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Madonna, I’m Breathless

Her fantasy of a vintage musical in which she sings every number

Released to promote her actually quite good performance in Dick Tracy, this is essentially Madonna’s 1990 fantasy of a vintage musical in which she sings every number. Only four songs — including three by Broadway maestro Stephen Sondheim — appear in the film; his “Sooner or Later” won an Academy Award the next year, and having sung repeatedly it in her Blond Ambition Tour, the star absolutely nailed it on the Oscars. Here, like much of the rest, it’s a tad belabored: Stripped of her usual multi-tracking and holding notes far longer than her usual punchy material demands, Madonna sounds like she’s trying extra-hard to pull off vocal licks just outside her comfortable reach.

As songwriters, though, she and Patrick Leonard acquit themselves; their swing-jazz ditty “Hanky Panky” (a largely forgotten Top 10 hit celebrating spanking) and the reflective ballad “Something to Remember” would make swell Glee numbers. The knockout here is, of course, “Vogue,” the star’s tribute to not just classic Philly disco, house music and the drag balls of Harlem, but also to many of the Hollywood vixens she celebrates throughout I’m Breathless and indeed her career. Both femme-centric cult-y and ultra-mainstream (it’s her all-time biggest US single), “Vogue” is quintessential Madonna.

Feb 12, 2013

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Megan Mayhew Bergman, Birds of a Lesser Paradise

Delicate, deceptively profound stories about love, loss, and animal husbandry

Megan Mayhew Bergman’s debut collection opens, fittingly, with an epigraph from Charles Darwin: “We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.” The characters who populate the 12 stories that follow find their own private struggles inextricably bound up in their relationships with animals and the natural world. In “Housewifely Arts,” a single mother drives for hours to visit a parrot she hates because the bird can mimic her dead mother’s voice. In “Yesterday’s Whales,” a pregnant population-control activist fights to reconcile her environmental ethics with her sudden, overwhelming desire for a child. In the title story, a naturalist’s aging, ailing father succumbs to a heart attack while questing in a swamp for an elusive, likely extinct woodpecker. And in “Another Story She Won’t Believe,” a recovering alcoholic volunteers to work with lemurs on the off chance that she’ll do better with the animals than she has with humans.

Against a backdrop of dogs and sheep, bantam chickens and wolf hybrids, cats and fish, Bergman’s characters find and lose one another. Parenthood plays a prominent role: People wrestle with loving and hating and saying goodbye to their parents; with how and whether to become parents themselves. Mothers wince as they watch their children awaken to the world’s cruelties: “I don’t want him to know that people like Louis’s mom exist, that people fall into land mines of pain and can’t crawl back out,” the narrator of “Housewifely Arts” says of her young son. In “The Two Thousand Dollar Sock,” another mother buries her beloved dog — who has just died in a final, ecstatic chase after a black bear — and notes that her infant daughter, too, “better than any of us, understands the urge to have what you must have…She still trusts the raw pull of desire. One day it will tear her away from us, take her down a dirt road to a place she does not recognize, and there she will make her home.” We are all of us animals, toiling at the raw, lonely, transcendent task of being alive.

In these moments and others, where less skilled writers might feel compelled to flog and re-flog their thematically significant introspections, Bergman has the knack for tossing out a deft observation and letting it breathe. Deceptively profound but never overwrought, her language is witty, wry, rich, and delicate, offering meditative moments that leaven melancholy with hopefulness. Cassandra Campbell’s narration is smooth and accomplished, and her voice has a faint Southern lilt nicely suited to Bergman’s North Carolina narrators.

Feb 12, 2013

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Madonna, Ray of Light

Her most accomplished and finessed achievement

Madonna was by now a mother of a child fathered by her fitness trainer/lover Carlos Leon, practicing yoga regularly, studying both Eastern mysticism and Kabbalah, and a far more accomplished singer. All of these emotional, physical and spiritual changes shaped 1998′s Ray of Light. It’s where she discovers tender elements of both her voice and personality: Where she’d generously multi-track her voice while favoring wit and strength over vulnerability, here she contributes a careful and more caring delivery that’s matched by co-producer/co-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist William Orbit’s largely synthetic and finely tweaked studio backing. With songwriting and production help from her favored ballad co-creator Patrick Leonard, pop craftsman Rick Nowels, and keyboardist Marius DeVries, Orbit and Madonna craft an inward-searching singer-songwriter album disguised as an otherworldly electronica departure.

Synths abound, but there are plenty of strings and electric guitars as well: The steady-driving smash title track ranks as one of dance music’s smoothest rock appropriations. Madonna had repeatedly proved herself a consummate singles act, but here her ability as an album artist peaks. There’s not a whiff of filler: From the fame ruminations of album opener “Drowned World (Substitute For Love)” to her mourning failed relationships in “Frozen” and “The Power of Goodbye” to the closing mythological parable “Mer Girl,” every cut feels lyrically and musically committed and coherent within a diverse but sustained and well-sequenced whole. Before the year’s end, Madonna and Leon would separate, but Ray of Light would live on as her most accomplished and finessed achievement.

Feb 12, 2013

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Madonna, Erotica

Putting her power to the test on her wildest album

“Give it up, do as I say/ Give it up and let me have my way” Madonna says at the outset of this set to a willing S&M bottom and, by extension, her fans and the music industry. Having recently scored considerable coups with material that would’ve been considered uncommercial coming from any other act, the singer put her power to the test on her fifth and wildest album, the first for her own label, Maverick. Like her art-photography-slash-softcore-porn book Sex, Erotica addressed female pleasure, self-hatred, the death of gay friends and mentors from AIDS, lovers who raced away from emotional intimacy, man-stealing so-called pals and other thorny subject matter. While “Deeper and Deeper” ranks amongst her most uplifting, melodious dance tracks, much of the rest is far darker, emphasizing rhythm, words, and bass over tunes Madonna talks and whispers throughout. When she does sing, it’s usually in her sultry lower register.

The models are deep house music and the hip-hop-informed spiritual R&B of Soul II Soul, here served up by collaborators Shep Pettibone, the co-author of “Vogue” who contributed his revered remixing services to You Can Dance and The Immaculate Collection, and newcomer André Betts. The sound is dirty, sometimes even distorted, as Madonna creates boudoir jazz by way of crackling samples and thwacking machine beats that push her diary-like poetry into provocative shapes. Sometimes she’s trifling, updating Motown songwriting tropes via street slang and puns: Calling the trollop in “Thief of Hearts” who steals her beau “little Susie ho-maker” is particularly cute. And sometimes she’s delicate in a way that she rarely gets credit for achieving: Check her gently bending chorus on the concluding “Secret Garden.” Her experiment in how far the public and media would let her go generated mixed results: Sex sold well but was panned mercilessly. Erotica achieved significant sales by most any other artist’s standards, but not hers. Suddenly, Madonna seemed overexposed, both literally and figuratively. A new approach was in order.

