John Darnielle is a Man of Musical Genius

As promised (albeit a day later than planned), a bit more on the man who so effortlessly combined Thin Lizzy with R. Kelly in Friday’s post.

A friend of mine recently made the assertion that John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats is the greatest songwriter of our generation, or is at least fighting Sufjan Stevens tooth and nail for the title. While I couldn’t say that for certain, I can say that he’s pretty damn brilliant and criminally overlooked. Part of this is no doubt due to his eccentricities: aside from the whole billing yourself as a band but really only being one guy thing (granted, its something that hasn’t stopped Bright Eyes or Dashboard Confessional), there’s the fact that for the majority of his career, his preferred method of recording was via boom box—just pop in a blank tape, press record, and start strumming, I kid you not. Even after succumbing to the pressures of the studio, it hasn’t been until his most recent work that he’s added anything to the mix other than his guitar and his nasally yet incredibly intense vocals.

This might in fact be the greatest testament to his songwriting abilities: the music is pretty simple and the voice takes some getting used to, but the words suck you right in from the first listen, and have a way of hitting the nail on the head when it comes to emotional resonance. Take the song “Jenny” for example, off his album “All Hail West Texas”. Have I ever dated a girl who pulled up to my house in a motorcycle and rode off into the sunset with me? Of course not. Is this song still the perfect embodiment of what it feels like to be in love? Absolutely.

The Mountain Goats- Jenny

While his more recent material has become more slickly produced, Darnielle has lost none of his intensity, and has in fact gone even deeper and more personal in his writing. His most recent release “The Sunset Tree,” chronicles his adolescence living with an abusive stepfather, a topic which he manages to make appropriately dark while empowering and hopeful at the same time. Darnielle sums it up nicely in an interview describing the beautifully haunting song “Love Love Love" off the album:

"the point of the song is we are very well damaged by the legacy of the romantic poet, that we think of love as a thing that is with strings and is this force for good and then if something bad happens that’s not love...I don't know so much about that. I don't know that the Greeks weren't right; I think that they were, that love can beat a path through everything, that it will destroy a lot of things on the way to its objective which is just its expression of itself. You know my stepfather mistreated us terribly quite often, but he loved us and that to me is something worth commenting on in the hopes of undoing a lot of what I perceive is terrible damage, yet we talk about love as this benign comfortable force: it is wild."

Filled with biblical and literary allusions, It’s quickly become one of my favorite songs in recent memory.

The Mountain Goats- Love Love Love

So is John Darnielle the greatest songwriter of our generation? Its becoming harder and harder to disagree, and with a new album due out in a few months, I don’t think its going to get any easier.

Happy Memorial Day

I thought I should take some time out from all the barbeques and waiting in traffic jams from up north today to recognize what this holiday is really all about. I’m not talking about flag-waving, rah-rah support our troops stuff here, but rather the real honest-to-God human sacrifice that has been given in service to this country. It’s something I’m not sure I could ever do, which gives me the utmost respect for those do step up and risk it every day.

The song today is a gorgeous folk song coming from Jeff Tweedy and Wilco as an outtake from the Mermaid Avenue sessions, and its one that I think brings the spirit of Memorial Day out of the White House and right down to the individual people where it belongs.

Wilco- When The Roses Bloom Again

A Whole Damn Week with the Same Song, Part 5: …and John Darnielle for the win.

I think I’ve really saved the best for last in covers week. At first glance, this cover by The Mountain Goats (which is really just one guy named John Darnielle… more on him next week) seems to be pretty straightforward, not all that distinct from Jon Brion’s—just exchange one forceful nasally voiced singer for another.

Then, at about 2:48 into the song, everything changes. Somehow, Darnielle sees it fit to launch into the chorus of R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix)”. Yes, the whiny voiced white boy sings about “Cristal poppin' in the stretch Navigator,” and it’s everything you’re imagining right now and then some. Here’s the truly miraculous thing: it works, fitting with the theme of the original song and everything. I don’t know how he does it.

As if all this wasn’t enough, at the end we find out that this was performed live on a radio station apparently DJ-ed by the Swedish Chef from The Muppets, who makes an appearance in the bumper at the end… classic.

