2023 in Review

Well, it’s been another year without a lot of activity here. Seeing live music and writing about music have continued to be low on my list of priorities. I had to travel quite a bit for medical reasons and then spent a month in the hospital. I saw a few friends’ shows in addition to the two I reviewed here, but the real musical highlight for me was performing with my choir and with my band (Soltero/Anfängerfehler). Both shows were a lot of fun and quite successful, and I’m looking forward to more shows next year. Soltero also put out two new singles, both excellent. I didn’t contribute directly to the studio versions, but I have played the latter live with Tim.

I haven’t quite kept up with new releases as much as I’d like, but I still of course found plenty to enjoy. Here are my favorites of 2023:

• Big Thief - “Vampire Empire” / “Born for Loving You” - This double single is as good as the best parts of last year’s Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. The first song is strong and angry, the second sweet and rolling. Some people were mad that “Vampire Empire” wasn’t as good as the version first heard on Colbert’s Late Show, and while the studio version did cut the line “I’m the fish and she’s my gills”, it flows better, has bigger dynamic range, is much tighter, and stays in tune.
• boygenius - the record and the rest [EP] - Three talented singer-songwriters team up for a collaborative album and another EP? I’m in. They remind me of case/lang/viers or, yes, obligatorily, CSN. Honestly about half the album drags a bit, but the other half is so good I don’t mind it. The EP appears to be leftovers, but “Afraid of Heights” is one of their best. The harmonies are outstanding, the production good but predictable.
• The Church - The Hypnogogue - Album #26 is the concept album? Why not. It’s not really as proggy as sole remaining founding member Steve Kilbey claims, but it is as good as his and the band’s mysteriously psychedelic best. It isn’t a pop album like Of Skins and Heart (1981) or Starfish (1988), but nor were any of their albums in the last 15 years or more. The concept is farcical and vaguely sci-fi, yet if you didn’t know what it is, you could easily mistake it for prescient social commentary, which is exactly what Kilbey claims it’s not. I don’t believe him. In any case, it’s great.
• Cup Collector - assorted releases - This has been Cup Collector’s busiest year so far, and the six releases (totalling 11 tracks at just under two hours) reveal a wide reach of experimental instrumental music. He’s either started using synthesizers or he’s perfected the technique of simulating a synthesizer via guitar effects, layers, and reverb. The Hourglass, “Life Form”, “The Fourth”, and Your Shining Heart are calming, warm, and pleasant. “A Shepherd’s Howl” starts off like the extended acoustic improvisations released under his birth name (James David Fitzpatrick), but then switches to his classic electric guitar tones. “‘Love’ Spray Painted on a Tree Trunk” (from The Fourth) is a blend of synth exploration and field recording, which also recalls his “solo” work, albeit more abrasively. The Elder EP is the real surprise, featuring three pieces ranging from (what sounds like) noisy sequencers to melodic layers of arpeggiated guitars.
• Low Forest - Entrovert and Ambivector - Old friends Josh King and Brad Schumacher (with drummer Halston Rossi) have made a high-concept space rock double-album, in which one album is the rock and the other is the space, and of course they’re synchronized such that they’ve created an interactive listening experience in which you can try mixing the two parts together yourself. Separately, both albums stand on their own, but their combination is spine-tingling. I hear a lot of Hum’s Inlet, creative use of synthesizers, and concern for political, social, and environmental catastrophe.
• Pale Blue Eyes - This House - This trio have mastered the art of turning grief and sadness into propulsive, upbeat synthpop. There are bits of goth rock and shoegaze in the mix, but the genuine lyrics of working through loss and difficult emotions to embrace community and make the most of what’s available are what seal the deal. It’s even better than last year’s Souvenirs.
• Perlee - Speaking from Other Rooms - I enjoyed the Slow Creature EP (2020) and they’ve grown considerably since then. Now they really sound like early-era Beach House or even Slowdive at times. They’re not just a derivative of dream pop masters, though; they bring their own folky touch, Saramai Leech has a great voice, and instead of just melancholy, I hear optimism in their belief that love is more powerful than whatever divisions the pandemic created within us. Cormac O’Keeffe’s voice ain’t bad either, and it’s especially lovely when they sing together.
• Slowdive - Everything Is Alive - We can now celebrate that their reunion was not just a fling with one new album (too bad about Lush) – it’s for real, and this album is just a hair behind 2017’s self-titled album. It seems they’re starting to acknowledge Pygmalion (1995) again in that there are more electronic elements. They shifted the balance more towards atmospherics over crafting pop appeal, and it gels beautifully.

