Torche - Songs for Singles

Released as an EP, it's still 8 songs long. And I call that a motherfucking album. I saw these guys in a small bar last year and look forward to the jams this cold icy afternoon.

And Torche really brings it. They have two other full length albums and are a great example of uniqueness. They've got a stoner rock sensibility in their deep fuzz tones, but they play fast with ~1:30 length songs (not a lot of droning). Plus, singer Steve Brooks has a knack for catching a good hook and singing it well. He's not pop, mind you. His voice is reminiscent of Helmet's Page Hamilton. But within that range is a great pop smidge.

This collection is that kind of good. Fast blasts of greatness fill up your first half. "UFO"; "Hideaway"; "Arrowhead". You won't go wrong. Drummer Rick Smith comes from a Keith-Moon-via-Dave-Grohl school; which is meant to be a total compliment.



"Shine On My Old Ways" reminds me somehow of a pop-metal Priest song, "Solar Angels". I can't really explain it past that. "Face The Wall" is the one that does drone on a little bit. A bit too far on the side of tedium. The closer "Out Again" is nearly fantastic, with the biggest chorus, but rides the riff out for six minutes when it doesn't need to.

I'm nitpicking though. Break this out at your next backyard beer & bbq. Before the bonghits. (4 of 5 stars)

Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song

Being late in my blog updates, I do get the benefit of knowing a reputation of some late-year releases that already have a good reputation. And this is going to be one of the rare country albums in this blog forever. So...

Come track 5 of disc one and nothing has blown me away yet. Nothing's offensive. I certainly appreciate a well-played minor chord in "Cover Your Eyes". Everything's generally smart and Jamey's vocals are true. He's a baritone, but it would be awesome if he were more gruff. But none of these songs on the "black" disc are really that dark. He misses his daughter, he drinks and dances to the classics and L.A. is a fake city. Whoopittee-doo.

A few more tracks and I still see the juxstaposition of a guy who uses phrases like: "You can take my word but you can't cash my checks" (good line) next to "the rooster crowin' reminds me I need to fee him" (dumb line). And I don't know what "Heartache" is. Kind of like that god-awful "Lullabye" song.

At the end of the day, I think everyone got so excited at an anti-Hollywood Nashville singer that they considered him the second coming. I was hoping for as much. What I got was just a mostly well-written country record. But... it's still country. (2.5 of 5 stars)

Fabienne Delsol - On My Mind

Retro-sounding '60s psychedelic pop, like Tommy James with a chick singer. Or take any one of your British pop songstresses from the 1060s: Lulu, Lesley Gore, what have you. Now, obviously Fabienne is French, but sings mostly in English. Her voice is sweet and fun, but doesn't jump around the scales too much. Not a requirement for this kind of music- just sayin'.

Listeners to this are going to fall in one of two camps. People who love this style in its entirety. They will see no wrong with any of it and will probably be girls. They'll even stick around for the ballad that really could have been skipped in this collection.

Others of us will see some pleasantness here. We'll put a song or two in our iPods, especially the French-language songs, play it at parties. Our friends will be impressed. Especially once Wes Anderson puts a song or two in a movie (he simply has to)- proving we're ahead of the game. But we will also know that overall, the style of each song doesn't change too much and not a lot to differentiate one song to the next.

Or maybe you're a full on rocker, who isn't into sweet pop. Check out "I Feel So Blue" for some jammin' surf guitar riffs. Fun will be had. (3 of 5 stars)

Film School - Fission

It's been a while since I heard something new that was also a Pitchfork darling. I've been turned off of the "scene" for a while which is why you're seeing reviews of Zakk Wylde, über-popular Arcade Fire and one of my faves, Eels. Film School I know only by reputation and anyway, not much else of interest was released this week.

And when the opening chords started to play, I rolled my eyes and prepared for another boring upbeat chipper-guitar indie pop-rock collection and songs about nothing. But then the first verse kicked in on "Heart Full Of Pentagons" and I saw a change. Just a kicked over tempo, but it seemed to breathe some eccentricity to the proceedings.

Film School certainly has Jesus And Mary Chain leanings and the distorted wall of sound makes that most apparent. It's not all guitar and it's not all rock. Plenty of synthesized chords and drum machines. And all of this is executed well. Hell, "Meet Around 10" is a fucking jam on par with Radiohead's "National Anthem".

