REVIEW: Liars "They Were Wrong So We Drowned"

Rating: 5.5

Holy shit.  That was my first response.  My second response was another "Holy shit" followed by "What the fuck" and a serious "huhh?"  I went back and listened again a week later but nothing had changed.

Needless to say this is not the serious, sweaty dance-punk I have come to know and enjoy from Liars.

It would be easy to say that this is simply hard to listen to or dense or noisy or a-rhythmic, and it mostly is.  It is not devoid of rhythm or melody or even hooks, but it comes very close.  It's got more of a geologic pulse sped up than a danceable beat, and its pervasive imagery - witches, black magic, persecution, retribution - doesn't leave much to grab onto by way of a life vest.  It's like a scary movie with a high concept to production values ratio.  And like said scary movie it can suck you in and make you watch inspite of yourself.  Not your starter noise album, or even a representative Liars disc, but it is sure to be a colorful asterisk in the career of the rising NYC band.

REVIEW: Charlemagne "Charlemagne"

Rating: 5.5

Everyone knows it gets cold in Wisconsin.  That and they make the cheese.  What you maybe didn't know is that there is a tiny little record label called Winterlander and they released a modest little album called "Charlemagne" by a guy named Carl Johns who goes by Charlemagne when he's making albums called "Charlemagne."  You might also have forgotten that Johns is half of the NoahJohns country experiment (Speakeasy Records) you've heard so little about.  So Wisconsin really has a lot going on right now.  Especially with the cheese.

Luckily there is very little dairy to be heard on "Charlemagne," but you should get a sense of the long, cold winters and how weird it can make some people.  Seriously, dig the guy's mustache.  And antlers.

This is pretty descent odd-ball pop with an emphasis on Johns' vocal performance.  An airy, light reverb adds dreamy sensuality to his barely perceptible twang and slightly gay sounding sibilance.  Lyrics conjure familiar, sometimes goofy, sometimes sweet, characters while the music creates the setting - homey, quirky but not weird, and still shaking the last frosts of winter.  There should be lots of Beach Boys references to the pop feel of things, but you'll also find some My Morning Jacket in the rural, vacant bar-room sound.  Check out "August Evenings" for starters and go from there.

LIST: Songs of the Mullet

MULLET (MUHL-it): noun (1) any of a variety of bottom dwelling marine warm-water fishes; (2) hairstyle; hair is cut short in front, sides and top of the head while allowed to grow long in back synonyms: Kentucky waterfall; Tennessee top hat; Missouri compromise; Canadian passport; Guido; shlong (short-long); neck blanket; mud flap; ape drape; bridge & tunnel; Camaro cut; hockey hair; 10/90 (ratio of hair front to back); two-haircuts-in-one; business up front, party in the back

First some history on the word "mullet" as used to describe the haircut: takeourword.com, whoever they are, pins its origin to the "term of derision, mullethead, which comes from the name of a fish that has a large, flat head.  It was thought to look stupid, and so the name mullethead came to be used to describe anyone considered dull or stupid.  It dates in the written record with this meaning from 1857.  This use of mullethead was shortened in the 20th century to mullet, retaining the same meaning, and that is thought to be the source of the haircut name."

The explanation itself seems stupid enough to be right.  Multiple sources also credit Mike D of the Beastie Boys with first using "mullet" to describe the haircut in print via the band's Grand Royal magazine, roundly dissing the do and injecting the term into pop culture lingo forever.  When and where the haircut itself originated is a mystery best left unsolved.

Your next question might be "why honor the bastard son of all haircuts on a classy music blog like The Eighth Nerve?"  That's easy, if a little embarrassing.  I was born and raised in Kentucky with an adolescence that spanned the mid-eighties.  As if that's not enough to guarantee me a mullet before puberty, and it is, I also played soccer and listened to lots of Def Leppard.  My two best friends in high school played hockey and drove an I-Roc Z respectively.  We all had mullets, though we didn't know what to call them at the time - our barbers were simply instructed to "make the front look nice, but leave the back."

It's easy to forget that the mullet wasn't always associated with trailer parks, white trash and dykes on Harleys - the stigma didn't really kick in until the early 90s which means it didn't reach Kentucky until - well, ever.  In its heyday the mullet represented common ground for jocks and rockers, city-folk and trailer trash alike.  Whatever their non-haircut differences, people wore mullets to say they wanted to have a good time and they liked their rock-n-roll.  That's right, like all cultural phenomena the mullet has a soundtrack.  So here it is - of its time, a little nostalgiac, and wholey reflective of our current sentiments on the subject (and in no particular order) - 25 Songs Of The Mullet!

"Livin' On A Prayer" Bon Jovi
"Here I Go Again" Whitesnake
"Little Fighter" White Lion
"High Enough" Damn Yankees
"Rebel Yell" Billy Idol
"Pride (In the Name of Love)" U2
"Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" Journey
"Pour Some Sugar On Me" Def Leppard
"In A Big Country" Big Country
"Centerfold" The J. Geils Band
"Tom Sawyer" Rush
"Panama" Van Halen
"What You Need" INXS
"Renegade" Styx
"Rag Doll" Aerosmith
"Stanglehold" Ted Nugent
"The Walls Came Down" The Call
"Fortunate Son" Creedence Clearwater Revival
"No Smoke Without a Fire" Bad Company
"Sister Christian" Night Ranger
"Shadow of the Night" Pat Benatar
"Everybody Wants You" Billy Squier
"Working For The Weekend" Loverboy
"Juke Box Hero" Foreigner
"Freebird" Lynyrd Skynyrd


Just in case you thought the day of the mullet had come and gone here are a few links to modern mullet culture:

mullet.com
mulletmadness
mulletjunky
mulletlovers
mullethunters
mulletsgalore
mullet haiku
mulletfest
got mullet?
rate my mullet
British mullets
an illustrated history of mullets
a little mullet reading
a little mullet listening
where to buy your very own mullet
mullet heaven!


Lists are culled from my personal library and reflect what I used to listen to when I was growing my mullet.  If there are any songs you feel I over looked then by all means, cut your hair.

REVIEW: Old Crow Medicine Show "O.C.M.S."

Rating: 7

The bluegrass and traditional music revival you may have heard yodeling its way toward the mainstream can credit much of its success to good, clean family fun.  There is the wholesome heartache and paternal role-play of Del McCoury.  There is Alison Krauss’s angelic, pitch-perfect voice, Gillian Welch’s languid front porch reverence and of course the gospel according to Ralph Stanley.  Then again there are the kids who skip church to smoke cigarettes in the garage, consort with prostitutes and blues musicians on Friday nights, and tell dirty jokes at supper with their mouths full.  Not to mention the drugs and fornication.  Every family has its share of black sheep, and OCMS is one.

The disc was produced by Gillian Welch cohort David Rawlings and bares a few of his understated signatures like subtle vocal harmonies and dusty-shoed playing.  Band members take turns on familiar sounding arrangements of bluegrass standards-on-the-fringe with traditional acoustic instrumentation and some harmonica.  The instruments may not be plugged in but the band most certainly is, racing through the first number and setting the tone with songs about cocaine, liquor, sex and war.  Still, there are nods to quiet times that play well to the Prairie Home Companion crowd including a great version of the Big Bill Broonzy tune "CC Rider."  Their growing influence reached the word stage in January when Norah Jones performed the OCMS original "We're All In This Together" at the televised Tsunami Aid concert.  Maybe not the sort of company you’d expect the band to keep after hearing "Tell It To Me," but stick with it, it’s worth the ride.