Beck - "Chemtrails"
Perhaps I'm not as well-versed with the Beck oeuvre as I'd like, but this seems extremely left-field , even for him. Like The Killers-doing-Americana left-field. Not to imply that the strongest contender for most awesome Scientologist is in over his head. Beck lays an acid-laced bombshell with this new single, producer Danger Mouse etherealising the vocals to the point of nigh unrecognisability and myriad Wall of Sound instrumentation drifting along with them. It changes gears dynamically from poignant to groovy with a (too harsh) drum fill and outros with a stylish guitar break that ends mid-riff.
There was a long road back to be taken from Guero and The Information, but with a little help fromo "it" guy Danger Mouse, Beck may just pull it off. Look for a full LP in the near future and of course, his slot just prior to Radiohead at Outside Lands.
4.8/5.0
The Hold Steady - "Sequestered in Memphis"
Twin Cities via Big Apple rockers The Hold Steady are poised to drop Stay Positive, their fourth album chronicling Holly, Charlemagne, and sundry other drifters' stabs at drunken profundity. Lyricist Craig Finn has had each album orbit a central theme, if not quite a grand "concept": Boys and Girls in America told love stories and made the band's Beat influences explicit.
"Sequestered" gives little hint where the album as a whole might be headed, except to reassure diehards that the THS formula writ large will remain unchanged. In terms of groups with a narrowly defined sound, unlike the broad brush of say, Radiohead; The Hold Steady are possibly the best band in the world today. The band's schtick, basically unchanged from the first moments of "Positive Jam" in 2004, is laid on thick this time 'round: mile-high riffs from Tad Kubler, Franz Nicolay pounding on piano and organ, sing-along background vocals, saxophone, rough vocals from Finn (despite rumoured voice lessons taken for the Album Four sessions). "Sequestered" falls into The Hold Steady catalog somewhere around "Massive Nights" from BaGiA; catchy, certainly good, but not brave.
The band's straight-ahead rock sound works because it's backed with Finn's vivid songwriting, rather than bravado and posturing like most of the Seventies music it apes, but even the greats aren't great forever. Kerouac died too young to see the revolution he and Ginsberg started decay into corporate decadence. After five albums from the same central players (counting the two Lifter Puller records) and a movement to emo/pop-punk haven Vagrant, do Finn and Kubler face a similar future? Track placement will likely make or break this new record. If this first single is a centrepiece, I can't picture the album flooring me like every time I put any other Hold Steady or Lifter Puller long player. More likely, it will sneak on as a back-ender, keeping up the energy between acoustic songs or some such.
Reality check: this is still The Hold Steady.
4.2/5.0
-RJR
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