"Duuude, you guys sound like Mock Orange," said Steve LeFevre to me when I was 17. My band, The Manhattan Project, had just played a house party for a group of people much older and more experienced in the ways of the world than we were. This was the first time I had even heard of Mock Orange, and my life would never be the same (technically, that's true about every moment of one's life I guess - but, still). We naïvely smiled and nodded and immediately went to the record store to find out more about them.
picture from pennlive.com
What we found (listen to this old material here and here) was another take on the kind of indie math-y rock we'd grown to love through Braid and Jawbox. In fact, the guy's voice almost sounds like Bob Nanna's (of Braid and Hey Mercedes). Back in these days, music like that was still pretty hard to come across. Joan of Arc was doing their thing, but it was a little bit too avant-garde for me, especially back then.
We found they'd released two albums by that time (2000-2001?) - Nines and Sixes and The Record Play, the latter being produced by indie legend, Mark Trombino. The drumming and time signature changes are so complicated and precise, it's almost mesmerizing if you let it be. My love for the band grew more and more with time, until 4 years passed without a new record from them. It was 2004 and I was afraid Mock Orange had gone the way of The Jealous Sound and other great bands who weren't surviving the shift of indie rock to main-er-stream pop culture.
Well, when they finally dropped an album in 2004, titled Mind Is Not Brain, the reason for the wait was apparent - they had completely changed. They had drastically abandoned the heavy distortion and the aggressive rhythmic drive, and, most notably, adopted a radically different vocal style. The good news is that every change showed to be an improvement. Once familiarized with the albums, you can see things that do connect them. And it provides an interesting timeline of sound, showing not just Ryan Grisham's songwriting development, but adjustments in his fundamental musical execution as well. Observe:
If Mind Is Not Brain was the turning point of the band's sound, 2008's album Captain Love was surely the group hitting their new stride. The guitars got shakier, the drums got bangier, and the sound got weird-ier. Grisham's lyrics improved immensely, pulling more purpose into the songs - it was no longer a music theory show-off exhibition. As a result, the sound is more organic and more universally listenable. Here are five of my favorite tracks from Captain Love:
With that said, it is with great pleasure that I pass along the news of a new Mock Orange album, set to be released on April 12, 2011, in just a couple months! The album is called Disguised As Ghosts. This news, along with news of a new Man Man album is quickly making 2011 a really exciting year for rock music.
This is a new weekly series post that I'll be calling "Listen and Read Friday" - where I will take the liberty of posting any song I would like (as if that's not already the case) and writing about any subject I would like. The idea is to make your Friday nice with a hand-picked song and a good story. You like?
Listen: "Weekend" by Dr. Dog (from 2007's We All Belong)
Read: OMG You Guys, Shocking Reports Straight From Science
An unbelievable study has returned the most amazing, unexpected results. ABC News, what would I have done if I had not read this article?
No, don't read it yourself. This news is so big and shocking that you might want to hear it from me, your pal, instead of a faceless news institution.
Word on the street is that "the most comprehensive annual survey of full-time college students at four-year colleges" has stumbled upon the disturbing fact (by the pure grace of God, I'm sure) that there is a trend of declining emotional health among college freshmen. The study shows that this decline is mostly financially-centered. I'm really grateful for this study, because I didn't know that money was becoming such a problem for college students. Now, I've got $16,000 of student loans to pay off, but you know what? Reading my DirectLoans statement is always a source of peace for me. I had no idea student loans could bring out stress or depression in students. When my student loan statement comes in the mail each month, I like to draw a hot bubble bath, light some candles, and soak in the dim light and soapy water while I read about how much money I owe. This is the part of the month I look most forward to, and it's just hard to imagine somebody not enjoying finding out the depth of their debts!
So, you can see how I might be surprised and a little bit thrown off by these reports. People are getting really sad about how expensive college is. I don't know why. I know that in my college experience, I felt like I wasn't paying enough money for the things I was getting in return: the understanding professors*, the safe facilities**, the amicable classmates***, and the easily-accessible****, cheap***** parking.
I know Arizona State is an extremely prestigious school, so maybe I've been spoiled. I feel like I relate more to the mothers of these depressed/stressed college freshmen, one of which said, "All I can remember worrying about in college was my class work and when it was due, nothing more. I don't think anyone really worried about getting a job after they graduated." Preach on, sister!
So, to you college freshmen who are getting sad about silly things like having absolutely no money left to pursue your dreams -
"Weekend is coming soon, it's time to get yourself up off the floor
Well, let's grab a case of lager and some old beat up shoes,
Head down to the river and strap on a canoe."
*except for most of them
**please overlook the assaults and shootings, it's only fair
***and lots of assholes
****a mile away
*****extra $300 per semester
Here's a band local to Phoenix - though originally from the Northeast. Essentially, if you grew up in the 80s, hold on to your effing hat. Minibosses only play NES cover songs, if you haven't heard. And if you haven't, then really what are you doing with your life (don't answer that)?
Let this glorious glory wash over you. Robin Vining, who I would venture to say is the best rock musician in Phoenix, most recently joined the group, replacing the previous second guitarist. Vining has headed up some other really solid bands in this town, such as Colorstore and Sweetbleeders. He's just one of those dudes that will rock your socks off in any capacity.
Last night, The Get Up Kids played at the Clubhouse music venue in Tempe, Arizona. Although unable to attend myself, Up On the Sun wrote up a review of the show and got me feeling all nostalgic. Sounds like the reviewer, Jason Woodbury, and I share some common residual sentimentality for the group from the late 90s. And it got me thinking...
