Dashboard Confessional - The Shade Of Poison Trees

150-gram LP
NO digital copy included


Audio Quality: 3.5/5
Song Quality: 3.75/5
Packaging: 3/5


Chris Carrabba, the man releasing albums under the name Dashboard Confessional for the past 10 years or so, came up with a pretty brilliant idea. He wrote a batch of songs with the same sort of teen angst-meets-pop sensibility that was becoming hugely popular in the hands of countless pop-punk/"emo" bands. Very good songs, but had he opted to record them with a standard 4-piece punk band, they would have likely been lost in the crowd, surrounded by an ocean of familiar peers. Instead, he opted to record them alone, with just voice and acoustic guitar. Consequently, a sort of modern emo/folk hybrid was formed, and he showed an entire generation of young music fans that great songs don't need to be loud to be cool. If the song is good enough, it'll be excellent no matter how you play it.

Years went on, and as Dashboard Confessional started to become a more household name, he started introducing drums, bass, and piano into his arrangements, while keeping the acoustic vibe intact. After two of these acoustic records, Chris finally took the plunge into electric sound. He wound up having his greatest success here, with songs like "Hands Down," "Vindicated," and "Stolen" being absolutely epic pop masterpieces. I was easily able to get behind just about everything that Dashboard Confessional released, whether it was acoustic or electric, and his mainstream success was unquestionably deserved. However, by the time the fully electric Dusk and Summer record was released, I was really starting to yearn for the Dashboard Confessional of old, who sang thoughtful pop songs with an acoustic guitar and reminded you how wonderfully beautiful a simple tune could be. Chris must have felt something similar, because seemingly out of nowhere, we get The Shade Of Poison Trees, a genuine example of an artist going "back to his roots," and the result, though not as commercially viable, is wonderfully refreshing.

Though I like just about all of this record, I'd say that Side A is what shines the most. The opening track, "Where There's Gold...," is just Chris' guitar and voice, and it's a great start for the record. "Thick As Thieves" is a full-band acoustic number that harkens back to songs like "The Good Fight" from The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most, and it's probably the most memorable track on the album. Another notable track is "Fever Dreams," which is solo acoustic guitar accompanied by an electronic drum machine beat, which is both a catchy throwback and a slightly new direction for the Dashboard sound. Other great songs are "These Bones," "Little Bombs," and "The Widow's Peak," which is a great closer. Speaking of which, I'm not sure if this album was conceptualized as an LP release, but if not, it's a wonderful coincidence that the song "The Shade of Poison Trees" serves as a PERFECT closing track for Side A. Great flow from Side A to Side B on this album... something that is so rarely taken into consideration nowadays. I think a couple tracks towards the end of Side B start to feel a bit like filler ("Matters of Blood and Connection," "Clean Breaks"), but overall, this is a very enjoyable collection of songs.

Soundwise, this album is pretty good, but it has some issues. First, the good news. It's a very clean and quiet pressing, and all the instruments play back with clarity and definition. It's also a loudly mastered record without any distortion on playback... so you can feel free to rock out loud and hard to this collection of acoustic ditties. As for the criticisms, this album sounds a bit too bright and harsh in the high-end for my taste. If I sit down in the J-NEX position for too long listening to this, I can feel a headache beginning to set in. I can also hear some compression kicking in at times, specifically in the chorus of "Thick As Thieves," when the chorus gets squashed a bit and the dynamics are destroyed. This is a common issue with CD and radio mixes, but hearing it on vinyl is just unnecessary, and a real bummer. Though the vinyl does sound nice enough that I'm confident that there was a separate mix and master done for it, it still has some issues that prevent it from being great. Definitely no worse than the CD though, so if you're a vinyl freak and you don't already own this one digitally, it's an acceptable choice.

Packaging is nothing to speak of. Record sits in a generic white sleeve encased in a slipcase package. An insert is included that contains all the lyrics and album credits. No digital copy is included, which is no good. It's a relatively cheap album ($12), so it's no huge loss I suppose, and it makes it an easier decision if you're trying to decide whether or not to give it a spin.

