Page 34 - the NOISE October 2013

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got an album?
got a review? music@thenoise.us
robin dean Salmon, Blackbird
name your album after a bird? I think I’d go fish all the way. Maybe bears?
Bad jokes aside, I’d be lying if I said I could get through either of these fine albums in one sitting. They’re just too dang dense, man. Maybe if I was more comfortable, and they had the familiarity of old friends, like that Zen Arcade that old man keeps going on and on about. But of course that classic was for- matted to have four sides. What’s it all mean? Probably just me trying to make word count, but that’s not to say there’s not a discussion in there somewhere to have at your favorite coffee shop or dive bar. Oh, the limitations of the ‘rock album format.’ Maybe it’s just me. Discuss.
— Frank Chipotel
Jonathan Rado
Law and Order
Woodsist
jj
Even Outkast put out a few smash hits and a good decade in before splitting in two. Foxygen’s We Are the Ambassadors... (which came out this year, for crying out loud) cer- tainly hinted at great things for the young songwriters; as plagiaristic as their tenden- cies tended, a catchy song is a catchy song, and there’s only so many chords on the fret- board. If you steal, steal big, and steal from the right places, and that’s from where Foxy- gen’s talents sprang. And Jonathan rado is not shying from that formula in the slightest.
The first great track on the album is placed sixth. “Faces” just rocks in a way that ray and Dave Davies might be irked by, (which might be a nice brotherly moment between them;
“who does this guy think he is?”) it feels so simi- lar to, oh, a major portion of Kinks’ chronicles. “Faces” is undeniably catchy, and rado really
blows out the last minute or so in a stellar outro. It’s followed by “Oh, Suzanna!” which, other than some production choices (that mar the entire album really) is quite nice. I just don’t think there’s any reason to put that much reverb on the vocals. But when the instrumental passage hits, it feels like both autopilot and extremely nice. “All the Lights Went Out In Georgia” has a similarly hard to describe quality and then, “I Wanna Feel It Now!!!” is pretty much a straight up throw- away, though it does give the impression, through its blown out distortion and generic dub flavor, that perhaps this album is more diverse than it is. Oooh, look what I can do in the studio.
“Would You Always Be At Home” is nice, but at this point I’m fairly aware that this is just another Foxygen album. “Law and Order” is an instrumental that just cuts out, nothing to write home about, and here’s the weirdest part, ender “Pot of Gold” sounds like some- thing off Lindsay Buckingham’s Law and Or- der record. What the hell?
— Frank Chipotel | music@thenoise.us
34 • october 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us