CD Odyssey Disc 1704: Girl In Red

I got home from work, late as usual, to find a delicious stir fry waiting for me (Sheila looks out for me). There was also a CD in the mail. Jeffrey Martin’s “Thank God We Left the Garden”. Martin made honourable mention on my top 10 list for 2023.

This next record was from 2021 and while it didn’t make that year’s top 10, I still liked it a lot. Let’s explore further, shall we?

Disc 1704 is…If I Could Make It Go Quiet

Artist: Girl in Red

Year of Release: 2021

What’s up with the Cover? Just your basic little girl in a field of flowers, if that little girl was powered by NIGHTMARE FUEL. She may be lurching toward you awkwardly through the back garden because she wants to give you a big hug but trust me when I say don’t let it touch you.

How I Came To Know It: I would have discovered this album during the pandemic, which was all a bit of a blur. I am guessing I read a review. Apparently, there is a song from this record that was a radio hit, but that wasn’t how I heard it, since I don’t listen to the radio. You know, because the radio sucks.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Girl in Red album, so it can’t stack up.

Rating: 3 stars but almost 4

Girl in Red is the stage name for Norwegian singer-songwriter Marie Ulven Ringheim and while she is in no way creepy like the girl in red on the cover, she does have a healthy dose of anxiety. I say “healthy” because Ringheim used the record to explore that anxiety in its pure and uncut form and the result is surprisingly reassuring. By opening up about her own inner turmoil, she gifts listeners with the realization that they, too, are going to be OK.

This message was timely when the record was released in April of 2021. In case you don’t remember, April 2021 was very “make it go quiet” indeed, with deserted streets and COVID lockdowns the world over. At a time when we thought we needed some sugary reassurance, Girl in Red gave us what we actually needed: something you could dance around to, alone in your apartment, all the while providing a companion to our dark thoughts that said, “hey, it’s hard for me too.”

Nothing summarizes the experience more than the album’s first track, and (reportedly) its biggest hit, “Serotonin”. The song speaks to clinical anxiety and in the process, becomes a salve for anyone suffering through isolation and uncertainty. As with many of the songs on the record, “Serotonin” doesn’t provide a solution, but it explores difficult and challenging mental states.

“hornylovesickness” starts off sounding more lighthearted, talking about how sometimes you just want to get laid but trust me, it gets dark fast. The song has a Lily Allen style bounce, but the undercurrent explores the loneliness of the road, the bad choices we sometimes make when we’re lonely, and the people we hurt in the process.

My favourite song on the album is the upbeat. “You Stupid Bitch.” The title sounds like an insult, but it is really a wakeup call to remember to love yourself. This song is danceable fun, of the arm-flailing/jump in place variety. That’s a great kind of dancing, although obviously better if you aren’t on a crowded dance floor where you’re liable to knock the glasses off of someone dancing close by. Once again, perfect for a pandemic lockdown. Situate yourself well clear of any free-standing lamps and vases and let ‘er rip.

Melodically, the album doesn’t create any new genres, but it uses the structures of pop music in innovative ways, and features arrangements and production decisions that are artfully chosen; lush but deliberate.

Lyrically, it is a far cry from complex poetry, but Ringheim makes it work, if for no other reason than her willingness to match the raw simple words with urgent, emotive tunes that want to create a mood rather than tell a story.

I enjoyed having a chance to explore this record again, and I’ll be pulling it off the shelves more often as a result. It is the recurring gift I get from these reviews – a chance to slow my insatiable desire for new music and slow down enough to appreciate the flowers. And in this case, the strange and surprisingly wonderful girl in red standing among them.

Best tracks: Serotonin, hornylovesickness, You Stupid Bitch, Rue

CD Odyssey Disc 1703: Bully

Many a long day has kept me from you my dear readers, but tonight I return to regale you with tales of musical discovery!

Disc 1703 is…Lucky for You

Artist: Bully

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? Our hero poses with her turtleneck pulled up over half her face. Likely causes for this decision include a) she is bashful b) she is cold or c) she is robbing a bank. Maybe d) has seen an ex-lover at the airport and wants to not be noticed.

How I Came To Know It: The boring way. I read a review, and after subsequently listening to the album, I liked what I heard and here we are.

How It Stacks Up: Bully has four albums but this is currently my only one, and so can’t stack up.

Rating: 3 stars

Having “crunch” in your rock and roll is something that needs believability to function. It isn’t enough that you play your notes loud enough, nor that you turn up the reverb. It has to feel authentic or it just feels loud. Which brings us to “Bully” a post-grunge concoction that very much wants to possess crunch. Does it? The answer is…sometimes, but mostly when she’s toning it down.

Bully is the performance name of a woman named Alicia Bognanno who, apart from some guest musicians here and there, makes her own music, playing guitar, bass and performing lead vocals. It’s her vision and that vision is fully realized on her fourth record, “Lucky for You”. The music is nineties inspired rock, heavy on the grunge and don’t spare the production.

