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If you’ve never experienced a Phil Elverum project before (Mount Eerie, the Microphones, other K Records stuff of the early ’00s), I cannot recommend listening to Wind’s Poem.
As a previous Microphones fanatic, though, I can only speak of the album through my expectations.
Mr. Elverum has not strayed from his major-key, 5 note melodies, nor has his lyrical powers moved beyond the awkwardness of his earlier, more emo-tinged work. “My heart a frozen boulder” always stuck out in every listen. His words are more removed form his emotions this time, making the content he covers more distanced, more cerebral. It seems like he’s attempting to construct a metaphysical landscape out of his relationship with nature. But as my wife exclaimed on one car ride: “Those words just don’t fit!! [laughing]” It’s true, the rhythm of the words are sometimes incredibly clunky. I am sometimes inspired by philosophical texts, but their jargon is not the stuff of songs.
Wind’s Poem is made up, on the larger scale, of two different style of sound: loud, abrasive and simple; and gentle, meandering, and simple.
1. Loud songs. Walls of loud guitars and a wash of cymbals. Mr. Elverum’s voice comes in occasionally, but the mix has no room for him. This competition of sound makes for an unsatisfying listen. I tended to skip these song for that reason. The songs perpetuate themselves with a droning note or chord, perhaps to build tension before moving to the next note or chord. This gives that incredible sense of walking through waist-high sludge when executed successfully, but the muddy mix (no pun intended) causes it to simply feel like an extended wait until the next note or chord! Oh no!
2. Soft songs. These have always been Mr. Elverum’s strong point and Wind’s Poem is no exception. Each song has an interesting sonic space and arrangement. His vocals don’t compete as much in the mix, though being able to distinguish the words are not always desirable, as I stated.
I struggled, though, as I said in my previous post, with the energy of the record. These soft songs feel motionless. They feel largely uninspired. Like they were written in a period of numbness. Whereas Mr. Elverum’s work as the Microphones was powered by his strong emotional feelings, these songs feel like they lack that compositional will to be. He has some nice melodies, some interesting arrangements – the record is fairly well-crafted. It’s lacking energy, though. But that’s purely my intuition. Nothing objective.
If you are interested, here are the tracks that I particularly enjoyed. “Between Two Mysteries” is particularly great! That track comes highly recommended.
8. Between Two Mysteries ****
9. Ancient Questions
11. Lost Wisdom pt. 2
12. Stone’s Ode
Note on the reviews of the record: too much attention paid to Wind’s Poem’s debt to metal. Other than loud, abrasive guitars, moving in unison, I just didn’t think it was such an important factor in experiencing the album. No double-bass drum, no screeching/guttural vocals. Then again, my understanding of metal is limited. To me, this record sounded just like his other records. No additional references necessary.
I hate feeling the like the joke is on me. I’m sure I share that feeling with a lot of folks. So when I bought Pop Group’s first record, I expected some things (of course):
1. A lot of funk/punk
2. Screaming vocals about politics/whatever
3. Noise over rhythm
What I got was a completely bizarre mash-up of James Chance, The Fall and Pere Ubu…on the first two tracks. The rest of the album…well…can’t you tell by my over-use of ellipsis that I am a little non-plussed?
This is a record that tries too hard to be fragmented, if that makes any sense. I have trumpeted bands that destroy the code of order inherent in rock and roll, but even I have a breaking point. Listen to three tracks on this album: The first two, “She is Beyond Good and Evil” and “Thief of Fire”, as well as the fifth track “We Are Time.” They boast awesome rhythm sections and tangled guitars, as Mark Stewart’s vocals dance in and out of the mix.
On the boards is reputed dub producer Dennis Bovell (he produced the Slit’s debut as well), who does his best to make sense of the detritus that litters the rest of the album. Boring, “experimental” music fills the holes on this record. I really can’t stand when a band doesn’t have any ideas and decides aimless improv is good enough.
Of course, resident hack review of Allmusic.com John Dougan gives the record a bizarre 4 1/2 stars out of 5 for apparently no reason. In the age of iPod and short attention spans, this record has fallen to the wayside. Blah.
From Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
Some great melodies, but lacking execution when it comes to the arrangement, recording quality, and form.
