Cover Of The Day-A Change Is Gonna Come

Some of the best music in history, is music backed with raw emotion; music with enough energy and life flowing through it's notes that you can honestly feel what the song is conveying. It's the ultimate quest of the singer-songwriter, and it is one of the hardest feats on this earth. Ray Lamontagne has done it for me. The Who has done it for me. Heck, even Dave Barnes has done it for me. Now, i can add a new one to that list.

"I was born by the river, in a little tent. Oh, and just like the river, I've been running ever since. It's been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come."

I was reading Pitchfork's top 200 songs of the 1960's and sitting high at the number three spot was Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come". Immediately after its's tremendous string swell, I felt sadness. I felt anguish and pain, but with a tinge of optimism. Maybe not for the present to ever see, but somewhere in the future, "a change is gonna come". Sam Cooke sang a song so powerful that I felt what he felt. The recording, in some ways, was the result of the death of his 18 month old son Vincent, and while i've never had a child that I know of, I could feel that pain in his voice. It's terribly amazing.

"It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die, cause I don't know whats up there beyond the sky. It's been a long time coming, but I know a change gon' come."

While Ben Sollee doesn't come close to the intensity of the moment in his version of the song, he gives it a very fitting modern twist. Instead of a slow ballad, the song is a driving jive, backed almost solely on the low barreling cello Ben is known for. Ben scoots the song along, spending less time on looking to the past, and act's like the all-knowing mother, warning her children into the right thing. The folk is very fitting, and Ben plays one of the best versions of the impossible to live up to Same Cooke classic.

Sam Cooke

Ben Sollee

Jellyfish-Spilt Milk

I'm not going to lie, I have been a little bit intimidated about reviewing this album. I feel like whatever I have to say about this music, will never get close to describing its sheer awe inspiring sound. This masterpiece is the greatest album by the greatest band that no-one knows. This band has influenced my musical taste more than any other music ever, and it is so unashamed in what it is. So, sit back, start listening to the album at the bottom, and try to understand a little bit of what may be the greatest rock and roll band of all time.

Jellyfish is a short lived tale, consisting of two albums, a huge japanese fan-base, and the future writer of the theme song for Cartoon Networks hit show Teen Titans. The four members that started the band consisted of singer/songwriter/drummer Andy Sturmer (he played a stand-up kit and rocked harder than KISS), keyboard player/multi-instrumentalist Roger Manning, His brother Chris on the bass, and the incredible Jason Falkner who played guitar like none other and sang and wrote some of the songs. The band recorded the second greatest album of all time, Bellybutton, in 1990, and proceeded to tour for year. However, the road proved too much for Chris and Jason who split after the tour was over. The next year, the remaining members herded together all kinds of musicians such as Tim Smith and Jon Brion to record the best album of ever; Spilt Milk. After releasing in 1993, the and once again toured for year before finally calling everything off and parting ways. The bright light of music in the 90's faded almost as soon as it started.

The band aren't doing that bad for themselves though, Andy Sturmer became a wildly popular composer/producer who worked with The Black Crowes, Ozzy Osbourne, and Puffy Amiyumi, a Japanese girls pop band that I have actually somehow heard of. Roger Manning paired up with mind-blowingly talented guitarist Eric Dover and Brian Kehew to form the cult hit The Moog Cookbook, toured with Beck, and released a pair of solo albums. Jason Falkner formed the the similar power-pop group The Grays with Jon Brion, worked with Eric Matthews, and released quite a few great solo albums. Chris does nothing.

In 2003, superfans of the group, with the help of every one of the members released one of the best two-album-band box sets ever. MY dad snagged it when I was about ten, and I immediatley clung to it. The set features a disc for each album and tour with many new songs, as well as an exstensive booklet I remember reading when I was 12. It's a really great buy if you can find it anywhere.