The Mountain Goats- The Boys are Back In Town

So that concludes our whole damn week of the same song… for those of you who haven’t stopped reading, thank you for your devotion (I’m assuming you exist, mind you). It’s actually been a lot of fun for me to write, and it’s given me time to think up some great new posts for the next few weeks. See you next week.

A Whole Damn Week with the Same Song, Part 4: Jon Brion. Enough Said.

So who’s sick of this song by now? I know I’m certainly not.

Today’s version comes from composer/singer/producer/music god Jon Brion, who has already been established as a man of musical genius in this blog. Because of this, he can pretty much do whatever the hell he wants to do with this song and it will be awesome. Brion takes the minimalist approach, opting for a pleasantly laid-back ukulele backing (the riff is still there, sounding better than ever… plus he hums it at the end!) and letting his oddly appealing vocals give the song some drive. Think the original version mixed with Ooh La La by The Faces (that song at the end of Rushmore), and you’ll get the idea.

But… you don’t have to take my word for it (cue Reading Rainbow music):

Jon Brion- The Boys are Back In Town

A Whole Damn Week with the Same Song, Part 3: The Pop Makeover

On the heels of yesterday’s fairly straightforward homage, we’ve got something completely different. Swedish pop group The Cardigans (best known for their 90’s radio hit “Lovefool”… trust me, you’ve heard it...damn Leo DiCaprio flicks) give the song an entirely new feel, complete with a disco backbeat, smooth lofty female vocals… pretty much everything we’ve come to expect from a Swedish pop outfit (thanks, ABBA and Ace of Base for creating such a great stereotype).

Much like the White Stripes cover of Folk Singer I posted last week, this is a great example of a band taking a song and making it their own, retaining the essential character (that iconic riff is still in there somewhere) while adding all the elements that make their own act great.

The Cardigans- The Boys are Back In Town

A Whole Damn Week with the Same Song, Part 2: The Straight-Up Crowd Pleaser

Another thing I’ve realized that’s great about this week of Thin Lizzy covers is that it gives me a chance to explore the different ways in which a band approaches a cover song. Take today’s version, for instance, coming from the Scottish twee-poppers Belle and Sebastian. There are a pretty large number of live B+S covers out there if you look hard enough, and they all serve the same purpose: to give the crowd a bonus and a good laugh at live shows (god willing, I’ll be seeing one myself this summer), and to demonstrate the band’s abiding love for good pop music.

It’s clear that Belle and Sebastian have a lot of love for this song (if you listen, they nicked the chord progressions in writing their own hit song “I’m a Cuckoo”), and especially the guitar riff in it, repeating it over and over before delving into the actual song. Aside from that, it’s just some guys and girls having a blast being rock stars and singing a fun song… considering the soft-spoken poetic lines that Stuart Murdoch usually is delivering, its an enjoyable change to hear him really let loose (and something we’ll hear more of, if their latest album is any indication).

Belle and Sebastian- The Boys are Back in Town

A Whole Damn Week with the Same Song, Part 1: The Original

So if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m incredibly amused by cover songs (though I don’t think I could ever do an entire blog devoted to them). Even more amusing than individual covers, however, is when I come across a song so iconic that that it’s been covered by multiple artists.

Such is the case with the Thin Lizzy 70s rock classic “The Boys Are Back In Town”—I’ve found no fewer than four different versions of this thing, and they’re all unique. Faced with this discovery, I can only devote an entire week in this space to covers of this song, which will either amuse you as much as it amuses me, or drive you insane.

Without further ado, we’ll kick it off with the original, the standard against which all other versions will be judged. After coming back from a weekend trip my freshman year, I discovered my roommate had downloaded a best of Thin Lizzy compilation. Asking him why, he said that if “The Boys Are Back in Town” was such a great song, they had to have something else worthwhile. They didn’t, but after you’ve written a song this universally appealing, do you really need anything more?

Thin Lizzy- The Boys are Back In Town

Under the Covers: Motown Showdown

So the new Raconteurs disc has been in my car CD player since Tuesday, and it still hasn’t gotten old. Despite being way too short for my liking (10 tracks, just over 30 minutes), the duo of Jack White and Brendan Benson makes every second count, crafting one of the most solid albums (call it indie, rock, pop, whatever) of 2006. This one’s worth picking up, kids.

