Kevin Devine - Between the Concrete and Clouds

Rollie Agado February 16, 2014

Despite getting up well after 9 AM, I had an unusually productive day. The highlight of the weekend was getting to exchange Valentines Day gifts with my niece, Hobbes.

Had to cut my visit a little short because of some urgent correspondence needed for work... so I spent time this afternoon at home spinning records while cursing aloud in the empty apartment.

Listened to a Kevin Devine album I picked up last year on vinyl, but never got around to listening to it. I had a vintage Technics turntable that was gifted to me over a year ago and it's been known to not want to work every now and again.

The issue with the turntable has to do with the design of the automatic direct drive technology. It's designed to be fully automated and it inexplicably bottoms out in its process... according to the web, it's a quick of sorts with the turntable, so you have to live with that or replace it.

I had an opportunity to sell back some vacation time at work so I spent some of that hard earned money on a new Stanton turntable. I plan to do a proper write up on it in the near future... I can't express how happy I am with the purchase.

Anyhoo, no more temperamental record players at the apartment - which means more obscure Album A Day Reviews in the near future.

The Kevin Devine album was an enjoyable listen... I was familiar with a number of the songs because they've been re-arranged on the amazing Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band – Matter of Time: Kd&Gdb Tour EP 2012.

Stand Out Tracks:

Artist: Kevin Devine
Album: Between the Concrete and Clouds
Producer: Chris Bracco
Label: Razor & Tie / Favorite Gentlemen
Recorded: ? (Chris Bracco's house?)

Bad Books - II

Rollie Agado January 4, 2014

The embossed gold lettering really pops in person

Opted to select something familiar this morning... in addition to making breaky, I need to spruce up the place for a potential pre-drink with friends at the apartment before going to Roxy's. It's nice to have something on in the background while getting a number of things done.

Discovered the band Bad Books thru a band (The Front Bottoms) that opened up for them at a show in Austin last February. The Bad Books are made up from members of the Manchester Orchestra and singer/songwriter Kevin Devine.

I purchased a limited edition pressing of the album that was produced in the form of a bound book... the production value of it is pretty amazing. Each page is filled with lyrics and notes about every song on the album.

The music on the record is also very rewarding. I would their describe their sound as equal parts power-pop and folk. Especially rewarding for those who want to connect with music for the head & heart.

Stand Out Tracks: You really can't go wrong with anything on the record... the latter half of the album is softer than the first.

Artist: Bad Books
Album: II
Producer: Andy Hull, Kevin Devine and Robert Mcdowell
Label: Favorite Gentlemen / Triple Crown Records
Recorded: Favorite Gentlemen Studios

#4 Album of 2013, Bulldozer by Kevin Devine

Rollie Agado December 31, 2013

The softer half (Use Your Illusion II) to the double album release that is Bulldozer & Bubblegum... it's really hard to not slip on this record and sorta lose yourself.

The first track - Now Navigate is a Paul Simony number that opens with the following lyrics:

There are tiers, as in levels, to reality
On the industrial corner of North 17th Street & Wythe
Two black public high school kids watch a Nordic model get photographed
To them, she is lunar, impossible, alien life

The album sorta took root within me from that very moment and It hasn't let go.

I really don't know what to add to this album review, but to say that it's a top shelf release from an artist that takes a number emotional risks to reveal things about himself to the world.

In those revelations... clarity is sorta mapped out for him and the listener as the themes are incredibly relatable to anyone with a fucking heart.

Take for example the track Little Bulldozer - a song that I now associate to someone in my life. For reasons that I can't seem to explain... I always feel closer when I can soundtrack a person and a relationship to a song. It connects the complicated dots I have in my uncommitted heart. At some point... I'm going to break down and text her something late at night and close it with - from "your Bigger Bulldozer"

Then there's Couldn't Be Happier... an homage (in my head) to GnR's Don't Cry. I found this song to be applicable to an estranged relationship/friendship with someone from Michigan who is now residing in Chicago.

We're currently not speaking... we send drunken texts to one another. But hold out on things coming around at some point...

In context, the progress is difficult to see
It's increments, not mile jumps
The grace collects and waits for us
To catch up.
Couldn't Be Happier - Kevin Devine

Stand Out Tracks:

One of the most striking album covers in 2013

#6 Album of 2013: Bubblegum, by Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band

Rollie Agado December 31, 2013

I took some time a few months ago to share some initial thoughts on Kevin Devine's double album release of "Bubblegum" and "Bulldozer".

I didn't really know what to make of the double release... I wasn't sure if they should be considered as a collective "double album" or treated as individual releases.

After catching the band in support of the albums a few weeks after the release, I decided on the latter.

In my head and heart... I can't shake the feeling that they're a lot like Use Your Illusion I and II by Guns N Roses.

Not in sound or prose... but it's hard to listen to tracks on the record and not want to slip out the other to hear stuff off the other album.

Bubblegum is a little more abrasive/aggressive when compared to Bulldozer. I sorta liken it to Use Your Illusion I, in that it's the album that has tracks I would prefer to hear live.

The comparisons purely reside in my head tho'... there aren't any songs about wanting to live his life in a coma.

There are however a number of songs that touch on very pressing topics. One of the most refreshing thing about Kevin Devine's work is that he's decided to comment on very complex contemporary topics. Left leaning debate on Obama & Drones, Private First Class Manning and the Fiscal Cliff are all addressed on the FIRST THREE Tracks of the album.

It's not all heady conversation tho'... there's a number of foot tapping songs about self doubt and love too.

One of my favorite tracks on the album is titled "I Don't Care About Your Band". I'm not exactly sure if the dialogue is between him and a critic or a label that opted to pass on these albums. It's anthemic of what the two albums are collectively about tho'.

Stand Out Tracks: