Album of the Week: Andrew Bird- Armchair Apocrypha

The cover of Armchair Apocrypha is some kind of bird, though all you can see is its back. You can't detect any wings, any facial features, the claws, etc. It's as if you're wandering through a grandparent's attic, seeing all kinds of strange and seemingly foreign things from years past via only one angle--you do a doubletake and either look closer or turn the object over before you realize what it is. This is more or less what listening to the album is like. The songs seem familiar to you but you aren't quite sure what they are until you give them closer inspection.

Andrew Bird is one of those American musicians who you're almost sure can't be an American because he seems so multicultural. The phrase "citizen of the world" comes to mind because his songs seem shot through with imagery and words from across the world. There's something of a worldly 19th century European aristocrat vibe going on, too, from his violin/stringed instrument mastery to his highly skilled whistling to his voice pitched somewhere between the operatic ecstasy of Rufus Wainwright and the sensitive-but-full-bodied Jeff Buckley. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but combined with his lyrics--filled with words, places, and people you'd only expect to hear in various history or sociology courses in college--Bird really seems like a truly intelligent person who knows a lot about everything. A Renaissance man, basically.

The true accomplishment of Armchair Apocrypha is not its intelligence, though. Like other brainy indie rockers such as the Decemberists, you don't need a Bachelor's degree to appreciate the album. That's because with songs like 'Imitosis', 'Plasticities', and 'Scythian Empires' Bird has proven himself a genius of pop songwriting. Though these three songs are too long and nuanced to work as radio smash hits, they are as catchy as catchy can be. Like Sufjan Stevens, Bird is able to write infectious and memorable songs utilizing a vast array of instruments. Also similarly, those songs can be about unconventional subjects. Where Stevens has released two albums that are ostensibly "about" the states Michigan and Illinois, Bird's songs can be about, well, the Scythian Empire and heretics; however, it's also true that Stevens and Bird's songs are not just about these topics. They're often used as metaphors or red herrings for the true meaning, which is usually left up to the listener to decide.

I feel like I should have more to say, but other than "the lyrics are really good, too" nothing comes to mind. Perhaps that's the point. This is one of those albums that people simply have to experience themselves, have a reaction to emotionally/intellectually, and return to often for ever-richer enjoyment. I can't fully explain to you what the title of the album means to me, or what I feel when the intro to 'Plasticities' starts and Bird materializes with the line "this isn't your song/this isn't your music." But you wouldn't, and shouldn't, understand even if I tried to. So. Get this album.

Primer: Pavement Part 6- Terror Twilight

The final albums by bands often have a fascinating quality about them that has nothing to do with the music contained inside. It's tempting to throw the lyrics across a table like owl bones and try to read coded messages about a break-up or inter-band acrimony. At the same time, it's also tempting to compare the final album to the subsequent solo material and/or side projects of the former band members. Would the band have naturally headed in those directions, or did it take the end of the band and a "clean slate" mindset to create those changes??

Terror Twilight has a reputation that has nothing to do with the music. Fans see in the lyrics from 'Ann Don't Cry' Stephen Malkmus's farewell to the band--"I am not having fun anymore"--while a literal farewell was in the alternate title for the album (according to The Slow Century DVD, a working title was Farewell Horizontal). However, I've never bought the assertion I see sometimes that this is a proto-Malkmus solo album. Though all the songs are written by Malkmus, there is still that distinct Pavement-ness to the album; in fact, despite the production of Nigel Godrich, it's actually more unhinged and off-the-cuff than Brighten The Corners.

Coming at the end of the 90s and the end of the band's lifetime, Terror Twilight is their secret masterpiece. I would wager that as time has gone on, and continues to go on, more and more people will come around to it. As it's the band's last album, it's had too much stigma attached to it for people to peel back those surface layers and get to the meat beneath. That is to say, it's the band's most overtly psychedelic and 60s inspired album. For the video for 'Shady Lane', Malkmus's vision for director Spike Jonze was to create something that was "psychedelic but not retro." That vision, it seems to me, was carried over to the Terror Twilight album.