Here are a few honorable mentions:

• Beach House - Become EP - These five songs are outtakes from last year’s Once Twice Melody, and while I often joke/admit that their songs tend to sound the same, I agree that they didn’t fit the album. They’re all fairly good, but they’re a step back in the direction of Thank Your Lucky Stars (2015). As with Once Twice Melody, though, I really miss the full power of Victoria Legrand’s voice. She can still bring it on stage, but why is it absent from the records?
• Elk City - Undertow - Some parts feel dry and formal, but on half the songs they cut loose and build up some great jams. The weird synth parts and the bits that remind me of Stereolab (often occurring simultaneously) are the highlights. Is it just me or do I see a lot of commentary on social media in the lyrics?
• Ian Fisher - Ghost Father - A collection of songs written for a production of Hamlet at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, mostly featuring just electric guitar and voice. The songs are weighty and reflect a suitable obsession with death. The instrumentation is stark, but the vocals are strong and nuanced. This isn’t a standard album, so to speak, and it was only released via Fanklub.
• Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We - An abrupt change of pace wherein Mitski goes orchestral and to Nashville. There’s less power and drama but more directness and emotional clarity.
• Sufjan Stevens - Javelin - Sufjan has a knack for delivering emotional wrecking balls without hitting you over the head with them. Without context, these songs sound like his typical wistful acoustic-synthetic fare, but the resemblance to Carrie & Lowell (2015) is more than just superficial. On the day of the album release, Sufjan dedicated the album to his partner, Evans Richardson, who died in April. Musically, the album doesn’t cover new ground, but the lyrics are personal and piercing. It’s certainly better than The Ascension (2020), which I didn’t get at all. I wish he would sing again with more dynamics instead of this breathy, hushed voice, but he somehow managed to get Pleasure Activism author adrienne maree brown to sing on most of the album, which certainly adds texture and novelty.
• The Veldt - Illuminated 1989 - This is their original debut album, produced by Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. How was this shelved!? It’s not quite as heavy as Afrodisiac (1994), and maybe the guitars are a little too indebted to the Cocteaus, but is that really a complaint? This would’ve been a shoegaze classic, and maybe it will be yet.

And here a few other 2023 releases that I have opinions about:

• Belle & Sebastian - Late Developers - I know that these songs are supposedly more than just outtakes from A Bit of Previous (2022), but that’s what they sound like. That album was fine, but this album has all the same faults and just about nothing else. Their steady march into clichéd dance-pop is completely boring. Even Murdoch’s lyrics are getting stale.
• John Cale - Mercy - As weird as ever, but this time with notable collaborators on almost every track. It kind of works, but also sounds really formless and directionless. It’s too similar to his other latter-day work and I’m finding myself less and less excited by his bizarre stylistic mashups.
• Love & Rockets - My Dark Twin - This double-disc companion piece to Sweet F.A. (1996) is broadly split into three sources: early and alternate versions of album tracks (all inferior and superfluous), extended jams (good vibes but absurdly overlong; I’m amazed that two of them were actually released back in the day on the Glittering Darkness EP (1995)), and actual outtakes (mildly enjoyable). Ash’s outtake songs could’ve easily fit on the album, but J’s are an entirely different style, much more similar to his solo album Urban Urbane (1992). I get why they didn’t make the cut – they don’t fit the mid-90s alternative guitar groove – but I like most of his usual socio-political commentary anyway. And hearing the band jam with Genesis P-Orridge is honestly pretty cool.
• Wilco - Cousin - Mostly notable for being coproduced by Cate Le Bon. (A woman! Gasp!) She did seem to bring out an exploratory, experimental approach to sound design, but the songs themselves are a bit too drab and plodding, much like the run of albums before last year’s Cruel Country. “Evicted” is the only song with enough of a melody and pop sensibility to stand out above the crowd.

South by Southwest Music Festival 2015, Day 5

Event: South by Southwest Music Festival 2015, Day 5

Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 21 March 2015

Introduction: I started my day at I Heart Local Music's day party as part of the Midcoast Takeover at Shangri-La. They had been forced to move inside due to continuing rainfall, but that just meant the audience got a more intimate show and we could be closer to the performers, so it wasn't a bad deal.

Spencer Mackenzie Brown: Spencer and his four bandmates offered some solid music that resided somewhere in the realm that could be called Americana. I don't always like that term nor the musicians that are described with it, but I thought Spencer and his band had a great blend of indie rock, folk harmonies, and just a hint of country rhythm. The bassist was great, the drummer was good, and the vocals were just right. They might not be revolutionary, but they certainly put on an enjoyable show.

