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Best tunes of 2011: #17 Girls “Alex”

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Song number seventeen on this list of great tunes from 2011 is “Alex”, a non-single from Girls’ second album, “Father, son, holy ghost“.

Girls was an indie rock band based out of San Francisco. The two primary members were guitarist/vocalist Christopher Owens and bassist/producer Chet ‘JR’ White. The rest of the band was filled out by a constantly revolving door of musicians and it was this turnover that ultimately doomed the band when Owens finally grew tired of the fluidity. The group disbanded the year following the release of “Father, son, holy spirit”, making it not only their second but also their final full-length album.

It is unfortunate, really, because both albums (the other being 2009’s “Album”) are quite good and each received heaps of critical acclaim upon release. I was particularly enamoured of the second one when I came across it, finding in it hints of Teenage Fanclub and Sloan, personal favourites of mine. Indeed, if I remember correctly, “Father, son, holy spirit” found itself a spot on my old blog’s inaugural kick at the end of year best albums list can. A surprise that might have been greatest to myself.

“Alex” is track two and definitely a highlight off the album for me. It is rumbling and boppy bass lines, lazy guitars, jaunty drums, and Owens’ soft croons, showing a hard exterior but betraying soft insides. It juxtaposes mellow garage rock feels at the verses with controlled rock jams in between.

But who is this Alex?

Well, she has blue eyes, black hair, and a lovely smile. She is in a band. She has a boyfriend… but who cares? Well, who cares about love?

We all should. And that’s why you should at the very least give this song a listen.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2011 list, click here.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2001: #3 The White Stripes “Fell in love with a girl”

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In 2001 and 2002, garage rock emerged to take the mantle as champion of the indie rock resurgence. The epicentres of the revival were New York, whose scene was led by Interpol and The Strokes (appearing at #5 on this list), and Detroit, from which came The Detroit Cobras and The White Stripes.

Yep. Before Third Man Records, The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, and a rather notable solo career, Jack White was in a little band called The White Stripes. Formed in 1997 with then wife, Meg, whose last name Jack took when they wed, the duo recorded six albums together before disbanding in 2011. The White Stripes became known for their tightly stylized image – they were most notably rigorous in the use of their red, white, and black colour scheme – and their blues-inflected sound, Meg’s stomping, bass heavy beats, and Jack’s raunchy guitars and raw vocals. Indeed, as things went on, they became less connected with their garage rock roots and more about blues revival.

Interesting, then, that their breakthrough came with their least blues-influenced album, their third, “White blood cells”, and this exciting single that had no traces of it whatsoever. “Fell in love with a girl” sounds like it was it borne out of the garage that welded together the pieces of the garage that housed the rock. It’s a quick adrenaline blip that doesn’t even make the two minute mark. At that length, you can almost hear Jack screaming, “there’s no time for an intro – we gotta go!”. The drums are muddy as hell and violent, Meg channelling her inner animal. Jack even sounds like he’s having trouble keeping up with her and his own raucous guitar work with his vocals, almost breathless for the duration, his attempts at proper diction dispensed with and you have no trouble imagining his gummed up mic covered in spittle. There’s anger and disdain and the feeling of betrayal.

It’s almost exhausting how great this tune is. Enjoy.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2001 list, click here.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2001: #4 Cake “Short skirt/long jacket”

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I can’t remember exactly how it came to be and at what points but for periods during our first years in Ottawa, Victoria’s mother loaned us one of her cars, a green cavalier. It had a tape deck in it but I only drove it to work irregularly so I rarely had tapes in the car. Thus, those early years here was probably one of the last periods in which I listened to the radio with any regularity. It didn’t take long before I found the city’s alternative rock station, which at the time was X FM (101.1, I think), and I likely found it with this particular song, Cake’s “Short skirt/long jacket”. Why do I think that? Because I feel like it was played on every morning that I commuted into the Enbridge call centre, my job at the time.

Cake is definitely one of those bands whose sound makes it easy to identify them. Ever since I first discovered the band with their raucous cover of “I will survive”, it never mattered if it was a song I had never heard before, whenever I came across something on the radio, whether at work, in the car, or in a store, I would smile and stop to listen to the rest. There’s always a heavy focus on the beat and a funky bass line, we usually get an explosion of trumpet, a rarity in rock music, and frontman John McCrea’s deep and deadpan sing/speak vocals. I loved all their singles through the latter part of the 90s but it wasn’t until this particular song that I finally declared myself a fan and went out to get one of their albums: “Comfort eagle”.

“Short skirt/long jacket” was the first single to be released off said album. It is the best of Cake, starting with that blare of trumpet, danceable drums and jumping bass, the rattle of vibraslap and regimented backing vocals. And John McCrea reading off a shopping list of attributes that he seemingly wants in girl but as the list gets longer, the girl gets more and more unattainable. This seems to be more the message to me: wants and desires and how they are always changing, making it all so impossible.

“She’s changing her name
From Kitty to Karen
She’s trading her MG for a white Chrysler LeBaron
I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket.”

Fittingly, this was their final song of the night, the first and only time I saw them live, a few years ago at Toronto Urban Roots Festival, having invited Toronto’s Choir! Choir! Choir! up on stage with them, making the song a riotous party, and in the process, I think, making fans of my concert buddies Tim and Mark, as well as everyone else in the audience.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2001 list, click here.