In many ways, too, Terror Twilight is like a mini-Wowee Zowee in terms of its variety. The MOR pop ballad 'Major Leagues'--which I initially hated and have only recently come around to, thanks to its sublime "they'll wear you down sometime" bit--butts up against the dense, three-part, bluesy (no pun intended) 'Platform Blues', with harmonica soloing from Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. Elsewhere, the cool, groovy 'Speak, See, Remember' (the one song that even people who don't seem to like Terror Twilight will admit is awesome) gives way to the the intense guitar meltdown 'The Hexx' (the first of many Malkmus long jams that either end or help bring an album to a close), which then gives way to the impossibly catchy 'Carrot Rope', complete with overlapping sing-along vocals.

Pavement's album covers, lyrics, and music have always been odd and sitting outside the mainstream, but Terror Twilight pushes the whole thing into 'psychedelic.' For instance, 'Spit On A Stranger' is about kissing another person for the first time, though you would really have to think about it to understand that. With these skewed lyrical nuggets comes a more overtly psychedelic/60s inspired sound. Though some of this credit must be given to producer Nigel Godrich, who had Radiohead's OK Computer from 1997 and Beck's Mutations from 1998 under his belt (two albums that have similar psychedelic/60s leanings), Malkmus must take the main brunt of the credit/blame for this album. Guitar effects pedals and mostly-subtle squiggling and burbling keyboards are used prominently alongside clean guitars with slight reverb. At the same time, some of the songs are Malkmus's most ambitious, like the aforementioned 'Platform Blues' and 'Speak, See, Remember.' Watching the band play these songs live in The Slow Century DVD, you get the feeling that Malkmus broke up the band partially because they simply weren't tight and practiced enough to do these justice. It simply wasn't in Pavement to have that much discipline; in the same DVD, bassist Mark Ibold points out that he sings on 'Carrot Rope' but they don't play it live because he couldn't teach himself to play bass and sing at the same time.

I will concede that Terror Twilight isn't their best album. That title rightfully belongs to one of their first three depending on your taste. However, Terror Twilight also isn't as mediocre as people have been saying since its release. While Brighten The Corners needs a reissue to help flesh out its era and give it some context, Terror Twilight is the album that people need to return to without the baggage of context. If you merely listen to it and let it reveal itself for what it is, you'll find a lot to like here.

Video: Aphex Twin- Come To Daddy

Now, I've never been on acid, so I've never had a bad trip...but I imagine it's sort of like this video.

The more time goes on, and the more of his music I hear, the more I'm convinced that Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin has one of the best senses of humor in the music industry. There's just something about the way the guy operates--from the music and remixes he releases to his sometimes bizarre public appearances to the covers and titles of his albums--which causes me to think this way.

I remain unsure, however, whether 'Come To Daddy' is funny or terrifying. It certainly is creepy, and the stuff childhood nightmares are made of, but it's also kind of funny--from the way the evil-TV-spirit is summoned by dog piss, to the mob of children with Richard D. James masks, to the 'Techno Is' graffiti in the background of one scene. Does the evil-TV-spirit look like the evil guy from Ghostbusters 2 to anyone else??

I like how the "come to daddy" finale looks like the final scene from Close Encounter of the Third Kind where the big tall alien comes out amongst the smaller ones. Anyway, the part where the Richard D. James monster emerges from the TV and screams into the old woman's face is one of those memorable music video moments that everyone should really experience.

If you're ever bored, I recommend watching the rest of Aphex Twin's videos. They're all suitably strange, wonderful, and creepy.

Primer: Pavement Part 5- Brighten The Corners

Of all the Pavement albums most in need of reevaluation and re-contextualizing via the deluxe reissue treatments Matador has been giving Pavement for the past half decade, Brighten The Corners is at the top of my list, followed by Terror Twilight. While I have a clear picture of what Terror Twilight is and what the band were trying to achieve, I also know that there were a myriad of b-sides and Spiral Stairs songs left off that will provide for rich grist when the time comes for its 2 CD rebirth.

What I can't quite grasp is much about Brighten The Corners. Its era (1996 through early 1998) is easily the most undiscussed and unknown period in Pavement's history; things seem to kind of stop at the end of the Wowee Zowee era with the release in January 1996 of the Pacific Trim EP and pick up again in the summer of 1998, with the recording sessions for Terror Twilight, which is also a time when Stephen Malkmus began to do solo shows and was quickly, then slowly, then quickly on his way to breaking up the band toward the end of 1999. Watching The Slow Century DVD you would hardly know Brighten The Corners is released, other than the five or so minutes it's given where Stephen Malkmus mentions that with the album they were trying to show more of their classic rock and REM influences.

