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album: Tones of Town
artist: Field Music
label: Memphis Industries / 2007
score: 85
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by Tim Mathiesen
Field Music's debut self-titled album received a lot of attention from both critics and fellow artists. Just as the public was beginning to forget about them, they released their sophomore album, Tones of Town to critical acclaim. I enjoyed their first album, but not enough to rush out and purchase their new album, so I was excited when I had the opportunity to hear it. It had the immediacy of their debut album, yet it was built on a much tighter signiture sound and beat. I was incredibly impressed. This is not the musicianship that I had previously heard. The songwriting was good on their debut album but this even exceeded it with its variety and extremely catchy melodies.
Every song is extremely memorable and an enjoyable listen. Though there is a lot of variety, each song posesses a sound that ties the entire album together. The sound is comprised of a melody built on a unique beat that was evident on the bands last album, but not perfected until Tones of Town. The result is a catchy melody with a driving repetative beat that twists and turns throughout each song. That is really the only way I can describe it. The band Spoon is similar in the way that the rhythm drives each song, but Field Music's songs are looser and seem to be folk-based rather than Spoon's rock and R&B influence.
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album: Trees Outside the Academy
artist: Thurston Moore
label: Ecstatic Peace / 2007
score: 78
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by Tim Mathiesen
It took me quite a while to get into the music of Sonic Youth, but when I finally saw them live while they toured with the Flaming Lips I finally grew to appreciate their legendary sound. The dark minor-key melodies and crunching guitar solos mashed together into a strangely beautiful mess finally grabbed my attention and now is a regular part of my listening experience.
Then band member Thurston Moore comes along with his second solo effort, Trees Outside the Academy, and takes the signiture Sonic Youth sound and reinvents it for acoustic guitar. The genius of his songwriting is no longer hidden under distortion and loud layers of various instrumental sound but is gorgeously laid out in simple acoustic arrangements. This man may have recorded one of the most beautiful rock albums of the year. Yet, it wouldn't be a Thurston Moore album without high pitched distortion sounds and a strange monotonous song mixed in to distract the listener from the near perfect songwriting.
The album ends with "Thurston@13" introducing us to a young Mr. Moore demonstrating the sounds of various common house hold objects (i.e. coins, pencil, scissors, etc.) which he admits is a waste of time. The fascinating thing about that final track is the fact that he included it on the ablum at all. Is it a complete waste of time or is it an example of his artistic boldness? Was it insecurity that drove him to admit that he was wasting time? New sounds and musical styles are discovered within the "wasted time" of experimenting with existing sounds and instruments. And if anyone is a pioneer of modern alternative music, it's Thurston Moore. Even though Trees Outside the Academy is only a reinvention of the existing sound of Sonic Youth, it is still an incredibly beautiful record that was never meant to break new ground but just experiment with sound.
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album: Strawberry Jam
artist: Animal Collective
label: Domino / 2007
score: 80
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by Tim Mathiesen
It was quite a year for Animal Collective. Their new album, Strawberry Jam, has been praised as their most accessible project to date. Group memeber, Panda Bear, also released his own solo project, Person Pitch, to critical acclaim.
Both albums have ended up in many year end best albums lists, but I may be the only one who is constantly frustrated by this group. I will freely admit that they are incredibly talented musicians and creative artists. The issue that I believe causes them to consistantly fall just short of creating a perfect album is that they cannot control themselves enough to stick with an idea through an entire song. During each song, there is a hint of a wonderful melody or musical idea, but they hardly ever build on it. It's almost as if they are not confident enough to run with it. Or maybe they are so distracted by playing and experimenting with new sounds and ideas that they miss the incredibly beautiful sounds and melodies that they are creating. I guess I just want them to simplify their compositions so that we can enjoy the wonderful creations that are lost in the layers and layers of experimental sound. Each song seems to have several ideas going on all at once, taking away from each idea.
Don't get me wrong, Strawberry Jam is an incredible achievement by Animal Collective. They are truly coming into their own, but I believe that they need to learn to control their urge to experiment with new toys in the studio. We can all understand this problem. When we get a new tool or toy, we want to use it to its fullest potential, and that's how we learn how to use it and find out what it's capable of doing. This is, of course, a healthy reaction, but when an artist begins a project, they must also ask themselves if they are overusing the new instrument, program, idea, what have you. Is this taking away from the core idea or purpose of this project? Animal Collective has many wonderful ideas and have broken new ground in many areas of the independent music world, along with influencing many young artists. If they could simplify their sound and focus on less ideas at once, they have the natural ability to create an incredible masterpiece. I hope that one day they will control their experimental urges in order to do just that.
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