Capital Cities – In a Tidal Wave of Mystery

-->

            Everyone knows the guy who hates “pop” music.  That guy that doesn’t acknowledge the radio exists and doesn’t have a TV.  He scoffs at any album that even hints at a good time, and tells you how whatever it is that you’re listening to around him sounds like these 10 other bands that you’ve never heard, that broke up ten years ago…and how they did it better.  If you’re that guy, I apologize (kind of).  It is great to be knowledgeable about music history, and there is something to be said for understanding the bands that may have influenced the current generation of music, but lets not knock other peoples musical tastes.  Plus (yes this is the part where I explain the rant) I’m pretty sure that even the “anti-pop” guy couldn’t resist the quirky charm and self awareness of Capital Cities…and is probably secretly listening to their album “In a Tidal Wave of Mystery” right now.

            Capital Cities is indie-synth pop duo Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian from Los Angeles CA.  Soon after meeting through an open ad for Simonian’s production services, they began writing jingles for commercials together.  After three years of success in commercial composition, they formed Capital Cities.  Already this is an impressive resume for musicians in general.  Most musicians are always looking for work in their field, and few get the chance to make money off their craft.  But commercial composition was merely a gateway for the duo that has now achieved (ahem) commercial success. 

            Their debut full length “In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery” seems like it took every facet of the indie-pop genre, and used the catchiest elements of each.   12 songs later they have an album chock full of (college) radio ready hits.  Their drums are appropriately large, their hooks don’t ever really stop happening (even when they aren’t being sung, they are provided by the instrumental surround the current vocal). They employ every trick in the (proverbial) production handbook, and their experience in the industry shows.

            There are moments on the record where I found myself thinking “are they serious?” and that is the best part.  They aren’t.  They are just making fun pop music, and they know that.  They embrace it.  That is the joy of Capital Cities, they aren’t trying to be something they’re not.  They are not an art-rock band, they’re not trying to reinvent the wheel.  They just put huge rims on it…WITH SPINNERS!  So when critically thinking about the album as a whole, keeping that in mind makes a difference. 

            Every single song on the album could be played on a mainstream radio station, and still keep its merit as a legitimately good song, but be accessible to the masses as well as the “anti-pop” guy (assuming he understands the amount of self awareness involved in the album…lets assume he does, and since he refuses to acknowledge the radio as something that exists, we’ll assume he stumbled across Capital Cities during a visit to his friends house, while Conan O’Brian was on).  Their songs surf the dance beat wave of the 80’s with updated sounds, and employ clean staccato funk guitars and horns in addition to their sizable synth arsenal.  They would be right at home in an early 1980s dance club.   Do you like Andre 3000?  They got him too.  There is a song on the album about things that are awesome, titled “Farrah Fawcett Hair” in which a male NPR sounding announcer says all the things that Capital Cities thinks are awesome.

            If you want a great time, with no pretense or just a feel good album to make shoveling your car out of 6 feet of snow feel okay, pick up Capital Cities “In a Tidal Wave Of Mystery”.

Get your copy of "In A Tidal Wave of Mystery" on Vinyl 

Listen to "I Sold My Bed, Not My Stereo"

The Snowed In Post Rock Playlist

 

Ever find yourself cancelling plans because you can’t shovel your car out from the snow?  The snow that has piled up around all four tires of your rear wheel drive 4 cylinder car?  You could say thanks to the man that plowed half of the one way street you live on…but you wouldn’t…Cause in reality, he has only trapped every car on your street in a 3 foot high ice wall of inconvenience.  So, you could get pissed.  You could try to shovel yourself out to no avail.  Or you could go back inside, admit defeat to your friends that you were going to hang out with, and listen to some moody post rock to take the edge off.  Nothing warms the soul like an atmospheric build.  So when you inevitably find yourself in this EXACT situation, here are 3 songs (or a half hour in post rock time) to patiently listen to while the salt you scattered around your tires works to melt your car’s ice prison.

