MFR Feature: Jayber Crow

Jayber Crow
Two Short Stories (Field and Forest, 2008)
Grade: A

Download: Jayber Crow - "Saint Anthony"
Download: Jayber Crow - "Devil and the Desert"


Lots of things spoil with age: fruit, milk, U2. But some things, like wine and fruit-infused vodkas, just keep getting better and better. You can toss Jayber Crow into the latter category as well. The folk duo, comprised of Pete Nelson and Zach Hawkins, is back with a deeper, expanded sound on their first full-length album Two Short Stories.

If you're unfamiliar with the band, Jayber Crow came out with The Farmer and the Nomad in 2006. Nomad is a sunny little E.P. that I couldn't take off rotation for months. Since then, the odd smattering of demos has popped up on the band's Myspace page, leaving me with a serious hankering for JB's listener-friendly brand of folk pop.

In the years between the release of The Farmer and Two Short Stories, the pair has grown up – both in and out of the studio. The change is audible on the record. "As with anything, with more time comes change," lead vocalist and guitarist Hawkins said.

Musically, Hawkins and multi-instrumentalist Nelson have a better handle on the subtleties of their instruments. Where The Farmer was an explosion of energy, Two Short Stories has found itself more comfortable in the art of actually crafting a song. There's no lack of energy, but the band has grown more skilled at channeling said energy to create emotion rather than just excitement. For example, songs like "The Limited Voice of the American Crow" and "Song of the Jack Pine" develop a wonderful sense of urgency that was missing on their debut E.P.

Upbeat songs have also found themselves embracing the subtle nuances that can be created by even the most simple of instrumentation. "Drinking Song of a Germinating Seed," for example, tempers an excitable chorus with basic banjo plucks during the verse. The choice to balance the mellow with the loud causes the audiences' attention to shift back and forth constantly, and therefore keeping it focused precisely where it needs to be. It's a subtle songwriting choice, but it's extremely effective in driving the song forward.

The band's tinkering with songwriting amounts to a change in sound which keeps them innovating without losing their fundamental "Crowness."

"The little things make a difference. We use our instruments a little different," Nelson said. "We're always trying new things, but we're not trying to reinvent things."

The expansion of their sound, while holding firm to their roots, is a great thing for Jayber Crow at this point in their career. By building an album of what Hawkins described as "simple folk songs," they're giving their established fan base what they want. By pushing their sound subtly, they're allowing themselves to grow in a very organic way. For a band that is just coming to light in the Minnesota scene, this is a perfect album. It asserts the musical identity the band has already built without growing static. As a longtime fan, I couldn't be happier with the album.

Thematically, Two Short Stories is broken into two parts: "Freeze and Thaw" and "What Is This Wilderness?" "I kind of wanted to do two E.P.s," Hawkins said. "We structured it to be two parts that have similar themes."While The Farmer and the Nomad was written right after both members graduated from college and therefore deals with questions of identity and of finding one's place in the world, Two Short Stories comes from a more mature perspective, exploring biology and faith among others.

Originally titled Crumble, Crumble, Stories also explores the transience of life. This theme is continued in the album packaging. Printed on recycled paper with vegetable ink, the packaging is biodegradable. Containing a hand-written letter on the inside cover and original woodcuts done by Jane Becker Nelson on the cover, Hawkins and Nelson managed to put together a package that reflects the handmade earnesty and simplicity of their songs. It's lovely stuff – I don't normally comment on album art in reviews, but I'm really impressed with this particular piece.

Two Short Stories can be ordered directly from Jayber Crow. Go order it. It's an excellent album. That isn't something I say often without qualifying it somehow, but there it is. I have nothing bad to say about this album, and every second that you spend not owning a copy is a second you're wasting.

Jayber Crow MySpace Page

(April Wright)

Disclaimer: A member of this blog engineered and produced this record.

