A&E Recommends: Adam Green, Animal Collective, She & Him and more

Adam Green

ALBUM: Sixes & Sevens

LABEL: Rough Trade



It is possible that Adam Green's lyricist is actually a computer. His lyrics sound suspiciously like the sentences that a poetry simulation program spits out. Compare these two lines:

"My friend fiddles with purple sorrow. Will a sandwich dwell on my bike's abandonment?"

"They bought him a temple with children to play with. Now he sells his skunk blood and talks like a plaintiff."

The first paragraph is from "A Sunset's Knowledge," by a computer. The second is from the song "That Sounds Like a Pony," from Green's new album, "Sixes and Sevens." The computer's poem is a bit more of an existentialist piece, but otherwise the sublime sense of the random is uncannily present in both.

He's come a long way from his days with The Moldy Peaches, when he and Kimya Dawson lazily banged on cheap instruments and sang about the Greyhound Bus and Lucky Charms.

Dawson has gone on to keep their dreadlocked, low-fi city kid sound (getting picked up by the success train that was "Juno") while Green has wandered into the land of fancy production and sophisticated song structure.

"Getting Led" showcases his soft voice and backs it up with an angelic chorus of female voices, while "Grandma Shirley" is a family tale as bouncy and sweet as something you'd hear on Mr. Rogers.

"Sixes and Sevens" came out of left field. Suddenly this naughty indie kid, once famous for writing an ode to Jessica Simpson, has created a layered and intricate album without losing a smidgeon of his utter weirdness.

Gnarles Barkley

ALBUM: The Odd Couple

LABEL: Downtown/Warner

The self-declared Soul Man, Cee-lo Green, and his buddy DJ Dangermouse are almost predictably good at what they do. We know there are going to be some multi-layered beats and we'll all get mildly seduced by the singing. But we get greedy. We need that something else. Outkast brought it on when they had a marching band play on their last album, but what will their second album, "The Odd Couple," do to slap us into dance-mission?

If the most noticeable thing on the album is how elementary the rhyming is, then it's not going to break any barriers. Once, Mad TV made fun of Lenny Kravitz for rhyming like Dr. Seuss. That would be a compliment for these lyrics. It is highly doubtful that there is any actual meaning in the statement, "Anyone that needs what they want and doesn't want what they need/ I want nothing to do with/ I aim to do what I want and to do what I please/ it's first on my to do list." The first part leaves no logical possibilities for producing a person that he'd want something to do with. And come on, that's a lame to do list.

But don't get the idea that this album is bad. It's just as good as the last one. Tracks like "Open Book" use jungle noises and electronica to create a growling gospel about karma. "Blind Mary" is a bouncy ode to the Mary of Catholic lore, allowing Cee-lo to surrender himself to the infectious beat.

It's still worth your $10, or whatever CDs go for these days.

She&Him

ALBUM: Volume One

LABEL: Merge


Zooey Deschanel isn't quite as good at singing barefoot country tunes as she was at playing a two-headed alien's girlfriend in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." But she's not bad. On "Volume One," her collaboration with the windy-voiced guitar charmer M. Ward, she showcases the heart-on-the-sleeve pop tunes that she's been writing in her down time. The songs drip with classic pop radio charm, full of the sentiments of moon-eyed love.

In "You Got Me," she sings, "you don't know how I won your heart because I locked it," over slanty down-in-the-bayou guitars and her own sublime humming. Her voice is a bit harsh, sounding strained here and there, but the mellow tunes call for a voice that's got some character.

M. Ward keeps a subtle presence, mostly just adding layers of glittery tambourines and overdubs, which reach their epiphany on the track "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here."

They finally sing together on a cover of the Beatles "I Should Have Known Better," over a slow horse-gallop of a beat. The album ends up sounding a bit more "She" than "Him," showcasing Deschanel's song-writing ability, but could have benefited from using more of Ward's clear-voiced sense of the ethereal.

The Dodos

ALBUM: Visitor

LABEL: French Kiss

The Dodos are a shot of wheat grass for the indie scene. Gritty, pure, new and strange, and likely to make your insides feel good.

What makes the Dodos such a fresh dose of nature is the fact that their playroom of instruments remains unplugged. Mathematical speed drumming, acoustic guitar, tambourines and maybe a few sticks and stones make up a landscape that sounds like freak folk in sepia. The kaleidoscopes have retired for the day, and the acid rainbow of sonic noises is left behind. The result is a set of meandering tracks, each with their own subconscious layer of mysterious events happening below the surface.

"Red and Purple" is a reverberating, jingling track with George of the Jungle drums that floats through a reverie of cautious affection.

Things slow down on the charmingly titled "God?" a happy-go-lucky song/prayer that travels through dimensions of sound that create a spiritual sense of anticipation.

They lose a few points for ripping off Animal Collective's "We Tigers" in their song "Fool," but the Dodos are generally more lighthearted than the Collective. Speaking of…

Animal Collective

ALBUM: Water Curses EP

LABEL: Domino

Like every band that makes a living by diddling with knobs to somehow produce Kandinsky-like splash paintings of sound, Animal Collective can sometimes find themselves in long jam sessions that get a tad boring. Sure this beat with this distortion kind of sounds like toads in a swamp while it's raining, but what are the toads doing? Certainly not dancing.

