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So, I am currently living in Lake Louise, where our internet is spotty, and my computer is broken, so I don't think any new posts are going to happen at least until I have a functioning computer. If this is heartbreaking for you, listen to the new Tegan and Sara, Julian Casablancas, Lyle Lovett, and/or Say Anything, and feel a little better.

Matthew Good - Vancouver

A week late on this one, so I mght do two next week or just drop this weeks, we'll see. Anyhoo, I normally like to try and do reviews of albums I like, but this week I felt I had more to say about one I didn't like so much, although I do have some good things to say about Matt Good's work in general, and will make some recommendations of better albums and songs to listen to. Just to put my biases out there, I tend not to like many of Matt Good's long, slow, steady songs, so maybe there are just more of those on this album, and that's what's making me all cranky.

Overview
If you have heard more than one of Matt's previous albums (with or without the "Band" moniker), you've pretty much heard this album. On this album are lots of the following: open chord guitars, ominous strings, echo-ey pianos, sparse acoustic breakdowns, long songs (once a basically structured pop song starts to reach and surpass the five minute mark, I often wonder why), and the trademark drone/quiver vocals. On this album are little of the following: the rock, spaces, new influences, fresh sounds, intensity, excitement. On Matt's three other solo albums, I have found at least one song to get really excited about. Weapon, Put Out Your Lights, and Born Losers (yeah I tend to like singles) were all songs I wanted to listen to again and again after first hearing them, and I still enjoy listening to them now. I think what this new album is missing is some sense of intensity and dynamics. Most of the songs sound like you could take out all the backing instrumentation, just leaving the constant guitar strumming and vocals, and there would be little to no change in the sound or feel. There are very few changes in the dynamics, even song to song. I always felt one of Matt's best skills as an artist was the ability to sing a low, somber, flowy verse, and then kick it up a notch and an octave for another verse or the chorus or the bridge, and I didn't notice any of that here, if it was present it was dampened by the constant volume and intensity level of the rest of the music. Alright, enough Hatorade, down to some good stuff.

Highlights:
Last Parade - Sounds like it would fit right in on Audio of Being or Avalanche (sampled, almost electronicky feel), with a multi-instrument stacked melody like the main guitar hook in Born Losers.

Fought to Fight it - Anti-Pop energy with Hello Time Bomb-ish synth blurts, and some good old sound byte sampling.

seeing as I found the strengths of theses songs to be mostly how they sounded like old Matt Good songs, I'll recommend some other Matt Good songs I really like.

Poor Man's Grey - White Light Rock and Roll Review: Short, sweet, dirty rock n' roll. "My Momma she done told me, there's heart and then there's hate, if one of them's inside of you, the other one it ain't."
Ex-Pats of the Blue Mountain Symphony Orchestra - White Light Rock and Roll Review: A little injection of the Who, and chorus that is totally not a standard Matt Good melody makes this one a blast of fresh air.
Advertising on Police Cars - Audio of Being: Yeah it's long and slow, but he had me at stereo delay piano (that's the chimey sound bouncing between speakers in the chorus). Also, the verse is somber, but the chorus gives this nice lift of hope (although the lyrics kinda contradict that), and the change back and forth between the two different tones makes the seven minutes useful.
While we were Hunting Rabbits - Avalanche: Again, long and slow, but somehow I like it, maybe its the swell and fade of the intensity throughout. There is also a cool video for this one that was done by some Vancouver Film School Students I believe.
Near Fantastica - Avalanche: Don't love the chorus but boy do I love that intro. I have no idea what makes the airy, indecisive melody at the start, but it's cool. I love the weird, spacey background sounds all over this album. The sampled live drums also add a nice touch to the start. Makes it almost sound electronic for a minute.
I Am Not Safer than a Bank - Hospital Music: just listen to it. I would hate to insult a whole bunch of other stuff that he has likely worked much harder on, but I think this may be the best song Matt Good has ever written. Maybe I just have a thing for concise, to-the-point songwriting.