Top Ten Tracks On The Elbo.WS Chart Reviewed In 50 Words Or Less (12/14/07)

Bi-monthly, MFR reviews the Top Ten tracks on music-blog aggregator Elbo.WS in 50 words or less. For the weeks of November 30th through December 14th, here are the ten most popular songs:

Destroyer


Destroyer - "Foam Hands"

After the relaxed, sinuous arrangements which characterized the best parts of 2006's Rubies, one might be a bit hesitant to embrace the more direct, Dylan-incorporates-doo-wop, melancholy of "Foam Hands". However, even the most benumbed listener would melt once the song ascends to its triumphant conclusion. Stunning, indeed.
Grade: B+

Download: Destroyer - "Foam Hands"

Destroyer MySpace Page

Beach House


Beach House - "Gila"

Beach House's "Gila" positively recalls both the gentle harmonies of The Beatles Sgt Pepper-era and the hazed out atmosphere of Lou Reed when he's mellow. Ultimately though, the song's soft wistfulness and faint electronic beats only inspire faint palpitations. That's only disappointing because Beach House promised Devotion.
Grade: B-

Download: Beach House - "Gila"

Beach House MySpace Page


Black Mountain



Black Mountain – Tyrants

After two weeks, "Tyrants" still sounds like a clusterfuck of 60s psychedelic and rock influences, despite the impressive, Sabbath-esque opener. Like Mr. Burns' diseases on "The Simpsons", the heavy riffing, spacey keyboards and the folk intimacy all sort of cancel each other out, quality-wise. The grade remains the same.
Grade: C+

Download: Black Mountain - "Tyrants"

Black Mountain on MySpace

The Raveonettes


The Raveonettes – Aly, Walk With Me

As the listens of "Aly, Walk With Me" increase, the anticipation for The Raveonettes forthcoming effort grows higher and higher. Here's hoping that the album is bathed this much in washed-out white noise and trance-inducing sexiness. I know why Lust is used three times. Like hearing this track, once is nearly not enough.
Grade: A-

Download: The Raveonettes - "Aly, Walk With Me"

The Raveonettes on MySpace

Bob Mould


Bob Mould - "The Silence Between Us"

For his first record on Anti-, the legendary Husker-Du songsmith attempts to return to his power-pop Sugar days. Mould isn't breaking new ground, but one can always appreciate a well-penned melody, a few of which "The Silence Between Us" possesses. The gratuitous electronic flourishes don't do the song any favors, though.
Grade: B-

Download: Bob Mould - "The Silence Between Us"

Bob Mould MySpace Page

Yeasayer


Yeasayer - "2080"

Lord knows what will be going down in the year "2080". However, the soothing indie-melodicism and David Byrne-esque anxiety should provide enough stimulation for listeners engaged with the world as they know it today. Who knows how we'll all feel then, but judging by this track, Yeasayer's 2008 should be just fine.
Grade: B

Download: Yeasayer - "2080"

Yeasayer On MySpace

The Dodos


The Dodos - "Fools"

The Dodos put together bouncing vocal melodies, manic guitar strumming on a single, guitar drone chord, and a pulse that would make a freight train cower. This makes one feel like they are being whisked through a delirious journey that, at the end, you'll comprehend barely at best. I say: on with the ride.
Grade: A

Download: The Dodos - "Fools"

The Dodos' MySpace Page

Robbers On High Street


Robbers On High Street - "Seasons Greetings"

There's a vague Van Morrison quality to this track which, along with kitschy sincerity of Fountains Of Wayne, makes "Seasons Greetings" somewhat appealing. This track is pretty unremarkable, but the sentiment is appreciated all the same. 'Tis the season, after all.
Grade: B-

Download: Robbers On High Street - "Seasons Greetings"

Robbers On High Street MySpace Page

Louis XIV


Louis XIV - "Guilt By Association"

Speaking of novelty, a band whom names itself after French royalty is probably bound for a chuckle or two. But even the Bon Scott-inspired talking orchestral breakdown (complete with harpsichord) can't save a song riddled with neo-garage-rock clichés. Meh. At least I don't have to feel guilty about anything.
Grade: C

Download: Louis XIV - "Guilt By Association"

Louis XIV MySpace Page

Evangelicals


Evangelicals - "The Last Christmas On Earth"

If you plan on spending the holidays tripping on acid and sitting near a lava lamp, then this is your soundtrack. Evangelicals obviously worship at the church of shoegaze, and "The Last Christmas On Earth" is a pleasant enough amalgamation of Christmas Carol and Funeral Dirge. It's a Very Slowdive Christmas, Charlie Brown.
Grade: B-

Download:"The Last Christmas On Earth"

Evangelicals MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

The 1900s: Cool, Confident and in Control

Download: The 1900s - "Two Ways" (Via Stereogum)
Download: The 1900s - "When I Say Go"

During the recording of their debut LP Cold and Kind, the 1900s endured some serious mishaps. These included, but were not limited to, lost sessions, multiple recordings and re-recordings, and illness. But right now, the 1900s are nothing if not cool, confident and in control of their musical destiny.

