Press: MMJ returns with airy, ambient sound of Z

[LaurieBlue]

http://flathat.wm.edu/story.php?issue=2005-09-09&type=4&aid=2

My Morning Jacket returns with airy, ambient sound of 'Z'

By CONOR MCKAY
THE FLAT HAT
The music world of the 2000s has looked to the anglo-chic culture for good music, and for awhile that worked. Interpol, for example, is amazing. Franz Ferdinand? Sign me up. But now what do we have? The Bravery, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs and Louis XIV. The same genre that produced great albums like "Turn on the Bright Lights" has produced "No Brakes," "Hot Fuss," "Employment" and "The Best Little Secrets are Kept." Somebody always has to ruin it.

Yes, the anglophile in me has died just like the emo kid in me died last week. Therefore, the time has come for a new reigning champion to take center stage. If you please, I give you Americana.

For the past five years, the genre has been percolating, and now it's finally ready to be put on the table for the music world to feast on and be merry. With Sufjan Stevens' Chaucer-esque quest to produce 50 states' albums well underway, The Shins being the band that will change your life, The Flaming Lips and Beck touring together for the betterment of society and Wilco being Wilco, the stars are aligning for a takeover. Now is when those fringe bands who have been on the verge of blowing up for years can finally make it: bands like the ever talented My Morning Jacket.

Since their first release in 1999, My Morning Jacket has drawn comparisons to nearly every noteworthy U.S. band since the 50s, and every one of them is warranted. They've been credited with influences ranging from the classics -- Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Television, Lou Reed and the Velvets -- to the completely different, rather experimental Mercury Rev. If Wilco is the American Radiohead, My Morning Jacket sounds like a Pink Floyd from the heartland (so what if it's the wrong decade).

They carry the same jam band feel as a Mercury Rev, but their songs are much more concise. Jim James' songwriting has sharpened since the band's inception and now they have the ability to sweep in and out of pop seamlessly. Listening to a My Morning Jacket album is like taking a monumental road trip -- one straight across the U. S. of A. You may never be quite sure if you have a destination or if you're just along for the ride, but it doesn't seem to matter. My Morning Jacket plays music that can feel almost transcendent. "Z" follows suit with their previous three releases, keeping the reverb high, the guitars airy, the top down and the wind in your hair. It picks up right where "It Still Moves" (2003) left off, and where "The Tennessee Fire" (1999) and "At Dawn" (2001) left off before that -- somewhere west of the Mississippi.

"It Still Moves," My Morning Jacket's first major label release, managed to break into the mainstream and even made it onto MTV2 (although it never did drop that appended number). "Z" may not be as poppy as "It Still Moves," lacking a clear radio single, but it still does a great job of getting your head bobbing, your fingers tapping and your heart beating in time. After all, The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" didn't have a clear single either, and it wasn't even as great as their previous album "The Soft Bulletin," but it is what propelled the band into the public eye. "Z" certainly deserves listeners, and maybe now's the perfect time for an album like this.

If ever there were a band to listen to on the open road, this is it. My Morning Jacket paints beautiful landscapes of sound, mimicking the wide open spaces for which this great country is known. "Z" has the ability to make you feel whole. The album isn't spectacular, but My Morning Jacket is filling its niche the way Jim James and company know how. What they do should be considered much more important than anything a similar band like Grandaddy could do. "Z," like each of their other albums, respects its audience as a piece of the puzzle. Most bands put on a show. In a way, My Morning Jacket invites you to experience the music along with them. They might not wow you, but on the right day, with the right mood, they cleanse you, and that's a feat most bands can't perform.

[ratsprayer]

good article...i agree especially with the live shows, its like youve been invited to be a part of something more unique than an average concert.  its like theyre up there disovering something for themselves and have invited you, instead of paying money to go see them, know wot i mean?

i also like the article for saying THE SOFT BULLETIN is better than YOSHIMI...  because its true.

[ratsprayer]

i also like the article for saying THE SOFT BULLETIN is better than YOSHIMI...  because its true.

wait, this sounds like i definitively know music and all that.  the above statement is merely an opinion, or maybe wot i perceive as a fact.  wheres the line between analyzing and deciding wots good and bad in your mind and debating with people?  

[EC]

wait, this sounds like i definitively know music and all that.  the above statement is merely an opinion, or maybe wot i perceive as a fact.  wheres the line between analyzing and deciding wots good and bad in your mind and debating with people?  

Just say what you feel ratsprayer. :)  It's all too tricky to figure out.  

[tomEisenbraun]

I agree about the soft bulletin. Such a gut-wrenching album, in such a beautiful way. I think I've cried to Feelin Yourself Disintegrate.

About saying you think an album is better than another, or that you don't like something, that's cool. Go for it. Not everyone degrees, and it's cool to defend yourself on it, but there;s no need for anyone to get aggressive about it.

With the other discussion about cheap keyboards, which I don't think I've seen from Off the Record or Wordless Chorus, i would say it would be expected to see some objection, because cheap carries a few connotations with it. Maybe thin? or underproduced? would be better? I don't know, if you dislike something, feel free to digress so that we all understand your point, but I think that not liking something that a lot of people do like, and assuming they'll know what you mean or agree is not always best. Sometimes in your in a relativly uncrowded boat, and sometimes you get the whole crew and captain along with ya, it just depends on how other people feel.

I understand everyone doesnt love every nuance of the Jacket, but they soothe me, and rock me, and make me cry, all in ways that no other band has, so I love them.