The Autumn Defense is a project featuring Patrick Sansone and John Stirratt, both members of Wilco. While Sansone has been part of Wilco for only a few years, Stirratt has been playing bass there since they formed from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo.
The Autumn Defense offers the two an opportunity to share the spotlight, which in Wilco is occupied primarily by Jeff Tweedy. Whereas Wilco started as alt-country, morphed into a sort of American-Radiohead, before settling into a dad-rock niche, TAD delights in the soft rock of the 70s. Singer/songwriter type stuff but lushly produced and orchestrated. I have listened to a few of their albums before but with their latest, called Fifth, they finally and perfectly hit their stride.
I am a big fan of the early records of the band America, and Fifth fits in perfect harmony with those records. Fifth sounds like it stepped out of a time machine, especially the lovely "August Song" which could easily find itself on Homecoming. The harmonies are not as overt as America did in their best days (think "Ventura Highway") but TAD come close. "The Light In Your Eyes" has a particularly great chorus section.
I would not categorize the record as an homage, because that is a bit of a negative descriptor. Fifth is a great record on it's own merits. It's well written and well played and extremely well made. There is nothing searing our loud or heavy here. Fifth is the kind of record you play on cool night on a desert highway with the top down. It doesn't push boundaries but it plays within established ones to great effect. Great songs are great songs. And when they sound this good they make for a very enjoyable listening experiencing.
I sort of feel like Daniel Webster today, as I put pen to paper...errr...well you know what I mean. And like his Seventh of March speech I rise not as a rock lover or an indie rock lover but as a music lover. And what I wish to speak on is Lana Del Ray.
For those not in the know, Lana Del Ray is a strange mix of sexpot, lounge singer, and weirdo pop singer. Her voice is to put it mildly an acquired taste. She's not beautiful, I'm not even sure if she is really pretty, but she is still alluring and sort of mesmerizing to look at, kind of like a Salvador Dali painting. I am not really sure if she's real, but evidently Axl Rose loves her.
Here's the video for "Video Games" the shot-across-the-bow in DelRayDom:
I don't think she'd get any traction if she didn't look like she does. I think without the weird vamp thing going on she'd be lumped in with the Regina Spektor's and Nellie McKay's and the Joanna Newsom's of the music world. But she is who she is so she gets to be on Saturday Night Live before she even has a record and becomes British GQ's Woman of the Year. Hey good on ya!
So is it worth all the fuss? Entertainment-wise it's without a doubt interesting. Just singing a line like "my pussy tastes like Pepsi cola" with a straight face warrants applause. Her whole thing is her schtick. Does the music stand up? In places. Her first record, Born To Die, is just that...a first album. There's some clunkers for sure, but there's some great stuff. "Video Games" is a great track. "Diet Mountain Dew" is better; it has a great slinky Hollywood-trash thing going. "Radio" is a great track. She just released a companion to that record called Paradise gets help from big shots like Rick Rubin on "Ride."
Again, is it worth the fuss? I think it's pretty good. She's an interesting artist for sure. According to the liner notes she has a songwriting credit for all the tracks. Except for a (apparently super-obligatory) cover of "Blue Velvet."
Does she deserve all the attention, be it positive or negative or whatnot? I think some of the negative attention veers toward mean-spirited. Her SNL performance left many underwhelmed to put it gently. I thought she looked really nervous. I'd be nervous if I was asked to go on SNL. Is it fair that she gets the attention that other artists don't get? Probably not, but that's been going on ever since records started getting made. I've read stuff about her not having worked for it and not deserving the place she has in the music sphere, as if deserve has anything to do with it. Like any artist she was the right person at the right place at the right time.
But rock n roll isn't just music. There's also image and style and all that stuff. And she has a strangely interesting image. If you're one of those who don't think image is part of rock n roll, that it's all-about-the-music-man, I give you this, and this, and this, and this. And this just because it makes me laugh a lot! HAHAHAHA! Back to the point: I sympathize with the substance-over-style crowd, but I give LDR a break because she's onto something different and weird. For me she is a helluva lot more interesting that Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber and OneDirection and the rest of the claptrap in the modern pop music-sphere. While writing this I am listening to Paradise and damn my indie rock street cred if I ain't diggin it. Sue me.
