Humid Cedar

Recently, I resolved to update my tastes in music. There is nothing wrong with my old preferences but I don’t want them to ossify. When I listen to alternative radio, I sometimes find myself shaking my fist and railing against “those meddling kids” and their banshee music that makes no sense. I don’t want to be that guy, so I struck out on a journey to the edge of taste to see what was there.

Alas, I found a lot of crap. The music is repetitive to the point of distraction and the kids sing about things that I am sure mean the whole world to teenagers but do not ring any bells with me. I was ready to run back into the open arms of Richard Thompson and Stevie Wonder (the ’70s Stevie Wonder) when Stephen Colbert lured me back to the edge again.

In an episode of the Colbert Report, he challenged the alternative-rock duo The Decemberists to a guitar duel. Apparently, the band had a “green screen challenge” for fans to come up with computer generated content for a video. They issued their challenge after Mr. Colbert issued his own green screen challenge for fans of his show. Clearly, the two challenges could not co-exist peacefully. Gauntlets were thrown to the ground. Thus, the guitar duel.

The duel itself is worth watching. I will not spoil it for you; instead, I encourage you to look out for it in re-runs, on DVD, Youtube, whatever. But I will say that it sparked some interest in the band. I listened to a few tracks of their album The Crane Wife at the store and decided to take a chance on it.

The album reminds me of the progressive rock I loved so much in high school and college. The tunes are sophmoric in the best sense: pretentious and charming and eager to impress you with what they know. The eponymous song “The Crane Wife” is easily the best track and it comes in several parts, telling the story of a poor man who saves a crane. The crane transforms into a woman and they marry, with tragic results. There is a song about star-crossed lovers and a song about the impromptu Irish terrorist gang the Shankhill Butchers. There are the required anti-war songs and lonely songs and the like. The lyrics adhere to a style that is reminiscent of 19th century prose and are fun to listen to. However, the lead singer doesn’t have a lot of range. He has an interesting voice, to be sure, but it lacks punch. The aforementioned song about star-crossed lovers would be far more affecting if his voice conveyed the drama inherent in the story. He sings every song in the same way and it gets old after a while.

Another band I looked into as a result of the show was The Apples in Stereo. Their lead singer performed a song for the show called “Stephen, Stephen” which was a novel pop tune. I picked up a copy of New Magnetic Wonder and discovered that the band’s sound reminds me of XTC meets ELO; in short, damn near perfect pop music. You feel happy just listening to it! The lyrics do not challenge the intellect by any means. The band doesn’t say much but they say it so happily that you don’t really care that much.

And speaking of XTC, I would be remiss if I didn’t also recommend The Bird and The Bee, a pop duo that recently produced an album of the same name. The band did not appear on Colbert’s show but is a critical favorite. In the tradition of Yaz, Everything But The Girl, and the Captain and Tennille, the duo features a female vocalist (it turns out that she is the daughter of Little Feat’s lead singer) and a male multi-instrumentalist. Like The Apples in Stereo, the music is jangly and effervescent for the most part, but the occasional ballad (like the XTC-esque “I’m A Broken Heart”) work very well too. The subject matter of many of the songs is very, er, earthy and there are explicit lyrics. Put the kids to bed before listening to this album.

I cannot say that I am any more hip than I was before I embarked on this mission but I am glad to say that pop music is in pretty good hands. I’d recommend these albums to anyone interested in this sort of thing.