Album Review: Move By Yourself (Donavon Frankenreiter)

SCENE: Warm summer evening. Lemonade in the right hand, book in the left, sun hasn’t quite set allowing the man in the lawn chair to read.

ARIK: Ah, this lemonade is delish, the fireflies are beaut, and I can’t stop talking in abbreves. What I need right now is some chill relaxed music to enjoy while I read this Peter Pan book which was definitely not written for people eight years younger than myself.

A tune drifts through the air alighting upon Arik’s ears.

ARIK: What’s this? A song? Something that reminds me of my warm California years in the sand and ocean? Why- I must know what it is!

UNKNOWN VOICE FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE: It’s Donavon Frankenreiter, now shut up!

Okay, so it didn’t really happen like that. But the feelings of warmth, crickets, fireflies, and lemonade are all pretty strong in this album. Donavon Frankenreiter’s second solo album is really wonderful to listen to, and was a real joy to find. And to be honest, finding it was more like:
ARIK: I need more summer music. Hm. I’ll look up summery on allmusic, maybe that’ll help.

But that‘s much less exciting. Anyways, this album really just feels good. It’s a strong album all the way around. I mean, there are a few missteps, but it’s definitely good. There’s a lot of a funk type feel with that Sly Stone synth sound coming in on every other track. This would normally make it sound like a funk revival, but avoids that with some smooth singing. The album opens on one of the more uptempo songs, the title track Move By Yourself (sorry, embedding was disabled for this video, so I’m linking it instead), which at first listen sounds a little preachy, but it’s easily overlooked in view of the foottapping beat and guitarage.

After this the album mellows out a little bit more and continues with a more soul/jazz oriented song called The Way It Is (same here). It’s got more of that lovely synth, but still keeps the album Donavon’s. In fact, Move By Yourself continues this lovely starry sky night sound almost the entire rest of the way. He doesn’t get cheesey again, just relaxes and sings about life and love and that whole gang.

Okay, I lied. The last track is well, very cheesey. But it’s also quite beautiful. It’s got the whole soul singer in the background dealio going on and everything.

Anyway, the album is worth a listen, if not a buy. The Way It Is is probably my favorite track, and worth a buy, if nothing else. I really can’t think of a single weak point other than the subject matter of the opening and closing tracks.

Album Review: Grand National (John Butler Trio)

More summer music!

I picked up this album in a quest to listen to as much Australian music as possible this summer, and I really was not disappointed. John Butler (and his trio) have a laid back lemonade sippin sun on your cheeks sound. There’s a hint of reggae, but not in that annoying “put on a fake Jamaican accent” way. Just in the basic rhythms and beats. I mean, it makes sense. Can you see a guy with hair like this making music without reggae influences? Anyways, I’d kinda put off listening to it for a while because A) I’m lazy and B) I’m forgetful. That is until one song came up on my iPod, Good Excuse.

I put the official Good Excuse video up last week so here’s a live performance on some Australian TV show.

I’m a fan of songs with guitar solos that don’t feel like they have to be completely over the top or detract from the main melody. Honestly, if it weren’t for one particular song, it’d be a perfect summer album. The song Devil Running is a complete shift in tempo and style about 2/3 through. It’s not so laid back. It’s rock. And not even fun rock. It’s serious. Boringly and annoyingly serious. It loses all the fun that the rest of the album has an is loud with electric guitars and distortion. There’s a time and place for these things, but this wasn’t it.

Anyways, I’m going to be writing one review every day this week, and trying to stick with fun summery music. Tomorrow will be Donavon Frankenreiter, G. Love later, and maybe some O.A.R. We’ll see.

Finally, the Jakob Dylan Album Review

So between allergies, working for my freeish housing, and job interviews, I haven’t had time to get this done. Sorta. Part of the problem was the album itself. But first we need to talk about Dylans. Jakob Dylan is not his father. He avoids dealing with that very well, despite the album being a guitar and singing affair. In fact, Jakob Dylan can sing. I mean, he’s not the next Pavarotti, but he has a pleasant voice. Unfortunately, he never does anything too interesting.

