Jay-Zeezer

I'm not usually a big fan of mash-ups, especially not the rash of post Jay-Z ones. But I've got to admit that this one is killer.

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Album Review: Carbon Glacier

Carbon Glacier, (named after the breathtaking black and white mass atop Mount Rainier) is Veirs’ fourth album, is one great impressionistic mood-sweep.

Her last album, Troubled By The Fire while utterly beguiling, trod a familiar, country-tinged path, too similar to the works of Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris to be considered a great work. At times, Troubled By The Fire attempted to straddle too many genres (one minute bluegrass, one minute country, one minute agit-rock), and was denied of absolute greatness by being a bit scattershot and a bit too familiar. With Carbon Glacier, Veirs showcases an album of opaque, wintered laments that evoke the cold, jagged landscape of the Colorado Rockies.

While an album based on a landscape is nothing new, no other artist has succeeded like Veirs. Where other artists (notably Bruce Springsteen on Nebraska) have used the winter as a metaphor for emotional atrophy and exile, Veirs turns the idea on its head, instead focussing on the possibility of new life amongst the icy terrain. The opening lines are telling, “My wooden vibrating mouth / sing me your lover’s song / come with me and we’ll head up North / Where the rivers run icy and strong.” (Ether Sings) and so Veirs remains here for the duration of the album, using the American wilderness as giant metaphor and exploring nature’s unpredictability and the failings of humanity via gently exquisite songs that are both dark and enlightening.

Rapture is an excellent example of the Veirs’ songwriting range, name-checking Kurt Cobain (“junk coursing through his veins”) and Virginia Woolf (“Death came and hung her coat”). While comparing Monet’s Giverny gardens and Japanese poet Basho’s, “plucking ponds and toads” to, “the tree that writes great poetry / doing itself so well.” Recent single The Cloud Room balances its pop-leanings with a beautiful description of winter evenings, (“Trees fade to white / and boulders just might make an appearance / if the sun shines just right”) immaculately. Elsewhere, Chimney Sweeping Man offers a take on Dylan-esque narrative; the lonely protagonist locked into a life pattern of squandered promise. Veirs succeeds in translating the bleak, isolated immensity of nature into the bleak, isolated vastness of the modern city-sprawl, which ensures the album’s resonance

While Veirs’ voice is responsible for the imagery, much of the stark beauty is due to the credible production work of sometime Modest Mouse/Howe Gelb collaborator Tucker Martine; whose bare and simplistic arrangements still bear enough edge so as not to dull the listener into passivity. As Veirs' voice reaches its angel-sweet peak on the chorus to Rapture, a strange, descending vibraphone emerges, conjuring an air of stargazed self-discovery. Elsewhere, Wind Is Blowing Stars with its simple voice and guitar motif, cupped in a heavenly string arrangement is stunning. Only the queasy feedback of Salvage A Smile breaks the stride of the album. Above a flurry of urgently plucked, overdriven guitar and Veirs’ despondent poetry, Eyvind Kang’s viola creates a wonderful cacophony of human despair and strained dissonance.

While the album is deeply-rooted in feelings of isolation, the closing track, Riptide hints at a route out. Accompanied again by Kang’s weeping viola, she whispers, “And with this phosphorescence map / A sailor’s chart, a mermaid’s hand / something I’ll find.” You can be certain she will.

Carbon Glacier is the sound of a focussed songwriter hitting full stride. Not only does it excel in terms of songcraft and musicality; Veirs manages to deliver dour and disaffected subject matter without ever sounding detached or impenetrable. Carbon Glacier is a cold, beautiful and engaging record that improves with every listen. An absolute masterpiece.

Album Review: What It Sounds Like Volume 1

Alternative Country (or alt.country as it has become known) is a tough sound to define. Ever since No Depression was first published in 1995, the magazine has sought to provide examples of alt.country, but even they have been quick to point out that they don't quite know what it is (hence the disclaimer, 'whatever that is' appearing on every cover). The definition is elusive because, as with all art, the music pays no mind to strictures or bounds. And yet, somewhere, somehow there is a commonality, a harmonizing chord struck between the cracks of the styles and genres that blend together amid the artists portrayed in their pages. Ultimately though, the best way to understand any music, is to hear it. And here is a collection of thirteen moving and inspired songs that seem to fit together under the alt.country banner (whatever that is).

