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I planned to come out of the gate with Björk's Vulnicura. This would have been a fine pick — for the depths of darkest winter, when we're all sipping full-bodied red wine and eating potatoes roasted in duck fat. But spring will soon be here. It's time to be happy or at least be uplifted by thoughts of what it will be like to again walk around without a coat, a sweat, a muff, a pair of mittens, and boots.
Here I've posted Courtney Barnett, the sharpest debut of 2015 (yes, it's only April) and her latest, "Sometimes I Sit." I'm through a few listens and the best description I can think of is this: this album answers the question "suppose Sheryl Crow released 'All I Want to Do' then got into Pavement, Grunge, and Australia."
There are good tracks here. She's a good talent. There's a fair amount of stereo gum that will serve one well come spring and summer. There's also filler sprinkled amongst the oft-soft-after killer.
See for yourself here: https://app.box.com/s/z5cga3nnuezy17rsgzuu9mxpfeeaf9i4
A quick note on me: I'm Thaddeus. Raman asked me to come on board. We live near each other up on the Hudson. We both tend to do digital things for work. Pardon the late post. I will try to be better about this.
She's playing at The Hi-Fi in West End (Brisbane) on 9th May...
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first off, i'm a fan of the title. not quite slacker. not quite zen:
ReplyDelete"Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit"
this album had a a Ryan Adams / Raconteurs / Breeders quality to it - which is a good...nay, great thing, in my book. the riffs and backbeat have a way of making it into the back of your head, where you find yourself humming along to it when you're not even listening. Forget Sheryl Crow, I wonder if anyone's mad the Pixies comparison. Bc she's "Cool as Kim Deal" (that's an awesome Dandy Warhol's song (btw)
but what held me back from loving this album was Barnett's accent being too apparent in the music. while i usually enjoy the foreign accents in speech (i'm biased to hearing an indian accent and just assuming you're smarter than me), it somehow bugs me when it comes out too much in music. i'm not opposed to talking some rather than singing, but it evokes images of "poetry slams" or "spoken word" (which was hilarious in "So I Married an Axe Murderer" and inspirational on NPR's "the Moth"). i just don't want too much accent in my music, and i don't want to care about the singer's nationality. when i listen to the Beatles (or Wolfmother), i forget their home country and focus on the music. so her accent in the vocals is not charming, it's annoying.
this is going to sound bad, but there's something in particular about the Australian accent that i've fallen out of love with in my older years. Probably bc i'm not hanging with my charming Aussie friends Ben + Rohan anymore, and John Oliver incessantly makes fun of it (and Rupert Murdoch). Ironically, when John Oliver first came on the Daily Show, i was convinced he was exaggerating his accent for comic effect. but no, that's just him. wanker.
but then again, the unhidden accent in the vocals forces me to "hear" they lyrics (from "Pedestrian at Best": "Give me all your money and I'll make some origami honey" = awesome). so there's that. "Small Poppies...i love the droning ballad ...sings to true to the album title. Fortunately as we dive further into the album, she stops speaking and starts singing...a little. it's nice.
This review is all over the place. I'm out of practice (fml). But thanks for joining me on a my tangential journey (ftw).
i give this album a solid 4. maybe when i'm less racis...accentist (?) about Aussies i can bump it up to a 4.5
The accent got me too... Weird, given where I live.
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