Magnetic Fields - Distortion

The Magnetic Fields
Distortion
(01.2008, Nonesuch)
Verdict: marvelously magnetic indeed

I don’t remember much about 1999, but I do remember going to the record store to check out The Magnetic Fields album 69 Love Songs. I had heard good things about it, and fully expected to purchase it, but one fact about the album had somehow eluded me until I got to the record store; the fact that 69 Love Songs was in fact a three disc set of 69 songs! Feeling a bit intimidated, I decided against purchasing it, and until now hadn’t returned to The Magnetic Fields. A decision I now regret. The Magnetic Fields newest album Distortion has since made me return and revisit those 69 songs I had passed over in 1999. As with their 1999 album, Distortion is as much a description as it is an album title. The first track is mainly instrumental, and each instrument is laden with distortion. The album meanders pleasantly but rather unremarkably through a few tunes, with alternating vocalists. However, on "Please Stop Dancing," the album begins its ascent into a beautifully clever and melodic climax. It isn’t often that songs about lost love can come across as anything less than pitiful. Such songs often turn into an overly sentimentally mushy mess, but Stephin Merritt manages to write pop songs that feel honest, and fun at the same time. Lines like "Drive on, Driver’s" ‘take me to the airport, I need to be extremely far away; so I might forget about her someday’ don’t come across like a lame cliché as they normally might. And maybe it’s because I had a dream about a girl I wish I still had the day I first listened to this album, but "Too Drunk to Dream" is a marvelous ode to the benefits of alcohol on a troubled mind. On Distortion, The Magnetic Fields effectively turn the typically mushy into a masterful album, and that is quite an accomplishment.

-Spruce Lee

Magnetic Fields on Myspace

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

GUEST REVIEW

LCD Soundsystems

Sound Of Silver

(03.2007, Capitol)

8.5/10

Whatever genre James Murphy’s music qualifies as, he has his finger directly on its pulse, and with precision he orchestrates beats, synths, and vocals that manage to loop and loop without becoming monotonous. And again on Sound of Silver, Murphy creates songs with more soul than dance music is used to. The album is book ended by two conflicting thoughts. At one end, the beats and reverb laden vocals of “Get Innocuous!” and on the other, the stripped down “New York, I Love You But... (But You’re Bringing Me Down.)” In “Get Innocuous!”, Murphy encourages us to become harmless? Really? No, it couldn’t be. And in “New York, I Love You” the true spirit of the conflict becomes apparent. Murphy laments that his precious New York has lost all its charm, having become “safer, and wasting [his] time.” So which is it? Or is it the conflict? Or does it really matter? To some it might, but to others the music will stand on its own. Either way, the Sound Of Silver is a lesson in the mathematical paradox of a whole being much more than the sum of its parts. Each part beginning with a simple beat or piano loop, and gradually unfolding and interweaving into something you didn’t really expect. The sum being an album full of wonderfully simple, yet intricate songs, that rarely if ever disappoint. The kind of album anyone should be able to produce with a laptop and some time. That is if you had your finger on the pulse of dance pop/rock. My guess is you don’t. As an aside, you want to know who else is quite a dance music aficionado, check out the 7+ minute album version of David Bowie’s classic “Lets Dance.”

-Spruce Lee

Okkervil River - The Stage Names

GUEST REVIEW!
Okkervil River
The Stage Names
(08.2007, Jagjaguwar)
7.0/10

You know those people you seem to bump into everywhere you go but never really want to talk to. You know them too well to just walk by with a nod of acknowledgment, but not really well enough to have any interests in common, or points of conversation. And they ask a standard like, “How was your weekend?” And you say, “Good,” in that short, slightly higher pitched tone, that does not lend to any further explanation. That is about how I feel about the new Okkervil River album. You ask, “How is the new Okkervil River album?” And in that tone that doesn’t really lend to any further explanation, I say, “good,” and not because I don’t want to talk to you, but because I really don’t have anything to explain about my answer. Is The Stage Names bad? Not in the least. Is it great? Not nearly. It’s much better that mediocre, but not quite good enough to get really enthusiastic about. It’s just good, in a way that doesn’t lend to extensive explanation. The songs are nicely written and pleasantly sung, but there is nothing markedly exceptional about it. But that’s a cop out, so here comes a contrived examination of its merits, demerits, or full disadulations.The album is end heavy, with its best songs coming after the mid mark. The first few songs begin with promise, but generally don’t live up to initial hopes. They linger on the edge of reckless abandon, while never quite obtaining the energy such abandon would give them. The fourth track, “Savanna Smiles,” would be a nice instrumental segue into the second half of the album, were it instrumental, but its not. Too bad. And with track five, the energy emerges, and interestingly enough, it arrives in restraint. “The Plus Ones” succeeds in catching and holding your attention like a good movie, and it does so with an earnestness that is lacking from its energy infused predecessors on this album. The second half of The Stage Names rests more on melody and reveals more of the intricate lyrics that are lost on the frenetic first half. And in the final track, the album fittingly ends by converting into the melody of “Sloop John B.” And so there it is. The album is good.

-Spruce Lee

Okkervil River - "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe"

Guest Review: The White Stripes - Icky Thump

We at Forest Gospel are proud to present Guest Reviews. Every Tuesday we will be posting a review written by a FG reader. These reviews will not represent FG's opinion, but rather the reader's opinion. IF you would like to submit a review, feel free- just email forestgospel@hotmail.com. We will not guarantee that everything submitted will be posted. With that said, here is our very first Guest Review.

Guest Review

The White Stripes

Icky Thump

(2007, Warner Bros)

1.0/10.0

I think this album fully encompasses who The White Stripes really are. Unlike previous albums that don’t entirely capture the insanely massive ego of Jack White III, for Icky Thump he said goodbye to producers and decided this album would be his and his alone. From the silly button covered suits to the terrible title to the pretentious and poorly worded intro notes (written, of course, by III (aka Jack White III – which is a ridiculous notion regardless since his birth name is actually John Anthony Gillis, how exactly does he decide he is third in a line of Jack Whites?)), this album would appear to be a bust. But oh no music lover, it only gets worse once you actually listen to the record. Icky Thump sounds like the worst “Best of the 70’s Rock” compilation you’ve come across in your local Walgreens. It lacks any emotion on any level and relies heavily on the same guitar rifts we have previously heard in past White Stripes albums. Transitions from song to song are awkward at best, and Meg continues to fail to grow as a drummer (considering she is a 10 year veteran that is a damn shame). I’ve heard more creative (and on beat) drumming from the pre-recorded beats of a Casio keyboard. If you really want to listen to a solid rock album with true soul, try, local favorites, The Red Bennies. They put Jack White III to shame.

-The Dung Beatles