The first Get Up Kids song heard by my sweet, naïve ears: a cover of the Pixies' "Alec Eiffel". I had never heard such magical noise. I was at a loss. I had no explanation to offer myself for the song's strange phrasing, the atonal guitar solo, or the cosmic refrain that sent me off into a new musical space I had never explored. I immediately latched onto the rest of their music once I pursued finding it. Mind you, this was 1998ish and we were getting those free AOL CDs in the mail - my finding-music-on-the-internet skills were limited to wandering into free AOL chat rooms and then very cautiously download a song here and there from Napster (ha!). Anyways, their album Four Minute Mile was a treasure to me. It had a lot of punk rock angst (I always thought Matt Pryor's vocals had a NOFX quality), which I was really into at the time, while still retaining a soft, smart side. I'd grown weary of the Fat Wreck Chords' rebellious snark, yet I couldn't quite stomach a full-time audio diet of Sunny Day Real Estate's timid sadness. The Get Up Kids were my perfect balance.
My memories of music in the late 90s are slightly marred by one flaw: DIY recording technology SUCKED royally. And all the bands in which I was most interested were fighting uphill battles against an increasingly strong current of terrible mainstream rock music, which means they were getting very little financial support from, well, anybody. But that was part of what made those albums special. We were hearing things that guys were writing and recording out of their bedrooms, purely out of desire to express themselves.
I mean, in the last couple years have you tried going back and listening to Mineral's Power of Failing, S.D.R.E.'s Diary, Hot Water Music's No Division or Jimmy Eat World's Static Prevails? There are moments on each of those records that border on being un-listenable nowadays. But we were accustomed to it - which, I think, is why the Get Up Kids' 1999 release Something To Write Home About became an obsession for so many of us kids who were watching this genre (in typical 90s-era fashion, I'll avoid saying the "e" word) bloom before getting pissed on. Because, finally, one of our bands recorded a solid-sounding album. We got to hear our music in high quality for the first time, really.
Until now, I'd always viewed the Get Up Kids' demise as having a sad, ugly ending. They tried to ride the big wave that they created with Vagrant Records in Something..., but ended up disbanding in 2004 after a tour during which they opened for Dashboard Confessional, a band who would arguably be nothing without the Kids' influence. They had released two albums in a row that were met with sharp criticism from fans, so they felt they had run their course and that they couldn't please anybody.
Fortunately, the recent recycling of ideas from last decade has yielded something great. Sure, sure, Jimmy Eat World did a Clarity tour. Yes, Weezer re-released Pinkerton. But, avoiding the cop-out route, the Get Up Kids are going the extra mile and straight-up reuniting. They wrote a whole grip of new songs and put together a new full-length album called There Are Rules on their own label, Quality Hills Records. The New Times reviewer says that their new sound has evolved into something "more aggressive, tauter and stranger than anything the band has done before." It is relieving to see a band coming back and, instead of regurgitating shit they've had under their belts for years for a quick buck, create something new with no intention of relying on old material to justify making a comeback.
There are two things happening right now that I thought combined to form enough important content to warrant its own "news" post. I never intended this to be a music news blog, but then again, I never intended to talk about movies or do anything besides the "weekly featured artist" formula. As you can see, original intent has little-to-no bearing on this blog.
Coachella Tix On Sale Today -- The festival sent out a message to its vast mailing list that tickets are available as of 10am EST. This is cool news because it allows the too-cool-for-school kids to continue not buying them. In fact, I want to encourage as many people as possible NOT to go, because it was effing crowded last year.
Arizona's Zia Records Accepting Entries for Local Band Compilation -- Phoenix New Times reports that Zia Records is producing Volume 5 of their annual You Heard Us Back When local music compilation for the Phoenix area. Last year's compilation brought us great music by Dust Jacket, Kirkwood Dellinger, What Laura Says, Dry River Yacht Club and Kinch, plus some other bright spots in Phoenix's highly concentrated rock scene. Hopefully we can hear some great new things emerge from our fine city. Making music is like cooking a meal, and I'd say we've got the Phoenix heat on our side. Good luck cooking without fire, suckers*!
One of my personal favorite Flaming Lips songs, for your weekend! It's reminiscent of that sloppy/awesome, nonchalant, quirky garage rock perpetuated through the 80s and 90s by groups like The Pixies and Built to Spill (well, and the Flaming Lips, I guess).
In other news, I thought I would let you know that I attended the cinema last night and saw THE most depressing movie in the world. Before I expound, I have to point out that my previous self-declared "Most Depressing Movie in the World" (and I actually did have one) was St. Elmo's Fire. Now that I think about it, that movie really is a flaming bag of sad, smelly, depressing dog crap.
However, despite not having Rob Lowe kick ass on a saxophone, Blue Valentine is now taking home the oppressively heavy trophy for Most Depressing Movie. Ryan Gosling should probably bring a dolly for this one. Because seriously, this movie will make you want to paint all your walls black and drink yourself to death. My tears were singing old Conor Oberst songs on their way to the ground.
Now, I guess the big difference between Blue Valentine and St. Elmo's Fire is that the former is actually a really great movie that resulted in Golden Globe nominations for both the film's lead actors, and, well, St. Elmo's Fire sucked in the 80s and continues to suck to this very day.
Anyways, the whole reason I'm justifying writing about this is because Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear wrote the score for the whole movie, which was definitely one of its strong points.
Having a bit of a sporadic morning.. now that I'm previewing today's post I see a Flaming Lips song, a picture of Rob Lowe, and links to old emo songs. I know it's all over the place - my 7th grade English teacher always loved to point that out. "You've got to stick to some kind of structure, Trevor." I know, Ms. Metz! I KNOWWWWWW
Notable additions: Jimmy Eat World, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Brandon Flowers (meh), Cee Lo Green, and The Strokes added as a headliner. If you want, you can read Martin Cizmar's New Times post about how much he hates Kings of Leon. I'm more indifferent to them, but it's pretty entertaining to read.