In honor of the Raconteurs, I’ve got a covers post featuring both of the gentlemen from Detroit who front the outfit. The song is “Folk Singer,” originated by Brendan Benson. His original is probably one of the best tracks he’s done, containing all the insanely catchy lyrical turns and humming bridge sections that make him great. On the other hand, when Jack and Meg White take on the song during a set on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, they completely make it their own, cutting the song in half so it fits with the blistering White Stripes pace, and changing the chorus from a melodic refrain to a screaming declaration. It’s really impossible to choose one over the other, mainly because this is exactly what a cover should be.

Brendan Benson—Folk Singer
The White Stripes—Folk Singer

William Shatner Kicks Ass

So a bit of a digression to start today. In general, I am not a guy that watches a ton of television... in the past year, the only network shows I watched almost unfailingly were The West Wing, The Office (even though the British version is still better), and Arrested Development. In other words, two-thirds of my regular television viewing was killed by the cruel hand of the network powers that be this year. Realizing the need for mindless diversion in life, I need to seek out some replacements.

One show that will be a given of course, is Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip from West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin (check out a truly excellent 6 minute preview clip here), provided it can overcome the obsessive hordes of Grey’s Anatomy fans in its timeslot. However, I can hold back my rage at ABC for creating this showdown thanks in no small part to the fact that last night, I finally got around to watching Boston Legal, and I think I’m hooked.

If you’re still reading, you’re probably wondering what any of this has to do with music. Well friends, the appeal of Boston Legal lies chiefly in the brilliant performance of William Shatner as high powered legal sleaze Denny Crane, a fact that comes as no surprise to anyone who had the good fortune of coming across a little album called Has Been a few years back. Yes, Shatner did have an ill-advised run in with the record biz back in his heyday, but this makes up for it and then some. Produced by Ben Folds, it’s clear this time Shatner is in on the joke: he knows he can’t sing, and that his trademark dramatic spoken word style makes for a great novelty. Somehow, this yields some genuinely touching moments, including a Nick Hornby penned ode to an estranged daughter and a chilling, almost silent track in which he recounts his wife’s suicide. Other times, it just flat out rocks in the oddest possible way, embodied by his cover of Pulp’s “Common People” that hands-down beats the original. It’s stuff like this that has allowed Shatner to broaden his cult status from Star Trek geeks to the indie geeks, as well as anyone else that enjoys a guy learning to laugh at himself.

William Shatner- Common People

Old Guys Make Good Music Too

So much of the blogging community is devoted to the pursuit that next big thing, I thought it might be nice to take a moment to recognize the elder statesmen of music who keep chugging along, putting out great music.

First of all, there’s Neil Young. A month or so ago, Neil announced out of nowhere that he had recorded an album about the war in Iraq, and it’d be out in a week or so. It raised a lot of buzz in the news for its controversial subject matter, including a song titled “Let’s Impeach the President.” Personally, I was fearing the Fahrenheit 9/11 of albums—a lot of angry political posturing without much of an artful touch (to be fair, I really enjoy the Michael Moore canon, but I think he was at his best writing brilliant satire like “Canadian Bacon” and sticking up for his hometown in "Roger and Me"). However, after listening to Living With War streaming online, I was pleasantly surprised. Performing with a killer horn section and choir, the album sounds urgent and raw, with Young genuinely frustrated with what he sees around him and acknowledging in the title track that he too is living with war in his heart.

Neil Young— Living With War


Also a pleasant surprise was the new effort from Paul Simon, appropriately titled Surprise. Now here’s a guy with mileage, going from one of the most successful duos of all time to an equally successful solo career. Bringing in legendary producer Brian Eno, his sound on this latest effort sounds really smooth, and Simon can still write solid lyrics to back it up. Is it cutting edge hip? Probably not. Still, it makes you think about whom among the indie rock hip elite days will still be going 30-40 years down the line.

Paul Simon- How Can You Live in the Northeast?

