REVIEW: Glassjaw "Coloring Book"

They were back from hiatus. They were back pursuing other projects. There was talk of new recordings and rumors of a tour. The rhythm section went back on the road with Saves the Day. A one off show, a select city tour, one or two new compositions would grace their set list, a mention of all the work on new material followed by months of nothing, deadlines come and gone, and a website that was cryptic to say the least… Over the past few years I do not think I was the only one Glassjaw had beginning to feel like a GnR fan circa the late Nineties. Finally, the past few months have been fruitful. The wait has been ended and unlike Guns n’ Roses fans, I am not disappointed. Blanketed by thick bass and an aggressive guitar, Coloring Book has arrived.

“Black Nurse” opens the record with the punch and freshness of a 2002 New Brunswick, New Jersey basement showcase. Its chunky guitar and heavy bass lines almost make you feel closed in, trapped between a weak jaded hipster nodding their head in approval (burning the back of your shoulder with a dangling cigarette) and the most excitingly charged pit you’ve ever caught a stray fist to the chest from. This is a ‘move or get moved’ song right out of the gate, leaving you already let down about there being only five tracks left.


“Vanilla Poltergeist Snake” intros with plenty of high end energy, keeping pace with the opening duo…only to change gears shortly after. Slowly taking the shape of an unstoppable steam engine; the driving bass and high-hat / snare paired throughout, joined by a slow-pulsing and heavily distorted guitar, compliment the curious verses and declarative chorus laid by the vocals.

The chugging push is continued from “Vanilla Poltergeist Snake," gaining mass and momentum most of the way through “Miracles In Inches." The vocals convey desperation with time feeling as though it’s running low. The arrival of the break, however, brings with it a deteriorating characteristic as this composition cuts everything, save a lone bass line. Guitar and drums quickly jump back in with a chaotic spray…almost wilting the punch Coloring Book opened with in an incendiary bloom.

“Stations of the New Cross” reflects this decay in its rolled back tempo; cementing the tidal flow of this record, seemingly impossibly, in only five songs.

This ebb and flow finds us here, on the other side of this short but sweet collection, at “Daytona White." A song possessing a seductive weight, albums away from where Coloring Book delivered “Black Nurse," “Daytona White” unfolds the inevitable: No one ever plans on the night ending, but suddenly the east begins slowly glowing louder. A careless population will never remember closing its eyes upon waking in 6 hours; yet the bodies pose frozen across your apartment. The olive jar is empty, the wine bottles bled dry, and the mirrors lay cleaner than you’d like. Reluctantly, you move in echoes trying to recall where you keep your bedroom. You push its door open wondering if someone got to your sheets first.

END


All in all, Coloring Book is exactly as advertised. The songs fall across the spectrum. In this case Glassjaw makes each song work to feed the next, a concept that escapes most. At no time did I feel a knee jerk from one track to the next; or even so much as the high speed climb and fall of a rollercoaster. Coloring Book picks you up and drops you in on a wave double overhead, carries you through the pipe, only to eases you down back near the beach. All you want to do is paddle back out for another go.

REVIEW: Radiohead "The King of Limbs"

The King of Limbs.  This is the album I was supposed to review during the week.  Nothing came up…I just put off taking the file out of my Email.

The King of Limbs.  This is the album I was supposed to review on Friday after I visited my friend’s new shop.  A social visit to the bar however, mixed with the equally social appearance of an ex-girlfriend…along side a random English guy from Leeds…Well, that was Friday and it is now Sunday night. Etc…

The King of Limbs.  I seduced a few friends to have a listening party at their house tonight upon my delivery of scotch and pilsner.  This review consists of 3 standpoints;  that of someone who has never listened to Radiohead, someone who is familiar with songs such as “High and Dry”, “Karma Police”, “Creep”…etc., and myself.

The King of Limbs is a flowing predictable delivery from a band that is nothing short of well versed in pleasing.  Top 40 radio this album is not.  Best described as fluid, melodic and passive, this is not the same Radiohead that your older brother put on his mix cassettes to impress his girlfriend who worked at Sam Goody.

The King of Limbs rolls across the floor and warms your friend just enough to close their eyes; while in the same measure, convincing you and a tempting stranger to find a darker room, within earshot, to become better acquainted.  Like body language, the record dictates mood and meter without notice.