This album was clearly made without any aspirations of serious commercial success. Carrabba did it for the old fans, and perhaps for himself as well. It's a nice throwback, and though it's definitely not as great as the older records it's trying to sound like, it's a really enjoyable batch of songs. Chris officially has my permission to go back into the studio and write another major pop smash with electric guitars. I'll probably love it just the same, and I can't fault the guy for needing to bring home the bacon. Keep up the good work.

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Next: Green Day - 39/Smooth (Reissue)

The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed

180-gram LP
Includes free digital download


Audio Quality: 4.25/5
Song Quality: 4.25/5
Packaging: 4/5


Before it burned down in one of the most devastating moments of my life (PS: I haven't had a very hard life), my local record store used to have a huge selection of CDs for just $1.99. Some of them, predictably, were absolute shit. But if you were willing to devote some time to sifting through the massive stacks, you could almost always locate something that was great and probably didn't belong there. In 2002, during my weekly rummaging, I stumbled upon a copy of Original Pirate Material, the first album from The Streets. I had seen the video for "Let's Push Things Forward" on MTV2 a couple times, and though I wasn't quite sure I loved it, I was definitely curious enough about the sound to warrant a $2 investigation. It wound up probably being the single greatest find I ever had in that bin, with the only other contender being Crass' The Feeding of the 5000. I've aggressively followed all of Mike Skinner's output since, and even when he's at his worst (portions of his last record, The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living), he's still one of the most original artists currently active.

I won't even bother trying to sell this man to you, because either you're gonna love this stuff or absolutely hate it. The biggest problem with The Streets is the difficulty you have categorizing the sound, which walks a fine line between hip-hop, electronic, indie, pop, and so on... without ever stepping into any of those genres definitively enough to warrant using it as a classification. On first listen, it's easy to immediately put him in the hip-hop category solely based on his vocal delivery. This is not only a criminally oversimplified description, but it also places him in a genre where he's certain to be misunderstood by at least 90% of the fans, especially in America where the current (wrong) perception of hip-hop music bears just about no resemblance to what Mike Skinner is doing with The Streets. In fact, what Skinner is doing bears little to no resemblance to what anyone is currently doing in any genre. Having said all that, I recommend this and all Streets releases to anyone with an open musical mind looking for something totally unconventional.

Now, a brief music review for people already familiar with Streets. The production on this album is different from previous efforts in that it's base is far less electronic, with much more jazz and classical influence. There are tracks that feature large choirs of vocal ("Heaven For The Weather"), blues piano ("I Love You More Than You Like Me"), gorgeous trumpet parts ("On The Edge Of A Cliff"), and even a full orchestra ("The Escapist"). Like the beats, the vocal delivery is also more relaxed and less aggressive (save the old-school sounding "The Way Of The Dodo"), which gives the album a very chill vibe from start to finish. Skinner's lyrics here are different too, mostly focused on introspective and philosophical considerations of life, death, and the nature of human existence. Fortunately for us, it doesn't come off heavy-handed or didactic. We just get to hear some musings and considerations from an exceptionally thoughtful individual, maturing and reflecting on his existence as he gets older. The hooks here are memorable, and the weakest track of the bunch ("Alleged Legends") isn't bad, just meh. I'm on board... now how about the sound?

I owned this CD prior to the vinyl, so I was very familiar with these songs before first hearing the LP. Upon dropping the needle, the music immediately sounded fresh and new again. This record, though not an audiophile recording, is an amazing testament to how different a record can sound to a CD. The beat to the opening title track sounds so much more clean and separated on the LP, with the bass and kick drum beautifully warm and articulated and the high organ line clearly soaring above. Skinner's voice sits comfortably in the middle, giving you a warm sounding record with a very large sonic spectrum and great separation. On CD, I never noticed the sound of this record as being especially fantastic, but the vinyl copy here sounds really terrific. Sound highlights include "The Strongest Person I Know," "I Love You More (Than You Like Me)," "The Escapist," and my personal favorite, the gorgeous trumpet sound in "On The Edge Of A Cliff." Very nice listening experience here.


