New Music: Armada – Paper Ghosts

Posted on August 27, 2012 by bgibs122

One of the challenges of 2012 indie rock is how to put your own spin on a template that’s seen plenty of mileage in the past decade. Rhythm based and slightly crunchy guitars, punching basslines, crisp drums, and songwriting based in rock with a dash of power-pop for flavoring–it’s a reliable set up, but doesn’t always sound fresh.

Thankfully, LA band Armada synthesize tried and true indie rock with their own jazz and r&b instincts for a record that, if it isn’t always surprising, is constantly enjoyable. Leading song “Ghosts of Illinois” takes a Green Day-esque, spiraling chord progression, and builds in intensity over its four minutes, adding some piano and guitar texture for tension. As far as songcraft goes, it shows incredible focus, and starts the album on a high. Meanwhile, “Young Man” (and indeed the majority of Paper Ghosts) has a much looser groove to it, including a slower bridge/solo that smoothly transitions back into the song proper.

The rhythm section consisting of bassist Jeremy Gruber and drummer Eddie Core are responsible for most of the musical heavy lifting on Paper Ghosts. Core’s drumming falls somewhere between deft and jazzy, and classic rock stomp, similar to Jimmy Chamberin formerly of The Smashing Pumpkins. Gruber plays limber basslines that aren’t all over the map, but keep the arrangements in lock step without sounding samey. Given such a sturdy background for their songs, Armada guitarist Cody Page (who also does vocals) adds flavor to the songs. As a guitarist, he’s quite versatile; chord-centric riffs dominate tunes like “Ghosts of Illinois” and “Nevada”, while he breaks out some solid solos on “Callanwolde” and Muse-style freakout “Pick Up the Pieces”. For vocals, Page favors a somewhat throaty delivery that reminds me of Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump, if not in range, then at least in dramatic flair. Armada’s fairly adventurous within their boundaries, but they have the musicianship to pull it off.

Paper Ghost wanders during the middle section of “Nevada”, “Beacon St.”, and “Badge & Gun. “Nevada” and “Beacon St.” are mid-tempo slowburners; “Nevada” focusing on a sparse, distorted guitar riff that grinds its way into something resembling Southern rock territory, whereas “Beacon St.” takes a more dramatic turn with Page showing more range than normal. After the more intricate songs, Armada shakes the dust off with “Badge & Gun”, which puts all momentum forward. It’s the purest rock song on Paper Ghosts, and a nice blast of air after a somewhat heady section of the album.

“Pick Up the Pieces” ends up being one of the stronger cuts since it keeps the tension mounted during the entire song, has a fulfilling release, and all in a pretty solid runtime. “Renaissance” picks up the previous songs’s momentum, and while it doesn’t hit as hard as “Badge & Gun”, it’s still one of the livelier songs on the album for it’s sheer fist in the air quality. Unfortunately, closer “Love You” ends the album on a somewhat dissatisfying note. The song starts intriguingly enough with some clean guitar work and vocals, only for keyboards to subtly creep in around the two minute mark. From there, the song follows a softly post-rock ebb and flow, but doesn’t do enough to justify its six minute length. Half as long would have been twice as good.

Paper Ghosts mixes some modernized elements into indie rock; there’s some folk that pops up, scattered seventh chords, and arrangements that wouldn’t sound out of place on the new Jack White record. As a whole, it’s a musically strong, fairly melodic record with sharp lyricism. If Paper Ghosts has a weakness, it’s that it could use an editor; while plenty of these songs jam and build, they more than take their time getting there–there’s about some fat to trim. But overall, a promising full length debut from a band that’s got ideas to spare.

Like Armada on here on Facebook, or buy/stream Paper Ghosts on their BandCamp.

Posted in Album Reviews, New Music | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Radio Rant: Flo Rida – Whistle

Posted on August 21, 2012 by bgibs122

Hello, and welcome to Radio Rants. Seriously?

Ellie Goulding had a shot at it. Maroon 5 had a shot at it. Katy Perry had a shot at it. But no, it turns out that Flo Rida, of all people, is the Carlyslayer who finally knocked “Call Me Maybe” out of the top spot. The quick and dirty for my stance on Flo Rida is that I find him an absolute bore who has proven himself unable to carry a single on his own. A Flo Rida hit without the guest spot hook or the sample is like Lucky Charms without the marshmallows. Well, then, let’s grab a spoon.

For his new number 1 single, Flo Rida goes it alone without nary a souped up sample, guest singer, or superproducer in sight. “Whistle”‘s produced by a pair of guys named David Glass and DJ Frank E. Glass is a no-name, and Frank’s production credits include Kanye West’s “Blame Game” and The Lonely Island’s “I Just Had Sex”, so, uh, he’s got kind of a range. Anyway, pop rap “Whistle” has a pretty rote rhythm section for bass and drums that don’t do anything thrilling, but the song also has a lot of guitar. Some clean electric guitar sneaks in at various points,  but the main hook also features acoustic guitar pretty heavily. It makes me think of Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend”.

