New Review: Iron & Wine, Kiss Each Other Clean

Release Date: January 25
Label: Warner Bros.

It wasn't all that long ago that Iron & Wine's Sam Beam was just another acoustic-and-folk-minded singer-songwriter, churning out simple, emotional guitar songs. However, something changed upon the release of 2007's The Shepherd's Dog and Iron & Wine has blossomed into a massive, musically adventurous band. Kiss Each Other Clean is the latest example of Beam's acceptance of bolder sounds and styles, ensuring that anyone who still calls his band a "folk" act will need go hunting for some new genres. The album has a definite musical obsession with the 1970s, heard on the smooth, FM-radio-ready "Monkeys Uptown" and "Half Moon," along with the Steely-Dan-style harmonies riddled throughout. There's also some saxophone skronking ("Big Burned Hand"), some indie-approved balladry ("Tree By The River") and even some light gospel in the form of the opener "Walking Far From Home," with it's stately rhythm and chorus of backing vocals. Perhaps the strongest track is the last, "Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me," which takes the Steely Dan comparisons to fantastic heights before dissolving into an honest-to-god guitar freakout. If Kiss Each Other Clean has a weak point, is undoubtedly the lyrics, which feel too overwrought, earnest or bizarre to carry any true emotional depth ("we will become an ice cream cone?" Come again?). However, the music is strong enough to distract you. Along with Destroyer's Kaputt, Kiss Each Other Clean has made this a very good week for soft-rock revivalism. Also, gotta love that album cover.

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Another Bullpen Option

I'll say this for the Mariners' offseason: we're sure having some fun with our minor league deals. The latest addition to the team comes in the form of right-handed reliever Chris Ray, who split last season with the Texas Rangers and San Fransisco Giants. Ray's best year was 2006, when he saved 33 games for the Baltimore Orioles, while sporting a nice 2.73 ERA. Unfortunately, his strikeouts have dropped since then and hitters seem to have figured him out. That said, he still has a strong fastball and is another smart signing by the Mariners. Hard-throwing veteran relievers don't exactly grow on trees. Chris could very well make the club, either out of Spring Training or later on in the season when other guys inevitably break down.

Album Review: Destroyer, Kaputt

Release Date: January 25
Label: Merge

Destroyer's Dan Bejar is a musician who does things his own way. Perhaps best known as one-third of the indie rock supergroup the New Pornographers, Bejar's witty wordplay, unconventionally elegant arrangements and nasal voice keep him quite separate from most of his contemporaries. It's no surprise then to hear him mine a vein of musical influence that has been tragically ignored by other hip, forward-thinking bands: the lush romance of Steely Dan and Avalon-era Roxy Music. Unfortunately dubbed "soft rock" by the judgmental music press, this sound suits Bejar's purposes beautifully, as he wraps languid sax solos, mournful clarinets and sighing keyboards around lyrics nostalgic for an earlier era. The stunning opener "Chinatown" displays Kaputt's style right off the bat, blending carefully mixed acoustic guitars and keyboards with atmospheric touches and crisp drumming. Over it all, Bejar croons the mysteriously maudlin refrain "I can't walk away... in Chinatown." There are other 80s musical touchstones here as well. New Order is name-checked in the lyrics of "Blue Eyes," before again being felt in the intro to "Savage Night At The Opera," with its distinctly Peter-Hook-y bass part. Throughout, Bejar creates a mood of glamor and class, tempered by his clever, occasionally sad lyrics. The sprawling nine minutes of "Suicide Demo For Kara Walker" are built on a masterful control of tension and release, while other highlights like "Downtown" and "Song For America" prove that Bejar's talents work just as well when compacted into three-minute pop. Finally closing with the eleven-minute-long "Bay Of Pigs (Detail)," Kaputt manages to be remarkably consistent while featuring a very diverse group of songs. We've known Bejar had skills for many years now, but this his first truly excellent album, from start to finish, not to mention 2011's first great release.

