song of the day: april 29/2011

Neil Young - Old Man (live)
Album: Live at Massey Hall 1971 [2007]

the second volume of neil young's long-promised, suddenly thriving archives series is "live at massey hall", preserving a 1971 acoustic show at the toronto venue. where the first volume captured a portion of neil's past that wasn't particularly well documented on record - namely, the rampaging original crazy horse lineup in its 1970 prime - this second installment may seem to cover familiar ground, at least to the outside observer who may assume that any solo acoustic young must sound the same. that, of course, is not the case with an artist as mercurial and willful as young, who was inarguably on a roll in 1971, coming off successes with crazy horse, crosby, stills & nash, and his second solo record, 1970's "after the gold rush". the concert chronicled finds young dipping into these recent successes for material, as he also airs material that would shortly find a home on 1972's "harvest" in addition to playing songs that wouldn't surface until later in the decade. this is a remarkably rich set of songs, touching on nearly every aspect of young's personality, whether it's his sweetness, his sensitivity, his loneliness, or even his often-neglected sense of fun. even if "down by the river" and "cowgirl in the sand" retain their intense sense of menace when stripped of the winding guitar workouts of crazy horse. this concert isn't dominated by melancholy: it's a warm, giving affair, built upon lovely readings of "helpless," "tell me why," "old man," and an early incarnation of "a man needs a maid" (here played as a medley with "heart of gold") that removes the bombast of the harvest arrangement, revealing the fragile, sweet song that lies underneath. it the show captures the essence of neil young at his artistic peak as a singer/songwriter. that's the reason why this concert has been a legendary bootleg for nearly four decades and why its release 36 years after its recording is so special: it may not add an additional narrative to neil young's history, but it adds detail, color, and texture to a familiar chapter of his career, rendering it fresh once more. it's no wonder producer david briggs wanted to release this concert as an album between after the gold rush and harvest: it not only holds its own against those classics, it enhances them.

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song of the day: april 28/2011

Sigur Rós - Starlalfur
Album: Ágætis Byrjun [1999]

named in part after a sister of one of the bandmembers, iceland's sigur rós (victory rose) was formed in early 1994 while the members were teenagers. the trio's first recorded song earned them a deal with iceland's bad taste label. their sprawling debut LP, "von" (hope), was released in 1997, followed by1999's strings-heavy "agætis byrjun" (good start), earning themselves numerous accolades in their homeland and achieving platinum status in sales. the band sings songs in icelandic, but also in their own made-up language, "hopelandic". everything ont he first two albums, aside from the epic "olsen olsen" are sung in icelandic. during the two years between their first two albums, the band recruited a new keyboardist and it seemed to do nothing but take the band to an even higher state of self-awareness. even on aesthetic matters, sigur rós entitle their sophomore effort not in a manner to play up the irony of high expectations, but in a modest realization. as talented as "von" might have been, this time out is probably even more worthy of dramatic debut expectations. indeed, agætis byrjun pulls no punches from the start. after a beautuiful introduction, the album pumps in the morning mist with "sven-g-englar" and "starlalfur" - the latter being a song of such accomplished gorgeousness that one wonders why such a tiny country as iceland can musically outperform entire continents in just a few short minutes. it truly is one of the most beautiful songsthe rest of this full-length follows such similar quality. extremely deep strings underpin falsetto wails from the mournfully epic to the unreservedly cinematic. one will constantly be waiting to hear what fascinating turns such complex musicianship will take at a moment's notice. the band's keen sense of bright and dark is mostly contained within an elegant scope of melodies for the entirety of the album. rarely has a sophomore effort sounded this thick and surprising. which means that "good start" might as well become one of the most charming understatements to come out of a band in years. one of the 90's best.

english translation:
starlalfur (staring elf):

blue night over the sky, blue night over me
dis-appreared out of the window
me with hands hidden under my cheek
i think about my day, today and yesterday
i put on my blue nighties, go straight to bed
i pull the soft covers over, close my eyes
i hide my head under the covers
a little elf stares at me, runs towards me
but doesn't move from place
himself, a staring elf
i open my eyes, take the crusts out
stretch myself and check (if i haven't)
returned again and everything is okay
still there is something missing
like all the walls

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song of the day: april 27/2011

