[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds, Oct. 1-7

From: "Jeremy Schlosberg" <fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxx>
To: fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2006 14:03:42 -0400

*There's still room in the Pet Sounds
drawing<file://localhost/Users/Jeremy/Documents/Music/petsounds.htm>but
maybe you don't want to wait till the last minute. Deadline is October
15th.*

Oh and sorry for the one-day delay. Things should be back to normal next
week. The podcast, however, should be up on time--i.e. by Friday morning.


THIS WEEK'S FINDS <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/this_weeks_finds.htm>
week of Oct. 1-7


"Technology" - the Whigs<http://www.atorecords.com/downloads/technology.mp3>
Take the crunchy drive of the Strokes but loosen it up, make it sound a
little more fun than hip, a little warmer than cooler, and you've got a
quick sense of this exuberant trio from the semi-legendary indie rock oasis
of Athens, Georgia. Just about all I need out of this song is that great
barrage of fuzz-toned guitar chords in the intro--I mean, how primal and
cool and perfect is that sound? Perhaps lead guitar is overrated after all,
when so much dazzling musical force can be channelled through crisp,
chord-based pounding. And yet the song hardly stops there, working itself up
into two separate hooks--one delivered as those great intro chords return
(at 0:30), the other right after that, where the chorus centers on one note
(beginning at 0:44) with shifting chords underneath, leading to the line
"Technology it needs me." There are great rock'n'roll precedents for this
kind of one-note melody, but two of the monumental examples that occur to me
("Subterranean Homesick Blues" and "Pump It Up") use it in the verse rather
than the chorus. Coming here after all the chord-crunching it seems like its
own sort of brilliant release. "Technology" is a song off the
Whigs'<http://www.thewhigs.com/>debut CD,
*Give 'em All a Big Fat Lip*, which was self-released last year, then
re-released in September by ATO Records <http://www.atorecords.com/>. The
MP3 is via the ATO Records site.

"Too Many Pictures" - the
Sheds<http://www.theshedsmusic.com/04-The_Sheds_Quit_Smoking-Too_Many_Pictures.mp3>
Listening to "Too Many Pictures," I develop a theory on the spot: it's hard
to be quirky and nice at the same time, musically speaking. Usually
something that's quirky involves a prickliness of one kind or another--maybe
some unusual vocals and/or lyrics, some challenging sounds, or at the very
least some jarring twists and turns in the overall musical structure. To
sound "nice," on the other hand typically involves a significant amount of
both prettiness and gentleness. So, yes--hard to be jarring and soothing
simultaneously. One would think. But here come the Sheds, a duo from
Kentucky that is more than happy to oblige. How do they do it? Well, clearly
having a flowing melody and gentle instrumentation helps (as do those perky
"ba-ba-ba" backing vocals). So the niceness is right up front. Whereas the
quirkiness is subtler, based in the band's lo-fi vibe, disarmingly
unaffected vocals, and naked-seeming lyrics. "My family has a history of
cancer/Addictive personalities/A tendency for excess intake/And our hearts
are big": that's awfully quirky writing. And yet maybe here they've figured
out where the quirky and the nice can overlap after all--in poignancy. Most
of all, this song is poignant, as the narrator, rigorously honest with
himself, describes his (quirky!) human need for the cigarettes he knows he
shouldn't smoke, singing a melody which takes plaintive, almost
unplanned-sounding turns, sometimes upwards and sometimes downwards. "Too
Many Pictures" is from the band's recently self-released CD, *The Sheds Quit
Smoking*, and all the songs do in fact have something to do with smoking.
The MP3 is via the band's site <http:///>; as a matter of fact, the entire
CD is available there for free and legal download. Thanks to the music
blog Each
Note Secure <http://www.eachnotesecure.com/> for the lead.

"Been Here Before" - Jeremy
Enigk<http://www.toolshed-media.com/ts/jeremy-enigk-been-here-before.mp3>
Dreamy, grand, and effortlessly melodic, "Been Here Before" has many graces
but to me its most notable achievement is its reclamation of a progressive
rock aural vocabulary into a 21st-century pop setting. Enigk's haunting
vocal resemblance to Jon Anderson (Yes, anyone?) is not the only thing that
sets off the prog-rock bells in my head (although it helps); there's also
the majestic ambiance (the soaring mountains and spreading valleys of
sound), the supple use of 7/4 time, and okay maybe the organ solo too.
Whatever happened once upon a time to make progressive rock the whipping boy
of critics and music hipsters, who the hell cares anymore. In the hands of a
talent like Enigk's, the music comes across like a revelation. "Been Here
Before" is packed with more musical ideas than most musicians realize are
possible in a four-minute pop song--a series of fully-formed melodies and
structural shifts that flow fluently and beautifully together. Lead singer
of the pioneering but oddly controversial '90s band Sunny Day Real Estate,
Enigk more recently headed up the Fire
Theft<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/TWFnov-dec03.htm#FireTheft>(with
two Sunny Day compadres); now he's got a solo CD coming out, his
second. It's called *World Waits* and is scheduled for release later this
month. "Been Here Before" is the second track on the record.

*
Maybe you like Fingertips but you don't feel up to donating? You can still
help out by spreading the word. Tell your friends about Fingertips. This
doesn't cost a thing, unless you have really harsh friends. If it helps you
can point them to this
factsheet,<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/factsheet.htm>as close to a
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*

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[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds, Oct. 1-7

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