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LV I S
ASH
N fc S 0 A Y
V L D
BVIS PERKINS
Ash Wednesday
XL Recordings
It's impossible to listen to
Elvis Perkins' Ash Wednesday
without feeling moved by his lite's
circumstances He is the son of actor
Anthony Perkins, who died from an
AIDS-related illness in 1992. His
mother, photographer Berry Berenson.
was a passenger on one of the planes
that was tlown into the World Trade
Center during the 9/11 attacks.
Knowing that these monumentally
sad events inform Perkins’ songwriting
gives Ash Wednesdaya weightiness
that transcends the typically
ostentatious fodder of the singer-
songwriter set Here a seemingly
middle-of-the-road chorus of la la la's
in 'May Day 1 ' becomes something
powerful and cathartic Flowing violin
arrangements in "Emile's Viet Nam in
the Sky' and wilting piano melodies in
‘Good Friday' are striking on a level
that normal pop obsession only mimics
Of course this is in no way spelled
out. It's an issue only because virtually
every review the album receives will
make note of the tiagedies in Perkins'
life that preceded the album.
Rather, he treats real-life lyricism
with a Dylan-esque sense of poetry and
symbolism. Everything is there if you
look for it. The fact that Perkins has
crafted a collection of songs that are cut
from such solid arrangements and such
a strong voice that shows no sign of
wavering confidence, suggests so much
about his sense of character. He's a guy
who's firing on all four cylinders and
better grounded than most folks if they
were to find themselves in his shoes.
Chad Radford
Elvis Perkins is playing at the 40
Watt Club on Thursday. Apr. 19.
Fluorescent Grey
Kranky
Yep. them again. Whether this
is good news or bad depends on
whether hype annoys you. In the case
of Atlanta it-band Deerhunter, I firmly
opt for the former. This review could
consist of the sentence fragment “Four
songs recorded while the band mixed
Cryptogramf and those in the know
would buy it. ‘In the know* is a slight,
in a small way. because nowadays
whatever Pitchforkmedia.com says
about a band becomes the gospel
truth. And Pitchfork loves Deerhunter.
But I also use ‘in the know' in a more
straightforward manner, because
Deerhunter has shocked even its
hometown by suddenly turning into a
genuinely awesome monster of a band
I know I. for one, got blindsided by
Cryptograms.
So Fluorescent Grey is a small
document, to be sure. It shouldn't be
heard as a new direction, so it works
doubly well by being released so close
on the heels of Cryptograms This way
Kranky can capitalize, and fans can
view the E p as a postscript tacked onto
the full-length. (For this reason, the
label is releasing a combination ot the
two on beautiful double-vinyl)
So is it good 9 Oh yes. very. Better
than Cryptogram& No But that's
irrelevant. "Like New' could more
than any other track here fit snugly
on the album with its gently chugging
rhythm and simple chiming guitars.
The standout, though, is that Bradford
Cox is becoming so comfortable with
his voice He can croon now! The title
track is more understated brilliance,
bringing together so many influences
and sounding not quite like any of
them If the Liars made music to make
out to, you might have these four
tracks. Most importantly, this is sweet
and discordant pop music, and tha! the
band can combine those two adjectives
so well and still have enough oomph
left to have a sweaty threesome with
ambient music is remarkable. We
should all be proud of these five guys.
Georgia's music scene can only benefit
from Deerhunter's coattails.
Michael Wehunt
rv
PRKSEXtL'
PAISLEY
REIGH-
TRIES NEW WONG
Present the Paisley Reich
Siltbreeze
With Present the Paisley Reich.
Times New Viking, America's finest
band with a font-based pun for a
name, returns with its second excellent
record in about as many years These
kids out of Columbus tap into Ohio’s
great tradition of weird noisy punk
rock awesomeness (think Ron House,
Guided By Voices, Electric Eels, etc ),
and weld it to a faux-retardo aesthetic
slightly similar to turn-ot-the-century
Providence bands like Pink & Brown
and Lightning Bolt. The band's dinky
keyboards, in particular, make me
think of the long-forgotten yet amazing
Providence group Gerty Farish. which
specialized in hyperactive, minute-long
bursts of hardcorish nonsense. If Gerty
Farish slowed down and wrote catchier
songs, it probably would've sounded
like Times New Viking.