It is this lush nineties sound, which ranges from the early nineties fuzz of Nirvana to the early oughts loudness of Evanescence. If you like your sound production clean and full of space for individual instruments to shine, this is not for you. After the first couple of listens I wasn’t sure it was for me for this reason. There is a lot of loud, and not a lot of true ‘crunch’ (that word again) behind it.

The record was saved by my schedule, a busy bunch of commuting and waiting that resulted in three car listens and two more on headphones. So trapped, I was given the chance to appreciate “Lucky for You” on its own terms and lo and behold, it began to win me over.

It was better after I realized she had more in common with the Muffs than Nirvana. This stuff is power pop, with guitar and reverb. The bones of the songs are solid once you hear them this way, and as the melody began to rise above the mud I started to like a number of the songs.

Bognanno’s vocals aren’t of the powerhouse variety, but she’s a pop singer. If you want growl or anxious Curt Cobain wailing, you’ve come to the wrong place. And while the strained effort of the guitar in songs like “A Wonderful Life” are trying a little too hard to be cool, the tune itself is passable. When the blood and thunder eased off and Bognanno lets her voice get a bit sweet, I found myself genuinely having a good time.

The album opens with the frenetic “All I Do” which is good, and very much wants to be a radio hit, but it felt a bit too much like it was produced by the Paul Giamatti character in “Rock of Ages”. I should note at this point that while “Rock of Ages” is an atrocious film, I have a soft spot for just how silly it is. Also, Malin Akerman. But I digress…

Back to the record, that hits its stride a bit late in the listen, with Track 4’s “Hard to Love”. While a lot of this stuff is trying too hard, “Hard to Love” is exactly what Bully does best. A bit of whimsy and jump on the verses, and a good (but not overwrought) thump in the chorus. Crunch? Here, yes, principally because it is employed with restraint.

“Lose You” is similar, which has one of Bognanno’s best vocal performances, despite production that puts the slightest (but still too much) squawk box effect on the vocals. The song is just too solid for that to spoil it. Also great, is “Ms. America”, the poppiest song on the record, and also the best.

Over the course of my multiple listens, “Lucky For You” went from an album I thought would be my first 2023 fail, to a solid rock and roll record with good songwriting that is at its best when employing a “less is more” approach to the production.

Best tracks: Hard to Love, Lose You, Ms. America

CD Odyssey Disc 1702: Handel

Greetings, gentler readers. It is a rare and exciting day here on the CD Odyssey – I’ve randomly rolled classical music! I know very little about classical music, other than as with every other kind of music, I like what I like. So, if you would like a scholarly or high-brow approach to Handel, go buy a book or take a course. If you’d like a more whimsical approach to the music itself and how it affects me (and maybe glean some details on how you might feel about it) then read on.

Disc 1702 is…Handel: Compact Companions

Artist: George Frideric Handel

Year of Release: 1993 but music from 1717 - 1749

What’s up with the Cover? It’s an old-timey painting! A more cultured person could have told you exactly what old-timey painting is, but I am not that person. Therefore, I'm going to make up my own story.

The gentleman depicted appears sweet on the lady, but if he wants to be taken seriously he needs to tone his ‘swoon’ down by several degrees. No one respects that much swooning, as you can see from the slightly amused and haughty look on said lady’s face. She might like the attention, but she’s not remotely close to handing him her calling card.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila bought this album at a book store more than twenty years ago. It is actually a small commemorative book providing historical and musical details of Handel’s life and works. What I’ll be discussing here is only that oval on the cover that reads, “Includes a 60-minute CD”. That’s this. I feel like the advertisement should end with an exclamation point, but given this is a classical work, maybe the cover designers were going for tasteful restraint.

…

Nope. That ship sailed when they slapped an advertisement on a famous painting.

How It Stacks Up: This is our only album by Handel, so it can’t stack up.

Rating: Is this a true album or a “best of” Handel, and thus not eligible for ranking as per house rules? I considered this very solemnly for a good 10 minutes or so (an eternity in cognitive time). I found that with the exception of “Water Music” and “The Messiah”, the majority of the stuff on this record represent the complete work. Also, it wasn’t like Handel was out there pressing vinyl in 1717, so I’m going to rank away - 5 stars!

The winds of time are harsh and unforgiving, which means that you don’t hang around in famous town for long without having some talent. Handel’s “Messiah” is still performed every Christmas, and the other tunes (or ‘works’ for the toffee-nosed amongst you) on this record are also all instantly recognizable. 300 years have passed with his reputation undiminished. This is as it should be, because Handel is a revelation. He was famous in his day, and he’s famous now, and when you’re this good, that’s as it should be.

The record starts off with a goodly chunk of “Water Music”. I don’t know if it is the best parts of the piece, but based on how much I like it, it seems likely. This tune is the first of many that showcases Handel’s mastery of melody. Don’t expect a bunch of double base action here – Handel is going to keep it light and let the top end of the orchestra have its way. Violins to the fore, and don’t spare the bow hair!