Feb 12, 2013

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New This Week: Veronica Falls, Pissed Jeans & More

Great new titles from Veronica Falls from Pissed Jeans, a lost cult classic from Adam Again re-emerges, along with a must-have collection of honky-tonk boot-stompers and more grand spookiness from Lisa Germano.

Veronica Falls, Waiting For Something To Happen: The second charming, surprisingly durable record from this wonderful jangle-pop band subtly deepens their sound. Annie Zaleski writes:

Veronica Falls set the bar high with their 2011 self-titled debut, an exemplary collection of foggy indie-pop with rambunctious guitars, cartoonishly gothic sentiments and a restless heart. On their charming second album, Waiting For Something To Happen, the U.K. quartet stands up even straighter and smooth out any lingering wrinkles. Produced by Rory Attwell (The Vaccines, Male Bonding), the record is a confident and clear-eyed throwback to a time when strummy ’80s college rock ruled the underground.

Pissed Jeans, Honeys: Not the nicest or happiest record you’ll hear this week, but maybe one of the most potent: The sneering, baleful, confessional purge-punk of Pissed Jeans is back. Austin L. Ray reviewed it for us, and he had this to say:

Adam Again, Perfecta: True story, no joke. I woke up this morning thinking about this record, for no clear reason. It stuck with me so much through the morning that I googled a bunch of information on it just to see what the internet had uncovered in the 18 years since its release. I even, on the way in, thought, “Weird that I thought about this record for the first time since it came out. Wouldn’t it be even weirder if it showed up in Freshly Ripped today?” Friends, this is definitive proof: I am a psychic. Adam Again were a California group who operated from the late ’80s until 2000, when alarmingly gifted frontman Gene Eugene died of a heart attack. They started out making synthy, passable New Wave, but took a huge step forward on 1987′s Homeboys, which chronicled Eugene’s childhood in South Central Los Angeles, and then another massive step forward with 1992′s dark and churning Dig. Perfecta, the record that followed it, was another shift in direction. It was groaning and grim and moody, full of slashing guitars and big, wall-of-sound distortion freakouts. A chronicle of his divorce from bandmate Riki Michele and the subsequent emotional aftermath, Perfecta is an unflinching look at imperfection, loud, clawing and feral. “Strobe,” the one concession to the band’s funk-rock roots, hasn’t aged well. The rest is still cold terror. RECOMMENDED

Fear of Men, Early Fragments: The Brighton group Fear of Men began the way many great groups began: when its founding members began swapping mixtapes of favorite songs. You can hear some of those influences, like the Chills and the Byrds, in their debut, a light and lovely collection of guitar-pop topped with light-as-air melodies.

Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison, Cheater’s Game:A lovely duets record from this husband-and-wife team that has, until now, done very little recording together. Peter Blackstock surveys the results and asks, What too so long?
Married for 17 years, Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison have kept their recording careers separate, aside from a low-profile Christmas album. HearingCheater’s Game, it’s hard to fathom why, because their talents are so perfectly matched. Robison, writer of country chart-toppers for the likes of George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, would be hard pressed to find a more sympathetic duet partner for his lyrics than Willis, who earned acclaim in the ’90s as an exquisite singer with a keen appreciation for left-of-center material.

Lisa Germano, No Elephants: I love Lisa Germano. This is a weird, spooky, chilling record, lots of strange arrangements and Germano’s oddball ghostly voice fluttering and floating above and between. If you ever had any love for Chelsea Wolfe or super early Kristen Hersh, you really need to hear this. RECOMMENDED

The Deer Tracks, The Archer Trilogy Pt. 3: The third volume of otherworldly, affecting experimental pop. Laura Studarus wrote the review, and it is one of my favorites, as it contains the phrases “arsonists” and “oversized Yule goat” in its first sentence:

The Deer Tracks (David Lehnberg and Elin Lindfors) hail from Gävle, Sweden, where arsonists regularly celebrate Christmas by burning down the city’s oversized Yule goat. Every year, the goat is rebuilt with the knowledge that, like its forefathers, it too will end up in ashes. It’s that same casual acceptance of the surreal that permeates the experimental pop of The Archer Trilogy Pt. 3 … Like Sigur Rós coated with the debris of an extended pub-crawl, The Archer Trilogy Pt. 3 is anchored by a layer of grit — be it electronics that echo the sinister undertones of Fever Ray or Karin Park, lyrics that revel in sweat and frequently break into glossolalia, or Lindfors’s quirky vocal phrasing.

Foals, Holy Fire: Foals specialize in sweeping, melodramatic British guitar rock,washed in starlit reverb and sent heavenward by Yannis Philippakis, a singer with a neon exclamation point of a tenor voice. On Holy Fire, they score their rafters-aiming anthems with itchy, pinprick guitars provide the music’s caffeinated heartbeat.

Psychic Friend, My Rocks Are Dreams: New outing from Will from Imperial Teen (featuring Patty Schemel of Hole on drums), this bright and bounding pop music, with just a hint of the theatrical. If you want to like fun., but feel that they lay it on a bit thick, this is the record you’ve been waiting for.

Various Artists, Cajun Honky Tonk: The Khoury Recordings, Vol. 2: I mean, this is great. You don’t even need me to say it. Amazing Texas Honky Tonk recorded from 1947 – 1957 that’s full of stomp and twang and bravado, sawing violins, boot-stomping rhythms and bristling banjos. I mean, it’s just super good. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Ulrich Schnauss, A Long Way To Fall: The long-running producer steps delicately away from his longstanding Loveless fixation to let a grit onto the canvas. Andy Beta has more:

Schnauss’s previous two albums, 2003′s A Strangely Isolated Place and 2006′s Faraway Passing Trains drew heavily from My Bloody Valentine’s glorious smeared mascara sound, but aside from it taking him six years to follow up Trains(rather than 22), there’s little in common with that old template of his … Schnauss favors clarity on A Long Way to Fall, which you can tell from the opening coruscations of “Her and the Sea,” the vocal haze he previously favored (and at times got lost in) has evaporated. The synth pads are clearly defined, the modular synth lines contrast against the ambient washes.

The Weather Station, Duets 1, 2 and 3: We are super huge fans of Tamara Lindeman, who records as The Weather Station, on eMusic. These are a trio of singles she recorded — one with Daniel Romano, one with Marine Dreams and one with Baby Eagle, all of them firmly within her time-tested weathered Americana, and all of them RECOMMENDED

The Flowers of Hell, Odes: Here’s a weird one. The Flowers of Hell are a UK/Canada group (naturally) consisting of about a dozen and a half members (naturally) who play lush orchestral music (as you might expect). This is an album of covers of everyone from Joy Division to Bob Dylan, all of them treated to swirling, swelling orchestral reads.

Ivy Dye, Continuations: Chicago group brings on the doomy electro-goth (sorta), blending thumping rhythms with buzzy synths and sub-basement vocals for an intoxicatingly moody final product.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, In Cambridge: Still alone! Umpteenth Casio record continues his time-tested blend of moody vocal melodies and charmingly shambolic arrangements.

