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BOYS TO MEN
Review: THE SLIP, “EISENHOWER”
By SAM GUSTIN
4 ½ Stars
The best rock album of the year.
"A real band at last."
- The Guardian, (UK)
“The Slip have come up with something few others in the mainstream dare these days."
- Village Voice, NYC
Music criticism is something of a thankless job, because there is always someone who thinks they know more about what you’re writing about than you – which is usually true – and then there are the people who don’t, but think they do. What’s more, music criticism is sometimes the bastion of people who can’t play music, but wish they could, and so to compensate for the fact that they can’t, the take on an air of intellectual superiority. The net result is that music criticism can become a pissing contest between pompous, condescending “music snobs,” nursing secret, (and not so secret), inferiority complexes.
For these reasons, I try to avoid music criticism, at least in public. But occasionally I’m motivated to write about this or that show or album. This is one of those occasions.
On Tuesday, November 7, - Election Day - Boston power trio The Slip will release a new album entitled “Eisenhower.” Before we go any further, I should make the following disclosure. I have known the members of this band and its management for almost eight years, and at various times considered various members of the extended Slip family to be friends. I’ve put on Slip shows at my college, put them up in my home, and jammed with them at four in the morning. I’ve traveled on the road with them, and we have a many mutual friends in common. And yes, they played my birthday party two months ago.
Does this disqualify me from writing an “objective” review of their new album? Maybe, but guess what? I don’t care. And besides, anyone who tries to claim that art criticism is the domain of objectivity needs his or her head examined. What I’m going to do is approach this album as fairly as possible. I like the album, and will be giving it a good review. You can chalk it up to, “Oh well, he knows them, so of course he’s going to write positive things,” if you want, but I hope you won’t, but will rather approach this review with an open mind.
The Slip is quite possibly the best band in America.
But wait, a little background is in order. The Slip, which consists of brothers Brad and Andrew Barr on guitar and drums, and Marc Friedman on bass, have been playing together since the mid-nineties. While the Slip creation myth is shrouded in a mysterious fog, certain things are known. For example, the three players really began to get serious while students at the Berklee College of Music in the late 1990’s, drawn together by the school’s jazz and performance focus. By the time I arrived at Berklee in 1999 for the Summer Jazz Performance program, I had already met them through a mutual friend and seen them live during one of their early West Coast tours. That summer, as they bounced around Boston in the Grey Ghost, a slightly suspect silver Econoline van, I kept running in to them on the street, going to various shows, etc.
At that time, they had already released “From the Gecko,” a weird and interesting album, on an indie label run by a member of the Allman Brothers Band. The material can be described as jazz standards on speed, progressive rock, and weird fugue-like tunes with multiple time signatures and parts - very interesting, but not entirely coherent. Still, those of us who heard the music knew the band was special and had potential. At first, we thought The Slip was basically a “musician’s band” because some of the material was not very accessible, and even occasionally difficult to listen to – including 45-minute jazz-fusion instrumentals that sounded like, well, 45-minute jazz-fusion instrumentals. But there were also more orthodox rock tunes, the occasional cow-funk workout, and the rare tune that could actually be classified as pop.
Fast forward about a year. Toward the end of Summer 2000, I was bored and looking for something to do, when I noticed The Slip was about to launch a West Coast tour. I’m not exactly sure how this happened, but I ended up traveling with them for about three weeks, over the course of which time the band played about 15 shows. Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Arcata, Ashland, Eugene, Portland, Seattle, Missoula, Moscow, Idaho (yes you read that right), and a few other dates that I’m forgetting now. Clubs with names like Palookaville, Satyricon, Wild Duck, and Snake and Weasel will forever be emblazoned in the minds of West Coast Slip fans. The shows were small, intimate, and completely off the hook. It was pretty wild - everything from packed quasi-riots in Seattle, Missoula, and Portland, which has one of the most hardcore Slip fan-bases in the country – to playing rock covers for two people drinking Budweisers in Moscow. The vibe at the Moscow show was so bad, that Brad became physically ill and had to join Marc and Andrew 45 minutes into the set – at which point they engaged in a massive CCR workout.
In between, we checked out massive old-growth redwood forests and watched whales off the coast of Northern California, went to weird hippy parties in places that most people don’t know exist, ate a lot of breakfast, and drove a lot, including the time we left one kid at a rest stop in the middle of Montana, before noticing that he was missing about two hours later. I think Marc missed a Bass Player magazine interview on account of that. All in all, we had a caravan of about six vehicles, including my white Subaru, which was the scene of some fairly intense discussions of Bill Frisell, Amon Tobin, and other musical and philosophical themes. In general, it was the type of experience that you never forget.
At the time, I think a lot of us could sense a fairly deep kind of emotional, or even spiritual, intention or motivation on the part of the band. It was about the music, but it was about other things too, like community, and a fairly real motivation to try to “heal the world through music,” as the saying goes. We knew that there was some fairly inscrutable and powerful things going on in the minds of these three guys, but it was hard to nail down just exactly that was. What we did know, was that they were all outstanding musicians – even then, considered by aficionados to be among the most talented at their respective instruments in the country. Over the next couple of years, they put out another couple of albums, some studio and some live, and continued their grueling touring schedule, slowly building a fierce fanbase around the country. Using the Internets, a lot of us got to know each other, trading live concerts, going to shows together, etc – and we developed a cool community of people.
But there was a problem. Despite our best efforts, and for a variety of a reasons that need not be explored in detail here, The Slip just couldn’t seem to break through, to move up from the small club touring circuit. Their studio albums, while improving, still lacked the professional production values and overall coherence that characterizes “Eisenhower,” their current release. Management was in flux, agents came and went, and there just wasn’t a sense that as an organization, the band had its act together, despite a growing and loyal grassroots fanbase. I remember discussions where disbanding was mentioned. That did not happen. Other players and configurations were tried to supplement the core trio, and while some of those were very good, like the quartet Surprise Me Mr. Davis, there was simply no substitute for the original.
Which bring us to the band’s current release, “Eisenhower,” set to hit stores on Election Day. The political subtext of all of this is neither unintended nor particularly subtle. But let’s focus on the music, shall we – and leave the politics to the professionals.
