thePULSE“New songs, not the same as the old songs”
September 2004 – Nothing can prepare fans for what a band’s new album will sound like. Each album is a chance for a band to evolve their trademark sound and ask fans to take a chance again with a new collection of songs.
Lately, the power and draw of albums has been weakened by the monopolization of radio, the habits of some downloaders and the flagrant disregard of new sounds by major record labels. Neil Young, The Flaming Lips and countless others have tried to reverse this trend by releasing some of their finest, most challenging work in the last few years. The genres and sounds featured may not be wholly new, but they are being played in unique ways — making the full album experience worthwhile again.
Here are a few bands that were refreshingly different during the 1990s and who are still giving us music to move to, be challenged by and grow with.
The Roots: The Tipping Point (okayplayer)
The Roots have earned their self-proclaimed moniker as a legendary hip hop crew. They have used stadiums, underground clubs and college student centers to parlay their well crafted, low-end heavy music that is infectious and socially-aware. Their seventh official release, The Tipping Point, features yet another solid collection of tracks. It lures the listener to linger over each song, even the whole album. The record illuminates the group’s take on hip hop, the PATRIOT Act and the need to make art that isn’t merely “a record to shake behinds/ You know the stakes is high, we in the face of drama.”
The Tipping Point has been criticized by some fans whose expectations weren’t met. This album is chock full of neo-soul grooves, unbeatable spitting from the MCs and an invitation to fans new and old to let go of expectations and enjoy.
Piebald: All Eyes, All Ears, All the Time (Side One Dummy)
Local favorites, Piebald, have put out 7 inches, compilation songs and albums that have epitomized the best of whichever genre they were working in at the time. Their music, inflected with Travis Shettel’s idiosyncratic phrasing and lyrics, offers a songwriter’s sincere point of view mixed with the genre-pushing band’s sense of innovation. All Eyes is no exception.
From the opener, “The Benefits of Ice Cream,” to the piano-heavy single “Haven’t Tried It” through the stadium rock/Nillson-hazed hybrid “All Senses Lost,” the album is filled with songs that are easy to swallow but hardier than the first listen may lead you to believe. Travis’s personas shed light on their author’s “mid-twenties depression or a quarter life crisis” without tireless bouts of wallowing, naïve ranting or pretentious navel gazing. All Eyes will leave you All Ears for this rollicking yet mature record.
Wilco: A Ghost is Born (Nonesuch)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot made it cool to talk about Wilco. A Ghost is Born returns the band to the stature of being respected by fans and critics for what their ever-transforming music means and evokes, not what it stands for in hipster record collections or media write-ups.
“At Least That’s What You Said” starts the record off with a somber tone that is interrupted by an ear scorching jam, setting the course for this cornucopia of noise freak outs, tumultuous ballads and syncopated lullabies. The band gives you an easy out in its playful and coy criticism of the music business, “The Late Greats,” but you have to work through Tweedy’s images and the group’s soundscapes to get there.
Old 97s: Drag it Up (New West)
The Old 97s provide a fitting soundtrack to a night of tears in your beer. They consider twang, Tex-Mex, Bill Monroe and the band X to be more like drinking buddies than influences. That said they don’t rest easy on a gimmick. Instead, they belt out a sound that showcases Rhett Miller’s perplexed disposition, Murry Hammond’s steady bass line, Ken Bethea’s palette of riffs and Philip Peeple’s well-worn sticks. Drag it Up rolls by heartache (“In The Satellite Rides a Star”), rings regret’s door (“Adelaide”) and still finds time to do what the band does best – rock the loss and love right out of your dancing denims.
