Wavves/Strokes/Beach Boys

Ok, really quick...I was just reading a few sites this morning and was pleased to see the real demo versions of the Beach Boys long lost Smile lp, the intended follow up to ultimate classic Pet Sounds, will be released in their entirety as originally intended(along with a massive amount of outtakes etc.). The project was eventually scrapped after being derailed by Brian Wilson's advancing mental illness.
These are the sessions that spawned "Good Vibrations". If you don't think that's a big deal, listen to the intro or verse 2 and forget the chorus. This is rock and roll poetry delivered with a grace that is unimaginable for mere mortals. Oh, and not to mention, one of the most sublime bridges in music history...

While Brian Wilson's re-imagining of the material was gorgeous and a wonderful gift back in 2004, this will be infinitely more revealing and rewarding. One of the few, 'could have been's' that will actually come to be; remarkably so, over 40 years later.

On a more contemporary note, I was also struck by the demo versions of 3 Wavves songs that have bubbled up from a 2009 session. These are songs that weren't finished and have never, and, presumably, will never, appear on record.
They are simply better than most anything that will ever be put out by the bands peers.

Listen Here

How the fuzzed up Cheap Trick/Descendants crossbreed baby "Hula Hoop" didn't make the last album I don't know and while Pitchfork's description of 'punky' is a bit off, the 3rd track, "Glued", is a mid-tempo swinging, harmony saturated number. Only Nathan Williams can write a song this pretty and have you not realize that, in the midst of what is really a love song, the best offer he can make is that he will "melt in to my shoes for you."
Speaking of Williams and his love, Best Coast auteur Bethany Cosentino, I think I would rather they break up.
I like Williams better when he is unhappy and I think I hear her influence rounding his corners a bit after listening to "King of the Beach" for all of these months.
I do dig her contribution on the Go!Team record though..check out "Buy Nothing Day" here:


And, finally, the Strokes new album Angles was delivered Tuesday. I have been through it 8 to 10 times so far and will give a complete rundown as soon as I have digested completely.

So far I do love "Gratisication"


and for reminiscence, "Under Control", the Strokes at their very best:

New exciting and terrible...

I am struck by excitement and breathless anticipation(no really, I can't wait) for the new releases from the Strokes and My Morning Jacket.

The Strokes first Single, "Under Cover of Darkness" is vintage Strokes with angular, dancing guitar lines and a stronger vocal delivery than anything on Julian Casablacas solo record.

The second pre-released track, "You're So Right"(listen here: http://www.nme.com/news/the-strokes/55213) finds the band channeling a sort of future mediterranean beat and an R.E.M.(the band's descrption) or mid-career Radiohead (What I picked up) vibe.
It is not their best work but gives an indication that the new Album, Angles, set for a March 21 release, will be varied and challenging.
Speaking of Radiohead, why didn't they charge me $15 for a golden shower straight into my ear?
It would have been more pleasurable than their new album "King of Limbs". At least a golden shower is warm for a second.
Better than this cold, lifeless, stillborn creation.
Would it kill you to buy a goddamn guitar? I know guitars are so low-brow but seriously...

That brings me to my other cause for excitement, one of my former great white hopes of rock roll, My Morning Jacket.
After the odd, prince influenced work on Evil Urges, they promise a return to form on their new record, Circuital.

According to Rolling Stone, the band recorded the LP in their hometown of Louisville, setting up a studio in a church gymnasium. Frontman Jim James calls the album "the most live record we've ever done." James also says, "We want people to have almost the exact opposite experience they had last time. I definitely had some goals of wanting to make this one warmer and somehow more contained and more concise of a statement."

James wrote a couple of tracks, "Wonderful" and "Out of My System", for an amazing Muppets collaboration that never came to pass. Rolling Stone writes, "An exec recruited My Morning Jacket to record music for a new version of the Electric Mayhem band (the one with Animal on drums), promising a Gorillaz-style tour where MMJ would play behind a curtain while Muppet holograms bashed away onstage. The psyched band began writing and demo'ing, but the exec got fired and the project disappeared."

According to Pitchfork.com, James also had songs rejected by Jason Segal's upcoming Muppet movie. Oh well. Their loss is our gain. Cannot wait to see the hair flying and hear the guitars wailing again soon.

I hope to review both full albums soon. See previous paragraph for my review of Radiohead.

By the way, I love the new Tennis album and am at least intrigued by the first full length from the Joy Formidible. If you like female singers, or, if like me, you usually don't, check these bands out.

New exciting and terrible...