Minutos Musicales: M. Ward

Estimados,
labor multidisciplicar hace este cantautor y guitarrista de Oregon, combinando diversos proyectos con un alto grado de calidad. Empezó su carrera en solitario allá por 1999 con la publicación de su primer disco "Duet for Guitars #2".

Ha tenido colaboraciones con múltiples artistas: Cat Power, Beth Orton, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket... e incluso se hizo una gira con REM y Bruce Springsteen en unas elecciones en los USA.

Pero quizá lo que más renombre le ha dado últimamente ha sido la formación del grupo 'She And Him' junto con la actriz Zooey Deschanel. Su album de debut "Volume One" se podría considerar uno de los mejor considerados en el pasado 2008 teniendo tal repercusión que incluso presentaron sus canciones junto a Yo La Tengo en el show de Conan O´Brien.

Hoy os presento su último trabajo, de nombre 'Hold Time'.... majestuoso, respetuoso, atemporal, reposado. Un disco para escuchar con tranquilidad, con tiempo suficiente para deleitarse con cada canción.
Un último apunte. La canción favorita del señor Ward es 'Amazing Grace'.... curioso, verdad?

"His solo debut Duet for Guitars #2 was released by Howe Gelb on his Ow Om record label. Ward's 2001 album, End of Amnesia, was put out by Future Farmer Records. A collection of live recordings, Live Music & The Voice of Strangers, was a self-released disc that was sold at his shows in 2001. His subsequent albums have been released on Merge Records.

He has guested on recordings by Cat Power, Beth Orton (with whom he co-wrote the title track to her album Comfort of Strangers), The Court & Spark, Bright Eyes (with whom he toured on the 2004 Vote For Change tour with R.E.M. and Bruce Springsteen), Jenny Lewis (whose debut solo album Rabbit Fur Coat he co-produced), and My Morning Jacket.

In 2006, he contributed a song to, and helped produce the John Fahey tribute album I Am the Resurrection. He also appears on Norah Jones' album Not Too Late, performing backing vocals and guitar on "Sinkin' Soon", and toured as the opener and a member of her "Handsome Band" for the album in the spring of 2007. Also his cover of David Bowie's song "Let's Dance" is featured on the soundtrack of the 2007 New Zealand film Eagle vs Shark. Ward was previously a member of the band Rodriguez with Kyle Field of Little Wings. Their album Swing Like a Metronome was released in 2000 and produced by Jason Lytle of Grandaddy.

In 2004 Ward played guitar for Bright Eyes on a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. During the performance, Bright Eyes' singer Conor Oberst yelled out "M. Ward for President!" This prompted Newsweek to run an article on Ward and his next album Transistor Radio.

In 2006, he released Post-War, which was described by Vanity Fair in its August 2006 issue as thematic on the question "How will America heal once this craziness in Iraq is over?" Ward said in that article that he looked to the post-war music of the late 1940s and 50s. "I had the naive, simplistic idea that producers and writers and artists of the time helped in a minuscule way to change the mind-set of America". The album was released on Merge Records and features cameo performances by Howe Gelb, Jim James and Neko Case. From the music blog It's Hard To Find A Friend: "According to the Omaha City Weekly: ...Also with recording plans for the winter is Conor Oberst. Beginning in the new year, Oberst is slated to begin recording two new albums — one a solo record in Mexico (the album is self titled "Conor Oberst") with Jake Bellows playing a role and another with a new band being formed with M Ward". [1] In 2006, Ward recorded a duet with actress Zooey Deschanel, which collaboration resulted in the formation of the band She & Him[1]. The duo's album Volume One — which Ward produced — was released on Merge Records on March 18, 2008. Ward and Deschanel performed (along with Yo La Tengo) on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on April 22, 2008. Returning from She & Him duties, M. Ward has released his sixth solo studio album, Hold Time, on February 17th 2009."

Grupo: M. Ward
Disco: Hold Time
Año: 2009
Puntuación: 8/10
Web oficial: http://www.mwardmusic.com/ y http://www.myspace.com/mward
Canciones destacadas: For Beginers, Fisher Of Man, Jailbird, One Hundred Million Years, Rave On, Shangri-La y To Save Me.

Minutos Musicales: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Estimados,
si alguien tiene por objetivo traerse algún grupo a tocar a España y no sabe cual... que por favor coja a este: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Primer album de esta banda afincada en New York. En el 2007 sacaron un primer EP del mismo nombre del grupo; en 2008 salió el 7" 'Searching for the Now Vol. 4' junto a Summer Cats y en 2009 el EP 'Everything with You'.

