Heatmiser - Mic City Sons

The third and last album from Heatmiser came out in 1996.  It's a strange mixture of Neil Gust's songs and Elliott Smith's, though the latter had already released two solo albums.  Smith's grungy riffing Get Lucky opens the album with considerable swagger, not something you'd associate with Elliott Smith.  Plainclothes Man is more familiar territory for Smith, featuring his acoustic guitar backed up by the rest of the band, and could easily fit on of his later solo albums.  The lyrics of The Fix Is In will be poured over for 'clues' surrounding Smith's demise but the music here is again, first-class. 

Gust's songs are less memorable, his vocals are a little more muted and are inclined to blend in with the music on the likes of Low-Flying Jets and Cruel Reminders.  An odd-sounding guitar figure introduces Rest My Head Against the Wall, and Gust's guitar work together with his somewhat gruff vocal make this the standout of the Gust material.  Less successful is the frantic-sounding Eagle Eye which is a little too fast and brief.  Later, Blue Highway is a decent rock song in search of a  strong vocal. 

A pair of Elliott Smith songs round of the album really strongly.  The rocky See You Later is pretty anthemic, with a soaring vocal over growling guitars.  Finally, Half Right is arguably the strongest song on the album.  Slow, deliberate guitars pick out an absolutely gorgeous melody which feels both fragile and triumphant all at the same time.  Definitely worth checking out for fans of Elliott Smith.

Flasher – Constant Image – Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/29/flasher-constant-image-album-review/

Yo La Tengo - Ride the Tiger

Yo la Tengo released their debut album in 1986, about 10 years or so before their heyday.  For those used to their latter day material, this will come as a surprise.  Many of their albums feel sprawling and diverse, this one decidedly isn't, eleven relatively short guitar tracks, many of which sound in thrall to the major key melodies on the Velvet Underground's Loaded album.

Cone of Silence is fairly representative, a brisk, strumalong tune with Ira Kaplan's Reed-y vocals to the fore.  A jangly Kinks cover pops up early on the album, Big Sky, while the final track sees them record an instrumental version of Pete Seeger's Living in the Country.

The Evil That Men Do is the album's most amped-up moment, while The Forest Green would give The Smithereens a run for their money.  They slow down for the country-flecked The Pain of Pain, the least derivative song here, and it really suits them.  Two thirds in, Kaplan throws in a really fine guitar solo.

Dave Schramm takes lead vocals on the cowpunk The Way Some People Die and vaguely REM-ish Five Years.  Decent tracks, but they sound like a different band.  Later they attempt to get thrashy on Screaming Dead Balloons, but the track doesn't quite hit the mark it was aiming for. 

An amiable collection of guitar tunes which, although far from throwaway, aren't particularly memorable either.

How I learned to Love Lloyd

Article for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/27/how-i-learned-to-love-lloyd/

Looking back to Lou Reed

Article for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/23/looking-back-to-lou-reed/

Smashing Pumpkins – Shiny And Oh So Bright Vol. 1 / LP – Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/20/smashing-pumpkins-shiny-and-oh-so-bright-vol-1-lp-album-review/

Interpol – Olympia Theatre – Live Review – 18/11/18

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/19/interpol-olympia-theatre-live-review-18-11-18/

Ed Harcourt – Beyond the End – Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/19/ed-harcourt-beyond-the-end-album-review/

Ryley Walker – The Lillywhite Sessions – Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/12/ryley-walker-the-lillywhite-sessions-album-review/

Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect

Protomartyr released their third album Agent Intellect in 2015.  Previous album Under Color of Official Right had mixed punk workouts with more melodic tracks and this album is similar.

Opening with The Devil In His Youth, this track is like a punkier Strokes, with its highly melodic guitar lines.  An almost spaghetti western style guitar introduces Cowards Starve, a track a little reminiscent of Come & See on their previous album.  Many of the first few songs barrel by without leaving a huge impression.  It's not until track 5, Pontiac 87 that we begin full immersion.  The track sounds like a harder version of the National, with Greg Ahee's guitar work oscillating between clean, crisp lines and fuzzed-out heavy riffs, perfect for Joe Casey to growl over.  Dope Cloud excels through Ahee's strong guitar work.  

Later, Why Does It Shake? makes a strong argument to be the strongest track here, with a danceable rhythm punctuated by incisive guitar riffs and a powerful vocal from Casey.  Ellen drops the intensity a little, with a brilliantly ghoulish melody before becoming drowned in noise towards the end of the song, and the album finishes with the angry Joy Division stylings on Feast of Stephen.

