Customer Reviews

Lifestyle

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No history, please. You know they are nice fellas from Montana/Seattle and that Tim Migett sounds like S. Malkmous, and that they have really good drum tone on Libertine and Developer, and despite not-so-good drum recording on Firewater, it's still the best record of the 90's by far. So, this record is, not to sound too grandiose, almost as good. Darn tootin' good to be exact. Very beautiful, opening with a song of near-perfection, "Contempt" and then Tim gets wistful and pretty and has a skinny, concaved chest, hair white from the sun. I miss running around in barefeet myself. This album seems like the direct relationship that I have with that memory of my barefeet and the music that I love in this life. Sure, they sound like the Band now, but that's only a high compliment. I think Sticky Fingers is a better reference point if Mick and Keith had really been into Husker Du instead of heroin. I think every family in the Midwest should own this album, at least during the autumn. Hope you like it.

This is the best rock album of the 00's so far, hands down. and today is may 2003! This album is perfect in every way. Do yourself a favor and order this now! you will not regret it. unless of course you like garbage like limp biskit...

This is my favorite Silkworm release. I like it better than Firewater, but than maybe Firewater was too deep for me. Lifestyle isn't too introspective, but it's really interesting and I think anyone would like it a lot. Good mix on the songs. Interesting piano licks. Good vocals, drumming, and guitar. What more can I say? Lifestyle is good.

Unlike many of their early nineties indie rock contemporaries, the WORM keep on trucking. Their sound has remained fairly consistent as it has settled into their own take on "American rock" complete with sprawling guitar solos (sprinklings of CCR, the Band, etc, etc). Since LIBERTINE, all of their albums have been nine letters (seemingly inspired by The Jesus Lizard's four letter albums) and LIFESTYLE follows suit. It's not their best album (that would have to be FIREWATER) but still it's worth a listen. The lyrics are also fairly familiar (or all-too-familiar?) - Raymond Carver-esque lonely men railing at the wind over their wrecked lives. SLAVE WAGES and TREAT THE NEW KID RIGHT are my favorites. Incidentally, the song CONTEMPT basically follows the "story" of the Jean-Luc Godard movie of the same title. Certainly, SILKWORM have been unfairly neglected for a long time and it doesn't look like anything is going to change in the near future but I'm happy they are here!

silkworm yanked themselves out of the doldrums with this record, their finest since firewater. while the second half gets a little shakey, the album opens VERY strongly with two of the catchiest, hardest rocking tunes of the band's catalog: "slave wages" and "treat the new guy right". the middle of the album is fleshed out by a pair of warm acoustic numbers, and the end of the album greatly benefits from a well-chosen faces cover. if one were a cynic, one might call this silkworm's comeback album.

One of the better records of 2001, was this, American indie-rockers Silkworm's latest release. 'Lifestyle' features twelve tracks, including a cover of 'Ooh La La' by The Faces. These twelve tracks have a continuous flow, with a indie rock meets garage meets country feel, sort of like what would happen if the principal members of Sebadoh, Pavement and Crazy Horse were to collaborate. The record has been produced by Steve Albini, and his touch creates a sense of lowend and clarity that further improve 'Lifestyle's charms. In particular, 'Treat The New Guy Right', 'The Bones' and 'Yr Web' are fantastic tunes that deserve to be heard by a wide audience. 'Lifestyle', while not a radical diversion from Silkworm's back catalogue, is interesting and creative enough to still be fresh after being given many listens that an album of this calibre deserves.

Silkworm has by far proven that the pathos, ethos and logos of indy rock go far beyond the confines of a disgruntled singers getting smashed and smashing guitars for attention. To them the overdose that does the world in comes comes not from a hot needle, rather from the awkward midnight indescretions of a midwestern youth who dreams of the big life outside the small town. (slave wages, plain) They are showing that even when we make it to the american dream, there is alot more dreaming to do. But they do it with the grit, honesty, and depth that make them the future of the scene. get this record, listen to it. live it.

SILKWORM

LIFESTYLE

by Nigel Crowley, vinyl enthusiast

***** out of *****

They say the best music is created from the rural experience, and what better band to highlight this than Missoula, Montana's Silkworm. Another charming release, to be sure. My first introduction was their subsequent record, "Italian Platinum," which is also not to be shat upon. If you think about it, what is the point of defecating on a recorded product? Really--too much effort, and far too messy. There are a few LP's that have tempted me, though--Oasis being one of them. Wankers.

So I suppose my appreciation of this trio (a.k.a. three gentlepersons performing in a musical concoction) is in reverse and not fast forward. One can only imagine if you tried to do both at the same time, how confusing that would be.

But let's get back to the record. "Lifestyle" is about as good as they come. I especially appreciated the flourishes of piano/organ on the wondrous opening track "Contempt," based in part on the Jean-Luc Godard film. Brainy fellows, these Silkworm are. Guitarist Andy Cohen breathily moans some of Bridgitte Bardot's lines from the picture as his bandmates gracefully tap around him in rollicking indie splendour. A good shagging song, when all's said and done.

On the following track, "Slave Wages," bassist Tim Midgett has some financial issues to discharge. And really, you can't have enough songs about money, what a terrible thing it is indeed. When Midgett sings the line "My sleep relies on valerian tea/and the slave wages I've been accumulating now," a lonesome tear rolled down by reddened cheek. Midgett also triumphs on the concise "Raging Bull," (no reference to the Scorsese film), a fairly bittersweet song about a swim instructor's daughter, I think. Actually, I don't know what it was about, I wasn't paying attention to the lyrics.

They pull out the rock luggage on several other driving, power-rockers, including the simply sublime "Treat the New Guy Right" (it will have you humming the head-scratching " When you run into the night/ain't you ever been alone in your life?/Motorhead is coming for you/You gotta treat the new guy right" all day long), the downright saucy "Plain," "That's Entertainment," ( in-between lovely, long, Neil Young-ish solos, we are treated to Cohen witticisms such as "The affair was good/but it wasn't worth the money/Don't you cry/I earn a lot now/and you see/What you could be/If you were only willing to work as hard as me/") and "Around the Outline," which is sung by charcoal-throated drummer/chanteuse Michael Dahlquist.

With all of this rocking being done, one can only wonder if there's time to breathe. Indeed there is, in the quiet campfire melodies of "Roots" and "The Bones," both about god knows what. That's the beauty of this band and this record, however; it's good for knocking down a few pints with the mates, but also not a bad choice for powdering your feet.