indie | timotheories

What Doesn’t Kill You, Only Makes You Stranger (Paul Simon, Stranger to Stranger review)

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

Ever watched a movie JUST for the soundtrack? No? Well me neither, but there are tons of posts on the internet which claim that exact practice is worthwhile, and I will strongly disagree.

However, I do believe that a great soundtrack can help define and reinforce the ideas of a film. And the reason for this is that it usually comes down to the storytelling ability of the musician(s) behind the scenes.

This week we review an album that I could very easily see in a soundtrack in the near future.

Paul Simon – Stranger To Stranger
released June 3, 2016
****** 9/10

Paul Simon is an American musician, singer, songwriter and sometimes actor. He got his start as part of the duo known as Simon & Garfunkel, which performed together for six years in the 1960’s before splitting up at the height of their success – Simon is known to have been the predominant writer of Simon & Garfunkel and should be especially proud of Mrs. Robinson, The Sound of Silence, and Bridge over Troubled Water, which were all no.1 singles in their time.

He has also successfully managed a solo career, including 12 Grammy awards, a Lifetime Achievement award, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and various other accolades.

Stranger to Stranger is Simon’s 13th studio outing and what I would consider a fantastic representation of him as an artist, given that I haven’t really followed his work. At. All.

Yes, my personal experiences with Paul Simon have mostly revolved around movie soundtracks that sampled his work in Simon & Garfunkel, so that means I’ve enjoyed the tranquillizer scene in Old School all the more thanks to The Sound of Silence, was bemused by Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate while Mrs. Robinson played and played with him, and even Bridge Over Troubled Water has a movie title named after it, it is the quintessential S&G song, after all.

But I think that recognizing a well made and ambitious album has less to do with knowing the artist’s catalogue of work and more to do with understanding the broader soundscape that is music.

Songs range from the hilarious opener The Werewolf, which is about a midwest murder in suburbia, to the lightly spread Wristband (with hints of darkness), to the very direct phone problems of In A Parade.

Though one track that manages to stick out like a sore thumb for me is Cool Papa Bell.

It’s incredibly absurd and paints a portrait of a man who has lost touch with reality, and it’s full of swear words. Which is kind of hard to imagine if you think about Simon’s vocals for too long. He lays it on in his typical indie folk style, but the lyrics combined with the world music tone create a very interesting and satirical final product.

And he takes life experiences as well to produce these songs, which tells me Paul Simon isn’t quite done experimenting like The Riverbank, which is the result of visiting vets at a Boston hospital.

And then we have the closing track, Insomniac’s Lullaby. Which is my personal favourite. It’s silly, sincere, sweet, and surprisingly sinister. And yes, I apologize for all of the alliteration, but Paul Simon says so, so I shall share. Now I’m done.

Should you listen to this record? Hell yes, you should. Paul Simon may be in his 70s but just as relevant today as he was 50 years ago and that shouldn’t make him a stranger to anyone.

Fortunately for Paul Simon, his glory days are not behind him. He is still creating music that can entertain and tell a wonderful story. Which is why it should surprise no one at this point that Mike Nichols knew what he was doing when he grabbed Simon & Garfunkel hot off the press and inserted it into his movie. Hopefully there is an indie more or 3 out there that will sample from this album and further cement it’s value in pop culture. And that’s all the theories I’ve got for today, see you tomorrow with a review that should be in a zoo.

Tim!

Four-Letter Word (Holy Fuck, Congrats review)

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

Blasphemous or obscene language. That’s what I read when I looked up profanity in the dictionary.

Apparently it bothers some, offends others, and it irreverent to many. We could put attention on the Internet, loosening morals, higher education or any number of subjects, but the point is this. When you use a swear word, people will pay attention.

At least for a minute or two. Holy Fuck.

Holy Fuck – Congrats
released May 27, 2016
******** 8/10

Holy Fuck is a Canadian electronica band currently on the Young Turks label. The band uses live instruments and several non instruments to create their unique sound, which sounds electronic but is not created with laptops or tracks. For example, they’ve been known to use toy phaser guns in their songs. Seriously.

