The National - The Boxer, and TMBG - Lincoln

Today, I'll be recommending two albums that have nothing to each other, and you will learn to deal with that.

First on the block today is The Boxer, a work with a deceptive chill sound, despite some fairly rebellious and political messages. Considered by many fans to be The National's best album, The Boxer is best listened too as a whole, and on first listen may not seem to be a big stray from the National's repertoire. Matt Berninger's clever writing and pleasant sleepy drone are present on every track, both of which tend to create a sedated feel to the album, somewhat in the same vein that Mark Knopfler did for Dire Straits.

And, just like Knopfler's work in Dire Strait, it's therefore very easy to miss, listening casually, some incredible work by the bands musicians. It's The National's drummer, Bryan Devendorf, that really stands out on this album, supplying steady and complex rhythm to songs that are deceptively simple in their progression. Also, if you're like me and thus a sucker for a brass section, The National does excellent work with sax and trumpets, which adds just the right amount of life to the album.

The band's influences are fairly clear, and Berninger's songwriting is heavily informed by fellow baritones Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen. What I really admire in Berninger's lyrics is his ability to both write on a deeply personal level, while simultaneously writing about the world as a whole-This is done, as though to really get at the theme of the album off the bat, very nicely and succinctly in the opening song, "Fake Empire:"

 "Stay out super late tonight
picking apples, making pies
put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us
we're half-awake in a fake empire"

It's a pretty strong juxtaposition for the opening lines of the album, but it sets the stage for really understanding the overarching point. I admire the band for still considering the "message" of the album, though it's not technically a concept album, even in an age where the album as an art form is dying.

Favorite Tracks: Fake Empire, Slow Show, Guest Room, Start a War




Next up is Lincoln, probably the best album by geek band veterans, They Might Be Giants. It's hard to quite know what to say about a band that has been around for so long and has produced so much excellent music, achieving a rabid cult fandom of multiple generations. Often called the "Hardest working band in music," it's true that the duo of Jonathan Flansburgh and John Linnel are mightily prolific. They released two albums in 2011 alone, one of them a studio album created entirely while the band was on tour (although it wasn't the better of the two).

Linnel, left, Flansburgh, Right

It's often hard to know where to jump in when there is simply so much material, and not all of it is immediately accessible, so let me offer Lincoln as a great jumping in point for people wanting to see what all the fuss is about. (Apollo 18 is another good starting point, but I've been listening to Lincoln lately, so there you go.)

I recommend Lincoln because, more so than most of their other major works, Lincoln contains the widest range of their music, from their more serious songs, to their abstract ones, to the more experimental, and to the silly/humor driven ones, and some of the best examples of those categories to boot. TMBG can sometimes be a difficult band to define what exactly their goals or overall message is, and I think Lincoln is one of the better lenses from which to view their work.

So lets break down their categories. First, I'll mention one of the more serious songs on this album, which has the feature of sounding a hell of a lot happier than it's lyrics indicate. One of the real gem's on this album, "They'll Need a Crane", is a rather depressing commentary on a relationship in disarray and damaging to the partners involved, held together by strong ties of co dependance and habit.


"They'll need a crane, they'll need a crane
To take the house he built for her apart
To make it break it's gonna take a metal ball hung from a chain
They'll need a crane, they'll need a crane
To pick the broken ruins up again
To mend her heart, to help him start to see a world apart from pain

Don't call me at work again no no the boss still hates me
I'm just tired and I don't love you anymore
And there's a restaurant we should check out where
The other nightmare people like to go
I mean nice people, baby wait,
I didn't mean to say nightmare"

A little dark, right? Keep in mind, that this is the same album that contains another song with the following sensibility: 

"I'm going down to Cowtown
The cow's a friend to me
Lives beneath the ocean and that's where I will be
Beneath the waves, the waves
And that's where I will be
I'm gonna see the cow beneath the sea"

Linnel plays the accordion. Don't hold it against him.

As I said, the band covers a lot of Ground. If there is one thing however that pervades all of their work, is a very clever and absurd sense of humor that has become TMBG's trademark. It's what consistently makes their music a joy to listen to, no matter what subject they turn their pen on. Themes on this album range from the absurd, (A march in defense of an insane man who is demanding a "Shoehorn with Teeth") to the sweetly sad, ("Snowball in Hell" A sigh of a song about an underemployed salesman) to biting satire, (An unrepentant CEO rejoices in the dirty deeds and enemies he's made in "Kiss Me, Son of God"). Despite the wide range of topics, and boy can they get odd, the offbeat charm possessed by the duo shines through. 

Favorite Tracks: 
"Ana Ng," "Mr. Me" "I've Got a Match" "They'll Need a Crane" "Snowball in Hell" 
 

The Weatherman

In my Rango review, I suggested I'd write about this so I have. The Weatherman, Gore Verbinski's tightly written, and somewhat fatalistic drama starring Nicolas Cage, barely entered into the public eye before it fell into obscurity. It's possible that it even deserved it; Receiving mixed reviews from critics and general audience alike, the film is often seen as too dark, and without much payoff in return for the viewer. That being said, this is a film I loved the first time I saw it, and still think about it often, largely because I think people are wrong. (Stupid people.)

I'd like to start by talking about the performances in this movie: Firstly, Nicolas Cage is fantastic in this vehicle, and that's not something I say often. I say that, because Cage is awkward and dumpy, an everyman somewhere in between Jeff Goldblum and Homer Simpson, but not as likeable as either. How, therefore, he ends up constantly as a star in action films is beyond my imagination. For me, where he shines is in his portrayals of deeply flawed men in family stories, such as in "Raising Arizona" or "Family Man", which is a very comparable film to this one. There's something very sad about his performance here, which is right on target, given the characters devotion to impossible tasks.

Michael Caine also delivers a very strong performance as Cage's much more likeable, and world-renowned author, father.  Caine, in his sage way, brings some of the most memorable and touching moments in the film, and delivers the overall message of the story that I believe a lot of people missed out on.

The story itself is about Cage's attempts to rekindle romance with his ex-wife, re-assume the head of his household, and fix the problems of his deeply troubled children. He imagines that this will be easy now that his career is taking off-Cage's character is a successful weatherman on local TV, and will soon be moving up to statewide television. Some of what he tries is successful; he does seem to be able to help his daughter, at least a little bit, move to a healthier place. His attempts to his ex-wife, who does at first seem to share his goal, are disastrous to say the least. Meanwhile, he discovers that his father has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and that his wife has begun seeing a new flame. At first sight, it's a fairly standard drama; a career man with a struggling home-life attempts to right his wrongs. Where it diverges is that the character, due to his own obsessions, inadequacies, and past failings, fails at virtually every attempt, and is eventually forced to let go of the idea that redemption is possible for him.

Oh yeah, there's also quite a bit about archery in there.

Now, that's a challenging notion for any viewer, and one that we are not used to facing in a narrative. We are used to characters, for the most part, who, even if they don't change themselves much, find a way to get at least some of the things they want. His wife hates him more than when he started, he's still distanced from his kids, and his father is now dead, leaving him only with his last words of advice, "In this shit life, you have to chuck the garbage." Someday, I may talk about Young Adult, Reitman's new film which has a similar theme to it's ending, (although I think the Weather Man is stronger, all things considered.)

So yes, it's dark, but in the end, we find that this isn't supposed to be a story about redemption, but about accepting one's failures and learning not to obsess over them but to move on, which in a case like this one, can be a lot harder.

One final note on the movie: Like "The Ring," and "Rango," Verbinski's visual flair is on full display in the New York winter-scape. It's also very funny, if you have the dry kind of humor that can take it.