ALBUM REVIEW - Iron and Wine/Calexico - In the Reins

I first heard Iron & Wine through their cover of The Postal Service’s ‘Such Great Heights’, which appeared on an EP of theirs and subsequently the Garden State soundtrack. I quickly became enamored with their sound (or his sound as the mastermind behind Iron and Wine, Sam Beam, seems to carry the Iron and Wine vibe in his soul) and bought one of their full length CD and a few EP’s. Then I saw that they had a new EP out, In the Reins, a joint effort with the band Calexico. I had never heard of Calexico but this is what there web site says about them:

“Calexico is a band from Tucson, AZ that shares a sun-bleached border with many performers and musical styles. Started in 1996 by the duo of Joey Burns and John Convertino, Calexico has grown and developed a sound all its own. By incorporating elements of jazz, folk, country, mariachi, and even electronics, Calexico has become a band that defies categories.”

To be truthful, overall this effort suffers from a sum of parts issue. Both groups have a unique style and strong abilities. The album truly sounds more like Iron and Wine supported by backing band, Calexico. If you check out any of Calexico’s music, it is an upbeat meld with tons of excitement and I don’t really hear any of that on this record. It all sounds very Iron and Wine-esque and minus a few very inspired moments (I bet you’ll know them when you hear them) Calexico adds little more than very talented support.

Now that being said, Sam Beam’s writing is in pretty fine form on this recording. All the tracks are decent and 5 of the 7 are stirring. Moody and quiet, they seem very organic in their matter of fact delivery, as if these words and sounds had always existed. The vocal delivery is whispered and beautiful and the ever-present acoustic guitar, with the gentle strums and fingerpicked arpeggios, is very comforting.

Even if it doesn’t have a ton of surprises this is a very good Iron and Wine album (and with Calexico’s contribution seeming to be absent for most of the CD, maybe they should have gotten a “…with special guest…’ label) and perfect for a nice bit of contemplative background music for rainy afternoons when you’re feeling sad or when you just need something quiet in your life.
Gaito Says: ‘Need more Iron & Wine…go ahead drop the dough; New to Iron and Wine…buy something else first (Our Endless Numbered Days, perhaps?)

Favorite Tracks:

He Lays in the Reins

Red Dust

Burn that Broken Bed

Koalas are mean and Penguins are smelly

The truth hurts sometimes and I am a koala and you’re a penguin.

No, just kidding, you know you and I are pals.

So pal, what’s this I hear about you converting to solar?

Really, pretty risky, you know in a couple million years the sun isn’t going to be free.

Yup…I do know. I am designing a marketing plan for the sun in hopes of becoming its agent. Then everybody who wants sunlight or precious solar power (foolish) will need to go through me…cuz me and the sun are going to be tight.

What do you mean the sun can’t have an agent? My friend Seth…he is an agent for Ursa Minor and now Ursa Minor is the Snuggle Bear (that little thing is super cute).

Whatever, man you just have fun with your solar house and bean powered car and hydrogen knapsacks and vegan voodoo, I am through with you.

I’m sorry we fought. Can I borrow five dollars?

Recording – It’s all about the vibe

Well, I was able to finish the recording I started last weekend and things flowed much better this time around. The machine behaved, I was able to focus, and able to choose feel and energy with a few warts over technically perfect but a little boring. My attitude was better (more “Cast your Fate to the Wind” and less “Every Breath You Take”) and it made everything better. Hopefully, I can remember this next time I get frustrated and upset about something.

Don’t push your luck though; I’ve still got a pretty short fuse…I mean it Seth, one straw is all it’s going to take!

ALBUM REVIEW - Grant-Lee Phillips - Virginia Creeper

I was never a fan of Grant Lee Buffalo. Their heyday occurred while I was music director at WUMF in Farmington, Maine and I know for a fact that more than one Grant Lee Buffalo disc crossed my path and I’ll be honest at that point in my life I wasn’t interested. If it wasn’t rhythmically subdivided, if it didn’t have a 40 minute jam or have a freaky subculture dedicated to it, my ears weren’t open to it. I feel lucky that my ears are still open to the stuff I loved in college and now also to some things that they weren’t open to then.

I first heard Grant-Lee Phillips (former lead singer of Grant Lee Buffalo, see I was going somewhere with the story above, kind of) as the troubadour on Gilmore Girls (I love that show…some of the best writing on television, any show that can quote Proust and Lady Marmalade in the same season is cool with me!) and I fell in love with a number of the songs he played on the show. So I finally seeked out a solo album of his.

Virginia Creeper is a quiet, thoughtful album. It drips of Americana, with weeping fiddle, guitar and bass simple yet sweet, drums that barely keep up (in a good way mind you) and Grant-Lee’s melancholy voice. His voice is really his trump card. While his songs are really good his heart aching delivery is what truly sells them. He is really able to make the listener feel like he is talking to them, trying to convince them to stay or remember what was. The album flows well, although the “upbeat” Calamity Jane doesn’t jibe as well as with me the other tracks and its placement does make the album feel a bit segmented.

