Sunday, June 27, 2010
mr. airplane man
self-titled
[1998, altitude]
one of the more frustrating aspects of being obsessed with music is constantly wondering why some bands never achieve the recognition that they deserve. okay, so it's really not that much of a mystery, it's all about exposure, but what prevents one band from becoming more widely known than another within the same genre when both are good? i'll never know. luckily for us, we live in a time where damn near everything is accessible to us* if we're savvy enough (*not available in china). mr. airplane is a good example of what i'm talking about. for two white girls from boston, they played an earnest, and educated, brand of bluesy garage rock, but while, say, the white stripes blew the fuck up, this band toiled in the independent scene. i wouldn't call this band obscure, but underappreciated would certainly apply. to me, this ep, their first release, marks the band's finest contribution to music, but seems to be lesser known than their full
lengths, which garnered a bit more exposure by being on long gone john's garage haven, known better as sympathy for the record industry.
mr. airplane man was formed in boston by vocalist / guitarist margaret garrett (also of the tearjearkers, solo as ms. margaret and currently in sister spaceman) and drummer tara mcmanus (who was also in the turpentine brothers).
the (roughly) twenty-eight minute long disc opens with the rousing baby. garrett's in full on scorned chick-mode, chastising an ex-lover with lines like "you don't deserve to even be callin' my name, i curse the day i ever let you in". lyrically it's all about female empowerment and standing up for yourself and taking control of things, but that comes across as fire and brimstone thanks to her incredible bluesy slide guitar riffs, spaced out by drone and tara's minimalist cymbal-driven percussion. they'll top off the two hooks, consist solely of margaret intoning the song's title, with some great, albeit brief jamming.
for a band whose name was lifted from a howlin' wolf song, it makes sense that they'd pay further respect to the blues musician by covering another one. i guess doing mr. airplane man would be too obvious, so instead they opt for moanin' for my baby. this marks a weird sequencing choice as they'll wedge this pro-relationship song in between two negative ones. that aside, nothing wrong with this track at all; terrific hummable guitar chords mixed with margaret's haunting cooing and vocal distress over a departed lover. after opening up the first half of the song with a clean guitar sound she'll stomp on the distortion pedal turning everything into warm fuzz, before cleaning it up again to finish. while that guitar melody can work its way into your subconscious, the most impressive thing about this song is margaret's incredible vocals. the light reverberation with her elongated moans really captures the longing of the lyrics.
i bemoaned the odd choice of the down up down mood of the first three songs, but there's no question that the third track was an appropriate follow-up to moanin'. it just fits perfectly, thematically. if you think of the last song as a love letter of want and desire, this one, you left me cold, is the result of that being unrequited, equating that loss with metaphorical death. the lyrics are concise and repetitious for maximum effect, "cryin' wooooahhh, ooooohhh baby... you left me cold, and stinkin'". the music is just as low key and despairing, yet eerily beautiful. the memorable guitar and light metallic rhythm just creeps over you, as do garrett's sorrowful cries. gorgeous and sad, definitely a good choice to turn to the next time someone breaks up with you.
highway is a quirky addition, the experimentation of it really makes it stand out, opening up with backwards loops competing with the loose bluesy chords. on top of the odd sounds that crop up there's the multi-tracked vocals (tara's perhaps? they don't sound the same) and overall lack of cohesion, as the song tends to meander. it's all interesting but doesn't sustain replayability as well as the other tracks on the ep.
we'll go back to more comfortable territory with the downtempo my hand. there's less going on with this track as the duo finds a good tempo and rhythm and choose to simply ride it out without any variation. with margaret's amazing voice and guitar playing it's hard to find fault in songs that are close to their roots, as is this case here; there's always something to enjoy, even if there's not a great deal transpiring.
