Songs Of The Week #35: TCDroogsma

Wall., William Tyler, Villagers, Hey Marseilles, & Weird Visions...

Well hello again, mp3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #35!

For those of you who don't quite know what you're looking at, here's the scoop: Each week we ask two of our regular contributors to download the songs given away via The Current's Song Of The Day podcast. Once they've spent a few days with the songs we ask them to write a review and give the songs a score of 1-5.

As always, we strongly suggest that you click here to subscribe to the podcast yourself. It's free, occasionally good music! To that end, we also have a poll to the right side of the page. Please vote for whichever of this week's song was your favorite. The winner receives the validation that comes with winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the greatest achievement a musician can receive.

Sadly, we've still yet to find a second contributor to review the songs. Thankfully, we have the always dependable (and always available) TCDroogsma.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Wall. - Left To Wonder (from the EP Shoestring )

TCDroogsma:

      Whether it's due to an expanding pallet or through the massive exposure provided by stations like The Current, I've actually grown quite fond of synth-y, electro-pop over the last couple of years. Wall., however, sounds not quite like any of the other songs I've heard.

      Most electro-pop songs come on one of two ways: Either they start big and hope you get lost in a see of hooks & keyboard lines or they stay cold & distant, hoping you'll appreciate the fragility of the song. Remarkably, “Left To Wonder” takes neither of these approaches.  Rather, Wall. comes on like a space heater, slowly enveloping the listener.

      The first minute finds just keyboard & bass guitar backing some airy vocals. As the song hits the first chorus, though, the vocals become more forceful, the keyboard lines more varied, and the slow-burn potential realized.

      As “Left To Wonder” presses on more vocals are added to the mix, the sparseness of the songs initial lines (like the loneliness of that first morning after a breakup) eventually gives way to strangely parallel vocals & echoes (which calls to mind the various thoughts that come with the breakup: regret, longing, nostalgia, & resolve). All things considered, “Let To Wonder” is the rare electro-pop song that grows better (and more relatable) with every play.

Final Score: 3.5/5

02. William Tyler – Cadillac Desert (from the album Impossible Truth)

TCDroogsma:

      Remember a couple of weeks ago when I reviewed an instrumental track called “I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance” by Ulrich Schnauss? Well, if not, I tried to make a point about the title of instrumental tracks carrying more weight than they would on a track with vocals. Inevitably, since there's no voice telling you otherwise, you can't help but let the title color the song. In the case of Schnauss, this was a bad thing, as it gave the song a condescending air that it probably wouldn't have carried if it was called something like “Bullet Train” or “I'm German, This Is Music I Play.”

      So, with that in mind, “Cadillac Desert” sounds like, well, a song you would play as you were driving a Cadillac through the desert. I have no idea if that's what William Tyler had in mind when he wrote the song or when he gave it a title, but the title defines it.

     The song comes on bluntly, with the opening strings & circular guitar sounding like a revving engine. That quickly gives way to some more nifty guitar work, with the strings coming & going intermittently, as if Tyler were driving that car through the last couple stop lights in town and out toward that desert.

     Two minutes in, and the strings have been relegated to the rear view mirror. We have four and a half minutes left to go and each one passes like a car doing 80 across the desert, trying desperately to leave whatever's in the city behind. The guitars weave in and out like a mind reeling with consequences real or imagined. The cruise control remains set until the last 25 seconds of the song, when everything settles down. That city and it's ghosts no longer visible, the panic in the guitar gives way to peace and the open road.

Final Score: 3/5

03. Villagers – Nothing Arrived (from the album Awayland)

TCDroogsma:

      It's somewhat telling that, despite not uttering one word, William Tyler was able to paint an entire picture in that previous song whereas Villagers gives us three verses and doesn't really say anything.

     “Nothing Arrived” is the perfect title for this song, as singer Conor O'Brien says almost nothing of consequence. The lyrics traffic in the type of vague, grey area that let's the song be applied by anybody to any situation they'd like. “I waited for something and something died, so I waited for nothing and nothing arrived...” is the lead to the chorus. What was that something? Dunno. It's implied that O'Brien has just gotten out of some sort of relationship (could be romantic, could be platonic) and that's vowing not to fall into that trap again.

      A third verse brings almost no clarity, “I guess it's over, I guess it's begun, it's a loser's table but we've already won, it's a funny battle, it's a constant game, I guess I was busy when nothing came...”

      Now, don't get me wrong, many an artist has taken to generalization in hopes of casting the widest net possible. The memorable ones (The Smiths, Bright Eyes, The Mountain Goats, etc...) add just enough specifics to give the song personality. Sadly, “Nothing Arrived” never finds those moments.

Final Score: 2.5/5

04. Hey Marseilles – Bright Stars Burning (from the album Lines We Trace)

TCDroogsma:

      Conversely, we have Hey Marseilles, who does a fine job of using just a few specifics to fill in the blanks of the clichés that make up most of a song. Lines like, “When I go so far you leave me in the dark I just want to be your light...” and “Summer skies don't shine the same, winter cold won't numb the pain...” are definitely cringe inducing. However, lines like the opener, “Don't rely on things you read on highway signs or magazines,” find that moment between cliché and specific, giving the song life and making the listener feel like they can relate to the sentiment of the song if not the specific story. And really, that's the trick.

      “Bright Stars Burning” is a very agreeable song, but Hey Marseilles definitely sound like they graduated with honors from the Ben Gibbard Academy Of Cardigans & Jaded Optimism. The references to seasons, nature, stars, and light make this song sound like it was somehow mistakenly left off of Plans (to say nothing of the extreme polish of the production). Of course, Plans is my favorite Death Cab For Cutie record, so consider that a compliment.

Final Score: 3/5

05. Weird Visions – Make To It (w/Holly Newsom) (from the 7” Weird Visions)

 
TCDroogsma:

      I hate to say it, but “Make To It” will probably go down as the moment that the MPLS-spawned “Gayngs” sound was finally played out.

      Look, I actually kind of dig “Make To It.” I think Holly Newsom of Zoo Animal has been building to this sort of thing for quite a while. Her voice is oppressively sexy when fronting her own band and it remains so on “Make To It.” I'm also a fan of Grant Cutler (though that's been a relationship of diminishing returns since the first Lookbook record.)  The dilemma is that, where Ryan Olson was able us auto-tune to give Channy Leaneagh's voice a warm, sensual appeal with Polica, Cutler uses the same technology to make Newsom sound less sensual & more like a sexbot.

      If “Make To It” existed in an alternate universe (or maybe just a different city) where Ryan Olson hadn't already blazed this trail then Weird Visions could probably go down as something fresh & new at best or at least an intriguing curiosity at worst. Unfortunately for Weird Visions (though fortunately for us), the Gayngs & Polica record exist, relegating Weird Visions to also-ran status.

Final Score: 2.5/5

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

As always, please bear in mind that neither Newest Industry nor our contributors are in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or MPR. We're just music fans with laptops and little 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 free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio.

For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on all the work being done by our contributors. More importantly, we have a Facebook page here. Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a “Like” is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.