ART OF SONG
Emma Pollock
“Hug the Harbor”
The Law of Large Numbers
Chemikal Underground | 2010

Emma Pollock is a very trusting lady. In “Hug the Harbour,” she refers to you, yes, that’s right YOU. And though you should have “hugged the harbour,” which would have “avoided all the disaster,” there are still “all the people that are dear to you / sitting right behind / and trusting you. / My trust lies in your precision.” There is a neat little piano flourish that really drives the point home.

That’s just stanza one and already it’s more positive than most songs I end up reviewing for this column. People? Being nice? TRUSTING? Unheard of, really.

There is something about this song that reminds me of Neko Case-led New Pornographers songs. Although there is more pounding drums rather than tinkly bells, the floaty imagery and the strong-but-sweet female narrator is still there. And believe me when I say this, Miss Pollock and anyone else who may stumble across this article and wish they never found it, that’s a compliment. Of the highest degree. New Porn is very close to my heart.

The instrumentals are, for the most part, forgettable. Though the way they pick up towards the end is admirable. You can tell Pollock is amping it up to keep this from being just another slow-moving song about the choices you make.

It gets dark before that though. Literally. You, our intrepid adventurer, have to meet the dark. And your knowing leaves you. And now this is starting to turn into a Death Cab song about following people into dark places or something like that. There is no greater metaphor here, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

“Hug the Harbour” is cute. It’s neat, and polished. The lyrics are deep, though they get repeated often. It seem like Pollock wrote a really good stanza, and decided to turn it into a song. But hey, it’s been done before, and done successfully. And Pollock seems to really believe what she’s throwing out at you, and sometimes that makes the difference.

“Hug the Harbour” is available to stream on Emma Pollock’s website: http://www.emmapollock.com/

by allison levin

ART OF SONG
The Routes
“Do What’s Right By You”
Do What’s Right By You
Dirty Water Records | 2010

In my blind, ignorant times, as I held fast to 2003 and prayed the Soledad Brothers would get back together, I sometimes felt that garage rock was dead. It’s not, obviously. But bear with me for a second here, and take my mental journey. “All the Detroit groups I love have changed or become culturally irrelevant!” I wailed. “All the other music journalists make fun of me!”

But of course I was horribly wrong. Garage rock is still alive and well, in a couple of different forms. Now I’m all for Thee Oh Sees and other indie lo-fi bands who keep that garage rock sound alive while still being acceptable to reference in the ‘I know cooler music than you’ game, but I’ve found, when you want pure, unadulterated garage rock…classic, 1960’s style garage rock, you need to step outside the country.

Like to, oh, I don’t know…Japan?

The Routes are an interesting bunch. Founded by a Brit, Chris Jack, joined by Shinichi Nakayama (drums) and Toru Nishimuta (bass) in Japan, they are currently signed to a British record label. And their songs are in English…a fact which both delights and slightly disappoints me. I can’t help it. I’m a sucker for group sounds.

More on The Routes | “Do What’s Right By You”

ART OF SONG
Codeine Velvet Club
“The Black Roses”
Codeine Velvet Club
Island Records (UK Release Only) | 2009

Oh hey, the guy from The Fratellis has a side project. Why should you care? I’m about to tell you why. Because it’s better than you or I actually would expect. And we’re discerning, I know. But you should know to trust me by now, have I led you astray? Exactly.

So The Fratellis didn’t really impress me, except for that music video. You know the one, the one with the pin-up girls in shades of brunette, blonde and redhead, who looked totally badass and awesome and expressed their inherent girl power while being fabulous. I liked that. I have a thing for pin-up. It appears Jon Lawler of The Fratellis had a thing for it too, because not only did he dedicate a music video to it, but he formed a side-project with Lou Hickey, a burlesque performer.

I gain more respect for the man as time goes on. The same cannot be said for The Fratellis. And that’s all I’m saying about The Fratellis, a sad tale about a band that can really only make one type of song.

You can tell that Lou Hickey, with her side of the creative process, was looking to write songs she could strip to (or burlesque to, if we really want to mince words, since burlesque and stripping are entirely different arts). Songs that were sexy and slightly dirty. Songs that conveyed the image of smoky clubs where men wore suit jackets and drowned their sorrows in big glasses of scotch while some pretty girl shook what her mother gave her, all the while keeping on her pasties and g-string. Because there was something called class back then. There was also rampant misogyny, but that’s a story for another day. Or fucking watch Mad Men, I don’t know.
More on Codeine Velvet Club | “The Black Roses”

The year is drawing to a close. I can’t speak for you (though oh, how I try!), but I’m getting ready to put on my sparkliest outfit and go out to some lame New Years party where I will inevitably drink too much and end up trying to kiss too many people when the clock strikes midnight. That’s how I roll.

Do you know what’s as earnestly convoluted as my New Year’s intentions? The Holy Ghost remix of Van She’s cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” (See, I told you it was convoluted.) But as convoluted as this mixture seems (a remix of a cover) it’s really quality. The work and care is present, hence the earnestness of this equation. This wasn’t Van She just crapping out a cover, and Holy Ghost deciding they’ll fuck around with it a little. There appears to be actual effort here, which is something I can certainly appreciate.

