reviews and musings of a music geek
This week’s cover and original is Apology Song, by the Decemberists. The song is covered by a group called Wakey!Wakey!, which in and of itself is an amusing title for a group. This is an interesting take on the song. The original is a great song, and the cover keeps much of the same tone and feel with it, but with a different vocalist, it gives it a whole knew style.
Apology Song (The Decemberists) - Wakey!Wakey!
Apology Song - The Decemberists
The Decemberists and I have an interesting history. When I was first introduced to them several years ago, I really didn’t like their sound at all. Colin Meloy’s voice just didn’t click, and even now, it’s an odd sounding one, a sort of harsh buzz.
I started listening to them more closely about a year ago, shortly after their latest album, The Crane Wife was released, and I’ve come around to their sound. I’m not entirely sure what’s brought me over for these guys, but after listening to their music more and more, I’m liking them more and more as time goes on.
The Decemberists first came on to the music scene in Portland Oregon with their first EP, 5 Songs, which was released in 2001 and helped mold some of their early sound. I have to say that this was some of the first I heard from them, and I wasn’t impressed on the first listen or two. Their sound here was a bit unrefined but further listens have let the group grow on me since then.
Shiny - The Decemberists
Castaways and Cutouts in 2002, bringing with them an interesting sound, but also songs that told stories. Theirs are not the regular pop songs that cover the typical themes. These are stories that cover a number of subjects. Right from the get-go, their name has references within itself – it comes from the Russian Decemberist Revolt. Their first full length album has a fairly raw sound to my ears – Meloy’s voice is rougher, the instruments are tight and the lyrics are fantastic – it’s a fantastic start to their career, but not their best work- that was yet to come.
Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect – The Decemberists
Their next album came a year later in 2003, Her Majesty. Once again, listeners were treated to some fantastic songwriting skills. Overall, their sound has smoothed out a little, save for Colin Meloy’s voice. 2004 followed with another EP release, the Tain. Once again, I wasn’t impressed at first, although I’ve certainly allowed them to grow on me a bit since then. Their sound was certainly progressing here.
Los Angeles, I’m Yours – The Decemberists
Their next album, Picaresque, is when they really started getting good. The album starts off fantastically with 16 Military Wives, which blends the instrumentals and vocals much better than their prior album, all while keeping their fantastic songwriting. This is the first album where I really like all the songs – their sound has evened out a bit and everything has started to click by this point. The album was followed with Picarequeties in 2005.
16 Military Wives – The Decemberists
Their latest album, The Crane Wife, was also their first major release, and in my opinion, their best yet to day. Colin Meloy’s voice has matured since their first sounds, to the point where it’s possibly the strongest point of the album.
This is a bit of a concept album, centered around the Japanese folk story of the Crane Wife, where two of the songs, Crane Wife 3 and The Crane Wife 1 and 2 take up much of the time on the album, all while the rest of the songs center around trust and betrayal. There’s several extremely long songs here – the Island and Crane Wife 1 & 2 clocking in at over ten minutes each – yet they are some of the best songs on the album. Early 2007 saw the release of an iTunes EP, entitled Live from SoHo.
Sons & Daughters - The Decemberists
The group was as of recently on a tour in Europe, to be followed up with a second one in the US, which was cut short due to a serious illness from one of the band members (it’s unknown which one). Prior to that, the group did a five stop tour backed by a full orchestra around the United States. Hopefully, the group will recover and begin writing up some new material for a new album. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of them in the next couple years.
Everyone gets a break, and it’s especially cool when an artist breaks out into the playing field with a major record. I don’t think of signing onto a major record label as selling out for an artist. Like the rest of us, they’re working a regular job – it’s just more visible to us. Whether that major record is good or not varies, but there are major records out there that are good. *gasp* The whole sell-out thing is just a way to pretentious for no real reason, good or otherwise.
Anyhow, here’s a couple of records that landed bands on a major record label that are quite good.
Indian Summer – Carbon Leaf
This 2004 album was Carbon Leaf’s fifth, but their first major record label with Vangard Records and represents some of their best work since their last independent album, Echo Echo. The album takes much of the energy and all of the songwriting skills from that prior album, and brings a more mainstream sound to the table, one that is quite good, compared to some of their older works, although I count Echo Echo as one of their finest albums. This major release helped bring Carbon Leaf to greater attention and publicity. Their follow up album, Love Loss Hope Repeat was also on Vanguard Records.
This Is My Song – Carbon Leaf
One Prairie Outpost – Carbon Leaf
This Is Somewhere – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
This is Somewhere is the third album by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and like Indian Summer, it brought a more mainstream rock sound to Grace Potter’s repertoire. Her prior albums, Original Soul and Nothing But Water both had distinct sounds, and this one is no different. The mainstream sound here is among their best sounds thus far with a fantastic sound.
