Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition
by Pavement

Back in the 90's, Pavement released "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain", critically acclaimed and widely loved, it instantly crowned them the kings indie rock. Pavement responded with "Wowee Zombie", brilliant yet inaccessible, described by many as 'a glorious mess', the message was clear, they didn't give a rat's bottom to what the public thought, they were in this to make music for themselves.The ensuing lukewarm response gave them what they wanted. In the aftermath, their penultimate album Brighten the Corners brought a more conventional and accessible, or at least the illusion of accessibility, back to their music.

12 years later "Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition", is the re-release with 32 extra tracks, a gold mine of undiscovered hits, such as irresistibly catchy "Harness Your Hopes" as well as the whole shebang of radio sessions and live recordings. Alternate versions of songs allow the original sounds to expand without subjugating the rest of album to nostalgia. The re-imagining lets "Brighten the Corners" shine apart from it's more acknowledged siblings. Giving the most underrated album a more fulfilling end. While not all the tracks are gold, there are enough tracks here to please even the most nit-picky of Pavement completists. As time goes by, this release might slowly make its way into music's consciousness as a classic indie record.

The Rhumb Line
Ra Ra Riot

What happens when you add half a string quartet and an indie rock band? OK, that isn't really funny, Ra Ra Riot is a indie rock quintet from New York, originally formed by schoolmates in Syracuse University. Having heard RRR's exciting EP last year, I expected a pretty good record here, and 'The Rhumb Line' does not disappoint. For a band that has only been playing for a couple of years, RRR has managed to keep a tight sound from relentless touring both in the US and UK.

While I used to find lead vocalist Wes Miles' voice a bit raw for my taste, everything sounds more polished in the final tracks. RRR's music can be described as the middle ground between anthem making Arcade Fire and the more pop sensible Vampire Weekend. The music is buoyant, and the influences count, the cellist and violinist both have strong classical leanings. The band also obviously adores Kate Bush, having covered a remarkable version of 'Hounds of Love' and 'Suspended in Gaffa', the latter included in the album.


One of the finest tracks 'Dying is Fine' is borrowed partly from the e.e. cummings' poem of the same name. Ironically, it was co-written by John Pike, their original drummer who drowned under mysterious circumstances while the band was on tour. Besides the uniqueness the strings bring to their sound, RRR also has a rather inspired approach to lyric writing, 'Ghost in the Rocks' is full of metaphors, figurative and literal motifs, they abandon prose, attempting poetry instead.

And although it sounds like one, the album isn't an elegy. It's a bittersweet tribute, the mournful cellos, the melancholic violins coupled with the punk guitar beats, it's really an album about friendships and those who stick together through those dark times.

Once in a while, a band like The Arcade Fire comes and destroys everyone's expectations of what it means to be a rock band.

Hailing from Montreal, The Arcade Fire is possibly one of the best acts to emerge in this decade. Both of their albums, Funeral and Neon Bible, are in the top 10 of Metacritic's yearly list based on ratings in both 2004 and 2007. The band is comprised of husband and wife duo of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, who are accompanied by five other amazing musicians. Their unique sound comes from employing several instruments such as the piano, violin, viola, French horn, xylophones and harps among varied others to create an immensely layered 'wall of sound'. The songwriting is real. The emotions are epic and intimate at the same time. This is The Arcade Fire.

Funeral

Funeral introduces themes of death and rebirth into the songs, starting with a four-part act, Neighborhood, the tracks eventually go on to cover every aspect of the human condition. There is love, loss, disillusionment and finally hope. And that is the message this album brings, despite the deaths we face, there is also be joy and hope. The title comes from the fact that several of the band members lost their relatives during the making of the album. Funeral represents what the human experience is meant to be - the agony of losing your loved ones permanently intertwined with the ecstasy of being alive.

For an album with death prevalent in every song, the mood is always positive. In 'Neighborhood #3', Butler screams out for Man to take action now, to fight out against being repressed, being mediocre. The beats are frantic, the guitar unrelenting, "What’s the plan?" he asks. While 'Crown of Love' starts off as a ballad about the difficulty of letting go of a lost loves, the song perpetually crescendos until it implodes into a frantic rush of violins, dance beats and wailing.

A fan favorite and possibly the most epic of the songs here is 'Wake Up', it starts with a single guitar riff, joined individually by various instruments until the vocals kick in, all fifteen musicians chanting. Butler takes over here, his voice tired yet pleading, like his soul has been tortured by the crimes of humankind. "Children/Wake Up/Hold your mistake up/Before they turn the summer into dust". The music segues, each instrument representing a different emotion, the electric guitar, the violin, the piano and the xylophone. They interweave and disappear, Butler screams out a desperate warning at the end, almost like a threat "You better look out below!"

Neon Bible

While Funeral is about life and death, Neon Bible has themes on war, madness, spirituality and religion. Recorded in a refurbished church, a point is being made here. There are motifs of water, the color black and cars in the songs repeated for thematic value. The album is cleaner here and perhaps more mellow and the music takes its time to build up, but it never fails to reach epic proportions.

The first track 'Black Mirrors' almost leads you to believe that the old Arcade Fire is gone, replaced by a mainstream band, but then the lyrics tells you "No more lies!". The music instantly obliges and explodes into the sweeping soundscape you remember. It is a lament for the loss of truth in this world, "I know when the time is coming/All the words will lose their meaning".

In the titular track, the images of cheap yet charismatic evangelists are brought to mind. The track is stark and Butler whispers through the chorus as in despair. This though is nothing more than a preliminary though for the next track 'Intervention'. Set amid pipe organ and bells; there are metaphors of holy wars and world politics, though a careful listener would find subtle irony mixed with soaring music.

There are a couple of other good tracks here, like 'Black Waves/Bad Vibrations', which splits the layered sound into two thematically opposite tracks. 'No Cars Go' is preppy and effervescent and 'Ocean of Noise' describes the song itself best. The album ends with a chillingly wrought 'My Body is a Cage'. The pipe organ makes its triumphant return here, haunting and emotionally wrought with the poignant lyrics, "My body is a cage/that keeps me from dancing with the one I love.” The rest of the instruments rip open into a climax and Butler wails "Set my spirit free" over and over again until it ends in the softest of murmurs.

-Ed (with contributions from Alex)