Of course, the $64 question is: after toning down the experimentation, just what kind of sound did Thrice settle on? The answer is a little hard to place. It’s a credit to the band, don’t get me wrong; they’ve carved out such an effective niche that it seems like they’re a genre unto themselves sometimes. But the prevailing sound on Beggars tends towards rootsy yet heavy alternative rock with occasional hints of the band’s post-hardcore past. “Talking Through Glass” and “At The Last” are the album’s fastest, heaviest tracks, and it’s here that their past musical tendencies peek through the most. On the other hand, the album’s slower, more expansive songs (such as “Circles” and “The Great Exchange”) contain the kind of atmosphere and sonic experimentation exemplified on releases like Vheissu and The Alchemy Index (particularly the latter’s Water disc). But the band seems to strike its best grooves on the mid-tempo songs, like album opener “All The World Is Mad” and “In Exile.” It’s clear that the majority of the material here was based around the results of four guys in a room jamming out, rather than any lofty, cerebral concept like the one behind The Alchemy Index.
All four of those guys turned in great performances for Beggars, but the one that stands out the most by far is that of vocalist/lyricist/guitarist Dustin Kensrue. Thrice has always been known for featuring Kensrue’s great lyrics (or at least I’ve always loved his work, and I doubt I’m in the minority here), and on Beggars, he turns in some of his best work yet. Kensrue has become a master at fitting his lyrics perfectly to the cadence of the song; barely a word on the whole record seems rhythmically awkward or out-of-place. His sense of meter is almost Shakespearian. And yet his words carry true emotion and meaning behind them - just look at “The Weight” and “Wood And Wire” for examples of Kensrue’s incredibly poignant lyrical work. His vocal delivery has taken leaps and bounds as well: he’s clearly taken a lot of the bluesy influence of the band’s recent work to heart (not to mention his acoustic solo record, Please Come Home), evidenced by his soulful, husky inflection on a lot of the material here. Of course, on the heavier tunes, his raspy hardcore bark comes back for a bit; by and large, though, it seems that Kensrue has evolved into nearly a full-fledged blues crooner. Which works surprisingly well with the music backing him up; the four-piece has clearly developed into a well-oiled machine that’s comfortable with playing a very wide range of music, and Beggars displays just enough of that versatility to prove that there’s still a whole lot of uncharted territory left to hear Thrice explore. And I, for one, can’t wait to hear what they decide to do next.
Rating: 4/5
Standout Tracks:
“The Weight”
“In Exile”
“Wood And Wire”
“The Great Exchange”
Release Date: September 14, 2009
So I went on a road trip last week. It should go without saying that it was one of the most enjoyable things I've done in quite a while - I mean, who doesn't love a good road trip? Of course, I had the chance to do all kinds of fun stuff: I got to hang out with lots of old friends from school, I made some new friends and forged some very strong bonds with people I had previously only known a little, I got to see some amazing live music, I had some time to walk around and explore a city (Louisville, KY) I had never been to . . . but none of those things really have anything to do with what Relative Pitch is about (except maybe the live music part, but I'm saving that for a potential future post).
One thing that goes hand-in-hand with a road trip, though, and that I enjoyed getting a chance to do almost as much as all the things listed above, is simply the act of driving and listening to music. Rocking out behind the wheel of an automobile is something everyone enjoys at least every once in a while, and doing it for an extended period of time is something I look forward to every time I schedule a vacation for myself - cramped legs, sore neck, and high gas prices be damned. Even if you're not on a big road trip, it's still exhilarating - whether you're cruising around town at 30mph with the windows down or setting the cruise control for 75 and barreling down the interstate, the sheer act of movement combines with the energy of what you're listening to and really gives you a rush, if you're doing it right.
