Music will save us all.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Features - "Wilderness"
This is from the Nashville Scene and it is a better review of the new album and a better summary of The Features’s music than I am able to come up with. I’ve been struggling with it for a while (I’ve still got a short after-show interview with them from 2007 which I have only shared with a few of the band’s admirers) but thankfully the Nashville Scene did it for me. Enjoy.
The Features, Wilderness [Review + Fresh Track] | Nashville Cream http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2011/07/26/the-features-wilderness-review-fresh-track
Posted by D Patrick Rodgers
The Features are a local institution. A regional one, really. And anyone who’s followed their roughly 15-year arc — from flirtations with major label success to their eventual abandonment at the hands of Universal Records and redemption via Kings of Leon’s imprint Serpents and Snakes — knows they’re the sort of underdogs who won’t ever quit. For that, God bless ‘em. And whether it’s the vibrant carnival pop of 2004’s Exhibit A, 2008’s older-and-wiser Some Kind of Salvation or the unrelenting power-pop of the brand-new Wilderness, it’s a regionally accepted fact that The Features marry remarkably tight, gob-smacking proficiency with a singular style of uncommonly thoughtful pop. As always, frontman Matt Pelham remains the ringmaster of his circus on Wilderness — those longstanding, established carnival-pop charms still intact — guiding each turn with thespian-like dynamics. But more than ever, keyboardist Mark Bond affects the drama of each track, his arsenal of tones and sounds diverse and his playing lithe and emotive, providing an understated backdrop for each of Pelham’s ruminative, gut-spilling paeans. Where Some Kind of Salvation featured a mostly up-tempo stream of indie pop that was punctuated with somewhat delicate moments, Wilderness is an unrelenting onslaught of burning, impassioned fury — “Fats Domino” being the exception, its sleepy doo-wop progression soothing and heartbreaking as Pelham relinquishes his hold on a former love, singing, “You can have everything except my rock ‘n’ roll, my love / Put down Fats Domino.” Wilderness is still as nuanced and gorgeously arranged as any rock ‘n’ roll record can be, but its fervor screams, “We’re still the damn Features, and we still play the smartest, most stirring rock music you’re going to find around these parts.” The same obvious influences that have always permeated The Features’ work remain: Kinksian, British Invasion-y melodies and instrumentation — their most urgent moments channeling Brit-pop giants like Jarvis Cocker — the rich tones and rubbery bass lines of New Wave, plus latter-day indie-rock idiosyncrasies à la Grandaddy. But The Features are at home in their sound — more pathologically themselves than ever, mining their own stylistic predilections and coming up with a record that is boldly honest and packed top-to-bottom with fantastic songs. The jovial bombast of “Big Mama Gonna Whip Us Good.” The sinister, foreboding tones of “How It Starts.” “Rambo,” which starts with a monastic, eerie, dirgelike vocal and moves into an insistent barnburner of a blowout. The dichotomy of this lilting, versatile pop paired with Pelham’s characteristically cynical, however accessible, lyrics is perhaps Wilderness’ most striking characteristic. “Golden Comb,” for instance, is the story of a man trying his utmost to satisfy a discontented significant other, finally relenting and exploding into a psychedelic freak-out that would rival the fury of any acid-rocking Haight-Ashbury hangabout. Some Kind of Salvation found Pelham the narrator lamenting the restrictions of adulthood, but Wilderness feels more empowered — Pelham finds a balance between the cynicism of seeing the world for what it is and knowing why it all makes sense. “I can’t explain what I can’t comprehend,” Pelham sings in “Love Is …” as Bond’s dizzying keyboards whiz and whir. “All I know is nothing’s stranger than love is … “ So no, there aren’t any major surprises on Wilderness. Rollum Haas remains one of the most powerful, succinct and understated drummers in modern rock ‘n’ roll music. Haas and bassist Roger Dabbs maintain their symbiotic relationship as a rhythm section, matching one another uncannily on every twist and turn, as Pelham and Bond glide across the surface with their brainy embellishments. But they’re all here, all together in the wilderness and on point as much as they’ve ever been, offering up an album that will at best finally prove to be their long-awaited and much deserved international, top-tier breakthrough. At worst? At worst it’s just one of the best damn rock ‘n’ roll albums you’ll hear all year. Long live The Features.
I’m glad we finally got back at the Libyans for killing Doc Brown all the way back in 1985. That’s why we’re doing this, right? I forget why we’re involved in Libya. I’m assuming it has something to do with Back To The Future.
NEVER FORGET.
Breaking News: Apple Reports Steve Jobs has died
You can expect that I will be writing about this in some length this week.
