The Feedback Society’s Week in Music
Some albums we’ve been discussing over drinks this week at The Feedback Society, like Neon Indian, Fuzz, Kurt Vile, Meow the Jewels, and Timi Yuro.
Fuzz – Fuzz II
Ty Segall releases music the way other people breathe, which is to say, all the fucking time. Fuzz is (I suppose) a side project for him, though it’s also a full on band of its own. Segall is the drummer in Fuzz, collaborating with guitarist (and childhood pal) Charles Moothart and Meatbodies’ Chad Ubovich on the bass. II sounds a lot like their first album, 2012’s Fuzz — heavy, proto-metal jams with a 70s flavour and the obligatory psychedelic slant (think Blue Cheer, Hendrix, and of course, Sabbath). I’m not sure that it’s bringing anything new to the table, but like all Segall’s stuff, it’s a welcome album to throw on when Saturday night hits the calendar, friends come over, and the whiskey and weed flow. So why fix it if it ain’t broke?
Neon Indian – Vega Intl. Night School
Story has it that Alan Palomo, aka Neon Indian, had his laptop knicked while nearing completion of his third album, so he was forced to start fresh. And so Vega Intl. Night School was brought forth to the ears of the world. We might as well start by saying, if you like Prince, you’ll like this. It’s easy to call it electronic and psychedelic, but it’s an amazing fusion of electro, dreamy synthpop, funk, R&B, new wave, and even reggae. Both in terms of the songs and the production, this album is easily forges a path that puts him miles ahead of the already cool stuff he’s been doing for years.
Timi Yuro – The Amazing Timi Yuro
A few weeks ago, I went with a few friends and Feedback Society writers and CFCR hosts to the home of Ron Spizziri to knock back a few scotches and burrow our heads into his more than comprehensive record collection. He played us some Timi Yuro, an Italian-American songstress from the 60s, who people often thought was African American (or by some reports, a man). While much of her early stuff is more in the vein of R&B, The Amazing Timi Yuro (produced by Quincy Jones) is an album of standards, arranged with a sumptuous, quixotic and dreamy mindset. It may not be the most telling place to step into Yuro’s body of work, but her voice is a finely tuned instrument of beauty and power, something these songs showcase.
Run the Jewels – Meow the Jewels
It’s no secret that we at The Feedback Society are huge fans of Run the Jewels. Meow the Jewels started as a joke, Killer Mike and El-P promising that they’d re-record RTJ2 using nothing but cat sounds if the Internet coughed up $40,000. The Internet responded, as it is wont to do, with a Kickstarter campaign that anted up a whopping $66,000 (as a side note, the proceeds from Meow the Jewels go to charity). While it is obviously a novelty album of sorts, it’s a lot more than that in places. By turns amazing, grating, hilarious, and trippy, it has some material on it that’s worth adding to the canon, especially if you’re a chump that’s hanging on their every rap like we do.
Kurt vile – B’Lieve I’m Goin Down…
I got to see Kurt Vile at Sled Island a few years back and it was everything I’d hoped it would be. The lo-fi, sleepy songster sat on a chair and hung his Cousin It hair over his guitar, obscuring his face as he rambled out songs. People called 2013’s Wakin on a Pretty Daze his breakthrough, but I actually thought that 2009’s Childish Prodigy and 2011’s Smoke Ring for My Halo was Vile in top form. B’Lieve is somewhere in between, which is to say, clever, quietly funny, and never at a loss for a good melody. Like the Fuzz album, it’s not really too different from anything else he does, but it doesn’t really need to be.
About the Author
Craig Silliphant is a D-level celebrity with delusions of grandeur. A writer, critic, creative director, editor, broadcaster, and occasional filmmaker, his thoughts have appeared on radio, television, in print, and on the web. He is a juror on the Polaris Music Prize and the Juno Awards. He loves Saskatoon. He has horrible night terrors and apocalyptic dreams.
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