The Post-Rockist

“Bur Oak”
Bowerbirds
Danger at Sea

The Bowerbird’s website represents musical duo/couple Phil Moore and Beth Tacular as cozy in headspace, peaceful in spirit, and restful in soul, giving the impression that their music will mirror this life serene. The trees and grass, various birds, insects, and animals, the ocean and its daily occurrences all find places in the landscape of their songs. But the warbly vocal deliveries, jangling acoustic guitars, percussion that often sounds like spoons tapping on a wooden table, and chanting choruses and melodies belie themes that are both dark and mysterious.

The true spirit and soul of their songs call up a kind of desperation and claustrophobia of the self and offer to us an understanding of our destructive potential as humans. All of the songs on their self-released EP, Danger at Sea, may be composed of settings and metaphors from nature, but the songs do not take you to Walden Pond and its surrounding forest as much as they enclose about you the forest of Dante, where you are lost and cannot find your way.

“Bur Oak” is the most deceptive song on the EP. Moore, with Tacular doubling and harmonizing at various moments, delivers in the chorus a melody sweet and sweetly sung: —“Down by the bur oak tree / I had lost your locket in the loam, / And there fell to my knees, / neath the coil and the brush of the fern”. But the melody shrouds in euphony a desperate situation.

Bowerbird’s lyrics have a novelistic tendency, focusing intently upon seemingly small things in order to explore the gravity inherent in them. For example, in novels and in well-crafted songs, objects are extremely important and useful to the writer in expressing meaning. All objects carry with them meanings and connotations, in art and in our individual lives.

Among the many objects humans might own in life, a locket carries with it (or “in” it) intense meaning. It carries a picture or object of one you lost, of one you loved, or of one you remember. It is worn around your neck, hangs down into your shirt, hovers near your heart. To lose another’s locket is to lose for that person those memories; it is to lose another person. When Moore sings “There fell to my knees” he expresses visually what cannot be expressed in words: both the desperate attempt to recover what is lost and the utter dismay and sorrow that comes with losing something of another’s that is so precious.

And the eerie moaning and thumping of Beth Tacular’s accordion sends chills down my spine.

Yet the songs are so beautiful, the kind of music to which you must close your eyes and lie upon your floor to listen to, or with headphones lying on your back on the grass of a dewy field. That’s the miraculous thing about this EP: simultaneously it breaks and mends your heart.

–Posted by Scotter

If you like: acoustic music a la Devendra Banhardt or the softer songs of the Decemberists and M. Ward, you’ll really like the Bowerbirds.

John Fahey - Sligo River Blues (version 1)
John Fahey - Sligo River Blues (version 2)
(from The Legend of Blind Joe Death)

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

-W. B. Yeats
(June 13, 1865 - Jan. 28, 1939)

Spacemen 3 - Lord Can You Hear Me?
(from Playing with Fire)

Spacemen 3 - Amen
(from Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to)

Spiritualized - I Feel Like Goin’ Home
(from Pure Phase)

When I first heard the news, I didn’t quite know how to react.  Sean Beall, consummate music lover, disc jockey, and blogger, passed away in a fire in his Lafatette, Indiana apartment Saturday morning.  He was 34 years old.  Perhaps you know Sean better under one of his many monikers: as the rock music DJ Marley on 93.5 WKHY, or as JSpaceman on his blog Kill Your Co-Workers or on his regular contributions to the WOXY community.  Then again, perhaps not. 

I never did meet Sean in person, but I did get to know him through message board discussions and the occasional e-mail exchange, mostly about music and blogs.  In fact, Sean provided me with a lot of support in setting up my first music blog and was the first person to unilaterally provide a link to the neophyte Post-Rockist.  What I do know about Sean was that he had a devastating sense of humor, a deep well of generosity, and an exceptional taste in modern music.  In particular, he held a deep reverence for Rugby, England’s resident genius, Jason Pierce, hence the above tracks.

I’ve never known anyone exclusively through an internet interface to die before, let alone in such a tragic fashion.  As a result, I don’t know how to best pay tribute in a proper, respectable way without seeming insincere. Sean was a pal and an all-around good guy.  I don’t have any intelligent words to say right now, but I hope these songs can speak for me.

Rest in peace, Sean.

-Posted by Todd

For more information on Sean, as well as information about his funeral services, please go here.

“I’m baffled.”–Quote from a Sloan fan at the end of the encore.

The Post-Rockist loves Sloan. They’re one of our favorite bands by far. We’ve written about Sloan on two occassions already. Thus, I didn’t feel obligated to write about the show–I was there simply to enjoy.

