Published Work

Review: The Knife/Planningtorock/Mt. Sims – Tomorrow, In A Year (Rabid/Mute)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ 2 Comments

The Knife’s latest release, the music for an experimental opera called Tomorrow, In A Year, is definitely not for everyone – even if you are, like me, a diehard Knife fan. That being said, it’s still worth a gander. Read my review for Blurt or check it out below.

At first blush, the concept appears to make perfect sense: The Knife, along with musicians Mt. Sims and Planningtorock and theater group Hotel Pro Forma, score an opera inspired by the life and times of Charles Darwin called Tomorrow, In A Year (Rabid/Mute). Upon listening to the soundtrack release, it soon becomes evident however that this is music most likely best enjoyed during the performance of the actual opera. In other words, some visuals would go a long way towards making these avant-garde, highly experimental, electronic arias and librettos slightly more palatable.

Tomorrow, In A Year’s 90 or so minutes opens appropriately with “Intro,” a series of blips and glitchy electronic twitches that are supposed to represent the earliest spasms of life. From there, “Epochs” provides a throbbing, ambient, bass-filled bottom-end over which vocalist Kristina Wahlin unintelligibly (in Swedish, perhaps?) warbles lyrics like, “The animal carcasses and skeletons would be entombed / A step formed terrace succession.” Take that, intelligent designers! “Upheaved” is just as bizarre and radical, but it’s given some form by the staccato stabbing of syllables sung by Wahlin and Laerke Winther: “Con-stant earth-quakes / The won-der-ful for-orce…” Throughout, the music is occasionally recognizable as the work of The Knife, one of the most innovative and appealing purveyors of dark electronic pop working today. “Variation of Birds,” comprised of several minutes of shrieking feedback-style noise, may have more in common with a band like Wolf Eyes. But The Knife’s fingerprints are all over “Colouring of Pigeons,” a mid-tempo orchestral pop track that begins with dislocated vocal sounds and culminates in Karin Andersson’s eerily effective singing. This could just have easily been on outtake from last year’s Fever Ray album (or from Simon Le Bon’s 1980s Arcadia project).

It might prove hard for anyone but the most diehard Knife fans to sit through an entire album of this music (besides the breezy, buoyant techno of a track like “Seeds”). But it’s evident that those involved have succeeded in creating something unique and boldly experimental while still adhering to the basic tenants and form of opera. The technique and instrumentation differ wildly from the norm (if there is such a thing nowadays), but at its core Tomorrow, In A Year goes through all the paces of this form of dramatic storytelling.

Review: Field Music – Field Music (Measure) (Memphis Industries)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Field Music’s new album is the band’s first in three years, and if you’re expecting Futureheads style pep-punk, think again. Read my review for Blurt or check it out below.

Field Music has been on a three-year hiatus, with brothers Peter and David Brewis working on individual solo albums and touring with their other project, The Week That Was. Their full-scale rock band is back, however, with a 20-song behemoth of an album that manages to keep things interesting the whole way through, nary an ounce of filler to be found.

Field Music was initially lumped into the British pogo-pop revival along with bands like The Futureheads and Maximo Park (with whom the band has shared members). But the band has veered more into prog rock and classic rock territory, never more so than on their latest effort. Yes, a track like “Them That Do Nothing” delights in XTC-styled vocals and bright blasts of acoustic guitar, but the Zeppelin guitar riffs of “Each Time Is A New Time” are the norm, not the exception here. Dueling guitars, bass, drums, and sometimes strings wind and curl around each other precisely and economically. Many notes are played, flicks of the wrist and fingers allow grace notes and arpeggios to embellish the band’s melodies, but it all falls logically into place. In other words, Field Music’s musical accoutrements aren’t for show – they make the songs. The one oddity during the album’s 70-minutes or so is “Let’s Write a Book,” which is built around what sounds curiously like the Super Mario Brothers video game theme music. Still, if that’s the case, it never sounded quite so good, even with the occasional wah-wah guitar solo shredding overhead.

In all honesty, the album wouldn’t suffer from losing a track or two. But the cinematic, nine-minute, orchestral closing track, “It’s About Time,” sums it up in theme and title, marking an epic end to an equally monumental and always interesting new album.

Review: Past Lives – Tapestry of Webs (Suicide Squeeze)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Blood Brothers are now almost all Past Lives, and I really like the new digs. Read my review for Blurt or check it out below.

Stream the album here.

The members of Seattle’s Past Lives may have all done time in the screamy, neo-punk-rock Blood Brothers, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it by listening to the band’s debut full-length, Tapestry of Webs. The group’s members have shed the sometimes painful histrionics, especially vocalist Jordan Blilie, for poppier yet still experimental song construction and texture instead of violent chaos.

The album’s opening tracks detail the new direction best – “Paralyzer” softly builds upon clicking drumsticks and a stately baritone guitar line (apparently, the band has no bass) before the atmosphere is thickened with volume and feedback. “Falling Spikes,” on the other hand, skips along briskly, slightly discordant guitar chords straddling the mix of low end amidst what sounds like soft horn riffs. Here, in the chorus especially, Blilie recalls shades of his past as a screamer, but he never quite reaches those Blood Brothers pinnacles. The band has made some effective album sequencing decisions as well, juxtaposing the hushed “Deep in the Valley” with the wonderfully grating “K Hole” (another song that employs some woodwinds, more Pharoah Sanders than Stan Getz here).

