Vol. 4 Episode 42

I finally got my copy of the new Saves The Day album for the Pledge Music campaign in the mail. The sticker does say First pressing on 180 gram vinyl but I don’t know if that makes it any more unique from the versions that went out to record shops.

For “cassette store day” Art Is Hard Records had a 36 track double cassette sampler release. Cassette store day was held in Europe and so I couldn’t get a copy for my self. There were a few left over’s that they put up for purchase but I didn’t have the funds to get a copy at the time. Art Is Hard has put the tracks up on the internet for those interested as a free download.

Foxes is doing a US tour but is coming nowhere near me. It is just small sections of east and west coast dates. There is going to be a Youth EP out on October 29^th. It looks like it is going to be a bunch of remixes again. if your interested in it check it out on iTunes.

There is also a free tour sampler from Surfer Blood. You can get it for free. It has a live version of Demon Dance.

Here we go...

Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience parts 1 & 2

The 20/20 Experience part 1 was released in March of 2013. It is the third album from Justin Timberlake (JT) as a solo artist. It is the first half of a two part album. The record slides through various styles of soul music. The 20/20 Experience part 2 was released in September of 2013. It is considered to be his third solo album and the second half of the two album set. After the second part was released you could also get both albums in a box set if you missed out on the first album, at a considerable price hike. There was a marketing push through Target stores where you could get bonus content. I believe it was two extra tracks on the CD for the first album. The second album also had two extra tracks on the CD. As an extra Target sold the album on vinyl and the two extra tracks came on a 7” record. I was a little disappointed with this because I got the album from the JT web store and did not know that there was going to be a free 7” record with the record if I got it at Target.

I have been sitting on part 1 of the series since it was released. I have to say that it isn’t that exciting for me. It is good music but it just doesn’t move me like so much other music that I write about. That being said the singles are pretty good from this album. There have been three of them released from this album. The first is called Suit & Tie. The song has a good beat. It is an R&B track so there isn’t much in the way of lead music. It is all drums and stabs of music to support the vocals.

The second single from part 1 is called Mirrors. The song is supposed to be about him and his wife, Jessica Biel, and a reflection of his grandparents. It is a good song and one that he saved from his work with Timbaland’s album. It is quite a sappy track that lasts way to long in my opinion.

The last single released from this album is called Tunnel Vision. This track is R&B with EDM influences. It reminds me of the pop music that was out in the early to mid 90s. I was never happy with that type of music. There was never anything interesting in the songs musically. I don’t usually pay attention to the lyrics but from what I understand of them he is singing of only seeing one girl, the one he loves, instead of all of the other girls that are out there in this world. I can understand that.

I got The 20/20 Experience part 2 last week. I was a bit skeptical about this album considering how I felt about part 1. It didn’t help that I missed out on the 7” record that came with the Target exclusive version. I am happy to say that, after listening to the album multiple times since getting it, I like this album a lot. It is ten times better than part 1. I feel that it is more pop than R&B. The album has just been released but there has already been two singles released from the album. The first single is called Take Back The Night. After the single was released the Take Back The Night Foundation (TBTNF), an anti-rape organization, expressed concerns about the songs title and the organizations name. Because of the lyrics in the song TBTNF sent Timberlake’s lawyers a letter detailing their concerns. The singer was unaware of the foundations existence and apologized. He has since come forward to support the foundation. He has said, “I wanted to take this opportunity to let all know that neither my song nor its lyrics have any association with the organization. As I’ve learned more about the Take Back the Night Foundation, I’m moved by its efforts to stop violence against women, create safe communities and encourage respectful relationships for women—something we all should rally around.” TBTNF has chosen not to pursue a legal suit and the founder of the organization said, “At this point, we’re going to bow down gracefully, and accept that fighting this in court probably isn't the best use of anyone's time.” The song is classic disco mixed with a bit of R&B. I like disco music a lot so this track fits right into my style. The song doesn’t resemble any specific disco song but instead picks up on the general style of disco making it an original disco track in my opinion. It really is a great song.

The second single from the album is called TKO. This is probably not my favorite track from the second part of the set. It reminds me of when rap went down hill at the end of the 80s/early 90s. There is a weird noise that plays through the whole song that sounds like when you clean plastic containers by hand. It is quite annoying. The saving grace of the track is the beat and the tone of the drums and Timberlake’s lyrics and delivery of said lyrics.

There are better tracks on the album. I really like the first two tracks from the album, Gimme What I Don’t Know (I Want) and True Blood. Gimme has a really good danceable beat. I think it should have been a single personally. True Blood has some really cool 80s sounding saw tooth waves being used and I like the howling wolf sound effect that is used through the song.

I also like the guitar sounds that are used in the song Drink You Away. It shows his diversity and that isn’t always about the beats with him. The chorus is awesome too. He sings, “I can’t drink you away, I’ve tried Jack, I’ve tried Gin, I’ve tried all of these things.” I have never had to do this my self but I have heard stories of other people attempting to do such a thing and it just doesn’t seem to work. It is a great song.

If you like the slow sappy R&B music then you should think about getting part 1. If you are into good pop music then you should think about getting part 2. If you’re down for both of these styles of music then maybe get the both of them.

Sea Wolf – Demo EP

Originally released in 2004 on CDr in limited quantities. It has been rereleased as a download to those who have contributed to the recent Kickstarter campaign. The files are in WAV format to provide the maximum sound quality possible.

Lead singer/guitarist Alex Church had this to say about the demo EP on the Kickstarter page, “My good friend, the post-classical composer Dustin O’Halloran took a very early interest in Sea Wolf, and in 2004 I had the honor of recording the very first Sea Wolf demos with him at the helm. It was rudimentary–two dudes with a laptop recording in the space the size of a walk-in closet–but it got the job done and helped set me on the path to where I am today. We recorded 3 songs...
‘Neutral Ground’, which wound up being largely unchanged when it found it’s way on the first album. An experimental version of ‘Leaves in the River’ that is VERY different from the album version. And a song that never found it’s way onto a release called ‘What You’re Really Thinking’, that features me experimenting with various field recordings, including that of a Pacific Northwest train.
I burned these songs onto a bunch of CD’s, hand screened some CD sleeves, and sold them at the first dozen or so Sea Wolf shows. Those demos captured my early interest in pairing intimate, folk-tinged song craft with textural atmospherics. While the CD’s are long gone, I thought that in the spirit of doing a new stripped down-album, it made perfect sense to offer this original stripped-down Demo EP as a digital download exclusively here on this Kickstarter campaign.”

Since Neutral Ground remained largely unchanged on the album I won’t go over it here. On the other hand Leaves In The River sounds quite different from the album version. There is what appears to be a click track that plays through the song that sounds like one of those eggs with sand in them that you would shake. There is also an electronic clap that sounds to help keep the beat. This version of the song is extremely mellow compared to the album version. The song is not boring but a lot of the flair is taken out of the song because it is such an early version of the song. I kind of like it but at the same time I would not go out of my way to listen to it. I am happy to have a copy of the song even though it is not the original CDR.

The last song on the EP, What You're Really Thinking, is a track not found on the album. There is a reason for this. The song starts off as a fade in from Leaves In The River with the rain. The track adds in a train warning bell and the song kicks in then with a simple drum beat and the vocals. An acoustic guitar is plucked as Alex sings. At the end third of the song a player piano sort of fades in and is not in the same key as what Alex was playing. It is kind of strange and reminds me of a horror movie to some degree.

Is it interesting? Yes. Could I have found this anywhere else? No. Discogs doesn’t even list this EP in their databases. I probably won’t ever find a copy of the original EP.

That is all I have for this week, short one I know...