An unwrapped gift: on Propagandhi.
So I was going to write a review of Reconstruction Site, because it’s fantastic, but then I realised I wouldn’t be able to do that without it turning it into a post about how great the Weakerthans are. So I decided to backtrack, and begin from the beginning. And the beginning of the story is with Propagandhi. About this time one month and one year ago, I got Less Talk, More Rock for my brother’s birthday. I hadn’t heard them before, but he gave me a list of albums he wanted, and I approved of the bandname, making them my first choice. Off to My Local Independent Record Store I headed, and lo and behold, for a princely sum of £14.99, was the album. (My Local Independent Record Store happens to have a very good but very expensive punk section. Rarely would I consider 25 minutes worth £15, but Propagandhi are a very special punk rock band, as will become clear.)
(disclaimer: this post will be more personal than I usually intend them to be. Some situations demand it.)
Straight from the streets of Leeds, from the underground
So sorry for the delay in updates, I was hoping to get some sort of huge SKA AND WHY IT IS WONDERFUL (or alternatively, TOMAS KALNOKY AND WHY HE IS WONDERFUL, both will probably turn up at some point) post up over the Easter holidays but was too consumed by Coursework Guilt (for those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it’s basically a feeling of “Why are you blogging for fun when there is school work that you must do and have failed to complete?”) to manage it.
I’m still not quite organised enough to manage either of these, so as a sort of “I aten’t dead” to you all, I present a shortish post about a fantastic Leeds-based band: the Dauntless Elite.
The Dauntless Elite are fairly obscure, so I’ll try and give you some background. Amongst other things, they are the first act signed to the wonderful label Plan-It X Records, home of Ghost Mice, Andrew Jackson Jihad, (once upon a time) Against Me! and Defiance, Ohio amongst many other good things. I realise that the list of artists I have just provided may seem slightly misleading, as all of the ones I mentioned fall under the glorious umbrella of folk punk, or “the best genre ever.” The Dauntless Elite may not be folk punk, but they are a damned fine band. They play fast exciting raw-edged punk with lots of palm-muting and energy seeping out of the seams of their songs, and I am quite determined to see them live someday.
The experience of listening to Graft was a multi-layered one. The first time, I heard fairly standard, loud punk music and nothing particularly special. Now, maybe it was the fact that I knew there had to be more to an album with song titles like “Gina U R a Bastard Liar,” “I am Ninja… My Life is Lonely and Difficult” and “I Can Move if Funk is Happening,” but I had come upon one of those albums, an album that you want to listen to again just to check that you didn’t miss anything – and hey, I had! Second time round I realised that they have a great ear for (collective ear? they have great ears for?) pop-punk riffs, which are something I have a great weakness for. Much in the same way that you work through the primer stages of a videogame towards the more challenging, fleshy main section, once you’re done realising how catchy and hummable their songs are, one can begin to appreciate the lyrics, more and more with each listen.
The lyrics are delivered in fascinatingly growly harmonies just rough enough to give the impression that these are exciting people who are here to take you to a new place, but close enough to singing that it doesn’t harm the ears. I would say it’s a vocal style I quite approve of, possibly because I’m compensating for not being able to manage a manly burr myself what with being female, or possibly just because when someone sings with passion and conviction, I can generally get into it. Being able to use the voice like that, regardless of how imperfect it sounds, is one of the most powerful things about music, and even more so when the voice is being used to deliver messages as worthwhile as the lyrics on this album. Probably my favourite line on the album is the one that bookends I am Ninja, My Life is Lonely and Difficult:
“We move in inward-facing circles, singing inbred worn-out songs/Til we lose all sign of context with our backs turned for so long.”
Look, try and argue with that one. There’s other moments of genius, too; the refrain of opener Running Battle “Time waits for no-one, you better keep on – ohhh, time is the enemy” is difficult to listen to while walking without breaking into a, uhm, run and pretending you’re in the opening credits of the indie movie of your life; Our Own Legends, Shilling and You’re a Funny Guy… I’ll Kill You Last! are other favourites.
Here. Check out their music. Now.
March in Music
So basically as a bare minimum I’m gonna try and post a round up of everything I’ve been listening to and loving, new, old, obscure, totally mainstream; just anything I feel is note-worthy.
