Up in smoke: Jeremy Fisher and Darwin Deez

14 Wednesday Oct 2015

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Jeremy_Fisher_-_Goodbye_Blue_MondayAlong with drugs, hard liquor and sex, cigarettes are a staple motif of the rock and roll imaginary. But poprock has typically taken a lighter approach to vice. Cigarettes appear as metaphors for both desire and dysfunctional relationships, sometimes in the same song. Jeremy Fisher’s amazing 2007 album, Goodbye Blue Monday, features a great cigarette song where the protagonist likens himself to a cigarette for his intended love: “Light me up and get on with it; I’ll be hard to forget; good or bad I’m just a habit.” Hardly seems like a strong way to sell yourself but Jeremy seems to be privileging results here at any cost. The video below became widely popular, even if the single and its album did not race up the charts the way they should have.

        Jeremy Fisher website

darwin-deezOn “Last Cigarette” Darwin Deez’s lead singer strikes a different pose, alternating between telling himself he’s quitting but then opting for ‘one last cigarette,’ with shifts in focus illustrated with clever wordplay. But is the song about breaking up with somebody or just something, e.g. his cigarettes? I’m not sure – the ambiguity is part of the song’s charm.  In any event, this is a standout track from an already impressive new album, Double Down. The band comes to Toronto December 12 for a show at The Drake Hotel.

Darwin Deez website

Welcome to Tally Hall

07 Wednesday Oct 2015

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14Some music takes a little bit more effort to get into. Tally Hall may be that kind of music for a lot of people. Any given song may go off in multiple directions, often with different sections seemingly just stitched together like a musical patchwork quilt. But coming to Tally Hall is worth the effort. Their two albums contain unusual yet infectious material that really defies categorization. Does the within-song style changes featured in “Good Day” remind me of Queen? Sure, sort of. But that doesn’t really do it justice. The closest band I can think of to compare them to is The Residents, but only because they too were quirky in a ‘performance art’ sort of way.

 

You get the picture from the start of “Good Day,” a song from their 2005 debut album Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum: the robot-like harmony vocals float over a propulsive piano hook, only to resolve into a dream-like interlude that is then interrupted by yet another stylistic change, and so on. To their credit, Tally Hall manage to make shifting musical gears not sound abrupt.

Sacred Beast

H8FPo2011’s Good and Evil (now on a major label – Atlantic), features more of the same quirkiness in songs like “&,” “Turn the Lights Off” and “Fate of the Stars,” but also includes a number of more straight-up pop rock songs like “You and Me,” and “Cannibal.” Somewhere in between are two particularly strong tracks, the 1960s-ish “Sacred Beast” and the story song “Misery Fell.” Tally Hall are a bit off the beaten path but worth the trip. They also produced 10 episodes of a hilarious internet show, all available for viewing on the Tally Hall website.

Six months with Daveit Ferris

05 Monday Oct 2015

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11145022_878301928909756_5567766338535809537_oOne of the reasons I was keen to start this blog was to be able to feature immensely talented people like Northern Ireland’s Daveit Ferris. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, Ferris set himself the task of releasing a song a day for the entire year of 2015. To put this into perspective, even the highly productive Beatles only penned 250 songs over an eight-year period! The back story to this project is that a few years ago Ferris was struck with a life threatening illness.  Upon recovery he vowed to waste no more time and dedicate himself to his creative arts, which includes music and poetry. His 365 Sparks project – presently up to song 214 – is the result.

This is the Turning PointBlues for Blue EyesCounting Sheep

This post draws from the first six months of the project, focusing on songs that are strong on catchy melody and surprising arrangements. As sole producer, writer and performer, Ferris has to be inventive and he delivers with interesting vocal arrangements, surprising instrument choices, and unconventional song structures. A lot of the songs rely on a strong acoustic guitar backing; indeed, most could survive a solo acoustic treatment with none of their charm diminished. The acoustic guitar anchors “This is the Turning Point” and provides the pock rock swing to “Blues for Blue Eyes,” “Counting Sheep,” and “Your Teeth.” Meanwhile “Don’t” is a beautiful acoustic guitar ballad. “White Lies” channels a 1950s vibe with a toy-sounding piano riff while “Immeasurable” utilizes a magnetic banjo drone in the chorus to completely alter the mood of the song (and the listener).

