Difficult one, this. A lot of the correspondence that I've seen about the new Cursive album, Mama I'm Swollen, seems to say "it's way better than Happy Hollow", but I rather liked their last album, and this one just doesn't do it for me. I've given it some time - it's been a few weeks since I bought it from the record label for $2 - but with a couple of exceptions, it's just not kicking in. I think the primary thing that's missing is a unified theme - their last three albums have been about divorce; the ugly, ugly recording business; and a small, conservative town during wartime respectively. Having a theme really held these albums together, and there isn't an equivalent on Mama, I'm Swollen, and that weakens it for me. There's less inward-looking analysis and personal catharsis, which is fair enough - the guy has opened himself up plenty in the past. But it feels like something is missing in the end product, most of the tracks seemed to pass me by. That said, I really like how 'What Have I Done?' builds over a pretty autobiographical exposé to a clattering, thundering finale. "I spent the best years of my life, waiting on the best years of my life" is as revelatory as we get here. Smart choice, too, in putting 'From the Hips' out as the lead single. Did you see them do it on Letterman last week? Very, very good indeed. If the tour brings them this way again, I'll definitely go and see them, but I hope this one just needs to grow on me more.
We were better off as animals, right?
Lord, let us go.
A couple of things to waste your time with today. Firstly, here's a clip of Borat on Fox News last week. I know he did promo out the wazoo all month and you're thinking "it's always the same ten jokes!" Well, you're mostly correct, but here there are some new bits which are funny. Not least because poor Alan Combes doesn't really seem to know what to make of his guest. Some nice talk about how Borat would vote if he were American, and disgraced Mark Foley.
Also, Information Leafblower has just put out its fourth annual "Best Bands in America" list. If, like me, you haven't heard of most of the bands, fear not, they have plenty of downloads for you to sample.
Meanwhile, here's a song from an American band who I love, that didn't make the list (of course), but they're coming to Gainesville next week and I'm excited, so there. If you'd like a full live show of theirs, from Ryspace, go here.
[download Cursive - Retreat!]
And now our roots grow deep
There was a band during the Britpop years called Brassy. They weren’t very good. One of their songs was their band name spelled out. I think their lead singer Muffin was related to Jon Spencer – the Blues Explosion one, not the Chelsea one.
Anyway, the new Cursive album Happy Hollow is out next month, and it, too, is Brassy. I really dug their previous record, The Ugly Organ, because it had cellos and sounded mournful but still heavy as aw’hell. When I heard that the cello player had left, I was a little trepid. I think that’s the word. When you display trepidation? Instead of strings, there’s a lot of brass on Happy Hollow, and consequently, it’s a really uptempo album which I’m pleased to say, is fantastic.
Tim Kasher’s lyrical themes are always very strong, and this album seems to center around Red State/Blue State values and politics. ‘Flag and Family’ is about a soldier sent off to war as a last resort, ‘Big Bang’ is brilliant and about evolution (“They said there was a big bang once, but that don’t jive with Adam and Eve”), and “Retreat!” almost comes across as an open letter to Mr. Christ - “since you’ve been away on holiday, we’ve hosted a few wars over you” - and probably won’t win the band too many new Bible-Belt fans, although there’s some gospel crooning over the end of it. The first and last tracks have the same tune, and I'll even forgive the way the opener comes to almost a complete stop a minute in, after building some heavy momentum.
Saddle Creek have put up a couple of tracks, showing off the album’s different styles. ‘Dorothy at Forty’ is hard and heavy and features Kasher’s bellow; whilst ‘Bad Sects’ is much more gentle, perhaps more in line with old Cursive. I’m putting up another song, ‘Bad Science’, which really highlights the new trumpets, but still rocks like a hurricane.
So, it’s a healthy departure, not entirely a complete reinvention, and the only disappointing thing is that album cover – what’s going on there?
[download Cursive – Bad Science]
