Toadies bring "new" album material to Pittsburgh

Album Review: Toadies
Feeler

In lieu of being able to attend the Toadies show this Friday (9/17) at the Altar Bar, we humbly offer a review of Feeler, their latest release. If you're looking for a good rock n' roll show in Pittsburgh, the Toadies will certainly deliver, as evidenced by when we caught them at Lollapalooza in 2008.

Overall, this effort from the Texas trio lacked the cohesive feel of a traditional album, but the album itself came to be in a very nontraditional way. Originally planned as their sophomore release, Feeler never saw the light of day thanks to record label difficulties; a few tracks made it onto 2001's Hell Below/Stars Above, though, which became the Toadies' "official" second album. The now EP-length Feeler grew into a 9-track LP by adding several songs which, up until now, were only performed live by the group. So yeah, the album seems a little pieced together for good reason.

Toadies music is simple. No synths, no vocoders, no string quartet for the sensitive ballad…just guitar, bass, and drums rocking out. In some ways, though, Feeler got a bit too simple for us. It's a short album of short tracks--the longest clocks in at 3:52 and several don't even make it to the three-minute mark. For that reason, certain songs felt as though they didn't really have time to develop lyrically or musically, with choruses often only containing a few catch words repeated over and over.

On the other hand, the Toadies aren't afraid to run away from predictable musical formulas--dissonant chords and atonal guitar solos add a level of complexity and create an eerie mood to good effect. In fact, those deliberate weird, twisting notes start sounding quite pleasing (and refreshingly different) after a few listens to Feeler.

The most notable tracks were:

"Waterfall," with its rolling 3/4 time beat creating a sense of urgency as frontman Todd Lewis explains "now is the time/the time is now."
"Dead Boy," a simple but catchy morbid punk anthem.
"Mine," a creepy stalker love song that's so wrong it's right.
"Joey Let's Go," a more sensitive song. The pleading lyrics try to convince a friend to get over a girl, saying "it was over before it began."

Feeler will more than likely remain an under-the-radar CD for rabid fans to add to their collections, and even its best tracks may not get picked up for radio play. But in a way, this album seems to have been more of an act of self-gratification after all the initial struggles the band endured in order to make its release a reality. We'll give them a pat on the back, but next time we expect a little more from the Toadies.

Grade: C-

Who needs love when there's Southern Comfort?

Who Killed Amanda Palmer, the solo debut from the Dresden Dolls singer and soulmate of yours truly, comes out September 16, and it is brilliant.

The disc was produced by Ben Folds, and it's got the kind of bouncy pop tracks you might expect to hear on a Ben Folds Five record, as well as some gorgeous ballads. I'm particularly excited that the plaintive "Ampersand" is as good on record as it is live.

As always, the stars of the show are Amanda's deeply personal words, which range from longing and forlorn to wickedly funny.

"The ghetto boys are catcalling," she sings in "Ampersand," before asking, "I wonder if this method of courtship has ever been effective. Has any girl in history said, 'Sure, you seem so nice, let's get it on!'"

St. Vincent's Annie Clark makes on appearance on "What's the Use of Wond'rin?", which sounds like an old-fashioned lullaby. Clark's voice is alone with a music box for the song's first 90 seconds, before Palmer jumps in, and they duet beautifully to close the song.

That track is followed by the lively "Oasis," which features hand claps, synthesizers, and Beach Boys-esque surf-pop background vocals, even while Palmer sings a story about being raped and getting an abortion. It's a combination that couldn't possibly work - except it does. The title is a reference to the arrogant British band - "I've seen better days, but I don't care/Oasis got my letter in the mail."

"Strength Through Music" is yet another standout, a sparse piano ballad about violence written just after Columbine. The silence between notes adds tension and drama, in much the same fashion as Sigur Ros' "Heysatan."

Palmer has a knack for identifying life's most troubling moments and expressing them in a heartbreaking manner. She can feel our pain, and her wounds provide a catharsis for listeners who identify with her. It's like she's on the cross for all of us. Wait, did I just compare Amanda Palmer to Jesus? Sure, why not.

"Just cause they call themselves friends doesn't mean they'll call," she laments in the pretty "The Point of it All." In "Another Year," she depressingly decides to postpone her ambitions, reasoning, "I'm only 26 years old. My grandmother died at 83. That's lots of time, if I don't smoke. I think I'll wait another year."

Admittedly, I'm a huge Dresden Dolls fan, and not at all impartial. But I honestly wasn't expecting a lot from this disc. I thought it would be a pretty quiet, low-key effort that wouldn't compare to the Dolls' records. Thankfully, I was dead wrong.

Videos have already been shot for several of the album's tracks.

Video: Amanda Palmer - Strength Through Music


Video: Amanda Palmer - Runs in the Family