failurefirst
11 Mar 2003, 06:44 PM
yup, the ugly organ is the heart. for you symbolists, let's get this out of the way. tim kasher's emotionally driven (and strained) lyrics seem to pour out of this organ in an embellished way rising beneath the thump and scratch of the cursive sound, and we are all supposed to sway and cry at this outpouring.
ok, emotion and heart are two words that you will not find any further in this post. instead, the unstopping adulation i have for this newest release from omaha's favorite (for those anti-bright eyes lurkers) cursive. cursive has really flown beneath the radar of most big-biz exploits in this genre, probably because they are just too damn good.
"the ugly organ" is a quasi-concept album, following the last lp which was also a quasi-concept album, domestica. domestica delivered in its anger and frustration, while the cursive boys stuck with traditional rock instruments in an emo-type fashion to trash about and cause a harmonic mess. the interim ep, 'burst in bloom' showed cursive branching out not only in gender and sound (the addition of cellist gretta chon), but also in technique. the songwriting was impressive, and it seemed that cursive, as a band, had indeed bloomed.
what happens after the bloom, though, it one for the critics. 'the ulgly organ' shows a sinister darkness that is no longer fueled by anger, but of just plain fuckedupness. recently seeing tim kasher and co. live, the man is not right. voices come from two sides of his head as his hands stop playing guitar to bang the lyrics out. the sound of 'ugly organ' reflects this complexity and twisted side of rock rarely pulled off. this is the neo-classic. frankenstein, mary shelley style. lyrics hinting about monsters and butchers fly around a concept album supposedly commenting on the strange relationship between art and commerce. yes, the 'art is hard' and 'the ugly organist' and 'butcher the song' touch on this idea of the strangled artist bled for production and selling of shiny cds, but the album's strongest point is in 'the recluse,' 'driftwood: a fairy tale,' and 'sierra.' driftwood's the best to tell someone about who's into these cookie-cutter rock bands mass produced on nuggets albums. it's a song staring a wood little boy named, yep, pinnochio, but screams, "liar! liar!" to the world he so wished to be a part of. only a couple other bands could come close to how well cursive pulls this off.
oh, yeah, they are this good live, too.
t.
ok, emotion and heart are two words that you will not find any further in this post. instead, the unstopping adulation i have for this newest release from omaha's favorite (for those anti-bright eyes lurkers) cursive. cursive has really flown beneath the radar of most big-biz exploits in this genre, probably because they are just too damn good.
"the ugly organ" is a quasi-concept album, following the last lp which was also a quasi-concept album, domestica. domestica delivered in its anger and frustration, while the cursive boys stuck with traditional rock instruments in an emo-type fashion to trash about and cause a harmonic mess. the interim ep, 'burst in bloom' showed cursive branching out not only in gender and sound (the addition of cellist gretta chon), but also in technique. the songwriting was impressive, and it seemed that cursive, as a band, had indeed bloomed.
what happens after the bloom, though, it one for the critics. 'the ulgly organ' shows a sinister darkness that is no longer fueled by anger, but of just plain fuckedupness. recently seeing tim kasher and co. live, the man is not right. voices come from two sides of his head as his hands stop playing guitar to bang the lyrics out. the sound of 'ugly organ' reflects this complexity and twisted side of rock rarely pulled off. this is the neo-classic. frankenstein, mary shelley style. lyrics hinting about monsters and butchers fly around a concept album supposedly commenting on the strange relationship between art and commerce. yes, the 'art is hard' and 'the ugly organist' and 'butcher the song' touch on this idea of the strangled artist bled for production and selling of shiny cds, but the album's strongest point is in 'the recluse,' 'driftwood: a fairy tale,' and 'sierra.' driftwood's the best to tell someone about who's into these cookie-cutter rock bands mass produced on nuggets albums. it's a song staring a wood little boy named, yep, pinnochio, but screams, "liar! liar!" to the world he so wished to be a part of. only a couple other bands could come close to how well cursive pulls this off.
oh, yeah, they are this good live, too.
t.