new men masquerading as REAL old men (2013)

Though their deal was always theft, their gift was a punk rock recklessness towards punk rock conservatism and an understanding that both theft and recklessness could be used as tools for an unconventional refinement. New Moon is their most refined effort in that sense because it's their most brutishly, apparently offensively, reckless record yet. And as always it's about heritage.

Odd that those defending The Men's SST classics comp sound/continuity can't seem to shake the feeling that on New Moon they're taking the piss, presumably simulating the effect that a Let it Be, New Day Rising, Sister, or Green Mind release might've had in the era from which The Men so liberally take, and said supporters so glorify. If it's a trick then it's complex- is it weeding out punk rock conservatives by declaring from its first breath that it won't fulfill any of our expectations after Open Your Heart by sounding kind of like a drunken rehearsal of Til the Morning Comes? It mattered on Open Your Heart when they aped Stiff Little Fingers as if to declare THERE WILL BE NO L.A.D.O.C.H., and I'd say it matters here too. As with Turn it Around, they're concerned with honesty: what Open the Door does is sort of warn that they're exploring or paying respect to the ragged/self-destructive ancestry of the indie punk they for three albums plundered and recreant critics so celebrated.

What this means is a work and sound ethic inspired by Neil Young's 'looseness'- human error, and simplicity as a means to reinvigorate rock n roll, and Alex Chilton's subversive fuckupery- deconstructed rock n roll providing multiple angles from which to experience it- the musician's feels and the critic's snort, among others. Young's influence occurs whenever they'd otherwise just sound like Dino Jr or Wilco, and while Chilton is ever-present in the band's primitivist ridiculousness, the clearest audible nod and indication of their self-awareness is in Without a Face, its jarring harmonica recalling Radio City's Life is White. Then just as everything points towards collapse, the band jolts back sort of reminding us that it'll only be through the lens of 80s designer chaos and a 2010s perspective of that that we'll ever be able to witness it (whether they head into Third territory next is anyone's guess). As much as such a progression would make sense, they sound fine being just on the brink of punk rock devastation.

Smartly critic proof (in time), they've paid their dues and managed to piss off those who've grown too comfortable identifying with punk rock revisionists of decades past. New Moon is a shambles, respectfully, which strengthens the roots of their art as the band explore the vulnerabilities, headaches, and in spite of that, appeal, of the antecedents to their influences. Attractive or not, New Moon is a reflective detour or like sensitively planned identity crisis from a band who'd previously appealed in their image of carefree thieves and forgers. Unexpected, but smart, funny, affecting, and bold.

A

try / buy

Acetone - I Guess I Would (1995)

My new favourite downers' covers EP. With Cindy I thought I had them all figured out- casually fucked up like Neil Young but without the frantic transcendence, noise rockers without the ideological guts, Chilton's passionate indifference without the need to fully debase their own songs, Low's icy detachment but still warm and fuzzy, or whatever, and so on, and looking at that I think Wilco but they're not Wilco and they're nothing like Wilco on Cindy, but on I Guess I Would they sorta are 'cause you get the above and country but it's not, too, I don't know where I'm going, I just love it, I really do, from the lucid proto-late-era-Earth instrumental opener to the scuzzy 11 minute closer, I just really love it all

A

here

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River (1969)

One of my favourite albums ever! I love the cover so much that I'm gonna put the back below!

It's so awesome! The weird rural washed-out-ness of those pictures makes Fogerty's reminiscences on the opening track Green River seem all the more personal to him, and also make the listener nostalgic whether or not they know where the catfish bite. The rose-tinted Romantcism- not only rural, but childhood memories leads into Commotion, where the timeless sentimental vacuum full of small but exciting details is replaced by the modern obsession with time, treadmills, and political gibberish. It'd be cheesy but the band earn the right to be Romantic every now and then by being so convincingly chaotic when they need to be. Things only get darker as the album progresses! The nasty side to nostalgia is that it can only exist when the person feeling it believes that the present and future are in decline, and that's what happens in Green River. As soon as the regrets of Commotion are out of the way, Fogerty's paranoid in Tomb Stone Shadow where he's reminded of death whenever he's happy, and practically welcomes the apocalypse in Bad Moon Rising. Part of what sells all this to me is his voice which once annoyed me but started to click as I played Green River for the first time. Wrote A Song For Everyone is moving in a way that his superstitions can't be, the down-and-out Lodi becomes all the more sympathetic, and the closing cover The Night Time Is the Right Time convinces me that he's one of rock's greatest vocalists. 9 tracks, under half an hour, all good, 3 of the best rock songs of all time, and a dark, regretful atmosphere hanging over even the more excited ones

A+

spotify

Jim Ford - Harlan County (1969)

