Unlike some associates of the Okayplayer organization I am not from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In fact, until last Thursday, when I made a quick trip to the city to pick up some of my boy DJ2XU’s art which had been on display at the Space 1026 gallery, I hadn’t spent any time in the city since 1999 when my experience consisted solely of marching through it’s streets alongside a sizable group of like-minded individuals in support of jailed activist Mumia Abu Jamal. And while protest may be a necessary component to any healthy Democracy, it’s not necessarily a great way to get to know a particular location. But my trip the other day was far different, and afforded me the opportunity to notice that there seems to be an extremely high ratio of ladies to fellas in Philly. And not only that, but the ratio of sexy ladies to pretty much everybody else seemed absolutely astronomical! So, citizens of Philadelphia, I had to take time out of my regularly scheduled blogging today not only to salute you and your city but to tell you how jealous I am of you and your female population’s wealth of absolute sexiness. Lucky motherfu …
Today’s featured musical artist, brother-and-sister duo The Fiery Furnaces, aren’t from Philly either. But they do have an (arguably) sexy lady as a member, and the opening track of their new album Window City (out tomorrow on Thrill Jockey Records) is titled “The Philadelphia Grand Jury.” So, in my mind at least, there’s enough synchronicity there to make for a halfway decent segue. The first time I heard the track, which layers a first-person narrative from the perspective of someone condemned to execution by the titular body (a group of “more crooked sons-of-bitches you can’t ever have come across” according to the narrator) over rock-hard drum-breaks, melodramatic piano crescendos, alternately slinky, sleazy and skyward soaring guitar riffs, and a handful of a rhythmic and stylistic changes, I was ready to proclaim the album one of the year’s best. Thankfully I calmed myself down and listened to the rest of the record. But hearing the remaining 15 tracks on the disc didn’t do anything but bolster my already high opinion of the Friedberger siblings’ latest effort.
On the whole, the music the Furnaces present on Window City is most evocative of the bombastic, theatrical, and downright wacky Power-Pop of 1970’s acts like Wings, Queen, and 10cc. But there are also plenty of heavy riffs, spaced-out synths, vintage keyboard melodies, jagged, dissonant textures and multi-movement arrangements throughout that, when coupled with the raw, neck-snapping drum work heard on nearly every tune, give the record a sort of Definitive Jux-does-Classic-Rock vibe. It’s as though this were the type of music El-P might make if he were creating new-wave Prog-Rock (with a female Aesop Rock singing esoterically descriptive story-songs over top) rather than sampling old-school Prog-Rock or something. And I like to think that compositions like “Duplexes of the Dead,” “My Egyptian Grammar,” “Wicker Whatnots,” “Clear Signal From Cairo,” “Automatic Husband,” “Navy Nurse,” and the aforementioned “Philadelphia Grand Jury” will be providing sample-fodder for the Donuts and The Cold Vein’s of 30 years from now.
Listen to
“The Philadelphia Grand Jury”
-El Keter