I know it’s not quite the end of the month yet, but I may as well get things started, seeing as there’s only a week to go, so without further ado:
Album of the Month:
Without a doubt, Evan Greer‘s superb Never Surrender. I don’t think I’m ever going to get tired of recommending this man’s music to anyone who might appreciate it, and I’ve listened to this album so many times it feels like it was released ages ago. None of the songs have gotten old, despite I Want Something being on its fourth incarnation within my library – it’s still quite simply one of the best songs ever written. Ever. Though that brings me to something: I generally force encourage friends to listen to him on the grounds that he is an amazing songwriter, on the level of Bob Dylan/Leonard Cohen/Elliot Smith/insert legendary songwriter of your choice here. That’s certainly what makes it feel so essential that people get out there and listen to this man’s incredible music, but something that really sticks out listening to Never Surrender is how fantastic the musical arrangements are, courtesy of the “and friends” in the artist tag. On the night the album was released and with it, a collective wave of joy amongst my fellow fans, some of the reactions included:
- “Fiddle!” *Epic fiddle solo*”
- “eeeee mandolin”
- “OH MY GOD
THIS IS WIN
And he hasn’t even started singing yet” - ” WHOA WHOA
TRUMPET SOLO!” - “But… HOLY SHIT FIDDLE AND BANJO! *SQUEE*
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Evan Greer fans have more important things to concentrate on than sounding cool. Things like the epic fiddle solo going on right thar. (The album also includes a hammond organ, which completely brings Play the Game to life if you are a sucker for Caribbean influences and/or mid-60s Dylan like I am, and a kazoo solo. Yeah, you heard right.)
Just a quick run-through of the tone of the album, incidentally. Evan’s tagline is “songs to remind you that you’re not the only one” and that is very much the spirit of this album – from the sing/chant/dance-along ‘[these could be the last days, so] Let’s spend them together/Let’s never surrender’ refrain of the title track, to the whole point of I Want Something (there is no point in explaining it, just find a version – any version – of the damn song and listen to it and realise) to the themes of political solidarity in his protest songs (particularly Ya Basta! and the gloriously rowdy rendition of the Picketline Song), the whole album leaves you with the impression that there is someone who understands and that there is someone who cares and someone who cares about you; that it’s important to be that person for someone else, as well. There are songs about those people in his life, too, songs that can be identified with instantly: a mother to come home to or someone you can “forget all about hopelessness and feel hopelessly in love” with. These are songs to cry to with a smile on your face and songs to sing along to, songs to dance to, or any or all of the above. There is even a song to have stuck in your head almost permenantly, in the form of Another Song About Ohio. It is an album to carry the words of in your heart.
tl;dr: Never Surrender is not just a damn fine album, it is not just the best album I have heard this month. It is a life-affirming, unbelievably powerful album, and I feel closer to anyone who I can enjoy these songs with for it.
Nostalgic Rediscovery of the Month:
The Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Or, as the Young Ones would have put it: “‘Ergh, hippie music.” There is absolutely no point in my attempting to deny something that Wikipedia describes as ‘Chamber jazz, folk, progressive rock’ qualifies as hippie music. But there’s also no point in thinking that ‘hippie music’ and ‘amazing music’ are mutually exclusive terms. The Penguin Cafe Orchestra (maybe I’ll just stick to PCO from this point on) made beautiful, thrillingly arranged music, playing with what instruments could do and how you expected things to sound, and Perpetuum Mobile is one of the few pieces of music that can retain its beauty and power after it’s been used to flog stock cubes. Which is saying something.
Old Stuff of the Month:
Refused. My brother, who has amazing taste in music (just in general, but particularly all things punk rock and ska-related also) was back home for a weekend this month, and with him came a brilliant selection of albums. The real stand-0ut (aside from Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes, but more about that later) was The Shape of Punk to Come. It was one of those albums that required two listens to get ito properly – the first studying the lyrics booklet intently, the second paying attention to the complexity of the music and how effectively those lyrics are deployed. For an album that’s over a decade old, all the songs still sound fresh and exciting. If I were to pick a single standout track, it’d be Summerholidays Vs Punkroutine. The ‘not even failure!’ bridge is perfect – the music takes a background role but the stark bass only accentuates the power of the lyrics. And that sentence, my friends, is why I’m not going to try to explain why a song sounds good in future.
