Coldplay offer up new album details

Maybe you were looking forward to it, and maybe you weren't. Either way, the fact that it's going to sell about a million copies makes it newsworthy, I guess. The British alt/soft-rock giants are releasing another album, as previously reported here, only now it has two potential, more-than-working titles. Get ready for these:

Either Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.

Okay then....so anyway. There is no tracklist to speak of just yet. All we know is that Brian Eno is behind the boards on this one, and that the band wants to keep it short: 9 tracks (apparently they will trim down the 13 songs we have heard mentioned by name) that will clock in a little over 40 minutes. And apparently, the Latin influence goes further than just the title - whether that's a good thing remains to be seen; they say it's subtly executed. Hmm. It seems like Coldplay understand the error of their last efforts ways, as they made it a point to say on their website that "the music...has integrity. It's real and honest. There's no posturing or bombast."

Record Review: Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

Rating: 4.9 / 10.0

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

I got really excited a few weeks ago when I heard "Run (I'm A Natural Disaster)" the lead single from Gnarls Barkley's sophomore effort The Odd Couple. I remember thinking that if that song was in any way a portent of what was to come on the record, then Gnarls Barkley would succeed in proving that they had more than just a novelty. What made that song, and St. Elsewhere for that matter, so great were the adventurous arrangements. They got your ears working and kept your foot tapping, brilliantly walking the line between catchy and edgy. The sound "Run" had was thick, with a multi-layered mix supported by a strong beat.

The Odd Couple is neither as catchy nor as edgy as is predecessor or its lead single. Very few of the songs on this record have the sort of get-up=and-go that was found on every track of St. Elsewhere. While I was never bored listening to Gnarls's debut, I found myself waiting for a lot of the songs on The Odd Couple to end.

Some songs are flat out boring ("Who's Gonna Save My Soul"), some songs have atrocious beats (try tapping your feet to "Open Book"), and others have weak or weird arrangements ("Would Be Killer"). Cee-Lo puts forth another exceptional vocal performance (with the exception of his grating, nasal, frankly godawful performance on "Whatever"); he's probably the strongest suit on this record. He picks up the slack created by the weak production as best he can, but often times, his vocals are left to fend from themselves in the midst of a mix that is sometimes too cluttered and sometimes too bare.

The songwriting suffers considerably on this effort too. St. Elsewhere was full of unforgettable vocal hooks and stunning harmonies. The same cannot be said of The Odd Couple. On "No Time Soon", Danger Mouse tries to throw laser noises and a weak lead guitar line into the mix to cover up a song that is without a hook or a beat to latch onto. "Blind Mary" is another example of a song that sounds like the product of laziness - the harmonies are few and uninspiring, and there is no real melodic arc to speak of.

Don't get me wrong, this record is not a total disaster. "Going On" is a great track, probably a standout. Here, the familiar thickness in Gnarls's sound comes through in spades, with a simple but catchy beat anchoring down an arrangement with all the swells, ebbs, and flows, that made "Crazy" so compelling. "Surprise" is another good tune - with a sparse, guitar-based verse leading into a wonderful, hand-clapping, harmony-laden chorus. "Neighbour" isn't bad either, with a warm, full, attention-grabbing arrangement, and a vocal performance from Cee-Lo that will give you shivers.

The feeling I get here is that the record was rushed (ironic that the release date was pushed up). It doesn't feel as well thought-out as St. Elsewhere, in fact, it makes many of the mistakes that St. Elsewhere so skillfully and surprisingly avoided. The quality of the record is derived from one member (which makes the album's title ironic; God, these guys just love the unintentional, unfortunate, and borderline infuriating twists of irony, don't they?). I guess you could say that The Odd Couple is what St. Elsewhere should have been: a cut-corners, hit-and-miss effort, a couple of singles with lots of filler. If I had never heard St. Elsewhere, I might have liked The Odd Couple more. I mean, maybe.

