Post by Kathy on Aug 28, 2004 10:48:18 GMT -5
Playlist Mgazine is a new magazine all about digital music. The premiere issue is out now, you can also check out their site:
playlistmag.com/
They sent me their Folker review to post on the site and here it is. (ps: Playlist is edited by Missy Roback, who also makes great music).
Paul Westerberg
Folker
(Vagrant)
After the superficial gloss and anemic sales of Suicaine Gratification, his last professional studio release, Paul Westerberg retreated and took stock. It was a rumor-filled hiatus (“Is he done?” “Is he drinking?”), but the former Replacements hero re-emerged with a slew of uneven but ultimately encouraging one-man-band records from his ongoing Basement Tapes experiment.
The latest entry, Folker, shares the approach of the four previous lo-fi recordings that followed 1999’s Suicaine, but its execution is much closer to the critically lauded Stereo than, say, the built-in-a-day rifno noe of Dead Man Shake. In fact, Folker may be the best mix of Mono-like rockers and Stereo-esque ballads yet to emerge from Westerberg’s rudimentary basement studio.
Folker’s almost-filler-free set of songs and more nuanced arrangements highlight Westerberg’s strengths: heart-rending lyrics (the ode to his now-deceased father, “My Dad”), minor-chord poignancy (“How Can You Like Him?”), pop hooks (“As Far As I Know”), and ’Mats-rock (“Gun Shy”). Every so often, you might still wish he’d hire a producer and a drummer, but the flaws on Folker remind us that an integral part of Westerberg’s appeal has always been his humanity.
— JOHN SCHACHT
playlistmag.com/
They sent me their Folker review to post on the site and here it is. (ps: Playlist is edited by Missy Roback, who also makes great music).
Paul Westerberg
Folker
(Vagrant)
After the superficial gloss and anemic sales of Suicaine Gratification, his last professional studio release, Paul Westerberg retreated and took stock. It was a rumor-filled hiatus (“Is he done?” “Is he drinking?”), but the former Replacements hero re-emerged with a slew of uneven but ultimately encouraging one-man-band records from his ongoing Basement Tapes experiment.
The latest entry, Folker, shares the approach of the four previous lo-fi recordings that followed 1999’s Suicaine, but its execution is much closer to the critically lauded Stereo than, say, the built-in-a-day rifno noe of Dead Man Shake. In fact, Folker may be the best mix of Mono-like rockers and Stereo-esque ballads yet to emerge from Westerberg’s rudimentary basement studio.
Folker’s almost-filler-free set of songs and more nuanced arrangements highlight Westerberg’s strengths: heart-rending lyrics (the ode to his now-deceased father, “My Dad”), minor-chord poignancy (“How Can You Like Him?”), pop hooks (“As Far As I Know”), and ’Mats-rock (“Gun Shy”). Every so often, you might still wish he’d hire a producer and a drummer, but the flaws on Folker remind us that an integral part of Westerberg’s appeal has always been his humanity.
— JOHN SCHACHT