Your TeethDon’tWhite Lies

The songs are available from iTunes, Bandcamp, and Ferris’s own site (the latter at a great package rate) or Facebook page.  I’ve enjoyed checking in regularly with Ferris’ site this summer to see what his most recent effort is like: Daveit Ferris website.

Immeasurable

Around the dial: Jack and Eliza, Don Dixon and Marti Jones, and Chris Corney

30 Wednesday Sep 2015

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Jack and Eliza “Hold the Line”   jack and elizaThis Brooklyn duo have an eerie vocal presence and their songs largely consist of a great trebly guitar and their overlapping singing, which is sometimes harmony, sometimes countermelody. Jack sounds quite Shins-like on this track but there is also a Mamas and Papas feel, if that group had gotten into some darker material. This song is drawn from their solid 2014 debut EP No Wonders. Their new album is Gentle Warnings and features a few tracks from the EP. Another solid song featured on both is “Secrets.”

Jack and Eliza website

Don Dixon and Marti Jones “Why, Why, Why”   martijonesdondixon                                        If Don Dixon had only ever recorded the song “Most of the Girls Like to Dance (But Only Some of the Boys Do)” I would have been happy. But fortunately he has continued to record, sometimes with his very talented partner, Marti Jones. This song is from their joint 2011 album Living Stereo and features a great chorus that largely describes my marriage.

 Don Dixon and Marti Jones Facebook

Chris Corney “America”   Chris Corney AMCorney leads The Ravines, who have a great new album that I plan to write about soon. But this track is from his 2012 solo album, Airways Mansions. Though from Bedford, England, there is something very American to me about Corney’s sound. Too poppy to be Springsteen-esque and yet the song establishes its cinematic quality right from the start – you can see the montage rolling by: factories, dilapidated fences, old cars, etc.

Chris Corney website

Poprock versus power pop

27 Sunday Sep 2015

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On the blogosphere there is already a clearly demarked niche music genre that combines melodic pop melodies with the classic rock and roll combo of electric guitars, bass and drums: power pop. Said to have been coined by no less an authority than Pete Townsend of The Who, the term ‘power pop’ is now applied to any band with jangly guitars, swooping background harmonies, and a strong melodic hook. My blogroll features two such sites (Absolute Powerpop and Powerpopaholic) and there are many more. So why cast my efforts under a different label like poprock? Well, simply put, I think poprock is a broader, more inclusive term. Or, to put it another way, while all of power pop could be considered a form of poprock, not all poprock would be characterized as power pop.

For many bloggers, power pop has become a kind of music esthetic: a certain kind of guitar sound, a particular combination of instruments and vocals, etc. Poprock, by contrast, is less rigid. It is less a genre than a sensibility, crossing over different styles. Sure it is defined by strong melodies and as a category it would make little sense if it didn’t relate to the rock and roll cannon. But rock and roll itself was a bastard child of multiple influences: south Chicago electric blues, Appalachian mountain fiddle solos and harmony vocals, western swing, and so on. What differentiates its many sub-genres is the balance of influences. Thus poprock takes a bit more of the swing and country than the blues while still set within the classic rock and roll combo. Here I’m thinking of Buddy Holly, the Beatles, the Steve Miller band (in the hits era), Marshall Crenshaw, The Smithereens, and, more recently, Bleachers.

So don’t get me wrong – I love power pop. It’s just that I like a lot of other things too.Bleachers website

The mysterious power of Ezra Furman

21 Monday Sep 2015

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homepage_large.15e7c082I have seen the future of rock and roll and he is a self-described cross-dressing bisexual Jew from Chicago. I’m only just kidding. Rock and roll, though regularly proclaimed to be dead, survives because somebody comes along and recombines its various influences in new ways. Ezra Furman is one of those guys. His music mines 1950s doo wop and sax solos, throws in hefty dose of early 1960s melodic melodrama, oozes 1970s pre-punk, and ties it together with an earnest reedy vocal style. Imagine if Dylan had gone electric but remained political, or Jonathan Richman had stayed the course on reinventing the Velvet Underground – you start to get some sense about what Furman is doing and capable of.

