I don't see many movies, and the one book review I did do was mainly just a warning - a warning which I'll repeat again, DO NOT READ THE FUTURIST.
But I do listen to a fair bit of music, and while most of it is fairly mainstream stuff, I'm going to take this opportunity to share something that isn't.
The New Pornographers are an indie rock - 'indie' being what most North Americans called 'alternative' until recently - band from Vancouver, who have now put out four great CDs. I don't really know how to classify their music, other than to say that it's usually very energetic, uplifting, and occasionally experimental. Their newest album is called Challengers, and that's the one I'll be guiding you through here.
If you're reading this, you've hopefully never heard the New Pornographers before, because Challengers is probably their weakest album yet - although it's still very good. The super-energetic power-pop stuff like "Twin Cinema" and "Use It" is missing, as are the really eccentric tracks like "Execution Day" and "Three or Four" - Challengers is filled mostly with slower tempos and stuff that would only sound about 75% out of place on mainstream radio. Since I can't think of a better way to do this, I'll give my thoughts song by song...
My Rights Versus Yours: If you've never heard the New Pornographers before, the opening song might give you the wrong impression - although their are the trademark vocal harmonies, it's one of the slowest, most minimalistic tracks on the album. One of very few songs I could easily live without.
All The Old Showstoppers: From there, we go to one of the better songs on the disc (I'll probably be saying that a lot), and the only one that I associate with something other than the vocals. In the past, the New Pornographers (who really need to find a good nickname) have had songs with catchy, memorable instrumental parts (the guitar in "Mass Romantic", for example)...it only happens once on Challengers; this song has a guitar riff which sounds like something you'd expect to find on an American car commercial of some sort. And it's not that the vocals/lyrics are bad...while there's nothing special about the verses, the chorus is catchy enough by itself.
Challengers: The title track would have probably been a lot better if it had been on any of the NPs' previous albums...it's a good song, but it suffers from the fact that every other song on this CD is really similar to it.
Myriad Harbour: Now this is more like it. My favourite song on the CD - by FAR - and guess what? It's the closest to the more offbeat (in a non-musical sense) stuff of the earlier albums. The music nerd that I was in high school particularly likes the call-and-answer in most of the verses. I read somewhere that this album is unofficially about the experience NP songwriter Carl Newman had moving to New York - if that's true, this song would be Carl showing a friend around his new neighbourhood. (Or at least that's what I think - I've never been good at interpreting song lyrics, subtext in all forms baffles me.)
All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth: Long title. Catchy syncopated chorus ("All of/the things/that go/to make/Heaven/and Earth are here"). Verses sound kind of generic, otherwise this would be giving "Myriad Harbour" a run for my favourite song on the CD. Just from the lyrics I gave above, I think even I can figure out how this fits into the New York idea.
Failsafe: ...again, one or two of these songs on an album would be good. Three or four would be tolerable. Five or six is way too much. There's nothing to make this one stand out from the rest.
Unguided: At six and a half minutes, this is the longest song on the album by a good bit. The first few times I heard it, I wasn't a fan - too similar to the songs I've been complaining about. But it grew on me, and I now consider it one of the better songs on the CD. Definitely seems to go by a lot faster than six minutes. The lyrics are...well, I'm sure not going to try to analyze them, I wouldn't be able to come up with anything, but they work. The vocals and vocal arrangment are probably what makes it as good as it is.
Entering White Cecilia: Erm...something about New York City nightlife? I'm not quite sure on the lyrics, but the rest of the song seems like a disappointment to me. It's as if there's some unseen force holding it back from being really amazing. Maybe it's just that it's too similar to some of the other stuff.
Go Places: I don't know why, but something tells me that if any song from this album were to stand a chance at making it big, it would be this one. It's not anything particularly great - probably the litmus test for whether I classify any other song as 'liked' or 'disliked' - but something about it just sounds...normal. Sort of.
Mutiny, I Promise You: We've truly entered a new age, song titles now contain COMMAS! I have to admit, the album really ends on a high..."Entering White Cecilia" isn't that great, "Go Places" is somewhat of an improvement...and then I can't order these last three songs, but they're even better. Maybe I like this one because the lyrics actually make sense - although I can't fit them into New York, maybe just because it's catchy.
Adventures In Solitude: To get this out of the way, this is a good song. Assuming the previous song is essentially the climax of the album, this is a perfect start to the cool-down...the passive language and disjointed sentences make it clear that something has happened. The rhythms are good, and the instrumentation is about right. But then there's the chorus. "We thought we lost you/we thought we lost you/we thought we lost you/welcome back". Now while I have no problem with lyrics that aren't the least bit deep or thought-provoking...there's just nothing to those at all. And beyond that, it doesn't even sound right musically. Aside from that, good song.
The Spirit Of Giving: This song might be my second-favourite on the album, it's grown on me every time I've heard it - probably because I now realize it's not three different songs. Yes, it is one of those songs that gets divided up into parts that sound nothing alike, but my guess is that were they to be fleshed out, we'd be stuck with three more of the "Failsafe"-type songs I've been compaining about. Oh, and the song (and thus the album) ends with a spoken-word utterance of the following passage:
All I wanted was an answer to the secret
Ground floor Mary come on
Outboard Mary come on
All I wanted was an answer to
Your money or your life? Your money or your life?
I was sick of America and her screaming decay
I was in a band we were singing 'hooray' quite often
But your momma was poor your daddy was poor
Whatcha gonna do?
Your mother was poor your father was poor
Whatcha gonna do
About it?
See, non-sensical isn't always horrible. In this case, it works well.
So yeah. Unlike The Futurist, I actually recommend what I've reviewing for once. If you've heard the New Pornographers before, you've probably already heard this and managed to contain your disappointment; if this is your first introduction to the band, you can use it as a springboard to some really good stuff.
--Ryan
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