Goddamnit what is with all the good Australian indie music spotlight:
Josh Pyke, and his unreasonably likable album Memories and Dust (though what I’ve heard from Chimneys Afire is highly agreeable too). Basically, if you like floaty, jangly, dreamy indie-pop/singer-songwriter type music, you ought to like Josh Pyke’s music. If you count yourself as a fan of the aforementioned genre and don’t like Josh Pyke’s music, there is something wrong with your ears (or you’re predjudiced against Australians or men or something), because he is pretty much the epitome of that style. He’s not just indie-fluff, though – his lyrics are genuinely interesting, honest and clever. I like this boy, damnit. If his style’s not what you’re into, I highly doubt he’ll convert you to the ways of acoustic indie pop, but if it is, then this is exactly the sort of music to give you faith. [Especially if you live in the UK and spent all of 2008 hiding from unbelievably shitty landfill indie while wondering what happened to the awesome indie revival that was going on a couple of years ago and at what point 'Scouting for Girls' ever seemed like a good band name.] One may also be interested to note that Pyke is on Ivy League Records, the same label as Australian dreamy indie-jangle-pop band Sparkadia. Is there a theme emerging? Or a scene?
New Album I Would Be Reviewing if I Could Find a Copy:
Either Tonight: Franz Ferdinand by Franz Ferdinand, or Supporting Caste by Propagandhi. By all accounts so far, T:FF sounds like Franz Ferdinand, which is apparently more of a disappointment than if they had reinvented themselves as a crappy pop band. Seriously, I was relieved they threw out all the pop producer sessions and made a Franz Ferdinand album. And now I’m going to stop talking about them because there is a limit to the number of times I can write the name Franz Ferdinand in one go. Phew. Nao. Onto Propagandhi.
I know I could have listened to Supporting Caste on Myspazz Music, but, two things:
1. I absolutely hate having to use myspace for anything, not because of the Rupert Murdoch thing (look, if it’s good enough for Chris Hannah I ain’t gonna get worked up over it) but because it is completely shite. It is mind-numbingly user-unfriendly, Opera gets upset by it, I get upset by it, it just doesn’t end well. I can just about face making the trip when Myspace Dark Horse Presents features Achewood (or on one occasion, NN2S, more of Mr Clem very shortly) or if a friend recommends a certain song, but I hate having to use it for extended periods of time.
2. I don’t like streaming music, for a multitude of reasons I’ll go into on a separate post. I can do it for a song or two, but it has to be followed by downloading or purchasing some of their music as soon as possible afterwards. The myspazz stream was a preview for fans, and that’s what streaming is for – previews. Not reviews. I cannot get into a streamed album properly, and with a srs bsns band like Propagandhi where I often have to listen to their albums twice in a row to take it in properly, I’m not going to be able to describe it properly from a stream.
So instead I shall refer you, kind reader, to Mitch Clem’s Punk Matters column. Cos Mitch Clem is awesome, and I am trusting him when he says it is an excellent album. Maybe I’ll review it properly when I get hold of a proper copy.
So yeah. That’s basically it, folks. My March in Music. If you really must, a quick list of the other things I have been listening the hell out of this month but didn’t come quite at the top of their field/would have made this post unreasonably long/etc:
- The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour (also the Weakerthans in general, also My Favourite Chords from Left & Leaving). I guess I could’ve incorporated them into this post with a category for “most upsetting song about a cat running away that isn’t even a metaphor or anything”, but hopefully that wouldn’t be a monthly feature.
- Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution – A Call To Arms EP (also Streetlight Manifesto – Everything Goes Numb). Acoustic orchestral gypsy ska-punk. Or ‘Skacoustic’. Or ‘unclassifiable’. Whatever you’d want to classify it as, it brings me very special joy.
- Sigur Rós – Takk. I’m not sure how much I can put about this other than it’s beautiful, regardless of whether or not I can make sense of the lyrics.
- Glenn Gould – Goldberg Variations (Bach). Again, I’m not sure how much I can say about this being as I am by no means an expert on classical music, but Bach’s musical rule-breaking is still crazy cool and Gould’s arrangements are amazing.
The end. Actually.
