Black Keys - Attack and Release

I finally got around to buying the new Black Keys album, I hear they've got another one coming out this year. The album titled "Attack and Release" is pure awesomeness. I honestly never thought they would be able to match the aural greatness that is the "Rubber Factor" album. They are different. Rubber Factory is filled with blues rock intensity and Attack and Release is filled with what I can only call "Chill." Most of the songs fall in what might be called the mellow side of rock. However, while being mellow, they still have this great intensity that shows a lot of feeling and grit.

My favorite track is #3, "Strange Times", but "Psychotic Girl" and the lead off track "All You Ever Wanted" are pretty close. I read once that Dan and Pat, the guitarist/vocalist and drummer, wanted to make an album that you could kick back on the porch and listen to. I really can't convey a better description of the type of album this is. This was the perfect album to buy just before my last business trip. I felt like I had one over on the rest of the suckers...er passengers. Here they were sitting on a 2 hour flight with nothing but a book and I had pure awesomeness pouring into my ears, while still enjoying F. Scott Fitzgerald's "This Side of Paradise", I don't have a book block, but I'd recommend this book on it if I did.

Do yourself a favor and pick up "Attack and Release" listen to it with some nice headphones and you will soon find yourself in a trance of mellow awesomeness.

A+

I gotta run, Big Bang Theory is on and I'm not about to start shelling out for Tivo.

It Might Get Loud - Review

I'm a big fan of documentaries so I was really excited when I found out that a doc. called "It Might Get Loud" (which is an awesome title by the way), featuring Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge, had been made.

IMGL, was made as a documentary of the electric guitar and the filmmakers went about it in a really cool way. Instead of going through the history of the electric guitar and it's various phases, they instead chose to focus on three guitarists, from 3 generations and 3 somewhat different styles, and make the story about how they experienced the guitar. In doing so they really brought out what makes the electric guitar special and able to meld itself to different styles and tastes, bringing out feelings and emotions, along with the talent and virtuosity of the musician. The Edge makes a statement in the film, which I'll summarize, "I keep feeling like the guitar has ended its run in rock music and expect to see if fade out, then new bands come forward with a new take on the guitar and continue to forge new ground with it. The Edge goes on to say that he almost gets more excited seeing a 17 year old exploring the guitar than he does watching some legendary guitar master.

The film shuttles between the 3 different guitarists and highlights both their history of first getting and playing a guitar as well as the way the go about playing it now. I've read numerous places that Jack White, of the White Stripes in case you were unaware, likes things to be a struggle. He feels he gets more out of himself and the instrument, if he has to struggle and fight with it. His favorite guitar is a cheap plastic model from the early 60's, sold by Montgomery Ward. He favors guitars that don't stay in tune or have other physical imperfections. One of the guitars he played a lot in the film was the first guitar he owned. It was a sad guitar with a top that looked like it was made out of something slightly more substantial than cardboard. One of the F holes had been crushed in a bit. The guitar had a raw tone, but wasn't that great. Jack often refers to playing the guitar as "Attacking" it. He said that's the way he goes about it, fights and struggles until he pulls what he wants out of it.

The sections of the film that focus on Jimmy Page show him playing some of his favorite vinyl that influenced his early playing. He also talks about the various recording methods they used on Led Zeppelin's 4th album, specifically "When the Levee Breaks", one of my favorite songs. He talks about his time as a session musician and how it started to kill him; he was literally playing Muzak. It was then he realized he had to do something different and ended in the Yardbirds before Led Zeppelin was formed. IMGL shows the 3 of them sitting on a small stage set up in a large vacant sound stage in Burbank CA. At various times they talk about a particular riff they came up with or how they like to play the guitar. One of my favorite sequences is when Jimmy Page is playing "Ramble On" and the look on Jack and The Edge's faces is priceless. You can clearly see these two masters of the guitar thinking, "I'm watching Jimmy Page play "Ramble On." The look was a combination of stunned and giddy school boy with a pocket full of firecrackers.

