When Bob Pollard Rocks, I Consider Listening

I am not a Guided by Voices superfan. I do not want to hear a song where B. Pollard recorded his vocals through a fan into a digital recorder that will then be run through an analog synthesizer while he verbally riffs about scientific procedures I've never heard of.

But, when I read this morning that Robby P. had a new touring project whose mission statement is to sound like Cheap Trick, I ran to their Vampire Weekend dissing MySpace Page to check out what they sound like. There is only one song up, "Go For the Exit," and what do you know: it starts with forty seconds of lo-fi acoustic strumming with Bob singing over it, sensitivo style, that nearly falls apart into a GBV d-side before erupting into a classic power pop anthem. Pollard's anglo-aping vocals over warm melodic pop punk chords is where I think GBV are at their strongest, and by the time the indie arena rock solo comes in at the end, I'm so sold on it that I can't help but start it again from the beginning. Way to make me feel young again! Also, Bob looks awesome now that he has gone grey.

Their record, Brown Submarine, is out on September 9, 2008 on Guided By Voices, Inc. Coming from a man who created about 60 or so band names for a GBV box-set, he probably could have worked a little harder on the label name.

Download "Go For The Exit" from the Pitchfork here.

Morning Review: The new Girl Talk record dropped.

Omfg. The new Girl Talk album, Feed the Animals is available right now. Download it for free here!

As I put on my helmet (safety first- the Siblog is for the children) and unlocked my bike, I cued up "Play Your Part (Pt 1)," the first track on Feed The Animals. The album opens with the pump-you-up-proto-motown bassline to Spencer Davis' "Gimmie Some Lovin'" with UGK's "International Player's Anthem" over it.

I don't think I've been this happy since Christmas 1988. The scene: after impatiently tearing open (too) many presents looking for Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, 8 year old Tom Siblog sits in his living room with his brattiest face on. Little did he know, The Siblog family was taking the piss: ZII:TAOL was snuggly tucked into my stocking, which is opened last.

I nearly jumped up and down on both occasions.

Concert Review: Evangelicals, Cake Shop 6/18/08

Sometimes you buy a $450 weekend ticket to an unbelievable reunion at a rundown chateau in upstate New York that will take place almost four months after the purchase. But other times you find out that that one of your favourite new bands is playing an under publicized headlining gig at the Cake Shop two nights before the show. Even though their Dead Oceans debut, The Evening Descends dropped early this year, Evangelicals are currently touring the country opening for Shearwater and Frog Eyes. Thus, this headlining gig at the Cake Shop was a tour anomaly and their typically elaborate lo-fi stage theatrics were not in full force.

Theatrics in full effect:


For the unaware: Evangelicals are a four piece rock band from Norman, Oklahoma. They get compared to the Flaming Lips. A lot. But not "let's bring naked girls on stage and dance in a bubble" Flaming Lips. More like if "Clouds Taste Metallic" was produced for the stage by Ed Wood. With those similarities out of the way, it should stated that Evangelicals never feel like a homage. Part of the reason the Flaming Lips are usually a reference point (besides being from OK) is that Evangelicals don't really sound like many other bands. Sure, you could isolate a vocal or a melody that might sound familiar, but as a sum of their parts, Evangelicals feel fresh. Furthermore, watching them live, they have a ramshackle appeal that is hidden on their highly overdubbed (in a good way) album.

The band took the stage to a small but dedicated audience (aren't all small audiences dedicated?) of about 40 people. The lights went down, the smoke machine was cued up and Evangelicals were up and running. Throughout their short set, singer/guitarist/mad man Josh Jones looked like a wired child basked in thick green fog, his eyes bugging out of their sockets, his hands reaching out for the audience without ever touching them. The paranoid protagonists of The Evening Descends seem to become Jones, which sounds about as theatrical as having a light switch attached to your bass to activate a strobe light (done and done). But Evangelicals, in all their shimmery sugar drenched ghost fuzzed glory have such heart that they never seem contrived. Most of the time Jones' high pitched voice sounds genuinely frightened, whether it's of outside elements or himself. Their best song, "Skeleton Man," tells the story of a person who goes so crazy that he bursts into flames. When they played it last night you could actually see Jones as the Skeleton Man, cackling maniacally before the overdrive takes over, obscuring the song's lyrical centerpiece: "When someone loves you very much, you're fucked."

