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 1214: Rilo Kiley

Welcome to the start of the NFL post-season! Once again my beloved Miami Dolphins did not make it in, but I still love a good football game. I’ll be watching today throughout the afternoon and early evening, but first I thought I’d turn to music. As you know, I turn there often.

Disc 1214 is… More Adventurous

Artist: Rilo Kiley

Year of Release: 2004

What’s up with the Cover? Trees and houses on a hill. Maybe this is San Francisco but it is such a rudimentary drawing it is hard to know. I declare this cover…not good.

How I Came To Know It: This was just me drilling through Rilo Kiley’s catalogue after I already liked them.

How It Stacks Up:  We have four Rilo Kiley albums plus a compilation of outtakes and rarities. Since I counted Pearl Jam’s “Lost Dogs” as an album for stacking purposes I’ll do the same with that compilation. That gives us five records, with “More Adventurous” ranking third.

Ratings:  3 stars but almost 4

If you like Rilo Kiley’s indie pop approach to life’s philosophical questions on their first two records, then “More Adventurous” is more of the same, albeit with a slicker and denser production.

While I didn’t like “More Adventurous” as much as “Takeoffs and Landings” (2001) and “The Execution of All Things” (2002) it wasn’t because of the production, which is artfully done and enhances the songs rather than competing with them. It is that the songs (melodically and lyrically) are a small step down. Fortunately, coming from the lofty heights of their earlier records a small drop still results in an excellent record.

Jenny Lewis’ vocals have always had a bit of sixties crooner in her, and songs like “I Never” have an old school sway to them that makes them timeless. At other times, the album defaults to various combinations of pop hooks, rock riffs, horn sections and electronic back beats. The band is deft at combining these disparate elements into pop songs that are toe tapping earworms. Underneath, Jenny Lewis continues to demonstrate a mastery of writing thoughtful lyrics that demonstrate a keen ear for character, image and emotional depth.

The opening track “It’s a Hit” is often noted for its unkind references to then US President George W. Bush, but I like that Rilo Kiley isn’t content to settle for that, expanding the dangers of ego from politics into art, and ultimately, reflect back on themselves and their desire to write a hit. The lesson: we all get a little self-absorbed from time to time and it is important to call bullshit on yourself as much as it is to call it on others.

Jimmy Tamborello (aka Dntel) does some guest electronica elements on “Accidntel Death” (get it?) which work surprisingly well. I have a friend who is into electronica a few years ago and gave me some Dntel music. It was OK, but so much better when uplifted by Jenny Lewis’s vocals and thoughtful lyrics.

My favourite song on the record is the equally poorly titled “A Man/Me/Then Jim” which features a sparse production with light guitar pick, the slightest amount of horn and some hand drumming to accompany Jenny Lewis singing about the slow fade of love. The song is light and sweet on the surface, but the topics are about frayed and collapsing love, and disenchantment with the world. It opens with:

“I had one friend in high school recently he hung himself with string

His note said, ‘if living is the problem, well that’s just baffling’”

And gets progressively sadder from here. With its themes of isolation and quiet desperation it reminded me favourably of Paul Simon’s “Slip Sliding Away”.

As usual there is one annoying song sung by Blake Sennett. This one is “Ripchord” which is a stripped down track with just guitar and voice that sounds like it was recorded in a tin can. I generally dread Sennett’s contributions to Rilo Kiley albums, but the least they could have done her is applied the same production excellence to his song as exists on the rest of the album.

Overall, “More Adventurous” is another solid entry in Rilo Kiley’s discography. The band only made four true albums before they split up, but fortunately for us they were all good.

Best tracks: It’s a Hit, Portions for Foxes, The Absence of God, More Adventurous, A Man/Me/Then Jim

CD Odyssey Disc 872: Rilo Kiley

My apologies for my absence, gentle readers! I was away on holiday for a week having a marvelous time. It was my birthday week and Sheila bought me a few albums, most notably a couple of early Patti Smith records. Although I am late to the party, I am smitten with Patti, and can’t wait to roll one of her albums for review.

Until then, here’s some other good music for you to read about.

Disc 872 is….The Execution of All Things

Artist: Rilo Kiley

Year of Release: 2002

What’s up with the Cover? A drawing of a face, then the same drawing, but less complete. It is covers like this that make me yearn for the schematics of airline seating, such as those featured on Rilo Kiley’s “Take Off and Landings” (reviewed way back at Disc 86). No, I didn’t like that cover either.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila discovered Rilo Kiley, but I can’t remember where. This album was us drilling into the collection after we bought “Take Offs and Landings” and loved it.

How It Stacks Up:  If you count the odds and ends album released a couple years ago (“RKives”), Rilo Kiley have five albums, and we have all five. “Execution of All Things” is Sheila’s favourite. I love it as well, but it lands in second place for me.

Ratings: 4 stars

Rilo Kiley understands how to write a catchy pop song, but they never let it get in the way of delving deep emotional territory, or trying new melodic approaches to best serve that journey. It may have kept them from ever having a big radio hit, but it is a big reason why I like them so much.

The themes of disillusionment established on their debut album continues on “Execution” as they extend their approach of combining a surface level twee pop song with subtly complicated chord progressions and thoughtful, often depressing lyrics.

Lead singer Jenny Lewis has a great voice for this style of music, clear and bright in style, yet evoking a desolate quality of lost youth. Considering that she was only 26 when it came out, it is pretty amazing. She doesn’t overpower you with her voice, but she fills you up with the richness of her tone, and her great delivery.