One of the many things I find impressive about Furman is his rock and roll chops. This is not some sloppy DIY punker making a late conversion to hipster indie cool, or an earnest singer-songwriter giving his angst the band treatment. Right from his 2007 debut you can hear how solid his grasp of rock and roll forms is on tracks like “She’s All I’ve Got Left.” 2008’s Inside the Human Body features a very Dylanesque “The World is Alive” and Velvet Underground/early Jonathan Richman-ish “Take Off Your Sunglasses.”

Mysterious Power

By the time Mysterious Power rolls out in 2011 Furman has expanded the melodic range of what he is doing: “Fall in Love with My World” manages to be plaintive without being pathetic, “Hard Time in a Terrible Land” sounds like a punked-up Pete Seeger, while “Mysterious Power” turns a simple guitar part into Furman’s most catchy and solid single to date. Subsequent albums turn out more polished singles, like the double A-side “My Zero/Caroline Jones,” songs that manage to channel the early 1960s vibe by working in whistling and sax solos. And I’m only featuring the stuff I like. Furman has a load of material that would fall into a more straight up alienated punk groove (for people who like that sort of thing).

Take Off Your Sunglasses

This year’s Perpetual Motion People brings all these disparate influences together into a surprisingly coherent and solid package. Again, the range is impressive: from the folksy spiritual quality of “One Day I will Sin No More” to the weirdly melodic and unpredictable “Can I Sleep in Your Brain.” 1950s sax and doo-wop stylings return on “Pot Holes,” a hilarious political commentary on phony civic boosterism with lightening word play and a fade out ‘waa-ooh’ vocal that would make Del Shannon proud. “Ordinary Life” sounds like a great lost John Lennon song.   And the video single for “Restless Year,” while not my favourite song on the record, does capture the frenetic, unpredictable energy that is Ezra Furman.

Restless Year

Furman is booked for a show in Toronto October 10th at the Silver Dollar – this promises to be an ‘I was there when …’ event, not to be missed!

Ezra Furman website

Around the dial: Lame Duck, Sleeper Agent, Bob Mould, and The Hello Sequence

19 Saturday Sep 2015

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Today’s songs range from relatively new to a decade or so old. I blame my Rip Van Winkle experience of dropping out of popular music consumption around 1993 as the pressures of academic work increasingly squeezed out other interests. So a lot of my new music is not necessarily new, just new to me.

I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business – Lame Duck

gold-rush-coverI will admit that my interest in this song initially stemmed from my curiosity about the band’s name. Apparently the moniker has now been shortened to just I Can Make A Mess, which gives off a different vibe. “Lame Duck” is from I Can Make a Mess’ 2011 album Gold Rush. It opens with shimmering U2-like guitar sounds but quickly develops into a pleasant vocally driven tune.  I Can Make a Mess is just one of a number of projects from Ace Enders.

I Can Make a Mess/Ace Enders Facebook

Sleeper Agent – Love Blood

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This 2011 song has a host of great hooks but as I kept listening to it I thought it really reminded me of something. But what? Then it hit me: at the 30 second mark the song is strongly reminiscent of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” at the bridge where Debbie Harry sings “In between what I find is pleasing …” only Sleeper Agent have cranked up the speed and the impact of the hook.

Sleeper Agent Facebook

Bob Mould – See a Little Light

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Husker Du was one of those bands that anyone interested in the alternative music scene in the 1980s was supposed to love but they never really grabbed me. Too indiscriminately noisy for my tastes. Besides, music was my respite from alienation, not its soundtrack. Mould’s solo stuff I have found more melodic and engaging.  “See a Little Light” is from his 1989 debut solo album Workbook.

Bob Mould website

The Hello Sequence – Everyone Knows Everyone

I love the bleating harmonica that anchors this song, overlaid with smooth vocals that remind me of 1960s groups like The Association.