The band mostly played songs from The Evening Descends, with "Midnight Vignette" and "Party Crashin'" standing out as the best performances. For most of the set, Evangelicals had a charming garage vibe about them but during the beautiful coda to "Party Crashin'" the sound seemed to gel together, achieving the perfect decussation of dissonance and euphoria. It was probably the best minute of their whole show.

Evangelicals will be back in August albeit with Bright "Conor Oberst" Eyes. But if they decide to descend upon Gotham properly, as headliners, I'll meet you in front of the smoke machine.

Great Moments in Rock and Roll Review: The First Six Seconds of The Replacements' "Bastard of Young"

While the video for the Replacements' "Bastards of Young" will always be remembered for it's punk rock middle finger (read: self destructive tendencies) aimed at MTV, I am including this video to pay respect to what may be the greatest six seconds of the 'Placemats' entire career, if not (excuse the hyperbole) one of the greatest moments in rock and roll.

The first six seconds of "Bastard of Young" starts with a hypermelodic lead guitar line before Paul Westerberg lets out a wailing scream just as the band comes in. The scream is off key and it's evident that Westerburg can barely sustain it for as long as he does. It sounds desperate and important, as if to say, we are giving it all we've got, why is it not enough? This theme is reiterated in the final verse in which Westerburg contemplates, "The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest/And visit their graves on holidays at best./The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please./If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them."

I've listened to "Bastards of Young" dozens of times and that scream never fails to give me goosebumps. What rock and roll moments give you goosebumps? R.L Stine is not allowed to answer.

Ignorance Review: Usher's Views on Homosexuality

The entire interweb should salute Idolator, the music industry's best check/balance. Since they also worship 90's indie (especially Jawbreaker) they clinch the respect of the Siblog. Today they posted a quote from the recently wed Usher on his nuptials.

Usher on marriage:

"Am I so much of a bad guy because I decided to get married? Am I so much of a bad guy [because once I got in the situation], I decided to stand for something, build a foundation, and think about my future? As a man, you would respect me for not turning my back on it. ... It can never be bad to have a foundation as a man — a black man — in a time when women are dying for men. Women have started to become lovers of each other as a result of not having enough men. Are you not studying the stories? Wake up! Black love is a good thing."

Now, while I can't argue the positive or negative effects of "black love" (primarily because I'm not entirely sure what he means), I do take issue with the fact that Usher seems to believe lesbianism can be directly attributed to a lack of men. How does he explain homosexual men? Also, I'm not sure how literal he was being, but are women actually perishing in their attempts to snag a man? Metaphorically or metaphysically, it doesn't add up.

Furthermore, I'm not clear on which stories he is speaking of. If he is talking about one of his club love anthems (that occasionally feature Young Jeezy), I'm pretty sure no scholarly interpretation could yield a pro-marriage stance.

I wonder if Usher thinks vegetarianism is a result of a shortage of meat. Homophobia isn't going to increase your subpar record sales pal!

News Review: Man Man to release new single this summer!

There was much commotion at the Siblog yesterday when one of the staff noticed that Man Man's endearingly named percussionist, Pow Pow, posted a bulletin on Myspace that announced his new record label, Obey Your Brain. Which is, frankly, just good news. He then proceeded to drop the piece of information that has me re-contemplating lip hair: Man Man will release a new 7" on Obey Your Brain, presumably to be released this summer. Did I mention that the b-side is called, "Snakehandling the Moon Sault Kick Comeback"? I remember reading that Man Man recorded around 20 songs for Rabbit Habits and I'd be willing to bet both the aforementioned song and the a-side, "Little Torments" are from those sessions.

Additionally, Pow Pow's (somehow) more experimental band, Icy Demons will also be releasing their new album on Obey Your Brain. Their last LP, Tears of A Clone was pretty good and I look forward to hearing their new one, Miami Ice.

Oh and also, how was I not aware of this awesome Nike ad that features Man Man's classic, "10lb Moustache" and Rainn Wilson from The Office?