The Edge shows off his amazing rack of effects. He is truly a master of using the guitar for texture. His massive effects board, with around 30 effects is programmed to select the appropriate series of effects for each of the songs that U2 plays. This allows The Edge to shuttle through with the push of a button to find "Pride" and have all of the wah, echo, and reverb effects and their settings so it sounds perfect every time. He shows how with his set of effects he can turn what is really a boring guitar riff into something that sounds like an amazing wall of sound.

IMGL doesn't last nearly long enough at one hour thirty six minutes. Luckily there is another hour of extras that are just as amazing as the actual film. Highlights for me are the press conference at the Toronto Film festival where you get to hear what the film makers and guitarists though of the experience and what they learned from it. There is an awesome section that shows The Edge asking Jack White to show him how to play the main riff from "Seven Nation Army", the three of them jamming away to "Seven Nation Army" is priceless. Jimmy Page has a couple of acoustic guitar sections that were cut, but show his amazing guitar playing abilities. At one point he's playing a riff that if I were just hearing the audio I would have thought at least 2 or maybe 3 people were playing, and here he was just playing it by himself. Jimmy also demonstrates to Jack and The Edge how to play the main riff from "Kashmir", in yet another of the amazing moments of the film.

You don't really have to be a fan of any of the three guitarists featured in the film, if you just have an appreciation for music and how it's made you'll find this film interesting and entertaining. If you are a fan of even one, or all three of these men you'll be even more enthralled.

Music in 2010

Here are my hopes and dreams for music in 2010, none of these are based on reality, but I hope they come to fruition nonetheless(nonetheless is a weird word made of three separate words, it seems like it should be separated or at least hyphenated). Now I'm wondering if I even used nonetheless correctly, I mean it sounds weird now; I'm going to leave it though because without it these last two sentences don't make sense.

Hope and dream #1, that real rock and roll continues to proliferate and become mainstream again. All the emo kids have moved on to being hipsters are growing long hair and wearing plaid flannel now. They're tearing through decades of fashion at an alarming rate. The 80's resurgence only lasted 4 or 5 years; thankfully. It reminds me of 1990 when glam rock/hair metal was petering out and alternative/grunge was coming into it's own. Bands like Wolfmother, Band of Horses, White Stripes give me hope along with the fact that Pearl Jam has put out two albums in a row that are actually really good.

#2 - A new album from White Stripes. Icky Thump was such a great album with a lot of variety; everything from standard rock formula stuff, to mellow ditties, to tear your head off with intensity blues, and marriachi on speed(Conquest). I'm currently awaiting the DVD documentary: It Might Get Loud, which features Jack White, Jimmie Page and The Edge. It should be pretty rad.

#3- Awesome concerts. I got a tiny Ben Harper fix when I saw him open for Pearl Jam. I'm hoping for a US tour where I get more than 45 minutes from Mr. Harper. I'm holding out hope for a White Stripes concert; haven't seen them yet. An awesome lineup from the Galivan Center concert series. I caught two awesome shows this past summer; Black Keys and Toots and the Maytals. I need to make a bigger effort to get out to some smaller shows this year. I only made it to one last year; Blitzen Trapper. It was a great show at Kilby Court and I was one of 100 people packed into that tiny building. I was about 8 ft. from the stage that was cramped with the 6 piece band and it was awesome!

#4- More from neo-folk bands like Fleet Foxes and Alela Diane. I really dig the vipe they're putting out there and want to hear more. Alela Diane was a surprise opener for Blitzen Trapper and she was just incredible. I still listen to her album regularly, especially when I want something pretty chill. The melody's and lyrics from those two artists/groups are really great. Gimme' more.

#5- A rack stereo system with a turntable. I have a bunch of awesome old records and I'm buying all of my new albums on vinyl. I just need a record player so I can play them and so that I don't get comments from Jen every time I buy a new record, "We don't even have a record player."

