Web MasterBeck
Sea Changes
Capitol
Beck’s seventh album returns to his signature, mellow twanginess
by Molly Sutter
Beck seems to be following a party/melancholy cycle with his albums. The twangy mellowness of Mutations followed frenetic sampling of Odelay, and now Sea Change follows Beck’s millennial get-down Midnite Vultures. However, Sea Changes is most definitely not Mutations. The new tunes may explore similar subject matter, and use some of the same sounds (meaning lots of twang), but these lyrics are fresh, and the easy-going guitars are often complemented by strings or ambient electronic noise. The result is a batch of songs that reflects Beck’s older influences, including blues, bluegrass, and soul.
The sum of these tracks is greater than the parts themselves, but some are quite beautiful on their own. A great example is the simple and unassuming, “End of the Day.” Perhaps it’s the clavinet or the sadness of lyrics like “Had to act like I didn’t even care / But I did so I got stranded standing there / Standing there / It’s nothing that I haven’t seen before / But it still kills me like it did before.” In any case, the lack of flash and dash leaves a mark.
When Beck leaves the whine behind, the honesty of his voice, combined with the excellent mixing of guitar, bass, and drums forms a lovely composition. The same occurs in “Round the Bend,” whose lyrics are a bit more optimistic (“We don’t have to worry / Life goes where it does”) but also more convoluted (“Turn yourself over / Loose change we could spend / Grinding down diamonds / Round round round the bend.”) The beginning strings are a bit ominous and highlight the mystery behind the song’s title, and Beck’s vocals are positively lovely. The variety of songs on Sea Changes reflects Beck’s versatility; he’s got twang, lounge, symphonic, electronic, and rock and roll elements weaving in and out of the tunes.
Regrettably, there are parts of the album that just don’t quite get it together. Luckily, they are few and far between, but they’re still there. In “The Golden Age,” Beck’s high-pitched and echo-filled voice sounds creepy and detached, which doesn’t work in combination with the down-home slide guitar, and his voice grates over very obvious, overdone lyrics in “Guess I’m Doing Fine.” With the themes of lost love, lost life, and lost everything else running throughout the album, it’s impressive that Beck doesn’t fall into more schmaltz. Good for him, and good for us.
Bottom Line: “Beck has released the wistful, dreamy album that will put a groove in your step. ”
Grade: A-
Drums and Tuba
Mostly Ape
Righteous Babe Records
An innovative, brassy twist on funk improvisation
by Cody Elam
The instrumental rock trio Drums and Tuba recently released Mostly Ape, their second album, on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records. An amalgamation of drums, tuba, and electric guitar, the production is a ferocious and infectious birth of new music.
Perhaps one of the most unconventional rock bands to come out of the post-Phish hiatus wave of experimental and improvisational rock, Drums and Tuba manage to find a unique, pseudo-melodic sound on Mostly Ape. Instead of the traditional bass guitar holding down the bottom end, Drums and Tuba uses brass for the low frequencies; as their name suggests, Brian Wolff plays tuba. It is this unwillingness to conform that allows them to dabble in funk, free jazz, ambient, and hard rock.
The album opens with “Brain Liaters,” which creates a unique, psychedelic sound, somewhat akin to the Radiohead tune, “National Anthem.” Neal McKeeby’s airy guitar riffs are looped and layered on top of each other, while Tony Nozero tickles the skins with funk beats. It is not long before the track turns into a full-out rock song, powered by bursts of tuba. “The Metrics” is a James Brown-like funk track with almost otherworldly guitar and tuba effects. An arpeggio-laden guitar line cycles behind electronic samples and trumpet melodies that climax to create a fully orchestrated sound on “Clashing.”
Throughout the album, Drums and Tuba manage to meld spacey guitar effects and electronic loops with modal improvisation. They are as much of a jazz and funk band as they are a band on the cutting edge of instrumental rock. Many songs, such as “Breakfast With Miletus” crescendo beautifully from a simple bass line into a wall of sound gone mad. On “Magoo,” the final track, a distorted Fender repeats mechanically behind dissonant melodies.
At times it seems as though the band has created an ugly beast that they just can’t kill. Slightly quirky intonations in the guitar and background noise sometimes get in the way of their sound’s clarity. However, most of the album is driven by this creative fusion of noise with rhythm and melody.
Bottom Line: “Funk that runs into a wall of sound gone mad.”