The packaging is nothing amazing. The record is in a printed sleeve, which contains the album credits on both sides (no lyrics), and it sits in a slipcase package. That's all there is to report, except for the fact that it DOES come with a free digital download. With this in mind, I'm happy to tell you that you absolutely should buy this version of the album instead of the CD. It sounds very good and with the digital download included, there's no reason not to grab this one. It's also pretty conservatively priced (about $16), so there are really no excuses people. Get it.

Apparently, Mike Skinner says he's only got one album in him after this one. Not surprising, what with his previous effort, The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living, being primarily focused on all of his gripes with the music industry. With this album as a relatively mellow and meditative effort, he wants to finish up his career with a bang, and apparently the next record we get will be a super fun dance record. I'm definitely down with that, but I'm also very glad that we got the opportunity to hear this side of his personality. This album is a treat, as is his entire catalog, and I'm very excited to hear what The Streets still has in store for us.

Buy the LP from Amazon.com
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Next: Dashboard Confessional - The Shade of Poison Trees

Andrew W.K. - Close Calls With Brick Walls

2x 180-gram colored LPs
Gatefold packaging
Includes lyric booklet
Includes 5 bonus tracks only available on vinyl
NO digital copy included


Audio Quality: 2/5
Song Quality: 5/5
Packaging: 4.5/5


***UPDATE: Andrew WK has linked to this review on the home page of his website. Thanks for the plug, Andrew, and please keep up the great music!!!***

Ready for a bold statement? I think that Andrew W.K. is one of, if not THE, most underrated individuals in modern music. You're skeptical... I get it. I can certainly understand how the "party all the time" persona found on his hit first release could be considered gimmicky and one-note. I admit that I was more than skeptical at first too. But if you give the music underneath some attention, it's just so special that it can't possibly be ignored. His debut I Get Wet is undoubtedly one of the most fun rock albums ever created, and his follow-up The Wolf, though not nearly as exceptional, showed much more of what Andrew was capable of as a songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist. Tragically and predictably, due to a lack of mainstream success with The Wolf, Andrew found himself without label support when he created his third album. As it turns out, without their guidelines and big-budget studios, his explosive trademark sound suffered tremendously, but his songwriting stepped up to a whole new level.

From the very beginning, Close Calls With Brick Walls is clearly a completely new direction for W.K. The opening "I Came For You" is a slow and aggressive ballad that's mostly just piano and vocals with some wailing guitar filling up the background. Then we get "Close Calls With Bal Harbour," which is the first of a couple bizarre interlude tracks, with "Golden Eyed Dog" and "Dr. Dumont" still to come. "Not Going To Bed," track 3, is the only track on the album that could be mistaken for old, I Get Wet-style AWK. Afterwards, it's a mix of great anthemic rock ("You Will Remember Tonight," "Hand On The Place," "Into The Clear"), unforgettable pop hooks ("One Brother," "I Want To See You Go Wild"), and experiments with completely new sound ("Pushing Drugs," "Mark My Grace," "Slam John Against A Brick Wall"). The album closes with "The Moving Room," a raise-your-lighter power ballad that brings the album to a feel-good finish. Originally, this album was only available in Japan, so when I was finally able to download the tracks to my iPod, I threw it on in the car with my friend Craig and we sat all day listening to it straight through. Then when it was over, we started it again. I think I listened through this record at least 4 times just on my first day exposed to it. Not a single album I've ever owned has taken such an immediately profound hold. It's an absolute masterpiece, and it deserves to be heard.

