Bodies of Water - A Certain Feeling
The last effort from Bodies of Water was pretty solid. It reminded me of Arcade Fire, if Arcade Fire used a church choir on every single song. Speaking of church, I think I heard Bodies of Water started out as a Christian rock band. Interesting… Even more interesting that they’re any good.

Candlebox - Into the Sun

No freakin’ way! CANDLEBOX?! The 90’s grunge band who put out 90’s anthems like “Cover Me” and “You”?? As a scrawny pissed-off pimple-faced teenager, I LOVED Candlebox. I’ll buy this album on the merit of having a hit record released more than 15 years ago.

CSS - Donkey

Sub Pop Records has produced a lot of killer acts in the last year. One of the best was the song everyone loves to hate, “Music is My Hot Hot Sex” by CSS. I don’t expect much from this album, but hey, I could be wrong…

Buddy Guy - Skin Deep

This album has guest appearances from Eric Clapton, Robert Randolph, and Derek Trucks, among others. How could it not be good?

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Trent Reznor has never put out a bad album. Period.

Kings of Leon - Because Of The Times

Jude13 Rating:

This album’s been out for a while, and while I’ve owned it since the day it was released (over a year ago), I didn’t give it much of a listen. King’s of Leon’s last album, Aha Shake Heartbreak was a good effort and is what ultimately blew open the doors of fame for them, but I thought it lacked authenticity and and sounded too wild, uncontrolled, and frankly, a bit amatuerish. I really didn’t expect much from this past release. It was only after Jenny Eliscu’s relentless playing of “Knocked Up” on Left of Center that really got me to give it an honest listen. Jenny apparently knows her stuff, because this is a great album!

In this latest effort, Because of the Times, Kings of Leon have grown up considerably, writing songs of profundity and intensity, all-the-while keeping that familiar southern rock swagger that made them so famous to begin with. There’s a raucous discordance to their sound, an ensemble of crunchy guitars, thumping bass, and pounding drums. Made up of three brothers and a stray cousin, Kings of Leon have roots deep in Pentecostal Americana culture. The three Followill brothers (Caleb - lead vocals, Jared - bass guitar, & Nathan - drums), along with cousin Matthew Followill (lead guitar), spent their childhood traveling the south with their father, a United Pentecostal preacher who’s name was… are you ready for this… Leon. The album title “Because Of The Times” comes from a pentecostal convention held every year that the Followill’s attended.

Because Of The Times opens low-key, with a mellow track called “Knocked Up” about, you guessed it, finding out your girlfriend is pregnant and facing her parents. A steady, mezmorizing bass and drum line can almost put you into a trance until the chorus comes rocking in. The lyrics are unabashedly ostentatious, “People call us renegade / Feel like we’re living crazy / We like taking on the town / Some people getting lazy / I don’t care what nobody says, no I’m going to be her lover / Always mad and usually drunk but I love her like no other”. The second track “Charmer” comes raging in with a shrieking vocal performance by Caleb Followill that shows the intensity this band can hold. The guitars on this track can make your head spin.

Other standout tracks on this release are “True Love Way”, a melodious rocker about unrequited love. It’s with that familiar pain of wanting someone to love you as much as you love them that Caleb sings “Cause we’d be so free / Happy alone / Sharing a smile / So far from home / And we would laugh / Laugh till we cried / Making up songs /You’re making me lie.”

But if I could only recommend one track from this album, it would be the gem called “Fans”. An ode to the lip-syncing, tight-clothes wearing concert-goers that throng at the front of the stage during every show, this song is just so cool it’s hard to listen to without grinning from ear-to-ear the whole time. This is how the band views these fanatics, and they know just how to make us move: “He knows the lipstick kisses, oh yeah that’s the right move / Make me feel like I’m the one who moves you / The only one you see.”

This album is a MUST-HAVE for anyone with any sense of the modern rock scene. Kings of Leon have created not only a solid third effort, but an album that will be remembered for years. This one won’t get outdated anytime soon. Highly recommended.

Listen to “Fans” by Kings of Leon

In an effort to get caught up, I’m going to give you quick reviews of the last 3 albums I’ve bought (Viva La Vida excluded from this list until another day).

