Marnie Stern albums
Marnie Stern should get more points just for making unique guitar mini symphonies. I’ve heard her described as a “Math-Rock Singer Songwriter” and that sums it up pretty well. Aided by Producer and Drummer extraordinaire Zach Hill (previously in the band Hella, later in the hip hop group Death Grips), her songs seem to come from outer space like a signal being transmitted by her finger picking guitar style. I saw live once in about 2012…..she can really play all of this stuff while she sings, its amazing. Her moans and grunts are often just that, the seems to sing and play the same thing quite often, but each song has 5 times as many ideas in it as most of the pop music world. Marine Stern and her band take everything that came before in strange rock n roll and shoot it back at you as a prism of color and noise that is such a pleasure to listen to for the adventurous rock fan. She has been underheard from since about 2013 but I hope she returns soon.
Band Members:
Marnie Stern – Guitars, Vocals
Zach Hill – Drums, percussion (2007- 2011)
J Reed Thompson – Bass
Kid Millions – Drums (2013- present)
Biggest Influences:
Sleater-Kinney, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Fugazi, Van Halen, Joni Mitchell, Oneida
Best Album:
Marnie stern (self-titled)
2007
In Advance of a Broken Arm - 94%
Marnie Stern is one of the most daring musicians to grace the music scene in 2007. Listening to her record, you realize that there are still untapped sources in rock music out there. An almost genuine mix of Sleater Kinney and Pere Ubu, the woman writes songs in ways that make most people spin in circles wondering how she did it. "Grapefruit", "Logical Volume", "Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling"....I cannot describe how these songs go in any normal sort of fashion. "Every Single Line Means Something"....no it doesn't! None of these songs make any sense, but that is the point they all define logic. The music is nonsensical but it is not nonsense, if that makes since. The woman shreds and finger-taps her guitar like Eddie Van Halen for goodness sakes, especially on the insane "Precious Metal".
To say this record is hard to listen to in one setting is like saying it is hard to eat a lot of candy bars - too much of a good thing….. is still an aamzing thing. And the POTENTIAL here, it is out of this world. It may prove to be one of the most important debuts of all rock history, and I refuse to let it fade into obscurity. Whatever the case, this is music that should be acknowledged and every person on it is great: Zack Hill's drumming is out of this world, John Reed Thompson’s bass keeps it all fluid, and Stern herself of course (all three produced an engineered this). Her crazy sense of humor is also reminiscent of Zappa and the Butthole Surfers, but her style of guitar playing AND songwriting make her a key artist of her generation. “The Weight of a Rock” uses echoey effects to totally blow you out of this world, “Letters From Rimbaud” lays down a nice groove and then utterly transforms and destroys it, like the best Sonic Youth or Fugazi track. This, ladies and gents, is something else. Say it with me now, "5, 9, 6, 8, go!"
Best Songs: Every Single Line Means Something, The weight of a Rock, Vibrational Match, Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling
2008
This is it and I am It - 87%
This album starts off with the math obsessed “Prime” which is a rhythmic spoken word rant, based around one note and shrill guitar following suite. Still, she explores her sound and makes great music, and so many of these songs are without precedent and insanely hard to play or replicate. “Shea Stadium” takes awkward rhythms that rise and fall and creates some kind of accessible sound out of it, and “Ruler” does something similar with a catchy chorus and something like a thousand echoing vocals going on in the background. It has to be said that if Stern was to sit down and play this music on an acoustic instrument it wouldn’t be the same at all, the drumming and Production by Zach Hill adds a quality that is out of this world; not quite psychedelic in a traditional way but definitely ‘spacious’ and the layers and layers of guitar vocals and drums make it other-worldly. “The Package Is Wrapped” is even sort of radio friendly, hey she can do it all ladies and gents.
Stern’s form of music is still beautiful, though a little of the charm of the debut has worn thin (“Crippled Jazzer and “Steely” don’t do much for me). But, in the age we live in the 20th century, songs like “Devil is In The Details” and “Package is Wrapped” may be the way of the future. Surely, a computer would understand songs like “Roads? Where We are going We Don’t Need Roads” with its long repeated patterns it almost sounds like she is talking in binary code, or in “Prime” better than a human mind can easily process. Like Sleater-Kinney or a modern band like Parts and Labor, you have consciously try and ABSORB Marnie’s music, as it is too much work for the radio singles charts or whatever. So people still reading this review though, doesn’t that make it even more endearing?
Best songs: Rule, Shea Stadium, The Package is Wrapped, Clone Cycle
2010
Marnie Stern - 97%
Marnie just keeps growing as an artist. I can’t emphasize enough what an important artist she is. Too add to her already insane guitar shredding and superb drummer/producer Zach Hill are some of the best LYRICS and stories she has ever done, along with some songs that really stand out from the rest. Of all her three albums, the songs on Marnie Stern really are distinguishable from each other and stand out. "For Ash" is a touching ballad full of noise and double-timed drums for a friend who died tragically; "The Things You Notice" is the most far out and touching ethereal ballad Marnie has ever done, in a way only Marnie can; "Cinco de Mayo" is some kind of rebellion against the structure of music itself; "Building a Body" is her greatest Sleater-Kinney homage. Each song builds upon the other and the album is ordered perfectly. It also finds an excellent balance between technical ability and spontaneity; while Hill and Stern are both great at their instruments, they are also great at improvising and beautiful songwriters. "Nothing Left" is a great example of this: A confusing and manic sounding verse gives way to an almost calm and pretty chorus, but then there is an instrumental break that comes out of nowhere- and then it all repeats in an almost random order, all while Stern repeats the lyric, "You might think I'm crazy!" She is not crazy, but she is a manic genius that is destined to be remembered for our time.
One might argue that Stern is an acquired taste. I would say sure, if complex music taste is something that can be acquired. It might be summed up by Marnie herself, "In order to see it, you got to believe it." There is nothing that is really difficult about this music, though the playing is complex and well thought out, it is very accessible. You could say it is prog-metal gone pop, but that wouldn't do the sound justice. It is ethereal, deep, complex, tasteful, timely, colorful, and a bunch of fun. The only problem the woman has ever had is too much of a good thing (her songs kind of blur together sometimes) but again, this is the most focused and touching collection of songs she has done so far. Her rhythm section is also to die for, and this is the last album with Zach Hill as collaborator. It is kind of like Brain Eno leaving the Talking Heads after Remain in Light - she is still Marnie Stern on her follow up The Chronicles of Marnia (2013), but it is a very different kind of band. Her third album is a culmination of her first two, everything that is great about rock music can be found on this record - it is an album that will, in her own words, "outshine them all."
Best Tracks: The Things You Notice, Building a Body, For Ash, Cinco De Mayo