-PTC

Track Review: Death Cab for Cutie - "I Will Possess Your Heart"

You may not believe it, but this is to be the lead single off of Death Stairs' forthcoming Narrow Cab LP. Or whatever. After about a three minute, ultra-lame jam with DCfC's equally lame rhythm section and piano with a surprisingly pleasant tone, B Gib's familiar yawn comes in. The lyrics are pretty typical Gibbard. The details are cutesy, with the occasional odd choice of diction ("possess your heart", really?). He's actually doing some kind interesting stuff vocally, here, which is a nice improvement. The arrangement probably harms this otherwise innocuous song the most, probably. Any time a new section began or a new instrument enters, the transition is botched. After the aforementioned three minute jam, Gibbard comes in sounding off-beat. The bridge just sort of appears and drum tracks switch on and off mechanically. Maybe Chris Walla thinks he's being avant-garde? It's not even crappy-catchy like their last two albums, where a thousand radio plays could eventually get you to tap your foot and nod along all consumer sheep-like. I don't see anyone liking this song much at any point.

1.9/5.0

If you like, you can stream at their Myspace, too.

myspace.com/deathcabforcutie

-RJR

Consolers of the Lonely tracklist revealed

On the heels of their announcement that their sophomore album Consolers of the Lonely will be released on March 25, The Raconteurs have announced the tracklist:

1. Consoler of the Lonely
2. Salute Your Solution
3. You Don't Understand Me
4. Old Enough
5. The Switch and the Spur
6. Hold Up
7. Top Yourself
8. Many Shades of Black
9. Five on the Five
10. Attention
11. Pull this Blanket Off
12. Rich Kid Blues
13. These Stones Will Shout
14. Carolina Drama

They'll also tour soon, making their way to the Bay Area on April 23 right before their April 25 appearance at Coachella.

Record Review: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Rating: 7.4 / 10.0

Folk is a tough genre. It takes quite a bit of moxie to presume that you can sit down and record a great album with little more than an acoustic guitar and your pipes. It takes an equal (or greater) amount of talent and skill to make good on that presumption. That's why a lot of the best folk acts out there - Okkervil River and Sufjan Stevens spring to mind - are not really folk acts, strictly speaking. Will Sheff and co. inject their folk with a healthy dose of good, old fashioned rock and roll (especially on their last album, 2007's brilliant The Stage Names), and the veritable orchestra that you'll find traveling with Sufjan hardly fits the folk mould. We don't need to dig too deep to find artists that have fallen flat trying to emulate Nick Drake. Look no further than Alexi Murdoch, a talented fingerpicker with a knack for songwriting who produced one of the most boring albums of 2006 simply due to a dogmatic adherence to simplicity.

I don't know if anyone has what it takes to pull of the pure folk thing anymore. I don't want to sound like a prophet of doom, but we don't have a modern day Johnny Cash. We don't have an heir apparent to Nick Drake or to James Taylor or to Cat Stevens. These were giants of folk music in the traditional sense whose work has not, in my experience, ever been imitated convincingly. Rather, they lay the foundation for an evolution of folk music that has been successful, one that incorporated it into the indie mindset that many songwriters espouse. Attempts at "pure" folk in the vein of the late greats, however, are rarely particularly successful.

So on his debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver is taking a risk. Vernon tries to keep it purely folk. The mix is spare; with little more than acoustic gutiar and bass drum to compliment the vocals. For the most part, this record is a guy with a guitar and a great voice.

But what a voice. I'm inclined to say that few artists - let alone folk artists - have voices with such versatility. On "Flume", he manages to evoke the shrill pain of a Spencer Krug, while on "Skinny Love", he channels the soul of Tunde Adebimpe. And on "Creature Fear", his voice is all Vernon's, soft, soulful, weaving meandering melodies that swirl between deep croons and soaring (but never grating) falsettos.

The versatility of his voice, however, fails to make up for the sameness of the arrangements. In fact, the dynamic character of Vernon’s voice isn’t well suited to the sort of arrangements he presents on this record. There is a disconnect between his distinctive voice and the vanilla arrangements, such that it detracts from the overall quality of the album. The first seven tracks sound more or less like one long track. "For Emma" is a bit more upbeat, with splashes of horns to compliment the vocals and guitar. Sadly, the melody on this track is the weakest one on the whole record. It makes me wonder why Vernon didn't approach every other song that way - the songs with stronger melodies and lusher harmonies could have benefitted from such strokes of instrumental creativity.

