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indie-snob>+!#
electric version by new pornographers
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8 "The Electric Version" by the New Pornographers There are only so many pop gems released during the course of one year, and I think the New Pornographers have done a pretty damn good job of putting themselves on that list. The Vancouver band have now found themselves on the indie giant Matador. Despite their name (which I dislike strongly) that brings you many things besides music sites when googling it, the band brings a friendly sound to the stage, somehow reminiscent to the Smiths in their melancholic, ironic sense of looking at music. A band who most likely has a more popular solo singer than a band with indie vixen Neko Case, a favorite amongst all those quiet-core rockers out there, has done a good job of making a group out of themselves, instead of what seemed to be more of a collective at one time. In fact, I was surprised not to hear a lot of Neko Case on this album, besides a number of back-up vocals. The lead singer sounds far more like the lead singer of Sub Pop stars, the Shins, with a sound far more Shins-esque than anything else. Biting, infatuating melodies accompany the album, twisting and turning but never disappearing or losing themselves amongst the strumming guitars. From the opening, title track, the soaring voice of the lead singer mix with keyboards and those wondrous, melodic guitars creating a feel-good soundscapre that only true pop masters could achieve. One of the first notable tracks on the album is the catchy "The Laws Have Changed," one of the few times we hear Neko Case's voice in full during the beautiful chorus. As the vocals soar into beautiful falsetto, the flickering chords sound in the background, as we hear Case burst into her chorus one more: "Introducing for the first time / fair one of the microphone / sing all hail what will be revealed today / and appear to the great unknown / to the land of the thrown." And as soon as we think that maybe this is just good pop fun, we are reminded again of a message with "The End of Medicine." Being as ironic as possible, the pop backgrounds tell of the fast-food and drug injected society we live amongst. Somehow the sounds of this album remind me of the 80s. But then again, what doesn't these days? I tend to push this band away from the comparison that an equivalent band would normally recieve to the 80s pop gems we all knew but have now forgotten. I think the New Pornographers remind us of this with songs like "It's Only Devine Right" (wow, am I actually just listening to the Shins?) and the doop-doop-galore "Chump Change." Then again, aren't we all children of the 80s? Shouldn't we love songs like "Ballad of a Comeback Kid," one of my favorite Porno songs (I think Porno has become my new abbreviation for the New Pornographers now)? I think that we all should, with soft, sensitive lyrics, reminding us of all those 70s and 80s sitcom children who looked for comeback careers... So, if you tried to discourage my 80s comparisons, just listen to the lyrics of this song. Somehow, though, this song redeems the band in my mind, with an acoustic punk charm as they rage and rage and rage on... carefully. I deduct points off this album for sounding very repetetive, but nonetheless recommend it very highly, if you're a fan of 80s sounding indie rock. For fans of: Belle & Sebastian, the Shins, the Smiths, the Shins, Ted Leo, the Shins, Neko Case, the Shins, Beulah, Death Cab for Cutie, the Shins, or maybe even, if you're open-minded, Zwan... and, maybe, the Shins. |