BLACK HONEY by AGE RINGS
— Rock and Roll is Dead —
— Big Black Hole —
— Important Guy —
— So it Revolves —
— Ups and Downs —
— Under the Rug —
— Lemonade —
— Head Up High —
— Explode Me —
— Black Honey —
— Infinity Mirror —
— Ender —
— Sorry I’m Late —
— Caught Up in the Sound —
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MDRF023 | NOV 2011 | 56:54 | FULL LENGTH MP3 ALBUM
Originally self-released by the band as a double album, this version of Black Honey is streamlined to 14 tracks to create a distinct, concise and wholly original album and concept. Black Honey is a sincere take on modern life that doesn't rely on musical fads, trends or traditionalism and creates a fresh sound that lies between pop and rock with strong hints of noise.
Black Honey is one of the very best records of 2011. Even so, it’s hard to envision a version of the record that doesn’t begin with the amusingly self-defeating “Rock And Roll Is Dead” and end with the paralyzingly affecting “Caught Up In The Sound.” The former tune bursts open with volleys of discordant notes before charting a verse with a melody that doesn’t quite resolve. The chorus establishes a blissfully noisy center amid handclaps and a bed of what sounds like low brass. This one song is so perfectly realized that you start to understand where the months and years went while Age Rings was making the record. But there’s still a lot of record to go, and it is all equally as brilliant. Album closer “Caught Up In The Sound” is perhaps Black Honey’sbiggest treasure. The tune touts a momentum and inevitability — underlined by the fact that the verses and choruses drone into each other — that renders the love-stung vocal even more poignant. It’s a devastating final track; it’s a huge artistic achievement.
Remarkable moments appear at every turn in Black Honey: the brilliant swerve of the tape slowing the final moments of “Ender” through various keys only to resolve into a slow groove for the final minute; the twisting slur of the lyric “I smoke Parliament menthols /watch Headbangers Ball” in the opening number; the unhinged falsetto at the tail end of “Big Black Hole.” The collection can also be vibrantly lucid, particularly the understated and downbeat travelogue “Ups And Downs” that features Gibbardian narration about bad times like “a crowd gathered outside when I got kicked out of The Middle East, I left my car and called a cab, told the driver ‘Quincy.’” “Head Up High” has an undeniable chorus studded with a bright piano melody that will never leave you. — Clicky Clicky Music
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“Upon first listen to “Black Honey’’ from Boston’s Age Rings - and let’s get out of the way right off the top that you should listen to it - you might be taken aback at the album’s breadth of song styles. It shifts seamlessly from the bar-rock and chunky-piano riffing of “Important Guy’’ to the Pixies-ish bass-buzz and fuzz of “Rock and Roll Is Dead,’’ to the schizophrenic screaming of “Lemonade,’’ with detours into a looping, loping, Beck-ian drawl, and wounded balladry that would make Conor Oberst weep. It’s like listening to two entire albums worth of material at once.
Actually, that’s pretty much what’s going on here. The band’s second album, coming after a lengthy wait since its debut, 2006’s “Look . . . the Dusk Is Growing,’’ was originally self-released as a double record earlier this year. After Age Rings principal Ted Billings passed off a copy to Cameron Keiber, of Boston indie favorites the Beatings, he decided to re-release “Black Honey’’ on his label Midriff Records. One catch though: They would need to shave the record down to a more manageable length.
At first the idea seemed strange to Billings, 29, who’d spent the past few years working on the songs off and on, going through multiple band lineup changes, and more than a few changes of heart about whether or not any of it was even worth it.
“It kind of felt a little strange because I spent so much time on the order of it, making it work as a sort of a loose story,’’ he says of the double album. “After we made the cuts and rearranged it, I felt kind of foolish, it was like, ‘Why didn’t I do that before?’ I thought this was a statement thing, everything has to be in its right place, but listening to the new one, I just kind of laugh at myself for doing that.’’
Billings admits it was a lesson in learning to take advice from outside, and dealing with the business side of the music business. “It’s the first time we’ve worked with a label, so yeah, the whole process, it’s the first time we signed paperwork, worked with licensing companies, and all that stuff I never knew anything about. Working with [Midriff], it’s a huge learning experience.’’