A good instrumental act is hard to find, but once you do, you better hold on tight because their sound will be a snowflake in the summer, beautiful and unique, but fleeting. You can capture it and put it under glass, but it won’t function the same way. That’s probably why the best instrumental acts are often on independent labels, untapped and underexposed potential.

Suffice it to say Holy Fuck are a good indie instrumental act, though you are probably wondering how Congrats fares as an album overall, right dear readers?

I personally really like House of Glass, that opener uses a really cool baseline and what sounds to be sirens to evoke darkness without ever being explicit, and wait for the build up – it’ll give you goosebumps. Tom Tom and Sabbatics are also some kind of wonderful. Tom Tom with it’s glitchy soundscape and haunting vocals and Sabbatics with it’s ever-rising climb of rhythm.

This is the kind of dance album that we could have used 4 or 5 years ago, but which the band wasn’t around to make. Likely because they were recharging after 3 strong album efforts and an end of the dance-rock heavy era of the oughts.

And with that consideration, the true question remains – are Holy Fuck still relevant? Or were they ever?

Holy Fuck is both my electronic dream and electric nightmare. Their capacity to produce non-electronic sounds that actually sound better than the real thing is simply fantastic and proof that au naturel is how I like it.

The supposed problem though, is that dance rock doesn’t have a lasting impression with the masses, at least not one that helps you remember it as a good experience. And unfortunately Holy Fuck is also something of an exercise in construction. They figure out a way to make a track and piece together the disparate elements, but never take a real risk to produce higher level sonic bliss. Kind of like that friend which you know will make you laugh and you feel perfectly comfortable with at the party, but isn’t going to floor you with philosophy later on.

It’s hard to fault them though, when the beats are so bumpin. To quite Anthony Fantano, I’m feeling a solid 7.5 to an 8 on this one… And transition.

Holy Fuck aren’t a gimmick band, despite what moments of this write-up might tell you. If anything, I suspect they are subversive little dance-rock enthusiasts and they wanted a way to play music while poking holes in some of the weaker genre elements.

With Congrats they’ve successfully done that, but the question remains. Are they still relevant?

Tim!

An Unexpected Journey (Plants and Animals, Waltzed in from the Rumbling review)

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

What a strange sight to see – When fantasy meets reality and dreams became something more tangible.

We all have dreams. And while sometimes it can be quite therapeutic to take a break from the hard work of the world and think upon what could be.

But what if you were living your dreams right now? That’s what this week’s album review is all about.

Plants and Animals – Waltzed in From the Rumbling
released April 29, 2016
***** 6/10

Plants and Animals are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal. A three piece act that began playing together as children and whom have now released four studio-length albums decades later.

It’s almost the perfect story isn’t it? We all had those sort of dreams as children. Each of us were asked that age-old question of what do you want to be when you grow up? It turns out that Warren Spicer, Matthew Woodley, and Nicolas Basque all got their wish.

And how fitting given that their fourth album heavily features tracks that were given form via a process akin to a playdate. Each member of the trio meeting up in their studio to play whatever they felt like at each session. This is the effort of P&A stepping back from the limelight after five years of touring and two albums made during that period; this is Plants and Animals setting out to record something real and wrought with emotion.

And it’s incredibly beautiful album to listen to.

All the mistakes, quirks, and cleverness of epiphany all rest inside of each track rather softly, a simple request that you take them in and ponder them over.

The results of childhood friends taking advantage of their shorthand to recognize when something isn’t working and then to push a song in ways unexpected is quite a wondrous thing to hear.

But the problem is that it isn’t entirely accessible at first playthrough or even during a second playthrough. Yes the music is fun and heartfelt and beautiful, but it moves at a variety of paces throughout and it’s shoegazing format is not something that is going to appeal to the majority of the crowd. P&A can’t quite figure out the tone to set on this one and it hurts the album for it.