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Album Review: Gang Of Four, Content

Release Date: January 25
Label: Yep Roc Records

It's a sad fact that Gang Of Four, one of the greatest post-punk bands of the late 70s, only recorded two-and-a-half good albums. The same band that recorded 1979's blistering Entertainment! also gave the world such undercooked and forgotten albums as Hard (1983) and Mall (1991). You probably haven't heard these albums and you probably never should. Entertainment! remains the band's definitive statement, made all the more powerful by the fact that the band never even came close to duplicating it. With its snarling guitar work, courtesy of alt-guitar hero Andy Gill, relentlessly tight rhythm section and barked, politically charged vocals, Entertainment! is a landmark album. Ranting about consumerism, class warfare and gender relations against an aggressive musical backdrop, Gang Of Four's fingerprints are still found throughout modern music. So here we are in 2011, with Content, Gang Of Four's first album in sixteen years. Gill's guitars are loud. Frontman Jon King yelps a lot. There are songs with titles like "You'll Never Pay For The Farm." Content feels carefully calculated to be a return to the Entertainment! aesthetic. Yet, it never moves beyond simple imitation. Opening with the hacking guitar storm of "She Said 'You Made A Thing Of Me'," Content's biggest weakness becomes apparent very quickly. Without the band's former rhythm section of bassist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham, the song sounds flat and thin. What follows is more of the same, save for the grating vocoder exercise "It Was Never Gonna Turn Out Too Good." Is this better than Gang Of Four's insipid mid-career offerings? Yes. But it sounds uncomfortably close to a band doing a good Gang Of Four impression than the great band themselves. Unlike their contemporaries Wire, who showed how post-punk bands can age well with this month's Red Barked Tree, Gang Of Four have proven that perhaps they are truly best left to memory.

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Invites for Everyone

The Mariners have signed another round of free agents on minor league deals. Joining the club next month will be left-hander Nate Robertson and outfielder Jody Gerut. Both are veterans coming off of less-than-inspiring years. However, both could potentially have roles with the club in 2011.

Robertson made his name as a starter for the Detroit Tigers, holding down the middle of their rotation during the middle of the 2000s, especially during their 2006 playoff run. He's certainly not young anymore, but Nate still has the ability to throw over 100 innings in a season. He should compete with Pineda, Bedard, Pauley and French for a back-end rotation slot. He could also be converted into a lefty reliever, something the club definitely needs. Pitching in cavernous Safeco should also help him greatly.

Gerut showed promise as a rookie for Cleveland in 2003, hitting 22 homers, but has done very little since then. A career resurgence in 2008, while he was playing for San Diego, put him back on the map, but a couple of seasons with the Brewers have done him no favors. He also happens to bat left-handed, meaning that he offers little that Saunders or Langerhans don't already bring to the table or outright exceed. However, having guys like Jody waiting in Tacoma is a luxury. Depending on how the Milton Bradley situation plays out, Gerut could be a factor on the 2011 Mariners squad.

The club also invited organizational players Blake Beavan and Steve Baron to Spring Training. Beavan is a right-handed starter we picked up in the Cliff Lee deal, who has the potential to be decent mid-rotation, innings-eater type dude. Baron is a 20-year-old catcher, who wowed the minors last season with his defensive prowess, but still has a lot of work to do with his bat before he looks like a potential major leaguer. He'll be around to catch things and get experience, no more, no less.

Album Review: Deerhoof, Deerhoof Vs. Evil

Release Date: January 25
Label: Polyvinyl

I find it very hard to review bands like Deerhoof. For the better part of the past two decades, this San Francisco-based band has recorded album after album of off-the-wall, experimental art-rock, rarely changing the basic formula for their music. Deerhoof live off the tension created by their spiky, rhythmically complex instrumentation and singer/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki's almost childlike voice. It's a jarring effect and one that I've never been wild about, but it's an undeniable element of the band's sound. Deerhoof Vs. Evil features more of the same, although some of the band's rougher edges are smoothed out by some surprisingly lilting melodic touches (listen to "The Merry Barracks"). Matsuzaki's voice is as polarizing as ever, especially when her lyrics boil down to chirpy, repeated chants, such as on tracks like "Hey I Can." However, a few songs, most notably "Behold A Marvel In The Darkness," construct a fun, more traditional indie rock vibe that suits her voice quite well. Deerhoof Vs. Evil isn't going to be the album that sells me completely on the merits of Deerhoof. However, that doesn't prevent it from being a strong, consistent record from a band that seems quite determined not to compromise when it comes to their musical style.

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Milton Bradley

Well, it's been a bit hectic this past hour for Mariners fans. News broke that Milton Bradley, our $12 million fourth outfielder/backup DH for the 2011 season, was arrested today on felony charges in LA. The specifics of the charges relate to "criminal threats," which were reportedly made to an unidentified woman. Milton has since been released on bail.

