1. Preston the Penguin 2. To Jane Gallagher 3. Crestfallen 4. The Battle of Agincourt 5. Historiography 6. Hindsight 7. The Book of Love One gets the feeling that the almost exclusively minimalist approach to instrumentation used on this EP might seem out of place elsewhere—but throughout the course of its seven appetizing tracks, all but one of which ring in under four minutes, minimalism proves to be an approach that could not have been implemented more perfectly. Yes, even when the backing band kicks in with a solo or a second layer of noise, what the listener hears is more (or less?) than noise—this is the type of well-oiled, deftly composed power pop with which literary, geeky kids fell in love in the glory days of groups like Weezer. Without making the now obligatory snide remarks about the career arc of Weezer, I think it’s safe to say that many miss the honesty and angry innocence of the early days of that Weezer sound. Well, allow me to be the first reviewer to say that Steve Goldberg is not the solution to your Weezer craving. Did you think I was about to say that Steve Goldberg takes me back to those days? In truth, he does. But as in most cases, there’s a lot more to it than that, and I would be lax to send you off expecting Weezer. There are a few things I can guarantee you will take away from this album—and all of them are one hundred percent original Steve Goldberg. With the first track, Preston the Penguin, Goldberg manages to kick off the record with a rollicking, and decidedly whimsical, power-pop anthem. This is also the first track where it occurred to me that Steve Goldberg has an above-average singing voice. As soon as I got over the twinge of jealousy that occurs every time I hear someone sing better than me, I listened again and again to Steve hitting the same notes that I can hit—but without a hint of strain. These reeds are clearly unbeatable—or if there is any vocal obstacle Goldberg does not feel comfortable scaling, he steers well clear of it here, and leaves with his listener an impression of being perhaps the world’s most relaxed performer in his vocal range. In To Jane Gallagher, the singer’s thinly guised search for his perfect girl (whom we suspect he already knows?), the lyrics are winning: “I need a girl / who reads between the lines / of Shakespeare and Joyce / she’s read Catcher no less than five times.” Possibly the least self-conscious love song ever written, the specificity of the requests is what makes this song touching, in the sense that it is surely obvious to anyone who knows the classic Salinger character “Jane Gallagher” that the lyrics are about her. A note to Troy, of “Mixtape of Love” infamy: next time, just play her this song. “So if you think you’ve seen her / could you tell me where to find her? / if you’ve heard a little rumor / just whisper and I’ll go.” Who wouldn’t love to have those words sung about them? Oh yeah, and the music’s great too. Somewhat deceptively, the upbeat foot-tapper known as Crestfallen is one of the more uplifting songs on this EP. It also happens to be one of my personal favorites. And is that an Elvis Costello reference I hear? Between its very medievally oriented lyrics, and its status as the longest track on How I Remember Them, The Battle of Agincourt could well be called the album’s “epic,” based, as many listeners will recall, upon the 1415 battle fought between the English and the French. Upon first listen, I didn’t care for this song—it seemed clunky (like the armor in which the song’s character is clad, perhaps?) when set against the other songs, and didn’t try hard enough to be clever or literary. Upon listening again, however, I realized that my reasons for disliking the song doubled as reasons to enjoy it. Is “clunky” just another word for “honest?” Historiography is another favorite track that I will listen to repeatedly for its uniquely sung chorus and time signature. It also happens to include this EP’s namesake phrase. “Looking back through my fisheye lens / everyone is just how I remember them / I’ll edit out all the nasty bits / and give you this: a revisionist history of me.” Beginning with what is certainly the most dramatically building intro of all the songs, Hindsight is for the most part a sleepy, sweet little tune that may have been unremarkable were it not for the wise decision Goldberg makes at several points in the song to shift from the initially deeper vocals into his trademark soaring, reedy performance—the perfect accompaniment to certain parts of this song where the guitar comes out front and asks for more vocals. This song makes me want to lock Steve in a tower with a guitar and some blank sheets of music, just to make absolutely certain that he will never stop writing music. It also wouldn’t hurt if he could spin straw into gold, but we don’t have to talk about that right now. We’ve reached the last track: an inspired cover of The Magnetic Fields’ Book of Love. Incidentally, the first Steve Goldberg song I ever heard was also a cover—the fact alone that it was a cover of King of Carrot Flowers was enough to make me check it out, and once I heard it I knew I was in the presence of talent. But I digress. In Steve’s choice of a closing track for his EP, he is consistently tasteful and true to his roots—it’s hard to say where I’ve heard this song performed better. Why did I feel the need to review this EP on a track-by-track basis? Only some of it has to do with guilt over not having contributed to this site in too long. No, I truly believe that each of these smashingly original tunes is worthy of your time and attention, and will even go so far as to provide you with a link to Steve Goldberg’s website, where Mr. Goldberg has seen fit to provide you with three songs from the How I Remember Them EP, and an additional five cover tracks, for only the small toll of your time. Buy this album, reader, if only so that you can brandish it two years down the road and say, “I knew him before he hit it big.” 9/10

The upcoming compilation, slated for release via download on September 9th, and then CD release at a later date, will follow suit with the original project by attempting to set a record for the fastest “studio-to-sale” recording time of an album.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and The Democratic Republic of Congo are all listed to receive direct monetary aid from the album’s sales.