Symphonic Jazz Pretty Much Rocks

(before i get started today, a hello to all the new visitors to the site that are coming in via the links on the Via Chicago forums as well as Kwaya Na Kisser (an excellent blog if i do say so myself)... have a look around, take in some music, bookmark us- it's good to have you stop by)

So I was fortunate enough to see Dave Brubeck perform at that other university this weekend, as he was the subject of their University Musical Society Honors Program this year. It was pretty fantastic to say the least, thanks in no small part to the fact that Brubeck was backed by not only his own fantastic quartet but also the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. Basically, if you think Blue Rondo a la Turk is amazing as is, just imagine it backed by strings (I don’t think a recording could even do it justice, to be honest).

The performance only furthered my feeling that symphonic jazz is some of the most amazing music ever, a feeling that started earlier this year with the release of Elvis Costello’s My Flame Burns Blue, which featured him live in concert backed by the Metropole Orkest, one of the world’s leading jazz orchestras. Costello retools some of his own material for this disc, but perhaps even more remarkably, arranges and adds lyrics to preexisting jazz compositions. Perhaps the best example is the album’s opener, a rendition of Charles Mingus’ “Hora Decubitus” with lyrics penned by Costello incidentally right around September 11, 2001. The result is something along the lines of the search for peace in the midst of chaos embodied by “(What’s So Funny Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” with a darker and more urgent edge to it, and as usual, it's brillant.

Elvis Costello (with the Metropole Orkest)- Hora Decubitus

New Wilco!

So after staying up late last night to check out Wilco's appearance on Conan O'Brien during his week of shows in Chicago, I was treated to the terrific suprise of a brand new song by the band. I'd heard a few solo bootlegs of Jeff Tweedy singing this, but it was so much more incredible with the full band backing him. It's a bit of a departure for the band, going for a more soulful sound that recalls their early days doing straight up alt-country (Jeff has joked(?) that the song was written for Solomon Burke), but I really like it.

The song is either titled "We Can Make It Better" or "Is That The Thanks I Get?", depending on who you ask. I'm going with the former, because it comprises the awesome sing-along chorus. Also, I may be the first person in the blogosphere to get this out there, having made the mp3 rip myself.

Enjoy!

Wilco- We Can Make It Better (Live on Conan)

Happy Mothers Day

So what with Mothers’ Day being on Sunday and all, I thought I’d put up a track in tribute, albeit from a pretty unlikely source.

Jeff Daniels may be known to most of the country as the other guy from Dumb and Dumber (if you hold this opinion, please go to your local Blockbuster, rent The Squid and the Whale, and prepare to be amazed), but here in his native state of Michigan, he’s done a great deal for local film and theater. Aside from making the film Escanaba in Da Moonlight entirely in-state with native actors (if you are a fan of incredibly well executed juvenile humor and can track down this movie, do it), he also manages the Purple Rose Theater in his hometown of Chelsea, regarded as one of the best places for independent and original drama in the state.

Still, I don’t think anyone ever expected him to release an album.

Apparently, Daniels has been writing songs for most of his life, and finally got around to recording them in a live benefit concert for the Purple Rose. The CD is pretty hard to get a hold of outside of Michigan, but its pretty good stuff—down-home folksy Midwest guitar ditties that are so heartfelt you can’t help but enjoy them.

In between stories of Tiger baseball and road trips in a Recreational Vehicle (that thankfully have nothing to do with that new Robin Williams flick he’s in), there’s a track called “Momma Never Left Her Oldest Boy Alone.” Is it sappy, sentimental stuff? You bet. But something about Daniels’ simple, elegant delivery keeps it honest and makes it extremely listenable.

To all the moms (and fellow eldest sons) out there:

Jeff Daniels- Momma Never Left Her Oldest Boy Alone

Brendan Benson: The OTHER Half of the Raconteurs

Much ado had been made about the awesomeness of Jack White in this blog, whether he’s rocking out with Meg in The White Stripes, shilling for Coke, or most recently, gearing up for the debut release next week from his new supergroup, The Raconteurs.

But wait? Doesn’t a supergroup imply that more than one person in the band is famous? Indeed it does, friends. Aside from ripping a rhythm section from The Greenhornes (which I only know from their contributions to the Broken Flowers soundtrack, but am impressed by nonetheless), the group is co-headlined by White’s fellow Detroiter Brendan Benson.


