Subjunctives - Let's Try This Again

 

An album's worth of rollicking punk-rock kicks packed tight into just an EP's worth of running time.  Which works out well, actually, since each song is a chorus heavy sing-a-long that comes in, kicks shit around and then leaves just before it wears out its welcome.  Pummeling percussion, lots of swampy bass riffs, over-driven guitar peels and inane (but no less endearing) tongue-in-cheek vocals that evoke something like early 90's Green Day (musically) meets They Might Be Giants (lyrically).  All of these songs could fit nicely into "the montage scene" of any given buddy-comedy - or some quirky sitcom's opening theme.  And considering most of these firecrackers time out within two minutes, they're just about tailor made for it!  

The unlisted Easter egg track at the end kind of stinks though... 

https://www.thesubjunctives.com/

Field Report WIP

A google search for "midwestern depression" should, in a perfect and accurate world, turn up, first page, references to Chris Porterfield's Field Report project.  Once associated with Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver fame) back in the days when the pair were in DeYarmond Edison together, both apparently managed to - however independently - successfully touch on and embrace a certain aura, a certain chaotic existential rural gothic thing, that only living in the midwest can incarnate. While Vernon tended to focus more on the abstract of it, on his critically applauded For Emma Forever Ago, Porterfield targets his semblance in a more conversational form; penning lyrics to downtrodden, yearning compositions that almost seem like overheard drunkard's laments at the local dive bar, or phone calls made to a dear and trusted friend, in a moment of dilapidating angst or despair - e.g., "we fucked up and we won't admit, he said we fucked up and we won't admit it", in the confessional line repeated, almost redundantly, in the album's closing track "Route 18".

While Field Report's immediate appeal could be seen as hit or miss to most, with a debut album comprised of ten songs laid out in a succession that seems to make each more destitute than the one that preceded it, the opening track "Fergus Falls" is about the most upbeat track on the record - and that's by some considerable stretch of one's interpretation.  You won't find any anthem rockers on this, no catchy pop hooks that make it likely and easy to sing along to, no melodic guitar solos and certainly nothing you'll want to listen to in the car to lift your spirits on a Monday morning on your way to work.  What you have here, instead, are a series of bleak and depressing compositions that will speak to all that is empty and desolate inside of you; the uneasy feelings you tend to not want to look too hard at (and certainly not illustrate), the bitter despair and the empty satisfactions you find in the things that offer very little.  So why, and in what setting, would Field Report's music be fitting and appropriate?  Well... get drunk, feel sad and cry yourself to sleep. Think about all you should have done, could have been, would have said if only something else had been.  You'll need Field Report to bring that out of you, thoroughly nurture it so you can embrace it appropriately. Because who knows what you'd do otherwise, and quite frankly, in case you forgot this in a modern world where social media pop-culture fosters the impression that we're all happy and content and doing well: we're not. We're all miserable and sad deep down inside, and we all want what we imagine we deserve and should have attained.  As sung so poetically on the album's fourth track "Taking Alcatraz": "..and if we die here, well at least we made a choice... and a line in the sand don't matter if you don't care. 

Kate Tucker + The Sons of Sweden: Shape, Color... But No Feel

Kate Tucker and her Sons of Sweden ensemble can be given due credit for, if nothing else, having the marketing and social media aspect of music promotion nailed down fairly well.  Having had her songs appear as background accompaniment in countless popular television series (One Tree Hill, United States of Tara and Pretty Little Liars - to name just a few), makes it likely many people have heard her music... but ask them exactly who she is, or where they heard that one familiar sounding song, and they might struggle to recall the details. 

It's therein lies the problem for Tucker and the Sons of Sweden. They have a presence without having an identity, they have been heard without being listened to, and they kind of exist without having staked any real legitimate claim to their being around. When you're saying that about a band that is grossly underrated, poorly marketed or just plain creative beyond what the majority of the population can be expected to embrace - then that sort of misfortune is a shame. When you're talking about MOR music in it's most definitive form, as Kate Tucker & The Sons of Sweden are - well now that's about the most you could ever hope for! 

Here's a fittingly boring analogous comparison: Kate Tucker and The Sons of Sweden showcase themselves a lot like some publicly traded companies in the World Stock Market. There is a perception of success based on placement and investment, and stock prices put value on that illusion; even though in actual profit and losses accounting, those high priced stocks might actually belong to a company that is nowhere near solvent.  There's an illusion being sold there, and Kate Tucker's selling hers in that same intrinsic ideology.  The brass tacks, however, are that this is fool's gold at best. Thankfully for KT+SOS (as they so trendily like to abbreviate), there's no one interested enough to weigh the value of her band (except me, I suppose), but as long as the wheels stay greased and she keeps looking busy, we'll take stock in the belief that she must be pretty good - one of her song's was on CSI Miami for fuck's sake. Wha'dya mean she isn't the fresh new face of the Millennial music scene!??!

Abstract social-political commentary aside, KT+SOS's new album The Shape The Color The Feel, is not at all "bad music", per se; because for it to be labeled that way, there would have to be something challenging enough about it to spark or polarize, or encourage any severe differences in taste for its style or delivery.  Tucker sings very nicely, and her band plays adequately. That's about all that can be said about her and them and this. You're left with about as much interest in this album as you might be with the wallpaper in your dentist's office waiting room. It's something to enjoy when you're sitting there with nothing else to focus on, but that doesn't really qualify as interesting once you're free of it.... it qualifies more as Stockholm Syndrome, actually.  But hey - the packaging of the vinyl edition is quite handsome, and the album cover is eye-catching.  So even if the audio has no feel, the physical packaging does at least... and shape and color too!