Produced by The Slip and up-and-coming Beantown music scientist Matthew Ellard, “Eisenhower” is the band’s best sounding, most mature record yet. The production values are outstanding – lush and big, yet without sounding overbearing. The sound that these guys have teased out of this trio is huge – I suppose the definition of a “power trio” is that they sound much bigger than a trio – think Led Zeppelin (basically a power trio), Rush, The Who, and Black Sabbath. The song selection is meticulously organized to give the album a definite narrative quality. “Children of December,” a song that Slip fans will be familiar with, is an upbeat and appropriate way to start the album, with its almost taxonomic series of shout-outs to the band’s family members and each other. As in previous Slip albums and concerts, the opening song can be thought of as an “invocation,” a prayer to the gods for thanks and grace. But the track also shows an almost existential awareness of the unique time we find ourselves in: “The nineties are over, so what do we call this decade?” It’s a rhetorical question, but one worth contemplating. “Even Rats,” another familiar tune, showcases the band’s superb rhythm section, the guitar player’s fantastic tonal acuity, and a wonderful double-time-half-time tempo dynamic. A fun tune – perfectly appropriate for the number two slot.
Things start to get serious with “If One of Us Should Fall,” a gorgeous, Beatles-influenced ballad, the first of several Beatles references on the album. This is when the lushness of the production begins to emerge. This is also where we begin to see the maturity of the band’s songwriting – the song builds slowly, with an unfolding series of chord changes that rises to the bridge, before returning to Earth for the verse. In a way the song anticipates the next, “Airplane/Primitive,” one of the two anchors of the album, (the other being “Paper Birds.”) “Airplane/Primitive” represents the culmination of many years of music – it a triumphant statement about the future, hopeful, yet ominous – in sum, altogether sublime. This is a song about death. The only comment I’ll make about the nod to Dylan Thomas is to invoke his famous boast about his colorful lifestyle, when on November 3, 1953, Thomas returned to the Chelsea Hotel in New York and is reported to have declared, "I've had 18 straight whiskies, I think this is a record.” The rhetorical question in this song is presented in the lyric, “I can’t live knowing that there is some other world.” It’s something of a tautology – if you can’t live knowing there is some other world, how will you be able to get there? Then the answer: “Come with me on one last run. Then I swear I’ll join you in the sun.”
“Suffocation Keep” showcases perhaps the most stunning guest performance on the album – a jaw-dropping cello performance by Gabrielle Athayde, the former Orinda, California child prodigy who was the principal cellist for the highly acclaimed San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO). Note the backup vocals by Nellie Fleischner and the banjo. This gem is the latest in a long line of lullaby-like Slip ballads too numerous to mention, but “Six Sided” comes to mind. Simply outstanding. With the “Soft Machine,” a nod to the pioneering British band named after the book by William S. Burroughs, the band continues to move toward UK psychedelia. The song is meant to played loud – fantastic production values and guitar layering, great chord changes, spot-on rhythm section, and almost uncanny use of dynamics. Here note the emergence of the old-school style drum machine. This song, which plays around with the “emo” concept, sees the band beginning to move in the direction of British rock bands like Joy Division, Radiohead, and Coldplay. Note the presence of the familiar seventh chord, one of the band’s favorite ways to spice up a three-chord rock chorus. Again, the guitar production is outstanding. “Life in Disguise” is further evidence of the growing influence of British rock, eg. The Beatles and Led Zeppelin on The Slip. This song like what Oasis might have sounded like, if they didn’t suck. Outstanding. “Mothwing Bite” is the obvious single, a radio-ready pop tune that puts to shame the entire landscape of insulting pop mediocrity currently polluting the ears of impressionable kids everywhere. “The Original Blue Air” is a fun exercise.
“Paper Birds,” the album’s finale, is a masterpiece fully realized, and one of the best songs The Slip has ever produced. Utilizing the full scope of the band’s ability, coupled with, yet again, superb production, this song requires several listens. I have now seen this song performed live twice, and I can tell you that the effect is almost nuclear – the crowd response to this song is a near riot. The first portion, which discusses being drunk before noon, is a classic Slip ballad – lush, languid, yet highly anticipatory. The line about knowing the song before it “leaves my lips,” reminds me of that old, oft-ignored (including here) quote: “The wise man thinks long and hard before speaking – and then remains silent.”
-----------
Review: THE SLIP, “EISENHOWER”
By SAM GUSTIN
4 ½ Stars
The best rock album of the year.
"A real band at last."
- The Guardian, (UK)
“The Slip have come up with something few others in the mainstream dare these days."
- Village Voice, NYC
Music criticism is something of a thankless job, because there is always someone who thinks they know more about what you’re writing about than you – which is usually true – and then there are the people who don’t, but think they do. What’s more, music criticism is sometimes the bastion of people who can’t play music, but wish they could, and so to compensate for the fact that they can’t, the take on an air of intellectual superiority. The net result is that music criticism can become a pissing contest between pompous, condescending “music snobs,” nursing secret, (and not so secret), inferiority complexes.
For these reasons, I try to avoid music criticism, at least in public. But occasionally I’m motivated to write about this or that show or album. This is one of those occasions.
On Tuesday, November 7, - Election Day - Boston power trio The Slip will release a new album entitled “Eisenhower.” Before we go any further, I should make the following disclosure. I have known the members of this band and its management for almost eight years, and at various times considered various members of the extended Slip family to be friends. I’ve put on Slip shows at my college, put them up in my home, and jammed with them at four in the morning. I’ve traveled on the road with them, and we have a many mutual friends in common. And yes, they played my birthday party two months ago.
Does this disqualify me from writing an “objective” review of their new album? Maybe, but guess what? I don’t care. And besides, anyone who tries to claim that art criticism is the domain of objectivity needs his or her head examined. What I’m going to do is approach this album as fairly as possible. I like the album, and will be giving it a good review. You can chalk it up to, “Oh well, he knows them, so of course he’s going to write positive things,” if you want, but I hope you won’t, but will rather approach this review with an open mind.
The Slip is quite possibly the best band in America.
