Album Review
I'd like to humbly ask my peers to stop using "ex-Mclusky" tag with these guys, because with Travels With Myself and Another, they're done fucking around. Every seemingly strange left turn from their debut, Curses, is stranger, carried further, and more focused and much catchier here. The band still starts and stops on a dime, the vocals are still layered and ambitious even when seething, the song titles still raise a challenging bar for the music to live up to ("Yin/Post -Yin", "You Need Satan More Than He Needs You"), and the low-end on the guitars still sound like angry bears. Granted, this is how both Mclusky and FOTL built the niche that drew in a loyal, fervent audience, but Travels is the sound of band who still have a lot they want to prove.
With a few striking exceptions, most of the keyboards from the band's debut have been ditched in favor of searing guitar tones (see "Chin Music" or "Land of My Formers"). Many of the albums' hooks come from strident, almost militaristic melodies-- I doubt that "Arming Eritrea" is too concerned with real geography, but damned if I wouldn't help fund the revolt now after the record's screaming, indelible opening track. The woozy march of "The Hope That House Built" is an existentialist call-to-arms, while the mid-tempo chug of "I Am Civil Service" floats up a few melodic, playful bars just to shoot down with its blistering chorus. Straightforward and snarling, these tracks suggest the band still thinks modern rock might be a genre worth infiltrating and upending.
But about those keyboards: "Throwing Bricks at Trains" is a spirited pub sing along over an organ that sounds soggy with distortion. Falkous documents small-town boredom with surprising empathy and charm here (not to mention barbershop-worthy background vocals), though is a little more haunted or torn elsewhere. He's nearly theatrical on "You Need Satan More Than He Needs You", the most synth-heavy and yet the most pummeling track here, finding layers of neuroses in devil worship. The record loses some steam after "Satan"; most any record probably would. They follow it up with some Saturday-morning-cartoon psychedelia on "Yin/Post yin", manic tales of families shamed by plastic silverware ("Stand By/Your Manatee") and delirious amounts of guitar-string scrapes and syncopated vocals ("Drink Nike").
Closer "Lapsed Catholics" starts out with something new for the band-- acoustic guitar-- while inscrutable joke lyrics lead into more locally-aimed bile and more existential pondering, before punctuating it all with one of the record's most titanic riffs halfway through. Throughout the album, Falkous sets up binaries in his lyrics to be tugged between: home and abroad ("when in Rome remember home is always here for you," he sings in "Land of My Formers") Satan worship and practical dress, the cynics of "Arming Eritrea" and the “fighters and buggers” who “have it right” in “Chin Music”, and those "who know who they were, and who they will be again" against those doomed to continue figuring it out in the dark ("Lapsed Catholics"). Even without these extra layers, Travels With Myself and Another might be the finest soundtrack for slam dancing, fast driving, heavy drinking, or whatever poor decision you make this year. But in addition finding new ways to snarl in their music, the lyrics go beyond mere cleverness into sharp, thoughtful introspection, making Travels a document of a creatively restless band out to prove something to themselves, and not just the fans they’ve picked up along the way.
— Jason Crock, June 24, 2009
Album Player
- Dinosaur Jr.: Farm
- Sunset Rubdown: Dragonslayer
- Regina Spektor: Far
- God Help the Girl: God Help the Girl
- Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship
- Gossip: Music For Men
- Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue
- The Lemonheads: Varshons
- Future of the Left: Travels With Myself and Another
- Saint Etienne: Foxbase Alpha / Continental
- Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
- Spinnerette: Spinnerette
- Deer Tick: Born on Flag Day
- Noisettes: Wild Young Hearts
- Patterson Hood: Murdering Oscar (and Other Love Songs)
- The Paper Chase: Someday This Could All Be Yours
- Mos Def: The Ecstatic
- Sholi: Sholi
- So Many Dynamos: The Loud Wars
- The Present: World I See / The Way We Are
- Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue
- Various Artists: A Psychedelic Guide to Monsterism Island
- Ganglians: Ganglians / Monster Head Room
- Hello Seahorse!: Bestia
- Land of Kush: Against the Day
- Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship
- The Lemonheads: Varshons
- Alasdair Roberts: Spoils
- So Many Dynamos: The Loud Wars
- The Present: World I See / The Way We Are
- Sunset Rubdown: Dragonslayer
- Gossip: Music For Men
- Spinnerette: Spinnerette
- Future of the Left: Travels With Myself and Another
- The Paper Chase: Someday This Could All Be Yours
- God Help the Girl: God Help the Girl
- Regina Spektor: Far
- Playboy Tre: Liquor Store Mascot
- Noisettes: Wild Young Hearts
- Larry Jon Wilson: Larry Jon Wilson
Recently
Reviews
- Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue
- Various Artists: A Psychedelic Guide to Monsterism Island
- Ganglians: Ganglians / Monster Head Room
- Hello Seahorse!: Bestia
- Land of Kush: Against the Day
Track Reviews
TV
Features
News
- Jackson's Cause of Death Not Yet Determined
- Video: Wilco and Feist Perform "You and I"
- Echo Chamber: Colin Meloy
- Reznor Reveals Rejected Timbaland Remix
- Stars' Amy Millan Preps Second Solo Album
- Blur Reunion Live Album on the Way
- New Release: The Postmarks: Memoirs at the End...