Once upon a time music like this did not move me. I am not sure whether I have softened or understand love and loss more or whether Grant-Lee finally made a convert of me by writing great songs and making me feel his pain/love/joy/etc. You won’t be spending hours slowing down the tape to figure out what he’s doing or analyzing what modes he used for his ripping solos, but that might give you more time to experience the world and write about it the way Grant-Lee Phillips does.

Gaito says: “If you are looking for good singer-songwriter material, look no further!”


Favorite Tracks:
Mona Lisa

Waking Memory

Always Friends

Far End of the Night

RECORDING: The sound, the fury, the slowness

Well, I had hoped to have a brand new track ready to upload to myspace this weekend, but its doesn’t look like it is going to happen….bummer! It’s not all my fault. Although some procrastination, perfectionism and panic played into the delay, some of the blame needs to go to my little Roland recording unit. Now this may be a little technical for you folks who don’t do home recording, but I need to vent.

The stupid thing is all crazy, I put all the plugs in the right place and the whozitz is set right but all the little bars have all the colors lit and when it plays it doesn’t sounds right. I tried checking the manuel (manual)…nothing. So I did a hard restart (Hit with bat and scream) and then decided to let it rest for the night and try again tomorrow. Maybe I just overwhelmed it with my knowledge of how I know how to work it…yup.

So maybe next weekend there will be a full track…I am not giving myself any more firm deadlines like I did for myself last week though. It’s too stressful for me.

ALBUM REVIEW - Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise

When I decided to make Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise my first review, I hadn’t heard it. I was set to receive it about 5 days before the review was due and I thought, “No problem, plenty of time.” Then I started listening to it and it is an intensely rich work with multiple layers of instrumentation, production and depth; one that cannot be digested in five days and, like all truly good music, something that stands up to 1000’s of listens. I’ve listened to it about twelve times, so read this review with the caveat that I gave myself a stupid deadline and I didn’t give myself enough time to do a full assessment of the recording.

Illinoise is a fantastic recording.

The track that initially drew me to the CD was John Wayne Gacy, Jr. that I heard on Radio Paradise a few weeks back. It was a sweet beautiful acoustic song, with a haunting melody and lyrical content revolving around serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Jr. creating an incredibly uncomfortable juxtaposition. If the CD had just been stuff like this, great voice, pleasant guitar, excellent and weird lyrics and good production, I would have been happy. This gentle little song is merely a piece of this ‘pick and choose’ musical history of Illinois and sits amongst huge songs full of horns and strings and choirs and hand claps (my wife Tracy and I usually hate any hand clapping beyond Steve Reich, but it works here) and just amazing production and orchestration. I really enjoy this CD and would have listened to it 12+ times even if I didn’t have to do this review. If I had any complaints it would lie in the song length, as most of the songs are between 1 & 3 minutes, making transition abundant and uneasy…that being said, this is one of the best things I have put in my CD tray in the past year and is a testament to independent artists who let their creativity flow and push the envelope instead of wedging themselves in one. Gaito says: “Buy it now!”


Favorite Tracks:
Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I & II
John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
Chicago
The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders

Read more reviews...
Visit mikegaito.net

My thoughts on the current state of TV

I often wonder why no one has made a TV show called “Enemies” yet. It would be like “Friends” except obviously the people would not be friends. It would still have a bouncy theme song though. And it would still be three guys and three girls. The three girls would still be pretty and smart but they would each have a physical deformity: the brown-haired one a hunchback, the brunette a peg leg and the weird blonde a third eye. The men would all be chimpanzees that could talk and were dressed in clothes from the Gap in Buffalo, NY. They would all fight and bicker and set each other on fire and stuff.

Another good show would be a reality show called “Conjoined in Your Twenties”. It would offer a million dollar prize and force twenty somethings to be surgically conjoined with each other…as triplets. There would be either 2 guys and one girl or vice versa and episode would feature tasks like “Going to the Bathroom” & “Renting a Tuxedo”. I would watch that.

Was Gary Coleman a midget or a dwarf or just small?

Another good show would be one where actors would reinterpret “Facts of Life” episodes while each actor is “shadowed” by a robed person with a tazer. Every time an unfunny punch line is read they would get zapped with a tazer. I wouldn’t watch that one (a little too cruel for me) but I bet it would do well.

Finally, if I were to produce a show it would be called “Everything’s Crazy!” and in it everything would be backwards, even the content/commercial ratio. That’s right a show with 16 minutes of content and 44 minutes of commercials. The theme song would go like this:”

Everything’s Crazy!
Up is down
Down is up
Left is right
Right is Left
Yellow is…still yellow cause the sun is still sending us light in the same way
It is more the gravitational and orientational stuff that’s different perhaps because of the way the Earth is on its axis – probably has something to do with off shore drilling

Sha la la la

Can’t wait to fill my pockets with that dirty Hollywood money.

Back to Blogging

Well, it has been a while but I am back to blogging. The daily thing is not going to work for me and I need something to keep me on task...so here's what's next for my blog and for my web site, www.mikegaito.net: I will be writing weekly entries and publishing an album review once a week between Thursday and Saturday with my first new entry and review being published on January 14th, 2006. Hopefully, this will keep me on task and keep everyone in the loop with what I am doing...stay tuned.