But wait, a little background is in order. The Slip, which consists of brothers Brad and Andrew Barr on guitar and drums, and Marc Friedman on bass, have been playing together since the mid-nineties. While the Slip creation myth is shrouded in a mysterious fog, certain things are known. For example, the three players really began to get serious while students at the Berklee College of Music in the late 1990’s, drawn together by the school’s jazz and performance focus. By the time I arrived at Berklee in 1999 for the Summer Jazz Performance program, I had already met them through a mutual friend and seen them live during one of their early West Coast tours. That summer, as they bounced around Boston in the Grey Ghost, a slightly suspect silver Econoline van, I kept running in to them on the street, going to various shows, etc.
At that time, they had already released “From the Gecko,” a weird and interesting album, on an indie label run by a member of the Allman Brothers Band. The material can be described as jazz standards on speed, progressive rock, and weird fugue-like tunes with multiple time signatures and parts - very interesting, but not entirely coherent. Still, those of us who heard the music knew the band was special and had potential. At first, we thought The Slip was basically a “musician’s band” because some of the material was not very accessible, and even occasionally difficult to listen to – including 45-minute jazz-fusion instrumentals that sounded like, well, 45-minute jazz-fusion instrumentals. But there were also more orthodox rock tunes, the occasional cow-funk workout, and the rare tune that could actually be classified as pop.
Fast forward about a year. Toward the end of Summer 2000, I was bored and looking for something to do, when I noticed The Slip was about to launch a West Coast tour. I’m not exactly sure how this happened, but I ended up traveling with them for about three weeks, over the course of which time the band played about 15 shows. Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Arcata, Ashland, Eugene, Portland, Seattle, Missoula, Moscow, Idaho (yes you read that right), and a few other dates that I’m forgetting now. Clubs with names like Palookaville, Satyricon, Wild Duck, and Snake and Weasel will forever be emblazoned in the minds of West Coast Slip fans. The shows were small, intimate, and completely off the hook. It was pretty wild - everything from packed quasi-riots in Seattle, Missoula, and Portland, which has one of the most hardcore Slip fan-bases in the country – to playing rock covers for two people drinking Budweisers in Moscow. The vibe at the Moscow show was so bad, that Brad became physically ill and had to join Marc and Andrew 45 minutes into the set – at which point they engaged in a massive CCR workout.
In between, we checked out massive old-growth redwood forests and watched whales off the coast of Northern California, went to weird hippy parties in places that most people don’t know exist, ate a lot of breakfast, and drove a lot, including the time we left one kid at a rest stop in the middle of Montana, before noticing that he was missing about two hours later. I think Marc missed a Bass Player magazine interview on account of that. All in all, we had a caravan of about six vehicles, including my white Subaru, which was the scene of some fairly intense discussions of Bill Frisell, Amon Tobin, and other musical and philosophical themes. In general, it was the type of experience that you never forget.
At the time, I think a lot of us could sense a fairly deep kind of emotional, or even spiritual, intention or motivation on the part of the band. It was about the music, but it was about other things too, like community, and a fairly real motivation to try to “heal the world through music,” as the saying goes. We knew that there was some fairly inscrutable and powerful things going on in the minds of these three guys, but it was hard to nail down just exactly that was. What we did know, was that they were all outstanding musicians – even then, considered by aficionados to be among the most talented at their respective instruments in the country. Over the next couple of years, they put out another couple of albums, some studio and some live, and continued their grueling touring schedule, slowly building a fierce fanbase around the country. Using the Internets, a lot of us got to know each other, trading live concerts, going to shows together, etc – and we developed a cool community of people.
But there was a problem. Despite our best efforts, and for a variety of a reasons that need not be explored in detail here, The Slip just couldn’t seem to break through, to move up from the small club touring circuit. Their studio albums, while improving, still lacked the professional production values and overall coherence that characterizes “Eisenhower,” their current release. Management was in flux, agents came and went, and there just wasn’t a sense that as an organization, the band had its act together, despite a growing and loyal grassroots fanbase. I remember discussions where disbanding was mentioned. That did not happen. Other players and configurations were tried to supplement the core trio, and while some of those were very good, like the quartet Surprise Me Mr. Davis, there was simply no substitute for the original.
Which bring us to the band’s current release, “Eisenhower,” set to hit stores on Election Day. The political subtext of all of this is neither unintended nor particularly subtle. But let’s focus on the music, shall we – and leave the politics to the professionals.
Produced by The Slip and up-and-coming Beantown music scientist Matthew Ellard, “Eisenhower” is the band’s best sounding, most mature record yet. The production values are outstanding – lush and big, yet without sounding overbearing. The sound that these guys have teased out of this trio is huge – I suppose the definition of a “power trio” is that they sound much bigger than a trio – think Led Zeppelin (basically a power trio), Rush, The Who, and Black Sabbath. The song selection is meticulously organized to give the album a definite narrative quality. “Children of December,” a song that Slip fans will be familiar with, is an upbeat and appropriate way to start the album, with its almost taxonomic series of shout-outs to the band’s family members and each other. As in previous Slip albums and concerts, the opening song can be thought of as an “invocation,” a prayer to the gods for thanks and grace. But the track also shows an almost existential awareness of the unique time we find ourselves in: “The nineties are over, so what do we call this decade?” It’s a rhetorical question, but one worth contemplating. “Even Rats,” another familiar tune, showcases the band’s superb rhythm section, the guitar player’s fantastic tonal acuity, and a wonderful double-time-half-time tempo dynamic. A fun tune – perfectly appropriate for the number two slot.
Things start to get serious with “If One of Us Should Fall,” a gorgeous, Beatles-influenced ballad, the first of several Beatles references on the album. This is when the lushness of the production begins to emerge. This is also where we begin to see the maturity of the band’s songwriting – the song builds slowly, with an unfolding series of chord changes that rises to the bridge, before returning to Earth for the verse. In a way the song anticipates the next, “Airplane/Primitive,” one of the two anchors of the album, (the other being “Paper Birds.”) “Airplane/Primitive” represents the culmination of many years of music – it a triumphant statement about the future, hopeful, yet ominous – in sum, altogether sublime. This is a song about death. The only comment I’ll make about the nod to Dylan Thomas is to invoke his famous boast about his colorful lifestyle, when on November 3, 1953, Thomas returned to the Chelsea Hotel in New York and is reported to have declared, "I've had 18 straight whiskies, I think this is a record.” The rhetorical question in this song is presented in the lyric, “I can’t live knowing that there is some other world.” It’s something of a tautology – if you can’t live knowing there is some other world, how will you be able to get there? Then the answer: “Come with me on one last run. Then I swear I’ll join you in the sun.”
