Twilight Sad tour cd

Apologies for lack of updates. Likeanyoneisbothered. Haven't had time to listen to albums, let alone review them lately.

Anyway, news reaches me that the utterly brilliant Twilight Sad (check the archives for reviews) are releasing a limited edition EP which is a marvellous mix of live tracks and covers. TracksandGigs particularly wants to hear their version of 'Half A Person'. Unfortunately, the EP which is brilliantly named 'The Twilight Sad Killed My Parents and Went On The Road' is only available at their European shows, supporting Mogwai. I will eat my hat if it isn't released through their Myspace or somewhere soon though, so keep an eye out. Track listing below:

01 Walking for Two Hours (live)
02 That Summer, At Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy (live)
03 Untitled #28
04 Cold Days From the Birdhouse (live)
05 And She Would Darken the Memory (live)
06 Twenty Four Hours [Joy Division cover]
07 The Weather Is Bad
08 Half a Person [The Smiths cover]
09 Untitled #27
10 Modern Romance [Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover]
11 I Was Hoping the Winter Was Over

single of the week

Before announcing this week's Single of The Week...I have to recommend the film 'Burn After Reading' which is the second best movie I have seen this year. Extremely funny but also very clever and ultimately, strangely heartwarming. Go see it....go on...

Single of the week goes to Denison Witmer's 'Beautiful Boys and Girls', a song which I intitially found disappointing. Denison's last two albums proper, 'Philadelphia Songs' and 'Are You A Dreamer' were both lovely, delicate collections of songs and in the case of the latter, a record to remind you to look for the good things in life and ignore worries. This single, the first from Denison's new LP 'Carry The Weight' (out Nov 10), is a little different. On first few listens it may sound a little repetitive and laboured but once you get used to it, it becomes a hazy, warm Autumnal song...all Jackson Browne vocals and laidback guitar. Its out now on digital release only and can be heard on Denison's Myspace.

The Dears 'Missiles'

I've never been a fan of The Dears. I bought their last but one album after being told it sounded like The Smiths, obviously I was disappointed when it sounded like nothing of the sort. I decided to give them another try and purchased this one after hearing that pretty much all of the band had left during the recording of 'Missiles', leaving just singer-songwriter Murray Lightburn, his wife, singer/keyboardist Natalia Yanchak and several new recruits. The resulting record is such a labour of love that the band have posted Italo Calvino-style instructions on how to listen to it on their website.

However you choose to hear it, you won't miss the general air of tension and unease that feels the record. Lightburn sounds like a man trying to keep it together whilst everything falls apart around him. "People are saying you're wrong/ but I think you're on to something" he sings on 'Meltdown in A Major' and there are frequent references to work, keeping going and God.

The music is lush and easy on the ears. Guitars and keyboards are frequently embelished by strings and brass. Several songs have extended codas that take them to a different place entirely- this doesn't always work, 'Lights Out' is a pretty lullaby which is transformed rather disappointingly into a prog-epic but on a song like 'Missiles', the build up of tension leads perfectly into the electric guitar driven finale. Similarly 'Meltdown In A Minor' builds into a stirring crescendo and is a portrait of a man on the edge.

There is a lot to take in and this is an hour long album with several songs longer than 6 minutes but The Dears are correct to say that this is a record that should be listened to as a whole. In particular, the final three songs fit perfectly together leading up to 'Saviour' which is an 11 minute epic with a children's choir and a plea for redemption ....way better and more restrained than it sounds!

Through adversity The Dears have made their best and most original record yet.

7.5

['Missiles' is out now on cd only we believe.]

Pavement 'Brighten The Corners- The Nicene Creedence Edition'

When ATP asked for fans to vote for the bands they would most like to see play their festival a couple of years ago, Pavement, despite having split up almost a decade ago, were at the very top of the list.

Its easy to see why. Of all the successful alt.rock bands of the 90s, Pavement are pretty much the only ones not to do a reunion tour yet, they also boast the most consistent body of work of any of those bands AND they have kept themselves in the picture by undertaking just about the most comprehensive re-issue series I can remember. Every two years, a Pavement album is lovingly remastered and repackaged with a quite stunning amount of bonus tracks. It is a labour of love taken on by band members and Matador Records. So, 11 years since it was released, we now come to 'Brighten The Corners'.

It is still exciting to hear the opening bassline of 'Stereo' giving way to explosive guitar feedback, heralding one of the great rock songs of the 90s. 'Shady Lane', which follows, is a gorgeous woozy ballad with some left-field but touching lyrics. In fact, 'Brighten The Corners' is probably the high point of Malkmus' Pavement lyrics, there are so many clever/funny lines on this album that it would be wrong to pick a few or even list all of them, they just need to be heard and enjoyed. This is probably the most straight-forward Pavement album, full of anthems (even if they are anti-anthems) and slower songs, there is nothing difficult here.

