All Andrew's Friends

As the band of choice for Canadian college girls considering themselves “indie”, Stars has enjoyed tremendous success since their third album (and first with Arts & Crafts) Set Yourself on Fire. Characterized by the captivating voices and lyrics of Amy Millan and Torque Campbell, a Stars song always has a place on a romantic mix-tape from lover to lover. The band’s latest work, the Sad Robots EP, contains five new songs and one live take of the oldie “Going, Going, Gone”. Unfortunately for those of us who enjoy hearing a band’s sound and lyrical subject matter evolve, this EP essentially continues along the same tracks as their previous efforts.

As with In Our Bedroom After the War, The Sad Robots EP beings with an intrumental track. Titled “Maintenance Hall, 4am”, and containing synthetic robotic noises and voices over a continuous piano part, this opening track originally led me to believe that it was the first song in a concept EP about robots. Unfortunately the rest of the album contains no references to any cybernetic beings of any kind, just some more songs about relationship trouble to add to the six trillion others in Stars’ catalogue.

Stars again manages to sprinkle a smidgen of war protest amongst their love songs. Although not as blatent as “Celebration Guns” from Set Yourself on Fire, the band sneaks the words “Fuck the war!” into “A Thread Cut With A Carving Knife”, a song about life’s possibilities that exist tomorrow.

Although the EP has nothing new to add, I find it impossible to find anything else bad about it. Amy Millan and Torque Campbell are simply incredible singers and somehow manage to write catchy yet heartfelt lyrics over and over. Anyone who has enjoyed any of Stars’ previous work will likely get the same enjoyment out of this set of songs.

[Arts and Crafts; 2008]
http://www.arts-crafts.ca/stars/

For a band characterized by its loud hard rock guitar and vocals that can come off as pretty aggressive at times, it may seem out of place for them to release an album of their acoustic set played live at Fingerprints in Long Beach, California. What makes this release even stranger is the addition of an accordion, which actually doesn’t seem as strange once you hear how good it sounds paired with Craig Finn’s stories of teenage escapades. The track list includes “Cattle and the Creeping Things” from their second album, Separation Sunday, three songs from 2006’s Boys and Girls in America (“Chips Ahoy”, “You Can Make Him Like You” and” Citrus”) and the B-Side “You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came to the Dance With)”.

One thing I hate about bands is that when they play live, a lot of the time they merely recreate exactly the song the way it was played on the album. This is definitely not true of The Hold Steady based on the live footage I have seen and obviously they sound pretty different on this acoustic EP. Craig Finn fiddles around with the lyrics, extending and switching around the words when he sings (speaks?). The front man also offers some amusing between song banter, introducing and talking about the songs which are always a great thing to include in live albums. Guitarist Tad Kubler keeps the rhythm going on the acoustic guitar while a lot of the lead guitar and keyboard parts are played by the accordion manned by keyboard and harmonica player Franz Nicolay.

All in all this live EP gives fans of the Hold Steady to hear a different take on some of their great songs and a B-Side you maybe never heard before.

[Vagrant; 2007]
http://www.theholdsteady.com/

I wish I remembered who recommended that I listen to Minus the Bear; I could not thank them enough. After my first listen of their debut album Highly Refined Pirates, the band quickly raised the ranks and landed among my favourite bands. Their sophomore album Menos el Oso had some great tracks but as a whole seemed more like a compilation of leftover tracks from Highly Refined Pirates. On Planet of Ice, the band pulls a Crane Wife and lets their prog rock influences loose, coupled with the material they are known for.

The album opens with some strange noise effects that lead up to an explosion of every instrument, vocals including, starting at once. It’s a kick to the face and a great way to start off the album. Like many of the tracks, “Burying Luck” combines beautiful melodies, an aggressiveness that allows for some light head banging and sing-along choruses. The off-time outro complete with excellent work by new member Alex Rose leads into “Ice Monster” which gradually picks up until the triumphant chorus. Dave Knudson’s signature guitar work shines through on the verses in this song and the hand-clapping breakdown adds to the multitude of ingredients that make this song one of the best on the record. Third track “Knights” is the first single from the album and is complete with a headache inducing video. Although it is one of my least favourite tracks on the album, it’s not a bad song by any means and fits its role as a single quite well. Highlight of the album, “Part 2” includes a stunning guitar intro and is easily the best song on the album and the biggest departure from what the band has done in the past. The final track “Lotus” which clocks in at close to nine minutes in a way defines the entire album as it contains elements of every song on the record. From the striking melodies, the technical and complex musicianship to the new prog rock influences, Lotus has it all. The near silent interlude lasts a bit too long and leaves you eagerly anticipating the David Gilmour-esque guitar solo that immediately follows it. Every member of the band hammers on their instrument to deliver the outro to the song and album that ends just as it began.

[Suicide Squeeze; 2007]
http://www.minusthebear.com