DEAD CAN DANCE 'Dionysus' - No Rebirth and No Loosened Inhibitions

The second offering of new Dead Can Dance compositions post their departure from the revered indie label 4AD in the late 90's, 'Dionysus' picks up more from where 1996's 'Spiritchaser' left off, and less from their previous "sis/sus" effort in 2012, 'Anastasis'.  

The concern with Dead Can Dance in the present day is that their new output, however trickling (this is six years now between new releases), relies too heavily on the well-worn paths they've forged before; keeping those trails mowed every few years in an attempt to keep themselves relevant, but ironically offering nothing that will substantially benefit or significantly supplement their prior discography with any real consequence.  'Dionysus' is a reminder of the sound of Dead Can Dance, at best, and nothing more - right on down to the twilling jungle bird sound bytes that add both dramatic effect, as well as compliment this new handful of tribal chants and overtures, that so readily lend themselves to that kind of theatric garnish. This was a studio effect that served them well on their breakthrough U.S. release on 1993's 'Into The Labryrinth' on the (let's just call it a) hit promotional single "Yulunga (Spirit Dance)" from that album.  

Dead Can Dance's current stasis (which would be an appropriate album title for any compilation of their most recent two efforts) is not unique.  The majority of our beloved at-one-time foragers of new and amazing soundscapes from the 1990's have aged now, leaning heavily on the claims to fame of their salad days - and to their benefit in this regard - their fanbase is aging too. And so much like a diehard Pink Floyd fan will still hail any shred of new material from any remainder of the band as just as fresh and vibrant as before... those of us with more critical minds will cock an eyebrow or shrug the effort off entirely. 'Dionysus' is Dead Can Dance in fine form, but it's not a form we haven't seen them take before, and your disposition on nostalgia will be what you put into this album, just as much as what you expect to get out of it.  

The Only Slightly More Colorful Three - A Review of PRIMUS' New Album "The Desaturating Seven"

"The Desaturating Seven" marks the 9th studio album in a slowly expanding Primus discography, and yet another since 1997's "Brown Album" that doesn't quite meet the mark. 

Though this album is the first studio effort in 14 years to feature celebrated "pseudo-original" drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander (he amicably left Primus after the release of "Tales from the Punchbowl", but returned briefly to record "The Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People" EP in 2003), it still falls only slightly less short of being anything resembling a full return to form for this once amazingly unique ensemble.  

"The Desaturating Seven" while toted as an album of new material, is actually a musical  re-interpretation of an obscure children's book called "The Rainbow Goblins" by Italian author Ul De Rico.  It's an interesting concept, and surely an intriguing children's story, but Primus using it as fodder for a concept album fails to offer any cohesive linear narrative for anyone unfamiliar with the book itself. Added to which, the band's previously only tepidly received re-interpretation of "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory", on their 2014 effort "Primus & The Chocolate Factory", should have been an indicator to them that their fans are really not all that interested in this kind of child's play. 

Though renowned for being an eccentric and left-field band, which consistently steered away from the angst ridden "grunge" sound of their 90's era peers, Primus fans by and large still come to expect a little more maturity - even from this decidedly silly, quirky and character-story driven group. So while the concept of this album is singular, and undeniably curious, it ultimately presents itself as Primus's further de-evolution into self-decay and detachment from their core audience. "The Desaturating Seven" is a project that would have been much better suited to a band like The Residents, who have made a long standing career of cultivating obscure literature like this, and would never be expected to produce anything other - especially not something that would be commercially digestible on a mainstream level. Credit to Les Claypool and company for trying in this realm, but really they've established themselves as a different kind of band than that, so to put out something like this will undoubtedly struggle to garner any real appreciation. 

On the plus side, however, we see Tim Alexander returning to the fold, and his presence has a clear influence on Primus's compositions as a whole.  While his percussion is not nearly as as poly-rhythmic or expansive as before, it still seems credit is due to him for encouraging the removal of Claypoool's previously severely overused vocal distortion, and the totally irksome wah-effect on his bass guitar - both of which were incorporated into Primus songs after Alexander's departure from the band in 1996.  For the most part, Les Claypool's bass lines here are almost completely void of any additional effects, and longtime guitarist Larry LaLonde begins to once again offer some more dimensional instrumentation than the reggae-style bursts he's been resigned to since "The Brown Album".  The spacious sonic resonance we enjoyed on "Sailing The Seas of Cheese" and "Pork Soda" are missing from this very channeled and entirely too compressed and suffocating sounding release, however - which is a shame, because on the near closing track "The Storm", the opportunity was there for this album to have a very brief moment of prodigiousness. 

All said, "The Desaturating Seven", while a wholly disappointing effort, still displays a very small step back in the direction of that classic and famed Primus sound.  Though the album's engineering and production is stuffy and claustrophobic, long time fans will faintly hear, and begin to remember, just how much potential Primus still has as a trio of amazingly talented musicians.  This album lacks flare, but the color combination is there. 

Wisdom, Laugher And The Same Old Lines - Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott Couple Again With A Second Helping of More of The Same

Very hot on the heels of the release of their first album together, 2014's both critically and commercially successful (the latter reward being  a long time missing in Paul Heaton's career since the salad days of The Beautiful South) What Have We Become, Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott return with twelve more songs detailing the same old kitchen sink dramas we've all come to expect from them.  Not without its merit, though Wisdom, Laughter and Lines may be the same old faire Heaton has hashed and rehashed again and again over the past two and half decades, the album still arrives as a welcome return to some semblance of prior form; which is ultimately what any of his fans want anyway - so why not.  Still, credit due for being able to produce album after album of the same old lamentations, advice and caustic wit, yet somehow able offer something just a little refreshing in each.

