Super Furry Animals got Teeth …

superfurry.com

Ok – so let’s start with the name… “Super Furry Animals”  How great is that! For me that’s right up there with other great band names like “Gay Wookie” (a friend of mine came up with that years ago and it has since remained in my top 5 all time favorite band names.)

Now on to the album – “Songbook Vol. 1” to be specific, created by “Super Furry” a.k.a “The Furries” a.k.a “SFA” was released on 1/25/2005. The band has been around since 1993 and has a record catalog of some 12’ish albums and has a serious cult following. I chose Songbook Vol. 1 as my jumping off point into SFA land for no good reason – but I’m damn glad I did.

There is absolutely no shortage of musical influences on this album. I mean you can find everything on here. Psychedelic, Hippie-rock, Techno, House, Folk, Classic-rock,  Jazz, Pop, Power-Pop, Brit-Pop, New-wave, Punk, Funk, and everything in between. And that’s not just across the whole of the album – that might just be in one song! Now that may sound frightening – and to be honest at first listen it can be. However, once you surrender yourself to what SFA is trying to do, what they’re trying to say, and the massive challenge of blending all these styles and influences, you find yourself almost rooting for them to succeed.

Let’s face it – it is not easy to bring all these styles together into something that someone would want to listen to – let alone enjoy. But somehow they do it.  They really do. And listening to them actually pull it off just makes you happy. There is a lot of ground being covered by this band, and a lot of it is covered with Seussian trees, multi-colored waterfalls, and rivers of mathmos. Still scared? Maybe you should be, but you should also give it a listen. It may not be for you, but you’ve just gotta respect the effort.

If I had to sum up the whole experience, I’d have to say it’s kinda like ‘Three Dog Night’ threw a house party, invited ‘Steriolab’ and ‘The Chemical Brothers’, and they all dropped some acid and spent the evening listening to the Jesus Christ Superstar Soundtrack while writing a new album. Now how intrigued are you…

Suffering From a Case of The Weepies

 Check ‘em out – official site – mySpace – amazon

While I really like to focus on true indie or less well known acts, I recently came across the latest release from a fairly well known duo called The Weepies and just felt compelled to write about it…

This album sees harmonies that reminisce of Simon and Garfunkel, The Mamas and the Papas, and the more laid-back sounds of the 60’s and 70’s combined with arrangements seemingly inspired by more modern influences like Aimee Mann or Shawn Colvin. This marriage of old and new crafts the tremendously strong but wonderfully quiet foundation of The Weepies’ sound. 

Looking at a picture of the duo of Deb Talan and Steve Tannen will remind anyone who’s seen the movie “once “ of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (and by the way, if you haven’t seen “once” you should.) But don’t be confused, while Glen and Markéta have a their own beautiful sound, The Weepies’ vocals stand alone as an amazing example of symmetry and completeness.  In fact, I have to bring up groups like Simon and Garfunkel when searching for a good example of the pure complementary nature of The Weepies vocals.

Anchoring the outstanding medlodies and harmonies is some solid writing. They don’t call themselves The Weepies for nothing… Some of the subject matter is hardly what someone would call upbeat, but regardless of happiness quotient, each track on “Hideaway” is highly crafted. You can feel the writer’s attention to each syllable, and every song seems to hit some chord of truth in the listener.

While the entire album is well done, high points include:

“All Good Things”

“Antarctica”

“Not Dead Yet”

“Can’t Go Back Now”

“Hideaway”

If you’re looking for something low-key to poppy and good for a contemplative summer night you should go grab this one. Grab some wine, sit on the porch and check out The Weepies.

 

The Forms – Get on Board Before They Leave Without You

The short review… Go buy this album before they go big and you can’t get any credit for the discovery. This album is good – and as these guys really start refining their style – the next  one is only going to be better.

  - Check out “The Forms” on MySpace -

Stand-out tracks: 

1. “Bones” – Fantastic Tune!! Can’t say enough about it. Best track on the album and I never get tired of it.
2. “Oberlin” – Has top 40 written all over it.
3. “Transmission” – an excellent example of The Forms’ talent for overlaying and mixing harmonies and textural elements to create a wave that just carries you along. The best part is, you never stop to think about where you’re going, you just enjoy the ride.

The longer form… Are you bored with the typical 4/4 time signature? Do you like the simple elegance and general vibe of Coldplay but wish Chris Martin had more balls? Do you enjoy complex rhythmic harmonies that take you on an almost rapturous journey? Then you need to check out “The Forms.”

Woven vocal melodies, synthesized atmospherics, driving piano and the occasional dirty guitar all punched with an almost tantric rhythm section, The Forms craft a unique and surprisingly purposeful sound.

I’ve been killing myself trying to come up with a creative way to describe this very atmospheric yet decidedly indie-rock based sound and the best I can come up with is – it almost feels like a 30 minute ride on a huge velvet tapestry. (An admittedly hokie description perhaps – but also true.) The Forms sound is warm and inviting; truly comfortable and oddly transportive.

My only cautionary words about this album would be – slightly repetitive. While The Forms are definitely doing interesting things with rhythm, and even more with vocals and harmony, some of their same techniques appear again and again from track to track. This leads to a similarity that might even cause you to periodically ask yourself, “haven’t I heard this song before? …No.” You’ll quickly reply to yourself and continue enjoying the music.

It’s certainly not bad enough for me to recommend against the album – more a cautionary word for the band. These guys are quite talented and have a significant future in front of them – in fact, I’m surprised they haven’t already gained significant main-stream success.

Go get the album and get in on the ground floor before these guys hit the big time and you’re just another wanna-be trying to get on the band wagon!