The tune seems like something you’d like to hear played by a small orchestra on the shore of some lake while you get rowed about and enjoy a bottle of wine. I’m sure its been done.

After this we get the complete “Concerto Grosso, Op. 6, No.1”. Again, it is sublime. My favourite instrument in classical music is the violin, and while Handel is famed for his organ (hee hee), he is also gifted at featuring the mighty violin, as he does here.

“Coronation Anthem ‘Zadok the Priest’” reads like something out of a Conan novel (where Zadok is worshipping Dagon and eventually gets beheaded by Conan). In fact it has been used in the coronation of British (and Canadian) monarchs for most of the past 300 years. That bit in the middle with the choir dropping “God save the king! Long live the king!” is a triumphant march down the streets of London, with the trill of violin feeling like a choir of songbirds that whorl and spin in the back eddy of all that pomp ceremony. There aren’t actually songbirds (more likely pigeons) but it feels like it.

The other major “full” piece is “Organ Concerto No. 6” which is masterful and along with Op. 6 Concerto above, had me thinking that Handel perfected each of his ideas around the sixth iteration. That’s a wild guess though – I haven’t heard the other five, so it is just as likely they are all awesome. Anyway, I saw a bit of the live action on this Organ Concerto and I was left thinking “that looks hard to play.” The result doesn’t sound hard though, it sounds like a whimsical fairy dance party.

Things end with the last part of the “Messiah” aka “the part everyone knows. This may seem like an overly obvious choice, but I challenge you to listen to the “Hallelujah Chorus” and not want to shout out a few of them. Inspirational to hear irrespective of your religious leanings.

I tend to like my classical music like I like my rap: clean production, and space to appreciate what’s going on. That’s Handel, who lifted my spirits with every one of these selections. This is a record meant to be played at high volume, and with your full attention for maximum enjoyment. You will not be disappointed.

Best tracks: all tracks, which are all the ones noted above, plus the overture for “Music for the Royal Fireworks” which is…exactly that. For best results, pair with a bold valpolicella…and fireworks.

CD Odyssey Disc 1701: Margo Cilker

Happy New Year!

Today is my last day of holidays, but I put my free time to good use. Along the way, I aw friends and family, played games, had a few drinks and generally caught up on a whole lot of sleep debt.

I also explored a whole bunch of fine music along the way, including this next record.

Disc 1701 is…Valley of Heart’s Delight

Artist: Margo Cilker

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? Margo kicks back and enjoys a big sky. I prefer the rugged landscapes of British Columbia, but I can also see a goodly amount of heart’s delight in the gentle slopes of this river valley.

How I Came To Know It: The boring way – read a review and liked what I read, listened to the album on Youtube and liked what I heard. I also knew Margo Cilker from her 2021 release Pohorylle, which I have yet to review.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Margo Cilker albums. While I haven’t officially revealed which two, it is an easy guess based on the information available to you so far. The two records are both excellent, but I must reluctantly place “Valley of Heart’s Delight” in the #2 position.

Rating: 4 stars

2023 was the year of Fluff and Gravy records, a small independent label that consistently releases some of the best indie folk, country and Americana out there. Today’s discovery is Margo Cilker’s second record, “Valley of Heart’s Delight” a wandering minstrel of a record through the many times and forms of folk and country music.

“Valley of Heart’s Delight” covers a lot of ground, from barroom sway to back country trail songs. The journey is held together by Cilker’s voice, which lands somewhere between carefree and weary, with outbursts of yeehaw should the moment require it. Her tone is similar to Lucinda Williams, both in terms of the heavy emotion and also the light nasally warble. The tunes are less blues-driven than Lucinda, landing more solidly in the country lane.

The album is beautifully produced by fellow singer/songwriter Sera Cahoone. Cahoone clearly “gets” Cilker, and understands that even the rowdier songs need space and quiet to let their beauty unfold. For this reason, this record is significantly better on headphones than in a car. I listened to it multiple times in the car, but it wasn’t until today that I got one last “at home” listen in that I was reminded how much I loved it when I first heard it. It needs your attention. If you want to just play it while you’re cooking eggs or having a pint at the pub, you are doing it wrong.

The record opens with the most accessible tune (always a wise choice) with the free and easy “Lowland Trail”. This tune has some classic country guitar twang that won’t ever feature this heavily again on the record. It is wonderful here, but you won’t miss it. If anything, Cilker is signalling to you that the record is going to search high and low for the truth, and in doing so she’s likely to explore a lot of different facets and styles of music. Getting things started with this refrain-heavy ear-pleaser is a wise choice.