Spilt Milk offers boundless variety. "Joining A Fan Club" embodies Queen and Cheap Trick, while Russian Hill is a twangy Simon and Garfunkel. "Glutton of Sympathy" pours its heart empty, while "He's My Best Friend" is a precursor to the tongue in cheek bro-mance movement of todays pop culture. The album covers the widest variety of music I have ever heard, and it doesn't miss a mark. The mystical bed time symphony, "Hush", choses not to open the album with a huge bang. It doesn't look to impress, that would be like begging. They wait till' track two to blow the lid off. "Hush" opens doors in your mind. It widens the musicality from one sound to everything but. It's an orracle to the next hour of music, obviously intended to be heard all together.

The last chord mellows out of existence when, BAM, you're sucker punched by a tremorous power chord that describes, through music, the thrill of being a fan. The wild dream that one day, you will be chosen out of whatever your fan club may be to get to meet the myth, the legend, that is your favorite artist, and then waking up to realize, "That'll never happen". The grabs listeners by the hand, and runs them into a wall. It's painful, but it is so outstanding that you take the sad message like ice cream in July. On any other album, this song would steal the show, but here, it's just another four minutes in the untitled greatest hits.

After the lavishly confusing but delightfully light "Sebrina, Paste, and Pluto", and the jaunty psychedelic poppy "New Mistake", a song plays that changed my view on love songs, lyrcially, for life. I've got to post the lyrics, they are too good not to read.

In the breathless hush of 4 a.m.

In the dark sits a sad cliche.

Cloaked in the navy blue of slowly fading stars

Tell me how this came to be

Sleeplessness talk to me

She'd say over and over again

Fumbling through a cut glass vase

Passing lipstick, cotton spools

Burning jealous pictures of marriages of friends

You never asked to be

The glutton of sympathy

She says over and over again that this is the end

Cause I see it in your eyes

What you don't know, time to let go

I see it in your eyes

There is so much more out there to be learned

Such mournful words on this snow white vacant page

All the lessons that she learns she packs away

Will you never cease to be the glutton of sympathy

She writes over and over again

Tossing turning roll away

Indecision won't you ever make up your mind

Lifetime Nigh time wake the day

Cause tomorrow will see if you've had your fill of sympathy

Will you never cease to be the glutton of sympathy?

Don't you know the stars are all fading let the sunshine capture the sparkle

of your smile

Truly amazing song-writing. Paired with some of the best lead and backing vocals of any band I know, the song, at the right time, can move me to tears. It's a beautiful song, with a passionate reason for being. Like any great love song, it has it's problems, more so than most others. A couple is on the verge of breaking it off completely. Jealousy for perfection and sad nostalgia for the past play a part in this split, but even through the times of tribulation, the voice can still speak of how amazing his love is. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and the acoustic version on the box set is even more powerful than the full sound on the album.

I'm going to stop myself here, because I don't want to lose your attention. Trust me, I could keep going for days on how great this album is, but I want you to experience is for yourself. Let it affect you. Gain your own opinion on it. Allow this music to get under your skin, and affect the way you hear music. It is the first bit of fuel that drove me into my lust for great music. It has shaped a bit of who I am, and I can only hope it hits you the same way.

Radio is Dead

I don't have a review for the week yet. I'm sorry. I know what I'm going to write on, but it's been a long night. I'll try to get one in this weekend.

However, It's a lovely night for ranting, so pardon me while i let some thoughts spill out.

Radio is dead. The music that plays from the damned airwaves is stale sexual brain-wash. There is no thought behind the music; as if it is produced in a factory with the package, but with no soul behind. Music is supposed to be an expression of emotion. It is a living thing, filled with love, anger, and sadness. Even apathy is conveyed through true sounds. Popular music has lost the art. It's now a process; a meaningless blare, another brick in the wall. I laughed at myself on that one, trust me. The music is just dead to me. You can tell that a true artist is loves what they are doing simply by their work, and hardly anyone on Star 102.1 or Electric 94.9 love their music.