Celtic Punk

If you're immediately unfamiliar with the Irish or Scottish Punk (I'll just call it Celtic Punk from now on) genre(is it really a genre?) then it probably sounds odd to think you could mix tin whistles, bag pipes and fiddles into punk rock. If you think about it though, plaid and kilts have been rather popular parts of the punk scene for years. I was introduced to Celtic Punk about 8 years ago by my good friend Stuart. We share the same love of our Scottish Roots and similar taste in music so he hooked me up with a couple mp3 discs of fantastic bands: Real McKenzies, Dropkick Murphy's, and Flogging Molly. All of which have great band names to boot. It's probably the Scot in my but I love bagpipes and to hear them mixed in with awesome music is just icing on the cake. Although a lot of the tunes are in the punk rock genre, most of the songs probably fall into the rock or even traditional categories.

The other day I was listening to a play list full of Celtic Punk at work and my boss, yells disgustedly over the wall, "What the hell are you listening to, that sounds like crap." I told him to get some culture and cranked it up. I enjoy the variety the bands put into making their music. Two of my favorite songs by Flogging Molly are "Rebels of the Sacred Heart" and "Worst Day Since Yesterday." Rebels is a fairly rockin' sort of song that always seems to get me going. Worst Day Since Yesterday is a song that makes you think you should only listen to it while sitting in a pub with a beer and/or whiskey in hand listening to songs that drone on about the crap that life like to throw in your lap (as a card carrying Mormon someone is going to have to confirm this for me). I'd like to personally thank Dropkick Murphy's for punking up "Amazing Grace." It reminds me of the "Stand By Me" cover that Pennywise did. It starts out fairly true to the original but then blows up from there. I think the highland rebels would be proud to hear their rebel pipes put to good use.

Do yourself a favor, put on your skirt(kilt) throw in some Celtic Punk and enjoy the ride, it's gonna be good.

Top 11 Non-Singles

Like most people I often buy a new album based on a single I've heard on the radio. A ritual I make myself go through with any new album is no going right to that great single but working my way through the album starting with song number one and going to the end. Then, because past experience has taught me this is a good idea, I force myself to listen to the entire album over and over again for the next week. Pretty soon I find some hidden gems. You don't often learn to love the new and undiscovered songs right off. The songs that have a catchy hook are just that catchy and the brain likes them but soon you'll find the hidden gems of an album. Songs that are full of interesting music or some really great lyrics. Just the other day I was listening to Country Roads, by John Denver. I've listened to that song at least 1000 times, if you include the Toots and the Maytals cover. One line really hit me that I've never really paid attention to, "Driving down the road I get the feeling I should have been home yesterday, yesterday." I know exactly what that feels like and I really connected with that song. There are lots of songs like that. It may not be a lyric, which is most common, it may be a really great guitar solo or interesting drum fill, funky baseline, whatever.

So, here are my top 11 Non-Singles, I'll go so far as to say non-talked about since I'm not sure which older songs were singles and which got popular and subsequently received radio airplay later. In no particular order.

Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones

The song starts out with some some-what haunting vocal sounds, and a mellow guitar then begins it's slow build. All the time the intensity grows until it's just blowing up in my head. I think the backing vocals from Merry Clayton are what really makes the song. There are a few particularly poignant sections where she takes the lead. Now that I think about it, this song may have been a single, but I'm not counting it as such because it doesn't have near the cache' that the most of the other well known Stones songs have.

Blood - Pearl Jam

The Vs. album came out in 1993, but it took me about 10 years to love Blood. Although the songs as a whole is really great. The single element that really makes the song for me is Mike McCready's distorted wah guitar. The section starting at about :36 in the song gives me goose bumps. I think he's using a phazer effect along with the wah to give the guitar an amazing tone and sound.

Surf Wax America - Weezer

I'd go with "My Name is Jonas" on this except that song has been "talked" about a lot, probably because it's a bit different from other Weezer songs and it's the first song on the album. So in the interest of being different and reaching further into the Blue album I'm going with Surf Wax America. Musically I don't have a really great reason for digging this song. It's a great song and always makes me feel really good. Like there's something else in this world beyond working and making a living. The main reason I'm going with this song is because of a really wicked awesome dream I had once. Allow me to indulge myself while I elaborate.