[Spencer MacKenzie Brown at Shangri-La.]

Bruiser Queen: Although this event was focusing on Lawrence, Kansas bands, this punky duo from St. Louis managed to sneak in. The frontwoman had a powerful voice and great energy, and she proved it by really throwing herself into her singing and guitar playing. She was a very physical performer, which I think works well for a band like this. The drummer wasn't showy but accompanied the singer perfectly, and even contributed some backing vocals, too. The lyrics were standard fare, but the two musicians were so tight that the music was far more than the sum of its parts. They were fun to behold.

[Bruiser Queen at Shangri-La.]

Psychic Heat: These four dudes went straight for the gut with a very intense, hard, punky style. The musicianship was decent, but it was missing an element of depth. The audience didn't seem to mind, as a few people started moshing in the small space they had available. I did appreciate some of the swirling guitar sounds I heard, evidencing traces of psychedelia. Someone has kindly put their setlist online:

1. Mortal Concept

2. Stargazer

3. How Many Licks

4. Elixir

5. Anxiety Eater

6. In Two

[Psychic Heat at Shangri-La.]

Something and the Whatevers: This band is quite an experience. They are nominally a three-piece with a high-energy style, but they play as if they are the backing band of a robot leader. Their entire set was carefully timed with a laptop, hidden behind what appeared to be a giant cardboard mp3 player, such that between every song, a robot voice would speak to the audience and announce songs. They had a punky spirit, but considering the use of a drum machine and that one of the members played keyboards, I think punk might be too limiting here. It was an intense performance that was hard not to want to watch every minute of. The lyrics covered ground such as hitting the snooze button too much, locking one's keys in the car, general self-deprecation, and general self-description. It was probably the most postmodern performance I saw at SXSW.

[Something and the Whatevers at Shangri-La.]

CS Luxem: Last on the bill for I Heart Local Music's part of the event was CS Luxem, an indie rock three-piece with some tricks up their sleeves. They too had punky elements, but they didn't let themselves be constrained by that. They had great dynamics and had more nuance than just always being loud and in-your-face. It did seem, though, that they played a rather short set.

[CS Luxem at Shangri-La.]

At this point I took a break from things to walk around downtown with a couple friends. We walked past the Fader Fort and started hearing the many conflicted rumors as to whether Kanye West was the surprise guest that night. (He wasn't.) We ended up just eating some food and taking it easy for a while before splitting up to follow our own paths. I biked across Town Lake and headed south to Emo's, where I stayed for the rest of the evening.

Gateway Drugs: I thought this band had some promise, but when every song came off as just dirty, over-distorted, heavy, hard rock, there wasn't much for me to appreciate. The bass frequencies noisily overwhelmed the sonic spectrum and the vocals where mixed very low. There was no nuance, subtlety, or grace, just loud guitar rock. They also had a strange habit of sampling a brief section of each song as it ended and repeating it through the PA until they started the next song. The only parts of the set I actually liked were a few sections where the noise had just a shade of psychedelic beauty, but those were infrequent moments.

[Gateway Drugs at Emo's.]

Swervedriver: I was actually fairly interested in this band on the basis of their original shoegaze roots, but unfortunately, they've really moved away from that direction over the years. Instead, their sound was just a lot of guitars in a 90s alt rock mode. It was surprisingly bland and tame – there just wasn't a lot of melody or rhythm or really anything that stood out. It was mildly rocking but just not exciting. Most of their setlist has been posted online:

01. Autodidact

02. For Seeking Heat

03. Setting Sun

04. Rave Down

05. These Times

06. For a Day Like Tomorrow

07. [Unknown]

08. Deep Wound

09. Son of Mustang Ford

10. [Unknown]

11. Duel

[Swervedriver at Emo's.]

The Church: This band is the real reason why I was at Emo's. After the slight disappointment of seeing them the night before, I was particularly excited at the prospect of them playing a more traditional set length (90 minutes). Here's the setlist (with some help from here):

01. Is This Where You Live

02. Delirious

03. Laurel Canyon

04. You Took

05. Metropolis

06. Toy Head

07. Vanishing Man

08. The Disillusionist

09. Old Flame

10. Reptile

11. Block

12. Under the Milky Way

13. Miami

[The Church at Emo's.]