I like lots of different kinds of music. Right now I am listening to the latest record from a chap named Matthew Perryman Jones. He's an indie/folkie type; perfect record for a Saturday morning and getting a little work done. I've been on a bit of a 70s New Wave kick, so yesterday was the first records from The Cars, Elvis Costello, The Cure, Nick Lowe and Television (who deserve an essay all to themselves but that is for another day!). Earlier in the week I was feeling all proggy so it was Rush and old Genesis and Porcupine Tree. Tomorrow it good get aggressive so maybe Slayer and Pallbearer and Baroness (get well soon, fellas!!)
Pitchfork is a music site I have a love/hate relationship with. I read their record reviews to stay up on what's new in the indie rock world. But a lot of times I read a review only to listen to clips and wonder if we are talking about the same thing. Pitchfork recently came out with a thing called The People's List. This is a list of the top 200 records of the last 25 years as picked by readers of the site. Not surprisingly Radiohead has two records at the top, one I love (OK Computer) and one I don't (Kid A). Another one (In Rainbows) shows up at 6. I have most of the records in the top 20.
Two of them are records I have read tons about but just do not see what all the fuss is about. One is Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective. Allow me to lift a line from the review of this album. This comes after talking about incorporating West African rhythms and playing around a single chord for 10 minutes:
But Merriweatherfeels like a joyous meeting in a well-earned, middle place-- the result of all their explorations pieced together to create something accessible and complete.
Now I have no problem with a band getting experimental and challenging themselves and going off into new an interesting directions and dimensions. That is what the creative process is all about, right? Right. I think of a band like Wilco. Re-making A.M. is year after year is going to get boring. So it's natural to see a progression from that record to Being There to Summerteeth to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. They are another band that lost me after a while, and though they have gotten back to a roots-ier sound, I have never been able to get back into their new records. I digress.
The pause I have with the above statement is the world "accessible." The next paragraph says this record will be "tagged as Animal Collective's pop album. This is not what I think of when I think of pop:
OK. I kind of hear a Beach Boys thing going in the harmonies. It reminds me of New Order, which is fine because I like the first couple New Order records. But if it's a sunny day and I have the top down, I am not going to be blasting this. And if I hear this coming out of the convertible next to me at the traffic light I am probably going to turn Lithium up.
No offense to the cats in AC. I am not saying they have no talent. And in no way would I say "they suck." They are creating something I could not possibly do.
The other record which baffles me is LCD Soundsystem's Sound Of Silver. A good friend of mine and his son are into this outfit and I believe they went (or were pondering going) to see LCD's last-ever (yeah right) shows in NYC. When I heard they were doing that I thought, wow I must check this out. This is what I discovered:
Now, I actually like this a bit better than AC. I still can't imagine standing through this show. I'd be in hell. I'd have to be a) much younger and single and b) the girl wanting to go would have to be really hot.
The pattern here is it's more electronic kind of thing going on. And I am unabashedly a guitar dork. I have a large spectrum of liking stuff but it has it's limits. If you are new here and wondering "well what do you like, snob?!?" just click around the other posts. Or better yet, check out my band! <nudge nudge>
So don't think I am slagging these bands. I am just saying it isn't my cup of tea. Like I said before they are both really talented and creative and making music that obviously many people enjoy and get and love and use it to make a shitty day a little bit better. Hooray for that! To each his own, right?
And to show that I am not just some rocker with no sense beyond three-chords, here's what I started playing when the first record I was listening to ended:
I wouldn't blast this with top down either. But it's perfect for my mood right now. Rock on, Leonard!
The Autumn Defense offers the two an opportunity to share the spotlight, which in Wilco is occupied primarily by Jeff Tweedy. Whereas Wilco started as alt-country, morphed into a sort of American-Radiohead, before settling into a dad-rock niche, TAD delights in the soft rock of the 70s. Singer/songwriter type stuff but lushly produced and orchestrated. I have listened to a few of their albums before but with their latest, called Fifth, they finally and perfectly hit their stride.