Feb 12, 2013

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Madonna, Like a Virgin

Provocative and polished, with indelible hits that still define her

Madonna’s career was already on an upward trajectory. But with the late-1984 release of her second album, a record completed then delayed by the slow-building success of her first, things went bananas. Produced by Nile Rodgers on the heels of helming David Bowie’s mega-smash Let’s Dance, Like a Virgin offers a poppier variant on the Bowie/Rodgers rock-funk alliance, and is far more provocative and polished than her 1983 debut. Its indelible hits, the title track and “Material Girl,” still largely define the singer as a shrewd cultural commentator that many still willfully distort into a gold-digger, completely ignoring that her coy/theatrical/robotic/girlie delivery suggests irony and role-playing. Rodgers contributes his trademark guitar scratching throughout and fellow former Chic members Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson join in on bass and drums for the most R&B-leaning cuts. The rest tilts to New Wave lite with mixed results: The quality drop-off from inspired baubles like “Dress You Up” to filler on the level of “Stay” will rarely be this steep again. Paradoxically, her film career got off to a strong start right after this album with Desperately Seeking Susan before turning decidedly motley.

Recorded digitally, with bottom end doubled on bass guitar and synths, Like a Virgin‘s blockbuster status re-emphasized after Michael Jackson’s Thriller that ’80s dance music would be even bigger than ’70s disco, especially when delivered by a videogenic superstar capable of crossing gender and color lines. Madonna’s vocals may be overdubbed here far more than on her debut, but she’s also more mischievous, and the resulting ambiguity allowed scholars, feminists, moral custodians, and countless Madonna wannabes both professional and fan-sized to pick up from the singer radically different signals. Like Bowie, Madonna discovered that pop music became more fun the more it could be mutable. Here she starts twisting.

Feb 12, 2013

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The Deer Tracks, The Archer Trilogy Pt. 3

Realists need not apply

The album opens with “III,” a heavenly choral interlude featuring looped a cappella vocals. Its perfection is a rare moment in an album aimed at sinners rather than saints. Like Sigur Rós coated with the debris of an extended pub-crawl, The Archer Trilogy Pt. 3 is anchored by a layer of grit — be it electronics that echo the sinister undertones of Fever Ray or Karin Park, lyrics that revel in sweat and frequently break into glossolalia, or Lindfors’s quirky vocal phrasing. “Lazarus” is the closest thing that The Archer Trilogy Pt. 3 has to a traditional pop song. But even it comes complete with a kaleidoscopic smear comprised of every instrument in the studio, topped chanted chorus delivered with ecclesial fervor. The Deer Tracks’ brand of otherworldly beauty is accessible, but a wiliness to be swept up in their vision is required. Realists need not apply.

Feb 12, 2013

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Ulrich Schnauss, A Long Way to Fall

Moving a few paces from his Loveless fixation

Not that Ulrich Schnauss could have predicted it, but the Berlin-based electronic music producer picked a fine moment in 2013 to stop gazing down at his shoes and move a few paces away from his Loveless fixation. His previous two albums, 2003′s A Strangely Isolated Place and 2006′s Faraway Passing Trains drew heavily from My Bloody Valentine’s glorious smeared mascara sound, but aside from it taking him six years to follow up Trains (rather than 22), there’s little in common with that old template of his. With My Bloody Valentine’s wholly unexpected return, his timing could not be better.

Schnauss favors clarity on A Long Way to Fall, which you can tell from the opening coruscations of “Her and the Sea,” the vocal haze he previously favored (and at times got lost in) has evaporated. The synth pads are clearly defined, the modular synth lines contrast against the ambient washes. A harpsichord-like melody shimmers atop the Boards of Canada-like skip of “Like a Ghost in Your Life.” Elsewhere he strikes a balance between a glowering, almost-rock tone with gentle ambience on “I Take Comfort in Your Ignorance” while dulcet New Age tones intermingle with crisp snares on “A Forgotten Birthday.” It doesn’t always work, as the drum programming of “The Weight of Darkening Skies” negates its gloomy title while closer “A Ritual in Time and Death” struggles between being skittish and solemn. When he decides on the latter, it makes for an elegant landing to his Fall.

Feb 12, 2013

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Pissed Jeans, Honeys

Snarling and spitting, growling and kicking

Despite their gruff exterior, the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Jesus (Lizard) freaks Pissed Jeans, are actually pretty hilarious. When lead yeller Matt Korvette isn’t “in the hallway screaming’” (that’s from riotous opener “Bathroom Laughter”), he can often be found smirking. Take this knee-slapper from slow-grind midway point, “Cafeteria Food,” for example: “Hey there, project manager, I saw you eatin’ cafeteria food/ So you wanna call that a healthy choice/ well, I’d argue that isn’t true.” Elsewhere, on the barn-burning punk pisser, “Health Plan,” he offers the following advice: “You wanna know my secret? I stay away from doctors.”

Snarling and spitting, growling and kicking, Honeys won’t surprise those who love Pissed Jeans, nor is it likely to attract those that deplore the band. “Write what you know,” as they say, and Pissed Jeans knows pummeling, antisocial punk. “Romanticize Me” argues against its title with a toxic attitude and charging riffs; “Cathouse” wallows in its own misery, eventually riding it out of town on a guitar solo; “Teenage Adult” ends the whole thing on a appropriately brutal note, a battering ram of chugging Melvins riffs. You’d think four dudes who all recently became fathers would be tamer than this; thankfully, they’ve hung onto the chutzpah that made them great from the start.

Feb 11, 2013

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Greg Boring, Heavy Syrup

A determinedly lo-fi affair

Greg Boring have arrived as if from nowhere (in fact, Brisbane, Australia) to baffle and beguile in equal measure. “We have no recollection of recording this,” claim the mysterious, interview-averse sextet on the sleeve of their debut album, but that’s more symptomatic of the fugue state brought on by their hypnotic and wonky electronica, than suggestive of drug-addled hours spent locked in a bedroom studio.

That said, Heavy Syrup is a determinedly lo-fi affair that celebrates mechanized drum beats, the plinking of a Casio, wheezy analogue electronics and the retro-futurist possibilities of the Moog. But behind its deliberate primitivism lurks a serious art-pop aesthetic, combining Kraftwerk’s motorik grooves with the giallo soundscapes of Broadcast, The Residents’ weird-beard adventurism and David Lynch and Alan Splet’s soundtrack to Eraserhead. Its apparent playfulness, too, masks a distinct feeling of unease.

Each of these seven tracks is a distinctive, ear-twisting treat, but highlights are off-center and daringly attenuated fairground theme “Fine Find Fined,” the queasy, bliss-pop mutation that is “Huh” and “Alvin,” where Sarah Byrne’s lullaby-styled coo is set against a lurching, some-thing-nasty-in-the-woods backdrop. Greg Boring have stated as their influences “extreme entertainment listening, misrelation to the subject matter, an ‘inner realm’ which stays altogether empty, abstract and indefinite.” That this deliberately obscures, rather than reveals their purpose is further reason to cheer them on.