The Church were in much better form on this night. They seemed more comfortable and in control. They again opened with the sprawling, extended "Is This Where You Live", and again played many long, slow-burning, crescendoing songs, but they also played a bunch of other types of songs, which made for a much more dynamic and enjoyable show. They even played some of their hits! Singer/bassist Steve Kilbey was actually fairly humorous and engaging throughout the set, unlike the night before, where he had cited a lack of time to be able to joke or banter. When announcing "Metropolis", he said it was the time of the show where they were going to play their last hit, but it wasn't the one we thought it was. ("Under the Milky Way" has been a more persistent part of cultural history, but it was released in 1988, whereas "Metropolis" was 1990.)

"You Took", from their second album, The Blurred Crusade (1982), was a major highlight, a great song with a good bass riff which they stretched out with extensive guitar interplay. Sadly, there were no other pre-Starfish songs (except the aforementioned "Is This Where You Live"), but we were treated to two consecutive tracks from the excellent Priest=Aura (1992). Of course, I think both "The Disillusionist" and "Old Flame" are actually fairly weak representatives of that album, but they still have their nice parts.

Naturally, the real excitement came in the form of the two best tracks from Starfish: "Reptile" and "Under the Milky Way". Both were extended with two long guitar solos. The latter song actually seemed a bit mellow or tame, almost as if they were intentionally underplaying it. It was still a beautiful song, but the first guitar solo (the ebow/bagpipe-esque one as heard on the recording) was unspectacular, and it wasn't until the ending and second solo that it picked up and got more wild.

The Church might be aging, but I admire them for following their own path and not just playing to expectations, even if I prefer their jangly guitars to their spacey progressive tendencies of late. The band has lost some of their nuance with the departure of Marty Willson-Piper, but replacement Ian Haug did a decent job of filling in for him. Kilbey is a great semi-mystical frontperson, and Peter Koppes is an excellent guitarist, albeit one who seems to shy away from the spotlight. Together with drummer Tim Powles, they played a lot of strong material and closed the festival on a high note.

[The Church at Emo's.]

Scores:

Spencer Mackenzie Brown: B+

Bruiser Queen: B

Psychic Heat: C

Something and the Whatevers: A-

CS Luxem: B

Gateway Drugs: D

Swervedriver: C

The Church: B+

P.S. I Heart Local Music's write-up of the show at Shangri-La can be found here.

P.P.S. Big thanks to Fally!

South by Southwest Music Festival 2015, Day 4

Event: South by Southwest Music Festival 2015, Day 4

Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 20 March 2015

Introduction: I started this day late and worn down after a long day and night before. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do and see, and heavy rain was in the forecast. After much delay and debate, I finally put on my raincoat and took the bus downtown. I started out at an unofficial showcase hosted by a bunch of indie bandcamp/cassette labels at Beerland, a small dive bar wedged between some bigger places.

I missed the first few acts but got in just in time to see The Shivas. They immediately had me hooked. They're the best type of garage band: they have great energy, really tight drums and bass, and some reasonably catchy tunes. All three members knew exactly what to play; no one ever over- or underplayed. Some of the lyrics were a bit cliché ("you make me want to cry / you make me want to die"), but they wisely mixed in several instrumentals with melodic guitar parts. On the songs with vocals, the drummer's backing parts helped quite a bit, too. They might be stuck in the 60s, but at least they have all the right vibes.

[The Shivas at Beerland.]

Then came The Lemons, a very curious bunch. All five members sang, mostly all together, but not necessarily quite in time or in key. Every song was very short (less than two minutes) and they all relied on simple chord patterns. One song was performed twice. They were practically anti-professional, but not without some charm. They had some degree of hard-to-take-seriously innocence and a feeling of novelty about them; the lyrics were about simple pleasures, like sharing jellybeans and going out for ice cream. One member, a singer and tambourine player, managed to knock over the drummer's cymbal – not once but twice.

[The Lemons at Beerland.]

As if that wasn't odd enough, after 15 minutes they started leaving the stage, but the drummer came forward to speak to the audience. A "special surprise" was announced, which ended up being the four-piece band Today's Hits, in which the Lemon's drummer and bassist transitioned to singer and guitarist, respectively. The whole thing was very strange. The drummer-turned-singer started dissing Uncle Funkle, apparently a labelmate, but it was clearly in jest. The band was okay; they played annoyingly basic songs with terribly clichéd lyrics without much to recommend. The frontperson seemed like a bit of an intense character, but probably also quite a joker.

[Today's Hits at Beerland.]