The Watson Twins - Fire Songs

I first heard of The Watson Twins a couple years ago when I picked up the debut effort by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, on the recommendation that Jenny Lewis was similar to Neko Case. You’ve never heard of Jenny Lewis, but you know her alter-ego, Rilo Kiley, which is also the name of her indie rock band. While a comparison to Neko Case may be an overestimation, Jenny Lewis is in fact very good. But I digress. This is supposed to be a quick review about The Watson Twins.

The Watson Twins play that familiar yet uncategorizable blend of new folk-rock and alt-country. The songs are a mix of Kentucky sunshine and southern tears. Gorgeous harmonies blend with beautiful lyrics to create a solid album that comes highly recommended. The Watson Twins (nor Jenny Lewis nor anyone else) are no substitute for Neko Case, but they may be the best thing to come along in between Neko Case releases.

The Virgins - Self-Titled

Every summer needs a mixtape to blare as you roll down the highway with the windows down. This year, The Virgins should have 2 or 3 spots on your mix. This is July music at its best; shallow songs about the carefree days of youth. The Virgins carefree days of youth apparently also involved easy sex, doing coke in your girlfriends’ bedroom, and then cheating on that girlfriend, as most of the songs have a reference to at least one of these past times.

Hey, rich girl!

Well, can you tell me why

You’re so stuck up?

When you act like you’re so down

Does paranoia come around

And seize your mind now

Roll your eyes!

Yes, the songs are shallow and superficial, but so is much of life. Instead of pretending to be above the pretense, The Virgins embrace it and make it into something you can listen and laugh at. The Virgins don’t take themselves too seriously, and you probably shouldn’t either. My favorite track off this album is “Rich Girls”, an ode to the snobbish hotties everyone lusted after in high school. Hands down, its definitely worth $13.99 to pick up this release.

The Duke Spirit - Neptune

If the Pixies reformed today and had a female lead singer, they would call themselves The Duke Spirit. For the enlightened reader, that should be endorsement enough. For the rest of you, let me tell you, The Duke Spirit are very cool. From what I understand, they’ve actually been around for a while, but I hadn’t ever heard of them before this latest effort was released. I’m glad I know now.

The Duke Spirit recently was on tour with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I had the misfortune of missing this concert when they came through Lawrence, Kansas earlier this year, but I heard they stole the show from the Motorcycle Club. Give them a listen. First track to check out: The Step And The Walk.

The most holy city in Jayhawk basketball is Lawrence, Kansas. Tens of thousands make an annual pilgrimage to the city to witness and worship. On April 12th of this year, over 100,000 descended on the city in a single day to give the Jayhawks a “triumphal entry” through the city. Instead of riding on a borrowed donkey the team came in on borrowed Mustangs. Instead of waving palms the masses waved pom-poms and crimson and blue flags.

We gather and worship in our sacred temple, Allen Fieldhouse. Bill Self is our high priest, speaking and teaching us in the ways of Jayhawk Basketball. We have our prayers; the most well-known is a chant known as the “Rock Chalk Chant”. When this prayer is said as a corporate body, it has been known to send the opposing team into a confused, overwhelmed frenzy.

We believe in the Holy Trinity:

• The Father, James Naismith, who created the game and showed us how to play;
• the Son, Adolph Rupp, who showed us how to win;
• and the Holy Phog, Forrest “Phog” Allen, who’s spirit inhabits Allen Fieldhouse.

In 1988, a prophet by the name of Danny Manning came to Lawrence and performed many miracles, including delivering into the hands of the Jayhawks the most holy object in all of college basketball, the NCAA Tournament Championship Trophy. He soon departed, but it was said that someday he would return, and when he did, he would bring the Championship Trophy back to the Jayhawks. 20 years later, Danny Manning indeed did return and performed a mighty miracle, and the Championship trophy is once again belongs to the Jayhawks.

A mere sport? Nay. God and salvation are at stake here.

Looking in hindsight over my life, I realize the regrets I have are not decisions I’ve made, nor things I’ve done (or haven’t done), but rather, the relationships and friendships I’ve lost.

Thinking of my time at the University of Kansas, there are two people I called my very best friends during those years. Jonathan and Caroline. Jonathan is one of the most intelligent individuals I know. Motivated, principled, and inspiring are all words that would be commonly used to describe him. He’s now a lawyer at an international firm in New York. I fully expect to be casting a vote for him in a presidential election someday. Jonathan was as good of a friend as anyone could ever hope for. Likewise, I’ve never known someone as loyal as my friend Caroline. She was there for me, through thick and thin, without judging, never self-serving, always looking out for the best in me. Caroline and I shared a very special friendship. Never romantic, but a very severe platonic friendship. We often called each other brother and sister, because we felt that sort of family endearment.