The hook for “Whistle”  is, shocker, a whistle. Hey, remember around this time last year when there were like, four top ten hits that had whistling in them, and then everyone realized how goddamn annoying it was? Way to strike when that iron was hot, Flo. More than that, the whistle hook in “Whistle” is so damn hokey. The guitar behind it is kind of serious, then there’s this big, deliberate, tuneless whistle hook in front of it, and I can’t decide if it makes me want to laugh or cringe. If they found a way to work it into the song naturally, I guess the song would be ok, but as a hook, it’s just so clumsy and obvious that it derails everything else around it.

And, because Flo’s manager forgot to book Ellie Goulding or Rita Orca for studio time, Flo Rida himself has to sing the chorus. While he’s admittedly not that bad (hell, the studio tweaking on his singing doesn’t sound different from that on his rapping), the melody’s pretty weak and not memorable. Hang on, what’s he singing?

“Can you blow my whistle, baby, whistle, baby?” …he’s not talking about his dick, is he?

“Just put your lips together/And then come real close” Oh, blow me, Flo Rida.

“Girl, I’m gonna show you how to do it” Wait, if the song’s about oral sex, and he’s offering to show her how to do it…

“Talented with your lips, like you blew candles” Flo, you know she’s not actually supposed to blow on it, don’t you?

“Go girl, you can work it/Let me see you whistle while you work it” I can’t imagine any context for this line that doesn’t make me giggle like a small child. I’m cherrypicking the whistle lines because, like every other Flo Rida song, the verses in “Whistle” are throwaways as inane as they are boring. Last year, I called Britney Spears’ “I Wanna Go” one of the most forward songs I’ve heard, but “Relax and get on your back” and the entirety of “Whistle” both top it handily. But while “Scream” at least sounds sensual, “Whistle” sounds like a Lonely Island castoff.

This song’s a strikeout with me. The beat’s boring, the hook’s obnoxious, and there are better dick jokes on the airwaves right now. The song even takes Flo Rida out of his normal “Yeah, let’s party!” element, and replaces it with something that isn’t nearly as “fun”. Flo Rida sings the chorus on “Whistle”, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was only because no one wanted to be associated with it. Flo can’t keep the song afloat by himself, and it’s not even fun to watch him try.

Posted in Radio Rants | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Feedback: Hole – Live Through This

Posted on August 20, 2012 by bgibs122

So, Courtney Love.

It’s hard to write about Love in 2012 and sincerely put the music first. While she’s the frontwoman/writer/owner of the influential alt. rock band Hole, a search for “Courtney Love” is more likely to bring you headlines with shock quotes before album reviews. Case in point. It’s worth noting that Love doesn’t speak out to keep herself in the public eye; even at Hole’s height, she was an infamous interview subject. Love’s music career slowed after Hole broke up in 1999 (she reformed the band with new members in 2009–controversy ensued), but her knack for drumming up press never did. She’s developed a reputation as a washed up joke with her best work behind her.

So then, what happens when she dies?

No, really. My partner and I were talking about Love’s inevitable passing. Once a celebrity kicks it, misdeeds and lifetimes of controversy are swept aside for shining pictures of human perfection. Michael Jackson went from “Wacko Jacko” to “the King of Pop” after he died. We assumed that something similar would happen to Love: the past 15 years get swept away, and everyone goes back to the Live Through This era.

Live Through This was released in 1994 as Hole’s second album, and Geffen debut with a release date that was downright tragic: LTT was released on April 12th. On April 8th, Love’s husband, Nirvana frontman, and national rock star Kurt Cobain was found dead from an apparent suicide. Much like Nirvana’s final album In Utero, it’s hard to listen to Live Through This without Cobain’s death casting a shadow across the depression and desperation that was already committed to tape. History has tied the “this” in Live Through This‘s title to Cobain’s death; numerous reviews of the album (both from 1994 and more recent) use his death to give context to the anguish and anger of the record.

But, it’s misleading. The advance copies of Live Through This were already distributed while Cobain was still alive, and his first suicide attempt came months after the album had been recorded. His death can contextualize the album, but not define it. And as for Love, she uses Cobain’s death for inspiration only seldom; “Hit So Hard” and “Malibu” from Celebrity Skin come to mind, as do “Honey” and “Pacific Coast Highway” from Nobody’s Daughter. Often, Live Through This gets misimagined as the album it would be if it had been released a year later. So, if not for Kurt’s death, what does “this” stand for?

The “this” in Live Through This is the booming Alternative Nation scene as seen through the eyes of Courtney Love: Punk rocker and feminist, and all the rage that goes with it. The distorted, grinding “Plump” is a snarling tell-off to Vanity Fair, who alleged that Love used heroin while pregnant, and doubted her abilities as a mother (“I Think That I Would Die” is on a similar subject). Just as personal but more universal is “Asking For It”, which details an experience Love had when she was crowdsurfing, only to have the crowd tear her clothes off and molest her (“asking for it” is often a laughably dumb rape justification: “she was dressed like that–wasnt’ she asking for it?”) “She Walks On Me” comments on how competitive women were within the scene, and tried to tear each other down.