Final Fantasy - This is the Dream of Win and Regine
Album: Has a Good Home [2005]

toronto-based violinist/singer/songwriter owen pallett has been a member of the groups les mouches and picastro, as well as a touring member of the hidden cameras and arcade fire -he composed strings for the latter's "neon bible" album. final fantasy, essentially a one-man solo project with occasional help from drummer/engineer leon taheny, released its first full recording, "has a good home", in 2005 on the small toronto-based cooperative label club blocks. the one-man classically trained canadian string section - think andrew bird and patrick wolf - created an eye-opening baroque pop record that manages to appeal to both the bespectacled hipster and the disgruntled orchestra student. his vocals have come a long way since this, but as per usual, it's the skip-along string arrangements that make the songs. not much is known about the track, "this is the dream of win and regine", but some of the lyrics seem to touch on the subjects (win butler and regine chassagne) deciding to move to montreal together to create arcade fire and hoping that fame and forture don't come between them. the arcade fire has thus far tried pretty hard to stay as low-key as possible which will be increasingly more difficult as they continue to rise and stardom and produce such fine work. final fantasy's take on this ("crown myself the prince of buzz, can't wait until you unsubscribe") is that win would rather be a lonely songwriter/poet than the lead guy in some over-hyped band. "has a good home" was followed in 2006 by "he poos clouds", which went on to receive the inaugural polaris music prize in canada. in 2008 pallett announced that his next album, "heartland", would be the last under the final fantasy name name, and that all subsequent records would bear the mark of one owen pallett. "heartland", another concept album, dealt with what pallett describes as "the beginning, middle and end of a relationship. but it’s sung from the point of view of the object of my affection".

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song of the day: april 26/2011

The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Three Changes
Album: The Good, The Bad & The Queen [2007]

around the turn of the millennium - just after the release of blur's moody sixth album, "13" - damon albarn began to quietly back away from the very concept of fronting a rock band, turning his attention to a series of collaborative projects that soon overshadowed his main gig. rirst there was the electro-bubblegum group gorillaz, which afforded albarn the opportunity to masquerade behind a cartoon, a move that allowed him to let his music speak louder than his fame, a method that he found irresistible as he began to do several projects similar to this, including a voyage to africa documented on mali music, along with other less-publicized forays into soundtracks. 2007 saw the release of "the good, the bad & the queen", a quartet comprised of himself, clash bassist paul simonon, verve guitarist simon tong, and drummer tony allen. a flurry of pre-release activity compared "the good, the bad & the queen" to blur's 1994 masterpiece "parklife", as it represents a conscious return to albarn writing songs specifically about london at a particular point in time. thematically accurate though this may be, it is also misleading, suggesting that albarn is also returning to the bright, colorful, clever guitar pop that made his reputation. that couldn't be farther from the truth, as this album is deliberately drained of color and mired in moodiness. if parklife exuberantly captured the giddiness of the mid-'90s, as fashions and politics changed, "the good, the bad & the queen" captures how all that optimism has calcified into weary cynicism, as the endless opportunities of the '90s have given way to a warring world that seems to lack any center or certainty. the album is most certainly its own distinctive thing, the product of five iconic musicians working a theme endlessly, relentlessly, and inventively, producing music that plays more like a movie than an album. early on, as "history song" eases into view on a circular acoustic guitar phrase, it establishes an alluring, dank, and artfully dour mood that the band continually expands and explores without ever letting the gloom lift.

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song of the day: april 25/2011

Pearl Jam - Undone
Album: Lost Dogs: Rarities & B-Sides [2003]

at the peak of alt-rock in the '90s, pearl jam were the biggest band in the world. nirvana may have kick-started the alt-rock explosion, but not long after "nevermind" knocked michael jackson's "dangerous" off the top of the charts, pearl jam overtook their fellow seattleites, selling many more copies of "ten" than nevermind, as the album achieved saturation play on radio and MTV, thereby setting off a wave of imitators, ranging from stone temple pilots to seven mary three and scores of bands that have been lost to time. they defined the sound of the decade, at least in terms of mainstream alt-rock. but, like all their fellow grunge rockers (though not like smashing pumpkins), they bristled at the notion of stardom, and ducked the spotlight. after following "ten" with the effectively scattershot "vs." in 1993, each subsequent record played to a smaller audience, partially because the group decided to follow a peculiar muse while shutting out the outside world by doing few videos and interviews and then sinking into a long battle with ticketmaster that sapped their strength, as well as their popularity. by the end of the decade, they were selling far fewer records and they had the occasional hit but they were a far cry from being the biggest band in the world, even if they retained a passionate following. the shift from world's biggest band to world's biggest cult band was a deliberate move, of course, one that came about through their precisely crafted, often humorless, deliberately quirky records that came after "vs.". if a song didn't fit the specific mood of an album, it was shelved. this meant that there was a lot of material that was never heard (apart from the occasional concert or bootleg, naturally), or some of it drifted out on singles released through their fan club. then, it being the '90s, the golden age of the multipart international single and benefit compilation albums, there were a number of officially released songs that never made it to a proper pearl jam album. these two things meant that a rarities collection was necessary, and when they reached the end of their contract with epic ten years after "ten", the group assembled the double-disc, 30-track set "lost dogs". completists, who likely have much of this material anyway, should note that this is not a complete collection of b-sides and non-LP tracks - there's nothing from the singles soundtrack, the merkinball EP is absent, and scores of live B-sides are left behind. instead, this is a selection of the best B-sides, stray singles, and compilation tracks, enhanced by no less than 11 previously unreleased cuts and presented in a non-chronological sequence. this approach has a considerable benefit for the band, since, for one, it doesn't play like a dumping ground for rarities; like all pearl jam albums, it follows its own internal logic and has its own flow. better still, the album benefits from what it chronicles: the loosest, hardest-rocking, most relaxed, and most intimate music the band cut. a lot of the songs, like "undone", sound like b-sides from eddie vedder's solo album for "into the wild". since their proper albums are so somber and tightly controlled, it seemed as if the band didn't have a sense of humor, or even gave themselves a chance to breathe. these songs not only prove that assertion false; they capture what the band sounded like at its peak - they capture their passion, their open-heartedness, their stance as true believers. this spirit was dampened on the albums since they deliberately shied away from it and obscured it with ventures into experimentalism, but here, they not only sound committed but also eclectic and alive. this is where the nonchronological sequencing is a plus - everything here sounds like it could date from their heyday of the first of the '90s, even though much of it dates from later. this is further proof that pearl jam consciously turned away from the big, anthemic sound and spirit that won them a mass audience - they still had the songs and sound, they just chose to bury it. it may not have any of their defining songs - apart from concert favorite "yellow ledbetter," that is - but it does define their spirit, which is why, against all odds, it's one of the best album pearl jam has ever released.

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song of the day: april 24/2011

Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree
Album: Soft Airplane [2008]

hailing from calgary, singer/songwriter chad vangaalen creates a delightfully soothing indie rock sound. his airy falsetto is part christopher cross and part thom yorke, and fans of broken social scene, band of horses, and destroyer should find the charm in vangaalen's wild imagination. since 1998, the quirky vangaalen has drafted hundreds of songs well-tailored for indie rock fans old and new. in 2004, the calgary label "flemish eye" gathered some of these songs together for his first album, "infiniheart". 2008's "soft airplane", his third album, was recorded over a two year span. using low fidelity equipment, it is as complex as ever, with all the bells and whistles (sometimes literally) that excessive overdubbing can provide. brushing the textures aside, it's also vangaalen's most straightforward album to date. "soft airplane" is a focused outing; one that rarely travels outside the indie pop realm. boyish vocals and fantastic vocal harmonies tinged with sadness spark the first few songs of the album, namely "willow tree", setting an easygoing and creative mood with organic, banjo and guitar. this style of songwriting works well and his imagination crafts a wonderland of sound during the first half of the record. during the second half of the album, however, the bleeps and bloops of overdubbing begin to take over his songs - almost like he started to run dry and threw effects in to cover weaker material.

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song of the day: april 23/2011

Laura Marling - Rambling Man

Album: I Speak Because I Can [2010]

singer/songwriter laura marling was only 16 years old when she emerged on the british indie scene in 2007 thanks to a handful of infectious singles made available on her myspace profile. endowed with a husky voice, an acoustic guitar, and a gift for building quirky, hooky folk songs (characteristics that would compare her favorably to the likes of regina spektor and lily allen), marling quickly made a name for herself throughout england thanks to a heavy touring schedule and a few high-profile gigs. although she was still without a label one year later, her debut EP, "my manic and i", was slated for independent release in the late fall of 2007. this status didn't last long however, because in early 2008, she signed to virgin and released "alas i cannot swim". her follow-up, "i speak because i can", delivers on nearly every level, upping both the production value and the songwriting. love, death, and heartbreak are hardly new subjects when it comes to folk music, but they refresh themselves so often in our lives that their relevance becomes tenfold with each new scrape, a notion that marling explores with both guarded wisdom and elegant petulance on standout cuts like "rambling man". at its heart, the album is a bare-bones singer/songwriter record, which makes the tasteful bursts of explosive percussion, banjo, mandolin, and backing vocals (from members of mumford & sons) all the more effective. that said, it is marling's enigmatic voice, and clever phrasing (a la joni mitchell) that will keep listeners coming back.

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