Yet even with that Rosetta Stone the album itself is a bit of a slippery thing to nail down. It's Pavement's most mature album in many ways, from the mostly mannered songs and arrangements to the lyrical subjects that frequently mention marriage, growing old, and changes in general. It also is their most accessible by virtue of the fact that there are no noise bursts or screaming; even their other "my parents might like this" album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, had stuff like 'Hit The Plane Down.' So, then, Brighten The Corners is their classic rock/REM album...but it's Pavement's take on this aesthetic, so it's odd and still too strange for the mainstream audience it should have/was trying to appeal to.

We need to keep in mind that, during 1996 and 1997, people were again predicting the death of rock and roll. Electronica/techno had finally caught on in America--after years of being huge in Europe and other locales--and as usual for a short sighted and culturally narrow minded populace, some American critics and writers began to wonder if it would replace rock. Never mind that "with us or against us" and black-and-white have no place in music and never have; also never mind that jazz, blues, rock, hip hop, country, folk, techno, etc. can co-exist peacefully and cross pollinate and create great things. No, it seems that everyone was again making the mistake and saying rock was dead. Into this mire came Pavement, with their most thoroughly old fashioned album. In the aforementioned DVD, a European journalist asks Malkmus if, with Brighten The Corners, they are trying to save rock. He mutters some clever answer about how they feel alone on an island with a few other bands, but they'll save it in the end. I don't think he meant it, but it's a telling comment/joke nonetheless.

It's impossible for me to listen to this album without the above paragraph of context. Brighten The Corners is a sharp departure from the excess and variety of Wowee Zowee, and while I don't think it was an attempt to become a huge popular band that would save rock, it must at least have been an attempt to do something wholly different from their last. For that very reason, it's my least favorite Pavement album, and in many ways, I think it's their least interesting both to listen to and talk about. You may have noticed how much time I've given to everything about the album other than the music, and that's done half intentionally and half not so. I simply don't feel like I have much to say about the album; after a listen or two, its strengths and weaknesses feel self evident.

There are three things I want to point out, and they each involve two song pairs. The first is that 'Stereo' and 'Shady Lane' are among the best Pavement songs ever, and that they begin the album and were the sole singles from it is significant. Secondly, this album is the showcase for Spiral Stairs. Though he only contributes two songs, they are probably his best--with all due respect to 'Kennel District.' 'Date With Ikea' is a great, classicist rock/pop song with Kannberg's unpretentious vocals to make it deeply hummable, while 'Passat Dream' is one of the most unique pieces of the Pavement discography, with a danceable drum beat and a psychedelic backdrop of guitars, keyboards, and "ooh-woo-woo-ooh-ohh" vocals. Lastly, the album closes with the one-two punch of 'Starlings of the Slipstream' and 'Fin', two songs that both have that distinctive "this is the song that closes the album" feel to them. They always throw me off because I don't expect 'Fin' until it starts because 'Starlings' has such finality to it.

Actually, I lied, I have one last thing to say about the album. I'll try to make this quick because I don't have any evidence to back this up. Rather, this is just a matter of feeling: Brighten The Corners doesn't feel like a Pavement album to me. I say "feel" but I also mean "sound." I'm trying my best not to be vague, but there is simply something a bit off about the whole thing. Something in the production, the way the songs sound, how the instruments work with the lyrics, the general vibe of the whole thing...People like to give Terror Twilight guff for being a proto-Malkmus solo album, but if it is, at least it sounds like the other Pavement albums. Listen to Brighten The Corners before or after their other ones. All Pavement albums have a unique vibe and sound, but--again, apologies for being vague--there is something off about Brighten The Corners.