Wisdom, Laughter and Lines paints itself in a similar musical shade as 1996's Blue Is The Colour, with the majority of the tracks being very key driven, warm bass, light percussion - and not a lot of jangling guitar (save for the second to last track "Wives 1, 2 & 3" which sounds like it very well could have been a cast off from the Cross Eyed Rambler sessions).  The immediate stand out track here, and a well chosen first single "The Austerity of Love", has an unavoidable pop hook sensibility, that teases at being the album's most likely track (if any) to catch fire with a crossover audience. It has a youthful flare to it, a bouncy reggae feel infused with a bubble gummy sing along chorus.  Certainly it stands a fair chance with any teenage daughters who might hear it and wonder when their "mum" and dad started listening to "cool" music.  Disappointment to follow when they find out it's not Christina Perri and Ed Sheeran.  

The fourth track "Heatongrad", offers us a view into the songwriter's overtly political leanings, and while it comes off a little self-indulgent and a lot alienating, it's the first time the man's ever laid it out so bluntly with the starting lyrics: "Fuck the king, and fuck the queen with an AK-47 / Line 'em up against the wall, don't let them talk to Heaven" - you can just about taste the bile Heaton has for Britain's figureheads, but it's a song fused so strongly to his own personal ideology, that you can't help but wish he'd offered such a strong bark and bite from a more universal perspective... but wonder if he's making a bid for election in his future.  Campaign posters and bumper stickers that bear the H E A T O N G R A D slogan are clearly envisioned.

"Horse & Groom", as well, stands out as a bit of fresh feel to old fruit. Sounding a lot like something Modern English might have recorded, wherein Heaton uses country western metaphoricals, but thankfully avoids the sound.  In the later part of his career with The Beautiful South and in the earlier offerings of his strictly solo endeavors (Cross Eyed Rambler (2008) and Acid Country (2010)), he seemed hellbent on insisting on a country music identity that no one but himself had any interest in hearing.  He split the difference on "Horse & Groom", however, and so succeeded in finding a balance that let him have his lyrically, while letting us have ours musically. 

Probably the most endearing song on the album, next to the stand out single mentioned earlier, is the second to last track "No One Wants To Stay".  Likely to become the encore closer for live performances from here on out, the song is a cutesy little keyboard number offering a suggestion as to how a family tree spreads its branches from its roots, and how ambition and desire for the unexplored are the sole reason any one of us got from here to there.  Hilarious is the mock vaudeville expression in Heaton's vocals as he sings: "Look your family in the eye boys... none of them would rather be sat here instead of sitting there / and you wouldn't see their asses for the speed they'd leave your sight..."  

For all that it is or isn't, Wisdom Laughter and Lines doesn't fail to offer everything we've come to know and love about the music of Paul Heaton... and whatever company he chooses to keep as he continues on as a brand separate from The Beautiful South, and further back, The Housemartins (though he's never again returned to Housemartins sounding since leaving it in 1987).   In sum, whether you're a blindly faithful fan denying that Heaton & Abbott bear any resemblance to anything either have done before, or those of us recognizing the contrary, both sides can agree that Paul Heaton's caliber of wisdom and lines bear repeating well beyond when most others would have had us yawning at the punchlines.  

Thinking About Getting Into Vinyl Records? Here's A Few Things To Help You Get Started

You're a music lover. You've got a bunch of downloads by your favorite artists that you listen to all the time and you're really into what you like. You've heard about this whole "Vinyl Revival"; i.e., people buying records and record players and starting super cool modern music collections with that old school vintage vibe.  It really has you interested... but it also has you intimidated, because let's face it - you don't  know shit about records! And why should you? This is 2015, you can download or stream just about anything you want to listen to over the internet and be chilling to it in less than a minute. You can put in a CD and not have to flip it over to hear what's on Side B, and you own at least three different players that will play any of them at any given time, no worries at all if they're compatible.  Still, you wonder about this vinyl thing... there's just something about it you find really really awesome.

Be relieved to know that starting a vinyl collection is not as complicated as you might think.  The resurgence of the format, the increasing popularity of it - it's as easy to get into now as it was back in the day.  

WHAT KIND OF RECORD PLAYER DO I NEED TO PLAY THE RECORDS I WANT?

Any kind you want, friend.  Any of them will play any record you're likely to buy (even those slightly smaller 10" ones that Radiohead likes to put out) - whether its 45 RPM or the traditional 33 RPM.  The one wild card is 78s.  Not all players on the market today will have that speed option, but on the other hand, 78 RPM is/was reserved for singles.  If you're going to be a vinyl singles collector, you might want to consider that, but even so, I'm fairly confident 78 RPM is pretty rare in the new vinyl era - 33 and 45 speeds dominate the scene now, and anything pressed to play at 78 RPM will state that pretty clearly on the label somewhere, so you won't be caught off guard. 

OKAY, BUT WHAT KIND OF RECORD PLAYER DO I WANT TO PLAY THE RECORDS I NEED?

Ahhh, now there's the million dollar question. You see, while any turntable/record player will play any record, bear in mind that record players in this modern age are manufactured like toasters. They're all made in China, craftsmanship comes secondary to cost of materials, and thusly they are built to malfunction the very second the warranty expires (I listen to too much David Ford, I know), if they even get that far.  Crosley players are the worst, even though they're the most commonly available. They sound tinny and warbly and offer a really sorry ass reproduction of that potentially warm, rich vinyl sound. And quite honestly, any other brand you go with (Pyle, Boytone, etc.) are going to be just as hit or miss.  So, ultimately you're looking for the lesser of all these evils, but here's what you want to avoid: Portable all-in-one units, and/or anything with built in speakers. You don't

A Crosley all-in-one unit. Not great... not great at all. 

start a vinyl collection with convenience in mind (come on, they're decidedly inconvenient by concept, if you really think about it), and speakers enclosed in an all-in-one unit will for sure sound crappy and frail; because if they sound warm, rich and full like they should, the bass reverb in certain types of music will bounce the tone arm all over the place, causing the record to skip and leaving your listening experience nothing short of completely annoying.

