the anticipated releases

two more from my favourite albums of 2007 list. these are the two albums that i was most looking forward to last year since they were from two of my favourite artists over the past couple of years. ironically these two albums leaked within hours of each other (release dates are for suckers) forcing them to compete for listening time. how did these albums fare in terms of meeting my expectations? well not so well to be honest. they actually did alright for themselves if you look at reviews that they received, i probably could have even included them in my previous post as obvious choices for year end lists since they did appear on a number. but they made my list largely out of obligation, as i said they are albums by two of my favourite bands, i couldn’t not put them on here. both had a lot working against them in terms of meeting my expectations simply because my expectations for these bands are so high. john vanderslice is maybe my favourite artist currently making music and okkervil river was coming off of their phenomenal black sheep boy project. i’m being a bit too negative here considering i’m claiming that these are two of my favourite albums of the year and i’m trying to sell you on them so i’m going to try to turn that around a bit. they are in fact very good albums.

john vanderslice emerald city
emerald city starts off with what i found to be the best track on the album “kookaburra” when the bass and drums kick in going into the chorus well it’s pretty much the reason why i listen to music. the rest of the album while very good, has a high level of anxiousness in the music and lyrics which prevents me from liking the album as much as i want to. the focus of the album, as the title suggests, is iraq and the war on terror and life in a post 9/11 world so the anxiety that comes through is understandable and probably intentional but as someone who is a fairly anxious person to begin with it ends up making me feel uneasy. anyway what this album does have going for it is that it is intelligently written by an intelligent guy and has the high level of production that can be expected on a vanderslice album. this is also the first album he recorded with a band in a live setting which gives it a more cohesive sound than previous releases. stand out tracks include “kookaburra” (download below), “the parade” and “numbered lithograph”.
john vanderslice – kookaburra.mp3

okkervil river the stage names
okkervil river go for another concept album with the stage names. the concept this time is a bit less clear but it has something to do with the ways people relate to fame. there is no real connective narrative that runs through this album, one of the best things about black sheep boy was the way the songs enhanced each other through a shared imagery. i never really connected with the concept this time but it is a solid listen and it has a few song that really make it worthwhile. it kicks off with what is probably the best song on the album “our life is not a movie or maybe” which is a pretty rockin cathartic number but my favourite song is “plus ones” which references a number of other pop songs and has a lot of good word play. i especially like the line “the 51^st way to leave your lover, admittedly it doesn’t seem to be as gentle or as clean as all the others” which i feel refers back to black sheep boy. i also like the song “john allyn smith sails” which is another song about the poet john berryman who killed himself right here in this fair town, the songs goes into a cover of “sloop john b” to close out the song and the album on a powerful note. our life is not a movie or maybe:

up next: the local releases

~ by mwn on January 21, 2008.