joy electric: favorites at play

ahh! a new full length joy electric album at last! its great to have some new material from joy electric, but with this album there is one catch: its not original material, its an album of cover songs. now, i'm not saying thats bad, i'm just saying its not as good as hearing ronnie martin's own stuff.
this collection is a set of cover songs from some of today's bigger bands, its not old songs, but rather ronnie's take on songs from the last few years. he covers everything from fiest's '1,2,3,4' to coldplay's 'viva la vida'. it's pretty interesting to hear syth versions of many of these songs, but the problem is that i am not really up to date on what is on the radio anymore. i have a cd player in my car, so i rarely listen to the radio, so much of these tunes are new to me. since i'm not that familiar with the original material, the songs tend to sound a bit out of place with the usual joy electric sound. the thing about joy electric's catalog of music is that it is very unique and out there. to put his sound on something that is pretty standard, like a rock song, it seems like he is limiting himself by having to play by someone else's rules. some of the songs, like keane's 'somewhere only we know' fall flat and are pretty bland. but then there are some others, some of the songs are so beautiful in their original form that ronnie is able to take these gems and polish them with his own sound and create something magical. the best example of this is the song 'falling slowly' from the 'once' soundtrack. i would not have thought this simple song, originally played on an acoustic guitar and piano, would lend itself to the techy sound of a synth, but it becomes something more than it was. the song soars to new heights, and digs even deeper with ronnie's emotional vocals. the ethereal sound of it is pure paradise. also, its nice to see him collaborating on the album with his wife, who plays a moog synth on some of the songs.
some of the covers are bland, but songs like 'falling slowly' are reimagined in such an amazing new way that the album is worth owning purely for that one song!

joy electric: curiosities and such

its been a while since ronnie put out any music under the joy electric banner, so it was with very high spirits that i dug into this album. and let me tell you, i was not disappointed at all! musically its very much in the style of his last outing, 'my grandfather, the cubist', but still very different. its a very short disc, with only 6 songs, one of which is an instrumental, and another is just the title song with out the vocal tracks. ronnie has always been a fan of the whole 'short and sweet' mentality, and this cd sticks to that. all the songs are very catchy and quite good, but there is a stand out among the songs: 'which witch' is an instant classic with its unusual chorus hook and great music. that song rockets straight to the upper echelon of the best songs joy electric has ever written!

joy electric: my grandfather, the cubist

ah, yes. its time once again for a joy electric album! truly the happiest time of year!!! i was very excited to get this one, considering that the last album, 'the otherly opus', was their best since 'the white songbook'.
in this album ronnie has once again gone in a different direction. with his last album the focus was squarely on the vocals, which led to some beautiful layered harmonies. but this time, he shifts back to an equal weighting between vocals and music. the singing on this album is not quite as melodic and airy as his last effort, but the vocal shift is not too drastic, there was a bit stronger vocals similar to this on 'red will dye these snows of silver'. its a bit of a change, but still good.
the thing that continually impresses me about this band is its ability to write a catchy tune. as i listened to it through the first time i had a bit of a strange feeling- though it was only the first time i had ever heard them, they felt like songs i had known all my life! as i listened i wondered 'how could this have never been written before?!?' i guess that just speaks to the amazing gift ronnie has with writing a catchy melody.
the tune that immediately struck me as a favorite was 'whether by horse, or horseless'. it is a beautiful melody, and surprisingly deep lyrics. this is true of the entire album, ronnie seems to have taken his songwriting to a new level. gone are the constant references to lilly pads and gumdrops, replaced by honest critiques of love and relationships. i always loved the light hearted aspects to his lyrics before, but it is a welcome change to hear some deeper thoughts.
the pinnacle of the album is definitely the title track. the song is actually a trilogy of songs, bookended by instrumentals that echo the melody and guide us to the song and out into the bigger picture being presented.
an impressive addition to the joy electric catalogue. it will spend many many months in my cd player...

the joy electric show

wow! thursday was quite a night! it has been a while since ive been to a joy electric concert. ive been to three of them before (this one makes 4) and they are usually quite far away. my first one was about an hour and a half drive, the next two were over two hours each. so this time it was nice, it was only about 40 minutes away!

it was truly a fantastic time. the flier said that the show would start around 9:00. i got there around 8:45. as usual, i went alone to their concert because there is no way i could find any friends who would be willing to go with me. but this worked to my advantage, actually. when i got there i found a couple guys sitting at a table in the front of the room. i decided to throw caution to the wind, and i approached them and started chatting with them. as the wait for the concert to start continued, i invited a couple other guys who arrived alone to come and sit with us. im very glad i did! i recently wrote about how i seem to be the only one who likes joy electric, but i was proven very wrong that night! it was a blast to just chill with those guys and talk a little je business. ive never been able to have a conversation about joy electric with someone who actually knows what im talking about! it was absolutely glorious!!! we discussed the new album, which cd is our favorite, what we think of the bands shepherd and brothers martin, etc. it was so awesome to finally be able to geek out with other people who share my passion!

sheesh, i havent even started talking about the concert itself! the opening acts were quite interesting- the first group, called anaphylaxis, played one song, it was about 15 minutes long though. it was almost like watching two guys just kind of tinker around with their synth equipment. one of the guys had this strange intrument that he played by waving his hands around next to it. weird. the second group were mostly the same people, except this time they had more traditional songs, and the vocals sounded very morrissey-like. not bad at all.