In my dream I was walking through a local amusement park named Lagoon. Bands used to play there and it was even mentioned on the Beach Boys song, "Salt Lake City." I was walking through a large crowd singing the song "Surf Wax America" but no one was really paying attention to me at first. As I began singing the song where the music stops and Rivers Cuomo is singing solo at a fairly high pitch the crowd opened up and quited down while I sang. My voice rang out, slowly, just like in the song, others in the crowd began joining me in the song until it was one big crowd belting out the song. It was a fantastic dream!

Lovely Rita, Blue Jay Way - The Beatles

I just couldn't decide which song I liked better so, since this is my blog, I'm choosing both. Lovely Rita, mainly because of the lyrics, but the rhythm is very interesting as well. The lyrics paint a really vivid image. I've always wished I could see Lovely Rita as John saw here. The drumming on this song is really great as well. Not that it's especially technical but Ringo really chose a good beat and style for this song.

Blue Jay Way has always been very haunting to me. Probably my favorite George Harrison song in The Beatles catalog. This song also tells a great little story that I came close to living as I searched for the actual Blue Jay Way in the hills above Sunset Strip in L.A. It's an incredibly difficult street to find, even with a map. I can totally understand why George's friends had a hard time finding the house. George's plead of "don't be long, please don't you be long." Brings to mind those tiresome late night hours where you just want to go to bed but for whatever reason you have to stay up a little longer.

When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin

On an album with such commercially big songs as Rock and Roll(thank you Cadillac for ruining that song), Black Dog and Stairway to Heaven, When the Levee Breaks has always been my favorite. The opening drum beats really set the tone of the song, then the guitar and wailing harmonica nail it down. The lyrics really paint a picture of despair and hopelessness. I just picture crowds of people down in the muck trying to save themselves and the rains keep falling and the water behind the levee is ever rising, threatening to put them out of their misery at any moment. "Cryin' won't help you, praying won't do you no good." How much worse of a situation can you be in. I'm a sucker for harmonica and the harmonica really fits in well in this song, contributing well to the overall tone.

Mouthful of Cavities - Blind Melon

I've gone on about this song before, but on an album that only really had "Galaxy" played on the radio, I count this as one of the true found gems. I can't think of another song with so many layers that stand out from one another and yet fit together so well. And just like Gimme Shelter from the Stones, this song features a female vocalist that really adds some depth and soul to the song. It builds with incredible intensity and leaves me wanting more when the song ends.

Bold As Love - Jimi Hendrix

This song was probably a single when this album came out, but it doesn't get any airtime and most people that are somewhat familiar with Jimi's songs have never heard this song. This is one of those songs that can mellow me out within 5 seconds of opening strum of the guitar. Jimi sings without regard to time or measure while he plays the guitar as a very loose accompaniment to those vocals. Everything tightens up into a more typical song arrangement soon after. Just as you're getting comfortable with the pace of the song, Hendrix turns up the heat with a guitar solo, then another different guitar solo to go along with the psychedelic panning of the drums. John Mayer does a great cover of this song.

Turnaround -Nirvana

I'm not a fan of Devo but I am a big fan of this Devo Cover. Most people are unaware of the Nivana Album "Incesticide." I first bought it when I was 18 and in my Nirvana phase. I listened to other stuff but Nirvana was on regular rotation. Incesticide was a great discovery, Sliver is the only song from this album that ever gets played. There is a harder version of Polly but I've never heard it on the radio. Turnaround has a really great rhythm and vocals that include the word poppycock, which just seems funny to me. I mean who actually uses the word poppycock? I used to pick up my little sister Teresa from junior high after I got off work and we'd use the 20 min drive home as music education. At the time, boy bands and Britney Spears were the big thing and there was no way I was going to let a sister of mine think those were the only music options out there. For some reason "Turnaround" scared her. I'm not sure if it's actually a scary song or if it's because the song says several times "it's pretty scary." Either way, it's a great song that should be on everyone's music rotation.

