The Dark Chords

New song fragment: “Coroline”

This song fragment is a bit of Portishead meets Radiohead.

Coroline

New song-fragment: “…and then I woke up in Mumbai”

Often I end up with small “song fragments” –  ideas that haven’t been fleshed out into full-fledged songs, or sketches for specific projects.  In this case, a friend was producing a Bollywood-style comedy here in Atlanta and I sketched out some ideas for a particular scene.  Ultimately, the song was not used in the movie, but did end up being used for a jewelry store commercial that will be running throughout the Southeast.  It was perfect for the :30 spot.   Maybe someday I’ll return to it to make it into a full-fledged song.  It’s a nice chill/lounge vibe with an Indian flavor.

…and then I woke up in Mumbai

Best Albums of the Decade: The Shins, Oh Inverted World (2001)

As unique as I think my music tastes are, so far my top picks for the decade have been in-line with a lot of other people’s lists.   Now, The Shins made other lists, but I was surprised that it was Chutes Too Narrow and not this album that was mentioned.

From the vantage point of 2009/2010, it’s easy to forget just how different this album sounded in 2001.  The Shins defined a whole new sound and ushered much of the ’00s indie rock/songwriter era that flourished throughout the decade.  And a great deal of the current crop of new shining lights in the scene, from Fleet Foxes to Bon Iver, would not be possible without The Shins’ success.  The reverb-drenched instruments, the vaguely Brian Wilson influenced vocals, the occasional analog synth flourish: it’s all there…and now they sound like perfectly normal elements.

Putting Zach Braff and the whole Garden State “it’ll change your life” thing aside, New Slang is a modern classic.   It’s a beautifully haunting and catchy song. And like Jeff Tweedy, James Mercer is a master of abstract lyrics that ultimately portray a clear vision and mood upon repeated listens.  And frankly, how can you not love lyrics like this:

New slang when you notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries.
Hope it’s right when you die, old and bony.
Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall,
Never should have called
But my head’s to the wall and i’m lonely.

Know Your Onion!  - one of my favorite song titles of all time –  is catchy and fun.  I love how James Mercer changes his voice to sing parts which are supposed to be his friends speaking to him:

I left all my friends at the morning bus stop shaking their heads.
“what kind of life you dream of? you’re allergic to love.”  [[sung in a high-pitched, mocking voice]]
Yes i know but i must say in my own defense

Fun is the other element I love of this album.   Although the lyrics are introspective, the music leans towards up-beat and fun.   Maybe it’s the lo-fi organs, or the clean-guitar melodies with reverb, or James Mercer’s vocal style.. but something about the whole album reminds me of a 60s beach/surf rock band.

Or perhaps it’s the lo-fi/garage recording quality.  You can hardly hear a kick drum in the mix.  But frankly, who cares?  The lo-fi thing works really, really well for The Shins and I believe was part of their charm.  I say was because when they went hi-fi with Wincing The Night Away I was turned off.   High-production values didn’t work for The Shins.  (Although I look forward to hearing more of the James Mercer/Danger Mouse collaboration)

Which is the final reason this album deserves a place among the best of the decade:  Lo-fi is nothing new, but more than any other band this decade The Shins made lo-fi palatable for the masses as long as the songwriting was there.

Listen for yourself:

Top 5 Albums of the Decade: Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)

I remember buying Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (YHF) at the Virgin Megastore in LA.  It’s the kind of store, and retail setup, you rarely see anymore.  The display had a marketing-y description of the band and album which described Wilco as “America’s Radiohead.”

It’s an interesting way to describe the band and this album.  And while it certainly works as a marketing angle for newbies to the band, over time I have come to think there’s truth in that statement.  Perhaps a better way to put it would be “what Radiohead would sound like if they were Americans and if their musical roots were in Americana, 60s/70s rock ‘n roll, and country music” but then would be too long for marketing copy.

After all, just as Radiohead took their roots in 90s alternative, Britpop, punk and Pink Floydish psychedelia to new unexpected places, hasn’t Wilco achieved the same with alt-country and 60s/70s rock ‘n roll?   And like Radiohead, have they not transcended those genres to create their own world – their own universe even – unlike that of any other band?

Wilco is also willing to experiment: unusual noises, click, clacks and strums punctuate songs which may begin and/or end with carefully orchestrated feedback.  In fact, what sold me on the band and transformed me from “I like some of their songs” to full-fledged fan was the amazement at how they could pull this experimental weirdness off live the first time I saw them.   (That, and how much their songs rocked live in a way that I would have never predicted from the albums, but not in the cheap calculated way that other bands speed-up and “rock-out” mellow songs live.  It was organic and totally effortless.)

