General Ratings:
Music: 8
Lyrics: 7
Scope: 7
Consistency: 6
RIYL: Mirah, Badly Drawn Boy, The National, The Walkmen
Further Listening: The Sea & The Gulls, The Harlem Shakes, The Low Lows
Place of Origin: Brooklyn, NY
Instrument/Sounds List: Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Drums, Alternative Percussion (tambourine, jingle bells, shaker, hand claps/foot stomps/snaps), Synthesizers, Double-tracked Vocals, Ukulele, Harmonium or Organ of some kind, Saxophone, Mandolin, Whistling.
Mood Tones:
Season: Fall
Weather: Overcast
Time of Day: Evening
Song Highlights: Shitty Little Disco, Whirring, Pocket
Favorite Lyrics:
"Days alone are the days you dread the most/ Counting down the hours in caffeine and morning shows" (from Sad, Sad, Sad)
"Found you huddled in the corner, still/ We talked in the dust about who we killed." (from Kids Aflame)
"When I remember my dreams, they're always with you/ I crack those orbs at the seams and suck out the juice." (from Eyeball)
Other Thoughts:
God bless Protools, or whatever software TG is using to throw all of this together, for its liberation of the modern musician. It's a bit paradoxical, but you hardly ever come across an album recorded in a professional studio that is as studied and peculiar as those being made in the bedrooms of kids with enough money to afford nice equipment and enough freetime to make use of it. And for shut-in recordings made by a guy whose day job is playing guitar for the Harlem Shakes, it's a little surprising how much thought is put into the percussion here. There's that reliable 8 or 9 piece drum set on almost every song, for sure, but it almost always comes augmented by some relic of 3rd grade music class (I didn't add it to the instruments list because I couldn't say for absolute certain that it was there, but in a couple songs I could swear that he's using a triangle). The double-tracking of the lead vocal parts is another touch that mostly keeps to itself, gliding to the foreground of a song every once in a while to keep the chorus sounding fresh. And let me not imply that the guitars aren't easily accounted for - they are - but even some of the neater tricks he pulls with intermingling electrics and acoustics are easily glossed over in early listens by strong, well-produced melodies. This is almost the definition of a headphones album, brimming with bits of filligree to be found by the more attentive listener. Even so, there's plenty to like in the broader brush strokes, with crisp central melodies and driving rhythms easily audible no matter what format you're listening in. There's nothing quite as nice as a record that rewards whatever amount of attention you have to pay it.
As such, it's the nuance that got me on repeated listens. There's no part of this record that isn't considered. It kills me that I can only pick 3 songs as favorites, because while the ones I chose are probably the "best," they're also the most traditional sounding, and part of what sets this record apart is that the less-conventional material works almost equally as well as the cut-and-dried pop songs. "Jon the Escalator" nearly made both the song highlights and favorite lyrics categories ("Took every test/ Passed them all/ Passed them to your left"). "Eyeball" is equally easy to miss coming right before "Pocket"s big chords and brass, but keeps bubbling up from my sub-conscious, slipping out in repeated lines sung under my breath to no one in particular.
What are the drawbacks? There are some songs that I'd call difficult, along the lines of Sunset Rubdown or Andrew Bird, in that they are unconventionally structured and fragmented, though never atonal. In extremis, this can make a song seem unfinished, more like a sketch (c.f. the Frozen Lake). The lyrics, while never bad, at times seem a bit abstract, which is pleasant in small doses but can start to feel insubstantial when we're talking about the entire record. Also, most of the material here has been released in some other format (e.g. the Shitty Little Disco EP or the Whirring single). While I can't say that I blame him for wanting them all together in one album, as they definitely sound of a piece, I'm also wary of the Morrissey syndrome of constantly repackaging the same material. One also wonders why the song "Neighbors" from the Shitty Little Disco EP was left off the album, as it stands alongside ARMS' best work, and would fit nicely in the middle of the album to anchor some of the more experimental impulses.
Quibbles aside, this is one of the best albums I heard in 2008.
Music: 8
Lyrics: 7
Scope: 7
Consistency: 6
RIYL: Mirah, Badly Drawn Boy, The National, The Walkmen
Further Listening: The Sea & The Gulls, The Harlem Shakes, The Low Lows
Place of Origin: Brooklyn, NY
Instrument/Sounds List: Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Drums, Alternative Percussion (tambourine, jingle bells, shaker, hand claps/foot stomps/snaps), Synthesizers, Double-tracked Vocals, Ukulele, Harmonium or Organ of some kind, Saxophone, Mandolin, Whistling.
