The SoundBite

 Best Tracks – 10.14.22   Brian Eno – “Who Gives a Thought” Eno’s newest album is a bleak, profound, and contemplative meditation on the state of the planet and one that fits in nicely with the sort of living-legend status he’s cultivated in the last few years. Eno isn’t resting on his laurels either, like the best of his songs, “Who Gives a Thought” is both eccentric and welcoming, finding a way to compare the annihilation of the planet’s smallest creatures with the plight of the poor, working man. Throughout, he manages to find warmth in the coldest atmospheres he creates and it’s hard to think of a more fitting swan song for Earth.   Bill Callahan – “Coyotes” The addition of horn players and six or seven backup singers to Callahan’s now famously chilly folk adds some immediacy to this new album, but more importantly, it adds a gravitas that was missing from 2020’s Gold Record . Callahan detailed that he wanted these tracks to be “rousing” and “Coyotes”, wit...

Brian Eno – Foreverandevernomore   Ambient Brian Eno fans and art rock Brian Eno fans have historically come together on Another Green World , the album that combined his earlier experimental rock with a notable shift towards minimalism. Eno would of course push much further and become more noted for his ambient work, but over the years, he’s made sure to dabble in one-off projects sampling collaborations with Underworld’s Karl Hyde, U2 as Passengers, and John Cale. All that behind said, Another Green World is still Eno’s highwater mark, and he does his best to capture that magic on Foreverandevermore . This is Eno’s first album in almost twenty years to heavily feature vocals on every track. Like Another Green World , it doesn’t detract from the moody and ethereal soundscapes that guide each song, instead, Eno’s vocals act as theatric punctuation, underlining moments and giving the windswept effects a lyrical purpose. “We Let It In” and “There Were Bells” both sum up Eno’s u...

Best Tracks – 10.7.22   Bonny Light Horseman – “Someone to Weep for Me” As a supergroup, and I use that term very lightly, Bonny Light Horseman yields stronger results as a single unit than they do in their respective projects. At least they did on the group’s debut outing in 2020, where Anaïs Mitchell and Eric D. Johnson propelled each other’s songwriting, with Josh Kaufman filling in all the spaces. Rolling Golden Holy , is what it is, a sequel deemed in necessity by a successful predecessor. Much of the magic from the debut is still here though, the trio is clearly at ease and ecstatic to be playing together, and on “Someone to Weep for Me” the group crafts a track heavy on pathos and theatrics, but with a steady, beat and more wigged out instrumentation than they’ve previously employed. Regardless, Bonny Light Horseman was an outlier, a gem of a collaboration where musicians find themselves eerily compatible and with plenty to say. On Rolling Golden Holy , the feeling i...

Alvvays – Blue Rev Molly Rankin and Alvvays started off as a bright and shimmering, slightly twee indie pop outfit almost ten years ago. The group’s debut soon followed and although breezy and charming, it lent us two mammoth singles, “Adult Diversion” and “Archie, Marry Me”, the latter of which would essentially become the group’s signature song. On Antisocialites , the band made the case for maturity amongst there cadre of art school adjacent students, without losing any of its melodic harmonies. In return, Blue Rev pushes the group even farther without ever denying its place as an Alvvays album. Sonically, the biggest development comes from Kerri MacLellan’s keyboards, which instead of being used as another lead instrument, or for just for underpinning the melody, weave in and out, crafting plinking and often ethereal synth soundscapes. When matched with the bands punky, power pop sound, still unscathed and as vibrant as ever, Blue Rev develops a more textured and denser sound t...

Best Tracks – 9.23.22   Alex G – “Cross the Sea” God Save the Animals is another classic, an album beguiling in its simultaneous simplicity and intricacy, and a statement that reads: “When is Alex G going to finally slip up”. At this point, he’s bordering on being too big to fail, or rather too good, and this turn towards lighter and more acoustic fare after 2019’s House of Sugar and his soundtrack album from earlier this year, may seem like the predictable back-to-basics approach that’s necessitated after crafting what could be your opus. The strength of the songs says something different though, and “Cross the Sea” even with its simple beat and repetitive chorus, shows that Giannascoli is confident enough in his craftmanship to keep the structure of the tune bare. That’s not to say he doesn’t layer on some vocal effects, harmonies, and plenty of clattering instrumentation, but even with everything stripped away, the track shines in a primordial appeal.   Beth Ort...