Organic and effortless is perhaps the best way to describe Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.  Non-fans describe Wilco as mellow, but I like to think of it as “perceived” mellowness: It’s like the difference between the first time you strap-on some ice skates and the expert who effortlessly glides across the rink.

The music draws you in, but the lyrics make you want to stay.  Tweedy is the master impressionist-painter of lyricists.  Perhaps the best since Lennon.  Just like the masters of that painting style only needed to hint at the shape of a sailboat or a tree, Tweedy’s lyrics don’t make much sense in a linear storytelling way.  But taken altogether, they paint a complete picture just as vividly as any storyteller does.  And there are nuggets of wisdom and insight in YHF which continue to serve as a springboard for my own thoughts to wander.

And isn’t that what great music is all about?

Our love is all of God’s money
Everyone is a burning sun

Top 5 Albums of the Decade: Kid A, Radiohead (2000)

Everybody’s doing it, so why not. With only 4 days left in the decade, let’s go through our Top 5 albums of the decade, in no particular order. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll keep it to albums within the rock/pop/indie/alternative world.

Radiohead’s OK Computer (1997) album reached what is in many ways the zenith of what a modern band could do with vocals, electric guitars, bass, drums and the occasional keyboards. While songwriting always has and will continue to reign supreme, the limits of what atmospheres, moods and emotions can be achieved with the basic rock instrumentation had been explored and re-explored well before Radiohead was even a band. Let’s face it, most of the possibilities of an electric guitar-based band had been covered by 1979.

And yet with The Bends and OK Computer, Radiohead had expanded the vocabulary through sheer originality, creative use of effects in ways previously unexplored (sometimes with homemade effect units), and their eclectic influences which mixed an aggresive punk attack with beautiful melodies and guitar lines. This was a band of serious musicians, but musicians that understood that in these times, rawness and wreckless emotion were more important than the unforgiving precision that 70s and 80s (prog) rock was often a slave to when song structures are as complex as Radiohead’s.

And of course, there was the matter of Thom Yorke’s voice and lyrics.  An open wound that was at once vulnerable and menacing.

So OK Computer was a beast to follow-up in many, many ways. A magnus opus that created its own distinct vocabulary and dis-utopian world.

Radiohead succeeded by changing the game. Electronic influences (Aphex Twin was the one most frequently named) became prominent in the mix, but not just through electronic beats and synths.

Drum patterns, even when played by Phil Selway, took on repetitive patterns and incorporated glitch-like quirks. Thom Yorke’s vocals also reflected a “self-sampling” nature, with phrases and word repeated AS-IF they had been sampled.

And if that wasn’t enough, Johny Greenwood put the Korg Kaos pad to good use on Thom’s vocals and who knows what else to further distort, and melt-away the sonic qualities of the source instrument, most famously in the opener, Everybody in their Right Place:

Check out this video and forward to about 0:40:

With Kid A, Radiohead once again succeeded in creating a new language and a new world, all of their own. No one in the last 15 years has been as groundbreaking or original.

Video from gig backing up Steve Baskin

Aside from The Dark Chords, I also back up other musicians on guitar from time to time. Here’s a video of me backing up local Atlanta songwriter Steve Baskin at a recent acoustic gig.

Time for Bed

A touch of indie pop. The Shins meet The Beatles.

Time for Bed

Yet more songs posted

More songs now posted on the music page.  ”Accidental Detour” is electro/ambient/groove song.  I’ve also posted a few more of my more soundtrack-y/commercial songs.

New songs: Downshift and On your Way

Over on the music page I’ve posted two new songs, Downshift and On your Way.

“Downshift” is kind of an electro-groove tune with an unexpected half-time chorus.  The main grooves remind me a bit of Gorrilaz, particularly the DJ Dangermouse produced Demon Days.

“(Say you’re) on your way” actually started out as a vocal tune with lyrics.  I’m a lousy singer, and the little skill I do have in singing just wasn’t right for this one, so I made it into an instrumental tune. I still hope to be able to find someone that can sing this someday though, so if you’re a singer and interested, shoot me a note.  If you’re wondering what the lyrics were all about, it was inspired by my wife, who often has to work late.

There’s a strong Beatles influence in this one, at least in the instruments chosen.  In the first chorus, a flute part comes in that’s actually a sampled Mellotron.  It’s a sound that should sound familiar if you’ve ever heard “Strawberry Fields Forever.”  At the very end of the song some string parts and french horns come in which also remind me of the orchestral arrangements George Martin added to many Beatles tunes.

Enjoy!

Downshift

(Say you’re) On your way