Its was more than five years ago when my buddy Zach handed me a cdr disc that his friend Matt had burned him. Across the top someone had scrawled the letters "MMJ" in a blue sharpie and on the bottom, the word, "sampler". Apparently the musicians on this disc were in town opening for someone or other at the Crystal Ballroom and I should listen to this disc because it contained highlights from their recorded career. Because Zach and I trade music often and we are both overly dramatic about things we like and hate, I didn't quite make a beeline to a cd player immediately. I never even made it to that show but throughout the hazy, whiskey fueled summer (shouldn't they all be?) as Zach developed plans to open his now famous hot dog shack on Portland's shakedown street, Hawthorne Ave, haunting sounds emanated from that "sampler" disc and they seeped into my pores. I can remember staring at fuzzed out porch lights at six in the morning as the sun began to peak through power lines. I watched Zach and his girlfriend slow dance to these songs that sounded timeless after a week and are now ingrained in my dna. Jim James' eerie, reverb soaked voice wove a warm blanket over us, similar to how my father would wrap me up, protected like a cocoon, when he tucked me in at night.
The first time I saw My Morning Jacket was in November of 2005 at the Fillmore in San Francisco. The band decked out the legendary stage as a mystical, wooded forest and tore through a diverse array of epic, soulful rock n' roll leaving me sweaty and pulsing with energy. Although I already new the Jacket was my favorite new band, I was floored by the majesty and power of their renowned live show. I found myself singing along to songs I had never heard before.
Truthfully, this must all sound familiar. At this point, CNN and The New York Times are reporting on these affable and witty fellas (mostly) from Louisville, KY. No need for extended hyperbole from me when you can pick up the latest copy of Rolling Stone to see the band get their jimmie waxed by mass media. However, I believe it makes a profound statement when a band makes a move from playing New Years at the 1100 seat Fillmore in 2006 and two years later is set to headline Madison Square Garden on the same night.
The Jacket is making the new classic rock. Truly classic rock is classic because it resonates with thousands if not millions of people. Its more than difficult to make creative and accessible rock n' roll that weakens the knees in arenas. My Morning Jacket songs sound as if they have existed in the rock n' roll canon for thirty years. The melodies are instantly familiar, emotional, and soothing. This is music that is beginning to speak to the heart of a generation that yearns to be comforted.
The band is simply on fire like Lebron's celebrated 50 point explosion in the same building where New Years will go down. Fundamentaly sound, smooth in transition, powerfully graceful, passionate, complimantary and in the public eye, humble. Only the highly suspicious argue their greatness as the Jacket are uniting a otherwise polarized music community. From Spin magazine to the New York Times. From Johnny hipster posting on Stereogum to dreadlocked Jamie at High Sierra, christ, even your dad probably knows the Jacket is in the house.
From a musical standpoint, the title track of their widely praised new album, Evil Urges, shows how this band does not rest on its laurels. Barnstorming out of the gate with a thunderous drum beat and a filtered synth line the song sounds as fresh and energetic as a back talking eight year old. A pretty guitar line settles the emotion and we are suddenly in the middle of MMJ style downtempo. (DJ Sec Walkin?) Its always been difficult to discern Jimmy James' lyrics without the help of liner notes and Evil Urges is no exception. "Its not the words that he says," anyway, "its the way that he sings". Upon further investigation Evil Urges is a song about yearning and craving, that faith in the human race to find a better way. Ain't no doubt "evil urges - they be part of the human way" but "it ain't evil if it ain't hurtin' nobody". The new way has "no racial boundary lines", "no social subdivisions". "Love dawg", (to quote another song), "If you want it - you can!" Lets make a run for this together.
Check out the bridge. "I'm not saying I'm not saying that I want it 'someday'. I'm not saying I'm not saying that I want it 'somehow'...I'm ready for it now!". Listen to the way James hits emotionally gorgeous falsetto territory during the song's peak. If your heart is not stirred I can't help you. It feels as if the collection of recorded and performed My Morning Jacket music has built to this one moment as the group demands your attention to their power and beauty. Then, in a flash, the band switches gears and drops into an anthemic, Who-style, guitar breakdown that sounds utterly out of and in place. The hinges are off, the bandwagon is burgeoning and the party is in full swing. Get down on it this summer.
The first time I saw My Morning Jacket was in November of 2005 at the Fillmore in San Francisco. The band decked out the legendary stage as a mystical, wooded forest and tore through a diverse array of epic, soulful rock n' roll leaving me sweaty and pulsing with energy. Although I already new the Jacket was my favorite new band, I was floored by the majesty and power of their renowned live show. I found myself singing along to songs I had never heard before.
Truthfully, this must all sound familiar. At this point, CNN and The New York Times are reporting on these affable and witty fellas (mostly) from Louisville, KY. No need for extended hyperbole from me when you can pick up the latest copy of Rolling Stone to see the band get their jimmie waxed by mass media. However, I believe it makes a profound statement when a band makes a move from playing New Years at the 1100 seat Fillmore in 2006 and two years later is set to headline Madison Square Garden on the same night.
The Jacket is making the new classic rock. Truly classic rock is classic because it resonates with thousands if not millions of people. Its more than difficult to make creative and accessible rock n' roll that weakens the knees in arenas. My Morning Jacket songs sound as if they have existed in the rock n' roll canon for thirty years. The melodies are instantly familiar, emotional, and soothing. This is music that is beginning to speak to the heart of a generation that yearns to be comforted.
The band is simply on fire like Lebron's celebrated 50 point explosion in the same building where New Years will go down. Fundamentaly sound, smooth in transition, powerfully graceful, passionate, complimantary and in the public eye, humble. Only the highly suspicious argue their greatness as the Jacket are uniting a otherwise polarized music community. From Spin magazine to the New York Times. From Johnny hipster posting on Stereogum to dreadlocked Jamie at High Sierra, christ, even your dad probably knows the Jacket is in the house.
From a musical standpoint, the title track of their widely praised new album, Evil Urges, shows how this band does not rest on its laurels. Barnstorming out of the gate with a thunderous drum beat and a filtered synth line the song sounds as fresh and energetic as a back talking eight year old. A pretty guitar line settles the emotion and we are suddenly in the middle of MMJ style downtempo. (DJ Sec Walkin?) Its always been difficult to discern Jimmy James' lyrics without the help of liner notes and Evil Urges is no exception. "Its not the words that he says," anyway, "its the way that he sings". Upon further investigation Evil Urges is a song about yearning and craving, that faith in the human race to find a better way. Ain't no doubt "evil urges - they be part of the human way" but "it ain't evil if it ain't hurtin' nobody". The new way has "no racial boundary lines", "no social subdivisions". "Love dawg", (to quote another song), "If you want it - you can!" Lets make a run for this together.
Check out the bridge. "I'm not saying I'm not saying that I want it 'someday'. I'm not saying I'm not saying that I want it 'somehow'...I'm ready for it now!". Listen to the way James hits emotionally gorgeous falsetto territory during the song's peak. If your heart is not stirred I can't help you. It feels as if the collection of recorded and performed My Morning Jacket music has built to this one moment as the group demands your attention to their power and beauty. Then, in a flash, the band switches gears and drops into an anthemic, Who-style, guitar breakdown that sounds utterly out of and in place. The hinges are off, the bandwagon is burgeoning and the party is in full swing. Get down on it this summer.
1 comment:
Well put! You just can't help but love them!
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