What's a Listening Log? Well, the idea is quite simple. It's a weekly segment that consolidates all the mini-reviews Dozens Of Donuts has given on RateYourMusic over the past week, split between the Past and Present. A straightforward grading scale has been put in place, ranging from A+ to F-, with C acting as the baseline average. There is no set amount of reviews per week, just however many I get around to reviewing. And don't expect week-of reviews. I wait one month - with at least three listens under my belt - before I rate and review an album. Enjoy!
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2006 | Garage Rock | Listen
IMPASSIONED CRIES FROM A MAN LOSING HIS EDGE
Consider me surprised. Yes, The Strokes have steadily declined since their immaculate debut Is This It, but not by the lengths I was led to believe. If we're to criticize them, it's their insistence on retracing the formula set forth by that transcendental LP. I don't blame them, neither do I blame those, like myself, who'll chastise them for lack of evolution. The Strokes method is a double-edged sword; Satisfying diehard fans while losing those straying from the tedious commitment. First Impressions Of Earth is another predictable endeavor, filled with doomsday vitality from Julian Casablancas, euphoric percussion courtesy of Fab Moretti, and a steady hand of guitar-tinged Rock that aims for replayability over ingenuity. The formula, as we've come to know it, still works. Pick and choose your favorites, The Strokes have always been a compilation team aiming for the greatest hits.
After the topic of creativity is out of the way, my second criticism of First Impressions Of Earth would be its excess, as 14 songs filled with cookie cutter structure begs for filler to surface. However, even that I can't say with certainty because some of my favorites are others' least. It's all preference with The Strokes. Yes, 'You Only Live Once' kicks this LP off right. It does nothing special, but it does everything right. But then there's 'Fear Of Sleep,' 'Ize Of The World,' and 'Red Light,' all songs I'd consider on that same tier. Blasphemy, I know. Even the two songs refuted for their simple transgressions, 'Ask Me Anything' and 'Killing Lies,' I enjoy for their tempo shifts and comfortability in not reaching for radio play. Like the album that came before, Room On Fire, First Impressions Of Earth is outrageously consistent. With variety in such a precious commodity, that's not necessarily a good thing. But with a band such as The Strokes, who've clearly perfected their aesthetic with an unrelenting vow, a gratifying experience is sure to take shape. And that's exactly what these songs elicit.
B-
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1999 | Indie Pop | Listen
THE LAST WALTZ FROM THE ROARING 90'S
Delving beyond the surface level of The Elephant 6 collective (read: Neutral Milk Hotel) was such a blessing. Countless Indie artists devoted to the warmth and liberation of the 90's, with artistic passion to match. And Beulah's When Your Heartstrings Break, released a mere five months before the century ceased to exist, might be the best one yet. Don't let the title fool you. While much of Miles Kurosky's lyrics revel in bittersweet romance teetering on the brink of combustion, the music's swelling horn arrangements and excitable energy tell a much more optimistic story. This is beautiful, pure, congenial Indie Pop that'll never sour, even with the passing of generations. The reverberations of this record, with its quirky outburst of color and mercurial fascination with indulgence, can be felt all the way to the present day, as acts like Islands ('Matter Vs. Space'), The Go! Team ('Score From Augusta'), and Vampire Weekend ('If We Can Land A Man On The Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart') all owe their exuberance to Beulah.
When Your Heartstrings Break is truly the perfect record to bridge the gap between the 90's and 2000's. Using The Elephant 6's philosophy as representation of America's best decade in recent history, along with empowered Noise Pop and Noise Rock akin to Rollerskate Skinny ('Sunday Under Glass') and Guided By Voices ('Ballad Of The Lonely Argonaut') respectively, Beulah showcase the glee-stricken decade I call nostalgia to. Meanwhile, Kurosky's sophisticated poise and preppy impudence flows naturally into a new generation imbued with a chic spirit and, perhaps, naive hope. The constant, unfettered inclusion of uplifting horns allows each decade's message - the reality of the 90's, the fantasy of the 2000's - to flourish. And boy aren't those horns great? 'Score From Augusta,' 'Emma Blowgun's Last Stand,' and 'Comrade's Twenty-Sixth' are all positively enriched by Bill Swan's euphoric trumpeting.
These make up the best moments on When Your Heartstrings Break. It's as if Beulah used the under-developed Brass Band aspect of Neutral Milk Hotel's On Avery Island ('Avery Island / April 1st') and In The Aeroplane Over The Sea ('The Fool') and expanded it, giving listeners something savory to chew on. If we're playing desert island and forced to pick one genre with which to satiate our sanity with, you'd be remiss not picking Indie Pop injected with a healthy dose of brass, guile, and merriment. Now, When Your Heartstrings Break does include a handful of slower, more melodic moments, like 'Calm Go The Wild Seas' and 'Silverado Days,' but these songs - and every one - adds immensely to the project as a whole. There are no removable tracks, there are no duds. This will likely go down as my second favorite Elephant 6 album - behind In The Aeroplane Over The Sea of course - and given the quality abreast, that's saying something. A pure joy.