Podcast Review: Sound Opinions, Buried Treasures

On May 26, 2008, our nation's leading rock critics (their words) descended from their cloud of promos and guest lists to share with us, via the Sound Opinions podcast, their buried treasure picks. What does this mean? It means Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis are letting all the rocker peons what is the haps. Exciting! But before we get to their buried treasure picks...

Greg, I should let you know, it's pronounced Steve Jobs. As in GOB (George Oscar Bluth from Arrested Development) or the equally popular biblical figure, Job. Not Steve Jobs, as in "I'm unemployed and need a few jobs." Thus, your immature reporting on the new iPhone will be ignored.

Second, listening to Greg and Jim (mid 30's, white rock critics) talk about hip hop is terribly terribly painful. For some reason they've decided to crack open the Nas/N*gger controversy... when it's basically over. Greg makes the statement that Nas is one of the biggest selling east coast rappers of the last ten years, which isn't true. Hip Hop Is Dead was a modest hit but he is hardly selling like he was in the early 90's. Both of them wax hypothetical about how rap controversies sell albums and how this was all a publicity stunt (example they give: Kanye/50 feud), which is pretty well worn territory. They don't have the sense to mention how Nas always seems to harbor a hunger for Illmatic glory nor do they give Nas enough credit as an artist to consider that as a high minded emcee, Nas might have been trying to saying something with the album title. Instead, Greg offers a quote from Kid Rock about how rappers have co-opted the rock star lifestyle and have used it to sell records. While I'm sure Greg loved that soundbite/pull quote, I'm not sure how naming your album after a word that summarizes the disgusting racism that has plagued our country for hundreds of years is akin to groupie baiting, endless spending and coke binges but hey, Greg has probably met a lot more rock stars than I have. Is it possible Fuel was sitting backstage arguing about race relations before coming out to sing "Hemorrhage"? Let me know.

The boys make it clear, they cover the likes of pop culture mavens such as Madonna so we don't have to experience it for ourselves! Martyrdom! But the following tunes, Greg says, are so good, commercial appeal doesn't even matter. Are these guys professionals or what?

DeRo's First Pick: Local H, picked for their local Chicago flavour. Apparently, Local H's newest album is a concept album about a messy break up. Sounds like the something the Siblog might sniff out. But DeRo ruins it by describing some of the break up details and then playing the song in question. Here's the song: singer from Local H breaks up with gal. But she took his records! His Pretenders records! And she didn't even like them before they started dating!

Yes, all of that is played, in song form, over the "airwaves." I'm pretty sure my above summary was also far more eloquent than the lyrics (with far less generic riffage).

Greg's First Pick: Scottish band, Frightened Rabbits. My friend Hasty loves these guys and I couldn't find them more boring. Greg doesn't say much except review the band personnel and name the producer of the record. The song he plays, "Modern Leper," which is a pretty good jangly pop song with an over the top Scottish lead singer that, duh, is in a lot of pain, man. This probably wouldn't sound so good if I didn't just have to endure Local H's version of "Hissing Boring, Are We Even Performers?"

DeRo's Second Pick: 80's band, Big Dipper. Pretty good choice. I'd actually never heard Big Dipper before and according to Jimbo, Merge just put out a Big Dipper anthology since their records have been out of print for years. Recommended.

Greg's Second Pick: Uh oh. Greg is picking a hip hop record. He picks Bay Area emcee, Lyrics Born. When Greg says this song makes him want to "shake the butt" I decide I'm never going to dance again.

DeRo's Third Pick: DeRo can't help but mention both SXSW and Lou Reed before introducing Joan Wasser a/k/a Joan as Police Woman. Jim mentions she was on the "fringe of so many fascinating things musically over the years." The first example he gives of this is that she was dating Jeff Buckley when he drowned. Pretty sure that just means she was knee deep in sorrow, Jimbo, on the fringe of a tragedy. Her work with Mary Timony probably should have been mentioned sooner. The song is alright: as someone who dated Buckley she emphasizes those wavering vocals and I'm not really impressed.

