Heartache With Hard Work

Transparence – Asobi Seksu
Hold Your Secrets To Your Heart – Miracle Fortress

What is the value of transparency? I was listening to the most recent episode of On the Media, and they had a debate about the Super Committee. One side argued that it was a problem for these negotiations to be going on behind closed doors. Which sounds reasonable, right? We live in a democracy after all. Why should the process of government be hidden from the people?

But let’s take a step back. What is really at stake here? The Super Committee is not some secret organization that has free reign to impose its will. Frankly, it might be better if it were. But what we’ve actually got is a small group of people who will attempt to produce a single recommendation that can get support from a majority in the House and the impossibly elusive 60 votes in the Senate. Which is to say: whatever they recommend only becomes law if it goes through the normal procedure for legislative action.

Now, if you want to call anything anti-democratic about this process, you would almost certainly be better off focusing on the supermajority requirement in the Senate. But let’s set that aside entirely.

The real question, it seems to me, has to be whether we value openness for its own sake, or if we value it as a mechanism for achieving some other good. I’m sure there are some people who simply value openness as a basic principle. But I don’t really see the point of it in that sense.

I think when most people think about openness in government what they really want is better representation. That is: they fear that secret deals will reflect embedded (special) interests, rather than representing the genuine will of the people. By exposing negotiations to sunlight and public scrutiny, the argument goes, they won’t be able to hide behind anonymity.

But there is a serious countervailing force here. Namely: public deliberation can very easily provoke worse representation. Public conversation makes it incredibly easy to assign blame. And there’s nothing people like more than assigning blame. The whole premise here is that people need to forge a compromise that won’t make anyone happy. In those circumstances, people who are angry about something are going to be far louder than people who see something as an acceptable compromise. Given that, sunshine is likely to just make deliberations pure show.

The additional factor is the timing of persuasion. Attempting to justify compromises while they are being discussed (and might not even be used) is a fool’s game. There’s nothing more aggravating to a politician than sticking your neck out, risking your built-up capital, to defend something only to have it stripped out the next day. The risk of that often means people simply won’t bother proposing the thing in the first place.

However, justifying a single bill at the end of the process is far easier. You’re not stuck defending stuff that didn’t make it. You can sell all the advantages and minimize the losses. You can work with other messaging agents to speak with the same voice. And you can credibly argue that this is a take-it-or-leave-it scenario. That’s not to say it’s EASY, but you’ve got something to work with.

There is some substantial pedigree for this. The original Constitutional Congress worked in secret, for precisely these reasons. They wanted people to feel free to express any ideas and not have to worry about their reputation. And they didn’t want arguments made during the deliberations, considered but dismissed, to resurface in the colonial versions of attack ads.

What do we want out of public deliberation? Do we want it to be public in the sense that the public gets to watch and be involved? Or do we want it to be public in the sense that the interests of the public are represented? Those certainly don’t NEED to conflict, but if they do, which matters more? To me, the latter is far more significant. If secret conversations make it easier for people to speak in the interests of the public – rather than in fear of personal electoral damage – that seems great.

None of this is to suggest that the Super-Committee is actually worth anything. The more basic problem is that the blame game on the Right has expanded to the degree that anyone in Congress who votes for any bill that raises taxes at all is going to get crucified. The filtering mechanism of the committee just provides no meaningful shield.

So the whole thing is a bit of a sham – and all the complaints about secrecy are terminally irrelevant. But I still find it interesting to think about.

Oh Holy Night – Vanessa Peters

So it’s still only October, but who says that’s too early to post a little bit of Christmas music?  The excuse is a some new songs from HWHW favorite Vanessa Peters.  Her last record was an absolute gem, one of my favorites of 2009.  And she has a new one coming out next year, which I’m quite excited about.  In the meantime, she’s tiding us over with an album of Christmas favorites: The Christmas We Hoped For.