Why this guy isn’t more famous is beyond me. He specializes in what’s been deemed “power pop,” churning out radio ready tracks with some real rock soul and muscle underneath them. His latest, The Alternative to Love, is beginning to end an album that will take up residence in your head for days after you hear it. Overall, he's not only almost equal to Jack White in awesomeness, he's a great counterpoint to the hard-edged wailing blues guitar and vocals White favors, ensuring the Raconteurs will rule the summer in CD players across the country.


Ze tracks:

Brendan Benson- Spit It Out
Brendan Benson- The Alternative to Love

Kick Off Your Summer With Lily Allen

Yes, I have returned. With college done for the term, I’m reporting from my parents’ basement, just like a real blogger. I’ll try to get back into the Monday-Friday update schedule, but it may take a while.

One thing that will change is the daily theme formats. As fun as they were, the got kind of limiting as time went on, and prevented me from putting some really great stuff up at times. Granted, there will still be inductions made to the Men and Women of Musical Genius lists, just not necessarily on Mondays and Wednesdays.



Such is the case with today. A few posts ago, I made mention of Lily Allen, who I’d stumbled across on good old Pitchfork while looking up their take on the latest Sufjan track and fulfilling every last bit of the indie rock nerd stereotype. In any case, I was blown away. The girl was equal parts Nellie McKay and Mike Skinner of The Streets, and one hundred percent musical genius.

Unfortunately, her songs were nowhere to be found aside from her incredibly popular (and thus unreliable) MySpace profile and—in what just might be the coolest thing ever—a link I found to her mixtape, in which she intersperses her songs with things such as Dizzee Rascal tracks and yodeling (yes, yodeling).

Fortunately for all you out there, I finally stumbled across some mp3s. “LDN” has been heralded by many as a near perfect summertime pop song (and I’d have to agree), while “Knock ‘Em Out” has Ms. Allen throwing down like a pro about the sexual politics of the bar scene.

In a just world, this girl would put all the Ashlee Simpsons and Hilary Duffs of the world to shame on the record charts… it probably won’t happen, but a guy can dream, right?

Lily Allen- LDN
Lily Allen- Knock 'Em Out

"There's Another National Anthem..."

One paper left in the term, and it’s due at 3pm tomorrow. Can he do it? For once, the answer is an unequivocal yes, and that feels good. But enough about me—I mean, it’s not like this is a Live Journal. I’m just here for a quick post to re-charge my batteries before I hit the books one last time.

My two favorite things in the world (music and politics) have come to an intersection as of late. Specifically, the national anthem has been under the spotlight, as Hispanics across the country have popularized a Spanish language anthem for themselves, much to the ire of the Bush administration, who feels there’s one anthem, and it should be sung in English.

Let me get this out of the way first. I’m not a huge fan of the national anthem. I could go into the social effects of having what’s arguably our most visible piece of national poetry being about strength and perseverance through armed conflict, but in the end, it’s really just that there’s a lot of patriotic songs I like a good deal more—song like America The Beautiful (especially the version Ray Charles did), and This Land is Your Land (whoo boy, imagine that as our national anthem).

In any case, this whole Spanish anthem thing really is nothing new. There’s been a Black National Anthem for years now (“Lift Every Voice and Sing”—another really good song), and it’s not as if people haven’t all put a little of themselves into the song anyways over the years (Hendrix, anyone?). In trying to avoid an Social Relations rant, I’m just going to wrap this up by saying that “Nuestro Himno (Our Anthem),” as it’s being called, features the line “Somos hermanos, es nuestro himno” (We are brothers, it is our anthem), and that—in whatever language—is what’s most important of all.

Anyhow, I’ve name dropped a ton of songs in this post, most of which I’ll probably save for July 4th, when I’ll be celebrating Independence Day in glorious Washington DC for the first time in my life. For now, here’s a variation on the old tune that I’ve really been digging over the past few days by indie-rock icon Sufjan Stevens. It’s a little edgy, so I’d be interested to hear what you all think.

Sufjan Stevens- The Star Spangled Banner