I'm putting Pretzel Logic on indefinite hiatus. I'm currently not sure when/if this blog will return. For the time being, I just want to thank everyone's who's been reading over the past year-plus.

Odds And Ends Of News: Soundgarden, Swans, Jay Reatard

I’ve been wrapped up in some things this past week, meaning I’ve missed a few news items that should be covered. First, we’ve got two important reunions:

-Soundgarden! On January 1, Chris Cornell, the former singer for the Seattle grunge legends, tweeted that the “Knights of the Soundtable ride again.” While I doubt such a dumb phrase will ever catch on, I’m glad Soundgarden has returned. After the twin failures of Audioslave and Chris Cornell’s solo career, it’s time for Cornell to return to the band that made him sound good. There don’t seem to be any new album plans in the works, but you can be sure Soundgarden will be making the rounds at the usual summer festivals.

-Swans! The New York noise-rock legends have also gotten into the reunion game, with band leader Michael Gira announcing the first band activity since 1997. Gira made the announcement through MySpace, also uploading an acoustic demo of a new song, “Jim”, intended to be fleshed out on a new, upcoming Swans album.

Finally, on a sadder note, Tennessee punk rocker Jay Reatard died on January 13. He was only 29 years old. His cause of death has not yet been determined. While I may not have liked Reatard’s music (or personality) very much, I know that 29 is far too young to die. May he rest in peace.

Delphic: Acolyte

Year: 2010
Label: Polydor
Producer: Delphic and Ewan Pearson
Running Time: 51.7 mins

Every review of Acolyte, the debut album from the British group Delphic, mentions three phrases: “dance-rock,” “Manchester” and “New Order.” This handful of buzzwords neatly encapsulates the critical party line for this album. You’ve got a genre/sound, a lineage and a big name dropped for comparison. Acolyte has only been released in the UK so far, so we only have the ever-excitable British press as the album’s acid test. However, despite the virtually universal acclaim it’s been getting, I can’t imagine that Acolyte will make much of a splash over here in America when it finally arrives.

That isn’t to say Delphic’s music is bad. After riding the massive wave of UK-music-press hype for the past year and finishing third in the BBC Sound Of 2010 poll, the three-piece band have released a solid, cohesive debut that serves as more than just a vehicle for popular singles. Their influences are fairly obvious (most reviewers pick out New Order, Underworld and Orbital as major touchstones), but, as MusicOMH’s Ben Urdang says, “they recycle well, managing to do it with gravitas.” The New Order comparisons are so obvious they can’t be ignored (“’Submission’ boasts a solo so indebted to Peter Hook's style it all but turns up in a pair of leather trousers and starts complaining about Tony Wilson's mismanagement of the Hacienda,” writes The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis), but the quality and consistency of the songcraft keeps Acolyte from sounding like a tired copy of older bands. I think we can safely put Delphic in the same category as bands like Passion Pit, who are rehashing the sounds of the 1980s but updating them for contemporary listeners.

However, history has proven that dance-rock is a tough genre to work with. NME’s John Doran points out that “the road to hell is lined with the burnt-out husks of groups who tried to fuse rock and dance.” While Delphic probably don’t deserve such a bleak fate, they lack that magical spark that appeals to both rock and dance fans. The band leans heavily towards the dance side of the equation, only veering towards rock-ish territories in their silvery guitar lines and emotionally weighted lyrics. The tracks that do the most work on the album, like “Doubt” and “Halcyon”, work much better as wordy dance jams than “serious” rock songs that just happen to be fun to groove along to.

Those generous English critics have given Acolyte an almost universal 80% approval rate across the board. While I agree with the general assessment of this album as “immediate and assured” (Drowned In Sound’s Aaron Lavery), the substance and truly compelling songs aren’t quite there. With this debut album, Delphic have shown a lot of potential, but they’re best work is probably still ahead of them. When Acolyte finally does make the long journey across the Atlantic, where the music critics are much less forgiving, I doubt it’ll be anything more than a cult hit among the groups of Anglophilic people who watch Skins religiously.

Final Grade:

Vampire Weekend: Contra

Year: 2010
Label: XL Recordings
Producer: Rostam Batmanglij
Running Time: 36.6 mins

It’s impossible to talk about Vampire Weekend’s sophomore album, Contra, without addressing the haters. For every starry-eyed fan who loved the peppy guitar-pop on the band’s self-titled debut album, there seems to be an equally vociferous music fan, blogger or cynic ready to shout them down. While this kind of argumentative discourse is nothing new, Vampire Weekend’s music has hit a nerve within the music listening community, becoming one of the most polarizing new bands in recent memory. All this has resulted in a very volatile environment for Contra to be released into.

