The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off

Release Date: May 23, 2006

★★★★★ Tracks:

Louisiana

Danny's at the Wedding

I don’t know A Hundred Miles Off well yet, but I’m glad I’m getting familiar with it. An underrated album from an underrated band, the Walkmen continue tweaking their sound with each new record, never giving way to redundancy. While Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone was low-key and atmospheric, and Bows & Arrows was frenetic and loud, this one mixes sounds from both. But A Hundred Miles Off is not simply a mish-mash of old Walkmen ideas, they add Latin and European elements to the songs, allowing the use of their organ and brass section in ways they hadn't used them before. Both embellish the major-chord progressions perfectly, accompanying Leithauser's most upbeat lyrics to date.

The best song is perhaps the first one. “Louisiana” exudes all those great feelings you get when you hit the road, enjoy good company and take in the scenery. It’s got a lazy, summery feel to it which only increases the effectiveness of the lyrics. And when the brass section kicks in I'm immediately transported to a river boat heading down the Mississippi, on my way to the cajun riviera. Unfortunately I’m sure it looks nothing like it used to now.

"Lousiana" YouTube Link (Warner Bros./YouTube won't allow embedding.)

The Walkmen - Bows & Arrows

Release Date: February 2, 2004

★★★★★ Tracks:

The Rat

Little House of Savages

“The Rat” is proof some of the best songs written can come out of simple jam sessions. Matt Barrick was fucking around on his kit at band practice, riding his hi-hat at maximum velocity while mixing in some snare and bass in what essentially became the equivalent of playing a four minute long drum fill. I imagine the rest of the band’s ears perked up, and Paul Maroon blasted a few lightning fast chords over top with that signature guitar sound of his, the bass and electric organ joined in, adding complimentary undertones to the sonic mayhem that had just been constructed. Hamilton Leithauser scribbled down a few words in a few minutes and began to scream them as loudly as he could. The session culminated in to a song that has a loud, nervous kinetic energy that only briefly relinquishes for the greatest few lines of the song:

“When I used to go out I would know everyone that I saw
Now I go out alone if I go out at all”

Leithauser sings with such emotion (sounding similar to Paul Westerberg or Greg Dulli) you can’t help but get wrapped up in the heartache he’s experiencing. Bows & Arrows has a few more similarly outstanding tracks in “Little House of Savages” and “My Old Man.” But “The Rat” is the breadwinner, a track that most everyone had near the top of their list of best songs in 2004.

Look out for the Walkmen on Jimmy Fallon this week, 08/12.

Audio Two

Audio Two's “Top Billin'” exemplifies much of what makes hip-hop great. It has that great minimalist production with a danceable beat 80's hip-hop was so good at, with simple lyrics but clever wordplay (“I stole your girl while you was in prison” is one of my favorite lines in all of rap). It has all of the ambitious braggadocio, but it's relatively modest; the most impressive thing they have is a great big bodyguard.

Though it's actually the b-side to “Make it Funky,” this is possibly the most influential song in the history of hip-hop. I count more than 50 instances on wikipedia where “Top Billin'” has been referenced or sampled; this song is so popular, so classic, so ubiquitous in hip-hop culture, you've heard this song a million times even if you think you haven't.

Aton

Jeez, what a bizarre song. I mean, really. Such is my fascination that I've played this song 18 times before driving up the play count as I wrote this post. “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” was the #1 song by Tony Orlando for four weeks in 1973. Though the practice of wearing yellow ribbons carried greater weight by women in wartime to announce their intent to wait for their soldier significant others to return home from fighting, the song's title requests a convict's old lover to give him a sign that he's still wanted at home upon release from jail. The song is exactly what you'd expect from a hit song by Tony Orlando & Dawn in 1973, the kind of song you'd laugh at if your teenage self went through your parents' record collection from their bell-bottomed phase.

But that version isn't what's on my ipod. It's the Aton version, courtesy of the awesome Home-Schooled: The ABCs of Kid Soul from the infinitely valuable Numero Group label. Like the other songs on this compilation, Aton is a pre-teen, post-Jackson 5 soul group who were ambitious enough to lay this song to record but not really good enough to do much else. But this cover is such an oddly hyper-sexualized version, with the crooning ad-libbing and the chants of “Yellow!” in the background that it makes one wonder what the hell the thinking was behind choosing this song. In retrospect, they were probably trying to capitalize on the Orlando version, which wasn't too far removed from its popularity at the time it was recorded. But between singing about a subject matter derivative of three different adult topics (sex, war, and jail), I can't decide if the choice is dementedly brilliant or just plain dementedly demented. Hear for yourself, and let me know if you don't end up listening to it several times just to wrap your head around the wtf factor of it all.

The Walkmen - Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone

Release Date: March 26, 2002

★★★★★ Tracks:

Wake Up

French Vacation

We've Been Had

Hands down Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone wins coolest fucking album cover of the millennium so far -- a timeless photograph of late 19th century tough as nails, New York City newsboys. The record is pretty damn good, too.

