Month: February 2014

Review: Dum Dum Girls – Too True

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I first came across the Dum Dum Girls early last year, a few months after the release of their EP End of Daze.  I quickly was hooked on their hazy take on 60’s-era garage-pop and worked my way backwards through their catalog.  I enjoyed their bubblegum melodies and big hooks, and as a result, Only in Dreams had an extended residency in my car for a couple of months.  While it’s easy to pinpoint the limits to their style (simplistic drumbeats, 3-4 basic chords, etc.), it worked in small doses, and it didn’t hurt that the lyrics were alternately clever and heart-felt.  With songs as great as “Bedroom Eyes”, there’s no reason to spend much time nit-picking these slight concerns.

With their new album, the Dum Dum Girls decided it was time for a stylistic shift, ditching the 60’s as their prime influence and switching to a more 80’s-inspired sound.  From the outset, one hears the addition of synths and the use of heavily reverbed drums that give off that heavily-processed 80’s pop style.  The synths don’t dominate the sound, as might be expected, but are kept more in the background; guitars are still a dominant presence, either through slick lead lines or through arpeggiated strums that cut through the mix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUaWTi4IBQA

There is a question of what inspired this new direction–did Dee Dee spend a few late nights watching her Drive Blu-Ray?  Or was it simply a recognition of the limits of her previous style?  Last year I saw a couple of openers at different shows that either were influenced by the Dum Dum Girls directly, or they had found the original influences and decided that it was a viable option.  So it makes sense from both an artistic and commercial perspective to begin broadening horizons.

In the end, I’m not sure it entirely works.  There are some great moments on the album, but too often the staged artificiality of the music acts as a drawback, and cuts against taking any of the lyrics seriously.  However, there is something to be said to being able to craft a seemingly effortless pop song, which I think the Dum Dum Girls accomplished with “Are You Okay?”  Here, the light airy music with the sugary melody provide an effective dichotomy with the pleading lyrics.  This is the moment when you could say the new direction pays off.

Covered: “Another One Goes By”

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Covered is a feature where we examine the merits of various cover songs, debating whether or not they capture the spirit and intent of the original, if the cover adds anything new, and whether or not it perhaps surpasses the original.  If we fail on those counts, at the very least we may expose you to different versions of great songs you hadn’t heard before.

I’m going to kick off this feature with a true toss-up in my mind: “Another One Goes By”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkdTcuuS9jI

We’ll start off with the version that I imagine most people heard first, the cover as done by The Walkmen.  For many, A Hundred Miles Off was a bit of disappointment, a small bump on the road between Bows + Arrows and You & Me and other later successes.  The band has even shown indications that they agree with that assessment, from their interviews to their setlists, but there are some undeniable great songs on that record: “Louisiana”, live favorite “All Hands And The Cook”, and the closer “Another One Goes By”.   The fact that the last one was a cover would probably come as a shock to most people, since it has all the elements of a natural Walkmen song: warm organ/bright piano, trebly guitar strums, and plaintively yearning lyrics that fit Hamilton Leithauser’s unique voice perfectly.

 

Here’s the original, from the band Mazarin.  The immediate difference that’s apparent is the driving drumbeat that keeps the tempo up throughout the song, giving the song a drive that provides a counter to the melancholic lyrics.  The added filter on the vocals give the lyrics a more haunted quality, and enhances the theme of mourning over lost opportunities.  But considering the similarities in the rest of the song, it’s easy to see why it was a natural fit for The Walkmen to cover.

In the end, it’s hard to argue one or way the other which is better.  It’s clear that The Walkmen were able to capture the wistful but mournful spirit of the song, but chose instead to convey this through a quiet, laid-back shuffle of a drumbeat and a more expressive vocal performance.  It truly comes down to my particular mood at the moment as to which version I prefer.

Over The Weekend (Feb. 3 Edition)

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Because nostalgia always sells, you’re going to see a lot of retrospectives this year for some important albums.  A couple of weeks back there was an excellent oral history of Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain from Stereogum, and now it looks like it’s time for Green Day’s Dookie to get its moment in the sun.  SPIN reprinted its profile of the band from back in 1994, and  Stereogum took a quick look back with this retrospective.  After we take a moment to contemplate the fact that an album called “Dookie” sold over 10 million copies and is remembered with great fondness, and that somehow the bratty young punks of Green Day are still making albums, take a look at what I believe is the most amazing part of both articles: that there was an incident where, of all people, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys was assaulted and accused of being a “sellout”.

Not surprisingly, the scenewide furor that has resulted combines the brutal energy of hardcore with all its lack of clearheadedness. Most inexcusably, at Gilman Street in May, former Dead Kennedys singer, Jello Biafra, was assaulted repeatedly and seriously injured by a punk kid while a crowd chanted “sellout” and “rock star.”

Because words apparently mean whatever we want them to mean.

Keeping up with the Green Day theme, AllMusic takes a look at the recent history of Green Day and what’s happened to the band since they decided to release a trio of albums.  For curiosity’s sake, it’s worth a quick glance.

And finally, Pitchfork had an interesting look at “synesthesia” and its connection to different musicians.  It’s definitely worth clicking the link, if only to see Pharrell’s amazing Technicolor hat.