Reviews

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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Record #674: Alcest – Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde (2007)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald / 1 Comment

After the other two members of traditional black metal band Alcest left, soon-to-be French metal icon Neige decided to use the project—or at least the name—as a vehicle for his own experimental mix of black metal, shoegaze, post rock, and gothic.

As a child, Neige would often dream that he was visiting a forest filled with glowing, enchanted creatures from another world. On Alcest’s debut full-length, the suitably titled Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde (Souvenirs from Another World), Neige explores what he’s always imagined the music of that land to sound like.

The results are just as otherworldly as advertised, though it shows mere glimpses of where Alcest would go in their now legendary career.

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Record #673: The Life and Times – Skull Map (2017)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Often when I’m trying to figure out what I want to listen to, I find myself trying to make the decision between heavy riffs or catchy melodies. Do I want to sing along with the choruses, or do I want to be crushed beneath the monstrous weight of the guitars?

Luckily, The Life and Times never makes me choose, hitting like a mix of HUM-y walls of noise with almost Beatles-y melodies.

And I am here for it. 

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Record #672: Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (1969)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Sometimes, life feels like a random intersection of others lives. In 1969, there was just over three and a half billion people on the planet. And somehow, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones found one another and formed one of the most important bands in the whole scope of pop music history.

And they released this record, which would become one of the most influential albums of all time.

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Record #671: Greylag – Greylag (2014)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

In the spring of 2006, during the heyday of MySpace, I somehow ended up becoming good friends with an entire family of siblings that I had never met.

The eldest was Andrew Stonestreet, a singer songwriter with a golden voice and a master for subtlety. At that point, he was writing bluegrass inspired worship songs that were as introspective as they were delicate.

Years later, he moved from West Virginia to Portland, where he formed Greylag, a project that turned his Appalachian sensibilities a few shades atmospheric—and apocalyptic.

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Record #670: Grey Gordon – Forget I Brought It Up (2014)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

I sometimes forget that my friend Grey is more than just a memelord. From his constant online irreverence and roasting of just about every band in existence (see: his podcast Demolisten), it sometimes feels like he doesn’t have a heart at all.

But within a few seconds of his solo full length Forget I Brought It Up, I realize oh yeah, this guy does have feelings—and an incredible talent for communicating them through poignant lyrics and a rich mixture of 90s alternative, pop punk, and emo.

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