I first heard the Walkmen through what is probably their most popular single, released a few years after this record, “The Rat." An immediately catchy and engaging song, it actually left me somewhat disappointed by most of the Walkmen I sampled thereafter. But after giving their records a few more chances I realized it was only because I was impatient, seeking the immediate gratification "The Rat" offered upon introduction. Once I learned that’s not what the Walkmen were all about, I was much better off.

Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone reveals itself slowly, as stronger tracks like “French Vacation" and “Wake Up” take a minimalist approach to instrumentation which could give off the illusion of being dull initially, but rewards for repeated listens. By constructing their own studio, carefully choosing their instruments and production style, the Walkmen create a uniquely eerie, classic rock'n'roll feel which allows plenty of space for the music to breathe. Most of the tracks expand their atmospheres as they further develop, dominated by an old-fashioned stand-up piano and Paul Maroon’s classic rock’n’roll guitar sound, probably compliments of a Gibson ES-135 or similar-style Back to the Future hollow-bodied guitar.

The best track is "We've Been Had," a song featured in a Saturn commercial, Hamilton Leithauser sings about the hardships of post-college life, and most likely more specifically moving to New York after school to try and pursue a music career -- something most of us NY transplants can relate to. A beautiful piano line accompanies him along for the ride.

"See me age 19 with some dumb haircut
From 1960 moving to New York City
Live with my friends there
We're all taking the same steps
They're foolish now"

Wavves - King of the Beach

Release Date: August 3, 2010

★★★★★ Tracks:

Super Soaker

Idiot

Convertible Balloon

Green Eyes

Anyone who follows Wavves knows about Nathan William’s meltdown at the Barcelona’s Primavera festival, culminating in an early return to the states and Nathan’s drummer leaving the band indefinitely. Nathan later admitted to being under the influence of a heavy-duty cocktail: xanax, valium, xtc, and some drinking. That’ll do just about anybody in. He said afterwards he has a bit of a substance abuse problem (ya think?), but anyone following Wavves on twitter knows Nathan still likes to party. And that’s alright by me, because weed is an integral piece of King of the Beach -- a perfectly blended cocktail of surf rock, marijuana, Nirvana-influenced power chords, and a touch of electronica. It makes for the perfect record to close out the last half of the summer.

You might think the break-up of the old Wavves would hurt their sound, but Nathan Williams made two major changes which markedly improve upon his last attempt. The first is recruiting the rhythm section of Jay Reatard’s band (Stephen Pope and Billy Hayes), both of whom tighten up the sound Nathan has been developing over the years. The second (and most important) is going to an actual studio to record, as opposed to self producing it in his bedroom. The superior quality gives the guitar that crunchy 90’s alternative sound Wavves so endears, while also allowing him to add some touches of electronica to break up the sound of the record.

“King of the Beach” opens and sets up the sound for most the record, relying on a heavy dosage of power chords and quick tempo. Williams acknowledges his TMZ music-scene critics in “Idiot,” which, along with the Miami-bass pounding “Green Eyes” dive in to Incesticide for musical inspiration. There are a few nods to Animal Collective in tracks like “Mickey Mouse” and “Baseball Cards.” And there’s a great walk through childhood on the nintendo-powered “Convertible Balloon,” one of the two songs written by Billy Hayes.

King of the Beach delivers an improvement over Wavvves in both quality of production and songwriting. There isn’t a weak track included here. The lyrics can be extremely childish, but Williams's songwriting is intentionally simplistic, perfectly accompanying the rock and pop Wavves produces so well . King of the Beach isn’t here to challenge your wits, it’s an album to tune on, tune in, and drop out to as you close out the last half of your hazy summer, and a definite album of the year contender.

Wavves - Wavvves

Release Date: February 3, 2009

What the fuck is up with this recording? Is that a guitar or a collection of grinding gears? Are those backing vocals or a recording of a girl drowning?

Back in the 80’s and early 90’s, lo-fi made sense. Recording studios were expensive. Smaller bands and record labels were having difficulty putting records out on a tight budget. Enter the 4-track cassette recorder, which was already being used for demos for quite some time before artists like Daniel Johnston, Pavement, and Guided By Voices recorded entire albums using it. A creative and cheap way for an artist's music to reach the masses.

But this was 2009. Artists are putting out quality sounding songs and records with as little as a laptop and a USB mic. And Wavves, signed to a label like Fat Possum, could have afforded to up the studio production. This puts Wavvves in the category of “lo-fi for aesthetic purposes.” And this isn't just lo-fi, Wavvves just might be the lousiest quality of record I have ever heard. Challenging listeners with this shitty of a recording for artistic purposes is something I lack patience for -- it’s literally too much work to work my way past all the fuzz.

But if you can work your way past the fuzz you’ll hear a few good tracks. "Beach Demon," "So Bored," and "No Hope Kids" bring to mind a mix of Nirvana’s punk rock and pop, and Guided by Voices lo-fi sensibilities, but when I listen I can’t help but think what if. What if Fat Possum sent Nathan Williams to a cheap studio to re-record Wavvves how good it could have potentially been.