but finally, around 11:20, ronnie got on stage and started his set. it was glorious! its always a treat to watch him play- he has some great moves while playing, and almost the whole time hes tinkering and fussing with nobs and dials on his equipment. i have no idea what any of them do, but it sure does sound great! the concerts always sound a bit different than the albums, on the albums he doesnt often use a lot of bass, but in concert the bass is thumping! he even put on an extra long show. like his cd lengths, ronnie usually likes to keep it short in concert. at one of the concerts ive been to he only played for about 30 minutes, and then wrapped up the show. this time though, he just kept them comming! he ended up playing 15 songs and playing for about an hour and fifteen minutes! that definitely made it worth the trip!

after the show i got to talk with ronnie for a couple minutes, which is always a treat. i picked up a bunch of music too. i got the workmanship cd, i already have it in vinyl, but i dont have a vinyl record player, so that doesnt really help much... i also got the foxglove hunt demo, and the brothers martin vinyl.

definitely the highlight of the month! or maybe year...

joy electric

the new joy electric album came out a while ago. but i have not yet written about it. the reason is this: i have a very hard time writing about joy electric.

have you ever had something that makes you happy and your not entirely sure why? have you ever had something that you adore, but you just cant explain what about it attracts you? have you ever felt passionately about something that most people around you would dismiss as stupid? well, this is my relationship with the music of joy electric. ever since i first heard their music as a freshman at dordt college, i was entranced. its hold on me has not lessened, in fact its gotten tighter and tighter with each consecutive album released.

i dont know why i love their music so much, it is certainly a strange obsession. their music, to say the least, is obtuse. its not my typical music scene. thats what makes the attraction so much more uneplainable.

i could regail you with details about the newest album 'the otherly opus', i could tell you that it is a masterwork, that ronnie martin has finally made the perfect compainion album to go with 'the white songbook', i could tell you that these two albums together make up what i expect to be the soundtrack of heaven. but i dont think many would care. i realize that joy electric is my obsession, and im ok with keeping to myself.

but i may ask you to give it a chance if you want to bum a ride in my car where this cd is constantly playing.

brothers martin

a couple weeks ago i picked up an album i had been awaiting for quite some time: the brothers martin. if you are unaware, then i will explain who this is: it is the collaboration between the lead singer of joy electric, and the lead singer of starflyer 59. the reason they are collaborating is because they are brothers. and their last name is martin. clever, huh?
the album is very enjoyable (i like both bands seperately, so it wasnt a big surprise that i would like them together...) and the sound is exactly what i expected. there are mellow guitars, like sf59, and there are blippy synths, like joy electric.
the way the collaborated is a bit interesting. it seems that there is only one song that they sing together on, and the rest of them are split up every other song. its clear that they each took turns coming up with the skeleton of the song, and the other one was in charge of filling up the backgrounds. its sounds strange, but the two styles complement each other quite well.
the songs are very catchy, and i look forward to getting more and more familiar with them and singing along (loudly) in my car!

new joy electric song!!!

last night i finally got to go to the joy electric myspace site and hear the new song 'red will dye snows of silver' from their upcoming 'the otherly opus'. about all i could get myself to say (besides girly shreeks of glee) was 'wow.'
it is very different than what he has done in the past, typically his music is very melody focused, with little or no bass or strong beat. also, the vocals have always been secondary. ronnie martin himself has said that he is not a singer, he only does enough to service the song. it seems that he has gone a very different direction for this song, and hopefully the whole ablum. there is a shift to focusing more on what can be done with vocals- and it sounds fantastic!
on his blog he has stated how rough of a process this album was to make, but the last time he said that was about 'the white songbook' which i would consider his best. so, maybe his frustration means we will be getting another masterpiece from the master of the moog!

the otherly opus

This is the cover art for the new joy electric album. it comes out march 20. ive always loved the covers they have for their albums, they are always interesting, yet simple. i think this one is just plain beautiful. i cant wait for the album itself!!!

joy electric: montgolfier and the romantic balloons

last week i received an early christmas present. granted, i bought it for myself, but it still counts. in the mail came the latest release from joy electric (which, by the way, is the greatest band of all time.) and it is great!
joy electric is a very prolific band (20 releases in 11 years and counting...) lately the pattern for joy electric has been to release a full length album every year as well as a companion album that is shorter and more experimental. often the companions will have very unique songs as well as a few remixes from the full length. also, lately there has been at least one 'extra' release each year as well. last year it was a christmas album, this year it was the 'workmanship' vinyl.
the last full length album was called 'the ministry of archers', and it was really good. ever since the misstep of the tick tock treasury joy electric has been growing steadily stronger, including all the inbetween albums. 'ministry of archers' was his best since 'the white songbook' and this newest inbetween album continues the rising quality. the new songs are really good and surpringingly memorable, and the remixes are spot-on (which hasnt always been the case...) all in all, an excellent addition to the ever-expanding library from joy electric.

joy electric: ministry of archers vinyl

one of my favorite bands in the whole world is the genius known as joy electric. my passion for them cannot really be explained. so i wont bother. the reason i even bring it up is that i finally (after about 3 months of waiting) have received their latest full length album on vinyl! i already have the album on cd, but the vinyl one has two extra songs on it, so i of course had to buy it. i am really excited to finally have it. the only problem now is that i dont actually own a record player. oops. probably should have thought that one through, huh?