St. Vincent – Strange Mercy (Cruel)

On the last St. Vincent album, Actor, the amazing Annie Clark was still finding out the strengths of her craft. An album that was one of the best of that year, she returned with Strange Mercy for more of the great form we’ve come to expect from St. Vincent. Already a strong discography, this album featured more of the same bite with a fusion of songwriting and blends of sounds that focused more on the greatness of timely touches, rather than Disney love. There were a lot of strings again and more of the fitting guitar solos with her now trademark spectacular voice and yet I barely got it on vinyl today. I wanted to share at least some of it here and well, mostly her since she is so tremendous (for sure) here as well. Maybe some other and more later.

On “Cruel” she sounds instantly sweeping at first, with those lush and enveloping strings before she paces it with a steady beat. As she sings “Crr---uuu—ee—lll” and the guitar comes scratching in, the way the strings balance out the grittiness with the whimsical is brilliant. There’s a play on rhythms and how the drums can bounce off each other’s beats, her guitar as it gets a little more forceful as the song sways in and out and her voice: bellowing, sounding entirely mesmerizing. Her voice really is a thing of beauty – the way she is able to maneuver the slightest of adjustments and turn them into head-turning twists of magnificence – there’s a strong skill set due to her classical leaning but man, she sounds so assured here. The song is crisp and in your face. An unabashed good time of morbid decadence. It’s pretty bad ass really.

I found this video just recently and decided it would be good to show it here. I love the way she shows off her guitar playing and how she’s in these beautifully dainty and sweet outfits. – Bryan

Feist - Metals

I love the new Feist album because of how amazing everything around her tremendous voice sounds. Right off the bat, on “The Bad in Each Other,” she rides on a grimy, biting, trudging-along rhythm that focuses on the terrible-ness in relationships. Her voice has always sounded very very very great but on Metals she sounds like a magnificent instrument on top of her fantastic arrangement of instruments. This particular songs starts off the album with rich colors of sounds that are provided through a careful attention to stirring effects; her voice is like a persevering hope and her range is downright impeccable. It took me a long time to find out the magic of Feist’s music, I’ll admit I am not a fan of previous efforts but am going to re-visit them based solely on how much I love Metals. Because I do, I really do.


I’m glad I gave it an honest chance, although I knew I didn’t like her previous albums. Simply because it sounded great and well, it just made sense. And well, also, my ears suck. Ha.

I like “A Commotion” because it reminds me of Spoon with its stabbing drums and propulsive hits. It sounds out of place and when the voices shout “A commotion!...A commotion!” with the horns blaring, it all sounds some kind of fantastic. Pulsating like a chugging train, the motion underneath Feist is supported by strings and she’s allowed to dance around it all. Her voice sounds breathy and seductive most of the time, dynamically-flavored throughout and stunning all of the time. The song ends up being like something left off Strange Mercy (reminders, reminders)? That’s the beauty of the album, her amazing voice and how it’s front and center. This song places the strong, impressive force of her songwriting and matches it to her stellar voice. Plus this song is a recent live recording of it and you can see her ha. Just a couple of songs off this probably already over-talked, but very deserving spectacular album. – Bryan

Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

I still feel really amazed when realizing – or I guess when I’m corrected – when a band/artist is way more/way less popular than I think/assume. I bring it upon myself, sure, but I mean I don’t really think you should have to watch TV or get on social networks unless you want to and so well, I didn’t know Lykke Li was a huge star now. I remember her last album being previewed on a Carson Daly show and her music seemed very intriguing. And so while I kept her new album on my radar, I got onto it a few weeks after it was released and definitely realize why she’s so beloved. I mean I guess it’s lame to be so behind and out of it but once I got Wounded Rhymes soaked in; it was maybe better that the hype was kept locked away. I’m not sure how much influence such mediums play but there has to be some kind of head trick with it all?
Either way, the first song I instantly loved and couldn’t get away from was “I Follow Rivers.” For obvious reasons, the music’s bumping beats away played that forceful, yet carefree boom to her honest words about following him all the way down the river, into the deep sea. I think part of her magic is the fact that she weaves these personal, introspective stories through playfully clever metaphors and while she’s obviously someone still very young, her songwriting is great. So even a song about following him ‘deep sea baby’ is sincerely from the heart and still, poppy and smooth.