"I really wasn’t sure if (the album) was good or not,” singer-guitarist Edward Anderson tells me as he leans forward in his chair in the VIP lounge for the Hideout Block Party. “But it seems to be getting a positive response. We’re taking a sigh of relief right now, like 'Alright, it wasn’t a disaster.'"

Drama has followed the 1900s everywhere they go, even before they went anywhere. The band’s brief history goes like this: high school friends Anderson, Tim Minnick (drums), and Mike Jasinski (keyboardist/guitarist) reunited in Chicago after college to form a band. They recruited bassist Charlie Ransford and violinist Andra Kulans. More importantly, singers Jeanine O’Toole and Caroline Donavon (who’d been singing together since high school) were also recruited.

A few weeks later, Donavon started dating Anderson and O’Toole starting dating Ransford. The latter couple broke up. Despite high tensions, the groups recorded an EP, Plume Delivery, before a live show was even played. At the first show the group played together, Parasol Records owner Geoff Merritt offered them a record deal. The band began touring and built a strong fanbase.

Which brings us back to Cold and Kind. It's a veritable melting pot of classic musical genres that range from Roy Harper-influenced folk-rock, to Belle and Sebastian-style chamber pop to the orchestral psychedelia of the ‘60s and ‘70s. What’s great about both band and album is that the music is done so in a way that is neither derivative nor ironic. It’s contemporary and retro, without the negative connotations of either. The music on Cold and Kind is accessible, but also ambitious in its orchestrations, and experimental in its lyrical content. For example, Cold and Kind’s atmospheric “Supernatural” and album opener “No Delay” comprise a fictional love story about the way that love can humanize us after traumatic events.

The group is also quite adept at combining Velvet Underground-style white noise in the context of a 3 minute pop song, as they do on first single “When I Say Go”.

“If we can bring those things together into a song and combine them, I think then that the song is better for it.” Minnick explains. “I think we want to experiment and flesh things out like that.”

"We all wanted to do a really vintage kind of record” Jasinski explains. “A lot of that inspiration really meshed well with our producer’s [Grame Gibson] style. In his downtime, he had Staples Singers playing and all of this old-school Motown stuff. We just knew that it was the right choice."

However, this being the 1900s, life-changing drama was inevitable, no matter how well-matched producer and group were. While the band was recording the album, a close friend of the band's died. Though Cold and Kind has a mournful feeling which permeates it, the album is not an eulogy.

"I wouldn’t say that (the friend's death) influenced the whole record or anything like that" Anderson states. "We make our music and I write songs that might be influenced by something that happens, but I just do it anyway."

Doing it, though, is a long, ambitious process. Before bringing a song to the band to arrange, Anderson will record one demo on his cell phone, then a second and third one using software such as Garage Band and Pro-Tools. Once the band has played and arranged the song, they’ll do a group demo of it. And then the recording starts.

Sometimes, though, the process is much more spontaneous, with jamming and rehearsals being the catalyst for songs. One might think that having so many people in a band where the songwriting process is elaborate would result in there being too many cooks in the kitchen. Not so, says Jasinski.

"I think a big part of having so many people involved is that you’ve got to give space to everyone…it takes a lot of stepping back and a lot of scaling any sort of your own ambitions to make a harmonious effort out of it."

Most of the harmonic joy in the 1900s music comes out when the band plays live. This may be due to an unsuspecting influence on the band’s sound: musical theater.

“That’s where I started singing” Donavon says. “I think that when we do shows, Jeanine and I get into it. We feel like we perform and that we just don’t stand on stage and deliver a song. We try to put on a show so that it’s something interesting to look at."

And the 1900s do put on a terrific show, filled with a vivacious energy that gives the recorded material even more punch. The band has fun, which they should be doing. Fun, it seems, is the glue that holds the 1900s together. When asked about what advice they’d give a band who is going through the Fleetwood Mac-style romantic hurdles that they did, Kulans replies, “You might fight a lot, but every time you get on stage it’s a lot of fun.”