That’s largely why I couldn’t get around to writing this album. For something interesting, whether in a good way or bad way, I’d be interested in writing the review. With this, I was kinda “eh”. And it kept slipping my mind or getting put off.

Now, it’s not a bad album. In fact, it’s pretty good. But it’s not very interesting. I’ve heard it four or five times and I can’t tell the difference between a bunch of the songs. The lyrics are smart, the guitar is well played, but nothing ever really changes. And that is the biggest failing of the album. It makes for good reading music though.

Other news:
My job interview went really well today. I might get hired at Best Buy.
Bugs like crawling on my blinds.
I found out 4 people are subscribed to my blog on Google Reader. This made my day.
I love the local library. Went there tonight, then read the entirety of Neil Gaiman’s Eternals Vol. 1 in a nearby park over 2 hours.
I rode my bike to my interview today. My butt still hasn’t forgiven me.

Next review will probably be of the John Butler Trio’s Grand National.

Abum Review: Beautiful Freak (The Eels)

In case you don’t know the days of the week, today is Monday, which means new album releases tomorrow and new album reviews. Hopefully I’ll be writing about Jakob Dylan’s, The Infamous Stringduster’s, or Emmylou Harris’ new album. Just depends on which of the three is easier/cheaper to get my hands on.

But for this review I’m going back in time about 12 years when Eels was a new band and this album, Beautiful Freak, just came out. In some ways, listening to it feels like listening to an old friend. The songs are smooth. Something you can ignore for good background music, or get really into. They’re catchy, but not necessarily in an upbeat hooky way. The title track, Novocaine For The Soul is a prime example of this.

It starts with a “what the hell?” sort of intro. Then it launches into the real song. And it’s like heaven. The way E sings Novocaine is blissful. The lyrics are a love supreme (Jesus and his lawyer are coming back). I mean, how can it get better than this? Easy: My Beloved Monster.

Yes, the Shrek song. I don’t care if Shrek had it. I love that movie, and I love this song. It’s amazing. Incredibly sweet.

Another highlight of the album is Susan’s House. I guess I got a little out of order, as this is the second song. It’s one of those songs where there’s a sung chorus and the verses are spoken over a beat. What makes it amazing is how it deals with the things that we tend to look away from in society, such as the mentally ill. It does this without becoming preachy or admonishing. I mean yeah, it’s a depressing song. But it’s a damn fine depressing song.

That’s really the feel for the whole album. It’s not a very happy album, though a couple of the songs (My Beloved Monster, etc.) are sweet songs. Despite the generally somber themes, every song will stick with you, in a good way. The tight production makes every beat dance by itself. I’d recommend this album in a heartbeat.

Album Review: So Many Nights (The Cat Empire)

As I’ve mentioned, I am in love with this album. Everything about it is almost perfect. Given only word to describe it I would pick funky. And I don’t normally like funky.

The album opens with a bass heavy, jazzy piano turntable scratchy super catchy title song, So Many Nights (video below). First time I listened I expected to be disappointed by the rest of the album, since it’s so good. I was wrong.

After this song, the album slows down a little bit, with a track called Panama. But make no mistake, being slower be no means makes it bad or less of a good song. However, it’s the song directly after that solidified my love for this album: Fishies. Very Latin influenced with a strong trumpet and a Cubano style piano.

I don’t know how all the elements blended to make this song so great, but I don’t really care. It’s heaven. Thankfully, this band is not just strong musically. The lyrics are really well crafted and fit perfectly with the singing. Sunny Moon (my favorite track) is a great example of this.

You may forget the details and you can forget the dates but never
Forget the moment when the light revealed her face
To be poor by lack of money but by god be rich in prize
I found my youths desire dark within her eyes
And the tent kept breathing something and then she cried –
‘Hold on we’re going somewhere else tonight’

This band really does it all, and does it all well. Between this album and their older album, Two Shoes, I’ve found my summery music for the summer.