[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: Nov. 4-10

From: "Jeremy Schlosberg" <fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxx>
To: fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 23:24:40 -0500
 THIS WEEK'S FINDS <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/this_weeks_finds.htm>
Nov. 4-10


"The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing" - I Am
Bones<http://www.morningsiderecords.dk/mp3/i_am_bones_-_the_main_thing.mp3>
So this is a band with a sense of humor, which can be a mixed blessing in
rock'n'roll, where a conscious effort to appear "funny" often crosses the
line into "hm, maybe not funny." The best way to stay on the good side of
the line is, first of all, for the humor to seem self-effacing rather than
obnoxious and, second (and more important), for the music itself to be
delightful. The Danish quartet I Am Bones--whose first, self-released CD had
the Firesign Theater-esque title of *If You Really Love Me, Send Me More
Medical Supplies*--appears to satisfy on both counts with this splendid
slice of slightly skewed, smile-inducing power pop. Listen, instantly, to
the harmonies employed right out of the gate, which utilize elastic
intervals that I can't discern, delivered over a twitchy guitar rhythm. The
off-kilter flavor of the verse, pleasing on its own, further serves to make
the straight-ahead I-IV-V brilliance of the chorus all the more appetizing.
Here, front man Johannes Gammelby's voice takes on an unexpected depth, as
the bottom-heavy drive of the music combines with the upward-leaning melody
to lend him something of Jeff Lynne's congenial vocal power. One final key
to success is succinctness: the song lasts barely longer than the title; we
hear the chorus but twice, as the entire last minute of a
not-very-long-anyway song is a guitar-driven instrumental coda. "The Main
Thing..." is from the new I Am Bones CD, *The Greater Good*, the band's
second for the English-speaking Danish label Morningside
Records<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/smaller_labels.htm#Mside>,
released last month in Europe. The MP3 is via
Morningside<http://www.morningsiderecords.dk/>
.

"Subtle Changes" -
Sambassadeur<http://www.labrador.se/mp3/Sambassadeur-subtle_changes.mp3>
We're staying in Scandanavia for no particular reason except that this next
wonderful song sounds great after our first wonderful song. Sambassadeur is
a quartet from Gothenburg, Sweden whose
previously<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/TWFmay-jun05.htm#Sambassadeur>stripped-down
vibe (in the past, their recordings were done at home) has
been fetchingly boosted by echoey strings, atmospheric percussion, a grand,
chugging rhythm and, later on, a honking sax solo. Anna Persson, once a
casual, somewhat deadpan vocalist--singing in short, talky phrases, and
sounding as if she could not sing and smile at the same time--here emerges
with a richer tone, partly because of the production but partly also because
she's not afraid to hold her notes, to fully sing. She may not yet be
smiling but she's loosened up her facial muscles and in so doing shifted
away from irony and towards passion, which engenders I think much more than
a subtle change in the band's sound. What they retain, however, is a nimble
way with melody; listen in particular to the chorus and how beautifully the
melody extends beyond the confines of a typical four-measure pop chorus--the
melodic line here is actually nine measures long, which is unusual,
seemingly one measure too long, and it leaves us vaguely unresolved
musically, too, until the chorus repeats a second time and then hooks back
into the opening chord of the verse section (compare the unfinished feeling
from 1:43 through 1:46 to the resolution at 1:47). "Subtle Changes" is from
*Migration*, Sambassadeur's first studio album, released last month, in
Europe, on Labrador
Records<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/smaller_labels.htm#Labrador>.
MP3 via Labrador <http://www.labrador.se/>.

"Tree" - 
Hopewell<http://www.fanaticpromotion.com/mp3s/hopewell/hopewell-tree.mp3>
It's really hard, I think, to start a pop song this slowly; and to do so
with a high-pitched, slightly nasally tenor such as Jason Russo's front and
center is even harder. But his voice is not, at first, what anchors the ear
here. The piano, instead, commands attention, with its simple, firm,
plaintive chords. Four times the chords shift during this slow opening, and
notice how, with each chord shift, Russo nevertheless comes back to settle
on the same melodic note; the uncluttered, shifting chords create such a
strong, if bittersweet, feeling that they trick the ear into thinking the
melody is moving more than it is. When the band kicks in at 0:34, the small,
careful instrumental flourishes put me in the mind of an old Band song,
which the central, doleful melody reinforces, not to mention Russo's
intermittent resemblance to Rick Danko. While the opening progression
remains at the center of this almost inexplicably captivating song, varied
textures arise along the way, building towards a louder, fuller-bodied
conclusion, complete with deep rumblings underneath and an almost
orchestrated feel to the band's playing. Hopewell is not from Scandanavia;
Poughkeepsie, New York is the off-the-beaten path home for this talented but
largely unrecognized quintet. Both Jason Russo and his keyboard-playing
brother, Justin, have spent time in the better-known band Mercury Rev, but
Hopewell appears to be their main project at this point. "Tree" is
from *Beautiful
Targets*, the band's fifth CD, released in July on Tee Pee
Records<http://www.teepeerecords.com/>
.


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[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: Nov. 4-10

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