Of course, you can't play just anything to get this effect - you have to make sure you have the right tunes for driving. Just like anything involving musical taste, this is vastly different for any given human being. What gives one person that adrenaline rush of combined music and momentum may very well bore or annoy the next person. So, with that caveat in mind, here's a breakdown of my favorite road music and why I love it:
- Instrumental, very guitar-driven progressive rock/metal. Being a guitarist myself, this kind of stuff is always fun to listen to (whether or not it's over-the-top enough to be lumped into the "shred guitar" category), and the energy behind the virtuosic playing is what makes it really satisfying to crank up in the car. Sometimes the urge to play air guitar interferes with the need to steer, but this hasn't resulted in any accidents yet. Examples: John Petrucci - Jaws Of Life; Scale The Summit - The Great Plains
- Catchy, melodic alternative rock/indie rock. Ideally, the best of this stuff combines an energetic, driving instrumental factor with great vocal melodies and good lyrical work - making it perfect to sing along to. This is great for getting weird looks from other drivers. Examples: Silversun Pickups - There's No Secrets This Year; The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight
- Heavy - and I do mean heavy - metal. For similar reasons to the first genre mentioned, but instead of technical proficiency (or, in many cases, in addition to it), the driveability comes from sheer heaviness. Detuned guitar riffs, double-bass drumming, screamy/growly vocals (as long as they're performed with some degree of talent) . . . there's nothing like headbanging behind the wheel to a great metal band. Examples: Lamb Of God - Contractor; Opeth - Ghost Of Perdition
- Relatively ambient, mood-inducing music. Let's face it, sometimes you're not in the mood for headbanding or sing-alongs; on a rainy or cloudy morning, something more subdued will make your drive just as enjoyable. All kinds of genres fit the bill here, from trip-hop to post-rock - the most important factor is the vibe it sets. (Of course, you have to be careful here - you don't want to put in anything so chilled-out that you fall asleep at the wheel.) Examples: Massive Attack - Everywhen; Explosions In The Sky - It's Natural To Be Afraid
Naturally, this is an incredibly subjective list, so your ideal driving music might be completely different than mine. Therefore, you are hereby encouraged to leave a comment with the type of tunes that make your commute all the more enjoyable. Whether it aligns with my tunes perfectly or stands as a polar opposite to my picks, I'm looking forward to seeing what other people like to crank up behind the wheel. Post away!
The trouble is, Porcupine Tree have never made particularly grandiose music. It’s not that the music isn’t complex enough, or that it doesn’t carry the emotional weight of the band’s peers’ output - on the contrary, Porcupine Tree’s music tends to be some of the most moving material you’re likely to find in the genre. However, the mood prevalent in most of the band’s music tends to swing between downcast, shoegazing melancholy and biting, acidic outbursts of vitriol, neither of which lend themselves to the epic-sounding Overtures and Grand Finales that bands along the lines of Dream Theater have trademarked. Steven Wilson doesn’t have an operatic bone in his body, which makes his songwriting refreshingly free of bombast. So it really shouldn’t be that surprising that, hot off the heels of recording his first solo album, Insurgentes (you can read my review of that one here), Wilson penned a fifty-five-minute-long suite that covers much of the same emotional territory as his previous releases. That’s not to say The Incident isn’t musically adventurous; between the 14 tracks the title-suite is split up into (henceforth referred to by their individual track names; only in prog-rock does something as simple as naming songs become this complicated), a lot of stylistic ground is covered. “The Incident” and “Circle Of Manias,” for instance, are some of the heaviest material the band has recorded to date. On the other hand, “The Yellow Windows Of The Evening Train” and the suite’s conclusion “I Drive The Hearse” are positively tranquil. The best material in the piece seems to rest comfortably between these extremes: “The Blind House” is a high-energy rocker that charges along mostly in 5/4, while “Time Flies” is almost an epic-within-an-epic, stretching out for nearly twelve minutes of acoustic verses, a chorus featuring some of Wilson’s best vocals yet, and a suitably indulgent guitar solo. The problem is pacing: the placement of something as somber as “I Drive The Hearse” at the end of an epic composition such as this is a big part of why the whole piece doesn’t sit as well as it should; it seems that something so ambitious deserves to go out with a bang, not a whimper. It’s great music when taken at face value, though - Wilson knows how to take a melody or a lyric and twist it, knife-like, right into your heart. It simply seems anticlimactic as part of the bigger picture.
It’s definitely worth noting that The Incident also includes a second disc of material that wasn’t composed as part of the suite (confined to the CD release’s first disc). They’re not b-sides, though - the four songs on the second disc are high-quality Porcupine Tree in their own right, especially the atmospheric “Flicker” and the bitter but somehow smirking “Remember Me Lover”. In a way, the quality of the songs on the second disc further underline the weaknesses of the first. Porcupine Tree seems much more comfortable writing music that’s self-contained into reasonably-sized capsules. Even the specific sections of the first disc that stand out seem to work better when viewed as their own individual songs instead of being forced into a larger concept. Who knows - maybe if the band had focused on developing all the ideas contained in The Incident as their own separate songs instead of pigeon-holing them in as sections of an epic, some of the shorter, almost interlude-like pieces (such as “Great Expectations,” “Kneel And Disconnect,” and “Your Unpleasant Family”) would have been fleshed out further into much more satisfying individual compositions. Food for thought. Really, though, Porcupine Tree is an incredibly talented band, and a lot of the music contained in The Incident is some of the best they’ve released. Their music is just more powerful when delivered on a slightly-smaller scale than the standard prog-rock epic. Maybe in their case, “less is more” really is advice to be followed.
Rating: 3.5/5
Standout Tracks:
“Time Flies”
“Remember Me Lover”
“The Blind House”
“Flicker”
Release Date: September 14, 2009