These are the types of tracks that all too often end up on the EP. Animal Collective happen to be marketing geniuses, and know how to save all of the best tracks and make them into a firework show of an LP packaged into a piece of artistic/psychological/musical lore.

In this manner, "Water Curses" is no exception. Despite its haunting and poetic title, it is naught but a meager EP. The songs are long and textured, but just don't cross the threshold of synaptic glee that say, "Strawberry Jam" did.

The title track is the exception, finding a hook that merits it a spot on your weekly playlist. The sound of popping bubbles and a few R2D2-like machine coos manage to bang up a sound that would have excellently narrated one of the Little Mermaid's undersea bashes.

The Kills

ALBUM: Midnight Boom

LABEL: Domino


"I want you to be crazy because you're stupid when you're sane," singer Alison Mosshart sings over a skuzzy bass on the track "Cheap and Cheerful." That particular song is what Ashlee Simpson thinks she sounds like - Lolita sweet with an authentic punk edge.

The Kills are like a female counterpart to The Black Keys. Both are two sets, both are simple and dirty, and both ooze style.

"Hook in Line" is a chugalugging blues stomper that lets Mosshart's voice travel from seductive to rough and vindictive.

In "U.R.A. Fever," a tangible chemistry between Mosshart and guitarist Jamie Hince as they trade off lines that are very possibly underscored by clouds of cigarette smoke.

Sorry Ashlee, "Midnight Boom" just gave your "I am Me" a black eye.

Animal Collective's New Instant Classic

PHOTO COURTESY DOMINO

With the release of Animal Collective’s last LP Strawberry Jam, it had become apparent that a group that had once been regarded as avant-garde experimental freak-folkers had actually become pretty good at marketing themselves. Emerging from the gritty and miraculous lore of their former releases Feels and Sung Tongs, Strawberry Jam was a highly engaging, far more accessible record. The title was a tongue-in-cheek admission that they’re a “jam band” inspired by a revelation of how “synthetic” and “sweet, almost in an aggressive way” the PB&J staple was. The album came packaged in a crisp white case filled with images of spoiled fruit covered in blotches of bright paint—a photographic concept so interesting in itself that it could have stood alone. After launching a beloved album that proved the band had mastered their psychedelic essence, it seemed unlikely that Animal Collective’s next LP could ever measure up. Luckily for all those who iTunes classifies as a “freak-alt-folk” fan, it does.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is to Animal Collective what Rubber Soul was to the Beatles: the album that not only proves that a band is capable of maintaining an identity while making ever-morphing sounds, but also establishes that the band has the power to define a season on the charts, and the sound of a decade.

At first glance, Merriweather doesn’t have quite the unified totality that made Strawberry Jam so iconic. Named after a mainstream concert venue in suburban Maryland, the title doesn’t help to clear up any associations between Animal Collective and artsy pretentiousness. The cover art is an awkward purple-green combination of a leaf pattern that looks like a nerdy 1990s screensaver at first glance… but should a fan embark on staring at it in a drug-induced haze, they would be pleased to find that it is an ever-morphing optical illusion that ripples back and forth.

Despite the lackluster packaging, Merriweather produces an all-new flavor. Serene harmonies invade almost every track, along with thudding, danceable bass lines and plenty of sonic explosions tweaked and stretched to the point of revelation. From the first track “In the Flowers,” which starts with whispers and bursts into a nostalgic epiphany as layered as a wedding cake, to the final track “Brothersport,” their particular brand of magic is everywhere. One of the best tracks is “Summertime Clothes,” which begins with a dirty, back-and-forth beat and howling vocals and later turns into a jaunty warm-weather dance song. “Taste” is another standout track, with scattering bubble sounds and stilted industrial noises that lead to a catchy chorus where the band asks, “Am I really all the things that are outside of me?”

While all of Animal Collective’s previous work has captured an adolescent frustration by means of complex lyrics and clashes between sonic beauty and disturbing shouts, Merriweather Post Pavilion embarks into themes of adulthood. Gone are the obtuse lyrics of Water Curses and Strawberry Jam; this album centers on women—most specifically mothers and children. This new inspiration is likely due to Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) and his experience with his daughter Nadja, as well as other band members settling down into married life.

The lack of tension on the album is disconcerting at first, but with the expertise of long-time artists, the band quickly settles down into their new themes and proves that they can just as poignantly and beautifully explore the idea of fatherhood. “My Girls,” the album’s first single that is already a hit on the blogosphere, is a twinkling declaration that chants, “Is it much to admit I need/a solid soul and the blood I bleed/with a little girl and by my spouse/all I want’s a proper house.” “Daily Routine” also deals with fatherhood, singing about the tasks and dangers of helping a child get to school, all amongst stretching vocals and a trickle of rhythms struggling to find themselves.

Even though the ethereal Merriweather Post Pavilion is a departure from Animal Collective’s initial fascination with the emotional value of ugliness, this album proves that the band will never lose their ability to evoke the most private of life’s moments. “My bed is a pool and the wall’s on fire/soak my head in the sink for a while/it chills my neck and it makes me smile/but my bones gotta move and my skin’s gotta breathe,” the band sings in “Summertime Clothes.” In their uncanny method of working poetry out of a bunch of samplers, this century’s most interesting act proves they’re still here, and eminently so.
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