A-
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1998 | Psychedelic Pop | Listen
LEAVING REALITY AS MOMMY & DADDY LEAVE ONE ANOTHER
Given the brief time lapse between of Montreal's debut LP Cherry Peel and The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy (less than one year), it's easy to think of them as comparative, complimentary works. Especially given Kevin Barnes' domestic strife that runs rampant throughout each works' chipper distillation of the truth. The distinction between both can be simplified down to this: Cherry Peel has the better music, The Bedside Drama has the better conceptual execution. Rather than evolve and mature, of Montreal find themselves further into the recesses of a child tortured by the thought of adulthood, using kitschy Show Tunes and vaudevillian theatrics to really emphasize this fantasy realm one detaches to when reality becomes too difficult to bear. Like a puppet show teaching the lessons of morality in the least imposing ways possible, with 'Happy Yellow Bumblebee's,' 'Cutie Pie's,' and 'Panda Bear's.'
Ironically, of Montreal themselves don't emphasize this disillusion, with detailed and brokenhearted track titles intent on accentuating the story of anxiety, abuse, and turbulence unfolding. The three, couple-based interludes - all gorgeous in execution - drive home The Bedside Drama's downward spiral, until reaching the final resting place on the record's best track; 'It's Easy To Sleep When You're Dead.' Barnes' infatuation with chivalry and old-fashioned romance works two-hold, both as a means to elicit an adorable sense of whimsy that cascades through each charming melody, and as a contradiction to a relationship soured by reality, deteriorating before his very eyes. Again, execution of The Bedside Drama is spectacular and is likely one of the best artistic juxtapositions in regards to familial consternation through the eyes of a child. Mommy and daddy say they love each other, yet all I hear is screaming, fighting, and silence. It's that conundrum where of Montreal flourish, even if the music on a singular basis doesn't really outlast the album's entombed walls.
C
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1989 | Darkwave | Listen
TWISTING MORBID REALITIES INTO MACABRE NIGHTMARES
Another primordial Legendary Pink Dots record, another disaster. At least this time it's just a minor earthquake, not a total loss tremor like the previous year's abysmal Any Day Now, or the litany of dated carnival monstrosities before it. Don't get me wrong, that's still distinctly present on The Golden Age, as seen most grotesquely on the near-unlistenable kitschiness of 'The Month After' and 'Black Castles.' One day Edward Ka-Spel will rid himself of such inadequacies - I know, after having enjoyed Nemesis Online and A Perfect Mystery - but the 90's have not been reached yet, as The Legendary Pink Dots languish pedantically in cheap 80's macabre. To say it hasn't aged well would be an understatement.
Golden Age redeems itself, slightly so, with three distinct tracks; 'Maniac,' 'The More It Changes,' and 'Lisa's Separation.' The former solely due to the vocal-less chorus with rabid synthesizers that seriously wouldn't sound out of place on today's modern Experimental Hip-Hop records. It caught me by surprise and left me intrigued for the rest of the, disappointedly, retroactive LP. As for 'The More It Changes' and its full, sensible composition that doesn't try to match Ka-Spel's lyrical lunacy, it's likely Legendary Pink Dots' best track, at least since Asylum's 'Agape.' As for 'Lisa's Separation,' the incorporation of Ka-Spel's grounded storytelling, mixed with some enchanted Folk element thanks to rolling acoustics, bears resemblance to Current 93. And those three are the only positive to gleam from Golden Age. But they exist, and that is progress.
D
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My excursion into the Elephant 6 was far more successful than I had imagined. A silly assumption given the talent at hand. That doesn't bode well for The Minders' debut Hooray For Tuesday, as expectations were high given the killer entrances by Neutral Milk Hotel (On Avery Island), The Essex Green (Everything Is Green), and Beulah (When Your Heartstrings Break). What we discover here is a group that personifies the Elephant 6 without actually separating themselves from the flock. In terms of quality it sits in the category of 'adequate with stellar highlights' alongside The Gerbils' Are You Sleepy. It has a impassioned intro that can't be missed, ceaselessly mixing sounds into an elegant menagerie of styles, along with a confined and conventionally attractive closer in 'Frida.' The middle ground is where Hooray For Tuesday becomes shaky, especially when the appeal of another Elephant 6 exemplar starts to fade.
Tracks one through five herald this thought process, with a humble sense of quality that doesn't wane until 'Our Man In Bombay' presents a sort of Space Age Pop that doesn't fit the album's overall tone. 'Joey's Pez' is textbook 90's Indie Rock done well, as Martyn Leaper's vocals just scream teenage B-movie in the nostalgia canon. Prime vocals for a montage of school letting out for summer. 'Yeah Yeah Yeah' does well, though it invokes a little too heavy-handedly The Kinks and the general Mod scene. After that, Hooray For Tuesday struggles to rekindle any momentum with short bursts that don't outlast any memory attached to it. Not to mention the final four tracks heavily evoke inspired artists; The Beatles with 'Pass It Around' and 'Red Bus,' and Neutral Milk Hotel on 'Bubble' and 'Frida.' The last two especially, with the introverted instrumental leading into sobering release. Like every Elephant 6 record heard to date, Hooray For Tuesday has its moments. Though it's safe to say, sufficiency is where it'll settle.
C
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