Sadly, distance and time has reduced these friendships to occasional acquaintances. I still speak with each of them every now and then, but the day-to-day dynamic is lost. Of course, none of us can really be held to blame for this. It’s just life, and how life sends people in various uncharted directions. I’ve other friends now, a few whom I can count on in those times when I need them most, and likewise, they can depend on me.

Still, even time and distance doesn’t change the bonds we’ve shared. Even as distant friends, I’d still do anything for Jonathan or Caroline. And I suppose that is what makes friendships real. It’s not the closeness you share at any specific time, but rather, the collective compassion, understanding, and care you give to each other over the course of a lifetime. These are the things that mark true friendships, and ultimately, the only things I believe that will be important at the end of our lives.

I only hope I can be as good of a friend to others as these people have been to me.

#1) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

At some point in every galaxy, the stars align just so, the dust from a dying comet falls into the atmosphere, and out of the depths of the sea emerges a beast that can either save or destroy the world with one breath from its lungs. In this case, that sea is Montreal, the beast is Arcade Fire, and its fiery-breath is their latest album, Neon Bible. Biblical metaphors aside, Neon Bible is good stuff, REAL GOOD.

Arcade Fire first drew raving fans and high praises on their 2004 debut release Funeral. The ultra-eclectic instrumentation, that high-energy live performances, and the sheer size of their band commonly earned them accolades such as “Most Innovative Band of the 21st Century”, a fairly heavy compliment when said century isn’t even a decade old. Funeral introduced the world into Arcade Fire’s large instrumentation, which features, (among the common rock band guitar, bass, & drums setup,) mandolin, harpsichord, xylophone, accordion, French horn, hurdy gurdy, harp, violin, viola, cello, double bass… to only name a few!

Neon Bible continues with this instrumentation, and adds the eerie strains of a church pipe organ, kettle drums, an Eastern European orchestra, and a military choir. All this mixes together to make a notably darker and more sinister sound than that of Funeral. But trying to describe the sound of Arcade Fire is an exercise in futility. It would be like trying to describe the crashing ocean waves to a man who had never left the desert. Someone on Amazon.com said it this way: “The truth is there is no easy way to describe the Arcade Fire. There were hundreds of things written about them after their last album, and there will be hundreds more this time. There are comparisons to every genre and desperate attempts to lump them into some category when it’s just not possible. Indie? Folk? Post-punk? Chamber-pop? None of them quite fit.”

You say it’s money that we need

as if we’re the only mouths to feed

But I know no matter what you say

there are some debts you’ll never pay.

-Intervention

The record opens with the track “Black Mirror”, a drum and bass heavy track that makes large use of synth and vocal feedback. Band leader Win Butler sings and murmurs while a clinking piano battles with him for the lead. It is tempting to call this track the weakest of the whole album, but to label any track on Neon Bible weak would be to do it a tremendous disservice. The track is a perfect introduction for Neon Bible, with lyrics such as, “I know when the time is coming / all the words will lose their meaning / Please show me something that isn’t mine / but mine is the only kind that I relate to / I never guessed how the mirror could ever break you.”

“Keep The Car Running” features both the mandolin and the hurdy gurdy, an ancient instrument that uses a crank and a fingerboard to play chords. It makes a sound like the entire string section of an orchestra. The song is an uplifting and inspiring track, conjuring images of summer and carefree days. “If some night I don’t come home / please don’t think I’ve left you alone / The same place animals go when they die / you can’t climb across a mountain so high / The same city where I go when I sleep / you can’t swim across a river so deep”.

The title track, “Neon Bible” is the thesis statement for this album, “Take the poison of your age / Don’t lick your fingers when you turn the page / It was wrong but you said it was right / In the future I will read at night / In the Neon Bible / Not much chance for survival / If the Neon Bible is right”. The track begins relatively simply, with the steady tap of a snare drum, and the long strokes of a cello. An Eastern European orchestra enters at the bridge to make give this song a very melodic depth. The sacred and religious relics mentioned sets the stage for the next track, “Intervention.”