Secondly, the message that is coming out of todays music is horrible. hhoorriibbllee. Pop music is an envelope around a message that is "Live life in whatever ways please you, and you alone. Don't mind common decency or morals, because they only get in the way of your personal gain." Sex is thrown in teenagers faces more blatantly than ever before. In the 50's through the 80's, much of the music really getting listened to did not venture deeply into sex at all. The 80's and 90's began to slip innuendos into their music, but still, the subject was distant. The 00's began to really seep into the promiscuity of rap. Rappers themselves were already speaking some truly horrible verses, but women were still mostly offended. Groups like TLC, Destiny's Child, and Salt & Pepa even began to make music discrediting the image their hip-hop counterparts were establishing. Now, sadly, the popular music has all given into moral hell. The females on the radio like Lady GaGa, Kesha, and Niki Minaj are audio sluts who sell out their body image and sex appeal for ratings and chart toppers. I honestly don't know where music is going from here. "Blah Blah Blah" seems like a dead end for morals in music. There is nothing artistic in these songs, but they are still convincing kids into thinking that the songs are right. Teenagers look to these songs to lead their lives. I recently looked into the myspace and face-book profiles of some of the freshman in my school, and every other post is some lyric in rap that talks about the importance of self improvement, hopefully at the expense of others. It scares me. My eighth grade sister has friends her age who are fathers. 13 to 14 year olds who are getting trapped into situations they know nothing at all about. I blame pop music for most of the bad seeds in todays society. Yes, I know that movies and television are equally terrible, but music is the most accessible media outlet. It's everywhere in culture, and it is turning into the downfall of morality.

Thirdly, I passed a CVS Pharmacy sign tonight, but the p was blown out so it read CVS harmacy. I chuckled.

G'Night.

Cover Of The Day-Happy Together/Stand By Me

I'm headed to Disney World over spring break because I really love Disney princesses.

Getting that tatted on my back one o' these days.

Gotcha! My choir taking our trip there, which means we have to perform once. Believe me, the last thing I would like to do is sing typical choir songs to uninterested tourists in the middle of Epcot, but what can you do. My director wanted my quartet to do two songs; the classic "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King, and the Turtles' hit "Happy Together".

I started reading some of the notes in the back of Happy together and the arranger had listed a few bands who had covered the song, the most important of which being Frank Zappa. Lightbulbs flashed in my head and a few minutes ago, I looked it up. Meh. It's pretty much the same song. However, determined not to leave empty handed, I started looking up covers on Grooveshark. Eventually I ran across English rocker Johnny Panic's version of the song. The song takes new direction, following more of a slow punk rock song with big guitar melodies and hammering drum spurts, starkly contrasting the pretty mellow vocally based original. Johnny Panic sort of sounds like Ted Leo, who is basically my dad's BFF thanks to The Best Show on WFMU. It's kind of musical experiment, but it has a positive outcome.

Then, somewhere in the middle of that first paragraph, I thought that there had to be some great covers of Stand By Me, and, believe it or not, I WAS RIGHT AGAIN! Iz crazy, I know. I find the original absolutely incredible. Old time R&B at it's best. Ben E. King's voice was powerful, but absolutely calming to the core. If you've never heard of it, don't talk to me. After a little more research on Grooveshark, I ran across "Stand By Me", by Ry Cooder. Now, I'm not going to lie, I was a little intimidated by the name; pictures of Big & Rich raping the song to death with their twangy fists rushed to my head. However, I was pleasantly surprised, right off the bat. An accordion sets the tone of a soft Secilian lullaby, floating over the streets of Little Italy in the wee small hours of the mountain. After the intro, the song breaks into a slow groove and Ry croons through the song, adding a little bit more ease and relaxation to the already soothing ballad.