Along with 'Crooked Rain...' it is also Pavement's most affecting album. Although Malkmus rarely seems to be singing about himself, songs like 'Type Slowly' tug the heartstrings while 'We Are Underused' is the classic Pavement slacker-anthem and simply demands that you sing along. Pavement fans could argue all day about which album is their best, but this is a strong contender. Great guitar riffs, supremely witty lyrics and Stephen Malkmus sounding better than he ever had...up to that point. One of the best alt.rock albums of the 90s.

As far as the extras go....there are 42 songs in total on this release. If you pre-order the album you will also get a bonus live vinyl LP (which we'll review at a later date), but the 2cd's bonus tracks include pretty much everything you could possibly find from this era in the way of radio sessions, b sides, outtakes etc. For me, it is a joy to hear two versions of 'Harness Your Hopes', already one of my favourite Pavement songs and a couple of work-in-progress versions of what turned out to be 'The Hexx'. There are also a couple of previously unreleased outtakes from the BTC sessions, both of which are excellent.

If you are a Pavement fan, you must buy this. If you want to know what all the fuss was/is about, this or 'Crooked Rain...' are the best places to start.

9.5

['Brighten The Corners...' is out in Novemeber, but if you pre-order NOW from Matador Records you get a stream of the album to listen to right now and all manner of goodies leading up the release date. Seriously one of the best reissue packages I have ever seen]

most annoying song of the week

by a long way...

Keane 'Playing Along'

heard this on Radio 6 on Monday. have no desire to ever hear it again.

just thought i would mention this.

The Mountain Goats 'Satanic Messiah'

Nice to see bands getting inventive with the ways they are releasing music. Plenty of artists now have 'pre-order and get a download now' type deals, Matador Records are doing a completely awesome pre-ordering package for the Pavement 'Brighten The Corners' re-issue (which T&G will be writing extensively about very soon) and now John Darnielle and The Mountain Goats have released a limited EP which you can download now at http://satanic messiah.com . Price? No, none. Pay what you like or pay nothing if you are very mean, considering the record wasn't free to make. The site has a paypal and google checkout link and you can choose what you pay, radiohead style. Good stuff. The EP is also out on limited double 7" which currrently seems only to be available at shows in the U.S but will probably be on ebay soon for £sillymoney.

The music itself is nice. Pretty much exclusively acoustic guitar, piano and voice. The songs sound more 'Get Lonely' than 'Heretic Pride', the storytelling in the lyrics is excellent and 'Gojam Province 1968' is the highlight; impossibly sad and pretty. Its also notable for a song which, even for a band who have some excellent song-titles, has to have the coolest name yet.....'Wizard Buys A Hat'!

This is a worthy addition to TMG's mighty cannon and is well worth the standard price of an EP. Would like to see the vinyl available on this side of the Atlantic though...so much nicer than a folder of mp3s!

7.666

['Satanic Messiah' is out now to download at satanicmessiah.com . check the mountain goats website for details of physical formats]

American Music Club 'Mercury demos'

1991's 'Everclear' seems to have been pretty much universally accepted as the classic AMC album, but some fans have held the belief that the follow up album 'Mercury' contains the better songs. To these ears anyway, that album had huge potential but was dragged down by Mitchell Froom's stodgy production which now makes the record sound ridiculously dated since it is only 15 years old.

This collection of demos for 'Mercury', available at shows and via AMC's website, lets us hear how it could have sounded and the results are stunning. Without Froom's fussy production the songs can breathe and in some cases sound as good as the live versions Eitzel has been playing for years. 'Apology For An Accident' is absolutely sensationalwith a gripping, edgy vocal performance from Eitzel and a terrific guitar break, 'What Godzilla Said To God...' is lighter than the album version, sounding more like Eitzel's solo recording from 'Songs of Love Live' and 'Gratitude Walks' reminds me of the way they played it at the 2004 reunion shows.

As if this wasn't enough there are some songs that didn't make it on the album. Some have already appeared as b sides but 'Crystal Always Knows' is, to me at least, completely new and a great addition to AMC's cannon. The only gripe with this is that there is no demo of 'Johnny Mathis' Feet', one of Eitzel's finest songs and one of the highlights of 'Mercury', but I guess that is because it was written late.

This is not really an unbiased review as I am an AMC fan, but if you are remotely interested in Eitzel, AMC or discovering the work of one of the World's greatest songwriters, you should buy this.