But I’m willing to bet Plants and Animals aren’t concerned about what the majority thinks. Which is why they are willing feature summer tracks like We Were One, the horns infused Je Voulais te Dire, and the rather ironic Flowers.

Stands out tracks include No Worries Gonna Find Us and We Were One. And if you want to listen to a few of the tracks yourself they’ve already released a couple of singles – 1 2

As other indie bands explore heavy pop mixtures, opportunities to use synthesizers and older sounds, Plants and Animals are on a different journey and one that keeps them ever youthful.

Plants and Animals are fortunate to have the opportunity to live their dreams, and the talent to share with us what dreams can sound like when realized. That is why an album like Waltzed in from the Rumbling is so beautiful to hear. Yes, the melodies are quite lovely, but that conviction and success are sweet as well.

But should you buy this album? I think if you want to try something a little different, than absolutely yes… what dreams may come.

Tim!

Just Hymning Along (Bloc Party, Hymns review)

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

There is this really lame scene from 2007’s Spider-man 3 where Peter Parker gets upset with Eddie Brock, pushes him against a wall, and decides to expose him as a fake photographer. Which is then topped off by the one-liner – You want forgiveness, get religion.

Fans of the Spider-man comic books can appreciate both the cheesiness of this line, and the attempt at foreshadowing the pending birth of Venom in the film.

This might be relevant to today’s Melodic Monday entry in more ways than one.

Bloc Party – Hymns
released January 29, 2016
****** 6/10

Bloc Party are an English indie rock band, which also use elements of electronica and house in their music. Though they have seen some lineup changes over the past few years, the current band is composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Louise Bartle (drums).

This is their fifth studio album, which comes after a 4 year hiatus. After 2012’s Four was released, Matt Tong left the band in 2013 and Gordon Moakes left the band in 2015. This is where Justin Harri and Louise Bartle came in.

Hymns is an interesting effort. \s I already mentioned, it is the first album Bloc Party has made in four years, but it is also the first album the new lineup has recorded together. And somehow it manages to both work as a wall of sound album, with religious undertones, and simultaneously alienate fans of their older work. In other words, it’s not really like the smash first album Silent Alarm and their dancier third album, Intimacy.

But what’s the problem?

Why it doesn’t work is because it never quite reaches the levels of spiritual praise that it claims to be striving for. It’s an album half baked. But when it does work it’s because they stop pretending to be making dance music with religious redemption and just talk about the issues they care about. This is where Okereke’s vocals have always been strongest and where the heart of Bloc Party lies.

Instead with Hymns we get to see Okereke in control of the show, existing in a space between soul and gospel, but he does still love his electronica. Stand out tracks include Into The Earth, So Real, and Living Lux, but overall the rest of the songs are just okay. It’s so strange because this was one of the 21st centuries golden children, they were pioneering in 2005 what has now become the norm in modern rock. But their exploration of music and lryics as a slow and forced movement into a more mature sound just doesn’t quite work yet. This truly is Bloc Party 2.0, but I’m not entirely convinced that the upgrade has been worth it.

It may be because half of the original band has left, and the party has left with them, but Different Drugs best demonstrates the future of the band, and incidentally may be a code for the reason why the band started to break up in the first place. If reinvention is supposed to be cool, I think it just got cold in this house.

Now I don’t necessarily think that Bloc Party “got religion” in the wake of the band experiencing inner turmoil, but it is interesting that self-reflection usually breeds this kind of behavior. And I’m willing to bet we haven’t seen the last of Bloc Party, that an awesome team-up style fight is in the not-too-distant future, but I’ve been burnt before.

So should you buy this album? Well I don’t think it’s amazing, but still, it’s a decent listen. Fortunately enough, I just might have a redemption movie in store for tomorrow. What do you think? Is Hymns marred with too much self-worship? Are my theories on the mark?

Tim!

