EASE DOWN THE ROAD

It’s hard to say yet how good of a year 2008 has been for music. Notably, the major labels are all hurting, releasing a very small number of albums compared to years past – only a small fraction, really, of what they were putting out at the end of the 90s. This is a good thing; Celine Dion has had it far too easy for far too long. Indie labels, however, seem to keep chugging along, some – Indiana’s own Secretly Canadian, for one – are even releasing more records than ever before. Needless to say, I’m pretty sure we’ll look back on this decade with much confusion. What happened? Why did Borders, for example, recently chop their music section in half just as Bloomington’s Landlocked Records – who focus on indie music and fair trade used product – bought a bigger, fancier retail space? How did Icelandic experimentalists Sigur Rós go from limited store availability to premium endcap placement in just two years? Buyers who actively seek out new music that offers artistic merit simply like the physical product more than Top 40 listeners. Downloads aren’t enough, even if Bono and Chris Martin subliminally help Apple tell us that they are. Sellouts.

That in mind, below you’ll find Ease Down the Road’s fourth of six New Music installments for 2008. Nearly every album listed was – you guessed it – released by an indie label. Whether you chose to check out one of the below albums or not, please be sure to get out to the store and do your part to help support the artists and stores still working to keep this decade – audibly speaking – from being a total wash.

Silver Jews’ Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea – Silver Jews’ honcho David Berman is a different man than he was five years ago. After a decade of dwindling well-being, Berman’s wife, Cassie, helped him get back to health, resulting in the first ever Silver Jews tour. While on the road, Berman claims that he realized for the first time just how many young people respond to his music. Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea is the result of that revelation. The songs are all written, though often deceivingly so, as miniature (and usually very poetic) advice manuals for the 20-30 crowd, or so claims Berman. The record’s sound is quirky and poppy, a far cry from the normal dark and lean Jews sound. It’s the hardest Jews album to wholly love, surely, but one that is full of memorable hooks and – as always for Berman – well written. 7/10

The Baseball Project’s Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails – Talk about a sucker punch. When I heard that Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate), Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, R.E.M.), Peter Buck (R.E.M.) and Linda Pitmon (Golden Smog) were working on a concept album about baseball, I figured they’d come up with a batch of songs that were fun to listen to, oh, maybe three times – and only if you love baseball and power pop. I was wrong. Frozen Ropes is a fully baked summer album made perfect for both deep-digging baseball enthusiasts and casual A-Rod gazers. Black Jack McDowell flipping the bird at everyone in Yankee Stadium after a night of drinking with R.E.M., Harvey Haddix’ 12 straight perfect innings, the ever cocky Ted Williams and, of course, Mark McGwire “saving baseball” after the strike (only to later be cast off as the biggest cheater ever) are just a few of the topics here presented in amazing power-pop form. Ease’s favorite track, “The Closer,” perfectly paints the role of the closer as baseball’s true bad character with big, mean riffs. Frozen Ropes is about as well written as a concept album about baseball could be. And very funny to boot. 9/10

Beck’s Modern Guilt – The Information, Guero, Odelay and Mellow Gold are all pretty much the same album. The records released in between – Sea Change, Mutations, Midnight Vultures, Stereopathic Soul Manure, One Foot in the Grave and now Modern Guilt – are the albums that display Beck’s best quality: his inner shape-shifting Bowie gut. Produced by Danger Mouse (Black Keys, Gorillaz, Gnarls Barkley, etc.), Modern Guilt sees Beck testing new, mostly atmosphere- and drum-focused waters. Upbeat, arty pop music for stoners. Behind the production fun are Beck’s lyrics, which are often thoughtful and introspective, not to mention surprisingly philosophical in nature. You could call it “hippie modern,” just as the title implies. Not everything works on the album’s 10 short tracks, but Modern Guilt again reminds us that Beck does his best work when functioning outside of his folky, b-boy comfort zone. 8/10

Dr. Dog’s Fate – After a year of heavy touring and growth, Dr. Dog headed home to Philadelphia, knowing full well that whatever they next released would by far receive more attention than any of their previous efforts. Songs already written and a studio waiting, they quickly went to work, recording their fourth proper studio album much faster than any of their previous efforts. It worked. Fate is as good and maybe even better than last year’s excellent We All Belong, especially the songs written by Scott McMicken, who is fast becoming one of the best pop songwriters around. 8.5/10

The Cool Kids’ Bake Sale – Just when I thought both commercial and underground hip-hop had gone completely stale come Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish, two half-baked, ill-named “geeks” from Chicago. Sure, there’s much to hate on Bake Sale for anyone with any sense of hip-hop history, but c’mon, these are enjoyable summertime hits that present the long lost novelty appeal 90s staples like “I Wish,” “Regulate,” Fantastic Voyage” and many others offered. The success of nearly every song on this post-Kanye West album thrives on two things: 1) a simple, novelty-riding sound that succeeds on minimalist production; and 2) rhymes that perfectly encapsulate the current asinine geek-as-rebel trend. In the grand scheme of great hip-hop albums, Bake Sale is merely okay; by today’s standards, it’s a much welcomed summer banger. 7.5/10

Vetiver’s Things of the Past – This is a thoroughly enjoyable listen, not much else to say. Vetiver’s Andy Cabic, usually considered to be a somewhat odd “freak folk” artist, plays it surprisingly straight here, covering some of his favorite songs written by lesser known songwriters. Loudon Wainwright III’s “The Swimming Song,” played about as faithfully as any cover I’ve ever heard, is a standout, as is Elyse Weinberg’s “Houses” and Garland Jeffyres’ “Lon Chaney.” Easily one of the best all-covers album I’ve ever heard by an artist as young as Cabic, Things of the Past already has Ease seeking out some of Vetiver’s all-originals albums. 8.5/10

Albert Hammond, Jr.’s Como Te Llama? – Bummer. Como Te Llama? is a good enough indie-pop record but not nearly the kitchen sink classic Hammond Jr.’s first album, Yours to Keep, was. Rather than doing what he does best (i.e. somewhat edgy, guitar-driven pop songs that nod to The Beatles, Stephen Malkmus and Robert Pollard), Hammond Jr. and his band focus on small genre experiments. It’s a good listen, just not good enough to keep from being classified as a sophomore slump, a la The Strokes’ Room on Fire. 6/10

My Morning Jacket’s Evil Urges and Fleet Foxes’ Fleet Foxes – Evil Urges is one of those albums. My Morning Jacket once again shoot for the stars (think Radiohead’s initially bewildering Kid A, Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and MMJ’s own awesomely anomalous Z), this time in a very eccentric, unpredictable way that is sure to split their fan base. If you like Prince, pseudo-prog and could’ve-been-great genre-bending experiments, you’ll love Evil Urges. If you like older MMJ albums like It Still Moves and At Dawn (not to mention the last two Band of Horses albums), you’ll like about half of Evil Urges but would probably be better off picking up the Fleet Foxes’ debut, an album whose only clear fault is that it sounds a little too much like MMJ and BoH. Evil: 6.5/10. Fleet: 8/10

Also worth checking out: Sigur Ros’ Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (7/10); Shearwater’s Rook (7.5/10); The Lord Dog Bird’s The Lord Dog Bird (7.5/10); Frightened Rabbit’s The Midnight Organ Fight (7/10); Elf Power’s In a Cave (8/10); Robert Pollard’s Is Off to Business (7/10); Wolf Parade’s At Mount Zoomer (6/10); and Aimee Mann’s @#%&*! Smilers (7.5/10)