Later she’ll get into drunken sway of songs like “Keep in on the Burner” and “Crazy or Died” or the folksy strum of “Beggar for Your Love”. The latter song also shows off Cilker’s talent for weaving emotional honesty with evocative images of rural living. Best lines in the song are in the opener:

“It takes two to tie up a line only sometimes
You can get a good fire to burn through the night if the wind's right
I've been looking at the answers trying to find the in between
I've been watching it all from this porch unraveling”

It isn't always perfect. The second half of “Remember Carolina” descends into a goofy rhyme-time game that feels self-indulgent and out of place on an otherwise fully invested record. It was the only time I felt that way, however. Most of the time, I was just happy to immerse myself in Cilker’s world, as she comingled grief, exploration, and the general acceptance of relaxing and seeing where the lowland trails of life will take you, creatively and otherwise.

It took exactly one record for me to regret leaving something off the “best of 2023” albums, but this is it. Less than a week past posting and I’m already wanting to make edits. Writers, I tell ya…

Best tracks: Lowland Trail, Beggar for Your Love, With the Middle, Santa Rosa, Sound and Fury, All Tied Together 

The Best Albums of 2023

I once again listened to a lot of new releases in 2023 and found 77 of them worth buying. That’s roughly the same as last year (80) but more indicative of my restless desire for new music than any stability or lack thereof in quality records.

Having done this for a few years now, I know that it is inevitable that I’ll later find some record that I regret not including on this list. Despite that eventuality, you could do a lot worse than taking this carefully curated list of gems into your home.

While it would be true to say I love all these records equally in their own way, that’s not how top 10 lists work. I’m looking at you when I write this, Paste Magazine, and I do not like what I see. Take a stand and rank ‘em!

OK, on with the action.

10 Olivia Roderigo – Guts

-          I discovered Olivia Roderigo through a friend’s top 10 list for 2021. He was right – Sour was one of the best records of that year. Her 2023 follow up, Guts is a worthy follow up, capturing the same lush pop production and joyfulness, while exploring the moral complexities of getting a little older. It seems only fitting to include a major hit from an album that is about as commercial as it gets, but so good I can't hold that against it. Here’s Vampire.

9 Be Your Own Pet – Mommy

-          I didn’t know this band existed until 2023. They go all the way back to 2006, but had a long hiatus from 2008 until last year. Based on Mommy I’ll be exploring their back catalogue, because this is some punk rock gold. Here’s Goodtime! a song that seems appropriate for a band deciding to punk it up again after 15 years away.

8 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes

-          After a couple of ‘meh’ albums over the last few years (Reunions, Georgia Blue) Isbell and his Unit return to form with Weathervanes. Truth be told I thought about putting Jeffrey Martin in this slot (see the honourable mention section below) but decided to start the veteran over the rookie. You’ll get your chance, rook! You’ll get your chance, rook! Here’s a sad one, but a good one, Cast Iron Skillet.

6 Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway – City of Gold

-          Last year I shortchanged Molly Tuttle by putting Crooked Tree on my honourable mention list when it should have made the top 10. I won’t make the same mistake with City of Gold. Here’s Alice in the Bluegrass which reimagines the Alice in Wonderland story with…bluegrass!

6 Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

-        Chappell Roan confidently straddles the line between the slick and glitzy production of Guts and the understated songwriting of Samia’s Honey (again, see honourable mentions below), making her an easy choice for multiple reasons. This album is both heartfelt and funny. Here's Red Wine Supernova, which carries on the vampire theme from the Olivia Rodrigo selection. Sort of.

5 Whitehorse – I’m not Crying, You’re Crying

-          Much like Jason Isbell, 2023 saw Whitehorse return to form with one of their best records ever. I’m not Crying, You’re Crying digs heavily into old school country song structures but still sounds fresh and new. Here’s If the Loneliness Don’t Kill Me.

4 Miya Folick – ROACH

-          ROACH is one of those albums where half the songs were released as an EP, with the LP following 6-12 months later. This double-selling annoys me, but I couldn’t stay annoyed at Miya Folick for long. ROACH is just too good a record. If you like your pop music both catchy and thoughtful, then this is for you.  Here’s Bad Thing. 

3 Jess Williamson – Time Ain’t Accidental

-          In the same year I gave up on Jess Williamson’s album “Cosmic Wink” she released one of my favourite records. If you are one of those people who claim to not love country music, I would invite you to see if Time Ain’t Accidental can change your mind. Here’s the title track, it even has a bit of weird percussion for you pop-preference types.

2 AJJ – Disposable Everything

-          Another band that has been around for years, that I just discovered through this 2023 release. This record is not exactly uplifting – more the opposite – but it can’t all be roses and light, so if you want to explore a little disintegration, this post-punk gem is for you. Here’s the apocalyptic Death Machine.

1 Boy Golden – For Jimmy

-          If a record has all great songs, no bad ones and inspires you both musically and lyrically then it is a perfect record. For Jimmy is exactly that. Best of the year! Here’s Mountain Road.