“Suffocation Keep” showcases perhaps the most stunning guest performance on the album – a jaw-dropping cello performance by Gabrielle Athayde, the former Orinda, California child prodigy who was the principal cellist for the highly acclaimed San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO). Note the backup vocals by Nellie Fleischner and the banjo. This gem is the latest in a long line of lullaby-like Slip ballads too numerous to mention, but “Six Sided” comes to mind. Simply outstanding. With the “Soft Machine,” a nod to the pioneering British band named after the book by William S. Burroughs, the band continues to move toward UK psychedelia. The song is meant to played loud – fantastic production values and guitar layering, great chord changes, spot-on rhythm section, and almost uncanny use of dynamics. Here note the emergence of the old-school style drum machine. This song, which plays around with the “emo” concept, sees the band beginning to move in the direction of British rock bands like Joy Division, Radiohead, and Coldplay. Note the presence of the familiar seventh chord, one of the band’s favorite ways to spice up a three-chord rock chorus. Again, the guitar production is outstanding. “Life in Disguise” is further evidence of the growing influence of British rock, eg. The Beatles and Led Zeppelin on The Slip. This song like what Oasis might have sounded like, if they didn’t suck. Outstanding. “Mothwing Bite” is the obvious single, a radio-ready pop tune that puts to shame the entire landscape of insulting pop mediocrity currently polluting the ears of impressionable kids everywhere. “The Original Blue Air” is a fun exercise.
“Paper Birds,” the album’s finale, is a masterpiece fully realized, and one of the best songs The Slip has ever produced. Utilizing the full scope of the band’s ability, coupled with, yet again, superb production, this song requires several listens. I have now seen this song performed live twice, and I can tell you that the effect is almost nuclear – the crowd response to this song is a near riot. The first portion, which discusses being drunk before noon, is a classic Slip ballad – lush, languid, yet highly anticipatory. The line about knowing the song before it “leaves my lips,” reminds me of that old, oft-ignored (including here) quote: “The wise man thinks long and hard before speaking – and then remains silent.”
-----------
I've been typing furiously for 2 days. I'm trying to finish it up.diesel wrote:ok, do i have to delete this thread and start a new one? page 2, and i havent seen a single review. at least 4 people who posted already have it, and no one says a thing. not trying to be an ass, but theres already a thread about IKE. post ramblings and brain teasers there.
What, you thought I'd be brief?
hoby
MoonDogEast Studios
www.moondogeast.org
Download Reach at:
http://www.negativesoundinstitute.com/pseudophone.php
www.moondogeast.org
Download Reach at:
http://www.negativesoundinstitute.com/pseudophone.php
Well... only judging from the 4 songs on myspace I'm a little disappointed. And not because I want the old jam band slip back. I'm digging this new style. It's more that the music is really solid but I feel like the lyrics come up quite a bit short, especially for an album clearly dedicated to focusing much more on the lyrics than any previous Slip album. A few examples:
-They took off the customary distortion on Brad's voice in Suffocation Keep. The way it is now the vocals are clean and clear and really dominate the tune. Before you could understand them if you tried but they fit in nicely with the music forming this really beautiful sound. I think the words are good but not so commanding that they need to be forced out there like that. I really dug the distortion.
-The words to Airplane/Primitive just don't do justice to the sick music. Man that beat that Andrew does on the bass drum and the rim when he comes in is just dirty but it never happens again in the whole tune (maybe that's intentional, i suppose). But the words... "It's the day before the rest of my life". I feel like we were all writing stuff like that in 6th grade. I've always thought Brad was a great lyricist with an average voice. His voice has improved so much but the quality of the lyrics just doesn't do it for me anymore. "And I feel like Dylan Thomas". What if he had said Bob Dylan. That would be horrible, somebody so known as Dylan (and we all love Dylan, but that's irrelevant). But the reason he can say Dylan Thomas is because everyone's heard the name but not too many people actually know anything more about his poetry then "Do not go gentle into that good night...". I just don't like the reference.
-Even Rats is way too over produced. I really think this is a killer tune but the edge is completely gone in this version. It sounds like you're hearing it out of a video game system like you would playing Guitar Hero.
-Eisenhower???? I really hope this isn't a political reference but how could it not be?? Eiserhower did a lot of good things and lot of bad things in this country (it's pointless to get into a discussion about Ike) but I'd really be curious to know why they would call it Eisenhower. For me that type of reference takes away from the music. If the music is going to influence me politically or in any other way let it do that through the music itself, not through a blatant reference like that.
-Children of December is a kick-ass song but I think I've heard it 500 times by now and I'll just skip it every time I put on the album. They should have released that and even rats as an EP (maybe with another tune or two) and then recorded another song for the the album. It was just way too overplayed and now I bet most slip fans are sick of it. Especially of the lyrics.
Anyway, these are some negative comments I suppose, but in reality these songs are all really damn good. I hope the rest of the album is even better.
thanks for reading,
Jonah
-They took off the customary distortion on Brad's voice in Suffocation Keep. The way it is now the vocals are clean and clear and really dominate the tune. Before you could understand them if you tried but they fit in nicely with the music forming this really beautiful sound. I think the words are good but not so commanding that they need to be forced out there like that. I really dug the distortion.
-The words to Airplane/Primitive just don't do justice to the sick music. Man that beat that Andrew does on the bass drum and the rim when he comes in is just dirty but it never happens again in the whole tune (maybe that's intentional, i suppose). But the words... "It's the day before the rest of my life". I feel like we were all writing stuff like that in 6th grade. I've always thought Brad was a great lyricist with an average voice. His voice has improved so much but the quality of the lyrics just doesn't do it for me anymore. "And I feel like Dylan Thomas". What if he had said Bob Dylan. That would be horrible, somebody so known as Dylan (and we all love Dylan, but that's irrelevant). But the reason he can say Dylan Thomas is because everyone's heard the name but not too many people actually know anything more about his poetry then "Do not go gentle into that good night...". I just don't like the reference.
-Even Rats is way too over produced. I really think this is a killer tune but the edge is completely gone in this version. It sounds like you're hearing it out of a video game system like you would playing Guitar Hero.