1.     Sigur Ros - Hoppípolla (Takk) – Hoppipolla is Sigur Ros at their most delicate and beautiful.  The song opens with a fragile piano line that slowly opens up into a gorgeous string arrangement with a textural reverse delay that takes off as soon as the drums are introduced.  This is a song that to this day, every time I hear it, I get goosebumps and a warm feeling in my chest that I can only describe as the pure embodiment of hope.  Despite not knowing what Jonsi is singing about, the music bridges the language gap with its elegant movement.  Two minutes and fifteen seconds into the song, after dynamically dropping to almost nothing, everything comes back in with so much power and grace that it seems to stop time around you.  

                                                                                Buy Sigur Ros

2.      Explosions in the Sky – Postcard from 1952 (Take Care, Take Care, Take Care) – EITS is a band that is continuously evolving and pushing themselves to do different things with the signature sound they have developed.  From giant noisy effected guitars with huge drums, to ambient room sounds with traces of tinkling piano, EITS is moody, but in the best kind of way.  They set the mood, and they take their time doing so.  In Postcard, you get a little bit of everything that makes EITS so cool.  Clocking at a little over 7 minutes (a shorter song for them) Postcard is a good introduction to the prolific post rockers.

                                                            Buy Explosions in the Sky

3.      Godspeed You! Black Emperor – We Drift Like Worried Fire ('Alleujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!) – Godspeed’s most recent album gained them recognition on multiple levels.  Obviously the most important being that the album is fantastic and won critical acclaim on almost every major review.  They won the Polaris Music Prize (a 30,000 dollar check) and promptly mocked the very notion of music awards and the “culture money” that funded it.  They are more punk rock in nature than the most devoted punkers.  'Alleujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! is a journey (as are most of their albums),  but We Drift Like Worried Fire is my personal favorite.  In a similar fashion to how EITS showcased their characteristic elements in Postcard, Godspeed has a similar showcase on Worried Fire.  If you’ve never listened to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, this is the song to start with. 

 

                                                                         Buy Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Cage the Elephant - Melophobia

-->

We had a gentleman come into the store last night as I was getting ready to leave.  He asked me “What has come out this month that you really like?”  I felt a little hard pressed to answer with something really new and interesting.   He was pumped to talk to us about stuff he had bought last month from us, (Man Man and Mister Heavenly) which I am proud to say I recommended to him.  However, in that vein of music, it is really hard to find bands like that beyond Islands.  So I told him to let me think about it and get back to him.  Hopefully sir, you are reading this, and can see what I am recommending.  This week’s pick is Cage The Elephant – Melophobia.

I have to put this out there before I start actually talking about the album.  When I heard Cage the Elephant’s first album, I hated it.  It didn’t appeal to me at all and even though there were cool things about it, I had a hard time actually listening to the songs.  They seemed green and uninspired, and quite honestly relied to heavily on studio tricks.  Melophobia is not like that at all.  I would say it sounds like a cross between Islands (on The Arm’s Way) and The Black Keys (as far as vocal sounds and production goes) with a little Dr. Dog sprinkled in for good measure.  There aren’t any remnants of what I disliked about their debut.  It seems like they learned how to be in a band, how to own their sound, and how to write a cohesive album over the course of the past few years.  The vocals sound great, a little overdriven, and kinda dirty.  The guitars are fuzzy and still sound tight despite the noisy approach that their engineer took to recording them.  I enjoyed the way the songs flowed into one another as well, it seemed very honest and not contrived or forced.

                  In short, I would recommend Melophobia to any fans of the doom-wop-indie genre, even though it is slightly outside the realm, it has a lot of what is cool about that type of music.  Namely the production, playing style and subject matter.  It lacks the 50’s-ish Marty McFly at the “Enchantment Under the Sea Dance” chord progressions favored by bands in the genre, but I like the tonality of the record as a whole.  There is an overall similarity to bands like Alt J, but without the (excuse the judgement) cheezyness, and is textural without being too layered to the point of self indulgence.  Melophobia is a great example of learning from experience, which is exactly what Cage the Elephant has done. 

Listen to Spiderhead

Buy Melophobia NOW!!