Posts tagged ‘album review’
Dead Man’s Bones release an album and go on tour
Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields are actors. Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields decided they wanted to make music together. Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields decided they wanted to write an album about love and the undead. Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields decided they wanted help from the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children’s Choir. Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields released their self-titled debut album Dead Man’s Bones. And you know what? It’s pretty damn good.
Actors-turned-musicians are hit and miss, as are concept albums, so one would expect combining the two would most likely yield a steaming pile of pretentious garbage. But Dead Man’s Bones have somehow managed to make this combination work. Just in time for Halloween, the concept of their album sounds simple enough: love and death. Dead Man’s Bones sample everything from howling winds to shattering glass over ghoulish declarations of love. The small, high-pitched voices of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children’s Choir paired with Gosling’s low, Nick Cave-esque grumbles add an extra dose of eeriness to songs already morbid in their subject matter (“Buried in Water”, “Lose Your Soul”).
Though the lyrics may be dark, the albums’ overall sound isn’t necessarily all gloom and doom. “My Body’s a Zombie For You” and “Flowers Grow Out of My Grave” prove doo-wop love ballads about the undead can not only be done but they can be pretty damn touching to boot! A synthesizer graces “Pa Pa Power,” a mellower, poppy number that finds Shields taking the lead on vocals and the children sounding more confident than creepy. “Dead Man’s Bones,” the album’s title track, is Gosling and Shields’ raucous party jam. They let loose as they warn of a world surrounded by the dead: “You should know/ What’s really going down below/ Dressed in their best clothes/ There are rows and rows and rows of dead man’s bones!” Sure the anguished cries of a woman are featured midway through the track, but by the time you reach this point on the album you’re no longer phased by such grisly sounds. You’ve been desensitized and you’ve accepted their world of love, pain, zombies, and ghost children. Hell, you expect the anguished cries!
DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN Dead Man’s Bones – My Body’s a Zombie For You
BUY DEAD MAN’S BONES amazon | amazon digital | insound | insound digital
Dead Man’s Bones start their first U.S. tour today in Cambridge, MA. They made this video to remind everyone of the dates:
“>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drccx8_CIHE&feature=player_profilepage]
Most dates are sold out, but catch them if you can. Local children’s choirs will be joining them on stage in each city and “talent shows” will serve as support. I’ll be seeing them in Chicago next Wednesday. It’s gonna be good times.
Kid Harpoon – “Once” (2009)
It’s crazy to think it’s been four years since I was first introduced to Kid Harpoon. Jerry may have had Dorothy at ‘hello’, but Kid Harpoon had me at ‘bric a brac’. At that point in time, he was one man armed with a guitar, a raw voice, and an arsenal of songs about lost dreams and forgotten faces. He ran in the same musical circles as Mystery Jets, Larrikin Love, Les Incompetents, and The Maccabees –all of whom I had just recently discovered and helped introduce me to a world of music I hadn’t known existed. These young bands were starting to make their mark in the British music scene and since then have released first and second albums and garnered fans worldwide, with the exception of Les Incompetents who parted ways in 2006 and Larrikin Love who split in 2007 after releasing their debut The Freedom Spark.
Somehow, Kid Harpoon fell behind. Sure, he released two highly acclaimed EPs and built a solid fanbase around Britain thanks to his energetic live shows, but he never quite managed to take off in the same manner as his contemporaries. After months of writing and recording, Harpoon scrapped his album and began the process all over again. Now after two years, we finally have his debut album Once. But, is it too little too late?
First single “Stealing Cars” opens the album with its happy, gangly guitars as Harpoon realizes falsetto dreams singing “I feel like I’m alive/ With you as we drive”. The rainbows and sunshine continue with the summery “Back From Beyond”, whose upbeat tempo and catchy hook are enough to make you forget that maybe the song isn’t as happy as it sounds: “Did you see the way that I was when I was down?/All I need is a helping hand/Someone safe to guide my landing back from beyond.” “Flowers by the Shore”, “Hold On”, and “Marianna” keep the joyful party going, all armed with poppy hooks and toe-tapping beats.
But then, sprinkled in between all these lively numbers are songs like “Colours,” “Running Through Tunnels,” “Death of a Rose,” and “Buried Alive.” These songs find Harpoon going back to his roots, so to speak, opting for a more stripped down sound. The almost minimalist approach to these songs highlight Harpoon’s impressive vocal range and bring the focus back to his songwriting and those dark lyrics that had become his signature: “Red is the colour of blood when I cut myself/ And I’m bleeding but that’s not a bad thing/ Red is the colour of poppies and sports cars/ A strong symbol of liveliness”. The addition of strings on “Buried Alive” is probably one of the most genius decisions made on the album, as they catapult the song into the heartwarming tearjerker it was meant to be: “Wandering feet, discovered the world/ Broken and sore, fell in love with a girl who’s now gone”. Once closes with another Harpoon classic, “Childish Dreaming”, a slower, lyrically-sombre number with Harpoon’s sweet, whispered vocals and the sound of his acoustic guitar at the forefront.
Overall, the album doesn’t seem to have a clear direction. It’s almost as if Kid Harpoon combined his debut album and follow-up into one to make up for lost time, switching back and forth between the musician he is today with who he was as an artist in 2005. After all the sunny overproduction and catchy pop hooks scattered throughout the album, there must be a reason Harpoon chose to close the album he worked so hard on with “Childish Dreaming” when it could have just as easily been “Marianna”. Though there’s nothing wrong with writing great songs which have that born-to-be-a-radio-hit quality, perhaps Harpoon felt it necessary to leave listeners with a reminder of why they fell in love with his music in the first place all those years ago: the beautiful simplicity of his voice, his guitar, and his songwriting. The same reasons Harpoon is sure to make new fans.
The Maccabees – Wall of Arms (2009)
Those who keep me company, they are wall of arms around me. It is they who are my army.
Well ladies and gentlemen, The Maccabees have honestly managed to create an album nothing short of incredible.
From the energetic guitar sounds that open the album to the heartwarming, closing proclamation that our love is “so much more besides” a bag of bones, the boys have managed to produce much more than Colour It In: Part Two. Which, after all, is precisely what they had set out to do. Not because their debut effort was in any way subpar, but to prove to fans, critics, and partly to themselves, that the band hadn’t yet reached the peak of their creative potential.
The Maccabees have no doubt grown as songwriters and musicians since that first time we heard early versions of “X-Ray” and “About Your Dress “almost four years ago. They’ve toured relentlessly, managing to build a passionate and supportive fan base all before even releasing a debut album. While the recording of Colour It In gave The Maccabees a chance to perfect the songs that had introduced the band to millions (“First Love” and “Latchmere” becoming crowd-pleasing-anthems at their live shows), Wall of Arms serves as the perfect showcase of the band’s growth and willingness to experiment with sounds—title-track “Wall of Arms” and “Dinosaurs” feature horns, piano sounds grace “One Hand Holding”, while the rhythm section shines throughout the album. But, through it all, The Maccabees have managed to keep that inherent, impossible-to-pinpoint quality that makes them the same band we fell in love with all those moons ago. And although Wall of Arms is as perfect as an album can be, something tells me The Maccabees aren’t quite done showing us what they’ve got to offer.
PRE-ORDER “WALL OF ARMS” NOW
or buy a copy at your local record store May 4th. Support bands, buy music. It’s fun.
Another leg of their UK tour starts Thursday in Northamton (support coming from the one and only Mumford & Sons) taking them straight through the big summer festivals. Go see them live in my honor: http://www.myspace.com/themaccabees