The critics have responded by taking an extremely defensive stance about the band’s music. Despite the thousands of naysayers who popped out of the woodwork after VW’s debut was released, very few music critics ever seemed to join their ranks. That album was an unchecked critical success, currently clocking in as the fourth-most acclaimed album of 2008. However, rather than taking an “I-told-you-so” attitude, the band’s champions are already trying to head the detractors off at the pass. Pitchfork’s Mike Powell projects that those with “ferocious objections” to the first VW album will continue to “hate [Contra] with a vigor,” while John Murphy at MusicOMH compares the band to fellow NY hypemongers the Strokes, who famously failed to live up to their promise after one acclaimed album.

However, the reviews for Contra are overwhelmingly positive. Most publications (including the behemoths of Rolling Stone, SPIN and NME) have given it a fairly safe 80%, while Pitchfork has lauded it with a bold 8.6/10 and a coveted Best New Music nod. Paste falls in line with an 8.7. The general critical sense is best summed up by Paste’s Jason Killingsworth when he says that Contra proves that Vampire Weekend was “no fluke.” Since most of these critics loved the band from the word “go,” Contra seems to be only reinforcing their existing beliefs.

This is a bit odd, since, by the critics’ own admission, Contra is a wildly different record than its predecessor. While it seems that VW’s first album will go down in history as a fusion of “Paul Simon’s Graceland with the touchstones of preppy ennui” (Rolling Stone’s Will Dana), Contra finds the band jettisoning much of their established sound (clean, thin guitar leads and spare production) in favor of a more lush sound, built upon keyboards and a few hip-hop influences. Most critics have also noted that the lyrical themes have changed. As Powell points out, “these lines don’t scan as being about privilege or money, but about people struggling with their social status.” I agree strongly with this assessment. Contra’s biggest edge over Vampire Weekend is that it (mostly) drops the class-warfare-baiting and lets more universal emotions fuel the songs.

I add that parenthetical because Ezra Koenig’s lyrics are still threatening to collapse under their own multisyllabic weight. John Murphy breaks from the critical party line by (correctly) observing that “it’s impossible to deny there’s a bit of smugness to Vampire Weekend that irks somewhat.” Murphy points to the opening song, “Horchata”, as a prime example of this sense that “Vampire Weekend are cleverer than you,” with its nonsensical opening couplet of “In December, drinking horchata/I’d look psychotic in a balaclava.” While SPIN’s John Dolan seems far too willing to accept Koenig’s shenanigans (“A ruling-class dude would look silly enjoying his leisure-hour drink dressed like a Chechen terrorist”), I feel that Murphy has pin-pointed Vampire Weekend’s biggest weakness. They can only hide behind big, flashy words for so long.

Full disclosure time: I am one of those rabid detractors who flew off the rails when Vampire Weekend took the world by storm a few years ago. I still find most of that album grating and shallow, while the Graceland comparisons feel superficial at best to me. That said, I honestly feel that Contra is a major improvement. At least four songs here (“Taxi Cab”, “Run”, “Diplomat’s Son” and “I Think Ur A Conta”) are songs I can say I honestly like, while there are a few more I find pleasant in smaller doses. Again, the turning point for me, as a listener, has been hearing Koenig inject rawer emotions into his lyrics, best heard on the hushed “I Think Ur A Conta”, which ends with the singer professing some very complicated love. It’s a song haunted by betrayal and lies, promises kept and broken, which finally ends with Koenig’s whispered dedication that “I just wanted you.” As cliché as it might be, I find these emotional risks much more compelling than the flippant ridiculousness of “who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma.”

Contra also reveals keyboardist/producer Rostam Batmanglij as the group’s leading musical force. After showing promise with his surprising Discovery project last year, Batmanglij has applied the same gently driving electronics to his main band, with quality results. The bouncy “White Sky” provides a nice bridge between the older VW style, while the M.I.A.-sampling “Diplomat’s Son” just drops you into the deep end of this new, guitar-phobic world. Even stranger is the slow, reserved “Taxi Cab”, which, as Killingsworth says, “adopts an emotional vulnerability and depth.” While such a generalized phrase like that would usually just be critical filler, it actually describes the song’s impact quite well.

The album’s weakest moments are the ones that flash back to the debut album’s lightweight, breezy guitar-led fluff. “Cousins” is all energy, but no substance, while “California English”, despite Pitchfork’s best attempts to read meaning into its lyrics, is the same kind of hyper-ironic bullshit that rubbed me the wrong way on VW’s debut. “Giving Up The Gun” is a more interesting case, with its radio-ready drive and keyboards, but at almost five minutes long, feels unwieldy and in need of some serious editing. Topping all this off, we’ve got the forgettable “Holiday”, which, at barely more than two minutes, could probably have been left off the album without anyone shedding any tears.