Overall, a bit of a hit and miss album from Protomartyr.  The highs are very strong, but there are too many second grade tracks. 

Neil Halstead - Sleeping On Roads

By 2002 Neil Halstead had become progressively mellower post-Slowdive and Mojave 3.  His debut solo album saw him go full Nick Drake, all whispery vocals and rolling folk signatures.  Opener Seasons takes a simple two chord motif through the song, and its wistful melody and guitar playing create a highly effective atmosphere.  It's the standout on the album.   After this we get the low key folk of Two Stones In My Pocket, followed by Driving With Bert.  The combination of brass and guitar picking on the latter gives it a timeless feel.

Hi-Lo and In Between and final track High Hopes have a simple warmth to them that evokes very early Dylan, while Martha's Mantra nods to coffeehouse folk like Simon and Garfunkel.  One of the more uptempo tracks is See You On Rooftops, which arrives in time to prevent this album from falling into something of a hazy stupor.  A combination of soaring keyboards and fuzzy electric join the acoustic reverie, filling out the sound nicely.

Certainly a pleasant, comforting listen for those who like folky guitars.

My Gateway to The Smiths

Article for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/05/my-gateway-to-the-smiths/

Soundgarden - Down On The Upside

Soundgarden released Down On The Upside in 1996, just before the band went on hiatus for a number of years.  This album doesn't get the credit that Badmotorfinger and Superunknown get, possibly because there are 16 songs on it, a lot for anyone to digest. 

Opening with the driving rock one-two of Pretty Noose and Rhinosaur, Chris Cornell is on fine voice, backed up by Kim Thayil's bruising riffs.  And it's not just bluster here: Cornell exhibits his fine lower register croon on Zero Chance.  The nihilistic Blow Up the Outside World isn't a million miles away from Black Hole Sun, while Burden In My Hand is arguably the strongest track here.  Aided by a driving set of guitar riffs, it's a gloriously downbeat anthem to failure. 

The band embrace many different styles here.  The punk-as-fuck Ty Cobb barrels along at speed with a chorus of "hard headed fuck you all".  On the other hand, Applebite has some almost post-rock, bleak guitar licks, with Cornell's vocal heavily distorted.  

There is a lot of material here to digest, and towards the end of the album there are fewer standouts.  Overfloater has a real late-period Led Zeppelin vibe to it, reminiscent of No Quarter.  Final track Boot Camp is almost like an elegy for the band, with slow, heavy, mournful riffs and Cornell singing lyrics ripe for analysis: "must obey the rules... no staring at the clouds... I must contain my views... there must be something good far away from here".  It's a stark ending to an essential Soundgarden release. 

Sun Kil Moon - This Is My Dinner

Sun Kil Moon albums arrive with depressing regularity these days.  As a former purveyor of amazing songs, Mark Kozelek has turned his back on the music he built his reputation on in favour of a spontaneous, record it as it happens approach.  But I am reviewing this for old time's sake.  Six months after his previous album, a double album full of banal musings about his life in place of song lyrics.  Some of the music is jazz-tinged (This Is Not Possible) or borderline hiphop (Linda Blair).  We get songs written from an airplane seat (Copenhagen, Candles and David Cassidy).

There are positives.  The music on the title track, Candles and David Cassidy is sunlit and uplifting, with soft focus electric guitars, twinkling piano but, like almost all his recent work, overlong.  He covers David Cassidy's perky C'mon Get Happy, which is mercifully short.  This is followed by his third recorded cover of ACDC's Rock n Roll Singer.  Musically it's not bad, but Kozelek bawls most of the lyrics before holding a note for an uncomfortable 40 seconds.  Perhaps this is Sun Kil Moon covering Mark Kozelek's cover of the ACDC song?

But any hope the album has of succeeding is ruined by, not what Kozelek sings but how he sings it.  It's all delivered in the bored-sounding speak/sing style he has patented of late.  That's not to mention his blood-curdling, demonic growling on Linda Blair.

Who on earth is going to discover Mark Kozelek/Sun Kil Moon through an album like this??  There's no end to this, with another new album due out next March.

A Conversation with Alan Sparhawk (Low) – Part Two

Interview for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/02/a-conversation-with-alan-sparhawk-low-part-two/