Grade: B
The Agenda
Start the Panic
Kindercore Records
Unremarkable punk rockers with a taste for distortion and post-modernism
by Travis Petersen
Athens, GA’s Kindercore Records is known amongst indie-rock circles as the home of such pop bands as Dressy Bessy and I Am The World Trade Center. Lately, though, it seems they have been trying to shake that wimp-rock image. They have added a skull to their label icon and signed the noisy post-rock instrumental outfit Maserati. And now they have added the Agenda, who, with their full-length debut Start the Panic, are the latest in the line of garage-punk revivalists to emerge in the wake of the Hives and the White Stripes.
The Agenda take a post-modern approach to the whole band/record concept. The back of the album cover displays a tongue in cheek paragraph about the Agenda taking over the world with rock-and-roll as its weapon. Their logo is a pop-art arrow and target. The members give themselves silly names such as J.R. Suicide, Switchblade Stevie, and Ryan Riot, and wear matching black outfits and white armbands.
Most of the lyrics on the album revisit the theme of album-as-manifesto, and pit the rock-and-roll band in the post-modern revolution against adult culture. That same idea, that rock music is the weapon of youth to assault the world of maturity, has been handled much better in the past by such bands as the MC5 and the Nation of Ulysses, to both of whom the Agenda owes a large debt in both concept and sound.
The band seems to realize the punch-to-the-gut power of simple, stupid, distorted guitar riffs, and constructs them well, but the whole thing feels a bit insincere, if not completely contrived.
Pretentious post-modernism aside, the music itself is fun, if unremarkable. The sound throughout most of the album is pretty much by-the-book garage punk, but it is well-played and most of the songs have noticeably catchy hooks. The guitars and bass are incredibly fuzzed-out, the drums pound, and the keyboard chirps and screeches. The one thing that could set this band apart from the rest of the garage-rock pretenders is the pure power of vocalist J.R. Suicide’s growling voice. On the album’s best track, “Hit the Wall!” Suicide gasps and grunts over Jimi Hendrix-style riffs that would make Jimmy Page jealous for not having ripped off.
Here, the whole sound and concept comes together; anger, youth, and pure adolescence win out over thought and maturity. The rest of the album, while fun at first listen, leaves no lasting impression. It seems the Agenda have failed at their mission.
Bottom Line: “Smart college kids try to play stupid, and fail.”
Grade: C+
Riddlin Kids
Hurry Up and Wait
Aware/Columbia
Generic pop-punk with little new to offer
by Dan Rubin
Let me start out by saying what “hurry up and wait” by Riddlin Kids is not: It is not ingenious; it is not unique; it is not the best new CD that has changed my entire outlook on what music should be about. My roommate walked in while I was listening to it last week and he pretty much summed it up: “Boy, this is generic, ain’t it?” But just because their sound isn’t anything really new does not mean that it is not fun. Rock music can be so serious, so pretentious, so concerned over its own coolness, that it’s nice to come across an album that’s not trying be Rolling Stone’s next cover. “hurry up and wait” is a fun CD and one worth listening to from time to time. But I wouldn’t start a religion over it.
Like much of alternative music today, the music of Riddlin Kids is more enticing alone than it is when words are added to it. Even with words, however, it is good for what it is. Bridging the gap between punk and straight up alternative (leaning more toward the punk with the music and more toward the alternative with the singing), they come far from achieving the best of both worlds. At the same time, Hurry Up and Wait is a well-organized CD. The energy is continuous; no strange “let’s be hardcore” to “lets see if we can have a sweet softer song” transitions. It is clear that Riddlin Kids knows who they are. Will you like who they are? I cannot guarantee it. I am coming off a Weezer, MXPX, Alkaline Trio diet and I find the fun uselessness of the Riddlin Kids’ alternative style a little bit refreshing. I mean, who said all music had to be awesome to be enjoyable?
For the most part, the lead singer’s voice is saved only because he loads better than a lot of the crap on the radio. That does not make him good, but at least one can listen to him without wanting to rip one’s eardrums from their proper positioning. During the first few tracks of “hurry up and wait”, songs like “Crazy” and “See the Light,” are sung in a rather stuffy head voice that reminds me of the alcoholic-enhanced words I hear walking through the South Forty on a Friday night. After that, on the songs “I Feel Fine,” and “Follow Through,” he falls into a style that is two steps above what I usually think of when I think of the incessant whining on the radio.
As far as content is concerned, the majority of their songs are about girls in some way. Songs like “Faithful,” and “Tina,” don’t even try to masquerade their chick content. Their CD cover really says it all. It shows a schoolgirl, busty to the point of anatomic impossibility, kicking a skater dude in the nuts.
Bottom Line: “Riddle me predictable”
Grade: C-