I’ve heard from many people different opinions on The Devotees. Some really don’t like them, some really do. Up until last week they only offered a live show performance of their music and I wasn’t willing to judge the bands art until I heard the entire expression.
I am only one person, so my opinion on the matter of “cool” music means very little in the grand scheme of things. I do, however, fancy myself one with an ear for a good tune and brains to realize the difference between a band riding a trend wave and a band marching to it’s own beat. Albeit, some trends are not void of good music on the mere merit that it is more than a trend. Point and case. Do you own the trendy iPod?
The Devotees do not fall prey to senseless trends like most “musicians/bands” in the area who desperately and pretentiously try to assert their amazing ability to the shittiest band in a 100 mile radius. The Devotees don’t concern themselves much with the hub-bub of which kind of music is trendy, shitty, good or bad, but rather they attempt to construct a story with their first self supported album titled Further From Home.
This is an album review and not a live show review, but I will illustrate to you what the album did for my opinion of this band. Prior to it I encountered the band in various formats. The band has many instrumentalists functioning as one but not all their performances featured the full ensemble. I would see them here or there and was generally interested. I heard a song or two from various performances and immediately decided I didn’t want to hear more as it may make me write them off. I wasn’t really captivated by the idea of their music as I thought I would. The songs never really reached out or did anything for me. I was okay with that. At least they weren’t up there on the stage night after night masturbating away on their instruments like the other bands do in this town. No one wants to see that. Well, if you are from the tri-jock area you do, and you take part.
This album changed what was shaping up to be a band that I’d soon forget. I even dragged my feet on listening to it and it was passed off to me some time ago. The first track started playing and I listened. It was produced well. Things sounded in place. I wasn’t expecting much. As the track began to conclude with a change in the emotional tone of the music, it reached its dramatic climax and then rescinded into the next track. I was rather taken by the emotional explosion that happened. It made me eager to hear what was next.
As I listened to each track examining, not only their musical quality, but it’s emotional impact I found it quite satisfying. Maybe it was because I was driving and the music and scenery melded into one experience. What ever it was it was good. From the way Jenna Barvitski’s voice breathed through the speakers, the emotive horns to the march of the snare lead by Dave Buker. It was all good things. I was surprised. Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to judge next time.

The best album of 2007 comes out today, and it’s called “Liars”. The cd is by the band Liars. This is the fourth full-length release from Liars. It has 11 songs and clocks in around 39 minutes. The band is currently featured on the front page of Myspace, honest to God, I am not making this up.
There’s really something for everyone on this record. If you like the heavy metal genre, there are songs like “Plaster Casts of Everything” and “Cycle Time” with some really heavy riffs. My personal favorite song on here is “Freak Out”, which is a trashy, noisy, 2-and a half minute pop gem. Do you remember the J.A.M.C.? That’s kind of what it sounds like.
For fans of music that sounds like Radiohead, then you should listen to track 4, “Sailing to Byzantium”, which is eerie and includes potentially political lyrics about waking dumb fucks up.
Parts of the song “Clear Island” are sort of a hip-hop party rock thing. “Houseclouds” is sort of hip-hop when it starts out, but a lot more mellow than the aforementioned “Clear Island”.
The vocals on “Pure Unevil” sound a little like Paul from the band Interpol, who Liars will be touring with. The other elements of the song don’t sound much like Interpol or Joy Division for that matter.
I don’t want to pick this apart song by song, so I’ll just say most of the other songs seem to carry the space/drone aesthetic over from last year’s release, “Drum’s Not Dead”.
RATING: 9.4/10

Pitchfork Media’s third annual music festival (second under the “Pitchfork Music Festival” moniker) took place this past weekend (7/13-7/15) in Chicago’s Union Park. Subpopular’s very own Doctor Cooperman hits the highlights.
On my return to the train station on Sunday night, a friend asked me what my three highlights were from the weekend. I’m honored to have this opportunity to recount and expand upon my response. With no further ado..