“In The Flowers” begins with a flood of highly compressed (data compression) noise, followed by arpeggios from an effect-laden acoustic guitar. The sound is dense and is particularly packed in the high-midrange. There is no space. Nothing sounds natural. Avey Tare’s voice sings a sing-songy tonal melody. This is fine. It repeats itself. The tempo is a lilting 3/4. Because the sound is so muddy in the high-mids, I can’t relax and enjoy this moment for what it is.
The middle portion of the song underlines this point: “In the Flowers” has one wonderful trick up its sleeve, and that is the shift from 3/4 to 2/4 when the thomping bass drum fades in. That moment is exhilarating, has a jubilant arrangement, and always makes me smile, but it lasts for a scant 16 or so measures, before the coda of the middle section begins, signaling a return to the 3/4 arrangement.
“In the Flowers” relies too much on its rhythmic shift. I love songs like this, where a move to a different rhythm or tempo feels organic and propels the song in a direction you didn’t think it would move! Sadly, “In the Flowers” doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere until that rhythmic shift. Not to say that it occupies that rarefied place of STILLNESS that some composers or groups manifest (Morton Feldman comes to mind), but that the experience feels so unpolished, so tossed off, that I feel like the band is merely vamping for a time until we’re lulled into a state of desire. I want to revel in the time before and after the middle section, but there is too much clutter: extraneous noises, dense and bright reverb, backwards reverb on Avey Tare’s vocals. It’s sonically frustrating (sadly much like the rest of the record).
I’ve created an understanding of what I think was trying to be accomplished, but the actual experience sadly falls short of that each and every time I listen.
For some context: I’ve loved Animal Collective ever since “Here Comes the Indian.” So I certainly had expectations, even hopes for this record! Maybe I’ll come back to it in a year and find the record as a whole less abrasive, but right now I am completely baffled at the media’s fixation on this being The Best Album of The Year So Far. It came out in January! Of course it’s better than most stuff t
hat came out already.
To reiterate: some very good songs. But I can’t help but compare this record to Here Comes the Indian, to Sung Tongs, to Campfire Songs (my favorite!), and this one feels so less crafted, so tossed off comparatively.
I did listen to it about 15-20 times, though. There’s something about being well-versed in a band or composer’s language that allows you to willingly subject yourself to a piece of theirs that you don’t particularly like. When I’m not listening to the record, I find myself wanting to like it. Every time someone off-handedly mentions the amazingness of the record, I have the urge to go back and listen, to try and see if I missed something. I’ve since learned.
Merriweather Post Pavilion is not my favorite record, but it’s good!
Times are tight here at Records. Time is tight, moreso. Cary is incredibly busy right now, and I’m currently spending a good 
deal of time interning at an audio mastering facility in NYC. What’s nice about this situation for me is that I get over 3 hours of train riding for my commute, which means that I get a TON of time to listen to music.
When I was living in Arizona my big time for listening was my 20 minute bikeride to and from school. This was adequate, but involved terrible headphones and, because of the nature of my activity, I was not in a place to listen to music with dynamics or anything without a sense of vibrancy and motion.
BUT NOW! When I’m terribly exhausted from my day in New York, I can sit on the train, stare out into the fleeting daylight (or my own reflection due to the night), and listen to more, well, contenplative stuff. Like Scott Walker! And Henri Dutilleux! Hooray!
Scott Walker – The Drift (2006) is excellent. Exhausting. A lot of textural work in the arrangements. I found myself desiring something with a bit more motion. The compositions feel like set pieces for the words. Almost as if he wrote the words, set the words to a melody, then simply decorated the sonic space behind the melody. This technique works wonderfully and creates some amazing moments, but I honestly wish the record had more variety. Then again, I’ve only given the record a handful of listens (only once all the way through) and maybe there is more subtlety than I’ve picked up on. I may write more on this soon.
Henri Dutilleux – Tout Un Monde Lointain is also excellent. It’s a Cello Concerto from 1970. I love Dutilleux. I love his melodies. Perfectly pleasing, yet wonderfully angular. I’ve been moving backwards through this piece. 5 movements, each one about 4 or 5 minutes long, so not a very exhausting piece. But I started listening backwards. And I love it. I’ve made it to the 3rd Movement (Houles). Delicious. Sadly not much more comes to mind. Still a good deal of details to catch with this one. So might write more about this soon, too!
Otherwise, updates will be minor in the coming weeks. Sad! But they will exist. We will persist! This Records is forever.
