Well hello again, rock n roll fans! Welcome back to Ryan's Record Of The Week!
We made our way back down to Extreme Noise to have a little chat with Ryan and try to find something to soundtrack this eternal winter we've found ourselves in. Fortunately, Ryan had something to share with us:
Ryan takes some time out of his busy day to discuss the new Parquet Courts record with us. He also delves into always expanding Denton-sound, discusses Brooklyn hipsters, a gluten-free paleo diet, the struggles of naming a band in Minneapolis, and handles a surprise cameo by the FedEx guy!
Perhaps more importantly, Ryan gives us the lowdown on Record Store Day 2013. Extreme Noise will be open at 8 AM for all your Record Store Day needs. Extreme Noise will also have free food, free music, and loads & loads of Record Store Day exclusives! Have a look:
There you have it, folks! "Light Up Gold" by Parquet Courts is the Ryan's Record Of The Week #10!
For a better look at just what you're getting into with Parquet Courts have a look at this video:
For more Parquet Courts you can swing by their blog here.
Not to beat a dead horse, but if you're going out on Record Store Day, please make a point of stopping by Extreme Noise and saying "hello" to Ryan & everybody else. As you probably know by now Extreme Noise is run on a strictly volunteer basis. They go above and beyond to make Record Store Day a great experience for everybody.
Extreme Noise is located at 407 W. Lake Street. Just look for the place next to the saddle shop. For more info you can visit their website here.
For more Newest Industry give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of 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.
You see I'm close to the edge, I'm
at the end of my rope...
Hello again, music fans! Welcome to Singles Mixer #5!
For those of you unfamiliar with the Singles Mixer columns, here's the scoop. Whenever we find new singles from Minnesota bands we task one of our regular contributors with reviewing them. As is Newest Industry policy, all singles are given a score of 1-5 (whereas albums are rated 1-10).
This time around we asked TCDroogsma to give us his thoughts on Low's new single "Just Make It Stop" from their upcoming album The Invisible Way.
TCDroogsy, thoughts?
How you feel about “Just Make It
Stop” likely depends on how you feel about the recipe that Low has
perfected over 20 years.
There are typically three things that
define Low:
01. Instrumentation that makes as much use
of the empty space as it does of the instruments.
02. Alan Sparhawk's distinctive, fragile
vocals (often times complimented by Mimi Parker).
03. Lyrics that are somehow universal &
personal, allowing the listener to find themselves in nearly every
song.
“Just Make It Stop” only hits on
one of these three ingredients. Lyrically, this song fits nicely
into the Sparhawk/Parker canon. The lyrics are vague enough, with
many of the couplets addressed to the “you” that always seems to
be saying and doing things to fuck with people. Hell, even the
titular “it” is never really addressed. The world? Time? The
omnipotent, overbearing “you” (or, maybe, “them?”).
Regardless, when you sign up for the
music of Low you sign up for that sort of lyrical content. There's
something to be said for a band that can write songs that everybody
can relate to in their own way.
Now, on to those other two ingredients.
I fully realize that Alan Sparhawk is
not the “lead singer” of Low in the traditional sense. Still,
when releasing the first single from a new album, it's a bold move to
shelve the singer who is, to the casual fan, the voice of the band.
I'm not complaining
here, it's just a surprising left turn. I think Parker has a great voice and absolutely
carries the song. Whether it's years of sharing the microphone with
Sparhawk or my inability to separate new Low songs from my expectations, Parker manages the same
aggressive fragility as her sometimes co-singer.
Which brings us to the instrumentation.
What's the one thing that casual indie
rock fans know about Low? That they're slow and quiet. Obviously
“Just Make It Stop” is neither of those things. It's actually a
pretty rollicking affair considering who's playing the instruments.
Much has been made about the fact that
The Invisible Way was
produced by Jeff Tweedy. Admittedly, I didn't put a whole lot of
stock into his involvement (though, as a Wilco & Low fan it did
breed some curiosity). I was hoping that the lessons learned about
spacing and silence during A Ghost Is Born
and Summer Teeth would
translate to “Low with a Wilco twist.” Rather, if this single is
any example, we're being treated to “Low plays Wilco.” Rather
than an experiment in organic, live silence (I feel so pretentious
just typing that), “Just Make It Stop” has much more in common
with the country-tinged feel of Being There.
