Listen to This: The National - High Violet

I'm afraid to even touch this topic. It's past 2:30am and I know it's already been said by others who are much more advanced in their musical musings but I want to say it:

The National's High Violet is one of the best albums I've ever heard in my life.

Maybe I don't have wonderful new words to describe its intensity and haunting beauty but I am obsessed. Obsessed in a way that doesn't fade after a few listens, obsessed in a way that continues to gain momentum with every listen and drive me crazy wondering how music like this can even be created. I can't decide which song is best because every song just keeps sounding better and better. I'm not well enough acquainted with these songs to give a full view of everything I'm thinking or will be thinking within a few more listens. You have to absorb these songs and give them time to settle in your brain. I give a lot of credit to someone who can write a coherent review of this without gushing all over it. There is not a single poor word to be said about this masterpiece. I don't even know how many layers fill up every second of each piece -- it makes me want to be a musician just so I can try to understand the complexity.

The amazing thing about Matt Berninger particularly is that he makes these incredibly complex, jarring, exquisite pieces relatable to even an untrained ear such as my own. His voice fills up the holes that inevitably occur for someone who can't translate the foreign language of these incredible instruments. His lyrics are both mystifying and real. This is not just music that sounds good (as my blog title would imply) - this is music that makes you feel something. And for that matter, it is not just "something" - it is the deepest, darkest part of your heart that is hardest to reach. It makes you remember that there is another layer of yourself as well.

I can't even believe I'm saying these crazy things about a set of a few songs. It's not unusual for me to be extremely excited about my favorite music but I assure you, this is not just music. This is a sound reminding me that I have more in me than I even realize. I am in my early/almost mid twenties. I am in a weird place in my life that I often try to ignore. It is a scary time in anyone's life but even scarier to be this age in the times we live in. I get scared a lot. Matt Berninger's voice reminds me of this and yet makes me feel like I should be brave about these fears. He openly admits his feelings of fear, inadequacy, and confusion... not in any way I have ever heard though. It is sophisticated, endearing, full of space to place yourself in his position.

I may never find the right words to express how I feel when I hear The National. It is so different from any other music I have ever experienced. When you hear Sam Cooke sing "A Change is Gonna Come", you feel something deep inside your gut that tells you this is the real thing. The National has this in every song. It is realistically magical and unfathomably honest and stirring. Matt Berninger sings "doo doo doo doo" and you feel the earth move.


Photo from the brilliant Vanity Fair article, "Feasting on the National".

I am Obsessed With Monsters

I did something several days ago that I haven't done in 100 years: bought an actual compact disc from a music store! Well.. it wasn't exactly a "music" store (more like Best Buy) and it wasn't in the hard-to-open plastic case I remember from years past but it is definitely a CD with a nice cover and lyrics inside! I chose a good one too:

Monsters of Folk.

I gotta tell you, the more I hear this band, the more I love them. I started out not appreciating their single "Say Please", then listened to a 30 second clip of most songs on the album on iTunes, decided on three M. Ward-leading tunes to purchase and didn't think much about the rest of the album until I realized that I was listening to those three songs over and over again. I needed to hear more. I was really leery about going near anything that involved Conor Oberst too heavily, as I mentioned in a previous post about M.O.F., but I took my chances and came out loving EVERY single song on the entire record, including the Oberst tracks. There are really only two bands I recall despising in my life: R.E.M. and Bright Eyes (both of which I saw on the same day in concert for a charity event and only minorly acknowledged as 'okay') so to say I enjoy Conor Oberst on this record is a testament to the other members of the band that make him sound good and his own folksy sound that is not even close to being Bright Eyes-whiny on this collection of songs. Mr. Oberst actually sounds really good if I'm being honest here (he's almost 30, maybe he's finally out of his awkward period). "Temazcal" is a true standout.


Otherwise, I still have little opinion on Jim James and I still love M. Ward so much that I'm starting to mention him too often in my posts. M. WARD. M. WARD. M. WARD. His voice is so captivating I want to hand out fliers with his picture on them at airports like a crazy Hare Krishna. When his voice sinks into my headphones I am lost in the world he creates. I told my boyfriend the other day that I would not be as happy of a person without M. Ward which is kind of an oxymoron when you consider that most of his songs are rather melancholy and I discovered him through a young man I don't speak to anymore that I loved quite dearly. Oh well. Sadder things have happened, right? Maybe all that is a part of why I connect so well with his music. I am smitten with M. Ward. I can only imagine being in a small bar somewhere in the middle of nowhere listening to Mr. Ward sing his peaceful songs with just a guitar and a beer. That might be my version of heaven.