The first time I heard of Chrome was when a friend told me that Pavement had ripped them off. I had recently been introduced to Pavement by my friend Jarek. Amongst other things, their first release “Slanted and Enchanted” is nothing if not a cross-genre love letter to the 80’s, through the lens of their hyper-literate leader Stephen Malkmus.
The shaky, warbly vocals of Meat Puppets and Dinosaur Jr, the lyrical puzzles of R.E.M., the sonics of The Television Personalities with occasional Mark E. Smith caterwauls. All this held together with what I now view as an apparent homage to Chrome’s industrial metal shards and song structures.
Now, Chrome at the time of “3rd” was comprised of Damon Edge and Helios Creed on vocals, guitars, and keyboards while the Stench Brothers held down the bass and drums. Not many 80’s guitarists can hold a candle to Creed’s electric manglings. He has an epically melodious sense, even when his guitar sounds like it will actually destroy the very tape the band is trying to record on.
The mix is dense, the drums and bass mixed loudly in with the vocals. Only the lead guitar manages to over-power them. Tape loops, rhythm guitars and keyboards fill in the mid-range. Newer recording clarity aside, this ain’t Steely Dan. Don’t expect to hear the kick drum pedal squeak.
The songs. Forgoing the Faustian cut-and-paste collage style that dominated their earlier records, 3rd is rooted in a strange marriage. Somewhere, on a planet far away, the heavy metal of Black Sabbath, the industrial sludge of Throbbing Gristle, motorik swerve of Neu! and the unbounded energy of the Swell Maps collided to form the sound of this album.
Songs like “Firebomb” and “Heartbeat” mercilessly plow ahead, mixing in quasi-funk bass/drums with brain-damaging guitar runs. Damon Edge’s keyboards slink along, quietly adding sinister counter-melodies to the bass guitar’s foundations.
The lyrics are dark and incredibly hard to decipher. Yes, certain nouns and verbs can be occasionally gleaned from the chaos, but they are fragmentary in nature, all doom and gloom with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
If you have 20 bucks, buy the Chrome Box. Four complete albums, as well as the Inworlds 12″ among other odds and ends. Essentially amazing.
Gilgamesh’s “Destroy All PT Cruisers” has officially entered my Running/PhysicalExercise Playlist. This is no mere feat of Insider PR-ing. I feel that fellow Ariskany Records mate Gilgamesh has crafted a song worthy of the emotional state needed for X-treme activity.
Running is a horrible activity. I have grown to love it, now having outgrown my self-starving adolescent period I finally eat enough calories each day to get me through some good ol’ fashioned exercise. But back in the day I needed some serious tunes to get me though a punishing workout. I put together countless mixes only to realize that a small handful of songs from my collection could handle the task. In high school they were few:
Grateful Dead – Hard to Handle (From The Phil Zone, back when PigPen was singing)
Rolling Stones – Rocks Off (From Exile on Main St.)
? – There were a couple others, but these two stand out.
These songs could get my blood pumping – that combined with my endorphins made for a serious runner’s high. I would then usually run way too fast and tire myself out early, but damn if it didn’t feel good.
What songs didn’t work? “White Light/White Heat” comes to mind. Man, what a pumping and breathing and chugging track by the Velvet Underground, and yet when that song came on my energy dropped and I felt my body all over. The tempo drops just enough and maybe Mo’s drumming just wasn’t tight enough. I wouldn’t have that brilliant track any other way, but it lacked the tenacity to be a part of a running mix.
So why does “PT Cruisers” work? Maybe it’s the triple drum machine attack. Maybe the incessant guitar line. (As a side note, I got to hear this maybe two years before Gilgamesh finally unleashed it and had the drum and guitar track stuck in my brain… FOR TWO YEARS). I love how a couple minutes in, that third drum machine finally jumps into focus in the left speaker and begins the back and forth motion every two bars. When that left drum machine plays you feel every 8th note. But it drops out after two bars! In the vacuum the two other drum machines click away, but now we’re only feeling the first beat of every bar. This back and forth occurs for the rest of the song. It’s fast enough, “PT Cruisers.” Also Gilgamesh delivers lyrics with a wonderful biting, yet absurd tone. Perfect for shouting along with the run.
I must be off to class. But here’s my short list for running:
This Heat – Health and Efficiency
Lightning Bolt – Two Towers
Gilgamesh – Destroy All PT Cruisers
(they’re long songs, and I never run that long anywayssssszzzzz)
