Weekly Music Roundup: The Strokes, Tank and the Bangas, and Shearwater
Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman”: Still A Great Song
Through all the different media she’s worked in – music, film, theater, installations – Laurie Anderson has been a storyteller. And a good story will transcend the time and place where it originated; this has turned out to be the case with many of her early songs, including her surprise hit from 1981, “O Superman.” Originally a work about family, country, technology, and above all the mixed emotions they provoke, it seemed eerily prescient when she recorded it live shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Now, another quarter century on, “O Superman” appears on the new live album by Laurie Anderson and the jazz group Sexmob, led by slide trumpeter (yes, you read that right) and arranger extraordinaire Steven Bernstein. The album is called Let X = X (Live), and was recorded during the musicians’ 2023 tour; it offers a survey of Anderson’s long career, plus a song by her late husband Lou Reed (from his collaboration with Metallica). It’s interesting to compare some of these songs, especially “O Superman,” with the earlier live recordings from 1982 and from 2001 – the addition of live sax, trumpet, drums and bass add both a sonic, and perhaps subtly emotional wallop to this sad/funny, simple/complex work.
More Storytelling From The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats have announced that they’ll release their 24th album, called Days, in August; with the announcement came the first single, with a title that will surprise exactly zero fans of the band (but will probably confuse everyone else). “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out To The Feds” is a new addition to singer/songwriter John Darnielle’s rich catalogue of songs that refer to films, film making, and movie stars, used not as biographical or even specific cultural references but rather as some kind of archetype. It’s a propulsive song that is perhaps best exemplified by the line “I will rise to the occasion.” As for the arrangement, the backing vocals add to the fun, and the saxes, played by Matt Douglas, prove (again) that they are an essential part of this formerly lo-fi band’s sound.
Tank and the Bangas Conclude A Trilogy Of Albums
They may be from New Orleans, but Tank and the Bangas have been favorites of public radio listeners around the country ever since they burst upon the music scene by winning NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2017. Led by the shapeshifting voice of Tarriona “Tank” Ball, the band mixes R&B, hip hop, spoken word, and pop into a highly caffeinated dance music that often has a strong social conscience. Tank can belt out a song or declaim her own poetry – the band’s Grammy award was for their spoken word album The Heart, The Mind, The Soul – and on the new LP, The Last Balloon, she covers pretty much all the sonic territory a vocalist can. The album title signals that this ends the band’s trilogy of records that began with Green Balloon in 2019 and Red Balloon in 2022. This track, “No Invite,” finds Tank and the Bangas at their most playful, with Tank rapping and the band providing what the song’s video helpfully (?) describes as “hip-hop rock-trap music.”
Shearwater Return With Stunning New Video
The art rock band Shearwater announced their new album, their first in four years, and released two singles from it this week. Singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Jonathan Meiburg has been the band’s sole constant member over the past quarter century, but a central lineup featuring Emily Lee and Dan Duszynski has been consistent for quite a few years now. The new record will be called The New World, and its leadoff track is a typically epic song called “Daydream Unbeliever.” It has an easy lilting rhythm – despite actually being in 5/4 time – and a grand, late Beatles-style arrangement driven by pounding drums, cycling strings, and Meiburg’s soaring vocals. Meiburg is the author of a most remarkable book called A Most Remarkable Creature, about the South American caracara, a bird of prey, and he filmed and edited the extraordinary video for “Daydream Unbeliever” while doing research in Antarctica.
The New World comes out on July 31.
The Strokes Release New Track
For a band that helped define the sound of a generation of rock bands, The Strokes have shown themselves willing to change that sound, and the new single, “Falling Out Of Love,” is another example. It features lead singer Julian Casablancas alternating between his usual diffident vocals and an almost unrecognizably altered version, using an amount of Auto-tune that feels ironic in its over-the-top-ness. The song itself is a rock ballad, as the title might indicate, and the band played it last night on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, in one of that show’s final musical performances.
The new Strokes album, Reality Awaits, is scheduled for release on June 26.
