I’ve been in
a tiny bit of a crisis mode about writing these reviews. One of my goals to begin this year was to
write about music as I encounter it throughout the year – highlighting what I
personally find exciting and try to spread the word, instead of saving it all
up until the year end best of list and completely melting my feeble brain with
40 plus of my favorites. Well, I’ve been
doing this, but only a month and a half in, I’ve lost focus. Instead of being content with the joy of listening
to the great music (and this year’s music has been especially great so far!)
and writing about it, I’ve found myself too fixated with my limitations as a
writer and too discouraged by a lack of response or much of an audience of any
kind. I’ve also questioned the point of
my silly little ramblings about silly little albums. I wish I had more valuable insight, such as
the thoughtful musings and life lessons as presented by Kario via her frequent posts in The Writing Life, or tangible skills to offer like the renaissance talents on
display from Lola Nova – a crafter, writer, and musician. My excuse is that I tend to personalize these
reviews quite a bit. I do not take an
academic approach and attempt to slot each release into a historical context and
pontificate about how it may fit into the grander social and cultural
context. I do my damnedest to express in
a feeble way how powerful this music is to me and how it impacts me. In this world of complete and total
narrowcasting, it feels like it’s too easy to shut out the recommendations of
friends and those old knowledgeable, but sometimes intimidating record store
guys of the old days. I am guilty of
this as well. I couldn’t tell you who
90% of the artists that are “popular” are these days, but I can also say that I
don’t have a lot of favorite artists that have been discovered via
pre-programmed suggestions as presented from Spotify or Pandora or
whatnot (there’s been a few interesting discoveries, I won’t lie). Most of the thrilling finds still come from
friends or trusted writers giving a song or album their solid approval and
spreading the word. So, I am still in
flux and question the value of this for myself or anyone else, but I made a
commitment to myself to make a concerted effort to write more, so I will
continue for now. I do encourage anyone
who happens upon this to share their thoughts about the music in question or
music in general. There’s not much I
enjoy more than listening to and absorbing the music I love -
jabbering ceaselessly about it comes close.
The Rifles
None the Wiser
(Cooking Vinyl)
It’s fitting
that I now turn my attention to the UK four-piece The Rifles. As I was waiting
for the long-awaited pre-ordered (via a Pledgemusic
campaign begun in 2012) copy of their wonderful fourth album to arrive, I
perused the web for a few reviews to get a line on what to expect. What I ran into was a lot of hyperbole about
how the Rifles are making ‘unhip’ music and that they were and apparently will
always be middling. I would guess that
hearing such commentary certainly wouldn’t be very inspiring or encouraging –
considering the fairly middling "success" of the band. It cannot be easy to keep chugging out their
brand of tasteful mod pop, however unhip, with such a limited response after
ten plus years as a band. Yet, here they
are and after a one album separation (see review of the experimental and
beautiful third album Freedom Run
2011 #8 pick here) the original
members are all back in place and sounding as fresh and vibrant as ever.
Right away,
this album sounds like it has a lot more in common with their 2006 debut No Love Lost. It is brimming with tight pop songs with huge
memorable choruses and hummable guitar hooks.
Whether endlessly catchy music is hip or not, I could give a shit. This music and these simple ruminations about
love found and lost are so damn enjoyable.
There is a willing innocence to these tunes. They sound like they could’ve been huge radio
hits from the mid 60s, or the cool retro mod run that the Jam had in the late 70s.
One song after another, from the tight dry opening of “Minute Mile”
(what a chorus!) to the two minute burst of the jaunty “Heebie Jeebies” on to
the spiky “Go Lucky” (what a guitar melody!) to the jangly classic pop of “All
I Need,” which I dare anyone not to bounce around with snapping fingers upon
first listen, these first four songs alone make the album worth the price of
admission. Each and every one could and
should be hit singles – like a hot streak in a career spanning best of. I only stopped that list, because the
sentence was getting too unruly. The
fifth song “You Win Some” follows in the finger snapping mode as they take a
positive take on the churning of time, by continuing to look ahead and be ready
for good times (“open up your heart and let come what ever may / and you’ll win
someday”). The unfortunately titled
“Catch Her in the Rye”
is another classic song brimming with life and another big sing-along chorus
(which reminds me of something I cannot quite place – is it similar to the
chorus of Tears For Fears’ early
single “Suffer the Children” of all things?
Hmmmm….) that addresses the battle for individuality and making a mark
or difference (“there’s a million things you missed at school / there’s a
million and one like you / another drop in the sea and the oceans blue / cause
it’s full up to the banks with fools like you”).
The second
half of the album loses a slight touch of steam for me, but still has plenty of
magic moments. The melancholic “The
Hardest Place to Find Me” reflects on poor decisions from the past in the face
of the passage of time. “Shoot from the
Lip” and “Eclectic Eccentric” both lumber along at times musically, but once
each reaches their respective chorus they bloom with wide open glory. The album officially closes with “Under and
Over,” which will probably be a great live closer allowing the crowd to
sing-along about man digging for money and for greed.
Does this
live up to their previous “middling” legacy?
I think so. I think their devoted
fans will enjoy – but I do not see why songs this addictive cannot be enjoyed
by a wider audience. I hope it will be.
The Rifles "Minute Mile"
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