It’s got some of your absolute standards (a beautiful version of “White Christmas,” a dulcet “Christmas Song,” and so on), combined a few more modern tracks.  One highlight on the latter front is “All That I Want” from The Weepies, which accomplishes the goal of being a good song, with the holidays merely serving as an undertone.

Still, the two real standout tracks for me are the most traditional.  First is the “What Child Is This” medley, which blends together the main theme with elements from “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “We Three Kings” – all three of which are among the most powerful of the classic Christmas songs.

Second is “Oh Holy Night,” which is ushered in with the tinkling of sleigh bells, but builds toward a monumental crescendo by the end.  Performers always run a risk doing versions of this song.  It doesn’t lend itself to halfway measures; you’re looking for something fervent, not just something pretty. Peters absolutely delivers, mostly by recognizing that her voice is not well-suited to the task of conveying that kind of passion, and letting the music itself perform the crashing of the wave.

That’s a general theme on the record.  In some ways, it’s a little strange to hear Christmas songs coming from someone I so completely associate with a warm voice and music perfectly suited for long summer days.  But it works, mostly because she keeps a low key. This is not the sort of Christmas records meant to offer some virtuoso a vehicle to convey their talents; it’s simply someone playing the songs she happens to like, and doing so with the appropriate amount of joy.  Even the cases where she makes a significant change, it’s always toward mellowing out.  You can really see this on “All I Want for Christmas is You” – a song that normally drives me up the wall.  In this case, it’s re-imagined as a gentle acoustic ballad, and is very pleasant.

Belong – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
My Terrible Friend – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The first record from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart was a fairly standard set of New Wave/Sarah Records tunes. Good, certainly, but nothing particularly surprising. Since then, they apparently started listening to their old Smashing Pumpkins records and were struck by a bolt of inspiration. It doesn’t really seem like it should work, but the addition of Siamese Dream-era waves of guitar noise has transformed this very fun band into something irresistible.  Belong is one of the very best records this year – in addition to being one of the best records of the 90s, fifteen years too late.

The opening title track announces their presence with a bang. Within the first few seconds the guitars take off and spectral images of the old video for “Today” (you know, the one with the ice cream truck) start to form in your mind. Then, you get the soft half of the soft/loud dynamic, which has the sort of bouncy melodies you’d expect from the band. All of which only makes the return of the guitars with the chorus all the more forceful. In fact, the moment at 1:14 might be my favorite couple seconds of music this year.

However, even with the new gauzy textures, the heart of the band remains in great indie pop music. The twee spirit remains strong in a series of songs about feelings and love and the like (‘Anne With an E’ is a reference to Anne of Green Gables, for example). It is not a record for analyzing the lyrics book in search of some deep meaning. Divorced from the context of the performance, it’s all pretty trite. But, in a way, that’s precisely what makes the record so good. The sheer naïveté, the excitement and energy, the willingness to sound foolish. You have to give yourself up to it, accept the internal logic, and you’ll find the deeper truth: the incredible thing about love is the way it can make the banal feel like magic.

For a perfect example, see ‘Only in Dreams.’ If you take a critical eye, you might notice that the melodic progression is pretty simplistic. And the lyrics are even more clichéd. But with the right perspective, the big chorus (‘even in dreams, I could not betray you’) obtains a sort of transcendence.

For something slightly closer to the carefree/sunshine sound of the first record, there’s ‘My Terrible Friend’ which has boundless energy and bounces along at about a hundred miles an hour.

The end of the record is a little weak, but such minor missteps can easily be forgiven.  Few albums this year will provide even a tenth as much joy as this one.

Don’t Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds) – The Cardigans

Herman Cain:

I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself! It is not someone’s fault if they succeeded.

If I were a candidate for president, I don’t think I would tell people in a time of close-to-double-digit unemployment that their lack of a job is due to personal factors.

Is he saying that 10% of the country just, out of nowhere in the last few years, became lazy slobs? And if so, is that really the sort of message you want to run with?  “Hey, you useless people who just can’t seem to find a job for some unknown reason, vote for me and I’ll fix the economy!”

Yikes.