Cruisin’ California (Weezer, white album review)

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

The most interesting thing for many a youth is finding that coveted summer album they can play for the months ahead and be the cool kid, who knows what’s up.

Thankfully I can count myself among that crowd this summer. I may be giving away the results of this week’s album review a tad early, but dammit if I care. I am so happy to have this album review under my belt, so I can just get ahead with enjoying this record.

So here we go!

Weezer – Weezer (White Album)
released April 1, 2016
******** 9/10

Weezer is an American alternative rock band with emo, power pop, pop punk, and alt rock influences. They are originally from Los Angeles and consist of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, lead guitar), Patrick Wilson (drums), Brian Bell (rhythm guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), and Scott Shriner (bass, backing vocals, keyboards).

This is their fourth self-titled album, affectionately known as the white album, and is preceded by the red album (2008), then the green album (2001), and the blue album (1994). But in fact, this is their tenth studio album, so don’t be confused by the naming, IF you are a new fan to the band.

Weezer have an interesting history, as is often the case with well-established musical acts. I myself was introduced to them from a fairly very young age, around the time that I was early in my high school year and when the green album was making the rounds. This was also in an age before the internet and self-promotion was the norm. Artists still used the radio and MTV to get attention for airplay. Then kids would hit the record store for vinyl and/or CDs and fall in love proper with the band of the day.

However, in Canada we had something called Much Music instead and so I was listening to the Much Music Big Shiny Tunes compilation albums to learn about cool new music. My friends helped too, but to be honest, I liked to explore when it came to music AND I was also happy to follow the advice of mentors along the way, so I deviated from the rap game a bit and explored the rock genre too. At this time, Big Shiny Tunes 6 was THE hot new thing, and Hash Pipe was featured on the track list.

And boy was that ever a good song… Seriously though.

Which leads me back to this album. You see, a lot of people will agree that the blue album, and the green album were brilliant albums, definitely the career moments for Weezer, and they are finally starting to accept Pinkerton as genius too. Pinkerton came between those two albums.

Then they released a couple more albums, and finally the red album, which wasn’t as good, but had me convinced it would be because of the self-titled nature of it. Then they released four more albums between 2008-2014 and people started to pay attention again. Everything Will Be Alright In The End was a return to form and got people excited about the band again.

But is the white album any good?

Well in short, yes. And the reason is that Weezer made an album where every single song is just as good as the previous one. In exactly the same way that the blue album and the green album were constructed. You see, as I mentioned already, we are now in the era of self-promotion and a level playing field (for the most part), when it comes to airplay and exposure. When Weezer was phoning it in and releasing albums with 2 or 3 good singles and a lot of fill, other bands were playing local venues, sharing their music online, and interacting with their fan base through emerging social media.

The white album is a redemption album. And like the blue album, which was an opportunity for a Californian act to make a name for themselves, or like the green album, a place for a band to reform and reinvigorate after a break from the scene (and a supposed failure in Pinkerton), the white album is about Weezer caring through the entire effort to produce something of merit.

I can’t tell you which song is my favourite, because like any good album, I cannot single out one track on this record for you to listen to. You need to hear it all. It’s inspired by California and definitely has a surfer vibe, which is what Weezer is good at.

So check out these music videos (1 2 3 4 5) and pick up this album. As a long time Weezer fan, and a music fan in general, I’m telling you that it’s worth it!

I will say this about one track of the album in particular. Endless Bummer is a fitting ending song for the white album. Because you’ll know the album is closing out, and that’s kinda sad. But no so sad that you can’t just put the album on repeat and start it all over again.

As I said above, I was so happy when I put this album on, because it meet my expectations of an album, and it was a personal triumph because I’ve been hoping for this Weezer album for years now. It probably deserves that 9, and in my heart I want to give it a 10 because I’m just that happy with it, but I’ll keep it at a 9 for you fine folks. That’s how serious timotheories is about it’s theories on the arts.

Until tomorrow, when we review another return to form, via the movie route, I’m out of theories for now friends.

Tim!