Mercury Rev
The Secret Migration
[V2]

by K. Vicious

First thing you hear is the distant hum of electronic keyboards that escalates slowly and surely into an arched field of guitars and strings, inviting you to step into the realm of this surging music, so overloaded with splendor and gravitas, that is pouring out of a little corner of the world up in the Catskills mountains – “Secret for a Song” is the grand opening to draw you deep into the patchwork of cosmic Americana that is the new Mercury Rev album, The Secret Migration.

The ambition of an epic composition like “Secret for a Song” should not be too surprising to anyone though because when it comes to Mercury Rev, a bagful of musical grandeur is to be expected. And as always, melancholia goes a long way in their songs as well – after all, this is a band that has its fair share of drug-haunted memories.

Stretching its everlasting arms and psychedelic fingers over a canvas of six albums, the case can be made that this is a band who rewrote the rules of drug music the same way the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and the Spacemen 3 did before them. In case you need further proof of their pioneering exploits, just dip into the prog-rock volume of their first three albums. While there is a lot of mileage to be drawn from the first two Mercury Rev albums Yerself Is Steam (1991) and Boces (1993) – “Frittering” sounded so frighteningly beautiful and out of this world the one time I heard it played in my friend’s speeding car, like some numinous foreshadowing of sinister events – See You On the Other Side (1995) is arguably where the band starts to get into their stride. The band was actually falling apart at the seams when this mesmerizing album was being recorded but the exploratory music Mercury Rev was putting together then still sounds as magical and exhilarating today as when it was first made, their minds clearly far from the fountain of gloom that was to come. The members of the band would each disappear separately for the next couple of years, but not before burning out their overstuffed rock dreams in epic seven-minute drug anthems like “Empire State (Sun House in Excelsis)” and “Racing the Tide”.

Well, yes, so many sweet dreams are made of this.

The best was yet to come out of this band though. When Mercury Rev came back from the dead via the release of Deserter’s Songs (1998), they produced this incredibly timeless music that teleported listeners onto a shining path back to the oblivion of an ancient nowhere. Once you sieve through the mists of psychedelic nostalgia that cloud Deserter’s Songs, it feels very much like waking from a senseless dream, music floating between hallucinations of innocence and a heavy lamentation for lost souls.

There is not nearly as much magical drift to catch on this sixth Mercury Rev record, save for the usual stockpile of singer Jonathan Donahue’s romantic musing. On The Secret Migration, Donahue gives voice to some his most private reveries. The result is an album infused with the illusion of homeliness, and there out a few boring moments to be found out of these 13 songs where the band sounds like they are just wading through the prettiness of Donahue’s material – in a funny way, the least engaging songs on The Secret Migration do recall the ill defined, orchestrated slush of their 2001 album All Is Dream. A grandiose studio production sated with overblown strings, All Is Dream can be conceived as a tribute to the late Jack Nietzsche (who was supposed to collaborate with the band just before he died) while the new record evokes more of Nietzsche’s mentor, Phil Spector. That perhaps explains why Donahue deemed fit to design every caricature and big gesture of romance in his fine-boned ballads like "My Love" and "Diamonds”.

Like “Goddess on a Highway” from Deserter’s Songs and “The Dark Is Rising” from All Is Dream, The Secret Migration can’t do without its defining song. And the latest phase of MercuryRev’s magical tapestry can nicely be summed up in the ethereal, humble heroism of “Vermillion”. The rest of The Secret Migration is hardly as breathtaking, but they all have their own indescribable charms. Donahue seems contented now to live out his fantasies in a domesticated dream life where thoughts and memories are gifts you won’t forget as long as you live. Listen to his meticulous expression of faith and patience embodied in the unabashed wonders of "First-Time Mother's Joy (Flying)". The spacey choreography then comes to a perfect closing in “Down Poured the Heavens” – with only a grand piano, Jonathan’s shaky voice and a few simple lines of poetry, all in a gentle prayer for love’s devotion. And with this song, the spectacular feast of sounds that is The Secret Migration ends on the album’s lightest note, a softly tinted moment where everything seems almost too concise and too clear.

Here is my gentle reminder: bring your own set of hallucinogens along for this ride.

Junior Boys
Last Exit
[Domino]

by K. Vicious

Blending retro devices into the challenging realms of electronica is a harder trick to pull off than it looks. Much praise is due then for Junior Boys, current critical darlings of the electro resurgence (judging by the amount of flattering reviews their debut album Last Exit has earned), for pulling it off without leading their music down the road of electroclash kitsch.

A quiet gatecrasher, Last Exit is dance music for when the party lights go out, its digital rhythms and synthesizer melodies maneuvering obsessively in dark and dank dancehalls. There is no question that the two members of Junior Boys, Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus, are profoundly influenced by eighties dance music, namely New Order and Depeche Mode – or maybe even gaudier pop outfits like The Human League, if that’s your retro trip.

But this Canadian duo does consistently serve up the familiar elements that are the opiate of the IDM masses, with songs like “Birthday” and the truly sublime title track patiently working up a sturdy, flirtatious sound that twists and stirs in a prickly corkscrew motion. And with its drizzling techno beats and skintight production, there are moments on this album – just to mention, the bloozy “Under The Sun” and the electrifying “Teach Me How to Fight” are a couple of my current favorites from here – that really cooks. Last Exit is never dull, but perhaps Junior Boys could have brought a more unpredictable ingredient to the menu.

Stereo Superstar
Stereo Super Star
[self-released]

by sdre

The local music scene has many bands. From different genres to musical backgrounds to their very own CD debut. I've heard a couple of local bands, such as The Observatory, The Oddfellows, Concave Scream, Livonia, Throb and so on.

Some bands were from the mid 90s while the newer bands are formed in the early 2000s. Nonetheless, the CDs reflect musical tastes as well as arrangements and recording quality has been top notch.

And then, I have heard of other bands, no names mentioned, but particularly from the punk rock genre. They seemed to be on the other side of the scale. The quality of their recording is abysmal. It might even be done analog style, who knows... I, for one, do not believe that CD recordings should be biased by genre, but apparently, the local scene seems to have proven me otherwise.

And along comes this band Stereo Superstar. They have 10 songs on their self titled debut album. From the start to the end, arguably the most listenable song would be ‘Ode To’. According to the insert, Michaela Therese sang on this song, and played the piano parts. Then again, ‘Ode To’ is mostly piano.

If you remove this song from the album, there won't be any songs noteworthy of a review at all. Perhaps, some critical advice would be dished.

Bad vocal mastering and the instruments present the biggest problems on the album. I'm not sure if this is what the band had in mind at all. The band's music arrangement and vocal styles paint one picture in my mind: Hootie and The Blowfish on their decline.

Honestly, this wouldn't make it past most local labels but then again, it isn’t entirely the band's fault. Perhaps, they should work harder on their material. Perhaps, a change in musical direction and even, throwing in different music signature should be reflected upon before embarking on another album.