Falling Or Flying – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Mastermind – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
The Crane Wife – The Decemberists
The Decemberists likewise had a number of independent albums prior to this release, all of which were a fairly acquired taste. This album really was the one that turned me onto their sound, which brings their interesting sound in line and which also brings their phenomenal songwriting skills to bear with several fantastic long songs. This album also brought the band quite a bit of acclaim and media recognition.
O Valencia! – The Decemberists
The Crane Wife 3 – The Decemberists
The Animal Years – Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter’s highly acclaimed album, The Animal Years was the first major release from Josh Ritter after a couple of independent albums. Like the other albums above, this release helped bring in line his prior sound to a more mainstream sound, but one that likewise didn’t sacrifice the songwriting or tone and feel of the music.
Good Man – Josh Ritter
Wolves – Josh Ritter
A Series of Sneaks – Spoon
Not all major releases help their artists in question. Spoon’s first major release, A Series of Sneaks, came shortly after their first album. The band signed on to Elektra Records and released the album to moderate critical acclaim and was an overall financial failure for the band. Quality-wise, the album is also far below what the band had come up with before. After their first experience with a major record label, they went back to the indie route – and they’ve remained there since, releasing several much better and more highly acclaimed albums.
Advance Cassette – Spoon
Car Radio – Spoon
Remember how the Decemberists had to cancel part of their overseas tour recently? One of their band members has apparently taken really sick, and they came home to recouperate a bit. Unfortunently, things are a bit more serious, and in an announcement on the band’s webpage today, they’ve cancelled the remainder of the US tour.
“The Long and Short of It” Tour Cancelled
With much regret The Decemberists have cancelled the remainder of “The Long and Short of It” tour.
One of our band members has been ill for a while but we thought all would be well in time for these tour
dates. After a couple shows, though, it has become clear that the illness is much worse than we had initially realized. We need to return home so our friend can mend.
It saddens us to disappoint our fans. We hope everybody understands it is only because of an extreme situation that we had to cancel a tour we’ve all been excited about doing since the idea was originally
hatched.
Our deepest apologies but at this time no plans are being made to reschedule the dates. Ticket holders should seek refunds at point of purchase.
Sixteen Military Wives – The Decemberists
I went to a military college as a civilian, and now work at the school’s graduate school, in the military history department. I’m liking the fact that I have a) just graduated and now have a regular job and b) get to work in the field that I majored in. It’s pretty cool. Yesterday, we started our latest set of classes, and to commemorate this, a couple of songs about military history.
The War Was In Color is a fantastic Carbon Leaf song, really dark and a really moving story about the Second World War. Yankee Bayonet is a fantastic Decemberists song about the American Civil War. Third up is Fortunate Son, by Creedence Clearwater Revival, a Vietnam War era protest song about the military conscription. Bom Bom Bom is a song out of this current conflict by a band called Living Things, and really embodies the mentality of a typical 18 year old soldier going out to war in the Middle East, at least with Gulf War 1 or 2. And to end this list, Ashokan Farewell, which sounds like a period piece, but it was the main theme in the fantastic Ken Burns series, The Civil War, and is generally associated with the conflict. If you’re interested at all in World War 2, I’d recommend checking out Ken Burn’s upcoming documentary, called The War, which will be released later this month on PBS. If his earlier works have been any indication, this one’s going to be fantastic.
Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) – The Decemberists
The War Was In Color – Carbon Leaf
Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Bom Bom Bom – Living Things
Ashokan Farewell – Jay Unger
I just picked up a fantastic book by a new fantasy author named Scott Lynch titled The Lies of Locke Lamora. I’m a geek, I read, watch and breath science fiction and fantasy stories. While I like fantasy, I’m a lot more picky about what I read, which authors I pick up, etc. Most of the stuff out there’s pretty craptacular – most of the stuff’s pretty cliched and not all that interesting to me.
Lies of Locke Lamora is Lynch’s first novel, and it’s the first in a series called The Gentleman Bastard Sequence, and it’s scheduled to run for seven books. The second, Red Seas Under Red Skies, was released last month in hardcover, which I’m really excited to start reading that soon after I finish the first one.
It’s different, grown up, not your Lord of the Rings type fantasy novel. This is fantasy with a bite, down in the underworld with a perfectly realized society and city, with a plot with heists and crime lords, someting more reminicent of the novel and book Layer Cake than Ocean’s 11 (as stated on the back cover). This is highly original fantasy at it’s best, and Lynch is an author that’s going to go far in the field. Just take a look on the inside cover – George R.R. Martin, Kate Elliot, Richard Morgan, Matthew Stover, and several other highly prominent authors in the field have tesimonials to this first novel.
The Perfect Crime – The Decemberists
Look – Buy