In America, this album was released exclusively on vinyl, which, on the surface, sounds like the greatest thing ever. However, it's not as glamorous as it sounds. The vinyl pressing was his way of releasing it through a loophole in a music distribution contract he was still trying to escape... it had nothing to do with a great vinyl experience, sadly. And on top of that, this album really shouldn't be heard on vinyl. It so pains me to write this because I love the album so much, but the vinyl quality here is pretty horrific. It's mastered way too loud, and the whole mix distorts on playback, even at low volumes. The instruments all sound like they're bottlenecking at my speakers, and rather than being separated and audible individually, they all seem to be forcing their way off the wax at the same time, which makes everything sound like a complete mess. In this sense, it reminds me a lot of the Beirut album I reviewed, though this sadly sounds much, much worse. As much as I love this album, listening straight through it on LP was an absolute challenge, and that's a true testament to how much of a bummer this vinyl pressing is. I just found out that this album is going to finally be released in America as a deluxe CD set that includes a ton of bonus tracks, including the 5 featured here. I don't know when I'll ever say this again, but seriously, do not buy this vinyl, and just wait for the CD to be available. That's a sad truth, but it's one you can take to the bank.

The package here is really nice, and for hardcore fans, it's the major selling point of the set. It's a gatefold package that's filled with tons of artwork and a very nice design, and the records themselves are colored transluscent blue and orange and held in generic paper sleeves. It comes with a booklet of lyrics (though, oddly, the lyrics for "Las Vegas, Nevada" are absent) and even more weirdo artwork and photography. The nicest bonus about this set is that Side D contains 5 bonus songs that are currently unavailable anywhere else. These bonus tracks are not nearly as amazing as the ones that came with the Korean CD version, but they're still excellent and a must-have for fans of Mr. WK. As I said earlier, the forthcoming American CD release will contain the bonus tracks from this vinyl, the Korean CD, and apparently even more. Though I haven't heard it or seen it yet, I'm still gonna tell you that's the way to go. However, if you're a serious fan, and you should be, this is a really nice looking set. Not nice sounding, but I can understand if you can't resist picking it up. Just don't say I didn't warn you.



I understand that nowadays Andrew is recording on a budget, so hiring a top-notch engineer for vinyl mixes is probably not at the top of his budget, but I beg him to step it up a notch for his next release. It doesn't need to be an analog recording or anything, but if you're gonna release an album on vinyl, at least make it sound like you WANTED it on vinyl, and not like you put it there just for kicks. And bricks.

Buy the LP at AcousticSounds.com

Next: The Streets - Everthing Is Borrowed

They Might Be Giants - The Else

180-gram LP
Gatefold package
NO digital copy included


Audio Quality: 4/5
Song Quality: 4.5/5
Packaging: 3.5/5


Full disclosure: They Might Be Giants are probably my favorite current band. If I sound overqualified or overexcited writing this review, it's because I am. Okay? Now that you know just how much of a nerd I am, let's move on.

This, They Might Be Giants' self-proclaimed 12th album (They don't count all of their full-length releases as "albums"), is the first one to be released on vinyl since 1992's Apollo 18. As a band that jumped head-first into the digital music era (they were the first major band ever to release an exclusively digital album), I can understand how they may have forgotten about just how great a vinyl release could be. In fact, I think it's fair to say that just about everyone had a period of time in the '90s when vinyl was far from your mind. I know, it's a sad thing to admit, but there's no need to be ashamed. So it took 16 years and perhaps a gentle nudge from new producers The Dust Brothers, but we are finally fortunate enough to hear some new music from the Giants on wax. And it feels good. Your writer also advises you to pick up vinyl copies of their old records if you should stumble upon them (They Might Be Giants, Lincoln, Flood), as they sound exceptional.

The "adult" TMBG record that preceded this one was called The Spine, and I think it was their most inconsistent and least satisfying release to date. Definitely not bad, but it had clear highlights and lowlights, and the lowlights sort of killed the complete album experience for me. When I first heard this, The Else, I was also a bit underwhelmed. It was okay, but it had almost nothing that immediately grabbed me. However, a relationship with an album is a lot like a romantic relationship. Some of them are completely based in face-value appeal and instant pleasure, and though they can be a lot of fun, those feelings tend to be fleeting. Then, of course, there are relationships that develop gradually over time, and the more you get to know the person, the more you find to love. Those relationships are the ones that last for years and years, and you couldn't forget them even if you tried. ARE YOU FOLLOWING THIS METAPHOR? There's musical love and musical lust. And though this album is NOT amazing enough to warrant my grandiose analogy, it is definitely a collection of songs that you can grow to love deeply... if you're willing to give yourself some time to get to know them first. "They're beautiful on the inside," you'll tell your friends. "Sure they are," they'll respond condescendingly.

The album opens up with "I'm Impressed," a dark and noisily trudging rocker with an oddly soft vocal delivery. This is followed up by lighter fare, "Take Out The Trash," which is a fuzz-bass driven tune (you won't even notice the mostly absent guitar) that is, dare I say, Smash Mouth-esque. Bold move, Mr. Flansburgh. "Upside Down Frown" is one of those impossibly catchy TMBG songs, played over a frantic drum and bass loop, clearly a Dust Brothers decision. Ok ok, I'll spare you an analysis of every single song. Let's just say that the fun and rocking highlights would be the faux-stadium anthem "The Cap'm," "The Shadow Government," "Withered Hope," and "The Mesopotamians." There are also some oddly dark tunes, such as "With The Dark," "Careful What You Pack," and the aforementioned "I'm Impressed," that may be tough to warm up to at first, but as I said, there's a lot to love once you get to know them. And then you've got the vocabulary lesson song "Contrecoup" and the gorgeously arranged "Bee of the Bird of the Moth," which are just great. I'm not wild about "Feign Amnesia," and I have my moments with "Climbing The Walls," but otherwise I have nothing but positive things to say about this batch of songs. Older fans of They should know that John and John have "matured" quite a bit, and the silliness evident on albums as recent as 2001's "Mink Car" is not likely to be found here. However, if those are the sort of tunes you're looking for, I'd recommend picking up the compact disc version of this album and listening to the bonus disc, Cast Your Pod To The Wind, which contains 23 songs that even the most old-school fan would find satisfyingly absurd.

This album was definitely NOT recorded analog, but it's a wonderful example of the fact that digital recordings are capable of sounding great with the proper attention. Sometimes I get so caught up in the whole digital vs. analog issue, I forget that just because an album is recorded digitally doesn't mean it sounds bad. Don't fall into this trap, you guys. The drums on these tracks are clear and punchy, the low end is warm and present, and the mix is nice and separated. It's also a very clean and quiet pressing, which I'm beginning to appreciate more and more. Overall sound highlights would probably be "Upside Down Frown," "Careful What You Pack," and "Bee of the Bird of the Moth," but it's definitely a great listening experience from start to finish. To me, it sounds superior to the CD, so for that reason I'd recommend this one to any fans of the band as a compliment to that version. However, for the reasons listed below, you're gonna probably need to pick up the CD at some point, like it or not.

This package is pretty nice. It's a gatefold set, which is a little unusual for a single LP, but it's got all of the lyrics printed inside as well as more of that creepy photography you've already seen on the front and back. Speaking of creepy, the album cover has those guys with suits and masks, and one of them is holding a briefcase. The phrase written on the suitcase is Spanish, and it translates to "They avail themselves." I don't know why, but I find that perfectly eerie and fitting for this material. So anyway, it's a nice and inexpensive set, however it's missing two key things. One you can guess... no digital version. The second is that when you buy the CD, you get a full-length bonus disc with 23 extra songs! That disc is not included here in LP or CD format, so vinyl fans are sort of obligated to buy both this and that if they want the full package. I just think that's kind of unfair. If you're a TMBG fan, the bonus disc is just as good if not better than the "actual album," so you should definitely make a point to get that first. Then come here and get the vinyl if you're really digging it. That's what I did, and I think it's worth it. Still, I don't think anyone should have to buy an album in multiple formats in order to get the full experience.



The next album from They is going to be another children's effort, Here Comes Science!, but after that, I've heard whispers of a new adult record that will feature John and John going back to their roots a bit and busting out some of the old 80's synthesizers and drum machines. By no means am I one of those "purist" fans who only likes the early stuff and thinks they sold out when they got a backing band in the mid-90's... but that notion is undeniably exciting for me. I'm looking forward to reporting back here with a new piece of TMBG wax, hopefully sooner than later.

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Next: Andrew W.K. - Close Calls With Brick Walls