Feb 11, 2013

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Darwin Deez, Songs for Imaginative People

A refreshingly rambunctious second album

Amped on adrenaline yet arch with geek-chic, the second album from New Yorker Darwin Smith is a hive of noisy activity. Its energy is relentless and infectious, echoing choppy new wave (Talking Heads) as often as labyrinthine prog (Beefheart). The former guitarist of Brooklyn band Creaky Boards informs the staccato riffs and bubbling beats with peripatetic cut-up phrases — “Lead us not into late-night TV,” “Fling the installation in the dumper” — that showcase a man torn between egomania and existentialism.

“(800) Human” and “Free (Editorial Me)” boast a lava-flow of ideas, like Stephen Malkmus free-associating over Hall & Oates and A Certain Ratio simultaneously. Chelsea’s Hotel” is a stuttering love song straight out of art college. It’s easy to see why Darwin irritates some, and his default mode is Dali-esque divisiveness, but there’s a gauche originality here that leaps out of the pack. Refreshingly rambunctious.

Feb 11, 2013

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Discover: 2013 Grammy Winners

fun., Gotye and Mumford & Sons came away with some of the 2013 Grammy Awards’ biggest honors. See who else took home golden gramophones and catch up on what you might have missed last year.

Album of the Year

Babel
Mumford & Sons
2012 | Glassnote

It's fitting that the Mumford & Sons have titled their new album Babel, a Biblical reference to man's attempt to build a structure to reach the heavens. In just three short years, Mumford and Sons have gone from a quaint roots-rock group from London to one of the biggest new bands on the planet with 2011's Sigh No More, and their follow-up attempts to match that ambition by outdoing that album's already... sprawling, epic roots-rock tunes. The disc is loaded with more big, important, grab-you-by-the-collar anthems like the title cut and "Whispers in the Dark," which are heightened this time around by the addition of bold horns and sweeping strings. There's no doubt that Mumford and Sons have the gift of crafting arena-ready anthems like they're U2 Unplugged, but after a half-dozen attempts on Babel, that emotional, gut-punching impact loses its visceral force.

Singer-guitarist-lyricist-sometimes-drummer Marcus Mumford also has an almost annoying fixation with the past: His band even toured via vintage railcar for their Railroad Revival Tour last year. But thanks to his gentlemanly disposition and his gravelly baritone, his sepia-toned narratives of sin and redemption ("Ghosts That We Knew") come off as genuinely quaint and convincing. That tack works best when his band tones down the noise to let his thoughts ring through. As the Tower of Babel allegory warns, sometimes it's better to scale things back.
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Record of the Year

Somebody That I Used To Know
Gotye
2012 | EP/SINGLE

Stepping out from behind the piano/drums of Melbourne indie pop three-piece the Basics for the third time, Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist Wally De Backer, aka Gotye's first solo record in five years, Making Mirrors, reveals a love of the '80s pop scene, which extends far beyond the usual influences of the current nu-synth brigade. Unexpected chart-topper "Somebody That I Used to Know," a collaboration with New Zealand vocalist Kimbra, is an oddball break-up song... whose stuttering rhythms, reggae hooks, and hushed vocals sound like the Police as remixed by the XX.
more »

Song of the Year

We Are Young
fun.
2011 | Fueled By Ramen

fun. is one of those bands that came seemingly out of nowhere to ascend to the top of the charts. Usually, those groups piggyback the steez of some other currently radio-ruling act. fun. doesn’t. On its breakout second album, the New York trio draws from hip-hop, power-pop, emo, ’70s art-rock, singer-songwriter balladry, contemporary R&B and Broadway; a combo you’ll likely only find right here. Singer Nate Ruess — who also writes the... ardent lyrics and highly sing-able melodies — has a Freddie Mercury thing going on vocally, and Some Nights opens with a flurry of Queen-y harmonies and symphonic gallantry. But after that, all bets are off. The runaway success of “We Are Young,” the first substantial rock song in ages to not only top the pop charts but also put a justified critic’s darling, avant-R&B diva Janelle Monae, on the radio where she belongs, is particularly amazing considering that Ruess’s first band, the Format, was dropped by the same major that now distributes both fun. and Monae.
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Best Pop Vocal Album

Stronger
Kelly Clarkson
2011 | RCA Records Label

It's been nine years since Kelly Clarkson was crowned as the inaugural American Idol, and in that time she's remained the show's ideal; she's a technically gifted singer with charm to spare, an inviting smile, and a knack for inhabiting hooks like they're barnhouse lofts squirreled away on Texas farm. Even the most Idol-allergic music consumers have embraced the combination of melody, perfectly calibrated guitar grit, and wailing that made up her... 2004 hit "Since U Been Gone"; other songs in her catalog, like the sassy "Walk Away" and the girl-group throwback "I Want You," are similarly indelible.

In keeping with Clarkson's career — and the ethos of Idol — her fifth album takes its inspirations from all over the pop map. While Dr. Luke and Max Martin, who shepherded "Gone" and the lead single from Clarkson's previous album All I Ever Wanted, aren't present, the producers in the mix give Stronger a texture that shows how the genre of "pop" can be a jumping-off point, and not an endgame. "You Love Me" is muscular guitar-pop with gorgeous new-wave flourishes blossoming on its pre-chorus; "Dark Side" has a delicate lullaby threaded throughout; "Honestly" opens with a floating haze of guitar distortion that could be mistaken for a chillwave track. The through line between all these stylistic leaps is Clarkson's voice, a formidable instrument that knows when to get vulnerable and when to absolutely blow. (Chillwavers could probably stand to learn a lesson or two from her.)

What gives Stronger its extra oomph is the confidence exhibited by Clarkson as she sings lyrics about self-acceptance being a key to love ("Dark Side") and rumor mills that she wishes would stop churning ("You Can't Win"). Escaping the Idol machine has been a great thing for Clarkson, who sometimes takes on the role of the pop world's ombudsman when she's defending her former show against the "authenticity" police or rolling her eyes at former Idol meanie Simon Cowell's declarations that she's not interested in being a pop star. That Stronger allows her to drop the façade that other pop stars might depend on for dear life, and address both the characters in her songs and her audience directly, speaks both to Clarkson's charm and to her growing maturity as an artist.
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Best New Artist

Some Nights
fun.
2012 | Fueled By Ramen

fun. is one of those bands that came seemingly out of nowhere to ascend to the top of the charts. Usually, those groups piggyback the steez of some other currently radio-ruling act. fun. doesn't. On this, its breakout second album, the New York trio draws from hip-hop, power-pop, emo, '70s art-rock, singer-songwriter balladry, contemporary R&B and Broadway; a combo you'll likely only find right here. Singer Nate Ruess — who also writes... the ardent lyrics and highly sing-able melodies — has a Freddie Mercury thing going on vocally, and Some Nights opens with a flurry of Queen-y harmonies and symphonic gallantry. But after that, all bets are off. The runaway success of "We Are Young," the first substantial rock song in ages to not only top the pop charts but also put a justified critic's darling, avant-R&B diva Janelle MonÃ¡e, on the radio where she belongs, is particularly amazing considering that Ruess's first band, the Format, was dropped by the same major that now distributes both fun. and MonÃ¡e. That Arizona band teamed with Redd Kross/OFF! bassist Steven McDonald for its second album, 2006's Dog Problems, and Ruess and McDonald continued honing their smarty-pants eclecticism on fun.'s 2009 debut Aim and Ignite, with the help of its multi-instrumentalists Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost, formerly of Steel Train and Anathallo. Here the trio trade McDonald for Jeff Bhasker, a hip-hop/R&B guy who produced monster hits for Kanye West, Jay-Z and BeyoncÃ©. Together, they layer seemingly incompatible genres with reckless but radio-friendly glee, as if a music nerd's iPod somehow got into the hands of a Bruno Mars.
more »

