The Week in Albums: Apr. 8

Only two reviews this week, thanks to a relative dearth of interesting/well-reviewed releases. The coming weeks should be full of exciting stuff, though, including TV on the Radio, Panda Bear and Foo Fighters.

#1
Apocalypse
Bill Callahan
Drag City

Bill Callahan, formerly known as Smog, released his third album under his own name this week. 2009's Sometime I Wish We Were an Eagle was a major critical success, yet Apocalypse is a noticeably darker, more pensive record. There's something distinctly Nick Cave-ian about songs like "Baby's Breath," which has a spectral, mournful mood to it. The spiky "America!" devolves into an jagged, electric boogie halfway through, while "Riding for the Feeling" pares things back, resulting in a hushed, moving ballad. Apocalypse may be substantially less accessible than its predecessor, but overall, I find it to be a much stronger record. Callahan's imagery and melodies have never been stronger, while these downbeat songs are a great match for his calm, almost serene non-singing. Look for Apocalypse to show up on plenty of year-end lists come December.

Simon's Grade:



#2
Blood Pressures
The Kills
Domino Records

This week's other major release is Blood Pressures, the fourth album from the Kills. The half-American, half-British duo have received lots of free press thanks to singer Alison Mosshart's participation in Jack White's Dead Weather project. However, rather than capitalizing on the opportunity, the Kills have released an uneven, often boring album. Make no mistake: there are highlights here. The blistering "Future Starts Slow" is a force to be reckoned with, while the slower burning "Baby Says" and closing "Pots and Pans" show some previously unused versatility and musical range. However, Jamie Hince's grinding guitar riffs are too often absent and Mosshart's vocals seem phoned in. With each new album, the Kills' initial energy and aggression has dissipated more and more. The ratio of ballads-to-rockers is going in the wrong direction and I desperately hope this talented duo return to their strengths in the future.

Simon's Grade:

The Week in Albums: Apr. 1

As you may know, yesterday was Opening Day for many baseball teams, including my beloved Seattle Mariners. In all that excitement, I literally forgot that it was Friday and time for some album reviews. Here they are one, day late.

#1
Last of the Country Gentlemen
Josh T. Pearson
Mute Records

I had no idea who Josh T. Pearson was before this week. For those of you in a similar boat, here are the highlights: Pearson is a Texan songwriter, who started the acclaimed band Lift to Experience and recorded a single, acclaimed album with them in 2001. Since that time, he's worked with Bat for Lashes and Dirty Three amongst other artists. Last of the Country Gentlemen is his first solo album. And damn is it a good'un. Pearson's bleak, stripped down songs stand in sharp contrast to the spit-shined pablum that the radio calls country music. Despite only featuring seven tracks, Gentlemen is almost an hour long, making the album a bit of an endurance test. Eleven-minute ruminations on relationships and emotional distress are pretty standard here. But the songcraft, lyricism and Pearson's dynamic voice make each song worth the running times. These are beautiful, sad, twangy songs, in veil of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. In seven brief days, Josh T. Pearson has gone from being all-but unknown to releasing one of the year's best albums.

Simon's Grade:



#2
All Eternals Deck
The Mountain Goats
Merge Records

You always know what you're getting with a Mountain Goats record. John Darnielle's veteran indie-rock band has sounded more or less the same for a full decade and All Eternals Deck does nothing to shake up the formula. Warm acoustic guitar and piano melodies are complimented by light drumming, while Darnielle's snarling, nasal voice delivers hyper-literate vignettes about whatever complex metaphor Darnielle's stumbled upon lately. Coming on the heels of 2009's The Life of the World to Come, All Eternals Deck does feel slightly disappointing. The Biblical themes and clever concept of World to Come is missed here, since most Mountain Goats' songs start to sound very similar over the course of a forty-minute album. Opening track "Damn These Vampires" is a highlight, but nothing on the album transcends the strict genre that the band operates within. Eternals isn't a bad album, but it's album that sounds strangely familiar, recreating the band's basic elements without adding anything new.

Simon's Grade:



#3
Belong
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Slumberland Records

New York's the Pains of Being Pure at Heart surprised everyone with their confident and endlessly charming debut two years ago. Sunny and cheerful without being annoying and childish, that album sounded like some bizarro world Belle & Sebastian, where that lilting Scottish band discovered the sheer, undiluted awesomeness of electric guitars. Now, two years later, the Pains have returned with their sophomore album. Despite a flurry of good reviews and a Best New Music honor from Pitchfork, it's difficult for me to hear Belong as anything other than disappointing. Gone are the detailed lyrical stories and dynamic instrumentation. The Pains feel stuck in high gear, churning out loud, 90s guitar rock at the expense of their more subtle inclinations. Other songs, like "Heaven's Gonna Happen Now" sound like note-for-note rehashes of songs from their first album. The hooks are gone, the melodies are gone and all we have to replace them is sheer volume. That pesky sophomore slump is in full effect here.