Where you're going to lose this writer, and I can assume many of this writing's readers, is the undercut, undermixed and underwhelming vocals. Krayg Burton seems to be channelling alternative and new wave singers of yore with his melodies; but is not stepping up to bat in the performance level. All of those guys like Gahan and Robert Smith and Morrissey still had some effervescent delivery. The closest he gets out of his closet is on "Distant Life"- maybe because he thought it was a cover of "American Girl". And when the chick sings, it's no better.

So if you like your background music to have jangly guitars and nicely toned dance beats, this is for you. (2.5 of 5 stars)

Eels - Tomorrow Morning

A trilogy is completed with this effort, which follows Mark's paranoia of Hombre Lobo and sorrowful (excellent) End Times. This one, as you can imagine from normal storyteller lineage, is more of a rebirth. A rejection of the burdens that were carried by the men in the previous albums.

Just like me, your enjoyment of these albums will come if you enjoy classicist pop and rock structure; done largely by one man with a studio and the appreciation for simple gestures. Also just like me, you'll rank each release based on which of your moods dominates your definition of "self". I'm not just wasting words, I think it's important to point out before I make a blanket statement like "Tomorrow Morning is not as good as End Times". Because that's not true in any sense other than I relate more to the wallowing, blurry-eyed sad sack on End Times more than this new guy with the praise in his heart over the girl with the bearded-man tattoo.

The music on Tomorrow Morning is still very good. Mostly shiny electronic lightness (as opposed to the fuzz of Hombre and acoustics of End Times.) But E's voice is just as gruff and sincere as ever. The highlight is the sexiest Eels song ever, "This Is Where It Gets Good". Romantic and builds to a classic crescendo and even sticks around past the foreplay straight into some of the good stuff.

On the other hand, there's a couple of sappy or silly inclusions. The Baptist gospel-tinged "Looking Up" - which is too obvious an expression of rebirth than is needed for this collection. Also, the closer, "Mysteries Of Life" is a prime example of why you want women to keep leaving good artists. Because when they're so satisfied that they're singing full choruses of "La la la"s- you want to smack them like a clown that is acting alone. But those are minorities. Still a great bookend and a great ending to a tragic/warm/inspiring story. (4 of 5 stars)

Ray LaMontagne - God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise

I've never been a big fan of LaMontagne. While the overall feel on the songs generally paint that gruff warmth that I can usually get behind; I've also always been distracted by Ray's voice. Girls may love it, but I find it overly breathy, contrived, unnatural and way too far up in the mix. However, all that aside, I heard a new song that I liked on the radio and just, on a whim, decided to check out the album.

For a guy who apparently got into music after hearing Stephen Stills, this is probably the most Stills-ish thing he's released. Ray adds "Pariah Dogs" as a name for his backing band on this one, certainly to drum up visions of a southern style folk rock band. And it is. The opener "Repo Man" rocks more than anything else on the record. It's more expansive in sound than his almost-alone debut. And nothing here touches upon his soul leanings that he took in follow ups.

After "Repo Man" wallows in some Grateful Dead style rave up jam, Ray kicks back and becomes a one-voiced version of CSNY. My favorite, the single, "Beg Steal Or Borrow" borrows heavily from "Old Man". Another highlight shows Ray singing about a relationship in the phase of separation and very cleverly relating it to the distance between "Rock & Roll And Radio".

And other than that, everything is a derivative of music of old. Nothing has originality, even the nuggets of creative lyrics. Which is okay. I appreciate interpreters as much as originators sometimes. And one day, Ray's going to break through with something really unique and blow everyone away. This isn't it, but it's perfect for your backyard beer-glossed bonfire. (3.5 of 5 stars)

Black Label Society - Order Of The Black

If there's one thing that Zakk Wylde will never get wrong, it's riffs. Either he was born with the genius-at-riffage gene or he has enough metal knowledge in his caché to fake it. I've seen him play, I assume the former. But it seems on this latest album, he's taking the Bad Company road. And not that anything here sounds like BadCo., it's just that I think of them as some of the mellowest, simplistic rock in the genre. It's not bad, just... typical. And if this album was a review of just riffage, BLS would be pulling a A-.

But the songs though, are not following through. All of them follow a perfect rock pattern of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus-chorus. All the lyrics paint a a broad portrait of oppression, strength, power, darkness, struggle. All without really making a point about anything. He's definitely channelling Ozzy in both songwriting and throat work.

There are three ballads on the album that are a little more lyrically realized than the rockers. But again, they suffer from songwriting redundancy. Zakk's emotional output is clear, but I've heard him be more thoughtful than this before. All of this plus an excellent 50-second acoustic solo called "Chupacabra" leave us with an album that's "good"- but nothing you'll feel enticed to spin repeatedly. (3 of 5 stars)