A couple of my own tunes, "Jigsaw" and "Missed the Mark"

When I started this blog, I mentioned that I would periodically share my own music for anyone who is interested. Here are a couple songs that I have recorded recently,called "Jigsaw" and "Missed the Mark". Both will hopefully be part of an upcoming album or EP. I performed all vocals and instruments EXCEPT drums. Evan Kelley performed drums on "Jigsaw", and Dan Brogan performed drums on "Missed the Mark". These songs were recorded with a portable Tascam 8-track and a condenser microphone. Any feedback is always appreciated, so let me know what you think of these songs!

Click here to listen to "Jigsaw"
Click here to listen to "Missed the Mark"

Sufjan Stevens, "The Age of Adz"

In 2010, beloved indie-folk artist Sufjan Stevens shocked the music world by abandoning his winning combination of gentle acoustic rock and grandiose baroque-pop in favor for glitchy, experimental, and manic electronic noises. Instead of relying on the guitar and piano as songwriting tools, Sufjan used samplers, sequencers, and pedals to find new inspiration. The result was an extremely complex, ambitious, and very interesting record called The Age of Adz. Whether or not you are a fan of Sufjan's risks, one thing is for certain: This album truly doesn't sound like anything else out there. When this record was first released back in 2010, I gave it a listen. As a fan of Illinois, Sufjan's 2005 baroque/folk masterpiece that led him to indie stardom, I was very confused, overwhelmed, and ultimately disappointed when I first heard the Age of Adz. The odd song structures, the noisey instrumentals, the frequent use of harsh dissonance, and most importantly, the absence of folk influences, did absolutely nothing for me. But with the release of his brilliant and simple return to folk, Carrie & Lowell (which I blogged about here), I decided to revisit some of  Sufjan's previous work, including The Age of Adz. After really digesting a few of the album's key tracks, my view on this record changed completely. When I listened to The Age of Adz five years ago, I wrote it off simply because it was not what I had expected, and was so different from anything else I had heard before. Now, I regard this creative body-of-work as a masterpiece. While the aformationed glitchy, electronic soundscapes are prevalent throughout the whole album, Stevens's songwriting is stronger than ever. The album's second track, "Too Much", is as catchy as a straightforward pop song, but the scattering electric drums and seemingly random blips, along with an unusual time signature, make it much more compelling and unusual than the average indie pop song. But my personal favorite song on the record is the second-to-last track, "I Want to Be Well". The musical complexity and absurdly exaggerated frenzy of computer-generated noise, complete with periodic splashes of dissonant horns and female background vocals, is impossible to comprehend upon first listen. But once the song builds-up and the hook reveals itself three minutes into the song, you eventually realize that you are simply listening to an emotionally compelling, futuristic pop song. Although it was only released five years ago, I strongly believe that The Age of Adz is ahead of its time. I can already hear the glitch-y elements of these songs making their way into today's mainstream alternative music scene, as well as in house and trap music. In many ways, I would liken this album to the Beach Boys 1966 classic album, Pet Sounds. Both are pop albums at their core, but bring in many new and creative compositional elements to the table. They both experiment with instruments in new ways, tinker with song structure, divulge into very personal and introspective lyrical territory (something both Sufjan and Brian Wilson tended to avoid before these respective albums), and overall sound much more similar to music that came out in the years following their releases, and not like anything else from the time they were released. Revisiting The Age of Adz was an extremely rewarding experience for me. I hope that as time passes, this album will gain the critical acclaim that it deserves, much like Pet Sounds did. The Age of Adz is a truly creative album that is hard to digest after one listen, but is very satisfying after many.



          

Stream the entire album for free here!
Click here to watch Sufjan's 2010 performance of "Too Much" on Jimmy Fallon

Sufjan Stevens, "Carrie & Lowell"