I
realize that this all makes me sound like a curmudgeon who wants his
Low to sound like Low. There's a grain of truth to that, as I really
do love the band's work. More accurately, I'm a bit disappointed
that rather than pushing toward the sound explored on Drums
& Guns (a masterpiece in my
book), Low seems to be pushing toward sounding like everybody else.
For a band that spent twenty years carving out a niche that was
theirs and theirs alone, “Just Make It Stop” sounds more like
compromise than evolution.
Final
Score – 2.5/5
There you have it, folks! TCDroogsma puts Low's new single "Just Make It Stop" square in the middle of the rankings.
For more information on Low's new album The Invisible Way and their upcoming tour, be sure to visit their website here. They can also be found on Twitter (@LowTheBand).
For more TCDroogsma, be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found here on Newest Industry hosting our weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio. Be sure to tune in each week, as winter's slowly causing him to lose his mind.
Of course Newest Industry also has a home on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1). Give us a follow to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors. More importantly, we have a Facebook page here. Stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free and highly effective way to support the blog.
"Hoping that the truth just might be drowned out..."
Oh hello again, music fans!
Local bedrock BNLX released their debut full length, appropriately titled BNLX this week. To celebrate they're hosting a two night BNLXFest at Cause this weekend.
With all of that going on we thought we ask TCDroogsma to give us his take on the first single from the album, "1929."
TCDroogsma, thoughts?
Hello again, everybody. Before I get into this song, I, regrettably, feel obligated to go into a little background for those of you who somehow may not know who BNLX is.
They're a three-piece operation consisting of Ed Ackerson on guitar, his wife Ashley on bass, and David Jarnstrom on drums. Ackerson is probably best known as the ringleader of the alterative pop band Polara, who were nearly flawless.
Now, I mentioned I regretted bring all this up because initially BNLX went to great lengths to avoid being known as an "Ed Ackerson Project." That seems to be a reasonable request considering his longevity in the Twin Cities scene. Presumably they didn't want anybody to hear the name "Ed Ackerson" and dismiss them out of hand simply because they didn't like Polara or had a bad night at a DJ night that Ackerson was hosting.
Again, all of this seems understandable. However, given how seemlessly "1929" would fit on to a Polara album it all seems kind of unnecessary.
The song opens with a beautifully fuzzed-out, poppy guitar line that sounds straight out of 1994 (which is, in my world, a great compliment). Ackerson opens the song with the line, "You're a hazard to yourself..." which, if you didn't know any better, you'd easily mistake as the opening of a jilted-lover song.
However, as the first verse gives way to the bridge (and Ashley Ackerson's lovely vocals turn up), the "we" of "we're moving on up..." makes it clear that this is no boy-done-wrong song, but rather a statement of a collective. When the chorus kicks off with the line, "Everybody in the house just sings along..." it becomes clear that the "we" is everybody and that this song is meant to be taken as a statement.
The titular "1929" is a reference to the year before the stock market crash that led to The Great Depression, and Ackerson implored us to draw the parallel between those good times and our modern times. To finish the line from the last paragraph, "...hoping that the truth just might be drowned out by the desire to throw down like 1929."
As a political statement, Ackerson seems to be sounding the siren a couple years late. I don't know anybody who's still "throwing down" like a young F. Scott in his hey... It should be noted, however, that if you're buying a BNLX album for its politics you're likely missing the point.
The brilliance of this song as a single has almost nothing to do with the lyrics. BNLX work up a perfectly distorted, reasonably dancy pop gem. Like something along the lines of early Fountains Of Wayne if they enlisted Peter Hook & Stephen Morris as their rhythm section. And then got Steve Albini to "record" it. I realize that's a lot of stupid things to try to add up, but, in my mind at least, it adds up to something brilliant.
I hate to say it (and Ackerson may hate to hear it), but a working knowledge of who Polara was and a loose knowledge of Ackerson's DJ nights actually helped me to appreciate this song. Even though I likely would have been sold on it regardless (those boy/girls vocals get me everytime...), knowing that this was the same guy who used to pen those brilliantly blurry pop gems made the political slant of the song seem more like a compliment to the work done earlier in his career than a stand alone political rant.
If you're new to BNLX, this is an excellent jumping off point. If you're already familiar with the Ackerson sound, this is a welcome addition.
Final Score - 4/5
There you have it, folks. Four stars...er, points? We're not totally sure. Still, four of five is pretty solid. Again, BNLX will be playing two nights this weekend (Nov. 16-17) down at Cause. Each night has a unique lineup (headlined by BNLX) and starts reasonably early at 9:00.
For more TCDroogsma he can be found on Twitter (@TCDroogsma) or over on his personal blog Flatbasset.He doesn't throw down like a young F. Scott Fitzgerald, but he certainly has a taste for the brandy.
For more Newest Industry we can also be found on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1). Give us a follow to stay up on the work being done by all of our regular contributors. More importanly, we have a Facebook page here. Stop by and give us a "like" before the stock market crashes and "likes" are rationed out by the government.
Welcome to the inaugural installment of our "Sounds Of Sota" series. If you haven't put the pieces together yet, this will be a place where we ask one of our regular contributors to give us their thoughts on local albums. Think of it as a compliment to our "Singles Mixer" posts.
As this is a new piece, we thought it would be appropriate to start it off with a new contributor. Ladies and gentlemen, one hand clapping against the other makes a very fine sound for Dr. Bill Rubin!
Now, for those of you who don't know Dr. Bill, he's a longtime friend and reader of the blog. He is also an encyclopedia when it comes to indie music. Since a large portion of the albums we review in this space are bound to be indie rock & hip-hop albums, we thought it would be important to make sure the man with the most knowledge on the subject had his voice heard.
A few weeks ago (SOTW #11) MinneSarah & TCDroogsma gave us their thoughts on the song "Beach" by local group Wiping Out Thousands. Well, the band has since released This Came First, the parent album to that single, as a pay-what-you-want download on their Bandcamp page. We put Dr. Bill on the case to find out just what the story is with this album.
(Scoring Note: Our individual track reviews run on a scale from 0-5. For entire albums we've bumped the system up to 0-10.)
Before we get to the review, have a look at this clip to get a good listen to Wiping Out Thousands.
Alright, click on the embedded player below to hear Dr. Bill's thoughts on the album.
Final Score - 3.6/10
There you have it! Dr. Bill... not too thrilled with the new Wiping Out Thousands album.
Again, This Came First is available as a pay-what-you-want download at Wiping Out Thousands' Bandcamp page.
For more of Dr. Bill, be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@DrBillRubin). He earned his PhD in indie rock studying under Professor Robert Pollard. He knows what he's talking about.
Of course this blog also has a Twitter page (@NewestIndustry1) that you can follow to stay up on all the work being done by our contributors. We also have a Facebook page here. Stop by and give us a pay-what-you-want 'like' if you have the time.
Hello again, rock n roll fans, and welcome to the seventh installment of Ryan's Record Of The Week!
This week we stopped by Extreme Noise to chat with Ryan about what's been on his turntable lately. We ended up discussing Video's "Leather Leather," the punk rock scene in Dallas vs. the scene in Denton, graffiti on Lake Street, and, most importantly, Ryan's 11 year anniversary working at Extreme Noise.
Also: STUDBOT!
Boom! Straight outta the North Dallas suburb of Denton, the new (kinda old) album from Video!
Here's a little bit better look at what you're getting into with this band.
Damn! That is some straight "If it's too loud you're too old" type shit. You should probably check that one out.
As always we'd like to thank Ryan for taking the time out of his busy day to turn us on to something new. Special thanks to Wendy and Studbot for their cameos (word up).
For more Extreme Noise, check out their website here. As you can see above, Extreme Noise is maintained on a volunteer basis. These folks are doing what they love strictly for the love. Big thanks to guys like Ryan who volunteer their time for 11 years just to try to keep that piece of Minneapolis alive. Ya'll are killin' it. Stop down and say hello to them next time you're on Lake Street.
Of course, this blog maintains a Twitter account (@NewestIndustry1) which you can follow to stay up on the latest blog posts. We also have a Facebook page here. We're also doing it strictly for the love. Stop by and give it a "like" if ya feelin' it.