Simon's Grade:

Making Sense of the 2011 Mariners

We've entered the final week of Spring Training and Opening Day is almost here. Yes. Friday. Soon. With that in mind, the club has begun making the final cuts and additions to the roster:

-In a move that surprised no one, lefty Luke French was sent to Tacoma, while catchers Josh Bard and Chris Gimenez were relegated to minor league camp. French will join a whole cadre of pitchers who aren't quite major league material in Tacoma, all of whom will only be a phone call away when Bedard inevitable impinges something in his arm or Pineda gets destroyed by real hitters. Bard never really had a shot of making the team, but Gimenez had an outside chance of getting a bench spot. His demotion seemingly locked Josh Wilson onto the roster until...

-The team announced that Josh Wilson has been released. While Josh certainly had some fans in Seattle, the fact that he's nothing even approaching a major league player doesn't make this a huge loss, at least baseball-wise. Josh was well-liked in the club house and celebrated his 30th birthday only a couple days ago. Happy birthday, Josh! Your present is unemployment.

-Chris Ray and Jamey Wright officially made the team, but Royce Ring got cut. This is the closest thing we have to real surprises anymore, since most observes had predicted Ring would would double with Aaron Laffey as the lefties out of the 'pen. Eric Wedge had other plans, however, citing Ring's inability to pitch effectively to right-handers and go multiple innings. Suddenly, Tom Wilhelmsen is the favorite for that last bullpen spot, jumping all the way up from Single-A baseball. Oh, and he was a bartender the year before that. Maybe Tom and Josh Wilson need to have a little sit-down, inspirational chat...

So, everything is falling into place. With Wilson out of the picture, Luis Rodriguez might make the team, but a last-minute waiver acquisition is much more likely. A right-handed corner-infielder/outfielder with a bit of power would make everything look a bit better, as would an unexpected bullpen pickup. On paper, this Mariners team doesn't look like anything to special and anyone predicting anything other than last place is fooling themselves. However, contrary to much of what I've seen written this week, the chances of the team being as utterly embarrassing as last year's squad are minuscule. Yes, we didn't add much in the way of new players to the offense, but last year's career-lows across the board can't happen again. Our rotation looks much better and our bullpen will be merely bad instead of appalling. We're not a championship-caliber team, but there's no way we could have been with the resources at our disposal this offseason. Jack Z made some smart moves and improved the club. It's gonna be a couple seasons before everything starts humming along, but those days sure seem to be coming. Friday can't come soon enough.

Catching Up with the Seattle Mariners

It's been a while since I wrote about baseball. Spring Training has been a process, players have been cut and the future of Seattle baseball has become a bit clearer. However, there haven't been many big stories to talk about. However, with less than a week left before Opening Day down in Oakland, I'm kicking my baseball writing back into gear. First off, here's what our roster seems to currently look like.

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

Bedard is virtually a lock to make the team right now, which is amazing in and of itself. Erik's injuries have been well-documented during his time in Seattle, but he's been remarkably loyal and it looks like his fourth season with the club might actually see him contribute. Pineda also seems to have secured a rotation spot with six dominant, shutout innings against the Brewers this afternoon. It looks like our rotation coming out of the gate will be the best case scenario we could have hoped for as fans. Hooray.

Bullpen
RHP Brandon League (closer)
RHP Chris Ray
RHP Josh Lueke
LHP Aaron Laffey
LHP Royce Ring
RHP Jamey Wright
RHP David Pauley

If the rotation is the best we could have hoped for, this bullpen is a lot less encouraging. David Aardsma's injury didn't help an already shaky pile of bullpen candidates, but the implosions of guys like Dan Cortes, Manny Delcarmen, Nate Robertson and Cesar Jimenez have left us with stop-gap guys like Ring and Wright. They aren't all that great and we have to find room for them on the 40-man roster. Tom Wilhelmsen might make the team if the front office doesn't want to put too many guys through waivers. League has also had a disconcerting spring, walking too many guys and getting lit up when he does put the ball over the plate. Turning the game over to the 'pen might be very stressful this season.

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

There were a few interesting position battles this spring. Wilson and Ryan swapped positions, which may or may not be a good thing. Milton Bradley also went ballistic, in a good way, hitting for a high average and knocking in a dozen runs. Saunders' early spring struggles seemed to have him ticketed for more marinating in Tacoma, but Franklin Gutierrez's stomach issues seem to have opened up space for Saunders in center. This lineup doesn't look overpowering, but we probably won't embarrass ourselves every day. Big improvements from Smoak, Cust and even Olivo could help make baseball watchable until Dustin Ackley takes over at second around June.

