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Dashboard Confessional - Dusk and Summer
It's obvious that Chris Carraba went through some life balancing experience while writing the songs for the So Impossible EP (Which happens to be my favorite offering from Dashboard.) This EP paved the way for A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar with the 'Hands Down' single. In my opinion, the addition of the full band tainted many of the songs, but we all know about the inescapable need of an artist to play around with their sound from time to time.
That being said, the songs prior to So Impossible are where I believe Chris picked up most of his fan base. After a casual listen to The Swiss Army Romance, you are left feeling like you just had your heart broken and the shit kicked out of you (why this is an enjoyable experience, I cannot describe.) Even more impressive is that this state of 'enjoyable depression' (for lack of a better word,) is achieved with only acoustic instruments.
When the band released 'Vindicated' for the Spider Man 2 soundtrack, I was very much impressed at how they took the sound of A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar and went a little farther into a direction which I believe sounds much better. Dusk and Summer, in my opinion, is an entire album based on the sound of 'Vindicated'.
I think the album is solid and have been listening to it constantly for the past two weeks. The addition of Adam Duritz to 'So Long, So Long' certainly adds some luster. Fans of Swiss Army Romance and The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most may be a bit disapointed, but I think most fans will agree that this album is still worth owning.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 06:53 PM EDT0 Comments Filed in: Music -
Fiona Apple @ Central Park
I was lucky enough to see Fiona Apple and Damien Rice play at the central park summer stage last night. Definitely not the clientele you'd find at a Pearl Jam concert on the Camden Waterfront. Besides the fact that my sexual preference was very much in the minority, these people were reading between sets. That's right, I spotted at least 5 people reading a book while waiting for Fiona to come on stage. These books ranged in topics from Psychology to LSAT practice exams to Shakespeare. Weird shit.
My lasting impression after seeing Fiona for the first time is that I wouldn't mess with that chick. She comes off really cute and sweet and then gets really pissed off and appears to be having a seizure on stage. While I could do without the bouts of trembling and hitting herself, the emotions she has tied up in her music are quite evident and genuine.
One thing I really enjoyed about watching Fiona perform is that her music's true sound is present and easily discerned from her studio recordings. It's obvious that her record producers have a large effect on the way she's allowed to sing in order to produce a successful album (We all know that Extraordinary Machine wasn't even supposed to be released due to poor sales projections.) Music is too much of a wonderful thing to succumb to those dollar counters in suits.
Have you ever heard someone say 'you can tell this band is good since the concert sounds just like the CD.'? Nothing annoys me more than this statement. If you want to hear the studio recording, then play it on your iPod and save yourself the 50 dollar ticket and over-priced beers in the process. When you see an artist live, you really get to see what they are about, what makes them tick. If they're a good artist, they might even bring it to the point of appearing to have seizures on stage.
Thursday, July 27, 2006 09:19 AM EDT0 Comments Filed in: Music