I'm not one for product endorsement, because not a single corporation these days deserves it, but I have to admit that the ION Profile unit is a fine, fine player for someone interested in getting good playback out of their vinyl without having to spend a fortune. It needs an external speaker, however, and once again I have to reluctantly endorse the Klipsch G-17 Air.  It's a great speaker capable of reproducing a good range of sound, especially in the mid-range area (which is key, because a lot of speakers don't reproduce this region very well) and it's wi-fi compatible, so you can bounce music from your tablet or phone to it when you aren't listening to records. Unfortunately, it comes with a price tag in the $250+ range, but if you're serious about your collection, it's worth the investment (especially since you can use it for other stuff besides your turntable).   Oh, and that ION record player has an RCA output on it that puts you in need of this $8 cable to connect it to the speaker. It's a pretty decent sounding set up, comparably priced (under $350, all in), and while it's definitely not the top of the line, it's a great start up system that will sound significantly better than most of the chintzy all-in-ones out there.

VINYL SOUNDS BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE, RIGHT?

Not exactly, no.  Not by virtue of the format itself, anyway. It can sound fantastic, and when it does, it's quite rewarding, because a well forged vinyl record does tend to reproduce a more nuanced soundscape in the way it's mastered... but so do a lot of CDs, and even some MP3 files encoded at 320kbps or more can sound really dynamic.  Any format you prefer has the potential for sounding stellar if it's well recorded, well mixed and mastered, reproduced through a great player, through nice speakers, in a room conducent to decent acoustics - all these things are considerations. Vinyl enthusiasts that puff their chests and state flat out that vinyl sounds better no matter what because blah, blah and

ION Profile turntable and Klipsch G17 Air speaker. A winning combination!

blah are full of shit.  The true attraction to vinyl is the tangibility of the format. The ability to engage physically (in a sense) with a non-physical sensory perception.  With a vinyl record, you get to touch, feel and hold that big giant album art, you get to carefully pull it out of its sleeve, see the grooves and indents that will ultimately transform into the sounds you love to hear.  It's an experience. It's an exercise in metaphysics because with records, you're holding and touching and seeing every detail of what you'll ultimately only hear. Or, if you want to just skip the poetry: listening to music on vinyl is cool and retro - no further explanation required.

I'VE HEARD VINYL RECORDS SCRATCH PRETTY EASILY, IS THAT TRUE?
Not particularly true, no.  A record demands a little more respect when handling it, of course, because among all the available recorded mediums, a record wears its heart on its sleeve the most (to put it figuratively). There's no protective plastic jewel case and tray to store it in like a CD has, and the vinyl disk itself requires the grooves be relatively clean and free of debris during playback, or you're going to hear a lot of crackles, pops and skips.  A wipe down with a soft, very slightly damp cloth is usually all you need to do to clean it up, though - and even very slight hairline scratches (like you'd see on a gently used CD) will typically not affect playback, especially with today's vinyl being pressed much sturdier than ever before. You may see some advertised as "heavy weight, 180g" etc., and that's definitely noteworthy, because the thicker that disk is, and the deeper those grooves on it are, the more durable and able to withstand nicks and scratches it's likely to be.  On the other hand, overkill of this manufacturing trend can be a bit obnoxious...

To explain: one side of a record pressed at 33 speed can only hold approximately 30 minutes of music - at most.  An album that has a total running time exceeding that, is going to require a second disk, which explains why you see 2 LP sets out there for albums that you recall being on only one CD (or there's bonus material on the second LP).  So, understanding that, you might ask: "alright, then why is The White Stripes Elephant record (for example) pressed on 2 LPs, but has a total running time of less than an hour?".  I'll tell you: no necessary reason at all; other than to space out the grooves and provide a more

Scratched 180g LP that plays without skipping - just pops a bit over the sore spots

durable, consistently playing record.  Consider that if a full 30 minutes of music is going to be on one side of a record, those grooves are going to be cut much closer together to fit them all on there.  Cutting grooves closer together leaves the record much more vulnerable to things that can cause it to skip, because that needle is now barreling through much narrower "hallways" placed much closer together. A "roadblock" - like a piece of lint or dust particle - that might otherwise get pushed out of the way by the stylus (needle), becomes a much bigger obstacle in such cramped quarters.  This is why some people are drawn to 2 LP pressings, even when a 2 LP pressing seems unnecessary.  It just makes a sturdier, more damage resistant record.

Regardless, with records being what they are, I'm personally one who tends to prefer single LP pressings whenever possible.  It's simply a matter of not wanting to hassle with flipping and switching records several times, just to hear the entire album in one sitting. For me, that's crossing the line between an involved and measured listening experience, and just too much damn work.  To each his or her own, however - it's just a matter of preference and opinion.