DOWNFALL: Crossing the finish line of this record in under forty minutes with only eight compositions left us all wanting a bit more.  If it can be considered an upside, that fact left plenty of room for most of any other Radiohead album on the same CDR.  Songs flow together flawlessly with the instrumentation taking on the feel of samples at times; while Thom Yorke’s vocals left several guests wondering if there were any vocals on the previous track at all.*

UPSIDE:  Songs flow together flawlessly with the instrumentation taking on the feel of samples at times; while Thom Yorke’s vocals left several guests wondering if there were any vocals on the previous track at all.*  Although the work is seemingly over before it began, we looped the record on itself for the better part of three hours to the enjoyment of everyone.

BUY THIS RECORD IF:  Just buy it.  If you visit www.thekingoflimbs.com there are PLENTY of options for purchase depending on what you took away from this review.  AT LEAST, I recommend you get the simple MP3 format.

*Putting the same observation as a Pro as well as a Con is weak.  In this case However, as someone who enjoys the track by track Radiohead (Pablo Honey, The Bends) along with the tidal / flowing Radiohead (In Rainbows, The King of Limbs), it could go either way depending on which you prefer.

I wish I was riding a horse in Valley Forge

Bruce Willis is getting his ass kicked by an older guy with hairy triceps.

I have hair on my triceps. I'm getting old.

I'm navigating this touch screen with all the agility of a geriatric in a diving competition. All the parts still work, but they don't point exactly where I'd like all the time. Goddamn period. They always told me not to put two spaces at the end of a sentence, but now that shit is encouraged.

I'm not older than Mr. Willis, but I do remember when he had more hair on his head than this guy has on his upper arm.. I remember when he was in that movie with that naked chick, too.

There is a vulnerability to what I have going on right now. I'm a few drinks (and half a jar of olives) deep. There is no real privacy to speak of. I'm sharing a couch with a sober person and a cat. Both look pretty comfortable, but slightly annoyed by my state of mind.

My bonus arm hair makes me miss the time when free thought seemed like a given and my damned space bar wasn't part of a touch screen (though you can thank that same screen for that last apostrophe....I sure as shit know I wasnt coming up with that one on my own).

I really don't want to sound like some aging asshole with an impending mortgage and fantastic health insurance, but I miss 10 years ago. Hell, I miss 5 years ago. I miss when when only guys with German accents could rough up Bruce.

if I go bald I think I'll shave my head.

REVIEW: Bright Eyes "The People's Key"

Okay, who got Conor a synthesizer for Christmas?

Let me start by saying that Bright Eyes has not lost anything with this record.  Although it will most likely become a forgettable installment in the band’s catalog, lyrically it is very sound.  You would be hard pressed to find any more wonderfully woven words on Fevers and Mirrors than exists on The People’s Key.

That being said, from start to finish, this record could have been a great EP.  It can safely be said, after this review is written I will never listen to this album from start to finish again.  Certain songs (Ladder Song, A Machine Spiritual, and Approximate Sunlight) will no doubt make it to a play list or two, but will never again be lost in this sea of tired and cluttered compositions.

Sure, I sound like I’m upset that all of an artist’s records don’t sound the same; which might be true if this album wasn’t so disappointing.  Do I hate this album because it’s muddy with synthesizers? No, Digital Ash was a fantastic record.  That piece was electrifying, moving the listener along to an even flow.  The People’s Key is void of both charge and flow.

Can we please stop giving passes to accredited artists once they’ve made us happy for a decade or more?  I could shit in an ice cream cone; just because it’s brown, that doesn’t make it Chocolate.  Just because it’s Bright Eyes, it doesn’t mean it’s great.

This is coming from a solid Bright Eyes listener.  In fact, I’m sure I’ve over played their records a few too many times in college.  However, for the most part The People’s Key is not good.  Audibly attacking, it does not sound like they’re steering us on a journey as they push this record along; but rather that they are speeding to catch up with the Brooklyn Bullshit indie sound that we’ve been forced to hear everywhere for the past 6 years.

I am reminded of the saying, “If you fail to learn from history you are doomed to repeat it”.  It’s safe to say, when Dylan plugged in, it sucked.  When Conor sat on crowded synth tracks…it sucked.