Songs Of The Week #47

Gold Panda, Natalia Clavier, Alela Diane, Lightning Dust, & Marijuana Deathsquads...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies! Welcome to Songs Of The Week #47!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the SOTW column, here's the scoop: TCDroogsma has been a devoted fan of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast since its inception back in 2007. TCDroogsma also likes to talk about music. Seeing an opportunity to satisfy his vices while simultaneously putting him to work we had him start reviewing those Current Song Of The Day tracks. 47 weeks later and here we are...

As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself. It's free & it's fun for the whole family!

To that end, once you've given the tracks a spin or two, feel free to cast a vote for your favorite Song Of The Week in the poll to the right side of the page. The artist with the most votes receives the validation that comes with winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.

So, Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Gold Panda – Brazil (from the album Half Of Where You Live)

TCDroogsma:

     As I've written in this column many times, I've come to genuinely appreciate instrumental music over the last 3 or 4 years.  While the pop music fan in my head craves hooks and melodies, as I've gotten older I've found myself enjoying the subtle movements that come alone with instrumental music in general and producer-based instrumental music in particular.

    
     Also, as I've written in this space many times, when a song lacks lyrics or vocals I find myself using the title of the song to color the song's meaning.  I'm not completely certain this is a fair, however, the artist could have called the song anything they like, so the title should carry some weight.

     Which brings me to "Brazil" by London-based producer Gold Panda.  For better or (mostly) worse, "Brazil" is an instrumental track that contains vocals.  Sadly, those vocals are just the word "Brazil" said repeatedly with little to no variation.  This repetition is so numbing that it's nearly impossible to focus on the movement of the music underneath, rendering only a brutal ping-pong ball percussive sound as the only thing that actually sticks in my brain.  Basically, by adding these lyrics Gold Panda has taken any narrative away from the title and made the literal word "Brazil" the focus of what could have been an interesting track.  What's left is just a smattering of noise that seems to start and end with no discernible reason.

Final Score: 1/5

02. Natalia Clavier – Trouble (from the album Lumen)

TCDroogsma:

     With "Trouble," Natalia Clavier makes her attempt to fill the neo-pop-soul void left behind by Amy Winehouse.  "Trouble" has a all the hallmarks of the late Back In Black singer.  The vocals are both strong and vulnerable.  The music's bouncy bass & horn combo is so spot on that Mark Ronson could probably be awarded compensation in a copyright suit.  Hell, the song even opens with the line, "I know I've been bad, real bad, still I think I'm gonna do it again..."

    
    So, taken as its own original creation, "Trouble" fails miserably.  There is nothing here that you haven't heard (and heard done better) before by the likes of Winehouse & Sharon Jones.  It's only moment of originality comes courtesy of a horn solo that sounds like it was transported from The Specials "Ghost Town" with the formerly on-the-dole musician playing with the enthusiasm of finding a well-paying job.

     Taken as a bid for the throne, however, "Trouble" carries some weight.  It's certainly got the swagger & sexiness to make people to dance.  I'd imagine it sounds phenomenal when played live, the kind of song that would instantly grab anybody in attendance and convert them immediately.

     Sadly, I'm hearing it live and I was never much of a fan of this new soul sound anyway.  Great horn solo, though.

Final Score: 2/5

03. Alela Diane – About Farewell (from the album About Farewell)

TCDroogsma:

     The first few times I listened to "About Farewell" I was pretty dismissive.  It seemed to be a fairly rote entry in the world of "tender singer songwriter" and offered little to distinguish itself from its thousands of peers.

    
     However, "About Farewell" proved to be a grower as the week went on.  I was finally struck by the instrumentation of the song.  First off, it is completely percussion free.  Cleverly, a charming little guitar figure opens the song and reappears several times, giving the song a dynamic structure that's difficult to attain without a drummer.  As Diane laments both the mental approach to saying farewell and the literal act of saying farewell, what sounds like flutes (or keyboards approximating flutes) liners underneath everything, streaking through the time signature and mirroring the fact that rationalizing a goodbye doesn't make the act any easier.  When Diane delivers the line, "So honey, I've got to let you go..." these flutes are used to remarkable effect, echoing the sound of a train pulling away from a station.

     "About Farewell" stands up well because Diane manages to undertake the concept of "farewell" from several different angles and manages to sound sincere in each approach.  All without drums.  A lovely, if hearbreaking, tune if given room to breath.

Final Score: 3/5

04. Lightning Dust – Loaded Gun (from the album Fantasy)

TCDroogsma:

     Lightning Dust is the side project of Amber Webber & Josh Wells of the Vancouver-based Black Mountain.  I'll spare you from another of my rants about a Canadian boy/girl group crafting meticulous indie-pop songs, just know that, yet again, I find myself reviewing a song by a Canadian boy/girl group that crafts meticulous indie-pop songs.  Stick with what you know, The Current.

     Anyway, Lightning Dust is slightly more intriguing than the usual songs in this genre simply because the goal of this side project is to scale everything down rather than cram as many bells, whistles, voices, and hooks into one song and most of the other Canadian pop songs I review.  To that end, "Loaded Gun" does a nice job.  Taking the percussion from Nine Inch Nails "Closer" and giving it some burbling-but-danceable bass work creates a fine palette for Webber & her double tracked vocals.

     The track does not deviate much from the kick-snare-kick formula and that serves the song well.  Adding different elements as the song goes on (keyboard squiggles, second and third vocals, the odd crescendo...), "Loaded Gun" stays consistently interesting despite never really adding a hook.  An interesting song, but clearly the work of people exploring a new genre and their own self-imposed restrictions.

Final Score: 3/5

05. Marijuana Deathsquads – Wade (from the album Music Rocks I & II)

TCDroogsma:

     If you're at all familiar with Marijuana Deathsquads you can immediately understand why reviewing them in the context of a "singles" column is pretty much useless.  To be blunt, MDS does not traffic in singles.  They occupy a strange world of multiple drummer, muddied vocals, glitchy-synths, and whatever strikes Ryan Olson's fancy during largely improvisational performances.

    
     All that said, I did spend a week with Music Rocks I & II earlier this month, so I have the benefit of at least knowing how "Wade" fits into the whole of that album (an album which doesn't feature any breaks between songs, but rather functions as one long, live movement).  Hell, I even tackled this earlier this month when I played "Remembories" on the Flatbasset Radio podcast as it has the most immediate hook on the whole album.

     Well, "Wade" is indicative of Music Rocks I & II as a whole.  The band has mastered the art of the build-drop-climax better than just about anybody.  The fact that they get to do it with two drummers gives that climax an extra push that most bands could only dream of.  Issac Gale's vocals serve mainly as a place holder on "Wade," giving the song some verse-chorus structure, but not much.  This is going to sound super corny, but Marijuana Deathsquads doesn't want to you to hum along.  Hell, they don't even want you to think.  The goal here is to get lost in the sound & fury.  This makes for a hell of time in forty-minute, multi-song-suit doses.  Doing it for a mere five minutes will likely just leave the casual listener confused.

    I highly recommend downloading Music Rocks I & II.  It's free here at the Totally Gross National Product site.  Within the context of the album "Wade" is a fine track (though the track it leads into, "GhostCop 2," is an instant classic).

Final Score: 4/5

Well there you have it, everybody! Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, and filed away!

Please keep 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 a little too much time on our hands.

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