Anderson elaborates: “You realize that you play music that’s supposed be fun and when it stops being fun…there’s complications and you have to work it out.” He pauses and then laughs: “Git-R-Done, man.”

Based on the rapturous response that Cold and Kind is getting from press and blogs alike, I’d say that they already have.

The 1900s open for Oakley Hall on Friday, Sept. 28th, at the 7th Street Entry. Show is 21+ and doors open at 8. Buy tickets here

MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Oh Yeah...I'm From Rolling Stone: Parts 5 and 6

Hola, Compadres!

I totally forgot about this feature I was doing. This is due to the fact that Sliver evolved into what I coloqually refer to as MFR. I'm having loads of fun explaining to my co-workers at my day job what the "F" stands for. Actually, that's not quite true. When I have to explain what the "F" is for, I usually just yell, "Frau Blücher," and then I run away while all of the horses in the stables get upset.

For those of you who are new to MFR and didn't read the Sliver website, allow me to explain what this feature was/is/will be. MTV and Rolling Stone, the nefarious kings of all things pop-culture, joined forces to produce, "I'm From Rolling Stone," a show about six young journalists competing for a writing gig at the birthplace of Lester Bangs and Hunter S. Thompson. Don't worry if you haven't heard of the show. The only two people watching it are myself and the folks over at Idolator.

Also, don't fret about not watching this show, as "I'm From Rolling Stone" is basically one not-so-glorious exercise in anti-climatic non-conflict. Normally, I'd be happy about a show with no tension whatsoever falling by the wayside and being canceled. But here's the rub: the reason that this show is boring is because the show is about making the journalists do actual work , rather than focus on whom is sleeping with whom. My God! A reality show where people do things!

In concordence with the show, RollingStone.com is running a writing contest where the fine folk at home who are watching the show submit 300 word "articles" about a subject that, in some way, pertains to the episode which just aired. For example, the assignment for the episode where the gang goes to Lollapalooza (boy, did they screw the pooch on that one) was to design your own music festival, in 300 words or less. For the past seven weeks or so, I have been submitting articles for this contest, and then writing about how dumbed down my writing has gotten. I'm batting 0 for 5. I'd never thought I'd get depressed about something like this, but sweet jesus. The last assignment (which I missed, due to my visit to the Deuce Cities this past weekend) was to write an album review and, amongst the entries picked, two are favorable reviews of fucking Fall Out Boy? Argh!

The last time I wrote, I was about to see if my ladyfriend's entry about an African festival had won this round of the writing contest. Her entry was for assignment four, which was the create your own music festival one. Now that she hasn't, I can tell you about the fast one she pulled on the RS editors. She called her festival "Wota Memam Dhon!" which she translates as "Come Be With Us." In actuality, the phrase means "Don't Touch Me There!" Was this fact checked? Probably not.

For assignment five, I was to interview a local celebrity. I shot an e-mail to the editor of the other blog for which I write asking if she had any contacts. Because, oddly enough, I'm not exactly rubbing elbows with the big shots on a daily basis. Shocking, isn't it?

My editor gave me the name of her magazine's copy-editor, a chap by the name of Joel who plays in a band called Painkiller Hotel. Yikes. But Joel was nice, chatty, funny and enthusiastic about his band's prospects (they're playing SXSW in a couple of weeks and just recorded in Nashville). Though I can't reprint what I wrote (once you send your article, it's property of Rolling Stone), I can tell you that Joel made Nashville sound like the happiest place on Earth. We talked for 20 minutes, and I wrote a 300 word profile about the dude. I unfortunately couldn't find a context to print the quote I liked best, in which Joel discussed watching the lead singer of PH channel his "inner Bob Marely." But so it goes. You can only say so much when you have a word count.

Like I said, I missed assignment six. But for assignment seven, I'm supposed to pitch a story idea about the band who will next break wide. Goody!

Here are my ideas so far:

Mouthful of Bees
David Vandervelde
The Changes
Let's Get Out of This Terrible Sandwich Shop
M. Ward

That last one is in there because, let's face it, RS is about six to seven months behind the times. Or, I was thinking I would just make a band up. What do you think, dear reader? If you had to choose the next band to blow up big (in RS terms), who would you write about? How can I damn the man in the most subtle way possible? Let me know by leaving a comment in the...uh, comment section.

(Jonathan Graef)