"Happy Together"

"Stand By Me"

MGMT Follow up

A post or two back, I challenged MGMT to use more of their talent in their music, and they just might have done it. A song off of the new album came out today, and while it's not revolutionary, I like it a lot more some of the other mediocrity from Oracular Spectacular. It sounds like the guys have really identified their best music, and their starting to hone in on that. The whole album come out April 13th.

I can't find the song on Lala, but here's a link to the song on Pitchfork.

Avett Brothers-I and Love and You

Earlier in the week, I talked about an over-hyping. Well, let me flip the tables on you. Overhyping can be one of the greatest things in the world. I love getting pleasantly surprised. I mean, who doesn't. Fact of life.

I grew up hating the Avett Brothers. Well, ok, maybe that's stretching it. I didn't hate them, I just looked at them like I would look at a transgendered hobo. I don't know, I just had read a bunch of negative reviews, and I wasn't crazy about the extreme twang-ity of their band. I'm notorious for going with critics. I went into Starsky and Hutch thinking it would be terrible, and it was a hilarious movie. CURSE YOU METACRITIC!

These Avett's have this extreme sense of North Carolina nostalgia in their sound, which is ironic, because they ARE from North Carolina. I know, Itz crazzy. Seth and Scott Avett started playing in a band called Nemo that would book gigs in Greenville, playing some good ole' fashioned rock and roll. However, the rock was not filling in all of the musical holes in these boys hearts. They started meeting regularly with the guitarist in the band, sharing drinks and the occasional song. Eventually, this turned into a regular thing at some bar in Greenville that began to bring in a bit of a crowd. This gathering got thrown onto a cd, and wala. You've got the Avett Brothers. They picked up a professional bassist, and now they are touring all kinds of nooks around the south. They released The Back Door Project in 2000, Country Was in 2002, A Carolina Jubilee in 2003, Mignonete in 2004, The Gleam in 2006, Emotionalism in 2007, The Gleam II in 2008, and finally I and Love and You in 2009. That isn't even including a few live albums. These guys are legit studio workers.

The album opens up dispelling any myths I previously had about his band. The title track is a thoughtful waltz through the meaning of love. The song argues with itself; one verse walloping in how much they loathe love and all of its tribulations, the next verse dreaming about its beauty, ending with a depressing story of the couple in question. The lyrics are beautiful, as well as the music. The piano is moving, coloring a palette of grizzled wisdom with touching quips of beauty. The song emotionally latches on the instant you hear the first of the fiddle. The song is simple, but absolutely great.

The biggest factor that appealed to my new fandom of the Avett's is their ability to stretch their musical talents across vast sounds and styles. While the album's forte is the quieter ballads, there are plenty of great rocking tracks. Somewhere in the middle of the album theres a little folksy adrenaline rush called "Kick Drum Heart". The song blast off with the heavy bass kick that steadies itself throughout the song while and a wild west piano prances around, like Elton John in "Take Me To The Pilot". I really love the metaphor "My heart like a kick drum. My love like a voice." I connect to it.

Ever the musical explorers, the band finds itself in peculiar funk jam on "Tin Man", all the while maintaining the east coast properness about it. It's one of the many songs that involves a keen sense of harmony between the two singers. They work together like a team, boasting the vocals lightyears from where it would be by itself. "Incomplete and Insecure" gives me chill-bumps the harmony is so tight.

If you like to skip to the last part of reviews like I do, this is outstanding folk rock. Appalachian stompin' at its best. The album is mysterious, but there is a distinct happiness floating through it's rough and ragged edges. This is one of the best albums I have heard in a long while. Every song is great; not a single dud. Thanks to these guys, I don't rely on critics nearly as much as I used to, and I am in very grateful to Scott and Seth for that.

MGMT-Oracular Spectacular

I feel bad. Like i've let someone down. I mean, I mean I'm fairly positive 0 to 3 people read my blog, but I feel bad because I didn't get my weekly review in on time. I've let myself down, but seeing as that's definitely not a first, I'll try to spit out two reviews this week and act like nothing happened, trick. Can't tell me nothin.