Mood Tones:
Season: Fall
Weather: Overcast
Time of Day: Evening
Song Highlights: Shitty Little Disco, Whirring, Pocket
Favorite Lyrics:
"Days alone are the days you dread the most/ Counting down the hours in caffeine and morning shows" (from Sad, Sad, Sad)
"Found you huddled in the corner, still/ We talked in the dust about who we killed." (from Kids Aflame)
"When I remember my dreams, they're always with you/ I crack those orbs at the seams and suck out the juice." (from Eyeball)
Other Thoughts:
God bless Protools, or whatever software TG is using to throw all of this together, for its liberation of the modern musician. It's a bit paradoxical, but you hardly ever come across an album recorded in a professional studio that is as studied and peculiar as those being made in the bedrooms of kids with enough money to afford nice equipment and enough freetime to make use of it. And for shut-in recordings made by a guy whose day job is playing guitar for the Harlem Shakes, it's a little surprising how much thought is put into the percussion here. There's that reliable 8 or 9 piece drum set on almost every song, for sure, but it almost always comes augmented by some relic of 3rd grade music class (I didn't add it to the instruments list because I couldn't say for absolute certain that it was there, but in a couple songs I could swear that he's using a triangle). The double-tracking of the lead vocal parts is another touch that mostly keeps to itself, gliding to the foreground of a song every once in a while to keep the chorus sounding fresh. And let me not imply that the guitars aren't easily accounted for - they are - but even some of the neater tricks he pulls with intermingling electrics and acoustics are easily glossed over in early listens by strong, well-produced melodies. This is almost the definition of a headphones album, brimming with bits of filligree to be found by the more attentive listener. Even so, there's plenty to like in the broader brush strokes, with crisp central melodies and driving rhythms easily audible no matter what format you're listening in. There's nothing quite as nice as a record that rewards whatever amount of attention you have to pay it.
As such, it's the nuance that got me on repeated listens. There's no part of this record that isn't considered. It kills me that I can only pick 3 songs as favorites, because while the ones I chose are probably the "best," they're also the most traditional sounding, and part of what sets this record apart is that the less-conventional material works almost equally as well as the cut-and-dried pop songs. "Jon the Escalator" nearly made both the song highlights and favorite lyrics categories ("Took every test/ Passed them all/ Passed them to your left"). "Eyeball" is equally easy to miss coming right before "Pocket"s big chords and brass, but keeps bubbling up from my sub-conscious, slipping out in repeated lines sung under my breath to no one in particular.
What are the drawbacks? There are some songs that I'd call difficult, along the lines of Sunset Rubdown or Andrew Bird, in that they are unconventionally structured and fragmented, though never atonal. In extremis, this can make a song seem unfinished, more like a sketch (c.f. the Frozen Lake). The lyrics, while never bad, at times seem a bit abstract, which is pleasant in small doses but can start to feel insubstantial when we're talking about the entire record. Also, most of the material here has been released in some other format (e.g. the Shitty Little Disco EP or the Whirring single). While I can't say that I blame him for wanting them all together in one album, as they definitely sound of a piece, I'm also wary of the Morrissey syndrome of constantly repackaging the same material. One also wonders why the song "Neighbors" from the Shitty Little Disco EP was left off the album, as it stands alongside ARMS' best work, and would fit nicely in the middle of the album to anchor some of the more experimental impulses.
Quibbles aside, this is one of the best albums I heard in 2008.
I'm pretty baffled by The Walkmen as a touchstone, especially the first. Mirah is right on. It's a hard record to pin down, of course, given the scope. "Kids Aflame" and "Sad, Sad, Sad" remind me of the Magnetic Fields more than anything else, and "Shitty Little Disco" is straight-up Interpol. I'd actually cite Wilco, Summerteeth to YHF, as a chief RIYL, though.
ReplyDeleteI think the album this is most similar to might be Badly Drawn Boy's "The Hour of the Bewilderbeast."
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Walkmen tag was the one I was least definitely set on, and shouldn't have been first. As far as what I was thinking, they're both guitar-driven, have a quiet-to-loud-to-quiet aesthetic, somewhat fractured NYC rock groups. They come out of the same scene, their vocals are similar (though Hamilton Leithauser has a bit more Rod Stewart in his voice), and the general mood of their albums seem akin to me. I'll grant it's not a perfect fit, but especially songs like Jon the Escalator and Ana M sound reminiscent of some of the quieter moments on Bows + Arrows.
ReplyDeleteYou've told me before that Shitty Little Disco reminds you of Interpol, and while I can hear that, I think the common touchstone for both of them is Joy Division, specifically in their use of synthesizer. I realize it's nothing new to compare Interpol to Joy Division, but I guess the point I'm trying to make is less that I hear Interpol in ARMS, and more that I hear Joy Division in both of them. I can definitely see what you mean about the Badly Drawn Boy similarities, both in overall sound and production technique, and I think with your blessing I'll add him in. While you could maybe make a case for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot because of the darker tone of the album, Wilco in general and Summerteeth specifically seems off-point to me--too sunny, too country-tinged, not claustrophobic enough.
Also, if you don't have the song "Neighbors," let me suggest that you grab it off their website, which you can get to by clicking the post title.
ReplyDeleteJohn Vanderslice? I'm going to stop thinking about this particular question now.
ReplyDeletehear hear on the sea and the gulls.
ReplyDeleteIs that the Ian that I think it is, or the Ian that I don't?
ReplyDelete