Music Review: Northstar – Is This Thing Loaded?

This review was originally posted on absolutepunk.net September 10, 2007. Northstar released their debut album Is This Thing Loaded? twenty years ago. Like Brand New, Northstar always felt a level above other bands in the scene. My writing here is far from my best, but at least I recognized talent. Here’s a good retrospective write-up and interview with Nick Torres.

Every music fan knows of a defunct band that never received the success they rightfully deserved. These bands are close to our hearts, and though we wished them the greatest success, we feel honored to be the few who recognize their talent. Northstar was one of those bands.

It’s difficult to recall the details, but at some time before Is This Thing Loaded? was released, I happened upon a demo of “Broken Parachute.” The two things that struck me most about the song upon subsequent listens were the guitar work and the somewhat odd lyrics. At the time I would listen almost exclusively to pop punk, so it was quite a surprise to hear a band that knew what it meant to rock. It was also interesting to hear lyrics of an ambiguous nature describing the stomping of monsters, running from the heartless, befriending a bottle for its soothing contents, and a woeful narrator on the brink of giving up.

“Broken Parachute” was a fitting introduction to Northstar, but Is This Thing Loaded? offers so much more. For one thing, the album proves that guitarist/vocalist Nick Torres is a songwriter to be appreciated. “Rigged and Ready,” the first song of the album, provides an example of what Torres is capable of. His delivery is drawn out and smooth (‘I’m thinking she needs me / Well do you girl? / I guess we’ll see’), but amplifies with the music while avoiding unnecessary screaming. However, there are moments in every song in which Torres produces short bursts of scratchy singing when he reaches his breaking point. Such a moment can be found on “My Ricochet”, as he repeats ‘I guess it’s that bad’ to the crashing of drummer Gabe Renfroe’s cymbals. These moments exist in every song, usually set to climactic music, and they are always welcome. But even if his voice is commendable, what really makes Torres’ vocals shine are the lyrics he articulates.

As mentioned previously, the lyrics of Northstar go beyond simple writing and implement grammatical tools like metaphors, similes, and symbols, so technically they lean more toward poetry than prose. The result is writing that is deep and satisfying in its vagueness. And like so many poets that came before him, Torres has a female target in mind. On “My Ricochet,” he serenades with the best of them, creating a holy image of his intended lover: ‘Why do you float way up there? / In disguise in dirty air / Why don’t you melt way down here / With heaven so far and hell so near.’ Though he can be smooth, Torres is not always gentle when speaking to the ear of a lover out of grasp. He has something to prove as he pursues his “Cinderella.” She’s shot down every one of his friends, and he is clearly frustrated in his attempts to win her. Still, he falls victim to her disinterest just as his friends before him, and Torres comes to realize the futility of words: ‘Well under razor wrists lie the gorgeous words that will put her under my skin / But I’m alone again.’

By this point the review probably sounds like a personal dedication to Nick Torres, but rest assured the whole band deserves credit for helping make Is This Thing Loaded? sound so damn good. Torres, Renfroe, guitarist Tyler Odem, and bassist Shawn Reagan add complexity to their instruments and provide an almost flawless foundation for Torres’ voice and words. The dual guitar combination of Odem and Torres is serene at times, but has a perfect crunching distortion to match the heightened action of choruses and outros. A fitting example of this can be found on “Taker Not a Giver,” one of the album’s best. Airy guitar sounds accompany Torres as he sings, ‘I’m falling together, alone in wonder… land,’ but as soon as the last word is uttered, the real show starts. Rhythm and lead are wonderfully hectic together as Renfroe inserts drum rolls to heighten the commotion. “Taker Not a Giver” has a great chorus in the traditional sense, but the instrumental work between the band is the real high point of the song. Reagan can be overshadowed by the guitarists at times, but he is anything but a backseat bassist. He controls the tone of verses, setting the mood well, especially on “My Ricochet,” while Torres ruminates on matters of heaven and hell. Renfroe accordingly paces the songs, though he does lash out at moments, leaving the band behind to speed things up and take control. Listen to the abuse he dishes out on the bass pedal at the final moments of “Cinderella” to see what I mean; it’s three seconds of bliss just when it seems all the surprises of the song have been revealed.