Tapestry of Web’s appeal isn’t immediate, but that’s also the key to its success. At first blush, songs like the eponymous “Past Lives” confound – all the pieces fit together into a pleasant pop structure without ever giving in to the saccharine joys of the genre. But who wants sugar when you can suck down the spice of Mark Gajadhar’s drumming and Morgan Henderson’s distended guitar string bends. Past Lives have created an intensely interesting record with a sound that is firmly locked into the future of punk rock. It’s not always as noisy, but it’s still poignant, political, emotional, and immediate.

Review: Oh No Ono – Eggs (Friendly Fire)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Denmark’s Oh No Ono has made a nice new album full of unexpected twists and turns. Read my review for Blurt or take a look below.

Oh No Ono describe themselves as “experimental pop,” a simplistic summation that is a fairly accurate description of the Danish band’s carnival of sound. Twee-inflected, nasal vocals ala Mew or Figurines flit over an eclectic mélange of instruments, referencing sources including raga-fixated Beatles, 1960s psyche-pop, and driving power-pop. It’s all very cute, but it’s all very interesting.

The band’s domestic debut, Eggs, begins with the spacious and airy “Eleanor Speaks,” a mid-tempo psychedelic rocker augmented by warped Bollywood violins. “Icicles” also utilizes a good amount of orchestration, this time conveying a chamber-pop atmosphere with staccato stabs of overlapping strings providing a foundation for playful call-and-response vocals. Just when the band seems about to take an Animal Collective leap into the void, the track is reined in with a poppy Billy Joel-style bouncy breakdown. In other words, Oh No Ono veers titillatingly close to the edge of obscurity, but roots its sound in recognizable and satisfying pop structure. This is especially evident on “Helplessly Young,” one of the more conventional but effective tracks on the album.

As “The Wave Ballet” begins, a multi-tiered vocal chorus that the band recorded in an old Danish church swelling from the speakers, one begins to wonder if Oh No Ono is about to venture into a slightly too self-serious realm. Thankfully, the song quickly switches pace back to another half-creepy, fully innovative experimental pop tune. Once again, Oh No Ono seems ready to attempt any idea that strikes their fancy, sometimes several within the course of one song. But the band always knows how to bring their ideas back into a satisfying, if surreal, anti-formula of engaging songwriting.

Review: Sleep Whale – Houseboat (Western Vinyl)

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Reminiscent of late-’90s Red Stars Theory, Sleep Whale makes beautiful, expansive Texas indie rock. Read my review for Blurt here or below.

From the opening strings and airy snare drum cracks of the first instrumental track on Sleep Whale’s new album, “Green Echo,” to the entrance of reverb-soaked vocals on the pretty, spacious “Cotton Curls,” it becomes evident that the band may have learned a thing or two from late-’90-s indie rock – specifically, Red Stars Theory. The echoing, slightly lo-fi production, the gorgeous mixture of guitars, bass, and drums with drawn-out violins and swirling electronics… shades of the Pacific NW are definitely present here. But the Denton, Texas-based band isn’t mimicking its forefathers, it’s just giving its own take on the formula. And it does so very successfully.

Houseboat is all about atmosphere. As one song bleeds into another, the band’s skillful arrangements and ability to make airy but never wandering music engages the listener in what could otherwise easily be background music. Even a song like “Roof Sailing,” built on a simple descending pattern of picked acoustic guitar notes and cellos following suit doesn’t outstay its welcome. The band never lets its use of loops, minimal as it may be, overshadow the real meat and potatoes here – the delicate interplay of instrument and, sometimes, vocals. No gimmicks here, friends, just bewitching songwriting setting an understated and languorous mood.

Many of the members of Sleep Whale are busy working on solo projects as well, but let’s hope that doesn’t distract them too much from performing together. Houseboat is a moody and satisfying success.

Review: Systems Officer – Underslept (Temporary Residence)

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Armistead Burwell Smith IV pays his bills playing in Pinback, but his solo outing as Systems Officer isn’t half  bad. Read my review here or below.

Systems Officer is the solo project of Armistead Burwell Smith IV, better known to most as the bass player for Pinback and Three Mile Pilot. Underslept, his latest solo outing, the first full-length under this name, is a richly layered and nuanced math-pop affair. Any of its songs would feel right at home on a Pinback record. This is not to say that Systems Officer sounds exactly like his other band, but the instrumentation, production, and overall song structures are close enough to draw an immediate comparison.

Smith’s trebly, spindly bass playing anchors the songs and is often mixed to the front and center, as is frequently the case with Pinback. And his vocals, which usually punctuate Rob Crow’s verses as background or chorus helpers, capably take the reigns here. Sometimes, as on the loping “East,” the results are sort of melodramatic and near characterization as sappy, but the same emotions are rendered effective and emotive on a song like “Quan.”

