Nothing More, Nothing Less

>> Featured Artist: Sprites

While the The Toaster stumbled onto the Sprites, we were mildly amused, especially by the "true story" of the lead singer Jason Korzen's failed attempts to become a blogger, "I Started a Blog Nobody Read" from the latest LP, Modern Gameplay. For him, we suggest this WikiHow.

We're still fairly amused and somehow feel a strange draw to the indie dorkiness of the whole outfit, which we understand is mostly just Korzen. Perhaps it's cameraderie. Nothing more, nothing less.

>> Album Lookout: The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads - Released: September 26, 2006 Vagrant

There's an adage we like: When life names you Evan Dando, make Lemonheads. As much as we like saying "Dan-doooo," we also can't blame Evan for abandoing the solo project after one album to go back to band that gave us things like "The Great Big No" and a decent cover of "Mrs. Robinson."

"No Backbone" is the first single from the long-avoided (and perhaps also long-awaited) self-titled Lemonheads album. Our first thought: someone needs to tell the lead guitar to stop taking all those uppers. Half of what he does is absolutely unnecessary and it gets in the way a bit. (The rest of the stuff is good. Nice work).

With Dan-doooo's catchy and seemingly effortless songwriting, the Lemonheads don't miss a beat from where they left off. This is both good and bad, though, because it sounds a lot like a outtake from Come On Feel the Lemonheads. NM, NL.

>> Reverting to: 1985

File this under "formative years" in Mister Toaster's Hall of Fame. We're not (that) proud.

It's pure Starship. Glorious synths, 'verbed out harmonicas and tasty melodramatically beefy guitar riffs. It's "Sara." NM, NL.

War Is Over (If You Want It)

>> Featured Artist: Christine Fellows

While the United States is busy funding wars and wiretaps, our logging-friendly neighbors to the north have been busy funding artists like Winnipeg's Christine Fellows. (From the liner notes: "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Music Fund for this project.) The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle ascribed Fellows the almighty title of his "favorite songwriter," which says more than we can say right in a blog entry.

Fellows' songwriting is unique in that she is not a songwriter as much as she is a storyteller. Her lyrics, often without rhyme or obvious meter, read like a novelist's journal entries. Listen to "Vertebrae."

2005's Paper Anniversary could be the most overlooked, untrumpeted album of that year. The writing is inspired and seemingly thematic. If it wasn't enough to have a solidly written album, merely listening to Fellows' voice triggers something in the nervous system.

The Weakerthans' John K. Samson has good taste in wives.

>> Album Lookout: Friendly Fire
Sean Lennon - Released: October 3, 2006 Capitol

Sean Lennon's career hasn't not taken off. He's a relatively talented songwriter and he has a decent voice. He's got the backing of Capitol Records and his celebrity friends. And by all accounts he couldn't be a nicer guy.

He's just not his father. And because of that he will never escape into the realm of greatness.

His first album was just weird, even though it supposedly showed much potential as some revisionist historians have now remembered. The potential, of course, was lived up to (it's good to live up to something when you're Sean Lennon) with last week's release of Friendly Fire.

"Dead Meat," the pre-release leaked track, has Lennon sounding more like Elliott Smith or Badly Drawn Boy than the Sean Lennon we knew. It's a solid track, without a doubt. And the video features Lindsay Lohan. Woot.

[Bizzarely, it seems Sean was dating Lindsay Lohan, after 2005's New York Post public request for a girl between 18 and 45 and with an IQ above 130." Lohan apparently repaid the debt from being allowed to date a Beatle spawn by appearing in the video and giving him Hollywood cred.]

>> Reverting to: 1970

Having just seen The U.S. vs. John Lennon on what would have been his 66th birthday (and was Sean's 31st, as well as the 31st anniversary of John and Yoko's winning their immigration fight), we felt it appropriate to dish out some more Lennon.

Plastic Ono Band was Lennon's first solo album and the only one influenced directly from his primal scream sessions. It's also an album of loss and longing, mostly for his mother, but also from the loss of his band earlier that year.

"God" hits home in a way that only some Lennon songs do; he self-references, knocks religion, politics and culture (including idols Elvis and Bob Dylan) and comes back to a haunting resolution, "I don't believe in Beatles. I just believe in me. Yoko and me."

On the heels of the band's March 1970 dissolution, this statement seems particularly tragic - not foolhardy or silly as it might later have translated.

Failures of Space

Due to space limitations, the Toaster Talks will only be carrying one week of songs from here on out. We apologize for the incovenience.

Guest Editorial: Mister Toaster on The Decemberists

As The Crane Wife hits stores today, The Toaster Talks original planned to do its ordinary Album Lookout today, editorializing on one of the tracks from this, the Decemberists' fourth full length. Alas, in a moment full of lust and longing, the editorial staff decided to give me the reins and explain why The Decemberists are so near and dear to our collective hearts.

Perhaps its the mere thought that I've followed this band from its first Kill Rock Stars release through currents of critical acclaim and the well-earned signing to Capitol Records.

Perhaps it's the fact that Colin Meloy is such a quirky, cool guy - in person, on stage and in song. (Perhaps it's because he found my hurried, nervous story about having a friend from school who shares his name amusing. Or acted like it.) Perhaps it's his showmanship; his self-deprecating stage humor; his Lennon-like personality.

Perhaps it's that Meloy & Co. are - as far as anyone can tell - the rightful heirs to the Neutral Milk Hotel legacy. The intensity in the songwriting combined with an often awkward mention of body parts (sinews?).

Perhaps it's that they have positioned themselves as the band for the learned, liberal indie music snobs of the world. And the fact that my friends can throw a dance party/sing-along soundtracked only by their albums.

Perhaps it's just that they have yet to let me down - once.

But, on most coherent days, I must admit The Decemberists are my favorite band on the planet. Only under the influence of amazing shows by other artists (New Pornographers, '05, Mountain Goats '05, Hold Steady '06 are among them) do I hedge. Most I know have embraced The Decemberists as well, and I purchased Picaresque for more than 5 people last year.

The first time I realized they had struck such an endearing chord was when "Billy Liar" charted - back when I served as DJ Tanner on ACRN's "Faces For Radio." The rolling, catchy melody and the off-beat vocabulary ("Let your legs loll on the lino!") stuck.

On Picaresque, the band created - as far as I am concerned - the best album of 2005 and the most coherent work of its career. While the album had many stand-outs, you could play me any track and I assure you I'd swear up and down that it was my favorite on the album. "On the Bus Mall" made its way onto DJ Bryan's late 2005 mix and quickly became an emblem for just how perfect that album was.

...which brings us to The Crane Wife. Those of you looking for a long-winded preview are out of luck. We have purposely avoided listening to much beyond the leaked title track (The Crane Wife 1 & 2) or reading much of the critical fawning out there (8.4 on Pitchfork), mostly because we don't want to cloud our thoughts on the album. After all, this is one of the few bands out there still crafting albums. And I supsect we'll be featuring it a bit more near the end of the year, as we wrap 2006 in all its shiny bows.

-Mr. Toaster, Washington, D.C., October 3, 2006