Though Brighten The Corners is my least favorite Pavement album, it also proves how good least-favorite-albums-by-one-of-my-favorite-bands can be. It's the sort of thing like Bossanova by the Pixies where I always forget how much I enjoy it until I make myself listen to it again. I look forward to the deluxe reissue of Brighten The Corners in order to help me get a better understanding and possible appreciation of this (kind of) undiscovered era of Pavement. Until then, know that Brighten The Corners is worth a listen for fans, but only after you've heard everything else. While it may seem I am being a bit harsh on something I admittedly like, I listen to it the least of any Pavement/Malkmus albums, and that should say more than all the words I just rambled out.

Video: The Sea and Cake- Crossing Line

The Sea and Cake are one of those bands who, when people ask me to name some of my favorite music, I always forget about. I also usually forget how much I like them until one of their songs crosses my iTunes shuffle or a friend brings them up in casual conversation.

This video is one of those static concept pieces that can either completely work or completely fail. In this case, it works fantastically; The Sea and Cake's music always casts visions of spring and summer afternoons in my mind, and in that regard, this clip is the perfect complement. As the song winds through its carefully planned course, what seems to be a bird overheard follows the camera in a car as it drives around what I would guess is a suburb.

The subtitles for the lyrics are a nice touch, too, because they help reveal how lucid and dreamlike Sam Prekop's lyrics can be. I have to admit, they normally float past me as inconsequentially as an occasional wind gust on a hot summer day, but having them literally spelled out for me has me paying more attention to his lyrics, especially as I re-listen to the underrated Everybody album.

Enjoy.

Album of the Week/Primer: Pavement Part 4- Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition

1994 and 1995 were hugely prolific years for Pavement. While the band were busy touring all over the place--even enjoying an ill fated stint on the 1995 Lollapalooza tour--they managed to release two great albums: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Wowee Zowee. While the former has all the feel of a band becoming a band, with songs polished and eager to see action in the wild, the latter has all the feel of a band comfortable with each other, willing to try anything and stretch their horizons. The former was recorded mostly in a small studio in New York, while the latter was recorded mostly in the comfy confines of Memphis. In short, Wowee Zowee is a sloppy, schizophrenic "band album" that may strike most listeners as more fun to make than it is to listen to.

For my part, the album underscores, italicizes, and bolds the difference between "my favorite album from a band" and "the best album by a band." Is it a critic's duty to argue for his ragged beloved even if he knows his family, friends, and readers might not like it at all--"really, Dad, she's got a great personality!!"--or to acknowledge its flaws and, instead, work up the same level of enthusiasm for a more polished, digestible album that people are bound to like?? Should I consider my favorite album to be a band's best album, or should I always concede to popular opinion and taste?? Frankly, I love Woee Zowee and it's easily my favorite album by Pavement (in fact, most 'hardcore' fans, and members of the band, seem to feel the same) but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who's never heard the band before. As I said in my reviews for Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, the latter is really the best place for newbies to start as well as being their most agreeable album. You could make a pretty solid case for either of Pavement's first two albums as being their definitive best, but you'll only ever see hardcore fans arguing that Wowee Zowee is their best.

I am one of them. Wowee Zowee is secretly one of the best albums of the 90s, but you would also have to like Pavement to feel that way. In my mind, I think of this album as being the most Pavement of all Pavement albums. It sounds like a band not trying to be anything except themselves. They let it all hang out here, too: the album is Pavement's longest and most diverse by a wide margin. In critic shorthand, we call this "a band's White Album." That Wowee Zowee begins with the slow, lurching 'We Dance' (a song that itself begins with the uncomfortable lyric "there is no/castration fear") speaks volumes for what the band were going for here. Moreover, the band chose 'Rattled By The Rush' and 'Father To a Sister of Thought' for the singles, two songs that don't exactly scream out for mid 90s alternative rock radio play. 'Father To a Sister of Thought', other than having of the best titles in the entire Pavement canon, just happens to be a mid-tempo countrified rocker that recalls 'Range Life' from Crooked Rain. So, yeah, it'd be hard to picture that playing after 'Zero' by the Smashing Pumpkins.

Other highlights abound. 'Grounded' is still one of my favorite songs from this or any album, with repetitive, swirling guitars and crunchy breaks. 'Grave Architecture' has one of those propulsive guitar/bass/drum grooves you can imagine yourself driving to or drinking to in a basement party. 'Flux = Rad' is a caustic punker that sees the band tapping back into their hardcore influences, Malkmus screaming "I don't wanna let you!!" before the song collapses into the two-part, epic sounding 'Fight This Generation', one of the band's masterpieces. Finally, there's 'Kennel District', Spiral Stairs' most visible and worthwhile contribution to an album up to this point, driven by a huge, fuzzy bassline and a distorted, upper register guitar.