The angst on this record runs pretty deep, and that “dead inside” feeling we’ve all had when at our worst is captured poignantly on “Paint’s Peeling”:

“The paint’s peeling off the streets again

And I’ll drive and close my eyes in Michigan.

And I feel nothing, not brave.

It’s a hard day for breathing again.”

And on the title track, this death wish is extended from the person to society writ large:

“Then we’ll murder what matters to you

And move on to your neighbours and kids.”

Even the optimism on this album is tinged with a sense if impending failure. The album’s best track is “A Better Son/Daughter” a five star song that is less about the singer being the best person she can be and more about her fervently hoping that if she fakes it long enough, she’ll eventually feel it. Through it all there is a rolling drum pounding a semi-martial beat and soaring keyboards. The music pastes the smile on Jenny’s face, even as her vocals betray all the doubt that hides behind it.

Yet for all the moping, this record fills your soul with an energy that makes you feel that despite all the inner doubts we all carry around, things might just work out. The final track, “Spectacular Views” is the headshake the record needs, as the band takes joy in a perfect day on a sunlit coast. The joy of being alive comes through with this song built for driving a convertible with the top down, reveling in the wind in your hair, and wondering how you ever let yourself get so caught up in your head.

For all this glory, there are two things holding this record back.

The first is the songs sung by Blake Sennett instead of Jenny Lewis. Sennett’s voice is thin and doesn’t carry the emotional import that Lewis manages. “Three Hopeful Thoughts” is OK, but had me wishing it was sung by Jenny instead. “So Long” had me wishing it had been left of the album entirely.

There are also little tags on two or three songs where Jenny makes strange journal entry type monologues about youth. I’m sure they are intended to tie the album together, or underscore a theme but I found they jolted me out of the experience. The record would have been better without them.

These are minor quibbles, however, on a record that further cemented my love for Rilo Kiley and practically guaranteed I’d search out their entire catalogue before I was through.

Best tracks:  The Good That Won’t Come Out, Paint’s Peeling, The Execution of All Things, A Better Son/Daughter, With Arms Outstretched, Spectacular Views

CD Odyssey Disc 86: Rilo Kiley

I am on a roll of strong music big time!

Disc 86 is...Take Offs and Landings
Artist: Rilo Kiley (n.b. it's a band, not a person)

Year of Release: 2001

How I Came To Know It: Sheila read a good review for a side project by Rilo Kiley's frontwoman, Jenny Lewis. We really liked that album and so I sought out something from her band. I started with "Take Offs and Landings" because well, it was the earliest thing I could find.

How It Stacks Up: I have all four Rilo Kiley albums that I know. It really depends on my mood which one I like the best, but all things being equal, I guess I like this one the best.

Rating: 5 stars.

My friend Spence is often asking if there has been a truly great band that got started in the 'oughts'. It sometimes seems like there isn't, but then I listened to this album and the answer is "yes, and that band is Rilo Kiley."

This song also again answers the question, "Can pop music be made with any artistic value?" Although Aimee Mann already affirmed you can earlier in the Odyssey, Rilo Kiley reinforces this point. This album has some of the best pop music you will hear.

Jenny Lewis has a very pure, almost childlike quality to her voice. It is waifish - but still conveys adult emotion. As is common for the band, "Take Offs and Landings" features fellow band founder Blake Sennett singing two or three songs of his own. Sennett is the weaker voice, but he manages to hold his own here better than later albums.

Also, while I prefer the Lewis songs, Sennett gives a nice break stylistically to the music every 4th or 5th track.

The songs have an almost sixties-folk feel to them, but like with Belle and Sebastian the lyrics and themes are a lot heavier. Much of the album is about existential crisis - not only questioning whether relationships have meaning, but whether life in general does.

Yes, yes - rock and rollers questioning the meaning of life - we've seen it before. That is true, but Rilo Kiley sounds fresh, bold and very unlike anything else I had heard. Besides, they write good pop songs, which is not as easy as it sounds.

I particularly like the opening to "Science vs. Romance":

"I used to think, if I could realize I'd die
then I would be a lot nicer
Used to believe in a lot more,
now I just see straight ahead"

A nice summation of the end of youth's innocence, and an expression of the fear we all have that as we get older we're settling. A theme followed up in "Wires and Waves":

"There are twelve hours
there's a day between us
You called to say you're sorry in your own way
There are oceans and waves and wires between us
You called to say you're getting older
Sometimes planes they smash up in the sky
Sometimes lonely hearts they just get lonelier"

There is nothing like realizing a hard fact for the first time, and this album recaptures those feelings we have in our early twenties. Complex feelings when we realize that everything is NOT necessarily going to be alright, and that we're going to have to muddle through anyway. Planes may crash, romance may falter. And one day we'll be gone, and that will be that. Or it won't.

As Jenny sings in "Plane Crash in C":

"I have no idea what's been going on lately
I just wish you would come over and explain things"

We all remember that feeling, but don't worry, it gets easier once you stop waiting around like an idiot for the doorbell to ring. As the last lyric on the album states "you can't stay here tomorrow."

Because in the end, "Take Offs and Landings" is not just a celebration of confusion, it's also a kick in the pants to those who might be tempted to wallow in it permanently. It is a good way to start the oughts.

Best tracks: almost all of them - maybe not "August", which mildly irks me - but the other 13 for sure.