Let me clarify that ‘faux-retardo*
biz; I don't want you getting the wrong
idea, as TNV is comprised of clearly
intelligent folks. Despite the bad puns
and atrocious production value, thereS
a hell of a lot of brilliance here. The
band’s overbearingly fuzzed-out pop-
rock is ridiculously catchy; almost
every song would be a hit in a parallel
universe where the Swell Maps are
as revered as the Beatles. On most
songs, the singing consists of a guy
and a girl fighting over who can shout
the loudest, and in turn impelling the
listener to shout along And the lyrics,
when discernible, are often funny and
clever and full of the stuff that makes
rock and roll good, like boredom and
booze and sex and death, etc This
band definitely thinks things through
Not to belabor the GBV
comparison, but it really is quite fitting
Sure Times New Viking has just a
bit more of a snotty punk edge to its
sounds, is noisier and has even lower
production values than early Guided
By Vo j ces Still, the band cranks out
hit after hit over Present the Paisley
Reich's 28 minutes "Teenage Lust 1 *
is a true anthem, and almost as good
as anything Bob Pollard ever wrote
I almost hate this song, it's so damn
catchy Its chorus of “I don't want to die
in the city alone' has been stuck in my
head for weeks now. I almost do want
to die just so I can stop thinking about
it And it may not even be the best song
on the record' Jesus Christ
Garrett Martin
SCHNEIDER TM
Skoda Mluvit
City Slang
Now that all the other IDM
movers and shakers have dollar
signs in their eyes, it's time to pause
and offer Dirk Dresselhaus a shout
out. Culminating with the moment
Jimmy Tamborello loaded Dntel's
Lite is Full of Possibilities with guest
vocalists, laptops have gone pop. and
mainstream at that. That LP led to
the Postal Service and a gold record
Dntel's upcoming release even features
his own vocals Artists the world over
are constructing their microscopic
surgical tracks to adhere to the verse-
chorus-verse formula Dresselhaus
deserves recognition because he's been
doing this all along From the fabulous
reworking of 'There is a Light That
Never Goes Out* (titled ‘Light 3000')
back in Y2K, his Schneider TM project
has been popping and skipping merrily
along the path with never enough
fanfare.
Skoda Mluvit. in fact, was released
last ye?' to almost no fanfare, which is
all the more unfortunate considering
that everyone else is catching up with
Dresselhaus now. But now it’s getting
another chance, reissued already. In
typical Schneider fashion, the album's
one unifying theme is bleepy fun.
otherwise never staying in one place
for more than a couple of tracks.
Opener ‘More Time’ spends its four
minute 0 nudging pure cheese, but
its percussion is just too good to be
dismissed; anyone into The Notwist
or Lali Puna knows that German glitch
style with the clipped boops and
beeps. ‘Pac Man/ Shopping Cart’ is
a beautifully effective turn down in
mood, and is better than any Kings of
Convenience remix I've ever heard.
AfthouQh no Schneider TM record
is without its dull moments and bad
ideas, this ones a keeper. Even now
when the genre should be tired, you
still can't beat those perfectly sculpted
pops or crackles Dresselhaus may not
have invented the bandwagon, but he
never jumped on it either. Mad respect
Michael Wehunt
LCD SOUNOSYSTEM
Sound of Silver
Capitol / DFA
In the abstract. Sound of Silver
isn't that different from James Murphy's
debut as LCD Soundsystem There's a
dance-punk single, numerous analog
disco workouts, and a 70s AOR song
But instead of leading off with the
single, as on the debut, we've got an
opener with obscured vocals, followed
by a peppy but vague number, before
we get to ‘North American Scum.* It's
a total masterpiece of recording and
rhetoric, describing 'he awkwardness
of being an American in Europe,
resented tor your nationality but not
actually supporting its actions, but the
song comes out almost patriotic, and
hard as hell.
The album's two best songs follow,
one a blurry recital of loss, the other a
slowly building whirl whose huggable
lyrics describe the sound Murphy
smartly ends the album with the other
best song, a "Perfect Day' homage/
rip-off that bittersweetly serenades
NYC The danceable songs in between
are great if they seem to speak directly
to you (hello!), but probably just gcod
otherwise.
So is Sound of Silver a better
album because its songs are better
(they a r e) or because it’s sequenced
better? It doesn’t really matter—they're
both elements of Murphy's craft, after
all—but it’s interesting to see the
power of good sequencing. Instead
of starting strong but scattering its
good tracks throughout, like the debut.
