What's New?: 6.5.2011

Couple of new releases on vinyl — both of which, surprisingly, did not come with digital download redemption codes. . .



Death Cab for Cutie — Codes and Keys (2011)

Color me downright pleasantly surprised. I was very excited after the one-two combo of Narrow Stairs and the Open Door EP. I watched the premiere for the performed live 'You Are A Tourist' music video and the song did not blow me away. It was a change, because the pre-album singles for their last two albums ('Soul Meets Body' from Plans and 'I Will Possess Your Heart' from Narrow Stairs) blew me entirely away right off the bat. But, with this new material, I didn't really feel compelled to go back and play it again right away. It was "just Ok." I bought the nice double 180 gram gatefold cover vinyl edition because it just felt right. Got it home, dropped the needle and turned up my old Carver stereo. Including sounding dynamically great, the material is actually really good too. I will have to mirror the wealth of other reviews for the album that point that it's not very guitar heavy. But they've been heading this way since Plans, haven't they? Keyboards have always been a part of the band's sound, but this album finds them to be central to the melodic ideas offered up. Nick Harmer's basslines are still very prominent and Chris Walla is still around to add echoey harmonic accents to everything, so it doesn't feel —to me— like as much of a one-eighty as some of the reviews I've read would have had me believe. The tunes are all very reminiscent of 'Different Names for the Same Thing' from Plans. Very likable, melodic stuff with buildups developed in post-production. 'You Are a Tourist' sounds amazing smack dab in the middle of the album, at the end of record one and there is an undeniably positive warmth that the band hasn't possessed since Transatlanticism. Songs like the title track and the downright impressive 'Doors Unlocked and Open' feature a newly invigorated Gibbard spewing some of his most enthusiastic words ever. It's still cynical positivity. But it's positivity nonetheless. I really didn't know what to expect from this album, but it's arguably the DCFC pop masterwork. It does come off as a bit too sprightly with songs like 'Stay Young, Go Dancing' but I can't help but admire the absolutely genuine positivity in the material. It's infectious. And therapeutic. Marvelous stuff. I will be curious to see what I think of it in six months.

Crosby & Nash — Another Stoney Evening (1971)

I've always been a huge fan of this duo since I first got into the whole CSN+Y family of albums a few years ago. This was recorded in the buildup to their first album and, unlike the official live album that was released later on in the 70's, this is just David Crosby and Graham Nash performing without a band; just two guitars, two voices. It was released, for the first time, on CD in the mid-90's and was just released last month on vinyl for the first ever. I waited and bought it on vinyl. I'm glad I did. It's a very nice gatefold double 180 gram vinyl issue and it sounds excellent. I don't know why it wasn't released at the time. The version they play of Crosby's 'The Lee Shore' is practically definitive. Lots of stuff from that first Crosby & Nash album, plenty of CS+N stuff and, much to my delight, about a third of Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name. Overall, serious stuff and very warm music. I don't want to get too deeply into adjectives and stuff because music like this needs to be heard to be fully understood. There's a dichotomy and undeniable chemistry at play here that just bleeds with resonance and fertility. I am pleased that it was documented for my hungry ears to get a hold of eventually. Fantastic.

~Austin

The quality of contemporary music has risen.

I bought two brand new releases today and I am completely and utterly impressed.

Death Cab For Cutie — Narrow Stairs (Atlantic)

"I Will Possess Your Heart" set my expectations for this album somewhere in the lower stratosphere, so after one full listen, the fact that I'm absolutely satisfied with this album is quite an achievement. I got all excited last album when "Soul Meets Body" was the warm-up single and it was awesome. Then Plans came out and it was kind of boring. Competant, but boring. This album, besides a couple warmer, fuller, comfy productions that mirror the nearly over-produced backings of Plans, in a very stark contrast is kind of cold. More guitar-oriented than last record and just flat out bleak and depressing at some points (the one-two combo of "Grapevine Fires" and "Your New Twin Sized Bed" — what the hell, Ben?). It feels like the obsession with death and passing on that occupied much of Plans is hopeful in comparison to the creepy defeat that is detailed on this material. Arguably the band's darkest work yet and a fantastic return to form. Wow.

Sidebar: makes that Chris Walla record even more disappointing in retrospect.

The Roots — Rising Down (Def Jam)

I only just bought this because I was waiting to buy it on vinyl. If this had come after The Tipping Point, then it may be a little more of a jolt than it is. But coming hot on the heels of the super aggro and dark Game Theory, the blow has been softened a little. Just a little, though. The loss of Leonard Hubbard forces the group to look to an analogue synth to create prominent basslines, only upping the dissonance of those particular pieces. Where Game Theory offered a few moments to catch your breath with less aggressive moments, Rising Down is a solid fourty minutes of jugular gripping intensity. Besides the mood-lightening title track at the end, Game Theory feels mellow in comparison to this album. Very intense, very angry... musically, it's their best album since Things Fall Apart, but sounds nothing like that album. I guess if I were to compare it to another album besides Game Theory, I'd say it's closest companion would be illadelph halflife. But even that's not very accurate. Pretty good, in any case.

And, with all that being said, I have to say, in this day and with the record industry in the condition it is, it's amazing to see a couple of the most daring records in the past few years get released on major record labels. They both are very reflective of the increasingly intense and hopeless times we're currently living in; yet both easily ease the pain of every day living and help focus on the bright side. Ironically enough, both do that by confronting the darkest aspects of the deepest issues at hand: The Roots socially and economically speaking and Death Cab personally speaking. Kind of makes me really want to buy a lot more music.

Now, if only our current presidential administration hadn't fucked the economy, that might be possible. I had to pass on the new Cure single because of budget issues. It hurt.

Have a good day and check out these two wonderfully bleak records.

~Austin