The Berkeley Beacon

Issue date: 12/11/08 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Media Credit: courtesy of community.sparknotes.com Vampire Weekend unsuccessfully tries to go green.

Media Credit: courtesy of shepizzle.com Bon Iver thinks about his lost love.

1. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

It's a bit uncertain exactly what Vampire Weekend was aiming for when the boys from New York wrote and recorded their self-titled debut album. The song "Mansard Roof" sounds like a mix between The Beach Boys and The Monkees, while "M79" has not only a small orchestra of strings and woodwind instruments, but also island-like guitar sounds and tribal chanting. Whatever it is, it works in a wacky, tripped-out way. Cryptic lyrics and odd beats, including some techno blended in, might sound like an unlikely mix of elements, but their compilation of quirky sounds just fits with their quirky name.


2. Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul

Noel and Liam Gallagher are back with the rest of Oasis to present their latest studio effort, Dig Out Your Soul. The Gallagher brothers are not only famous for their poetic lyrics and radio hits; they are infamous for their violent behavior and hatred toward the world and toward each other.

Physical fights, one involving a cricket bat, numerous arrests and assault charges are all part of the Gallagher boys' legacy. But all of this angst and pent-up aggression must give them plenty to work with because Dig Out Your Soul is just as good as 1995's (What's the Story) Morning Glory? and 1998's Be Here Now.

The first single off the album, "I'm Outta Time," is classic Oasis: moody, melodious and full of a mysterious lyrics. "Waiting for the Rapture," shows the anger that most times the Gallagher boys only display outside the studio. Violent guitars and heavy drum beats offset an echoing voice, giving listeners a feeling of unease. But the big question: will it provide another song as popular as "Champagne Supernova" or "Wonderwall"?


3. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely

Jack White is a god when it comes to fusing musical styles together and creating his own brand of warped rock and roll. And he's done it again with Consolers of the Lonely along with his fellow Raconteurs, Jack Lawrence, Brendan Benson and Patrick Keeler.

While The White Stripes, Jack White's band with ex-wife Meg White, sounds more polished, The Raconteurs sometimes sound like four guys getting together to jam, as proven on the chaotic, guitar-driven "Hold Up." But then there is a full trumpet section along with roaring guitars to open "Many Shades of Black," probably the most creative track on the album.

There is no low point in Consolers. The follow-up to the band's wildly successful first album, Broken Boy Soldiers, this sophomore effort is chock-full of quirky beats, great lyrics and unique tunes. -KA



1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Here's the schtick, just to get it out of the way: This album was made by one man, Justin Vernon, after he had spent three months in a Minnesota cabin in isolation. Yes, he recorded all of the instruments and dozens of layers of vocal harmonies by himself. Yes, he had just been dumped by his girlfriend of many years and, yes, you can tell.

But what's important is that none of this matters.

In an era in which reviewers believe it simply isn't good enough for musicians to simply make good music anymore, where there has to be some overarching thematic handicap that grips us all, Bon Iver has accidentally catered to this. He originally pitched the nine-song gloomfest to record labels as a series of demos that needed work but had promise. With no one to show it to, Vernon didn't know he'd made something close to perfect by himself.

But For Emma, Forever Ago is beautiful and sonorous and as near-perfect as an album is going to get in 2008, whether it was made by one person in sadness or 20 people trying to fake it. Don't let the backstory slow you to a listen of this album. It is dazzling and it will break your heart.


2. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Remember the Beatles, before they were too high to have shame, when they used to insinuate sexual references and this worked as a chorus? (They were so cute then, what without all the embarrassing protest sex-ins and the even-more embarrassing Starbucks solo albums!)

And that's what Vampire Weekend is now, sporting this "all you need is hooks" attitude over some samba-ish grooves. Enjoy them now, before the overtly sexual "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" is in the trailer for an Apple product you cannot afford or a teen sex comedy you will never see. The joke will be on the teen sex comedy, of course: "Cape Cod" is preceded on the album by "Mansard Roof," about a minor English-Argentinian Naval conflict in 1982-a flatly cool thing to write a song about-whereas American Pie was preceded by years of real-life frat torture and ruthless sexual self-doubt.


3. A.A. Bondy - American Hearts

American Hearts is less an album and more a conversation with a guy with whom you would never otherwise have a conversation.

He is at a bar in this album, or at least this is what the clinky, muffled production makes it seem, and he's drinking something so strong that it smells like a mix of fire and what murder would smell like if murder had a smell. You're traveling through the South, he has lived and will live in this small town forever, drunk, so he will menacingly keep you within arms reach to tell you uncomfortable or strangely charming stories all night.

Here's some of that unreasoned political fervor that made you want to tour the South from the get-go: "If your God makes war/he's no God I know/because Christ would never send boys to die." Here's an unwanted proposal for lifetime penpalship: "The bar room is filled with the joy of making old friends." And here's a blatant bartender cutoff request, destined for an Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet: "Sweet sweet whiskey...if you were to fill the ocean/I would drink it dry." (So A.A. is just a nickname, then?)

By the end of American Hearts, you're pretty firmly set in that barstool, and the album saves you the convenience of your storyteller being a great distance away, so you don't have to deal with him throwing up all over your travel Tevas or prevent him from trying to get in a fight with your car. -BC

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools