Regina Spektor Locks Down A Single

There has always been something both fresh and forbidding about Regina Spektor, the Moscow-born singer-songwriter-pianist-guitarist who is unafraid to explore the full range of her unorthodox vocal talents. Falling somewhere between alternative pop, anti-folk, and whatever happens to strike her, it is nearly impossible not to get caught up in her unexpected, impassioned, and eclectic music.

With her newest album set to be released this spring by Sire (possibly May), it's great to hear one of her most lyrically powerful songs will not only be making the cut, but also leading off as the single to introduce it.

All The Rowboats is a classic Spektor.

All The Rowboats isn't new. Spektor has played it countless times during live performances but never took the time to add it to her discography.

It might have been written before her breakthrough in 2004 with Soviet Kitsch (or earlier), but it's hard to say. Spektor has dozens of songs that she performs but never writes down. But this one being set to a studio album is especially poignant because much like the masterpieces she sings about, music sometimes becomes a prisoner until the time it is finally produced.

They keep trying to row away. And the captain's worried faces stay contorted and staring at the waves. They'll keep hanging, in their gold frames for forever, forever and a day. All the rowboats, in the oil paintings. They keep trying to row away, row away.

Ironically, she said that she had forgotten all about the song until she came across one of her older live performances of it on YouTube. It conveys the image of a nightmarish museum, with paintings that have become prisoners of their own beauty and passion — locked away and helpless after closing time.




When she performed it recently at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, at a benefit for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, she added a disclaimer, saying how much she loves museums. But regardless of her feelings, All The Rowboats beautifully applies emotion to art, conjuring up images of figures, settings, and scenes that are frozen in time and perhaps lonely after hours.

The new studio single with a full instrumental backing is even stronger than the beat-box fills compared to one of the oldest postings of the songs. But we thought it would be fun to include a live fan clip above, which also shows how personable and real her live performances can be. Here is the studio version.




The single has certainly caught some well-deserved attention in advance of the album, What We Saw From The Cheap Seats. The album also marks a reuniting with producer Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Fiona Apple), who reportedly helped flesh out the instrumental to make each song stand out sonically.

That fact isn't a foreshadow to an overworked production. On the contrary, like many of her albums, Spektor recorded most songs live in front of the piano. Only the accompanying instrumentation was added later. If this is an indication of things to come, expect ten more tense and emotional tracks ahead.

All The Rowboats By Regina Spektor Locks Down 9.5 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale.

Spektor is also a first-rate performer in that she is diverse enough to tour with just about anyone. This time around, she will be going with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as a special guest. The eclectic mix of towns includes Broomfield, Colorado; Little Rock, Arkansas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Wichita, Kansas; and Alpharetta, Georgia, in April.

All The Rowboats by Regina Spektor is available on iTunes. You can find her last album, Far, on Amazon (best song, Laughing With). If you need some help finding her on Facebook, you can follow this link too.

Against Me! Is Back On The Cross

Reissues have become as common as releases for Florida-based punk rockers Against Me! Enough so that some fans have taken to skipping the albums all together and waiting for reissues. But unlike previous releases and reissues, the latest could be the most important.

The reissue, White Crosses/Black Crosses, places their most recent material squarely in the hands of their new independent label, Total Treble Music. It also successfully closes the chapter since they left Sire Records, freeing them up to take a badly needed U-turn and do what they did best: make raw, meaningful, and emotional music.

The decision has already paid off. Since releasing the reissue, they've been invited to support the ever-talented Frank Turner on tour in the United Kingdom.

White Crosses/Black Crosses blows holes in mainstream suck-up reviewer arguments.

When White Crosses was first released, some reviewers backed the band's overindulgence into polished, radio-ready, not-so-punk saying it was "inclusive" despite many punk fans feeling disenchanted by the whole foray into the sell-out experiment. The release of Black Crosses and especially the reissue proves how wrong those reviewers were.

Everything, and I mean everything, sounds better. Back to back, there isn't a single White Crosses release that competes with the acoustic or Goldenstone Studios versions on Black Crosses. It also gives people the glimmer that Against Me! had the right content but the packaging being driven by big label arguments was solid in some cases and off the mark in others.


Case in point. If you like the video version of Because Of The Shame that Jason Thrasher made for Against Me! in preparation for the reissue, you really owe to yourself to listen to the acoustic version. Because Of The Shame is one of few songs that is equally strong on both installments, only leaning toward Black Crosses.


The rest, however, have more hooks, power, and angst across the board. Of course, that's not to say picking up the reissue is pointless when you can pick up Black Crosses on its own. On the contrary, White Crosses also has a few songs without competing versions, namely Bob Dylan Dream, which has a catchy and unexpected sort of styling. And Suffocation.

On the other hand, Bamboo Bones and Ache With Me didn't need second versions. They aren't strong at all. Against Me! made the right call scrapping them on Black Crosses in favor of new songs like David Johansen's Soul, Spanish Moss, Hot Shots, and Strip Mall Parking Lots. How any of these songs were missed on the initial release is anybody's guess. An educated guess. Here's what the band says:

"Having spent our career on both major and independent labels of varying sizes, the creation of Total Treble Music will afford us full control of our creative and professional destiny moving forward. We hope to partner with other labels for the rest of the world for future releases."

All in all, this is one of the reasons that White Crosses/Black Crosses becomes such a significant release. It shows how signing with Sire was the mistake that many fans said it was all along. Welcome back.

As a result, White Crosses/Black Crosses places the last founding member Tom Gabel (guitar, lead vocals) along with long-time members James Bowman (guitar, vocals) and Andrew Seward (bass, vocals) on solid footing. It is also good news that newcomer Jay Weinberg (drums) is sticking with the band.

White Crosses/Black Crosses By Against Me! Nails 9.5 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale.

The most obvious change up between the new release versus the reissue is that the second gives Gabel more power to his voice, and everyone more aggressive chords, beats, and freedom. Whereas one washes over you and drifts into the background, the second hooks you in from the beginning and keeps your attention throughout the arrangements.

White Crosses/Black Crosses is on iTunes. If one album catches you more than the other, you can also download Black Crosses and White Crosses. But keep in mind, the dual album gives you White Crosses for $2.

At Barnes & Noble, only White Crosses is available. You can also find the combined album, White Crosses / Black Crosses, on Amazon.