Best Dance/Electronica Album

Bangarang EP
Skrillex
2011 | Big Beat Records/Atlantic

Nominated for five Grammy Awards, shortlisted for the prestigious BBC Sound of 2012 poll, and courted by everyone from Chicago producer Kaskade to metal icons Korn, former From First to Last frontman Sonny Moore's transition from post-hardcore vocalist to dubstep producer couldn't have realistically gone any smoother. However, despite his unprecedented success, there's still a question as to whether he can apply his now trademark, demonic, wobble bass drops and thumping syncopated... beats to a whole album. Named after the battle cry of the lost boys in Steven Spielberg's Hook, his fourth consecutive EP Bangarang (also his first Top 40 entry in both the UK and US) suggests he'll have to be on his game on the forthcoming full-length Voltage if he's to avoid an Emperor's New Clothes scenario. While the bombastic Wall of Sound displayed on 2010's Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites initially provided a unique take on the UK dubstep genre, Skrillex's lack of progression means there's a distinct sense of déjà vu among its seven tracks, particularly on the relentless, scattershot bleeps, chopped-up vocal hooks, and repetitive loops of opener "Right In" and the rap-metal fusion of "Kyoto." Even when he does think outside the box -- as on "Right on Time," a percussive, hard house collaboration with 12th Planet and Kill the Noise which eventually builds into a feverish slice of happy hardcore, and "The Devil's Den," a chaotic hook-up with Wolfgang Gartner which takes in everything from old-school rave to ska to techno — the results are more headache-inducing than thrilling. There are a few more encouraging signs, such as the Doors-featuring "Breakin' a Sweat," which combines proggy guitar hooks, psychedelic organ chords, and Jim Morrison samples with a snarling, Prodigy-esque vocal and a filthy slab of dub bass to produce one of the year's most unexpectedly successful partnerships, and the multi-layered trance of closer "Summit," given an ethereal sheen thanks to Ellie Goulding's lilting tones, both of which suggest Skrillex should utilize his melodic leanings more often. But overall, Bangarang is a disappointingly formulaic affair which hints for the first time that the wheels may soon slowly begin to fall off.
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Best Rock Album

El Camino
The Black Keys
2011 | Nonesuch

The Black Keys, Akron's unsuspecting blues-rock saviors, faced ridiculous pressure in following up their expansive 2010 breakout effort, Brothers. Big things happened in the subsequent year: The duo (vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney) graced the cover of Spin, tucked away three GRAMMYs, played SNL and raked in huge piles of advertising cash — big-deal developments for a band that recorded their debut album in a basement nearly a decade earlier.... Brothers found the band at a creative and commercial high-point, simultaneously embracing soulful pop melodies and the spirited muscle of their live shows, even as they gently experimented with psychedelic overdubs — emphatically darting away from the sleepy, awkward soundscapes of the Danger Mouse-produced identity crisis Attack & Release.

On El Camino, the Black Keys are done trying to impress anybody, sounding wonderfully unhinged throughout the album's compact 38 minutes. The name of the game is hard-hitting focus; spontaneity; keeping it simple, stupid; never over-thinking or over-cooking any swampy chorus or tossed-off lyric ("Hey, my my, she's a money-maker/ Hey, my my, she's gonna take ya," goes one gem). After only producing one Brothers track (the emphatic "Tighten Up"), Danger Mouse returns to man the boards — and though his approach on Attack & Release was heavy-handed, never quite gelling with the duo's style, he takes a wiser backseat approach on El Camino. His presence still lingers (check that whirring Hammond organ and retro-glock twinkle on the hooky "Dead and Gone"), but this time around, he's adapted to the Keys' raw rock approach, instead of forcing a synthesis with his bread-n-butter symphonic electro-pop.

The looseness is intoxicating. "Money Maker"'s beastly bass lags behind a millisecond or two, pushing and pulling in gnarly blues warfare with Auerbach's guitars. Carney, charmingly, still swings with the finesse of a caveman on Ritalin — despite his finest efforts at a multi-tiered groove on standout "Stop Stop," dude nearly trips over his own drum sticks. Those sassy female vocalizers on "Gold on the Ceiling" would fit nicely onstage in a broke-down backwoods bar. The acoustic-ballad-turned-electric-stomper "Little Black Submarines" unintentionally evokes Tenacious D channeling Led Zeppelin, and the result is a goofier (yet no less rocking) "Stairway to Heaven" demoed in a truck-stop bathroom stall. Meanwhile, "Sister" is the Black Keys at their glammiest and hammiest, Auerbach's fuzz-bathed, bee-stung guitars layered impeccably over a wicked Carney stomp.

Perhaps the Black Keys are America's finest rock band only because the competition is so depressingly slim. Regardless, with two straight knock-outs on their resume, these guys have clearly earned the title.
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Best Alternative Album

Making Mirrors
Gotye
2012 | Samples & Seconds / Republic

Stepping out from behind the piano/drums of Melbourne indie pop three-piece the Basics for the third time, Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist Wally De Backer, aka Gotye's first solo record in five years, Making Mirrors, reveals a love of the '80s pop scene, which extends far beyond the usual influences of the current nu-synth brigade. The hugely experimental follow-up to 2006's Like Drawing Blood doesn't discriminate against other decades, as evident on the impossibly uplifting... '60s retro soul of "I Feel Better," the '70s West Coast harmonies of the ethereal lullaby-like closer "Bronte," the '90s Beck-esque scuzzy garage rock of "Easy Way Out," and the 2000s hushed, claustrophobic dubstep of "Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You." But seemingly unaffected by the constant comparisons with the likes of Sting and Peter Gabriel, it's the era of early new wave, dub, and worldbeat which defines its 12 tracks. Unexpected chart-topper "Somebody That I Used to Know," a collaboration with New Zealand vocalist Kimbra, is an oddball break-up song whose stuttering rhythms, reggae hooks, and hushed vocals sound like the Police as remixed by the XX, "Smoke and Mirrors" echoes the avant-garde pop of Gabriel's So, with its pounding tribal drums, orchestral flourishes, and new age melodies, while there are also nods to George Michael's "Faith" on the acoustic gospel-pop of "In Your Light"; the impassioned Aussie rock of Midnight Oil on the ecologically themed "Eyes Wide Open," and electro pioneer Thomas Dolby on the strange, vocodered vocals, spoken word samples, and skank guitars of the trippy "State of the Art." Familiar they may be, but some credit has to go to De Backer for managing to weave these eclectic retro sounds into a cohesive affair, which proves that along with recent efforts by Art vs. Science and Architecture in Helsinki, Australia is fast becoming one of the biggest purveyors of quality experimental pop.
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Best R&B Album

