|
Written by NED O'REILLY
|
|
Tuesday, 04 May 2004 |
So I’m not as savvy as the Dave Matthews collector who has downloaded 122 different live versions of Ants Marching or the Ani DiFranco listener who has cassette tapes copied from 1991 gigs at C.W. Post College and UW Madison. But I am grooving on this new trend toward EPs.
| | |
The Bens
|
 Entertainment
Art
“The Bens EP”
(Independent)
Released May 4, 2004
|
| | |
With all the legal controversy over copying song files and the questionable quality you’re inviting that way (not to mention the computer viruses), some of us can more easily embrace a direct-from-the-artist approach to buying music. Ben Folds put out two EPs in the latter half of 2003, Ryan Adams has just released a couple of his own, and now The Bens is finally available.If you’re an Internet-oriented music junkie, you might already know that Ben Lee, Ben Kweller, and Ben Folds recorded some songs together in a studio in Australia recently and even did a few gigs outside of America at which they sold an EP of those songs. Right now, you can order The Bens through Folds’ website (benfolds.com, natch) before it’s sold in stores. For the hardcore collector who may have somehow gotten his or her hands on the original Australian release, this new one has different cover art. And the tunes are a lot of fun. The first song "Just Pretend" reminds me of the Traveling Wilbury tunes from the late '80s that featured five guys with their guitars making up a song together. There are but three Bens (a point worth clarifying since Folds’ old band Ben Folds Five had only three members), but they harmonize in a timeless pop fashion on this sweet, acoustic ditty. Each takes the solo lead on verses, but the recording is seamless and the Bens sound the way they look in the cover art – like brothers who’ve had enough experience in the music world to admit that they actually like each other now. "Xfire" is totally 80s, including a thumping electronic beat and lines sung through vocal phasers. "Stop!" is a lot more experimental, changing tempos and noise levels and feeling the least like a collaboration of the four tracks, probably because the vocals take a back seat to the sounds. The final track, "Bruised" is vintage Ben Folds – a piano driven, confessional story with a hook and an indictment or two. Lee says on the ordering site that they had a fun four days working on these songs and shows. It doesn’t feel like an improv session or like each guy had his own song and the others just played on them. There’s collaboration here (songwriting credit for all four tracks goes to The Bens) and it’s celebrated the way the big record companies don’t always let artists celebrate. Do the industry a favor and keep buying limited editions like The Bens. It feels subversive, which is supposed to be part of the definition of rock. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