Honourable Mention – all great, but fell short because I could only pick a top 10. Some of these had “genre” showdowns against similar records that made the cut, but are just as good on any given day. Here are 5 more in no particular order in the event you aren’t sated by the official winners:

• Jeffrey Martin - Thank God We Left the Garden; Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You; Bonnie Prince Billy – Keeping Secrets will Destroy You; Samia – Honey; Jeff Rosenstock - HELLMODE

CD Odyssey: The Road to 1,700

Each 100 reviews I like to reflect back and recap some of the highlights and lowlights along the way. Here we are at 1,700 reviews so let’s do that.

In a few days, I’ll post my reflections on the best records released in 2023, but in this article I’m going to reflect on the best and worst albums reviewed over the past 100 entries, regardless of the release year. There were seven 5-star albums over the last 100. They were:

• Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique (1989)
• Amyl and the Sniffers – Comfort to Me (2021)
• Joan Shelley – The Spur (2022)
• Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill (1986)
• Run the Jewels– Run the Jewels 2 (2014)
• Mr. Lif– Mo’ Mega (2006)
• Boy Golden – For Jimmy (2023)

Of some interest, four of the seven were rap/hip hop albums. That is more of a statistical anomaly than any change in my listening habits. The others were punk, folk and country respectively. Collectively, they also represent music spanning across 37 years, so still lots of variety going on.

I got a lot more picky in 2023 about what it takes for a record to stay in my collection, parting with 14 albums. Most of these records aren’t objectively terrible, they’re just not for me. Here’s a list of them grouped together by the reason I let them go:

Category 1: But I like this band!

• Sunflower Bean – Handful of Sugar
• Lyle Lovett – 12^th of June
• Lone Bellow– Love Song for Losers
• John Moreland – Birds in the Ceiling
• Jess Williamson – Cosmic Wink
• Okkervil River – Away

These five are all by artists where I have one or more albums by them already, and know I like them. In each case I did not scout the record before buying it, and in each case I regretted it. The one exception is the Okkervil River record, which I did listen to first, but that has not aged well since I purchased it in 2016.

Category 2: Since I’ve already paid the shipping…

• Alex Lahey – The Best of Luck Club

I ordered three Alex Lahey albums at once, likely influenced by the savings on shipping. Turns out at least one of them (Best of Luck Club) wasn’t worth the freight. Here’s hoping the other two fare better when I roll them.

Category 3: I really like that one song

• Wild Rivers – Sidelines
• Amanda Shires – Take it Like a Man

Wild Rivers write catchy tunes and a couple of them (Bedrock, Long Time) were so catchy they momentarily blinded me to the merely OK listening experience for the rest of the album. I guess you could say that they did not provide sufficient ‘bedrock’ for me to keep the record for a ‘long time’.

Amanda Shires’ song “Hawk for the Dove” is a gorgeous tune, and I also liked that she’s part of Jason Isbell’s band, the 400 Unit. In the end, neither the song nor the pedigree could save the full record.

Category 4: I saw them live!

• Scimitar – Black Waters

I saw Scimitar live when they opened for Alestorm. I thought this magic moment would somehow be part of my listening experience but alas, it was not. Enjoy live shows in the moment my friends, because the magic isn’t collectible. If you don’t believe me go watch a half dozen crap videos people upload to Youtube from their phones featuring tin-can sound and a close up view of the backs of people’s heads. Does it feel magical? Reader, it does not.

Category 5: F*** you, The Band

• The Band – Music from Big Pink, and subsequently their self-titled album

I only reviewed “Music from Big Pink” in 2023 (I had reviewed the Band’s self-titled release in 2021). However, Music from Big Pink was so self-absorbed and annoying it broke the spell that the Band had briefly cast over me in the months after I watched the 2019 documentary “Once Were Brothers”. I was so incensed I went back and purged my other Band album from the shelves as well. Also, who calls their band “The Band”? Stupid.

Category 6: The Fading Fires of Folk

• Maire Brennan – Maire

This was a tough one. I’ve owned this CD since it was first released in 1992, making it one of the oldest in my collections. Back in 1992 I was seriously into Celtic folk music and would snap up records with little more to go on than they were in the right part of the “world” music in the record store and had song titles in Gaelic.

I still love Celtic folk, but not with the burning singularity of desire I once had for it. I thought about keeping it for nostalgia alone, but the practicality of available space won out. God speed to your new home, Maire Brennan.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the best of 2023, coming soon!

CD Odyssey Disc 1700: The Brother Brothers

What’s this? A second review in as many days? Easily done when I have some time away from work, my friends. I was also aided by both albums having only six songs, and being stuck in downtown Victoria traffic.

Disc 1700 is…Tugboats E.P.

Artist: The Brother Brothers

Year of Release: 2017

What’s up with the Cover? In a decision surprising no one, the cover of an album called tugboats features a tugboat. I suspect this particular tugboat is not registered as “Tugboats E.P.” and this is a digital addition. At least I hope that is the case, because if that were this tugboat’s name it would endure a lot of teasing from the other boats.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered the Brother Brothers through their 2018 album, “Some People I Know” (reviewed back at Disc1376). That cover also features a ship.

