Frightened Rabbit: The Winter of Mixed Drinks

These Scotsmen know how to rock.  Their debut album, 2008's Midnight Organ Fight, rocks, but it is partially in the fetal position in the corner, dealing with the pain and anger following a broken heart.  The Winter of Mixed Drinks, however, has the tone and feel of an album that is "over it."  If Organ Fight is the setting sun at the end of a long and painful day, Mixed Drinks is the dawn of the next morning, bringing with it hope and healing.

The opening track, "Things," makes it clear that the narrator has moved on; he realizes that things are just things, so he abandons them and embraces the freedom.  From there, he moves on and he doesn't care to where, offering up one of my year's favorite lyrics: "Swim until you can't see land."  Continuing to find self-assurance, lead singer Scott Hutchison proclaims one another song that a girl in his past "was not the cure for cancer."  One of the song titles, in fact, is "Not Miserable."

In addition to the less depressing lyrics, the tempo and sound of the music seems happier -- not cheesier, mind you, but filled a bit more with contentment.  Even the slower-paced piano rock of "FootShooter" or the fuzzed-out and few-noted "Not Miserable" don't feel melancholy.  While no song matches the pace of "Living in Colour," it's "Swim" that takes the cake on this album with its added strings:


Grade: B+
Blurb: If you're in the midst of post-break-up angst, then throw on Organ Fight and cry it out, but if you've moved on or if you're trying to move on, Mixed Drinks should give you a buzz.

Yeasayer: Odd Blood

These Canadians are weird.  But it's weird in a good way ... mostly.  Sometimes the weirdness can get a little out of control, but when its kept within bounds, it works.  That may sound like a contradiction; weirdness doesn't necessitate neatness, and I'm not advocating for a tidy sound that can be packaged away in a little box, but Yeasayer has a tendency to let their freak flag fly.  Maybe that's the only way to do it; go big or go home, as they say. Perhaps part of Yeasayer's weirdness is to let it fully take control -- no boundaries -- but for my ears, the weirdness works best when it's contained.

Odd Blood's lead single, "Ambling Alp," is a good example of this combination of weirdness and goodness.  First, the lyrics are fantastic, referencing 1930s boxing great Max Schmelling (whom I read about in a grad seminar a few years back), lead vocalist Chris Keating goes all falsetto, the beats almost have a bow-bow-chicka-chicka-ohhh-yeahhhh feel, and the synth lets out fart-like sounds during the chorus and then saxophone lines during the bridge.  Weird, but it totally works.

There are other songs, however, for which the weirdness gets a little out of control: the vocal synth thing on opening track "The Children"; the over the top Star-Wars-cantina-scene synth instrument in "Rome"; and the unnecessary sense of urgency provided by the beats and fast-paced vocals on "Mondegreen."

Yeasayer doesn't just make weird music, they also make weird music videos.  Check out Kristen Bell (AKA Sarah Marshall AKA Uda Bengt) taking care of whatever this thing is in the video for "Madder Red", or stay here and watch the weirdness on top-track "Ambling Alp":


Grade: C
Blurb: Weird but good... but sometimes the scales tip in the balance of weird.

Gorillaz: Plastic Beach

I found it hard to believe that Gorillaz hadn't put out anything since 2005 ... five years is a long time between albums (unless you're Guns N' Roses).  Perhaps I had my expectations set too high after five Gorillaz-less years, or perhaps the lack of involvement of Danger Mouse took it's toll, but Plastic Beach is not up to the standard set by Demon Days.

The first clue that I was about to be let down by Beach should've been the first track with vocals, which featured the rhymes of Snoop Dogg.  I've never been a fan of the D-O-double-G, or any of his rap-izzles (what?).  However, I was tricked after that when the album's two best songs, "White Flag" and "Rhinestone Eyes," followed directly thereafter.  The rest of the album, with the exception of "Sweepstakes" (featuring white people's favorite rapper, Mos Def) is mediocre. 

I don't know if I can put my finger on the specific reason why Beach doesn't earn the favor that Days does, but Beach lacks something -- harder beats, glitchy-ness, experimentation, heart -- something.  And the experimentation that comes on some songs falls flat (like the random dude belting it out at the end of "Stylo," or the random chick singing at the end of "Empire Ants," totally ruining both tracks for me), although I appreciated the freshness of "Superfast Jellyfish."  The track "Rhinestone Eyes" seems reminiscent of past Gorillaz efforts:


Grade: C+
Blurb: It's not bad ... it's just not that good (that's what mediocre means).  After five years, I expected a bit more punch.

Broken Bells: self-titled

James Mercer and Brian Burton ... sounds like a boring combination unless you're aware that Mercer is the lead singer from The Shins, while Burton is better known by his DJ name, Danger Mouse.  It seems an odd pairing at the outset, seeing as how The Shins are largely unplugged (aside from the occasional electric guitar), and Danger Mouse is, well, almost exclusively plugged.  But hey, if The Black Keys and Mos Def can hook up (and also RZA), then why not Mercer and Burton?

Pretty much everything Danger Mouse has ever touched has turned to gold.  The dude is a digital King Midas.  Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold (some in terms of sales; all in terms of sound).  Danger didn't change his tune for Broken Bells' self-titled debut.

The duo of Mercer and Burton hooked up in 2009 to record for Dark Night of the Soul, a project helmed by Sparklehorse (produced by Burton), and produced my favorite track from the album.  The sound reproduced itself for the Broken Bells album, but less glitchy, less experimental; more tuneful, more poppy.  I'm not complaining though; tuneful and poppy are fine by me if they are done well... and Mercer and Burton do it well.  However, if tuneful and poppy are the themes for the album, then it simply sounds like Burton put electronic beats/sounds behind The Shins.  I wouldn't have minded it if they had branched out a bit on a few tracks.  This one, however, is fantastic:



Grade: B+
Blurb: It lives up to its billing.  The question now becomes, who couldn't Danger Mouse work with?

Joe Pug: Messenger

Joe Pug's 2008 EP Nation of Heat was outstanding, front to back; 2010's Messenger is anything but.  I should have been concerned when, last year, Mr. Pug gave away his In the Meantime EP for free.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the "free" part that concerned me -- it was the fact that there were no really good songs on it.  In fact, I didn't care much for that EP at all, but I brushed it off, thinking that maybe those were all the songs not good enough to make Nation of Heat.  Untrue.

The biggest difference between Heat and Messenger is that almost every song on Heat has a set of lyrical spiral steps, winding in various directions.  The music is great, but it's just a dude strumming a guitar, so it's the lyrics that shine.  Each song had its own story, its own bit of mystery.  Messenger lacks mystery.  Messenger also feels "bigger" -- which is not, as they say, always better.  His backing band shines on the redux of "Speak Plainly Diana" (I was at that show btw), but for the most part, I miss the sonic simplicity of Heat.

As was the case with Vampire Weekend's Contra, my favorite song from Messenger most resembles the sound and story of the songs on Heat.  "How Good You Are" is not only the best song on this album, it's one of my favorite songs from the year.  Absolutely fantastic; full of mystery and simplicity.  Take a listen:


Grade: C-
Blurb: It's not a terrible album, but it seems (to me) to be a step backward from the amazing tone set by Nation of Heat.