The Decemberists - The King Is Dead

Rating: B+

I had a thought a little while ago: do The Decemberists have a bad song?  It seems amazing, because they've released six albums now, but I really don't dislike any of their tunes.  There are a few I'm not wild about, but there's nothing I skip going through their collection.  That's pretty extraordinary.  And while I thought fourth album The Crane Wife slipped a bit from debut Castaways and Cutouts, I was blown away with their most recent album, Hazards Of Love, which I called my 2009 album of the year.

It's no surprise to regular readers of this blog (not that there are any), that, while my musical interests are still eclectic, I've become more and more focused on bluegrass and Americana music.   The Decemberists have struck in balance through their careers between folky indie and progressive rock, with their earlier albums tending more towards the former and more recent efforts the latter.  The King Is Dead, seen in that light a return to their earlier form, peppered with harmonica, acoustic guitars, banjos, fiddles, and slide guitars.  As such, it nicely dovetails with my tastes.

There's still some variety here - opener "Don't Carry It All" is thumping, "June Hymn" is a country lullabye (as Decemberists lead singer Colin Meloy once described earlier song "Red Right Ankle"), the hoe-downy "All Arise!," and even some cajun flavor in "Rox In the Box."  Peter Buck of R.E.M. appears and adds his distinctive guitar jangles on a couple tracks, including keying the chorus of "Calamity Song."  The band continues its run of not really having a weak track, but at the same time, there aren't any jaw-dropping standouts here like past tracks "The Wanting Comes in Waves," "Crane Wife," or "The Mariner's Revenge Song."  It's a set of 12 very good tunes, but nothing that grabs me and won't let go.

While The King Is Dead is a strong album with a great sound, the scope feels smaller than The Hazards of Love or The Crane Wife, which had overarching narratives that made the albums feel epic.  The King Is Dead isn't that, but it's a fine effort from a terrific band.

The Decemberists official site

2009 Playlist

I sent out my mix of songs I listened to in 2009 today, rather belatedly.

1. The Knux - Cappuccino
2. Phoenix - 1901
3. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand
4. Rhymefest featuring Michael Jackson - No Sunshine
5. Deer Tick - Easy
6. The Clap - Che Guevara T-Shirt Wearer
7. Tom Waits - Way Down In the Hole
8. Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer
9. The Dead Weather - Will There Be Enough Water? (live)
10. Guy Clark - Desperados Waiting For a Train
11. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)
12. Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood
13. The Gaslight Anthem - Great Expectations
14. Lupe Fiasco - Hip-Hop Saved My Life
15. Leonard Cohen - Anthem

Best finds: Rhymefest was a free download album online. The Clap I got (ha ha) after seeing an anti-Communist video from libertarian rag Reason. And I loved The Dead Weather's performance of "Water" at ACL so much that I had to track it down live (ultimately ripping it from a Youtube video).

Songs that I really listened to in '08 but I was too lazy to send out an '08 CD: Leonard Cohen, Fleet Foxes, the Knux.

Songs that had to be on there without question: Lupe Fiasco, Gaslight Anthem, Deer Tick.

Last cuts: "Love Lockdown" by Kanye West and "Bull Black Nova" by Wilco.

All in all: A mix of hip-hop, murder ballads, and inspiration. Hopefully folks like it!

Best of 2009

I haven't heard everything released this year, but here are my favorites to this point:

Album: "The Hazards of Love" by The Decemberists. Runner Up: "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" by Phoenix.

Track: "Easy" by Deer Tick. Runners-Up: "1901" by Phoenix, "The Wanting Comes In Waves / Rapid" by The Decemberists, "Bull Black Nova" by Wilco.

Live Act: Art Brut. Runners-Up: The Flaming Lips, Phoenix.

Movie Review - Here Come The Waves

I had a chance last night to check out a sneak preview of Here Come The Waves, an hour-long animated film made to accompany their 2009 album The Hazards of Love. I adore this album so I was intrigued to see accompanying visuals, especially on the big screen at my favorite movie theatre (The Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square). At first, I was kind of hoping for a narrative - Hazards is one of those albums where you feel like you know what's going on, but it's really more a series of interconnected vignettes than a coherent story - but the trailer dashed the idea that Waves would shed any light on Hazards' plot.