Music Nerdery:
It's not on this album, but the solo of Hello Time Bomb is pretty much the reason I wanted an analog delay pedal. The lead guitarist is not really playing any notes, just turning up the feedback so the delays never stop, and then changing the delay time to make those space-warp sounds. I just wish I could learn to control it like that, at make it sound at least close to musical.

Recommendations:
Listen to other Matt Good Albums. Pick any one. If you like your stuff with more instrumentation, cool airy/spacey sounds, and interesting uses of instrument samples, go with Audio of Being, the last Matt Good Band album, or Avalanche, his first solo effort. If you like it a little more down and dirty, check out White Light Rock and Roll Review, the most different sounding of all his stuff, it was tracked almost entirely live, resulting in a loose, more honest sound. Actually sounds like four dudes in a room together playing some music. I also think it's good for Matt to have other people playing on his stuff. I don't know for sure, but I think a lot of the recent stuff is all him on the recordings (for guitars and vocals at least), and I really think he needs to have some outside influences to shake his stuff up, or the next album is going to sound even more tired than this one.

The Dodos - Time to Die

I didn't feel like reviewing any of the albums that came out this week, so I am going to do another one from last week.

I first saw the Dodos at the '08 Sled Island Music Festival in Calgary. Their setup seemed strange right from the start. There was a seat for the guitar player, the drum kit was sparse, and there were random things like garbage cans and toy pianos kicking around on a table at the back of the stage. The two members came onstage, and seeing that the guitar player was using an old semi-acoustic guitar, I thought they were going to play some sensitive, quiet music with limited drums. Was I ever wrong. The guitar player plugged into an overdriven amp and starting hammering out chords and frantically finger picking. He was seated still seemed active, and spent most of his time almost tipping off the front of his seat. The drummer treated his kit in a similar fashion, hitting every possible part of it in frantic rhythms. From time to time a third person would come on stage to add percussion by banging on the trash can, or add chords and percussion by banging on the toy piano. The music while frantic and messy, was still melodic and pleasing, with the guitar player's vocals adding feeling or energy to every song. The melodies either floated nicely over quick strummed and picked parts, or matched up melodically and rhythmically to more spread-out chords.

After seeing this impressive performance, I picked up their first album, Visiter, and was rewarded with a similar sound to what I heard at the show. More of the songs were played on an acoustic guitar on the album, although often doubled with a distorted electric guitar to keep that grit in there. Also, no effort was made by the guitar player to hit the strings lighter so that they would not rattle, very much like on acoustic Led Zeppelin songs, and I think that adds a lot of character to the sound, because thats what it really sounds like when you play an acoustic with any sort of abandon. Anyhoo, enough about live and the previous album, on to Time to Die!

Overview
This album is certainly a lot cleaner and more layered than the previous one, and the vocals are certainly more prominent, and sweeter sounding on most songs. The previous album sounded like every instrument and microphone was turned up just a little too loud, and the few extra instruments blended into the mix along with the vocals. This different approach to their new songs (both in writing and recording), has its pros and cons. I feel like some parts could have used a little more string rattle and distortion, but some quieter or moody parts had a lot more atmosphere and space, and didn't feel so cramped. I think it made for a more varied and stronger album than Visiter. The singer's voice is unremarkable, but I think it fits the music just right, anything more aggressive would make to much of a mess with everything else going on, and anything more subdued would get lost or take the energy out of a song. I think that although The Dodos aren't breaking new musical ground, they are hard to compare to other groups due to the distinctive way they choose to play familiar music. I did hear hints of Bleed American era Jimmy Eat World on "the Strums", guitar breakdowns on "Time to Die" that sound Jimmy Page inspired (think Bron y Aur stomp), fingerpicked guitar on "Acorn Factory" that is not unlike that found on Gomez's album, A New Tide, as well as A.D.D. drumming throughout that reminds me of the likeminded drumming off Bloc Party's Silent alarm.

Highlights
This is a Business:
This is closer to what Visiter sounded like, but tighter and cleaner. The mad fingerpicking is still there, but at times the electric guitar is played all by itself pretty clean, and most of the grit seems to come in through a distorted keyboard in the background as opposed to the electric guitar. The middle of the song takes a different turn with a subdued marching beat, and and a sense of space in the other instruments contrasting with the busyness of the rest of the song.

