Pitchfork Reviews 6/25/08

Sally Shapiro
Remix Romance Vol. 2
[Paper Bag; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 6.4.

What am I gonna do, track this down and then listen to it before I come up with an opinion? It's another remix album of Swedish discopop. Do I need to tell you if I think it's a "good" remix album of Swedish discopop? Is that a responsibility I have? No. It's summer. It's nice outside. I don't have to do this.


Ponytail
Ice Cream Spiritual
[We Are Free; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it an 8.4.

Allow me to out myself as a total square: I spent a majority of my 20's doing improv comedy. Most of it sucks, but whatever. A few of the people who do it are funny to hang out with, and it's cheaper than being in a band. Eventually I got to the point where I got a little money for doing it, and as a result I did all kinds of weird things that I don't actually like, like living on a cruise ship and hearing "Hot Hot Hot" on maximum rotation blasted out of every crevice of the FLOATING BUILDING THAT I LIVE IN for four months, or asking for a suggestion of a location that would fit on the stage from a hotel ballroom full of bored union electrical workers who could all kick my ass and drink me under the table, and were probably considering both. But fuck it, it beats working. I'm quick enough on my feet for most regular people (drunken idiots mostly) to be impressed that I thought of saying something before they could, and that's really the whole trick of improv. It's like a shitty magic act but for talking. And it's also an artform, but whatever. You could also say "it's an artform" about magic, but that's not going to make you want to give a shit about it.

But as far as the artsy creative-process side of it, well yeah, there are certain principles of craftsmanship and all that. You learn things from it about what it's like to work together to do a thing. Also: I am a total square anyway. No sense in hiding it. I might as well be the best at it I can be. So: improv comedy. I've done it enough that I view collaborative projects through that lens. It's pretty hippy dippy, but it boils down to: you make yourself look good by making the other people you're with look good. Somebody does something that's weird and not immediately funny, then you change what you're doing (or not) to make it make sense (or at least not make sense but on purpose), and then the whole thing will end up being more funny than something that's just kind of medium funny to begin with. It's not rocket science, but people are often bad at it because they're too afraid of not looking good to worry about making other people look good.

Why the fuck am I talking about this? It's boring.

Mark Richardson expends a lot of words on the subject of Ponytail's vocalist Molly Siegel. She doesn't sing words so much as skwawk out noises. Richardson's thesis is that some people might think it's annoying, but it's actually great. I am not one of those people who think it's annoying. I think it's great. So good.

The problem I have with Ponytail, and it comes from my experiences in improv, is that Molly Siegel's complete lack of interest in the verbal isn't being given its proper attention as a choice. In a musical sense. Instead of being put as far out into the mix and given the proper space and attention I think it deserves, her shrieking serves mostly as a counterpoint to wall-to-wall guitar interplay, in a instrumental/math/prog rock tradition. Ok, fine, I get it, there's no rules and etc. etc. But the guitars are ignoring the vocals. And the guitars are not doing anything transcendent. They're doing exact riffs I've heard elsewhere then quickly switching those riffs to other riffs. It's an old trick. The only thing that makes this iteration of guitar interplay different is that Molly Siegel has the task of gamely barking out squeaks and yelps in reaction to it. The way those guitars go on without any apparent reaction to what she's doing, she seems like an afterthought, like her only apparent musical purpose is to gather up blogcolumn inches.

Why not have her out there hollering away on her own if it's the most interesting thing about the band? Let her lead. Even just for a couple of bars before you switch back. Like she's a part of what you have planned and not some gimmicky thing. That would be interesting. We've heard the dual lead guitar thing and the prog thing before, dudes. You've got this insane shrieking woman. Why don't you try making her look good instead of insisting on having it the other way around? Maybe I'm a little biased towards lead singers, but if your vocalist is a blend between Satomi Matsuzaki and Greg Peters and that's the first thing people notice, then it's the first thing people notice. Be who you are, not who you wish you were.

The more I listen to this, the more I am mad at half a band. Why not just kick her out if you're not going to even listen to what she's doing? But part of the problem is her fault, too. She could probably stand to assert herself more, do something that intentionally clashes with the guitar sound, force adjustments, take control, participate more, build something instead of react to something. If the guitar dudes don't notice, make it bigger. Yell "STOP" or stagedive onto your head and bleed and make them worry about you. I don't know. I do know that there's the start of something very interesting going on here, but it's stillborn, and it comes off as being annoying not because of the vocals but because of the evident lack of support for the vocals. Either by the rest of the band or by the vocalist herself. It seems like a goofy little accisperiment instead of a deadly serious thing somebody's doing on purpose.

By the way, if there's a more easily-makefunable phrase in rock than "guitar interplay," I'd like to hear it. It sounds like two dudes swordfighting with their dicks. Like both the phrase "guitar interplay" and the actual sound of guitar interplay sounds like that. Fine, but that's not how you have sex. I don't fault it for being homoerotic, just for being ineffectual.

But of course what difference does my opinion make? I'm a fucking square who does improv comedy. Like in my life I have made up a Shakespearean monologue about toaster ovens. For strangers. On purpose. Without even having been paid for it or even being particularly asked to. So it's not like I've got any moral high ground on what people should and shouldn't do or what's embarrassing or what's good. I just get disappointed by missed opportunities sometimes as far as a band totally ruling is concerned. This is sooo achingly close to being something. Which is a compliment.


South San Gabriel
Dual Hawks
[Misra; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 6.9.

I listened to like three songs. As far as I can tell, these guys don't do anything that Wilco doesn't already do. Maybe there's more echo and/or reverb, but really I'm not hearing anything outside of the realm of Wilco. Are you a big fan of Wilco? I mean to the point where you're constantly thinking "man, I love Wilco so much, I'd even listen to something exactly like it but less good." Are you that big of a fan of Wilco? Wilco. Me neither.


Dosh
Wolves and Wishes
[Unknown; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 7.7.

Oh great, The Arcade Fire claims its first hip hop producer as a part of the collateral damage of their war against soulfulness. This thing sounds like the original score to Zach Braff's life.


Damon & Naomi
Within These Walls
[20-20-20; 2007]

Pitchfork gave it a 6.1.

So this is an album by two of the people from Galaxie 500 who have managed to put out a bunch of signer-songwriter stuff. It sucks. It's boring, it's about feelings, it has no teeth. It is pretty, though. Unfortunately, I'm getting tired of pretty. And calling anything Within These Walls unless you're joking is puke-inducing.

And also I can't quite understand why I'm supposed to be so impressed by Galaxie 500 that I'd give this anything but a middle finger. Or anybody, really. If there was this exact same sounding album but by Anybody I Admire & Somebody I Also Admire, still called Within These Walls, it would get a middle finger too. I wouldn't care how mournful the ruminations were. Or in today's more specific context, if this was just a straight-up indiefolk duo from now like She & Him or Scarlett Johansson & Whoever Is Currently Trying To Fuck Scarlett Johansson, I would give it a more vociferous double middle finger with my balls out of my fly. That's what's going down within these walls.