Coursing through the Wires #2

The Bravery -- I'll admit up front that I've heard only a couple songs on XM -- so I'm probably not qualified to write yet. The Brit-press seems to love this stuff, although the NME reviewer does show a healthy skepticism. There's something enjoyable (if trite) about "An Honest Mistake" -- perhaps the Bravery is the flashy appetizer to Interpol's meatloaf in the culinary world of Brooklyn 80s revisionism. What I'm really trying to figure out, however, is what really makes the Bravery any better or more marketable than vintage material like For Against or Repetition or Dance Chapter (aside from the obvious factors of timing and a magic promo budget). Seriously,why can't the independent music scene delight in its history and then move forward with that inspiration? Right now, I feel like the early 80s are being strip-mined into submission.

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Saint Etienne -- Tales from Turnpike House / Up the Wooden Hills (Sanctuary 2005). Yes, I broke down and ordered the import on-line. The main disk is standard issue, smoother and breezier than Finisterre (which had some favorable glitch/buzz/whirr moments in the mix). Other reviews suggest this is a "concept album" -- but I haven't been able to focus enough on lyrics yet while scanning it at work. I'd listen to the bickering of "Relocate" (featuring David Essex -- of "Rock On" fame) all night long, though.

Anyway, the real treat here is the bonus disk (again -- check out Fairfax High sometime if you have doubts), with four demented yet sophisticated children's songs -- plus an odd half-spoken bit and a slow number to lay the kids down for the night. Guitars are higher in the mix than on the main album, with a Sesame Street style count-up in English, French, and Spanish, a palate-cleansing Perrey-Kingsley type number ("Barnyard Brouhaha") and a nod to slinky surf guitar and U2 ("Excitation" and "Elevation" are peas in a pod). The brilliant "Let's Build A Zoo" blends Noah's Ark, Really Rosie, and Simon & Garfunkel with a modified Funky Drummer to create the feelgood playground theme song of the summer. Fourteen years in, and they're still delivering the goods. Wow.