their cover of mississippi fred mcdowell's sun sinkin' low is the ep's pinnacle for me. it begins with sparse guitar and margaret's "was lookin' at the sun and the sun was sinkin' low", sans percussion, just a fucking killer slide blues riff. while tara's bread and butter has seemed to be the cymbals, when her tambourine comes shaking in after a minute or so, it's fantastic. when she adds the kick drum to it a short while later, even fucking better. this will also seem to light a fire underneath the guitar as it quickly jumps up in tempo. little known the fact, the sound of an electric slide guitar is possibly the best thing ever. this song would be one of my favorite examples of that. terrific tempo shifts, guitar, percussion, everything about this is perfect. interestingly enough, this song would pop up on their 2002 album moanin' as sun sinking low, but truly pales in comparison to this one. listening to the moanin' version actually angers me after having heard this.
it's back to a slower pace for the album's longest offering, rain so hard, at an even five minutes. the main guitar melody is fantastic and assisted by a slow and steady 1-2 drum beat (no cymbals?!) to go along with margaret's ruminations about death. the melancholy tone of the song is balanced out by chord changes and eventually picks up in pace, nicely, during the last half, mostly by way of the guitar, but tara will also help out by incorporating her crashing cymbals into the mix.
the album closes with the traditional standard jesus on the mainline, and it's the best version of it that i've ever heard. it easily wipes away the bad taste in my mouth from the horrid version that popped up on the wire. if, somehow, you haven't heard this before, this song takes the idea of talking to jesus to a literal, and modern, conclusion. the melody of the thing is brilliant and the bluesy guitar really drives the sweet optimism of the lyrics home. i also love tara's wonderful backing vocals. the point where it goes from being a good song to an incredible one is the last twenty-six seconds when the distortion pedal gets broken out and the guitar screams over the top of the great staccato drum hits. ugh. such a perfect ending for a beautiful song.
this self-titled ep sees mr. airplane man's blues influence front and center and it's obvious that their updated take on it is sincere and comes from a place of reverence. they do a good service to their influences by taking that knowledge and turning it into something personal. with a voice and singing style as outstanding as margaret's, and the guitar chops to match, this band (and album in particular) begs to be heard.
download
mr. airplane man live at rudyards in houston, tx 11/7/2004
[1998, altitude]
one of the more frustrating aspects of being obsessed with music is constantly wondering why some bands never achieve the recognition that they deserve. okay, so it's really not that much of a mystery, it's all about exposure, but what prevents one band from becoming more widely known than another within the same genre when both are good? i'll never know. luckily for us, we live in a time where damn near everything is accessible to us* if we're savvy enough (*not available in china). mr. airplane is a good example of what i'm talking about. for two white girls from boston, they played an earnest, and educated, brand of bluesy garage rock, but while, say, the white stripes blew the fuck up, this band toiled in the independent scene. i wouldn't call this band obscure, but underappreciated would certainly apply. to me, this ep, their first release, marks the band's finest contribution to music, but seems to be lesser known than their full
lengths, which garnered a bit more exposure by being on long gone john's garage haven, known better as sympathy for the record industry.mr. airplane man was formed in boston by vocalist / guitarist margaret garrett (also of the tearjearkers, solo as ms. margaret and currently in sister spaceman) and drummer tara mcmanus (who was also in the turpentine brothers).
the (roughly) twenty-eight minute long disc opens with the rousing baby. garrett's in full on scorned chick-mode, chastising an ex-lover with lines like "you don't deserve to even be callin' my name, i curse the day i ever let you in". lyrically it's all about female empowerment and standing up for yourself and taking control of things, but that comes across as fire and brimstone thanks to her incredible bluesy slide guitar riffs, spaced out by drone and tara's minimalist cymbal-driven percussion. they'll top off the two hooks, consist solely of margaret intoning the song's title, with some great, albeit brief jamming.