Another learning experience for Billings, a Hanover native who lives in Quincy, was watching so many members of the band drift in and out over the years. That played a role in the delay between records.
“We had to kind of do it in little legs,’’ Billings says of the recordings with Jack Younger at Watch City Studios in Waltham. “So we could afford it, most importantly, also just so we wouldn’t go mental trying to do 22 songs in a row.’’ Prior to the record’s original release, they experimented with doing online single releases to try to drum up interest, which Billings found discouraging. That, coupled with some personal life unhappiness, and some band members being involved in a live theater production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,’’ put things on hold. “We were like, ‘Let’s just stop.’ ’’
“Then like a year and a half after I started thinking about it again. I was like, ‘Wow we’ve got all these songs, what if I just finished it? No one likes to have things hanging around like that. Let’s put it out and see what happens.’ ’’
What happened were songs like “Lemonade,’’ with its screaming punk vibe contrasted with a carefree-sounding piano, or “Explode Me’’ a creepy, downtrodden song with sweetening backup harmonies. Mixing and matching disparate genres and tones is part of Billings’s writing style, he says. “I think you take essentially two or three kinds of totally different ideas, like three balloons each filled with different colors, and chuck them at a white wall. That’s how I look at a song like that; you kind of cram stuff together that doesn’t necessarily make sense.’’
Perhaps the best song on the album, “Rock and Roll Is Dead’’ details Billings’s travails slugging it out in an indie band. It’s a wry sketch of a day in the life of a Boston rocker, with the memorable, anti-pep talk lyric: “Steven Tyler and Freddie Mercury they said this to me, ‘Quit while you’re behind, because there’s a cover band making money at any time. You could be living the high life.’ ’’
That’s exactly how it feels at times, Billings says. “I haven’t figured out the magic code or whatever to get bigger and to reach more people. I think about it a lot. I don’t necessarily do anything to change it, I just keep writing. I’m not going to pander to anything to get bigger. . . . I think art, especially writing music, is just too kind of important to me to do it any different than I have been.’’
Plus, he says, returning back to the song, he just thought “it was funny, kind of a young kid that is psyched about something and one of his idols, his rock hero says, ‘Don’t bother. Go start a cover band and . . . make some money, start a family.’ ’’
It’s good news for all that he hasn’t yet. — Luke O’Neil, Boston Globe
“THE BEST NEW ALBUMS of 2011 - It was on my second listen of Age Rings' Black Honey that I realize how lucid my waking dream had been during my first spin through the record. Equal parts a bustling, jangling rock maneuver it's balanced with the exhibition of great American songcraft - swept up in alternative, polished style. It's because of these two pulling the forces, that Black Honey comes off as a locomotive or a record. The name alone suggests something completely sweet but it is not without it's discoloration, road scars and accents. Black is the color of experience...
"Rock and Roll is Dead," starts as a by-the-numbers discussion of the rules. But soon in a Bowie-esque rise and a rollicking tumble through the chorus, we are made to realize there are other options. (And that the narrator for this song might not be all that reliable...) Vocals breakdown here beautifully near the end, paced by drums. Really nice. [Side Note: Great production values on this recording - reminds me of later George Harrison / Traveling Wilburys - enduring music infatuations...]
"Big Black Hole," is grandiose song about a big empty space left behind when somebody leaves.. The track is bigger than the situation - which in a way is what's it like to be missing something you never knew you had. Interesting the song's persona here isn't lamenting the loss or feeling sorry for himself - he's ultimately acting out in the sorts of ways that ultimately attracts another girl. Point for the band. Totally classic.
Are you fucking kidding me? I know what I like. I really like Nels Cline on guitar and Jeff Tweedy singing. That's why I go to Wilco shows every year. The sounds here is complimentary without stepping on what is understood to be good. Admittedly, Age Rings took a chance here but they ran with it. The result? With "Important Guy, "Age Rings have released one of the best alternative rock/pop songs this year. Even WILCO can't say that. This song pretty much kicks ass.