Bench
C Adam Moore
INF Adam Kennedy
1B/OF Matt Tuiasosopo
OF Ryan Langerhans

Beyond a couple bullpen spots, the only space not settled on the roster is the second infielder bench spot. Kennedy will be there, but Tui, Josh Wilson and maybe Chris Gimenez are in the mix for that last seat. The facts that Tui bats right-handed, is already on the 40-man roster and can actually hit home runs have him squeaking ahead of the others in my book. This means Jack Wilson would shift to short if anything happened to Brendan Ryan, with Kennedy taking over at second if Ackley isn't called. I'm totally okay with that set-up.

With only a week left, it's probably worth noting who will be on the...

Disabled List
RHP David Aardsma (15-day)
RHP Shawn Kelley (60-day)
LHP Mauricio Robles (60-day)
3B Matt Mangini (15-day)
CF Franklin Gutierrez (15-day)

Franklin will hopefully figure out his digestive problems quickly. Depending on how Saunders deals with major league pitching, Guti's return could finally force the overachieving Langerhans to Tacoma or out of the organization entirely. Or, just maybe, the club with cut ties with Milton. As for Aardsma, he should back mid-April-ish, forcing someone like Jamey Wright into obscurity. Mangini will end up at Tacoma once he heals, while Kelley should be a key 'pen member for the Mariners around July. Robles will have surgery to remove "loose bodies" from his elbow before joining the Tacoma rotation mid-summer.

There could always be some ambitious waiver claims or trades in the next week, but the roster seems to have mostly settled into place. I'll be writing more as we countdown to 2011 baseball on Friday.

The Week in Albums: Mar. 15

Alright, I've got more hard drive more or less fixed and I can finally listen to music again. As it turns out, skipping last week worked for the best, since virtually nothing interesting was released this week. So, we're combining the past two weeks into one efficient, informative entry!

#1
Angles
The Strokes
RCA

We might as well start with what must be the most anticipated release of the year so far. Ten years ago, the Strokes released their debut album, Is This It, and were instantaneously enshrined in rock history. In the years since its release, Is This It has won over legions of fans and made a legitimate run at being considered the best album of the entire 2000s. The Strokes are a "big name band," where each of their releases is considered an event. The odd part of all this, however, it that the Strokes have barely released anything in their career. After Is This It, they've only recorded three more albums. Two of those (Room on Fire, First Impressions of Earth) were widely considered critical disappointments and the third is the shiny, new Angles. Judging for this weeks reviews, this new album isn't breaking the trend. Some say its boring, some say its too diverse, others say that everything sounds the same. The one thing everyone can agree on is that Angles won't be the album that rescues the Strokes. The album sounds like five different bands were forced to sit down together and record an album, which is no surprise judging from the reports of in-fighting between the band members. When catchy, Strokes-worthy singles like "Under Cover of Darkness" are squashed awkwardly against the Cars-lite stupidity of "Two Kinds of Happiness" or the dull, blandly moody "You're So Right," you can tell that something is off. Angles is full of too many different ideas and only a few of them are interesting. Perhaps its time the members of the Strokes moved on to other projects before this descent into self-parody becomes too painful.

Simon's Grade:



#2
The Big Roar
The Joy Formidable
Atlantic

This debut from up-and-coming Welsh rockers the Joy Formidable hit the States last week. It enjoyed immense praise back in the UK, but naturally, the American critics were less receptive. The Joy Formidable are only a three-piece band, but they sure make a hell of a lot of noise. Frontwoman/guitarist Ritzy Bryan also seems to be a powerful force leading the band, utilizing her strong voice and impressive guitar pyrotechnics to great effect. At the album's best, such as the cataclysmic "Whirring," the sheer oomph and scale of the band is awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, the album doesn't always shift effectively into those high gears and the bludgeoning begins to feel exhausting over the course of a full length album. The Joy Formidable are a band to watch. The Big Roar proves that they have potential and aren't very far at all from truly realizing it.

Simon's Grade:



#3
Several Shades of Why
J Mascis
Sub Pop

Last week also saw the release of Several Shades of Why, a tender collection of acoustic songs from Dinosaur Jr frontman J Mascis. For a guy who's built his reputation on blistering sheets of guitar noise, these stripped-back, gentle songs work surprisingly well. Mascis has always had a bit of Neil Young character inside him and his thin voice lends itself very well to these emotive songs. The opener, "Listen to Me," could work very well as a dynamic, electric Dinosaur Jr track, but it also works here as a lilting guitar ballad. The title track is another clear highlight, with its skipping guitar hook and strings. I certainly didn't expect this album to be this strong and many other critics also seemed taken by surprise. Several Shades of Why probably won't crop up on too many year-end best-of lists, but it's strong, capable release from a veteran musician. You'll hear no real complaints from me.

Simon's Grade:



Also this week: No Color by the Dodos (2 pretzels)