Like their first two albums, Wowee Zowee was reissued in a deluxe fashion, titled Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition. You might think that, with such a long album, there wouldn't be much left to hear. Surprisingly, then, this disc-and-a-half of extras is every bit the equal of the Crooked Rain bonuses, if not the Slanted & Enchanted high water mark. Along with outtakes and b-sides from the 'Rattled By The Rush' and 'Father To A Sister of Thought' singles, disc one includes the Pacific Trim EP, which is a curious footnote both in the Pavement and Silver Jews histories. Pavement members Malkmus, Steve West, and Bob Nastanovich were supposed to record some Silver Jews material with David Berman at a studio, but Berman backed out at the last minute. Rather than waste the money, the three soldiered on, banging out these four songs in a few days. But I digress. None of this extra material is going to change your life, but for fans of this era of Pavement, they're like manna from heaven. 'Gangsters & Pranksters' is just one of those fun non-album tracks that fans of bands eat up and cherish and misguidedly put up mixtapes for friends who don't get it.

Disc two is far more scattershot. But, hey, that's what we love about Wowee Zowee, right?? 'Sensitive Euro Man' is a slight, formerly-soundtrack-only Malkmus number, better ed significantly by Spiral Stairs' 'Painted Soliders', another formerly-soundtrack-only affair that is genuinely catchy and rocking. It also has one of Pavement's best/worst videos ever, but that's a tale for another time. Elsewhere we get a few stray outtakes and compilation appearances that don't amount to much--'Soul Food' especially--while the live material is completely great. 'Fight This Generation' comes in a long, screechy-flute-enhanced version, giving people a glimpse into the way the band would sloppily stretch and break the songs live, all while Malkmus ad-libs new lyrics or just stream-of-consciousness variations of what was on the album. The band's penchant for throwing random tangents is shown in the 'Golden Boys/Candylad' pairing and later with the jam they do before busting into 'Box Elder', one of those weird moments where you're not sure if they're really trying or not.

When all is said and done, Wowee Zowee still remains my favorite Pavement album and one of my favorite albums, period. With the Sordid Sentinels reissue, I have even more reason to love it, and this era of Pavement in general. Yet I would be a liar if I said that everyone is going to love this album. Most people will probably listen to it once or twice, wish the band had removed 4 or 5 songs and shuffled the tracklisting around, and then go back to Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. But for those who persevere and find sprawling, messy albums that display a band's full talent and personality appealing, there is nothing quite like Wowee Zowee to get you through the day.

Overpowered RPG Characters

One of the ongoing discussions in any game with an active community is usually what character/class is over or underpowered. This usually takes the form of one group saying something is overpowered, another group pointing out how they totally aren't overpowered, and another group that either makes fun of the whole thing or says that another thing is what is really overpowered.