Seattle may seem like an odd place for a country compilation to begin, but then Johnny Cash was no ordinary country performer and Time Of The Preacher is no ordinary country track. Cash, during one of his final tours decided to stop off at a local studio and record this Willie Nelson track. Joining him are Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) on guitar, Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) on bass and Sean Kinney (Alice In Chains) on drums. Concluding this ephemeral super-group was John Carter Cash on twelve-string. As expected, the result is staggering; as Cash delivers one of his most powerful vocal performances.

Ryan Adams' former alma mater, Whiskeytown, make an appearance. Despite being surrounded by more worldly-wise artists on every track, it is the twenty-year-old Adams who sums up the feelings behind alt.country more than anyone else, as he admits, "So I started this damn country band / cause punk rock was too hard to sing." Faithless Street is lifted from Whiskeytown's 1995 album of the same name and is a potent reminder that while Adams' rock leanings have become more evident, his roots can be found in country music. Adams isn't the only artist on this collection who abandoned his punk lineage to forge a career in country music. No Depression's Artist of the Decade, Alejandro Escovedo's (formerly a member of 70s punk band The Nuns) finest moment, the startling Five Hearts Breaking is also featured.

The Carter Family's No Depression In Heaven demands inclusion, for it's the track that gave 'No Depression' magazine its name. The song is often credited to A.P. Carter, though research has shown that the true author was James D. Vaughn. This song has often been covered (most notably by New Lost City Ramblers and Uncle Tupelo), but it is the Carter Family's adaptation that remains the definitive version.

Other highlights include the beautiful, Is Heaven Good Enough For You by Alison Moorer, Buddy Miller's caustic, Does My Ring Burn Your Finger? and Hayseed's interpretation of the age-old standard, Farther Alon. Farther Along is proof, once again, that Emmylou Harris is the most perfect harmonising partner in country music history, perfectly complementing Christopher Wyant's baritone vocal.

This disc is bright and humorous yet gloomy and poignant. No Depression doesn't assist in establishing a definition for alt.country. What it does do though, is serve as an excellent starting point for those to start their journey into the realms into the more credible end of country music. Frankly, this compilation is an excellent opportunity for any music fan to buy a baker's dozen of tremendous, disparate yet comparable songs in one fell swoop.

I love the Boro, me

STD movie by Disney

Here's a great review from Skip Elsheimer of a World War II movie that Disney made.

"The next scene is of an animated germ wearing a spiked Kaiser helmet, the Sergeant (played by Keenan Wynn – perhaps best known for his role as Colonel ‘Bat’ Guano in Dr. Strangelove) briefing his troops of the Contagion Corps. The troops are syphilis and gonorrhea germs that wear berets with their initials on them (‘S’ and ‘G’)."

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The best albums of 2003

25. Evan Dando – Baby I'm Bored
The kind of shambling confessional that only Evan Dando could come up with.

Best track – Waking Up

24. Adam Green – Friends Of Mine
On first listen silly and goofy, Green's first 100 per cent studio album is actually much cleverer than you'd think. That he manages to mesh ballads with rockabilly and songs about Jessica Simpson just demonstrates his offbeat genius.

Best track - Bluebirds

23. Grandaddy – Sumday
As a snapshot of modern existence it falls short only of their 2000 masterpiece The Sophtware Slump.

Best track – I'm On Standby

22. Peaches - Fatherfucker
Filthy, low-budget fun that's actually as profound as it is profane.

Best track – Kick It

21. Sun Kil Moon – Ghosts Of The Great Highway
Mark Kozelek takes everything that was great about the Red House Painters and turns it up a notch or two. Moving, graceful and flat-out beautiful.

Best track – Carry Me Ohio

20. Mars Volta – De-Loused In The Comatorium
A brain-achingly ambitious, sprawling and audacious statement. Mesmerising, complex and cryptic, it raises the bar for any modern rockers wanting to try their hand at prog.

Best track - Televators

19. Radiohead – Hail To The Thief
Someway, somehow Radiohead have made five truly great albums in a row. Hail To The Thief is their darkest, most frenetic long-player yet but it gives little indication of where they're heading next.