for a band whose name was lifted from a howlin' wolf song, it makes sense that they'd pay further respect to the blues musician by covering another one. i guess doing mr. airplane man would be too obvious, so instead they opt for moanin' for my baby. this marks a weird sequencing choice as they'll wedge this pro-relationship song in between two negative ones. that aside, nothing wrong with this track at all; terrific hummable guitar chords mixed with margaret's haunting cooing and vocal distress over a departed lover. after opening up the first half of the song with a clean guitar sound she'll stomp on the distortion pedal turning everything into warm fuzz, before cleaning it up again to finish. while that guitar melody can work its way into your subconscious, the most impressive thing about this song is margaret's incredible vocals. the light reverberation with her elongated moans really captures the longing of the lyrics.
i bemoaned the odd choice of the down up down mood of the first three songs, but there's no question that the third track was an appropriate follow-up to moanin'. it just fits perfectly, thematically. if you think of the last song as a love letter of want and desire, this one, you left me cold, is the result of that being unrequited, equating that loss with metaphorical death. the lyrics are concise and repetitious for maximum effect, "cryin' wooooahhh, ooooohhh baby... you left me cold, and stinkin'". the music is just as low key and despairing, yet eerily beautiful. the memorable guitar and light metallic rhythm just creeps over you, as do garrett's sorrowful cries. gorgeous and sad, definitely a good choice to turn to the next time someone breaks up with you.
highway is a quirky addition, the experimentation of it really makes it stand out, opening up with backwards loops competing with the loose bluesy chords. on top of the odd sounds that crop up there's the multi-tracked vocals (tara's perhaps? they don't sound the same) and overall lack of cohesion, as the song tends to meander. it's all interesting but doesn't sustain replayability as well as the other tracks on the ep.
we'll go back to more comfortable territory with the downtempo my hand. there's less going on with this track as the duo finds a good tempo and rhythm and choose to simply ride it out without any variation. with margaret's amazing voice and guitar playing it's hard to find fault in songs that are close to their roots, as is this case here; there's always something to enjoy, even if there's not a great deal transpiring.their cover of mississippi fred mcdowell's sun sinkin' low is the ep's pinnacle for me. it begins with sparse guitar and margaret's "was lookin' at the sun and the sun was sinkin' low", sans percussion, just a fucking killer slide blues riff. while tara's bread and butter has seemed to be the cymbals, when her tambourine comes shaking in after a minute or so, it's fantastic. when she adds the kick drum to it a short while later, even fucking better. this will also seem to light a fire underneath the guitar as it quickly jumps up in tempo. little known the fact, the sound of an electric slide guitar is possibly the best thing ever. this song would be one of my favorite examples of that. terrific tempo shifts, guitar, percussion, everything about this is perfect. interestingly enough, this song would pop up on their 2002 album moanin' as sun sinking low, but truly pales in comparison to this one. listening to the moanin' version actually angers me after having heard this.
it's back to a slower pace for the album's longest offering, rain so hard, at an even five minutes. the main guitar melody is fantastic and assisted by a slow and steady 1-2 drum beat (no cymbals?!) to go along with margaret's ruminations about death. the melancholy tone of the song is balanced out by chord changes and eventually picks up in pace, nicely, during the last half, mostly by way of the guitar, but tara will also help out by incorporating her crashing cymbals into the mix.
the album closes with the traditional standard jesus on the mainline, and it's the best version of it that i've ever heard. it easily wipes away the bad taste in my mouth from the horrid version that popped up on the wire. if, somehow, you haven't heard this before, this song takes the idea of talking to jesus to a literal, and modern, conclusion. the melody of the thing is brilliant and the bluesy guitar really drives the sweet optimism of the lyrics home. i also love tara's wonderful backing vocals. the point where it goes from being a good song to an incredible one is the last twenty-six seconds when the distortion pedal gets broken out and the guitar screams over the top of the great staccato drum hits. ugh. such a perfect ending for a beautiful song.
this self-titled ep sees mr. airplane man's blues influence front and center and it's obvious that their updated take on it is sincere and comes from a place of reverence. they do a good service to their influences by taking that knowledge and turning it into something personal. with a voice and singing style as outstanding as margaret's, and the guitar chops to match, this band (and album in particular) begs to be heard.
download
:: posted by apc, 8:48 PM