Greg's Third Pick: I'm not sure where Greg has been buried for the last year or so but his musing on the Smell and No Age nearly make me vomit. I give credit where credit is due and pay my respects to these two fine critics but they are serious purveyors of lazy lazy journalism. Blah blah blah noise club blah blah blah LA blah blah blah the Smell blah blah blah melodic and noisy. Why doesn't anyone mention that they ape Kurt Cobain's two string guitar lines!? He then name drops Husker Du and Parts and Labor, who certainly sound similar to each other but don't have much in common with No Age. First off, it should be acknowledged that the Husker Du records that sound bad did not sound bad because Bob Mould thought it would be cool: they couldn't afford much else, and as soon as they could, they did. Additionally, while Parts and Labor mix some noise in with their pop, it's not the same: the analog squelches that are soaked into P&L's tight songs have little to do with the Memory Man reverb breakdowns that No Age specializes in. He then calls No Age's sound timeless, which is unfortunate. He plays "Cappo," one of the better songs on Nouns.

DeRo's Fourth Pick: Jim actually picks a pretty good new-ish band: the Black Angels. He almost ruins it for me by mentioning the VU for a fifth time in about forty minutes. The Black Angels are an excellent band that make the type of music you'd imagine a band called the Black Angels would make: midtempo, heavy, and badass. Occasionally their record, Directions to See a Ghost suffers from a lack of diversity in tempo and style but overall it is an amazing mood piece.

Greg's Fourth Pick: YES! Greg picked the new Mudhoney as his buried treasure. I could ramble on about how his justification for Mudhoney being a buried treasure was pretty silly but instead I made the rock sign with my hands and started tapping my foot along to Mudhoney's shredding single and title track from their new record, "The Lucky Ones." Do I agree with DeRo that if you don't own Superfuzz Big Muff that you are missing "something vital from your life"? Probably not. But if you haven't pogoed to "Touch Me, I'm Dick" I will gladly come over and irritate your neighbors with you.

The boys proceed to review the Al Green record but I've had enough rock critic silliness for one day.

Album Review: Wolf Parade, "At Mount Zoomer" (Sub Pop)

Wolf Parade occupies a unique place in the current indie music scene, whatever the hell that even means. They made a splash a few years ago when they decided to throw their ubiquitous lupine moniker at the internet with keywords like "Modest Mouse," "Canada," and "Sub Pop" tagged more frequently than that overpass near your house where the 15 year old hoodrats hang out. It's been almost two and a half years since the release of their debut full length record, Apologies to the Queen Mary and the kids are already lining up to shoot up At Mount Zoomer with their phasers set to "meh." Not to say they've been out of the public eye: any 'Gum reading rube could tell you that Wolf Parade's singer/songwriters released all kinds of nifty side projects in the interim. Resident underdog Dan Boeckner released an LP under the name Handsome Furs with his way-too-hot-for-him wife and resident boy-wonder Spencer Krug released two albums with Sunset Rubdown and released the Swan Lake album with Dan Bejar and Carey Mercer. The aforementioned rundown of side project activity passively reveals what makes Wolf Parade so compelling: the band is working with two alpha singer/songwriters whose songs tend to be two sides of the same coin. Except that Spencer is clearly always considered the "heads" of the aforementioned imaginary metaphoric currency.

With good reason. For every very good contribution from Dan on Apologies ("This Heart's on Fire" and "Modern World") the moments of absolute transcendence came from Spencer ("Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" and "I'll Believe in Anything"). Spencer's songs are catchier and more unique, and his possesses a more distinctive voice, lyrically and vocally. Spencer seems so comfortable composing off kilter piano struts that it is at the same time charming and disarming.

The one exception would be the future NOW!: That's What I Called Indie (2005 Edition) tune, "Shine a Light," Boeckner's anthemic driving strut fest and Apologies centerpiece. But "Shine a Light" aside, I find their to be an underlying theme of "come for Spencer, stay for Dan." Or maybe I'm just projecting.

I've digressed to prove a simple point: At Mount Zoomer will not be a breakout record for Wolf Parade, but it will be the record that breaks Dan out of Spencer's long, proggy, handsome shadow.

At Mount Zoomer's biggest flaw is that it's the follow up to an enormously successful, beloved pop rock album. Sure, you can argue Spencer's throaty yelps give the band an edge, but Wolf Parade's most popular songs are the three and half minute blasts of energy that focus on relationships, whether it be to a person or to their surroundings. There are no such blasts of energy on At Mount Zoomer and that is going to be Wolf Parade's story for the 12 month press cycle that is already underway.