Fat Lady Skank – Gangster Fun

Christie was never going to get nominated, of course.  Not because he’s overweight (one of the more ridiculous memes of the recent cycle), but just because he had no obvious base.  It seems like every week there’s another Republican guy just about ready to emerge from their clown car, but for most part they all resist the urge.  Christie is just one among many in that respect.  And it’s to his credit, I suppose, that he was able to recognize that the general acclaim of Republican elites was not going to translate itself into any real level of support.

But the real issue here is that Christie has permanently ruined all future Sherman Statements.

Sherman Statements, of course, are definitive and absolute declarations that a potential candidate is not going to run. The classic example of such a statement being Sherman’s: “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”

Such things have always been a bit overrated. There is a time-tested cat and mouse game where a candidate conceals the fact that they are running in order to save face or in order to cultivate further demand. But it’s usually been the case that such people at least make the small effort to leave a bit of doubt in their responses. You get things like “I have no intention of running” or “I am focused exclusively on my current job” or “the job is not even on my radar.”

With Christe, however, he has used virtually every variant on “I will absolutely not run” under the sun. All the while, it has been obvious that he was in fact interested. And, for the past few weeks, he DID in fact start to run. All of which created the absurdity of a news conference where he told people that he had decided not to run for president, which was simply a LESS emphatic denial than he had been offering for over a year.

Best Night – The War on Drugs

Electro-folk, roots rock with Dylan or Petty-esque nasal twinge, a series of songs that turn putting-one-foot-down-after-the-other into a sort of apocalyptic elegy. Psychedelia mixed with synths mixed with saxophones mixed with whiskey. The War On Drugs have a niche, and they have stuck within it on Slave Ambient. But it’s a great niche to occupy.

We got a hint of things to come last year, with the Future Weather EP that shares a couple songs with this full record (including the delightful, churning ‘Baby Missiles’ that made my list of top songs for 2010). But the fully realized product is a marked improvement. This is a complete record, with a clear tone and texture that unveils itself slowly but surely.

In some ways it’s problematic that they open with the two best songs on the record. In normal cases that’s the sign of an album draped awkwardly on a couple hits. Here, though, that’s not at all the case. What you get on the first two tracks is a compact narrative full of urgency and passion. Then, the next 10 songs retrace those same steps, but do so more slowly and languidly. You get an opportunity to dwell on themes that burst past you the first time around. It gives Slave Ambient an almost orchestral feel.  You can’t help but wish there was a bit more resolution, but the more you listen the more you come to understand that the endless movement is itself sufficient.

Awesome albums that I haven’t had time or the creative spirit to talk about yet:
Beirut
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

What unites these three? They’re indie bands that have received some rave reviews over the past few years, but who never really struck a chord with me. Well, that’s all changed now. All three of these albums are capital G Great.

We’re already starting to see ‘what happened to Rick Perry?’ articles, usually very clear that he’s in no way out of it yet.  But there is a lot of surprise about just how quickly things have gotten rocky for him.

This is precisely what I was talking about when I said a month ago that Perry wasn’t ready to really do what it takes to run for president.

His performance in the debates reflects someone who was expecting to just be able to use his tremendous natural charm and devout right wing credentials.  But he seemed to have failed to recognize just how much gets tossed at people in these circumstances.  You can’t just skate by on generally good credentials – people will challenge you.  And when they’ve done that (at least so far) Perry doesn’t seem to have the skill or temperament to deflect the attacks.

To be clear, there is plenty of time for him to shore up, and he may still run away with this.  But Mitt, just by being Mitt, has reminded people of how good a candidate he is.

Rider – Okkervil River

I’ve been writing this blog for about five years now. And for basically that entire time, I’ve insisted that Okkervil River is the best band in the world. Unbelievable live shows, a string of great records, extremely smart lyrics, great melodies. They make it all look so easy that you wonder why there is so much dreck out there.