Torres’ final lyrics of the album are ‘I’m classic and late / Plastic and fake,’ then only the feedback is left. Is This Thing Loaded? is indeed a classic, though there’s nothing fake about it. This is the real deal. There’s no need to nitpick which exact genre the album falls under, so let’s not. Is This Thing Loaded? will appease anyone stuck merely reminiscing about depth in musicians and lyrical content. If you don’t own this album yet, what are you waiting for?

Music Review: Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

I looked through my last.fm top albums of all time and noticed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy at number 16. I’m surprised it’s not higher. I played the hell out of this album in 2010 and on into 2011. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is peak Kanye West. It’s the closest we can come to peeling back the celebrity layer to party with the man underneath. All the pomp, the debauchery, the ego, the vulnerabilities, the unbridled aggression, the rap royalty. It’s all here, and it’s all for us.

Feeling feral? Transform into a “Monster” that Frankenstein would flee from.

Feeling disheartened? “Runaway” is one for the scumbags.

Feeling yourself? Embrace “Power” and don your superhero cape.

Want a banger? Take your pick.

For as low as Kanye’s reputation can sink – remember, President Obama once called him a “jackass” – this album is proof he can play well with others. With My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye brought together many voices and various genres to blend together some of the best rap music of the past couple decades. The album fizzles out a bit at the end with “Lost in the World” and “Who Will Survive in America,” but let’s forgive that because “Blame Game” is great and so is Chris Rock’s spoken word contribution. Today My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy remains legendary while Kanye continues to flirt with infamy. What more can we expect from a man obsessed?

Music Review: Sloppy Meateaters – Forbidden Meat

This review was originally posted on absolutepunk.net July 25, 2007. The album is still good, “So Long” remains great, and the female voice at the start of that song comes from John Carpenter’s horror film Christine.

If you dislike nasal vocalists like Tom DeLonge of blink 182 and Jordan Pundik of New Found Glory, stop reading right now, because you probably won’t appreciate Josh Chambers. Chambers is the vocalist/guitarist of the Sloppy Meateaters, a band out of Rome, GA that has flown quietly under mainstream radar and organized multiple DIY tours since its formation back in 1999. Chambers, along with bassist John Elwell and drummer Kevin Highfield, originally released Forbidden Meat in 2001. Now, more than five years later, the album holds strong as a treat for unabashed pop punk fans who prefer their singers complete with falsetto.

To re-establish how high Chambers’ vocals can get, one must look no further than the album’s second track, “Impossible.” He absolutely lets his voice fly during choruses, and it’s a fitting song to test whether or not the band will go over well with the listener. The following track, “Lonely Day,” is the catchiest of the album. With better production and more creative lyrics during choruses, “Lonely Day” sounds like a single that would click with high school kids across the country.

One of the most welcome surprises of Forbidden Meat is found on the track “Suddenly Forget”: Sloppy Meateaters have a bassist who actually does something besides stand on the sidelines with simple backing bass lines. Elwell picks up the slack from the lack of a second guitarist by controlling the rhythm alongside Highfield and even providing some solos. On that note, the band compliment each other very well as a three piece, and serve as a nostalgic reminder of blink 182’s early years.

Slowing things down to describe an inner struggle against apathy is “Give Me Something.” The song meanders until it finds direction in its interlude, and Chambers finds a simple, yet perfect way to describe his callousness – ‘Can life feel any better? / Can life feel any better? / I can’t feel anything.’ He quickly finds emotion again though with the bitter track “Things Are Gonna Change.” Chambers is full of hostility and comes out swinging as he sings, ‘Suppose you were half human and you thought with a brain / Suppose you heard the news that things are gonna change.’ He also expresses his frustration with religion on “Talkin About Jesus,” though it’s less a valid argument and more an adolescent rebellion against established power.

