This Week: A pop gem, two Danes, and some indie techno
Macy Gray
The Trouble With Being Myself (Epic/Sony Music)
Truth be told, Macy Gray gets better with each successive album, such is the case with her latest release The Trouble With Being Myself. Despite her bursting onto the scene with her debut album (or because of it), Macy's second album slumped, this notwithstanding the fact that she had produced a stellar album, an all-too-common paradox whereby quality has an inverse relationship to profit margins. With her third release, Gray has yet again produced an album of unequaled quality that should serve as the yardstick against which other albums will be judged.
Her songs' lyrics are clever and strangely familiar, yet also quirky. Absent of banality and crassness, her songs ride a crest of freshness. With song topics askew and catchy choruses a-plenty, Gray has found the perfect balance between smart song writing, masterful lyrical content, and the business' need for a radio-friendly album. Finding a great cohort in Beck, she delivers, with the help of Pharaoh Monche, a low-wattage groovy song that invariably gets one singing along to it. In fact, the same can be said of many a song on The Trouble with Being Myself. This album is a perfect brew; it is the sort of musical statement that seems so effortless that it could go unappreciated, like her sophomore effort.
The Trouble With Being Myself touches on the burlesque; it speaks about a unique brand of family values and addresses topics pertaining to vice, relationships, "dead presidents," introspection, spiritual wishful thinking, and suicide. Macy Gray attaches a unique veneer to all her songs, such is her calling card, that voice of hers that some of us love and others love to hate. With that unique vocal seal, Gray continues to indelibly stamp pop music's catalog with quaint songs that deserve widespread attention.
—Ekem Lartson
Junior Senior
d-d-don't don't stop the beat (Crunchy Frog)
Junior Senior looks like a gimmick: two Danes, one of them tiny and straight (Junior), the other beefy and gay (Senior), playing songs with titles like "Go Junior, Go Senior," "Chicks and Dicks," and "Shake Your Coconuts."
They sound gimmicky too, but it's a happy gimmick. The music is a Euro-mash of disco, funk, swoony '60s pop, glammy guitars, indie garage rock, and whatever else happened to be lying around the studio. They steal the escalating "ah-ah-AAAHHHH" from "Twist and Shout" at least twice, not to mention the chorus from "Mony Mony." On "White Trash," they reel off a list of heroes including Sonny and Cher, Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood, Joey Ramone and the New York Dolls; then they carom off into a chorus of "oo-ma-mau-mau." The net effect is a soundtrack for the best basement rec-room party ever—music to shag to, in every sense of the word.
Junior Senior belongs to a self-consciously trashy school of Europop (think Bis, Basement Jaxx, Daft Punk, etc.) that makes no distinctions between club kids and guttersnipes. They play dance music like rock 'n' roll, and rock 'n' roll like dance music. In "Move Your Feet" (first championed by Fatboy Slim), they have concocted the year's most shameless dancefloor filler, a Michael Jackson-style lite-funk hook that bounces gleefully off Senior's stuttering raps.
Sure, they're a joke. But they're a good joke, which means they're funny and you can dance to them.
—Jesse Fox Mayshark
The Postal Service
Give Up (Sub Pop)
The Postal Service may be the surprise band of the year. Is it indie rock? Is it electronica? It's actually a wonderful melding of both that works to perfection. Give Up is like a Nintendo soundtrack with beautiful lyrics and harmonies.
The band consists of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie and Jimmy Tamborello from Dntel. The U.S. Postal Service was an integral part of the formation of the band. Tamborello mailed CDRs of music to Gibbard, who added lyrics and a few guitars and extra keyboards.
Upon first listen, those who have a jaded approach to electronic music may have a hard time swallowing the bleeps, blips and bloops. This is quickly dispelled when the quality of the songs becomes apparent. Gibbard is at the top of his game, and Give Up is proof that he has a great voice regardless of genre.
Lyrically, the songs deal with the common themes of love and relationships. Unlike Death Cab, though, The Postal Service seems to have a slightly happier spin on the subject. Maybe it's because the music is so fun and bouncy. Standout tracks are numerous, but "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" and "Clark Gable" are just too good.
The Postal Service offers a nice respite from the guitar-dominated world of indie rock. My skepticism for this "indie techno" turned to admiration on the first listen. Give Up is easily one of the most interesting and fun records of the year.
—Josh Staunton
October 16, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 42
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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