Fancey Discography of CDs

Fancey music CDs "Artist" Schmancey -- you know, like Nilsson Schmilsson? Well, not exactly, but Todd Artist's glorious obsession with '70s soft rock and sunshine pop isn't sullied in the least by a comparison to Nilsson's masterpiece of subversive pop. If anything, Artist has gone out of his way to up the subversion factor on his second solo effort; the production and arrangements are gloriously user friendly, and Artist's crew of like-minded musicians (including fellow New Pornographer Kurt Dahle) summon a sound as tight and emphatic as any crew of Los Angeles session heavyweights could deliver in the Golden Age. But between Artist's eager embrace of an impressive variety of dangerous drugs on "Blue Star," the cheerful doom of "Lost in Twilight," the rocker's avarice of "Whoa," the creepy enthusiasm of "Heaven's Way"'s paean to Christian Conservatism, and the self-explanatory angst of "Karma's out to Get Me," this is album whose engaging surfaces cover a dark side as sure as the front cover artwork shows a sun-dappled garden hovering over the flames of Hell. But on Schmancey, the twist in the tale is part of the fun, and the undertow provides a ying that adds weight to the yang of Artist's bright and superbly crafted pop tunes, powered by his stylistically malleable guitar work and period-appropriate keyboards. One might think being in one superb indie pop act would be enough, but Artist's presence in the New Pornographers and on his own records suggest he's becoming a one-man dynasty of upbeat sounds with a nasty undercurrent. ~ Mark Deming Recording information: Fiasco Bros; Mushroom; The Dahle Haus; The Factory; The Menagerie; The Rec Room. Personnel: Todd Artist (vocals, guitar, guitars, electric piano, synthesizer, bass guitar); Ryan Dahle (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, percussion); Howard Redekopp (vocals, acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, bass guitar, percussion); Sara Lapsley, Sara Lapsley (vocals, piano); Kurt Dahle (vocals, synthesizer, bass guitar, drums); Anastasia Siozos, Del Cowsill, Susan Kovacs (vocals); Paddy Ryan (guitar, piano, synthesizer); Scott Smith (pedal steel guitar); Megan Bradfield (clarinet, Moog synthesizer, bass guitar); Shaun Brody (trumpet); Tom Dobrzanski (piano, electric piano); Doug Naugler (piano); Phil Palazzollo (synthesizer); Sean Ashby, Debora Cohen (guitar). Audio Mixers: Ryan Dahle; Howard Redekopp.

Fancey discography Indie rock fans who are devout readers of fine print will recognize Todd Artist as one of the less-hyped members of the really super supergroup the New Pornographers. He plays guitar for them, and also played in Limblifter with Kurt Dahle, who's also in the New Pornographers, and all over Artist's album, too. Speaking of that, Artist is Todd Artist's debut record, and fans of his day job will welcome it as they would a family member. More soft rock than the New Pornographers, more fixated on the '70s too, the album is nearly as hook-filled and sounds like it was built in the same factory -- a much sunnier factory -- less prone to songs about alcoholism and more likely to burst out into silly songs about rock & roll ("Rock N' Roll Rhythm"), or outer space ("Dial Jupiter"). Artist also makes more use of Neko Case, putting Sara Wheeler's angel-sweet vocals on every song. His songwriting doesn't quite measure up to Carl Newman's or Daniel Behar's, but he is certainly no slouch. Artist builds many of the songs around his electric...