-Eisenhower???? I really hope this isn't a political reference but how could it not be?? Eiserhower did a lot of good things and lot of bad things in this country (it's pointless to get into a discussion about Ike) but I'd really be curious to know why they would call it Eisenhower. For me that type of reference takes away from the music. If the music is going to influence me politically or in any other way let it do that through the music itself, not through a blatant reference like that.
-Children of December is a kick-ass song but I think I've heard it 500 times by now and I'll just skip it every time I put on the album. They should have released that and even rats as an EP (maybe with another tune or two) and then recorded another song for the the album. It was just way too overplayed and now I bet most slip fans are sick of it. Especially of the lyrics.
Anyway, these are some negative comments I suppose, but in reality these songs are all really damn good. I hope the rest of the album is even better.
thanks for reading,
Jonah
-
Non-Fiction
- Ambrosia Drunk
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2006 6:49 pm
- Location: NYC
I Like IKE - Thoughts on the disc and the future
Where to begin?
I guess with a disclaimer/warning. This starts off as a review and ends up being one of my long-winded philosophical things. I can’t seem to help it. I’m going to raise some issues that some might perceive as being in some way negative. If you know me and/or have followed my writings through the years, you know my trust and belief in this band is unwavering. I don’t raise these issues to be negative. I raise them because I care about these three men, what they’re attempting to do, and the community that we have formed around them.
First things first: The title. I’m thinking the release date is not an accident. Sure, discs always street on Tuesday, but it feels like this particular Tuesday was picked for a reason. There’s definitely some politics on this record. Even Rats is the most obvious example. (Too bad Old George didn’t make it on. I love that tune.) The connection to the dead president might be two warnings for which he is famous in some circles. The first is his Military-Industrial Complex speech, given as he was preparing to leave office:
http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/ ... ndust.html
The second is a passage from a letter Ike wrote to his brother in which (some say) he describes the current administration rather presciently:
http://wonderwheels.blogspot.com/2005/0 ... quote.html
Or it could be a snare drum reference.
Or it could be that it’s a cool word to say over and over again.
Now, how about what’s on the disc? The short story: This record is amazing, both sonically and in what it represents for the band. At this point, I can safely say that this is my favorite Slip studio disc since Gecko. <nostalgic sigh>
It’s already been said that this record is “radio ready.” There are many sounds on here that will be right at home on modern, alternative, and college formats.
Another way to say it: this record is much more “produced” than previous efforts. The mix is great. Ellard and BAM did a wonderful job and the mastering is also quite fine. The disc translates pretty well on all the systems I’ve listened to so far, with the exception of the 20-year-old family room system where the tired old low-end amp and speakers are having trouble with Andrew’s drums on Airplane/Primitive.
I don’t want to get into a song-by-song rundown, but there are some things I’ve got to point out.
Someone made reference to Brad’s vocals being “dialed in.” I agree. The doubling on Children is immediately recognizable as a great choice. That’s used to great effect in varying degrees throughout the disc. For instance, the thickening and harmonies on Suffocation Keep in no way detract from the beautiful intimacy. I also think that Brad has made some great choices for the vocal approaches throughout this disc. Lines that used to really strain his voice are reconfigured to play to his strengths. If Mr. Ellard had a hand in these decisions, kudos to him.
There are some LARGE guitars throughout this disc.
If you had told me 5 years ago that I’d hear a Slip tune open with a layered vocal “Yea-ah” and “woo-hoo’s”, I’d have looked at you a little funny. But there it is on If One of Us… And you know what? I love it!!! Hey, are those string patches on this tune? I can’t find any string credits for it. Again, never thought I’d see it, but it’s a perfect fit.
Speaking of strings, beautiful cello (performance and recording) on Suffocation Keep.
Oh, you know what? I do have what may be a problem with this disc. Does it sound to anyone else like there’s a dropped beat at 2:44 in Airplane/Primitive? Not a musical error – a disc problem. I’ve gone over this spot dozens and dozens of times and done the counting and it sounds like my disc just skips a beat.
If any of you musically/rhythmically conversant folks could check this out, I’d appreciate it. If my disc is defective, I may just have to fly out west to a gig and demand a replacement.
Okay, I wasn’t going to do a track-by-track, so I’ll stop there and talk more generally.
As for the “lead-off single”: First Panda in Space. Really. No question.
I can see the attraction of Mothwing Bite, but I don’t know about it as the first single. Children of December or Even Rats have radio breakout written all over them. Everything about them points to a concerted effort to score airplay and generate excitement: arrangements, sonic choices, lots of hooks… Each tune is a complete package saying “you need to hear more of this band.” If One of Us… will be the perfect follow up, showing that they can handle the ballads. (“Handle the ballads.” Heh. There’s an understatement.)
In today’s world, soundtrack placement is often what breaks bands. Look for If One of Us…, Suffocation Keep, and/or Life in Disguise as the background for emotion-laden scenes in prime time TV dramas on WB (or whatever has replaced WB in the great wasteland sweepstakes.) Much of the record would be a natural fit for soundtrack placement in independent films.
What I’m getting at (in case it’s not obvious) is that I think that with the right support from BarNone, this disc can break this band wide open. BAM has made a conscious effort to take it to the next level and this disc succeeds.
But there are “tradeoffs.” I’ve been thinking almost constantly about this stuff since I listened to IKE for the first time (I’ve been listening constantly since) and my thoughts are all jumbled together, so I hope this makes sense.
I think we’ll all agree this disc has a level of production beyond any studio effort from BAM so far. It’s an aural candy shop, for sure. But I found myself thinking that people discovering the band through this disc might do so via the candy rather than an appreciation for the musicians themselves. On previous discs, what you heard was 3 amazing musicians. On IKE you hear 3 amazing musicians using the studio as an instrument.
(Is this BAM’s Revolver? Is BAM’s Sgt. Pepper to follow? Does this mean they’ll stop touring and live in the studio? No, don’t think it. That way lays madness.