A decidedly different turn with "So It Revolves," a track which explores singer/songwriter Ted Billings' abilities as a front man and vocalist. He is the spoon that stirs this story. Delicate in tone but not in sound. (Figure this out by listening, think you'll find it most apt.) Think "A Day In The Life," metered in our more rambunctious times. Billings shines as his talent fills the nooks and crannies.
"Ups and Downs" is a soft but trudgy examination from beneath the blankets of the bed - a peek behind shielded eyes. It's a welcome and knowing glance with a friend or a suffering peer. Never quite ever reaching melancholy or sunshine, I have to believe that Matthew Sweet would rather like to play this one if he had the chance.
"Under the Rug" - So it's only natural we start off the next track (fittingly titled) to reflect how emotionally low ("under the rug") our songwriter feels - likely due to how unresolved things are (things have not been addressed, just swept out of sight "under the rug"). I like smart songs, even those this one that invoke Ryan Adams' luck in all things romance and change. Brilliant is its gloom
Lemonade is a song of restraint and challenge. Wwhen you hear it all and then re-read this review, you're going to think I'm full of horseshit. So let's avoid all that and I'll explain... The screaming at the epiphany and the rise near the song's middle are contrary to the staid, slow pacing at the beginning. It's a break-out kind of spastic explosion of sorts, the kind you expect when people get tired of the everyday. People go out drinking on Friday nights. People have mid-life crises, people take new roads to work. I guess that what I'm saying is people don't really want "Lemonade" they want refreshment - they want relief. And that's what this is all about.
Our award for most cautiously optimistic song of the year goes to "Head Up High." I had to laugh. It's really good.
Bassist Andrew McInnes and keyboard Jhai Sinnatamby step to the fore on "Explode Me," the album's second offer of resignation. Billings sings against a backdrop that seems to be passing by and separated. Withdrawn, I picture a face pressed up against the passenger window of a moving car, staring at tree tops as the grey sky moves along and the road markers sail beneath.
The most challenging song on the album is the title track. As I intimated at the onset, "Black Honey" is about surviving to fight again. Billings' vocals are right up front on this one. I can picture him leaning into the mic as Sinnatambly's piano rambles like a saloon player. The real champion of "Black Honey" is drummer Steve Sherwin who handles the Tom Waits-like jive like an ace Without the percussion in this jumbled but beautiful number, this song would cease to be a caravan of jam. And that would be a shame.
Age Rings have some changes in store for you. "Infinity Minor" is a a slowly paced dream daydream. Piano sets the pace, and with Billings joining in this one is a little too slow-paced for me. By songs end, the song moves up the scale into a period of volume and growing cacophony. They lost me here, but it's the only one on the record, so all is forgiven. I envision this song not to sound the same way twice live and that it would grow to be something else - possibly quite extraordinary with time.
"Ender" is a Jerry Lee Lewis inspired surge of a song - the most inspired on the album in some respects. And unlike a few of the others which preceded it, it's overwhelmingly positive and empowering in tone. "Let the demons run the show," Billings says as if none of it bothers him. Soon, things wind down - as they always do, and we are left to consider how bright the light burned. A fitting title had this been the album's finale, but it's not...
"Sorry I'm Late," enters like a sunbeam in a window. I had never heard this song before but it's possible the lyrics, "stuck in a dream" are indicative of our times and a general lack of tenderness coupled with the artists' inability to synch-up with the world around them... hearts on their sleeves.
And just when you think you have this one figured out, Age Rings come at you with "Caught Up in The Sound," a steady, slow but sure number that celebrates the connected-ness of their existence. "I can hear your heartbeat / Caught Up in the Sound." It leaves me with one last question, is "Black Honey" the response to a challenge resulting in the band's transformation and a remarkable album? Responding in Dead Confederate-style fashion, our answer may come below... What do you think? — Ryan’s Smashing Life
”It’s highly ambitious for a band to put out a double album of this girth. At 22 tracks, it’s an overwhelming amount of music to swallow in one sitting, but Age Rings have created an album worth diving into. Much of it is a throwback to bands like Big Star and The Replacements, who defined an era of great unpretentious music. Black Honey will also draw comparisons to classic Wilco. Black Honey may run a little long but every song on it deserves to be heard.” — Mecca Lecca