There Goes My Gun - Pixies

This song is short and sweet at 1:40 long and says such lines as "Yo Ho, Yo Ho!" In fact I think there are a total or four lines in the song. I don't have a whole lot to say about the song except I really dig it. That said, the song is a great addition to "Where is My Mind" and "Here Comes Your Man."

Death Letter - White Stripes

I, like most people, was unaware this album existed until I really got into the White Stripes. I was on a business trip in Spokane Washington and had a 4 hour drive to Wenatchee WA so I stopped by a music store and discovered this album. It was incredible! Particularly the song Death Letter, a song originally written by the blues master Son House. The guitar, the sparse drums, and the lyrics just make this song an incredible trip into the land of the blues. Jack White pulls out all the stops for the guitar solo. Play this song at high volume and that solo will actually tear your head off.

Ben Harper/Reletless7 + Pearl Jam = AWESOME SHOW

It may seem like blasphemy to the arena full of Pearl Jam fans, but I mostly bought tickets to this show for the opening act. I've seen those guys before at shows who are clearly there for the opening act, know all the words to these songs I've never heard before. Ben Harper & Relentless7 did a great job, but sadly, played a very short set of about 10 songs.

I've always wanted to see Pearl Jam in concert but I had been to the same arena to see Stone Temple Pilots earlier this year and was very disappointed. They lacked soul and really seemed like they were doing the show for the money or to reclaim some former glory. I incorrectly assumed Pearl Jam would be the same. Boy was I wrong! They came out with a fury. Eddie was on top of the vocals like it was 1992. Mike McCreedy was jumping and dancing while playing lead guitar. The place was ROCKING! They did a great job of covering their catalogue. Didn't play much from the not so good albums between '98-'06, but hit the earlier and late stuff well. They played the three songs I have always wanted to hear them play: Evenflow from Ten, Blood from Vs., and Yellow Leadbetter from the Jeremy single. Between those songs they played well knowns and welcome oddities: Alive, Bee Girl, Immortality, Spin the Black Circle, Just Breathe, etc. Their set lasted for two and a half hours, including both of the long encores. This show moved into the 2nd place slot for the best concerts I've seen. Ben Harper's 2008(or was it 2007?) tour is still the best, without question. Hopefully Pearl Jam won't wait another 11 years to come back to Salt Lake, because they've made me a believer in the Pearl Jam nation.

Beatles Love

I realized that I haven't done anything to show The Beatles some love on this blog yet. I firmly believe that they did more to further the cause of Rock music than anyone else. There are a lot of bands that are really just one talented guy with other dudes playing instruments because he can't play them all at one: Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters. The Beatles are not one of these bands. They are greater than the sum of their parts. Truth be told I'm not really a much of a fan of any of The Beatles solo stuff. There are a few songs but not much to get me excited. I think Paul and John are an incredible song writing duo. Paul tends to be a bit mellow and sappy if left to his own devices and John's just too much "out there" at times. They are the perfect balance. Paul writes fantastic songs and John inputs some interesting tidbits in there and vice-versa. Add in George playing some fantastic guitar as well as adding a half dozen really good songs to The Beatles catalogue and Ringo's ever steady and bouncy drumming and you've got one heck of a band.

I'm sad to make it known that I grew up largely ignorant of The Beatles. I will blame this mostly on my parents(I have no one else to blame and I'm not about to start shouldering responsibility for anything). My childhood consisted mostly of Neil Diamond, courtesy of my dad, and old honky-tonk type country courtesy of my mom. There were periodically some other things that got played but that was honestly 90% of the music I heard in my house. I didn't have any older brothers or sisters to show me what was cool so I was left to my own devices and like most kids, made really bad music choices. This may not seem like such a big deal to most people, but I'm supposed to have better musical taste than some of the unnamed garbage I listened to. Of course I heard the various ubiquitous Beatles songs that everyone hears: Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, etc. I was 23 and spending an enormous amount of time outside scraping paint off of my old house. I needed something to listen too and the alternative music station I normally listened too wouldn't have been looked upon too kindly by my neighbors so I listened to the oldies station. I'm a fan of the oldies so this wasn't too bad, until I had heard Gary Pucket sing about some Young Girl one too many times. I found an old Beatles mix tape and popped it in. It had mostly the early poppy stuff, but had some gems like Old Brown Shoe and Eleanor Rigby. It kept me interested and I really grew to love The Beatles.