A fairly mellow remix (to be fair, “Don’t Fear The Reaper” isn’t exactly a booty-shaking jam), I would imagine this would enter the New Year’s party rotation after the ball dropped, when people are still going, but not with quite the enthusiasm they were previously. A collective breather, if you will.

Van She doesn’t really take too many risks with this cover, instead going with the flow and sticking to the roots of the original. Holy Ghost throws in enough of a backbeat to keep you moving. And it intensifies, hitting the first peak around 1:50, throwing in some swelling piano in the background to add a little drama.
More on Van She | Don’t Fear The Reaper [Holy Ghost’s B-Live Mix]

ART OF SONG
The King Khan and BBQ Show
“Animal Party”
Invisible Girl
2009 | In the Red

Let’s be honest. Someone says “Animal Party.” What do you think about? Some new lame board game for children? Animal House-style frat parties? Furries? (I thought of Furries.)

But no. In an almost Flaming Lips-esque jump into surrealistic honesty, “Animal Party” is about, in a nutshell, a party with animals. Cows, chickens, elephants…everybody is hanging out.

After The King Khan and BBQ Show’s recent, now infamous, kerfuffle with the law, (though, to be fair, it was actually their manager that had what I, Brooklyn Vegan, and the rest of the world are betting are shrooms), it makes sense that they would throw a party wild enough that farm animals were invited.

Although, I’ll tell you right now, when it comes to throwing down with the fauna, The Whitest Kids U’Know did it first. They were “Getting High with Dinosaurs” back in 2008.
More on The King Khan and BBQ Show | “Animal Party”

ART OF SONG
Alice Russell
“Let Us Be Loving (KidKanevil Remix)”
Let Us Be Loving
2009 | Six Degrees

Hey you know what’s awesome? Amy Winehouse’s breast implant exploded. Okay, maybe that’s not so awesome. You know what WOULD be awesome? If there were some British singer with a powerful voice, you know, like Amy Winehouse…except not completely nuts. Well, okay, there are a couple of those, I suppose. But I’ve got another to add to the list. Alice Russell. And her hair is a lot less scary than Amy Winehouse’s. Trust me. I mean come on, I think things live in there.

“Let Us Be Loving” could be just another Duffy or Joss Stone track, but the light percussion on the KidKanevil remix really allows Alice Russell’s vocal prowess to shine. Let’s be real here, by the time she gets to the chorus of “let us be loving,” sung with old-school soul and backing vocalists behind it, I’m a little thankful for the hip-hop propulsion that keeps everything moving.

It all starts to pick up with a pleasantly beepy background that does not overwhelm Russell (as if vocals like that could really be overwhelmed). Then all it takes is “right” and “true” spoken by someone who is obviously more thuggy than me, and we’re getting into remix territory. You don’t need to add in a whole rap sequence, there is enough in the song to keep you interested.
More on Alice Russell | “Let Us Be Loving (KidKanevil Remix)”

ART OF SONG
Marina and the Diamonds
“Mowgli’s Road”
Mowgli’s Road
2009 | 679/Warner Bros.

I think I need a break. Do you? Everything just seems to be stuck in a repetitive grind as I hold my breath, cross my fingers, and pray for Thanksgiving so I can have a brief reprieve (although that will mean a trip to the middle of nowhere [read: no cell phone reception] to see family, but I can cross that rickety country covered bridge when I get to it). I need something that’s going to shake me up a little, something that can, if even just for a moment, make me forget the massive amounts of papers I have to write and the fact that it’s cold, and everyone is just kind of blah, and all the other depressing S.A.D. (as in seasonal affective disorder) shit that gets you down.

You know what I need? I need a song with a music video that looks like the “Single Ladies” dance as envisioned by Michel Gondry. I need cuckoo noises and nonsense lyrics about spoons and forks. I need “Mowgli’s Road” by the U.K.’s Marina and the Diamonds.

Opening with those cuckoo noises I just mentioned, at first blush you can tell “Mowgli’s Road” is going to be different enough to at least break the glaze that has inevitably formed in your eyes. Welsh singer Marina Diamondis has a pleasing voice, and has been compared to Kate Bush, but, in all honesty, this song reminds me more of something Santigold would do (although the music video may be coloring my judgment, it’s hard to say).
More on Marina and the Diamonds | “Mowgli’s Road”

ART OF SONG
The Greening
“(She’s So) Electric”
(She’s So) Electric EP
2009 | Zairecords

The fuses in my apartment’s bathrooms blew this week. You have not experienced inconvenience until you have had to repeatedly pee and shower and do your makeup (not at the same time, please) in the dark. Oh, plus our microwave died. And so did my computer.

It’s been a bad week for me electronics-wise. So I was thinking about electricity. It does good things for us. We rely on it for all kinds of crazy stuff. Is it any wonder people write songs about it? (Or, in reality, write songs using electricity as a metaphor for being crazy awesome. Or crazy and awesome. Or just crazy.)

The Dead Weather wonder “Are Friends Electric?” Eddy Grant meanders down “Electric Avenue.” And what wedding/bar mitzvah/funeral would be complete without the “Electric Slide”? Now The Greening, a San Francisco-based band, can add their names to the list of those harnessing the power of electricity for songwriting.
More on The Greening | “(She’s So) Electric”