The ten songs that span the album are rich and filled with depth that by the time you get to the pouring sounds of the closer, “Silent My Song,” everything just seems to wash away. The pensive manner of the stomping sounds give in to Li’s towering vocals as she doubles her layers so that her voice comes shining through. It’s like a call-and-response type of feel but where her voice clashes against the music in a great wave of immersing voices. She’s incredibly sad, too, and again it’s genuinely clear as she sings, “No fist is needed when you call,” because he hurts her so much without ever needing to even touch her, he ‘silents her song.’ And in many ways, it’s a cheerless way to close it but for me, a resounding, resonating story about harsh, bitter life that simply makes us stronger and hopefully, for the better. – Bryan

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me (Disc One)

I’ve posted about Joanna Newsom before, twice actually. Starters and bias out of the way, I think she’s an absolutely beautiful woman and I always love being reminded to listen to her music. Whether it’s just another excuse to drool all over her gorgeously unique voice and then, in turn, to be able to look for some images to drool of…well, she’s pretty bad-ass right?

I was recently reminded of her when reading a thread on a forum I post on. Basically, the gist of the thread was to put up some kind of mix tape – called Frankenstein’s mix tape – and in it, you could be a master DJ of some sort and come up with an album of songs off your favorite albums of the year. The point being that although they could be diverse, the songs needed to be placed at their original track order at least. Here is the one I came up with for fun’s sake:

1.Dance Yrself Clean – LCD Soundsystem
2. Love Cry – Four Tet
3. XXXO – M.I.A.
4. Locked Inside – Janelle Monáe
5. Gone Baby, Don't Be Long – Erykah Badu
6. I Saw the Light – Spoon
7. Empire Ants – Gorillaz
8. Djohariah – Sufjan Stevens
9. I Want to Be Well – Sufjan Stevens
10. The Undoing – Interpol
11. Animals – Bonobo
12. I’m Not the One – The Black Keys
13. Half-State – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
14. Sprawl I (Flatland) – Arcade Fire
15. Back Up Plan – Big Boi

So anyway, I noticed that a lot of people had the same Joanna Newsom song on their mixes, the fourth song off her triple disc of an album, Have One On Me. If you ever get a chance to see the photos she took for each LP of the vinyl edition, WOW. The first disc is probably my least favorite of all the discs only because of how slow moving the songs are. But “Good Intentions Paving Company” is beyond remarkable, in my opinion. Her voice cracks as she sings but with the piano’s rolling melody and the percussion’s timely touches, the sheer chug of the song is what really gets me moving. The words are especially stirring, “Like I’m in a fist fight with a fog, baby” and to end everything, “When I only want for you to pull over and hold me, ‘til I can’t remember my own name.” I almost feel tired trying to describe it because I would hope that people would click on the video and just listen to the 7-minute song. Not because I’m lazy or it’s not worth it but there’s not really anything adequate enough to say about Ms. Newsom that DOESN’T over-hype it but for whatever it is, she’s a tremendous artist and this song showcases all of her strengths: creative songwriting, her singular voice and her impeccable musicianship. – Bryan

Joanna Newsom

My goodness, that is one beautiful woman. And as stunningly gorgeous as she is to the eyes, she’s the musical equivalent to the ears: magical bliss. As a classically-trained harpist, she experienced first-hand the difficulty in playing one of the most testing string instruments and it provided a firm backdrop in classical music and its sweeping arrangements. But as an aspiring writer, her stories are woven in a manner that it not only surpasses others' stories but clearly eclipses them. And when you combine such astounding aspects, it fuses a wonderful blend of skill, artistry, brilliance and sheer remarkable talent.Please take a small part of your day to listen to “Emily,” and please, just allow it to fill your ears, minds and heads with the ideas that she is presenting. Those strings are by Van Dyke Parks and the mixer of this album, Ys, is Jim O’Rourke. But still, it’s Newsom’s singing (her varying cadence that adds dimension,) her fantastic ability at her instrument and her songwriting and crafting that makes her music so compelling. If nothing else, you can hear something different and witness terrific art (visually and aurally.) - Bryan