No hay palabras para expresar la belleza de este disco... todas las canciones son pura fuerza y energía. Esto es 'PoP' y la compra del vinino y del cd se hace necesaria. Os dejo un par de muestras de lo que este grupo lleva tiempo ofreciendo. Recordad únicamente que este grupo ya formó parte de la recopilación con lo mejor del 2007 con su canción 'This Love Is Fucking Right'.

Sus miembros son:
Kip Berman – voz y guitarra
Alex Naidus – bajo
Peggy Wang – voz y teclados
Kurt Feldman – batería

Os adjunto 2 reviews de este trabajo.

All Music by Tim Sendra

"The New York indie pop quartet the Pains of Being Pure at Heart built up a pretty rabid fan base in the indie pop community prior to the release of their self-titled debut record in early 2009. For this, they could thank a string of excellent singles and EPs that began in 2007 (songs from which appear on the album) but more than that they can put it down to the fact that their sound melds together the trademarked sounds of many beloved indie and noise pop bands into one shiny ball of sound and melancholy. Mixed in skillfully are the sonic assaults of early My Bloody Valentine, the hazy sweetness of Ride, the introspective and usually morose lyrical approach perfected by the Field Mice, the sensitive and tender vocals purveyed by most Sarah records bands, and the rhythmic drive of early-'90s Amer-Indie bands the likes of which more often than not found themselves on Slumberland (Lilys, the Ropers, Velocity Girl — whose Archie Moore ably mixes the album). It all could come off like a pastiche with little more than nostalgic value but the band acts as if it were the first time anyone ever captured this kind of sound, never sitting back and aping the past but instead giving it a healthy boost. Plus, they write some very good songs. "Come Saturday," "This Love Is Fucking Right!" (their answer to the Field Mice's "This Love Is Not Wrong"), or "Young Adult Friction" all would have been in serious rotation on a hip college radio station in 1992. Best of all is the amazingly hooky "Everything with You," which stands as the equal of anything the shoegaze poppers or pop losers cranked out back in the day. If you had gone out and bought the 7," after one play you would have tacked the sleeve up on your wall and played the record until the grooves wore out. It's that good. It lifts the album from pretty good to almost great. A little more variation from song to song, a little more of their own sound, or another song or two as compelling as the best stuff here and the POBPAH's debut would have been classic. Settling for impressive is fair enough and good enough for fans of loud, fuzzy, and heartfelt indie noise pop."

Strangeglue by Brad Kelly

"The problem with indie-pop is that regardless of how seamlessly or impressively you fuse the two elements together, it still loses its steam at some point during the listening process.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart attempt a stab at the aforementioned genre with their eponymous debut and almost manage to get away with an entire L.Ps worth of inoffensive joviality but, unfortunately, it just manages to stop itself mid-sprint and become a panting, sweaty mess before the last seconds fade.

What’s immediately noticeable about the record is that the band are actually pretty talented and well-suited to what they’re playing. The guitar is jangly and loose the entire time, evoking a Shins-but-not-quite rhythm to the music. Likewise, the percussion never overpowers a single track which, for an indie-pop record is a surprise in itself. Hints of lo-fi, dream-like distortion wash over the background of the entire album, creating a solid standing block for the rest of the music to balance on. It’s all impressively tight and foot tappingly enjoyable but it’s also glaringly thin and falls into the trap of 'same is better' instead of 'better is diversity'.

All the tracks sound relatively similar and there’s not a single song that attempts anything experimental throughout the entire duration of the album. The final track manages to stick one cautious limb out of the box but still doesn’t do much else besides fiddle with the 'epic' knobs and buttons: and only an inch more than anything before it. Considering the overall duration of the record twiddles its thumbs around the half an hour mark, it’s really disappointing to tire of the music after only four or five full listens.

The album needs an anchor, something to keep bringing people back. There’s nary a single memorable track on the album and even though the music is as impressive as it is, that isn’t enough to warrant continuous listens to something, that, ultimately goes nowhere.

Contender, Young Adult Friction, Stay Alive and Come Saturday are all insanely catchy and well produced slices of perfectly made indie-pop and are all honestly better than half of the stuff you hear on the radios today. The Tenure Itch is almost a gentle paddle into the waters of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah vocalism but apart from that, there’s just not much else the band seem capable of doing.

If you like your music intelligently simple and care-free then this album should already be in your possession, it does exactly what it sets out to do and does it with ease. If however, you veer towards a deeper and more challenging listen then we’d seriously recommend you divert your attention elsewhere."

Grupo: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Disco: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Año: 2009
Puntuación: 10/10
Web oficial: http://www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com/ y http://www.myspace.com/thepainsofbeingpureatheart
Canciones destacadas: Come Saturday, Young Adult Friction, Contender, This Love is Fucking Right.... en realidad todo el disco es una joya.