Ultimately, Contra is a step-forward for the band, all while awkwardly keeping the other foot planted in their past. It’s a “transitional album” if I’ve ever heard one and I agree with the astute Murphy at MusicOMH when he says that “album number three could well be the classic that they’ve always threatened to make.” They’ve partially excised the demons of their debut and are rapidly finding a unique and compelling voice all their own. Vampire Weekend have risked more with Contra than I think anyone truly expected and are in line to be rewarded handsomely for it.

Final Grade:

Better Late Than Never: The Stooges Get Inducted Into The Hall Of Fame

Since most of the major music publications are still waiting for their writers and critics to stagger back into the office after their (presumed) week-long, post-New Year’s bender, I haven’t been able to put together my first album review yet. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve been using this down time to post scathing commentary about reader’s polls. However, on a more optimistic note, here’s a news item I should have covered much earlier.

As anyone who’s been reading Pretzel Logic over the past year should know, getting the Stooges into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has been a major, flag-waving cause for me. They’re one of the cornerstones of modern music and they’ve been eligible for induction since 1994. The fact that it took sixteen years to get this legendary band enshrined in Cleveland is reprehensible, but now that they’ve finally made it, I suppose I should celebrate a bit and just be happy. I only regret that this couldn’t have happened while guitarist Ron Asheton was still alive.

Also on this year’s induction list are ABBA, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff and the Hollies, along with a handful of non-performers, headlined by David Geffen. Congratulations to all of them. I can’t wait to see what happens when you put ABBA and Iggy in the same room. For those interested, the actual ceremony will take place on March 15 and be televised on Fuse.

More Moments In Magazine Reader Fail

Yesterday, it was Rolling Stone’s readers and their inexplicable devotion to Green Day. Today, it’s SPIN’s readers and their downright confusing reader’s poll.

Apparently, 2009 was the year of Pearl Jam and music writers all over the world simply missed the memo. Backspacer, the PJ album the readers chose as the year’s best, is currently moldering as the 56th most acclaimed album of the year (according to Acclaimed Music). In fact, SPIN magazine itself didn’t even have that album in their Top 40 of 2009. Even stranger is “Unthought Known” getting voted the year’s best song, despite the fact that it wasn’t even a single off the album. Either Eddie Vedder’s been stuffing the online ballot box or a few SPIN readers got way too zealous. There’s just no way tens of thousands of fans arrived at that conclusion independently.

Either way, it seems like there’s a major disconnect between SPIN and their readers. Just look at their little graphic at the top of the reader’s poll page. They’ve got Green Day, the Dead Weather and Bat For Lashes on display, despite the apparent mandate for more Pearl Jam by their own readers. Meanwhile, the magazine’s choice for Artist of the Year, Kings Of Leon? Nowhere to be found. Awkward…

Ten Thousand Green Day Fans Can't Be Wrong...?

We live in a country that values giving “the people” a voice. However, those people and their voices can often say some very, very stupid things.

We learned that in two different places today. On one hand, the Baseball Writers Association of America embarrassed themselves (again) by only electing Andre Dawson to the Baseball Hall of Fame, despite the presence of at least half a dozen other deserving players on the ballot. However, this isn’t a sports blog. This is a music blog. Therefore, it’s with great sadness that I present you with this link.

Did you catch all that? Rolling Stone’s readers elected Green Day to be the best musical artists of the past ten years. They also thought that Green Day’s American Idiot was the best album of the decade and that “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” was the top single. Needless to say, I’ve got more than a few problems with this. I refuse to believe that two overblown concept albums, fueled by sloganeering, reductive politics and just plain ignorance, qualify a band to be the best of the decade. Oh, and Warning, which no one bought. No matter who you feel deserves a title as awkward as “Best Artist of the Entire Decade,” you should have someone higher on the list of nominees than Green Day.

However, this is apparently what people want. Democracy in action, folks. We live by it, we die by it. And, today, Green Day have won some undeserved accolades by it.

The Best Albums of the 2000s, Pt. 2

Here's the second half of the list I started yesterday. Once again, these are alphabetized by artist, not rank ordered in any way.