Next on the bill was Gap Dream, which is actually the only band I previously knew. They follow a conventional psychedelic path, and on record, it seems to work out pretty well. Live, they were a mess. The instruments weren't properly tuned, they made several obvious mistakes, the music was meandering and bland, and the whole thing came off rather uninspiring. The guitarist/frontperson dabbled in some worthless noise, gradually lost interest, and stopped the set after starting into just the fourth song. The drummer was the same guy that had drummed for The Lemons and sang for Today's Hits, and he may have been the only member keeping it together. It seemed like something went awry.

[Gap Dream at Beerland.]

After that disappointment, I left and went next door to Stubb's, where I watched Courtney Barnett play in the rain. She gives off a very casual, unpretentious vibe, which I found rather endearing. Her songs weren't musically sophisticated, but her lyrics are clever and the performances were solid. She manages a good balance of accessibility and personality. [Edit 2015.03.28: I originally had posted a setlist, but it was actually for her show at the same venue two nights prior.]

[Courtney Barnett at Stubb's, in the rain.]

Not quite sure where to go next while it rained, I stuck around to catch a few minutes of Run the Jewels. I thought they were okay, but I had to leave after too much usage of the word "bitch". From there I caught a bus home while the rain picked up. After a short break and some comestible replenishment, the rain had let off a bit and I went back into the maelstrom.

My first stop was the rooftop of Maggie Mae's, which not only had a good view of 6th Street, but also a couple bands that turned out to be fairly good. I caught about half of a set by Homeshake, the side project of Peter Sagar, an affiliate of Mac DeMarco. With three other musicians, he presented some kind of weird pop thing. It was low-key, mellow, and a little hard to hold on to. The bassist consistently played great parts and had this really watery, enveloped sound. He had me sold and made it worth watching.

[Homeshake at Maggie Mae's rooftop.]

Next was Kae Tempest, an English spoken word and hip-hop artist. Their lyrics were great and the beats were good, but the only problem was that the beats often obscured the words too much – especially since I must admit there was also the barrier of accent. Between the hip-hop songs done with their backing band, they'd spin into a pure spoken word piece, and those I could usually follow more easily. I wish I'd been able to understand the whole thing.

[Kae Tempest at Maggie Mae's rooftop.]

I then went a couple doors down to Buffalo Billiards to the see The Church. If there was ever a venue that really shouldn't be a venue, this would be a contender. The lower level of the place is a pool hall; half of the upper level is full of ping-pong tables, and the other half is a crowded bar that somehow had a stage squeezed in. Of course, the best spots in the house are inaccessible because there is a giant bar there. What a terrible design! Maggie Mae's might not be much better, but this might be the worst venue I've seen yet in Austin.

At any rate, The Church's sound crew took their time to set up and the band never quite seemed to settle in. They started with "Is This Where You Live", an extended piece from their first album, Of Skins and Heart (1981). They drew it out even longer and really turned it into an epic. That was cool, but instead of taking the energy they built up and running with it, they followed it with two new songs from Further/Deeper that were in exactly the same mold: slow builds that eventually crescendoed into a few minutes of ecstatic rock fervor. Most of the time, though, the band was focusing on these very long, drawn out, open, crawling sections. Everyone was waiting for them to burst into something more exciting, but they spitefully only played three songs and no hits. It did not seem like their brightest moment. Worse, they cancelled their appearance at the South by San Jose party the following day, supposedly due to scheduling conflicts or the weather. Anyway, here was the setlist, if memory serves me well:

1. Is This Where You Live

2. Toy Head

3. Miami

[The Church at Buffalo Billiards.]

I was getting tired, but I checked out one more act anyway. I went over to the Speakeasy, another rather mediocre venue, to see Tanya Tagaq, an Inuit vocalist. She is known as a throat singer, and her skill lies in her ability to make an incredibly wide array of sounds with just her voice. If you didn't know that she was the one making the sounds, you wouldn't necessarily know the source was human. It's quite a trip. She performed one long, continuous piece with the assistance of a drummer, a violinist, and some minor effects. Her unceasing power and ability was mightily impressive (she never let up for more than a second!), but it was quite an avant-garde experience and hard to appreciate as anything but performance art.

[Tanya Tagaq at Speakeasy.]

Scores:

The Shivas: A

The Lemons: B-

Today's Hits: D+

Gap Dream: F

Courtney Barnett: B

Homeshake: B-

Kae Tempest: B+

The Church: C-

Tanya Tagaq: C+

P.S. Video of Courtney Barnett at Pitchfork's day party two days prior can be found here.