“Intervention” opens with the long pounding strains of a church pipe organ mixed with the chords of an acoustic guitar. Win Butler sings “The king’s taken back the throne / The useless seed is sown / … / You say it’s money that we need / as if we’re only mouths to feed / I know no matter what you say / There are some debts you’ll never pay.” The song can take on many different meanings; a soldier questioning the war he is fighting, a child born into religion notices the hypocrisy surrounding him, a nation rises against the oppressive government regime. Whatever meaning you accept, it is a deeply moving song, especially when Win cries that you’ve “been working for the church while your life falls apart / singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart / every spark of friendship and love / will die without a home.”

In “Antichrist Television Blues,” Win Butler has effectively become the 1980’s Bruce Springsteen, spinning a sordid tale of a childhood wrecked by a father who pushes his little girl into child stardom. The story begins with a man praying for his daughter to become a big star, “Lord, let me make her a star / So the world can see who you really are / … / You know that I’m a God-fearing man / I just got to know if it’s part of your plan / To see my darling stand by your right hand / I know that you’ll do what’s right, Lord / For they are the lanterns and you are the light”. Rumors have flooded the internet that the working title for this song was “Joe Simpson”, the father of child-starlet turned mega-celebrity Jessica Simpson. Win continues, “Oh, my little mockingbird, sing / I need you to get up on the stage for me, honey / Show the men it’s not about the money / Want to hold a mirror up to the world / So that they can see themselves inside my little girl”.

The closing track of Neon Bible is the anguish and sorrow-filled “My Body Is A Cage.” The straining groans of the pipe organ and marching cadence of a snare drum conjures the images of an unrepentant criminal making his final long walk to his execution. But this convict may well be Arcade Fire itself. The song sings of “standing on the stage of fear and self-doubt / it’s a hollow play but they’ll clap anyway.” Halfway through this track, the song explodes into a slow controlled rage. “My body is a cage / We take what we’re given / Just because you’ve forgotten / that don’t mean you’re forgiven”.

In Neon Bible, Arcade Fire have released an incredible album full of depth and profundity. It is an album that does not grow old (iTunes tells me I have listened to Neon Bible 120 times!) but rather, deepens and becomes more complex with each listen. This album is showing up at the top of best of lists across the world, and more than any other album this year, deserves to be heard, pondered, discussed, and shared. The album closes with a repeating cry to “Set my body free!”

Indeed, Neon Bible does just that.

Download Arcade Fire - Intervention

My extended family has a group email address in which we can mail to contact everybody. It goes out to about 30 family members, and we use it to plan family gatherings and to update each other on family news. Lately, we’ve been using it to discuss the Democratic and Republican primary elections. In one such email, a relative stated they had never previously put a bumper sticker on their car, but they now sport one for a certain candidate. I know I’m overly cynical and jaded in my views of politics, and I’ve made a conscious decision to keep this blog relatively politics-free, but I thought I would share with you my reply…

From: Caleb Zahnd

Sent: Sat 1/26/2008 11:20 AM

To: Family

Subject: RE: 2008 Presidential Primary Elections

Hey guys, I’d hate to be the only one left out of the fun. I’ve never put a bumper sticker on my car. But if I were, I think it would read, “Alcohol Tobacco Firearms should be a convenience store, NOT a government agency!”

But seriously…

In my lifetime, there has not been a single presidential election without a Bush or a Clinton on the national ticket. You have to go back 32 years to 1976, where the options were a incumbent Gerald Ford, who stumbled accidentally into the presidency, and Jimmy Carter, who in turn led us into 4 years of foreign policy blunders.

Now, after 8 looong years of Dubya, (who I did vote for, and would do again given my other options), these jokers running today are the absolute best my country has to offer me?

• Huckabee – I might as well vote for Pat Robertson. I don’t like this guy one bit, (although, his tax reforms are appealing). If I actually thought Huckabee could succeed in abolishing the IRS and establish the “Fair Tax”, he’d get my vote.
• Romney – It took me six weeks to realize Mitt Romney wasn’t actually Ward Cleaver. I keep expecting Eddie Haskell to endorse him.
• McCain – It all depends on his running mate, ’cause there’s no way this guy can go for another 4 years…
• Guiliani – He’s a dirty old philanderer, married thrice, and thinks America is made up of ‘New Yawkers’
• Paul – The only guy I could actually get behind, but Hell will be making a big order on long underwear the day he is elected.
• Clinton – Where to begin? So much to say… Who knows? I may actually vote for Hillary, just for nostalgia’s sake.
• Obama – Are you kidding me? Barack Hussein Obama?! This guy honestly freaks me out. I get the feeling he’ll say anything and do whatever it…. Wow! This could actually be Hillary!
• Kucinich – This boy already quit, so…
• Edwards – He’s the poster boy of the Democrats. The pretty boy. He loves to talk, but I don’t know if he ever really says anything. I put him and Sean Hannity in the same basket.