Sloan’s new album was released in the US a week ago. The fan that I am, I got a copy much earlier and know the album pretty well. Most people at the show probably had not yet purchased the album or hadn’t the time to get to know it. Now, I was sure that Sloan would play a good amount of songs from the new 30-track disc, but wasn’t expecting them to play these for the entire show. They pretty much did.

The sold-out show began with a lot of energy from the audience as Sloan commenced with some low-energy songs from the new album. After five consecutive new songs, they launched into “The Other Man” from 2001’s Pretty Together and “The Lines You Amend,” a classic from 1996’s From One Chord to Another. Finally, we were going to hear some of the classic stuff! Everyone was singing along and pumping their fists and glowing with excitement for what was to come next.

And then Sloan slouched back into the new stuff. This happened three or four times. They’d play a classic, the crowd would get interested and excited, and then back to the new stuff that nobody knew. The two-hour show consisted of only 5-6 songs from past albums .

Hey, I understand that a band wants to play its new stuff in shows. I know that the old stuff doesn’t hold its freshness to its writers the way it holds with its fans. I get it.

But that wasn’t the problem. Sloan played as though they were tired. They lacked verve. They played sloppy. The looked like they were going through the motions. Their experiments to keep things interesting–like using acoustic guitars on a few songs (something they have never done)–held little novelty for the audience and came off as contrived. The acoustic guitars made the songs sound even more tired. Only two Chris Murphy leg kicks.

In August, I made a prediction about the band when I heard that the new album was to consist of 30 tracks. I felt that they were putting all these tracks on album to finish off the backlist of unrecorded songs before splitting as a band. And they were publicly making far too many analogies between themselves and The Beatles a la Let It Be. I viewed the possibility of a breakup as a tragedy in August. I’m beginning to think, as a fan and as one who cares about the members of the band (a band I’ve followed for almost 10 years now), that breaking up might be the thing for them to do. Maybe then they can start projects that they can be excited about.

I, too, was baffled by this show.

-Posted by Scotter, who wrote this review with honesty and with sorrow in his heart.

Fine by Me
Johnny Headband
Happiness is Underrated

In Detroit, Johnny Headband are becoming known for their quirky and exciting live shows. Free from too-cool-for-you rock posturing and posing, JHB allow themselves to let go and be silly with choreographed dance moves, fist-pumping crowd provocations, and general all-around frivolity. Brothers Chad and Keith Thompson–the core members of the band–are relatively unknown outside the borders of the Motor City, but they’re surely going to break loose nationally soon; or if not, they’ll go to England sooner or later and the British will “eat ‘em up, eat ‘em up, eat ‘em up” like they did the White Stripes, giving them the cred they need to break loose all over the homeland.

But their on-stage antics belie the songs themselves. Their new album, Happiness is Underrated, certainly features what Keith N. Dusenberry of the Real Detroit Weekly calls their “hyper-modern Prince-infused bedroom electro and ‘80s/‘90s basement four-track experiments a la early Ween with a touch of Wesley Willis’ earnest energy all at the same time” sound (whew!). But the advantage of listening to an album, alone and unencumbered by the excitement of a spectacularly fun live show, is the ability to see through the visual to understand the songs for what they really are: a catalog of dejected lover’s complaints and defenses against the pain of human relationships. (Oh yes, I can just hear you Post-Rockist readers out there sighing “Oh, he’s going to write another one of those, is he?” Well, kinda.)

“Tell Me” begins with a rollicking Franz Ferdinand-ish guitar riff and drills it’s anthemic chorus into your head (or headband) for days. But its complaint is a pained ex-lover’s predicament that she has moved on while he cannot quite yet: “Always on the lookout for something better / when that’s good and gone you have a backup plan…/…I’m working on myself while you’re looking for romance.” “On Top” works through thoughts of suicide and loneliness. “Functionslust” begins with the words, “’Why?’ is the question.” “Take a Number” uses rejection as protection: “Darling please take a number / need you as a friend I don’t want you as a lover.” Yeah right. “Better Safe Than Lonely”—the title speaks for itself.

“Fine by Me” (my favorite track on the album) features an eerie, almost Muppets-esque vamp that would work well as the background music to the opening credits of any Tim Burton film. The song’s call-and-answer chorus is infused with the back-and-forth of indecision and denial: “It’s fine by me if you don’t give me one more chance ‘cause I don’t really care. / Oh! / But baby please would you just give me one more dance ‘cause I still really care. / Oh!” The song ends, of course, with the answer to the chorus, a definitive and exhausted “No.”

Okay, I’m not a psychoanalyst or anything. I’m a music enthusiast. I’m a man who believes in songs and what they express. I’m a believer in artists’ attempts at putting themselves out there musically and being taken seriously. I’m just a believer, dammit, and I believe in Johnny Headband. I hope I haven’t ruined anyone’s Johnny Headband party, but the album is called Happiness is Underrated and only the unhappy can truly know that, right?