However, overpowered characters are not necessarily a bad thing. Most of my favorite games have them. Perhaps that says more about me than it does the games, but nevertheless...allow me to present my favorites.
Who??: Alucard
Game: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Why??: Alucard is Dracula's son. Therefore, he has all kinds of awesome-ness already going for me. Specifically to Symphony of the Night, it means that, almost from the minute you start the game, you're a walking death machine. Once you start to get better equipment and spells, the game becomes a cakewalk. In fact, this entry in the Castlevania series is notoriously easy, especially if you abuse things like the Shield Rod + Alucard Shield combo, the spell that drains the life of enemies, or the Crissaegrim sword. You might immediately say "Well, Alucard is the only playable character in the game, so does he count as overpowered?!" but you forget that you can unlock Richter Belmont and, depending on the version you're playing, Maria. Richter is a bit more challenging, while Maria is awkward and lame. So, yeah, Alucard is stupidly powerful.
Who??: Peter the Phoenix
Game: Shining Force II
Why??: When you first get Peter in your party, he looks like he does above and is controlled by the computer. Once you see him in action during a battle, though, you'll quickly learn why Peter is considered the best character in the game. Or at least the cheapest. Unlike some of the other characters in the Shining Force series, who start out horrible but with a lot of work become unstoppable, Peter is immediately awesome. After he's promoted and he starts looking more like an Aztec bird god instead of a retarded muppet, he becomes even better. Not only does Peter automatically resurrect himself so you don't have to pay money after battles to get him back, but he has gobs of attack, speed, and HP. Also, in the game's story, he permanently joins your party on the order of a God. Sweet.
Who??: Orlandu a.k.a. T.G. Cid
Game: Final Fantasy Tactics
Why??: Orlandu is one of the earliest known times where people began to use terms like 'overpowered.' Though he joins your party well into the game, he comes with the All SwordSkill ability set, meaning he can use ALL of the awesome Sword Skill attacks in the game. You know, the ones that are way too powerful and awesome. Not only that, he comes with the Excalibur sword, which casts Haste on any character wielding it. So he gets twice as many turns as your other characters, and he has some of the best unique attacks. Assuming you twink him out with some of the abilities from the game's other unbalanced classes (hello, Dual Wield from Ninjas) he becomes, you guessed it, even more powerful. Obligatory Note: T.G. Cid stands for "Thunder God Cid."
Who??: Warlocks
Game: World of Warcraft
Why??: Warlocks are a contentious subject in WoW. They have been considered overpowered since the release of the game, and while they aren't the "automatic win" that most of the other characters I'm talking about are, they still are pretty bad. WoW is a game where most classes have a specific role, or two, to play. Warlocks can seemingly do everything in the game at once, even if some of those roles are better done by other classes. Just for the sake of argument: they can DPS with awesome spells, DOT with awesome curses, resurrect healers, create items that quickly heal other players, breathe underwater with a spell, crowd control with Banish or Fear or Enslave, get their mounts and epic mounts for free (requires doing involved quest chains, but still), tank via certain pets (Felguard says "hi!!"), summon other players, siphon mana or health from enemies...

The most telling thing about Warlocks is that, for a class that can only wear cloth armor, they dominate in PvP. This is because they can max out their Stamina--thus getting a nearly bottomless reservoir of HP--and use an ability that quickly converts HP into mana, effectively giving them infinite MP for spells and making them nearly unkillable. Combined with a healer class like Paladin or Priest, in 2 v 2 matches they are gods. Combined with Shadow Priests in PvE questing, instanced dungeons, or raids, their combined Shadow spells and Shadow resistance lowering effects make them great in every situation. Whew.
Who??: Sorcerers
Game: Diablo
Why??: The first Diablo is embarrassingly unbalanced to the side of Sorcerers. Of the three available classes, they become unstoppable whirling death by game's end due to their array of spells and Mana Shield. Basically, Mana Shield causes you to take damage from your MP instead of HP. At the same time, you can spam Guardian (which summons three-headed dragon dealies to shoot at enemies) and Apocalypse (which is the big, end-game nuke spell of the game) to roll over your enemies with ease. Sorcerers are the definition of overpowered, though the early-to-mid game can be rough as it is for every caster class in most Western style RPGs. Speaking of which...
Who??: Bards
Game: Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
Why??: I chose this one for last because it's one of the more interesting examples of the changes an expansion can bring to a seemingly set-in-stone game. The thing is, I like music a lot, but in the context of RPGs, Bards are unspeakably lame. This was especially true in the D&D games that Bioware/Black Isle developed in the late 90s/early 00s. However, with the Heart of Winter expansion pack for the dungeon hacky Icewind Dale, Bards became arguably the best class in the game, with the exception of Druids. Bards are kind of like the Warlocks of Icewind Dale: they do a lot of things and a good number of those they do well. Bards can pickpocket like Thieves, cast spells like Mages, get buffs in the form of songs, can identify items with their high Lore rating (an awesome skill that most people take for granted), get some great Bard-only items, can do certain quest things that other characters can't (in the first town, they can sing to a ghost for extra experience), and, possibly, could tank. I never bothered with the latter, though. Maybe 'overpowered' is too strong a word, but the Heart of Winter changes made the Bard one of the best classes in the game. With the final song (which they learn at a measly level 11) they become an essential part of your party.