Artists M-Z

Arular, M.I.A.
Madvillainy, Madvillain
Blood Mountain, Mastodon
Crack The Skye, Mastodon
Leviathan, Mastodon
The Moon & Antarctica, Modest Mouse
Absolution, Muse
Boxer, The National
Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, Of Montreal
Stankonia, Outkast
Person Pitch, Panda Bear
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, PJ Harvey
A Woman A Man Walked By, PJ Harvey & John Parish
Third, Portishead
XTRMNTR, Primal Scream
We Love Life, Pulp
Lullabies To Paralyze, Queens Of The Stone Age
Songs For The Deaf, Queens Of The Stone Age
Accelerate, R.E.M.
Amnesiac, Radiohead
Hail To The Thief, Radiohead
In Rainbows, Radiohead
Kid A, Radiohead
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II, Raekwon
Game Theory, The Roots
Rising Down, The Roots
The Drift, Scott Walker
( ), Sigur Rós
Sonic Nurse, Sonic Youth
Songs In A&E, Spiritualized
Girls Can Tell, Spoon
Kill The Moonlight, Spoon
Original Pirate Material, The Streets
First Impressions Of Earth, The Strokes
Is This It, The Strokes
Illinois, Sufjan Stevens
Shut Up I Am Dreaming, Sunset Rubdown
Mezmerize/Hypnotize, System Of A Down
Toxicity, System Of A Down
The Eraser, Thom Yorke
Dear Science, TV On The Radio
Return To Cookie Mountain, TV On The Radio
Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?, The Unicorns
Elephant, The White Stripes
White Blood Cells, The White Stripes
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco
Apologies To The Queen Mary, Wolf Parade

Fever To Tell, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The Best Albums of the 2000s, Pt. 1

As part of the new Pretzel Logic regime, I’ve vowed to stop inundating my readers with multi-part lists, featuring my favorite alterna-rock guitar heroes or whatever. That said, there’s one last list I want to subject you to. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve just ushered in an entirely new decade, meaning that all the music from the 2000s has been released and critics can go ballistic arguing about what the decade’s most enduring albums should be. As one last hold-over from the old Pretzel Logic, I want to share my choices for my 100 favorite albums of the past ten years. Today, you get the first fifty and the list will be completed tomorrow. I haven’t rank ordered them and I’m not going to bore you with paragraphs of praise. I’ve just alphabetized them by artist. Basically, if someone asked me “what albums from the 2000s do you think I should listen to,” my response would look something like this:

Artists A-L

Labor Days, Aesop Rock
Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective
The Crying Light, Antony & The Johnsons
I Am A Bird Now, Antony & The Johnsons
Funeral, Arcade Fire
Neon Bible, Arcade Fire
Favourite Worst Nightmare, Arctic Monkeys
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, Arctic Monkeys
Bang Bang Rock & Roll, Art Brut
God Loves Ugly, Atmosphere
Since I Left You, The Avalanches
Sea Changes, Beck
Silent Alarm, Bloc Party
Crimes, The Blood Brothers
Untrue, Burial
The Cold Vein, Cannibal Ox
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
The Mouse And The Mask, Danger Doom
Reality, David Bowie
Picaresque, The Decemberists
Microcastle, Deerhunter
Boy In Da Corner, Dizzee Rascal
Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, Drive-By Truckers
Decoration Day, Drive-By Truckers
The Dirty South, Drive-By Truckers
Southern Rock Opera, Drive-By Truckers
The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem
Fever Ray, Fever Ray
Embryonic, The Flaming Lips
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, The Flaming Lips
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand
News And Tributes, The Futureheads
Fishscale, Ghostface Killah
Grinderman, Grinderman
Face Control, Handsome Furs
Hercules And Love Affair, Hercules And Love Affair
Préliminaires, Iggy Pop
Turn On The Bright Lights, Interpol
The Black Album, Jay-Z
The Blueprint, Jay-Z
So This Is Goodbye, Junior Boys
The College Dropout, Kanye West
Late Registration, Kanye West
808s And Heartbreak, Kanye West
Aha Shake Heartbreak, Kings Of Leon
Silent Shout, The Knife
Sound Of Silver, LCD Soundsystem
Drum’s Not Dead, Liars
Up The Bracket, The Libertines

R.I.P. Rowland S. Howard (1959-2009)

Unfortunately, my first real post of 2010 is a tragic one. Rowland S. Howard, best known as the guitarist in Nick Cave’s early 1980s band the Birthday Party, passed away on December 30 from liver cancer. Howard was only fifty years old. However, within his all-too-brief lifespan, he became a beloved and influential figure within the alt rock canon. Traces of his visceral, jagged guitar style can be heard in several generations of guitar-led bands, including My Bloody Valentine and virtually all post-1985 goth rock. Throughout the 2000s, his music experienced a cultural revival of sorts, culminating in his exquisite Pop Crimes album, released this past October. With Howard’s passing, the music community has lost a guitar innovator and unmistakable voice.

Samples of Howard’s music:
-“Nick The Stripper”, with the Birthday Party
-“Six Bells Chime”, with Crime & The City Solution

-“Shut Me Down”, solo