Elsewhere, Live Through This chronicles the exhaustion and the vulnerability that comes with being so raw. “Miss World” confronts depression, substance abuse, and self-image while “Doll Parts” looks for acceptance from someone else (it’s also the LTT‘ song Love says is about Cobain). “Softer, Softest” mediates on Love’s rough upbringing.

Even though there was enough feminist alt/punk rock in the early 90s for it to be its own sub genre, Love managed to stand out. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth wrote songs that were poetic, but often emotionally aloof, while riot grrl bands like Bikini Kill opted for “I took Women’s Studies 232 last semester” style lyrics. By comparison, Love’s lyrics are nothing but firsthand: she doesn’t crawl into a character’s skin like Gordon, or make sweeping statements like Kathleen Hanna; she is the point of view, and she’s the one feeling what she’s singing. It’s a form of feminism that doesn’t need college credit or organized zines; it just needs to be felt. She jabs riot grrl on “Olympia” for this: the scene was so busy, in Love’s eyes, with being a club instead of being inclusive.

If there’s a downside to this approach to songwriting, it’s that it can date the songs. Some of Live Through This is timeless–top song “Violet”, as well as “Doll Parts” and “Miss World” still hold today, but “Olympia” and something like “Plump” are very clearly 1993. This is true of LTT‘s sonic pallet as well; it’s possibly the most self-consciously Grunge album of the grunge era. Hole tempers the hard edged noise of their debut Pretty On the Inside with some Nirvana-style loud and soft dynamics. There’s also an attempt to texture the album with some flanged and chorus affected guitars (the production favors this approach as well), but it hurts the records in most spots by taking away its bite.

While it still has some powerhouse songs on it, as a whole, Live Through This hasn’t aged as well as, say, In Utero. It’s a little too tied to its day to age gracefully, and it’s very front loaded; after “Doll Parts”, my interest dropped sharply. Still, it’s one of the better 3rd wave feminism records put to tape, and it married sheer rage and melody quiet well on occasion. When Hole and Love are finally done forever, will 1994 eclipse anything that came after it? I don’t know, but if Love could live through then, she’s going to be around awhile longer.

Posted in "Thoughts" | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On the Radar #2

Posted on August 19, 2012 by bgibs122

David E Beats – Strange Sky (Kanye x Florence and the Machine mash-up)
My mind’s failing me on what Florence is getting sampled here, but it goes great with Kanye’s verses from “Touch the Sky”; he dark, electronic synths and rapid-fire beat give the verse a little more energy. David E Beats has been working on mixtapes, freesyles, and demos, and “Strange Sky” is a demo for his upcoming mixtape with fellow mixtape/mash-up artist Terry Urban. Give it a listen here, and stay up with David E Beats on Facebook.

The Rocketboys – The Best
One off The Rocketboys’ new album Build Away, “The Best” is a slice of driving, cathartic indie rock. Lyrically, “The Best” offers an apology towards soured relationships (songwriter Brandon Kinder says it’s about his almost-former bandmates), saying that “These songs are filled with things I didn’t expect/And I know I said somethings I already regret”, but “I wish you the best”. Instead of sorrowful, the song takes a triumphant tone, as the band was able to reform, and that triumph is evident in the music. On “The Best”, The Rocketboys find a happy middle ground between Foster the People’s textured sound, and Funeral-era Arcade Fire jubilance. Help get The Rocketboys to 5k likes on Faceook!

TS and the Past Haunts – Unknown
“Unknown”, the new single off the experimental LA group’s album Gone & Goner, blends early-Sonic Youth noise, jagged and distorted guitar riffs, a lumbering stop-start dynamic. Travis Shettel’s vocals have an almost blusey sneer to them that Heather Heywood gracefully matches. Imagine if The Dead Weather had a hardcore edge to them. Watch the video for “Unknown” on PureVolume, and give TS & the Past Haunts a look on Facebook here.

Aficionado – Empty
Aficionado is a big band. Not just because they used to have 11 members (they’ve worked their way to a reasonable seven). Not just because “Empty” stops for a flute solo at the bridge. No, Aficionado is a big band because everything about them sounds big; from the opening guitar lick to the monster hook on the chorus, Aficionado sound fit to share the stage with Mixtapes, another group that swings for the fences. There’s also something very 90’s alt. rock about “Empty”, which matches wild instrumentation, likeable slacker-dude vocals, and mean pop hooks–like a less tightly-wound Grouplove. Aficionado has an EP out on Sept. 25th, and you can stream “Empty” at Filter‘s site, then check Aficionado on Facebook.

Diemonds – Livin’ Tonight
Sometimes you just need a loud, throwback rock song. And when that doesn’t do it, you reach for something like Diemonds, a band so committed to the idea of big time rock and roll that they named their band Diemonds. And it’s played straight in the most awesome way; “Livin’ Tonight” pulls no punches with its balls to the wall energy and quick fingered shredding. Their album The Bad Pack drops on October 2nd, but you can check their website here.

And that’s it for this edition of On the Radar, check back for the next one in a few weeks!

Posted in Lists, New Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment