Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (2011)

While the Sun Giant EP and self-titled album generally caught everyone off-guard with newfound baroque, minstrel pop stylings of woven harmonies and rhythmic acoustic pluckings, three years later everyone knew what to expect from Helplessness Blues. As my most anticipated album of 2011, I was itching for new Fleet Foxes, due in no small part to listening to any and all Fleet Foxes on repeat throughout the California Bar prep period. The group bring a big(ger) sound on many of the tracks with more prominent instrumentation accompanying the formally vocally-centric emphasis. The group still maintains that coming-of-Spring feel, which is what fans have come to know and appreciate, reveling in the free-spirited harmonizations and frolicky folkiness that makes the album, and their corresponding live shows, stand tall above the current indie folk noise. It is a complete album, running a range of tones, with "Battery Kinzie" providing drum-driven, soaring vocal harmonies, "Montezuma" for melancholic movements, "Helplessness Blues" for the single-structured, catchy chorus; however, for my money, it is the strummy, pace-changing "The Shrine / An Argument" that embodies what I love about Fleet Foxes... multiple melodies and moods in one song. Excellent from beginning to end, this effort fills a much needed void in my personal collection — some songs to whistle to, sing-along to, stum to, or (even) wave your hands in the air like a symphony conductor to, this album takes hold and only lets go at the final, wavering notes.

Credit to Nesto for his insightful comments.

Frightened Rabbit @ Wonder Ballroom

There is no better time to see a band than when they're on tour supporting the album you love, and nothing better than when they deliver. I've been heavily playing Frightened Rabbit's new album for months and after Saturday night's concert at the Wonder Ballroom, The Winter Of Mixed Drinks is quickly becoming a contender for my favorite album this year. In fact, it was such a fantastic performance I may try and slip The Midnight Organ Fight back onto this year's list.

What's your favorite song? Oh, they played it. Or at least they played every single song I love off their last two albums and they nailed each one, pouring out emotion and energy for an hour and a half. They genuinely were excited at the crowd's enthusiastic reception, and responded by playing a couple requests, including a B side the band could barely remember. You cannot afford to miss this tour if you are a fan.
 

The SteelDrivers - Reckless (2010)

The bluegrass streak continues, and I am excited! The Quickcrit faithful are probably well aware of my bone-deep affinity for The SteelDrivers, and their new album "Reckless" is ridiculous. For those not familiar with The SteelDrivers I will say this band makes me want to read more, so I can have a better understanding of the English language and poetically describe their sound to strangers. I just said I want to read more people; let that sink in for a minute. This is one powerful force of a band. Chris Stapleton's vocals and songwriting is some of the best I've heard in years, in any genre, and the plucky banjo combined with the country-road fiddlin' is very simple, special and essential, all at the same time. There's something about bluegrass, especially The SteelDrivers, that reminds me of the basic things. Simple things that give me a shit-eating grin and a bounce in my step, even though they both don't come around an awful lot. But when they do, they can make your week. Few quick examples: using the word "chagrin" in a sentence, and hearing the phrase "Smith converts on 3rd down".* They both happen, but not nearly enough. This last example is somewhat abstract, but I felt obliged to mention it anyway. I live in a fairly metropolitan city, full of traffic jams, alarm clocks, tall buildings, and concrete. I must say it's easy to forget that the whole world does not look this way, and operate on deadlines, paperwork, and bus schedules. I am reminded of this reality by surprise twice a month when the street-sweepers push the leaves, and dirt into a gigantic pile next to where I park my car. When I leave for work at three in the morning I am hit with a big earthy smell, which instantly reminds me that the food I eat does not come from Safeway. The SteelDrivers hit me like that compost heap and wake my sleepwalking soul. They are like that jolt of earthy goodness that puts me at ease and a smile on my face. The whole album is great, but some songs that need to be checked out are "Where Rainbows Never Die", which is high in the runnings for my favorite song of 2010. Also listen to "Can You Run" and "You Put The Hurt On Me". Enjoy folks!

*Sorry to non-Niner fans who might not get the reference.

Friday Night Beer Pairing: Upright Brewing & Nick Jaina

Tonight I'm pairing two regional adaptations of traditionally rustic genres.

