Showing posts with label The Gaslight Anthem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Gaslight Anthem. Show all posts

Monday, January 28, 2013

I've Got Miles On My Shoes That Your Brothers Can't Buy

0 Thoughts Posted by Punk Rock Dad at 9:46 PM



It’s New Music Monday!  If you recall, the last Monday of the month was my review new music day.  It’s been almost a year since I dropped a little science on such a topic.  I like to share the music that moves me with my friends and family.  Especially, the real good stuff.  So this month, I’ve gone round and round with the music I was going to review.  And as I write this sentence, I still don’t know.  I’m opting for reviewing the dark yet introspective album rather than the uplifting and inspirational one.  The record is so vivid and so real, it can’t be avoided.

This album was a surprise.  In what would later be titled the ‘Best Sick Day Ever,’ I discovered this band.  And strangely enough, it was an incarnation of a band I all ready really loved.  Let’s start with a brief description of the best sick day ever.

I don’t normally get sick. More importantly, I don’t normally sit for hours and watch TV.  But on this day, I felt like shit, stayed home from work, and posted up on the couch all day.  I turned on the channel Palladia, which is a channel that only plays concerts and performances in HD and surround sound. I sat for about six hours and watch six different concerts and/or performances.  Let’s see there was Ray LaMontagne, the Dropkick Murphys, Later with Jools Holland, the Foo Fighter Back and Forth, and this band; The Horrible Crowes.

The Horrible Crowes is a side project of Brian Fallon.  He’s the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, the Gaslight Anthem.  I had no idea of this side project.  The first exposure was a one hour Palladia show of their first show EVER at the Troubador.  The background music at the start of the show was the Gaslight Anthem as the band milled about backstage.  Somehow I just knew this was going to be a new kind of awesome.  They take the stage and I realize it is Fallon and he introduces his band.  Instantly, I’m online looking up the band find more about them.

While the Gaslight Anthem is more alt, punk, Americana, blue collar rock, the Horrible Crowes is the dark and subdued social commentary on the misdirection of life.  Every song is minimal and the lyrics are at a depth that Fallon never thought would work on a Gaslight album.  Perfect music for sitting at your desk, staring out the window in the dark raining afternoon, feeling the misery and emptiness, while looking for your resilience...  Depressing and uplifting all at once.  As you listen, you are taken to rock bottom and then lifted back up through faith.

“Elsie,” the band’s only album came out in 2011. As I mentioned above, it’s very brooding and contemplative.  This is Tom Waits as inspiration.  “Elsie” could easily be classified night-time music due to its dark message, instrumentation, and slow tempos.  The music is soulful and intense and Fallon takes more liberty in the music, subject matter, the vocals, and the lyrics than he could in the Gaslight Anthem.  It’s cinematic and dark and the songs are about conviction, lost opportunities, and loneliness.  Things that we all relate to on a variety of levels.

The lyricism by Fallon does not disappoint.  He exhibits masterful storytelling abilities, where his gravelly, rugged voice operates with the heartfelt conviction, like a pulpit preacher that is vivid and colorful.  Musically, there is masterful work done on the guitar by Ian Perkins.  The keys and percussion help the elegant music rumble and sway through the emotions of the stories.  The summation of all of the pieces creates something creepily eerie and yet strangely familiar to the heart.

How do you pick a trio of songs that represent the album when ALL of them are amazing and representative of the epic nature of this album?  I can’t so I’m suggesting you take the time to listen to the album in its entirety here:

The Horrible Crowes - "Elsie" 


Described as ‘hymns for the lonely’ by Fallon himself, the Horrible Crowes is something that you must listen to.  “Elsie” is a lesson in how to capture what emotions precisely sound like.  Think of a time capsule filled with old photographs, torn love notes, and mementos of past mistakes. This is its soundtrack.  We’ve been these songs.  Some of us are still a part of them.

Play the video for 'Behold the Hurricane' here:

 

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Monday, June 28, 2010

But the Beat Never Leaves and the Tempo’s a Relief

0 Thoughts Posted by Punk Rock Dad at 10:21 PM

June snuck right past me. It probably had a lot to do with selling our house and starting a new job more than anything. Just the headache of both of those activities causes a person to lose a grip on time.

So I’m late to the game on ‘New Music Monday’ once again. I suppose no one other than me gets any enjoyment out of this particular monthly post. My wife has admitted to me that she briefly reads the title and some of the introduction and then blah, blah, blah. My most ardent supporter finds no value in my monthly delve into to musical review foray? Tis true.

Whatever. Onward into the next review despite the loneliness here on the information superhighway (read: dead-end backroad) of the blogosphere.

I seem to stumble across musical nuggets in a variety of places. Mountain bike movie soundtracks have filled more than their fair share of contributions to my musical library. Many a moon ago, I was absorbed by a film which led me to a new band. That band was The Gaslight Anthem from New Jersey. One could describe them as punk meets garage meets roots meets folk meets Bruce Springsteen music. As I mentioned above, they are from New Jersey so there is a very clear element of inspiration from Springsteen in their tunes.


The Gaslight Anthem was just one of many of my favorite groups releasing music. On June 15, the band released their latest studio album, ‘American Slang.’ This record isn’t a stretch in regard to sound. It’s vintage Springsteen a la nostalgia, uhh, I mean The Gaslight Anthem. I’m not a fan of Springsteen but the punkish, rootsy nature of The Gaslight Anthem is pretty compelling. Listen to any one of their releases and you will be amazed to know these dudes are in their 20’s. Their sound, talent, songwriting, and passion suggest that they are old souls.

Get it here.

‘American Slang’ is an extension of American nostalgia. While listening, the album makes you feel like you should be bellied up to the bar at and old roadside 1960’s diner. That’s not to say they have a 60’s sound. It’s Americana and the songs pay tribute to American heritage and small town values. It reminds us that there is a little bit of small town, life’s struggles and hardships, and rewarding successes in all of us. This is what I call driving music. Not driving like loud and obnoxious, but get in your car and road trip across America music. It makes you feel like you should stop and absorb the sights and sounds along the way.

Let’s talk songs off the album:

American Slang – The title track of the record kicks off the album in fifth gear. It sets the stage for a more rocking album than the last. The song is a simple beat and guitar riffs that are naked in production. The song is the metaphor for our way of life in a simpler time. It’s one part American dream (the hope) and one part American slang (the reality).

The Diamond Church Street Choir – A little jazzy guitar and a shuffling beat take you on a journey back in time in the form of the comforting memory of a church choir. It’s a vivid song filled with imagery of the past with a nod to something we can all relate to – church.

We Did it When We Were Young – An austere song which definitely reconnects this album to previous albums. It has that passion and depth that The Gaslight Anthem is known for. The echoing singing is a perfect effect to the earnestness of the message of leaving the past failed relationship behind.

‘American Slang’ isn’t forged in heartbreaking emotion and punk chords like the previous album, ‘The 59 Sound.’ That record was epic. Unfortunately, that makes you want more originality out of this record. The bar has been raised for The Gaslight Anthem. But make no mistake, lyrically and musically ‘American Slang’ is a great album that reinforces the band’s talent and storytelling. It’s much better than most of the cookie cutter poop you can hear on the radio. And while certain songs will make it on rock radio, this is American punk rock music found on a jukebox in your favorite pub in the run-down part of town. This is great music. The Gaslight Anthem is soulful punk paying homage to American nostalgia in the form of old flames, barren highways, hot rods, and memories..

 

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