Best Tracks – 9.16.22   Whitney – “Never Crossed My Mind” A departure for Whitney, although maybe not as much as it seems. Spark is an energetic deviation, the kind that seems more like evolution, even if it isn’t necessarily better than what came before, (although it’s certainly better than what came immediately before). “Never Crossed My Mind” is the most successful and maybe the best example of how talented Whitney is as a group. If “No Matter Where We Go” is the kind of youthful, ode to infatuation that the band was able to easily capture back in 2016, now six years later, “Never Crossed My Mind” gives the listener a very different view of romance and maturity in a relationship. The rumbling bass and the twinkling keys that round out the back end, hint at the consistency in the group’s sound, and simultaneously at how much they can do within those constraints.   The Black Angels – “Here & Now” The Angels may be well past their late-aughts hey-day, and thei...

Whitney – Spark If 2016’s Light Upon the Lake is set to be Whitney’s high-water mark, then they could do a lot worse. Sure, it will always be the breakthrough debut, and Forever Turned Around will probably always be seen as the sophomore stumble, even if it's better than you remember, but Spark doesn’t do anything to sway those ingrown myths. In fact, it follows the standard formula of the third record being the envelope-pushing, attempt to break away from expectations. In that sense, Spark is a success, it is different than either of Whitney’s previous albums and certainly different than anything they released with Smith Westerns before that. That’s clear when the R&B beat kicks in and especially from Julien Ehrlich’s sleepy, soul-inspired vocals on the opener “Nothing Remains”. The track has some bite to it though, and the juxtaposition of energy and styles, especially with the addition of the subtle synth line and great slide guitar makes for something inspired. Simil...

Mercury Rev at Sleeping Village, 9.14.22 In Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood, nestled into one of the fastest growing blocks of the city, is Sleeping Village, a relatively new bar and music venue. Like many of Chicago’s club-sized locales, the venue itself is hidden in the back, discreetly tucked into the end of a hallway, far enough away from the open-concept, foodless-gastropub, and beer garden aesthetic of the front. On Wednesday night, as Mercury Rev made its way back to Chicago, the bar had become a singular entity, everyone was there for the same reason. Back in April, Mercury Rev was set to support Brian Jonestown Massacre at their show at The Vic, a billing that could have easily been flip-flopped. Unfortunately, the band had to bow out at the last moment, due to a COVID infection within the touring group, and many who attended (this reviewer included) were understandably frustrated. To their credit, Jonathan Donahue, Grasshopper, and company were quick to return to Chica...

Best Tracks – 9.9.22   Built to Spill – “Never Alright” As a covers album, Built to Spill Plays the Songs of Daniel Johnston is one of the best, but that’s due to it not really being a covers album at all. For all intents and purposes, it's a collaboration, one where the band essentially used their prowess to finish Johnston’s highly influential sketches, and simultaneously make them their own. As good as it was though, the bands follow-up, When the Wind Forgets Your Name , wisely presents Doug Martsch in back-to-basics mode, and “Never Alright” may be the most urgent and well-structured track the band has released since You in Reverse . It’s incendiary, but in an approachable and humble way that few bands outside of Built to Spill can manage.   Marlon Williams – “Easy Does It” At his most fun and devoid of the country-tinged and somber singer-songwriter vibe that has defined the majority of his work. Williams sounds released, able to jump around from freewheeling ...

Marlon Williams – My Boy On My Boy , Marlon Williams has a little more pep in his step than on previous outings. It may not be the equivalent of an ANOHNI going disco revelation, but to his credit, he got the voice right. Those two albums are still very different, but what Williams does manage to capture, more than on any other album he’s released, is jubilance. As a New Zealander, Williams has always had more than a surprisingly adept knack for country music, and when flexing his baritone in his cavernous and minimalist production, he was able to elicit his own brand of isolated mysticism. That croon is still evident on his newest album, but what’s new is his seemingly ineffable swagger. Even on a track like “Princes Walk”, which attempts to extricate his retro sheen in favor of something more melancholic, Williams can’t help from injecting it with a celestial atmosphere that brings it closer to someone like Dent May than to any of his previous work. Even the similarly mellow “T...