- Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits (Merge) Rating: 9 (out of 10)
Spoon + Handsome Furs = Divine Fits.
Spoon's Britt Daniel and Handsome Furs/Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner have combined their very distinct musical sensibilities with New Bomb Turks' punk rock drummer Sam Brown to make a record - and what a record it is.
The trio got together in L.A. earlier this year while Handsome Furs (and Boeckner's marriage) was breaking up. Spoon and Wolf Parade are on hiatus while Divine Fits which started out as a joke ("Why don't we start a band?") is turning into a viable ongoing alternative for everybody involved. Divine Fits fits into everybody's agenda.
The two frontmen trade off on writing and lead vocal duties swinging the tracks back and forth between Spoon-fed alternative sounds and Boeckner's incredibly eclectic electro pop leanings. Then again the most heavily electronic track,"The Salton Sea," is actually credited to Daniel so conceptually everything seems to have been left wide open. Daniel moves into Boeckner territory and vice versa on an album which shouldn't disappoint anybody.
The kicker here is Brown who gives as good as he gets anchoring everything Daniel and Boeckner throw at him. Divine Fits are game for experimentation but within a very structured rhythmic environment.
Check out Divine Fit's opener "Would That Not Be Nice" from an NPR session at http: // www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFj3_TRxks4 featuring the band at its most Spoon-like with Daniel on lead vocals.
- John Goodman
- Dwight Yoakam - 3 Pears (Warner Bros.) Rating: 8 (out of 10)
Despite his Bakersfield honky tonk credentials country iconoclast Dwight Yoakam has never felt a need to toe the line with PC C&W posturing. He may skirt with convention at times (and with his classic vocal twang it's hard not to) but more often than not he just does his own thing.
Two tracks on 3 Pears feature Beck and his band which is as good a way as any to keep people guessing. And then he covers Joe and Rose Lee Maphis's "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke" to make sure everyone knows he doesn't intend to stray too far from home. Awesome. - John Goodman
