quickcrit - music reviews

In a year with an abundance of albums by bands I like, this probably would've been my most anticipated album if I believed it ever would come out. Likely, it was my most anticipated album of 2005, the year after Beulah broke up.

Any Beulah fan should love this album and probably some people who hear this will be prompted to go back and discover Beulah for the first time. I'm just stoked to hear Miles Kurosky share his bummed out perspective over upbeat indie pop. The songs playfully shift gears multiple times, packing in plenty of hooks, tempo changes, and layers of orchestration. However, it never seems overstuffed. I like every song on the album, but my favorite sub-songs are embedded in "An Apple For An Apple", when the drums crank it up and then later when the keyboard takes over as the driving force, and in "I Can't Swim", when a squiggling guitar backs a soaring chorus.

With so many instruments playing all at once I'm curious to see how he pulls if off live when he plays Doug Fir on April 9th.

Pogonophilia was alive and well last night! Fleet Foxes folked things up hardcore at their second NYC show, much to the delight of some pretty enthusiastic fans. The Seattle quintet describes their music as "baroque harmonic pop jams." Yeah, I just call it "awesome." Playing tracks off the Sun Giant EP as well as their eponymous debut, lead singer Robin Pecknold and company entertained with some of the most gorgeous vocal harmony I've heard in a while. Their records are undeniably good, but seeing it live is a whole 'nother level of musical genius. After their set, I seriously wanted to gallop off into the Seattle sunset on a horse (with no name).

The music was flawless as the vocals were impeccable. Even the stage lighting was elegant-- they had a backdrop that resembled a starry night sky, joking that "New Yorkers deserve one night of actually being able to see them" (hey!). Pecknold ripped on The Big Apple a few times, but then made it up by telling us how much they love stopping here on tour. Hilarity ensued when a loud fan inquired how he spent his day; he regaled us with stories about exploring Williamsburg, Brooklyn (everyone smiled/giggled, of course) and the fancy coffee he sipped there. He then rhetorically asked questions about the who's/what's that invented complicated coffee flavors and why it was so damn hard to find simple java. This is NYC, so of course rhetorical questions never go unanswered. A smartass fan in the audience shouted "Blame Seattle for that!" and we all busted out laughing, as Pecknold smiled and said "touche."

The witty banter amongst the band and with the audience only enhanced their great live performance. They even showed off an awesome new track, "Silver City," and Pecknold sweetly begged, "Don't put it up on YouTube, it's not finished yet." They played for about an hour and a half (to make up for no encore...what?!) and informed the crowd they're heading back to Seattle to record their new album. They won't be touring again for some time, so I highly recommend catching them while you still can. Until then...

After the Sun Giant EP, I was decidedly piqued to give Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut proper consideration and... I’ve never been prouder to be an American. I've discovered the musical equivalent to warm apple pie and vanilla ice cream. With all this talk of a revival in folk rock circles, FF make me believe they will do nothing but revive the revival even more.

This Seattle quintet creates music so warm, cathartic, lush, and fairly epic that I honestly hoped the end of this album had an additional 11 tracks of brilliance waiting, just so it didn't have to end. The record boasts a cornucopia of sounds created by a variety of musical instruments I can't/won't even begin trying to properly identify. And the songs! Simple but complex, unabashedly hopeful, and chock full of unique intros, gentle yet purposeful strumming, interesting breakdowns, lingering vocals and memorable codas.

I wish I could get My Morning Jacket, Sufjan Stevens, Ryan Adams, and Simon & Garfunkel over for a game of horseshoes set to the instrumental gem "Heard Them Stirring." We'd talk about which tracks kick ass or just simply blow our collective minds instead. Oh, and Bill n' Ted would lend me their time machine so Billy The Kid could stop by with some moonshine to regale us with stories from the wild wild West, as "Blue Ridge Mountains" permeates the background. Then Band of Horses and The Shins would crash the party just to argue over who wishes they wrote "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" more...