1. Sonic Youth performing “Daydream Nation”

The first night of the festival featured 3 artists performing legendary albums in their entirety. Louisville KY’s Slint opened the evening with “Spiderland”, the 6 song opus that purportedly spawned the “post-rock” genre. GZA (of the Wu-Tang Clan) followed with “Liquid Swords”, closing his set with some Wu-Tang classics including ODB’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” as throngs of awkward white kids threw up their W’s.
From this point, things get a little fuzzy. What followed is sure to be the definitive rock and roll experience of my life. I found myself with my fists pumping in the thick of a frenzied crowd of 17,000, within 20 yards of the front of the stage, as Sonic Youth unleashed the noisy pop fury that is “Daydream Nation”. Little can be said about the album that has not been said before. And little can be said of this performance that would do justice to its live performance. I won’t even attempt to describe this much further. A video is worth a thousand pictures is worth a thousand words, and these two videos capture the show almost exactly as I experienced it.
Track One: A “Teenage Riot” indeed. You can actually see the exact moment the crowd switches from taking in the sheer brilliance of Sonic Youth to becoming entirely infected and consumed with their rock and roll around 3:35.

Track Two: “Silver Rocket” – the feedback and the fury.

2. Menomena!

There’s something magical about witnessing thousands fall in love with one of your favorite bands all at once. Menomena’s set featured the catchier tracks from this year’s release, “Friend and Foe”, as well as an older favorite, “The Strongest Man in the World”. The Portland trio are as quirky as they are fun as they are catchy as they are gifted at crafting genius collages of sound and music. Leaving their set to revive myself with two fantastic $1 bottles of Fuze Water Plus, I heard the exact phrase “that was SOOO GOOD!” repeated no less than four times. This kind of awe and simplicity is rarely uttered in the indie rock festival setting, but its hard to find other ways to express such complete satisfaction. Highlights of the set were “Muscle N’ Flo” and the epic “Evil Bee”.

3. New Pornographers

The New Pornos have always been a favorite, and I was finally granted the pleasure of seeing them live. Though two key members (Dan Bejar, aka Destroyer, and Neko Case) were unable to join in, Carl Newman et al. were more than capable of living up to my high expectations. They played the classics (“The Laws Have Changed”, “From Blown Speakers”), the newer hits (“Twin Cinemas”, “Jackie Dressed In Cobras”), and tracks from the forthcoming album entitled “Challengers”. I was pleasantly amused by Carl covering Daniel’s vocal parts with a Destroyer impression that was close to believable. The set ended with the crowd singing along to the soaring melodies my favorite NP song, “The Bleeding Heart Show”. They came out for an encore, but I was content to end on that high note.
Other notables:
Califone: Straight out of the Windy City, the played to a strong afternoon breeze. Tim Rutilli’s hair was flying in the air as Califone was joined by a four-piece brass section on their noisy electronic-folk jams. I’ve seen them play two incredible 90+ minute shows in Cleveland over the past year, and I was equally impressed by the condensed version they put together on Saturday.
The Sea & Cake: Legends of Chicago’s “post-jazz” scene, their set was hampered by sound problems. Nonetheless, they played a solid set from their recent release “Everybody”, and picked out a nice selection from their extensive back catalog to fill in the spaces. I’m looking forward to another chance to see them at the Beachland in October.
Beach House: I had listened to their self-titled release sporadically, but I fell in love with them this weekend. The cityscape peaked through the trees as the reverb-heavy guitar and organ swirled together on the smaller side stage. Beach House’s delectable dream pop was perfect for the hazy afternoon.
All-in-all, the Pitchfork Music Festival is a class act. Between the reasonable ticket prices ($51 for three days, including fees), cheap water and fruit juice, and exceptional scheduling (no conflicting acts, save for the side stage), it’s hard to imagine anything better. Yes, you may experience a few periods of intense hipster overload, but you’ll more than likely walk away intending to return next July.