1. Harlan Co.

2. Love on My Brain

3. Changin' Color's

4. Spoonfull

5. Dr. Handy

6. To Make My Life Beautiful

7. Workin My Way to L.A.

8. Long Rd Ahead

9. I'm Gonna Make Her Love Me

10. Under Construction

Loved by Nick Lowe and others appreciating its effortless enthusiasm, catchiness, and eccentricity, forgotten by more and maybe never liked by critics any way- Jim Ford was a versatile song-writer and performer who aped his influences convincingly (to the point I was gonna write he was obviously inspired by Allen Toussaint's 1972 masterpiece until I noticed the year this was released), never bettering them, and released Harlan County which is essential for fans of Waylon Jennings, Allen Toussaint, Van Morrison, or actually anyone who fits into any one of the genres I've listed under labels- and doesn't really give a shit whether an album's influential or canon or whatever

A-

Tom Waits - Bone Machine (1992)

1. Earth Died Screaming 3:41

2. Dirt in the Ground 4:10

3. Such a Scream 2:10

4. All Stripped Down 3:05

5. Who Are You 3:59

6. The Ocean Doesn't Want Me 1:53

7. Jesus Gonna Be Here 3:23

8. A Little Rain 3:00

9. In the Colosseum 4:52

10. Goin' Out West 3:22

11. Murder in the Red Barn 4:31

12. Black Wings 4:39

13. Whistle Down the Wind 4:37

14. I Don't Wanna Grow Up 2:33

15. Let Me Get Up On It 0:57

16. That Feel 3:12

Really heavy album by Tom Waits where the blues influence is most clear because he dwells on the atmosphere and darkness which he thinks inhabits the blues, but it is also distorted and evil despite being stripped down, so I guess that is just the lyrics and ambience which do that

Perhaps Tom Waits' most cohesive album, Bone Machine is a morbid, sinister nightmare, one that applied the quirks of his experimental '80s classics to stunningly evocative -- and often harrowing -- effect. In keeping with the title's grotesque image of the human body, Bone Machine is obsessed with decay and mortality, the ease with which earthly existence can be destroyed. The arrangements are accordingly stripped of all excess flesh; the very few, often non-traditional instruments float in distinct separation over the clanking junkyard percussion that dominates the record. It's a chilling, primal sound made all the more otherworldly (or, perhaps, underworldly) by Waits' raspy falsetto and often-distorted roars and growls. Matching that evocative power is Waits' songwriting, which is arguably the most consistently focused it's ever been. Rich in strange and extraordinarily vivid imagery, many of Waits' tales and musings are spun against an imposing backdrop of apocalyptic natural fury, underlining the insignificance of his subjects and their universally impending doom. Death is seen as freedom for the spirit, an escape from the dread and suffering of life in this world -- which he paints as hellishly bleak, full of murder, suicide, and corruption. The chugging, oddly bouncy beats of the more uptempo numbers make them even more disturbing -- there's a detached nonchalance beneath the horrific visions. Even the narrator of the catchy, playful "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" seems hopeless in this context, but that song paves the way for the closer "That Feel," an ode to the endurance of the human soul (with ultimate survivor Keith Richards on harmony vocals). The more upbeat ending hardly dispels the cloud of doom hanging over the rest of Bone Machine, but it does give the listener a gentler escape from that terrifying sonic world. All of it adds up to Waits' most affecting and powerful recording, even if it isn't his most accessible.
-AMG

I particularly enjoy the sentiment expressed in Dirt in the Ground because it makes the listener feel like he/she has died a little bit inside on every listen

A+

here

Scarecrow (1985)

Somewhere between the lyrical working class heroism of Springsteen, and the lyrical moral preachiness of Dylan lies Mellencamp's Scarecrow, which is all working class patriotism and morality. Why isn't it as revered as material by those two then? It's the lyrics, mainly. Where does that leave Scarecrow? Occasionally it rocks but not like Springsteen. And there's the lyrics which are harder to I don't know accept than Dylan's. But such comparisons are mostly unfair. The album does its job and you'll probably enjoy listening to it

A-

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Neil Young - Tonight's the Night (1975)

1. Tonight's the Night 4:39

2. Speakin' Out 4:56

3. World on a String 2:27

4. Borrowed Tune 3:26

5. Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown 3:35

6. Mellow My Mind 3:07

7. Roll Another Number (For the Road) 3:02

8. Albuquerque 4:02

9. New Mama 2:11

10. Lookout Joe 3:57

11. Tired Eyes 4:38

12. Tonight's the Night - Part II 4:52

This album secured Neil Young's place as all time greatest singer-songwriter (in my mind) when its brilliance hit me. Less free-form than his similarly bleak On the Beach, Tonight's the Night is a unique blend of conventional country rock with skeletal, disorienting parts, making it strange and unsettling to suit the lyrical despondency.

A+

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