Waves & The Both Of Us

I have to be very careful not to let Vh1 ruin music for me. The first problem is the lack of competition – I watch Vh1 because I like music videos and I’m not often awake before 5:00 AM (which seems to be about the only time MTV plays videos anymore). The second problem is that Vh1’s program directors work so hard at niche marketing (my demographic, I’m afraid: They’ve got me hooked) that the playlist is ridiculously small. Of course this results in the entire problem with mainstream music marketing – we hear the same song over and over again until we’re so sick of hearing it that we can’t take it anymore. I swear, even just the opening bars of ‘Chasing Pavement’ by Adele sends me to twitching. I’m positive I would still like Adele if she had stayed over on my Britpop station….

All of this to say that I nearly missed ‘Charlotte Sometimes’. Her debut ‘How I Could Just Kill A Man’ hit me at the wrong time – because I really wanted to kill a man, and the song was a bit….. whiney. Cry baby Cry? Hell no. I want to hear about how you Could Just Kill A Man!! Besides which, when I first heard the debut introduction, a part of me was hoping that someone was remaking the Cypress Hill hit… And if you’ve heard any Charlotte Sometimes, you know she’s a looooong way from hardcore Latino hip hop.

I found myself listening to a Vh1 interview with half of my attention while getting ready one Saturday morning. My ears perked up for the discussion about how the band got it’s name. Lead Singer Jessica Poland recounted that her middle name was Charlotte, and that she had developed kind of an alter-ego using the name. So she found herself being Charlotte, sometimes….I thought it was very clever, but something kept nagging at the back of my mind.

One day, browsing through my local used CD and book store, it hit me. Back in the 80’s, The Cure had a hit called ‘Charlotte Sometimes’. Now fully intrigued, I went ahead and downloaded the album ‘Waves and the Both of Us’ (Released in May 2008 on Geffen Records) and was delighted. Turns out that Charlotte, Sometimes (both the song by the Cure and the band in question) were inspired by a young adult novel by the same name, written by Penelope Farmer back in 1969. The story is about a girl Charlotte, who finds she has mysteriously traveled back in time 40 years and is inhabiting the body of another girl, Clare. The girls switch identities and lifetimes at night while they sleep, and they can only communicate by writing notes to one another. I haven’t read the book yet, but that review is coming shortly, I’m sure.

If a catchy (but appropriated*) song name and the street ‘cred’ of a Cure connection brought me in, Charlotte’s melodic hooks, great rhythms and haunting vocals helped me to stay. Whereas Made of Bricks was a heartbreak album, ‘Waves and the Both of Us’ is about letting go and moving on – to happier places. The title track is my personal favorite, but most of the songs on the album are addictive. There are a few notable exceptions. Toy Soldier is over-produced to the point of losing it’s focus, and I find AEIOU a bit sharp, but overall this is a solid effort. This is the kind of artist whose work I can put on the iPod and the next thing I know an hour and half has gone by and the house is clean… Charlotte Sometimes is engaging and (dare I say it?) a bit uplifting.

Aside from ‘Waves & the Both of Us’ , I particularly like ‘Ex Girlfriend Syndrome’, ‘This is Only For Now’, and ‘Build Me The Moon’. Not to mention ‘Pilot’, which should be featured in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy any minute now. Say what you will of the show, the music directors are incredibly on-point. I can also see future Timbaland collaborations. Yep, this girl is that talented. Mark my words…

Charlotte Sometimes: Waves & The Both of Us:

The Cure ‘Charlotte Sometimes’:

Cypress Hill ‘How I Could Just Kill A Man’:

Kate Nash

Generally speaking, here at The Critic Who Counts, you will not find music reviews of popular music. By that I mean that if you have heard it incessantly on your radio, you will not likely find it here. A part of my charm (other than my modesty) is my great taste in music and my eagerness to explore artists and genres not typically offered for mass consumption. So today, on our inaugural musical voyage together, I offer you Kate Nash. Her album Made of Bricks reached Number 1 in the UK in 2007 – at the singer’s ripe old age of 21.

You may have heard her first US release ‘Foundations’ on the radio – briefly, as it was gone almost as soon as it arrived. I heard it first on my favorite international radio station and dismissed it as pop drivel. I was actually surprised when I heard it here in the States, as I really didn’t think it was a strong enough track to make it across the puddle. Turns out I was right – and wrong. With the way being paved by other British singers Amy Winehouse and Lilly Allen, Kate had just the push she needed. When her second track (Pumpkin Soup) was released, I was instantly hooked. It was significantly more impressive than ‘Foundations’. I waited impatiently for the export to be available States-Side so I could review.

The first thing to notice is that the producers have left a lovely puzzle for us. One of the songs is entitled D******d. I sat and thought. I thought some more. I finally had to give up and listen to the track. It was worth the journey – and so was the rest of the album. It didn’t leave my iPod playlists for 2 weeks. This is simply the most enjoyable, bouncy, clever pop album I’ve heard in ages.

Although Kate writes her own material and plays piano and some guitar on the album, it still has a bubblegum-pop feel. Of course, this is British Pop – so think of it as pop with a pedigree (and rather a lot of explicit language). The album is also rather girly – and certainly has a song for every kind of heartbreak or broken relationship. My male readers who are particularly poetic or who have an interest in very well-produced music should certainly give this a listen. Of course, I think the female perspective is always valuable…we’re not such an enigma, really.

The biggest trouble with the album is the inconsistency – which I believe will be amended as Kate grows into her talent. A couple of the songs actually begin to sound a little grating after just a few listens. The last two (bonus) tracks are suitable only for killing yourself on a cardio machine. On the other hand, she has written a few songs on this album which are so perfectly lyrically crafted that it’s hard to believe she’s only 21. My favorite lyric in recent memory comes from the track ‘Birds’ where she bemoans love’s complications: ‘Birds can fly so high/ and they can shit on your head/ yeah, they can almost fly into your eye/ and make you feel so scared./ But when you look at them/ and you see that they’re beautiful/ that’s how I feel about you’. Then there’s quite possibly the most cutting insult ever uttered to a man: ‘I wish that you were more intelligent/ so that you could see that what you’re doing/ is so shitty to me’. Other songs are even more emotionally immature, as in Foundations ‘I know that I should let go, but I caaaaan’t’. Of course, I like the album in it’s entirety so well that I even find myself grooving to ‘Foundations’ these days.

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