)
Sorry, where was I? In a world where almost any half-assed singer can be made palatable through auto-tuning and Pro-Tools allows for the construction of music without the need for instrumental competence, do mainstream consumers (people listening on the radio) take it for granted that records will sound this good and not think about the souls involved? Certainly, if they give IKE repeated listenings and pay attention, they’ll hear beneath the surface and discover that what makes this disc so great is the 3 souls that make up the band. But will they ever understand the importance of the little hints they hear of things like Andrew’s bare feet on the ground in Africa, time spent in South America, the intelligence, feeling, and fully present absorption of experience behind the lyrics, the fact that yes, Marc plays that fluidly and powerfully in real life, not just with the help of digital editing and processing, etc., etc.
I think we’re all expecting that a lot of people will discover this band through this disc and will want to see them live. A certain percentage of them will experience BAM live and get IT. Some won’t and will move on. But it’s possible that for at least a while we’ll find ourselves at Slip shows with MUCH larger crowds, not all of whom have the kind of relationship with BAM that develops from seeing them in very small places with small crowds and the personal interaction (musical and otherwise) that results.
Where the hell am I going with this? I find myself wondering if this is BAM’s TOG moment. TOG? Touch of Grey. (Yes folks, he’s once again dragging the Grateful Dead into this.
) Dead concerts were a wonderful place to be for many years. Then, in 1987, the Dead released In The Dark, along with their first top ten single, Touch of Grey. Suddenly, Dead shows were filled with people whose only experience with the band was that one radio hit (and the stereotypes they’d picked up from mainstream media). The scene changed drastically, in many ways, for the worse. Some would say that was the beginning of the end. Certainly, the Deadhead community struggled mightily from that point on until August of ’95.
Am I saying I wish the band would continue to be appreciated only by us chosen few? No, of course not. I wish Andrew, Brad, and Marc every success and pray hard that they will be able to comfortably support themselves playing music for as long as they like and that the path will get easier for them soon. (It’s no secret that life on the club circuit is VERY hard.) The only way that happens is if more people know about them.
Am I saying this is the beginning of the end for the Slip and our community? No, of course not. As I alluded to in my Helsinki review, I think this is a beginning of a new adventure. My point is that where it leads may be, in part, up to us.
The interesting questions for me are:
-Is there any way to avoid the “negative” side-effects of a band’s growth, such as the dilution of the energy (internal and external) that got them to that point?
-What, if anything, can the community of long-time Slip fans do to help insure that this period of change and growth is a healthy one for all involved (band, long-time community, newcomers)?
Yeah, maybe this is all a bunch of philosophical BS.
Yeah, maybe I should lighten up
Or maybe some day people will see this release and what happens next as a pivotal point in the history of a major band. Can the actions of those in front of (as opposed to on) the stage make a difference in that history?
Maybe I think too much.
But, as Laurie Anderson once said:
“And when I do my job, I am thinking about these things.
Because when I do my job, that is what I think about.”
I have no answers. Yet. How ‘bout you?
peace,
hoby
I guess with a disclaimer/warning. This starts off as a review and ends up being one of my long-winded philosophical things. I can’t seem to help it. I’m going to raise some issues that some might perceive as being in some way negative. If you know me and/or have followed my writings through the years, you know my trust and belief in this band is unwavering. I don’t raise these issues to be negative. I raise them because I care about these three men, what they’re attempting to do, and the community that we have formed around them.
First things first: The title. I’m thinking the release date is not an accident. Sure, discs always street on Tuesday, but it feels like this particular Tuesday was picked for a reason. There’s definitely some politics on this record. Even Rats is the most obvious example. (Too bad Old George didn’t make it on. I love that tune.) The connection to the dead president might be two warnings for which he is famous in some circles. The first is his Military-Industrial Complex speech, given as he was preparing to leave office:
http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/ ... ndust.html
The second is a passage from a letter Ike wrote to his brother in which (some say) he describes the current administration rather presciently:
http://wonderwheels.blogspot.com/2005/0 ... quote.html
Or it could be a snare drum reference.
Or it could be that it’s a cool word to say over and over again.
Now, how about what’s on the disc? The short story: This record is amazing, both sonically and in what it represents for the band. At this point, I can safely say that this is my favorite Slip studio disc since Gecko. <nostalgic sigh>
It’s already been said that this record is “radio ready.” There are many sounds on here that will be right at home on modern, alternative, and college formats.
Another way to say it: this record is much more “produced” than previous efforts. The mix is great. Ellard and BAM did a wonderful job and the mastering is also quite fine. The disc translates pretty well on all the systems I’ve listened to so far, with the exception of the 20-year-old family room system where the tired old low-end amp and speakers are having trouble with Andrew’s drums on Airplane/Primitive.
I don’t want to get into a song-by-song rundown, but there are some things I’ve got to point out.
Someone made reference to Brad’s vocals being “dialed in.” I agree. The doubling on Children is immediately recognizable as a great choice. That’s used to great effect in varying degrees throughout the disc. For instance, the thickening and harmonies on Suffocation Keep in no way detract from the beautiful intimacy. I also think that Brad has made some great choices for the vocal approaches throughout this disc. Lines that used to really strain his voice are reconfigured to play to his strengths. If Mr. Ellard had a hand in these decisions, kudos to him.
There are some LARGE guitars throughout this disc.
If you had told me 5 years ago that I’d hear a Slip tune open with a layered vocal “Yea-ah” and “woo-hoo’s”, I’d have looked at you a little funny. But there it is on If One of Us… And you know what? I love it!!! Hey, are those string patches on this tune? I can’t find any string credits for it. Again, never thought I’d see it, but it’s a perfect fit.
Speaking of strings, beautiful cello (performance and recording) on Suffocation Keep.
Oh, you know what? I do have what may be a problem with this disc. Does it sound to anyone else like there’s a dropped beat at 2:44 in Airplane/Primitive? Not a musical error – a disc problem. I’ve gone over this spot dozens and dozens of times and done the counting and it sounds like my disc just skips a beat.
If any of you musically/rhythmically conversant folks could check this out, I’d appreciate it. If my disc is defective, I may just have to fly out west to a gig and demand a replacement. Okay, I wasn’t going to do a track-by-track, so I’ll stop there and talk more generally.
As for the “lead-off single”: First Panda in Space. Really. No question.
