Month: May 2020

Record #683: Drab Majesty – Demonstration (2017)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald / 1 Comment

A few weeks ago, my love of Emma Ruth Rundle’s masterpiece On Dark Horses and her post metal outfit Red Sparowes finally bade me to listen  to her psych-metal/dark-indie project Marriages (review coming in a few days).

And as I was digging in, I discovered that the drummer of Marriages has his own project—the moody, atmospheric new wave/dark wave/cold wave outfit Drab Majesty. And at my first listen to the project’s sophomore record Demonstration, it grabbed me in its painted-nailed, ruffle-shirted, androgynous arms and wrapped me up in a hold that was half hug, half Anaconda Vise.

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Record #682: Dashboard Confessional – The Best Ones of the Best Ones (2020)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

My fifteenth birthday was a formative one. While on vacation with my family, I made the conscious decision to stop spiking my hair and instead push it forward. I decided to put away my past-the-knee shorts and skate shoes in favor of slim fit jeans and Chuck Taylors. And when given free reign at a CD shop, I bought Dashboard Confessional’s The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most (and the first two Juliana Theory EPs) instead of the earlier Blink-182 albums that I had been eyeing for a while.

I had weighed the options, and decided: I was going to be an emo kid.

And over the next year, Dashboard Confessional would be central to that process. I absolutely devoured the first two albums, detuning my guitar to Chris Carabba’s open chords and training my voice to yelp similarly. I was even reminded recently of a short-lived solo project called Just My Luck that aped every part of his own solo work.

But unfortunately, those two records are nearly impossible to find on vinyl. Copies of Swiss Army Romance go for over $250. The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most has never been pressed (though his next two Vagrant releases were reissued a couple years ago?) And so, I found myself with no choice than to swallow my pride and buy this uneven and, at times, bizarre compilation.

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Record #681: Better Oblivion Community Center – Better Oblivion Community Center (2019)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Few songwriters are as prolific and profound as Conor Oberst. In fact, it was his album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning that first convinced me of the power of a songwriter and an acoustic guitar (and turned me from a punk rocker to a folk singer for a few years in college).

Outside of his work with Bright Eyes, though, nothing has grabbed me. Desaparecidos was a great punk band, but that’s never what I listen to him for. The one-off supergroup Monsters of Folk was a supreme disappointment (apart from “Dear God”). The Mystic Valley Band was pleasant enough, but failed to make much of an impression.

But then there’s Better Oblivion Community Center, his songwriting duo with the equally profound and prolific Phoebe Bridgers, which is his best work in almost a decade.

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Record #680: Battles – Mirrored (2007)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

When you’re exploring new music, occasionally you come across love-at-first-site records—albums that immediately latch themselves to your psyche when you first hear them. Then, there are slow burns—records that take a little more exploration, but fully envelop you in their sonic arms.

Then, there are great, unknowable beasts: eldritch albums with a hundred eyes and a thousand tentacles that never stop swirling long enough for you to get a good look at them. You are left only with a roaring, gaping impression of the unearthly monstrosity. Every glance uncovers additional layers, peeling themselves away endlessly to unrecognizable shapes until it isn’t the album you thought you listened to the last time.

Mirrored has been one of these albums for me: an ancient, Lovecraftian record that changes color and shape with every repeated listen. But after a decade of trying to wrap my head around it, I’ve finally embraced the madness.

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Record #679: The National – High Violet (2010)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Among the annals of indie rock, there are few bands like The National.

Despite the rich, almost folksy songwriting, the songs are accompanied by angular electric guitars and rushing drums rather than an earthy, acoustic-based sonic palette. Despite the kinetic energy of the band, singer Matt Berninger’s voice rarely strays from a rich baritone, avoiding the yelps and howls that most frontmen would employ when paired with a band of such energy.

High Violet, their fifth album (which celebrated its tenth anniversary this week!) was my entry point to the band, and what an entry point it is. Across the eleven tracks, it showcases everything that the National does better than anyone. Continue reading →

Record #678: Amesoeurs – Amesoeurs (2009)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

For all the impact its had on the global metal landscape, the French blackgaze scene is dominated by a small handful of projects. Perhaps the two most important are Les Discrets and the incomparable Alcest. And in Amesoeurs (French for “soulmates”), Fursy Teyssier of Les Discrets joins forces with Neige of Alcest, Audrey Sylvain of Peste Noire (the female voice on Alcest’s debut), and Winterhalter, who would go on to be a member of both Les Discrets and Alcest.

Amesoeurs, the group’s only album, stretches the limits of black metal in a similar way that Alcest and Les Discrets do, but in this project, they meld its hellish fury with the dark moodiness post punk more than glistening joie de vivre of post rock or the somnambulant heaviness of shoegaze.

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Record #677: Mike + The Mechanics – Mike + The Mechanics (1985)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

At times, Genesis feels less like a progressive rock band and more like Xavier’s School For Gifted Solo Pop Artists.

Of course there’s the original frontman, Peter Gabriel, who perfected the pop record in 1986’s So. His replacement, Phil Collins, crafted such heartfelt pop that 30 Rock once claimed—correctly—that all that is necessarily to enjoy him is “two ears and a heart.”

In the shadow of such massive monoliths, it makes sense that Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford would be overlooked. In fact, I didn’t even know he had a solo career until I found this album in a box of freebies. But at first listen to his debut Mike + The Mechanics, Mike makes it clear that he’s just as capable.

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Record #676: Fiddlehead – Springtime and Blind (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

 

Across the music community, there are two things that rarely pay off: hype and supergroups.

Hype over a band often overshadows the actual output of the project, while the work of most supergroups fails to capitalize on the combined efforts of the members involved.

But luckily, there are exceptions to every rule. Springtime and Blind, the debut LP from Fiddlehead (feat. members of Have Heart and Basement) eschews every ounce of speculation directed its way and delivers one of the most heartfelt, teeth-kicking albums in years.

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