man was I let down. Gone is the emotion, the jaunty-ness, whatever made it click the last time. In Volume Two, Ward and Deschanel have herded together a collection of happy noises, stretched the songs already wide smiles into a Joker-esque grin, and diluted them with copious amounts of lackadaisical bubble and shine. I hate to refer to to this, but when I sit down and listen to this album the whole way, flashes of the government experimentation scene in A Clockwork Orange keep flooding my head; the notes are suggesting, "Happy or Die!"

Songs like "Lingering Still", "I'm Gonna Make It Better", and "Thieves" roll along with the vigor of a dying sloth, lulling and lulling until listeners are transported to a strange state of melancholy numbness. In these songs specifically, M. Ward, who is the reason for a bulk of the music churns out music like a chore. You can't feel the real passion for the songs like you could in Volume One. The first album's music paired so perfectly with the lyrics, as if they were painting luscious scenery around the characters Deschanel would so intricately form. Now, Ward seems content with painting the colors yellow, orange, and red over and over and over again. Not to mention, Deschanel has also lost the it factor, as she just gurgles out strings of words without any feeling behind them. The music, on both sides of the duo's court, sound like chores, and chores don't make music, they make muzak. In that sense the album is great for lobby's and elevators. I would definitely put it up there with my favorite background music of all time, no doubt.

There are a few shining moments, or rather, dark spots, that briefly yank the pair's head out of the clouds for a few minutes, until the helium kicks them back into the stratosphere. I really do enjoy the albums hit, "In The Sun". It contains rarely displayed excitement with its rollicky galloping drums and its emotionally connecting piano. It doesn't take itself too surreally, instead pouncing on select few's apathy towards love, and how to deal with it. Later in the album, the band take on Milton Kellem's widely covered "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" very nicely. The song is much more intimate than most of the other songs, and this in itself adds a few more interesting brush strokes on the otherwise generic canvas. "Over It Over Again" deserves recognition just because it steps out of the hypnotically dragging pace most of the other songs partake in, instead taking a brisk pace that lightens the mood way more than you would think.

I mean, really, this was a big disappointment for me on many levels. After the greatness She and him produced on their first try, I was expecting such better storytelling. And while my expectations may have been raised, I still feel like the album is a dud. It just doesn't try hard to do what it wants to do, convey simple love. I don't feel it. I want it. I need some more. Therefore, I beg you, She and Him, to try a little bit harder on Volume Three. Add some genuine feeling and soul into your sound. Keep things interesting, and limit the bland trance songs to two. Just ask your old-selves how to do it. They certainly knew how. I still plan on seeing the group at Bonnaroo and hopefully they can convey whatever was missing on stage. I'll let you know.

P.S. Zooey Deschanel, If you somehow read this, I don't mean anything I just said. You are such an amazing songwriter, and musician, and person I love you please call me.

Cover Of The Day-Allison

Elvis Costello is one of the many artists I grew up hearing from my Dad. I think he's seen him a couple times and I know he owns plenty of records. Costello is one of the artists who I have heard, and generally like, but I don't fall in love with enough to listen to him a bunch. Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Yes are three of the main criminal offenders (Yes, I know. I want to be a music journalist and I don't know that much Bob Dylan. I'm working on it.) I respect the living daylights out of these guys, but I wouldn't travel more than an hour to go see them live.

There is one Costello song that has always sparked an interest for me, though. "Allison" from Elvis' My Aim Is True is a classic love song. Solid guitar licks and very realistic lyrics cement the song into its place in everyones life. Honestly, "Allison" is more of a plead, a cry for a woman, rather than a two way love fest. But the song never leaps from buildings to proclaim love. It's simple, like a letter, or a call on the phone. Elvis' voice, one that does not pass the usual test for pop vocals, further the everyday setting, as if anyone could be singing the song. I could listen to this song 40 times and not get sick of it, and I have the attention span of a tennis racket.

The other day, whilst blurbing this very song on the ol' Facebook, I good friend of mine mentioned a cover of it by Everything But The Girl. All I can tell you about these guys are what I can her in the song which is that the lead singer is a girl, and theres at least one other person in the band. The songs pretty good though. I think it shoots a little too intimate for the words, but I still like the hushed quietness the band instills in the song. Plus, the singer has some legit pipes on her. Nice harmonics about halfway through the song add a nice touch too. Check Check Check em out.

Elvis Costello

Everything But The Girl