March 2015 has got to be one of the most exciting months for new music in a long time. The first new Modest Mouse record in eight years, Kendrick Lamar's follow-up to his instant classic breakthrough, Earl Sweatshirt's darkly mysterious sophomore record, and then there's Sufjan Steven's first new album in five years, Carrie & Lowell , which has been described as a "back-to-roots folk" album by Sufjan himself. Indie-folk fans, rejoice. For those who hated the electronic experimentation and overwhelming musical complexity of Sufjan's last record, The Age of Adz, Carrie & Lowell is sonically the opposite of that record. Sufjan has abandoned the abrasive and challenging loudness in favor of extremely simple, sparse, percussion-less, acoustic sounds that many fans will compare to his debut record Seven Swans. But just like every other Sufjan record, Carrie & Lowell has its own unique identity. Never has a Sufjan Stevens record been so consistently depressing, and the album's backstory may help you understand why. The album is named after his mother, who died of cancer in 2012, and his stepfather. Stevens revealed in a recent interview with Pitchfork that he did not have a close relationship with his mother, who suffered from alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental illness. This lack of a real relationship weighed heavy on Sufjan's conscience after his mother's death, and he began engaging in the same reckless behavior that his mother succumbed to (most likely drugs and alcohol). This admission is particularly surprising, since it is well-documented that Stevens is a Christian, and he has always kept a more-or-less "clean" image. But I applaud Sufjan for not hiding his pain, and instead embracing it despite what others may think. Some fans will be surprised to hear Sufjan mournfully croon about "getting drunk to get laid" on standout track "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross", but these are the words of an artist reflecting on his own personal experiences. But Sufjan does cry out to Jesus in the keyboard ballad "John, My Beloved", which is perhaps the one moment of hope on the album. The "black shroud" he repeatedly references in the single "Should've Known Better" seems to cover the entire album, especially in the ambient outros that connect many of the tracks together. If you do not enjoy sad music, then steer clear of this album. There is no trace of the grandiose, brass-infused tracks found on his magnum-opus Illinois which gained Stevens his cult-like following, nor is there anything remotely similar to the upbeat energy or progressive exploration from The Age of Adz, as previously stated. But if you enjoy simple, heartfelt, and emotionally intense music that urges you to sympathize with the narrator while also critically reflecting on your own life, then this is the Sufjan Stevens record you have been waiting for.







Click here to read Sufjan's emotional interview with Pitchfork
Click here to listen to "Should Have Known Better"
Click here to listen to "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross"

Modest Mouse, "Strangers to Ourselves"

It's finally here. After eight long years, Modest Mouse have finally returned with their sixth album, titled Strangers to Ourselves. I previously shared about my love for this band and my excitement for their long-awaited new record in my post about the single "Coyotes". This single gave me hope that Modest Mouse would reutilize some of the elements of their earlier music that I emotionally connect to most (introspective lyrics, songs that build-up, bending guitars, etc.) that they had strayed away from on their last couple records. And I am pleased to say that there are a handful of tracks on Strangers to Ourselves that are reminiscent of their earlier material and contain these elements that originally made me fall in love with Modest Mouse. From beginning to end, this is an emotionally gripping record in true Modest Mouse fashion. Besides "Coyotes", the opening and closing tracks titled "Strangers to Ourselves" and "Of Course We Know", are two of the most moving and profound 'ballads' that the band has ever produced. "Strangers" is musically subdued and lyrically poetic, while "Of Course We Know" is reminiscent of a Grizzly Bear song musically with it's reverb-heavy guitars and piano, but the lyrics are an unmistakable Isaac Brock rant. The rest of the songs in between these two beautifully simple bookends cover many different soundscapes, but stick to the lyrical theme of the album's title. For me, the highlights of the album are the tracks that showcase reverb-heavy production and Isaac's distinct guitar playing. Aside from the three tracks already mentioned, this includes "Pups to Dust" and "The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box". The first 30 seconds of "Pups" are incredibly reminiscent of the band's early work, and perhaps is my favorite moment on the record if only for the sheer nostalgia it generates. The entire song is fascinating, with signature Brock lyrics that question existence (my favorites being "the way we feel about what we do is by who has watched", and "we don't belong here, we were just born here"). Complete with a "trippy" outro that sounds similar to my personal favorite Mouse record, The Moon and Antarctica, this song personally blew me away. "The Ground Walks" also excited me upon first listen. It's very dancey, which is a characteristic of their more recent material, but also contains some awesome guitar leads by Brock that sound like they could be from their first record. The combination of old and new sounds on this track creates a perfect balance that they had not quite achieved until now. There are a couple songs on this record, however, that prevent this album from being as cohesive as their previous efforts in sound and quality. One of these tracks, "Pistol", is an experimental electronic number that features primarily drum machines and synths, and Brock shouting absurd innuendos from the perspective of a serial killer complete with creepy vocal distortion. While I applaud the band for creating a song that sounds absolutely nothing like any of their previous material, this song sticks out like a sore thumb, and in my opinion, is horrifying (and certainly not pleasant) to listen to. "Sugar Boats", while not a terrible song, sounds like a retread compared to the rest of the record. The tacky piano and the Tom Waits-esque chord progression also makes this track sound entirely different from the rest of the record (and extremely similar to their last two records). By simply removing this track from the album, the overall cohesion of the record would improve immensely. However, this record is a huge improvement over their last record. Strangers to Ourselves, for the most part, marks a return to introspective lyrics and emotional music for Modest Mouse. Fans of their earlier work may be disappointed to hear that this is their most heavily produced record to date. There is much more layering and sound effects than even their previous major label albums had. But the songwriting and music more than makes up for the lack of raw production in my opinion. In the end, I am very satisfied that my favorite band is finally back with a record full of great songs with an outpouring of emotion, because only Modest Mouse can make me feel so strongly through music.





Click here to listen to "The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box"
Click here to listen to "Of Course We Know"