So I got off topic but there are other songs I love on this album: "The Right Place" is absolutely one that has gotten the most plays since my purchase. While it still doesn't top my ultimate favorite "Whole Lotta Losin", it is such a Nashville-twangy, cheerful, uptempo song that it always makes me feel good.

And then there's the first track "Dear God". The track that confused me when I ripped off the plastic in the parking lot and thought I was in for a country album and heard R&B beats right off the bat. This almost six minute long song is DELICIOUS. If you've read more than ten posts on this site you might know I'm not a fan of songs longer than four minutes - they are always drawn out, I don't care what people say about "Free Bird" or "Stairway to Heaven". I don't even like John Mayer songs that go on for too long (ironically my two favorite songs of all time are both near the 8 minute mark but those are literally the only exceptions of that atrocious length - they are true epic sagas - and "Music Sounds Better With You" - that's a good one). "Dear God" is tacked on to that list now. It is sexy, sad, and insightful all at once and in equal doses.

I don't write music and I don't get the feeling of wishing I wrote something very often but these four musicians that compose Monsters of Folk are masters at their craft and I'm practically jealous of their talent. Of course I'm more grateful than anything. This album is perfection and I'm nearly convinced that they're all geniuses.

LISTEN!


Favorite Tracks: Whole Lotta Losin, The Right Place, Dear God, The Sandman, The Brakeman, and Me, Baby Boomer, Temazcal, Say Please

Back and Better Than Ever

I am blinded by love right now for what is starting to sound like John Mayer's best album to date. I was concerned after the hoopla surrounding the meager "Who Says" but judging from the 30 second previews on Amazon UK, I'm beginning to believe that the song doesn't even belong on the record with the rest of these stellar sounds.

There is this phenomenal Lindsay Buckingham sound to almost the entire album that is so striking I can't think of much else to say about it just yet. It is incredibly sultry, sleepy, breezy, hollow, Radiohead-In-Rainbows-ish even. Like I mentioned previously, Mayer stated he was going for a SoCal, Tom Petty vibe on this record but thankfully he missed that point (which I feel he wouldn't be able to hit) and almost mistakenly came up with a record so perfect in its classic John Mayer/Fleetwood Mac execution that I was practically in tears listening to it. Superb.

So far, once again just based upon the 30 second clips, my favorites are opener "Heartbreak Warfare", middle track "Perfectly Lonely", and follower "Assassin". These three songs hit me right away without needing a second listen (although there's already been about 12 listens to each of these). I cannot wait for Battle Studies, the album I will be listening to nonstop for the next five years, to come out.

Sorry, everyone. I know it's embarrassing to admit obsessive love, particularly for John Mayer, but while he still needs to work on his album cover skills, he makes excellent music.

Monsters of Folk: A Review

I know every new band or song I mention is my "favorite" but right now I'm so impressed with Monsters of Folk, a supergroup collaboration between M. Ward, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes.

I had heard about this grouping for awhile now and indeed it has taken Monsters of Folk over three years (maybe even more) to put out a cohesive album together due to scheduling conflicts between all the members and the lack of a sturdy meeting place until Mogis laid down some roots in Omaha in the shape of a recording studio used to produce most of the tracks on their debut album that came out last week.

Not only do all of these songs have a little something special to them that the individual solo artist's collaborating on them don't always have on their own, there's the fact that these artists were so enthralled with their work that they refused to have any hired hands to play additional instruments on the recordings. Absolutely everything you hear on this record came from these four gentlemen - and that's an accomplishment in itself.

On the band's website, there's a biography-type section that discusses the aspect of "cameos" within the songs. They paid extra attention to making sure the songs didn't sound like a specific member being backed up by the others. While I was perusing this album on iTunes, I actually found myself being drawn first to the tracks that had M. Ward's voice in the 30 second samples because not only is he one of my favorite artists but I felt like those songs had more of the old fashioned "She & Him" style that I so appreciate from his work. Once I downloaded the songs and listened to them in their entiretly I found that the other members of the band - even Conor Oberst, who sounds at his best here and whom I typically detest - contributed so much to even this songs I had pinned as M. Ward penned. They really do a great job at a completely cohesive sound.