Best track – There There

18. The Strokes – Room On Fire
At 32-minutes, Room On Fire is a blisteringly quick collection of precision perfect tunes that's just as sleek and sexy as their debut.

Best track - Reptilia

17. Outkast – Speakerboxxx / A Love Below
Okay, so it loses the incredible vocal chemistry between Andre 3000 and Big Boi, but that's no price to pay for hearing two of hip hop's most intrepid and imaginative sonic explorers wow us with their totally undiluted visions.

Best tracks – Ghetto Musick / Hey Ya!

16. Patrick Wolf – Lycanthropy
This scrawny, skinny and unfathomably posh teenager who's as accomplished with accordions, lutes, violins as he is a laptop made one of the year's best albums and had probably the year's best live show.

Best track – Bloodbeat

15. My Morning Jacket – It Still Moves
Only three albums into their career and My Morning Jacket are already showing all the hallmarks of true greatness.

Best track – Mahgeetah

14. Sufjan Stevens – Michigan
The start of Sufjan Stevens' 50 States project is a charming and depressing homage to his home state.

Best track – Flint (For The Unemployed And Underpaid)

13. Kings Of Leon – Youth & Young Manhood
A rollicking cocktail of rock, country and gospel that captures the sound of growing out and growing up as well as any band ever has.

Best track - Trani

12. Metallica – St Anger
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than some clowns would have you believe. So it's not Kill Em All or Ride The Lightning, it's a thunderously aggressive metal album that's as savage and visceral as any of their 80s masterpieces.

Best track – Frantic

11. King Geedorah – Take Me To Your Leader
Not content with rejuvenating hip hop with his MF Doom persona, Daniel Dumile has dropped a cold, murky and dense album that supersedes anything ninety-nine per cent of rappers will ever attempt.

Best track – No Snakes Alive

10. Greg Ashley – Medicine Fuck Dream
Ashley's solo debut is a masterclass in shaggy and rough acid-folk that wins extra points for being recorded in his parents' garage.

Best track – I Said "These Are Lonely Days"

9. Daniel Johnston – Fear Yourself
Like all of Daniel Johnston's albums, Fear Yourself is sad, pretty, funny and touching but it's Mark Linkous' production that gets the best any producer ever has out of Daniel.

Best track – Love Not Dead

8. Viktor Vaughn – Vaudeville Villain
Leaving production duties to his buddies like RJD2, Doom is able to spend the entire album delivering the most vital, twisted and focused verses of his career.

Best track – Vaudeville Villain

7. Jay-Z – The Black Album
Jigga's retirement album might have been forced to the sidelines by 50 Cent's ubiquitous debut but it was Jay-Z who released the best rap album from the US. Now, let's see how long he actually stays retired.

Best track – 99 Problems

6. Dizzee Rascal – Boy In Da Corner
Boy In Da Corner is the kind of once in a blue moon debut that makes every other British artist looks dull and uninteresting.

Best track – Fix Up, Look Sharp

5. Coachwhips – Bangers Vs. Fuckers
Like a supercharged White Stripes, Coachwhips strip rock n' roll down to its dirty, fuzzy, scuzzy core. Turn your speakers to 12 and enjoy.

Best track – Evil Son

4. Damien Jurado – Where Shall You Take Me?
Jurado's most accomplished album to date is a masterpiece of dark storytelling. This generation's Nebraska.

Best track - Abilene

3. The Weakerthans – Reconstruction Site
This mature, literate, intelligent album is not only the highlight of John Samson's career but an effortlessly perfect collection of wonderfully poignant songs.

Best track – One Great City!

2. The White Stripes – Elephant
A truly phenomenal record that ensures Jack and Meg cement their status as honest to goodness rock n' roll gods.

Best track – The Hardest Button To Button

1. Rufus Wainwright – Want One
Camp, opulent and melodramatic, Want One was the lush and luxurious opus that Rufus always threatened to make. If it's sister album, Want Two, is half as good, then we already know what the best album of 2004 is.

Best track – Go Or Go Ahead

Bush wants to close London

"American officials want a virtual three-day shutdown of central London in a bid to foil disruption of the visit by anti-war protestors. They are demanding that police ban all marches and seal off the city centre."

Aren't we supposed to be allies to this jerk?

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