Welcome to "Nothing Not New," a yearlong project in which New Times editorial operations manager Jay Bennett, a 40-year-old music fan and musician, will listen only to music released in 2010. Each Monday through Friday, he will listen to one new record (no best ofs, reissues, or concert recordings) and write about it. Why? Because in the words of his editor, Martin Cizmar, he suffers from "aesthetic atrophy," a wasting away of one's ability to embrace new and different music as one ages. Read more about this all-too-common ailment here.
Adam Green
Title: Minor Love
Release date: February 16, 2010
Label: Fat Possum
Adam Green has six solo records out, but who's even heard of this guy? Well, you may know about his work in the Moldy Peaches, the "anti-folk" duo that wrote that cloying song "Anyone Else But You," which eventually became a minor hit because of its inclusion in the movie Juno. After Moldy Peaches stopped making music, most people probably figured they'd never hear from its members again. But Adam Green kept on making music, and lots of it. Six solo records in five years, by my count.
His latest record shows that he's a talented musician with tons of ideas and a broad sense of style. Too bad he doesn't really fully flesh out many of the musical ideas on Minor Love. To me, it's a collection of 14 underdeveloped songs. There are flashes of greatness here and there, and the record clocks in at just 31 minutes, so it never wears out its welcome. Green's sound unlike Lou Reed, and a couple of the songs sound as though they could be late-era Reed stuff. If you like offbeat humor and that Lou Reed-esque idiosyncratic NYC street-poet stuff, you'd probably really dig Adam Green.
Best song: "What Makes Him Act So Bad," Green's stab at Nuggets-style '60s garage.
Rotation: Medium
Deja Vu: Any college town's goofball-romantic singer-songwriter
I'd rather listen to: Jonathan Richman
Grade: B-
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