Black Radio
Robert Glasper
2012 | BLUE NOTE

Pianist Robert Glasper has jazz chops sophisticated enough to satiate diehard purists and an affinity for hip-hop and R&B that has resulted in collaborations with Q-Tip, Maxwell and Mos Def. Black Radio scrambles these influences, with Glasper's Experiment quartet (including Derrick Hodge on electric bass, Casey Benjamin on sax and vocoder, and Chris Dave playing drums), laying unpredictable music beneath a bevy of high-profile guests. In this era of... Pandora-style musical-profiling, where listeners can narrow down exactly what they think they want, the project absorbs genres like a sponge and squeezes out surprises with a tinge of tang and froth. It avoids the sappiness of "smooth jazz," the stilted self-reference of "hip-hop jazz" and the suffocating cushion of "quiet storm," yet there's a lush sensuality that permeates the beats, bop rhythms and bracing moments of curiosity and intellect.

Glasper understands that this Experiment is best undertaken as a tactile experience - as Shafiq Husayn rap-drawls in the opener, "Lift Off," all you need is your ears and your soul. To drive home the point, the beguiling yawl and coo of Erykah Badu sends the Afro-Cuban classic "Afro Blue" into the air like a large kite in a steady wind, its tail trilling. Rappers Lupe Fiasco and yasiin bey (better known as Mos Def) variously distill verbal science and wig out on wordplay ("turtles from a man hole"?), knowing the live quartet can alter the texture and freestyle the route as the situation warrants, on "Always Shine" and "Black Radio," respectively. There is a throwback nature to Black Radio, and not only because Sade ("Cherish The Day," with Lalah Hathaway on vocals), David Bowie ("Letter to Hermione," featuring Bilal channeling Stevie Wonder) and Nirvana (a deconstructed and vocoderized "Smells Like Teen Spirit") are covered. There are moments reminiscent of the soul-jazz fusion of Bobbi Humphrey and Donald Byrd back on Blue Note in the late '70s, or Soul II Soul and Me Phi Me back in the '80s, or Alphabet Soup and Mint Condition in the '90s, with a dollop of 21st-century hip-hop on top. Why reinvent the wheel when you can modify the ride?
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Best Rap Album

Take Care (Deluxe Version)
Drake
2012 | Cash Money Records/Young Money Ent./Universal Rec.

Drake shot to the upper echelon of hip-hop fame by bypassing nearly every single rule of traditional cred-getting, and none of the ensuing jokes about his role as Wheelchair Jimmy on DeGrassi: The Next Generation or his own penchant for soft-batch hashtag-rap have knocked him back down. If anything, sophomore album Take Care actively doubles down on the things that make him so contentious among traditionalists — the emotional exposure, the singsong... delivery (now manifested more often as straight-up R&B singing), the lyrical focus on relationships — but infuses them with a subtle dose of self-aware ambivalence.

He still acknowledges success — the first line on the album is "I think I killed everybody in the game last year, man" — while "Underground Kings" and "Crew Love" are human-scale acknowledgments that he can afford nice cars and expensive vacations. Yet he still carries himself as though his main concern is connecting with other people without letting status obscure his intent. Most of the people in question are women; they get romantically flattered ("Make Me Proud"), ruefully drunk-dialed ("Marvin's Room"), anxiously reconciled with ("Take Care") and coldly, then regretfully, dumped (the Stevie Wonder feature, "Doing it Wrong").

In the process, Drake foregoes hashtag gimmickry and stretched-to-fatigue punchlines in favor of straightforward confessions, letting the guests — including top-form Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Andre 3000 and mentor Lil Wayne — fill in the pull-quotes. The production does the rest — a gauzy atmosphere of post-Dirty South beats, built around muted, glowing ambient tracks from Noah "40" Shebib, T-Minus and one-shots from Boi-1da, Just Blaze, Jamie xx and Lex Luger — and the sound complements the nuances of Drake's voice in a way that subsumes it almost completely. The end result is an album that feels like the most integral fusion of hip-hop structure and R&B soul-baring since 808s and Heartbreak.
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Best Country Album

Uncaged
Zac Brown Band
2012 | Southern Ground/Atlantic

In a sense, it's possible to measure the progress of the Zac Brown Band by the magnitude of their guest stars. In 2010, they consolidated the breakthrough of 2008's Foundation by enlisting Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson for duets — elders whose very presence suggested they were passing a torch (although, to be sure, Buffett has a far greater pull on Brown's sound than Jackson). Two years later, it is the Zac... Brown Band who occupy the power position, drafting in peers, not idols, to play alongside. And it is a diverse batch: twee, twiddly Jason Mraz co-writes the sprightly opening cut, "Jump Right In," with Zac, Trombone Shorty colors "Overnight" with some New Orleans funk, and upcoming folk/blues troubadour Amos Lee sings on "Day That I Die," each guest representing a different field for the ZBB, each suggesting the range of this ever-evolving nominal country band. And at this point, the Zac Brown Band would fit the grander stages of such worldly, knowing vaguely hippie enclaves as Bonnaroo better than they would a rocking country outlet somewhere in the Deep South. But Southern they are, in sensibility and sound, reflecting not the dusty beer joints and cutthroat honky tonks of the middle of the 20th century but the sports bars and sandy beaches of the present, the kinds of places where the kin of the Allmans feel as Southern as the descendants of George Jones...and where a bearded soft rock crooner like Zac Brown is happy to make evident his debt to James Taylor. Brown's sweeter side isn't hidden here but it's not quite as prominent as it's been in the past, either. He has plenty of soft, crooning melodies but there's a bit of bluegrass and a bit of reggae, a little blues and a lot of rock. Above anything else, Uncaged is a Zac Brown Band album, one that emphasizes the range of this quintet and its elastic interplay. It is the sound of a band operating from a position of considerable strength: they're confident, assured, even playful, having fun bending the rules and blurring boundaries, eager to please but never pandering. It's the rare album that suggests how good the band would be in concert yet still sounds vibrant on record.
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Best Jazz Vocal Album

Radio Music Society
Esperanza Spalding
2012 | Heads Up

Now Esperanza Spalding is making even the Grammys look hip. In her first outing since she was named Best New Artist in 2011, Spalding puts a dozen tunes into her stylistic spin cycle for a tour de force of pop glitter, jazz swing, folk moodiness and a dollop of hip-hop swagger on the dense-but-dazzling Radio Music Society. This is the work of an artist who refuses to choose, mocking genre labels with... guileless ambition. (Her original concept was to pair this disc with the classically-oriented, string-laden Chamber Music Society back in 2010, until her record company convinced her the menu would be too large for public consumption.)