Instead, Waves gave us a series of moody, psychedelic images that augmented the emotional feel of Hazards rather than the literal content. There were four different animators. Peter Sluzska takes the viewer through a world of nature, woods full of trees and flowers that sometimes are static and sometimes are smashing together or falling apart or ejaculating color in the fierce "Won't Want For Love." Julia Pott then takes over - her quirky, cartoonish drawings don't quite fit with the other artists but were probably my favorite, full of dancing bears, animated constellations, and appropriately enough, a ship buffeted by waves in "The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid." She often takes the viewer into items, showing dancing subatomic particles or fantastical elements. For "The Rake's Song," Hazards' creepiest moment, we get the disturbing animation of Guilherme Marcondes, who treats us to skeletons and skeletal branches rushing past a blood red circle. While Pott's view dove into items, Marcondes prefers to have the imagery rushing past a mostly static image, creating the impression of an animated painting rather than animation. Finally, Santa Maria begins the album's final quarter with beams of brilliant light and rapid-fire antique store knick-knacks before easing into subdued night sky scenes for the album's poignant closer, "The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)."

What's the verdict? If you love Hazards of Love, get a copy of this and throw a party for your other Decemberists-loving friends (or those receptive) - it'll be a fun way to spend an hour and five bucks. If you don't have Hazards, this is a good introduction, but I'd probably just go ahead and pick up the album. And if, by some bizarre quirk of fate, you're lukewarm or miraculously don't like the album, you'll want to skip Here Come the Waves. It's not going to shed any light on exactly who Margaret or The Rake or the Queen are or what they're doing, but it will give you some beautiful, quirky images to go with The Decemberists' beautiful, quirky songs.

The Decemberists Site
Here Come The Waves Trailer
Buy The Hazards of Love at Amazon

Austin City Limits - Day Two

Deer Tick - "It's 11:45, so if you think my voice sounds bad normally ..." began lead singer / guitarist John Joseph McCauley III, looking more than a little like Thomas Jane's character from Boogie Nights. Any raggedness in his voice was welcome edge, complimenting their blues, country, and surf-rock-tinged rock. They betrayed their influences by covering Lightin' Hopkins and Townes Van Zandt, but it's hard to imagine either of them closing with Richie Valens' "La Bamba," as the Providence quintet did before being cut-off mid-song for going over their 40 minutes. Even their quiet songs turned loud and anthemic, as exemplified by opener "Easy," with it's snarling chorus "You don't know how easy it is." A great wake-up to the festival's second day.


!!! - the Sacramento group was also struck by the early hour. "We do, like, moody nightclub music - and it's 2:30 in the afternooon," lead singer Nic Offer noted halfway through the set. "Normally we haven't even had our coffee by now." If he was sleepy, it didn't show - he stalked around the stage like a modern-day Mick Jagger, gesticulating rudely with a microphone stand and repeatedly climbing over equipment and jumping into the stands. Between (and sometimes during) songs, the band kept things light by repeatedly shouting "God dammit!" to crack up drummer Paul Quattrone. !!! is a terrific live act; if you're not dancing, there's something wrong with you.

Bon Iver - the first real dud of the festival. I loved For Emma, Forever Ago, their 2008 album, and enjoyed the performance of Justin Vernon and company in Boston last year. In the open festival setting, their spare acoustic music came off as sleepy rather than moody. Two exceptions: anthemic crowd favorite "Skinny Love," amplified from the studio version with extra percussion, and the closer "The Wolves (Act I and II)."


Mos Def - the Brooklyn MC was nearly a half-hour late for his scheduled show, but delivered a solid set of literate hip-hop. He showed a range of talents, drumming, rapping, and singing, freestyling a song ("You feel like you should know this / But I just made it up"), and even breakdancing a little with the dance troupe he brought out for the finale. The set was heavy on this year's strong Ecstatic, and went over well with the fans despite his tardy arrival.



The Decemberists - as has been their modus operandi on this tour, the group played The Hazards of Love front-to-back. If you love this album and you love the Decemberists (as I do), this is exactly as expected - wild and awesome, with band members switching instruments, goofball theatrics, and some of the most awesome and gorgeous songs of the year - "The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid" and "The Hazards of Love 4 - The Drowned" to name two. If you find the Decemberists dorky and annoying, nothing about their live act is going to change your mind. The crowd was apparently in the first camp, eating up the set even in its more subdued moments.

Deer Tick Site
!!! Site
Bon Iver Site
Mos Def Site
The Decemberists Site