Lucky 13

GUIDED BY VOICES
Tremblers and Goggles by Rank
[GBV-2022]

In a continuous but seemingly furtive way, Bob Pollard and his most recent of co-horts (Bobby Bare Jr, Doug Gillard, Kevin March and Marc Shue) have made 13 albums in the 5 years since this lineup came together. Not only is this the longest stretch of any lineup in the band’s history but the music they’ve been putting out has been consistently solid if not as seminal as Bee Thousand [Scat-1994] or Alien Lanes [Matador-1995].

 

Their most recent platter denotes a desire to further expand their sonic palette with melodic and rhythmic shifts that reference prog rock if not necessarily embracing it full-on. But this is no surprise as Uncle Bob has made clear that prog is one of the “4 Ps”—pop, punk and psych being the other three—that inform his songwriting. (For what it’s worth, it’s also one of the more Who-centric records in their catalog.)

 

While I would recommend this one to both fans of the band and the uninitiated, I would suggest the latter group check out first single “Alex Bell” and then decide whether to delve further into the record. A tribute to Big Star’s founders Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, “Alex Bell” best encapsulates the feel and purpose of the album overall, as it weaves thru melodies and quick turns but in Uncle Bob’s own unmistakable way.

 

Released July 1, 2022.

Sad But True: Music Is All About Falling In Love

Recently, the CEO of a well-known music services company posted a video on YouTube in which he addressed an incident with a disgruntled client. Said client, according to the CEO, was enraged about spending a few hundred dollars on an ad service the company offers, which yielded no results in terms of further exposure for the client’s music. The client was livid and accused the company of all sorts of things. The CEO countered this with an analogy: treat your career like you would your body and health. Take the proper steps, have discipline and determination and you will have a better outcome. All of which sounds to me like “Get a job, work hard, save money and buy a house”. Duh. No one is hiring an ad service as a mundane, practical step but a way to get a leg up. And if it can’t deliver that…

But that’s not even it.

 

The sad, undeniable truth that no one wants to admit is that there is no formula or guarantee when it comes to your music. Spending nothing/a little/a lot is not really the key, because luck is the only factor involved when it comes to the music business. Luck may be important in everyday life but in the music business it’s the only thing.

 

You can have the catchiest, best produced songs, performed by a talented, visually appealing artist, spend millions on advertising and have it go nowhere. Meanwhile, somebody uploads their goofy little song to YouTube and/or Spotify and it goes viral without spending a penny on any kind of advertising. Some artists do exactly what the aforementioned CEO suggests above and are successful. Others have also done exactly what he says and have little or nothing to show for it.

 

Why?

 

Because contrary to current popular opinion, music is not a product that you can sell like a hammer or a screwdriver, for instance. When you need a work tool such as those, you find the best one you can afford and simply buy it. Music doesn’t work the same way. Acquiring music is like falling in love: it’s about feelings. It’s about how you feel about a certain kind of music. And they can thrust this particular artist or album or song in front of you via advertising and if you don’t connect with it you won’t acquire it. Even if it’s a style of music that you enjoy or even love. Because it’s about feelings. And, of course, luck.

Welcome To The Machine

JOSTABERRY
Hello Turbine
[Tangy Citrus - 2022]

 

On Jostaberry’s 2020 debut album, Greener Grass, the band (essentially the musical playground of multi-instrumentalist Bruce Hamilton) delivered an intoxicating mix of accessible yet interesting art pop that both challenged and delighted the ears, weaving through different elements and permutations of avant garde, prog and straight up rock and roll.

Album number two further delves into its predecessor’s spiritual allegiance to A Wizard A True Star-era Todd Rundgren, bursting with engaging melodies and idiosyncratic left turns that just seem to make sense regardless of context. But interesting arrangements and sympathetic production can only amount to clever trickery if the underlying songs aren’t up to snuff. Hamilton, as he’s demonstrated before, is not one to fall into that trap. Everything here sounds like it has meaning and purpose, yet the beating heart at its core is far from silent. This is music made with a purpose but anchored with emotion. Those expecting a sophomore slump can move along—nothing to see here. But if you want more of the tasty Jostaberry experience, or have yet to be initiated, dig in.

 

Highlights: “Roots”, “Connecting”, “The New Savannah”, “Tree Line”, “Planet”, “6 or 7 Miles After”.

After The Hurting

TEARS FOR FEARS
The Tipping Point
[Concord – 2022] 

The question of relevance in popular music is a tricky one these days. And is surely a significant point when taking into account the standing of a band whose so-called glory days were decades ago. But despite the obstacles of chronology often sidelining artists of similar vintage, these gentlemen have managed to maintain an admittedly less prominent, but continued presence within the popular landscape, not only with the enduring popularity of their songs, but also the inclusion of these in beloved movies, as well as nods by current artists such as Drake, Lorde and The Weeknd. And so, almost 20 years after their last album—the critically acclaimed return to form ‘Everybody Loves A Happy Ending’ [Universal - 2004]—a new collection of songs by the Bath, England duo has returned them to the spotlight.

 

The rekindling of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith’s long-standing but often interrupted friendship coupled with the overwhelming grief from the former’s beloved wife of 25 years passing in 2017, led the two old friends to reconvene in Smith’s Los Angeles home armed with acoustic guitars and not only purposely write some songs, but attempt to capture some of that old magic. Mission accomplished.

 

While Orzabal’s ruminations on his late wife and his new life without her inform these songs, it’s not a dour experience in the least, but one in which the cathartic balm of letting it out reflects a sense of peace and hope that dovetails with the band’s most uplifting moments. And while their trademark sonic palette is slightly less panoramic this time, it’s still imbued with the feel good nature of their big choruses and engaging melodies.

 

Welcome back, gentlemen. You have been sorely missed.

 

Released February 25, 2022.

Here We Are Now

CHUCK KLOSTERMAN
The Nineties: A Book
[Penguin Press – 2022]

To approach this tome as an exercise in nostalgia would be a mistake. What Klosterman does here is attempt to both explain what the last decade of the 20^th century was about from a cultural/social/political standpoint and, in doing so, place that chronological span in context. But because he’s made a name for himself absorbing, studying and commenting on pop culture, it becomes the lens thru which his observations and conclusions are refracted. Hence, his analysis equally explores in that manner the significance of the Nirvana/Kurt Cobain phenomenon; sports; the political implications of Ross Perot and his 1992 presidential campaign; and the rise of the internet, for instance.     

 

And while Klosterman is uniquely suited for a book of this nature, one that acknowledges and mostly focuses on how the youth of the time—aka Generation X, of which he is a member—were perceived and perceived themselves, he comes across here not so much as a participant but more like a well-sourced observer who knows the lingo, understands the vibe but isn’t really that attached to any of it. At least not as closely as one would expect. However, this approach, as it turns out, was Klosterman's deliberate intention to remove himself from the narrative as much as possible, for fear of turning the book into a memoir and thereby compromising his original mission in this case.

 

Regardless, in the end, this was the book that Klosterman was meant to write. The Nineties is an interesting and, at times, fascinating look at not just what mattered to a generation of young adults of that time and place, but also the way they processed the world around them, and how particular views and stances adopted by Gen-X were brought on by circumstances surrounding them that could not or would not be duplicated today. (The concepts of authenticity and "selling out" come to mind.) 

 

Klosterman has argued that the ‘90s are the last decade in American popular culture to have clearly delineated characteristics and identity, as opposed to the foggy interchangeability of the first couple decades of the 21^st century. For many of us, who have lived through these last three decades as adults, that murkiness rings quite true.