BBC reports.

This valuable piece of reconnaissance was reported by none other than the journalistic bloodhounds at the MTV (Music Television) Network, as they appeared finally to have caught on to Sufjan Stevens’ musical genius.

After a fashion. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that the folks at MTV caught on to his popularity. In any case, those of us who “get” MTV were treated to an exciting (and soon, I predict, to be proven rare) chance to see our favorite banjo balladeer riding the wave of national television coverage.

While much of the interview on MTV’s News program, You Hear It First, was nothing but old hat for faithful followers of Stevens, one potentially juicy bit of information may have surfaced regarding the top choices for the next State in the ongoing 50 States Project. Stevens was quoted as sharing, “I’ve been working on songs for Oregon and Rhode Island and New Jersey lately, just based on information I’ve read about their histories.” Predictably, though, this statement was countered by his admission that the volume of suggestions he gets in any given area of the country is overwhelming.

A brief written summary and a link to video of the broadcast can be found through MTV’s site here.

In a story that is thought as of press time to be unrelated, several so-called indie kids’ heads were also reported to have spontaneously exploded.

So states the band’s bio on Madison House Publicity, and who am I to argue? To be perfectly honest, my initial reaction to this group was one of semi-wary appreciation–I have done my time in the jam band scene, folks, and have, for the most part, moved on. However, I still owe the scene an occasional visit, as I attribute my appreciation and knowledge of jazz to my immersion in the Grateful Dead as a child. So when my hippie counterpart, Chris, called me up and demanded that I see Umphrey’s McGee (and after a brief confusion over exactly whose McGee I was intended to see, and why), I obliged, though admittedly not expecting much.

Once again, I am glad to say that lowered expectations have managed to yield amazing results.

Let’s get something straight right away: Umphrey’s McGee is not a jam band. That is to say, they’re not just a jam band, even though they borrow their three-hour, multi-set concert structure from the jam band scene, and have been called “the new Phish.” Umphrey’s McGee have been characterized by many jazz afficianados as an avant jazz combo, in part due to their recent work with experimental violinist Michael Kang and frequent Coltrane tributes. Others have noticed the often crunching, heavy guitar riffs and pointed out the band’s obvious prog-rock roots. Still, the band are not frequently heard describing themselves as anything more than “rock”–a somewhat lazy epithet, to be sure, but conveniently liberating for a band with so much musical diversity. “A little bit of everything played at an aggressive volume,” says Jake Cinniger, is the hallmark of an Umphrey’s show experience. It’s certainly one way to describe the band’s (by many accounts, indescribable) concert presence, which is driven largely by the manic drum work of Kris Meyers, drummer since 2003. By the way, Myers has a Master’s Degree in Jazz Drumming.

Umphrey’s McGee has been around, in varying lineups and manifestations, since December of ‘97–but despite a faithful (if cultish) fanbase, this summer may go down in the books as their big break! Although they have previously played such festival events as Bonnaroo and Sierra Music, they are currently on tour with String Cheese Incident, which is affording them much more publicity and mainstream exposure than ever before.

Umphrey’s McGee’s newest album is Anchor Drops (2004, Sci Fidelity Records), a song-oriented project that tips its proverbial hat to the Allman Brothers in a major way. Incidentally, even though this isn’t an album review, I give Anchor Drops a solid 8 of ten, and an even higher rating is in order for the production team alone.

Go do the boys a favor–perhaps more importantly, do yourself a favor–and pick up an album or go to a show. While the festival atmosphere can at times be questionable if you’re not used to it, it’s all about good family vibes and better music.

Umphrey’s McGee is Joel Cummins (keyboards, vocals), Brendan Bayliss (guitar, vocals), Ryan Stasik (bass), Andy Farag (percussion), Jake Cinninger (guitar, synthesizers, vocals) and Kris Myers (drums, vocals). Also with the band are sound man Kevin Browning, lighting designer Adam Budney, road manager Don Richards, monitor engineer Bob Ston, and manager Vince Iwinski.

P.S. - All the words in the world can’t sell an artist you haven’t heard. Here’s a rollicking live recording of “Mullet Over” (featuring Michael Kang), a jam from the recent All Good Music Festival on the 17th of this month.