I can see the attraction of Mothwing Bite, but I don’t know about it as the first single. Children of December or Even Rats have radio breakout written all over them. Everything about them points to a concerted effort to score airplay and generate excitement: arrangements, sonic choices, lots of hooks… Each tune is a complete package saying “you need to hear more of this band.” If One of Us… will be the perfect follow up, showing that they can handle the ballads. (“Handle the ballads.” Heh. There’s an understatement.)
In today’s world, soundtrack placement is often what breaks bands. Look for If One of Us…, Suffocation Keep, and/or Life in Disguise as the background for emotion-laden scenes in prime time TV dramas on WB (or whatever has replaced WB in the great wasteland sweepstakes.) Much of the record would be a natural fit for soundtrack placement in independent films.
What I’m getting at (in case it’s not obvious) is that I think that with the right support from BarNone, this disc can break this band wide open. BAM has made a conscious effort to take it to the next level and this disc succeeds.
But there are “tradeoffs.” I’ve been thinking almost constantly about this stuff since I listened to IKE for the first time (I’ve been listening constantly since) and my thoughts are all jumbled together, so I hope this makes sense.
I think we’ll all agree this disc has a level of production beyond any studio effort from BAM so far. It’s an aural candy shop, for sure. But I found myself thinking that people discovering the band through this disc might do so via the candy rather than an appreciation for the musicians themselves. On previous discs, what you heard was 3 amazing musicians. On IKE you hear 3 amazing musicians using the studio as an instrument.
(Is this BAM’s Revolver? Is BAM’s Sgt. Pepper to follow? Does this mean they’ll stop touring and live in the studio? No, don’t think it. That way lays madness.
)Sorry, where was I? In a world where almost any half-assed singer can be made palatable through auto-tuning and Pro-Tools allows for the construction of music without the need for instrumental competence, do mainstream consumers (people listening on the radio) take it for granted that records will sound this good and not think about the souls involved? Certainly, if they give IKE repeated listenings and pay attention, they’ll hear beneath the surface and discover that what makes this disc so great is the 3 souls that make up the band. But will they ever understand the importance of the little hints they hear of things like Andrew’s bare feet on the ground in Africa, time spent in South America, the intelligence, feeling, and fully present absorption of experience behind the lyrics, the fact that yes, Marc plays that fluidly and powerfully in real life, not just with the help of digital editing and processing, etc., etc.
I think we’re all expecting that a lot of people will discover this band through this disc and will want to see them live. A certain percentage of them will experience BAM live and get IT. Some won’t and will move on. But it’s possible that for at least a while we’ll find ourselves at Slip shows with MUCH larger crowds, not all of whom have the kind of relationship with BAM that develops from seeing them in very small places with small crowds and the personal interaction (musical and otherwise) that results.
Where the hell am I going with this? I find myself wondering if this is BAM’s TOG moment. TOG? Touch of Grey. (Yes folks, he’s once again dragging the Grateful Dead into this.
) Dead concerts were a wonderful place to be for many years. Then, in 1987, the Dead released In The Dark, along with their first top ten single, Touch of Grey. Suddenly, Dead shows were filled with people whose only experience with the band was that one radio hit (and the stereotypes they’d picked up from mainstream media). The scene changed drastically, in many ways, for the worse. Some would say that was the beginning of the end. Certainly, the Deadhead community struggled mightily from that point on until August of ’95.Am I saying I wish the band would continue to be appreciated only by us chosen few? No, of course not. I wish Andrew, Brad, and Marc every success and pray hard that they will be able to comfortably support themselves playing music for as long as they like and that the path will get easier for them soon. (It’s no secret that life on the club circuit is VERY hard.) The only way that happens is if more people know about them.
Am I saying this is the beginning of the end for the Slip and our community? No, of course not. As I alluded to in my Helsinki review, I think this is a beginning of a new adventure. My point is that where it leads may be, in part, up to us.
The interesting questions for me are:
-Is there any way to avoid the “negative” side-effects of a band’s growth, such as the dilution of the energy (internal and external) that got them to that point?
-What, if anything, can the community of long-time Slip fans do to help insure that this period of change and growth is a healthy one for all involved (band, long-time community, newcomers)?
Yeah, maybe this is all a bunch of philosophical BS.
Yeah, maybe I should lighten up
Or maybe some day people will see this release and what happens next as a pivotal point in the history of a major band. Can the actions of those in front of (as opposed to on) the stage make a difference in that history?
Maybe I think too much.
But, as Laurie Anderson once said:
“And when I do my job, I am thinking about these things.
Because when I do my job, that is what I think about.”
I have no answers. Yet. How ‘bout you?
peace,
hoby
MoonDogEast Studios
www.moondogeast.org
Download Reach at:
http://www.negativesoundinstitute.com/pseudophone.php
www.moondogeast.org
Download Reach at:
http://www.negativesoundinstitute.com/pseudophone.php
-
Guest
I haven't heard the album yet, but I must say I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride reading your review Hoby. You are a great observer and I admire your rawness. I really don't have much more to say in regards to this....yet. I will have to wait until the 12th to understand it all. I certainly hope this isn't the beginning of the end but you never know. Doesn't it say in Airplane Primative "Well come with me on one last run." "Then I swear I'll join you in the sun." Now I wonder what all of that is about. It sounds like one last run is one last run of shows, doesn't it? I know, I know...I'm probably reading into the lyrics the wrong way......what else is new, huh? Well, I hope that this is the start of many years of enjoyment and comfort in thir musical lives. Until I hear the album...
take good care!
Robyn L.
Well, I hope that this is the start of many years of enjoyment and comfort in thir musical lives. Until I hear the album...take good care!
Robyn L.
Hoby
You've raised a question that gets asked repeatedly in many forums. Once a thing goes from grass roots to main stream, it loses what made it great in the first place. That seems to be an unavoidable fact of life.
But sometimes what that thing (in this case The Slip) loses, it picks up somewhere else. The Slip have laid the foundation with 8 or 9 years of playing roots music. Jazz, funk, blues, rock, americana, folk, pop. And they've done it with a positive feeling throughout. That's what attracted me in the first place -- the goodness obviously coming from the musicians as they perform.
And like any of us, as we grow older, we change and have new influences and want new things. Luckily that foundation was laid. And whatever they create, with their chops they've gathered along the way, will be positive.
If joe music fan starts to get into The Slip because of the candy, that's because it's sweet, and that's okay. Luckily for them and us, they've found that the candy is not only sweet, but also healthy and good for you. I'm always an advocate for the main stream being subjected to real talent.