9.0

['Mercury Demos' are out now via Decor Records in the UK]

five years ago...

Laura Barton's mention of The Innocence Mission in the Guardian today reminded me that it is five years since the release of their 'Befriended' LP.

The first few times I played this album, I wondered if it was one of the best records I had ever heard. Five years on, I think it is. I never get tired of it. It is one of those albums that I ended up buying copies of for friends in the hope that they would love it as much as I did. Some did, some didn't.

Written and recorded after the death of Karen Peris' Mother, 'Befriended' was made pretty much exclusively with guitar, bass, piano and tambourine and of course Karen's amazing voice. The lyrics are of course poignant, sometimes sentimental but the music is joyful and on 'Beautiful Change' you can hear Peris smiling as she sings. I have often thought that this record is pretty much perfect. It can make you feel sad but in some ways is the most uplifting album, the writing is simple yet stunning- the first verse of 'When Mac Was Swimming' is...

"When Mac Was Swimming I was running late
Walking around New Orleans looking for a birthday cake
It was a great surprise to him so many people came
Nobody knows darling
Nobody knows how they are loved"

There is so much I could say about this record but if you don't own it, just buy it and find out for yourself. You won't be disappointed and this record will carry you through the Autumn turning to Winter and then when Spring is on the way, you can listen to Karen sing..

"Flower forth,
all you branches of Easter
Why won't the spring come?
Sweep down early, Tomorrow, come.
Tell me that I can just start over again.
Sweep down early, my friend."

And then you can buy the follow up 'We Walked In Song' which is almost as beautiful and then start on their back catalogue, prepare to be blown away by 'Birds Of My Neighbourhood'.

The Innocence Mission don't get the attention they deserve and this is one of the most beautiful records you will ever hear.

[Every Innocence Mission album is available now from www.theinnocencemission.com they are all brilliant. A new one will arrive in the Spring]

Rivulets 'You Are My Home'

I almost fell asleep to this album on the train. This is not a criticism.

'You Are My Home' is the third album by Rivulets, who are really singer-songwriter Nathan Amudson and assorted helpers. I purchased this on the advice of one of those record shop recommendation cards, which said something along the lines of 'if you like Low, Will Oldham, Red House Painters etc, you will like this'. I'm well aware that this usually means the band concerned were influenced by the artists listed and, in fact, the record in question is nowhere near as good as theirs' but I thought I would give it a go anyway. I'm pleased I did.

The sound is extremely minimal, sparse and cold. Amudson has a soft, wistful voice which blends nicely with acoustic guitar and this is the predominant sound of the record. Opener 'Glass Houses' offers a nice melody following this template. That would get dull over the course of an album though and things are kept interesting with the interventions of electric guitar, noise and strings. On the title track and the excellent 'Motioning' both are used to good effect to build songs and create menace and tension. On the second half of the album, things become more accessible with a couple of shorter, catchy numbers.

This is a likeable album. Returning to my near-sleep experience on the train, the quiet noise and nagging acoustic picking of the title track, combined with the slow motion of the train and my new Sennheiser headphones blocking out all sound from the outside world created something of a fuzzy blur around me and with my head resting on the window and everything around me fading away, my eyes closed and.....the train jolted to an unexpected halt at Kentish Town. Oh well.

Anyway, this is a nice album if you like sparse, cold songs, perfect for a Winter's morning. Of the artists mentioned on the record shop card, this is most like very early Low.

7.0

['You Are My Home' is out now on O Rosa]

Lambchop 'OH: Ohio'

Lambchop have always been one of those bands that I felt I should like but could never really get that excited about. I like Kurt Wagner's voice, love it in fact, but the music often seems to meander off down some sort of easy-listening side-street and my interest departs with it. I do, however, keep trying. Every time they release an album.

This, their tenth, seems to be more country-soul than alt.country. The piano is largely to the fore rather than the guitar. This allows them to create some really lovely sounding ballads, such as the title track, which is short, sweet and similar to the gorgeous 'Paperback Bible' from their last album with its "green doesn't matter when you're blue" hookline. Its a shame that Lambchop make concise, pretty songs like this so unfrequently. Elsewhere, songs regularly break the six minute mark but without it ever seeming necessary and while songs like 'Slipped, Dissolved and Loosed' is strong enough to keep the attention, 'I'm Thinking of a Number' and 'Popeye' are seriously hard work to get through.

There are some more nice moments, 'I Believe In You', a Don Williams cover, is simple and touching but a record just shouldn't require as much effort as this one does. If you're a fan of Lambchop, especially the 'Is A Woman' album, you won't be disappointed. I shall just have to try again with the next one.