Time to Die:
The title track leads off with something that sounds like a few people blowing air over the top of glass bottles with volume swells. A relaxed acoustic guitar part and melody take it from there for awhile, with nice 70's ballad harmonies, before a wall of harmonies leads into typical Dodos bang-rattle-bang, and more typical indie guitar, with the aforementioned Jimmy Page guitar breakdowns.

Company:
I think this might be a bonus track, but it beat out my next favorite (Two Medicines) for the third spot in the highlights section. Buzz-Ding-Buzz-Bang-Bang intro, and more frantic vocal and guitar chord matching over the bed of fuzz laid in the intro. Distorted vibraphone (giant wood xylophone), and stretched out vocals lend character to the chorus. An angular guitar bridge seperates the rest of the song from the ending, which brings the buzz of the intro back in, rocks out like a bunch of musicians suddenly reverse aged back into a bunch of children banging on fisher price intstruments, before returning to the Buzz-Ding-Buzz-Bang-Bang of the intro.

Music Nerdery
The guitar player does not use a pick, he just grows the fingernails on his picking hand very long, which allows him to five-finger pick and spanish-style strum like a madman, but make it sound like he's got a pick taped on every finger. Watching him play and thinking about that makes my fingernails hurt. They're all curvy and stuff, what if he catches one on a string going in the direction that doesn't allow it slide off? Yikes. Also, how does he keep his fingernails from wearing down if he is strumming that hard? I beat the crap out of my pointer fingernail even playing with a pick.

Another note, this dude has mad skills, his messiness is all on purpose, and very accurate. If you listen to both albums, you'll hear parts where he purposely doesn't fret a note all the way, making a weird buzzy note, or picks things kinda funny. At first you might think it was just a mistake that sounds kinda cool, but he plays it the same way every time. Check out Troll Nacht for an example.

I keep thinking I am done this section and then I keep thinking of more things. I think the drummer doesn't use a bass drum, anything that sounds that low is just a floor tom hit with a mallet. Probably explains why a lot of the music feels pretty frantic; no beat to anchor it.

Recommendations
If you like engergetic music, not necessarily danceable or head bobbable due to the lack of a defined beat, this is for you. The melodies are nice, and while the guitar is messy or frantic at times, it's not all dischordant or out of tune, so I think there is something here for most people. If you like this album, check out the previous one, Visiter. Also check out Visiter if you thought this one was too polished and could use a little more string rattle and a little bit of distortion on everything.

Mika - The Boy Who Knew Too Much

I was first introduced to Mika by my roomate who blasted "Grace Kelly" on repeat for days. I normally got on his case for doing that, but this song was a lot of fun. Similar to the Scissor sisters, and with very feminine male vocals that reminded me of Freddie Mercury more than just a little. I listened to the rest of the album, and found more of the same thing: sugary, layered pop. Most of the songs were fun, though not necessarily memorable, as I can't seem to recall enough about them to actually compare that last album to this one.

Overview
This album sticks mostly to fun piano vibe throughout, although there a couple tracks that have a more somber tone. The overall sound is a fusion of Elton John's piano rock with 80s-00s girl pop (but sung by a man with a feminine voice), with the addition of big band horns and/or orchestra strings and/or synthesizers as backing tracks. You'll even hear touches of latin music (Blue Eyes), lo-fi electronic indie (bits of One Foot Boy), Eric Clapton a la the "Unplugged" album (Pick Up Off the Floor), old-time carnival music (Lover Boy), and Electric Light Orchestra (Dr. John).

Highlights
We Are Golden:
This opening track gives you a pretty good idea of what Mika is about right off the bat. Campy vocal lines with liberal use of falsetto like you would hear from Queen, or more likely The Darkness channelling Queen. A choir of children backs Mika up on the pre-chorus, and the bridge is driven by a dance rock beat before alternating hushed vocal lines and banged piano chords lead back into the big pop rock chorus.

Touches You:
This piano-driven tune bounces along with squelchy synth bassline, and Mika sings like he's Freddie Mercury channelling Michael Jackson. Choir vocal backups add some atmosphere.