I don't think I could say it enough that I cannot get enough of Vernon's voice. But ultimately, this is a record that doesn't know when it's appropriate to pull out the bells and whistles. It is restrained to the point of sounding self-conscious, timid to a fault. Vernon’s next release would do well to be a sight more ostentatious.

-PTC

Gnarls can't keep it in

In a week where bands can't seem to wait to get their new material out there, Gnarls Barkley announced today that their new album, the follow up to 2006's St. Elsewhere would be released March 18th...which is today. However, it's only available in digital stores as of now. If you want The Odd Couple on CD or LP (remember those?), you'll have to wait another week, as it won't hit the actual stores with people inside until March 25th. Of course, a review of this album will follow shortly here on NLtS. Stay tuned.

Trent Reznor has some choice words for Yorke and Co.

Wait, Trent Reznor is being some combination of elitist and controversial? Get out of town. In a recent interview with the Australia Broadcasting Corporation, the brains behind Nine Inch Nails said that Radiohead's recent pay-what-you-want deal with their latest and brilliant album In Rainbows was just a ploy to get people “to pay for a MySpace quality stream as a way to promote a very traditional record sale…" He went on to say "I don’t see that as a big revolution they’re kind of getting credit for.”

Aw, hey, it's okay, Trent. We all know you hate the music industry too. Anyway, both NIN and Radiohead will headline Lollapalooza in Grant Park later this year. Maybe they'll fight!

New Raconteurs album next week

It was recently reported by many of the major news outlets, including NLtS, that The Raconteurs had nearly finished recording their sophomore album (which, by the way, is called Consolers of the Lonely). This was true. However, while that led many to speculate that the release of that record would be sometime this summer, the band had other plans. After blitzing through post-production, they announced that the album would be available for purchase in all formats on March 25. Look for a review here shortly thereafter.

They recommend listening to the album on vinyl. As if.

Track Review: Black '47: "Stars and Stripes"

Rating: 0.0 / 5.0

This is the most generous rating in the history of this blog.

-PTC

Record Review: Muse - HAARP: Live From Wembley Stadium

Recorded June 16, 2007, the HAARP CD is Muse's second live album. Anyone that listened to 2002's Hullabaloo was likely underwhelmed. Though it had that jaw-dropping Tom Waits intro, it ran somewhat short at 11 tracks and included lame b-sides "Agitated" and "In Your World". Having released two hugely successful albums since then, the Muse catalogue and live show have become legendary. I, for one, have seen them four times. It was high time their show was captured again.

After a fairly lame string intro, Muse follow Black Holes and Revelations tour orthodoxy and launch into the Guitar Hero wankery that is "Knights of Cydonia". They end, of course, with the stillborn "Take A Bow". In between, they do a pleasant range of songs from Origin of Symmetry, Absolution, and Black Holes and even include "Unintended" from debut Showbiz. It is well that they recorded a British show (with 90,000 close friends in attendance) as they tended to skimp on material pre-Absolution and a slow song like "Unintended" would be unheard of.

Their live reputation is well-served here, with every song played with ecstatic gusto. "New Born" and "Stockholm Syndrome" are quite unique live, taking on extended guitar solos, stretching out even longer than "Knights of Cydonia". Don't miss the end of "Knights" careening right into the hammer-on bass riff of "Hysteria". The presentation is way over the top and Muse are a spectacle not to be missed.

The source material has gotten decidedly weaker since Hullabaloo, with concise riff-based songs like "Plug In Baby" and "Citizen Erased" giving way to the synth- and pedal-laden radio singles "Knights of Cydonia" and "Invincible". As Matt Bellamy pushes farther off into bizarre keyboard sounds and wild guitar effects, his songwriting becomes increasingly mundane, with spacey verses giving way to familiar chorus hooks. While clearly an affinity for the Tom Morello and Kurt Cobain riffs still exists (not to mention Bach and Rachmaninoff), Muse are increasingly becoming a caricature of themselves, with 70s corporate rock songwriting hidden just beneath the web of conspiracies and UFOs.

Still, "Supermassive Black Hole" may have just breathed some creative life back into the band, where they take on Prince-like slinkyness and let dancing replace moshing. Will they continue to evolve into a dance/glam act, reclaim their roots, or just careen off into Foreigner territory? This fantastic live set could be their zenith. If so, let us revel.

7.9/10.0

-RJR