Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost (True Panther Sounds; 2011)

Girls has made one of my favorite records of 2011. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised. At first listen, I didn't think Father, Son, Holy Ghost could touch their debut album, Album. Too polished, not enough of the ramshackle charm that was so appealing about that first record. Nothing about this record says "knocked out in the studio." However, even though the loose vibe of Album may be not be as present here, there are truly well-crafted, well-thought out songs on this record. And while the wider variation in sound may put off some listeners, it's certainly not like an Enya/Black Sabbath mixtape. So once I got over how different this record sounds from what I expected and gave it a solid listen, I realized how brilliant most of this record is.

I wanna cover the whole album, but let me just talk about the song "Vomit" for a second.  I love it. A lot. It came out as a single before the record was released and I think it's pretty clear why. To create a buzz about an upcoming record you need a stunner and this song is just that. It starts off pretty intimate, glimpsing the messy, crazy thoughts of a lonely, lovesick man. A gently played guitar and spare drums give way just for a moment to a huge chorus; "Looking for love" gets half-moaned, half sung while drum hits and organ chords momentarily raise the volume. Dude sounds depressed maybe desperate. Slowly the temperature of the song rises with elements of each previous section staying in the mix, building and changing the tone. Like Voltron lions forming a single, beast-slaying song, it all comes together at the end and the forces of good triumph over evil. "Come into my heart" gets repeated at the end, lifted on the wings of gospel background vocals. The absence of love felt at the beginning seems replaced by a glimmer what the future could hold. It almost sounds hopeful. Damn.

And the rest of the album is great, too. It opens up with an old-school, rock n' roll hip-shaker called "Honey Bunny." It's a sunny and catchy way to get things going, not terribly different than previous Girls material. Two songs later, it's a completely different vibe. "Die" is a distortion-heavy stomper with heavy, 70s-style guitar licks repeated until it goes all wonderfully acoustic at the end. Tracks like "Just a Song" and "Saying I Love You" have an upbeat tune coupled with patented lovelorn lyrics typical of Chris Owens. The second half of the record might be a little plodding for some folks, but I think it's truly beautiful. The organ that closes out "Jamie Marie" and the background vocals on "Love Like a River" are pretty amazing.

Here's a couple of streams. Then I encourage you to watch some live videos after the jump.

Vomit
Honey Bunny
Saying I Love You
Jamie Marie

Call Me Lightning

It's been awhile and I'm sorry for that.  I think I've taken a long enough break and it's time to start again.  Thanks for the encouragement and kind words about the previous posts. Hope these new, probably shorter posts will still fit the bill for ya!

                 

So let's get started again with a band I had in mind since day one; the Milwaukee chaos merchants named Call Me Lightning. I first saw them on the Pretty Girls Make Graves farewell tour at the Black Cat a few years back. I really doubt if more than a handful of the folks in the sold out show had heard about them. I had never even seen their name in a magazine or a blog post. I should have been looking harder, man. From the first song I knew I was in for a good show and by the end of the set I was pretty sure that I had just found a new desert island band. While most of the crowd chatted amongst themselves, CML tore through a set of chugging, punk-meets-arena rock songs. Guitars snarled and drums got the living crap pounded out of them from the first notes until the very end. Despite having the guitars turned up to 11, Nathan Lilley had the pipes to deliver crazed, yelping, yet somehow intelligible vocals above the swirl. It was awesome. They sweated and thrashed and never once looked disappointed that the crowd was too busy talking to listen up. It was an amazing performance and to my surprise, I found that their live performance energy translated pretty well to the record I picked up; 2007's Soft Skeletons. I like it so much that it only took a week before I got their eponymous debut which is pretty dang good.  However, I think their most recent record, When I Am Gone My Blood Will Be Free, could be their best to date. The whole record just really hangs well together and show a little more experimentation with different sounds. Choosing songs to post below took forever. If you like what you hear, you will not be disappointed by their records.

One other quick point. As many of you know, I love a good F-bomb from time to time. I know, childish. But the song "Soft Skeletons" ends on pretty much has the most cathartic, blood curdling F-bomb ever. I like the song so much I've posted the track and a live video below. I think you'll like it too whether you like F-bombs or not.

From Soft Skeletons (Frenchkiss, 2007)
Call Me Lightning - Soft Skeletons
Call Me Lightning - Nobody Dies

From When I Am Gone My Blood Will Be Free (Dusty Medical, 2010)
Call Me Lightning - Called to the Throne
Call Me Lightning - The Fog


Some pretty awesome videos after the jump!