Though the songs leading up to it are good, even great, “So Long” trounces anything else on the album. A soft female voice claiming, “God, I hate rock and roll” begins the song, a ballad that could only have been crafted by a complicated young man. “So Long” is a letter of loving assurance to the unnamed female, and when that route fails, Chambers retorts, ‘Face it, you’re stuck with me / And all thirty / Personalities.’ It may be sappy, but it sounds sincere enough to be wonderful.

A central theme of Forbidden Meat is hopeful dreaming. Chambers passionately denies the trappings of a normal life and chooses to live by his lofty ambitions instead. At one point he seems to be pleading directly to the listener as he sings the lyric, ‘Can you see my face in lights?’ Sloppy Meateaters may not have received the success Josh Chambers always dreamed about, but Forbidden Meat is the kind of angst-filled, emotionally complex, and all together endearing album any up and coming band can take pride in.

Music Review: Bright Eyes and Neva Dinova – One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels

I’m not surprised One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels was my most played album of 2019. Conor Oberst is extremely talented, and Bright Eyes is one of my favorite musical acts. What does surprise me is I’m pretty sure I replayed Neva Dinova’s songs more than Conor’s. Neva Dinova is a band based out of Omaha, Nebraska (same as Conor), and even though they can’t turn a phrase quite like Conor, they more than hold their own on the album.

One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels is good folk music made better by supplemental instruments (saxophone, trumpet, keys) and a small-town issues sort of vibe. The songs cover the usual subjects of depression, looking for love, cocaine, and hanging onto someone who’s clearly looking for an escape route. I can’t say I’ve really connected with the songs emotionally, and I wouldn’t rank any of the Bright Eyes songs among Conor’s best creations. But Conor has gone on record saying being in studio with Neva Dinova has been his favorite album recording experience. That must shine through on the album, because I just like hanging out with the songs. I don’t get tired of Neva Dinova sympathizing with a bar patron (“You just want someone’s love to take you down”) or asking what the fuck is the point of destroying yourself.

Remember when I said Neva Dinova still has something to learn from Conor about lyrics writing? I’ll end by quoting one of my favorite parts of the album with imagery that only Bright Eyes could bring to life:

“And you talk when you’re drunk
Like you’re standing in front of a microphone.
And each night it repeats, and you fall into me
Like a domino.

And you talk when you’re drunk
Like you’re writing it up for an article.
And you think that I lie when I tell you, ‘Goodbye,
And I’ve got to go,’
‘Cause I’ve got to go…”

Music Review: Wild Sweet Orange – We Have Cause to Be Uneasy

Wild Sweet Orange didn’t release much music before calling it quits, but we should be thankful for their one full-length album We Have Cause to Be Uneasy. The band reminds me of Manchester Orchestra in that Wild Sweet Orange did everything right the first time around, creating a fantastic album on their first try.

We Have Cause to Be Uneasy follows a pattern of using twangy guitar to convey a sense of timidity before the band unleashes a storm to accentuate Preston Lovinggood’s singing/shouting. “Seeing and Believing,” a stand out track, is a perfect example of this. It’s a lovely song that begins with Preston reflecting on a doomed relationship before the ending explodes with Preston singing, “So I pray / For a song on its way / To take shape and replace our shame.”

Some tracks embrace the Nashville country roots of the band (“An Atlas to Follow”), but I’m all about the aforementioned storm. “Aretha’s Gold” lifts up the back half of the album, finding a more experimental sound with heavy reverb and Preston sounding more than a little frustrated as he sings, “Oh, but me, / I’m as dramatic as the thunder. / My lightning scares her, she rolls over. / Oh yeah, she needs to get some sleep.” I don’t know if Wild Sweet Orange will return to try another album (they’ve been broken up for years now); if they do, they have a high hill to climb to top their first one.