By ignoring boundaries, Spalding upends expectations. She enlists august jazz tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano to provide a dulcet lilt to a Stevie Wonder cover ("I Can't Help It") and hip-hop titan Q-Tip to play glockenspiel and co-produce the jazzy tribute to her native Portland, Oregon("City of Roses"). Assembling a phalanx of 23 players and vocalists for a flashy, powerhouse "Radio Song," she sings about the giddiness of being seized by a new jam coming out of the speakers as her own electric bass wends its way through the song's buoyant center. Three songs later, with just the sparse backing of organist James Weidman, she tells the saga of a man falsely imprisoned for 30 years on a bogus murder conviction. On Radio, both extremes are fair game.

As was the case with Chamber Music Society, Spalding's vocals are her ace in the hole. Her range is limited, but her assured and agile phrasing is ideal for carrying out her talk/sung approach. It enables her to credibly pull off a bluesy, big-band-like torch song ("Hold On Me") and to surf atop a youth choir on the anthem "Black Gold." And then there's "Vague Suspicions," a dense and sophisticated number with Jack DeJohnette on drums, about the tacit accommodations Americans make to avoid thinking too much about the consequences of drone strikes and the other elements of remote-control war. It's a grim, simmering number, its closing moments featuring Spalding sarcastically cooing, "Next on channel 4: celebrity gossip."Â It's a typically astute and self-aware take from an artist who is the closest thing jazz has to a young celebrity.
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Best Jazz Instrumental Album

Unity Band
Pat Metheny
2012 | Nonesuch

Freedom from stylistic constraints has never been an easy thing for Pat Metheny. As one of jazz's greatest composers, guitarists and texturalists, he's compiled on a stockpile of characteristic compositional devices. Any Metheny fan can identify his white-noise-spewing guitar synths and Ornette-style "out" constructions from 40 paces. But Metheny's tools never become clichÃ©s; they're just steps from which he keeps climbing.

Unity Band is yet another example of Metheny's perpetual growth spurt. Metheny's... first record to feature a tenor saxophonist since the mighty 80/81 (with Dewey Redman and Michael Brecker), it sounds both familiar and fresh. Metheny sandblasts new creative paths through well-worn terrain, joined by tenor player Chris Potter, perennial Pat Metheny Group drummer Antonio Sanchez and inspired young bassist Ben Williams. Potter is a muscular foil for Metheny, inspiring him to comp and solo with abandon. The guitarist, though typically brilliant, can sometimes sound hamstrung by his dense PMG studio arrangements. But revamping his afore-mentioned compositional tools through new band mates, Metheny sounds truly inspired on Unity Band.

Metheny's bittersweet acoustic guitar (is there a better acoustic jazz guitarist?) opens "New Year" with a bossa nova lilt, quickly drawing you in. Metheny is soon subsumed by Potter's astringent tenor, followed by group solos over a Metheny-trademarked, high-flying vamp section. Fret-encompassing swoops ("vroom vroom") and guitar synth caterwaul infuse the funky Latin sashay of "Roofdogs," the band firing smoke and sparks as Potter's soprano sax solo winds through solar flare like explosions. Here on soprano, and elsewhere on bass clarinet, Potter shakes clean his hefty Brecker influences to improvise with originality. Sanchez storms Unity Band as well, constantly stoking the intensity level as Williams responds with graceful solos and empathetic support. His solo bass introduction (another Metheny device) to "Come and See" leads to heated solos all around over a feverish pulse. An acoustic guitar-driven ballad, "This Belongs to You," follows, then "Leaving Town," which touches on old PMG favorite "James" in its melody and overall shape. The bell-like chord structure of "Interval Waltz" recalls master guitarist Jim Hall, creating a lovely arc of an arrangement, leading to a beautiful guitar solo over a floating swing pulse. "Signals (Orchestrion Sketch)" is like nothing on any Metheny record, its clattering, Frank Zappa styled (Varese? Stravinksy?) orchestral bed emoting like humorous robots beating street percussion. "Then and Now" sounds a bit like Weather Report's "A Remark You Made" in spirit, followed by closer, "Breakdealer," which with its clunky race to the finish, is Unity Band's only deal-breaker.

Should Pat Metheny replace his main group with the freshly minted Unity Band? The guitarist is re-inspired by material that hints at years of development to come, and this is one killer band. But probably not. Metheny's vision is too broad to be contained by one band and one band alone.
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Feb 11, 2013

eMusic.com Inc.

Let’s Stay Together

You don’t have to squint too hard to see the ways that being in love is a lot like being in a band. Both take patience and dedication. Both require open channels of communication. And both have the potential to yield either beautiful music or dissonant clamor. With that in mind, we asked 20 bands to share their secrets for staying together. Take them to heart, and happiness is sure to follow.

Liars

WIXIW
Liars
2012 | Mute Artists / Believe Digital

We're fairly scientific in keeping Liars together — more specifically, we rely heavily on pheromones. At the end of each week we swap T-shirts and for the next two nights use each other's shirts as pillow cases. The pheromones permeate our dreams and we become one another in them, thus internalizing empathy for our band mates and creating a harmonious working relationship for all.

Alex Naidus, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Belong
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
2011 | Play It Again Sam / PIAS Digital

A short, half-to-three-quarters-serious list of staying together-related things: inside jokes, forward momentum, state-of-the-band-union talks (but not too often), crossword puzzles, headphones, touring-in-moderation, nostalgia, continental breakfast, Japan.

FIDLAR

FIDLAR
FIDLAR
2013 | Wichita Recordings / PIAS Digital

For us, at least on tour, we have a strict morning routine that we do daily before heading to the next town. It consists of a 6 a.m. wake-up call leading into a brisk morning stroll, where the four of us walk single file for two miles, followed by 30 minutes of individual meditation, into a 15-minute group meditation where the four of us sit in a circle with our eyes closed,... chanting, with our left hand placed on the person to our left's right shoulder, while our right hand holds the person on our right's genitals. The after a light breakfast of birdseeds and eucalyptus leaves, we all smoke da herb and pray to Jah for good travels. Then we head out to the next show. It's really the only way we keep from losing our shit.
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Allo Darlin’

Europe
Allo Darlin'
2012 | Fortuna POP / IODA

How does a band like ours stay together? It's not always easy and as fun as it looks to play in a group. We need to find day jobs when we're not on tour in order to pay the rent, and we're always trying to keep costs down (or jam econo, as the Minutemen said). That aside, our intentions are good, and if we keep those in check, financial problems tend to... fade away. Traveling the world and playing our songs is an amazing privilege, and we try to remember that. We don't take ourselves too seriously and we laugh a lot. If we feel down, we watch Team America. Everything is worth it when we finally get to play.
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Ladytron

Gravity The Seducer
Ladytron
Nettwerk

The relationship between us is complex. It's like being family, friends and colleagues all at the same time. For a large part of the year, we live within seven inches of each other on a tour bus, so things can get heated. It is very important to know how to give yourself and those around you space. Our advice is to get out of that bus/van/studio and get some air. Go visit... a gallery or a zoo. It's all about respecting each other, and it's easy to forget that if you spend too much time together.
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Al Spx, Cold Specks

I Predict a Graceful Expulsion
Cold Specks
2012 | Mute Artists / Believe Digital

Touring extensively with a party of eight can be difficult at times. As much as we all adore one another, being in a confined space with so many human beings for extended periods of time is very unnatural. Here are my tips for staying together:
1) Keep tabs on your trash. A clean van is a happy van.
2) Bring a book and learn to acknowledge quiet reading time
3) Bring a box set of... Black Adder, Band Of Brothers and/or Curb Your Enthusiasm for group viewings. A good series will make everything OK.
4) Bring a pack of cards. Beware, I will kick your ass.
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Jamie Lidell

Compass
Jamie Lidell
Warp Records

Slow it all down. Sing a duet. Ride Bikes. Make ice cream. Make whoopie. Nobody's perfect so just start loving the imperfections and things might just start getting perfect!