It is the modern music conundrum: is it a bigger cliche to follow up a successful album with more of the same or take a stab at a big artistic statement (whatever the hell that means)? Their press release even name drops surface level prog masterpiece, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway so we understand how this is the ART section of art-rock. The simple truth is this album isn't a quarter as prog as Sunset Rubdown's second LP but about five times more compelling. The only people who will think this album is prog are the people who think "Bixby Canyon Bridge" on the new Death Cab for Cutie is a noise pop song. That is to say, 'Gum reading rubes.

Still, this push/pull between their current and former selves (and each other) is what makes At Mount Zoomer a worthwhile listen. Spencer's songs seem to deliberately hold out to the end for the big hook ("Bang Your Drum" and the pitifully titled "California Dreamer") or focus on rhythm to supply the melody where there is no discernable chorus ("Call it a Ritual"). On the flip side, Dan's songs are barn-burning forward looking anthems (at least comparitively), taking everything that made "Shine a Line" such a teenage delight, and improving upon it.

The album's best track, "Language City" steers itself along for about five minutes without ever deciding which of the song's five or so big hooks will be the chorus. The songs initial structure seems to suggest that the deeply resigned "All this working/Just to tear it down" is the song's focus/chorus. But after three minutes, Spencer's organ shifts the song's tempo upward injecting a sense of hope and excitement into a previously melancholy song. Still, the band refuses to give into the big release and the song collapses into 20 seconds of vocal tension before bursting into a coda that most bands would drive into the ground. Wolf Parade gives us about twenty five seconds of gleeful release. The song ends with Dan shouting, "We are not at home/Hang on the telephone." I've read a few reviews that suggest this song is about an actual city but I've come to think that the song is about modern technology and miscommunication, a theme previously explored in "Modern World." But whereas "Modern World" was about the relationship between man and his current surroundings, "Language City" is about how technology makes interpersonal relationships even more fragile; this static makes intimacy so difficult that it's nearly offputting. I think it also examines the timeline of relationships and how language is so powerful that it can obliterate years of intimacy in mere seconds.

Unfortunately, even at a mere nine songs, At Mount Zoomer is front loaded. "The Grey Estates" sounds like a poppy bone to throw at anyone who (read: everyone) who is going to be bored to tears by the next two songs, "Fine Young Cannibals" and "An Animal In Your Care." Both of those tunes seem like demos brought the table that no one else wanted to work on. Therefore, the first few minutes of each tune is basically some weak crooning by Dan and Spencer, respectively. "Fine Young Cannibals" (which would boast the worst song title on the year if there wasn't a song on the same LP with the title "California Dreamer") goes on in the same fashion as Apologies dud "Same Ghost Every Night." That is to say, for three minutes too long with meandering orchestration.

The final song, "Kissing the Beehive" is the only song where both singers bother to sing together, one of At Mount Zoomer's biggest mistakes. This ten plus minute cut and paste jam is neither as good or as bad as most people will make it out to be. If you can manage to parse through the first four muddy minutes and ignore the pointless 3 minute jammy outro, At Mount Zoomer's best moments are in here somewhere. Around the four minute mark, "Kissing the Beehive" transitions into a beautiful groove that sounds like the perfect compromise between what Wolf Parade was and what they'd like to become. The next three and a half minutes are the best on the album: Spencer shrieks "Fire in the hole" like a man possessed, while minutes later screeching "Oh oh oh!" harmonies behind Dan's muscular vocals before finding that disco-beat that they toyed with on their first few EPs.

It seems pointless to speculate why the album feels like it's missing something. Considering Sunset Rubdown has written some of my favourite tunes in the last three years ("Stadiums and Shrines II" in particular) I don't understand why none of Spencer's songs move me at all. Is he holding out his best songs? This album definitely does nothing to to dispell the constant elephant in Wolf Parade's practice space: when is Spencer going to cut free? Because as much as this album showcases Dan's burdgeoning talent, the reason At Mount Zoomer ultimately fails is because there is barely an upper tier Spencer song here. Hopefully we won't have to wait another three years to see what happens next.