There had already been much murmuring about whether the team would elect to just cut Bradley loose, eating the money they owe him in exchange for not having to deal with any potential personality issues. Needless to say, these developments make that outcome look all but certain. The next question is whether or not this could void his contract. I won't lie: as a Mariners fan looking at a potentially dreary 2011 season, I'd love for the team to have an extra $12 million to spend as they see fit. However, I hope that whatever is unfolding with Milton and the Mariners is finished first, in a fair and just manner for everyone involved.

Album Review: Smith Westerns, Dye It Blonde

Release Date: January 18
Label: Fat Possum Records

Smith Westerns are a four-piece band from Chicago, who traffic in a slightly more indie-friendly version of glam-rock's fabulous riffitude. However, if you read the reviews of Dye It Blonde, the group's second album, one point is hammered over and over again: holy sweet jesus christ, these kids are young! Their debut album was recorded while the band members were in high school. Which was last year. That's some sobering stuff for a guy like myself, at the ripe ol' age of twenty-two. However, the average age of Smith Westerns has ended up haunting them in a distinctly gimmicky way. We're not talking about music recorded by children, but we're getting uncomfortably close. Everything they've released thus far has been greeted with condescending disclaimers about the band being "good for their age." Dye It Blonde's critical reception has been no different, as various major publications have been heaping praise upon it. Yet, once you recover from the shock of realizing you're listening to young whippersnappers, the album loses a fair bit of charm. Beneath these (presumably) cherubic, young, smiling faces lurks a set of catchy-but-uninspired riffs borrowed from T. Rex albums. The sparkling keyboards in the background give off a distinctly calculated quality as they try to evoke weary decadence. The lyrics expound upon the usual themes of youth, love, romance, tragedy and various combinations thereof. Sure, hearing teenagers play music this professional is nifty, but that doesn't automatically make it great. At the end of the day, Dye It Blonde plays strictly by the rules, aping a set of heroes whose heyday was long before Smith Westerns' band members (or myself) were born. Their inability to add anything substantial to an old formula keeps them from being anything truly noteworthy.

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In Kennedy We Trust

Believe it or not, the baseball offseason is starting to wind down. The last major free agents are signing contracts and teams are starting to pluck roster-fillers off the scrap pile. Here's what my dear Mariners have been doing while their Seahawk fellows were busy overthrowing the New Orleans Saints:

-we signed Adam Kennedy to a minor league deal. It's sad that this is one of the more exciting things that's happened this offseason, but Kennedy actually has a decent chance of making the team out of Spring Training. He could force Tui off the roster and provide a quality veteran backup at second and third base. He can also steal a bag or two. Welcome to the family, Adam.

-veteran catcher Josh Bard returned to the organization on another minor league deal. If the club wants Adam Moore to play regularly at Tacoma instead of sporadically backing up Olivo in Seattle, Bard could see some time with the club as a more suitable backup.

-Olivo's signing became official, meaning that someone had to get dropped off the roster. That ended up being right-hander Anthony Varvaro, a hard throwing relief prospect who had some control problems. He pitched in a few games with the club in September, impressing few. He will not be terribly missed.

-finally, it looks like David Aardsma's hip surgery is a bit more serious than initially reported. Wonderful. Brandon League, start mentally preparing for closing games. We're gonna need you and that amazing splitter than you never throw.

Album Review: Tapes 'N Tapes, Outside

Release Date: January 11
Label: Ibid Records

For about a month during the summer of 2005, "blog bands" were the latest craze. The word-of-mouth buzz and snowballing popularity that the internet fostered allowed a handful of bands to raise themselves out of the morass of indie rock wannabes and get some national attention. The most famous of these bands was Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who ended up selling hundreds of thousands of copies of their debut album out of their apartment. However, finishing second in the blog band race was Tapes 'N Tapes, a nervy little quartet out of Minneapolis, who scored major critical points with 2005's The Loon. Fast-forward to 2011 and we find Tapes 'N Tapes trying to put the pieces back together. Outside is their third album, following the disappointing and much-mocked Walk It Off. Most of the music press seems to have moved on, but Outside contains a surprising amount of charm for a band most have already written off. The band's signature thin guitar work and urgency has evolved a bit, allowing more keyboard texture and eclectic instrumentation. The band's most compelling element, though, remains frontman Josh Grier's voice, capable of lifting even the most generic of indie rock tracks into another level with its emotional immediacy and rough edges. The album's opener, "Badaboom," benefits the most from Grier's histrionics, as he switches gears halfway through, turning a fragile whisper into a defiant, raspy roar. Songs like "SWM," "Desert Plane" and the aptly named "Freak Out" further consolidate the band's strengths. Outside is far from perfect and Tapes 'N Tapes still have plenty of work ahead of them if they want to reestablish themselves as an above average band. However, it's an admirable step forward for a band that time is rapidly forgetting.

