Yes, I Got Your E-mail. Now Leave Me Alone. Part 1.

I do (eventually) get around to most of what you recommend.  I generally try not to publicly disparage you unless you really provoke or annoy me.  Which most of you do.

In any case... here are your feeble well-intentioned efforts to expand my already prodigious musical vocabulary, and the details on how you all have failed me yet again.

• The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You (2009).  Al actually sent this to me to listen to, which is good because I probably wouldn’t have bought it on my own. Oddly enough, he chose this week to get all over me about listening to it as well.  Normally I run screaming from this brand of light pop, but I have to say it’s decent.  It’s very nice, light, and introspective, although I rarely sit down to listen to music on the porch rocker with my corncob pipe to watch lightning bugs.  Nothing against that; I just don’t do it that often.  But this is decent and well worth a listen.
  
  CD Placement rating:  CD Rack.
  
  
• Adam Ezra Group - View from the Root (2008). Brian (via John S.) recommended this one, as a light powerpop album in the vein of Alanis Morrissette.  As I listened to the opening track (“Vision”), I was more struck by a cross between the Dave Matthews Band and the Goo Goo Dolls, with the vocals reminiscent of the lead singer of the O.C. Supertones.  Now, it is true that I’d like to like both Dave Matthews and the Goo Goo Dolls, but they both lack some indefinable something that ultimately sours me on both.  Not here.  Adam and the band play in that folk-rock vein that can very easily verge into the self-indulgent; they have a bit more substance than that and manage to stay on the correct side of the ledger throughout, even when they veer to the brink (like in “Basement Song”).  Ultimately there’s less Goo Goo’s and more Dave Matthews, but the more authentic lyric quality and meticulously produced sound is ultimately undeniable.  Now don’t turn into Train, guys.  
  
  CD Placement rating:  Portable CD Case.
  
  
• A Band of Bees - Free the Bees (2004).  Andrew likes to recommend bands whose names start from A-L so he doesn't have to scroll too far down to see his name.  This strategy plays off here in spades.  A Band of Bees took a time warp directly from the 60's, and have refused to adapt past that musical technique, style, and production.  Even the vocals make you think this is from 40-50 years ago.  It's a pleasant listen, just not really my thing these days.
  CD Placement rating:  If you still listen to The Beach Boys or Herman's Hermits, this will be a Portable CD Case or Car CD Changer pick for you.  For me, it's nice, but ends up in Sell-back Pile 1.
  
  
• Miklós Rózsa - Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (Soundtrack) (1982). Another Brian recommendation, who keeps trying to expand my musical vocabulary with soundtracks, and it must be working because I keep picking these things up.  First impression:  it’s orchestral.  (Thanks, I’ll be here all week.  Please try the roast beef, and tip your server generously.)  It's very good, but I lack the musical vocabulary in this genre to explain exactly why.
  CD Placement rating:  Portable CD Case.
  
  
• Killing Joke - What's THIS for...! (1981, re-mastered/re-issued 2005). The mysterious uzine and its unidentifiable author posted a response to a 2007 post in August 2010 (!), claiming I had wrongfully represented Killing Joke's best album as their first, despite the statute of limitations on that review having long since run out.  (Yes, these are the jokes.)  I went back to Killing Joke source/"expert" Mark, who immediately backed down from his 2007 statements with a "well, I haven’t listened to EVERYTHING they’ve done," thus hanging me out to dry.  So I now throw him under the bus in public.  (Well, this blog really only qualifies as "semi-private.")  Having listened to their sophomore follow-up, I find that it is really splitting hairs:  they're both great albums.  If I had to pick one, I'd probably give the edge to the first album over the second simply because the second doesn't have an equivalent to "Wardance" or "Complications."  But this one is musically more mature; in two or three years I could easily see reversing my opinion.  Or not.
  CD Placement rating:  Car CD Changer.
  
  
• Plunderphonics - Plunderphonics 69/96 (2001).  I had to pick this up off iTunes as I didn't want to plunk down the massive quid based on what I believed was a "blind" recommendation by Donna M.  Quite simply, this whole album (all 60 tracks) is absolutely nuts.  On the first disc it's sample after sample after sample -- the album starts with the final piano chord at the end of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life," and continues with Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, Public Enemy, Dolly Parton, and everywhere in between.  There's even a song that appears to be a career summary of The Doors. So it's all over the place with rock, rap, pop, etc., until the second half, which is spoken word and orchestral, which is also nuts, but different, and, much like this run-on sentence that seems like it will never end, in some ways you don't want the album to end either because you're not quite sure what's coming next.  I didn't know what to call this music, but allmusic.com calls it "Avant-Garde," which is another way of saying "you will love this or despise this."  Allmusic has a lot more prose, flowery language, and pointed descriptions of this album as well.  My take is "Me likee."
  CD Placement rating:  This is a Car CD Changer worthy play for me, but could be Pile of Death for you.  One word of warning:  these songs most definitely are not shuffle friendly; play them as an album, it is an experience.
  
