Cougar Microbes

Les Savy Fav have been underground indie-rock darlings for forever. This is as much a consequence of singer Tim Harrington’s eccentric onstage antics as their DIY ethos – all but one of their albums have been released on bassist Syd Butler’s Frenchkiss Records. After a decade and a half, which includes a year-long hiatus, the 5-piece have released a 5th studio album which may just catapult them into the big leagues.

The release, ‘Root For Ruin’, comes complete with the Fugazi-inspired post-hardcore quirks of previous LSF offerings. As a general rule song structures are consciously more straightforward, with the exception of midpoint ‘Poltergeist’, the result being greater accessibility for the uninitiated. There are elements borrowed from more commercially successful artists; guitars reminiscent of the Pixies, backing vocals veering towards Weezer territory and offbeat instrumentation that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Modest Mouse record. Still the band have not relinquished their edginess entirely and there are plenty of moments where you can feel the tension rising.

The high points on this album are… well pretty much everywhere to be honest. On a personal note rocking opener ‘Appetites’ ingeniously borrows from Silver Jews’ ‘Punks In The Beerlight’, a Cougar favourite. Stopping short of mentioning the entire track-list, ‘Dirty Knails’, ‘Sleepless in Silverlake’, ‘Lips n’ Stuff’ and ‘Excess Energies’ also contribute to make this a master class in dynamics, merging pop craftsmanship with ballsy rock ethos.

You’ve got to feel for LSF. They were forced into a hasty digital release of ‘Root For Ruin’ more than a month ahead of schedule after it was leaked via various torrent sites. As a result it may not have quite the impact that it would have enjoyed were it to have exploded onto the market with a co-ordinated release strategy.

It deserves more, seeing as it is arguably the Brooklyn post-hardcore outfit’s best work to date. Here’s hoping the gods smile upon “les bloody fab”.

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Post by back-to-school Kenny

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TRACKS:

Les Savy Fav – Appetites

Singer/songwriter Jason Ward has kept himself extremely busy having written and recorded well over 200 songs in the past few years. his latest album, ‘Almighty Row‘, was released independently a few months ago and has seen the American artist take an unmistakeably desolate twist.

Lets put it this way, this is not the kind of CD (remember those?) you will be giving your grandmother for Christmas. But life is not only about the sunshine and chirping birds so if you occasionally enjoy some slight misery and introspective melodies this may well be the release you have been waiting for since last winter.

Like Neil Young, Jeff Buckley and the Silver Jews…. on downers!

For a limited time you can get ‘Almighty Row‘ for free here

At the end of August Eurostar and We Are Social sent me over to Paris to review Rock En Seine. Now they are offering a pair of tickets to Paris, Brussels or Lille to one lucky Cougar Microbes reader as part of their Little Break Big Difference campaign.

All you have to do is submit a review of your favourite band, album or concert experience, through the comments section of this post, using no more than 150 words.

Deadline for submission is the 10th of October, the best entries will be featured on the main site and the top one will win a pair of tickets.

The final selection is picked independently so though I will happily accept bribes they won’t help you.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Whenever I visit New York I try to check the music section at the Housing Works Bookstore. They always have a great biography or provocative tale of rock excess I can pick up in this second hand store for a bargain, their motto: “fighting AIDS one book at a time” which is pretty noble if you ask me. All proceeds go to charity and the staff are mostly volunteers so it would be unforgivable not to contribute even a little.

On a snowy February afternoon we stumbled in there mostly to protect ourselves from the chilly wind and warm up with a wonderfully clichéd large NYC latte. The place was set up for a book reading and a small crowd had already gathered. Having bought our coffee we sat down trying to decipher what people were waiting for.

It turned out that a few contributing authors were presenting the Da Capo Best Music Writing for 2006 book in a few minutes. Though at the time i was unfamiliar with the series I’ve since had the pleasure of reading 3 editions and can say they all collect sensational music essay covering various genres (from Metallica to R. Kelly through Bob Dylan). The one constant throughout is the high level of writing and the fresh take the authors have on the music they love.

We were fortunate to hear Nick Weidenfield narrate from his piece “Dying In The Al Gore Suite“. He claimed that he was the first journalist given complete freedom to talk with David Berman, leader of the Silver Jews. The result was the story of the troubled frontman’s battle with alcohol and substances which culminates in a spectacular suicide attempt in the same hotel suite Al Gore sat in for 2 weeks whilst waiting to find out that he had lost the election. Ultimately Berman‘s wife plays a huge part in the fact that he was even alive to be interviewed by Weidenfield.

It takes some a degree of bravery to put yourself in the spotlight again when everybody knows the exact nature of your troubles but pulled back from the brink Berman threw himself into writing and recording the album that would become the Silver Jews 5th studio album. ‘Tanglewood Numbers‘ acts as a logbook of emotions and realisations as tracks like ‘Punks In The Beerlight’ set a downbeat tone but are presented with charm and verve.

Elsewhere there is a real playful element to some of the songs like ‘How Can I Love You If Won’t Lie Down’displaying optimism akin to a man who has lost it all and then found it all again Berman is a happier person now and the Silver Jews are a stronger band for it.