I don’t know if I should tell them. They look passionate all busy with their minds going and their tales waggin’ like an eager dog before some huge feast. Should anyone tell them? Should I just suck it up and let them go excitedly about their business building a scene even though it’s built out of half-assed bands who are more eager to achieve local celebrity status and get drunk than do anything worth listening to.
The local bands here barely tour. They play the local watering holes a few times a month making their rounds from bar to bar with the same 4 or 5 active bands swapping their line ups back and forth. They really believe they have a burgeoning music scene.
They are confused and think they are avant garde artists pushing the limits of theoretical indie rock with earth shattering experimental sounds. Don’t get me wrong. There are some truly talented people here and I think they know they are something special. But with the handful of lackadaisical musicians here, barely anyone aspires more than to be the local cream of the crop.
Should I let them know that the music they fill their minds with here is less than par an laughable at best? Or should I be happy that they believe in themselves and let it go. After all this truly is one of the first times this area has been abuzz with people who believe in something relatively artistic. But, just because their iPods are loaded up with the latest White Stripes, Arcade Fire, Beck, or fill-in-the-blank indie heroes, does not necessarily mean these bands or music fans have a clue. They might be taking their cues from indie blog sites like Pitchfork and getting a spoon-fed diet of indie. At least the diet is healthy, but none the less, anyone can get in line and get their very own indie-certified catalog of music, fashion, and vernacular.
Unfortunately, I wish at least the music scene in my town was at least rehashing something good. Sadly, they are not. They are still blindly sailing their semi-indie/semi-college rock bands blindly off the map.
Amid the myriad of rock bands that are playin’ loud, but ain’t sayin’ much are a few noteworthy acts. One band in the area that is very worth looking into and following is one called Posture Coach. I heard their recordings long before they really formed to play live shows and was eagerly excited about their music ever since. A few notables that since have gone the way of the buffalo are lo-fi fashionable tech rock Love Circuit. I was in love with their sensible archaic approach to fusing genius, insanity, and dance rock into lo-fi heavenly experience. Sam Goodwill is another that exceeded what this little town could handle. Sam Goodwill is the brainchild of the overly gift Sam Buonvolanta. He wrote, arranged and recorded songs in his basement then rerecorded them time and time again until they became unmistakably one of the best things to have seen the light of day in this miserable city. (There are a few others springing out of the dirt and I am sure that if you read this blog, you will find them amid the nation acts that we talk about.)
Should I tap the bands on the shoulder and let them know what truly is behind the velvet curtain, or should I let the zealous ignorance carry on and see what else blossom amid the crap. Should I sit back and just appreciate the fervor and all the running to and fro of the tasteless folks that continue to strap on their guitars and play their loud vain music? Yes. Yes I should. I believe that despite my obvious clashing taste or egotistical presumption to know what modern music trends are always in bloom, these gray days are not as dark as they used to be. It is the effort of the many bands which I tend to not listen as they become background music for the social atmosphere that I enjoy more than the show/performance itself. These bands are not good to me, but they are building a foundation for something better. I can see it berthing forth. It’s a palpable sense. I am not alone in knowing that most of what is played around here is less than noteworthy. A few frazzled, tortured, musicians, poets, songwriters, filmmakers and playwrights have stepped forth letting their disdain for the art that represents their city fuel a creative passion reclaim it and make it their own. A city worth looking at and discovering that there are some good things amid the torrents terrible, terrible music that used to thrive as the only alternative/art that existed here. These poets and muses sometimes lure me away from my barstool to stand closer and bear a witness the unique, complex artistry that is finally stepping forth and challenging the frat-rock Dave Matthew’s sound-a-like Alt. Rock bands.
Finally, something for me.
This post is dedicated to the few good things that are or were in Youngstown: Sam Goodwill, Modern Life, The Nybinghi, Gil Mantera, Starfish on the Battlefield, The Realtime Digimob, Posture Coach… I am probably forgetting a few… whatever… you’ll read about them eventually if it’s good.