Sound of Silver builds and builds,
then uses this momentum to coast to a
fantastic finish. It’s a great album, but it
also shows that, scarily, Murphy is still
learning new things
Michael Barthel
STARS OF THE UD
And Their Refinement
of the Decline
Kranky
The best ambient music as a
deep listening experience functions
on a thin wafer of sound that can be
compromised and thus broken in a
million different ways. “Drift* music
in particular relies on softening and
stretching source material into a
diaphanous taffy, somewhere between
drone and clear notes Imagine an
orchestra on Ambien (no pun intended)
performing the slowest, grandest
adagio ever composed, and then melt
the instruments into an alchemic alloy
And then fall asleep inside of it. Almost
no one can pull this off
Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride—
the narcoleptically majestic duo Stars
of the Lid—have, over 13 years,
crafted a breathtaking discography
that truly stands alone How often can
that statement be accurately made 9
With And Their Refinement of the
Decline, the duo has finally confronted
impossibility 2001s The Tired Sounds
of the Stars of the Lid is one of the
five greatest albums of all time as far
as I'm concerned, and far and away
the best of anything approaching
ambient sound Including Eno It found
their composition shifting toward
the classical canon, favoring nearly
identifiable instruments and largely
eschewing the tape-splicing of their
early days Nearly six years later the
new album (also a two-disc blissfest)
cannot conceivably match it Nor does
it need to try But it comes so close you
can round up
Refinement is yet another step
toward classical composition, although
it sounds like nothing other than Stars
of the Lid Clea r er and more buoyant
than past work, the albums molasses
flow is two hours of floating m an
embryonic state while feeling your
favorite love film transpiring inside
of each fiber of your being At turns
heartrending and glorious, hushed and
epic, it is in its every moment sad and
uplifting and perfect There is simply
too much in this music to begin to
discuss. Horns and strings and the
invisible guitars breathe and sigh and
coalesce into angels
If you care at all about that rare
music's ability to enrapture and
transport, do yourself an immense
favor and pick it up At the very very
least you'll provide yourself with a
soundtrack for one of the hardest
things to do in today's world relax I
know of only three artists who create
music that is genuinely flawless and
moves me to actual tears One is Arvo
Part, the greatest composer of the
twentieth century The other two are in
Stars of the Lid
Michael Wehunt
THEIVYWOOD
COLLECTIVE
Collect THIS
Independent Release
The one unbreakable rule for band
demos is ‘always put your best song
first.’ This split EP release between
the two local bands Rockinwood and
The Leavers—together known as The
Ivywood Collective—should have
followed that advice and put the best
band first. Here Rockinwood is just
a miserable jumble of various 1970s
styles (Led Zeppelin, Edgar Winter
Band. Wet Willie, no-name country)
with lyrics that are supposed to be
funny but aren't. But, to be fair, it's also
nearly impossible to tell which songs
are whose on this seven-song record
because the cover art is arranged such
that it looks like Rockinwood perform
tracks one. two, four and seven, and
The Leavers play tracks three, five and
six If I mistake one band for the other,
that mistaken identify also speaks
about the indistinct nature of the music
Songs like ‘I Bang Oprah’ are
typical of the type of humor on here
("Would you bang Oprah/ If you had
the chanc^ 9 ') but will likely only ever
be played at the very end of a lightly
attended gig at The Roadhouse as
the regulars are filing out The songs,
though, that try the hardest are "Big
Red Shoe,' 'Little Biddy People'
and "Fractal Song' Each goes for a
classic, big-rock sound but come off as
drudgery-laden, whiny and pointless
But I can forgive a band for at least
trying to rock and God help us. but
those songs try
Other tracks ('There's A Rocfie
In My Beer," "Moonshine.' ‘I Got A
Sock') are just insipid little bits of junk
They're offensive not because of lyrical
subject matter but because they're so
poorly conceived and executed that
one feels like time has been stolen after
bothering to listen
Gordon Lamb
The Leavers are playing at the
Caledonia Lounge on Wednesday
May 2.
ENVE
Envie
Independent Release
There's nothing wrong, morally
speaking, with simply pleasant music
Anything that gives a person joy is
generally an okay thing I do. however,
have a problem with hatf-measures and
this album, while excellently written
and recorded, is full of them
The tension that some artists keep
simmering below the surface lends
gravity and depth to their recordings,
but in the case of Atlanta's Envie it
leaves me simply wanting more
Typical of this experience is the
album's opening track 'Passage' A
solid guitar riff introduces the pretty,
but not overwhelming, vocals of Renee
Nelson. Her vocal hesitancy seems
to come from a place of wanting to
make the recording nothing less than
perfect, and thus she loses much of the
potential soul and power of her songs,
which feature piano melodies that are
creative, memorable and dignified.
The jump-up cabaret styling of
Trapped In Amber' has room to grow,
but the cinematic ‘Still Room' is
incredible. Easily the best song on the
album, it begins with a simple effective
piano rift, and Nelson's voice sounds
happy and certain. It is also in this style
which I could envision a nearly perfect
album being made with her voice and
little less-full instrumentation. Envie
began as a small group with piano,
cello and harp and the ful'-band
arrangements found here muddle up
the sound as often as they fill out a
song. In the end, that’s another half
measure that's frustrating. There’s
nothing wrong with pleasant music, but
wasting potential by weakening onels
art, when itls obvious that it could be
so much more powerful, is an affront to
the muse who gifted you.
Gordon Lamb
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