Toy Boy:
If you have read more than a few of my reviews, it is probably apparently that I often enjoy silly, theatrical music as much as I enjoy guitar dirven rock. In this song, Mika tells a story in the first person of a toy boy who is thrown away, neglected and abused by various owners. It could almost fit into a Disney movie, other than the lyrics being somewhat suggestive at times. The sad but silly vocals ("She stuck her voodoo pins where my eyes used to be") are backed up by strings, with flute and tuba accents here and there.

Music Nerdery
I didn't realise when I chose this album to review, but Imogen Heap (whose album I reviewed Two weeks ago) worked on one of the songs on this album, called "By the Time". If you are familiar with her style at all, it is very obvious that it was either her that wrote it, or a well crafted ripoff. I originally thought it was the latter, until I realised that both artists reside in England, and probably wouldn't have too tough of a time running into each other now and then. Also, Mika sings with such a feminine voice, and he apes other voices well, so it was a little tough to tell if some of the backing vocals were done by Mika or Ms. Heap.

Recommendations
If you are a fan of the Scissor Sisters, Mika's previous album, dance-pop (not the clubby kind, more like the Spice Girls Kind), or even Queen or Elton John, this album has something for you. If you do not like sugary pop, piano, or campy vocal styles, cover your ears and start running.

Two Hours Traffic - Territory

Two Hours Traffic is a band from Prince Edward Island, and they certainly sound like it. If you have heard much from Matt Mays, Joel Plaskett, Hey Rosetta, or Sloan (all east coast acts), you will likely find much of Territory very familiar.

Overview
I would say that on this album, the style sits mostly somewhere between Sloan when they are channelling 70's rock and earlier Matt Mays (like say...Cocaine Cowgirl), but leans a little towards the folkier rock of Plaskett and Hey Rosetta. I'm sure it will take me a few more listens to figure out the other familiar styles I noticed on the first listen, but there certainly were snippets of Sonic Youth in the intro/verse of Noisemaker, And 40's pop/barbershop quartet influence on Weightless One and Sing a Little Hymn. Lots of borrowing going on here.

Highlights
Painted Halo:
Darker, rockin' song. The chorus of this one really reminds me of Cocaine Cowgirl by Matt Mays and El Torpedo, but I think I like this song better, due to the more varied dynamics and sounds. I
really like the synthy stuff that leads into the chorus.

Drop Alcohol:
This one alternates back and forth from smoky organ to reggae style muted guitars and vocal echoes before the soft new-wave pre-chorus leads into the smooth sweet chorus. I was a little surprised at the direction the chorus took the first time I listened to it, but it fits really well with the song, and manages to generate some energy without getting louder. I liked how the ending added the organ back in, and took everything up just a couple notches, keeping the feel of the whole song coherent, but still taking you somewhere.

Happiness Burns:
I think the melancholy songs on this album were my favorite, including this one. Another smooth blend of styles, starting with the Sloan-ish intro rhythm guitars, into a verse that is very Weezer sounding with its oooo-wooo-oooo backups, but not so Weezer sounding in its atmospheric looseness, the pre-chorus that seems to borrow from Saves the Day's In Reverie, who in turn were borrowing from Electric Light Orchestra and their contemporarys, and finally the chorus, which is the intro over again, but with a melancholy vocal line over top.

Music Nerdery
The more I write this section, the more I realize I am not as skilled at picking out and identifying sounds as I thought I was. Anyhoo, some of my favorite sounds on this album were the keys, specifically the slow attack, shimmering, organ sounds on noisemaker and sing a little hymn, although at times, they almost sounded like they might be guitars through an electro-harmonix pog or hog. It is also possible that it's just some synth modelling, and I am not knowledgable about synths, so if you know what is going on there, enlighten me in the comments.

Recommendations
If you like the east coast rock sound, you will surely enjoy this album. If you are are a fan of catchy music in general, and don't mind the occasional somber or melancholy song  mixed in with the upbeat, danceable stuff, this will also likely be right up your alley. The album borrows very much from other acts, and is not strikingly oringinal, but that does not mean it is not enjoyable, maybe just a little less exciting.