Mike V., The Everymen

New Jersey Hardcore
The Everymen
2012 | Killing Horse Records / TuneCore

Wanna stay together? Simple. Just adhere to the two simple rules The Everymen follow. 1. Don't practice — that's usually when bands break up. 2. Do whatever I say and never question my authority, or you're out of the fucking band.

Alyse Lamb, EULA

Maurice Narcisse
EULA
2012 | eMusic Selects

Staying together is not about love, honesty or respect — those are all givens. The true secret to staying together is tact — knowing when to soothe, knowing when to vex. Give a compliment when someone's feeling shitty, and keep your fucking mouth shut when someone misses a chord on stage.

Big Deal

Lights Out
Big Deal
2011 | Mute / Believe Digital

Look out for each other. Designate a silly happy song to play when everyone gets down. Our current favorite is New Radicals "You Get What You Give." Never laugh when someone's showing you a song idea — even if you think it's really funny. Don't be gross in the van. And when making tea, make a cup for everyone. It's the little things.

Sinosa Loa, Fol Chen

Part II: The New December
Fol Chen
Asthmatic Kitty Records / SC Distribution

When you've been with your band for a while, you have to make an effort to keep it fresh and exciting. So we like to mix it up a bit. For instance, sometimes we'll practice in public, like in a park or a movie theater. Sometimes we'll practice blindfolded, or with the curtains open. Our favorite is to surprise each other with a spontaneous 3 a.m. practice — whatever keeps the spark... alive!
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Gretta, My Gold Mask

A Thousand Voices - EP
My Gold Mask
2010 | My Gold Mask / CD Baby

Jack and I are pretty intense people at times and have really strong personalities, but I've found that for us it's easy: good beer and a sense of humor. Throw in some dark chocolate, and I'm not going anywhere.

Max Henry, Suuns

Zeroes QC
Suuns
Secretly Canadian / SC Dist.

There's something to be said for keeping "that old feeling" alive in the band. In my experience, it's really no different from an authentic interpersonal ("persons" — that's what you call those pink, fleshy things that aren't synthesizers, right?) relationship.

Like you would any "significant other," never forget to be amazed by your bandmates. I'm lucky to be playing with exceptionally talented and capable musicians. It's not a written rule, but when Joe's... solo melts my face off (which is often), I let him know.

Cultivate your sense of self — read a book, write a journal entry. Leave your poor bandmates alone for a second. On tour, don't hold each other's hands. Not every meal has to be a hang. Don't be that guy that talks all the time. If you're annoying yourself, you're probably annoying others too.

Don't let the band become your sole purpose. If the band is your only raison d'etre it will consume you. Like a new love, play it cool. The glass is already broken.

On a similar note, don't ask for anything from the band; focus on what satiates you as a creative person. Take a page out of Chekov's book (or Williams's or Kafka's or Eliot's or Stevens's): Get a job. Ideally, one that you like. It will afford you the flexibility to make what you want without compromise. With little exception, the only full-time rock musicians are professional children of rich moms and dads.

Look, I could be way off here. These are as much reminders to myself as anything else. Of course, don't be a ding-dong — help load in and out, show up on time (I'm great at that), etc. Love them, love yourself, love what you do, and you should be alright.
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Nick Krill, Spinto Band

Moonwink
The Spinto Band
2008 | Fierce Panda Records / The Orchard

Be friends and family, and then be understanding and rational. We have been playing music together for 15 years now, with all original band members intact. Being friends or family can sometimes be a volatile mix in a band, but i think as long as everyone remains understanding of one another's points of view, and rational when it comes to decisions, being best friends and family before you are a band is... a good foundation to build on.
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Kemble Walters, Aeges, Juliette & The Licks, The Rise

The Bridge
Aeges
2012 | The Mylene Sheath / Redeye

The best way for bands to stay together is to be honest and up front. As much as a band is fun and a way to shake off the day job it, in turn, is also a job that should be taken seriously if you wanna succeed. If there's a "problem-child" in the band who's not pulling their weight, let it be known and get it out in the open so they... can shape up or ship out before they become a dead anchor.
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Mean Creek

The Sky (Or The Underground)
Mean Creek
Old Flame Records / INgrooves

Being in a band with someone is pretty much the same thing as being in a relationship with someone. Honesty, good communication and respect for one another are the most important parts of maintaining any relationship. As long as you have those things, you can work through anything. Being friends, first and foremost, and being on the same page about things has helped us as well.

Wooden Indian Burial Ground

Wooden Indian Burial Ground
Wooden Indian Burial Ground
2012 | Mon Amie Records / IODA

Drink lots of El Jimador. Tour in tiny station wagons. Play shows instead of practicing. Don't eat more than once a day on tour. Make sure that one thing you eat is a salad lifted from Whole Foods. Do jumping jacks, pushups or jump rope every time you stop at a rest area, even when drunk on El Jimador. Forget about having full time "jobs" or that stuff called "money" These things... only get in the way of fun and art.
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Horsehands

Sirs
Horsehands
2013 | Horshands / CD Baby

I find sobbing uncontrollably while screaming, "DON'T YOU EVER LEAVE ME!" before and after practice is helpful. Also, little things, like warming up the neck of the bass guitar with my sweet, sweet breath and gently crying on the drum sticks, add a much-needed personal touch.

Solvents

Forgive Yr. Blood
solvents
2010 | Bee Resin Records / IODA

Woo the band with your songwriting skills, sex and promises of eventual pop stardom. Book a West Coast tour. Hop in the sedan and romance them from Olympia to Los Angeles. Book a tour of Europe and romance them from Brussels to Berlin. Make a couple albums then ask them to marry you.

Pat Hull

Shed Skin
Pat Hull
2013 | Pat Hull / TuneCore

Form a basketball team within your band and find a court to play in every city/town you're touring. The way each member plays on the court will inform your chemistry and band dynamic.

Feb 08, 2013

eMusic.com Inc.

Let’s Stay Together

You don’t have to squint too hard to see the ways that being in love is a lot like being in a band. Both take patience and dedication. Both require open channels of communication. And both have the potential to yield either beautiful music or dissonant clamor. With that in mind, we asked 23 bands to share their secrets for staying together. Take them to heart, and happiness is sure to follow.