Left Shoulder Right Shoulder Review: Feist - Metals

4 out of 5 I had never heard of Feist before the release of the single “1234” from her 2007 album, The Reminder. Immediately, I fell in love. I quickly became enamored with the album as a whole, which was a 13-track offering of hushed folk and indie songs that were laced with jazz and blues influences. Over the past 4 or so years, I have ranked The Reminder among my top 5 favorite albums of all-time. To say that I had high hopes and expectations for her follow-up would be an understatement. Thankfully, there wasn’t much time that passed between the announcement of Metals and its release and I wasn’t given much time to build hype around it. This is a very good thing in light of what the album turned out to be. Not unlike The Reminder, this new offering is a very cohesive effort, but at the same time, there are no singles on it like “1234”. There are no pop songs that will be featured in iPod commercials. And truthfully, I’m fine with that considering how well-crafted and beautiful the album is. Metals isn’t going to break any new ground. It isn’t going to set any new standards like her previous efforts did. We’ve heard her style before and we have all come to appreciate it. Metals is, however, a fantastic addition to an already illustrious discography. It is quietly beautiful and tinged with a hint of nostalgia, even on the first listen. Feist has an incredible talent for articulating the way she feels, feelings not unlike the way that I or anyone else feels from time to time, into passionate words laid over music that reflects perfectly the mood of her message. She is one of the most honest and talented artists working today. -Jacob What did YOU think of Metals? Let us know in the comments.

3 out of 5 Feist is back with another album of bluesy folk ballads and smart indie pop tracks. That's not to say we're getting a clone of The Reminder or Let It Die, but there's no denying the fact that you know this is a Feist album when you hear it. Unlike the great pop singles the came out of The Reminder, Feist is strongest on Metals when she eschews all tendency to write those sweet twee melodies and focuses on blanketing the songs in the warm melancholic atmosphere that accompanies a good half of the album. The loneliness in tracks like late-comers "Anti-Pioneer", "Undiscovered First", and "Comfort Me" is palpable, and goes a long way in establishing a connection with the listener. The bolstered instrumentation on tracks like opener "The Bad in Each Other" and "A Commotion" are a welcome addition to the Feist palette. "A Commotion" may just be the strongest song on the album with it's slow build to the contrasting male-outbursts and powerful, almost sinister, chorus. The girl can write a damn good chorus that's catchy but not pushy. It's this connection that I'm missing in many of the songs. Though there's not one song on the album that's painful to listen to or objectionable in any way, many are a bit forgettable. Songs like "Cicadas and Gulls", "Bittersweet Melodies", and "The Circle Married the Line" are more of the same for me, and don't really do anything to distinguish themselves from the previous Feist cannon. This is far from a misstep for Feist, and will likely fall right into place for longtime fans. It's got enough wonderful songs, and a continued accessibility that may even pick up some new followers. I'll probably always be interested in what she puts out as she continues to mature and develop her sound. I can only wish there's more of that development next time around. -Sonny

Imaginary Sounds Mix 25: Home

A warm welcome to the newest member of Imaginary Sounds. This is Jacob's first compilation and one of our first conceptual mixtapes. The idea of home is something we can all relate to, even if you don't have one. Enjoy.

(download full compilation) [77MB]

A place filled with faint laughter and film-grain memories, where the world is a giant and forgiving place; not one of us given to cynicism or doubt. Time is marked not by the movement of hands, but by the position of the sun in the early evening sky, existing as the one last stronghold for innocence and unbridled joy.  Such is the nostalgia surrounding my parent's house in a small Kentucky town during the early 90's.  My brother and I grew up in a time when kids could roam the neighborhood until dark, and while we locked the doors after dark, it still felt safe.  My world consisted of the few blocks surrounding my house and anything beyond that might as well have been a million miles away. Our biggest concerns were how to spend our afternoons after school let out, and how best to avoid our homework, which more often than not went hand in hand. 

As an adult, home has moved from a physical place, and relocated to fond memories.  Memories of times spent with friends out in the middle of the night at the lighthouse in Washington Park, watching the lights of Chicago over the water.  Memories of Halloween parties and hours of music played with friends.  Home has since become that intangible dwelling located beneath rib and flesh, where I can travel to anytime I'm looking for a little joy, and home is always met with a sigh and a muted smile.

Tracklisting:

1. The Beatles - She's Leaving Home
2. Blitzen Trapper - My Home Town
3. Ryan Adams - Anybody Wanna Take Me Home
4. The Elected - Not Going Home
5. M. Ward - To Go Home
6. Antony Hegarty & Bryce Dessner - I Was Young When I Left Home
7. Midlake - Head Home
8. Villagers - Home
9. The Cave Singers - Bricks of Our Home
10. The Kinks - A Long Way from Home
11. Firs - Welcome Home
12. Shearwater - Home Life
13. The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home

Imaginary Sounds Mix 24: Essential Zappa: Phaze One

(download full album) [165MB]

Frank Zappa was a pervert. 

He took clean traditional family fun and exploited it to his own twisted sense of filth. 

Okay, fine, he wasn't a sexual pervert, and he exploited early rock 'n' roll and doo wop music, which was never really clean or traditional. He did spend 10 days in jail in the early 60's, though, after an undercover police officer elicited him to craft a suggestive audio tape for a bachelor party, so maybe I'm not so far off the mark.

Imaginary Sounds Mix 23; Part 3: Radiohead - Permanent Daylight

One of the great things about Radiohead is that they have an extensive collection of b-sides, and most of them are so good they make you wonder why they never showed up on the full-length albums they were recorded during. I recently came across a collection of all the Radiohead b-sides from over the years and realized that that if they were good enough to be on those albums, they could be made into albums themselves. 

So I took those B-sides and compiled them into 3 different collections by the era they came from and, like the only-child-nerd I am, I created a story for these albums. They are 3 albums (not b-sides at all) the band recorded, mastered, and finished and shelved due to problems and the fickle nature of the band (not unlike other famously unreleased lost albums like SMiLE or Get Back) only to be found, finished, and released years later. And that's the story from here on out. Yeah, I even made art for the covers. Deal wit it.

(download full album) [109MB]

The third and final release in this series is Permanent Daylight,

Checking In/Buke & Gass

Things have been incredibly slow around Imaginary Sounds in the last few weeks, and I apologize. I've started a new job and it's taken up so much of my time that I barely get to listen to music as much as I used to much less make posts.

I refuse to even entertain the idea of Imaginary Sounds going anywhere but continually forward, but you'll have to bear with me a bit while I adjust to a new schedule and lack of time. I've got lots of mixes in the works still.

Enough excuses, lets talk about music.

I want to profile a band who went criminally underrated and unknown in 2010, and that is the two-piece known as Buke & Gass.
This year Buke & Gass have been busy touring with tUnE-yArDs and Lou Reed, and working on the follow up to their excellent debut album Riposte.

Buke & Gass - Medicina

If you're like me the first thing you thought about the band is "Wow, what a weird name." It is, but it has a lot to do with their aesthetic. See, Buke & Gass create and their own instruments by modifying other instruments. Vocalist Arone Dyer plays the buke, a self-modified six string baritone ukelele and Mr.  Aron Sanchez plays the gass, a guitar/bass hybrid. B&Gs self styled gear and DIY attitude creates for them an unmistakable timbre and style somewhere between raw and ethereal. If you're not yet convinced then here's a 17 minute intimate concert by the duo put together by NPR that truly showcases the bold power of their songs, and after that a full stream of the amazing Riposte LP on bandcamp.



Click the album cover to listen to Riposte in full.