THOU SHALL BE RELEASED
A Look At What Is New In Music
A Look At What Is New In Music
MP3s:Morrissey has become a bit of a caricature of himself (Well, he has always been a bit over-the-top...)
Even if you dismiss the ridiculous album cover photo featuring the former-Smith’s sad boy looking muscle-bound with a random infant, there is the music to contend with. Morrissey’s lyrics are trademark despondent and a bit reaching (i.e. “When I die I want to go to hell/that is when goodbye will be farewell”), but this time are set to what sounds at times like a lost ‘90s grunge record. The guitars are muddy and loud and the vocal production is so crisp it all almost sounds incongruent.
But despite all of this – it somehow works…
Maybe it is simply because he is Morrissey. The Smith’s front man has never really been subtle. And while Years may sway and rock a little, there is plenty vintage Moz – Spanish horns sneak in “One Day…” and “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” is full of the phrasing and verbiage that makes a Morrissey song standout.
Even if you dismiss the ridiculous album cover photo featuring the former-Smith’s sad boy looking muscle-bound with a random infant, there is the music to contend with. Morrissey’s lyrics are trademark despondent and a bit reaching (i.e. “When I die I want to go to hell/that is when goodbye will be farewell”), but this time are set to what sounds at times like a lost ‘90s grunge record. The guitars are muddy and loud and the vocal production is so crisp it all almost sounds incongruent.
But despite all of this – it somehow works…
Maybe it is simply because he is Morrissey. The Smith’s front man has never really been subtle. And while Years may sway and rock a little, there is plenty vintage Moz – Spanish horns sneak in “One Day…” and “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” is full of the phrasing and verbiage that makes a Morrissey song standout.
MP3s:
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Seven-Mile Island
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Streetlights
Jason Isbell is an Alabama boy. He’s not NYC, LA, or Hollywood – he doesn’t try to be, want to be, or want you to think he is. He is dirty, southern and proud, wearing his home on the sleeve of his songs with no apologies. It’s what made him a good Drive-By Trucker and what is making him even better as an artist fronting his own band. His lyrical voice is so unique it needs to stand on its own.
And it does so quite well. Isbell’s second effort since leaving the DBT brotherhood, Jason Isbell and 400 Unit shakes and quivers with the sweat and energy of a summer night in the dankest of Birmingham bar rooms. Isbell bellows lines like “I can’t make myself be good/ I wish I could” with undeniable conviction. Personal stories of unwed mothers and troubled soldiers are infused with thick and vague scriptural references (fitting of a conflicted member of the Bible Belt) and pledges of loyalty – to alcohol, cigarettes, and friendships.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit picks ups where Isbell’s debut, Sirens of the Ditch, left off, building up the bigger and heavier side of the Isbell musical library. It is not without its moments of diversity, though. “No Choice in the Matter” is filled with enough horn parts and blue-eyed soul to warrant a Van Morrison comparison, while lead track “Seven Mile Island” meshes rolling drums, hand claps and a hint of bluegrass with trademark Isbell storytelling lines like “She used to say that she wanted a daughter/now she only wants a Saturday night.”
If Isbell keeps it up, he may very well become the Springsteen of the South – blue-collar, brisk, and full of stories and opinions that are painfully relatable to anyone who has ever been there.
And it does so quite well. Isbell’s second effort since leaving the DBT brotherhood, Jason Isbell and 400 Unit shakes and quivers with the sweat and energy of a summer night in the dankest of Birmingham bar rooms. Isbell bellows lines like “I can’t make myself be good/ I wish I could” with undeniable conviction. Personal stories of unwed mothers and troubled soldiers are infused with thick and vague scriptural references (fitting of a conflicted member of the Bible Belt) and pledges of loyalty – to alcohol, cigarettes, and friendships.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit picks ups where Isbell’s debut, Sirens of the Ditch, left off, building up the bigger and heavier side of the Isbell musical library. It is not without its moments of diversity, though. “No Choice in the Matter” is filled with enough horn parts and blue-eyed soul to warrant a Van Morrison comparison, while lead track “Seven Mile Island” meshes rolling drums, hand claps and a hint of bluegrass with trademark Isbell storytelling lines like “She used to say that she wanted a daughter/now she only wants a Saturday night.”
If Isbell keeps it up, he may very well become the Springsteen of the South – blue-collar, brisk, and full of stories and opinions that are painfully relatable to anyone who has ever been there.
No comments:
Post a Comment