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Album Review: Wire, Red Barked Tree

Release Date: January 11
Label: Pink Flag

Long after the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and the Clash have ascended into history or descended self-parody, Wire are still here. The seminal English art-punk band have withstood the test of time, continuing to release intriguing records while their more celebrated peers have faded away. Red Barked Tree is the latest addition to their stunning body of work. The fact that it comes over thirty years after their most celebrated releases is just gravy. The original 1970s trilogy of Wire albums, Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154, tracked the band's evolution from minimalist, abstract visions of three-chord fury towards a more keyboard-heavy, textured post-punk sound. Red Barked Tree continues this legacy, showcasing the band's more jagged tendencies with songs like "Two Minutes," while still giving plenty of time to the group's more restrained side. The opening track, "Please Take," is insidiously catchy, especially for a song that opens with the line "please take your knife out of my back." The album reaches a fantastic balance between these styles, offering a concise encapsulation of everything Wire have been and continue to be.

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Album Review: Cake, Showroom Of Compassion

Release Date: January 11
Label: Upbeat Records

In a move that should surprise no one, Cake have recorded yet another Cake album. The Sacramento-based group have an immediately identifiable sound and Showroom Of Compassion is steeped in it. Never mind the fact that they haven't released a new album since 2004. Cake are back and, hey, they still sound like Cake. Like all five before it, this new Cake album comes complete with a catchy lead single ("Sick Of You"), featuring John McCrea's distinctive speak-singing and a snappy trumpet section. There even a few yelped backing vocals for those of you who still love "Short Skirt/Long Jacket." Unfortunately, after "Sick Of You," there's a substantial drop-off in the album's song quality. Cake have never been much of an "album band" and Showroom Of Compassion is no exception. You get more nibbling guitar lines, more horns, even more snarky McCrea, but those pieces never gel as well as they do on the lead single. Indeed, Cake have returned after a long absence, virtually the same as ever: one solid, quirky single nestled amid more forgettable tracks.

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Projecting the Mariners 2011 Roster, v. 2.0

It's been over a month since I last took stock of the 25 guys the Mariners are going to throw on the field in April. With the latest additions, subtractions and developments, here's what I think we're all gonna see:

Rotation
RHP Felix Hernandez
LHP Jason Vargas
RHP Doug Fister
LHP Erik Bedard
RHP Michael Pineda

Ryan Rowland-Smith got non-tendered, eventually signing with Houston, so the re-signed Bedard takes his place. Of course, Erik is our resident fragile china doll, so who knows if the reports that he'll be ready by the spring are true. Hopefully, the club has enough cash to sign a mid-rotation guy and put all our doubts to rest. Whatever happens, David Pauley will at least be given a chance in Spring Training.

Bullpen
RHP David Aardsma
RHP Brandon League
RHP Dan Cortes
LHP Garrett Olsen
RHP Josh Lueke
LHP Luke French
RHP David Pauley

Aardsma's hip surgery isn't supposed to sideline him for too long, but if he's not ready by Opening Day, League will be the acting closer and everyone else jumps up a peg. Also, if guys like Pauley or French are needed in the rotation, Anthony Varvaro, Rule 5 pick Jose Flores or non-roster invitees Justin Miller, Chris Smith, Royce Ring and Chris Seddon could all pick up the slack. Free agency is yet another option. We're also still not sure if Lueke's criminal record will keep the club from including him.

Lineup
RF Ichiro Suzuki
3B Chone Figgins
DH Jack Cust
1B Justin Smoak
CF Franklin Gutierrez
C Miguel Olivo
LF Michael Saunders
SS Jack Wilson
2B Brendan Ryan

Cust and Olivo do add a bit of power to the lineup, but not enough to make this set of nine guys seem even remotely intimidating. The big questions are whether Figgy and Gutierrez will rebound from their disappointing 2010 campaigns and if Justin Smoak will be the star player we expected when we got him in the Cliff Lee deal. When Dustin Ackley gets called up in mid-summer, things should get more interesting. Until then, barring some major trade, this looks like the lineup we're gonna be dealing with.