Upbeat rock exists only as slightly less somber pop on the record, such as the marching “In This World,” which sports multi-layered vocals over a minor key dirge. For all of Smith’s dexterous bass playing and flair for inventive arrangement, the album feels locked into place, operating with one feeling, one mood throughout. Fortunately, Smith’s ability to write a good song and perform it interestingly fends off any monotony.

Review: Surfer Blood – Astro Coast (Kanine)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Start your engines – Surfer Blood’s debut, Astro Coast (Kanine), is my fave album of 2010. Thus far. Read why here or below.

Straight out of Palm Beach, Florida shoots the sure-as-shit contender for best album of this nascent new year, Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast. This is gonna be 2010’s Shins or Band of Horses, so mark these words. Yes, it may be a little early for such proclamations, but these boys make lofty postulations like this easy. It’s safe to assume the members of the band were raised on a steady diet of Weezer, The Pixies, Built To Spill, as well as various influences in the outer regions of indie rock. But they’ve managed to absorb all of this and more and regurgitate something all their own.

From the beginning chords of the album’s opening tune, “Floating Vibes,” the band makes its intent clear. Simple guitar lines augmented by bright and thick production will be employed, melodious and mellifluous vocals will ensue, and breezy themes of California dreams will occur. No tricks, no gimmicks will obscure the music (well, for the most part – “Take it Easy” tips its hat to Vampire Weekend, but only fleetingly). The song you’ve probably heard from this album already, “Swim,” a barrage of power chords and reverb-coated vocals ecstatically urging you to “Swim to reach the end,” is a great track, but it’s really not all that representative of the magic found on the rest of the record. “Harmonix,” after a brief guitar intro, builds into a restive number constructed sparingly of strummed harmonics (get it?) and yet another insanely catchy vocal refrain. “Twin Peaks,” as lush and expansive as anything else onAstro Coast, sports a nifty chorus of matching guitar chords and vocal melody before launching into a syncopated chorus that sounds more like a party than a songwriting convention. The record’s themes seem to revolve around personal experiences, references to band members’ relationships, and exploring the farther reaches of the United States. Yet the appeal of Surfer Blood’s music transports you right along, not an easy task for any band.

So how does this young band do it? Take a listen to “Anchorage” to fully understand what they are up to. A simple idea is made interesting through excellent recording and production – no shitgaze, this – and executed by an effusive bunch of rock musicians more concerned with quality than scoring scene points. They’ve got the chops to back up the hype, now let’s see how they handle their first year in the spotlight.

Film: Prodigal Sons (directed by Kimberly Reed)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

I recently reviewed a new documentary about the search for identity called Prodigal Sons. Read about it here or below.

Filmmaker and DV Magazine editor Kimberly Reed’s new documentary, “Prodigal Sons,” is a haunting and powerful accounting of the search for personal and familial identity. For most, these things always have been a given. You are born, you grow up knowing who you are and where you came from, and your past makes some kind of sense, no matter how many curveballs life throws your way. For Reed, things have played out very differently.

“Prodigal Sons,” shot for the most part on handheld digital camera, is an intensely personal video diary spanning a little over a year of Reed’s life. She documents her return to her hometown of Helena, Montana for a high school reunion. But Reed is transgendered, and this is the first time that she will face many of her old friends as a woman instead of a man.

In addition, she is reuniting with her brother Marc, who suffered a severe head injury years ago that left him prone to intense and sometimes violent mood swings. When we first meet Marc at their mother’s house in Helena, it is obvious he is not quite right–his speech slow and his development stunted. Reed is unflinching in filming him, but she is never exploitive about it, often asking Marc if he minds the camera pointing at him. Underneath it all, a tension simmers ominously, erupting early on in the film into a staccato outburst of violence when Marc becomes suddenly frustrated and loses control. This is just the beginning, however, and events that happen later in the film lead to further flashes of emotional and physical ferocity, leaving the viewer emotionally shocked and breathless.

In addition to his injury, Marc, the eldest of the three children, is dealing with some other issues. He was adopted, and during the course of filming, he discovers, in a random twist, that his grandparents are Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. Welles’ longtime partner, Oja Kodar, invites him to come to Croatia to meet her family. Reed comes along to document the trip, capturing moments both awkward and emotional as he struggles to find some common ground. This reunion is important to Marc, who is constantly frustrated by the effects of his injury and the irrational, simmering anger it causes. As tenuous as it may be, he finally feels like he has found an identity for himself. At the same time, he is unable to accept Reed’s new identity as a woman, one that she struggled with for years before making the decision to alter her sex.

And that is really the crux of this story. You can see it in Reed’s eyes as she attempts to explain her transformation to classmates who are tolerant but don’t quite understand. She is injured, emotionally and physically, every time Marc has an episode and brutalizes her with fists and words. And she is hurt every time Marc insists on reminding Reed and her family about her past as a man–a part of her past she feels she needs to completely put behind her in order to live her life.

“Prodigal Sons” is an intensely personal and harrowing documentary, one that will stick with the viewer long after the lights in the theater go up. Kimberly Reed has succeeded in telling a story that details the minutia of family interactions as well as universal life themes, allowing people from all walks of life to enter the intimate sphere she has bravely decided to make public.