I started acquiring CD's, though I still don't have all of them, much to my wife's surprise. I still need to buy Yellow Submarine just so I can get "Only a Northern Song" and "Hey Bulldog". I think The Beatles were the first to make music videos. I really need to somehow compile the various videos into one DVD to play at home when my kids want to watch something and I just can't take one more Disney flick.

I really didn't intend on telling my history with The Beatles, but the fact of the matter is, their music is a big part of my life. I have a lot of memories that flood back whenever I hear a particular song, or conversely when a memory comes to me it's often accompanied by a Beatles tune. When my wife and I were in L.A. for two weeks I had only one thing that I had to do, the rest was mostly left to her, I wanted to find the street "Blue Jay Way" where George Harrison wrote the song of the same name while waiting for his friends to get to the house he was renting in the Hollywood hills. After searching for a couple of hours I can see why, in the fog, his friends had a hard time finding it. Oddly enough, Simon and Garfunkel wrong the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water" at the same house. I think the house belonged to some music agent and he let various people use it when he wasn't around.

I don't think a lot of people have taken the time to really appreciate The Beatles because they don't know much beyond the Please Please Me days. Anyone that has listened to an album over and over again knows that you start to hear new things, nuances, little guitar riffs, interesting lyrics, etc. The Beatles catalogue from Rubber Soul on is like that, but on steroids. It's mostly due to The Beatles and their producer really understanding how to create an interesting song, but some of it is due simply John having a great sense of humor. His various tips, tricks and hints as to Paul being dead are testament enough to that fact. Rain was the first song that anyone played vocals backwards. It wasn't really meant for any other purpose than to add something interesting to the song, but it's a great example of them always looking for something new. That same era also showcased their harmonizing vocals, Rain, Paperback Writer, Nowhere Man, etc. While writing "Norwegian Wood" George really felt like some additional element was needed. He happened to be experimenting with the sitar at that time and put a little in the song. It added a great textural element that made the song that much more interesting. Now...if I could just figure out what that song was about.

Many that are unfamiliar with the actual history of The Beatles figure that much of their music library was influenced by psychedelic drugs. The truth is that Sgt. Pepper is the only album that came from their drug experiments. George Harrison, the first to really embrace the 60's drug movement was also the first to stop using drugs. He went out to San Francisco in 1967, during the summer of love to experience what he hoped would be a a really enlightening community. What he found was a bunch of drugged up and drunk homeless people lazing around begging for food. Needless to say he was a little disappointed. It was after this experience that he decided to stop using LSD, though I think he still used marijuana, but the effects are far less extreme. He later stated that had he found (eastern) religion first he wouldn't have ever used the drugs. He had been searching for that spiritual state of mind. Suffice it to say, Yellow Submarine, I Am The Walrus, and others are not drug songs, just fun little ditties that came from the imagination of the most famous song writing duo to ever grace our auditory nerves.

My wife scoffs at my elitist Beatles test, she thinks I'm a music snob of sorts, especially when it comes to The Beatles. With that said, I've found my little test to be fairly accurate. I have found that a real Beatles fan never has a favorite song. They often have a favorite album, which usually ends up being the White album, probably due to the number and variety of songs, but never a favorite song. That's not to say someone that really likes The Beatles can't have a favorite, it's just that if someone has really listened to The Beatles a lot, they have a hard time narrowing down the catalogue, and the songs vary so much in feeling and emotion that it's impossible to put a pin in any one song as THE song.