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| MewithoutYou - It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s Alright! Posted: 19 May 2009 01:38 PM PDT Pennsylvania indie rockers MewithoutYou’s latest release It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s Alright! is like a Raffi for adults. Based on the teachings of Sufi leader Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, MewithoutYou present biblical tales and fables in the guise of spoken-folk tunes with catchy and repetitious choruses that make this an easy and memorable singalong. Though all the tracks are very clever presentations of well-known tales, the repetition and purposefully disharmonious notes can become a little much at times. The more standout tracks are the ones that offer a bit more variety such as “A Stick, a Carrot and a String”, which goes through the life of Jesus from his birth to his death. The three strange and seemingly unrelated objects in the song title actually serve to tie the whole song about Jesus together appearing first as gifts to the baby and then objects that are trampled in the garden of Gethsemane. Another stellar song in Troubadour fashion is the borderline lullaby tale of “The King Beetle on a Coconut Estates”. “The Fox, The Crow and the Cookie” is another excellent example of twisting a well-known story–the fable of the the fox tricking the crow into dropping cheese from the tree–into a clever song. I understand the reason of the repetition, and this album probably would not work as well as it does if it was presented in any other manner, but this band has such unique instrumental breakdowns and lyrical directions, that the repetitive, “In everywhere we look…In every blade of grass” in “Allah, Allah, Allah” just does not show the band’s true genius as say the more hidden lesson in the very Brueghelian “Goodbye, I!” Aside from this one qualm over repetition and if the mashing of a Noah and the Whale with Bob Dylan type of vocals is something you don’t mind, then this album is most definitely worth checking out. The content and musical layerings more than make up for those things anyways. It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s Alright! is available today, May 19, on Tooth and Nail Records. Tracklisting: MewithoutYou: website | myspace  It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright Price: USD 11.99 17 used & new available from USD 7.99 Related Posts |
| Keane @ DAR Constitution Hall, Washington D.C. Posted: 19 May 2009 09:16 AM PDT Cast aside any preconceived notion that Keane are merely pretenders to the piano-rock throne while Coldplay are the kings. (I guess I should note here that while Coldplay have turned out some nice tunes, I've never been as wild about them as the rest of the world seems to be. And upon further research of both bands, it's an incredible stroke of fate that Keane's main composer and lyricist Tim Rice-Oxley declined an invitation from Chris Martin himself to join Coldplay 12 years ago.) No, Keane have carved a place for themselves in popular music and can be regarded as a global phenomenon. Helping their worldwide image tremendously is a highly interactive and constantly updated Web site that includes news reports, band members' diaries and photo- and videoblogs, and other special features for their fans (most notably, they staged a live 3D webcast from Abbey Road Studios in London on the 2nd of April that got this fan excited about seeing the band live for the first time). Years ago, when "Somewhere Only We Know" became a hit on our top 40 radio stations, I gave Keane a pass. Their music was too light and wasn't punchy enough for the rocker in me. In the summer of 2008, "Spiralling," the lead single off Keane's third album, Perfect Symmetry, hit the British airwaves, and I had an epiphany. Reinventing your band's sound is not a new idea in popular music – in reality, most bands do have to evolve their sound and songs to keep up with the rest of the pack – but I was not expecting the synthpop sound of the new Keane. Given the current buzz around synth-based acts like London vocalist La Roux and New Zealand songstress Ladyhawke, it’s an extremely good time for bands to consider the humble synthesizer. And in Keane’s case, it’s not such of a stretch; main lyricist and composer Rice-Oxley (who contributes backing vocals along with playing the piano, keyboards, and bass) has been distorting the sound of his keys to create novel sounds since Keane’s first album. These sounds, paired with Tom Chaplin’s stirring vocals and Richard Hughes’s drum beat, made Perfect Symmetry one of my top albums of 2008. So the question in my mind was, could Keane translate the beauty of their recording to the live stage?  Related Posts |
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