for those about to rock

the new pornographers aren't new to me anymore,

not since justin took me to hear them for the first time over at the roxy a couple of weeks ago.

with my ears still humming from having pressed against their wall of sound, and my heart swelling with fond memories of the lovely kathryn calder in an ethereal trance on keyboards ("hi, kathryn. i'm jon. would you be creeped out if i said i'd like to bake you a cake?"), i made it a point over the days following the show to better acquaint myself with the new pornographers' catalog.

having done so, i now find myself jonesing like some kind of audioslave to listen to their songs all the time. part of my addiction is rooted in the pure musicianship at work -- neko case sounds like an angel streaming through her own organic multi-dimensional thx audio system, a.c. newman is a smart rhythm guitar player, kurt dahle's a force on the drums -- and part is rooted in the fact that the new pornographers manage to find hooks with every section of each of their tunes, be it the intro, verse, bridge or outro. because their songwriting and arrangement is so consistently strong, there's a potato chip effect to listening to their songs.

mostly, though, i think i'm overpowered by the sheer quality of the hooks themselves. listening to "mass romantic" on the subway a week or so ago, i had an experience bordering on epiphany, where all the right tangibles -- setting, mood, the perfect volume, everything -- fell into place and the full beauty of the pop hook revealed itself to me: a resonant joy, all wrapped up in a wistful feeling for that very joy's temporal nature. major and minor in a perfect harmony.

i felt like i was going to faint. no joke. it was as though the clouds parted and i was bathed in an undeniable glory theretofore unnoticed but nonetheless omnipresent. some of my very liberal and cultured readers can scoff and call this a born again moment, and i'll agree without irony.

before my metaphors get so big as to obfuscate the reality behind them and, more likely, before i sound like i'm baked out of my gourd, i just wanted to say that while you can stumble into a great pop hook (ahem, one hit wonders, ahem), it is a gift to be able to produce them with consistency. the new pornographers have it. the early who had it. i'm proud to say these guys have it, too.

as a guitar player, such mastery also provides me a brass ring to reach for, both in the obvious compositional sense and in how i put together leads. if i can figure out how to make my guitar "pop," i'll be a happy guy.

posted by jomilkman @ 5:27 PM