The New Pornographers - Together (2010)

You all have just witnessed history. I just snatched a copy of The New Pornographer's latest release Together and within 20 minutes was hooked by the first 3 songs I decided there was no better opportunity than the present to sit down and write a review. Before I get started I'd like to say that I usually sit down to write after I've gotten to know an album, after it's been on a I-pod loop played to and from campus and my once a week internship-bound drives to Atlanta, so in advance I would like to say that I hope my writing doesn't come off rushed, naive or overly optimistic. Perhaps one day in the future, post my June 26th (first) New Pornographers concert...I will return pen to pad to delve deeper and more analytically into each song.

As a side note, since the album still hasn't "officially" debuted, there are no YouTube videos for me to hyperlink. Luckily, you can check out the entire album at NPR music.

The following are first impressions on first listenings:

Let's start from the place where most things do: the very beginning and Together's opening triad "Move", "The Crash Years", and "Your Hands Together". The epithet Power Pop which has been branded on the Canadian music group never sounded more accurate. When listening to it at full volume you can't help but to be washed over and quite frankly impressed by the cohesiveness of such an unquantifiable amount of sounds: cello, electric guitar, tambourines, keyboards, drums, violins and vocals in "Move" echoing "these things get louder" which is precisely what is happening melodically. The album was definitely front loaded, with weaker tracks sandwiched in the middle;"Silver Jenny Dollar" leading the pack. Perhaps, the trend of songs that just don't reach their full potential reside with the Dan Bejar set. Nevertheless, the album exits on a high note with "We End Up Together". Is the title a promise to fans promising future collaborations especially with the presence of Case and Bejar whose participation is always a shot in the dark? I hope so.

1/42k10Playlist + Fang Island

First let me begin by offering my apologies, even though what follows seems to be more of an excuse. Simply put at times life tends to take the reigns and just doesn't let up. What I've missed out on was the opportunity to review a massive catalog of artists and albums released in the first quarter of 2010. With each new album release, I kept sinking further and further in the proverbial quicksand and repeating the following Elena Logic: "Well, I can't review y album, until I review x album, and so on and so forth, etc., etc., yada yada, ad naseum". So here I stand, on the verge of May with my last entry in January. Shameful.

Then it struck me (visualize mighty Zeus or Thor...whichever mythological lightening/thunder wielding god you prefer slinging a perfectly timed epiphany). Why not create a play list comprised of the year's most noteworthy releases? Check.

Moving on to a dilemma of sorts: to review artists/songs chronologically or to review them as inspiration strikes? Check two: I'm siding with the more whimsical of the two.

What about all those songs that I've had stuck on repeat that weren't released in the past few months? What then? Disregard them entirely? Check three: Nope. I'll send those your way as well.

So without much further hooplah I introduce what shall be known as 1/42k10Playlist.

The first feature artist since my hiatus: Fang Island

To be perfectly honest I am surprised to present this artist as my initial just out of hibernation blog entry. Rewind to early April and my first two-word impression of Brooklyn band Fang Island's self-titled debut album: lukewarm hesitation. Working against them was their lack of lyrics (it's mainly instrumental) post-punk, heavy rock tendency which is not my personal go to music style of choice. Nevertheless, I was intrigued and decided rather than diving at once into the 10 track album, baby steps would be necessary to achieve aural acclimation.

Here are my findings: Fang Island, especially in the standout tracks "Life Coach" and "Daisy", is a straight of the gates band who have no qualms about slapping you across the face with crescendoing hardcore guitar riffs, dizzying synthesizer solos in the pinnacle of a song's intensity, and well placed echo-melodic vocals. Their songs are anthemic in nature recalling long gone 80s arena glam rock with the band itself describing their music as "everyone high-fiving everyone". If you aren't convinced by my review I invite you to watch their music videos. If the music alone doesn't do it, their creative and entertaining visual flair most definitely will.