Anyway, I found the Tugboats E.P. on Bandcamp while I was digging through the band’s back catalogue.

How It Stacks Up: I now have four Brother Brothers albums. Of those four, “Tugboats” does very well, landing in second, just behind “Some People I Know” which now ‘stacks up’ due to more records coming into the collection.

Rating: 4 stars

You will not find a better example of two-part harmonies than identical twins David and Adam Moss (aka the Brother Brothers) and yes, I am including Simon and Garfunkel in that statement. I’m not saying the Brother Brothers are better than Simon and Garfunkel (they are not), I’m saying their two-part harmonies are better.

This singular talent is deployed front and centre on understated folk records heavily inspired by folk duos that came before, including the Everly Brothers and the aforementioned S&G.

The record’s title track is the best tune, a weary and sad reflection on life’s many burdens. It is a beautiful exploration of the desire to sit down and curb and give up, and yet not do so. The tugboat aspect comes late, providing a metaphorical resoluteness to push on. Or as the Brothers observe:

“Tugboats don’t get tired, they just have to go slow
But ain’t that the way you pull a heavy load?”

Like many a great folk record, “Tugboats” features a cover and here the boys go with “Columbus Stockade Blues”. I’ve heard this song as a blues tune and as bluegrass but here the Brothers give it a whole new treatment. Aided by a haunting violin reminiscent of early Leonard Cohen, this version sounds like ghosts whispering their secrets from the grave. “Columbus Stockade Blues” is always vaguely creepy, but the Brother Brothers take that to an otherworldly level. I’m not saying it is better than Doc Watson, but it holds its own.

The album packs a lot of emotional range into a short 18 minutes. “Notary Public” is a whimsical and catchy tune where the narrator opines that he needs a notary public because he thinks he’s “signed away my heart again.” It is a bit kitschy but a good palate cleanser to the many slow and sad numbers.

We wrap up the record with “Cairo, IL” another tune with some sweet and mournful violin. This tune showcases a mix of solo vocals (not sure if it is David or Adam) and those sublime harmonies, as the brothers walk in and out of the two deliveries with easy grace.

“Easy grace” summarizes the experience of the record as a whole as well. Listening to the Brother Brothers is like a relaxing massage for your mind. They created a calm bubble around me for a day spent in Christmas traffic – no easy feat.

Best tracks: Tugboats, Columbus Stockade Blues, Cairo IL

CD Odyssey Disc 1699: Boy Golden

Today is my first day of a much-needed holiday break. So far, I have slept in with my cat and had a shower and since you’ll be reading this after I post, written this review. I plan to make myself more useful through the day, but a nice slow ramp up to useful is just what I needed.

Disc 1699 is…For Jimmy

Artist: Boy Golden

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? Despite some fashion decisions for the photo shoot, it is hard not love a man with a moustache and a mullet like that. Also, as Boy Golden himself sings on “Mountain Road”:

“Been wearing the same thing for coming a year
But I'm thinking of changing my style”

So there’s hope.

How I Came To Know It: Earlier this year, my friend Casey suggested I go see Boy Golden in concert. I didn’t know who Boy Golden was, but after listening to a few tracks on Youtube I decided it was worth my while. I am glad I did, as the live show was all kinds of awesome.

As for the album itself, I bought this one and another Boy Golden release (2021’s “The Church of Better Daze”) from the merch table at the show. I love getting albums at merch tables because it means more profit to the artist, and not some intermediary.

How It Stacks Up: This record and “Church of Better Daze” are my only two Boy Golden records. I haven’t given “Church” the attention it deserves to make a value judgment, but you didn’t come to this section of the review to watch me equivocate, and besides, it ain’t in my nature. I’m going out on a limb and saying it would be a great record indeed to displace, “For Jimmy” and for that reason I rank it #1, at least for now.

Rating: 5 stars

In the next week or so I’ll be considering my much anticipated (by a few) best releases of 2023. Expect “For Jimmy” to land high on that list. This record may be short (at six songs/22 minutes it is straddling EP territory) but it packs a whole lot of awesome into those 22 minutes.

“Just what kind of music is this, then?” You may ask yourself, as I did when my friend mentioned the show. I’d say it is outlaw country music, and at its core that is exactly what it is. Like Steve Earle accomplished 35 years ago, “For Jimmy” brings in elements of backcountry bluegrass and good old-fashioned rock and roll into something all its own. In many ways, Boy Golden is the inheritor to Earle’s groundbreaking early work, filling a much-needed space in modern music alongside folks like Hayes Carll.