The Stuff You Should Know Podcast
5:30AM came way too early. Still dark in the bedroom, I’d hear the whining of my girlfriend’s fluffy, annoying dog beside the bed, crying and clawing at my side of the bed because my asshole girlfriend wouldn’t wake to to take the bitch out to piss.
I’d shuffle out of bed with an “I’ll take her out, don’t worry about it.” She was still asleep. I doubt she even heard me.
After hitting the can and grabbing my iPod, sweater, leash and “poopy bags,” the dog and I would go out and make our rounds in the neighborhood. With one hand controlling the leash tied to her shitty dog, all the while silently cursing, I would find the latest show from the Stuff You Should Know podcast.
She and I (the girlfriend, not the dog) weren’t doing well. Angry fights, distance, separate directions, different “life trajectories” —this relationship wasn’t going to last. I’d feel alone, especially those mornings taking care of her shitty dog. It would have been infinitely worse if not for Josh and Chuck and the Stuff You Should Know podcast.
Started in 2008, the Stuff You Should Know podcast is hosted by two writers at the HowStuffWorks.com website and features topics such as “How Snipers Work” and “How Vikings Work.”
Josh and Chuck have an incredible rapport with one another and have a a huge fan-base being one of the top downloaded podcasts on the iTunes Music Store.
On a personal note, listening to these podcasts was like having a couple of my buddies on those walks with me. For a moment I could forget that I was trying to pacify a nagging, irritable, hag and I could listen to Josh and Chuck extrapolate on topics as diverse as “Is Fluoride Making Us Stupid” and “Are Stupid People Happier?” (My opinion is “Yes” and “No” to those questions respectively)
One of the best best things about this show is that it is completely free to download on the iTunes Music Store.
Download the podcast and get to know your two new best friends who just might get you through a dark time in your life—whether that be with a shitty dog or an awful hag of a girlfriend.
RS 500 Greatest Albums of all Time: #38 Muddy Waters - “Anthology”
As many of you know, Rolling Stone
LESS THAN HALF!
I had listened to less than half of those goddamned albums! I was shocked—and so I set a goal to give every single one of these albums a good once-through. I’d like to share some of the results with you here. These short “blurbs” will more than likely not have the analysis as other reviews I do. How can I possibly write about these albums when many of them were released before I was even born? I can’t. Instead I’ll try to give some background and perhaps maybe a “why it was important” kind of analysis based on what the old folks say, and then conclude with my ill-informed and snide comments.
So, to begin, we have at #38 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time Muddy Waters’s The Anthology, 1941-1972. I’d like to be the first one to say that I thought is was strange that “Best of” or “Anthology” type albums made it on Rolling Stone’s list. It seems a bit of a cop-out, especially for seasoned artists who may have a large catalogue to choose from (which didn’t seem to bother any of the other maladroit editors and judges who picked, like, eight Beatles albums).
So, what can a 30-year old say about a vetted collection of music from, arguably, the man who created the standard for modern blues guitar-playing?
Nothing.
I can say nothing about that. You can read much better writing about Muddy Waters and his incredible legacy on other blogs and in books. Yes, BOOKS!
What I can comment on is the quality of the remaster. Modern audio recording and mastering technology have rendered these ancient recordings diverse and pronounced with slide guitar sound. Make no mistake, these are still artifact recordings, but only in the sense that the charming clicks and squeaks from rustic and ground-breaking guitar playing shine through like Muddy was breaking down a brick shit-house with his bare hands.
“I Feel Like Going Home” is a slide guitar joy with thick and nasty runs that are made even more tangible from the quality of the remaster.
“You’re Gonna Need My Help” is dirty and intimate. The slide noises, while shunned in more polished blues records add much to the quiet, but always dynamic intimacy of the track.
Some tracks will be familiar to first-time listeners: “Baby, Please Don’t Go” is a Chicago Blues classic, familiar to even those not versed in blues history; others will find recognize “I Just Want To Make Love To You” from the cover featured on a Diet Coke commercial featuring lecherous, female office workers.
Other tracks are are made remarkably modern-sounding with the remaster. “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had” sounds dark and distant when presented with a wide stereo berth.
This is a great collection for a budding blues-enthusiast to get him or her started with one of the greats of Chicago blues. For others already familiar, this is a lovely reintroduction with a more glorious sound. Even though I am not a fan of Rolling Stone’s cop out of choosing a curated anthology over a “slice out of time” album, this is a great collection and is worthy of repeated listens.
The Muddy Waters Anthology: 1947-1972 is available to download on the iTunes Music Store.