*****
All said, don't let this cool new vinyl trend bewilder you.  Getting geared up to start enjoying records is easy if you know a few basics - but even this article is full of a lot of one jerk's advice you may just choose to ignore completely, and that's fine too!  The point is, you don't need a degree in audio engineering or an understanding of all the tiny little facts and figures of recorded sound to feel confident enough to go out there and buy a record player and some vinyl records.  All you really need is an interest in what is a "new to you / old to them" format, and a desire to see if it suits your fancy as a music collector.  The comeback of vinyl records gives a whole new generation of music lovers the opportunity to experience the albums they love NOW, in the throwback setting of how folks enjoyed music THEN.  And that's all there is to it. You're showing an appreciation for music history in a trippy kind of past-meets-future sense.... even if you couldn't care less about music theory.

www.vinylchord.com

Daniel Knox's Self Destructive Self Titled Third Album

Daniel Knox's third album, and first for Chicago based indie label Carrot Top Records, contains a cobbling together of ten songs, all much ado about houses, stores and cars with no drivers. All things as stationary as the album itself, which kind of plods along lifelessly - unless you take an interest in monotonous and painfully redundant things. 

It's a shame, really, because Knox's previous full length efforts - his self released 2007 debut Disaster and its 2011 follow up Evryman For Himself (which thus far marks his finest recorded hour), showed such promise for the evolution of his sound, and in turn, his popular appeal. He could be likened to a male answer to the Regina Spektor camp... but a lot less cutesy, with songs a lot more sinister, and leaps and bounds more appealable to an adult audience who would surely find Knox's wicked lyrical remarks, told from his decidedly bitter disposition,  a more reflective mirror for their own dark and brooding propensities.  

Granted, this self titled effort (originally slated to be entitled Chasescene, and the finale in a trilogy formed by his previous two albums; why that changed, we're not sure) is still brimming with that trademark form, but Knox seems tired here, despondent, and as such, significantly less dangerous.  While the song "Don't Touch Me" has some pep behind it, the track just sounds like a leftover from Evryman or Himself, revisiting the very same curmudgeonly theme that dominated that album, and the interestingly titled, but disappointingly presented "Incident At White Hen" comes off as a cast off as well, but from Disaster.  

The liner notes suggest a number of songs on Daniel Knox's tracklist were culled from previous work with and around photographer John Atwood (whom Knox is known to be quite taken with), and being that the album is self-titled, complete with a cover depicting only a less than alluring painting of Knox's own bust, one has to wonder if this album is more a memento for his own strictly personal reasons, and less to appeal to, or widen, his audience?  And if all that is the case, the question begging answer then is: why would you do this to yourself so early in your career?  A large, dedicated fan base for a grown and seasoned artist (even if said artist isn't exactly a radio hit maker) will generally suffer whatever syrup their champion drools out, but for Daniel Knox, a move this bold and perceived to be this self indulgent, this early on - when he's just on the cusp of being widely recognized, is either fool hearty or arrogant... or both. 

21 Hit Singles That Never Were, But Coulda Woulda Shoulda Been...

Keeping in mind the general rules of what makes a proper radio single, e.g. tight running time, verse-chorsus composition, conventional "catchiness", here is a suggestion of 21 songs by 21 artists that coulda woulda shoulda been popular, career changing singles, but for whatever reasons, never saw such glory, and instead fell into relative obscurity. Some of these artists have had hit singles in the past, others never had a single - hit or not - at all, but the tie that binds here is that all these songs are fully deserving of that musical merit badge we've all come to accept for marketing purposes.  Regular readers of this blog might notice I've raved about some of these artists and songs before, but since you never got to hear these tracks over-played on FM radio, you get to instead find them shamelessly over-promoted here.  Enjoy...  

1. "SIDEWINDER" by Ass Ponys [from Some Stupid With A Flare Gun]

1994 saw Ass Ponys one and only novelty hit "Little Bastard", following which changes in label ownership saw them dropped from A&M Records, and more or less forgotten about. Nonetheless, they matured as artists until their untimely disbanding in 2002, but not before issuing a number of other albums with decidedly more sophisticated songs - one of which was "Sidewinder" from this, their 1999 indie label release.  "Sidewinder" is the heart-wrenching tale of a farmer's non-acceptance of the fact that his crop has turned to crap, and his livelihood along with it, all the while his wife notices with unspoken trepidation ("the dirt farmer swears his fruit is as fresh as the early spring / what does he care she's finding worms in everything").  Though the subject matter might seem alienating to a modern audience, each verse is lush with vivid descriptors of decay and disappointment that build into a fantastic, soaring chorus.  

2. "I Blew Up The United States" by Was(Not Was) [from Are You Okay?]

A post Sept. 11, 2001 world might not so readily accept a single about a fanatical attack on American landmarks, just as a post "Walk The Dinosaur" Was(Not Was) song would never really properly explode the band's popularity a second time.  Still, for as schizophrenic as Was(Not Was)'s output tended to be (one might most accurately described their body of work as whole as a sort of Yello meets Ween type mess ), "I Blew Up The United States" would have appealed on the same tepid level as "Walk The Dinosaur" did to those who wouldn't care much to explore Was(Not Was)'s more bizarre compositions.  It's a bass heavy song with maniacal piano refrains scattered throughout... and it came out 6 years before Fiona Apple would take the exact same, though better received, liberties. 

3. "Speed" by Bran Van 3000 [from Discosis]

Bran Van 3000 made a small wave in the middle 90's with the single "Drinking In L.A." and "Supermodel" (the music video for the latter had some moderate rotation on Mtv in those days] from their preceding album Glee; but by the time Discosis was released in 2001, the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label, to which Bran Van was signed, folded and it likely took a toll on this very commercially viable, potentially successful follow-up.  Two singles did squeak out before the collapse, however: "Astounded" and "Love Cliche", though neither charted in the U.S., which is just as well, because they were poorly chosen.  If the promotion had been there, "Speed" would have been this album's guaranteed royal flush.  It's a sun-tanned summer anthem complete with cutesy "tickled kitten" female vocals, driving electro-percussion and - here's the left turn - some pretty bad ass accordion instrumentation.

4. "The Fire Song" by Company of Thieves [from Ordinary Riches]

Company of Thieves sort of came and went in 2009, for the most part, unnoticed. Not really one hit wonders, per se, with the abstinent airplay of the song "Oscar Wilde", they toured extensively in 2010, produced a follow up album in 2011, and then disbanded under the weight of overbearing frontwoman Genevieve Schatz.  Still, Ordinary Riches is an elegantly well-crafted album, and while the song "Pressure" was a well chosen follow up single, maybe the album's commercial sparkle began to fade before "The Fire Song" could be selected as a potential third promotional. A grungy staccato number similar in sound to Shirley Manson's band Garbage, "The Fire Song" had every bit of playlist power as "Only Happy When It Rains" did.

5. "I'm A Dog" by Crash Test Dummies [from A Worm's Life]

Forever relegated to the ranks of top 100 One Hit Wonders of the 90's, Crash Test Dummies' hit song "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" skyrocketed the success of their 1994 sophomore album God Shuffled His Feet... and then 1996's A Worm's Life pretty much tamped it back down;  and then 1999's Give Yourself A Hand more or less murdered it.  But while frontman Brad Roberts writing became increasingly la morgue littéraire with each subsequent Dummies album, one track on A Worm's Life offered some philosophical genius, and some hope at sustaining the band's success just a little longer: "I'm A Dog". It's the last example of the charmingly refined, endearingly inquisitive writings on topics of all things curious that Roberts has produced to date, and that said, the last proper Crash Test Dummies song.  Sadly, though, it remains forever buried as the second to last track on this, the beginning of the band's end.  In fact, re-release God Shuffled His Feet with "I'm A Dog" included as a bonus track (and oh yeah, "Superman's Song" from The Ghosts That Haunt Me), and you have a "best of" compilation for this band that's perfectly consistent and missing nothing.

6. "Act of Creation" by The New Red Moons [from Mesmérisme]

This selection might be a bit premature, as The New Red Moons' fantastic sophomore effort Mesmérisme is only about six months past its release date as of this writing, however it's pinned here with dual intent: (1) because the Moons are a smaller independent act, not signed to a label, this self released effort is unlikely to produce more than the one single it already has ("You Can Run") - and even that was an abnormality for a self-releaed album; and (2) because the Moons are a smaller independent act, not signed to a label, this self-important blogger tends to think he might just capture the band's attention, thus prompting them by suggestion.  Granted, "Act of Creation" isn't really an accurate representation of the band's overall sound - and typically you want the single to be that (which is probably why they chose "You Can Run") - but it's such a striking and dissimilar song, even in terms applied beyond the album it's on.  Frontman Joe McIlheran explores an impressive and anomalous vocal range on this track, and the composition as a whole captures one of those rare moments of inimitable progression in rock music, the likes of which were the blue print for what would properly be labeled Alternative Rock, in the days before the label started being improperly applied to everything.

7. "With My Own Bare Hands" by Ween [from La Cucaracha]

Ignoring the fact that the song is laden with profanity, "With My Own Bare Hands", even as a clean radio edit, represents the next best whack-job single Ween could offer since their catchy lo-fi mainstream breakthrough "Push Th' Little Daisies" back in 1992.  It's a staggered, guitar driven, hard percussion hitting yeller about all the things lead vocalist Aaron Freeman (formerly Gene Ween) is capable of doing, from the scientifically delicate ("I could take your DNA and replicate a man") to the sexually explicit ("I'm gonna be your ass shaker, stick it up in your ass").  In the usual, and so amusingly, Ween-like fashion, the song devolves from its already pretty primitive delivery, into a sort of stream of consciousness, Tourette Syndrome vulgarity that is as hilariously juvenile as it is disjointed. The song is completely indecent, lyrically radio unfriendly, but quite frankly hearing a radio edit version nonetheless would only add to the novelty of this.

8. "Betting On Trains" by Hem [from Rabbit Songs]

A quiet country stroll on a comfortable summer afternoon couldn't be more tranquil than this violin acoustic folk-rock piece from Hem's 2000 debut album.  Lead singer Sally Ellyson's vocals are the closest thing to Ella Fitzgerald you could get in the modern day, and the band's repertoire the best parlour music revival attempt since the general dissipation of the style in the late 18th Century.  The song discusses the familiarity one can establish with the people, places and things in one's life, and how this becomes a predicator, a gospel point of reference, for how everything is and will be - undeniably, whether the notions are factual or not.

9. "I Have Special Powers" by His Name Is Alive [from Last Night]

Never attempting, or pretending, to be a "singles" band, His Name Is Alive could have inadvertently struck fool's gold with the blue mood jazz fusion, late night insomnia feel of "I Have Special Powers", a track culled from their 4AD swan song album, and one that just as surprisingly, might have offered more potential singles than any of their previous or subsequent efforts.  Shame 4AD had already written them off by the time Last Night was released.  The album saw very little promotion, even though if the inclination had been there, the label could have capitalized on what this notoriously schizophrenic, near impossible to market, band produced here. After all, the annals of music history are rife with at-one-time successful musicians who will all agree: one hit is all it takes.

10. "Disengage" by The Honorary Title [from Anything Else But The Truth]

The now popular hokey-stern folk rock style of Vance Joy's "Riptide" and Milky Chance's "Stollen Dance" was preceded by The Honorary Title's "Disengage" back in 2004, but never found a foothold then. Doubtful eleven years after the fact, the now disbanded Honorary Title, or their former label, would be bothered to re-attempt finding fanfare for the song or album - especially after they did attempt a re-issue two years after the initial release, but to no real affect. Still to see "Disengage" fall into a obscurity is a crying shame, all things considered. While the song would have surely belied the content of the rest of the album, promoting a single is about shamelessly selling copies by any means necessary, and if that had been the case, no harm no foul, because the rest of this release would have propelled itself.

11. "The Northern Sea" by Jarrod Dickenson [from The Lonesome Traveler]

Resident Brooklyn, NY folk scene busker, Jarrod Dickenson's 2012 independently released album The Lonesome Traveler, as a whole, coulda woulda shoulda made great waves in the alt. folk music scene right alongside the likes of Bon Iver and the earlier works of The Handsome Family, but as is sadly all too often the case, the marketing dollars and prominent indie label support weren't there; and so until they are, the album will quietly reside in its own beautiful obscurity. The chosen hit, for the intent and purpose of this writing, is the album's second track, entitled "The Northern Sea": the stormy and treacherous sea shanty-esque tale of a fisherman determined to serve his trade, despite unrelenting danger, and minimal reward. Ironically, if this weren't such an obscure blog, the mere naming of the track here might ignite a bevy of downloads, reinstating the song - maybe even the entire album - as an overlooked "sleeper hit", and catapulting Dickenson into the limelight where he truly belongs.  Alas, unseen, on the other side of that tree on the album cover, Dickenson and I are resting our heads against the barked trunk, dreaming of fanfare...

12. "Let Me Go" by Kate Tucker + The Sons of Sweden [from The Shape The Color The Feel]

Considering the music consuming public's long time infatuation with the breathily sung, lustily articulated female vocal design, it's surprising Kate Tucker and her entourage's sophomore album managed to almost entirely land on deaf ears. Showing a bit of a stylistic shift from its predecessor, 2010's White Horses, Tucker regardless should have hit the trendy nail on the proverbial head with this album. "Let Me Go" especially embodies everything definable about the phrase "radio friendly".  Fit her in between Banks, Lorde and Tove Lo, and ne'er a disappointed yuppie-teen eyebrow would be raised.

13. "Tell Me No" by Lady Cannon [from Whiskey Dear]

Milwaukee's Lady Cannon is a whiskey soaked trollop, hellbent on illustrating all of the sinful misdeeds that alcoholism and promiscuity can bring to a life. "Tell Me No" sums up her penchants quite well, detailing the relationship between an "other woman" and a man who belongs to someone else. The real antithesis in her variety of drunken misdeeds, however, is the aching heart and soul behind it. She's naughty, but she's sad, she's malevolent but you're made commiserate for why she is what she is.  Insultingly, you could call her a slut who happens to have a way with words; realistically you could say the same of every great writer from Jack Kerouac to Charles Bukowski. Cannon makes her sins very digestible song compositions, nonetheless, and while "Tell Me No" is no crime of the century, the telling of her drama is expertly distilled, and goes down smooth.

14. "By The Book" by Michael Penn [from Free For All]

Michael Penn came and went, as far as most are concerned, with the hit late 80's single "No Myth".  Truthfully, the artist continued to flourish well into the mid 2000's, offering an album only about every four to six years, but each and every was finely crafted, and showed exponential growth in his ability as a musician. His 1997 overlooked single "I Can Tell" was a fantastic piano rich alternative rock opus, but even more lamentably neglected was this track from his sophomore album Free For All. "By The Book" is a spaciously delivered, acoustic guitar and percussion alt. folk track about the determination behind decided ignorance. Forging forward to meet a desire, calling it acceptable by all terms, but yet... asking forgiveness for it? It's a psychologically challenging song, and maybe the difficulty most would have with getting their head around the message is precisely why it was never promoted. Consequently, Michael Penn is held in high esteem by the highfalutin musician's musicians elite, and a critic's darling to boot. But while those things are arguably impressive, they almost never equal commercial success.

15. "Lost My Mind" by Mile Nielsen [from Miles]

Much like Jakob Dylan, Miles Nielsen's connection to Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen can be immediately off-putting to a younger audience interested only in discovering "their own thing". Yet, again - much like Jakob Dylan -  Miles Nielsen has been surgical and careful in his career thus far, not to ride on the coattails of his father's fame, and to keep a safe distance between his Rusted Hearts Band and Cheap Trick. Unlike Jakob Dylan, however, Nielsen has yet to see proper popular appeal, though he tours small to mid-size venues across the country frequently - and is acquiring a growing fan base.  "Lost My Mind" is the track most stand out in his two album repertoire thus far, though there are countless others that could easily build his appeal.

16. "Red Accordian" by Patty Larkin [from Perishable Fruit]

Though a little sparse in instrumentation to fit the typical requirements for a radio single, but a perfectly subtle album closer, "Red Accordion" speaks playfully and optimistically to the trials and tribulations of the human condition - a much needed outlook in any age and time.  "Don't listen to the din rising behind you; if you look at life like a train wreck, one will find you..." Larkin advises as the songs emotive sensibility swells to embrace the listener, who by then - if they've any sense of worldliness or self at all - is strongly holding back a cataclysm of cathartic tears.

17. "Wildflowers On Chene" by Rob Reid [from Prairie Shanties of the Landlocked Mariner]

Vaguely reminiscent of the cadence to the song Zorba The Greek (vaguely), Rob Reid's "Wildflowers On Chene" has the same sort of anabasis mood and structure, but fitted instead to a verse chorus song about an assortment of forms and variances on societal decay - both metaphorically and figuratively. The upswing of the song's chorus is among its most catchy and endearing qualities, wherein Reid lets a little sunlight part the deliberative, darkly hewn verses, as the tempo perks up into an upbeat, nonlinear reflection on the better days that existed before this presently dilapidated state of being.

18. "Strangely At Home Here" by Seven Mary Three [from Day & Nightdriving]

"Strangely At Home Here" comes almost a decade and a half after Seven Mary Three's bygone days of topping the Alternative Rock charts, with tracks mostly from their 1995 breakthrough album American Standard. 2008's Day & Nightdriving is a strong departure from the harder rocking of those early years, and though it's still firmly rock music they're performing, it's just not so much grunge rock music anymore. They've clearly settled down a bit now, applying instead more acoustic tones, and for the most part, writing more contemplative compositions; much ado about the home life and, perceptibly, frontman Jason Ross's own domestic relationship concerns.  Midlife maturity manifests itself quite clearly on the album, and "Strangely At Home Here" is aimed squarely at the hearts and minds of all those aging weekend pub crawlers, grappling with the shifts in their livelihood, and the fading but fond memories of the pastimes of their twenties.

19. "For The Sake of Drowning" by Stephanie Dosen [from Ghosts, Mice & Vagabonds]

In a similar vein as Jewel's Pieces of You album, but just shy of ten years after the acoustic aching heart female singer/songwriter fad ended, Stephanie Dosen offered up this under-promoted album about all things emotional, heartfelt and profoundly inner turmultuous.  "For The Sake of Drowning" plays as instrumentally tonal, lyrically yearning and vocally pleading as anything else similar, but that enjoyed much more success.  Dosen's writing, though, in contrast to all of them,  offers a variety of much deeper contexts than her peers were willing to illustrate, and her staying power as a new age Joni Mitchell never saw the potential it fully deserved.

20. "The Well" by The Vega Star [from The Night]

The Vega Star's sole album The Night, by and large, holds rank as the most overlooked independent folk rock album to be released in the last twenty years. The album deals heavily in dread and despair, dark nights and heavy hearts - all matter of things that have appealed very strongly to a larger music consuming public for decades, but that so few songwriters could manage to incarnate as chillingly and with as much melancholy as Vega Star frontman Justin Rolbieki does here. "The Well" acts as what could have been both a single capable of launching the band's career on a larger scale, and a defectless representation of the group's gloomy boutique style and design.

21. "Creature" by The Fatty Acids [from Leftover Monsterface]

In the form of a radio ready single, The Fatty Acid's "Creature" might require some edits for duration, but ultimately represents a unique combination appeal of something like Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" and a number of things by The Residents in the early 80's.  If "Creature" had become a popular single, it would have most definitely defaulted the band into one-hit-wonder categorization, as the song is really the most digestible in the the group's repertoire to date. Nonetheless, credit given to a band whose normal penchant for being bizarrely abstract can be pushed aside to compose a piece with as much mainstream chart appeal as this without even trying.  Milwaukee hasn't seen sui generous in the form of The Fatty Acids since the Violent Femmes, and it's a crying shame they, unlike the Femmes, didn't arrive on the scene in the days and times when "sounding different" didn't equal the same as "sounding sort of like".

Redundancy Reigns On The Last Internationale's Debut

The Last International - "We Will Reign" [Epic Records]

While dozens of remarkably talented up and coming bands with profound, creative - and if not, at the very least, somewhat unique - things to express, struggle to market themselves and/or garner the attention of a major label, somehow The Last Internationale managed to rise above all of them, and then celebrated by pissing out this mediocre album of middle aged biker anthems.  Having ex-Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk in their personnel likely helped them get attention, and surely with producer Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Michael Penn.. he's got a decent resume) on deck to orchestrate the whole thing (strings were maybe pulled? Favors called in?), the label suits couldn't help but green light this belly flop by virtue alone.

The brass tacks: We Will Reign is a tepid "classic rock" sounding album that borrows more than it offers, stumbles more than it strides and bears with it the shame of a band touting a lot of clout over little content.

From the opening track, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Indian Blood", you get a pretty thorough summation of what this album has to say.  The song presents the Orwellian concept that "one does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship", as vocalist Delila Paz belts in her reedy Annie Lennox meets Florence Welch tone: "the seeds of revolution will grow tight around our children's necks, like nooses that are used to keep the slaves in check / And decades later we still can't figure out why it remains the same...".  The subsequent title track "We Will Reign" then goes on to say... well, the exact same thing: "We might have seen it all / We're building walls because we love to see them fall".  And this same principle is revisited on the 4th track "Killing Fields", the 5th track "Battleground" .... and yet again on the closing track "1968" - the latter most title possibly being a veiled reference to the infamous shootout between military police and the Black Panthers socialist party in April of that year - or maybe the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or any number of other Johnson Era unrests and resistances. A theme album concept is one thing, but dedicating five songs on a ten song album to an identical message is verbose, to say the least (hah! - PUN intended!), especially when the remaining tracks are left feeling alienated, random and disparate: three lover's soliloquys, a working man's lament, and one painfully ham fisted, but surely intended to be bittersweet, rock ballad ("Baby It's You"); the last mentioned's refrain worded in kitschy "white-trache" dialect: "It doesn't matter what they say, I know I'm gonna love you any old way....blah blah blah don't want nobody, cause baby it's you...".  

All this criticism aside, the basic song structures on We Will Reign's tracklist are all fundamentally boilerplate rock n' roll;  no different than you'd hear in any American dive bar or in any episode of Sons of Anarchy you choose.  You can sing along, fist pump, air guitar or dance drunkenly to any song on here until the bartender kicks you out, or you knock over Tig's beer and he beats your ass. These are stereotypical American outlaw anthems here that, vexatious and cliche as they might be, still appeal to a certain segment of the population (ref: all above made projections). Rock n' roll music was a revolution once upon a time, and while The Last Internationale can attempt to present themselves as juggernauts of the movement; their claims are imperious, their arsenal is lacking - and the only aspect of them that might be a reigning force to be reckoned with are their delusions of grandeur.