Music Review: Saves the Day – In Reverie

Maybe I thought Stay What You Are would be too difficult to top.  Maybe seeing Chris bopping along to the beat in the “Anywhere with You” music video turned me off.  But the most likely reason it took me ten years from the release date to finally listen to In Reverie is that buying music costs lots of money for a broke student, and I had to be selective.  Either way, there’s no good excuse to put off listening to such a likable album.

I’m sure some people listen to In Reverie and really connect to certain songs, much like I connected to “Banned from the Back Porch” and “Firefly” in my youth.  I’ll admit I haven’t found such a connection with this album.  Chris Conley’s lyrics are wispy, featuring plenty of vague references to light, the moon, the sea, but the words just blow in and drift away.

But who cares?  I can start In Reverie at track one and enjoy it all the way through (actually, let’s skip “She” though ‘cause it slows things down a bit much).  Forget about the lyrics – this album is all about the sound.  The whiney highs of “Rise,” the rough guitar edges of “Where Are You,” and the elegiac shadow of “Tomorrow Too Late” are what make In Reverie good, if not great.  I listen to these songs like a child, admiring the surface without worrying about the depth.  And I’ll be bopping along to these tunes for years.

Music Review: A Great Big Pile of Leaves – The Fiery Works II

This review was originally posted on absolutepunk.net May 24, 2008. The EP used to be free, but it’s worth paying five bucks for.

Brooklyn, New Yorkers Pete Weiland and Tyler Soucy, otherwise known as A Great Big Pile of Leaves, have returned with a sequel to their first release aptly titled The Fiery Works II. And, like before, they are offering this EP on their website as a free download. You can’t ask for a better deal than that, so how about you go download The Fiery Works II right now, then come back and finish reading this review? Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Are you listening? Good.

For those not in the know, these two fellas recorded The Fiery Works releases as DIY projects with Weiland covering guitar, bass, and vocals while Soucy played drums and worked on recording and production (with The Fiery Works II Soucy also took a swing as mastering). Granted I haven’t listened to The Fiery Works as much as The Fiery Works II, but I quickly established the latter as the superior EP.

An instrumental track titled “sleepsleepsleep” starts The Fiery Works II off, and though it fits the mood of the album, I’ve been known to skip over it on repeat listens. The band hits their stride once Weiland’s high-pitched voice breaks in; he has a better grasp of his own vocal ability on this EP compared to The Fiery Works, and his range is especially impressive as he sings background for himself on “Drought of Snow” (more on this track in a bit). The sound of the EP is relaxed alternative/melodic rock that isn’t boring. Comparisons have been made between A Great Big Pile of Leaves and acts such as Minus the Bear and The Appleseed Cast. I’ll admit I’m not familiar with those artists, so I checked out some of their songs on Myspace to hear for myself. The comparisons seem fair, but I should point out A Great Big Pile of Leaves also have a pop flair that makes them easily accessible.

Reading over the lyrics I’ve found multiple references to the outdoors and the feelings the changing weather and seasons bring. Such is the case with “Bring Back Recess” in which Weiland sings, “It’s going to be a lovely day / Despite all the sunlight getting in the way,” an appealing sentiment to people like me who appreciate cloudy days. This outdoor-centric pattern continues in the previously mentioned song “Drought of Snow”: “Missing the snowflake on the tip of the tongue / That tasted of all that I have ever known to love / Stay outside all day / Never go inside.” These are the kind of words that should be fed to kids who keep themselves caged in with television and video games when there’s a world outside waiting for them.

At first I accepted The Fiery Works II as an enjoyable EP lacking standout tracks. But I have found on repeat listens that the EP builds itself song-by-song until it culminates with “Drought of Snow.” The combination of Weiland’s high backing vocals and an assisting trumpet raise the song to a new high for the band; everything works so well together in this song.

I usually strain in adding length to a review, but it seems I’ve overstayed my welcome this time, so here’s a quick closing statement. I wish more bands would offer their releases as free downloads – exposure is key in such a cluttered market. But even if free downloads were the norm, The Fiery Works II would still stand apart as a special five-track set.