Hello Sequence Facebook

Gregory Pepper is not a problem

14 Monday Sep 2015

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chorus_cover_rgb_sm_1_1_1Gregory Pepper is a hilarious, depraved, acerbic modern vaudevillian, a master of multiple styles, apparently loyal to none. On the four albums and one EP credited to Gregory Pepper and his Problems, he effortlessly shifts from genre to genre, one minute doing seeming novelty songs like “The Price is Wrong,” the next launching into the dementedly necrophilic “Dearly Departed.” On a number of songs Pepper skewers pop culture (e.g. “Smart Phones for Stupid People”) but isn’t afraid to skewer himself from time to time (“At Least I’m Not a Musician,” “Whose Dick Did You Have to Suck”). Our focus is on his poprock contributions and they are impressive.

Featured here is the Bond-esque “Drop the Plot” from 2009’s With Trumpets Flaring, the sunshine poppy “Breathe In” from Escape from Skull Mountain and the disarming “Restless Legs” from his EP, My Bad. From his most recent album, Chorus! Chorus! Chorus!, we hear his Fountains of Wayne-like “Welcome to the Dullhouse.”

 

Pepper appears in Toronto October 1 at the Smiling Buddha.  Gregory Pepper website

Good Old War: Broken Into Better Shape

12 Saturday Sep 2015

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good-old-warI discovered Good Old War via the single “Broken Record,” released in advance of their most recent album Broken Into Better Shape. I loved it! It had a zany, somewhat frantic arrangement and a host of great melodic hooks, punctuated by background vocals right out of a Schoolhouse Rocks segment. Additionally, as someone often accused of being a ‘broken record,’ it was fun to revisit a term that has become increasingly anachronistic with the eclipse of vinyl. But the song left me wondering if the band might be little more than a novelty act. A perusal of their back catalogue suggested not.

Their prior three albums were to various degrees acoustic folk or folk-pop in orientation. Their first album, Only Way to Be Alone, melded harmony vocals, acoustic guitars and some great melodic electric guitar lead lines on tracks like “No Time” and “That’s What’s Wrong.” Their next release, Good Old War, went in a more folk and harmony vocal direction, while album number three, Come Back as Rain, upped the pop dimension, particularly on songs like “Can’t Go Home,” “Better Weather,” and “Over and Over.”

But that didn’t prepare me for Broken Into Better Shape, which in all respects – production, songwriting, performance – is an advance on their previous efforts. It is also their most poprock record. There are so many great songs here but I have featured four that showcase the range of styles. “Broken Record” is fun poprock, “Fly Away” shows what Good Old War can do with layered vocals, “I’m the One” has a great repeated guitar riff that anchors the song, while “Never Going to See Me Cry” has a driving hypnotic quality and some great lyrics.

For those near Toronto, Good Old War will perform at an intimate venue September 28, 2015, with tickets available here.  Good Old War website

Around the dial: Guster, Woods, and Jeremy Fisher

09 Wednesday Sep 2015

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Guster – Simple Machine (Digital Single)guster

Guster burst onto my scene with their 2003 album, Keep it Together. Initially I was taken with them for the title track of that record, which had been featured in an episode of Fox television’s teen drama The O.C. I bought the album, which features so many great songs (“Amsterdam,” “Diane,” “Backyard,” etc.) and saw them in concert at Lee’s Palace in Toronto. But their earlier and subsequent work didn’t grab me as much (“Satellite,” and “One Man Wrecking Machine” from their following album notwithstanding). But this most recent single is great and more striking in the digital single variation featured here.

Guster website

Woods – Tambourine Light

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This band has great album titles: How to Survive In (the Woods), At Echo Lake, etc. In needle-dropping my way through their eight-album catalogue, this song made me hit repeat. I love the mid-1960s trebly lead guitar sound of the simple but compelling riff used here to hook in the listener.

Woods website

Jeremy Fisher – A Song in My Heart

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Fisher is a spot-on reincarnation of Paul Simon, if he were still writing great songs. From his latest album, 2014’s Lemon Squeeze, “A Song in My Heart” kicks off with a beat reminiscent of Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” or Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll” only to shift gears into an infectiously catchy hook that anchors the song. Try not to smile as he sings “There’s a little song in my heart …” But just as Fisher settles us into his hook, he shifts the direction of the song again. Great organ instrumental fill three quarters of the way through basically echoing the main hook.

Jeremy Fisher website