Music Review: Band Of Horses - Infinite Arms

Lead singer and guitarist Ben Bridwell and his Seattle-born, now South Carolina-based, quintet Band of Horses has made a big transition in recent years.

Not too long ago, they were underground stars with two successful albums out on Sub Pop (2006’s debut Everything All The Time and 2007’s Cease To Begin). Now, the group is signed to Columbia Records (with smaller imprints Brown and Fat Possum also helping out) and has found itself attaining mainstream market exposure, thanks to popular songs like “The Funeral” being licensed to TV ads, rapper/singer Kid Cudi sampling that same tune for his own creation “The Prayer,” and its current gig as openers for fellow Seattle natives Pearl Jam.

But as they get more mainstream attention, will Band of Horses dramatically change its sound for a wider audience or otherwise lose some of its authenticity like so many rock bands in generations past have once they've gotten a taste of mass appeal? After listening to the group's largely self-produced third album Infinite Arms, that answer appears to be a resounding no.

The band is known for big, soaring, or jangly indie guitars and vocals on excellent jams like “First Song,” “Is There A Ghost,” “Wicked Gil,” and of course, “The Funeral.” But their first two albums also were more or less evenly split with softer, even folky/country-ish tracks, such as “Marry Song,” the My Morning Jacket-ish “St. Augustine” and bouncy, full band acoustic-led numbers like “The General Specific.”

With Infinite Arms’ 12 new tracks, the most they’ve ever put on record (after having recorded 30 for the project), for the first time, there is a definite majority of kinder, gentler tracks on a Band Of Horses album than soaring indie rockers. That's not a direction you go in if you want to appeal to a big-time mainstream audience.

That said, there are still about a handful of upbeat rock tunes present on the new CD, with the excellent “Compliments” and straight-ahead chugger “Northwest Apartment” representing two of them. On another, Bridwell takes the “crossroads” he’s at with himself on midtempo number “Laredo” and contrasts it with cheery, melodic guitar riffs.

This is an excerpt from a review first posted at Blogcritics Magazine yesterday, May 26. Read the full review here.

Charlie Doherty’s Favorite 209 Songs from 2000-2009 - Part II: 2005-2009

Published first January 27, 2010 at the site of Blogcritics Magazine

Continuing where Part I left off, this list is shorter but no less eclectic.

You’ll see a little post-punk (Elefant), reggae (Ziggy Marley, Matisyahu), melodic death metal (Into Eternity), hip-hop (Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West, Beck), indie folk (Bright Eyes), and so much more on this list of the last 89 of my 209 favorite tunes of the 2000's.

Of course, with a list this long, some songs meant more to me than others. For instance, Imogen Heap’s collaboration with legendary guitar whiz Jeff Beck, “Goodnight & Go” helped get me through post-surgery complications back in 2006 (along with Radiohead’s underrated “Lurgee”). And Junkie XL’s “We Become One” is the dreamiest, spaciest song I’ve ever heard that Peter Gabriel never wrote. It was also cool to hear the Dropkick Murphys make the suburb they started out in (Quincy, MA, also my hometown) the subject of the chorus of “Finnigan’s Ball.”

In this half of the decade, I found myself discovering and listening to a boatload more female-fronted bands and artists than the first half, including Natasha Khan’s Bat For Lashes, Neko Case, Arch Enemy, Emily Haines’ Canadian troupe Metric, the blue-eyed soul of Welsh singer Duffy, and the lovely Jenny Lewis, among others. Then there were bands I got more into than ever, including hard rock mainstays Clutch, My Morning Jacket, and Royksopp.

Newer favorites included Silversun Pickups, Company of Thieves, Band Of Horses, Torche and The Whigs. And of course, bands I grew up with kept delivering the goods, including Pearl Jam, a reunited Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Now, without further ado, here are the fine 89. As always, feel free to comment on them below.

Part II: 2005-2009

Allen, Lilly “Smile”
Arcade Fire “Keep The Car Running”
Arcade Fire “Wake Up”
Arch Enemy “Nemesis”
Band of Horses “First Song”
Bat For Lashes “What’s A Girl To Do”
Bat For Lashes “Daniel”
Bat For Lashes “Sleep Alone”
Beck “Hell Yes”
Black, Frank “I Burn Today”
Black Eyed Peas “Don’t Lie”
Black Label Society “Suicide Messiah”
Brazilian Girls “Don’t Stop”
Bright Eyes “First Day Of My Life (f/Jesse Harris on guitar)”
Bright Eyes “Lua (f/Gillian Welch)”
Broken Social Scene “7/4 (Shoreline)”
Broken Social Scene “Fire Eye’d Boy”
Case, Neko “Star Witness”
Chemical Brothers “Galvanize (f/Q-Tip)”
Clutch “10001110101”
Clutch ”Electric Worry”
Company of Thieves “Oscar Wilde”
Corgan, Billy “The CameraEye”
Death Cab For Cutie “Cath”
Down "Mourn"
Dropkick Murphys “Finnigan’s Ball”
Duffy "Mercy"
Flaming Lips “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)”
Future Of The Left “You Need Satan More Than He Needs You”
Gaslight Anthem “The ‘59 Sound”
Heap, Imogen w/Jeff Beck “Goodnight And Go”
Into Eternity “Timeless Winter”
Iron & Wine “Flightless Bird, American Mouth”
Jay-Z w/Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind"/Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind (Part II)"
Junkie XL “Mushroom”
Junkie XL “We Become One”
Killswitch Engage “The End of Heartache”
King, Kaki “2 O’Clock”
Kings of Leon “On Call”
Kings of Leon “Sex On Fire”
Legend, John “Ordinary People”
Lewis, Jenny “Rise Up With Fists!!”
Lewis, Jenny “Big Guns”
Lifehouse “Hanging By A Moment”
Loomis, Jeff “Sacristy”
Low Red Land “Dog’s Hymn”
Marley, Ziggy “Love Is My Religion”
Mars Volta “Goliath”
Matisyahu “King Without A Crown”
MGMT “Time To Pretend”
M.I.A. “Paper Planes”
Minus The Bear “Pachuca Sunrise”
Megadeth “Sleepwalker”
Metallica “All Nightmare Long”
Metric “Monster Hospital”
My Morning Jacket “Anytime”
Muse “Starlight”
Nine Inch Nails “The Hand That Feeds”
Oakenfold, Paul “Ready Steady Go”
Paramore “That’s What You Get”
Passion Pit “The Reeling”
Pearl Jam “Got Some”
Phoenix “1901”
Radiohead “All I Need”
Radiohead “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Snow (Hey Oh)”
The Rifles “The Great Escape”
Royksopp “Only This Moment”
Royksopp “Vision One”
Satellite Party (Perry Farrell) "Milky Ave"
School of Seven Bells “Half Asleep”
Silversun Pickups “Rusted Wheel”
Silversun Pickups “Substitution”
Silversun Pickups “Three Seed”
Smashing Pumpkins "Stellar"
Smashing Pumpkins “That’s The Way (My Love Is)”
Sonic Youth “Incinerate”
Stevens, Sufjan “Come On! Feel The Illinoise!”
Third Eye Blind “Non-Dairy Creamer”
Torche “Across The Shields”
Travis “Selfish Jean”
Travis “Colder”
Tunstall, KT “Black Horse And The Cherry Tree”
TV On The Radio “Wolf Like Me”
West, Kanye “Gold Digger (f/Jamie Foxx)”
Waltham “Cheryl (Come And Take A Ride)”
The Whigs “Right Hand On My Heart”
The White Stripes “Blue Orchid”
Wolf Parade “The Grey Estates”