Where are the Ronald Reagan’s? Where are the ass-kickers, the no-negotiation fighters, the guys who can get shot in the chest and be back in the office a few days later? Remember “Peace Through Strength”? Where are these guys?

I probably sound much like the disillusioned young vote you hear the talking heads rambling about. Perhaps I am.

The Arcade Fire is breaking new ground with these videos. Instead of being a one-sided visual performance, these videos become a multi-sensory experience. In the video for “Neon Bible”, you will never see the same video twice, as what you see is dependent on how you interact with it.

This latest offering from The Arcade Fire features artwork from Tracy Maurice, who designed the illustration above. It was directed by Olivier Groulx.

Check it out for yourself.

The Guttmacher Institute has published findings from a study that discovered that the U.S. abortion rate is at its lowest level since 1974. In fact, the 1.2 million abortions of 2005 were 25% fewer than the all-time high of 1.6 million abortions in 1990. Unfortunately, despite the decrease, roughly 1 in 5 pregnancies still ended in abortion in 2005.

I’ve found it interesting to note how the general tenor in Hollywood has begun to change in regards to abortion. Recent movies such as Juno, Waitress, and Knocked Up all have dealt with unplanned (and mostly, unwanted) pregnancies, and all three protagonists make a conscious decision against abortion. In the movie Juno, the title character Juno McGuff, even makes a visit to the clinic ‘Women Now’, (“…because they’re helping women, now”,) but makes a hasty exit when she learns that the fetus is already developing fingernails. Juno decides to carry her child to term, and makes plans to give it to a young infertile couple.

The other movies I’ve mentioned have similar stories, with the leading characters keeping their unborn children. These movies have an obvious pro-life slant, and while this may or may not be intentional, it does seem to signal a change in the general mood of Hollywood towards abortion. From another angle, foreign film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is released in American theaters today. This Romanian film (English subtitles) chronicles a horrifying illegal abortion in a dirty hotel room. I’ve not yet seen this film, (hopefully this weekend), but it is my understanding that it paints a shockingly bleak portrait of the physical and emotion consequences of abortion.

In the three American movies listed above, none of the girls lifestyles are anything you’d want your daughter to emulate, but these films do seem to show the changing tide of Hollywood and its opinion of unplanned pregnancy.

Editors note:

I’ve been a bad blogger. I took some time off after the New Year and never got back to it. Time to kick start the old blogging engine.

#2) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - IS IS - EP

Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are incredible. In this latest EP, measuring in at a mere 17 minutes in length, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs submit you to a musical kick to the face with this rockin’ bombardment. With its ultra-post-punk sound and the crazy guitars riffs, IS IS easily carries the weight of #2 on my Best of 2007 list.

This album is raw, the sound is dirty and sweaty, and band leader Karen O will have your head swimming with the amount of blood and passion she puts into her singing.

IS IS opens with the ultra heavy track “Rockers To Swallow”, which sounds like the dirtiest, skank-filled night club you’d never be caught in. Karen O fills most of this track with her orgasmic shrieks mixed with the thundering guitar riffs of Nick Zinner and the smashing drum sounds of Brian Chase. When she does sing, Karen O seethes out the words, “Tell me we’re rockers to swallow/Tell me we’re knockers to bite/And out of the beats of tomorrow/Tell me what beat fills the night!”

“10 X 10″ is an enthusiastic stunner, “10 lines leaning to the seashore / Water’s gonna lead the dogs my way / 10 wives tearin’ up my leisure / Pressin’ little mouths gonna talk my way.”

“Down Boy” is a pensive, brooding song that builds up to a climatic chorus. Karen O sings, “I’ll stand kind of bent / kind of pushed / on that heavy land / I’ll stand for the sake of my friends / well, I will see him there.”

Apparently, this entire EP was recorded in one session on a single afternoon, and has very little post-production. The sound, while raw, is captivating and real, something rare to be found in a digital age dilled with sampling, looping, and perfect pitch processors.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have produced a solid post-punk rock show. It deserves to be heard.

Download Arcade Fire - Intervention