You know the feeling you get when you hear about how awesome something is, and you just feel like it doesn't live up to its label? Sure ya do. It sucks. Like when you hear that you're going to Six Flags and later find out it's that crap one in Kentucky with some spinning teacups and a fixed ring toss. Well, that's kinda how I feel about MGMT.

8 years ago, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew Van Wyngardens were just two freshman ay Wesleyan, learning to make a way for themselves in the world and, most likely, taking a lot of drugs, and when I say a lot, I mean way more than you're thinking of right now. And now. The band started playing shows with very minimal backing (cassette recordings, backing vocals, synthesizer drones), allowing the frontman's punk-ish aura to dictate the show. However, the band aged well, eventually picking up backing instrumentalist to fulfill their futuristic rock dreams, all the while mellowing out their stage presence that solidified MGMT, originally The Management, to gain a record deal for graduation. Eventually the band ended up with Columbia, and released Oracular Spectacular. Since then, MGMT has been shot out of the critic's guns to the top of the alternative spectrum, playing with MGMT, landing festival slots, and doing a lot of more drugs.

It's just a little unfair to say MGMT did not completely live up to my standards. I do believe they a re a small precursor to what a lot of music is heading towards. However, while the band is very Oracular, spectacular is stretching it a bit. The band rarely strays very far from its sound it establishes on the first track. "Electric Feel" is the mother-base, the home-ship, that the band tends to hide under. It's a pleasant sound, but that's all; not awe inspiring, not revolutionarily original. In fact, the song makes me think of Under The Influence of Giants on acid. A very warbly softened "Mama's Room". While MGMT's track does breathe some life into disco, which is no easy task, it doesn't sustain it.

As "Electric Feel" is the home of the album, many other tracks poke their toes out of the cabin and try to venture into new territory, only to quickly scuttle back in its comfortable abode. "Future Reflections" and "Of Moons, Birds & Monsters" are just new flavors of the same ice-cream. Even with the first's upbeat gallop, the song never goes anywhere farther than an electro haze of voices, korgs, and a snare drum.

If there is a track that is the best of this group, it's got to be the hit "Kids". It doesn't try to be anything more than it is. Listening to the song gives me the feeling that I'm walking down some Brooklyn side-street, passing the mammoth buildings while soaking up the quirk floating through the air. It's like a march for the ongoing development of alternative music, taking steps farther and farther from the reality of the 90's grunge movement with every step of the drum. I wish that I could title this as the albums basis, but it is the only one of its kind (theres one exception on the disc) that is a notch above the rest, unrivaled by the meh music encompassing it.

You remember where I said "there's one exception" any where from 5 seconds to 3 minutes ago according to how fast you read? Gee wilickers Batman, is it an exception. The saving grace, pulling this albums from the pile of "potentially, but not". "Weekend Wars" is an incredible Dylan-esque ramble. Something about the way the tin punching guitar trickles around while a static-y click reminds the song of rhythm, all the while spouting whimsical prophecies of nothing. Slowly, the onslaught of synth begins to invade the song, throwing a punch here, a slur there. The song ends in a frenetic mess of sound; a utopia of crazy. The song fades at its climax, harshing the chill with the forgettable "The Youth". "Weekend Wars" has the best lyrics, because they sound like Memoirs of a homeless crack addict. "Try to break my arm, I'll drive to Arizona. It might take a 100 years to grow an arm." Fantastico! No clue whats happening, BUT IT'S AWESOME! The song works. It works very well.

I'm not going to put off MGMT. I'm honestly really excited for their next LP, coming out April 13. I'm intrigued. I'm not denying that they could be the next John Conner of alternative music. I hope that they are. I just see Oracular Spectacular as a good portion of wasted potential, with a few huge steps towards the next stage of music. I hope these oracles predict a lot more "Weekend Wars" and "Kids" and a lot less "Future Reflections". Please.