Anyway, I think the album is what would happen if The Slip set out to reach an audience much bigger than this chatroom. They knew exactly what they were making when they made it. I wish them the best of luck and I'll continually bother my friends here in Athens about how much I love this band.
You've raised a question that gets asked repeatedly in many forums. Once a thing goes from grass roots to main stream, it loses what made it great in the first place. That seems to be an unavoidable fact of life.
But sometimes what that thing (in this case The Slip) loses, it picks up somewhere else. The Slip have laid the foundation with 8 or 9 years of playing roots music. Jazz, funk, blues, rock, americana, folk, pop. And they've done it with a positive feeling throughout. That's what attracted me in the first place -- the goodness obviously coming from the musicians as they perform.
And like any of us, as we grow older, we change and have new influences and want new things. Luckily that foundation was laid. And whatever they create, with their chops they've gathered along the way, will be positive.
If joe music fan starts to get into The Slip because of the candy, that's because it's sweet, and that's okay. Luckily for them and us, they've found that the candy is not only sweet, but also healthy and good for you. I'm always an advocate for the main stream being subjected to real talent.
Anyway, I think the album is what would happen if The Slip set out to reach an audience much bigger than this chatroom. They knew exactly what they were making when they made it. I wish them the best of luck and I'll continually bother my friends here in Athens about how much I love this band.
Last edited by putty on Sat Nov 04, 2006 10:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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David
Where From Here
With the SliP on the cusp of delivering the record that will undeniably change their careers, I thought I might as well add my two cents to the discussion of where they've been and where they may be going. I don't post on message boards often.
I first saw the SliP at the Rhodes-On-Pawtucket Ballroom, Lazy Day Homecoming 2002. At that point I thought I had gotten into the game a little late, seeing that the band had been performing consistently for half a decade already. I had the luck of being turned onto the band by some "with it" pals who played me 'Johnny's Tune' over a now defunct CD player during the waning minutes of a high school jazz band rehearsal. The Homecoming show was pure magic, delivered with the cunning and virtuosity only a wild few possess. It was late fall, it seemed like there were a lot of familiar faces in the SliP community who had showed up to welcome home the local boys, and there was a feeling of urgency in the room.
There was a moment after the SliP took the stage but before they played a single note that sent shivers down my neck. Brad Barr cradled his jazz box, looked at Andrew, stood up on his toes, and took a deep breath. In a time when bands often beat the drum for themselves in self-servience louder than their audience is beating it, this was a band of spirituality and humility I rarely see in the world, nevermind at a sweat-soaked music show. It was a elegiac and inspiring.
The SliP demanded more from an audience then I ever knew an audience could give. It was taxing just to stand near the stage for three hours while the band played intros and outros and inbetweens. But it was worth every minute. What the band gave out was also equally astounding.
I have wound in and out of the SliP's music in recent years. Caught some great NYE shows, got the opportunity to open for the band, walked out of a Surprise Me Mr. Davis show, and saw silhouettes smoking cigarettes at the bar of a Flaming Lips show.
Whatever the future course of events, I feel indebted to an incarnation of this band that we will never see again. The days of the epic are long gone. And that's okay. It seems that people are finally figuring out a way to market the SliP that is taking their music to a whole new audience and a larger arena to be heard. Still, I feel a little disappointment that something is getting lost in the shuffle. Where I once felt there was a band out there that could change people's perceptions of music and what it meant to be an active listener and indeed a participant in the creative process, there is now a very good rock band.
Still best of luck to the band at this exciting time. Eisenhower is a great sounding rock album and it reminds me that everything evolves. Like it or not.
-David
I first saw the SliP at the Rhodes-On-Pawtucket Ballroom, Lazy Day Homecoming 2002. At that point I thought I had gotten into the game a little late, seeing that the band had been performing consistently for half a decade already. I had the luck of being turned onto the band by some "with it" pals who played me 'Johnny's Tune' over a now defunct CD player during the waning minutes of a high school jazz band rehearsal. The Homecoming show was pure magic, delivered with the cunning and virtuosity only a wild few possess. It was late fall, it seemed like there were a lot of familiar faces in the SliP community who had showed up to welcome home the local boys, and there was a feeling of urgency in the room.
There was a moment after the SliP took the stage but before they played a single note that sent shivers down my neck. Brad Barr cradled his jazz box, looked at Andrew, stood up on his toes, and took a deep breath. In a time when bands often beat the drum for themselves in self-servience louder than their audience is beating it, this was a band of spirituality and humility I rarely see in the world, nevermind at a sweat-soaked music show. It was a elegiac and inspiring.
The SliP demanded more from an audience then I ever knew an audience could give. It was taxing just to stand near the stage for three hours while the band played intros and outros and inbetweens. But it was worth every minute. What the band gave out was also equally astounding.
I have wound in and out of the SliP's music in recent years. Caught some great NYE shows, got the opportunity to open for the band, walked out of a Surprise Me Mr. Davis show, and saw silhouettes smoking cigarettes at the bar of a Flaming Lips show.
Whatever the future course of events, I feel indebted to an incarnation of this band that we will never see again. The days of the epic are long gone. And that's okay. It seems that people are finally figuring out a way to market the SliP that is taking their music to a whole new audience and a larger arena to be heard. Still, I feel a little disappointment that something is getting lost in the shuffle. Where I once felt there was a band out there that could change people's perceptions of music and what it meant to be an active listener and indeed a participant in the creative process, there is now a very good rock band.
Still best of luck to the band at this exciting time. Eisenhower is a great sounding rock album and it reminds me that everything evolves. Like it or not.
-David
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Colin
- Flight of the Peruvian Dragonfly
- Posts: 301
- Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 5:34 pm
- Location: Chicopee, MA
Cleantone wrote: Don't forget that Androo played a 14" Eisenhower Motif Snare drum
If you are refering to the albums recordings, im almost positive that he played his white dennis chambers model snare drum (i believe thats what it was). ive been talkin to cherie online bout his drum sizes and stuff cus i wanna kinda get a similar sound from my own custom kit in the future. she told me only bout a week ago that hed be adding on his 16 floor tom and large kick.
... ive kinda got a andrew barr obsession