6.0

['OH:Ohio' is out now on City Slang on cd/vinyl and download from 7Digital]

Gig Dilemma

Have now got an absolutely awful gig dilemma.

I have tickets for Micah P Hinson at The Scala on November 6th, supported by Retribution Gospel Choir. Was very much looking forward to it, but now I find that Damien Jurado is playing the Union Chapel on the same night and.....The Sleeping Years are supporting.

Have seen Micah a few times but none since the new LP (which I love), have never seen DJ but would like to and have never seen TSY but am absolutely desperate to. Plus Union Chapel is my favourite venue.

Its a nightmare! Any advice?

Damien Jurado 'Caught In The Trees'

Damien Jurado has been making intelligent singer-songwriter records for over ten years now without ever really breaking through in the way Bon Iver did this year. He is superb at affecting acoustic ballads ('Medication') and can do powerful rockier stuff ('I Break Chairs', 'Texas To Ohio') but when he sticks to the middle ground, as he has done on his last couple of albums, he can get a little lost and sound like 'just another Americana singer'.

This album is a slight change of direction and is his best since 2003's 'Where Shall You Take Me'. Much more of a band recording than recent efforts, both Eric Fisher and Jenna Conrad, who adds harmonies throughout, were heavily involved. He also mixes acoustic and electric guitars to excellent effect, allowing the songs to sound far more energetic than previously. Opener 'Gillian Was A Horse' is upbeat and extremely catchy with it's 'I'm no lie detector/ He's no bullshitter' hook and 'Go First' takes an introspective lyric and turns it into an almost anthemic song.

Fans of old-school Jurado will probably turn to 'Last Rights', a really gorgeous ballad with a nagging melody and  'Best Dress', a lovely country sing-along to start with, but also featuring some driving electric guitar as the song builds. This is a feature of the record, Jurado keeps the storytelling and touching lyrics of previous albums but 'Caught In The Trees' has an added energy and vibrancy. This may win him a lot of new fans.

7.5

['Caught In The Trees' is out now on import from Secretly Canadian and out in the UK on 27/10]

Juliana Hatfield 'When I Grow Up'

First ever book review on T&G and probably the first music related book I have read since I started this blog.

I've been a fan of Juliana Hatfield's for 15 years now and of all of artists I like she would possibly have been the one I would least have expected to write an autobiography, or 'memoir' as it is described. She always seemed, from her lyrics, her interviews and her communication, or lack thereof, with fans, to be an extremely private person who would hate the idea of something like this. Over the last few years though, she has seemed to open up a little, posting demos on her website and writing short descriptions of the new songs, finally touring Europe and recently starting to write a fascinating and brilliant blog where she takes one of her songs each week and writes a lengthy explanation of the song. Really interesting and very personal stuff. With that blog (its called 'An Arm And A Leg' by the way) in mind, I had high hopes for this book.

And it sort of disappointed me. A little.

It isn't written in chronological order. There are two narratives running side by side in alternating chapters. One is a long and detailed, night by night, account of a 2003 tour with her side-project 'Some Girls', the other is an account of her career in the form of snapshots of important moments, such as signing her first record contract (an account which will be familiar to any fans of her song 'Lets Blow It All'), recording 'Only Everything' and her (major) label refusing to release 'God's Foot'.

To start with, this works really well because both parts are fascinating. It is really interesting to read an account of a gig from an artist's point of view and this is the most detailed account I've ever read. Anyone who thinks that it is a glamourous life for anyone not selling millions of records ought to read this, so ought anyone who regularly downloads music for free but claims they are not ripping off the artist. The trouble is though, this account is more or less repeated chapter after chapter with just a small amount of variation and small things like an argument with her merchandise guy are built up into really long sections with Juliana repeatedly asking rhetorical questions such as 'Why am I so mean?', 'Why can't I just be happy?' etc etc. At the same time, really interesting things like the whole 'God's Foot' episode (I know this is terrible blog etiquette but...check Wikipedia if you don't know the story) are covered in a couple of pages.

I enjoyed this book and found it very readable, if a bit frustrating. The tour part of the book does serve as an interesting account of the life of someone making a living from music but not selling millions of records. It reveals a lot about Juliana as a person and about the way the industry can chew people up and spit them out. If you're a fan though, you may find the lack of much insight into Juliana's music pre-2003 a little disappointing. Possibly Juliana has done this to make the book accessible even to people who aren't familiar with her career, in that sense it works- if you're not a fan the book is still a good read, and if you are a fan, you're going to buy it anyway!

['When I Grow Up' is out now from old good, and some bad, bookshops. 'God's Foot' still hasn't been released.....]