What’s in Season With Scott Lucey: Spring Edition POSTED:: May 5, 2010
FILED UNDER::
General
FILED UNDER:: General
words by Scott Lucey
With spring well underway and summer in the air, the music one listens to often follows suit. WMSE DJ Scott Lucey (Wednesdays, 6 a.m. – 9 a.m.), like many in Milwaukee and beyond, are grateful for the latest remarkable crop of pop, soul, rock and electronic releases that are further inspiration for the warm weather months ahead. Where to start? What better place than one’s own backyard, with some home-grown tunes…
Kings Go Forth – The Outsiders are Back
While the majority music during my 6 a.m.-9 a.m. radio spot on Wednesday morning consists mostly of highlighting digital and analog sides of pop/rock, I love dipping into a serving of some soul or funk. The new album released by Milwaukee’s own Kings Go Forth may be the best album coming out of this city in 2010 and the frequency of enjoyment is spiking nation wide with help of major media channels like NPR and Vanity Fair. It’s all for great reason – listening to The Outsiders Are Back may make one ask, “when was this recorded?” or “how old is this?” The feeling of this album is classic and aged, which makes the fact that this album is newly-released remarkable.
“Don’t Take My Shadow” (track seven) sounds like something you’ve heard before — singing along only takes five or less seconds of practice. That, right there, is the contagious spirit soul and funk music should instill in its listeners, and that reasoning applies to all corners of The Outsiders Are Back. Kings Go Forth: well done, you make people proud just to live in the same city as you.
Caribou
Caribou – Swim
The first thing I’m going to admit about this album is that I still need to explore it just a bit more. What’s standing in my way? It’s a track named Odessa (Caribou’s first track on their album Swim). As of May 2010, this is one of my favorite songs. Take the elements of soul and funk that are most glossy and silky smooth, turn it in a digital direction and layer it with a simple, slightly-echoed vocal and you’ve got a perfectly good reason to bob that head and shake those hips for a good five minutes and sixteen seconds. It’s hypnotic. The rest of the album is a bit more electronic, at times sounding similar to Underworld. If I had to recommend another track, it’d be “Leave House,” a track that I feel describes Caribou well. Without the vocals, they would lean more in the electronic/techno category. With vocals that sound influenced by Brian Eno or Tears for Fears toned down, they create their own niche and do a damn good job of it.
Bonobo
Bonobo – Black Sands
Here’s one that I recommend as a start to end album — just put it on and let it go. Bonobo’s prelude is heavily orchestrated, which for the electrically directed, Bonobo at first may seem out of place until you move into the second track. With a firm and steady bass line keeping Black Sands within the genre you’d expect from Bonobo, the album suggests the breeziness of a warm spring day or relaxation that you might find when in a room with incredibly high ceilings. “We Could Forever” (track six) has a fast strumming rhythm that makes Latin-influenced music most enjoyable; it has a fast pace that most automotive companies probably want when helping drivers visualize how amazing it might feel to travel at high speeds in a luxury vehicle. Oh yes, there’s also a little bit of jazz flute within, but certainly in a good way similar to euro quirkiness you might get from the movie Snatch.
Beach House
Beach House – Teen Dream
I’m fully aware that I might be late trying to promote this album as a spring pick (it did come out in January of 2010), but in all honesty, each consequtive time I listen to it I just love it more and more. Some words I use when trying to describe this album to people are ‘melting’, ‘thawing’, ‘oozing’, ‘captivating’, ‘comforting’, ‘beautiful’, ‘awe-inspiring’, ‘time-stopping’, ‘perfect’. Most research you can do online can and will tell you the same, and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s easy to read such descriptions and doubt, generalize, and assume one can guess what it’s like and that you won’t need to hear it. The magical element I feel exists with this album is how it can and does effect each person’s emotions and feelings in a way that caters to them at that moment. The first time I was struck by this album was on a lengthy car ride on a specific day when winter was thawing the most. The sun was shining and the way the album was sounding can and did give patience. Patience to watch snow melt, clouds pass, and life pass in its most beautiful way. Lately, I had the idea to play this album on top of the migratory bird documentaryWinged Migration – let me tell you if you have both this album and that movie, do it. The beauty of Teen Dream makes selfishness take a back seat to even a drop of snow or the passing of a cloud. It’s amazing.