Anyway, get the album, see their shows, watch them explode.

–Posted by Scotter

I don’t know about you folks out there in cyberspace, but I’ve about had it up to here (gesturing to neck) with all these Top Ten lists these days. I have literally been drowning in year-end lists the past few weeks; I can’t tell which way is up, which lists are sincere and which are sarcastic, and whether I can continue taking notes on all the supposedly great albums that I missed. It’s the New Year, and I need to start focusing on 2007. Everything 2006-related from this point forward is officially for the archive, meaning my buying habits can no longer differentiate between finally picking up the Thermals’ concept album or downloading Jerry Lee Lewis’ Sun Sessions. But if you, unlike me, are still thirsty for meaningful and contradictory “best of 2006″ lists, please direct your attention to the past few days of the Post-Rockist Year-End List-Posting Extravaganza:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4

And for your Day 5 needs, read on…

TODD’S TOP PICKS OF 2006

10) Peter Bjorn and John - Writer’s Block
“Objects of my Affection”

Bridging the musical arc from Buddy Holly to Wilco, Swedish trio Peter Bjorn and John have crafted a remarkable pop album that manages to combine elements of New Wave, British invasion rock and roll, and shoegazer, all while remaining wholly original. Utterly irresistible.

9) Jay Dee aka J Dilla - Donuts
“Time: The Donut of the Heart”

A late addition to the list, but just a few listens to the shuffling high-hats, Holland-Dozier-Holland samples, and successive rapid-fire impact of these 31 instrumental bursts make it painfully clear that Donuts is a strikingly visionary piece of work. That Jay Dee composed and released an album filled with this much joy just days before he died leaves me speechless.

8) Juana Molina - Son
“Yo No”

I can honestly say that I have never heard anything like this before. Juana Molina, former Argentinean TV comedian, has created a breathtaking work on her fourth album that defies all conventional expectations. Son is a rich patchwork of laptop folk, organic noise, acoustic guitars, free-floating electronic blurbs, and her processed, hypnotic native tongue. The song structures appear and disappear with remarkable fluidity, like an enchanting, detached mystery.

7) Belong - October Language
“I Never Lose, Never Really”

The hum of machines, the arc of dreams. To call this record experimental ambience would be to miss the nuanced sway and swell of this New Orleans duo’s debut fuzz. October Language is the perfect prescription for anyone who loves to gets lost in Kevin Shields’ white noise reveries or Fennesz’s endless summer sounds.

6) Bob Dylan - Modern Times
“Beyond the Horizon”

This album has already been covered several times over in this publication, and yes, it is that good.

5) Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
“The Champ”

I can’t breathe when this album is on, and, while listening to Dennis Coles blaze through the visceral street narratives of Fishscale with unrelenting spitfire intensity, I don’t think he has any intention of letting up and giving me a break. Although there are plenty of tales of uncut cocaine distribution and firearm bravado set to samples with the makings of classic hip-hop noir, the Iron Man still makes time to create affecting odes to ladies who hide him from the Feds and to a mother who whupped him but loved him anyway. This is hip-hop par excellence.

4) I’m From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends
“We’re From Barcelona”

I’m from Barcelona, you’re from Barcelona, we’re all from Barcelona. This is the magic of childhood as provided by 29 exuberant, adorable Swedes. I couldn’t be any happier.

3) Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
“Fidelity”

Regina Spektor’s third album is endowed with elegance, raw talent, and, yes, hopefulness. On the upbeat, hip-hop-influenced “Hotel Song,” Spektor sings, “I have dreams of orca whales and owls, but I wake up in fear,” which places in succinct focus the wild-eyed imagination that fuels her songs, as well as the human frailty that gives them so much resonance.

2) The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
Matthew Friedberger - Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School
“Police Sweater Blood Vow”

A three-way tie for second place. With the Highway 61 Revisited-for-Grand Turismo of Bitter Tea, and the trans-atlantic, genre-hopping journeys of Matthew’s two albums, the siblings Friedberger have forged a musical universe unto themselves, in which stunning pop melodies emerge out of snarling junkyard pastiches, complex storylines are woven together by hyper-detailed prose paragraphs and alliterative childlike verse, and thunderous guitars crack the heavens wide open. Uneven and accidentally glorious, this output is impressive in both magnitude and impact. This is the stuff obsessions are made of.

1) Camera Obscura - Let’s Get Out of this Country
“Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken”

Forget the Lloyd Cole references; forget the Belle & Sebastian comparisons. The ten lilting, wistful pop masterpieces on Let’s Get Out of this Country are pristine portraits of heartache and longing, each track flawless in its on right. There is nothing about this album that I don’t like.