Delphic – Acolyte. Who knew that the first review would be of a band I’d never heard of? So everyone seems to be raving about this band because they sound like New Order. Either people are complaining that they sound too much like New Order, or people are praising them for sounding so much like New Order. Just a simple point: Delphic do not sound like New Order. Period. End of story.

I am a huge New Order fan and was actually quite excited to hear this band–they sound nothing like New Order or Joy Division. A lot of reviewers seem to be comparing the drumming on this album to Stephen Morris, which is absolutely insane. Look, nothing is bad about this band, but the drummer lacks the presence of Morris and the overall sound is really an attempt to combine dance and rock. It is not a combination of the two as New Order was. Nor is it full of hooks and choruses like New Order, nor are Delphic’s song structures as interesting or programming as layered.

That’s fine. Lets’ talk about Delphic themselves.

The highlight on this album is “Counterpoint,” a song which captures the band at their best. It’s full of a good mix of drums and programming, synths, and good vocal delivery. The rest of the songs take this basic formula and vary it w.r.t. tempo, structure or layering. Overall, I am pleased with this album, but I don’t see it as the sort of album that I would come back to frequently. I like what Delphic is trying to do, but the sound is too bland in my opinion. Many of the songs sound like brit-pop dressed up w/ some electronic elements…not bad, but somehow they manage to capture the worst of both world in bringing them together. James Cook sounds at his worst when the music gets most brit-poppish, and unfortunately most of the songs seem to have this brit-pop element to it that is less pronounced on “Counterpoint.” Like I said–not bad and I would encourage people to check it out…but after you’re done, go ahead and put on “Transmission” or “Shellshock” and enjoy.

Late at night, I’ll run through the streets and empty corridors.
I’ll find my counterpoint, inside a red room locked behind a door.

I keep holding my head up, holding it up.
Holding my head up, holding it up.
And you just don’t come back, around.
It seems to me that we will never be.

And tell me nothing’s wrong, nothing’s wrong, nothing’s wrong today.
Just tell me nothing’s wrong, nothing’s wrong, nothing’s wrong today.

Late at night, I’ll run through the streets and empty corridors.
I’ll find my counterpoint, inside a red room locked behind a door. Behind a door.

Overall estimation: not worth a purchase–listen to this at a club or in your friend’s convertible because she shelled out the money to buy it.

OK, so this is obviously unintentional…but I again couldn’t pass up the opportunity to review the Smashing Pumpkins’s latest release, “Widow Wake My Mind.” With the Melissa auf der Maur post, it seems appropriate. As you may or may not know, Billy Corgan (and others…although not Jimmy Chamberlain, unfortunately…which is not to say that 19 year old Mike Byrne is not a solid drummer in his own right.) have been working on a 44 song quasi-concept album called Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. The idea is that the album will be released piecemeal over the course of 2-3 years. It will be available for download entirely free. (The nicest thing about this is that Corgan has stated it will not require e-mail or any sort of form, you just download…and that is indeed the case!) For the fans, the Pumpkins will also make each release available for purchase in some very limited EP format. Before getting to the music (2 songs have already been released, with the latest, “Widow Make My Mind” having been released yesterday), it seems worthwhile to comment on how entirely commendable the whole idea is. Rolling Stone asked Corgan whether he could “afford” to do this and he responded with the following:

“I can’t afford it!!” he says. “But I would rather be free than rich. The [major] labels are dead ghosts walking, and they know it. They never should have left this mystic free, because I am way more of a pied piper than they could ever fathom.”

While we also here witness Corgan’s characteristic egomania, the impetus behind this is really commendable. Corgan continued, adding that: “I was never comfortable with the album format…it always felt so forced and was obviously an economic decision made by others and not an artistic decision made by creators.” On the whole, I think this is an excellent experiment and I am curious to see what sort of ramifications it will have for the industry (I suspect, unfortunately, minimal).

To get back to the music. I won’t say much about the first song, “A Song for a Son,” since it has been talked about to death already (it was released in December 7, 2009 — so much for Corgan’s idea to release 4 songs a month!). The new one, “Widow Wake My Mind” (download link here) is an interesting track that continues the quasi-psychedelia that seems to be present on the whole album. Although some reviewers are comparing it to the Beatles, I think the sonic influence is rather the Rolling Stones. In fact, we have Corgan trying his best to sound like Jagger…to somewhat uncanny results! The song is good…but it isn’t a great song by any means. The highlights: the arrangement, the bass, and the guitar sound. The lows: the durmming, the lyrics, the vocals. I’ll start with the former. The arrangement is excellent–there is actually a lot going on: keys, guitars, vocals, and it all fits well. Especially prominent and well done is the bass (presumably played by Mark Tulin). Likewise, the guitars sound great…not only the actual riffs, and the typical awesome Corgan phrasing, but the tone…which is quite different from earlier Pumpkins efforts. (Corgan, I believe is so underrated as a truly masterful guitarist who not only has some of the most distinctive phrasing anywhere, but who also always achieves wonderful tone.) With that said, the drumming on this track, while absolutely solid is entirely boring. Generally, this isn’t an issue, but it is here because the guitars and bass are doing so many interesting things. This is a case, however, of where very standard, solid, in the pocket drumming doesn’t work…the drums could have benefitted from more going on (more Mitch Mitchell, less Phil Rudd). The vocals, if they actually had been sung by Jagger probably would have made this song truly excellent, but with Corgan at the helm it stays just in the realm of “very solid” (and do not get me wrong–I like Corgan’s vocals.) Some are saying that this song could work in the context of an album, but by itself it fails. I don’t agree–I really do support Corgan’s idea here to release the songs in this fashion and to form an album…this just isn’t one of his best finished products and it’s a shame he wasn’t able to realize that with a few tweaks (e.g. improved drum parts and a few layers vis-a-vis vocals and guitars) the track could have been excellent. I am still eagerly awaiting the rest of the album!

On the whole, I think the album is off to a great start–between the two songs, the Pumpkins have a very fresh sound that certainly does hearken back to certain psychedelic elements that Corgan seems to be a fan of. The album also features interesting arrangements, takes risks with structure, and just generally seems inspired, although, surprisingly, not always entirely polished (which is a shame given that the songs are being released one by one…)

So to speak with Corgan on “Widow Wake My Mind,” ultimately, I’m still “looking for a love that I’ll call mine…”

Lastly, check out the Pumpkins studio blog.

(Actual album review coming next–I promise!)

UPDATE (9:59AM): OK…having just listened to this track significantly more times, I have to say I really like this song. I stand by earlier comments…it could still be better, but I am really getting more and more into this song. Especially the guitar sound that Corgan gets here. Totally awesome and I love the process of this album…

Yes, you’re listening,
you’re a dreamer,
so come in…

OK…so who would have thought that the first official review post on Ugly Chord would be about a music video? Not I…but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk about Melissa auf der Maur’s music video premier of her new single, “Out of Our Minds.” And it somehow seems appropriate.

In case you don’t know who Melissa auf der Maur is, you may remember her as the bassist from Hole and then from the Smashing Pumpkins, and eventually her own solo stuff (in between, of course, she played in a Black Sabbath cover band called Hand of Doom). Her first solo release, Auf der Maur (2004) was a fantastic release (featuring a who’s who of cool music like Josh Homme, Mark Lanegan, James Iha, Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri, etc.) I have eagerly been anticipating her next release and it looks like my anticipation will soon come to an end.

What’s neat about her latest project, OOOM, “Out of our Minds” is that it is a sonic and visual experience. After completing the album, she decided it would be accompanied by both a comic book and a film. The film, OOOM, Out of Our Minds (directed by Tony Stone) has already been accepted at Sundance and is garnering great reviews. You can see a trailer for it here.

To return, however, to the subject of this post, it is the premier of a video for the title track off the upcoming album, “Out of Our Minds.” The video is also directed by Tony Stone and is quite good–seemingly featuring most of the set from the movie. The visuals are crisp, shot very well, and full of fantastic imagery. With that said, however, I want to talk about the music–because Melissa has managed to do something very interesting here: she has managed to mix lounge sounding vocals (in parts) with fast paced rock (à la, e.g., Queens of the Stone Age) to a really stunning effect. This melding of time periods also, of course, perfectly compliments the video, in which we find Melissa wandering through past and present. The production on the track is absolutely top notch (no less would be expected from a legend like Chris Goss) and I am eagerly awaiting the release of the whole album.

Travel out of our minds,
and into our hearts,
standing by,
our hearts have been standing by so long…

Here’s the video:

Well, here it is.

I thought it would be appropriate to start this blog with the impending New Year. Look for many, many reviews to follow. And let it be known now: that this blog will culminate in the posting of a top ten albums of the decade (2000-2010) at the end of this year. I suspect that right now I am more excited about this prospect than you are…but perhaps after we’ve spent some time together, you’ll be where I am.

If you want to read more about this blog, see the About page.

Here’s how my postings will work: I don’t have time to review every album that comes out…especially because so many of them are so forgettable. So, I’ll only be reviewing albums here that I think are good. We’ve all had the absolutely magical experience of hearing music that just feels like it speaks to us. Those are the sorts of albums I’ll spend time writing about–they don’t have to be absolute classics, but they have to be good. If an album is close, but not quite there, it’ll get an honorable mention…which is basically a shout out–not a full fledged review. Albums that suck won’t get reviewed…unless they suck really bad or suck in such a sucky way that it begs to be reviewed. This happens rarely.

So in that sense, consider these reviews as already filtered…and totally modest.

UPDATE (1/19): Pondering more about this blog…I’ve decided I can’t restrict myself just to music reviews. Expect some general ponderings about the world of music also…