There is also this great Traveling Wilburys style to the entire record that makes it not only folksy but a little country and a tad vintage rock and roll. In my mind, I could picture these four performing a concert at a bar in Nashville much more than their upcoming stop at the Beacon Theatre. This is the kind of music that doesn't really need to be accessorized by much. It is sparse, hands in the mud kind of stuff that doesn't get old - it just gets better with time.

So far my favorite track is "Whole Lotta Losin'", one of the first I downloaded out of the 16 tracks that flesh out the complete package. This song is so catchy and down home. I don't know how else to express it. There's certain parts where you could swear Tom Petty was singing in the background. This is no doubt intentional - there's certainly a lot of inspiration coming from people like The Band and Neil Young on all of these songs but unlike some other artists, Monsters of Folk does this old/new thing perfectly, contributing something completely fresh and unique to the genre.

"Baby Boomer" and "The Sandman, The Brakeman, and Me" are also really growing on me. They just give a feeling of catchy, fun jams being sung among friends in a little room.

This album makes me want to give Bright Eyes and My Morning Jacket another try. Hmm. Maybe just the latter.

For more information and samples make sure to check out MonstersOfFolk.Com.

Houses of the Holy

Let me first profess my guilt: I should be doing a lot of other stuff right now other than writing about music. I have a lot of things to think about, money to be making, work to be completing - but the only thing that matters to me right now is this album. Or rather: it is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Houses of the Holy is without a doubt the greatest fifth album a band has ever put out, let alone one of the greatest albums of all time in general. This incredible album opens with The Song Remains the Same, a song I appreciate although I'm never too fond of songs over five minutes. The intense excitement for me starts with the third song on Side One. From that song - Over the Hills and Far Away - to the end of the album, it captures my entire being and makes me forget everything I'm constantly worried about. Led Zeppelin really has the ability to transcend people, even still in 2009. They are undeniable.

I have to explain that D'yer Mak'er, Zeppelin's ode to reggae, is one of my favorite songs and one those songs specifically that makes me feel something. I know it came about more as a joke than anything (with a play on the word "Jamaica") but they captured something in that song that is as sexy as it is inspiring. No matter where I am when it comes on, I want to dance, I want to think, I want to smile - I want to be alive. I can't imagine what more a song is supposed to do than that.


Recently, I discovered The Crunge or maybe I should say I discovered that I love it almost as much as D'yer Mak'er. This too is a song that allows the band to do a play on a specific musical genre, this time funk in the James Brown style, but to me it sounds like a style all its own. Unfortunately, it seems that this incredibly unique, over the top creative song hasn't gotten the credit in musical history that it rightfully deserves. I tried for a half hour to find a video or some type of clip of it on the internet to add to this post and came up empty handed. Why? I even went on Last.Fm, one of my favorite sites, to see if the page dedicated to the song had anything extra I could add to this and found that several people admitted hatred for it. I suggest these people stop listening to music. The crazy funk and the infamous "where's the bridge?" references make this song undeniably Zeppelin in the sense that it has so much soul and mischief but uncharacteristic and special in the way that it's not really "rock". If Led Zeppelin is responsible for bringing heavy metal to mainstream than they're also responsible for bringing experimentation and ingenuity to mainstream rock singles. Robert Plant's voice, already god-like in so many ways, does an Otis Redding-like imitation in my opinion. It's simply and wonderfully different.

To even get into the brilliance that is Dancing Days, the opener of Side Two, is to open a can of worms that doesn't really end. Dancing Days is an absolute, uncompromising masterpiece that probably only comes around once every 20 years. It is mentioned on the Wikipedia page for this song that the band themselves danced on the lawn after the completion of this track - so proud of their success. Naturally, I don't know if this is true but it sounds about right. I could listen to this everyday for the next year and probably find something new each time. It's like a really good movie - but getting my head around the fact that they can do all that just audibly is magic.

If you haven't heard this album in its entirety, check it out. If you haven't heard it in a while, please revisit and fall in love all over again.

An Ode to Wildflowers

There are very few albums that can be described as "energetic, melancholy, earnest, organic, humorous, literate, rowdy, wry, amiable, and fun". There are also few musicians who at 44 could create one of the best albums of all time - not to mention their best work out of a 23 year career (at that point). Of course if anyone could accomplish all that it would be Tom Petty and his amazing, amazing musical piece, Wildflowers. This is one of those albums that you hear for the first time and become obsessed with only to overplay it and leave it on top of your cd player for the next three months while getting acquainted with some other, less worthy cd. When you finally come back to it, it sounds fresher than ever and you can't understand why you waited so long to hear that intro again.

I put this album in my cd player this morning, sat on my exercise bike (that I didn't exercise on), and almost wept listening to Tom Petty sing lines like, "You belong among the wildflowers, you belong somewhere close to me, far away from your troubles and worries, you belong somewhere you feel free". To get by in this life you need to listen to songs like this daily. Whether they make you cry, feel 'rowdy', get literate, or make an organic swiss cheese sandwich, these songs are life affirming - like a good pinch on your arm to make sure you're still breathing. These songs bring out emotions to make sure you're still feeling. It's funny how all our senses are connected: Listening to this album makes me want to put on a brown, fuzzy sweater and look at autumn colored leaves. I suddenly want freshly sharpened pencils and tweed shoes. I don't know why Wildflowers reminds me of fall (it did come out in November '94) but I can only dream of taking a long road trip by myself with aviator sunglasses on and my hand out the window, blasting "You Don't Know How It Feels" and singing along with my favorite lines. In the back of my mind I think I wish I was Tom Petty.

There's a bonus dvd with The Last DJ, another Heartbreakers fall release, that personifies the mixture of Tom Petty and autumn even more for me: The entire Heartbreakers band is in a mahogany recording studio with crisp white speakers and microphones all over. They are dressed in long sleeves and cowboy boots and seem so chipper. Tom Petty, with his pearly white veneers, and Mike Campbell with his sewn in cornrows, look at peace. It's the kind of feeling you get in the fall. Blankets and darkness envelope you and it's simply cozy. That's how Tom Petty's voice makes me feel. Cozy. That's why he could sing about a gator on the lawn (which he's done) and it would sound super awesome. But back to Wildflowers. You can't deny the genius of putting "Time to Move On" back to back with "You Wreck Me" then later transitioning from "Honey Bee" to "Don't Fade On Me". If you've never heard this record, you probably won't understand why that's brilliant but it's like human nature. To me it sounds like a person in a constant struggle with their feelings. First they're sentimental, then ready to start a brand new future, then suddenly wrecked again, then find new happiness, only to be busted up again later on.

Instead of using giant metaphors to get his point across, Petty tells us how it is.

"You spend your life dreaming, running around in a trance

You hang out forever and still miss the dance

And if you get lucky, you might find someone

To help you get over the pain that will come

Yeah, you were so cool back in high school, what happened

You were sure not to have your spirits dampened

But youre just a poor boy alone in this world

Youre just a poor boy alone in this world"

Not only are the lyrics relatable and profound but somehow Petty and Rick Rubin, the producer, completely understood how powerful the song was and allowed just Petty's voice to be heard throughout most of the song. It's almost like he's whispering a secret to the listener. Compare that to a song like the super upbeat "Honey Bee" with blazing guitar licks and it almost seems like they wouldn't even be on the same record. Which leads to another important point about this album: It doesn't matter what mood you're in, you can find a song to fit it. And the fact that the songs go back and forth so much between upbeat and downtempo is an added bonus. You could be on the verge of depression and come back up within four minutes. I know Tom Petty is typically a happy guy but in '94, just two years before divorcing his wife of two decades, some deep stuff must've been boiling while writing this album.

Someone once said to me, "How horrible would it have been if Kevin Spacey had never tried to be an actor?". They asked me this in hope that it would get me motivated to do something gigantic with my own life but as I think about it, there are some people with such sensational gifts that it would literally be selfish if they didn't share them with the world. Tom Petty is one and of course, Kevin Spacey is another. I'm not sure if we all have that but I do know for a fact that if I could write about my feelings and worries like Petty can then I would certainly share that with everyone. Thankfully, there are some amazing nuggets out there, like Wildflowers for me, that express everything I could ever hope to - and do it in a more eloquent way than I could ever dream of. Wildflowers is 62 minutes of pure bliss. I'm sure with all these immense compliments I'm spewing on a silly album I sound like James Lipton interviewing Jennifer Lopez but believe me when I say, it deserves every word.

Favorite Tracks: Honey Bee, You Wreck Me, To Find a Friend, Time to Move On.

Honorable Mentions: Wildflowers, You Don't Know How It Feels, Don't Fade on Me, Wake Up Time.

Although every song is better than almost all other songs on other albums.