Brant Bjork - 'Gods and Goddesses' (26/3/10)

Listen along: vans.com/brantbjork

I just rolled myself a fatty (whatever that may be). About half a year ago I told myself that I wasn’t going to do this anymore, but this is a Brant Bjork record so how could I not? Another thing that a Brant Bjork record entitles us to is a special review. Rather than making vague subjective statements with a splash of name-dropping, I’m going to walk you through these eight songs one by one:

Dirty Bird: Great opener. Brant’s walking that blues lick over a jazzy drum beat that’s so solid you could build a city above it. What’s Brant talking about? Beats me. But Brant’s sing-talk delivery of lyrics like:

‘Dont want no goose laying golden eggs

Dont want no lapdog yapping when he begs

What you’re hearing is exactly what was heard

Aint it nice flying high with the dirty bird’

hardly need a meaning behind them. They just sound cool. Passion before perfection, y’know?

Future Rock (We Got It): Boom! The album gets loud here. At this point its appropriate to mention that Brant is backed by a whole new band on this outing – a band that probably drinks more than they smoke. This song praises both the underground rock n’ roll movement and ‘what lies between the thighs of a woman,’ as he so eloquently remarks. The guitar solo here is off the hook!

Radio Mecca: So far so good! This one is a little more mellow and the spacey echo on Brant’s voice is showing you what should be taking charge. A solid groove, a wah-wah solo, laid back licks. Man, if this song were any more laid back it would be horizontal!

Little World: This song will close out side 1 for those lucky enough to have this album on vinyl. Brant fans will love this track as it hints at elements that made his solo debut ‘Jalamanta’ so special while it shares some ideas with 2008’s ‘Born to Rock.’ It starts off slow and builds into crashing symbals and wild guitar solos flying from one speaker to the other. And if that bass line isn’t Brant convincing us that a bass line should be louder than anything else in the mix, then you must not like bass.

Blowin’ Up Shop: Flip the record and let’s see what side 2 has in store for us. An interesting intro that eventually moves to a choppy guitar riff. This song sounds like it would fit well on his album ‘Keep Your Cool.’ And similar to that album, this song is good but there’s much better.

Good Time Bonnie: Yeah, man! This is some rock n’ roll! That punk rock guilt he was talking about in 2008 is back in full force on this cut. The thing that I am absolutely head over heels with this one is the conversation the guitars and vocals have.

Porto: I love this song, too. Big surprise, right? It’s another typical Brant Bjork song driven by a catchy bassline, not much unlike ‘Cheap Wine.’ The twin guitars harmonizing with each other screams Thin Lizzy, and the structure is also priceless. Another wild guitar solo that might just convince you that this new band Brant’s got is actually pretty damn good.

Somewhere (Some Woman):

‘Somewhere in the world right now

Some woman is loving you

What you gonna do right now’

These are the only lyrics in in this cut, one that flirts with the six-minute mark. Needless to say, this song sounds like much more of a jam than a song. But that’s all right, because Brant’s albums are only the foundation for what he’s going to do live.

Speaking of seeing him live, I had the pleasure of catching his show this past weekend in de Baroeg. After seeing the same band almost a dozen times, its hard to imagine what the band could do to make the show any better. Which brings me to the best part about Brant Bjork – whatever he does defines ‘cool.’

I give ‘Gods and Goddesses’ a 10/10. It may not be the perfect record, but last year Pitchfork gave Animal Collective a 9.6/10, and this album is much better than that one.