The album is a well-balanced mix of self-exploration and party tunes, with the two concepts often crossing over one another. Consider, these lines from the aforementioned “Mountain Road”:

“Living is easy if you want to
Sure can be hard if you don't
Walking through the parking lots lost in your thoughts
Now you're standing at the No Frills alone”

Deep stuff, but mingled with cheap motels, it captures the grit and grime that binds this record together. The themes of “Mountain Road” echo through the record, returning full force on “Blue Hills”, a song laden with great observations, powerful images, and lyrics that send your brain down twisty passages you may not have walked in a while. I could quote the whole thing, but I’ll grab just six for you here:

“Out on the road, that's where I belong
Highway Ten's getting long
Dirt road junkies in their trucker caps
You don't get stopped by the cops when you look like that

“Where you get born ain't always where you're coming from
It matters more what you intend to become”

“Blue Hills” also has some sublime guitar work. Because beneath all the great songwriting and lyrics, Boy Golden is one hell of a guitar player.

“Aging Mr. Riley” is a tale of lowlifes engaged in fixing horse racing, double-crossing each other along the way. If you’ve been waiting for a worthy inheritor to Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty,” this is it. The tune even gives a nod to the melody from “Copperhead Road” for the bridge, just so you know that while Boy Golden is forging new trails, he’s also respectful of those who came before.

The record ends with “Out on the Weekend” which is a perfect reflection of what it is to chill with friends on the weekend. This song is hyper specific and yet universal to anyone fortunate enough – as I am – to be surrounded by good friends that you love and trust. Best (of many great) lines:

“In the garage, they're spinning some wax
Old country music helps me relax
So does a beer and we're throwing them back
Jen rolled a joint my God was it fat
It's a good time, I'm drinking coffee you're drinking wine”

So much in here, including that different people get their kicks in different ways, but they can still get them together. Here we've got three vices covered in six lines - four if you count old country music.

Better still is the exceptional phrasing of Boy Golden’s delivery, and the structure of the lyrics perfectly serving that phrasing. Some artists rearrange a sentence to force a rhyme. Boy Golden rearranges a sentence because it serves the song. It festoons his work with memorable punch lines and thoughtful observations that heighten the story or theme of the song every time.

My friend Casey initially sold me on this record by saying “it only has six songs but every single one of them is great.” He was right. This record was short, and I could’ve reviewed it on Tuesday, except I wasn’t done enjoying it. Instead I let it play over and over again for the better part of the week, loving it more and more with every listen.

Best tracks: All tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1698: Rilo Kiley

My weekend got off to a lovely start, with some drinks out with friends, followed by board games with Sheila and some late night telly. Board game nights are also a chance for me to introduce any newly purchased music into the house, and with busy schedules all around I’ve been gathering quite a backlog. We listened to five new albums last night, and there’s still at least another five to go. Yeehaw!

This album was not one of them – the random rolling pulled it from the stacks, because that’s how this process works. Random!

Disc 1698 is…Self-Titled

Artist: Rilo Kiley

Year of Release: 1999

What’s up with the Cover? No idea. A close up of a face off circle in a hockey rink? A mathematician’s idea of what going to the beach should look like?

How I Came To Know It: I wasn’t aware this album existed, and have lived most of my life believing that 2001’s Takeoffs and Landings (reviewed back at Disc 86) was Rilo Kiley’s first record. This is easy to understand, given their Wikipedia entry says it is, and makes no reference of this record. It wasn’t until I read an article on Pitchfork revisiting their “debut” album (re-released in 2020) that I learned something had come before.

I then discovered the re-release did not include a CD (shame!). Given it was originally released in the heyday of the compact disc, this seemed terribly wrong, but I would not be denied. I downloaded it digitally from Bandcamp and made the album myself thereafter, right down to the jewel case art. I will not be denied my preferred physical media!

How It Stacks Up: With this surprise addition, I now have six Rilo Kiley albums. I like them all, and competition is fierce. Despite that, Rilo Kiley’s debut lands in third, displacing the nearly as good “More Adventurous” (Disc 1214) in the process.

Rating: 4 stars

When Sheila and I first discovered Rilo Kiley we played the hell out of all the records we could get our hands on. In the end we overplayed them, and while it was a crime driven by love, it has meant in recent years I have passed them over a fair bit.

This made the discovery of their 1999 debut album all the sweeter, because it did two things. First, it gave me a clutch of new (to me) songs to enjoy, and secondly, it reminded me why I overplayed them in the first place - because they are awesome.

Rilo Kiley is what pop music sounds like when in the hands of master songwriters. Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett have been writing most innovative and inspiring pop tunes for over twenty years now, and this record confirms that they hit the ground running.

Things start with the infectious “The Frug,” a song for dancing, and about dancing. Yes, there’s a bit of spice in the lyrics that hint at jealousy and the difficulties of love, but with a 2:40 running time, there ain’t much room for anything but the dancing, and that will be just fine with you.

“The Frug” is a ridiculous amount of fun. Just setting down to write about it had me fall down a Youtube dance video well for the last 30 minutes. If you are wondering, (as I once did) what a “frug” is, it is a dance, and the internet is festooned with fun interpretations of it. There’s the classic Bob Fosse routine from the movie Sweet Charity, this short bit of awesome from an Indian film I do not pretend to know, and even this highly stylized Bob Fosse tip of the hat danced to Portugal.The Man’s “Feel it Still”.

The song also references three other dances (“The Robocop”, “The Freddie”, and “The Smurf”) all of which are also a joy to discover, although not as fun as the frug.

Rilo Kiley can also get serious. “85” explores infidelity and while the song has a sugary meandering melody, it is wrapped around the real hurt that humans can cause one another.

There is mature quality to a lot of the tunes on this record that hearken back to earlier eras in pop music history. “Teenage Lovesong” is an old school sixties crooner, and “Gravity” is a belter of a seventies style country tune. Both tunes feature Lewis’ brilliant storytelling talents. On “Teenage Lovesong” a groupie gets taken advantage of by an old famous person. Narratively it forms a great bookend to the much creepier “15” off of their 2007 release “Under the Blacklight”. “Gravity” also hints at disturbed relationships, although beyond some vignettes of violence on the side of the highway, the listener is left to fill in the blanks.

There is an earlier version of “Always” (also on “Takeoffs and Landings”) which has some questionable production decisions they cleaned up in the two years that would follow, but this is a minor issue on a record that was a wonderful experience of a band I thought I knew and loved, but now know and love even better.

Best tracks: The Frug, Papillon, 85, Teenage Lovesong, Gravity

CD Odyssey Disc 1697: Bonny Doon

I had some external appointments this week, and all that extra driving gave me plenty of time to listen to the next record. Also to curse road construction in December, but the music made it all endurable.

Disc 1697 is…Let There Be Music

Artist: Bonny Doon

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? It’s the words and music to the title track. Well, for sure the words. The music could be anything, as – to my great shame – I cannot read music. I learned guitar via lessons and chord charts. I’ve always wished I could read music, partly because as a music lover it feels like I’m missing out on an aspect of the experience, but mostly because it looks nifty.

How I Came To Know It: I was sure that I’d read a review of this record on American Songwriter, but looking back it turns out it was on Pitchfork. It is rare that I find a folkier record on Pitchfork, but here we are. Anyway, read the review, was interested, liked the music, and ordered it through my local record store. Shop local!

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Bonny Doon album, so it can’t stack up against anything.

Rating: 3 stars

With a name like Bonny Doon you might expect this music to be firmly in the Celtic Folk world, but you may be surprised to know this is more of a folk-rock sound. It is more reminiscent of the Flying Burrito Brothers than anything Capercaillie ever gave us. Fortunately, I like both styles of music, and Bonny Doon’s upbeat, easygoing melodies were exactly what I needed through the first half of a cold pre-winter week.

Bonny Doon is like that poster on the wall of your office reminding you to breathe. Feeling stressed? Uncertain about life’s purpose? Throw on the 40 minutes of “Let There Be Music” and chill out.

The record is simple but sneaky. The melodies have that timeless quality that good folk music always has, but the progressions are more rock and roll than folk. If these tunes were fuzzed out and the electric guitar let loose, the tunes could easily be nineties rock. Instead, Bonny Doon opt for a light and airy vibe that exudes hope for a better tomorrow. This isn’t “sun will come out tomorrow” music, this is “sun will come out right now music.

Lyrically, there isn’t any Leonard Cohen level poetry, but they do a great job of converting conventional wisdom and plain language into something that feels more profound than it probably is on the page. Some of the best stuff can be found on “Crooked Creek”, expressing a gentle pastoral ease in every line:

“I heard the preacher speak at crooked creek
I heard the coyote howl from deep in my bowels
I heard the trees slow dance in the neon wild
Ain’t it crazy how I still feel like a child.”

This is just one of many hippy dippy “smoke some grass, and chill in the shade of this willow tree” kind of tunes. Others have names like “Let There Be Music” and “Fine Afternoon” and are just as chill as you’d expect songs with titles like that to be.

The biggest buzzkill these guys manage is “You Can’t Stay the Same” and even here, they are more reassuring you that the world will be OK despite changes that will come both to you, and from within you. Think Black Sabbath’s “Changes,” but minus all the anxiety.

All this happiness and relaxation might make you think this record is sleepy or boring, but it is anything but. First of all, the songs have a lively jangle that gets you swaying in time from the first few notes. Second, the record has plenty of recognition that things are tough (on “Roxanne” there are even hints of self-destructive behaviour in the mix). It just shows that there is a sunny way to confront life’s challenges, if you’re willing to embrace it.

This record is not musically innovative, nor does it push the musicianship or vocals of its band members, but what it does for the spirit can’t be underestimated. It left me feeling alert and rested, like I’d just had a thoroughly great meditation session, or maybe just a comfortable nap.

Best tracks: San Francisco, Crooked Creek, Roxanne