Small Town Heroes

Alynda Lee Segarra is one of my favorite songwriters of all time. She is amazing, and I love Small Town Heroes. There's an instant familiarity about this album and Segarra's songwriting. Her voice carries the sorrow of all humanity in one note. I love how with each song she writes she changes who the narrator is. Sometimes, it's a woman, sometimes a man, and sometimes we don't know. I think it's intentional because regardless of who singing, it's the story that's being told that matters, not the gender of the singer. 

Occasionally, there are great albums with a song here and there you might want to skip, but that is not the case with Small Town Heroes, every single song you want to listen to. The best song which happens to be one of the shortest is, "The Body Electric." It's obvious when someone listens to it why it would be considered the best song. "The Body Electric," is a hauntingly beautiful song about violence towards women. Throughout the song, one man is mentioned shooting women, and the song ends with what that man is going to do when it's his daugther's, "turn to go." If the rest of the song doesn't send shivers up your spine that last line will because it puts it all into perspective that these women who are being killed aren't just some woman they are all daughters and each one has a father who has probably on some sort of scale committed an act of hate towards a woman even if it was just with his words. I think every single person should listen to this song because of the huge significance it plays in our society. 

However, not all of the songs on this album are as serious as that one. "Crash on the Highway" is a great song that describes what everyone feels while being homesick and stuck in a traffic jam. Also "No One Else," "I Know It's Wrong (But That's Alright)," and "End of the Line" are more upbeat and fun songs. 

Back to songs that are on the sadder side of life, "St. Roch Blues" and "Small Town Heroes" are two more on this album that are just incredibly written. "St. Roch Blues" laments the state of New Orleans and more unnecessary violence in our world. "Small Town Heroes" depicts a number of people who try hard to find love but can't. It seems like such a simple request but in this song finding love proves to be the difficult task that so many people are met with daily. I think this entire album is kind of about that. When it comes down to it all anybody wants is to love and be loved, and that's what is portrayed in Small Town Heroes.

Yankee Hot Foxtrot

Wilco, such an amazing band, part of what makes them so amazing is how unpredictable they are. Every album, every song, is a little adventure with Wilco. At the beginning, you are wondering where is Jeff Tweedy going to take us with this song, is he going to keep it in the realm of music, or is he going to send us into this cacophony of noise that is brilliant in its own way?
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a perfect representation of how genius Wilco really is. The entire album is infused with electronic noise in the background but only a few songs do they really create their trademark cacophony. "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," is one of those, and it's a great way to start off an album. Followed by, "Kamera," a mostly acoustic song describing someone who has lost their way in life. I think that's what most of this album is about, at least to me. Whenever I hear this album I get this idea of a person who is frustrated, lost, and doesn't like who they are. That's what is so incredible about this album is that at some point everyone in their life has disliked him/herself, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is definitely about that. "Ashes of American Flags," is a melancholy reminder of this when Jeff Tweedy sings, "I know I would die if I could come back new." I think most people would agree with that sentiment. Wilco is tapping into everyone's desire to start over.
To lighten the mood, "Heavy Metal Drummer," is thrown into the album in the second half as well as "I'm the Man Who Loves You." The former is a nostalgic melody about more innocent times in life for the person in this song its, "playing Kiss covers beautiful and stoned." The latter is full of lead guitar riffs that fade in and out towards the end of the song amidst lyrics that every girl wishes were about her, but it's not done in a cheesy fashion like a John Mayer song.
Before this shift in mood, "Jesus Etc." and "Radio Cure" are two beautiful songs that are a must listen to. Interestingly enough, the lyrics for each contradict the other. In "Jesus Etc." Jeff Tweedy sings, "you can rely on me, honey," where as in "Radio Cure" its kind of the opposite. Jeff Tweedy is singing that his, "mind is full of silvery stars," and "cheer up, honey I hope you can. There is something wrong with me."
Everything about this album makes it one of those albums you have to listen to before you die. The only song that might not make it so is, "Reservation," other than that it's a magnificent masterpiece created by one of the band's ever, Wilco.

I and Love and You

Without a doubt the album, I and Love and You by the Avett Brothers would be the first record I would own. I love this album so much. It's honestly my favorite album ever. The opening and title track, "I and Love and You," begins with soft piano that is followed by the soothing tones of Scott Avett's voice. Scott Avett draws us a picture of two people packing up all their belongings and beginning their anew elsewhere while informing, "the ones that need to know." However, the song shifts to the narrator's inability to say, I love you, and the struggle to find his way in life. These themes are common throughout the album, love and carving your path in the world. "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise," addresses the latter one head on. This song, itself, may be the best song ever written all around. The melody gets lodged in your mind where it reminds you of the dissatisfied, yet uplifting, lyrics. Not to mention the instrumentation only enhances the frustration that the writers have felt towards humanity without making it sound angsty.
The upbeat feel of "And It Spread" counteracts the message of a man struggling with self harm after his love has left him. However, the song has a happy ending with the return of the aforementioned love. The best part of this song is the desperation that is felt as Scott Avett strains his voice while he sings about truth and lies. "Ten Thousand Words" is one of my favorite song by the Avetts because they offset a beautiful melody with lyrics discussing the ignorance and negative side of every person. This same topic is brought to light in a first person narrative in the song, "Ill With Want." The narrator laments, "I am ill with wanting and it's evil and it's daunting," and later on, "poisoned by this ugly greed."
"Tin Man," "Kick Drum Heart," and "Slight Figure of Speech" are the other faster paced songs on this album. Of them all, "Slight Figure of Speech" is my favorite with its break in melody where the Avett Brothers almost rap slightly incoherently about the need people have to tear others down, and their plea to be left alone. I think most can relate to this sentiment of wanting to be just left alone after so many people have given a negative opinion about your life.
Finally, the last song, "Incomplete and Insecure," is a haunting declaration of living an unfulfilled and how it is wrong to live like that.
Overall, this is the best work of the Avett Brothers so far although True Sadness may replace it as such. The jury is still out on that one.
Essential Tracks: All of them, not a single one is more essential than the other, well "January Wedding" can be skipped.