  
• The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site (2003).  Thanks to @gcn1 for this one.  Somehow all Canadian bands (from Sloan to The Tragically Hip to Glass Tiger) all share a common tonality – I can’t put my finger on it, but I knew The Weakerthans were Canadian before I read the liner notes.  (Okay, so the song “One Great City!” with the line “I hate Winnipeg” may have been a pretty obvious clue as well.)  Overall, it’s excellent Canadian indie/garage power pop touched with a twang of Uncle Tupelo, with the standout track “The Reasons” occupying my T rides on repeat for the entire month of November.  They’re fun, smart, self-depricating, and they rock.  Great car drive fare. 
  
  CD Placement rating:  CD Rack.  Go get “The Reasons” on iTunes, jackass.
  
  -Snilch

Killing Joke - Killing Joke (1980)

The other day, my friend Mark decided to mess with my head. (As most of you know, this is pretty easy when it comes to your humble reviewer, but apparently still provides infinite amusment to most of you.) He was playing songs off an unidentified CD, and I was stumped. It was doubly annoying because all the songs were great – how had I not heard this album? Finally he played “Wardance,” which I knew – but of course, due to a limited intellect, I still failed to identify the band. Turns out it was Killing Joke, from their self-titled 1980 album. So I went out and got it for myself.

Upon listening, it’s clear that this album isn’t good – it’s great. They have a deceivingly uncomplicated sound, highlighted by getting more out of monotonal guitar sounds than any band since The Smithereens. Unlike The Smithereens, they use the guitar as a texture, which they layer the other instruments and vocals around – a more appropriate comparison would be to Wire’s album Send. The rhythm section is great – the bass in particular is really key in moving the songs forward, taking advantage of the uncomplicated sound (I keep wanting to say “simple,” but “uncomplicated” describes it better). There is underlying synth throughout the album, giving this away as 1980 – but it could just as easily have been released in 1995.

The original album contained 8 songs, which was re-released in 2005 with five additional tracks (one additional song and four remixes/rough mixes). These extras are really only of interest to KJ diehards or someone (like Mark) who’s been listening to the album forever – the original album is very tight at eight songs and should be listened to that way.

Song highlights include “Requiem,” which is a great opening number; “Wardance,” which I always found very odd as a single but makes a lot more sense in the context of the album; and “Complications,” which I’ve been playing at volumes high enough to knock the snow off my roof.

Mark rightly points out that “you have to be in the right mood” to listen to this album. It is a little dark and dour in tone. It will probably scare Mark to know that I am normally in this mood. I’d recommend it for any setting personally, but at the least it’s a great album to drive to, play video games with, or drink heavily to. (We’re very thorough in testing albums out here at The Snilch Report.)

Merch Rating: Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply neatly here. Mark spoiled this by telling me this is the only KJ album worth getting (and he’s gotten most of them), so that kind of defeats the rating, eh? So instead we will introduce….

The CD Placement Rating. Yes, I am a geek. When I listen to an album and it’s good, I take it and give it a home in my CD rack. If it’s really good, I place it into my hardcase portable CD holder – these are albums I need to listen to more before sending them to the rack, and are a cut above. The best of these make it into my car CD player, which holds 12 discs. These are my favorite albums from the past two years.

On the other hand, albums that I recognize as decent but will never listen to again, as well as albums that are simply bad, go into one of two sell-back piles. One pile is for those that have a song or two worth listening to, which I’ll cobble onto one of my $15 Song CD’s. The other pile is for the complete mistakes and utterly worthless discs, that don’t have even a redeeming song on them and I won’t even keep as a coaster. (I think I’ll be reviewing one of these soon.)

Final verdict: Killing Joke ended up in the car CD player – I absolutely love it. Thanks Mark for recommending it, then hitting my website 700 times. (Andrew’s 3000-odd hits has him beat here, but it’s still impressive.) Highly highly recommended, go out and buy it now.

-Snilch