Bench
C Adam Moore
INF Josh Wilson
INF/OF Matt Tuiasosopo
OF Milton Bradley

Bench help is one place where the team can dramatically improve. I'm sure Tui is a great guy, but we can do much better with someone plucked out of free agency. Josh Wilson is serviceable, but other options exist. He'll be fighting for his job in Spring Training, as non-roster guys Luis Rodriguez and Sean Kazmar will be out to prove things. Milton's contract is too big to deal with right now, but he actually provides a lot of flexibility, batting against lefties for Cust and Saunders. The roster still isn't all that pretty, but it's getting better. Let's see what January has in store for us.

Notes from the Most Boring MLB Team

The Seattle Mariners have had an unbearably dull offseason. Budget limitations and prudent thinking have resulted in a handful of low-level free agent signings and virtually no trade chatter. As such, I haven't had much substantial M's news to talk about here. Here is the last three or four weeks worth of Mariners updates:

-we picked up infielder Brendan Ryan from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for prospect pitcher Maikel Cleto. Ryan immediately slides in as the likely starter at second base and will presumably bat ninth. Ryan has a reputation as a fantastic glove man, but of course, he can't hit his way out of the proverbial paper bag. That said, he projects to have somewhat of a comeback year after posting a hilarious .223/.279/.294 line last season. The other good news is that we gave up essentially nothing in Cleto. He's a guy with an explosive fastball, but absolutely no control. He was nowhere near the majors. Shed your tears and move on.

-way back at the Winter Meetings, the team had a verbal agreement with Miguel Olivo to catch for the Mariners, on a two-year, $7 million contract. The official announcement still hasn't come, but that's just a matter of time and paperwork. While most M's fans are already screaming to the heavens about this signing, I don't think it's that awful. Yes, Miguel looks suspiciously like Jose Lopez, with his complete lack of on-base skills and inconsistent, right-handed power. However, he's still more than an adequate catcher, which was something that the tandem of Rob Johnson and Adam Moore never quite accomplished last season. Is Olivo ideal? Of course not. But there weren't too many better options out there in our pay range and leaving the job in Moore's hands could have been really messy. Let's let this one play out, yeah?

-after getting designated for assignment to make room for Jack Cust, Rob Johnson got traded to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later or cash. So yeah, basically one of those "new bag of baseballs" trades. Rob had nowhere to go in this organization and the Padres had no catching depth. This works for everyone. I wish Rob the best.

-we added another slog of minor league free agents to the mix. Ryan Langerhans will return for his third season with the organization, while Chris Gimenez will add catching depth. Denny Bautista and Royce Ring have also been added as bullpen options. All in all, not a bad bunch, to be honest. All four could see some time in the Majors with the club.

-finally, we have the soap opera surrounding David Aardsma, We spent several weeks trying to drop him and his salary on some other team, to no avail. Our noble closer is in line for a raise in arbitration, but the team could really use the $4 million or so he's taking up to add a few other mid-range free agents. So, imagine our collective disappointment when the team announced that David was going to have hip surgery. Goodbye, trade value. So, he's here to stay. The team says they expect him to be ready by Opening Day, but our hands are now substantially tied, from a financial point of view.

Album Review: The Decemberists, The King Is Dead

Release Date: January 18
Label: Capitol Records

Colin Meloy and his merry band of indie-rock troubadours have spent the past five years thinking big. After the breakthrough success of 2005's still-excellent Picaresque, Meloy seemed to think that what people wanted were epic songs, full of heavily described characters and convoluted narratives worthy of Russian literature. The following albums, The Crane Wife and The Hazards Of Love, ended up missing the mark somewhat, as Meloy's sharp songwriting skills got consumed by ambition. So, The King Is Dead is a shift away from all that pomp, as the band mines heavily from R.E.M. and the more twangy end of Neil Young's career to create simpler, country-inflected tunes. This shift would be admirable if not for the fact that Meloy swings the pendulum ridiculously far, robbing his songs of what made them interesting in the first place. The King Is Dead is a lifeless, trite and altogether boring trawl through the lazier elements of American music, sewing together an endless stream of lyrics about seasons and "ancient riverbeds" with dull, major chords. There are no five-part operas about fawns, for which I am thankful. But there's also aren't any interesting songs. That's a rough trade-off.

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