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Artist: Roky Erickson and Okkervil RiverTitle: True Love Cast Out All EvilRelease date: April 20Label: Anti-
Score another one for the old goats. The latest has-been to crawl out of the peculiar limbo that the popular culture reserves for aging legends is Roky Erickson.
If you’ve never heard of the guy, he’s the man behind what is perhaps the quintessential garage-rock song, “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” which he recorded a few generations ago with his psychedelic-garage band the 13th Floor Elevators.
Like Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn did with Rick Rubin and Jack White, respectively, Roky has made an unlikely re-emergence with hipper, much-younger collaborators. In this case, the collaborator is the alt-country band Okkervil River. And like Johnny/Rick and Loretta/Jack it’s a pretty magical fit.
That Erickson has a bunch of great songs to work with here is no surprise. To my ears, the revelation is Okkervil River, a band I’d never heard before but will undoubtedly delve into next year, when my overlords let me listen to old music again.
Erickson, as the rock ‘n’ roll cliché goes, has been to hell and back — drugs, mental and physical illness, prison, musical irrelevance. So, it’s no surprise that much of True Love Cast Out All Evil is a meditation on redemption and persevering thanks to the power of rock ‘n’ roll.
Erickson, in his haggard Texas twang, gives some gutty and emotional vocal performances. (Only “John Lawman” is an out-and-out rocker, so don’t expect any “You’re Gonna Miss Me” rehashes here.) And Okkervil River’s tasteful and inventive arrangements bring these songs to life in a way that was really missing in Jakob Dylan’s new record, Women + Country, which I wrote about earlier this week. The only reason I’m comparing them is because the records traffic in the same alt-country/Americana idioms. I found Erickson and Okkervil pulling off a more emotionally resonant record than Dylan and his co-horts Neko Case and T Bone Burnett.
Erickson has always been unstable and unpredictable, and we may never hear from him again after True Love Cast Out All Evil. Fortunately, this record is good enough to tide us over for a long time to come.
Best song: “Goodbye Sweet Dreams,” as haunting and melancholic as the title would indicate.Rotation: HeavyDeja vu: Further proof you can never count out the old goats of rock.I’d rather listen to: Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose, which is in my top 10 LPs of the 2000sGrade: A-
“Nothing Not New” is 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.
The “Nothing Not New” Archives
April 22 — Caribou: Swim (D)April 21 — The Apples in Stereo: Travellers in Space and Time (C-)April 20 — Jakob Dylan: Women + Country (D+)April 19 — Cornershop: Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast (C)
April 16 — Frightened Rabbit: The Winter of Mixed Drinks (B+)April 15 — Coheed and Cambria: Year of the Black Rainbow (D-)April 14 — Foxy Shazam: Foxy Shazam (D, later changed to a B)April 13 — MGMT: Congratulations (B+)April 12 — Odds ‘n’ Sods: Robyn Hitchcock, RJD2, Scorpions, and More
April 9 — Murder by Death: Good Morning, Magpie (B-)April 8 — Harlem: Hippies (C+)April 7 — Slow Club: Yeah, So (B)April 6 — Black Francis: NonStopErotik (B+)April 5 — Growing: Pumps! (F)
April 2 — Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: Medicine County (B)April 1 — Dum Dum Girls: I Will Be (A-)March 31 — The Dillinger Escape Plan: Option Paralysis (B+)March 30 — Local Natives: Gorilla Manor (B)March 29 — The Bird and the Bee: Interpreting the Masters: Hall & Oates (C)
March 26 — Eddy Current Suppression Ring: Rush to Relax (C+)March 25 — Let’s Wrestle: In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s (B)March 24 — Goldfrapp: Head First (D)March 23 — She & Him: Volume 2 (A-)March 22 — Broken Bells: Broken Bells (C+)
March 19 — Locksley: Be In Love (B)March 18 — jj: jj no. 3 (C-)March 17 — Xiu Xiu: Dear God, I Hate Myself (D+)March 16 — Drive By Truckers: The Big To-Do (B-)March 15 — April Smith and the Great Picture Show: Songs for a Sinking Ship (C)
March 12 — The Morning Benders: Big Echo (C+)March 11 — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Beat the Devil’s Tattoos (B)March 10 — Acrassicauda: Only the Dead See the End of War (C-)March 9 — Titus Andronicus: The Monitor (B+)March 8 — Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: The Brutalist Bricks (A)
March 5 — Liars: Sisterworld (A-)March 4 — Gorillaz: Plastic Beach (A-)March 3 — Johnny Cash: American VI: Ain’t No Grave (B+)March 2 — High on Fire: Snakes for the Divine (C)March 1 — Joanna Newsom: Have One on Me (C)
Feb. 26 — Freeway & Jake One: The Stimulus Package (D)Feb. 25 — Past Lives: Tapestry of Webs (B-)Feb. 24 — Shout Out Louds: Work (B)Feb. 23 — Brian Jonestown Massacre: Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? (B+)Feb. 22 — Shearwater: The Golden Archipelago (D+)
Feb. 19 — The Strange Boys: Be Brave (B+)Feb. 18 — Tindersticks: Falling Down a Mountain (A)Feb. 17 — Lightspeed Champion: Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You (C-)Feb. 16 — Adam Green: Minor Love (B-)Feb. 15 — Juliana Hatfield: Peace & Love (B+)
Feb. 12 — Massive Attack: Heligoland (C-)Feb. 11 — The Watson Twins: Talking to You, Talking to Me (C-)Feb. 10 — Hot Chip: One Life Stand (B+)Feb. 9 — You Say Party! We Say Die!: XXXX (B+)Feb. 8 — Allison Moorer: Crows (B)
Feb. 5 — Joe Pug: Messenger (C)Feb. 4 — The Soft Pack: The Soft Pack (A)Feb. 3 — Polysics: Absolute Polysics (B-)Feb. 2 — Pierced Arrows: Descending Shadows (A-)Feb. 1 — The Brunettes: Paper Doll (B-)
Jan. 29 — Basia Bulat: Heart of My Own (C)Jan. 28 — Priestess: Prior to the Fire (B)Jan. 27 — The Magnetic Fields: Realism (B)Jan. 26 — Four Tet: There Is Love in You (D)Jan. 25 — Delphic: Acolyte (C+)
Jan. 22 — The Hot Rats: Turn Ons (B+)Jan. 21 — Los Campesinos!: Romance Is Boring (A-)Jan. 20 — Midlake: The Courage of Others (D-)Jan. 19 — Laura Veirs: July Flame (B+)Jan. 18 — Beach House: Teen Dream (C)
Jan. 15 — Charlotte Gainsbourg: IRM (B)Jan. 14 — OK Go: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (D)Jan. 13 — Eels: End Times (A-)Jan. 12 — Spoon: Transference (B)Jan. 11 — Editors: In This Light and On This Evening (D+)
Jan. 8 — Surfer Blood: Astro Coast (B+)Jan. 7 — Yeasayer: Odd Blood (C-)Jan. 6 — Cold War Kids: Behave Yourself EP (B+)Jan. 5 — Vampire Weekend: Contra (D+)Jan. 4 — Texas Tornados: Está Bueno! (B)
Jan. 1 — Scanners: Submarine (B-)
