Songs Of The Week #26: TCDroogsma

Whitehorse, Wake Owl, Amor De Dias, & Carroll...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #26!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Songs Of The Week, here's the scoop. Each week we ask two of our regular contributors to download and review the songs given away via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast. As always, we strongly suggest that you click here to subscribe to the podcast yourself. Playing along at home is fun for the whole family! Assuming, of course, that your family likes middling indie rock.

As you may have noticed last week (and will notice again this week), we're still down to one reviewer. TCDroogsma will continue to fly solo here at SOTW until one of our other contributors is available to play along. Until then, sorry everybody, you're stuck with TCDroogsma.

As always, there is a poll to the righthand side of the page. Feel free to vote for your favorite of this week's tracks. The artist with the most votes receives the honor of validation by strangers on the internet, arguably the highest honor a musician can receive.

So, let's get into this one. Droogsy, thoughts on this week's songs?

01. Whitehorse – Devil's Got A Gun (from the album The Fate Of The World Depends On This Kiss)

TCDroogsma:

      There's a pretty short list of things an indie rock song can do that will immediately make me like it. First off, hooks-on-hooks-on-hooks. Ya'll know where my heart lies. The second: boy/girl vocals. I have no idea why I have such a soft spot for the multi-sex vocal approach, but I do (and it allows me to use terms like, “multi-sex vocal approach." Win/win!)

      Whitehorse does a masterful job using western-sounding guitars and bongos to build up the verse before busting out a go-for-broke hook on the chorus. Beef up the guitars & keyboards and replace the boy/girl vocals with some suffocatingly over-acted British vocals and this is a Muse b-side. I don't know if Whitehorse is aiming for anthems, but they come awfully close with “Devil's Got A Gun.”

Final Score: 3.5/5

02. Wake Owl – Wild Country (from the EP Wild Country)

TCDroogsma:

      On Twitter yesterday Andrea Swensson (@LocalCurrent) went on a bit of a mini-rant because somebody had referred to the state of folk music today as the #Luminera (brutal hastag, I know). She proceeded to say the this era of platinum-selling folk artists (Mumford, Lumineers, etc...) had been around for years already and that it was stupid to call “right now” the Luminera. She punctuated a couple of tweets with the question “What's next?”

      Now, you all know that I pretty much loathe all Americana/folk music. Like any genre, it has its bright spots (Bon Iver, the new Jim Ruiz album, maybe half a dozen Mason Jennings songs), but for the most part it just makes me angry/sleepy. I bring all this up because The Current's obsession with “What's next?” is disgusting. First of all, they are pretty much responsible for this wretched “Luminera” since, as Swensson mentions, they were playing Mumford & Sons four years ago. So, thanks for that, MPR. Act like you weren't circle jerking all over that first Fleet Foxes album. Second, in the ceaseless search for “What's next?” they risk dismissing songs like “Wild Country” out of hand, which is a shame.

      As I mentioned, whatever “folk music” is defined as, it's typically not my cup of tea. However, it seems that Wake Owl has cracked the code of making this music tolerable to me. If you were to look at my list of all-time favorite songs they would all have one thing in common: hooks. To that end, the bridge/chorus of “Wild Country” hits the sweet spot. I could do without the flatline melody of the verses and my anti-fiddle stance dates back nearly 20 years. But that chorus... the questions asked by the bridge (“maybe this is my heart/maybe it's yours”) are answered quickly and brutally in the chorus (“If I want to leave, I will/Stand on my feet, I do...”). A rare moments of lyrics with a spine and an earworm of a hook in a “folk” song. Dismiss “Wild Country” at your own risk.

Final Score: 3/5

03. Amor De Dias – Jean's Waving (from the album The House At Sea)

TCDroogsma:

      There's a lot of 90's to be found in “Jean's Waving,” which, of course, means I'm immediately attracted to it. The guitar shares the same bouncy quality as something like “Brimful Of Asha” and the vocals never sound forced or intentionally quirky. Basically, Amor De Dias seems to realize that they've written a gem of a song and, instead of drowning it in bells and whistles, they should just play it and let it work its magic.

      Maybe its just the Midwesterner in me, but the fact that the song stays modest with its charm appeals to me. Some female vocals in the chorus & a few plunked keyboard notes are all the song needs to sound perfectly complete. Amor De Dias never goes over the top to sell the song and they reap the rewards of the old “less is more” approach. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Final Score: 3.5/5

04. Carroll – Lead Balloon (from the EP Needs)

TCDroogsma:

      There's a lot going on in “Lead Balloon.” Noodling guitars, swooshing guitars, a keyboard that drops in and out of the mix, lyrics that, at times, are literally about balloons...

      All things considered, “Lead Balloon” is a charming, if somewhat forgettable song. Carroll sounds like they're trying to be everything to everyone (and, admittedly, they come closer to pulling it off than most bands), but it leaves them sounding like they're pretty good at most things, but not excellent at any one thing.

Final Score: 2.5/5

There you have it, music fans! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, and filed away.

Please remember, neither this blog nor its contributors is in any way affiliated with the artists reviewed, The Current, or Minnesota Public Radio. We're just music fans with keyboards and too much time on our hands.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio. His podcast was recently described as “sarcasm... brilliance mixed with non-sense.” We couldn't describe it better ourselves.

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