Any beer lover visiting Portland will notice the abundance of pale ales; every brewery seems to have at least three kinds. So the founding of Upright Brewing and its experimental, loosely Belgian-style beers was great news for Brasilliant and me, who were forced to fly to Germany and Belgium to satisfy our thirst for doppelbocks and tripels. Upright uses a Belgian-based brewing process, but are not beholden to any one recipe, which makes a visit to Upright's tasting room so much fun. They are still playing around with their beers, so while you may not love every sip, the flavors are bold and unique. My favorite is the Upright 7, their version of a farmhouse Saison. It's dry, aromatic, and just slightly spicy. Even at 8% it goes down easy.

I'm not sure which Portland loves more, beer or folk music. Probably beer, but judging from the abundance of good singer-songwriters, indie folk isn't far behind. Nick Jaina is one of my favorites and is set to release his new album, A Bird In The Opera House, next month. "Sleep Child" (mp3) captures the album's warm vocals and rhythmic strumming that gently pushes the songs forward. The album incorporates bits of Portland into the lyrics along with subtle layers of strings. It's comfortable, catchy, and perfect for kicking back at home.

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More (UK 2009 / US 2010)

With Midlake, Local Natives, and Mumford & Sons all releasing albums in a span of a few months (weeks, depending on when you evaluate the international release dates), folk rooted rock is really making a surge. I suppose this is really nothing new in particular, I just feel like the market for stringed, minstrel-like  instruments (other than guitar and bass of course) and layered harmonies have really hit a high.  Fleet Foxes appears to be the preeminent power in this broad genre at this point in time; however, with the Sigh No More LP I think Mumford & Sons can give ‘em a run for their money. This London-based quartet, whose name sounds more like a general store or cobbler shop than a band, takes their vocal harmonies and instrumentation real seriously, with nearly every track making a slow-building skyward arch until your heart is lifted and your speakers are overflowing with sound. The absence of drums on most tracks does not prevent them from inducing foot-stomping and body rocking. There is plenty of strummy acoustic guitar, joined by vigorous banjo, key pounding and memorable lines - creating tracks that ooze with upbeat, confident vibes. This album accomplishes what I think a lot of bands aim for but fall short of... an LP that doesn’t feel deflated by already released EPs. “Little Lion Man,” “Awake My Soul” and “Winter Winds” are my favorites, but truthfully, I don’t think that there is a bad piece on the entire release.

We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls (2009)

One of the therapeutic aftereffects of "best of year end" lists is beating yourself up over the exceptional stuff you missed in the prior year. 20/20 hindsight can be both a blessing and a curse—A curse, in that it points out all your too obvious faults; while a blessing because for those of us who are constantly self-evaluative, it makes you want to deep-dive into all those bands you may have missed while compiling your oh so precious Top 10 list. These Four Walls by We Were Promised Jetpacks is one of those albums that exemplifies just how blind one can be to the obvious. There is no band, or album, closer to my 2008 favorite The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit than Walls / Jetpacks, so it is slightly embarrassing that this one went unnoticed. Better late than never, I suppose. An added bonus, the two bands are different enough so that the magnitude of each one does not interfere with the other. These Four Walls shares the impassioned, heavily accented vocals and vigorous strummy guitar that made Frightened Rabbit's sophomore effort so addicting, only Jetpacks puts on a slightly rougher sheen with a more punk rooted sound and occasionally drunken sailor fashioned vocals. "Quiet Little Voices" and "It's Thunder and It's Lightning" top my list of favorites.

We Were Promised Jetpacks will be playing at Slim's Saturday, February 27 with The Lonely Forest, Bear Hands and Tempo No Tempo as a party of San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival.

Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band (2009)

I have been looking for some new summer jammy-jams for barbecuing and roof deck lounging since my relentless over-playing of Portugal. The Man's The Satanic Satanist back in early June, and I think I may have found such goodness in the Fruit Bat's The Ruminant Band. Fruit Bats have been around in some for or another since the late '90s, but with the release of their first album in over four years, this is the first time I have paid any heed to their exceptional oft-acoustic indie folk rock. Eric D. Johnson's vocals and guitar work, plus the folky instrumentation from the talented backing musicians (Gibson, Sherman, Lewis, Wagster) weave together an album that falls in line with Fruit Bat's Seattle brethren and Sub Pop cohorts, such as The Shins (of which Johnson is a member), Band of Horses, and Fleet Foxes. There is also a taste of Led Zeppelin III folkiness, that is especially prevalent on the title track. The whole album is very good, but here is a vid for the very excellent "Ruminant Band."

Son Volt - American Central Dust (2009)

My friend Jeremy and I both love Son Volt, however, aside from the obvious hits, we almost always disagree on our favorite songs. He prefers the slow and moody ruminations while I prefer the less-depressed rockers. After loving The Search and its upbeat horns, the quieter American Central Dust feels like a bit of a letdown. Overall, it's a still solid album, and for all I know, Jeremy might love it. It certainly is his prettiest album. Aside from the grind on "When The Wheels Don't Move", Jay Farrar mostly ditches the distortion in favor of layering guitar and organ to create a rich and full sound that highlights his voice and lyrics. As much as I like "Jukebox Of Steel", "Dynamite" and "Down To The Wire", I still miss the amps.

VAST - Me and You (2009)

As the title alludes to, this is an album that caters to the sentimentalities of intimate relationships and other scenarios involving the various stages of love and attraction; however, the more appealing feature of Me and You, at least for me, is that the participation of a significant other is not required to trigger ones appreciation for the music and talent involved. I am quite fond of the music that VAST manufactures—the 2006 release Turquoise & Crimson, and 2007 installment, April, are both darkly textured and excellently composed—but I have objections to the rather consistent sappiness of the Jon Crosby's lyrics which tend to be fairly narrowly themed from album to album. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a song rooted in the deeply emotional turmoil that comprises intimate relationships, but a 12 song bombardment tests my favor. Thankfully, Crosby's crisp baritone vocals—the guy has a great voice that occasionally gets close to Jim Morrison's—along with the accompanying guitar work and orchestration can be enjoyed regardless of the mono-themed lyrics. Although I do not feel that Me and You is as excellent as April, I do believe that fans of VAST's previous work will enjoy this album.

A few favorites: The strummy "I Thought By Now," the darkly written "Hotel Song," and the waltzy "I'm Afraid Of You."

Human Highway - Moody Motorcycle (2008)

Chalk another one up for the mellow and melodic. Nick Thorburn, of Islands, The Unicorns, and a handful of other bands, teams up with another dude (Jim Guthrie, Woody Guthrie’s grandson, according to people who know about these sorts of things) to put together pleasant harmonies over mostly soft, strummy guitar and sedated percussion. The Islandy, “All Day” comes across as an ode to lazy days spent soaking up rays on a chaise, while “Duties Of A Lighthouse Keeper” and “Get Lost” make me want to lounge around inside. The duo picks it up a bit with the pop tracks, “The Sound” and “Moody Motorcycle,” but never get too crazy. This is a nice sleepy album to supplement a cup of coffee and a nice big law book. Trust me.

Port O'Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing (2008)

For the past year or so I have had people of all different musical tastes recommend this Oakland based band's live show. So, when their current tour slated them to rock Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco in support of their recently released album, I figured now was as good a time as any to dip my ears into the musical waters of Port O'Brien (I think that line just put me as the front-runner for "Cheesiest Line of the Year" award).

Anyway, the opening beats of "I Woke Up Today" made me want to do a drunken sailor jig in deck shoes aboard a storm ravaged fishing vessel... And when the gang-bang vocals kicked in (where the whole band sings simultaneously) I was sold. In my opinion, comparisons to many and mighty indie darlings are thrown about too easily for All We Could Do Was Sing. Sure there are moments when Port O'Brien sounds like other bands, but their music—layered, girl/guy vocals, occasional string arrangements, strummy guitar, nautical themes, and intimate, mellow, folky acoustic pieces—is far too diverse for a closely paralleled comparison. I have listened to this album HARD the last few weeks, and it continues to impress—both the up-tempo and mellow tracks, equally.

Check out: "I Woke Up Today," "Close The Lid," "Stuck On A Boat" and this video that looks like something awmercy & ancientindianwizard would collaborate on...

Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight (2008)

I feel silly even writing this review because everyone and their mother has reviewed this album, loved it, and has probably already told you, the loyal QuickCrit reader, to go buy/listen to the fucking thing. If not, lucky you, because it's “two-cents” time: The Midnight Organ Fight actually IS awesome. There are plenty of charming melodies & strummy (technical term) acoustic guitar bits for the ladies, and fantastically classy, reality-based lyrics, (such as: “Jesus... is just a Spanish boy’s name,” or “You’re the shit and I’m knee deep in it,” and my personal favorite, “I’m drunk, I’m drunk and you’re probably on pills / If we both have the same diseases its irrelevant girl”) and a few rock-out tracks for the gents. So, if you haven’t got the message already, The Midnight Organ Fight is legit and certainly worth tracking down & checking out.

A few to start with: “Keep Yourself Warm,” “Head Rolls Off,” & “Good Arms vs. Bad Arms.”