- MGMT to Open for Paul McCartney
- Echo Chamber: Black Francis
- Download a New Fleet Foxes Song
Reviews
- Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship
- The Lemonheads: Varshons
- Alasdair Roberts: Spoils
- So Many Dynamos: The Loud Wars
- The Present: World I See / The Way We Are
Track Reviews
News
- Artists React to Michael Jackson's Death
- R.I.P. Michael Jackson
- Benefits: Jeff Tweedy | Robin Pecknold | TVOTR
- Echo Chamber: Morrissey
- Join the Vampire Weekend Tribute Band!
- New Release: Joe Pernice: It Feels So Good...
- Listen: Wale + Peter Bjorn and John
- Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe on Mulcahy Tribute
- Video: Wilco: "You Never Know" (Live on "Conan")
- R.I.P. Seeds Frontman Sky Saxon
Reviews
- Sunset Rubdown: Dragonslayer
- Gossip: Music For Men
- Spinnerette: Spinnerette
- Future of the Left: Travels With Myself and Another
- The Paper Chase: Someday This Could All Be Yours
Track Reviews
Features
News
- Unreleased Jeff Buckley Song in Tearjerker
- Pitchfork on ABC: Kasabian's West Ryder Pauper Lun
- Devendra Banhart Finishes New LP, Leaves XL
- Buy Billy Corgan Lunch!
- New Release: La Roux: La Roux
- Is This the Flaming Lips Album Cover?
- Pitchfork on ABC: God Help the Girl
- The Roots to Debut New Song on "Late Night"
- Chris Knox Leaves Hospital After Stroke
- Jim James to Release George Harrison Tribute
Reviews
- God Help the Girl: God Help the Girl
- Regina Spektor: Far
- Playboy Tre: Liquor Store Mascot
- Noisettes: Wild Young Hearts
- Larry Jon Wilson: Larry Jon Wilson
Track Reviews
- Air France: "GBG Belongs to Us" [ft. Roos]
- The Binary Marketing Show: "Shape of Your Head"
- The Radio Dept.: "David"
News
- Dirty Projectors in Auto Accident
- Common | Reverie Sound Revue | Octopus Project
- Nick Cave and Warren Ellis Score Sex Trade Doc
- Rhino Releases Factory Records Digital Box
- Jay Bennett's Death: Overdose
- Sunny Day Real Estate Reunite!
- Listen to Archived Primavera Sets on WFMU
- Echo Chamber: Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth
- Seniors Interview Fiery Furnaces, Bash Wilco
- Arctic Monkeys Unleash Album Art, Dates
Reviews
- Dinosaur Jr.: Farm
- Patterson Hood: Murdering Oscar (and Other Love Songs)
- Sharon Van Etten: Because I Was in Love
- Deer Tick: Born on Flag Day
- Sholi: Sholi
Track Reviews
Features
News
- Crystal Castles Tangle With Security at Sonar
- Rhino Releases Los Angeles Nuggets Box Set
- Echo Chamber: Death Cab's Chris Walla
- Watch Jack White's New Band Live Right Now!
- A Sunny Day in Glasgow Ready Sophomore LP
- T.V. Eye: June 22-28
- Video: Clipse [ft. Kanye]: "Kinda Like a Big Deal"
- Radiohead/Wilco/Marr Supergroup LP Details
- Wu-Tang Clan Brings Us Chamber Music
- TVOTR's Malone Signs to Anti- for Solo Project
Reviews
- Saint Etienne: Foxbase Alpha / Continental
- Finale: A Pipe Dream and a Promise
- Sir Richard Bishop: The Freak of Araby
- Psapp: The Camel's Back
- Speck Mountain: Some Sweet Relief
Track Reviews
Features
News
- Trent Reznor Logs Back On
- Radiohead's Kid A, Amnesiac, Thief Reissued
- Black Lips + King Khan + BBQ = Almighty Defenders
- Video: Sigur Rós Live on the Interface
- Premiere: Cymbals Eat Guitars: "Tunguska"
- Islands Announce Third Album
- Hear the New Bloc Party Single Here
- Georgia Theatre | Shunda K | Throw Me the Statue
- Clientele Announce New Album Details
- Pitchfork Music Festival Set Times Revealed