With the release of I Am Very Far this year, the first kernels of doubt have begun to enter my mind. Which is not to say that this is a bad album. It is emphatically not. However, there is no denying that it’s worse than The Stand Ins, which was worse than The Stage Names, which was worse than Black Sheep Boy. And while your mileage may vary, I think you go back even further to Down the River of Golden Dreams to find their high-water mark.

It’s a testament to just how ridiculously good this band is that they can decline significantly and still put out one of the best records of the year.

I can divide the weaknesses of this record into two general categories. First, there are simply too many filler tracks. “Piratess” is excruciatingly dull: a listless beat combined with a strangely atonal vocal performance from Sheff. And the less said about “Show Yourself” the better. Suffice to say that it would feel overlong at 90 seconds. At five an a half minutes it is just begging to be skipped. The same can be said to a lesser degree about “Your Past Life as a Blast.” In fact, those two tracks, combined with the untapped possibility of “The Rise” mean that the final third of the record is mostly a waste. You could treat this is a 7-song EP and it would come off a lot better, really.

The second problem is the forgettable lyrics. Every previous record from them has developed stories, characters, and ideas. The songs have made revealed themselves through their evocations. This time: the lyrics are fine enough, I suppose. But there is nothing particularly memorable. There is no war criminal rising and speaking. There is no festering anger of the black sheep boy. You don’t finish the album feeling like you genuinely understand the psychology of the guy with a girl in every port, or the plus ones. “Rider” or “Lay of the Last Survivor” or “We Need a Myth” – these are great songs but what are they really ABOUT? I’m not sure. The general theme of the record seems to be mythic creatures and stories, but it’s all a bit too abstract to really cohere.

But enough dwelling on negativity. Let’s talk about what makes this album absolutely worth your time. At the top of the list is the aforementioned “Rider.” They’ve always had a little bit of Springsteen in their sound, but on this track it’s in full force. It’s vibrant and energetic, with the sort of spitfire delivery that Sheff is so good at. It’s right up there with their very best songs.

The following track “Lay of the Last Survivor” is also stupendous. More low-key in tone, extremely pretty. It’s a paean to inevitable ends, the mortality of all things beautiful. We fight against it but deep down we know that there is no victory, only delays.

Some other songs have a lot to recommend. “The Valley” is a bit too ostentatious, but is a tremendous rocking start. “Hanging from a Hit” is tender and jagged. “We Need a Myth” is slightly rote but more than makes up for it with pure energy.

Flawed album? Sure. Minor disappointment? Yes, again. But it’s still really good.

Spectre – Miracle Fortress

The first Miracle Fortress record was a revelation, a masterpiece of swirling organic energy and achingly beautiful melodies. It’s one of very few records that I enjoy more every single time I hear it. The second effort, the recently released Was I the Wave? is clearly derived from the same basic outline. But this time, the themes are far more electronic. If the first was the condensation of all things lovely in the music of the late 60s, this one draws far more heavily from the 80s.

There is something profound lost in the translation. Gone is the sense gentle intimacy; this is a far more impersonal sound. However, there are advantages as well. The lushness is replaced with a silvery metallic tone, one which blends in wonderfully uncanny ways with his voice.

It’s a relatively short record – only 10 songs, of which 4 are essentially interludes. But the six substantial tracks are given plenty of room for elaboration. This is both a strength and a weakness. When you really get down to it, there are maybe a dozen absolutely wonderful moments on this record. If you can devote yourself to listening to it as a whole, they gain a lot of power from their placement within the scheme of the whole record. However, if you aren’t in the mood, or if you are trying to digest it in doses the overall structure gets dislodged and you can’t help but think that these songs drag a bit.

Some examples of the perfect moments: the percussion on “Raw Spectacle” after it gets going; the final moments of “Awe” after the throbbing synths dissipate; about 3 minutes into “Miscalculations” when the wave crests; the vocal performance on “Spectre” which accentuates and develops the melody of the song into something stunning.

Was I the Wave? is a very good record, but one that feels just a bit too one-note. Van Pelt is a master of building soundscapes, but you can’t help but wish he’d given himself a little more variety to play with.